Asking the RICHEST People in the World How They Got RICH!

What this episode is about

The content explores the insights and strategies of some of the wealthiest individuals in New York City, including discussions on their paths to accumulating billions and the importance of perseverance against doubt. Key figures share their experiences with financial success, upcoming ventures, and their perspectives on rebuilding wealth from scratch.

Key takeaways

• To be a billionaire, own your music, not just perform it; control is key in the industry.
• In the noise of New York, success thrives on resilience; let haters serve you, not crowd your table.
• Selling Arnold Palmers turned billions, but real wealth comes from cultivating ideas before products.
• Musicians often miss riches by surrendering ownership; 500 songs mean 500 chances to cash in.
• Success isn't just about money—it's about making choices that preserve your identity and values.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Michael Rubin (Guest) · 6 min speaking
• Eric Adams (Guest) · 5 min speaking
• Russ (Guest) · 3 min speaking
• Don Voltageio (Guest) · 5 min speaking
• Unknown Host (Host) · 12 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Music, Fanatics, Don Voltageio, Arnold Palmer
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Arizona Beverage Company, Don Voltageio, Arnold Palmer, Music
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Don Voltageio
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Michael Rubin, Fanatics, Arnold Palmer
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Fanatics, Failure, Michael Rubin, Fanatics Fest

Notable quotes from "Asking the RICHEST People in the World How They Got RICH!"

• Fanatics will be about $12 billion in revenue next year. 22,000 people and we're just getting started.

  about Fanatics · at 0:45

• Jesus. Making music. I'm a musician.

  about Music · at 3:02

• Young men need to read Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill and master the three appetites. Master your sexual appetite, the appetite of literally like what goes in your body and the appetite.

  about Outwitting the Devil · at 8:10

• I own it all. I don't have any zero debt. So I'm not obligated to a bank or a board of directors who say raise the price because we have to raise our profit margins. you can go through the.

  about Don Voltageio · at 11:16

• I know. We haven't done anything traditional. No radio, no television, no bill.

  about Arizona Beverage Company · at 13:06

• Go meet up with and interview one of the most iconic business owners of all time, the multi-billionaire Michael Rubin. You may have heard his name before. And if you look him…

  about Michael Rubin · at 19:02

• As a 21-year-old buying and selling clothes out. So like you have to embrace failure. If you're scared to fail, you have no chance of ever being successful.

  about Failure · at 23:13

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Michael Rubin — Person · Featured interviewee (billionaire entrepreneur) · 3 mentions · first at 19:06
  He provides the episode’s most detailed entrepreneurship blueprint: study relentlessly, find market voids, sprint, recruit great people, embrace failure, and build relationships.
• Don Voltageio — Person · Featured interviewee (as named in transcript) · 3 mentions · first at 0:08
  He is presented as the billionaire founder of Arizona Beverage Company and creator of the Arnold Palmer drink; he discusses pricing, packaging, and debt avoidance.
• Robert Kraft — Person · Referenced mentor/influencer · 2 mentions
  Michael Rubin credits Robert Kraft (and Jonathan Kraft) with helping him early in building Fanatics, emphasizing mentorship and relationships.
  I'd say Robert Craft... has been so helpful to me.
• Michael Ruben — Person · Misnamed reference to Michael Rubin · 1 mention · first at 0:04
  The transcript initially introduces 'Michael Ruben' but later clearly identifies the billionaire as Michael Rubin; this appears to be a misspelling/variant.
  Who am I here with today? Michael Ruben.

Books & papers

• Outwitting the Devil — Book · Recommended book · 1 mention · first at 8:10
  Russ recommends it as a guide for mastering 'three appetites' (sexual, consumption, and opinion-expression) to avoid being 'broke.'

Companies & orgs

• Fanatics — Company · Core business case study · 6 mentions · first at 0:45
  Michael Rubin uses Fanatics to illustrate scaling, competition, relationships, failure tolerance, and long-term thinking; revenue and valuation are cited.
• Arizona Beverage Company — Company · Core business case study · 1 mention · first at 9:01
  Used to illustrate building a multibillion-dollar beverage company via packaging, vertical ownership, no debt, and stable low pricing.

Products & tech

• Arnold Palmer — Product · Signature product example · 3 mentions · first at 0:06
  Don Voltageio claims he created the Arnold Palmer beverage after meeting Arnold Palmer; it anchors the Arizona business story and revenue claims.
  Are you serious? So, you created the Arnold Palmer?

Concepts & topics

• Failure — Concept · Core lesson · 2 mentions · first at 22:50
  Michael Rubin emphasizes embracing failure as necessary for success; fear of failure is framed as a barrier to entrepreneurship.
• Music — Concept · Core topic (wealth-building via ownership) · 3 mentions · first at 3:02
  Russ explains wealth creation in music through owning masters, catalog scale, and reinvesting into music rather than selling rights.

