SFR 260: Why The 'Capitalist Pig'?...

This is why I started calling myself the 'Capitalist Pig'... Besides, “Steve, will you look at my funnel...” the 2nd question I probably get asked the most is “Where do I get your shirt?” What's with the Capitalist Pig t-shirt? It's really fun to wear this shirt in malls, airports - you get a lot of scowls, and I totally get it…   It's meant to be aggressive, it's meant to be abrasive. ATTRACT YOUR TRIBE I created it to both attract the right people, and repulse the wrong people… It's NOT meant to be offensive on purpose, but it does attract my tribe without me opening my mouth. There are A LOT of reasons that I wear that shirt…. I’m NOT just walking around thinking, “Hey, let's see how we can cause some controversy today.” I believe in using controversy for the purpose of spreading a message when you have something of real value, but controversy for controversy's sake, I think it’s stupid   … it's NOT helpful - there's enough noise in this world as it is! So there's a very specific reason that I wear this shirt. I went on a two-year mission for my church, and when I came back, I had NOTHING. I was in college, (before I met my wife), and working a labor job. I worked a lot of labor jobs growing up. I worked at Discount Tire for a while as a tire buster https://youtu.be/draLFn4wvuQ I did it through a winter in Denver when everyone's switching to snow tires. I got crazy sick ‘cause the doors are always open, and it was always snowy. Another job was residential swimming pool construction + cleaning and maintenance. I cleaned a lot of pools for the Denver Broncos, the Colorado Rockies, and a ton of really famous golfers. I got to meet some really cool sportspeople…   But I knew that I wanted MORE in my life, but I didn’t know what that meant. The last day of the job… before I started college after my mission... (I’d finally learned how to learn, and how to have a goal and just move for it.) I picked up this piece of broken tile, (I still have it), and put it in my pocket It was a small piece of black tile, about half an inch, and I held it in my hand and said: I will never work another labor job again. I wanted to learn how to use my brain instead of my hands. I was driving when I heard a radio ad that said something like: "Come learn from Rich Dad how you can invest in stocks,"   I said, “Yeah, alright!” And so I went to this two- three hour evening seminar thing… As I was driving to the event, I felt kinda nervous. I was like, “What if everyone in the room's crazy smart? I didn't know that I was literally walking through a funnel , but a physical version. (I don't think I've ever told you this story?)... Inside the room, this guy was teaching some cool strategies. I couldn’t believe that you could make money without going to a nine to five! I was like, “What! I thought this was only possible for highfalutin people who had access to resources …   ….cause it takes money to make money, right?” I had so many false beliefs When they announced a three-day event where we're gonna teach you more about these strategies, I was like, “Sweet.” It was $200, and  I had about $250 in my account. It felt like this mountain of cost for me at the time cause I was working labor jobs for nine bucks an hour... But I paid the $200 and got the time off of work. On the first day of this seminar, I couldn’t believe what they were teaching. I was like, “This is insane, I didn't know you could do this kind of thing!”   It wasn't just like, “Here's this stock principle...” When I left, I was kind of on fire because of the things that they were teaching... ... but also because of the different mentality around cash. It was the first major combatant that totally ninja punched me in the face in terms of all my old false beliefs around money. WHAT ARE YOUR FALSE BELIEFS?   The funny thing about false beliefs is... you don't know you have 'em. If someone asks, “What are your false beliefs?” You’d be like, “I don't have a false belief, I only have beliefs.” Anyway, this was the first time I realized, “Oh my gosh, I believe something, and it might NOT be true.” When I got home, and I was like, "Dad!" And I just barfed all over him:   "You gotta come do this. I learned this thing, and this strategy, blah blah blah blah blah,... And my Dad got nervous that I was being kinda brainwashed. I was like, "You gotta come with me on day two, I'm allowed to bring a guest." He said, "I'll go do this with you, but it's 'cause I wanna show you that they're probably scamming you." I was like, "I get it, but just come see for yourself." Halfway through the 2nd day, guess what they did?   *They dropped a pitch for a $30,000 thing* My dad looked at me, and we said, “You know what, this is really freakin’ cool.” He's like, "I get it now. I see what they're doing." So we paid 30 grand, and went into these stock and options courses… and it's how my dad got into what he does now.   (Eventually, he stopped trading on the Nasdaq, and now he does Forex…) I don't know why, but that event seemed to set off some kind of chain reaction in me. I’d already read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, that's how I knew who he was, but anyway… I’d read Rich Dad, Poor Dad Gone to that seminar thing We were doing these courses I started reading books like The Richest Man in Babylon (if you haven't read that book, it's a great one) I read The Alchemist, (I love that book) - I’ve heard it’s Will Smith's favorite book - Super good book.   ... and I realized like, “Oh my gosh, this life is malleable, and I can do something about all this stuff?” … you probably know where this story picks up ;-) My wife and I got married, I was still taking stock classes from Rich Dad Company with my dad. I still had A LOT of mentalities about what it takes money to make money. So I was like, “Well, maybe I shouldn't do stocks and options. What should I do next instead?” When I found out I couldn't feed my wife, I called my dad, and asked, "Hey, will you lend me the cash?" And he goes, "No." He basically said, “Figure it out,” and it put me on this path to move forward as fast as possible. There were the 17 failed business attempts, and what was really happening inside my head was… I was losing these false beliefs around money and cash. MONEY IS THE DEVIL   When you read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, he says there are three different asset types: Real estate Paper assets - like stocks and bonds and mutual funds. Business. I had sooo many false beliefs around: Business Money Capitalism ... that I literally chose to try business last. That's why I was doing stock and option classes first. I didn't wanna look like I was being greedy.   How stupid is that? That's why I went into real estate afterward, and I didn't try to start selling things, even though I had the desire to. I'm saying this because I know A LOT of you are like that. Then, I finally slunk over to the third asset type… *BUSINESS* That's actually how it happened. And that's the real reason why I chose business last, and it really shows the I mentally I had at the time. HOW I BECAME THE CAPITALIST PIG I became The Capitalist Pig because… As Batman became Batman because he's afraid of bats, I was very afraid of cash, so I became The Capitalist Pig.   I mean I liked cash, and I think everybody does… If Money's The Devil, then tell me the last time you turned down a paycheck? Think about that… Money's NOT the devil.   #Misquoting the Bible. We all like the cash; we like what it allows us to do and the resources it gives us… And, I'll go religious... God has ALL the resources, he just knows how to use 'em properly. So the resources themselves are NOT the devil, it's how and what we use them for... *Intent matters* Why are you getting rich? That matters. I decided to become The Capitalist Pig to face my fear. That's one of the major reasons I wear this shirt, guys. For a long time, I was like, “Man, I'm gonna become a Capitalist Pig,” and I would say it almost like a joke. I would say, “I wanna get rich...” (and it was like a sidestep)... “...but only so I can give it all away...” “… but only so that I can do…” “...but only so that I can die poor ..” And I started trying to justify my dream. This is a lot deeper for me than just wearing an aggressive t-shirt. "Capitalist Pig" could be the name of the story that I've gone through for the last 10 years to gain the mentality that I have. Anyways, fast forward to now… There are so many reasons I wear this shirt. Yes, it's to be offensive in a jarring way against socialism, but I'm NOT against helping people, in fact, I'm very for it - and it's one of the reasons I wanna make a lotta money. I'm really against handouts. I'm REALLY against getting stuff that you did not work for. I tell people like, “Look, I don't deserve anything.” GET RICH I wrote a post about ‘Why I call myself a Capitalist Pig…’ It starts with a conversation I had with my little girls. It says: