From Selling Hookah In High School to High-Ticket Sales w/ Graham Meglino

I started off probably in ninth grade and what was big at that time in my school was hookah pens. I never was a big fan of nicotine, but I learned that there's ones that had no nicotine in it. So I was like, oh, like I can do this, like not having nicotine, and also people will buy this from me. So I went on some like crazy China website. I had like a little debit card at the time and I bought like a hundred of these things. I bought a hundred for probably for probably 80 cents a piece, but I started dishing those off to kids and these kids coming from, you know, wealthier households, I was like I bet I could do 10 bucks per pen and I did.

And welcome back to the walk to wealth podcast. If you're tuning in on YouTube or any of the podcast directories, make sure to do yourself one teeny, tiny little favor and make sure to give us a follow, because I don't want you to miss out on any of the amazing guests I got coming on this year. Without further ado, let's get right into this one. Graham, for anyone who hasn't had the pleasure or the opportunity to get to meet you, like I have, man, tell us you know who you are. What do you do, man? Give us the elevator pitch, Totally so what's up?

everyone. I appreciate you having me on, john. I'm super excited for this and the elevator pitch. So I have been doing a plant-based diet for a little over six years now. It's an area of life I'm passionate about when it comes to healthy eating and sustainable habits, and it's easy for me now. It was not in the beginning. It was difficult, I made a lot of mistakes, but I'm looking to help people who are going through similar journeys and just look at it, increase their energy levels and bring more success in other areas of life. So that's sort of a little bit background about me. I'm now in the working world. I do, I work in the health and fitness industry and I'm just looking to make healthy eating sustainable and accessible to as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Amazing man. And so, graham, you're not that much older than me, so I know the time machine isn't going to be that much of a long ride. But take us back in the time machine, man. Take us back to little Graham. What were you like growing up? What was life like? What were you brought into when you were just a teeny little kid?

Yeah, totally. So. I grew up in a. I got to say I'm grateful for being as privileged as I was growing up. I grew up in a pretty wealthy town. I grew up around people that had big houses and nice, fancy cars, and I didn't really think much of it until I finally got to my adult years when I started to branch out and actually see more of what the world was. And I was grateful that I had that contrast because, to take you back a little bit, my mom has owned LauncherMats pretty much her whole entire life and I was working in those LauncherMats since the time I could walk, so probably six, seven, eight years old. I was emptying the coins, I was sorting out the bills and it was just work and that's like my first entrance into the working world. But I had these two polar opposites and I actually gave this in a speech that I gave at Ada Beacon too which is I had the super wealthy town that I grew up in, the houses and the cars and all these like nice, you know well looking families and all that stuff. And then I worked in the LauncherMats and I saw people that were not as fortunate, right, and they were living on less money and they were, you know. But I still got to interact with such a wide variety of people from such a young age and man. That was the best foundation I could ask for, because I increased my communication skills without even knowing it. I developed a strong work ethic and I just started to realize that like, hey, these people are no different, you know, they're no different. In fact, some of them were even a little bit happier than the people that I grew up with and it gave me a really strong perception of money just coming out of the gate. So I looked at the money. I was like, hey, I see that money is not the driver of happiness, because I see people in the LauncherMats that are happier than some of the people that I grew up with, even though they have these multimillion dollar houses. And I was like I want like something in the middle of that, like I want to be super happy, but I also want to have a lot of money, because I know it leads to abundance and, you know, stronger relationships and not having to worry as much. So that was such a big driver for me and it's still a driver.

So that's that foundation I'm grateful to say I had and that's that's sort of what I built off of yeah, man, and I want to touch on a couple of points, man, the first of which is you started right off the back by saying you're grateful for growing up in the wealthy environment that you grew up in. And a lot of times I hear and this gets me personally, it just irks my nerves People be like you know, I grew up in this amazing town and so beautiful, and then try to like almost guilt trip themselves for growing up more fortunate than others, like bro, like that's your upbringing, embrace that, like, a lot of people was like, yeah, you know, but we had a hard time and everyone has their journey. But you know, you know what I'm getting out of the people who, like they grew up very affluent but they feel guilty for growing up affluent, so they'll try to make it, you know, themselves feel bad for themselves for growing up affluent, like there's nothing wrong with that at all and I'm glad that you said that you're grateful for that, because that's what we're just brought into, like I just, I just see that's the cards we were dealt, man, you know nothing good or bad about that, is just, is essentially so. I love that you started off by saying that you're grateful and so, similar to you, man, I had a very wide view of the world. So I was growing up on the other end, so I grew up in the less affluent end, but I had some people that had money around me every once in a while. I remember my boy back in middle school his name is Sam. I haven't talked to him in years, but his dad's, boss's summer house was in the Hamptons. So like, just for like a little bit of context, just in the basement alone of the house in the Hamptons right, you go down the stairs and it's like six beds, pretty much Like I think they're like roughly like queen size bed or full of queen size beds they're closer to full and like some ping pong table and then you walk down to take a left, go down the hallway a little bit, take another left and there's a door to a movie theater right there Probably sat like 15 people. Then, if you get out the movie theater, keep going to take a right now and go down the hallway. You got like a sauna room, a freaking yoga room, a freaking bathroom and then you had like a full size gym, almost equivalent to like remember Carl's old recording studio in. Stanford, Probably like two of those like gym and size. Anyway, like it was two classroom sizes, like high school classroom sizes, was the gym that was just in the basement right and then out in the backyard you already had like a jacuzzi, a full size pool, a full court basketball hoop, a freaking tennis court like a full tennis court, not just like the half sided one, and then you had a go court track around the entire house. It's like I got to see what an abundance of money was like and also got to live in a lot of lack as well. But growing up, it just growing up. So I didn't really think much of it, so I didn't really know what I didn't have or what I was missing out on, because I didn't have anything to compare to. Everyone around me would just like didn't have much either. So I kind of want to touch on before we keep the conversation going. Like you said, you started working on the laundry mat from as early as you could walk and you said around six, seven, eight. So that means you didn't walk until six, seven, eight. Any comments there?

