[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6616364/height/60/width/350/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”60″ width=”350″ placement=”top” theme=”standard”]
Download Now!
For over 23 years, Darren Jacklin has travelled 4 continents and personally trained and developed over 1 million people in over 46 countries.
He has mentored entrepreneurs and business owners on specific and measurable strategies. These strategies have then been implemented into businesses to increase income, transform obstacles into cash flow and turn passion into profits.
Darren has an uncanny ability to increase wealth and success by uncovering hidden assets, overlooked opportunities and undervalued possibilities.
His talent has captured the attention of Tiger 21, Family Offices, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, NBC TV, CBS TV, CTV, CBC, Global TV, international radio stations, magazines and newspapers, movie producers, best-selling authors, CEO’s and business experts worldwide.
Find out more about Darren Jacklin at:
www.darrenjacklin.com
Stefan Aarnio: Welcome to the show. This the show where we interview people who achieve mastery in freedom through discipline. We interview entrepreneurs, athletes, authors, artists, real estate investors. Anyone who’s achieved mastery and what it took to get there.
So here on the show we have a friend of mine, Darren Jacklin. Darren is a well-known corporate speaker. He’s spoken all over the world to over a million people. He is now in the private money-raising space; capital-raising space for large real estate deals a built a great personal brand.
Darren, welcome to the show, Respect the Grind. Thank you so much for joining me. How are you doing today?
Darren Jacklin: Stefan, grateful to be here. Thanks so much. It’s a beautiful day here in Vancouver, Canada.
Stefan Aarnio: That’s awesome, man. Yeah I’m not in my home office today in Winnipeg. I’m in L.A. myself. I flew down here. I’ve come to see Tai Lopez tomorrow actually, at his Beverly Hills mansion.
Darren Jacklin: Great!
Stefan Aarnio: It’s a great thing when you have some real estate, you have some business and travel around, see the world a little bit. Now Darren, for the people at home who don’t know
Darren Jacklin, you know maybe they don’t know that name yet, tell the people at home a little bit about you: how you started, what you do and what you’re doing right now.
Darren Jacklin: Sure. So most people don’t know me publicly around the world, unless you come from corporate America, corporate Canada or some executive management position. I grew up in Souif Kerr, Saskatchewan, Canada. Less than 20,000 people in population.
I was one of these kids going, well I failed grade one of public school. I was a C and B student all throughout my life. I was labeled with a learning disability and also reading disability. And was also labeled ‘Least Likely to Ever Graduate from High School’ and get my grade school education.
I had a lot of peaks and valleys and I struggled a lot going through school in Souif Kerr, Saskatchewan. When I left Souif Kerr after I graduated from high school back in 1991, I went off to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada to place called Vernon, British Columbia, right? I started in Kelowna, British Columbia.
I did multiple suicide attempts to end my life in my late teens, early 20s. I struggled with self-worth, self-esteem issues. I didn’t believe in myself. I had a lot of negative self-talk, and I felt I was never good enough.
And so I crashed and hit rock-bottom. Actually my first start-up company I invested in made a bunch of money and I started investment in Kelowna, British Columbia back in the early 1990s. My first start-up company, I had cosigned all the loans and all the lines of credit. And the bank called [inaudible 00:02:47] loan, and I had signed a GSA called the General Security Agreement. And so after 120 business days, the bank came after me as the cosigner.
And I lost everything. I was wiped out financially, got my car repossessed, evicted, bounced my rent checks, bounced all my utility checks back then. I ended up living on the streets, homeless on welfare for a short period time in Vernon, British Columbia.
Used to go to the Public Library and read a lot and visit the Self-Help Section, and from there I got inspired by [inaudible 00:03:15], her books. I got introduced to Dale Carnegie Training, Toast Masters International Training. Lots of mentorship back in the 1990s and from there, that inspired me to actually go into door-to-door sales.
I was a door-to-door salesmen for a period of time. I was also a telemarketer here in Canada for a little magazine in Canada. We made 400 cold calls a day, smiling and dialing. I became, within seven months, the number one producer in that telemarketing company, that magazine.
So I left, after I peaked out, and I thought, “Okay, I’m learning how to speak here now through Toast Masters and Dale Carnegie,” back in 1995. So what happened was I actually used to make 400 cold calls a day out of the yellow pages on the telephone books. And between 1995 and 1999 I made several thousands and thousands of phone calls all across Canada into the United States.
This is when we had huge long distance telephone bills. There was times where I couldn’t pay my phone bills. I would go two, three, four months in arrears. Almost threatening to cut me off. And have to go out and hustle, make some money so they wouldn’t disconnect my phone. And a few times I did get disconnected.
I was just hustling. I was going around to corporations, mass amounts of rejection, ’cause I had no formal academic background. I come from a small town. I had no formal education. I was a C/B student.
But I just persevered. And from 1995 to 2015, I traveled to 46 different countries on four continents, made 157 Fortune-100 companies and trained over one million people in my live training seminars around the world.
And so perseverance, hustle, grit, grind. You always talk about “respect the grind,” I totally get that from being in action. And now, years later, I’m monetizing the relationship globally. I serve on a couple different paid board of directors of public and private companies across North America, Internationally.
One of the companies I serve on right now, actually publishes the NASDAQ. I started with that company five years. We’re a private little company, less than 100 people able to being over 10,000+ people on that [inaudible 00:05:19]. And it’s in a real estate industry right now.