Places & events

• Tribeca — Place · Interview setting · 2 mentions · first at 2:47
  Tribeca is presented as a wealthy NYC neighborhood where the host interviews Russ about music ownership and wealth.
  Right, you guys. So, we just got to our next destination. We are in Tribeca out here in New York City. This is home to some of the wealthiest people in the entire city.…
• Fanatics Fest — Event · Referenced business initiative · 1 mention · first at 22:36
  Michael Rubin mentions outreach to people attending Fanatics Fest, illustrating relationship-building and community-driven brand strategy.
  Office literally hitting so many people that are coming to Fanatics Fest saying, Hey man, thanks for coming. It means so much to me. And they're Hey, thanks for having me. It's…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Guys, how you doing, Michael? Great to meet you, brother. Yeah, thanks for having us out. Who am I here with today? Michael Ruben. How did you make your billions? Have you ever had one of these? And Arnold Palmer? Yeah, I'm the founder of that company. You created these? Yes, I did. Are you serious? So, you created the Arnold Palmer? Yes, I did. What's the most amount of money you made in a year selling these? Couple billion bucks a year. But selling these made you a billionaire? Uh, I was a billionaire before that.

0:18 Are you serious? Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you get rich? Jesus. Um, I am Eric Adams. I'm the mayor of New York City, the greatest city on the globe. Did you ever have anybody that doubted you in your career? Oh, all the time. But you didn't listen to them. Can't listen to the noise. I always tell people, let your haters be your waiters when you sit down at the table of success. My goodness. What's the most amount of money you made a year? I'll probably do 25 25 billion. Are you serious? Yeah. Fanatics will be about $12 billion in revenue next year. 22,000 people and we're just getting started.

0:49 12 billion with a B. 12 billion with a B and still feel like a startup. If you lost everything tomorrow and had to rebuild a billion dollar company with three moves, what would they be? First of all, I would love that. That would be so fun. And people are going to say he's full of I don't believe what I'm telling you. That would be like that's light work for me. I would absolutely love it. So what would you do? Give me the date. So first of all I tell you right now today I'm in the richest city in the entire world, New York City. And today I'm going to be investigating the city that never sleeps. The city that has more money than most countries. I'm literally going to be meeting up with billionaires with a net worth over six and over $10 billion and the most powerful people in all of New York City to figure out how you can become wealthy in today's world and what it takes to become a billionaire. So, with that

1:32 being said, let's get this video on the way. Excuse me, sir. I want to know how you got rich. I have the biggest business media channel in the world with 15 million followers. Can I get a minute of your time real quick? I didn't know what you Excuse me, sir. How did you get rich? Born in the right place. What's that? Born in the right place. Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you get rich? Excuse me, sir. What did you do to become wealthy? I love you guys. You guys are good. Hey, could I get just real quick? What line of business were you in real quick?

2:11 You guys are so good. Electra stuff. What line of business were you in? I was in banking. Banking? Yeah. How long have you been financed for? Oh, 30 years. Did you work on Wall Street? Yes. Yeah. Do you own a firm now? I'm not like a very public person. You guys, New York City is tough, man. This is probably the hardest city in the entire world to try and interview people in. These people are always going from meeting to meeting. As you can see, that guy said, "I'm a private person." They're not wanting to give the game away. So, we got to change things up and go to a whole another part of New York City. You guys, come on. You guys, I was serious about going to a different part of New York City. So, we decided to take the train. Let's see where we end up.

2:43 All right, you guys. So, we just got to our next destination. We are in Tribeca out here in New York City. This is home to some of the wealthiest people in the entire city. Billionaires, celebrities, athletes, artists. So, let's go walk around and go see who we can find out here and interview. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you get rich? Jesus. Making music. I'm a musician. Most musicians aren't rich. That's cuz most musicians don't own their music, fortunately. So, you own your music? Yeah. So, how much money do you make? Like, what's the most amount of money you made?

3:11 So many across everything. Well, what's the most amount of money you made in the year? This year is looking like it's going to be the biggest one. How much? I'll probably do 25. 25 million? Yeah. Are you serious? Yeah. I go all over the world and you're being the richest people to help the younger generation. Can I interview you for a minute real quick for the channel? Sure. Is that okay? Yeah. Who am I here with today? Russ. What was the turning point to getting into the music industry? Did you always know that you wanted to become an artist or I always wanted to be an artist? I think from a very early age I just I don't know. I guess I was just fascinated with rap. I loved it. I loved the idea of making music, expressing myself. So, but I had brought up to you how most musicians do not end up making a lot of money. What is the blueprint to building wealth as a musician? How can somebody

3:47 become wealthy off music? You got to own the music. How is that possible? By not selling it away to somebody. So, most artists, they sell their music away. Yeah. I mean, most artists when they do a record deal, they give away the ownership to their master. The master is the song. So, when you sell that, you don't own it anymore. So, for me, I own all my masters and I have 500 something songs out. So, I don't need one song to make me a million dollars. I can have 500 songs making whatever the math is. Did you turn down a lot of money?

4:11 Yeah, I've turned down a lot of money because most money I've ever turned down is $50 million. So, if somebody wanted to give you 50 million to ow the rights to your music, yeah, why did you take the money? So, I don't need the money. You don't need the money. No. And it's just like it's a morality thing. I think that to me is the definition of selling your soul. I'm not going to judge you. I guess well, yeah. Yeah. I don't want to judge you if you do it. But for me, it's like, man, if we can all agree that music is the extension of our soul and it's the sound of our soul. Well, then if you sell away the ownership of your music to somebody for money, isn't that selling your soul?

4:40 Like, in its literal definition, you think a lot of people operate out of scarcity? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think most artists are living check to check. Why are they living paycheck to paycheck? Cuz they get paid semiannually. And that's if to recoup. So, meaning like if I give you 2 mil and your music didn't make 2 mil back, you're not going to see another check from the label. Cuz once again, let's look at it just simply. I'm me. If I give you $2 million and you say, "Yeah, it's for my music." And I say, "Cool. When your music has made 2 mil back, give me back my investment.

5:05 Then everything after that is split 50/50. Well, if you never make back the 2 mil, you burn that [ __ ] Yeah. Of course, you're not going to see another check for me for what? You didn't even make back the 2 mill. So, a lot of artists, they're unrecooed. They spent that 2 mil. They spent that advance. So, they're not even going to get those semianual checks. And if you are recouped, you're going to get two checks a year from the label. And that's why you get this whole [ __ ] narrative of people being like, "Well, you got a tour. That's where the money is." No, man. The money is in music. The money is owning the music. I hate all this [ __ ] nonsense of like there's no money in music. Stop saying that [ __ ] It's [ __ ] wrong and you're misleading people. If there's no money in music, why do the labels who don't tour and don't own publishing make billions of dollars off of owning the music? If

5:44 there's no money in music, how are they making money in music? Stop saying that [ __ ] Just admit you're [ __ ] dumb and wrong. You know what I mean? Just say you don't get it. There's a saying that it's it's easy to make a lot of money. It's hard to keep a lot of money. You made millions off your music. How do you preserve that wealth? How do you make your money work for you? It's just like a welloiled machine at this point, man. Like I said, I have a vast catalog that I'm fortunate enough to have fans just stream constantly.

6:04 Like money is being made right now as we're talking just because there's people listening to my music right now that I own. So, it just I don't know, it just kind of makes itself. Do you uh do you invest your money though? Yeah. Into what? The music. Music. Yeah. Like honestly, man, my number one investment is the music. I've never seen an ROI like music. For example, I've spent $9 on a song and made 2 million off of it. How did you make that much money off of one song? How is that possible? Because back when touncor when it was $9.99 to upload a song I distributed it for $9.99 psycho part two and spent no money marketing it. I made the beat did everything myself and it's made $2 million just on the master side.

6:38 What's the greatest piece of advice that you've ever received? Faith requires more than 48 hours. What does that mean for me as an artist? You guys too, right? You know, you create stuff and you put it out there. You might put out a video and it like does jack [ __ ] It flops, but it's been 48 hours. It's like, bro, like let go a little bit. And so for me with songs as artists, we get so married to them. These are like our kids and we're putting them out there to the world and we think they're beautiful and perfect and then the world might tell us otherwise and we're like, "Oh my god, what do you mean? This is the greatest song ever. It's been a week.

7:06 You know what I mean? Give it a year. Give it two. Give it 10." Have you had a lot of haters? Yeah. Tons. So for somebody who's starting to pop off, how do you deal with that? What's your best advice to somebody either on that come up? I have a saying that nobody else's thoughts ever paid my bills. I like all that kind of stuff to like, nah, [ __ ] them and h it doesn't matter what people think. And it we're in the music business where quite literally what people think about us is what pays our bills. This isn't sports.

7:27 Sports is if I go out tonight or for the season and I average 25, 10, and six, you all can hate my [ __ ] guts. I'm averaging 25, 10, and six. Those are finite numbers. And I'm getting a [ __ ] contract, period. Right. With music, it's like our whole career and our livelihood is based off of jersey sales in a sense, which is how much do you like the [ __ ] player? It's not a finite thing. So, it's tough. It's like being a successful artist, a lot of it does have to do with public relations and how people feel about you and if they like you or not. So, the whole notion of telling artists, "Oh, you shouldn't care who likes you." It's like it's kind of like what this whole thing is based off of, right? If you're trying to do it as a living, but what I would say to people is if you're dealing with hate and you're an artist, drop your way through it. Keep dropping songs.

8:08 What's the number one book everybody should read? Young men need to read Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill and master the three appetites. Master your sexual appetite, the appetite of literally like what goes in your body and the appetite of your need to express loosely formed opinions. What keeps people broke in today's world? Chasing [ __ ] For real. Yeah. Have you seen that kill people's ambition? Yeah. Put it like this. Men are losing to lust. For sure. You got amazing advice, my friend. Thanks bro. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate that. That was fire, man.