I would say from the time my mom felt safe enough to where I could push around the bucket of coins that I couldn't. I couldn't even lift up yet and I was going around the laundry mat. So that's, that's funny, dude. But probably six, seven or eight. That's probably when I started. That's probably when I started.

That's dope. And so your mom was an entrepreneur from as early as you can remember. What was like the find, like the, the family dynamic, Like did she talk about money openly to you at all or did she kind of instill cause? I feel like a lot of times not a lot of times, but sometimes people growing up in entrepreneurial households and still money tends to be a taboo topic of some sources Like what was that topic like, Totally.

That's a great question. And so my parents have been divorced since I was in second grade. So that's been. I was probably, you know, six, seven, eight years old, maybe closer to 10 years old, but my parents have been divorced for a long time. And the funny thing is my dad actually started with the one with the entrepreneurial mindset. So he was in real estate early in his life. He started, you know, acquiring some rental properties. He held onto a couple of them and kind of built up his nest egg. He's always built and made like successful. You know, he's always, he's always been building businesses for as long as I can remember, whether it be, you know, he was in high school building a painting business with his buddies and going around painting houses Like he was. Always he had that entrepreneurial spirit and with him money was like we can talk about whatever we wanted to. Like we can talk about, you know, girls, we can talk about money Like it was. It was a little bit more open with my dad, but with my mom I can tell that she didn't grow up with that entrepreneurial spirit. I think she sort of adopted that from my dad. And listen, she is the definition of like work, ethic, like she's got it, like she. To give me an idea, she still works three jobs despite the fact she doesn't really have to. So she got her main job, which she works for like an IT company, like cybersecurity. She works for the launch mats which you know, dedicates an extra, you know, 10, 12 hours a week for going in multiple days, and then she colors and styles her friend's hair on the side, just as like a little side gig, and it's like she, she just go, go, goes and she loves that. My dad, on the other end, he was always he had the idea of like, hey, how can I find the higher leverage opportunities so I can step away, still be able to make the money but have the lifestyle that I really want to live? And man, like, when I talk about that foundation, I lucked out and really like I, I adopted entrepreneurial mindset and like the creative, like okay, I can be the boss and I can bring in the money and I can have that freedom of lifestyle, but in addition, I got to work my ass off the get there and that's totally okay. So I forget the question there exactly where you, where you were asking about initially, but it was with my mom to get back to it money was. It was more taboo and it still kind of is for her. I don't know why it is. Maybe it's past wiring from her parents and her parents growing up in the depression era, I don't really know but for her. I try to talk to her about the long term numbers and what they're doing and how can we increase revenue. Like, because I love talking business, but she is a little bit more reluctant, my dad, we've always been able to kind of bounce ideas off each other in that way.

That's dope, man. So then let me ask you, man, so what was high school like? So you grew up in an entrepreneurial household. You've been working since very early on in your childhood, man. So, like, were you like starting up entrepreneurial endeavors? Like, did you have the candy bars in schools that you were selling and all that stuff? Like what was it? You know your school experience like, yeah, so it's funny.

So I'll give you a little story and I, you know, let's hope this podcast. I wanted to reach as many people as possible, but this is like something I may or may not should not be sharing. I started off probably in ninth grade I think I was in ninth grade and what was big at that time in my school was hooker pens, like a little tiny, like little, like vape pens. And listen, so I I never was a big fan of nicotine. I have never done like the jewel or anything like that. But I realized I was like, hey, like you know, I look. First of all I thought I was so cool like puffing on this, like water vapor and like blowing it out, but I learned that there's ones that had no nicotine in it. So I was like, oh, like I can do this, like not having nicotine and also people will buy this from me. So I went on some like crazy China website. I had like a little debit card at the time and I bought like a hundred of these things. I bought a hundred for probably for probably 80 cents a piece, you know, a hundred for like a bulk order, and they were good and like I took them out of the package you know I was puffing on them I was like I was like these work, like they say no nicotine, they're safe, like what. Who knows what was in them, I don't know, but I started dishing those off to kids and these kids, coming from, you know, wealthier households, I was like I bet I could do, I bet I could do 10 bucks per pen. And I did. And in ninth grade, I want to say, within the span of like a month I made like 400 bucks and I was like, oh, this is, this is awesome. So I definitely had that itch. And then I tried to figure out like, okay, maybe this is not the best thing that I should be pushing, maybe I should try to find something a little bit more legitimate. And I kind of I tried to work my way around that a little bit, but it definitely started early, just because I wanted money in my pocket and that's something I didn't have from my parents, because they're like hey, if you're going to, if you're going to have your own money, you're going to work for it. And I was like, okay, let me work for. You know, doing the jobs, working my mom's laundromat, lifeguarding, whatever it is. But I want to, I want to also figure out, you know, those, those higher leverage opportunities, like I said, and that's amazing man, and selling that in you.