And so I just love the children. I’ve got a school over in Uganda, East Africa and so I feed [inaudible 00:05:27] over in Uganda, and we’re building a new school over. So, really I’m about making a difference. And now I love using Apple in their projects and deal structure and building companies.
And really the end game for me is in December 2027, I’m gonna [inaudible 00:05:43] and build up a 100+ million dollar net worth and then give 99% of my financial wealth to my foundation. For Global [inaudible 00:05:51], when I hit 55 in ten years, I’ll start giving away my foundational money for [inaudible 00:05:57] and pass it on.
And I’ll still do deals because I love it. Still serve on board of directors. No problems speaking, ’cause I love it. But I also wanna give the contribution.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. That’s quite a story. That’s quite a mouthful there, Darren. I mean, going from suicide and suicidal thoughts almost way over to serving on boards and doing big deals, that’s a major transformation. Now, let me ask you this Darren. In all of that, what was the turn around point, where you went from the pit of despair, the absolute bottom. Wanting to end it all to having the courage to keep going on and to turn around and become a success.
What was that moment?
Darren Jacklin: Good question. I remember like it was yesterday. I realized that two things; one is I had to decide what my bottom was. Otherwise I was just gonna keep digging and going deeper and deeper in a deeper hole. And so I had to establish what my bottom was. And number two I realized that nobody was coming to rescue me.
I had this belief system that, my family, friends, the government, was going to come and rescue me. And I had a vision that, I always thought if I want to become successful I just have to show up at the right place with the right people, doors will open up for me, they’re gonna do all the work. And I don’t have to hustle and grind and make the phone calls and follow ups.
And so when I realized that nobody was coming to rescue me, big ‘aha’ moment for myself, I realized, “Okay, I’ve hit rock bottom here. I’ve been up and down a few times.” But I realized if I want to keep board, I just say, “You know what? I’m in a breakdown right now. So I need to have a break through.”
And so I just knew I was in breakdown, from there I go through a break through. But there was times in my life where I didn’t declare a breakdown. I just kept going deeper and deeper and deeper, into a hole of depression and debt and financial destruction and emotional destruction.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow, wow. I’ve noticed from entry, a lot of high performing people on this show that the darker and the deeper somebody goes, the higher they bounce back up when they hit off the bottom. So, I like what you said in your story there, Darren, about dialing on the phone. Smiling, dialing, hustling.
Who was one of your mentors that turned you around and changed you. Said, “Hey man, this is how we’re gonna smile and dial the phone.” And who taught you how to sell? Because it sounds like that was a major piece in your development. Major piece of building what you are today.
Darren Jacklin: Great question. So I’ve had a few different people, nobody would know the names. The first was actually is Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. It was in the early 1990’s. I bought a hotel. Right across from [inaudible 00:08:51] Parks shopping mall. I went to a sales seminar, and a woman who was teaching the course was a former prostitute.
A professional prostitute escort.
Stefan Aarnio: Oh man.
Darren Jacklin: And that’s what she did for a living. And she actually got arrested by the police and was put into jail. Well she got out, she felt that she wanted to train people on sales, because that’s what was her job was as a prostitute. The motive of selling and protecting herself and keeping safe.
And to this day, I learned, she taught me sales skills. And about building rapport and connections through that. So she was the first person that time in Kelowna, British Columbia. Second person was a guy by the name of Glenn who worked for [inaudible 00:09:33] Magazine in [inaudible 00:09:35], the company that I worked with back in 1990’s.
And this guy was from Saskatoon Saskatchewan, what do you know. And this guy was a master telephone [inaudible 00:09:45]. And one thing that he taught me, was whenever you’re talking was to talk to a mirror. Always have a mirror behind you when you smile and dial and making cold calls and follow up phone calls.
And you can actually see your facial expressions and you can actually see you’re smiling. He said, “Move around. Walk and talk. So you generate energy and you’re breathing and stuff.” And so Glenn literally taught me how to make build a relationship with the mirror. Know my self image and my self identity. And also to smile and talk and move my energy and his emotion is energy in motion.
And from there, the gentleman who’s had the greatest influence in my life, is a gentleman by the name of Dr. John D Martini. John’s a good friend of mine. I’ve known him for 15+ years. He’s had tremendous influence and impact in my life. And I’ve had a number of different people that I’ve met on different airplanes and throughout the years that have built very successful companies and businesses that, if I mention the name, no one would know who these names are.
But you’d recognize some of the brands of the companies around the world. So, I’m grateful. And then, I go to Africa every year and even just going to that remote country and meeting some of those villagers and people in the slums and people in tribes. Just the unconditional love and how heartfelt they are really touches my life and makes a difference.
And I learned a lot when I was a kid selling, cutting grass, shoveling sidewalks, delivering newspapers in my ranking business. I learned really from being in the streets, knocking on doors, getting rejected by people and calls and just being the grind, being in the hustle. That was where I learned a lot. Being in those trenches.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. I love hustle and grind stories because there’s no substitute for it, Darren. We both know that you gotta put the reps in. You gotta knock the doors. You gotta call. There’s no shortcut to that stuff.
Now, let me ask you this. What made you choose to, I guess you’re doing cold calling on the phone, what made you choose to get into corporate training and the corporate side of things? ‘Cause there’s a lot of barriers to entry there.
Anybody can go into a telemarketing company and start selling charity donations and they can start selling whatever they’re selling. But there’s a major wall there for people who want to get into corporate speaking or corporate training. Let’s talk about that. How did you choose to get into corporate and how did you bust through that wall?
