Debunking The High Risk, High Reward Myth with Chris Miles

Wesleyne (: 00:00

Hello and welcome to the Transform Sales Podcast. I am so delighted to have Chris Miles here with me today. How are you, Chris?

Chris Miles (: 00:08

Fantastic, so excited to be here.

Wesleyne (: 00:11

Let me tell you a bit about Chris. He is the cashflow expert and anti-financial advisor. He's the leading authority teaching entrepreneurs and professionals how to get their money working for them today. He's an author, podcast host of Money Ripples podcast and has been featured in US News, CNN Money, Entrepreneurs, On Fire, and Bigger Pockets. He has a proven reputation with his company, Money Ripples, getting his clients fast financial results. In fact, his personal clients have increased their cashflow

by $300 million over the past 14 years. All right, I know you weren't just born. Instant success. Tell us about how you started your career and how you got to where you are today.

Chris Miles (: 00:52

Yeah, definitely not born that way. It's funny because I'm in the money space, but I wasn't really taught a lot about money other than there wasn't enough of it as a kid, right? I mean, maybe you're like the same way, like my parents are always saying things, hey, we can't afford this, money doesn't grow in trees. What do you think I am, made of money? You know, those kinds of things, right? And so I vowed I'd never wanted to be that way. And so I went to college, but then even after going to college, I realized that, you know, I wanted something more. Like I wanted to have control of my destiny, my time, my money, my freedom.

Wesleyne (: 01:08

Yeah.

Chris Miles (: 01:21

And so I realized I wanted to be a business consultant, but I figured if I'm gonna do that, shouldn't I have real life business experience? So I dropped out of college with just one class to go before my bachelor's. I said, let's just get that experience now and maybe I'll finish my degree later. Well, I got out in that world. I wasn't sure what to do as a business, but the first one that came up was being a financial advisor. Not knowing they take anybody off the street, as long as you can pass a test and not be a criminal, right? So I ended up doing that.

Stayed dropped out of college and never went back. And then four years in, my dad came to me and he said, when are you gonna become my financial advisor? Now he had never shared anything about his financial nature of his, you know, like his money or anything because he's always afraid people would steal money from him, right? So very scarcity kind of world that was raised in. And so I sat down, I looked at all this money and he'd been stashing money away in his 401k for years. He had been, you know, he paid off his house early. So he's totally debt free. He did.

all the things that you've been told to do your whole life, right, when it comes to money. It's like, save up everything, save it forever in your retirement plan, and then pay off your debt and you should be free. Well, I said, Dad, well, if you want to retire today and you're 61 years old right now, if you want to do that today, you better hope you die in five years because that's when you'll run out of money. And he said, well, what do I do? And I said, I don't know, because you did everything quote unquote right. You did everything right according to what we teach. You're like, you've paid off your debt.

Wesleyne (: 02:36

Mmm, wow.

Wesleyne (: 02:43

Hmm.

Chris Miles (: 02:46

You've been saving money in the stock market. This should work. And it bugged me because I didn't have a good answer for them. I couldn't just say, here, go do this other stock market thing because what if that didn't work, you know, with the stock market crash, which a few years later it did. The Great Recession hit after that. So I'm kind of glad I didn't say go into these other things. But I mean, I was really, I had to get honest with myself because I had a friend I was talking to and he said, well, Chris, how many of your clients are really financially free where they don't worry about money? I said, well, they all worry about money.

es that worked since the late: 1970

you did it, right? And so in: 2007

did what I did, which is how you can become work optional. You work because you want to, not because you have to.

Wesleyne (: 04:19

Wow, that's a really amazing story. So let's kind of rewind to some of those early lessons that you talked about learning about money, right? Because a lot of people have these things from their childhood that impact the way that they see money. So share with us some of those lessons that you learned.

