Brad Lea Shares How And Why He’s Become One Of The Most Influential Entrepreneurs, Business Philosophers, And Success Coaches On The Planet

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The secret to success is much more simple than you might think. But it’s all about taking action. Joining us today is Brad Lea, the Founder and CEO of LightSpeed VT, a multi-million dollar global tech company and the world’s leading interactive training system. In addition to being a CEO, Brad also hosts the top-rated podcast Dropping Bombs and is the author of the best-selling book, The Hard Way. In this episode, he chats with Dan Clark to share the methods and strategies he uses to succeed. Gain over a hundred thousand or maybe even a million dollars worth of information by tuning in to this episode.

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Brad Lea Shares How And Why He’s Become One Of The Most Influential Entrepreneurs, Business Philosophers, And Success Coaches On The Planet

This is an interview with the Founder of the multimillion-dollar global tech company, LightSpeed VT, and huge social media influencer, Brad Lea. In this episode, my buddy and mentor, Brad Lea, Founder and CEO of LightSpeed VT, the world’s leading interactive training system, Host of the top-rated podcast, Dropping Bombs, Owner of multiple companies, author of the bestselling book, The Hard Way, and Ferrari-driving, cigar-smoking, and bodybuilding philanthropic family guy allows me to uncover the back stories of his life to share how and why he has become one of the most influential entrepreneurs, business philosophers and success coaches on the planet.

He’s giving us an inside glimpse into his secrets to helping generate millions for heavy hitters including Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, and Grant Cardone. He’ll elaborate on his Sacred Six truths that will help us take ourselves to the next level to become the very best version of ourselves as we take control of our lives and make more money than we ever dreamed possible.

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If you’re reading this and you think you’re an entrepreneur, guess again. If you want to be an entrepreneur, guess again. Take out a pad of paper and take some notes because Brad at the earliest age realized that you could figure stuff out. Tell us the story that might be about maybe Elvis or take us even back further to your childhood and how you realize this ability to get back up and go again, never take no for an answer, and figure stuff out.

Fortunately, I was forced to. My parents were the kind of parents that thought children should be seen and not heard. They didn’t do much except for made sure we didn’t die. They made sure we had clothes and food and we were safe. I didn’t have the dad that put his arm around me and taught me a bunch of lessons. He would tell me to figure it out myself, even when I was little.

I remember one time the school gave me a box of candy bars from World’s Finest Chocolate. They told me to go home and sell my relatives some candy bars and bring the ones that I didn’t sell back. I’m from a blue-collar family. My brothers and sisters ate half of them when I wasn’t looking and didn’t pay. I tell my dad, “I got to pay for these.” He said, “You need to go figure it out.”

I went knocking on the neighbor’s doors. After 3 or 4 doors, I realized that I need some presentation, gimmick, or something to get people to buy. I put the candy bars behind my back and knocked on the door. They’d answer the door and see a little kid down there. I said, “Do you have the phone number of a good roof repairman?” They’d say, “What?” I’d say, “Do you have the phone number of a good roof repairman? It’s because when you taste one of these, you’re going to go through the roof.”

I started selling boxes at a time. They couldn’t buy enough. Everybody is laughing and having a good time. I was 6 or 7 years old. No one taught me that. I just knew that there had to be some connection to make a sale. I wanted to make people laugh so I made that up. The next thing I know, I outsold everybody in the history of the school. Still, I don’t think they’ve ever sold any more candy bars than that.

I wasn’t aware that I was a great salesperson. I just happened to have a successful attempt at selling candy bars. 9, 10, and 11 years later, they’re telling me to get a real job. I hadn’t worked other than odds and ends. I go and get a job at this forest service thinking, “I’m going to bite forest fires if I get the job.” That’s what I applied for. Sure enough, I get the job. I think I’m a cool son of a gun. I’m going to go out, fight forest fires and be a stud. I’m picturing myself in a flannel shirt with an ax over my shoulder and a wolf by my side. I’m out to save eagle eggs.

I get up there the first day and I’m telling you, I step off the bus and there’s this big old black rubber bag of water. They’re like, “Throw it on your back.” If you pick it up, it’s heavy as hell and they wanted you to put it on your back. They told me to go up and down the mouse eyes looking for stumps that were smoldering and squirt them. It was called the piss bag.

I went from a fricking macho man firefighter to the piss bag operator. I’m the lowest man on the totem pole. I couldn’t believe it but it was $22 an hour and back then, that was a lot of money. Everybody in my family was blue-collar working. They thought, “I can’t even believe you got that job. Everybody wants that job. You are so lucky to have that job.”

A couple of days into it, I get a little patch of poison oak on my arm. I go up to the dude and say, “I got poison oak. I’m not going to be able to show up for a couple of days.” He said, “Listen, it’s part of the job.” He opened his shirt and he is covered in poison oak from head to toe. His whole body looks like a scab. I’m like, “Excuse me.” He says, “That’s part of the job.” Instantly, I quit the job. I said, “I’m not doing this anymore. You got plenty of people to replace me.”