And that's something Shaq said one time. He was like I'm rich, you guys aren't. And he's talking to his kids. He's like I'm the billionaire, like you guys are, I'm the one with the money. You guys have to work and I get it on your own. Of course, I'm here to support you and help you out, but this is my money, not your money. Don't, don't get, you know, start acting all privileged on us just cause we live a little bit better off. So I love that. You know. They kind of instilled that in you and you kind of you ran with it. You would like take that, you embrace that honestly. So, like after high school, where did you go from there? Cause you already had that entrepreneurial spirit and a lot of times, people who are more entrepreneurial, they're not afraid to go against the traditional track and just feel like, you know, do their own thing. So, like post high school, what did that look like for you? Did you decide to go to college? Did you decide to drop out of college? Did you decide to skip college altogether? Start your business? Like, where did it go from there, man?

Yeah, that's a good question. So I I did end up going to college and and I I didn't like it in the beginning and and I didn't like it because I felt like I was just forced into it, which I think a lot of people are. I didn't have like a trade that I was pursuing. My brother was always like a little bit more book smart than me and he was pursuing like engineering and I was like like what could I do? Could I do business? Well, that's kind of general, and I just didn't really know where to go. But in my town, which was like really it was tough cause it was just a bubble of people, people in that town were just so kind of closed off in the world. They never interact with people outside of the town that we grew up in, and that was just. I noticed that from from a young age I was like these people they can't communicate, and when they go to Chipotle they can't like look the person in the face on the other side of the cat, like I just I didn't like that and and I felt like college was an extension of that. And if you didn't go to college in my town, you were kind of seen as like the like oh what's what's, what's up with him? Like what's up, what's up with the people? Like it was just something off. If you didn't and that was like you know now, knowing what we know like you know I probably wouldn't have gone and finished Now, that being said, once again I'm grateful I went and finished. I went to school as a freshman. I didn't like it. I felt like I was just going to classes and partying and that was like all I was doing. There was no real benefit that I could see besides being on my own, which I liked. Being on my own, I felt like I was growing and, you know, trying to meet new people and stuff, but I was just, I was still closed off. So I left college after freshman year and I had no intention of going back and really I was like, hey, this college thing is not for me, it's just, it's a waste of money I can't spend. You know, I can't justify spending this much money to then come out of school and still not know what I want to do, like I got to take some time to really think about this. So that's what I did and I took a semester off and I really was just, you know, sitting arounds doing a lot of thinking and that's not always the best thing to do, sometimes Like, yeah, and then I started, you know, I got some jobs and I started working, you know, waiting tables at this one restaurant, and then I was like lifeguarding on the side, so I was at least occupying my time. But but I was thinking to myself like, okay, there's a part of me that knows that the college education piece is not, you know, worth it for me. Like the value of education, but being on my own and being able to have the experience to network with different people and, you know, join different clubs and organizations and just interact with people that I wouldn't get to interact with if I wasn't in that college environment, that's what made the difference for me. So I ended up going back to school after freshman year. I took a little semester off, went back as a sophomore, ended up finishing, you know, push myself through the academics, which never really came naturally for me because I liked the stuff that I did outside the classroom. But it was those clubs, it was those organizations, it was building up my resume and building up my references so that by the time that next opportunity came after college. I was, I was ready for it. You know, I had done some public speaking in college. I had, you know, strengthened my communication skills, my team, I built up the nice resume and I did everything I could to minimize my cost of going to college, which is I became an RA on college. So I, you know, free room and board pretty sweet. In addition, also some jobs on campus, just so I could, you know, take away that financial cost, because that was what was weighing on me the heaviest. But I'm grateful I finished. I'm grateful that it kind of set me in motion. Looking back, would I have done it Maybe not, you know, because hindsight's always 2020, but I'm grateful I had the opportunity and I'm grateful I finished really.

Yeah, and it's one of those things where, very similar to you, I did whatever I can to make the most of my experience. Now I didn't end up going back and I don't pay no, never going back. But, similar to you, I did whatever I could because my grandparents I knew they weren't going to be able to afford the college, so I didn't know what I wanted to do after high school either. But in junior year I did my common app essay, which is not really not really heard of, because I luckily well, fortunately, I want to say luckily, fortunately one of the seniors on the football team was in my couch class, so he was doing his common app essay. He was like, oh, john, you should get on this. So I was working on my common app application stuff for colleges long before my senior year. So by the time seniors started applying for colleges, I was going to accept the studies rolling in Like every other week. It seemed like almost. And then when I went to college, as I said, I made sure I made the most of it. I had the work, study, I had everything I could, because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I just knew that if I didn't have any other decisions available or options available in front of me. The best thing I could do is set myself up by getting into an opportunity where there's tons of people. So that's why I ended up going to network and learn how to live my own. And then from there I started networking. I got involved in as many things as possible. I'm this type of guy like I just throw myself and everything, and then from there, when the pandemic happened, well then I had more time that I could think of, to think Like I was living in my head almost essentially, and that's when the decision came to me. And so now to get back to your story, right? So you started as the Finnish college. You did everything you can to build up that resume, get a good career, and I know you ended up getting just cause I know you personally getting into some jobs that you didn't really enjoy all that much. That kind of sparked the seed in you to do other things with your life, man. So tell us about the story, man. You know, I'm pretty sure you know which one I'm talking to, but for the listeners, man, tell us the story.

