Jordan Belfort became one of the most successful stockbrokers ever.
But behind all the money lied dark secrets.
In 1999 he plead guilty to fraud and other stock-market-related scams.
What would be the end of the line for most people, turned out to be a new beginning for Belfort.
After writing his memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street, he became a successful motivational speaker,
using his mistakes and life lessons to help people around the world.
Whatever the situation, he never gave up on himself. And that quality,
which made him able to change his life completely more than once, was present from a young age.
Jordan Belfort: So I was a middle-class, middle-lower but not lower class, middle. So we
had enough money to know how little that we had, in other words, so, and also we were in proximity
to wealth around. So it was always about one day when we get riches kids will move out too long
in a big house and really will arrive. And then, you know, maybe half of ours the big houses in the
area, right? Well, the base side gave us where the rich people live, right? So that was yes a very,
very similar upbringing in that sense. So yes, I always sort of felt like that
was my path though. It's very money-centric, success-oriented way of thinking and from the
time I think you know, I always had a business paper out at a, you know, shoveling driveways
at the snowstorms at ten. Children's magic shows it at twelve and then the beach selling ice and I
really made big money. That really defined who I was. By the time I started selling ice and,
I mean that first big hit a couple hundred bucks at bay back in the seventies, wow.
Interviewer: Twenty thousand dollars.
Jordan Belfort: It was massive. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievably
Interviewer: Did your self-esteem pick up a few notches?
Jordan Belfort: Yeah, absolutely, it did. And not just my self-esteem, my beliefs about myself and
taking action, my beliefs about self-reliance and resilience. So it really started really forming
the adult version of who I was. That like to this day I would never consider like how could I not
be successful? I'll just I'm not gonna stop until I am that sort of believing the harder
I work the more money I make, versus “oh go work in this caving hole and like, you know sit there
wait to get butter.” I'll die. I'll kill myself. I'll be the worst busboy in the world because
I'll be asleep. Try and I'm not picking up that plate cuz it's not like a sort of profit versus
energy out you, get it? So I realized who I was. I found myself pretty young and because of those
root beliefs I had about myself taking action. It paved the way for all decisions forward.
Be an entrepreneur not just in business, but in life.
When you stop looking at life from the perspective of a victim of the circumstances,
you start to realize the potential you have to get everything you want.
You just have to try different things until you find the one that works the most and keep at it.
Be bold. Take action.
And worry about making things work after you start.
If you wait for the right time, it will never come.
You will never feel prepared. You just have to venture into
the unknown anyway and start to shape your life.
Jordan Belfort: Had some very tough years and really I would add some really tough years.
The toughest years for me 2000 in 1999.
Interviewer: You're out of jail at this point. Jordan Belfort: Before jail, before jail.
Interviewer: Oh, yeah, of course.
Jordan Belfort: Waiting to get sentenced and just like living
in this purgatory and you're losing my money
my freedom my self-respect. My wife walked out. I was like she left like the day I got indicted.
Jordan Belfort: And we didn't tell the kids then. Before I had to report to jail fine, a few years
later, there's always a lot. In the U.S. it like, takes time to you to go to jail, right.
So we sat my kids down and you know daddy made some mistakes and yesterday. My daughter started
Bawling hysterically, she was about nine. It was the worst night in my life. Honestly
telling my kid. My son was seven, there just crying hysterically. Then we had that,
was the night before I went to jail. And then we, you know something, went back together.
My two kids and I, and then I left and that was. Then was in jail.
Jordan Belfort: And then when I go to jail, who's my bunkmate? Tommy Chong from Cheech and Chong.
Can you imagine this? So they put me in with Tommy Chong and not in the same jail, in the same cell
with Shanna cube together, right? We became good friends and um, it's not much for doing jail,
but tell stories. So, you know, Tommy's telling me stories, I'm laughing and I'm telling him so he's
rolling on the floor. The third night he says, you know, honestly, I thought you were full of shit.
I thought you were making this stuff up. The yacht's, my wife googled you, it's
actually true. You did all this because you have to write a book. Really? Like yes, write a book.