Darren Jacklin: Sure. I knew it was gonna be hard and ’cause I had no background, I had no connections, I had no education. So I knew it was gonna be really hard and that became a challenge for me. And I also knew once I got in over a period of time, I would earn my respect. And we’d have a respectful, mutual relationship.
What I used to do actually is, a little backstory, back in the 1990’s. When I was in Vernon, British Columbia, I used to go to Staples. And I would go there at night time when Staples was closed. The Staples and Office Depot, and I used to go into the recycling dumpster or bins, and I used to take like Microsoft and the different computer boxes, and I would take my scissors and my exacto knife and I used to cut out the corporate logos of these companies.
And I would go to the dollar store and with my glue stick, I used to take a stick on the back of the different logos, and I used to create vision boards on the bedroom walls. And then what I would do, for example, like Microsoft, Apple computers, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, all these different companies that have trained the Fortune 100 companies.
What I would do, is I would then take my journal, and I would write down 200 benefits. Starting at number 200 and counting down to number one, on why I’m smart enough, good enough, worthy enough, and deserving enough, so I could build a belief system in my mindset and skillset that I was confident enough to actually pick up the phone.
‘Cause that phone weighed like 500 pounds sometimes. And I was scared. ‘Cause it was a cold call and I used to call back [inaudible 00:13:42]. I been doing corporate training for 22 years now. And just two years ago, I finally closed the deal with a Fortune 500 company. It’s a well-known company ran in North America.
It took me 17 years of follow up. 17 years of rejection and I would call every quarter, so that’s 4-6 times a year, in fact they even blacklisted me on the corporation, that when I would call my number would come up on the visual call sprite, it would go to a voicemail. They used to block my emails. Because in their company they had a policy that was, unless you had a formal academic education like an MD or PHD from a recognized university college in North America, you could not come in [inaudible 00:14:22].
You were not recognized. And I just persevered and finally I called from a blocked number one time in [inaudible 00:14:31] City, and the HR manager answered the phone and she said, “You realize you’re not supposed to call here.” And I believe this. Either they’re going to close me, or I’m going to close them, somebody’s getting closed. Okay? I’m gonna close them or they’re gonna close me, but somebody is getting closed.
And my job was, I don’t pitch and sell. I educate and I inform. And that’s the difference when you play at higher levels, it’s not about pitching and selling. It’s about building relationships and educating them and informing them. And so I go in, with these corporations, is what I do is I want to protect the downside. I want to mitigate exposure to risk and liability for them.
So what I do is before I go to train a company now, I imagine that I’m that company, that corporation. Their business model, their business plan, and look at it. And metaphorically, I think to myself, “Okay, my job is to see how many holes I can punch in that business plan, and see if I can make it like a boat that’s sinking and make it swim.”
And then when I look at that CEO, that man or woman that’s the speech maker, what are some of their potential blind spots and their executive or ownership [inaudible 00:15:35]. Or when I approach them from a corporate trainer perspective, I want to show them what their blind spots are, and where are some exposure to potential risk and liability to the companies, that could express some problems in their companies.
To their board of directors, their shareholders, their executive team, and of course the [inaudible 00:15:52] and the news media. So when I approach them, and I show them their blind spots and potential risk and liability, I’ve got their attention. And they wanna listen to me. And I educate and inform them. Here’s the key goal, Stefan.
For a lot of people that are in sales, here’s the big mistake that they make. I’ll give you an example. In sales, if we look at the medical industry. Here’s something to consider. Prescription before diagnoses is called malpractice in the medical industry. And most people when they enter into sales, whether an entrepreneur, they’re in real estate, they’re in network marketing. Whatever industry they’re in.
If you’re in sales, marketing and negotiations, they go out and they prescribe before they diagnose. You and I meet at a real estate conference and we’re at a network and event during one of the breaks, and I start pitching you on something, I haven’t built a relationship with you or started pre qualifying you.
So, I’m being a go-getter, not a go-giver. But if I just listen to you and start asking questions, “Hey, Stefan. I know we just met. You’re a real estate investor. What are you looking at right now? For the next six months for you, what’s on your landscape? What are you looking at getting involved with? Are you looking at deploying capital, joint [inaudible 00:17:01], do you need money right now? You looking to find deals, on market, off market? What are you up to? What’s going on for the next six months for you?”
And I start to fact find and going through this [inaudible 00:17:11] process where you ask questions. So, in my early days of sales, when I was dialing, dialing and getting lots of rejection. What happened was I had to shift. When I realized that I started to go from massive rejection to now start building relationships with people. To this day, I still get on airplanes.
In fact, I just met a guy in Toronto recently. I flew from Vancouver to Toronto to meet with a decision maker, CEO, for a fifteen minute meeting to Toronto International Airport. The guy was blown away that I would get on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver direct to Toronto, meet him at the airport for fifteen minutes to shake his hands, look him in the eyeballs, and then get on a return flight and go back to Vancouver.
But to this day we’re doing a great deal now. Okay? [inaudible 00:17:54] was raising capital. I’ve raised a lot of money, millions of dollars, and now into the billions of dollars in capitals, I went to get on an airplane, or getting a rental car or my own vehicle and drive someplace. I just met a guy who runs a very, very large family office, in the billion. From New York city.
I went to Seattle, Washington and met him at a hotel down there. He says, “You don’t need to come to New York City.” It’s when you’re willing to be out of your comfort zone, if you can [inaudible 00:18:24] and build relations with these people. And that’s the [inaudible 00:18:25] is most people today, is they wanna hide behind the internet and social media, running ads on Facebook.
