Real Wealth Doesn’t Need To Flex | Daniel Tolson

Episode Topics:

• Learn why spending money to look successful will actually destroy your confidence.
• Discover how a coach who doesn’t own a car works with billion-dollar businesses.
• Find out the 10% rule that wealthy people use for car purchases.
• Understand the dangerous difference between real coaches and fake flexers.
• Get the blueprint for building authentic success without the flashy lifestyle.

 

Rick Jordan  

What’s shakin’?. Hey, I’m Rick Jordan, and today we’re going all in. What’s shakin. Welcome back to all in. Today we’re gonna go all in. We’re gonna talk about some awesome things. And I want you to share this out with at least three people today, because this is gonna be an incredible episode. It’s from a good gentleman, you know, I’ll start and call him that right off the bat. I just met him a little bit ago. But amazing personality, an Australian wakeboarder champion, not once, but three times, and he launched his coaching business in his grandmother’s spare bedroom. Does that resonate with anybody that’s listening out there? How you first get started with things? And Daniel Tolson, welcome, brother.

 

Daniel Tolson  

Mate. Great to be here. Really appreciate it. I was actually down in Orlando a couple of years ago, probably 15 years ago, maybe more than 20 years ago, training for wakeboarding. Beautiful place in the world.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s awesome, man. So I don’t know much about it is, yeah, and it’s beautiful here today. This is, uh, we’re actually doing a remote studio podcast today, which is our first ever, which is pretty awesome. So thanks for being our guest today. I’m curious wake boarding. You know, I know just a little bit about the sport, but what’s the deal with it? Why did you dive into it? Why is it so much fun?

 

Daniel Tolson  

It was in the blood. So my dad was a champion barefoot water skier. And on the weekends, would go down to our local river, which was the Hawkesbury River, and it’s only about 110 kilometers long, this river. And we would just ride down the river all weekend and ride home in the afternoons. And so it was always in the blood. And I, I just picked up a photo the other day, and I was on a set of water skis, and I was probably around about five years of age. So by the time I was an Australian champion, it was definitely 21 years of solid writing.

 

Rick Jordan  

Wow, that’s, that’s amazing. Man, how old do you know? 

 

Daniel Tolson  

I don’t look a day over 51

 

Rick Jordan  

I’m looking at you. I’m like, 21 years, bro, that’s a long time, man, to have to be in a sport like you. You must have started when you were, like 15 or something. 

 

Daniel Tolson  

Yeah. Well, we started water skiing. We were always on the water. So it was my dad did. It’s what my cousins did, and it just evolved. So after school, I was really lucky because we had a cable ski park. There’s a beautiful, big one there in Orlando, called Orlando water sports complex, and we had one near one of our local football stadiums. So I lived between a cable ski Park and the best river in Australia, so we were right in the mecca of that so it was just normal for us to be on the water and beautiful.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s really beautiful, for sure, I’ve never dove into that a little bit. You know, I’ve been water skiing a few times. I’ve been jet skiing a few times, which is a lot of fun. I’ve been, uh, snowboarding once, you know, if you’re talking about those types of sports, I mean, that’s an interesting topic, right? Because they’re, they’re similar, but it’s different surfaces.

 

Daniel Tolson  

Blood, I gotta tell you that I don’t like them. I was about 16. If you own a jet ski, or if you’ve ever been on a jet ski, you know that as soon as you take your finger off the throttle, you lose control of the jet ski. You can’t steer, and there are no brakes, and with a wakeboarding boat, you’ve got this huge wake behind it. So what the jet skiers would love to do—they’d love to hit the wake and launch off it, and their jet skis could go, you know, maybe five to 10 feet in the air, but they’re traveling at 5060, mile an hour when they do it. So they’d get right behind me and my brother when we’re riding. And one guy just trailed me one day, and I’d turn around. I said, Can I swear on this one? But you can imagine what I said. I told him somewhere off, and he didn’t like it. He kept trailing me, and I stuck my finger up at him, then, I just hopped off the water and wentup on the sand, and he drove his jet ski right up onto under the sand. I was about 16. He must have been about 30. I was about 70 kilos. He must have been about 120 and he just punched me right in the head. I’ll meet up, go over there. And so, yeah, I’m not a fan of jet skis after that experience.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, no kidding. Big Black aisle. Different breed of people.