Chris Miles (: 04:39

Yeah, you know, I'll tell you, because even as a financial advisor, one thing I learned is that even though I was a financial advisor, I was not a financial expert. And that's true pretty much of all financial advisors, right? They are salespeople in suits, right? They are really commissioned salespeople. I mean, they're selling a bill of goods, and even if they are not on commission, if they just charge you fees, right, even if they're fee based planners, they're still really trying to sell you on a certain strategy that they've been trained to do. And.

And that's why that's kind of bugged me. Again, I like real life stuff. That's why I left college to go do business, right? Because I want a real life experience. And the same thing happened here is that I realized that if they can't get it to work for themselves, why should it work for me? And so things like, for example, one of the big philosophies in the financial world is one, if you're debt free, you're going to be free. That's not the case, because if that were the case, all these Dave Ramsey fans would be.

not just saying they're debt free on the radio, but they wouldn't be coming to us later saying, hey, okay, so we're debt free, but so what? We still have to pay for our expenses. There's more expensive than just debt in your life. And it's usually the minority of your expenses are debt. Well, I still have to pay for how to live and eat and all that other stuff. And so most of those people come to us because they say, well, we need income. And that's the one thing they don't get taught, right? They don't get taught how to really have good income. Even the financial advisor world,

Like say you save up a million dollars, nowadays they're telling you, don't pull out more than 3% a year. Do the math, that's $30,000 a year you're living on as a millionaire. You are a broke millionaire living at the poverty line, you know, here in the US. I know there's always somebody in like Europe or some other country is gonna comment on this and they're gonna say, oh, no, like you guys are spoiled, like 30,000 years, plenty to live on. Like, yeah, you're also single, have no family and you live in another country.

US, you're broke if you make 30,000 a year, okay? You know, so that's one of the things that comes, is that you really are broke as a millionaire. And so the one thing I learned different was, it wasn't about how much I accumulate and then live on less than the interest, because they don't want you to run out of money, because eventually if there's market swings and inflation and everything else, you run out of money with the stock market. But I had a client who actually had a million dollars, right? He is 60 years old.

Chris Miles (: 07:00

saved up in the military and he said, okay, my financial advisor just said I'm gonna live on 30,000 a year, I can't do that in California. So what do I do? Well, he came to us and he started looking at different things. So like we actually connect people, we're not investment advisors, but we connect people with deals and people that actually do the investments and things like that. And so we were helping them strategize, figure out where they get the money from and how to use it. And he started looking at different options.

He bought a few like duplexes that are being managed by somebody else. So he's not a landlord, right? But he's getting the checks from it. He also got into some things with like oil and gas space. He got into some things that were like, where he lends his money to investors and they pay him a contractual return. After all was said and done, he was getting paid roughly about out of the million, he's getting paid 130,000 a year versus just 30,000 a year. So big, big difference. So it's not about...

how much you accumulate, it's about how much money that money pays you each and every month. That's the real key to freedom is how do I get to where I have more than enough money to pay for my expenses and then some, right? First thing is pay for expenses. That's financial independence. But then getting to the point where you have more than enough to pay your expenses and then some, that's more closer to financial freedom.

Wesleyne (: 08:16

So let's tap into the fear component because a lot of people wanna be financially free, but you know, there's risks. It's like I've worked 30 years and I have a million dollar save, or I've worked five years and I have $100,000 save. And this is the nest egg that I have. What happens if I lose it all? What are some steps that people can do to overcome that fear that may be holding them back from even exploring?

Chris Miles (: 08:35

Hmm.

Chris Miles (: 08:42

Yeah, well stop gambling for one. The reason they have that fear, it's because you're always taught that high risk creates high returns, right? Well, who really taught you that? Well, if you really go back, you start to realize it's the financial companies that taught you high risk creates high returns. Well, why would they say something like that? Well, it's easy. Let me ask you this question. Where do those financial companies make their money? Are they investing in the stock market? Are they telling you to invest in the stock market? And then they take their guaranteed fee.

each and every month or year. And we know it's a ladder, right? They're taking their guaranteed fee. They take low risk to get high returns off of you, but they tell you to take all the risk so they don't have to. Does that make sense? Like they're trying to tell you to take all the risk, you gamble your money in the market, while in the meantime, they get paid whether you make money or not. That should be a big concern for you. And so we've been really trained and brainwashed to believe that high risk creates high returns.