8:32 That was awesome, man. Guys, so we're out here in Tribeca right now and we just walk up on my guy Ross, the famous music artist coming out of a hotel and it's safe to say, guys, he's got to be one of the richest rappers in the entire world right now. He said he made 20 $25 million in a single year and just gave some phenomenal. That was some beautiful advice for everybody watching right now trying to make it in today's world. But let's keep this one rolling. We got to go get our next one, you guys. Come on. All right, you guys. So, we're actually going to be leaving the city right now, but we're not going too far.

8:57 We're still going to be in New York and we're going to Long Island to go meet up with and interview the billionaire founder of Arizona Iced Tea or Arizona Beverage Company. And he's got a net worth of over $6 billion. So, I'm going to be getting the blueprint from him on how he started his company in Brooklyn and became a billionaire through selling drinks out of gas stations in every store around the world. Let's go meet Don and go see what he has to say. All right, you guys. So, we just got to the Arizona headquarters out here in Long Island in New York. And we're going to be meeting up with the billionaire Don right now to get the game from him for you guys. Let's go meet up with him and go see what he has to say. Come on, Don. How's it going?

9:29 Hey, welcome to our office. Thank you for having us out. Really appreciate that. We've been looking forward to this one a lot. You brought this beautiful weather with you cuz the weather's been terrible. I brought it with us. So, in this interview, we want to give people the game and the blueprint on how to build a billion dollar company. Can we make that happen? Yes, I hope so. America needs more entrepreneurs. Who am I here with today? Don Voltageio. And what was your business? Have you ever had one of these? And Arnold Palmer?

9:49 Yeah, I'm the founder of that company. You created these? Yes, I did. Are you serious? So, you created the Arnold Palmer? Yes, I did. By myself. I met the man and created the product. What's the most amount of money you made in a year selling these? Couple billion bucks a year. Couple billion bucks. Like more than one? Yeah. More than two? Yeah. Three billion. Under three. Under $3 billion. I'm not selling just all the power. I sell everything. But selling these made you a billionaire. Uh, I was a billionaire before that.

10:10 Are you serious? What was the turning point to becoming an entrepreneur? Did you always know that you were going to start your own business? I knew I wasn't going to go to college in 1970. You knew you weren't going to go to college? And there was a draft gone in the Vietnam War and I was too tall. I was draft exempt for being 6' 9 and 3/4. So then I had this full opportunity to be successful in America because I wasn't asked to, you know, to fight for the country. So, I uh became a truck driver and turned into a little business and turned into a little bigger business and 50 plus years later, here I am.

10:36 Did you come from a lot of money? No, my dad worked for a grocery store chain. He never made more than 15,000 bucks in his life. So, he worked for the grocery store chain that your drinks eventually got sold. Yeah. Well, they're out of business. They worked for AMP and you ever hear of the company AMP? Sounds familiar. Atlantic Pacific. They were the largest retailer in the 1950s. They had 15,000 stores. Today, they don't have any because they forgot about their customers. So I learned from that experience from him as well that you got to remember who you're selling to and treat them right, take care of them and treat them fairly.

11:02 You had this product for 99 cents for decades, but you never raised the price even with inflation coming into play. Why not? Cuz I can afford not to. What do you mean you can afford? But it's tough margins in your business. Well, see this building here, I own it. My factories. I own the bolts in the factory. I own it. You own all the verticals. I own it all. I don't have any zero debt. So I'm not obligated to a bank or a board of directors who say raise the price because we have to raise our profit margins. you can go through the kind of things that happens in life during co everything hit the inflation just ran out of control everywhere freight and fuels and everything else but we were able to survive it because we didn't have debt to service if you run a business like you run your personal life if you have a lot of debt you got to stay up at night thinking about it I learned a long time ago if

11:41 you want to buy it buy it with cash in other words pay for it so you don't like debt I don't I hate it cuz I've seen it what it's done to companies companies that can't afford to service the debt but you hear even companies like Apple that's doing trillions of dollars a year they're still borrowing money every quarter Do you think that bringing on a little bit more capital could help you scale or you're just like, "We don't need it because of the marketing." I have all the capital I need. The best thing in life is to have money in the bank, right? You know, we built a factory in New Jersey. Spent over 400 million bucks. We paid for it because you have the money.

12:05 Yeah. Right. It's pretty good. And then you can afford to sell things for 99 cents because you're not affording cost interest and the cost of debt on people's balance sheets. So, you prioritize reach over margins. Margins are important, but sometimes you can make up the margin loss by increase sales, right? We have an office of 400 people. We grew a business double in the last 10 years and we haven't doubled the staff because you know deficiencies and modernization of the way we handle the things with software and all that kind of stuff.

12:31 Did you ever think that the 99 cent pricing would be such an incredible marketing strategy? I've said the story. Cave men were motivated by 99 cents. You know, 99 cents is like a number like less than a dollar, you know. And when I was a kid, I earned $1 an hour when I first started. So, I understand the value of a dollar. And I also understand my customers, a lot of them look at their needs for the day or for the week and look at how they're going to budget themselves. And giving them a, you know, great tasting drink at a fair price and then they have money for other things. I think not a bad idea, right? And I didn't have to spend money on advertised traditional stuff.