 

Daniel Tolson  

Totally different breed in where I live, if there were any deaths on the water, they were always caused by jet skiers. And they are a different breed, because these jet skis, these Sea-Doos, some of these things can do 70 and 80 miles on the water, but as soon as you take your finger off the throttle, there is no control. So kids were getting killed, adults were getting killed, and they actually banned them on the river. They were that dangerous, so I’ve had my fun on them, but also seen people be seriously harmed. A friend of mine, he was riding the jet ski with his girlfriend on it. She fell off the back, and the jet of water just went we. She fell off the back of the jet ski, went right up inside of cavities and just tore it to pieces. So, yeah, I stay clear of them these days.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s interesting. You know, where my mind’s going with this conversation is pretty intriguing, at least to me. It is because you’re not in my head yet. So I’ll let you into my head. I’m almost comparing this because, you know, we’ll get into your coaching thing in just a bit, and this is probably a good segue into it, right into your grandmother’s spare bedroom. And I started to think about, like, all the coaches that you see that exist right now. Because I don’t know if I’m not on Facebook much, Instagram is my main platform, and I see all of these, you know, advertisements pop up for some sort of coaching all the time. And I tap on these just to look to see what’s going on. And almost every single one of them is pictured in front of, like a Lambo, right? Or, or like, you know, or, maybe secondarily, a Ferrari. And I don’t talk about this much unless it comes up, because I haven’t asked in Martin, you know, it’s a 2019 Vantage, and when you’re talking about, like, the difference between the wakeboarders and the jet skiers, I’m starting to compare this to, like, the quote-unquote coaches that exist in this world right now that are there, and they’re trying to present this, this image, you know, and I get it. You want to have a credibility piece that exists, like at the conference I just spoke at yesterday, when I was keynoting, my very first slide had this nice tag on a banner below it that says, like, it’s all the logos of the media appearances that I’ve had, right, because I go on global media all the time. I mean, I’m talking big global, Bloomberg News, Max Cheddar News, Nation, and even Ticker News in Australia; they’re calling me all the time, you know, which is Reuters. Now, you know, I do all these appearances, and it’s like, Hey, when I start my talks, we should establish right away. You know that in order for you to listen to what I’m saying and actually see me as somebody of authority or thought leader, we need to first establish some credibility. Right? Are you with me on that? Say, I, you know, and they’re all like, I am. That’s the reason, yeah, like, that’s the reason why it’s on there, you know. But going back to the exotic cars and all that, it’s like, my ass, and I don’t really talk about it. I did when I first got it, just because I was super excited about it, you know, I did one photo shoot with it three years ago, because I’ve had it for three years, and I used those photos maybe twice in posts. That’s it, because I didn’t get it to be like, Hey, look at me, you know. And just like, the difference between like, I almost see like, the mindset, difference between a jet skier, like they’re out there, they’re trying to blaze through things and say, kind of like, Hey, look at me. I’m doing the cool stuff that’s out there, just like the coaches. And this is where I want to segue into this, because I believe that you’re probably a pretty badass coach, and you’re not one of these guys that’s out there with a Lambo. I mean, if you have a Lambo, it’s okay. They’re actually still kind of cool cards, you know. But I think, I think you’re tracking with me as far as, like, the difference in the mindset, you know, in bringing value and then just getting things like that, because it’s fun and it’s something that’s in you like that, like a generational wake boarder, you know, versus, like, I’m going to hop on a jet ski and I’m just going to piss people off and, you know, cause some danger on the water, just like the coaches, the bad coaches, can cause danger in the coaching business and Seriously sink some people’s lives, brother, just because they’re giving them bad advice, because all of a sudden they’re like, I’m going to be a coach someday. And they haven’t done this stuff themselves, but they’re going to make it look like they have because they’re in front of a Lambo. Thanks for my rant. You got me going on something here this morning.

