Zone of Excellence. Brenden Kumarasamy

[00:00:00] Bob Wheeler: Did you know that time is actually more valuable than money? It’s true. Just think about it. How much money can you buy with an hour of time? Probably not a whole lot, but how much value can you get out of an hour? You can accomplish a lot in an hour depending on what you do. So while money might be able to buy some things, time is definitely the more valuable resource, and that’s why it’s so important to u se your time wise.

In today’s episode, entrepreneur and Communications coach, Brenden Kumar Asami joins me to talk about how time is potentially more valuable than money. What would you do if you had all the time in the world? What would your calendar look like if time was a priority? We discuss how having great public speaking skills translates into better income.

Brenden and I also talk about the importance of investing in personal development and the bigger question, how do you wanna show up in the world? I’m Bob Wheeler, and this is Money you should ask, where we explore why we do what we do when it comes to money.

[00:01:00] Brenden Kumarasamy is the founder of Master Talk. He coaches ambitious executives and entrepreneurs to become top 1% communicators in their. He also has a popular YouTube channel called Master Talk with the goal of providing free access to communication tools for everyone in the. Brenden, it’s so great to have you on the podcast.

I’ve been reading that it’s believed as much as 75% of folks experience glossophobia, if I’m saying that right. Glossophobia fear of public speaking. So I’m hoping that you’re comfortable with public speaking cuz that’s sort of what you do. .

[00:01:54] Brenden Kumarasamy: I’m hoping to, we’ll find out soon enough.

[00:01:56] Bob Wheeler: We’ll find out now. So as a public speaking coach, do you like sit on the [00:02:00] sidelines and you’re like, Get louder, go longer.

Cut it short. Like what does a public speaking coach.

[00:02:07] Brenden Kumarasamy: I mean many things, Bob, to be honest as well, I would start the conversation with this. When was the last time we dreamed of better communication skills? There’s a specific reason why I never say the word glasso phobia in any of my content, any of my videos, because first of all, it’s a silly word, like nobody understands what it means.

And the other piece is when we choose to focus on the fear that is the result. Whereas when it comes to money, when it comes to relationships, health, we dream about what we want that life to look. But we never do it in communication. That’s why my response is always, How would your life change if you’re an exceptional

[00:02:42] Bob Wheeler: communicator?

Yeah, Probably a whole lot better, cuz I think most of us could all be better communicators. Always. Always. So when somebody comes to you, like they’re sitting there going, I wanna speak better, I wanna communicate better, Let me hire a coach. How do people come to you? I know you work with a lot of entrepreneurs, you work with people that ambitiously are trying [00:03:00] to get out there and do things.

What’s that edge they’re

[00:03:02] Brenden Kumarasamy: gonna. Yeah, Bob. So there’s two ways of answering that question. The first one is the reason why I started Mass Talk in the first place, which is really sharing free content for everyone in the world. I didn’t even know you can get paid to be a coach. Frankly, I was just making videos because I felt no one was sharing this information for free.

In the same way, you’re doing some incredible work in the money space to give people that free access. So that’s the mission side. But then what happened is a few years later, as I was making these YouTube videos, Bob, I realized that there’s a small group of people within my social media following within my email lists that actually wanted to pay for coaching, which is a very niche group of people.

And in general, those people, Bob, are looking for return on investment. People who invest thousands of dollars into communication, coach generally wanna make more money from the time that they spend and the money that they spend. Let me give you a few easy example. Women executive who wants to be in the C-suite, that promotion will give them a massive spike in salary.

Entrepreneur who wants to speak on [00:04:00] a stage, they already have a great business. Let’s say it’s doing six figures and they wanna scale it up further. Or the third piece is another coach like me, just not in the communication space. Maybe like a career coach or a podcast host who’s looking to refine their message.

So those are the specific people we train in our private practice.

[00:04:16] Bob Wheeler: And how did you discover like this was your gift? Were you at five years old doing orations and your family was like, Brenda, stop talking or don’t talk So, Like, how did you discover this? Because you know, a lot of people, it’s not on their radar.

People aren’t running around going, Gosh, I’d love to speak in public and have people criticize me. ,

[00:04:36] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely, Bob. I mean, for me, I wish that was the story. Yeah. Bob, I was this incredible speaker. It’s actually the opposite. I was born and raised in a city called Montreal and Canada, Bob, and for those who are listening to this and don’t know what that is, Montreal is a city where you need to know how to speak French , except I didn’t know the language.

