Undercover Billionaire

I agree. Networking is something I never did (except formal referral programs) until maybe 10 years ago. It's just not how my brain works.

Although, you may find this interesting. When I was about 23 years old, I was selling Kirby vacuum cleaners for a small commission. I found out what the distributor was paying for them, and decided to strike out on my own.

I found a manufacturer for a different vacuum cleaner that was looking for distributors in Ohio.

I called the owner and made an appointment to see him. He told me to qualify, i needed an office, financing set up already, money for inventory, and a team of salespeople ready to go. When I met him, I told him I had everything needed...except financing, an office, money for inventory, or a sales team.

For reasons I'll never understand he gave me four vacuums on credit, helped me set up local financing, and sent me out on my own. I would be making 5 times as much on each sale as I did at the previous company.
I knocked on doors and sold three the first day, and went back to the company. He gave me four more vacuums (literally on my word alone). By the end of the second week, I had paid him back in full, had my own inventory, and was off to the races. In my best week that year, I made enough to pay cash for a new car. I had found my calling.



I never said they were my cushions.

Today, if I were to plan out a month of just getting started, I'd find a retail store that has a customer list, but a lazy owner, and increase their sales for half the new profits.

My advantage at this ripe old age, is that I kind of know how to do that already. It may not be what I'd advise someone else to do.

Nah. That's not what I meant. It was more in a lighthearted "Western TV sucks but you made a case for one and only show, so I plan to watch it".

But sure, I'll play ball

One of the big issues I have with Western TV is that it is edutainment with a big focus on the "tainment" part.

At the very minimum, there's gonna be a lot of padding (dramatic music, swearing, bad jokes, etc).At worse, things are dumbed down as factual reporting doesn't sell ratings.

The other point is bias and honesty. Most directors aren't above editing footage to tell "the right amount of truth" or mislead outright. In case of reality TV,The show is often produced as part of a personal branding effort. Nothing wrong with this but it's hardly an unbiased source.

Even assuming the editing is done in full honesty, one still has to cut somewhere.

The pitch for Dragon Den (Canadian shark den) is for example much longer then what is shown on TV.

Can one learn something from Western TV? Sure but there are usually much better venues.

It's the networking, building relationships with business owners that is the secret to massive business building. And this show demonstrates that you don't have to already have "connections". You can build them as you grow. From scratch.

Not using that idea is the main thing that kept me from building a truly large business. Always a loner. Always thinking about the next deal. Sure I made money. But there was always a cap on where I could go financially. A big fish in a small pond. Always the small pond.

Not sure I would say that... Its to a point calculated. If you read the main board at all.. well this board even, there is a lot of discussion about being where the buyers are. Learn where they hang out and be there. In the " Real World " it plays out very much the same - but literally in a physical sense.

Yes, it does. Regardless of where you live be it a big city or small town USA, or some small village in Scotland, there is going to be a breakfast joint that once a week or a number of mornings a week the local influencers gather. The same actually holds true in the afternoon for drinks. generally a different crowd, but the same effect.

blending in... I think you might be surprised what the breakfast circle of influence looks like. Many communities the "Mayor" might show up, along with some old timers and some of the younger up and comings. It tends to be a wide variety of types so blending isn't so much needed. I have a habit of driving a big truck, and wear black khakis and a red t-shirt under a black work shirt ( dickeys short sleeve if you are wondering ) It is a bit of an image thing... I am a working man.. I work for my clients, and look the part.

Question #2 deep and wide if possible. You need to be on the seedy side of town as much as you are on the doorstep of financial influencers. It all comes full circle one way or another.

Think of it this way we are all connected within 7 levels of relation to any and everyone in the world. The seedy guy could cut the rich guys grass and somehow your name is brought up and both agree you are a good guy. The seedy guy will see you as a point of influence, and the rich guy will see you as down to earth - you win both ways.

I don't think its that cut and dry... most rich guys will use the same barber.. the barber by proxy becomes one of them. They will use the same handyman, or the same lawn care service, or the same pool service, or the same contractor to build their new home.

And THEN lets discuss influencers spouses... Wives are gabby... Hair dressers are gabby, the cupcake shop person is gabby.

There are without question many outlets and level of interaction between the top and bottom, and doing your best to reach out across multiple layers is a big deal.

I will answer this by saying I am a member of my local CC. Membership is an investment, you can make it worth while or just spend money.. its on you. Church... its another one of those things. I would go so far to say a Catholic church if the intent in religion is for business gain. - just saying

Talk about them - the conversation generally goes 2 ways.. the person I am talking to wants what I have, or I want what they have - I hear things like "like your truck" and I might say things like "Nice car - Im in the wrong business"

Its A L L selling. I just have a different approach... talking to people is " qualifying " them. Are they buyers... or who might they know that would be

And diversity becomes your biggest asset... "What do you think of X? I am asking because I grew up with Y, and I just dont understand." - Its about THEM, and it creates interest in YOU, and the back and forth happens naturally at that point

A great example of someone to talk to... people with money drive nice cars. People that work on nice cars tend to have a passion for cars in general... some might even race cars or build cars or what have you. In my case, they are potential prospects for web development - to take their passion and put it on the web. ( usually at a discount ) Because these type are gateways to the upper levels.... they share with the guys that have the really nice cars - that ultimately they look down apon... " Poser " can afford the beast, but has no clue how to drive it.

Circles of influence knows no boundaries. there is no such thing as inclusive or exclusive, until you try and categorize a single person.. but again you miss the greater point of contact that person may have.