 

Daniel Tolson  

Let me be let me be transparent. I don’t even own a car. How’s that? Have a photo in front of everything. It’s going to be Yellow Taxi, and that’s and that’s authenticity, you know, Rick Mini. Many years ago I I sold my car. It was 2008 sold my car, went overseas, never bought one, because I know my numbers, and when you buy any car, you’re going to lose around 23% of its value the first day you own it. So spend $100,000 on a car and drive it out of the showroom; bang, $23,000 lost, and then it’s going to depreciate at 17% every year after that. So when I actually started my coaching business, I could only afford to catch the bus. That was it. I could not afford to catch the bus because all of my money had to go to educating myself. I had to reeducate myself. I had to retool like any good builder would. Got to read the tool, yeah. And then I caught the bus, and I had to make sacrifices. And I did that for many years, and then when I went back to Australia, I drove my mum’s car, and I didn’t tell my clients that I didn’t own a car. I just was honest with them. And I said, I drive my mum’s car because this is what I believe in. Until my business can sustain itself, I can’t try to fool anybody, and I’m not going to fool anybody. Me, because that’s not what my business is about. So today, it’s 2022 I catch a taxi. I can afford a car, but the reason why I don’t have a car anymore is that if I drive a car, I lose time. If I have to drive into Taipei, I’m going to lose an hour of time there and back. That hour in each direction enables me to spend quality time with my family, and I can get a driver to drive me in at a 10th of what I could earn if I was on the telephone doing deals. So yeah, if you see a photo of me in a car, it’s going to be Yellow Taxi. That’s it.

 

Rick Jordan  

I love that man, and I appreciate that perspective, because I was just having this conversation with someone else the other day. I don’t remember who it was, and it was on the way. It wasn’t on the show, but it was around where you’re devoting your time, you know. And it’s such a mindset shift to say, Well, I could hire somebody to do these things, you know. And it’s always been like mowing my own lawn, right? I live in a beautiful suburb in Chicago. Great, great home, you know, pool, backyard, all of this. And even before that, it was like when I did not live in an apartment or a condo, and I actually had a lawn, because there were many houses that I’ve had before this one. I never wanted to cut the grass. It was just something that I looked at. You know, part of it may be a little PTSD from when I was a kid, because I was, like, the de facto lawnmower kid, you know, because I was the oldest and everything. And, you know, my dad would throw me like five bucks. My parents were pretty poor, you know. He would throw me five bucks to just show the value of hard work. That was it. But I hated doing it, you know, even for that, you know. And I learned real quick. It’s like, why would you want to do jobs that you absolutely hate? And then it came down to later on in life. I’m like, the same thing. I’m like, Well, I don’t want to do this, but would I do it? Maybe, but it’s something that I put in place, because this, this lawn mower, you know, I can have somebody come out, just like you’re saying, and I don’t have to be there. I don’t have to wait at my house. I can be somewhere making money. I can be somewhere pouring into somebody’s life. I can be somewhere just fulfilling my mission, my purpose on this planet, and shifting that over takes a struggle I’ve seen too, and if we tie this back to the dudes that are taking pictures in front of the Lambos most of the time, at least, when they’re starting, because you’re like, Hey, I’m driving around in my mom’s car. I love your voice, by the way. I know I’m talking a lot. You got me going on some rants today. I’m in a good mood, man. I’m in a really good mood today. When I first started, I drove a Saturn, right? They don’t exist anymore.

 

Daniel Tolson  

They had, I’m sorry to interrupt, they had one of the best guarantees on any car that’s ever been. Yeah, they are renowned around the world. We even know about it in Australia; the guarantee from certain car companies is amazing. We don’t even sell them.

