Sean: What is your most favorite Top Shot moment you bought so far? What is Top Shot first? Maybe we have listeners here who don't know.

Marvin: Do you want the blockchain answer or you want the simple answer? Let’s go with a simple answer. The best way to say it ist, it's like NBA cards, but it's a video version which is online. That's it. You collect it online. That's what it is basically. You're collecting moments. If with NBA cards, you're collecting pictures printed out on cardboard. In Top Shot, it’s a digitized format which is videos. That's what it is basically.

Sean: Do you have a favorite?

Marvin: When you go that route, you can separate it as what you look at as an investment, and then what you look at as a collection. So if it’s a favorite as a collection, it would be Steph Curry. This is what I believe also, NFTs, I think will be easier accepted as an asset than other Cryptocurrencies that people don’t understand. Why? People understand that when I buy a LeBron James, I get to understand the value easily as compared to what is a Chainlink, what is an ADA, what is XRP, what is Litecoin.

It's harder to grasp the value of it versus if you look at it as a collector. So I think that the inherent value of it also will be, a lot will buy the NFT, some of them have no intention of selling it. So I'll give you an example. There was a pack drop, I think it was the rare All Star collection. So I said, if I will be able to get a Steph Curry, even if it’s expensive, I will never sell it. So I think that's the demographic that you get there also. People always think that those who enter Top Shot are all investors. Not necessarily because it is just like a condo. Not all who buy a condo, will have it rented out, some of them will live there.

So it’s the same with Top Shot. There will be a chunk of people that will buy it because they're really collectors. So it's not income generating for them. The fact that you own it, it’s a different feeling. The argument in NFTs is that it’s just a video. You can watch it on YouTube for free. That’s true, but it’s the same with the NBA cards. I can screenshot that shot by LeBron James, then I’ll print it and copy how it’s laid out. Or if you notice it also, there are those who upload their cards, right? Just use it and edit it on Photoshop, then copy it and print it. However, it does not have the same value as the real thing, the bragging rights that you own it.

So imagine this. I feel that you're into Pokemon cards, Sean.

Sean: When I was young, yes.

Marvin: I don't know anything about Pokemon cards, but the prestige of owning something that is very, very rare, but here’s the difference with Top Shot. In Top Shot, because it’s a blockchain network, people will see who the real owner is. If it’s a card, no one knows where it was stored or who bought it or where it came from. It will be hard to display how rare it is. Unlike in blockchain, everything is seen on what its value is. You can also see all the transactions.

For example, there was an artwork that was, I think, $68 million by Beeple, if I remember properly. Everyone knows that he was the one who bought the artwork. So the prestige to that, I think that's what makes it interesting. Even the Mona Lisa, there are so many fake Mona Lisa paintings that you can buy in the mall.  But it does not mean that that has any value. It's more of the rights that you own the real thing.

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Sean: What are your methods in creating wealth using real estate?

Sensei: Well, to create wealth, you actually have to buy and hold. If you think you're going to get wealthy fixing and flipping properties, you're not. You could become cash rich and it could be a great business. How do I know that? Because that's how I started. And that's what I do today. I am known for flipping properties by volume.

So for me getting into real estate back in the day, it wasn't about buying and holding. I didn't have the cash to do that. I didn't even know my own home at the time. It was about buying something. Creating value and selling it retail value. And so when you told your audience that you really need to learn and do your due diligence about the business that you're seeking, I couldn't agree with you more. Because I can tell you this as a real estate coach and instructor, most people fail in real estate because they don't study.

And that's a huge issue. You know, they just want deals to fall in their lap where they want someone to provide for them. And I won't do that. So to answer your question, you have to buy and hold real estate for the long term so that you can get the trifecta and the trifecta is cashflow, appreciation in value that asset, and the tax benefits.

And when you can take those three ingredients and intertwine them, that is a true wealth builder. If you remove one of those ingredients, you're not building wealth, you either have a tax deduction or you have something that's possibly growing in equity, or you have cashflow, but you have to have all three.

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Sean: We have a question from Myrose. Which one would you recommend for a first time stock investor?

Marvin: I won’t buy any of that. That’s true. People need to understand this, that in the world of investing, you invest in where you are confident already. And when you're asking that question, it also means that you also need to have more research. And if we answer that, they might do, “Oh, Sean and Marvin said this, we should buy this”, not knowing that that may be based on your certain conviction.