But if that were a true principle, wouldn't that work in every facet of life? For example, what if you took high risks with your health? What if you decided, I'm gonna supersize my meals every single day at McDonald's. Are you gonna, I mean, you're gonna have a high return, but it's gonna get cholesterol. It's not gonna be health, right? You know, not good health. You know, if you took big risks in your inner family, in your marriage, or with your kids, like if you start ignoring your kids, do you think they're gonna stick around? No, you ignore your spouse, will they stick around? No, like taking all those kind of gambles don't work.

But we're taught to do that with our money. And so the biggest thing you have to break free from to be able to break free of that fear is to realize that you've been lied to. You've been told for years that high risk creates high returns. When in truth, the lower you take the risk, the more calculated your risks, the better the returns. Us as business owners, we know that because we know we love to calculate and control risk so we can get better returns on our money. We don't want to do something that's almost guaranteed to fail. If that were the case,

I should just go and buy lottery tickets, you know, buy a bunch of powerball tickets and megabucks. That's where I make big money. Cash out all my money. In fact, you know what? Let's go ahead and pull our money together and we'll start doing it. And then if we win the money, we'll just split it between ourselves. Right? That would be the biggest risk thing to get the biggest return. But we all know it's BS. Right? So the best thing you can do is realize it's about taking lower risk. And that's what we do differently. So like I stay away from the stock market. I think

Chris Miles (: 11:03

Even though I used to teach people how to trade stocks and options at one point, I actually don't trade in the markets because it is high risk. They, they it's horrible. So high risk that even banks don't want to invest in themselves. They let you do it. So I invest in things that are real assets, right? I actually invest in things like real estate. That's why they call it real, right? It's real estate. Like I invest in those things. I invest in my own business because I know I can control that it's real. I have the ability to do what I need. Even people that try to quote Warren Buffett, they're like, well, Warren Buffett trade stocks.

Wesleyne (: 11:24

It's good.

Chris Miles (: 11:33

No, he doesn't. He doesn't trade stocks at all. He buys a percentage of a company enough that he can have a controlling interest to be on their board of directors. And then he buys in that company and hangs on. He gets all the profits. That's why he has ownership in Costco and Coca-Cola, right? And furniture stores. He knows those businesses. He knows what to make them successful. And then he invests and buys a share of that company. Not buying that Tesla stock you hope is gonna take off someday. It's just not true.

Wesleyne (: 12:04

Hmm. So what I really like there is that you one of the things that popped into my brain is although you may work for a corporation, although you may have a Career where you're not necessarily an entrepreneur. It is important for you to take ownership of your money and whatever Whether you make fifty thousand dollars working laying bricks every single day or you're a teacher

your responsibility is to think about your money as it's like literally like your own small business, right? Like I have this money and this is what I want to do with this money. I can invest it here. I can invest it there. I can invest it there, but really taking that ownership. And I think that's a lot of what happens because people have these preconceived notions from childhood and they are scared. Like I know so many people who are scared of money, scared of touching it, scared of those like I just put in a bank account and they don't want to touch it.

Ownership of their money and so they're completely hands off and they're like, I don't know my financial advisor told me to do this I don't know This person told me to buy this thing or do this thing right until taking that complete ownership For me is what I really got from what you've shared thus far

Chris Miles (: 13:15

Yeah, the whole set it and forget it is one of those other myths that you're always taught, right? It's like, just keep saving, put it away. Don't look at it when the market goes down, right? Like, don't watch it. That's just gonna drive you insane. So just ignore it, you know? When has that ever worked with anything, right? Ignore anything, you're gonna lose it. I ignore my teeth, I'm gonna lose them too, right? So don't do that with your money either. Like, I totally agree. You gotta take control, take ownership and responsibility because you can never have freedom without personal responsibility.