So my whole life, not only did I stroll communication, I was presenting in a language I [00:05:00] didn’t even know. Wow. So when I was in first and second grade, I’ll look at the audience and go, Bonjour. I also got a crooked left arm from a surgery I had when I was younger. So I had a lot of social anxiety. You would think that a communication expert studied in communication.

Yeah. I got a bachelor’s degree in accounting, so There you go. .

[00:05:18] Bob Wheeler: There you go. Uh oh, me too. . Oh really? Yeah. That’s too funny. So you actually had to do

[00:05:26] Brenden Kumarasamy: the work. That’s why I’m a big believer, Bob, that anyone can be an exceptional communicator. I always use this quote by Kevin Durant that I apply in all my coaching programs, All of my appearances, or really anything that I say, which is the following hard work beats talent.

When talent fails to work hard, we just need to figure out what are those principles to work hard towards. In the same way with money, no one’s bored with money, knowledge. You gonna have to just learn it as you go in life in the same way I had to. I know for me, public speaking was something I did not do.

[00:05:56] Bob Wheeler: And even at a certain point in my life I was doing standup comedy [00:06:00] and I was still terrified to get up in front of people and talk and people would say like, That makes no sense. And for me, comedy, I just have to make people laugh. I don’t have to be logical, I don’t have to be intelligent, I don’t have to be consistent.

I just have to get laughs. But as a public speaker, I’m supposed to sound informed. I’m supposed to have an expertise. I’m supposed to be knowledgeable. I’m supposed to use three syllable words, and it was very scary for me. I could barely say my name. I’d be at a workshop and they’d say, You say your name in your city.

I’m like, I’m Bob. And people are like, Oh my God, . So I did Toastmasters. I did Toastmaster for a long time, and it was amazing. I ended up getting ribbons and going into competitions and stuff. Woohoo. But it was terrifying. I can’t imagine doing it in a second language.

[00:06:48] Brenden Kumarasamy: Mm. I love that.

[00:06:50] Bob Wheeler: Bum. What was your second, I mean, English, or what was your language that you spoke when you had to start learning French?

[00:06:56] Brenden Kumarasamy: First of all, I’m shocked that someone who has had so [00:07:00] much experience in standup comedy like yourself, struggled in communication. Cause usually the other way around. A lot of people like me, I had a lot of troubled stand up when I did that for fun just to practice. So amazing. That explains, you’re delivering cadence now.

All of that makes sense to me, . And in terms of the languages, my second language is French and my third language is,

[00:07:19] Bob Wheeler: Okay. Wow. I can barely do English, so that’s a feat. So when you speak French, are you translating in English or now is it more that you actually think in French?

[00:07:30] Brenden Kumarasamy: I definitely still think in English, but it’s been smoother throughout my whole life.

Bob, And a strategy that I teach people, which helped me later in life that I kind of invented while I was figuring the self myself, is the difference between the first and the second language is really the culture and the. So when you are immersed in a culture like American culture, well you just know the slang versus like when you take a saying like you can’t have your cake and eat to, Yeah, that makes absolutely no sense.

In no [00:08:00] other language, , like in French is eating a cake. Like what? So doesn’t make any sense. So the key is really to write the speech in our first language, translate into our second, and then use the vocabulary test and speak it out to native speaker. And

[00:08:14] Bob Wheeler: what was your motivation to be a better speaker?

Was it just, I feel awkward socially, and I’m trying to just fit in. I’m using it to get ahead. It’s holding me back. What were the factors for you that said, I need to do this better?

[00:08:29] Brenden Kumarasamy: I wish I could tell you this amazing story of glory about why communication is so important in our lives. Yeah, that wasn’t the case.

So I was a 19 year old kid. I went to business school in accounting, and my dream was to work at one of the big four accounting firms, Price Waterhouse, Coopers, KPMG in young Deloitte companies. I had no clue about. Keep in mind, my parents were factory workers. I didn’t come from a lot of money. I knew nobody at the business.

I was so lost, Bob. And since you used to be an accountant, you’ll get the joke that I thought Price Waterhouse [00:09:00] Coopers was a water bottling company. . That’s how lost I was. Oh wow. So, yeah, I know. It’s crazy. So I get to these cocktails. I got my big suit on from prom cuz I couldn’t afford anything better.