Please remember that in the world of investing, when you are starting, it will always be based on your competence. And my suggestion is, if you're looking at all of them, then invest in all of them. Try it all. And then what works for you, you put most of your capital there. But if you're asking me right now, if I'm going to invest in any of them, I won't invest in any of them because I'll buy the individual stocks instead of the ETF. I know nothing about what’s in it. So what I will do, just looking at those names, I would have to research first what’s in it because not knowing its content, it's just like putting a dart. So maybe you, knowing the connected sectors here, but I will also search for what they hold.

Let me give an example. I made a video on TikTok a few days ago about GInvest. GInvest has a global portfolio. So they have a consumer, it’s separated. I will really look for its content. So I saw that it includes Samsung, it includes Apple, it includes Microsoft, and you’ll know that this is okay. It’s not just about knowing the names of the fund, but it's knowing what’s included in the fund. Because knowing what’s in the fund, in my opinion, you still need to study if it’s okay that you want to invest in there.

But if the question is, what is allowed if you are just starting? Try everything, try everything. I started 2018 in Bitcoin but I think I’m very, very, very, very new still. So everything that can be tried, can be done in Cryptocurrency space, I try to do it. So it is fine for me to make mistakes, it’s fine for me to lose some, it’s fine if it will underperform, because my goal is to learn. So if I learn it, and then by the time, 2, 3, 4 years down the line, I get better at it also, that's when I will reap the benefits of it. But if I earn in two months, in three months, that will be a bonus for me. If I earn this week, that’s a bonus for me, but that's not my chief motivation for doing it.

So when you start practicing it and when you start trying it, from there, you will figure out if this is the fund that you should focus on. That’s when the competence also starts to build in. I'll give you a perspective. There’s a lot who jump from no background in investing, they go straight to the cryptocurrency market, which is not wrong. As for me, my background is really a stock market trader and trained in the cryptocurrency market, which is also not wrong. The way I'm analyzing things is I'm using my background in the stock market. And the things I learned like I should not buy the things that I don’t know. That what I should buy should be based on something that at least has fundamentals also.

The chart in the US market, in the Philippine market, and in a Crypto market almost looks the same. So with the difference that there is more volume and volatility in the crypto market, but the same tools that you have MACD, Moving Average, Candlesticks, Support and Resistance, analyzing the trend are pretty much still there, so I still have it with me. And if a Cryptocurrency drops, it's not something that I am scared of. It's not something that rattles me because I've built that experience also through the years. So I think that's one thing that in terms of an edge I've built through the years, because I obtained how I get past the volatility.

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Sean: We want to hear from you first. Like any other person who ends up being an entrepreneur, what was your start up journey? How did it look like?

Sensei: Oh man, I can really go into depth on this, but I'll hit some key points here. As a kid, I didn't grow up rich. In fact, I didn't even grow up with money.

My grandparents had a lot of money. My parents did not have a lot of money. In fact, I remember as a kid going out with my father on the weekends, after business hours going dumpster diving. If you don't know what that is, we're jumping in the trash cans and pulling out produce and food.

And we would throw it in the back of the truck now to me and my brother. We were young, we were a little, we thought that was the greatest thing in the world. It was so much fun to jump into a trash can and it was like an Easter egg hunt; it was like Christmas and we loved it.

But later on in life, I learned "Oh my god". We really had to eat out of a trash can at one point. And it's not because my dad was lazy or anything. Man, that guy is a hard working dude. But he was a truck driver, in that time he would work and get laid off and get work and laid off. And so it was really, really difficult. And I had a lot of brothers and sisters.

So there was one summer back in 1984, I was in high school. I was watching the 1984 Olympics, which was happening in Los Angeles, California at the time. And. I thought it sucked that I had to stay home and babysit and watch TV.

But what the Olympics did for me is saying, "Hey, you have opportunity out there. You can get whatever you want." Because the majority of those people that I watched on the Olympics came from nothing. They had nothing and they created something and here they are top athletes of the world. And I said, I'm going to do that. That's what I'm going to do.

And so with all my efforts, I got, I was into martial arts and I put my efforts in everything to where I started traveling around the United States in competition, winning championship, after championship, and then started going international to the point where they now have the junior Olympics to qualify for the Olympics.

And I got gold, silver, bronze, gold, and silver. I got five medals. And so with that, I'm now on this journey in athletics, teaching me how to channel my energy and focus in something that's positive versus focusing, which is negative, which I was doing as a kid. And so right out of high school, I took all that positive energy.