But they don’t wanna pick up the phone, or knock on the door, or get on an airplane to go meet the person face to face.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. That’s tremendous. It’s human nature. It’s basic stuff. It’s sweat on the forehead. It’s whites of the eyeballs. I love that. I love the, “I’m gonna fly out there and see ya’ for 15 minutes closing.” Nothing shows more commitment and more reality to what you’re doing there, Darren.
And you’re right. There’s a lot of people out there wanna hide behind the ads. They wanna hide behind YouTube. They wanna hide behind a marketing apparatus, but I love how you just punch it up.
Stefan Aarnio: Now, Darren, what you’re doing takes a lot of hard work. That’s respecting the grind straight up. You’re like an athlete on the telephone, I’m sure. How many calls are you making every day? Are you doing 100 calls a day? How many calls a day is Darren Jacklin?
Darren Jacklin: So, today I’ve had 28 calls already today, cold calls.
Stefan Aarnio: I love how you know the number man. Because so many people… like I don’t know, especially my office. I ask my salesman, “How many calls you make?” “I don’t know.” I love how you know 28 calls. How many conversations today?
Darren Jacklin: I had 17 conversations, the rest went all to voicemail.
Stefan Aarnio: Okay. So 17 conversations. How many closes have you had today?
Darren Jacklin: Two.
Stefan Aarnio: Two? Awesome. Now out of the two, you collect any money?
Darren Jacklin: Yes. So one is actually for an advisory board position where it’s compensation and equity. And the other one is actually a consulting client, somebody who’s working through scanner operations right now on scale. And I’ve got the resources and context and the experience to help them scale.
So, we’re gonna work on a consulting agreement for me to help them on a shorter term contract, to help them put the right people in place and position them. So they can scale properly and acquire some capital to do that.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. So for the people at home, I don’t know if people just saw what I did there. I played sales manager with Darren for a minute. How many calls? How many conversations? How many closes? Money collected. What I love is this champion I’m talking to here knows exactly the numbers. You didn’t bullshit me any numbers.
You didn’t go, “Uh, maybe 30.” Now by the end of the day, Darren, we’re on the west coast right now, I’m in LA, you’re up in Vancouver. By the end of the day on Thursday today, how many top line calls do you think you’re gonna make?
Darren Jacklin: I will make a total of top line calls, I’ll make a total of 45 calls in total. I’ve got all scheduled out. And on that top line calls will be 25 high level calls. High [inaudible 00:21:41] producing calls.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. You’re a beast man.
Darren Jacklin: I’m a machine.
Stefan Aarnio: You’re a machine. It makes me happy. It just makes me happy to know that a guy is playing at that level. So, Darren, one thing I never even asked you. And I’ve known you for awhile. We were in that movie the Treasure Map, years ago. Corporate training, what are some of the things you would train these corporations on?
Because it sounds like you’re an operator, man. You’re a real athlete at what you’re doing. Getting on the phone, smiling and dialing. What are some of the things you train these companies on?
Darren Jacklin: So, what I look for is I look for areas of risk and liability in the company. So one of the key things I train on for corporate training is how to be a first time manager, supervisor, team leader. What happens in corporate America, corporate Canada, a lot of companies, is they’ll minimalize traction or retention.
So to track good quality, people retain good [inaudible 00:22:34]. Just like in your organization. You wanna track good quality people but you also want to retain them. Right? So what I focus on is how to attract and retain people in terms of [inaudible 00:22:41] as I do. Another one is how to train first time managers, supervisors, team leaders.
‘Cause what happens is, people get hired onboard in the company whether it’s a small, medium, or large size corporation. They’re there for a period of time. Their supervisor, manager, team leader quits. HR, if they do have a Human Resources in the office, sometimes they don’t. What happens is they gotta fill that body, fill that position. So all of sudden you’ve got-
I’ll use a warehouse as an example. When you got a warehouse distribution center. And what if it’s a great [inaudible 00:23:11] in the center of North America. So you’ve got a warehouse distribution center, you’re moving product for Amazon, or any different company. What happens is that John or Joe, Joe comes in for the last two years of working in the warehouse.
He knows his supervisor. Supervisor quits, or gets fired and moves on. All of a sudden [inaudible 00:23:29] his own, Joe’s been here for two years in the warehouse. He knows his way around the warehouse. Let’s just promote him. So they promote John. John looks at the upside, all the benefits. He doesn’t know the drawback. And he takes this position.
Now he’s making a little bit more money. Maybe a little different schedule, pay schedule, something like that. More work hours comes more responsibility. Challenging the risk and liability factor, now he has to supervise and manage other people in the [inaudible 00:23:55]. With challenges he’s never been properly trained in and developed.
Which now creates potential risk and liability and exposure to that. Because if he wrongly terminates somebody, doesn’t document things, doesn’t [inaudible 00:24:07] and follow procedures, they could be at a lawsuit, it could go to legal relations. It could lead to some internal challenges, which then gets the lawyers involved which is an expensive, billable time.
A lot of energy and frustration. That creates a problem. So, I show them how to mitigate that risk and exposure to that. And also, a lot of CEOs and executives, I train them on how to raise capital. How to create joint ventures as you create alliances. Because today we’re in a fast paced world today, where companies will spend so much money and time and energy wanting to develop a product.