Yeah. And I start asking these students, How did you get a job? And they all looked at me and they said two words. Case competi. And I looked at them and I said, What is that? And they went on to explain that it’s like professional sports for nerds. While the guys my age were playing football, I was doing these competitive presentations so I can get a job in corporate America.

Wow. And that’s what led to Master

[00:09:34] Bob Wheeler: Talk. Wow, that’s amazing. I didn’t even know they had that stuff out there. There’s always something for somebody. So you got involved with that and said, Okay, this is just gonna help me get my dream job at a water bottling.

[00:09:46] Brenden Kumarasamy: Exactly. So what happened was I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.

I was just doing these case competitions so that the executives, that these companies would notice me, and I did get an internship with the one of the big four the year [00:10:00] after, which changed my life and my financial situation. But after I started making a little bit more money, I started asking myself the bigger question of life, what can I do to actually make a difference?

And that’s when Mass Chuck fell on my lap, Bob, because I’d accidentally big word on accident, coached all of these students on how to communicate. Cause I just was competitive and wanted them to win these competitions. And I realized I was one of the youngest communication coaches in the world and it was an all accident.

[00:10:27] Bob Wheeler: Wow, that’s so amazing. What I’m curious about though is you talked about your parents were factory workers. Then you went on to get a job at a big company and sort of like break the cycle of working in a factory. What was that like coming from parents that are working in a factory? Like was there pressure to break the cycle?

Were your parents hoping that you would, I mean, I’m assuming maybe that they immigrated to Canada to try and give you a better life and so a lot of pressure on you to like be the hero.

[00:10:58] Brenden Kumarasamy: Definitely Bob. It wasn’t as [00:11:00] stressful as depicted in a lot of media, but yes, my parents did immigrate from Sri Lanka to Canada and the early nineties to give me that opportunity.

And a lot of people use that opportunity differently when they’re second generation immigrant like me. Cause I wasn’t born in a third world country. I was born directly into Canada. So some people kind of say, Eh, whatever. I’m in Canada. And other people like me say, This is my golden ticket. I have an opportunity here to really change my family’s life.

And I always, I’m a very competitive person, so I really took that to heart. But for us, as you well know, Bob first, entrepreneurship wasn’t the way out of poverty. That was for people who had a lot of money. Like for me, it was really getting a great job and a great education, and that’s what PWC and IBM gave for me.

[00:11:46] Bob Wheeler: How have things changed since like now you’ve hit over 25,000 subscribers on YouTube, so congratulations on that. Thank you so much. People are taking notice and you’re doing this thing that you’ve created versus I’ve got this steady nine to five job. Well, if you’re working in [00:12:00] accounting and it’s nine to midnight or later, there’s no nine to five, but like.

How has your life changed? You said financially things changed. How did it change and did your spending change? Did you just had more money, but you were always a perfect saver? Like what was the financial journey as you’ve moved from the son of factory workers into an entrepreneur that’s standing on zone?

[00:12:25] Brenden Kumarasamy: You know, it’s funny when I reflect on that journey, Bob, if you had told me in 19 that not only was I going to get my dream job at price and that I went on to work for IBM as a technology consultant, so six figure starting salary pretty much, and then quitting that job, , to start a business. First of all, I already thought that getting that job was already impossible.

And then you’re gonna tell me I’m going to get this job and then quit it. I thought you were del. For me, a $50,000 a year was a lot of money. Mm-hmm. . So in that lens, every penny I had, I would save it even when I started making money. [00:13:00] I think my starting my first paycheck at ibm, my first annual was like probably 73, 75 K a year.

But because I lived with my mother and we all share, this is something we do in South Asian culture where a lot of the family stays together until we all get married. Mm-hmm. . So even today, now that I make way more than I used to at ibm, I still live with my mom and I still live with my. And I feel it’s that mentality of, I call this income combining.

That gave me a lot of leverage. But the leverage in life wasn’t about making more money. It was buying something more important that I didn’t even think was as important until probably two years ago, which was my time. And when I started buying back my time, I started asking myself the bigger questions of life, which is what do I wanna spend the rest of my life even doing?

And here we.

[00:13:49] Bob Wheeler: That’s awesome. Now, I’m wondering, I know that Canada is probably a lot more tolerant than the us. I’m wondering about the challenges of being [00:14:00] non-white, non French immigrant parents, and any barriers that you might have faced or any prejudices or just not getting the benefit of

[00:14:09] Brenden Kumarasamy: the.

