Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Bare It All with Linnsey is where nothing is off limits. From thriving in recovery to building businesses, raising kids while chasing dreams, diving deep into mental health, and making a real difference in the world — we talk about it all. This podcast is raw, real, and completely unfiltered. Whether you’re healing, hustling, or just trying to make it through the day, you’re in the right place. We’re here to inspire, empower, and remind you that you can rise from anything.
I need to hear how you went from bankrupt to over $300,000,000 in sales.
David Rivero:I'm sharing this with you because I don't want other people to do what I did. I could be 10 times farther along than I am now if I would've just
Linnsey Dolson:People only see the good part. Like, what about, you know, bankrupt or living in your parents or in jail or all of that? They just see the success.
David Rivero:My friends were all smarter than me, but I just kept on putting the reps. After you put in enough reps, you get good. I started a business about little less than a year ago. I need a business that's gonna make money when the economy is not good. Now that business is making money.
David Rivero:It's got 30 employees. I'm looking to hire 10 more this weekend.
Linnsey Dolson:Just because you have your own business doesn't necessarily mean that you have that freedom because some are slaves to their business.
David Rivero:It's not how much money you make as a as a business owner. It's just that time freedom that you have to do what you want when you that's the one piece of advice I wanna give your audience is
Linnsey Dolson:Welcome to Bare It All with Linnsey. I have my friend David on. David is incredible. I met him when I spoke at his event, Monetize Talks, and I heard your story. And what I heard was you say bankrupt to over $300,000,000 in sales. And I was like, fuck yeah. I need to know his story. So thank you so much for coming on.
David Rivero:No. Thank you for having me. I'm pumped to be here.
Linnsey Dolson:Yes.
David Rivero:I've never been on a podcast with pink chairs.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh my god. I know that's what I said. I was like, oh, man.
David Rivero:You must have a lot of women attendees.
Linnsey Dolson:So do you know you're my first boy?
David Rivero:I'm the first guy.
Linnsey Dolson:You're the first boy.
David Rivero:I figured.
Linnsey Dolson:I love it. I love it. I know he's telling the girls. I'm like, I have a boy on for my guest today. They're like, oh.
David Rivero:So they're usually women all the time.
Linnsey Dolson:It's usually women. And it's not even that I wouldn't have men.
David Rivero:Okay.
Linnsey Dolson:I just I don't know. I've had mostly women.
Linnsey Dolson:And so I was like, I wanna kinda mix it up. And so I reached out to you. I was so grateful that you were willing to come on.
David Rivero:I love being the first.
Linnsey Dolson:This is great.
David Rivero:Well that or you have a very jealous boyfriend?
Linnsey Dolson:No. I know.
David Rivero:It's one of the two.
Linnsey Dolson:We don't allow that. No. We don't go for that. Okay. So I need to hear
Linnsey Dolson:Okay.
Linnsey Dolson:This story. I need to hear how you went from bankrupt to over $300,000,000 in sales.
David Rivero:I won the lottery. Hell yeah. No. I'm totally joking. But it was it was rough when I was young.
David Rivero:I, you know, I tried a lot of different things. Like, you're entrepreneurial. And when you're young and you're trying to be an entrepreneur and you try different things, you kind of don't know what the hell you're doing.
Linnsey Dolson:Hell no.
David Rivero:You don't. And I I'm Latino. I'm Hispanic. Right? And my parents came from Bolivia.
David Rivero:So we didn't, my parents had the worst jobs when you come here. Right? They're like doing gardening. They're doing cleaning dishes at restaurants. They they don't speak any English.
Linnsey Dolson:Hard work for no money.
David Rivero:Exactly. So it's like I I wasn't raised with money. Right?
David Rivero:We're, you know, average class, you know, Latino family. So I didn't come from money. So when I was trying to start a business, I didn't have any money when I was trying to start a business, and I and I had credit cards. So what was happening, I was trying to make some money as a business owner. I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
David Rivero:I couldn't afford mentors. I couldn't afford coaches. I didn't have many people in my life that were making any money. None of my, like, relatives were very successful in my family. Right?
David Rivero:I don't really have like a successful family. Right? So it was kinda like I was learning on my own and you don't know what the hell you're doing. I got a huge credit card debt, couldn't afford to pay my credit cards, and that's when I filed chapter seven bankruptcy.