Versus just finding somebody else who’s already dominating that space, who’s a leader in that industry, somewhere geographically located and then bring the two [inaudible 00:24:50] together, and create a joint venture to create an alliance. That way you outsource and you leverage. You’re not paying for the employees, the inventory, the manufacturing, the equipment. You could partner with somebody else on a joint venture.
Most CEOs, most executives know a formal degree education, they’re never trained in developing the skills [inaudible 00:25:08] because the people teaching the courses have never experienced it. So I go in and whether it’s onsite or offsite, I train the [inaudible 00:25:15] on how to do this with the business owners.
Where I come from, I’ve trained over a million people in 22 years. I also service on paid board of directors of public and private companies. And paid boards of directors of advisor boards as well. So, not only do I come in as a corporate trainer, I have a board of directors path from a publicly traded company [inaudible 00:25:34].
So I wear very different hats from experience when I’m training people. I’m also just nearing the [inaudible 00:25:41] right now on a 2. [inaudible 00:25:42] dollar capital raise through a private equity fund. So, I know how to raise a lot of capital. I know how to do corporate training. I know how to deal with rejection and [inaudible 00:25:51]. And also how to mitigate the exposure to risks and liabilities.
And show these decision makers what the blind spots are. And also I train and develop on entrepreneurship. I’ve had a lot of peaks and valleys and wins and losses and [inaudible 00:26:04] in my life. So a lot of people today, they wanna transition to being an employee, to becoming an entrepreneur or small business owner or operator.
The challenge is they don’t have the skillset and the mindset, and the steps and strategies on how to do that. So most of them transition, and they make so many mistakes, then they quit, they’re taken out of the game. So, if you do it, I look at myself saying I’m 45 now, if I was to retrace my steps and talk to my younger self, what would I have done differently?
So I actually train and develop these men and women while I’m at events, or conferences, or conventions. So really, what my life is about through is making mistakes, where I was deficient. Now I’ve become more efficient. Now systems and strategies and procedures. And then how to find the right people to put on your team.
I’ll give you an example. So, my accountant is in his 70’s. And my bookkeeper just retired last week after 32 years as bookkeeper. And so I thought, jeez I know my bookkeeper’s gonna exit and retire, suddenly. And I thought it would be the end of this year but she did it this last week. And so rather than me having to go up there and run ads and interview a new bookkeeper, I went to my accountant and said,
“Listen, you’ve been an accountant for over 40+ years. How about I give you a little more billable time and you interview me a bookkeeper?” So I leveraged. But a few years ago, I would have went and did that all by myself. Where as I can hire someone for a lot less than what I financially would have per hour, or per day. And another thing that I’ve learned too, from where I’m at now. Rich people do not work for money.
We go to school, we’re taught by our parents, rich people work for money. No, they don’t. The middle class works for money. Rich people work people to acquire assets or any company producing assets. You look at yourself, Stefan. In your 20’s, you started to acquire income producing assets. You never worked when you were a music teacher. You traded time for money.
Now you realize, “Hey, I wanna start to acquire income producing assets.” So a lot of you watching right now, they’re in this vicious cycle where they’re still trading time for money. And you can do that in a job or career, something that will pay your bills. But always consider to break out of that vicious cycle, better start acquiring income producing assets and over time or immediately will pay you dividends, or pay in cash flow.
Stefan Aarnio: Right. That’s a very powerful thing. That’s where people go from making money, to making wealth.
Darren Jacklin: Yeah. I’ll give you an example. So I was making six figures, high six figures a year as a corporate trainer. And what I did a few years back, is when I was training companies, I started taking a piece of equity and confrontation. Now I built my portfolio into multiple seven figures, just the last decade. Just from doing that, from going from making a good six figure income to multiple seven figures now with portfolio.
Because I went ahead and started getting equity and financial compensation. From different companies I was training. And also serving on the board of directors and advisories.
Stefan Aarnio: So, let’s talk about that quickly, Darren. A lot of people have given cash or equity, they just take the cash. I know my employees for example, they’ll just take the cash even if it’s much less cash. It’s always cash, cash, cash. Short term mentality. Now with you, do you come in and you say, “Hey, I’m worth 100 grand, but instead I’ll take 100 grand of equity.” Or how do you negotiate that deal?
Darren Jacklin: Yeah, so it’s on a case by case situation. Every deal structure’s different. So for example, I’ll give you an example. Today, one of my calls. Over in Uganda, East Africa. There’s a university over in Uganda, East Africa. And I’m being brought in here just to come [inaudible 00:29:43] go over and guest speak, to train on entrepreneurship.
So as part of my discovery process with the university. I realize that one their goals in the next two to three years is to actually build a call center. Because in Uganda, East Africa they have about 41 million people that are documented in population. And of that, about 78% of that population’s under the age of 35 years of age. So Africa right now is an emerging continent or emerging marketplace.
They wanted to create a call center over there for [inaudible 00:30:12] outsourcing. Now this university has no idea how to create a call center. Now with my background of corporate training, serving on boards of directors and advising boards of [inaudible 00:30:22] and mentoring, I had a vast way of knowledge.
And also, I had a massive of network of people on the wall. One of my good buddies [inaudible 00:30:31] into America was the largest outsourcing agencies for corporate America, corporate Canada, throughout a decade they were award-winning. Had thousands of employees. Virtual assistance. So today I just called up the university on Google video conferencing and I said,
“Listen, when I come over there as part of my [inaudible 00:30:48], how would I look at seeing if you guys would be a right match. I wanna get paid compensation and equity plus take an advisory board of director’s position. I’ve got multiple strings of income coming in so I get paid for the joint venture. I get paid some equity. I also have a boards team as well. Advisory board of directors, and we create [inaudible 00:31:08] a company.”