13:00 So, you didn't spend a lot on advertising? I didn't spend any on Are you serious? None. Even today? Today? No, you you really market. I know. We haven't done anything traditional. No radio, no television, no bill. What do you think's been the single greatest lever for you? Packaging. Packaging and high quality, great product. Is that is that the biggest thing you attribute it to is the packaging? Absolutely. Why? Because packaging is what people shop when they see. I've seen people make decisions right at the cooler or right at the shelf in a grocery store.

13:24 So, psychology is important then in business. Well, I think when you shop, you buy with your eyes, right? If your friend told you about a great product that they bought the day before and it tasted great for 99 cents, next time you're shopping, you go, "Right." So, give me a little piece of advice about psychology and business. If you're in the beverage business, you need something that's going to jump off the shelf without advertising. Cuz if you think you're going to go into the beverage business and compete with Coke and Pepsi and the large companies, you're wrong. They'll spend you.

13:46 Were you ever afraid of them? No. So, you weren't afraid of competition? No. No. Because I've met them and I've seen them and I've seen them in operation. What do you do differently from them? I'm efficient. They're not. Let me ask you this cuz when you look at your company, you never took on Wall Street. You never took on investors. What advice would you give to an entrepreneur who's trying to get capital to help start and grow their business? My dad told me once, know your cost and sell it for above that. It was so basic and simple, right? Because if you do that, every case you sell, you're going to make a profit on. Some people don't they don't know the cost of their goods.

14:11 They don't know the cost of doing business. And then they do things I'll call foolishly. Spend more than they're earning and then borrow money and then have the debt and then be in that cycle. The only way to possibly pull it out is sell it. when I started in business and as of today I have no intention of selling this thing. It's going to go to my family, my sons, my grandchildren and hopefully they'll be able to be very successful like I've been and enjoy being in business and working with people and all that stuff. If you run your business that way, you can be multigenerational. If you run it where you have put on a lot of debt and then you have a gun to your head saying I'm not going to lend you money unless you pay me 25% interest and that kind of stuff because unfortunately entrepreneurs when they borrow money they pay a lot for you know the capital.

14:48 They pay a lot of a premium on the interest and it puts you behind eight-ball because now you can't be competitive. I put a case of product on the floor as cheap or cheaper than anybody in the industry cuz I own everything I own. We're very efficient. We put modern facilities around the country and uh we negotiate with our suppliers to get the right price by doing what they need so they can do that. And do you think everybody's built for entrepreneurship? No. Why not? Takes a certain kind of person. And it doesn't mean it's bad to be an employee at a company because it's not for everybody. You know, I've had many, many sleepless nights trying to thinking about my payroll. I had to make the next week. Some people, it's not for them.

15:20 They're not cut out for every single day in business. I enjoy I've been in business 55 years and I haven't had one single boring day. Most people would pay for that. I get paid to do it. Not bad. So, so that's the definition doing what you love. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly right. So, was it all worth it? Was the grind to become a billionaire worth it? Yes. Everybody should try. You don't have to be a billionaire. You have to be happy, right? And too often people look at that, you know, when costs rise and our profits shrink. I say sometimes you got to tighten your belt.

15:45 That's what life is, right? How old are you now? I'm 73 years old. You look amazing for 73. Well, I work out and I was a truck driver for 10 years, so I got many arms. And your last message to the younger generation. If you die tomorrow and you had one more guiding principle to help the younger generation, what would that be? Realize that America is the greatest place in the world. And if you are appreciative of where you live and take care of the things that are important from a, you know, just from a citizen's point of view. I hate negative talk about America because America is the best place. Not perfect, but it's the best place in the globe. I've been around the globe and I've seen other places. And I think if you want to be successful, this is the place. They'll give you a shot. No guarantees, but you just got a shot.

16:20 You got amazing advice, sir. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate that. Thanks for coming out. Guys, we just interviewed the multi-billionaire founder of Arizona Iced Tea. He's the guy that invented the Arnold Palmer and your favorite drink found in any gas station. But look guys, 99% of people will never in their entire life get mentored from a multi-millionaire or a billionaire. But I want to ask you something. What if you could be a part of the 1% that actually did? How could even just one conversation with a multi-millionaire or a billionaire change your life forever?

16:49 I need you to listen to me very carefully right now. Over the last year, I launched the number one, the most powerful entrepreneur community on the planet to connect you directly and gave you access to the multi-millionaires and the billionaires that I interview. But to be honest, guys, it's so much more than just a community. Inside the school of mentors, you don't just watch content. You join live calls with millionaires and billionaires where you ask them your questions directly and they give you one-on-one advice. And we don't just host these calls on occasion.

17:16 We host these calls literally every single week with founders who scaled to eight or even nine figures and even billionaires. Like I said, fast forward to now, we've grown from zero to over 4,200 members from all over the world. Inside the community, we have over a,000 hours of exclusive business workshops and master classes to help you start and scale your business. And you even get exclusive access to one of the most powerful private entrepreneur networks in the entire world. Plus, the best part, you can even book one-on-one calls directly with the Millionaire Mentors.