Linnsey Dolson:So what kind of business was your first business? When we back up real quick, when we started this, you're starting and talking about no coaches. What was that first business?
David Rivero:Funny because I'm Latino. Right? So I like to salsa dance. So I started salsasearch.com.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, oh my god. So what is that?
David Rivero:I can't dance here because the microphone
Linnsey Dolson:I love the creativity. I did not expect that. That was not what I was thinking.
David Rivero:So, you know, I'm I'm Latino. I like to dance.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah.
David Rivero:And obviously, I was single. I love women.
David Rivero:Right? So I was like, what can I do to make money and meet hot chicks?
Linnsey Dolson:Hell yeah.
David Rivero:Salsa dancing. Oh, yeah. So I started salsasearch.com. It was the domain. I wanted to build a directory, kinda like Google.
David Rivero:So if you're into salsa, if you want salsa lessons, you want salsa you wanna go to salsa clubs, you want salsa instructor, salsa videos, salsa education, I'm like, hey. You're gonna come to my directory, salsasearch.com, to get that information. I'm gonna sell advertising on it. I'm gonna get commissions from different coaches. I did all that stuff, and guess what?
David Rivero:It didn't make any money.
Linnsey Dolson:It happens. It happens.
David Rivero:It didn't make any money, but I was passionate about it. I was like, I going I was going to these salsa clubs, meeting girls, having fun, trying to get salsa instructors, salsa club restaurants, and none of it made any money. So I kinda wasted years of my life trying and trying to, like, turn something that didn't really have potential to make money, and it I just lost. I got a huge credit card debt. I couldn't afford to pay the credit card.
David Rivero:So what happens is I I filed chapter seven bankruptcy, and then I couldn't afford to pay my rent at my apartment. So then I had to move back in with my parents. So this was kinda you know, you're, you know, you're you're kinda thinking you're out of your parents' home. You're on your own.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, yeah.
David Rivero:You think, hey. I got it figured out. Right? And then I gotta come knocking on my mom and dad's door and going, mom, dad, I have no car. I have no credit cards.
David Rivero:I have no money. I just went bankrupt, and I don't know what to do.
Linnsey Dolson:And how old were you at this time?
David Rivero:I was in my early twenties.
Linnsey Dolson:Okay.
David Rivero:Right? So I was in my twenties, bankrupt, living with my parents, embarrassed. And at that time, my friends were just graduating from college and buying their first home, buying their first cars, getting new clothes, new watches. So my friends are all doing well, and I'm living with my parents with no job, no money, no credit card, no card.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah.
David Rivero:Business living with my parents.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:So it was just super embarrassing. I just felt like rock bottom.
Linnsey Dolson:Rock bottom.
David Rivero:Exactly. Right. And then when I was in jail when I went to jail
Linnsey Dolson:Woah. Okay. Oh.
David Rivero:Oh, I forgot I forgot to tell you this story.
Linnsey Dolson:Look at that.
David Rivero:I forgot to tell you about this.
Linnsey Dolson:Dang. I didn't realize the story was going here. Tell me.
David Rivero:I I went to jail too.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, shit. Me too.
David Rivero:Oh, you've been to jail too?
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, my 21 times.
David Rivero:Holy-
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. I share my mug shots, I have 21 mug shots.
David Rivero:21 mug shots.
Linnsey Dolson:21 mug shots.
David Rivero:Okay. You beat me. I feel good now. No. But wow. That's a lot. Me? So I went to jail because I couldn't get my business to work. Right? So I had to get money. So what did I do? I had to go get a job. And then when I when I had to go get a job, I got fired for my first job. My very first job, I got fired out of college.
David Rivero:Right? I went to college, got fired for my first job. And then what what did I do? I go, hey. I'm gonna go out with my friends in Hollywood. Right? We went out. I got drunk. I tried to drive home. I got pulled over, got a DUI, got handcuffed when the back of the police car went to jail in Downtown LA, which is not a pretty place.
Linnsey Dolson:I have heard that is the worst jail
David Rivero:It's awful.
Linnsey Dolson:In The United States.