Then I go to the other side, and I get to create some equity and cash for introducing them to there to create the joint venture together. [inaudible 00:31:17] which is great. Now, the cool thing is, I’m just matchmaking, I’m monetizing my role of decks, and I’m working smarter not harder, but actually firing assets.
All’s I do is I’m just putting companies together, taking a piece of the actual equity, and financial compensation for doing the deal and bringing the deal together. Then, I want reoccurring revenue which I said on the advisory board, or the board of directors. Or I do public grants. But I look to [inaudible 00:31:44], streams of revenue begin from one deal.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. That’s very high level, Darren. That’s very high level. I’m not sure if all the people at home are totally understanding what you’re saying. But there’s a lot of wisdom there. Now, when you sit on a board of advisors, in one of these companies, do they pay you for that? Is there an unpaid position?
Darren Jacklin: No, they’re all paid positions. So, I get paid equity. Every quarter plus I get paid financial compensation plus my job expenses. So, I come in and I deal with the owners of the company, or the executive teams. And we look at my backup of public [inaudible 00:32:24], what’s going on in the company, the culture, the environment, the core values.
We look at the potential risks, liabilities, exposure to that. Who our competitors are. Are we dominating the space? What our best practices are. There’s a whole bunch of stuff I go through [inaudible 00:32:38] my discovery wit to help me. I interview… I’ll give you an example. I had somebody fly in from Australia to meet me here in Vancouver, from Australia.
And this gentleman’s a very wealthy man, he runs 20 companies and seven and eight figures in his portfolio. Made his first million by 27 years of age. He is actually gonna disrupt the adult education of [inaudible 00:33:01]. So check this out. If we look at the adult education history right now across the world with colleges, universities, online programs, academic programs, students today have to pay money for adult education or college university.
Then there’s about 25% or so, never complete that degree or that diploma. And the people that do complete the four or five, or six or eight year degree, they leave. A lot of them never go into that industry, or that field. They go into something else. Okay? So, check this out. This guy has built a very solid team and has a lot of money backing behind it.
They’re gonna disrupt the education across the planet by paying you to go to college university to learn adult education. So, rather you paying money, go into student loan debt, how would you get paid to go to school. Now you say, well how do they monetize that? How do the students actually get paid? How the do the teachers actually get paid?
Well the business model, the financial model is this: data analytics. When a university or college student is going to school, him or her, they’re spending time in that classroom studying, reading, researching, they’re collecting all that data analytics off of students. That can then be monetized to potential employers or human resources or recruiters or corporations that wanna recruit these people to come out of these universities and colleges.
Also, what they’ll do is it sets up so that the students now wanna be more attentive in work, because they’re getting paid. Plus also the teachers will get more conferencing. Now, the traditional [inaudible 00:34:30] universities and colleges, they’re low to change and adapt. So they’re not gonna adapt the small. They’re gonna get upset it’s disrupting their model. Okay?
But this company is like the Expedia, not of the travel industry, but of the educational [inaudible 00:34:45]. And they’re now gonna disrupt this by online. So how they doing it? How are they gonna roll this out in scale? What they’ve done is they built a team of seven, eight figure income earners that are in the markers around the world.
The last few years they’ve attended these high level conferences of internet marketers who are already earning seven, eight figures a year of annual revenue off of businesses. And now posted it to a private master money group, they’ve collaborated on this. They’ve done the research, some diligence, they punched holes in it. The business finds the modeling. Now they put together a solid platform and now they can disrupt the industry.
Now, I just met a guy the other day here in Vancouver, who I’m looking at being on the advisor board. They’re actually gonna pay you, they have an app on meditation. And you know how you buy an app on the app store, you pay money to have an app? Well this app on meditation’s gonna pay you every time you check in and do a meditation every day. They’re actually gonna pay you money to actually meditate.
Because they can sell that data analytics to life insurance companies that are doing the under writings. And life insurance actuaries, is a lot of the life insurance companies in the United States and Canada, a lot of their data came from the baby boomer generation. Now the younger generation, the millennial generation, up and coming, they have a different way of life.
They have a different life. They function differently in society. They wanna be more independent. They wanna be virtually [inaudible 00:36:12] on them. And they don’t wanna build the traditional bricks and water businesses that their mom and dad or grandparents meant to. So they can now monetize that data analytics and sell it to insurance companies, so when somebody goes to fill out a life insurance application, they can see on the application form of a life insurance application, do you meditate?
How often? How many minutes or hours per day? And they collect that data analytics because people are getting mindful and they’re meditating. And their well being of who they are, have an impact on what they pay for insurance [inaudible 00:36:42] on their life insurance.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. So wants to disrupt the business models there, that’s all about data. It’s all about moving data that people didn’t have before and moving that different ways. I was listening to, excuse me… a program and they said, “Data is the new oil.” It’s almost like LinkedIn now.
People don’t make resumes anymore, they just go on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is your resume. I saw Facebook now is getting into data. It’s about time. They have all the people, why not just match them up? So, it sounds like Darren, some of the deals you’re working in, these are major disruptors. Insurance, major disruptors.
I was also watching with those DNA tests and ancestry tests, they’re now selling that data to life insurance as well, so they’ll know what diseases you’re gonna have in advance. Which is almost like Big Brother, but it’s crazy. Now Darren, let me ask you this. When you were broke and you were homeless and you were suicidal, what were some of the changes you had to make in your own mind to go from that part of your life to this part of your life?