Networking as I do it living my every day life is equal across all demographics. rich, poor male, female Professional, trades. Its about increasing your Circle to decrease the needed touches to get to who you need to get to. My immediate community... Everyone is a step or 2 away VS 7.

Take me away from here.. and 1 phone call setting up lunch puts me within the circle of reach of the person I am meeting. forget selling if you will, its about hearts and minds.

Do what I do...I just memorized a few questions to get the ball rolling, like ..
"What do you do for a living?"
"What do you enjoy most about this?"
Complement them on something. Make it a genuine compliment on something you really like.

I'm truly not a social person. I say things that people interpret as being social.

If you listened to ten instances of my "small talk" you would find that i just say the same things to everyone.

When someone says something I'm not interested in, I say "I hear you" or "There you go". It sounds like I'm engaged with them, but I'm really not.

You can do the same.

Oh, watch "Marrying Millions," that's close enough.

A person knowingly being recorded tends to behave in the way they think is expected. But will they spend money because of it? I doubt it. My hunch is they'll instead come up with eloquent and graceful reasons not to buy if they're not buying, to look good on camera.

I'm sure it's been done where at a sales appointment, the seller recorded video getting the buyer's permission after informing the buyer it's to train others on how to conduct sales appointments. If it increased sales I think we'd know about it by now.

He defaults one million dollars if he quits. Or, if they have an illness clause that lets him off the hook, maybe he didn't want to give up the TV show. Or maybe he really does want to help out those people. Especially the tattooed guy because he's so Erie.

Another advantage is he knows the partners will get paid and the company will be worth at least $1 million at the end of the 90 days. While the partners think there is risk, Glen knows there isn't.

For me to make the same deals, I would have to BS people. He knows things will turn out OK. Because of this, most of us won't be able to repeat everything he's doing. But it's still a really interesting personal challenge and there's a lot to learn or remember.

There's a number of possibilities, and I think it's a legit question. It would change the entire promise of the show if he used his real name.

Glenn Stearns, billionaire, is a pretty good prospect for a loan I'd say.

I also used to ask, "what made you get into that business?" People love answering that question. Then you never have to say another word for the rest of the night but you do have to avoid being caught looking at your wristwatch.

So, back to the show... he does say there's a special loan for construction he knows about from being in the loan business. That's where he went for the financing.

He's not permitted to use his connections or wealth but I don't know why acting on special knowledge doesn't disqualify him.

I think the show would be better if he tried to build a new billion dollar mortgage company from scratch.

Somewhere in the recent episode one of the team members says he'd do it regardless of the camera being there or not. To me, that reaffirms they're very conscious of how the camera influences their behavior to go along with Glenn and what's more, feel they have to deny it to the viewers.

The woman looks like she bit off more than she can chew. The project looks like it is blowing up on her. Wonder why they ripped up some of the hardwood floor last night. Seemed the holes in the ceilings were getting bigger.

Wonder if these people on the show have figured out they are going to be on some sort of reality television show. Would not be surprised if they knew about Undercover Boss, and Undercover Millionaire and realize they are being used in a new version of those.

Great point about wishing we knew the whole story.

Than again he could create a WSO - How to start off with only $100.00 and own your home in a few short weeks. Or - How I washed 2 cars and made out with close to a $10k profit. Real proof as seen on the Discovery Channel !

I hate to correct you.. but this is what most WSO's are... well the opposite.. I failed but I am going to share the information anyways.

I wont go as far as to say this is one of the WORST Restaurant websites I have ever seen... but after the fact ( his 90 days are up at this point - even tho we are watching the show now ) and a billionaire behind it - with basically to some extent his name on the line... this would be the Worst website I have ever seen. Typo's everywhere, not a lick of local SEO what so ever.. really no SEO what so ever. THIS is a red flag to failure in todays world - just sayin.

The guy basically has a TV show acting as a advertising platform for this restaurant he is developing. For giggles if you like, try typing "BBQ Erie PA" in Google or any other assorted string of keywords.. and you find nothing. A touch of searching and I find the Home page is indexed.. and THAT is it - with text about the impossible burger for text below the link ( that in itself is classic )

And it gets oh so W A Y better.. just when you thought reality TV was just that " Reality "?!?! NOT today http://jekyllandhydeserie.com.cutercounter.com/ Scroll on down to the second to last section " Http Header " and then the first line... he gets dropped on in April or May.. never been there before and all that.. then why was the web URL transferred ( 301 redirected ) to a square space server on January 20th 2019?

I'm in real estate inspections actually... to me it looked like a pipe burst causing the hardwood floor to buckle underneath the carpet. An inspector wouldn't have pulled the carpet off like that to see the mold, but would have noticed damaged or leaky pipes. At this price and condition, this house was likely a foreclosure or an estate that was in foreclosure. It was probably bought as-is, and he probably didn't get an inspection done considering he closed in ten days. He was more worried about meeting his deadlines that jumping through hoops or waiting for inspectors.

I would like to know the specific loan he received. That's extremely low for a bank to loan on. And in order to get additional funds to complete repairs, typically a contractor approved by the lender, has to come out and give a written bid on the work needing to be done. He did mention that since he's in the lending business, he does know about programs that will find projects like this. I just wish he would have said what the program or loan actually was.

It's very hard to get out of being homeless and almost impossible without help. Having a cell phone and pickup truck is a HUGE advantage. About the only thing Glenn could have done at the beginning of the show without a vehicle and cell phone was get a free meal at the soup kitchen.