Absolutely Bob. I mean, I agree in the sense that because when you’re Canadian, it’s actually not as bad as the states in some cases. I would say the biggest prejudice I’ve had in my life, cause I’ve been fortunate, I haven’t really had any, and I would tell you by the way, like I had an alcoholic father, dysfunctional family, a lot of challenges in that area.

In terms of my ethnicity though, not so much. But there is one I did have, which was around age specifically. So today I’m 26. I started math stock when I was 22. I started coaching when I was 19. So even if I’ve been doing this a while, it was really hard for me to get executives to buy into me. Cause I started coaching CEOs.

I think in my early. And my average client today is around 20 years older than me. So getting that buy-in was really challenging because a lot of them would look at me and say, I’ve worked in the company longer than you’ve been alive. What do you have to teach me? [00:15:00] Right? So I had to break through that a lot.

I have some strategy if you wanna hear that, but yeah. I’m curious,

[00:15:04] Bob Wheeler: what was one of the strategies? So

[00:15:06] Brenden Kumarasamy: obviously depends on the business that you’re in, but I’m fortunate in coaching where it’s very high margin, so you actually don’t need a lot of people to replace the. Which is a good thing. So for me, it wasn’t about selling everybody.

I’m not gonna go to the CEO of JP Morgan and say, Hey, old white dude, no offense to you. Obviously .

[00:15:27] Bob Wheeler: I’m not old. Oh, I’m white. Okay, got it. All right, I got

[00:15:29] Brenden Kumarasamy: it. You’re like 30, 32. Exactly. I’ll talk about the old guys. I’ll send you a check. Okay. There you go. I’ll, I’m gladly take, I’m just kidding. So, yes, that.

I’m not gonna go up to them and say, Coach me. But what I will do is I’ll create a lot of free content and see who’s attracted to me and my message, which ended up being, quite frankly, Bob Indian technology professionals who are making a hundred thousand dollars. Or more a year living in the United States.

Those people can’t rely on someone [00:16:00] older because there’s not really a speech coach who’s brown and has the skillset I do in their forties with an American accent. So I niche in that group and they all said yes to me. That’s how I built my initial client base. That’s

[00:16:11] Bob Wheeler: awesome. How do you think being an effective public speaker impacts your finances?

And not just you, but in general? Does it, does it not? And can you just say a little.

[00:16:22] Brenden Kumarasamy: The way that I define communication, Bob, is achieve one specific outcome for a specific audience, and the better you are at communication, the easier it is for you to knock out those outcomes for the specific audiences that you’re speaking with.

This is why communication is commonly referred to as a high income skill depending on what you’re doing in life. Communication acts as a lever. I call it an accelerant of. To help you do more and achieve more. Example, if you work at a company, almost everyone talented anyways, in management roles, which generally pay the most money, have exceptional [00:17:00] communication skills.

In other words, every role at the top, whether it’s in business, whether it’s in your career, is always about managing people. If you’re an investor, you’re managing different stakeholders. If you’re a coder, you’re managing other coders, and it’s that communication that allows you to amplify what you’re looking for, and that’s why Warren Buffet always says that the best investment he’s ever made in his life is in a Dale Carnegie training course on communication.

[00:17:23] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. How important is authenticity?

[00:17:26] Brenden Kumarasamy: I would say authenticity is important, but let’s contextualize that a little bit. Mm-hmm. authenticity is different based on who we’re communicating to. What do. When you’re talking to your seven year old niece, authenticity means smiling in a weird way. Playing peekaboo means jumping up and down, going to the park with your niece, whereas when you are speaking to.

Let’s say a student. It’s about sharing authentic pieces of your life when you were their age. So it’s more relatable to that audience versus when you’re trying to be more authentic for an [00:18:00] executive, you wanna talk about different scenarios that you struggle with in that specific arena, they’ll relate to them.

So authenticity means showing a version of yourself that is true to who you are, but that also reflects the best outcome for the specific audience that you’re speaking.

[00:18:17] Bob Wheeler: And you know, we’re talking about management having this skill set. Not everybody wants to work for a company like yourself, entrepreneur.

You mentioned that you’re very competitive, very much, and so I’m wondering, is the competition to have the most money in the bank to travel to the most continents to be better than all the big corporations? Like how does competition serve you and where does it not serve you? Frankly?

[00:18:42] Brenden Kumarasamy: So for me, I always like to call myself the Michael Jordan that nobody gives a shit about in the sense that when I was in university, I was a tyrant.