There are four key ingredients to train somebody: good content, repetition, practice, and accountability. Click To Tweet

The next day, I know I’m going to disappoint everybody so I open up the newspaper and see an ad for selling cars. I thought to myself, “Let me go in and try that.” I go into the car dealership and get the job. I was making $6,000 to $10,000 a month. I was making more money than anybody in my family. The customers were coming to me. The best part was that two days after I started, they told me to go out and pick out a car.

I said, “What do you mean?” They said, “Go pick any car you want. You get a car to drive. They’re called demos.” I’m like, “You’re giving me a car?” They’re like, “Any car on the lot you can drive.” I went out and picked up this trans van. They had a dealer plate and stick it on there. They’re like, “There you go. There’s your car.” I couldn’t believe it.

This hard labor backbreaking nonsense that everyone told me I should get wants me to have poison oak. Over here, I’m making all this money dressing in a suit and a cologne and they want me to have a trans van. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which one’s best for me. My whole blue-collar mindset family was telling me, “Do not work on commission. You’ll never make it. You’ll never have any security. You want this other job.” They were bummed and pissed. I said, “I got this.” I started selling and that’s when I remembered that I’ve got the ability to sell clothes, influence, and persuade people.

How old were you then?

I was seventeen when I got the job. I had 3 weeks to go before I was 18 and you needed to be 18 to sell cars. When they asked me how old I was, I lied and said I was eighteen. I ran around like a big mouth and told everybody I was seventeen and they didn’t like me because I was kicking their ass. All the other salespeople were older dudes. The word got back to the boss. The boss called me and said, “How old are you?” I said, “Seventeen.” He said, “You wrote eighteen on your application.” I said, “I know.” He said, “Why’d you do that?” I said, “You need to be eighteen to get the job.”

He looks for a second and goes, “How many cars have you got out?” I said, “Sixteen.” I was two weeks in. Most people never sold sixteen for the whole month. He said, “When do you turn eighteen?” I said, “In another couple of weeks.” He goes, “Can you keep your mouth shut that long?” I said, “Yes, sir. I can.” He said, “Well then keep your mouth shut. Quit telling everybody you’re seventeen. Get out there and sell some cars.” I thought to myself, “I’m home. This is my place.” I sat there, learned to sell cars, went up through the car business, got thick skin, learned to trade, and got good at sales. A lot of people think, especially car salesmen, that they’re lying. To be good at sales, you don’t have to lie. To be good at sales, you have to connect.

It’s the transference of trust.

I say transference of enthusiasm but it’s the same thing. Transfer of confidence and trust. I kicked butt selling for a long time, popped in and out, and sold all kinds of things. I ended up about 30 years old and running a car dealership.

Where were you? Where did you grow up?

 

At this point, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada. There was a Mexican dude in the back. His kids and his family would always come in for lunch. They’re the nicest family you ever want to see. He’s a good guy. I kept telling him, “Come up front. Let me show you how to sell.” He goes, “No.” He doesn’t like sales and doesn’t want to be confrontational. I noticed that his wife and kids were always very quiet, shy, and head down. I saw him in tattered clothes. They didn’t make a lot of money. He was on minimum wage. No one else worked in the family.

I finally convinced him to show him how to sell. I brought him out front. Within 3 months, the guy was making $15,000 or $20,000 a month. That money transformed the dude into an even better guy. His wife came in happier, smiling. His kids came in laughing, joking, and running around in new clothes. He told me that I changed his entire life and it made me feel so good. I thought, “I’m going to quit my job and train people how to sell clothes and influence.”

I quit my job, went out on the road, and thought, “I’m going to build the biggest training company the world has ever seen.” I go out there and start getting jobs where they pay me $10,000 for the day. They bring in all their salesmen and I tell them what I tell them. Keep in mind, when I worked at this dealership for the longest time, I would bring people right out of Burger King or Foot Locker.

I would take landscapers or anybody and turn them into pros real quick. I knew I had the ability to do this. I saw what it did for this guy and it made me want to do it for other people. It felt so good. I run out there with all gung-ho. Within 1 month or 2, it wasn’t working. All the people I was training were not miraculously getting better. Everything wasn’t necessarily happening like I thought it would. I couldn’t figure out what is the problem.

I used to be able to touch people and within a month, they’d be good but then I can’t figure it out. I did a little research and realized there are four key ingredients to effectively train somebody. It’s good content, repetition, practice, and accountability. It dawned on me that when I used to be at this dealership, I would give repetition, practice, and accountability. I worked there 80 hours a week and was doing it inadvertently.

When I went out on the road and started talking, all I did was brought good content. I didn’t bring repetition, accountability, and practice. Once I realized that, I’m like, “I’m wasting my time and screwing my customers.” For $10,000, they’re expecting me to train their team and I can’t train their team in one day. I thought to myself, “There’s got to be a better way.” That’s when I invented LightSpeed VT, which put me on the map. I started making millions of dollars much later but it turned me into a multi-millionaire. It dawned on me looking back.

