- If I could go back in time and have a conversation
with a younger Dan Lok, maybe in my early twenties,
what are some of the advice that I would give myself?
I think there are three things I wish I knew in my twenties.
First of all, when I was starting all of these businesses,
and I had all these losses
and I was trying to make money, becoming more successful,
and I thought that all I need
to do is starting that perfect business,
but I never got very serious about learning
until one of my first business partners
basically took advantage of me
and took my money and my savings,
my mom's savings, maxed out her credit card.
And I was treating him very, very good
and he disappeared and left me with $150,000 in debt
in my twenties.
And afterwards I got obsessed,
I got obsessed with learning about everything,
about business, about sales, about marketing,
about entrepreneurship.
So the first piece of advice I would tell myself
in my early twenties is don't be so fucking naive
and get obsessed with learning.
That the books that you don't read,
they don't help you.
Think about it, you can buy a book for 10, 20 bucks
and you would be able to learn
from someone's lifetime knowledge.
What do they know they condense it in a book format.
So get obsessed with learning, don't be so naive,
don't be so stupid, you think education is expensive,
then try ignorance, it will cost you a fortune.
So the second thing is
if I could go back in time and tell myself is
number two, don't be so arrogant.
That you don't know shit Dan Lok.
You do not know shit.
Because once I started learning
and I started having more success and making a few dollars
I was becoming more arrogant.
I was becoming more you know...
that I felt I was invincible.
That oh, now I'm so fucking smart, look at...
look at me and have all this money coming in
and I was way more successful than all the people around me
and I thought you know what, my shit doesn't stink.
I thought I was the man, right?
And invest in a bunch of companies, well guess what?
All, 10 companies, all of them lost money,
not one of them made money,
and I wasn't so invincible anymore
and that got me into quite a bit of trouble.
So that's what I would say, don't be arrogant,
get out of your ego, be humble, stay humble,
be open-minded, you can learn something from everybody.
And number three,
the third thing that I would say to myself is
be very, very careful who you select as a partner.
You cannot do a good deal with a bad partner.
I've had a few partnerships in my life
and the ones that are good, they are very, very, very good.
We have a good relationship, we made a lot money together,
we create a lot of success together,
but the handful that are bad they hurt me tremendously.
One bad partner that I had actually got to a point
where we were fighting, he stole my customers,
and had to actually shut down the company
and start a new one and clean up everything
that I have.
I set up a new entity, walked away with a lot of money,
just because of the bad partners that I had.
So a good partner is great,
but you cannot do a good deal with a bad partner.
In fact I would rather do and do an okay average deal,
but with a great partner because with a great partner
we're resourceful, we collaborate, we mastermind,
we work together and that I mean,
that we can turn any bad deal into a good deal
and a decent deal into a great deal.
So those would be the three things
that I wish I knew in my twenties.
Now I gotta get back to playing games.