When I was coaching people on communication, not so much anymore. The reason was because I’ve always been competitive, and that’s a consistent thread throughout my whole life, except the [00:19:00] evolution of competition has changed dramatically. Example, when I was younger, it was professional video games. Then when I got to university, it was these competitions.

How do I win these cases and get the job that no one else is going to get in consulting or one of the big four firms. And then after I won that finite game getting a job, my competitions shifted to other communication coaches where I said, I’m gonna beat all of you clowns when I was younger. Cause no one’s sharing free content with the.

And this is a disservice to people who can’t afford a communication coach. And now I’ve changed quite a bit, which is more of, I still want to be great, but for reasons above who I am today, I always think about the next Elon Musk Bob, who’s a seven year old kid who probably can’t afford a communication coach.

So for me, what competition looks like is definitely not money in the bank. I became a billionaire a long time ago, and what I mean by that specifically is not money, billion. But billionaire of time where now I’m in a place in my life where I can do anything I want with my [00:20:00] time, which means it doesn’t matter if I’m making 50 or 500 K a year.

So what’s the message? I think the message is play for a bigger cause and I measure it by the number of lives that I’ve

[00:20:09] Bob Wheeler: impacted. That’s awesome. I think so many people miss that piece about paying it forward and having an. I have to say, I mean, I’m a little surprised to hear somebody at this age saying it’s not about the money that the billionaire is in, having the time, and so many people miss this piece.

They’re so busy. If I get that million dollars, if I get that billion dollars, if I get that a hundred thousand dollars, my life is gonna be so much better when I can get that extra 50,000, that extra million. And I don’t think for most people that that’s

[00:20:43] Brenden Kumarasamy: actually. I agree, but I feel there’s another piece.

That’s why I went through that whole time. Million of people. I’m super empathetic as well. This wasn’t too long ago, six years ago, seven years ago, I was always about the money and the reason was because money was going to unlock everything else for me. Mm-hmm. . [00:21:00] So for everyone listening to these podcasts, if you don’t have the money, I’m not against you pursuing it.

I wasn’t about saving the world when I was 20 years old. I couldn’t care less about the world. I was focused on retiring my. Because she was working at a factory for 10, 15 years. I couldn’t care less about the kid in Africa or the person in Cambodia or something. Mm-hmm. . But after I unlocked her, after I retired her when I was 22, after I started stacking a lot more money, not cause I was rich, but because I was saving 80, 90% of my income.

Then I started giving myself my time back. And now I could reflect and now my focus in life is to help other people. But I don’t feel necessarily you need to go there right away. You can take your time with it and save your own family first, and then when that’s done, you can save

[00:21:41] Bob Wheeler: the world. What do you think was the biggest piece, and maybe it was when you were able to take your mom into retirement, but I know for myself, very competitive.

I gotta hit all the marks, gotta do these 82 things cuz I look good on a resume and then at a certain point, Nobody cares about the resume. Maybe internally, I still [00:22:00] sometimes go, Ha ha, I need three more things on. But for the most part I’m okay. But there was a huge focus. Gotta do this. And I’ve got friends and I remember friends back then, I’m gonna be a billionaire by the time I’m this age I’m gonna do this and right.

We’re all like very lofty, very competitive, and very materialistically oriented. And then for me it was a trip to Africa. Having a shift and shifting to gratitude and shifting to appreciating just being able to breathe or have hot water and travel really helped Give me that perspective. What was it for you that really made you say, It really isn’t about the money.

Yeah. I’ve been stacking it away and not because I’m making billions, but because I’m saving 80, 90%. That’s a critical piece there. Saving what you’re making. Whether I make 50,000 or 200,000, I’m saving instead of spending. But what was that breaking point? What was that shift for you that really said, Ah, there’s something bigger at play here.

[00:22:55] Brenden Kumarasamy: Here’s what I’ll say. It’s a question that I feel a lot of us don’t think enough about. And the question is [00:23:00] simply this. Let’s say I made everyone who’s listening to this podcast right now, an instant cash billionaire, instant. The question I would have for all of them, now that you are a billionaire, it could be millionaire, doesn’t matter, is what would you do with your time for the rest of your life?

Mm. Cause the problem that we have in society right now, Bob, in my opinion, is we’re all optimizing for this magical number that we didn’t get to choose, which is 60. We’re all trying to get to 65 and retire, but Steve Jobs was a multi billionaire. He had all the best doctors in the world and he died in his fifties.