 

Rick Jordan  

It was, like, a people’s car exactly. It was made to be like, for low income, you know, reliable, and we would just want to make sure that you’re taken care of. You’re absolutely right. You know, the customer service aspect of that company was freaking amazing. And they were owned by GM, too. It was, it was a complete shift away from typical car interactions and sales process, and there wasn’t even any haggling. You know, it was like the first thing where there wasn’t any haggling; it’s like the price in the car is the price of the car. It’s as simple as that. It’s amazing. But when I first started, you know, because now I’ve got, like I said, an Aston Martin, I also have a BMW X7M, and I’ve had a Mercedes the S class. I’ve had an Audi, you know, a seven. I mean, just amazing vehicles over the years. But when I started, I was driving a Saturn, dude, you know, and trying to get the thing going. But not like one of these coaches, or anybody that’s starting a business, and, like, literally, you know, this is what’s happening. I’m gonna rent a car, or, even better, like, I’m gonna walk up to some dude’s car in a parking lot and snap a selfie of myself and then post it on Instagram being like Megan Banks today. Authenticity is the key to running a successful business. That’s the very first thing: you are presenting who you are, nothing more and nothing less.

 

Daniel Tolson  

Many years ago, I was traveling around the world teaching Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog. And he wrote a great book, and there was a great program. Yeah, he’s a top guy. I used to train his materials, and the first thing that I realized was that the average high-net-worth individual had a burn rate of about 30 days, meaning that if they were earning in excess of $250,000 a year, if they didn’t get paid within 30 days, they’d be broke. So for me, it’s about understanding these ultra-high net worth individuals and also coaching. And consulting with them, I could see the financial mistakes they were making when they were actually buying or leasing these vehicles. And so as part of being a coach, it’s also learning about life. And you get some really good lessons from your clients who are failing. They come to you, and they say, Look, these are all the things that I’ve done and I’ve failed at it. So you make a little mental checklist, don’t buy this, don’t buy that, don’t buy that, because it leads to these financial problems. The other thing for me, Rick, is my clients don’t drive Lamborghinis. They don’t drive Ferraris. Some of them drive Range Rovers. They drive Teslas, but in my community of clients, if I rocked up in a Ferrari, that would slap me in the face. I’d say, Daniel, what are you doing? We know that you can’t afford that. And I’ve got clients who are banking 100 million a year through their businesses, and they don’t drive Lamborghinis. They don’t wear Rolexes. And I borrowed one of my mates ‘ Omegas one day. Was the James Bond double A seven one? I said, I want to wear your watch. I’m gonna go on television. I want a nice watch to wear. And he gave me his omega. And then I wore it to a business meeting. And I said to the business owner, who’s my cousin, and he employs about 500 people in his business, but I consult with them, and I said, Hey, how do you like my new watch? And he looked at me. He smiled. He says, Yours. And I said, Don’t be stupid. And he goes, Good, because if it was yours, I’d slap you. He said, You’ve got to take that money, and you’ve got to reinvest it in your business. And so when I look at this generational wealth that some of these people are creating in these legacies. They go without these luxuries temporarily, and they don’t buy these things to give them instant gratification. They say we’re past that extrinsic motivation. We’re all about the intrinsic motivation. We’re clear on the influence, the impact, and the income we want, and all of our energy goes into there, and we don’t need something shiny to give us confidence. So I learn all of these lessons, and there you go. I’ve got a beautiful, big scar on my arm from when four guys tried to kill me. I’ve still got two plates and four metal pins in there. I don’t wear a watch. I’m happily married. I’ve got diamond rings, and I don’t even wear them, because in my community, the people that I work with, I’ve got clients who own billion-dollar businesses, and they don’t wear that. So I look at them, and I learn lessons, and I say, well, it’s not that important. I’ve got confidence, and that’s what I’m selling to a lot of people. I’m selling confidence. I’m selling peace of mind, and if we can do it without that, when the time’s right, all of that’s just a bonus.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s pretty awesome, man. As you were talking about watches too, I had mine sitting, and I was like, Oh, I forgot to actually put it on today. So I put mine on while you were talking. It’s just a tag. Hoyer. I have watches that are higher than this, and I’ve got one that’s lower than this guy, too. This is a cool travel piece, just because I like the way it looks. It’s got the silicone band, and I want to get into the six people who tried to kill you, because you piqued my interest on that, you know, in a little bit, because I’m sure it formed you in some way, shape, or form today. The watches I’ve always done as a, you know, I don’t have a lot. I have like, seven or eight of them right now, but I’ve got, you know, ones as low as, you know, a Vermont that was like $4,000 all the way up to a Hublot, saying blue, that’s paved in black diamonds, that was 5,000. You know, it’s freaking gorgeous, right? And there’s also one that’s really near and dear to me, and I’ll tell you why. It’s a Bulgari Octo finish email, you know, the thinnest automatic movement in the world. It’s all titanium. And I got the, got it as a special edition at the Fifth Avenue boutique in New York. That’s when I was on the Jumbotron and spoke at NASDAQ, you know. So all of these things that I picked up were like after something had been accomplished. It was like a milestone thing for me. So it wasn’t something to boost my confidence. It was actually more like a celebratory thing after something had been accomplished, after money had been made, you know? So it’s like, awesome. I don’t need to do this, but it’s something I can, and it’s something that solidifies me in the moment, so I can remember everything I went through to get to this win. And it can be done with anything. I mean, it can be done with a bottle of scotch, which I’ve I’ve done those things with. You know, this is just something I’ve chosen. It can be done with a glass of champagne, with a loved one, or any of these things, you know, to mark those moments in your life, but doing it ahead of time—that’s where people get caught up, man, and all the money goes down the toilet.