David Rivero:It's freaking awful. And just imagine being there in my young twenties in jail, never been to jail before, and I'm with gang members, criminals. I mean, this is damn time LA. So you were with, like, the worst of the worst. Right?
David Rivero:Hell yeah. So gang members just not a safe place. Right? I'm scared shitless in jail. Like, I don't wanna I can't sleep.
David Rivero:You can't sleep because you're, like, scared you're gonna get stabbed or choked to death.
Linnsey Dolson:It's a dog pound for humans. Yeah.
David Rivero:And when you're there, you can't sleep. You feel like you're the biggest loser in the world. You have, like, I honestly, like I was like, what am I gonna tell my parents? What am I gonna tell my brother? Like, I'm in jail, like, with all these criminals and losers.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:And I'm like, wow. But it when I was in jail, that's when I kinda had the wake up call. I was like, I need to start a business.
Linnsey Dolson:That was your moment.
David Rivero:That was my moment.
Linnsey Dolson:That was your rock bottom.
David Rivero:Yeah. That was my rock rock bottom as just a failure, you know? And I was like, the good thing was like, there's only one way to go up from here.
Linnsey Dolson:I always say rock bottom is a solid foundation to build an empire on because you can't go any further. You only go up. Yeah?
David Rivero:Yeah. And that's what it was. Right? I was just like, wow. Biggest loser in the way in my in my life.
David Rivero:But when I was in jail, I realized there's no such thing as job security. I I try to get a job. Corporate America. Right? And I got fired.
David Rivero:I go if I go get another job, I might go get fired again. So when I was in jail, I realized the only way I'm ever gonna have any type of stability in life is by starting my own business.
Linnsey Dolson:100%.
David Rivero:So that's kinda what I learned while I was in jail. I had a lot of time to think, and that's what I did when I got out.
Linnsey Dolson:So tell us about this journey. So you get out of jail, you're at rock bottom, you have nothing. And the David I know today is incredibly successful. So tell me how you got from there to your life today.
David Rivero:What I've learned is I wish I woulda had money, and I woulda had mentors and coaches. I'm gonna tell all of you, whatever you do, if you have a few extra thousand dollars, whatever, 2,000, 5,000, you could spend it on a mentor or coach in an area you you wanna go in. Right? Let's say you wanna be the best hairstylist. Go get mentored by the best hairstylist that you know that you could afford and learn.
David Rivero:That's that's like the cheat code of life.
Linnsey Dolson:100%. You only know what you know. If you don't learn more, you're just gonna keep doing the same shit. I coach people and I'm like nothing's changing because nothing's changing. If you don't do anything different, you are gonna have the exact same results year after year.
David Rivero:100%. Yeah. Right? So what you just said is what I was making is mistakes every year. I was trying to do everything on my own.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah.
David Rivero:Trying to figure out. And when you don't know anything, it takes 10 times as long.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. It does. Right? Because you have to fuck up 10 times just to learn.
David Rivero:Right? So that's what happened. Right? I I was an idiot. I didn't have any money, and I was just trying to learn everything by trial and error.
David Rivero:And I probably spent five years just wasted just by trial and error. Right? Rather than I could have spent a couple thousand dollars, got coached by someone that knew this stuff, and saved 5 years of my life. Who knows where I might be a billionaire right now. I lost potentially five to ten years of my life trying to figure things out on my own.
David Rivero:Right? So I always tell people the cheat code is whatever industry you're in. If you wanna be a plumber, go to the damn best plumber.
Linnsey Dolson:Yes.
David Rivero:You wanna be an athlete and you wanna you wanna play professional soccer, go get trained by a professional soccer player.
David Rivero:Right? Like, go get trained by the person that is doing it that you respect or you wanna be like.
Linnsey Dolson:Biggest oh, that's a game changer. Yeah. It's a game changer.
David Rivero:Yeah. It's the cheat code of life. And I tell people that all the time. You have a if you need if you don't have a few thousand dollars, go get it. Go get it from a friend, a family member.
Linnsey Dolson:It's investment.
David Rivero:It's an investment in yourself.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah.
David Rivero:And I tell people the best inv- people go, oh, this is this is funny. David, where should I invest my money? I get this all the time because I'm an entrepreneur and I, I help a lot of people. Right? People call me for business advice all the time.