17:47 And now, we're on a mission to get to 5,000 members. So, we're doing something absolutely insane. From now until we cross 5,000 members, you can join the School of Mentors, the number one community for business owners in the entire world, for less than a dollar a day for just $29 a month. We wanted to make it so affordable for everyone watching so that way you can get mentored from the millionaires and the billionaires that I interview. No matter what point you are in your business, whether you're just starting, whether you're already at six figures or seven figures, this is direct access to 8 figure, nine figure, and billionaire entrepreneurs to help you grow and build the business of your dreams. Plus, not only will you be able to join right now for less than a dollar a day, but you will be entered in to win a trip to come spend time with me and hang out with the millionaires and billionaires that I

18:30 interview in a select city. Now, imagine what that could do to your life or your business. Remember, like I said, only one conversation with the right millionaire or billionaire can change your life forever. It's the reason why I was able to build a multi-million dollar business at just 23 years old. And I want you to do the exact same thing. All you have to do to join is go down, click 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. With that being said, let's go get this next interview.

18:56 Guys, I've got a very special surprise for you right now. So, since we are in New York City, it's only right that I make this happen right now. I'm about to go meet up with and interview one of the most iconic business owners of all time, the multi-billionaire Michael Rubin. You may have heard his name before. And if you look him up on Google, it says he's got a net worth of over $10 billion. So, I'm going to be asking him today exactly what it takes to become a billionaire in today's world and what he would do if he had to start over and build a billion dollar company. So, let's go meet up with Michael right now and go see what he has to say. What's up, guys? How you doing, Michael? Great to meet you, brother.

19:25 Yeah. Thanks for having us out. We appreciate I've bought your stuff forever. It's great. How you doing? Doing good. Happy to be out here. Good. Well, we're happy to have you. I actually, no joke, like I'm always, you know, in the morning when I get up before I go to bed, I'm always scrolling through stuff. And I've actually sent your thing to him a couple times. I say, I like this kid. And what's it called? School. It's the school of hard knocks. School of hard knocks. Okay. Well, I'm the definition of that. Who am I here with today?

19:42 Michael Rubin. How did you make your billion? Fanatics. Man, I started Fanatics back in 2011. Been building and grinding every day. How much money you going to make this year? Fanatics will be about $12 billion in revenue next year. 22,000 people. And we're just getting started. 12 billion with a B. 12 billion with a B. And still feel like a startup. What was the turning point to becoming an entrepreneur? Yeah, I think I was kind of born that way. I mean, some people are just born with it. Some people develop it over time. For me, I think I came out of the womb that way. I was always terrible at school, terrible at sports, but I always love business.

20:07 Before you built a billion dollar company, did you have anybody that doubted you? People doubt me every day. I love doubters. You know, doubters are great. If you look at a doubter, that's motivation. I mean, think about we just got in the sports betting business 2 years ago. Everyone said, "Fanatics has no chance. This is a duopoly by FanDuel, by DraftKings. Michael is going to fail miserably. He's going to piss away billions of dollars." I said, "Bring on that hate. Bring on that." I love that. You know what? We're now the third biggest sports book. We've been live for 20 months. We're just getting started.

20:29 How much is your company worth today? Um, I mean, this is all public. Last value, probably $25 billion. $25 billion. If you lost everything tomorrow and had to rebuild a billion dollar company with three moves, what would they be? First of all, I would love that. That would be so fun. And people are going to say, "He's full of [ __ ] I don't [ __ ] believe what I'm telling you." That would be like, that's light work for me. I would absolutely love it. So, what would you do? Give me the game right now. So, first of all, I tell you right now, I ask this question to people all the time. I say this is people that are really well off. If you could give up everything you had, 100% of your money, everything to get 10 years back in your life. What would you do? And more people told me they would never do it. I think they're all idiots. And I don't know why they think that way. I would give up everything I had right now to be 10

21:05 years young. To be 42 versus 52. I'm [ __ ] in, baby. I would I would absolutely love it. What would I do? I'd study. I'd be a non-stop studyer. I'd find a void in the market and then as soon as I found that void, I would sprint it. And what I would make sure I did is got the right people with me because you can't do stuff on your own. And I go in and if it didn't work, I'd do it again right away. But that that to me is fun. Like I like that you just gave me the blueprint right there. It is the blueprint cuz you got to figure out what are the voids of the marketplace.

21:27 You sold billions of dollars throughout your career. What is Michael Rubin's secret to sales? Look, for me, I really believe it's about building relationships. Relationships don't mean [ __ ] in good times, but in tough times, they mean everything. And so for me, I built our business with so many great relationships and that's taken me through many of the tough times that I've had in my life. Like I think about some of the dark days we've had, but the great relationships have brought us through those and got us to the next level.