 

Daniel Tolson  

So dangerous. My first mentor, when I was in real estate, said to me, he said, Daniel, if you’re going to buy a vehicle, it should only be valued at about 10. Percent of your yearly income. And he said, Anything over that, you’re batting above your pay grade? And he said, Don’t go into debt trying to look wealthy. He said, it’s not going to work in this area. So I’m from the western suburbs, and it’s typically a blue-collar area, and these people are hard workers. You know, the area that I live in is the second wealthiest area in Sydney. But people don’t look wealthy. They’re not dripping in gold and jewelry. So where I grew up, it was a little bit frowned upon to have, you know, a fly car, 21-inch wheels. You know, you could have your subwoofers. That was all good. But, you know, big wheels and chrome big wheels and chrome wheels

 

Rick Jordan  

Was another story. But you can hear those, right? The subs?

 

Daniel Tolson  

Yeah, you can hear those from miles away. And my boss said, Look, if you’re gonna get a car, make sure it’s less than 10% of what you’re earning. And I said, Well, how much you’re gonna pay me? And he goes, I’m gonna pay you $35,000 a year base salary. I said, So how much can I get a car for? He said, Three and a half $1,000, and I’m a very literal person, meaning that if somebody who’s succeeding says, Daniel, this is a good strategy to follow. For financial security, for career security, I’ll follow it, because I look to them and say, I’ve chosen you as my mentor. I’m going to accept your advice, whether I like it or not, whether I agree with it or not. If you say this is the right path to take, I will do that. So I went and bought a very modest Ford Fairlane car. It was actually $4,000; that was the cheapest I could get. And I drove that around during my real estate career. And I would keep it clean. I’d park it out front. My customers say, I love how clean your car is. And that was it. But I was winning the business. I wasn’t in debt because of a motor vehicle, because my mentor said, Daniel, after you get the car, because you’ve got to take your customers around, then you got to buy your own property, and I’m not going to put you into sales until you’ve bought your own property. And I said, Why would I buy a property before I get into sales? Can I just get into sales now, make the money buy a property? Said no. He said, Because of a thing called empathy. He said, with no empathy, there can be no sales. Selling a house is the most stressful thing that anybody can do. Buying a house is one of the most stressful things that people can do. And if you want to succeed, you’ve got to be able to empathize with them, but you can’t go around and say, I can walk a mile in people’s shoes if I haven’t done it before. So what he did was he put me out there as a sales creator, knocked on 500 doors a week, made 500 telephone calls, did the numbers, and then once I had my deposit, he said, I’m going to invest in your first property. So you and I are going to do this together. We’re going to go get a property together. And so we bought the property, and it was stressful. It wasn’t stressful just buying, but it was all the sacrifices that I had to make. It was all the Wednesday nights that I couldn’t go out on the booze with the boys. It was all the Friday nights that I couldn’t go out chasing the girls. And it was all these sacrifices in doing all the numbers that I finally had the money in the bank to purchase my first house. And so I got the first house, and he put me in sales. Then he said, Now I’m going to teach you how to sell. And then I sold, sold, and made a ton of money. And I said, What do I do now? He said, Well, you need to buy another property. And I said, Well, you’re going to do it with me. And he said, No. He said, I’ve done that with you already; you’d go and leverage somebody else’s money. So I went and bought another property, but it was just through good choices, and especially when it came to money, instead of trying to look good, I was just trying to do the best I could in my career. And one thing I remember he said, Daniel, enthusiasm outsells experience 10 to one. He said, people aren’t going to look at your car and sign you up as a real estate agent. They’re not going to look at that. They’re going to look at you and your personality. And I I have a joke with my wife. Rick, here in Taiwan, we hear some of these cars, and I don’t know what they do to the exhaust. But some of these Mercedes that sound like an old diesel tractor going down the street, and when a guy goes down the street, he’s gone too fast. I say to my wife, I said, You know, you’re a pretty hot boy for. Does that car turn you on? She just looks at me and goes, No. So, you know, I think there’s a lot of perception. And I like I agree. If a car is important to you, and you’ve made the money, and you don’t have to go into debt, then spoil yourself; get it. But don’t do it thinking that it’s going to give you confidence. Don’t think that the car is going to get people to like you. Because if you don’t like yourself and you don’t have confidence, then nobody else will have it to get the car at the right time.