David Rivero:I go put it into learning a skill, a skill that's gonna help you grow your business. Don't don't put it in the stock market. Think about this, Linnsey. Let's say you put $10,000 into the stock market. The average return on the stock market a good return is 10%.
David Rivero:Okay? If you put $10,000 in the stock market, Linnsey, and you earn $1,000 in twelve months, that's what 10% is. $1,000. $1,000 in one year
Linnsey Dolson:That's not shit.
David Rivero:Is that gonna change your life, Linnsey? Is that gonna change anyone's life in the world?
Linnsey Dolson:No.
David Rivero:$1,000 in twelve months.
Linnsey Dolson:Makes nothing.
David Rivero:Okay. Now what if you put that $10,000, not even 10. Let's say you put $5,000 of it into coaching and mentors. That $5,000 can make you 10 X that year.
Linnsey Dolson:100%. No. I agree.
David Rivero:I agree 100%. That's why I told people, where should I put my 10,000? I'm like, put it in yourself.
Linnsey Dolson:In yourself. That is the biggest investment you can ever make is in yourself.
David Rivero:100%. So I tell people, when people say, hey. I wanna invest money. I go invest it in yourself and in your business. Don't put it in the stock market right now. Stock market and investments in real estate and all these great investments, that's after you've made a lot of money.
Linnsey Dolson:That's when you have money just sitting there. It's just sitting there. There's nothing to do with it. Go put it over there.
David Rivero:Yes.
Linnsey Dolson:But if you're questioning where you should put this money, you should put it right into you and yourself.
David Rivero:Agree 100%. And what you just said, you you nailed it. Once you have a lot of money, that's when you buy real estate. That's when you buy put it in the stock market. Right? You don't do that when you're starting.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah.
David Rivero:You put it all into you, your skill set, your business, and that's it. Right. You know?
David Rivero:So that's that's what I learned. That's what I wish I would've learned, but that's when I went bankrupt. That's when I, you know, I was in jail at that time. Was making these stupid decisions because I didn't have a mentor. I didn't have a role model to look at and follow.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:So now with social media, you can look at the people you wanna be like every day. Let's say you wanna be, I don't know, Grant Cardone. He's a he's a he's a monster in real estate. Right? You could just study his stuff all day online. Yeah. Watch his YouTube videos and maybe pay one of his small little courses. Not as expensive stuff, a small one just to kinda get some momentum and learn. And then you're like, wow.
David Rivero:I I learned a lot here. It was a couple thousand bucks, but you probably got a $100,000 worth of value.
Linnsey Dolson:100%. I always tell people, find someone like I was talking to a girl the other day, and she wanted to do, like, a some kind of multilevel marketing. And I'm like, okay. So you need to ask them who's your top 10 players in this industry.
David Rivero:Mhmm.
Linnsey Dolson:Go find their social and stalk the shit out of them. What are they doing?
David Rivero:Yeah. 100%.
Linnsey Dolson:Top 10 players in whatever it is that you're selling
David Rivero:Yep.
Linnsey Dolson:And look what they're doing. And with social media today, you can literally stalk somebody's life and see, well, what they choose to show you. Yeah. But you can just see how they're doing it and what they're pumping out and how often they're pumping it out and the kind of content. And really, you can completely copy.
David Rivero:100%. 100%. So I my thing is you could be you could start from the bottom. You've you know, god, you've been in jail 21 times. I've been in jail.
David Rivero:Oh. I've been bankrupt. Right? So we could start from the rock, rock bottom and look where you are now.
David Rivero:Right? Look where I'd become. Right? You could be the, you know, parents that are migrants that doesn't speak any English that had they couldn't even teach me English. Right.
David Rivero:My parents couldn't even speak English. I mean, think about that. My parents couldn't teach me English. They didn't know anything about a business. They were gardening and cleaning dishes.
David Rivero:What business advice are they my parents gonna give me?
Linnsey Dolson:Right. Right.
David Rivero:So they didn't speak the they didn't speak English. So you could be an immigrant, have parents that don't speak English, be in jail, go chapter seven bankrupt, have no credit cards, no money, live with your parents, and still do $300,000,000 in sales.