Yeah, so. So Enterprise Renekar was the was the name of this and, listen, no hard feelings against the company whatsoever. I was. It was awesome to be able to spend the time that I did with them because in the first couple months of me working for Enterprise Renekar right after college, I learned more in that three months about like business and running a business and becoming a leader. And then I did in my entire college career and that's tough to say because man like man. So so super awesome experience and super great resume builder. But here's the thing, and from like a bigger, here's from like a bigger, like you know, third party perspective. Like me, looking down at my situation, if everyone is telling you that what you're doing is like amazing, it's probably not the right thing, because the majority of people, what do they take? They take the safe path, they take like the structured way and what everyone else does. And that was what everyone was telling me. Everyone was like, oh my God, good for you, you know you got, you got a nice job like Enterprise is such a good company and it's true. I mean they had a decent training program and they take a lot of the, you know, younger students, but it's like, oh man, and there was. There was one other thing I was going to say about that. It's like I did what I thought I was supposed to do, which is what the college and just traditional schooling, I think, prepares you for, which is like, hey, you're going to become a really good employee, and that it's like, no, like I don't, I don't want to do that. I had this entrepreneurial spark and it was kind of buried within me and throughout college and going through classes. It just kind of diminishes that spark just a little bit. But but I did what I thought I was supposed to do and I got a safe corporate job and doing that for probably the first. You know, after the first month it was quick for me. After the first month I was like, no, I can't do this, like I can't do this, and I didn't leave after that first month. I stuck out a year there because I was like, hey, like you know, I'm not, I'm not a quitter on this. I'm going to put in the work, I have a strong work ethic, I'm going to make this company look good, because they took me on and they gave me the chance to learn while I earn, which I'm a big proponent of but, but it wasn't for long-term and I knew that pretty quickly. So it kind of sparked the seed for what was to come next and and it was a fun experience and once again, you know what we have with these experiences that leads us to where we are. So you got to be grateful and you got to look back and say like, okay, that was fun. It sucked at times, but it made me where I am, yeah.

A hundred percent. So, like for me, you know, I worked at the restaurant outside in the whale, so I was there for like almost three full years, I think a little over three, four years. And so my first year was fun and all and I was working there, I was enjoying it, making pretty decent money At least what I thought was decent money at the time and then from there it wasn't until last year, so almost two years then, last year around. Now this is 2022 around, like February or March-ish around. That time is when I was like man, I got to get out of here, like I got to leave, but, similar to you, like I'm not a quitter and I had to I didn't know what the next steps were, right, so I was still working things out. Fortunately, this year in June I was able to finally leave. But you know, it's one of those things where it's like there's a bunch of different people that give a bunch of different advice. Some people will say, you know, burn the boats and just go for it. Some people will say, you know, stick it out and just keep at it forever. Some people are somewhere in the middle. For me, I stuck it out until I had an S-Egg big enough that I knew I could last for a year without having to worry. And then, from there, I pretty much just took the jump. So once I got I launched my course, I had that big jump. I was like, yeah, I'm out of here, I can't leave right now, I'm never going to leave. But I still remember June 19th was the day that afternoon I was driving over to the restaurant to go talk to the manager and tell him like, hey, I want to put my two weeks in. Man, it was probably the most bittersweet drive ever. Like cause part of me still wants to cling on, like that was A part of my identity at that point, man, I spent so much time there. There was like that summer of 2020. I probably lived there more than I lived at home. The way I was working, man, I was there all the time. In summer 2021, too, I was working a ton. So like for me, it was like super bittersweet leaving, but I'm glad I did and I'm glad I bet on myself because it's all working out for the better. So like for you, like what was that moment that kind of made you want to quit? And then, well, you already kind of told us. But there was that thing that pushed you over the edge and really made you pull the plug on everything.