I don't know how to write. Just write the way you speak. It's like okay, so I tried that it didn't
work. You don't, you can't write the way you speak. It's very different. They don't translate.
Interviewer: You wrote like a hundred pages in prison and you threw it away, right?
Jordan Belfort: Well, what happened was I started writing like ten pages and show them to Tommy.
He's like that's really awful like, thanks, Tommy. Come what you really think right? So I,
at first I couldn’t write, it was just very dry and boring and I went into the prison library
after a month of trying and failing and very frustrated. I stumbled upon the book Bonfire
of the vanities by Tom Wolfe. You've read, right? Now as soon as I started reading like “oh my God,
I want to write like that”. So I finished the book that I took out my yellow highlighter.
I was a very good student at school. I was well academically and I used this book like
a textbook. And I started going through and cracking Tom Wolfe's strategy for writing.
How does he introduce characters? How does he describe locations? How does he
create cause? I'm noticing, it was certain. I didn’t even consider the word had, “had”.
Like I said, “oh now I know why my sentences don't make sense”. Because I wanna discuss
the past, past, I got to use... I didn't realize this stuff. There's a strategy for writing.
Jordan Belfort: I think some of the mistakes that people make in becoming successful, they
forget the fact that still be a specialized
skill set involved. If you want to succeed in something you might have to learn the actual
skills. So I had this idea. I wanted to write a book. I have a vision if I write this book,
it could become a great day. Okay, great. But what specialized skills do you need to know?
One of them is how to write. I didn't know, so I used this book. I taught myself to write,
then my second book was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I was like, second textbook, right. And my
writing improved dramatically because of those books. And I wrote about 100 pages. You said then
I ripped them up. I didn’t think they were good enough. Got out of jail, wrote 10 pages again now.
And I looked at these 10 pages... It's 2005. I'm like wow. I'm like, I think they're pretty good.
Whatever you need to do, there’s already a process to do it.
You have to study the best way to do something. Take action. Then take a moment
and analyze what you’re doing. What could you do better?
Which people can you emulate or take advice from? Reflect on these things and try again.
Now your result will be better, but it won’t still be the best it can be.
Repeat the process all over again. And again. And again.
Until the result is something you’re really proud of.
Until it is something you know will make the world go “Awe”.
Jordan Belfort: I'm really I'm glad I went to jail, not to be stupid. But in retrospect no,w
the life that getting caught and forcing to reexamine my values and forcing to come back
has “A” allowed me to help people all over the world. It's allowed me to really, to build a
business that I love that, you know, I can make a difference in people's lives everywhere. Also
for my own kids to see that, watch that. Like How are your kids at all? My kids are great, you
know. Why? Because they watch their father lose everything and not give up and come back and do
it right. And if I would have come out of jail as but a criminal stolen. Let me just system. What's
the next scanted? Yeah, my kids would probably be very much damaged. But for them to watch
and their dad say “I made a mistake” and do it right, that's a great role model to your kids.
Everybody makes mistakes. But sometimes your mistakes can be really bad.
They can hurt people and ruin your life. However, no matter how big your mistake is,
there is always a way to make a difference from it. You won’t be able to erase what you
have done, or the hurt you caused, but you can become a better person.
And you can give something back to the world. Atone for your mistakes.
Transform them into good actions and the light you can shine to the world.
Jordan Belfort: When you go to jail and you lose like it's losing the game of life,
you know. They would say, you know, your values don't really change that easily unless a disaster
happens. I was forced to re-examine my value system. My number one value in my 20s was
how do I make more money? I want to make money. I want power, money, hot women, sex, money power,
right? And I'm not alone like that in my twenties. But that was my values, right? Today, like,
making money is not even my top five values. And I love money more than ever. I just, cause I know
I don't have to worry about that. If I just give value to people, I possess the skills to turn it
into a profitable business. The more value I give the more people I reach the more money I make.
When you provide value,
success comes right back at you. What goes around, really comes around.
And if you putting effort to provide value to the world, value will come back to you.