Where you’re selling data and you’re sitting on boards. That’s a major shift. What are some of the mind shifts you had to go through?
Darren Jacklin: So one key thing was, your environment. Who you spend time with. Your circle of five. So one of the things that I did is I always hang out with four financially broke friends and I become the fifth. And I had a gentleman one day say to me, he said, “Darren, one of your blind spots is that you don’t see, is the four people you spend the most time with, you’re a [inaudible 00:38:27] people.”
And so he had me right down in my journal, who all I’m spending time with and I realize the four people are I was hanging out with are living [inaudible 00:38:37]. They could never get into it financially, they were living in the rat race. As soon as I started to distance myself, I started my life, I didn’t spend as much time with them and I started to level up that people were playing [inaudible 00:38:48].
My income [inaudible 00:38:50] will rise. Back in 2012 when I started telling people I interviewed 73 different people ’cause I wanted to get on paid board of directors and advisory boards. 73 people I interviewed said, “Sorry, you’ll never get paid to be on a board of directors or advisor board. You’ll have to get a non profit group or school group or sports team, companies will never pay you to be on the advisor board, [inaudible 00:39:12] if you have no formal education.”
I said, “Well I have a degree in results.” And that’s what matters if you turn on investment, results. And so, the thing is, in my life I realize that whatever you want you can go after it. You’re gonna get [inaudible 00:39:27] and you’re gonna get slugged, but you just gotta keep persevering.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. I love that. Now let me ask you this, Darren. Is it more important to build a great business or to build a great brand?
Darren Jacklin: Well, the thing is you wanna build a brand. Brand comes from your core values so [inaudible 00:39:45] branding, like listen I know a lot of people who are branded really well. Who are financially broke. Right? I’ve seen professional athletes, I’ve got some friends who are professional athletes, that if I mention the names here on this interview, you would know their names.
But behind the scenes, they’re a financial disaster. Okay? So, they’re on national television. Lots of fans know ’em in the sporting industry. But behind the scenes it’s organized chaos and a financial disaster. So I think it’s important for you to have the right system and strategies in place. The [inaudible 00:40:15] is to get a pension.
Because you wanna constantly get [inaudible 00:40:19]. So many people are distracted [inaudible 00:40:20] evidence and there’s so much noise today, gotta get attention. So what I do is I’m all about building personal relationships with people. Knowing people’s birth dates, wedding anniversaries, important events in their lives. Defined [inaudible 00:40:34], with Doctor Gary Chapman.
I studied that book intensely so I we could learn people’s love lives. How they’re communicating [inaudible 00:40:40]. I wanna learn as much as I can about people because at the end of the day, no matter what industry we’re in, no matter where we live on the planet, at the end of the day we’re dealing with human beings.
And people always ask in corporate training when I’m consulting or measuring they’ll go, “Well, why didn’t you just specialize in phones?” And I said, “Well I used to focus on the financial services, the real estate, the mortgage broker and the pharmaceutical industry. But today I work with industries all over the planet.” Why?
Because at the end, [inaudible 00:41:06] problems and challenges. People’s different personalities, styles. Introvert, extrovert styles. All that stuff. We’re dealing with human beings at the end of the day.
Stefan Aarnio: I love that. Human nature is the same throughout history, across the world. There’s a cultural differences, maybe we’re using Facebook or MySpace depending on the decade. But at the end of the day, human nature is the same.
Stefan Aarnio: And Darren most high performers that I interview on this show have an obsession. What’s Darren Jacklin’s obsession?
Darren Jacklin: I would say making a difference. I love serving people, I love supporting people. I love making a difference. The juice for me is when I get somebody who makes a phone call to me, or I see them on the street, or an airport, or live event. I had a lady talk to me last week who’s in real estate. She’s a licensed real estate agent.
And I helped her win an award in her office. And she cracked six figures. And just a couple years ago, she was a struggling single parent mother, trying to make ends meet. She cracked six figures, and she’s got money saved now. She’s got money and investments. She’s thinking of buying her first investment property here in the next couple months.
And that inspires me, is pushing people up and seeing people go for their goals and dreams, wherever they are in your terms. That’s the juice for me, that’s what [inaudible 00:42:59] me is humanitarian [inaudible 00:43:01] work, but also acts and services. Making a difference in people’s lives. They seem to [inaudible 00:43:06].
And I also love too, where I get a chance to water people’s dreams. So when I’m doing a seminar, or I’m speaking in a conference or convention, I visualize that to be my mindset. That I’m actually helping and watering these people’s dreams. And I wanna put my fingerprints on these people’s dreams.
And I wanna have an impression in their life that if I can train and develop them and share something with them they can use, that can plant a seed in their mind and move forward. It helps with their children, their family, their relationship. It helps with their spiritually, their finances, their health. Then it’s a win for me.
So that’s what drives me is I wanna make a difference in humanity. Make a difference and make it a better place.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. It sounds like you’re really service oriented guy over the [inaudible 00:43:47]
Darren Jacklin: For sure.
Stefan Aarnio: It’s one of those things. I remember I had to reverse in my mind when I was a guitar teacher, starting out. “What can I get versus what can I give?” And when I made the business, thought about what I get, and what they get, and their value, totally changed me.
Now if you go back to the beginning to 18 year old Darren Jacklin, you said you’re 45 now Darren. If you go back to 18 and give yourself a piece of advice, what would you say?