Yeah, so, funny enough, it was a promotion. And the crazy part is and I want to talk a little bit about what you just said which is like the relationships part of it, like you spend a year somewhere, you spend two, three years and you build up like these really close relationships with guys and gals that like, are your friends right? They're like and that's the toughest part it's like, okay, the job's cool, I can leave the job, but it's the people that are part of the job that like that's what holds your. That's why it's so tough to leave, because you're like ah, I don't want to quit on these people, but I really want to pursue the life I want, and that's, yeah, it's bittersweet. That's the same way that I felt. So you know, it was a promotion where I was doing so well in my job. I was selling the protections on the cars, I was, like you know, bringing the cars in for nice. You know high rates and I was, like you know, getting this great customer satisfaction because everyone liked me when I would check them out with the cars and I was doing so well. And then they promoted me or at least what they call a promotion to the airport location, which was Westchester Airport at the time, and if you get promoted to the airport, it means you got your name thrown in by like one of the superior guys you know one of the top level management, and they said, hey, this kid looks like he's got some potential. I'm going to throw his name into the hat. And then they kind of pick out of a lottery of who they think is going to be the best fit for these. And so I got picked out of like a lot of people and I was like, and it felt awesome, like and I can't, you can't really say no to an opportunity, because then all the upper management is like hey, what do you like not want to promotion? Like what do you like not a part of this? Like you don't want to, you know, grow in advance. So it was literally a promotion. And then I thought to myself I was like, okay, you know, if I stay at the location I was at my home branch where I started working at with all these guys that I built up these amazing relationships we had like the dream team. It was like 96, 97 bowls, Like. It was like we had the best leader. I could ask for the best mentor, the best boss that I've ever had, still to this day. We had his, his, you know our assistant manager, who was, you know his partner in crime. They were, they played off of each other super well when they were in the office. Everything was cool, like the customer service was awesome, like there was no fires to put out. We were all just like chilling and it was so cool. And they were also super cool guys and gals that I got to work with. So I knew I was like hey, if I stay at this location, I'm never going to be able to leave, because I can't leave these guys, because they're amazing, right, and I'm doing so amazing with them. We're helping to build up. So I was like all right, I'm going to take this promotion, I'm going to see how it goes, I'm going to transition locations. And as soon as I got to the airport that first day, I was like dude, I don't want to be working in an airport. It's like noisy and there's like so many more customers and they're all angry from their flights and pissed off and this is awful and it's like so I knew pretty early on it, but it was the promotion that sparked it and I was like okay, this is my ticket out. Like I don't really know these people as well Still super cool people. That's awesome. But now that I have a little bit of distance from where I first started in this company, it's over for me. And when I first put in that two weeks and I first went to talk to my area manager, who kind of took me in and hired me initially for this job, that was a tough conversation because he was fighting like hell to get me to stay on and it didn't feel good because then he was like you know, he was being a little bit like insulting. He's like oh, like I had I had questions about you when I hired you and I was like, oh shit, sorry, dude, but it was more like you know, I cared so much about this company because they helped me to grow in so many more ways than just one and I didn't want to disappoint them. But at the same time I knew that I was like, hey, this is, you know you guys would I see long term for your lives and the fact that you, you know, are you with your wives and you have no time to spend with your family and you just don't have this freedom of lifestyle that I want. I can't. I can't stay here. So same thing bittersweet, really tough, but really really worth it for me.

Yeah, now it's one of those moments and, like I always talk about this, I feel like I talk about this too much. But like the is the hero's journey man, everything comes down to. It's like the people you know. You got to let people's dreams of you die so that yours can flourish and thrive. And it sucks to hear that your manager kind of almost kind of make you feel bad for trying to pursue better opportunities and it just goes. I said in a real the other day I was just talking about how people support you until you are at their level but never beyond, and a lot of people would try to hold you down. And for me, I don't know if I haven't experienced that yet just because I haven't gotten that big yet, or if it's because I'm just a little naively optimistic. So, like I try to I'm not oblivious to negativity, I just try to tune it out so much that I just don't care. Yeah, and it's just like. But, as I said, a lot of people for me and my family when I dropped out, like everyone was so against it, like similar to you know the way your people in your town viewed people who didn't go to colleges, how my family especially cause I was like the golden child, cause most of my cousins like stayed back and stuff. So I was like the only one who had good grades in school and never really got in trouble with anything. And I say, oh my goodness, john's going to be the first to graduate, and now some other Mendez could be the first to graduate, and you know, I gladly let them take that crown. I have other crowns to wear, but so right, so you ended up leaving enterprise from there. Man, like where did he go? I know you started getting into more entrepreneurial path, but I'm not sure exactly how it spun off after enterprise. Like where do your journey take you from there? And like what was your game plan Like after leaving?