Zig Ziglar used to say, “The best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.” I didn’t realize it at the time but looking back, that’s exactly what happened. My whole life, I was out to get rich for myself. I wanted to make money myself. It was all for me. Until I helped that dude in the back, I didn’t ever think about other people but once I helped that dude and felt that way, I’m like, “I want to help other people and quit my job,” without even thinking about it to go help people.

That’s when the success started happening, the door started opening, and the success started chasing me. I tell people all the time, “It’s no cliché. Help 1 million people. I guarantee you that you will not need any help yourself. Focus on helping other people solve problems and you will get everything you ever wanted in life.” That is what happened to me.

Let’s regurgitate. I asked rhetorically, can you train someone to be an entrepreneur? Do they have to be born with that inherent ability or desire to want to fix things and help people? What you’re saying is yes. According to Zig’s quote, you can get anything in this life that you want if you’re willing to help other people get what they want. Once they have that mindset shift, they can make as much money as they dream about through service before themselves. Is that what you’re saying?

When you focus on challenges instead of opportunity, you end up talking yourself out of it, losing the nerve, and conforming. Click To Tweet

100%. There are three things that I tell people. If you master these three things, you’ll be unstoppable, mindset, skill, and habits. That’s the key to everything. Your mindset, skillsets, and habits have to be right. If you get those three things dialed in, nothing can stop you. You’ll be able to do anything you want to do.

Take us back to your Elvis story. How old were you? It still intrigues me. That’s one of your most iconic lessons. Remember, as speakers, we have to answer three questions from everyone in every audience. Number one, “Why should I listen to you?” It’s the credibility piece. “If you’re done, are you currently doing it?” Number two, “Can I do it too with my past, limitations, weaknesses and strengths?” The third question is if you look at the inverted triangle and I call it my speaker’s triangle, it forms a funnel. If you answer question number 1 credibility and question number 2 possibility, can I do it too?

You want the usability answer. How do I do it? How do I get from where I am to where I want to be? You have the credibility piece. Let’s focus on, “Can I do what Brad Lea has done? Can I do what you teach?” Take us right back to your earliest recollection that you know how to get what you want, make things happen, and figure it out.

When God was passing out common sense, he poured the whole bucket on me. I have an extreme amount of common sense. If someone else can do it, I know I can do it. That’s what everybody else needs to adopt. If someone else is doing it, you can too. Some people will argue that. “Michael Jordan can do this. You can’t do it.” Listen, we’re not talking about extremely talented people doing a specific thing. I’m talking about it in general. If this guy can get rich, you can get rich. If this guy can find love, you can find love. If this guy can be happy, you can be happy.

At the end of the day, the question is, how do you do it? Not if you can do it. Most people are stuck on the if part. I go right past if. There’s no question I can do it. The question is, “How do I do it?” I then focus on the how. Coincidentally enough, the universe starts bringing in people, books, and knowledge. The next thing you know, there’s the how. The next thing is, are you willing to do it? Are you willing to pay the price? Dreams come with a price. Abdominals, if you want a six-pack, it comes with a price. The question is are you willing to pay for it or not? If you are, then let’s get going. If you’re not, then take the jersey off and sit down. Let the players play.

I keep begging you for this Elvis story. Come on. That impresses everyone who hears it because, at the earliest age possible, you figured out how to get what you want.

I don’t think I figured it out. I just naturally had a different perspective than most people. My dad and I are driving to the mall. In the town I lived in, there was a mall called Valley River Center and a hotel called the Valley River Inn. The Valley River Inn was the nicest hotel in town. We were driving to the mall and Elvis was in town for a concert. Everybody loved Elvis. As we were driving by the Valley River Inn, I told my dad, “If Elvis is here, I’ll bet you he’s staying there. We should go visit him.”

My dad sees a little commotion over at the entrance to the hotel. He rolls up, rolls down his window, and says, “What’s going on?” Someone goes, “Elvis is here.” My dad says to me, “You’re right.” We pulled in. I’m like, “Let’s go meet him.” We walked in the door and sure enough, there was a big crowd standing by the hallway and the guards are holding people back. I said, “Let’s go.” He said, “We can’t. They won’t let you.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Look, they’re stopping us.” When I looked over, I saw the guards holding the people back but I saw openings between the legs and a clear path to exactly where I wanted to go. My dad saw us being stopped. I saw an opportunity and a path.

I wasn’t smart enough at that age to realize, “Let me break this down.” Now when I look back, you’re exactly right. My perspective was looking for opportunities. Other people look for challenges and blockages. Sometimes, you got to shift your perspective because when I looked over there, I saw openings and opportunities. I shot through the legs, went right under the rope, right past the guards, and they didn’t stop me. I walked right up to the door.

 

Elvis Presley opened up the door. He and his entourage came out. He walked by and saw this little kid standing in the hallway that was supposed to be cleared of all people. He pats me on the head and says, “How are you doing, little man?” He turned around and walked down the hall. Everybody freaked out because he patted me on the head. Elvis was a big deal back then.

At the end of the day, how did I get to meet Elvis? I didn’t see obstacles. I saw openings. It was the same picture. Think about that when you look at life. What picture are you looking at? I can look at the same situation as somebody else and see opportunities and they will see challenges. When you focus on challenges instead of opportunities, you end up talking yourself out of it, losing your nerve, and conforming.

I want to get to the inside scoop, the mindset, repetition, and preparation of you starting the most amazing legendary company, LightSpeed VT. Did you conceive this idea and then with the mindset, build it and they will come, or did you research and find that there was an actual niche need for these big-wigs investing in personal development and you came to the rescue? What was your mindset? Did you build it first and expected that to attract them or did you find out there was a need and then you accommodated that need?

It’s funny because I built it for myself. My thought was that I’m going to need a thing that’s going to allow me to give this information with repetition, practice, and all the necessary things. I built it thinking, “I’m going to put my training in here so it will work again.” I set out to help people and I wasn’t helping people. I had a problem and I solved it with this system or software. I solved my problem. What I didn’t realize is that as I solved my problem, I solved a lot of people’s problems.

Training in person one shot at a time does not work. It’s exposing people. It’s not training people. Look at the military or athletes. All actual effective training requires good content, repetition, practice, and accountability. Otherwise, they’d throw you a video of war and tell you to grab your gun and go. No. They train you over and over again. I built the system so I could deliver my training so it would work and I could help people again and feel good about what I was doing.

I went out there and it started working. I’m like, “I fixed it.” I’m starting to gain a little traction but I only got so big. I kept running into everybody saying, “We use this and that person.” I’m thinking to myself, “I’m better than them. I can help you be better than them.” There was no talking about it. I thought to myself, “If I had these people on this platform, would you buy it?” They’d say, “If you had our guy like Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Tom Stuker, Grant Cardone,” there was a bunch of people in that business, “If you had them in this thing, we’d buy.” Common sense tells me, “Go get them.”

I quit trying to sell these people me. In my mind, if you want to sell somebody something, make it easy. Don’t make it difficult. If you want Grant Cardone, go, “Let me go close Grant Cardone on using this technology.” Plus, I didn’t want to compete with all these guys. They had much bigger names and way bigger budgets so I thought I’ll collaborate with them. I started hitting up the trainers with the big names that everybody wanted and I said, “I have software that’s going to solve your problem.”

This was many years ago. No one was doing this. I said, “How about you use my software, go out, and close these deals that are wanting you instead of me and I’ll take a little piece for my niece, a little fraction of the action, a little slice because I’m nice?” They agreed. I started closing the people that teach you to close. I went in back into these dealerships and companies and said, “I got my training.” They said, “We use so and so.” I said, “It so happens, look at it now.” All of a sudden, it morphed into someone else in their training.

We started getting them business and then a couple of the trainers were like, “This is not fair. You’re out there. You know where our customers are. We don’t like this.” I said, “How about I stop being the sales trainer and focus on the platform?” They all love that. I’m like, “I’m going to lay back in the cut and help them build their stages. I’ll let them be the superstar. I’ll build the platform that supports them all.” I proceeded to go close to Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, and John Maxwell. Everybody and anybody that had a name, I was in their face saying, “You need to use this technology to train people better, faster, stronger and cheaper with recurring revenue. You don’t have to be on the road.”

You're gonna learn best by failure. Click To Tweet

I solved their problem with my software. I also solved my problem. Quite frankly, people didn’t know it but for the companies that bought their training, I solved their problem. They couldn’t afford to have the person work there every day for a year but with this technology, I could put them there virtually as if they were on staff 24/7. For a fraction of the cost, I could deliver, track, and measure interactive content. It was a win-win all the way around. That’s why it has succeeded.

Even for Top Chef and World Series of Poker, it’s unbelievable. This is such a great conversation, Brad. When I was paralyzed for 14 months and I went to 16 doctors, 15 told me I would never recover. During that period, I had friends, family members, coaches, and teammates who cared. They came up and said, “I know what you’re going through.” I used to think, “You don’t have a clue.”

Psychologists teach us that the average person talks between 100 and 200 words a minute and yet we think between 200 and 400 words a minute, which means no one ever knows everything that we think, feel, and say. Henry Thoreau was right when he wrote, “Men lead lives of quiet desperation.” We all know and could probably list 10, 20 to 100 people who blow smoke, wear giant hats, and got no cows.

The question on the table is, how did you qualify yourself to become that closet expert in so many aspects of life, Brad? Dr. Jim Rohn is famous for telling us that formal education will make you a living but self-education will make you a fortune. Let’s pull back the covers. Did you graduate from college or are you a PhD in common sense and life?

That leads to me asking you, how did you come up with your Sacred Six? If you cut through the clutter, you do have a PhD in life, sales, leadership, success, love, and happiness. I can’t compliment you enough. Let’s reveal who the real Bradley is as far as your education and how you came up with your Sacred Six before you teach us the Sacred Six.