I took my focus and said, you know what, I'm not going to be like my dad where he's breaking his back, working. But not able to capitalize on a paycheck because he has to rely on his company, his boss, and all the other people that are higher up, I will build my own boat and I will make sure that my boat sails. If it sinks it's on me and I'll figure out how to get it afloat again. I refuse to work for anybody but me.

And so right out of high school, I opened up my very first martial arts business, which 33 years later next week, we're still in business. And that was the beginning of my journey.

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Sean: Thank you so much for being on the show. We have a question from Erika. How can I start stock trading in the Philippines? Very basic, but maybe a lot of people still don't know how to do that.

Marvin: It’s very, very simple. You just need a broker. I guess when you enter the stock market you need access, meaning you need a platform that will allow you to buy and sell the shares in the market. So it's as simple as opening a broker which is online. Which of course, when you open a broker, they will ask you for IDs to be able to verify who you are, then the mailing address, also the proof of where you live, and proof of billing. Then after that, they give you an account. When they start to give you an account, that’s already it.

Basically, it's as simple as that. When they give you an account already, you will have a password, then you'll have to fund it. Then as you start funding it already, that's what you can use to start buying stocks. So relatively straightforward as that, what’s needed to be studied, it's not about, in my opinion, not about starting, but it's more about analyzing what stocks fit you, and what stocks are meant for you as well. Because I think that's a bigger thing and a larger question because it’s easy to enter especially for app-based platforms where you can get to buy and sell stocks.

It’s like a game, but since it’s like a game, you have to realize that you need to study what you need to buy. So if you don't know what you're supposed to buy yet, don't get super excited because your time is long. You have enough time to be able to build the skills for it, so not as hard.

Sean: Erika asks a very basic but very profound question. How can I make a lot of money with stock trading?

Marvin: Based on what we talked about earlier that it's still based on the amount of skill that you put in. And then the term, a lot of money, I think that’s a bit subjective. For some people you would see that they are already happy with Php 2,000.00 a day, every day. That’s already okay for them. But there are people that don't get that Php 2,000.00 everyday, but in a year, they get a million pesos. But they're very, very passive also in their investments. So I think it depends also on what's a lot for you. It also depends on how big your capital is. It depends also on the proficiency that you have in it.

But this is what I've realized, that the larger your portfolio is, the more money you have also. You will notice it. For example, Sean, he doesn't care if he makes a thousand pesos, or two thousand pesos, or five thousand pesos, on a daily basis. What matters is, overall, the portfolio grows. Second is, he does not want his portfolio to drop. So what's important for him is the overall growth later on.

Because you have to realize that two thousand, two thousand, four thousand, four thousand earnings on a daily basis are all fine. But once your portfolio reaches as big as Sean with eight digits on his portfolio.

Sean: Fake news, bro. Fake news. Fake news.

Marvin: You just log it out that what’s more important is it grows larger over a stretch period of time. And then, you will notice that as your portfolio grows, it’s more important to preserve it than getting the jackpot. So I think getting those large swings and trades is very, very nice if your portfolio is smaller. But when you are in the Sean Si level already, it's more about storing that value.

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Sean: I'm wondering what other values does your culture intentionally hold on to? Aside from people over profits, you seem like you have a very strong company culture and it seems. I mean, it's four generations. "Hello, it should be right." But you know, culture is going to be built, whether you are intentional about it or not.

A lot of companies aren't. They're just like, you know, culture happens, just let it happen. Just let the employees run culture, right. Or let the HR run culture. But it has to be a top down thing where the leaders would intentionally shape it for it to be a healthy culture that people would like to work in. I'm wondering, are there other principles or values that are to your business that shape your culture?

Charlie: Our mission statement is pretty easy. It's we make everyday celebrations better for our team members and guests. And we have the word team members in front of guests for that very reason. And we have three core values that drive behavior and those three core values are the words, respect, inspire, and empower.

And again, they're pretty easy to follow, we can get in a deeper conversation around each of those three. And when we're training somebody at ABC and then we're onboarding them, we're going to go deeper. But just the high level for your listeners - respect, you know, respect yourself, respect the team members, respect the business, respect the foundation of the company, respect the guests and the vendors that come in our stores.

You know, my, my five-year-old. What respect means. So it's, it's not like someone can say, well, what does respect mean? We know the difference between right and wrong. It's pretty simple. That's all we intend it to be. We don't intend it to be much deeper than that. Just the difference between right and wrong. Inspire. Inspire people with what you're doing, inspire yourself.