Colby Bryant, all the best doctors couldn’t save him. He died in his forties. Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, died a little bit before 65. So optimizing for that number isn’t going to get us anywhere. No, the better question is, okay, I made you a billionaire, Brenden. I made you a billionaire, Bob, everyone else, what are you doing for your.

And the problem with most people, cause I’ve asked this question a lot to people in general and they always answer something like travel. And I reply with, What are you going to do? Travel for [00:24:00] seven years and then die? And that is really the crux. This is where the rubber meets the road is when you really start answering this question.

What you’ll realize most of the time is whatever you wanna do with the rest of your life, it doesn’t actually require a lot of money. And that was my epiphany where I thought my whole life that I needed billions and billions of dollars. Cause my parents kept talking about how we didn’t have money. And then I had it and I said, Huh, groceries are only 200 bucks.

It’s actually not that bad. And that’s when I asked myself the bigger questions, which was spending my life doing Master talk. That doesn’t cost me a lot.

[00:24:35] Bob Wheeler: When hearing all this, I’m thinking back to your mom and I’m wondering what do you hope that she’s most proud of you for accomplishing?

[00:24:46] Brenden Kumarasamy: You know what’s interesting is, I mean, it was hard for me to admit, cuz when I was younger, whenever my mom would talk to me about other people, she might say something.

I thought, Oh yeah, he works here. He does this for a living. He makes this much money. [00:25:00] Never. The only thing my mom says when other people ask her about her son is how much she loves my YouTube videos, . Oh, literally, she doesn’t understand them much, but her English isn’t that great, but she just loves how her son is like out there helping people with speaking and my character, the character that I have and how I lead.

With kindness are probably the two things she’d point towards. She would love me even if I was a janitor the same way as I am now. Yeah. And I feel that’s the crux and the nail, and that took me a long time to realize as well.

[00:25:32] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I think that’s so interesting when you said that she’d still love me if I was a janitor.

And I think it’s interesting in the work that I’ve done with coaching people around money and emotions and stuff, and the question comes up a lot. Why can’t you do that? Well, because my parents wouldn’t love me anymore. If I fail at this or I don’t do this, my parents won’t love me. To which I always ask, What’s the dollar amount at which your parents will stop loving you?

Ooh, right. So good because I think you’ve hit it. [00:26:00] It doesn’t matter what you do, it’s how you show up. And it is the character. It is the kindness and those things what make us hopefully billionaires instead of meers. Cuz we’re out there sharing it instead of skimping it. For people out there that are listening, that are saying, I want more, I’m gonna work on being a better speaker.

I don’t wanna work for a water bottle company, . Are there any signs that you can share with people to say, This is the sign that it’s time to branch out on my own? Like how do I know when that side hustle is ready to be my hustle?

[00:26:33] Brenden Kumarasamy: I’m glad you asked me the question cause I have very different opinion than most people.

I call this side hustle comfortably. I never had any aspiration to be an entrepreneur, and frankly, Bob, statistically, I think most people shouldn’t. I think it’s oversaturated right now in entrepreneurial culture, and the reason it’s very simple, the number one reason why human beings most of us can’t be entrepreneurs is because it requires a quality that most of us don’t have, [00:27:00] which is the willingness to adapt and change extremely rapidly.

You need to go from one moment, you gotta wake up and then covid is, and you’re like, Shit, okay, , all my speaking business is gone and you need to keep re a job. Still requires growth, but not at the same extent. That’s why for me, what I optimized for when I was younger is a six figure guaranteed paycheck.

Statistically, I feel that’s the best bet for most people, which simply means this. Look at all of the career paths in the world and make a decision that aligns with what gay hends calls your zone of excellence. What are you really good at that the world is willing to pay you a lot of money for or somewhat of a living for?

And then what happens is when you enter your zone of excellence and you start making money and your job. This is the real test of whether you’re an entrepreneur or not, because most people, when they start making 75, 80, a hundred, 120,000, you start to see it right away in their habits, whether or not they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Why? Cause they spent it all. [00:28:00] Whereas me, when I start making those checks, and they offered me a lot to stay as well at ibm. I wasn’t spending any of it. I was like, No, I really wanna do something with my life. So your wallet is actually making the decision for you, and most of us are making the wrong decision.

In terms of the other piece, which Mark Cuban talks a lot about, if you can’t do the side hustle part-time, you can’t do it full-time. I took a very little risk as an entrepreneur, Bob. I had a nine month emergency savings before I left. I had already placed 30% of my income. I wasn’t just jumping the boat as the only breadwinner in my family.