21:50 Who was the most influential person on your business career? I've had many. I mean, I think about as a kid, I remember the last book I read was actually in ninth grade, which is like 40 years agoish. I remember reading the book The Shoe Dog or whatever it was called. It was the unauthorized story of Nike. Like I looked up to him so much. So like I learned from him. But then I'd say Robert Craft. I mean, the Craft family has been so helpful to me. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Robert and Jonathan Craft. They took me in, you know, 15 years ago when I was just getting started with Fanatics. And they were so helpful to me. And again, they didn't want anything from me other than to help me build a great business for fans and a great business for the NFL, but they they just invested so much time and energy. And you know what? You can't have real success without having people really help you. And don't be

22:28 scared to ask for help. Like so many people are scared to ask for help. I'm not. I ask for help every day. And people ask me for help every day today. And that's great. I was just up in my office literally hitting so many people that are coming to Fanatics Fest saying, "Hey man, thanks for coming. It means so much to me." And they're like, "Hey, thanks for having me." It's like I love those relationships because they're authentic because like I want to show appreciation and love and they're showing appreciation and love.

22:48 Why do you think so many people are terrified to ask for help? Look, my belief is most people are actually scared to fail. And if you're scared to fail, you're never going to be that successful. I like to fail because each failure leads to the next success. And that's not like [ __ ] That is factually the way it works. I can go through and think about when I ran out of money at 15 years old. I had creditors knocking at my door every day before I go to high school and then 6 months later I get myself in the closeup business and a few years later I'm doing $100 million making $10 million a year as a 21-year-old buying and selling clothes out. So like you have to embrace failure. If you're scared to fail, you have no chance of ever being successful.

23:20 If you embrace it, you take the L's and you just use them to be better, then you're going to grow from each one of those. And I know people who have had 20 L's in a row in business and then they hit one grand slam. That's okay. Have you ever been broke before? [ __ ] yeah. Like I've been negative. I've had like I think back to 2009 during the financial crisis. I had a negative net worth when you took my real estate out of it. But you know what? I enjoyed every minute of it. I wasn't scared. I'm like, let's [ __ ] go. I just was going to outwork out hustle. I wasn't going to quit till I got to the right point. Like you can't be an entrepreneur like me and not have had so much [ __ ] go wrong in your life. But that's okay.

23:52 I interviewed, you know, Reed Hoffman who sold LinkedIn to Microsoft. And one of the things that he told me, I asked him, you know, what he would do if he had to make a billion dollars in a year. And he said, "I almost never think in one year. I think in 10." Do billionaires think in decades. I mean, I think in lifetimes. So, I mean, to me, a decade is a short period of time. I mean, I want to figure out how when I'm not on this earth anymore. Fanatics is beloved by hundreds of millions or billions of fans. And again, we're just getting started at that.

24:14 Like, you look back and you say, "We've done a lot of things right. We've done a lot of things wrong." That's part of growing a business. But that is that is my dream. That is my passion. So, if you think short term, you're going to make a lot of mistakes. If you think long term, really long term, you really build it to last. You think everybody's built for entrepreneurship? No. I definitely don't think everyone's built for entrepreneurship. I think that if you're not comfortable working your ass off, if you're not comfortable failing multiple times, you don't, everyone doesn't need to be an entrepreneur. I think people that watch your show, they're built for this. They want to learn from this. So, I think you have that mentality that you're always learning from everybody around you.

24:43 You're always, you know, just gaining information. You're going to out hustle, out work. I think you got a real shot. But it's definitely not for everybody. If you died tomorrow and you had one more guiding principle to leave with the younger generation, what would that be? Love doing what you do. Life is too short. If I'm dead, that means life wasn't long enough. You have to love what you do. I find so many people who are like they don't like their job, they don't like this. You get to live one life. You got to love every [ __ ] minute. Like, you can see how passionate I am, how much I love this. I'm the same way I've been since when I was that 8-year-old little kid selling trading cards or selling uh snow shoveling door to door. You have to love what you do and I love what I do.

25:15 You got incredible advice, my friend. Thank you so much for your time. Guys, this video is about to get crazy. I'm actually about to go and interview and meet up with the most powerful man in all of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams. and he invited us out to the mayor mansion and we're going to figure out what it's like to be the CEO of the richest city in the most powerful city in the entire world and what it's like leading a city of 8 and 1/2 million people. So, let's go meet up with Eric right now and go see what he has to say.

25:39 How you doing, sir? Quite well, man. It's great to meet you. Grinding, grinding, sir. Absolutely. Look at you in the gym getting your workout looking. Who am I here with today? Mayor of the city of New York. Greatest city on the globe. And what's your name? Eric Adams. You are running a city with 8 and a half million people in it. There's so many pressures that come. How How do you deal with the pressure of being the mayor of the most powerful city on planet Earth? Well, you you start out with understanding 8.5 million people, 35 million opinions. New Yorkers have five fingers. They love the middle one the most. So, don't get upset when they show it to you, you know, and just do the best you can every day.

26:12 Did you ever have anybody that doubted you in your career? Oh, all the time. When I was saying I wanted to be mayor 30some years ago, people used to look at me and say, "That guy's on medication." So, they laughed at me then. Well, who's laughing now? But you didn't listen to them. Can't listen to the noise. I always tell people, let your haters be your waiters when you sit down at the table of success. Oh my goodness. That's one of my favorite pieces of advice that I've ever heard in my entire life. Oh no. People going to hate on you.