And then lastly empower. We do have a culture of empowerment where we've got our rules, we've got policies. We've got our code of ethics and all of the things like that - that you have to have when you have this many team members, but there's a ton of leeway. We hire people from much bigger corporations all the time that come to us and they just see the look of all on their face after a month or two.

And they're like and they cannot believe how empowering we are and the leeway that we allow our team members to operate with to make decisions. And, and you know, it, it's certainly going to vary from area to area and time of the year and all of those things. But those three core values drive the behavior. And our mission statement really drives all decision-making. That we're going to look after the team member first, before the guests, because if we do that, then we're going to take care of the guests.

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Sean: From Mitch, what can you say about people who choose to work for free in exchange for testimonials or possible long-term employment?

I would just first assume, Mitch, about this question being a service being provided to the client, maybe you're a freelancer, or you’re maybe social media marketing as a service. So I'll answer it from that perspective. And I think that if you want to work for free in exchange for the testimonial, that would entirely depend on how well you can provide for yourself and/or your family, if you're a family person, or if you have responsibilities in paying some of the stuff at home. I would say if the testimonial comes from a very big personality or a very big company, worth a shot. But if it's just going to come from some unknown person or not well-known person, I don't think that's a good trade.

So it would depend on who will give you the testimonial. Possible long-term employment, I would say also worth a shot if the company is a well-known company, with a culture that you really want to get into, with a pay that is good for you, and with you looking at staying long-term with that company, I would say it is worth a shot. Otherwise, it's going to be a no. So if the person or the company you're going to be doing it for free is not so well-known, I'd say it's not worth it.

Also, if you don't think that you're going to be part of the board or you're going to be part of the higher up positions, why would you want to stay there long-term? So you have to first look at your end goal. What is your end goal? Before you give anything for free, you have to check it out first because you might end up always having to do that. And no freelancer or business would want to have the reputation that, oh, this guy, oh, this girl or this business, they give stuff away for free. I don't think anyone would want to have that reputation because then it’s your loss, you're not going to make money. Right? So that's what I think about it.

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Sean: I'm going to stem from what you were saying earlier, when you mentioned you trained people to already do the work for you. A lot of people miss this out, especially startup entrepreneurs when we're juggling a lot of things. And we're so phased with the stuff that we have to learn and the stuff that we have to do, and a lot of entrepreneurs want to do it themselves because they have no idea how to train and delegate properly.

A lot of people try, but find out too soon that they'd rather do it themselves because the people they delegated it to kind of burn down the job. What are some of the secrets or strategies or tactics that you have when you want to turn over some of the things that you do on a daily basis to someone else?

What are some of those principles?

Charlie: I think there's two. So first, you need to know how to do it. So before I started teaching someone how to do the fulfillment on my side business of selling supplements, I did it and I did it for months and I did all of the jobs that were associated with it. So then I can teach the right person.

And then that's the second thing I would tell the entrepreneur. Yes, you want to try to find the right person and the right personality fit who can do the job, but really whoever you hire is only going to be as good as you can train them. I would say that, just do it. You're going to make a mistake.

You're not going to hire the right person and that's fine. You start over and you do it again. But the more times you do it, the easier it becomes. I've had three or four assistants working for me. And the one I have now is is unbelievable. She's fantastic. But I learned that through the first couple that I hired and realizing that they were all great.

It was me that was the problem. And I wasn't a good trainer or I wasn't giving them the right information or I wasn't spending the time with them. So before you can truly reap the benefits of outsourcing your life. Really you, you need to either do it yourself and figure out how to do it, and then you need to train the right person.

And then I say, right person, but just do it, you know. As long as you look to hire someone that has really the same moral principles as you, they understand the difference between right and wrong, 90% of the time they're going to be just fine. And there are that small fraction of people that, oh, you just, you hired the wrong person, you made a mistake, they took the farm from you. That's going to happen. And if you live your life in fear of that happening, then you're never going to get to the place where I am right now. Which is in a pretty good spot where it outsourced a lot of things and I can get a lot of things done because it's not me doing that.

Yes. I have the knowledge to do everything that I have outsource people to do. But if all that fell by the wayside and I would have to pick up the pieces, and that is something that you need to think about and hedge against. I already understand, I know how to do everything. It's just not going to get done as quickly.

And that's totally fine, you know, because we are the - we're in charge. So if things did fall and you have to pick up all the pieces yourself, great. Do it, put it all back together, wake up tomorrow, do it again, and understand that if you keep going through that process, you're going to be fine in the end.