Wesleyne (: 13:46

No freedom without personal responsibility. And so now let's think about the other side of the coin, right, when you are this person and you're looking to others to advise you, right? What are some of the things, because something that you said that is so profound to me is like, for instance, in my world, they're like, oh, I'm a business coach. I'm like, how many businesses have you run? How long did you run a business? I'm sorry, you can't advise me. And it's the same thing with financial advisors. I just, you know,

I just passed my test and now I want to tell you what to do with your money. So what are things that people should look out for when they're really saying, okay, I'm taking ownership of my money and I know I need a guide. What do they need to do?

Chris Miles (: 14:29

Well, I think you hit the nail on the head is at least what you've been implying, which is find somebody who actually has done what you're trying to do. And it's not about the strategy per se, but it's like, if I want a certain lifestyle, right? If I want to be able to get the point where I am work optional, find somebody who is work optional. You know, and I don't mean, like I said, like the question that was asked of me, that got me to really question what I was doing in that career as a financial advisor was, you know, how many of you guys can actually retire off of the investments, not the commissions.

Right? Because that's a big distinction. You can be a great salesperson and make great money. It's like people that I know that they'll sometimes ask doctors or dentists like, Hey, what do you do with your money? That doesn't mean they're geniuses with their money. They know how to make money in their trade, their profession, ask them those questions, but don't ask them about investing when they probably don't know anything about it, right? You want to go to the people that have actually been there, done that, and still doing it today.

the first time, right? After: 2008

Wesleyne (: 15:36

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 15:52

There's like no hope almost. And I had to dig back out of that hole, pay off over a million dollars of debt to eventually get to the point where I was again work optional. For me, it was almost like it was a challenge, right? It was almost fun. Cause okay, I'll admit it sucked. Okay, there's no doubt. There's no sugar coat. It really sucked to be in that position where you feel like a fraud, right? Especially when you're like, I'm supposed to be the guy that had it all figured out and now I'm broke again. But having to come back from that.

Wesleyne (: 16:04

Mm-hmm. Hmm.

Wesleyne (: 16:10

Hahaha

Wesleyne (: 16:19

Yeah.

Chris Miles (: 16:20

You know, I just knew kind of almost like imaging my future and look at my future to look back at my past, to look at my present moment, almost like you're looking at your future self, looking back at you again. I was like, you know what? Like there's a reason behind this. If I can do this again, it wasn't I wasn't like I'd lately just struck. I wasn't just lucky. Like I actually did something that's proven to work. And that's why by the end of 2016, I was back in the same place again, where I was again out of that rat race, you know. So.

Wesleyne (: 16:36

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 16:49

find people that have done those things and are still doing it to this day. Because those are the people that have not just knowledge, right, they didn't just study for a test, they've got wisdom. And they're gonna be the first ones to tell you, hey listen, this is how I did it, but you might have your own path, but here are the principles that always work, right? If they're very principle-based, it's gonna work. That's why I like a lot of times in the health and fitness industry,

Wesleyne (: 16:59

Right.

Chris Miles (: 17:14

I really get annoyed by those people that say you do this very exercise or this very diet it's going to work. You do this, you know, the 75 hard and it's going to work. No it's not like everybody's different. Everybody has their own unique situation, unique body types, everything else. Just like with your money, it's got to have somebody that says, no, here are the principles and the strategies that might support you in this situation could be different than the next person.

Wesleyne (: 17:39

Hmm and so the Thing is that you really shared is our success doesn't just come from always winning We see these people showing up on social media and they're like, oh, I'm always winning. I wake up and I'm just happy I'm just this I'm just that oh, I've always been debt-free I've always this or I've always that our success comes from climbing ourselves out of the pit Sometimes it is the pit of hell and learning

Chris Miles (: 17:59

Mm-hmm.

Wesleyne (: 18:08

I did this right, I did this wrong, let me try this, let me try that, right? And so climbing ourselves out of those places that we don't even imagine that we may have been. Like for me, climbing myself out of the pit of going through a divorce and having to pay divorce attorneys and being the sole income earner for my family, like that was hard. But I learned so much in that, right? And because I learned so much.