26:36 How do you deal with that though? Cuz people get hate and then they get in their own heads and then they doubt themselves. How did you deal with that when you were, you know, and that's so important because the most important thing I learned cuz I'm I am dyslexic and in school I had undiagnosed dyslexic. So you weren't a good student. No, I was not. I was laughed at. I was bullied. that was called name. They would mimic how I read and my mother just told me, "Baby, you got this." And I just stuck there and kept building systems to help me understand and comprehend. And those systems allow me to be successful today. So dark places are not burials, they're plantings. You just have to be willing to go through the process to see the fruits of those harvest. So those dark places I had as a child, they was just planting, preparing me for what I'm doing now as the mayor.

27:18 So for somebody who is at rock bottom right now, what is an actionable step that they can take to get their lives back on track to become successful, to become financially free one day? One day at a time is the most important thing. There were days when I failed and just getting out of bed was successful. Just being able to say, you know what, I'm just going to make sure I get out of bed. I'm going to make sure that I change my underwear. I'm going to make sure that I take that shower. Just those successes, small small successes, you start to see bigger successes the next day. You're not even thinking about getting out of bed. You're not even thinking about should I take that shower and shade. You're just moving forward.

27:54 Don't worry about it. It's not instant. One step at a time and it will all come together. The only time it doesn't come together is when you stop taking that step. The only fight you will lose is the one when you don't throw the punch. Have you ever been depressed? Oh yes, without a doubt. You see this job as mayor, my first few weeks as mayor, I lost two young cops, officer Mora and Rivera. I sat in a hospital with 11month-old baby was shot in the head and the mother was there. We went to a fire where a large number of people lost their lives and so there are many moments when you, you know, you get depressed and you say, you know, am I doing it correctly? Cuz lives depend on me. But in all of those moments, I go back to the foundation of it all. Eric, you're the mayor of New York. That depression doesn't last long. And one thing that fascinates me about you is when you think about people that are,

28:41 you know, working in the government, in politics, different political aisles, you're not afraid to embrace the other side to get things done and work together. For example, President Trump, you kind of reach out and you embrace to kind of work with him on immigration out here in New York City. But a lot of people are completely against working with the other side. Why do you think that is? Do you think that is what prevents things from actually getting done in cities and governments and all around politics? Yeah, because it becomes about them and not the people. I may be a true blue Democrat, but I'm also true blue collar and I'm true red, white, and blue. This is the greatest country on the globe. No one lines the borders to leave here.

29:13 They line the borders to come in here. We have the best product going. And after the elections are over, we need to be focused on how do we deliver for workingclass people in this country and in the city. And so, if it means sitting down with someone that's part of a different party, we're all part of only one party after election, and that's the American party. Do you believe in God? 100%. I am who I am because of God. So faith has been important. Faith is everything to me. And I turn on my GPS every morning. My God position is satellite. I let go and I let God and he's handling. He's holding it down for me.

29:46 And your last message to the younger generation? I would tell them be unafraid, be bold, be true, but most importantly be you. Just be you. Nothing is worse than completing your life journey and you live based on how other people look at you. Trust me when I tell you just be you and it's going to all work out. I was me. I went from being dyslexic, rejected, now I'm elected to be the mayor of the biggest city on the globe. Just being me. Ballheaded, earring wearing mayor. Never have we had that done before. You got amazing advice, Robin. Thank you so much for your time. That's a wrap on today's video, guys. Be sure to like and subscribe for amazing content every week cuz I'm going all over the world to the richest cities in the world like New York City to find and interview billionaires for you guys. And if you haven't already done so, guys, go down and click the link in the description of

30:32 this video to become a member of the number one community for business owners in the entire world. Literally, I give you guys direct access to the wealthiest and most successful people on planet Earth. I bring you guys my millionaire and billionaire network to mentor you guys directly every single week in this community. Whether you're in a 9 to5 trying to leave that and build your first business or you're trying to scale your business to make your first seven, eight, or even nine figures, you need to be a member of this community and get mentored from the wisest and most successful people on planet Earth. I can't wait to see you on the community.

30:59 With that being said, I'll see you in the next

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Asking the RICHEST People in the World How They Got RICH!"?

Michael Rubin (Guest), Eric Adams (Guest), Russ (Guest), Don Voltageio (Guest), Unknown Host (Host).

What is "Asking the RICHEST People in the World How They Got RICH!" about?

The content explores the insights and strategies of some of the wealthiest individuals in New York City, including discussions on their paths to accumulating billions and the importance of perseverance against doubt. Key figures share their experiences with financial success, upcoming ventures, and their perspectives on rebuilding wealth from scratch.

What is mentioned in this School of Hard Knocks episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Fanatics, Michael Rubin, Don Voltageio, Failure, Arizona Beverage Company, Arnold Palmer. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Asking the RICHEST People in the World How They Got RICH!"?

The episode runs 31 min; the transcript is about 8,281 words in 64 timestamped sections.

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