Transcription
I've messed up big time. And the truth is that what I'm about to share in this video is something that most multi-millionaires would probably never ever want to share. They'd be too afraid and they would never make this public. But I've always been very upfront and transparent with you guys of not just my wins, but also my losses and where I've fallen short.
10 years ago, I set my personal goals and I had four things. That was it. Four big things I wanted to achieve within the decade. Now that decade is finished cuz I did that at the very beginning of 2016. It's now been 10 years and I've gone through the goals that I set for myself and not only did I fail some of them, I actually failed all of them. Every single goal I failed. These were not just goals like, oh, you know, this will be nice. These were stuff that was so close to my heart. I had it on my screen saver as my vision board. Four big things. And I'm going to share what they were and and how I failed because I actually think in business it's okay to fail as long as you learn from it and as long as you fail, right?
So, my first goal, which I had on my screen saver, was I wanted to become a dragon on Dragon's Den. That was a really big goal of mine cuz I thought, man, if I can be on Dragon's Den, it'll be really fun. I love being on TV. It's going to be great branding. I also like investing into people. So, I set that in 2016. Had it on my screen saver. worked really hard perfecting my communication skills, trying to open doors with the media, and also working on my own business, trying to be rich enough to be able to get on the show, and it didn't happen. In fact, I was thinking, "Oh, maybe it's cuz I'm too young." And then Steven Bartlett, who's younger than I am, went on Dragon's Den, which to be honest, I was pleased for him, but it was a little bit painful to see someone younger than me on Dragon's Den when that was my excuse for why I hadn't been selected to go on Dragon's Dead. So, that was the first thing. I'm in 10 years. It's not like I had the goal a year ago and it hasn't happened yet. It's like a decade.
Second goal that hasn't happened was I wanted to hit a million subscribers on this channel on YouTube. And I really badly wanted to get that million follower plaque because when you hit a million followers, you get a plaque from YouTube. And I know it doesn't really mean anything. And you can say, "Oh, it doesn't matter. It's only a plaque." But for me, that was important because it's it symbol significance and impact. and I saw other people doing it that are my friends that I'm close with. Right now at the time of recording I'm only on around half that. So it's not like oh 80% 90% no just 50%. So that's a little bit annoying.
The third thing was I wanted to get a Queen's honor because I thought that I wanted to do so much for the people of this country in Great Britain that I was recognized. Not only has it not happened but I almost feel the opposite has happened in a way because the government have actually attacked me at times. I've been talked about in parliament negatively which kind of hurt because I went from man I want to do so much for this country that I want to get a queen's honor that would be nice and had this fantasy of that happening it was on my vision board and then I begin to help people I do a lot of charity work build schools build a hospital help more people become financially free and not only do I not get any recognition I get attacked um that that was tough and now the queen's sadly passed it's never going to happen.
And then the fourth thing which hasn't happened I wanted to be on the Sunday Times rich I I wanted to make a lot of money and I have made a lot of money which is great but I'm not on the Sunday Times rich list. I don't even know how it works. I I mean to be honest that goal has faded a lot because when my net worth hit 20 million I had my net worth valued independently by an account and it was 20 million and I'm like right how much does it need to be to get on the suns rich 20 million now that was half a decade ago like then at the time when it was 20 million I told everybody I published it I'm like my net worth is £20 million and I think that's because I came from nothing. It's not some maybe it's a chip. Maybe it's a chip on my shoulder. Maybe wanting the recognition. Maybe it's because at school I failed and my teachers told me I was I was basically stupid and I didn't have any hopes or aspirations from a broken family as well. And I just wanted to prove people. I just wanted to prove the world and I just wanted to get that recognition. So I failed every goal. I failed every metric and I wanted to share that because a lot of people myself included might talk about visualization. Have a vision board, a dream board. You can achieve anything. Whilst I believe in that to a point, my personal life and my personal experience has been I had these goals, these dreams, these aspirations. And I didn't just fail some of them. I literally failed every single one of them. And at the time, I was so confident at the time, 2016. I would have put a lot of money. I would have I told people, all my friends and family knew. They could see on my phone on my screen saver. There'd be a conversation start. Oh, what's this? Why have you got the picture of the queen? Oh, that's because I'm going to get Queen's honor one day. Oh, why is why have you got dragons den? It's because I'm going to You watch. which I'm going to be hasn't happened.