So I was gonna risk the livelihood. I spent a decade of my life building from 12 to 22, and I had a clear 90 day plan on what I was gonna do every single day until I replaced all of my income, and I did it in 60 days.

[00:28:46] Bob Wheeler: Gotta have a plan before you can execute it. Absolutely. Absolutely. That is so awesome.

And yeah, that entrepreneur piece, it’s interesting. I’ve hired a lot of CPAs and a lot of times on their resume, they have six months of like trying to be their own business. And I tell a [00:29:00] lot of my employees and people that I work with, just because you’re really good at what you do doesn’t mean you’re great at running a business.

A hundred percent. And sometimes. Be good at what you do and get paid nicely. Instead of trying to go out and go, Look, I’m gonna try and do something that really isn’t in my comfort zone, or I’m not able to do those pivots like you’re talking about. Brenna, we are at the fast five. The fast five is brought to you by Acorns, where you can invest, spare, change, bank smarter, say for retirement, and much more.

For more information, click on the link in the show notes. So Brenden, we’re gonna just have a little bit of fun here. Top of mind. Shift the energy a little. Do you have any embarrassing money secrets?

[00:29:39] Brenden Kumarasamy: Embarrassing money secrets? I would say I had a very poor money mindset growing up as a kid, and I still do to this day, even if I have a lot more money than I used to and the way that I do this, one of my money coaches taught me this.

You look at your bank accounts every day in the morning and you add up all the numbers. I don’t have any debt besides the mortgage that [00:30:00] we’re paying off. So it’s always a big number and it just relaxes me. But I still have that problem to say that I’m working

[00:30:06] Bob Wheeler: through. I hear you. I hear you. What would you say is your most healthy money Habit?

I think I know what it is, but what would you

[00:30:12] Brenden Kumarasamy: say that is? There’s definitely a lot, I’ll give myself credit there, but I would say the most important one is income combining. A lot of people in their twenties, they want independence. They wanna leave their mom, they wanna go out of their own. And I think that’s really dumb if I’m being frank.

Yeah. Especially in this economic environment. If you got a great mom, okay. If you don’t go hang out with your friends and stay with, But I feel that’s really what’s made me financially wealthy. It’s not really my annual income, it’s the fact that me and my sister and my mom, we combine all three of our incomes under the same roof.

So we have very little.

[00:30:42] Bob Wheeler: That’s awesome. What would your mom say? You spent too

[00:30:44] Brenden Kumarasamy: much money. She would’ve a hard time figuring that out. Say I’m pretty diligent. I’m pretty diligent. If I had to pick one, probably two. One is takeout. I’m a soccer. I probably spend like five, 600 bucks a month on takeout. But you know, the hourly rate of my time versus [00:31:00] cooking.

So I got an excuse there. But the other piece is personal development conference. I love me. A nice Tony Roberts conference in singing Kumbaya. There you go, .

[00:31:08] Bob Wheeler: Exactly. Group hugs, , what would you say is your number one emotion you feel in relation to.

[00:31:15] Brenden Kumarasamy: It used to be anxiety. I would say today it’s probably a mix of anxiety and peace.

I actually have no idea why those two . So some will say go, Oh, I don’t have to worry about money anymore. And then I wake up and I go, Oh my God, what if I go bankrupt in nine months, even if I won’t? Yeah. So I don’t know if that answers the

[00:31:33] Bob Wheeler: question, but hopefully they go hand in hand. They go hand in hand.

How have your spending habits changed from five years ago?

[00:31:40] Brenden Kumarasamy: You know, it’s crazy, Bob. They haven’t changed at all except for one key thing. The biggest difference between who I used to be and who I am now. I still save just as much, but the difference is I invest a lot more in programs and coaching and personal development.

Because those programs are why me a lot more and I can meet contacts that I couldn’t otherwise have [00:32:00] access to without investing. Yeah,

[00:32:01] Bob Wheeler: that’s awesome. I think money amplifies who we already are. , it’s not really gonna change. And adding a few extra zeros after the one either makes us more of an asshole or maybe a little more compassionate.

So yeah, that’s. So we’re at the m and m moment, our sweet spot, Money and motivation. Do you have a practical financial tip or a piece of wealth wisdom, something that’s worked for you that you could share with our

[00:32:29] Brenden Kumarasamy: listeners? Absolutely, Bob. If you want the result that 99% of people don’t have, you need to be willing to do what most people don’t do.