Linnsey Dolson:You can. And I love when I heard that in your story, I love that, because I share that so much with my story is like, I was a homeless drug addict. Like, literally lost everything. I had nothing. I had bought I told the story at your event, like I bought a $500 car with no power steering. To build my cleaning business. We built it into a million dollar company in the first like four years. And it was just that drive. And I stalked. I found everybody that was great in the industry, and I think I drove them crazy the first year because I had no money to pay them.
Linnsey Dolson:But I'm like, can I just ask you a million questions?
David Rivero:That was smart.
Linnsey Dolson:I would just question after question and after question, but it is it's that learning because I didn't know, but I know you know. So show me.
David Rivero:Yeah. No. What you did is and it's funny because now with social media, it's all there.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, it is.
David Rivero:It so I when people say, oh, it's so hard, they're just lazy because all the all the information's on the Internet.
Linnsey Dolson:Well, people just wanna, like, make excuses. Well, what if I fail? What if I it's hard. No. I think actually what's hard is probably working a nine to five, barely seeing your children living paycheck to paycheck, having no time frame. That's hard. That's the hard.
David Rivero:Yeah. I tell people, like, I always tell people to become entrepreneurs because then you control your life. Right?
Linnsey Dolson:You do.
David Rivero:When you work for somebody else, you're not in control. They control you. Right? Like my employees, I have just you know, Linnsey, I've had thousands of employees that work for me in these years. Right? I have lots of employees.
David Rivero:And all these employees, I'm in control. Like, if I need if I need to message one right now and I, hey. I need you to do this for me. They gotta stop what they're doing and get it done.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:Right? So they don't really have control. If I need if I need them to do something for me, hey. I need you to knock this out for me this weekend. I'm sorry. This is huge rush. They might not be able to go to their watch their kid's soccer game this weekend because their boss needs them to do something. Right?
Linnsey Dolson:Yep.
David Rivero:That's a problem when you're an employee.
David Rivero:When you're your boss, you're in control. You wanna go watch your son or daughter's soccer game or you don't wanna miss practice or you're in control because you you you can make that decision. You can make that call.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:And that's that's that's what life's about. It's called it's freedom. Right? And that's even if I tell people it's funny. I saw I I forgot who I I heard this from on social media, but it was really clever. It was like, I I think it was Mark Cuban.
Linnsey Dolson:Okay.
David Rivero:And he said something like, I rather make I rather make $50,000 a year in my own business than $400,000 a year working for someone else because at least I'm I'm in control of my my what I can do every day. Right?
Linnsey Dolson:One oh, that's so important.
David Rivero:And it's like you can make so much more money, let's say, in a corporate America job, but you're not in control of your life, your vacations, your future, and you have your own business. You can do whatever you like right now. You call me this week. Hey, Dave. Can you come this week? I'm like, no problem. How does Friday sound? Let's do it. 12:00 on a Friday during a a weekday. I wouldn't be able to come if I had a job. I'd be like, no. I can't come because I have I have I have work. I can't get off work. I would have missed this podcast.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:You know? So you wanna I tell people, it's not how much money you make as a as a business owner. It's just that time freedom that you have to do what you want when you want.
Linnsey Dolson:It's I always say the money. Money is not actually the goal. Money is the tool. Money is a tool, but it's the freedom. It's the time freedom. And when I'm coaching people, I talk about too is, just because you have your own business doesn't necessarily mean that you have that freedom. Because some people are slaves to their business. They haven't actually learned how to put systems, process, procedures in place, they're required to be there every day. So basically, you just built yourself a job. Where you're your own boss, right? It's, it's also learning how to scale that business so that the business works for you. You don't work for that business.
David Rivero:100%. I mean, you and this is what you're gonna learn through coaches, through mentors. Right? Yeah. And trial and error, of course.
David Rivero:Right?
Linnsey Dolson:So much trial and error.
David Rivero:Yeah. Yeah. A lot of trial and error. You know? If I were to do everything all over again, I know exactly I mean, I would just go go straight to a mentor coach, pay, and even get in even get in debt.
David Rivero:Who cares? I'm gonna learn so much more there than trying to figure it out on my own. Right? So just I'm just I'm a strong believer of learning from other people now, and that was the one mistake I made in life. And I just I'm sharing this with you because I don't want other people to do what I did.