I dropped out of school in the eleventh grade. My dad was a bit of a drinker. He came home drunk and noticed that I hadn’t mowed the lawn as he told me to do for several days. He was a little bit pissed off about it. He asked me why I didn’t mow the lawn. I said I forgot. He looked at me with that look and said, “Hit the road.” He looked at my friend that was with me and goes, “You too, slick.” He did say it a little bit differently but what he said is, “It’s time for you to go.” My dad was drunk a lot but he was a functioning drunk. Sometimes he was happy and sometimes you did not want to get his way.

This was one of the times you could see the look in his eye that there was no talking about it. I went up and said, “Can I get some clothes?” He said, “Get some clothes.” I went upstairs, grabbed a bag of clothes, left, and never went home again. At sixteen years old, I’m out on my own. I decided, “Why would I go to school? That’s nonsense.” I quit school like an idiot.

In hindsight, it’s probably why I’m the way I am. A lot of my friends who went on to college and had good families and upbringings, believe it or not, work for me or work for people like me. I went to the school of life and they went to some nonsense school where they’re learning from people that haven’t ever done it, who learned it from people who haven’t ever done it. I started learning from the people that are doing it. I started doing it. You’re going to learn best by failure.

My book, The Hard Way, opens up with death. I died when I was two years old because I drank turpentine. My dad told me, “Stay out of the cupboard.” It turns out that at two years old, I must have got under the cabinet and drank turpentine. They found me on the floor and rushed me to the hospital. The hospital said I was dead. The book opens up and says, “Death is the best teacher there is. The problem is you can’t afford the lessons.”

 

If you want to learn something, get killed by it. Trust me, you learn quickly. It’s like putting your hand on fire. You learn quicker that way. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way my entire life. I didn’t have any mentors or coaches. I wasn’t smart enough to ask for them, even if they were there. I wouldn’t listen to anybody. I thought I knew everything. If you were doing something, I knew there was a better way of doing it. There had to be. I was always that person looking to improve whatever anyone was doing. I wasn’t smart enough to emulate what everyone was doing.

After a long time and a lot of different experiences, you end up learning things. Ultimately, that developed into the Sacred Six. The Sacred Six is a matter of teaching people how to start to like themselves. Believe it or not, there are people in the world that can’t figure out why they don’t have success and it’s because deep down in their subconscious, they don’t think they deserve success. They don’t like themselves enough to be successful and demand a better relationship and existence. It’s below their awareness.

Subconscious means below awareness. It’s not even something that we’re aware of. I used to do the same thing. I developed the Sacred Six to get my way out of it. The Sacred Six builds up somebody’s self-esteem, self-worth, and self-value. People always say, “How do I build my net worth?” I say, “Build your self-worth and your net worth will follow. That’s how you build your net worth.” I’ve had people come to me and ask me, “How do I make more money?” I say, “Charge more money. That’s how you make more money.”

That becomes a self-esteem issue. “I’m not worth that for some reason.”

That’s what they end up thinking. “I can’t charge $500. Why not?” The bottom line is that it’s always this self-limiting belief. I had the same thing but I started realizing it through doing it like when I started speaking. I had professional speakers talking about the $10,000 is what they made. “One day, I’ll be able to make that but I’m going to have to speak free for a long time.” Someone called me one day and said, “What are you charged to speak?” I said, “$25,000.” I went for a long time at $25,000.

You thought, “I should ask for $50,000.”

No, because I was preparing myself for everybody else who was getting $10,000 but I’m a badass so I’m getting $25,000. Eventually, I started making a bunch of money where I don’t want your $25,000 if I have to leave my family, fly over here, and do all this. I didn’t want to speak as much. When people would call me, one day, I said, “$50,000.” They’re giving me $50,000 and pretty soon, I’m going to raise it to $100,000 and then one day $200,000.

You’re like, “No one will ever hire you for that.” That’s your limiting belief. People will pay me for that. If people are listening to what I’m saying, it’s worth it. What I say on stage is worth it. I don’t have a speech. I have a story. There’s a big difference. I don’t speak. I talk. At the end of the day, when I walk out there, I don’t necessarily have any agenda.

“What are you trying to do?” I’m not trying to do anything. I got paid to show up and tell people what I think and know and that’s what I’m going to do. I try to measure the audience and think to myself, “What is the most valuable information I think they need or should know to help them in whatever it is they’re doing?” It depends on the audience but most people are trying to make more money. They’re trying to grow and be better. That’s the easiest thing. The biggest lie I’ve ever been told in life is that it’s not that simple because it is that simple. If you want to make more, do more. That’s not rocket science.

Confidence is the memory of winning. Click To Tweet

We’re both family men. If somebody is going to pay you $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000, the limiting belief outside of your mind and our world where we know you’re worth it is saying, “Nobody would pay you that.” With the suicide pandemic being in your audience a few times and your podcast a couple of times, hopefully, with another couple coming, you talk about things that can save a life. Maybe the outside impression is that you’re all about money because you’ve got the amazing sizzle reel slow-motion sunglasses and cigar coming up on the stage with the fog machine in the spotlight pulling up in the Ferrari.

I’m telling you that when we leave your audience, you have told the stories enough that we leave as better husbands, fathers, and human beings. The Brad Lea that people might perceive on the outside with the flash and the guns is only the tip of the spear. I want everybody to know on my show that you save marriages, businesses, and lives. Your message appeals to teenagers and old folks like me who are not going to retire. We’re refiring because we still have that service before self-mentality.

You can see I’m tearing up because this is honest talk between you and me that we’ve had several times. You are the real deal. Illuminate the Sacred Six in that mind psyche. Readers, know that mindset for not just being a better human doing but becoming a better human being as a result of Brad Lea’s wisdom, knowing that he has done it. He does know. He has been paralyzed physically, emotionally, and spiritually and came out of it. Brad, you are the oracle and sage. You have so much more depth to you than just the Ferrari and cigar.

I appreciate that but if I’ve saved a bunch of marriages, I’m sure I’ve ruined a few as well. I realized a long time ago that you’re not going to make everybody happy. If everybody can understand that one simple principle, they’ll stop worrying so much about what everybody else thinks. You’re not going to be able to make everybody happy so whom can you make happy? Yourself. Start worrying more about what you think and getting validation from everybody else.

The Sacred Six gets you over time. It’s not an overnight thing but an overtime thing. It builds up your self-confidence and self-worth. The first thing that I decided that I had to do is forgive myself because I used to do some crap. When they say people can’t change, they can. I am the most ethical person I know with integrity. You wouldn’t believe it. It’s the most important thing to me.

Growing up, it was the exact opposite. I’d lie to you if the truth were sounding better. I’d go in and shoplift from stores and sell the merchandise. I was a hustler and a punk kid but people said, “People don’t change.” They can, do, and should. Here’s the bottom line. You must change to get something else. If you’re in a position where you’re not happy or you don’t have what you want, then you have to do something different. If you want to get something different, you have to do something different. To do something different, you have to believe something different. You do what you do because you believe what you believe, whether it’s true or not.

The only way to change what you’re doing, which is the only way to change what you’re getting, is to change what you believe. How do you change what you believe? There’s only one way to do it and that is to get new information. Most people wake up every day and go through life thinking they know everything. They’re not voraciously looking for new information, which means their thoughts and beliefs are not changing. Their wants and desires change but wants and desires aren’t what make it happen. Your actions and habits are what make it happen. At the end of the day, how do you change what you do? You got to change what you believe and that’s getting new information.

In my journey of getting new information, I started to make some realizations. I put six of them together and applied them. It got me to raise my value and worth to where I’m not so worried about what everybody thinks of me. I think enough of me. I don’t need your validation to know that I’m a good dude. If more people can do that, it’s wonderful. The Sacred Six is an attempt to get people at least on the path, if not all the way home.

The first thing we have to do is forgive ourselves. That’s a big one. Most people find it very difficult to do that. Everybody deserves a second chance. I don’t care what you did. It was easy for me to forgive myself. I listed out everything I did, thought about everything I did, and said, “All that’s behind me, I apologize to everybody for everything.” I’m moving forward. I’m redeemed. If you believe in God and Jesus, He says to forgive too so I’m not going to question that. I can forgive. I went ahead and forgave myself.

 

Let me add to that. What they say is if you hold a grudge and remain angry, it’s like you are drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Forgiveness is the most healing thing for the self. Also, forgiving people who don’t even deserve to be forgiven so that we can let go and stop it from festering inside of us. I wanted to honor that. What a perfect place to begin. Forgive yourself.

That’s the hardest one to do for a lot of people. Forgive yourself and others so you have a clean slate. The next thing you do is commit. It’s a decision. All you do is commit to doing what you say you’re going to do. A lot of people get anxious over that. Here’s what I tell you. You get to decide what you agree to. Stop agreeing to everything. Say no more often but when you commit to doing something, you make sure you do it. More importantly than everybody else in the world, you commit to doing what you say you’re going to do. If you say you’re going to start a diet on Monday, start a diet on Monday. When you commit, you have to do it. That’s important because it will chip away at your self-esteem if you don’t follow through on your promises to yourself. It reinforces that you’re not worth it.

What happens is the subconscious mind is saying, “This guy is not worth a better life and money. This guy doesn’t even keep his word and promises. He’s a liar, thief, cheater, and fraud. He’s running around acting like he’s somebody he’s not. He knows he’s not,” which is the funniest thing. “Why are you acting like someone you’re not?” “To impress other people.” It’s madness. It’s like, “Quit worrying about everybody else. Start figuring out who you are and then start to like yourself. Once you like yourself, everybody else doesn’t matter as much.” Commit to doing what you say you’re going to do.

Step three is to rack up the wins. Think about what confidence is. Confidence is the memory of winning. If I got in 100 fights, I would be much more confident getting into the next 100 fights. If I lost all those fights, I would be much less confident going into the next 100 fights. This is not rocket science. I like to keep things simple but everybody says, “It’s not that simple.” Yes, it is. If you know that the memory of winning is what equals confidence, how come we don’t win more often?

