I think it's fair to say 2016 has been a very strange year.
Let me tell you why
What if I were to tell you at the beginning of the year of 2016 that the Golden State
Warriors were going to go back to the finals, face Cleveland Cavaliers, have a lead of 3-1
and all of a sudden LeBron James and the team comes back and becomes world champions?
Would you have believed it?
What if I told you earlier this year that the Chicago Cubs who have not won a (chuckles)
World Series for over 100 years were going to win the World Series this year?
And last, but not least, what if earlier this year, I would have tell you former entrepreneur,
celebrity, a real estate mogul was going to run for office and was actually going to be
elected as the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump?
Would you have believed it?
This is why I call 2016 The Year of the Underdog.
First of all, Valuetainment started off with only 22,000 subscribers at the beginning of
the year.
We ended off with over 160,000 subs by the end of the year.
Over 46 million minutes were watched on Valuetainment.
Almost 200 new videos were added.
Nearly 20,000 comments, which I read every single one of them personally.
We kicked off the year with our annual conference in Las Vegas, had Robert Greene and Grant
Cardone there.
Patrick could have been a philosopher.
By the way, Robert Greene loves Raffi's Place.
We went back to Glendale, California, and then moved our entire headquarters to Dallas,
Texas.
We moved into a new house, making it our sixth move in seven years.
Yes, we're still married.
We launched our first three-day leadership meeting in Dallas, Texas.
I expected 250 people, but 500 people showed up.
Let's just say the fire department wasn't too happy about this.
Found some time to golf, probably should have skipped golfing.
My first daughter was born.
We had three choices for a name.
Madison, Danica, and Senna.
The nurse helped us pick.
Senna Rose Bet-David.
It's the only baby that brought tears to my eyes, and in case, if you're wondering, yes,
she was named after the great Ayrton Senna.
Summer was full of surprises.
Since the video Life of an Entrepreneur got to 30 million views on Facebook, we wrote
the book Life of an Entrepreneur in 90 Pages.
Raced a yellow Z06 and a Tesla in my Ferrari.
I lost to the 06.
He got lucky.
Bought a domain for $70,000.
You'll soon find out what it is.
Took 100 of our leaders from PHP to Costa Rica at the Westin Playa Conchal.
Jet skied with my 2-year-old and 4-year-old.
I'm not sure I recommended this to other parents.
We launched our second film Good Boys Bad Boys.
Asked to be a VIP partner on Entrepreneur Network.
One day I went on a scale and it said 257 pounds, went on a strict regimen diet and
workout routine, lost 26 pounds in 90 days.
.
Launched Street Team, which ended up being a big hit.
It was such a big hit that we had to stop it.
Don't worry.
Mario's going to be okay.
Spent three weeks on Harvard campus attending the OPM program.
Had some fun in Boston, ran into some more Valuetainers.
Island Creek Oyster Bar, I still haven't forgotten about you.
Got back home to Dallas.
Celebrated Dylan's 3rd birthday.
This kid is so charming.
Test drove a BMW i8.
I liked it so much I bought it right away.
Got an early birthday present.
We crossed over 100,000 subs on YouTube on October 10.
Thanks, Valuetainers.
Did a contest for who could post the best Why I Love Valuetainment Video.
Lots of funny impersonations.
Here was my favorite one.
You remind me of one of those old school people that are very intelligent and very smart,
but no one would fuck with you.
Thanks, Jaden.
With the growth Valuetainment was experiencing, it was time for an upgrade.
New equipment, new team members, even a new set.
The new set was a big hit.
I got an interesting call one morning.
A large insurance company offered us a nine-figure check to buy PHP Agency.
We were flattered, but we had to turn it down for now.
In November, we collaborated with a few of our friends called Kelly Nishimoto from Cute
Booty Lounge and Antonio Centeno from Real Men, Real Style to come for a fashion challenge
who helped Paul get a date.
Let's just say he's still single.
Some believe it may be because of this rare footage that went viral on YouTube.
(Singing) You told me secrets that you never told a soul.
My good friend, Tom Ellsworth, Mr. [Three, Tommy 00:03:38] Biz Doc launched Case Study
on Valuetainment.
You can watch his episodes every Friday.
He's probably the smartest guy I know.
Texas A&M invited me to speak to their Entrepreneur Society Program.
Let's just say I'm pretty optimistic about what these kids are going to do.
Doctor prescribed me some new glasses.
Here's the new look.
What do you think?
Ten entrepreneurs from seven countries flew in for a private three-hour mentoring session.
We had the best Q&A session ever.
We ended up renting out the second largest private castle in America called Oheka Castle
based out of Long Island, New York, to have a 2017 Strategy Session.
We recognized our guys by giving away two Rolex Presidential watches, a TAG Heuer Carrera
watch, a [BrightLink 00:04:13], a Harley Davidson, and a ton of other cool items.
Launched a Christmas contest.
Congratulations, guys.
Got a lot of cool pillows to replace the old one for 2016.
One of them was very special.
It was from Billy Wilson who is a Freshman who had a 4.0 GPA that dropped out of Kansas
State and posted this picture that went viral.
Valuetainment's Stay in School or Drop out of College video is one of my biggest influences
in my decision to drop out and start my own business, Brave Wave.
On a side note, stay tuned for a new book coming up called Drop-Out and Get Schooled.
Let's just say things are about to get very controversial in 2017, and to top it all off,
Santa Claus really came through this year with my wishlist.
I'm a big baseball collector.
My favorite card I got this year was a 1939 Play Ball Ted Williams Rookie card.
I love this card.
Okay, maybe he got me one other gift, which has got 700+ horsepower called a Lamborghini
Aventador.
Let's just say I've been having a lot of fun with it the last few days.
I don't know what it is, but TSA just loves Mario.
You got two Middle Easterners here, and they go after the Guatemalan.
These were some of the highlights that we had in 2016, but if there was one thing I
would like you to take away from this video is this.
You see me as a final product.
You see the great things that's happening now with Valuetainment.
I wish you could have seen videos of me 15 years ago.
I wish you would have seen the lonely days, the lonely nights, the days where nobody was
buying and my business wasn't growing, and I hope as you watch this, you as an entrepreneur,
no matter what phase of your career you're at right now, I hope one day you make the
decision for 5, 10, 15 years from now, for you to be inspiring other entrepreneurs around
the world to do the same, so with that being said, whether you had a good year or a bad
year, here's to an incredible 2017.