I can now share that knowledge with others. I now have a stronger business. I am now stronger financially, right? So you mentioned being all the way at the top and then having to climb out from the bottom. When you were on your climb out, what are some of the things that you did?

Chris Miles (: 18:49

Yeah, I mean one thing I did is I tried to do anything I could that didn't cost me money. So, I mean, now things might cost me a little bit money like, I mean, like this podcast. I mean, the fact if you're listening to this podcast, you're flat broke, isn't it amazing that a lot of times you can access these things for free? You know, that's why I do my podcast. You know, that's one way I can give back, you know. So I would listen to audiobooks, you know, sometimes I'd borrow books from people if I couldn't afford to buy the book. I would borrow the book and read it, you know, whether it's the hard copy or the audiobook.

Wesleyne (: 18:54

Mmmm

Wesleyne (: 19:17

Thanks for watching!

Chris Miles (: 19:18

I would do that stuff. And I remember during that time, because remember I was feeling like a fraud. One thing I did, and I don't often share this, but this is a big truth, is that I got myself in alignment with who I was being in that moment. Because for example, remember people wanna know how I got out of the rat race. Well, how do you teach people how to get out of the rat race when you're back in it? And you can do it, and I can still teach from that knowledge, but I'm a horrible BSer.

Wesleyne (: 19:33

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 19:46

I'm not very good at teaching something I'm not doing. And so when I was back in the rat race, I stopped teaching people how to get out of the rat race. Instead during the recession, I started teaching people how to get resourceful, how to find the money. And the reason I was doing that is because I was doing the same thing. I was finding money, because I had, like I said, no credit, no savings left. I was racked up tons of debt, trying to just wait for that next month when things turn around. All right, so give me the next month, the next month, pretty soon it's the next year.

and it just starts stacking up on you, right? And so I found myself buried in debt. And so I started teaching people how to get creative based on what I was doing for my own situation. I wouldn't tell them I was broke, right? So, you know, because for example, some people would come to me and they'd say, Chris, I would love to hire you. Like, it seems like all the stuff you teach about money is awesome. I just don't have the money to pay you. And in my mind, I would say, not to them verbally, but in my mind I'd say, I'm broker than you are. I would love your situation right now. And so...

Wesleyne (: 20:15

Hmm.

Wesleyne (: 20:23

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 20:43

I would actually tell them, I was like, well, if I could find the money in your situation, would you pay me? And they said, well, yeah, of course. And that's how it started. And the cool thing is, and just like you said, just like with divorce and having to go through some of those hardships, I don't believe there are any accidents. And that's one thing I said too, is that there are no accidents. That's one of my part of my perspective is that everything happens for a reason. Well, it got me to start teaching a whole different aspect of money and how to improve your cashflow, even if you don't have a lot of cash, right?

How to do that, how to get creative, how do we pay off debt differently than what you've always been taught? You know, is there a better way to do it? How do you find and free up money by tracking your money? How do you save on taxes and, you know, get your CPA and get you back five, 10 grand or more a year, right? Like all those kinds of things are sure to teach and do myself, but then helping them do. And on the next thing I know, on average they're freeing up over 30,000 a year, you know, with no money invested, not even investing money, just freeing up cash.

Wesleyne (: 21:24

Hmm.

Wesleyne (: 21:28

Yeah.

Wesleyne (: 21:33

Hmm

Chris Miles (: 21:37

And that actually got our company out of the rut. Like we were almost bankrupt, you know, in 2009, we were able to pull out of that by 2010, we're making over 5 million a year, you know? And that kind of, you know, turnaround happened because of the things we experienced. And so going back to that mindset, right? And that note, there are no accidents, everything happens for a reason. You know, I also, like I said, I like looked at my future of like, you know, if you've ever read Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, right? Very popular book. He talks about with every...

Wesleyne (: 21:37

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 22:07

You know, every adversity creates a seed for an equal or greater opportunity. So every time my life sucked and some days, especially when you get those collector calls multiple times a day, they're ringing your phone, your friends stop calling you, but those collector calls start calling you. I would, I would be, I mean, those days I'd be like, man is so hard today. I feel like such a failure and a fraud. Man. If my, the turnaround story is going to be equal or greater than when I'm experiencing, it's going to be awesome.

Wesleyne (: 22:12

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 22:35

Right? So those really hard days, like if today was hard, I can't imagine how good it's going to be on the other side. Even though it took two years in total almost before things started really turning around for me. But that was a big thing. I was trying to hold on to that hope. I was running on those fumes of faith. Right. Just trying to hang in there. And and I'll tell you, that's the biggest thing. And I'll tell you, another strategy I did, like an exercise I did was, you know, Tony Robbins calls it the hour of power.

Wesleyne (: 22:36

Yeah.

Wesleyne (: 22:41

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 23:02

You have people call a miracle morning or whatever morning ritual you have. I always had a morning ritual I did daily. And especially because most of the things I could do there were free. You know, I could read good books, right? So I talked about the three E's. Exercise, education, and enlightenment. So I would first and foremost start exercising because I'd fall asleep if I tried to do enlightening things. Like if I tried to meditate, I'd just pass out. So I have to exercise, get my blood pumping, and then I might meditate when I'm cooling down or I'm catching my breath, I'd focus on my breathing.

Wesleyne (: 23:03

Mm. Yeah.

Wesleyne (: 23:09

Mmm.

Wesleyne (: 23:14

Yeah.

Wesleyne (: 23:18

Yeah.

Chris Miles (: 23:31

I'd even say things like, be still and know that I am God, you know, and even take a word away each time. It's like, be still and know that I am. Be still and know that. Be still and know. Be still. Be, be. You know, I would get to that place to try to calm my mind down from all the frantic panicking that was going on trying to figure out how to solve my problems, right? So just doing that, reading good books, like all those things to try to feed my mind and get a win the first thing of the day, that made a huge difference for me later on as well. And I still do it to this day.

Wesleyne (: 23:41

Hmm

Wesleyne (: 23:50

Mm-hmm.

Wesleyne (: 24:00

Mm, there's so many gems that you just there, so I have to unpack them bit by bit. One of the key things that you said was you found a way to serve others, right? So you were low, but you found a way to serve others. And there is something magical about helping others because it signals to your brain, I may feel really low, I may feel really down, but there's still something I'm good at.

And so you signal to your brain every time you help somebody, every time you help them unlock something, you're like, I'm still good at this. I'm still good at this. I still got this. And really starting your day. I always tell everybody you have to start your day with yourself first. If you don't pour into yourself, you're no good for anyone else. And so starting with a ritual of self care, of feeding your mind, feeding your body and your soul, like all three of those, you are all three of those parts, right? Your mind, your body, and your soul. And you need that.

Chris Miles (: 24:26

Mm-hmm.

Wesleyne (: 24:55

to allow you to step forward, to make it through the day. Because again, you're signaling your brain that we got this, we can do this. And so I really love that you're like, this was not quick. It took two years. Guys, when you are in a hole, it's not gonna take, it didn't take you five minutes to get into this hole. It's not gonna take five minutes to get out. It's that everyday showing up for yourself, showing up for yourself.

And this new book that I'm reading, one of the mantras, it's by Steven Furtick, he just released this book, it's called Do The New You, and it's called, and one of his mindsets is, I'm not stuck unless I stop. It's like, huh, I gotta keep going. You're only stuck when you stop. And it's like, how many people just stop? They just give up, right? Entrepreneurship is hard. Working for a company is hard. Being a teacher, being a nurse, they are hard things, but you just keep going. It's step.

by step.

Chris Miles (: 25:52

That's so true. Well, and you just nailed a principle that I teach all the time. Because the one thing I did know is that if I'm gonna dig out of this hole, the one principle that's always worked with money, and I didn't know this as a financial advisor. I learned this after the fact. It's actually the thing that helped me get out of the rat race more, was realizing that dollars follow value. The more value you create for more people, the more you can ask for more money, right? And that's true even in a job.