Here’s the crazy part. We decide what a win is. If I say, “Getting up in the morning and jogging for ten minutes is a win.” Someone else that’s all ripped up says, “That’s not a win.” Why are you letting their opinion invalidate yours? If you decide it’s a win, then it’s a win and you get to decide. Lower what you believe a win is so you can start winning all day, every day. I’m a winner because every day, all day I’m winning. People say, “What are you smoking cigars for?” I get to smoke a $100 cigar anytime I want to. To me, when I smoke a cigar, that’s a win.

George Burns was on his 11th or 12th cigar by noon every day. Some days he would smoke twenty cigars. Johnny Carson asked him on The Tonight Show, “What does your doctor say?” He says, “My doctor is dead.” He was 95, 96, or 99. I can’t remember. Good for you.

You rack up the wins regularly every day, all day. Big stretch goals are good but for the long term. Look at today. Don’t worry about tomorrow. “What can you do to make a win?’ “I can make my bed, brush my teeth, work out, eat right, make 1 more call or 1 more sale.” You decide what those are. Make decisions, intentionally win, and acknowledge your win every single day. Pretty soon, the days are going by and you’re winning all day, every day. Believe it or not, you start to stand a little taller, smile a little brighter, and feel a little bit different like you were a winner. You start feeling like you deserve more and you do.

That’s the crazy part. You do deserve more but now you start to feel like it. That’s where step four comes in. Step four is where most people slide back down. Step four is to get rid of all the idiots, anyone that wants to tell you that you’re doing stuff wrong. “I liked you the old way. Who do you think you are? You didn’t even graduate high school. Do you think you’re going to be a millionaire? You’re listening to these gurus.”

You got to get rid of all the negativity that comes into your head because what you plant will grow. If you plant wheat, wheat grows. Thinking something else will grow is stupid. If you believe letting negative things in will produce positive things, you’re wrong. You have to let positive in and then the positive grows. Block what’s coming in by step four, which is to get rid of the idiots. That’s what I say but it’s to get rid of all the negativity.

What you focus on grows. So just focus on three things: your health, relationships, and money. Everything falls into those three buckets. Click To Tweet

Step five is mapping out and visualizing exactly what success looks like to you. Everybody wants to know what’s the key to success. There is no key. It’s a combination and everybody has their own. That’s why you see a lot of rich people commit suicide because they didn’t figure out what success looked like for them. They thought it was money because their family or someone else did. You got to map out and visualize what success looks like for you regularly. Visualize, feel what it’s like, and know exactly where you’re going so that every day, all day, you’ve got a compass.

If every decision you made were better, your life would be better. Our life boils down to our choices. The choices we make determine the road we take. That’s the bottom line. If that’s the truth, which I believe it is, then I need to make better choices. “How do I make better choices?” Simply ask one question but you have to know where you’re going to do this. That’s why you need to map out and visualize so you know where you want to be.

With every decision that comes down your way, simply ask yourself, “Does this move me towards that or away from that?” Everything you do will move you towards that or away from that. That’s it. You make better decisions by mapping out and visualizing where you’re going. Run it by the filter of, “Does this move me towards or away?” All day long, I’m like, “Towards or away.” You find yourself making better and smarter choices.

All of a sudden, things are starting to change and turn around. You start to feel good about yourself and achieve more. When you start to think you deserve more, miraculously, you start to do more. What it boils down to is if you want more, do more. It’s three things. If you want more, you got to do more, get better, and scale. It can’t be that simple. It is that simple. I’ve done it. I can show people how to do it. I’ve shown people how to do it.

I had a guy one time tell me, “Brad, I want you to coach me.” I said, “I don’t coach people.” He said, “I’ll give you $100,000.” I said, “When do you want to start?” He wired me $100,000. I said, “What do you do?” He tells me what he does. I said, “Tell me how that happens.” He says, “I set appointments on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then closed deals on Thursday and Friday.” I’m like, “How much do you make in a year?” He says, “About $700,000.” I’m like, “That’s pretty good. You’re doing that closing two days a week?” He says, “Yeah.”

I said, “Why don’t you close five days a week?” He says, “I got to make the appointments.” I said, “Why do you have to make the appointments?” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Hire a virtual assistant for $150 a week. They’ll call people on LinkedIn and do anything. All you got to do is train them on how to set the appointment. You can spend five days a week closing the appointments that someone else is setting.” He looked like a ghost and said, “I got to go.” He went from $700,000 to $2.6 million in 1 year. He cannot stop talking about it. All I said was, “Ultimately, do more than you’re doing.” He hired somebody. That was not rocket science.

The sixth one is to seek new information regularly. Most people do not realize that to change what you’re doing, you have to change what you believe. That’s the only way to change what you believe. Regularly, you need to seek new information. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think I need some new information. Pick up a book, the Bible, or the Quran. Get some new information. If you already know it, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about new information. What you know now is causing you to do what you do now. You need new information.