 

Rick Jordan  

For sure. I remember I was in sixth grade, and I said, What would that make me, 11 years old, something like that. And I was never the popular kid in school. And I remember. Remember looking around because I remember I was telling you that my parents were always poor. My dad was an insurance salesman in the ghetto. My mom stayed home and just watched the kids. She even had, like, a daycare in the house, like with the other people’s kids too, that I didn’t even know, not my friends you know just That’s how she supplemented income in the home. And I remember looking around and looking at all the cool kids, you know, or at least the popular kids, and like, man, he’s wearing Nikes, okay? And then Reebok Pumps came out. I don’t know if you remember those right, but I’m like, Oh my gosh, now they’re wearing Reebok pumps. And then I’m looking down at my feet, and you go, Of course, Air Jordans were out too, man. This was like 1989 1990, right at the right at the right when he was starting all of his sponsorships of these things, you know, being the spokesperson for Nike, and they had these lace locks that were on the shoes, you know, so you didn’t have to time you thread the things through. And they were like, acrylic, man. They just looked amazing, right? And I’m looking around, I see all these cool kids have these shoes, and I’m looking down at my feet, and I’m like, I have pro wings. I don’t know if you know what those are, but in the US, there’s a store called Payless shoe source. It’s been around forever, right? So Well, remember the smell of it? Oh, my God. It was horrendous. I remember this exactly, you know, because the, and, you know, that’s a whole nother discussion is, like, the quality of things and what, you know, literally, the cliche you get what you pay for. But, yeah, your feet stunk in these things and the pro wings, you know. But just looking around and seeing, like, all the cool kids had these flashy shoes, you know, Air Jordans, just other Nikes, Reebok pumps, and I’m looking out. It’s like, oh man. It’s like, this really, like, says what my class is in this world, because I’m wearing pro wings. So I was pushing hard, man, pushing hard on my parents. Like, I need Nikes. I need Nikes. I need Nikes. So they got me, like, the least expensive Nikes that could exist. And I remember trading, no joke, trading for these lace locks from for Air Jordans. It was like, I saved up, you know, five desserts for my lunch that I packed for for a kid, and I traded them, like, five chocolate cupcakes or something for these lace locks. So I had, now, I had Nikes, I had Air Jordan lace locks and everything. I’m like, Cool. Here’s me. I’ve arrived now. I’m a cool kid and dude, the thing is, nothing changed. The garage didn’t get any bad. No, my grades running. No, man. But that’s the thing. It’s like the girls didn’t wish I knew you at that time. You at that time. You would have been like, Dude, don’t buy those. Just stick with the stick with the pro wings right now, let’s build and make some real money, you know? I mean, that lesson in life stuck with me, you know. And the visualization, while it matters to a certain extent, because you can tell when somebody has their self kept together, but when you translate that to almost like a class, it’s not going to matter for you, because people can see right through it. And this is back full circle to authenticity that we were talking about. It’s like those Nikes that I begged my parents for, and those air jordan lace locks actually made me fake, more fake, rather than being more authentic.