I've even had people like, you know, guys making like $15 an hour. I had one, one client that, that was in that place. And, and I said, just go to your employer and ask them, what can I do to. To basically merit a raise? Like, what can I do for this company? What can I do for you that would actually earn me a raise? Notice he didn't say I deserve it or I'm entitled to a raise. He's like, what can I do for you? And then he waited for the answer, got the answer and then went and did it. And I remember they bumped him up to.

18 bucks an hour and then pretty soon they went and bumped him to 20 and then he got a promotion, got to 25 and actually they tried to offer him less, but he said, no, last 10 months I've done this and this and this. And so they said, all right, we're bumping up to 28. I mean, he went from 15 to 28 in just a year and a half all because he didn't just stop at one time. He just said, how can I keep serving you solving problems or adding value in such a way that I earn this money? And that's the key. That's always the key is figuring out how can I create more value for more people?

Wesleyne (: 26:58

Mmm.

Wesleyne (: 27:05

Mmm.

Wesleyne (: 27:11

Yeah.

Chris Miles (: 27:14

And if you figure that out, as long as you figure out what people want, you'll never want yourself.

Wesleyne (: 27:20

Mmm, that's so good. Open up your mouth and ask. How many people just sit there? They just sit and they're like, oh, I'm not making enough money. Oh, this isn't happening. I'm not getting enough clients. I'm not paying off my debt fast enough, but you don't open your mouth and ask, right? Like, I mean, I do simple stuff. Like I call and negotiate my bills at the end of every year. I'm like, I must have some kind of discount that you can offer me, right? Like I ask. And the thing is it's like open your mouth and ask.

Chris Miles (: 27:34

Yeah.

Wesleyne (: 27:46

the question and really align your purpose. Like what is your purpose? What are the things that you are good at? Align your purpose with what you're good at and step into that. Don't just stay stuck in this little place of like I can only be paid $15 an hour and I'm gonna get a 3% raise every single year and that's all I'll ever do for the rest of my life. No, I'm gonna ask.

my purpose, my gifts, this is what I have been created to do.

Chris Miles (: 28:19

That's right. It's true. It's so, such a vital thing. If you remember, and even when I was broke, the one thing I kept thinking about, I refer to as karmic debt. You know, you talk about karma, right? Like you receive what you give out. Well, I was trying to figure out, how can I create so much karma in my life that it has to pay back? And so like you said, like I was trying to figure out not just in my profession, how to serve others. I was trying to serve others in other places too. You know, my neighbors, if it snowed, when I shoveled their driveway, right? Things like that, just.

Little things that show up and serve to make it part of my being and always show up to serve and help people and And it didn't pay off immediately. It wasn't like oh next day. I made money, but I'll tell you I never starved either Right. I was always just barely making it I mean even if it was just like to the literal day of needing that money I would just get it in time, you know, and sometimes it wasn't from you know work Sometimes it was just a friend or family member said here. I feel like I need to give you this I'm gonna help you out

Wesleyne (: 29:00

Yeah.

Yeah.

Chris Miles (: 29:16

I mean, just in the nick of time, right? So that's the thing is that, one is that you've survived to this point, you've never died, you know, you've never starved. And I think in the United States, it's pretty hard to get to that point. There's always a way around that. You know, there's always a way to make it work. But it does require you, like you said, it's willing to ask and be open. I wish, actually, I probably would have got out of this situation faster than two years, had I been more vulnerable and authentic with people.

Wesleyne (: 29:24

Yeah.

Thanks for watching!

Chris Miles (: 29:44

And actually, at least with a close circle of friends to say, here's what I'm dealing with right now, I need help. But I felt so like just in scarcity and panic and fear and everything else, I didn't wanna like spread that disease to people, at least that's what I felt like. I didn't wanna spread that to other people and depress them. And so I hold it all inside and just suffer silently. And I think there's a lot of people out there that are suffering silently.