Darren Jacklin: I would say, strangers. Talk to strangers. ‘Cause I was always taught growing up, never talk to strangers. I was told that by family growing up, my school teachers, by my environment. But yet strangers are what you need and desire in your life. And so all your goals and dreams, everything you want in your goals, you need money, it’s all around you.
You want opportunities, you want promotions, you want jobs. You wanna be in a relationship. You wanna have a door open. Everything you want and need and desire comes from people around you. Whether it’s on social media, your friends list on social media channel. To walking around the street to going into a conference or convention or trade show.
Or similar, going to a [inaudible 00:44:52] with a whole bunch of business people. Or being on an airplane. Airport lounge. Everything you want, comes from strangers. And I wasted a lot of time in my life by being scared to talk to strangers. And I realize now in my life, looking back and retracing my steps, I would talk to a lot more…
I would have saved a lotta time and did a lot more efficient versus deficient, if I would have talked to a lot more… Yeah, I knocked on a lot of doors. I made a lot of cold calls. But I walked past a lot of people I never talked to. So if I just would have said, “Hello. Good morning.” Or, “Good afternoon.”
It could have led to a lot more opportunities.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. I love that. Just talking to strangers. I wrote a letter to myself last week and it was two regrets in life. Not doing it. Not doing it soon enough. And talking to strangers is just not doing it. Darren, we gotta wrap up in a couple minutes.
What are top three books that changed your life?
Darren Jacklin: A good book, a lot of people know is, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Another good book is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, it’s a classic book. And the third book would be Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
Stefan Aarnio: I gotta smile because the last interview I just did last hour, the guy said the exact same three books. Why those three books, Darren? ‘Cause I see those books myself, other people in this interview it’s the same three books over and over again. Tell me why those books.
Darren Jacklin: Because they’re practical. And it doesn’t matter where you live on the planet, you can do that. And you look at How to Win Friends and Influence People, that book was written many years ago. It deals with the core fundamentals of human beings and human nature. Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a classic book that we’re never taught in the education system.
A rich dad and a poor dad taught, and in the book [inaudible 00:46:42] Napoleon Hill would [inaudible 00:46:43] many years ago. With their classic books that really made a difference in my life. And I think one more would be a book called The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason.
Or Man’s [inaudible 00:46:56]
Stefan Aarnio: Huge books too, man. Huge books. I love that. Darren, for the young people out there, I always like to end with this question. It’s one of my favorite questions on the show. For the millennials, the generation Zed, the young people, the up and comers today. What’s the one thing that people need to succeed in these days?
Darren Jacklin: Well they’re drowning in knowledge but they’re starving for wisdom. And the challenge is they’re so [inaudible 00:47:21] on free information on YouTube, social media, and the internet, it’s right at their fingertips. They’re bombarded by so much data and information, but they don’t execute and take action forward.
What I would suggest the millennial generation and younger, is you gotta look at, you gotta pick a handful of people that you respect and admire, and do a deep dive on them and study them very deeply. Like yourself for example, [inaudible 00:47:46] people. And it’s people who have got the results.
You wanna start shaking hands with people, who are already living the lifestyle that you like or you [inaudible 00:47:54]. They’ve already got the results. Because behavior never lies. And they’re life demonstrates results. Because they’re walking around living it. Now when you wanna start [inaudible 00:48:05] those men and women and what they’re being, and getting the [inaudible 00:48:08] and spend as much time being around them.
Because when you’re around them in their environment, you’re gonna start to pick up on things. See things, or [inaudible 00:48:17] things. Now you can start to apply on your own life. Because a lot of the millennial generation, they are [inaudible 00:48:22] information they learned off of YouTube and Ted Talks. That life doesn’t demonstrate it, it doesn’t show you results in real life.
And there’s a lot of people out there naming so called experts that don’t have the results to back up what they’re teaching people.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. That’s huge. I think that this phone here is a blessing and a curse. You have unlimited access to more stuff than ever before, but I like what you said. When you say drowning in knowledge, but starving-
Darren Jacklin: Starving for wisdom.
Stefan Aarnio: Starving for wisdom, that’s powerful. And Darren, for the people at home who wanna get in touch with you, how could they get in touch with you. How could they get in touch with you? How can they get in contact with Darren Jacklin?
Darren Jacklin: You can go to the internet website darrenjacklin.com. You’ll see my name here on this video conference, d-a-r-r-e-n, j-a-c-k-l-i-n. There’s a contact page on the website. You can also follow me on any social media channels by going to darrenjacklin.com and on darrenjacklin.com you’ll see all the social media links you just click on with the mouse.
And you can go on phone or your laptop. It’ll connect you to my social media channels in depth. It’s a way I can provide value and services through consulting and mentoring. [inaudible 00:49:24] through darrenjacklin.com and we’ll do the discovery call.
Stefan Aarnio: Wow. Love having you on the show, thank you so much, Darren. Respect you bro.
Darren Jacklin: Grateful to be here, Stefan.
Stefan Aarnio: Hi, it’s Stefan Aarnio, and thank you so much for listening to my podcast. If you enjoyed this episode today, then you’re gonna love my new book The Close – Seven Level Selling. Everybody, every day has to sell and influence to get what they want in business and in life. If you loved this podcast, check out my book.
You can go to 7levelselling.com/podcast. Get a special promotional offer just for podcast listeners. Once again, that’s 7levelselling.com/podcast. We’ll see you on the next episode.