 

Daniel Tolson  

Now we call it an extrinsic motivator. And the problem with an extrinsic motivator, if you get a pair of Nikes and a new version comes out next week, motivation is gone, because now somebody’s got a pair of shoes. IPhone, yeah, I shouldn’t show you mine. It’s an iPhone eight. I am about them. I got to show you my my iPad. I was in Sydney one day, and I was doing a presentation, and I went to take my iPad out, and it slipped out of the case, and I was in my mum’s BMW, and that fell on the concrete and it broke the screen, and I got so pissed. I was so pissed off about it. The whole day just went terrible. So I got the I got the iPad, and I had better to win because of the screen was already cracked. I went, Oh, fuck back, and I head, batted it. I don’t know why, wow, but I was angry. I was angry, and I let them, I let the rage out on the iPad, and it broke the screen, and I refused to let it go. So it’s been sitting in my drawer for about three years. And I took it down the street the other day. I turned it on, and actually still worked. And I took it down the street and they said it’s going to be, sound like Scrooge McDuck. I took it down the street, and they said it’s going to be $800 to replace. The glass. I’m like, 800 bucks worth, 800 bucks. I get a new one for 1200 bucks. And I said, just slap a one of these plastic covers on them so it’s right here as a reminder to me, Daniel, don’t lose your cool. Stay calm. Logical, and the iPad still works, and you can see all your leads. So I have a campaign, marketing campaign, and this old, broken iPad, the iPad Pro, just comes in, then I just see all the leads on it, and it’s my little reminder about controlling my emotions. 

 

Rick Jordan  

It’s incredible. Do you? Do you? Do you have a lot of those things around you? I mean, we’ve just because we’ve talked about watches, for me as being like a reminder of, like a success and a milestone moment, you know. But even, I mean, I broke it down and got all and, like, giving a glass of champagne is good, you know, whatever you know, or, or if you you know, I remember really, really early on and in my marriage that Valentine’s Days were spent at Taco Bell, because we didn’t have a lot of money either, you know, but that was, you know, or get or ordering some Chinese food, you know, we made do with what was there. So it can literally be anything. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy. But do you have those little reminders of these moments that are around you, like the cracked iPad? You’re laughing?

 

Daniel Tolson  

It’s my 11th wedding anniversary tomorrow, and literally, like in 70 minutes from now, it’s our wedding anniversary. And my wife and I were talking at dinner tonight about when we got married, and every year we have the same conversation about when we got married, because both of us have no idea of the date, so it’s normally three or four days after my mum will message me and say, Did you remember your wife’s wedding anniversary? I said, Mum, it would have been nice if you could send that three or four days earlier so you can remind me before it happens. Or our bridesmaids messages for me, Rick, I must have a little bit of alien DNA. I’ve lived out of my country consistently since I was age 22 so I’m 41 this year, so it’s almost 19 years outside of the country. But what I’ve done with my life is I’ve just created some really, really amazing memories. And it’s not that I don’t have some nice little tokens. I do. I’ve got a couple of beautiful Louis Vuitton wallets in my in my drawer as a little token, but I don’t tend to have a lot of these tokens. And I think what’s happening is with the choices that I’ve made over the years with, you know, improving my awareness and following through on my passions every day is a reminder that I’m living my dream every day. I get to coach and I get to impact lives, and that’s a huge reward. My wife says to me, she says, Daniel, you need friends. And I said, I don’t. She said, Why don’t you need friends? I said, Because I podcast, and she laughs at me, and I say, I get to meet these incredible people all around the world every single day. So for me, where I’m at in my life at the moment, I really don’t have a lot of those tokens, because I don’t tend to need those extrinsic things. I I’m a big advocate for intrinsic motivation, to finding your strengths and to play to your strengths, to find your life’s purpose and to make the sacrifices continually until you achieve your goals. And sometimes it’s like me, Rick, I want to impact a million lives. And people say, well, a million, that’s a good number. And I said, Yeah, it’s gonna take me my whole life. But the thing is, my compass is pointed in my true north, and I know that if I just keep going in that direction, I’ll eventually get there. But because I’m on the journey, I’m on the right path, I get those dopamine hits every day. I get that serotonin, I get that adrenaline, so I don’t need anything external to reinforce it, other than like we talked about before, microphones, I love microphones. That’s another story I tell my wife. These aren’t for me and these are for business.