Those are the Sacred Six. You forgive yourself, commit to doing what you say you’re going to do, rack up the wins regularly, get rid of all the negative idiots in your life, map out and visualize exactly where you want to go, seek new information every single day, and then wait. If you do that over 90 days, you will change your entire perspective. When it boils down to the bottom line, that’s the difference between happiness and depression perspective. Do you ever hear of, “I was pissed off that I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet?” That’s perspective.

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Brad Lea from Dropping Bombs, a top podcast in the world. You received over $100,000 worth of information, maybe $1 million worth of information if you’re willing to take action. I encourage you to follow him. Join his tribe and share this episode with everyone in the sound of your reach.

 

Brad Lea is always present at the moment. When he’s having breakfast, he doesn’t check his phone. He doesn’t say hi to people walking by and everybody wants their picture. Everybody wants a little piece of Brad when he gets through speaking at some great event. In this episode, the bottom line is that Brad reminded us that all we can only answer is where we are now. It’s like ordering an Uber ride that requires that you enter your current location. If you lie about where you are, the directions won’t work.

I challenge all of you to take Brad’s wisdom to heart. Re-read, evaluate, and take action. Brad, here’s one final hot-seat question. If you had one hour to live your last lecture as a family man, sales professional, philanthropist, business owner, and investor, what’s your message to the world? You’re all tubed up in a hospital bed but you are 150 years old because you’re taking such good care of yourself. My show is on purpose called Power Players, which ignites the personal power in each of us. You don’t have to be Brad Lea. Just be the best you can be. You’re going to make a lousy somebody else.

It would be that nobody is better than you. They’re just ahead of you. I don’t know if I’d do that but if you want true happiness, focus on three things. Number 1) Your health because, without that, nothing else matters. Number 2) Relationships because when you find someone on their deathbed, that’s what they’re worried about. They’re not worried about their cars or their money. Number 3) Money. Everyone says, “Don’t worry about it.” Worry about it. Focus on it. What you focus on grows.

The crazy part is that money comes from relationships. Every dollar you’ve ever gotten and received came from a relationship. What’s crazy is that the more money you get, the more relationships you get. The more relationships you get, the more money you get. The more money you get, the healthier you can get. The healthier you get, the more money you get and the more relationships you get. It’s like this whole cyclical thing.

I would tell people, “Quit worrying about everything else. It’s too confusing. Don’t worry about finding love and doing all this. Focus on three things, your health, relationships, and money.” Everything falls into those three buckets. I’ve asked a lot of people, “What doesn’t fall in those buckets?” People will say, “God.” That’s a relationship. “Family.” That’s a relationship. There are only three things that matter. If you talk to a lot of people on their deathbeds, they’re going to worry about relationships so why aren’t we making more of them, nurturing, and appreciating the ones that we have?

I tell people all the time to appreciate their wives, spouses, kids, and things. When you appreciate your wife, she appreciates. If you ignore your wife or you don’t appreciate your wife, she depreciates. Why would you want your wife to depreciate? If you take that same thing about a wife to a business, a relationship, or anything and you start to have gratitude and appreciate everything in your life, by the time you go through it, you’re done and you’ve had your shot, you’re going to live the most epic life you could have lived. That’s the best I could give. If someone can understand what I said, their life will transform into everything they want it to be.

Now you know why I love and admire you. How do we invite people to join your tribe? What’s your easiest accessible thing to do?

In Dropping Bombs, I have guests like you. I bring on guests and we talk about stuff like this. Ultimately, we’re dropping bombs on challenges and situations that have happened so other people can learn from those. That’s my podcast. I have a book called Lessons I’ve Learned The Hard Way So You Don’t Have To. You can follow me on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, anywhere and everywhere there is social media. I haven’t been canceled yet.

For those of you who might think his call sign is Stud Muffin Hunker Burning Love, no, it’s The Real Brad Lea. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks. The most amazing guest ever, Brad Lea. Thank you. You know I love you and I can’t wait to see you again face to face.

Likewise. I’m honored to be here. I appreciate you having me.

 

Important Links

• LightSpeed VT
• Dropping Bombs
• The Hard Way
• TikTok – Brad Lea
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• LinkedIn – Brad Lea
• Twitter – Brad Lea
• Facebook – Brad Lea

 

About Brad Lea

Brad Lea built LightSpeed VT into a multi-million dollar global tech company from scratch. As its founder and CEO, his vision led to LightSpeed VT becoming the world’s leading interactive training system – a system that he’s proud to share with others In addition to being a CEO, Brad also hosts the top-rated podcast Dropping Bombs and is the author of the best-selling book, The Hard Way. Brad has helped numerous companies and individuals generate millions, including such heavy hitters as Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Grant Cardone, Tom Hopkins, World Series Poker, Top Chef, Chase Bank, and many more. He’s also been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Inc. Magazine, GCTV, and is a regular guest on several top-rated podcasts.