Wesleyne (: 29:44

Hmm.

Wesleyne (: 29:49

Mm. Yeah.

Wesleyne (: 30:00

Hmm

Wesleyne (: 30:08

Mmm.

Chris Miles (: 30:10

You know, just that won't share those things, you know, that really do need to open up at least to a few people to say, here's where I am, I need help, you know, any ideas. And I think I probably could have got out of that situation faster if I did.

Wesleyne (: 30:19

Hmm

Wesleyne (: 30:22

Yeah, you know, we often talk about servant leadership, but I think that we should have servant hearts, right? So I don't think that we exist as an island. And so when I step into my day and I hit on teams for my team, I ask them often, how can I serve you today, right? And it's very different because they're not used to their leader saying, how can I help you? Not, you know, waiting for them to ask for help. And

Chris Miles (: 30:30

Yes.

Wesleyne (: 30:51

from a personal level, like within our organization, mental health is very important. And sometimes they're like, I just need to, I just need a mental health day. Take your mental health day, right? It's important to let people know that you bring your whole self to work, you bring your whole self to every relationship, and if you only bring part of yourself, if you only give people the good, then they never know how they can help you. They never know when you're in need because you're always giving. And if you're always

and you're always giving, you never allow people the opportunity to pour back into you, so then your cup is empty. And then you feel alone and you feel shame and you feel guilt. So I think having that servant heart with also being vulnerable enough, feeling secure enough in your relationships to ask for help is really what gets us from where we are to where we wanna go.

Chris Miles (: 31:41

So true, it is.

Wesleyne (: 31:44

This has been a really amazing conversation, Chris. Do you have any final words or parting thoughts that you wanna leave with the audience?

Chris Miles (: 31:53

Yeah, there's always hope. I think that's the biggest thing, right? No matter where you are, no matter what you're dealing with right now, there's always hope. You're a survivor. You've made it up to this point. You're gonna make it past whatever you're dealing with today. And I'll just say this is that, I mean, if you're wondering about something that you're like wondering is not working well, maybe try the opposite, right? It's like opposite George from Seinfeld.

You know, when that one time and he's not a loser, there's one episode where he decides to do the opposite of what he's always done, right? And ends up getting him the job of his dreams, the girl of his dreams, everything else, you know? It's kind of the same thing for me too. Like I've learned even with money and investing, if the whole world says do this, I do the opposite. If they say, hey, invest and buy stocks, I'll do the opposite. If they say buy real estate, I'll do the opposite. You know, I'll sell it, you know? That's the fun thing is that when you start to do the opposite of what you're always.

Wesleyne (: 32:15

Yeah.

Wesleyne (: 32:21

Yeah.

Chris Miles (: 32:43

been told or expected to do with the mainstream body of people do. You do something different that's unique, especially if it's in this world of personal development, you'll find out that you'll be leaps and bounds ahead of everybody else. And they'll think that somehow you're lucky that you're magical or that you did something, or maybe somehow screwed somebody over. I don't know. Like they might have all kinds of stories about you, but the truth is that these principles always work. And especially if you do the right things the right way and helping them, serving the right people, the good things will come to you.

Wesleyne (: 33:14

Mmm, those are great words. And I think I wanna to leave it there with always have hope. Never give up hope. And when you don't have something that you can tap into yourself, just remember there's a higher power out there that you can tap into. You have friends, you have people that love you and support you. You are never alone. Always have hope. Chris, if people wanna get in contact with you, what is the one best way?

Chris Miles (: 33:40

Yeah, you just go to moneyripples.com. You can see all of our stuff there. We even have our podcast, the Money Ripples podcast. You can see and connect through there as well.

Wesleyne (: 33:49

Well, thank you so much for sharing your time, your talent, and your expertise. It has been an amazing conversation.

Chris Miles (: 33:56

Same here, thank you so much.

Wesleyne (: 33:58

You are most welcome. And that was another episode of the Transform Sales Podcast. Remember, in all that you do, transform your sales. Until next time.