So, how do you deal with failure? Well, I guess, and this maybe is myself being a therapist to myself to make myself feel better, but I guess what I would probably say is I didn't get a Queen's honor. I didn't get the recognition and the respect from the UK authorities, government that I wanted and hope for. But in a way, I think that that happened for a reason because deep down I really wanted approval, right? I wanted a stamp of endorsement from the authorities, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but actually in making £100 million in impacting the people that I've impacted in the UK and that I've helped become financially free and the businesses I've built and the people I've employed, it's actually not just I haven't been endorsed, but I've been attacked. I've been attacked by the media. I've been attacked by the BBC. I've been investigated. I've been on Channel 4. I've been talked about in Parliament. I've been scrutinized. And actually, I think that's made me a better person. I actually think that it's made me tougher. It's made me stronger. It's made me better. I've had a lot of people trying to pull me down, which has made me have to rise and get better. I've also realized that I'm the queen, God bless her soul, or the king or the government. What they think about me is actually really none of my business. And what matters is what my customers think. What matters is what my students, my investors, my staff, my family, what my church, what God thinks about me, what I think about myself. This is who I'm accountable to, not the government, not the queen even.
And what I'm more proud of than getting an endorsement or a recognition award from from the queen or anybody is the stats. is the fact that survation came into my business and did an independent study of all of my customers, all of my students on our academy, all of the people that went through the training and independently published the stats, which is that 86% of them were actively doing property investment deals within the first 12 months.
The second thing, there's a Sunday Times rich list. Again, what's the lesson? The lesson is I'm not trying to look rich. I'm trying to be rich. I'm not trying to be published on a list where I can be scrutinized. I'm not trying to have all my wealth in the UK where I'm taxed 50%. I mean, right now, if you go on my company's house, you can see my accounts and it's very healthy and it looks very, very nice. I've got millions and millions of pounds in my UK companies. Um, but now most of my wealth is being pumped into companies that are not necessarily in the UK entities, trusts, and although it might not be all for show, and actually I value wealth, but also privacy. And of course, I'm not saying I'm suddenly going to disappear off YouTube and stop giving helpful videos, but like my personal finances, my personal wealth, and my personal net worth is something that as now I'm a family man. It's something that I'm not necessarily trying to get published in places. I think um I've changed I've changed my mind.
And the dragon's den I'd still love to be a dragon on Dragon's Den, but I have removed it from my vision board. In fact, let me show you my vision board now. My vision board now is just a picture of my wife. That's it. Because if if I can ensure that she's happy, then my kids are happy. And if my family and my kids are happy and looked after and comfortable, and then I've got time, energy, abundance to be able to help other people, like that's what matters. And the interesting thing is, whilst I didn't make it on Dragon's Den, maybe it will happen one day. Who knows? But I' I've lost the itch anyway. And here's why I've lost the itch. I've still given millions and millions of pounds of my money and I've invested it into other people just because I've not done it on Dragon's Den. Okay, that would have been fun. But I've actually invested into my students. I've been able to do it on my terms and I've invested millions and millions and I've put it into deals. And guess what? We've had a pretty much a 100% success rate of deals because obviously I'll vet the deals. I'll work with the with the academy members. And the thing that I've learned is if you want to seat at someone's table, rather than waiting to be invited to the table and standing there, oh, can I be a dragon on Dragon's D? Like that's not how I think anymore now. Oh, that looks like a good table. Knockk knock. Okay. No, no worries. I'll build my own table. I think my mentality has just changed. That's that's why I changed the screen saver and just put a picture of of my wife.
So, giving out millions of pounds in through Samuel Leads Finance. And I actually think that I wouldn't have set up Samuel Leads Finance if I'd been accepted on Dragon's Den. And I actually think that Samuel Le's Finance is the business that's going to make me a billionaire. So, maybe God didn't want me on Dragon's Den either.
And then the million subscribers on YouTube. You know what? The reason I wanted a million subscribers on YouTube was actually selfish. It was about me. It was so that I could feel good. It was so that I could have the plaque. It was so that I could say I got a million subscribers on YouTube. And I don't really think it matters. What matters is is the information that I'm putting out true, authentic, is it helping people? Is it impacting people's lives? I would much rather have a hundred subscribers but then get stopped in the street by people saying I saw your videos and it changed my mentality and it's made my life better than having a million subscribers but I'm not actually impacting anyone. So it's not about metrics, it's about impact. And listen, I still want to get subscribers. So if you enjoyed this video, do me a favor, subscribe. But also more importantly, let these lessons that I've shared about my failures and how I've messed up take those lessons into your life where maybe you've messed up where maybe you were feeling, man, I've not achieved what I want to achieve and actually take the lessons from it and let it help you be a stronger, better, richer, more humble person. God blessed.