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Sean: Next question would be, what should be the important details included on your client contracts that are often overlooked by most companies?

All right. In SEO Hacker, we have to make sure that the payment terms are there and what the penalties are if the clients pay late. What would be the goal of the contract? Of course, first page rankings. One of the most important things as well now, during the pandemic, we added the no piracy clause, because we have found out that some of our past clients are trying to pirate people from our team. I thank God for those people who turned down those ridiculous offers by the way, ridiculous amounts of money, but they turned it down.

It's about how you treat people. It's about the culture. The culture will keep your business from breaking down because you get to keep people who are like you, who like to work with you, who love your company culture, because you were intentional enough to build it that way. Also you have to put in the breakdown of your services, the acknowledgement. What’s that called? Notary. The notary. The notary is important because if it isn’t notarized, it’s not binding with the law and you can use that for litigation. So those are some of the important things that you have to put in your contract.

JM: Just make sure that you both have your signature on it.

Sean: That’s right. Yeah. A contract is useless without a signature. And there may be some people who are wondering, why do we need a contract if we know each other and you know, we trust each other? I just want you to know that not having a contract will make things a lot messier someday when there's a breach of your verbal agreement or there's a breach of your supposed agreement. It makes it a lot messier and sometimes would break the relationship. So do what you need to have a contract that's good and binding and both of you agree with, and that is to protect your relationship. Humans cannot operate just on trust value now. Sadly. If we could, there would be no need for contracts. But not everyone has the integrity of Christ.

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Sean: What does a day look like for you with your personal growth plan?

Charlie: You schedule your priorities and then you schedule around them. And my priorities are to take care of myself physically. So I am in the gym almost every day. I think that - that's a cheat code for any entrepreneur out there. Take care of yourself, get strong and get in really good shape. And you'll be able to reap the rewards of that. And sure, you're going to look good. You're gonna feel good, but the rewards that come with or rather to the brain and your thought process, when you are working out your body physically, I think there's a cheat code. I'm also sleeping eight or nine hours a night. I'm not sacrificing that. I've done the waking up at four in the morning for three years of my life every day.

And I think it's a tool. I don't think that there's a - no, I'm not going to shout from the mountaintops that I'm right. And you need to do it this way, especially after some of the things I've already said on the podcast, right. That'd be a little bit hypocritical, but I just, I prioritize sleep. I prioritize gym time. I do CrossFit. So that's, that's my prescription and I'll say, but I'm not. I just do anything - lift weights, do orange theory, hire a trainer, whatever.

I also try to be home at a reasonable time. I got three young kids. I want to see my wife and kids every day. So if that means I'm only working, you know, physically working for 6, 7, 8 hours a day, then that means I need to find more time to work and maybe be more productive on a Sunday during nap time or a Saturday, because I want to be home on Thursday night with my kids.

And secondly, I think that we should always be looking to learn. Reading books, listening to podcasts, those are part of my daily routine, you know. Learning from the older generation, you know. Just having time to ask my dad a question because he's 67, he's been there, done that. I want to ask him what his thoughts are.

Going to read a book written by Tim Ferriss, where he has interviewed 400 of the smartest people on the planet and gives it to you in form of a book here, read this here's the Chico's the life, you know, just invest in yourself. And that's what my day looks like almost every day.

If I can't work out, I'm going to walk. I'm going to be active. I'm going to get my 10,000 steps. I'm going to. I'm going to spend time with my wife and kids, and I'm going to invest in myself with education. So then you might be asking, well, when do you have time to work? What are you doing? When are you running HR? When are you running the warehouse?

Which start internal distribution. Like when do I have time to do all that? And actually the answer is that I have trained and developed a number of people who are doing a lot of those jobs with me. So it's not all me and I think that's the secret, you know, I have an assistant that takes care of my calendar.

I invest in that. I'm not trying to do everything myself. I ask for a lot of help from people. And then when they ask for my help, I give it to them. And I know, I know that's a lot, but, and that really doesn't leave a lot of time for other things. So yeah, I don't watch a whole lot of TV. I don't go out to dinner and to parties every night.

I don't do things like that because at some point you can only turn on a number of things. You can't turn everything on, you can't be all things to all people. So those are my priorities. I first prioritize myself. If I don't invest in myself, I'm not going to be any good to my wife and kids. So once I invest in myself, then I invest time with them, and then I invest time with education and then I do some work and then I train my team and that's, that's really all I have time for because then I need to go to sleep.

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