Full transcript: Dan Peña on bank accounts
0:14 Dan Peña: Because we got two bank accounts in life, we got an emotional bank account, we got a financial bank account. Now Brian the Mustard, he’s made real progress since he learned how to deal better with his emotional bank account. But him being a Canadian, Canadians are all ****. I mean, it’s not easy. And sitting next to a Canadian, yeah, Canadian, well, oh ****, that’s too bad, anyway. But I mean, so we got an emotional bank account, we got a financial bank account, and most of you are concerned about the wrong bank account.
0:47 Dan Peña: You’re concerned with the financial bank account. And it’s your emotional bank account, your self-esteem, self-worth, et cetera, that leads to your financial bank account being built.
1:04 Dan Peña: I got a couple of big awards from where I went to school, I ultimately graduated. I was on the eight-year program for my undergraduate degree, eight years, but I spent four years in the military, but eight year, and I got this big award as the most distinguished alumni. And they’re talking to Dr. Shirley Teter, the head of the School of Business. Dr. Teter, you’ve known Mr. Peña a long, long time. This is Connie Chung, who used to be an anchor for CBS a long time ago. He says, yes, yes, well, you’ve seen him grow up, da-da-da-da, what have you seen change in him in all these years, nothing.
1:38 Dan Peña: The only thing that’s happened with Danny, they used to call me, is that his accomplishments have caught up with his big **** mouth. Now, this is Dan Peña day, where I went to school. What kind of **** is that to say about me? It’s true. So, 10 years later, I don’t know, sooner, that was the same thing. And a similar result from somebody who’s getting the award, and I got the award, I was Hispanic Man of the Year in 1981 or 83 or something, I got some big award, because I am a minority, I’m a blue eyed Hispanic.
2:18 Dan Peña: Anyway, and I’m going through my acceptance speech, there’s about 3,000 people in the audience, and about where Robert is sitting, my dad’s sitting in the first row, I get about 15, 20, 30 seconds into the talk, my dad starts sobbing uncontrollably. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, like that, okay. Now, I’m a pretty focused ****. So, I’m trying to block this **** out, and I had a three, a seven, and an 11 minute speech. I hadn’t planned the different speeches because I thought my dad was gonna start sobbing.
2:53 Dan Peña: And I got through it, I got through the seven minutes, I said three minutes is too short, I’m getting a big **** award, I gotta talk more than three minutes. So, I’m focused, you know, and so I get through it. So then, they’re interviewing them, again, they put a microphone on my dad’s face, and they ask him, you must be very proud of your son. And he says, yes, I am. About his accomplishments, his success, et cetera, et cetera. But my son, Dan, is successful not because of me, but in spite of me.
3:28 Dan Peña: I’m gonna say it again. He’s successful not because of me, but in spite of me. Because my dad knew that he had nothing to do with my success, but he didn’t know, and when I told him years later, you did, you gave me integrity, strength, alpha male role model.
3:51 Dan Peña: Yeah, example, exactly. But as far as the business, all he used to say, when he came to the castle, and he was at the castle once, and he just says, tell me it’s not drugs. Tell me it’s not drugs. Now, this is a cop from East L.A., okay? Went to Lincoln High School. But my dad’s emotional bank account wasn’t too strong. He had big balls, wasn’t afraid, fought in two wars, et cetera, but I mean, his father died three months before he was born.
4:24 Dan Peña: He was the youngest of seven, he was supporting his family as a shoeshine boy during the Depression, bootleg. He would put the packages in the shoeshine box, and that’s how he supported his family, starting at seven. I started working when I was 11, okay? And it’s like Napoleon Hill says, the worst thing you can do is leave your children, they could be born into wealth, okay? Bill Gates and guys like that, they’re doing a little different.
4:55 Dan Peña: He’s giving each kid 10 million or whatever. He’s not gonna give him the billions, he’s not gonna give him more than the same. I’m giving my kids zero. **** all, nothing, not 50 pence, nothing. They are completely cut out of my estate.
5:15 Dan Peña: And my wife and I, God love her, are doing the very best. We’re never gonna spend all our money. I have to live to be 1,000, but we’re doing our **** best, though. And we support charities, we support three orphanages in the Philippines, a school in Rwanda, a mission in Sri Lanka, something else, and a scholarship fund where we give four to eight scholarships for high school, student athletes where my dad used to go to high school.
5:51 Dan Peña: But we’re doing something about where we see there’s need, but we had to create the wealth first, instead of carrying placards around the embassy complaining about ****. And that’s more in the mode that you guys are in.
6:11 Dan Peña: So I’m different, and I don’t care what you think. And I’ve had a whole string of successes now with guys that are equally as stupid as you. One of my great success stories is a guy with one O level, okay? How many Brits in the room? Okay, you know what an O level is, right?
6:42 Dan Peña: Okay, his O level was in joinery. He got a C. Now during the break, not that I don’t want you to bond, the Brits can explain what that means, getting a C in joinery for his only O level. He and I did a 450 million deal. At the time, it was one of the biggest privatizations. It was a healthcare, public to private. It was a Crestacare and Four Seasons merger, and with one O level.
7:17 Dan Peña: But the guy had big balls, I mean. Very persevering, and he wanted it. Maybe because he only had one O level. One O level is like you graduated from junior high school when you’re 15 years old before you go into high school. That’s what I call the equivalent. It’s not exactly that. And you can do it. And why do I still coach?
7:48 Dan Peña: Why do I still coach? I coach because I get off on bringing sorry **** across the goal line. I’m living vicariously through your successes. And fortunately, I’m very good at it, so I’ve got a lot of things to be happy about. But because I’m not trying to make money off you, or et cetera, I can tell you. And the mentor program, although I don’t expect any of you to come to the castle, I already told Brian that.
8:18 Dan Peña: But the mentor program after the castle is for free. I mentioned it for a year for free. So that means I can throw you out any **** time I want. Why throw you out even if you were paying for it? But I mean, it’s for free. And his class is already four down, four down.
8:38 Dan Peña: January’s class is already two down. August’s class is nine down, maybe 10. Yeah, nine or 10. They’ve thrown him out. No, no, I’ve thrown him out. I’ve thrown him out. We had one guy in January’s class who resigned at the graduation dinner. He never even started. Although he gave a great testimony. It’s a great program, a great program, a great program. But an Irish guy after a couple glasses of wine and some Jameson, he said, this ain’t for me.
9:13 Dan Peña: I’m not gonna do this ****. And he was successful. He was one of the more successful guys to come to the seminar. And, but that’s great. But it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. It’s certainly not everybody’s cup of tea. But it’s the only legal way that I know at an age almost 70, where you can take what normally takes a generation, 20 to 25 years, you can create the same wealth in three to seven years. Three years if you’re a dynamo, **** par excellence.
9:46 Dan Peña: Five years if you’re average, and seven years if you’re a ****, **** melon head. That would normally take you a generation, depending on what you want to count a generation, 20 to 25 years. And we’ve done it over and over and over and over again.
10:07 Dan Peña: And I actually, I find it insulting that I have to keep telling people, most of the people, and if I had been coming to this to listen to me, I would have read every **** thing on my website. Every single thing. I know more about you as individuals than you know about me. And that’s a sad commentary. Not from my end, but on your end. But that’s how you approach life. And unless you’re willing to make that jump across the chasm, that quantum leap, you know, this is a waste of your time and money.
10:46 Dan Peña: And the time is more important than the money.