Yeah, yeah. So probably similar to you in in when you transitioned, I built up a little nest egg at work for enterprise and I said, hey, I got this nest egg, I'm going to go move off on my own, I'm going to go secure apartment while a secure an apartment to live on my own while I was still working for enterprise. And this is like this is my, my thing of like okay, burn the both stuff mentality. Now I don't know how true that is for me, because you know, I think do we do operate when we have like no options and we like gotta make it work, which is crazy, but like we never want to do it like that, we always want to. We want to try to do it like as safe and like we don't want to rock the boat and stuff, but like sometimes you got to do what you got to do. And for me, I built up four months of saving. So four months where I could, you know, get this lease for a new apartment, you know, live off four months not making any money. So if I could give myself four months without making any money, then I could, and I start making money, then I could actually survive. And so I I signed the lease while I was still working in enterprise. I think this was right before I put in my two weeks as like, okay, like now I got to put in my two weeks because I got like a contract for money that I got to pay for this apartment. So so what I do, I put in my two weeks and I just said, hey, I gotta, I gotta make this thing work. And, and my ticket out of there was, like the career that I was looking to pursue was was high ticket sales. So that was my, my career path out of there. I knew high ticket sales because I had been through you know sales processes where people were trying to either, you know, sell me courses or sell me coaching. And I have been through you know the coaching myself and I was like, okay, this is a, this is a real industry. Like there's a lot of people that have online courses, a lot of people have a lot of valuable content that they sell for high ticket prices. If I can get in the middle of that with a company that is reputable and they have good lead flow and all this stuff, like I can I know I can do this because I I've been through it. I've been through sales process where where guys that were less charismatic than me, who sold me on high ticket, you know stuff, and so I bought a high ticket course that was about $5,800 at the time and I didn't have that much money in my account. Like I said, I was trying to save up this four months at least four months, which I probably should have saved up more in the long run and I had this $5,800 taken off my account to learn the skills to sell in the high ticket space. And a lot of people like out of context, they'll be like, wow, like $5,800. Like I can't imagine spending like that kind of money. Like that's what my family would have said if I told them. But I didn't tell them. So what? Because you know some people won't understand. You know what you go through. But then if I tell people with the context that that $5,800 allowed me to transition out of the job that I didn't like, where I was making about $3,300 per month, you know, after taxes all that to then into a job where I had more freedom of lifestyle, more flexibility, schedule and tripled my income, they'd be like, okay, I'd pay that $5,800. Like that's, that's what it was and it's like. So you know, I think that one of the greatest ways to just accelerate your path to get to where you want to go is just to learn from people who have done it, and if those people are selling their secrets, I'm going to buy it off. Okay, I'm going to buy it because I want to get to where they're at right and then eventually maybe get to further them where they're at, and that's what you do and that's just what the game is. So that was my ticket out of. There was high ticket sales and I think for anyone who's looking to go maybe into the entrepreneurial path but it's not ready to dive fully in, I think sales is a good place to start because it gives you that idea of like okay, I need to make money for myself, that's how I survive, right, that's how I make the commissions. And there's no salary, there's no steady, you know boundaries, it was just straight commission free. It gives you that that kind of uncertainty that I think all entrepreneurs feel like, hey, I'm not really sure. You know, I gotta make this work. Right, I need to make money for myself. You know, I have a have a system that I'm gonna follow, and that uncertainty is is. It doesn't feel good always, but it's. It's also the path that you take if you're trying to achieve the life that you want as an entrepreneur, and that's you know. So that's like my precursor. That's where I'm at right now. I'm trying to build that foundation. So when I do step up onto my own, then then, like I said once again, I'll be, I'll be ready for it?

Yeah, 100%. So I want to talk more about the high-ticket sales space because, similar to you, I've invested quite a bit of money in some programs as well. Like I always say, you got to pay for speed and pay for access right and pay for leverage as well, but it's like it's pay to play when you get into like real entrepreneurship and I did, I was a fine like real entrepreneurship as working on your business, not in it, not a people are just glorified. You know W2 employees trapped in a self-employed business. Yeah, a lot of people come in, usually off of a job or a career, and then they start their business and they take that same mindset that helped them grow within the career, into their business, and wonder why it never scales to when they originally dreamed of it scaling to. And so what's happening was, we know, on my heart and on my mind a lot lately. It's like exiting. Like what does it look like to sell a company? How do I build something that's sellable and that way I can get a big nest egg from that and I sell the company. It's like, even if I don't want to sell, like there's things that can be learned from companies that are, you know big and corporate like. Of course there's some things that also you could be avoided and should be avoided, especially when you go into that more of an entrepreneur space. But it's like there's things to be learned everywhere. And so you got into high-ticket sales. You invested 5,800 in a program. I was this the first ever course you ever bought or anything, because I know my first course ever bought was 500 bucks. It took me a while before I ever broke a thousand paying for a course man, yeah, it wasn't the first one, I think I paid.

I paid for a couple courses over the years, like one one was like affiliate marketing. I think it was like a 999 or 997 course, so like just under a thousand bucks. I think I paid for like a $500 low-ticket sales course prior to that. So it wasn't my first, but it was my first like real investment, where I'm like, where it kind of like shook me and like that's how you know for anyone out there, if you get that gas when you tell the price, that's how you know you probably got a good price. Like if people don't gasp at the price I think I learned this from Hormozy you want to hear the gasp, you know, because that means you're. You know, the more people pay, the more they pay attention. And that's when you start to get into the world of high tickets and like people you got to pay to play and you start to get that mindset of like okay, this is an investment myself, I'm gonna make this work or I'm gonna, I'm gonna die trying. So, yeah, that's that's. It wasn't the first one, but it was the first big one bro, that's dope.

So it's about the high ticket sales space. Man cuz, I feel like for a lot of young people that's a very realistic. A lot of people talk about like, hey, you know, you know, just you know, go out there, drive for homes and then you, you know, find someone else to give you money and you can buy your first rental property. At trying to, it's like, yeah, you could, but there's definitely a lot more steps that we probably wouldn't be able to fit in one single podcast episode. Yeah, so like, get that started. But like we're high ticket sales, I feel like that's something that's very applicable and very Feasible for someone who doesn't really have much experience, doesn't really know what they want to do in life, but knows they want to do something that's not on the traditional track, and so, like, how will you recommend someone getting started in that high ticket sales space?