And the reason I say that is because the people who actually have. Often make decisions that are counter to the culture narrative. Get a white picket fence, get two cars, make sure everything’s new. Have a big house, get a big mortgage. Spend extravagantly on a wedding. Go spend a hundred bucks fine dining, [00:33:00] and if you listen to all of that, you’ll be poor like everyone else.

Versus if you do exactly the opposite, Oh, I should buy a $5 handbag. Oh, I should get a wedding for $3,000. You’ll actually get the results that most P don’t have. So that’s my advice.

[00:33:15] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, that’s awesome. Brenden, this has been such a fun conversation and I wasn’t sure where we were gonna go with all this, and me either, honestly.

Right? I didn’t. I’m like, we’re gonna talk about public speaking and I think really for me, the surprising. I mean, it’s not surprising is this piece talking about what would we do with our time? How are we gonna spend it? And instead of like, Oh, I gotta get to 65, or I gotta get to, I gotta hit this mark and I gotta get the fence and the two dogs, or the two carts and like, Right.

And we have all these things and then we get there and there’s nothing really fulfilling. And then we got there and then we’re like, what next? And to stop and reflect and. Investing in programs on ourself and self development is so important because I think really the bigger question, which [00:34:00] you’ve been asking, and I think all of us can ask, is how do I wanna show up in the world?

Like how do I wanna make my mark? Because you can talk about Kobe Bryant, you can talk about Steve Jobs, and they made their mark, right? They made their mark. They didn’t wait until 65 and then they were gone, but they made their mark. And I think it’s so important from my perspective, Of no longer trying to just get those accomplishments and just like make the resume look really shiny to focus on how do I wanna show up?

How do I wanna pay it forward, and how do I wanna impact the world in a way that actually makes a difference for the

[00:34:35] Brenden Kumarasamy: better? Thanks, Bob. I really appreciate it, man. Yeah, that’s the goal at the end of the day, and that’s the biggest lesson I learned on money is that time is actually way more valuable than money, and that’s what ultimately led me to quit my job and take the salary spike.

Massive spike. Yeah. Where I lost a lot . But I think the point I wanna drive is when I asked myself what I actually wanna do with my time, my entire [00:35:00] calendar changed and my actions needed to reflect that new calendar I set for my life.

[00:35:05] Bob Wheeler: That’s awesome. Well tell your mom I’m gonna come live with you guys cuz we’re gonna do some income combining and , I’m moving to Montreal.

I don’t speak French either, but you know it’ll be good. It’ll be fun. Dude.

[00:35:15] Brenden Kumarasamy: Our mortgage is 800 bucks a month. .

[00:35:19] Bob Wheeler: That is crazy. It’s nuts. I’m in southern California. It is not 800 bucks a

[00:35:24] Brenden Kumarasamy: month. Oh no it is. We are cruise it.

[00:35:27] Bob Wheeler: That is awesome. So Brenden, where can people find you on social media? Online. You’ve got a YouTube channel and I know we’ll put all that in the show.

[00:35:34] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely. Bob, First of all, it’s such a great to be on your show. You did such an incredible job with this. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Of course. So, two ways to keep in touch. One is the YouTube channel. Just go to Master Talk in one Word, you’ll have access to a bunch of free videos on communication.

And number two is I do a free workshop over Zoom on communication that’s live and interactive. And you can register for our next one at Rockstar Communicator. Do.

[00:35:58] Bob Wheeler: Awesome. We’ll make sure to [00:36:00] put all that in the notes. Brenden, this has just been a lot of fun and I really appreciate your insights. I appreciate what you’re out doing in the world and I appreciate you giving these free resources because I think if we can all communicate better, we can all have much better lives cuz we’ll actually know what’s going on.

[00:36:18] Brenden Kumarasamy: I appreciate it, Bob. Thanks for the time. This is awesome.

[00:36:27] Bob Wheeler: We hope you enjoyed this episode. Did you learn something new about your relationship to money today? Maybe you have a friend who has some financial blocks or beliefs that are holding them back. Please share this podcast so they too can get off the rollercoaster Ride of Financial Fears and journey towards financial.

To learn how to have a healthy relationship with money, visit the money nerve.com. That’s nerve not nerd. We’ll be back next week with another perspective on money and the emotions that bind us.[00:37:00]