 

Rick Jordan  

Dude, I’ve used that excuse so many times too. Still works. It’s out of a different bucket. You know, it’s awesome.

 

Daniel Tolson  

I think that’s where I am, and I love being a dad. And I think it sounds so cliche that, you know, a lot of parents say that they love being a parent. However, yeah, I’m teaching my children what I know. So the other day, I was so proud. I was our cases have gone up here on the island in Taiwan from like We’re literally at four cases for COVID, and it’s just shot up to about 10,000 and we do a hotel stay next week. And my daughter said, I don’t want to go. She’s nine and a half. She said, I’m a little bit concerned about COVID. And we said, look, it’s a family trip. Let’s go together. Me, you, Mum and Cesar, we’ll go to the hotel. And she didn’t really want to go, and she rang my wife on Wednesday night and said, Mum, I’m at grandmother and grandfather’s house. I don’t really want to go to the hotel, but I also don’t want to leave. You down. Now that’s a nine and a half saying. I don’t want to let you down. So I picked her up from school yesterday, and we’re walking home. I said, baby. I said, Mum said that you were going to come to the hotel and the resort with me and Caesar and mum, but you didn’t really want to let the family down. I said, let me ask you, what do you want to do? What do you want to do? Do you want to come with us? Or do you want to stay at school and say with grandmother, grandfather? She said, Dad, I’m the model student. Now, my daughter’s been the model student three times. She’s one of the highest grade point averages in her class in a school. And she said, Dad, this is a nine-and-a-half-year-old. She said, You know, Dad, I’m the model student. I’m a role model to the other students in my class, and I don’t think it’s wise that I go and stay at a resort for three days, because that’s not what a role model does. A role model should be in school, showing up, and doing their homework. That came out of my daughter’s mouth. And I looked at her and I said, so I’m going to support you. What do you want to do? She said, Dad, I want to be a good role model, and I want to stay at school, and so, you know, those types of things I get to have every day. And I love that, and I think that’s just so important to me where I’m at right now. Maybe in a couple of years, it might change. But I just love that part about being a dad, especially to mixed-race children. You know, I’m Taiwan’s 95% Taiwanese. There are very few expatriates here. They welcome me as a part of their community. But my kids, they look Aussie, they sound Aussie, but they think so differently because they got that culture of the Taiwanese and the Aussie in there. So, yeah, beautiful paddle off from it at the moment.

 

Rick Jordan  

For sure. Man, that’s heartfelt. That was a absolutely amazing I’m taking a look at, you know what I have prepared for me here today, and I haven’t even touched any of my questions that I mean, it’s just been an awesome conversation. I’d love to invite you back on and make this a part one of two. And we could just publish these back to back, because I want to get into your scars that you have, you know, because I think there’s some amazing stories there. I want to talk about your career, you know, especially your grandmother’s spare bedroom, which we didn’t even get into. It’s just been, this is like a GET TO KNOW Daniel Day. It’s been awesome that way. But yeah, I think we’ll bring the fire on part two and just really go gung ho into some things in life. Sound good.

 

Daniel Tolson  

100% mate. Let’s do it. We got sound. We got plenty. We’ve got plenty of stories, right? Our little preview on Friday the 13th, October, 1998 I had a major accident, and I got some bigger scars, and I think that’ll be a good conversation.

 

Rick Jordan  

All right, and that’s what we’ll start with in part two. So everyone listening, that’s going to be next week. All right, when you listen to this, all right, thanks, Daniel. Everyone can find you at danieltolson.com and at Daniel Danger Tolson. Danger is your middle name, baby? Yeah,

 

Daniel Tolson  

It’s like Austin Danger Powers.

 

Rick Jordan  

Awesome, brother. Thanks, my man, we’ll see you on the next, next month. 

 

Daniel Tolson  

Thanks, Rick!