Yeah, that's an awesome question and and it's funny because I mean it's it's a space that most people don't even know about. Like if you haven't ever invested in like coaching or anything like that most people don't even know about. They just think of sales. It's like car sales like that. Yeah, that's it, that's how it's all people think. But there's so many like if you, that I think the reason people get a bad taste in their mouth For sales is because they haven't been sold well, like if you've been sold well where you're like hey, this is exactly what I need, this is exactly what's gonna solve my problem. This salesperson did an amazing job at you know, getting to know me and my motivations and all that. If you're sold Well, you have like an addiction to sales because you're like oh shit, like this is, like this is a real thing, like this is a real powerful lever in my business that if I'm building a business I need to have and, and so, basically, if you are someone who you know, you're not really sure what path you might want to go, but maybe, like you're always been a people person or you just feel like you have some decent, you know, way of communicating with people like listen. If you don't like it talking to people and you just want to be like Grinding behind your computer, like doing some kind of jobs, because there's a job out there. Right, there's like programming jobs. If you're not a people person in any way, it might not be the job for you, but if you have at least a semi decent Time, like interact with people when you actually like people, that's probably a good place to start is, you can do a lot In the space and you could literally when in terms of making money online, I think this is one of the best ways to do it with a low barrier to entry. You know a low barrier to entry in terms of not building your own business. Now, granted, with that, there's a cap on what you can actually make. Right, there's a cap on. You know I've seen sales guys that bring in you know 40, 50, even 60 k per month and like that sounds great. Right, that sounds amazing. But if that's the ceiling, I don't know if it's gonna be for me long term, because you know we got big goals right and that's that's so. It's an amazing place to get started if you want to start making. You know six figures and you want to start making and listen. You might not have any intention of ever building a business for your own, and that's totally cool and this space might be for you for that reason too. It's you know it takes work to build a business like I don't think I need to tell you that, so it's like that's a real. That's a real thing and some people are not willing to go through that. But if you want to get a taste for, like, the entrepreneurial journey, the high ticket space, being able to make money from your laptop, jumping on zoom calls with people you know, having them, take them through a script, take them through a process and fine-tune your process, so you just get a better understanding of you know people and their motivations and how they talk and how to interact with them, really connect with them. It's a damn good place to start and I'm really building that foundation now. I've been in the space for a little over a year now and I am still not good. Okay and I try to tell myself that because it's true, like I, there's people that have been in sales for, you know, 20 years and I can see that there's there's a different level that they're at than where I'm at, and but the cool part is and this, this happens a business too if you can do the, the boring work and I think I also got this from Hormose, I've been listening to a lot of Hormose here yeah, if you can do the boring work and sales can be boring it can be a little bit monotonous because you're taking the same sales Process and doing it day after day. If you can do that and get really good at one thing, whatever that one thing is for you, then then it's gonna pay big dividends down the road and then you can take that skill and then transfer it into something else and then, you know, merge your skills together and then start to build something that's that's pretty amazing. So that's what I'm doing. I'm building that foundation. Not quite that good yet At least I try to tell myself that but I know that if I do it for long enough, then then I will get good.

No hundred percent, man. It's one of those, one of those quotes I heard is If you stick with something long enough, eventually determination begins to look like talent. That's good, that's really good, and it's one of those things where it's like, when it comes to business, when it comes to sales, when it comes to a lot of things, there's a lot that goes into it before it finally starts to come together, and when it does, all the outsiders would think that hey, wow, this guy's great and realize how much really went into putting on to get there, wherever it is that there is. And I was like I want to ask you too, because you're starting to do it. As I said, you're not. If I remember, you were 24, right, 24.

Yeah.

So you're two years older than me, so how has it been navigating life while having these big aspirations, while also going out on your own as well, while also working on getting good at sales and getting great at sales and all that stuff? How was just navigating life been for you, man? How have you been able to keep up working this hard? Have you been able to keep your head on the shoulders when everything in the Western society is just pretty much meant to distract you? Tax?

Tax and it's been tough. I'm not going to lie. It's been tough and I think I've had the most ups and downs in terms of my mental and emotional feelings, just like in this space that I'm now in, just like the most ups and downs Right now for my sales team. The lead flows down, so there's less appointments on the calendar. All the sales people on our team are kind of feeling that and that's been tough and you're going to have the times, whether it be as an entrepreneur or a salesperson. I think, like I said, sales is like that precursor to entrepreneurship, or at least it can be a good stepping stone. It's going to be uncertain and you got to step into that, otherwise you're just not going to last in this. And something I wanted to say before, which you just kind of reminded me of your life's not just going to change. Your life's not just going to change and that's such a tough thing to grapple with, because you're like, oh, if I just keep posting content and stuff like that and that's all important, you need to do that stuff. You need to keep working on yourself. You got to watch your sales recordings. You got to do all that pouring work. Kobe Bryant was always watching his game footage. I watch my sales calls. I don't like watching them. I'm like shit, I didn't close this deal. That sucks. I don't like it. But you got to learn from it. You got to do that pouring work and that's more. What I'm trying to learn is to just lean into that and what I was saying before your life's not going to change unless you change it. And that's such a tough thing that I'm still learning. And I got to remind myself of that, because you have these big dreams and you tell yourself that you want to achieve them, but if you don't make the calls and you don't do the reach outs and you don't tell people about what you're doing and start to build your brand around what you really want out of this life, there's not going to be a switch. That happens. It's you that's got to do it and that's a tough thing that I'm still learning, because I want to start speaking on stage is kind of similar to what you're doing. I think we have similar paths in that way and I want to do these big things. I want to build up a personal brand and I want to start to be able to get sponsorships and affiliate deals and all this stuff that I envision in my head, and I think the sales, that one-on-one persuasion that I'm learning about now is going to help me with that one-to-many type of persuasion that I love from public speaking. But it's you got to do the pouring work and you got to realize that you are actually in control of it and if you want this dream life, it's totally attainable. We know what the end goal is for both of us, we know where we want to go and we know we're going to get there. It's just the story that you want to take and the story that you want to tell about how you got there.

And that's where I'm at right now. That's deep, man. To just keep on going with that thread, man, I feel like this is a hot take. But me personally, hope is not a strategy A lot of people heard that. But also affirmations in the mirror is not a strategy. Manifesting is not a strategy. What else, chanting out loud that you could do? It is not a strategy. Visualizing is not a strategy. Hormozie says to kind of finish off on Hormozie, right, the work just needs doing. It just needs doing, man, and someone's got to do it, and no one's coming to save you. So the only option is you. It just needs doing. And so, grant man, I loved our conversation today. Man, where could we connect with you? Where could we find you at to get more of what you've got going on and to stay up to date with all the amazing things that you're putting out in the world?

Yeah, brother, I appreciate it and you know it's so crazy. I just looked at the time. I'm like what the fuck? Where did this 45 minutes go? I literally I thought we were like halfway through. I thought we were like at like 30 minutes. That's hilarious, all right, so. So, where you can find me? I post mainly on Instagram. So it's just my first and last name, graham, spelled like Graham Cracker, and then last name, maglina. You know, I'm sure we'll drop it in the in the comment section. That's where I post. Mainly is is Instagram. I'm looking to build my personal brand. I'm actually working with a brand building group at this point in terms of, you know, building up my brand in the next year to where I can get laser focused on whom, looking at target, and then slowly transition away from working for someone else and really, you know, going all in on myself. So it's going to be fun over this next year. It's going to be. It's going to be exciting, it's going to be scary and I'm already a little bit scared, but I'm ready for it. I have the right people around me and doing stuff like this always brings that energy in and really makes me feel good about where I'm headed, cause I know there's other people on that journey too, so 100% man.

Appreciate it, brother. And so now it's time for our famous five man. We're going to start off with heavy hitting questions, man. Question number one is what is the most impactful lesson you've learned in life?

That's a tough one. I totally should have watched your other podcast for like for the final five, because I don't think I've ever gotten to the and I know you always ask the same questions there the most impactful lesson? Okay, so it's and this was a book that I read. It was called man's search for meaning, victor Frankl. It's his journey through the Nazi concentration and death camps. It's not what happens to you, you know that. That defines you. It's your outlook on what happens. That's the most powerful thing. We get to choose, and this is, I think, our superpowers, humans. We get to choose how we respond and what a situation actually means to us. And if we look at stuff that has happened to us the good, bad, the ugly and say like, hey, what can I learn from this, then then we have the power to do that. That's one of the most impactful things I've learned.

What is the most admirable trait a person can have?

The most admirable trait a person can have Kindness. That's it.

If you had to change someone's life but you only had one book to do so, which book would you recommend? Huh, oh, that's a good one.

I'll tell you a book that really made a big difference for me when I was a super shy kid and trying to break out of my shell and interact with new people, was how to win friends and influence people. I think I was going to say thinking grow rich, because that also played a huge part in just opening up my mind to the possibilities, but how to win friends and influence people, I think if you have people on your side and people in your life that you can respect and people that look up to you and want to see good things for you, there's no stop on you?

What is the legacy that you're trying to leave behind?

You know, my thought immediately goes to a hermosie, where you're like oh, legacy is bullshit. People are going to forget about you in 100 years, whatever. But really, what I'm looking to do is I'm just trying to help as many people as I can in the shortest amount of time that I can. I think we have time on our sides when we look at some of these guys that are way above us. We have time right now, which is one of the most valuable assets that we have. I think the goal at the end of the day, is just to leave this world better than how we found it. If you see a problem that you say, hey, I could probably solve that, then go after it.

That's something that's calling you and that's what I'm going to do and for anyone that wants to embark on their walk 12 today, what is the first step you recommend they take?

So this is going to go back to my plant-based eating and building healthy habits through nutrition. Eat more fruits and eat more fruits. That's going to be like my tagline, for my brand is just eat more fruits, because you can remember to do that. If you start to include more healthy foods into your diet, it's going to lead to more energy. It's going to lead to you showing up in better areas of your life, and I think nutrition is one of those foundations that we can build off of. That can help anyone, wherever you're at. A lot of people they use health as that energy driver, and if we could just squeeze a little bit more energy out of the day and just show up a little bit better in whatever area of life that is, then that's what I'm going to do. That's what I'm going to help people with. So eat more fruits the next time. You see that's all you could do. Everyone loves fruit. If you don't love fruit, you're kind of weird. Eat more fruits. That's my one actual piece that I'd like to leave people with.

Amazing Grant. Thanks again for hopping on. Thank you so much for just doing this with me. I'm 100% sure people have more than enough nuggets to take away from this episode alone for the next couple of weeks from when it comes out. Man, I'm really glad we got to connect man and got to CrossPabs and I'm looking forward to what 2024 has to store for you. Man.

Same here, brother, appreciate you, and I know it's big things for you as well, so I'm looking forward to it. Thanks again.