David Rivero:Right. I I could be 10 times farther along than I am now if I would've just had coaches or mentors to help me get there faster.
Linnsey Dolson:So at what stage in your business? And tell us also a little bit about the business that you built. Also, when did you learn that? At what stage in that business did you go, okay, I've gotten myself as far as I know how to get myself? I need to start getting coaches. I need mentors. I need somebody to help me get to the next level.
David Rivero:Okay. I'll answer that first. You start making a little money, and what I've learned more than anything, you gotta surround yourself with successful people.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh gosh. That's like so important.
David Rivero:That that's the most important thing.
Linnsey Dolson:So important.
David Rivero:Right? So what I started doing is I started going to trade shows, and I would see all these people that are making all this money. I'm like, wow. That guy has a booth. And I I would talk to them, oh, yeah. We do, you know, $20,000,000 in your sales. I'm like, wow. You know? Like, those numbers seemed like crazy to me at that time.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:Right? But surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs, business owners that are making millions and millions of dollars, you have dinner with them. You have you're having a meeting with them. One nugget. I I always learn one little dumb little thing from everybody.
David Rivero:I'll learn something today on this podcast from you. And this one little thing I'll learn today, I'll apply to my business today. And what I tell people, speed is probably the most important thing I've learned in business. One of the reasons why I'm very successful is if I get an idea, I implement it that day, the next day, it's live. Implementation is everything.
David Rivero:100%. Yesterday, we send out millions and millions of emails every every month and hundreds of thousands of text messages, and we had a conversion problem yesterday. So I look I I looked at the stuff. I'm like, what's going on? So I'm talking to my developer yesterday, and he's, oh, we hit cap on this.
David Rivero:I'm like, well, tomorrow, I need you to get. We can't have a cap. We need we we need to we need to go past that cap with their Twilio cap. So set up another account. Do what you gotta do, but boom. Solution's made. It's done. It's live today. Right?
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:So now I'm not gonna lose money. It's like it's speed. When something breaks, you need to act right away. It's not like, oh, we'll get to it next week. We'll fit.
David Rivero:We'll come up with a solution. No, I had a solution last night and I go, we need to implement it now. So it's just speed in anything in business. It's acting on an idea. Linnsey, you probably have hundreds of ideas. Right? Everyone has hundreds of ideas. It's you acting on the idea is what's gonna change everyone.
Linnsey Dolson:That is the difference of the successful entrepreneur versus the not successful is we all have ideas, but do you actually act out on them? Do you implement them? Do you actually take it from an idea and make it a thing?
David Rivero:Yeah. Like, it's funny. Like, I started a business about a little less than a year ago. Right? Zero employees. Right? And I'm like, I need a business that's gonna make money when the economy is not good. Because I I own a lot of companies, but some of them, a lot most of them, almost all of them are affected when the economy is not doing well. Right? When when interest rates are low when interest rates are high, the real estate market's bad. Inflation's bad. There's a recession. People aren't spending money online on ecommerce products that aren't that aren't a necessity.
Linnsey Dolson:When people cut back, those businesses are affected.
David Rivero:So I own a lot of these types of businesses. Right? So I'm like, I need to start a business when the economy goes to shit. Inflation is high. Interest rates are are high. No one's spending money. I need a recession a recessionary proof business. And that's why I started kinda one of my I started two, but one of them I just started about twelve months ago, a little less than twelve months. Has over 30 employees already.
Linnsey Dolson:And what kind of business is it?
David Rivero:I'm selling leads to attorneys.
Linnsey Dolson:Okay.
David Rivero:So every attorney needs clients.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, for sure.
David Rivero:Good market, bad market, inflation, recession, interest rates. Every attorney in the world needs leads, needs clients.
Linnsey Dolson:Those are usually high ticket leads.
David Rivero:And they're high ticket. Right? So I was like, what industry can I get in where people are always gonna need leads? Because I'm very good at online marketing, I'm like the law firm industry. And now when the market is, guess what? When there's a lot of layoffs or there's a recession and everyone's getting fired, I sell leads to employment law attorneys. Do people drive on the cars? Are there cars driven on the freeway and on the streets every day? Are there car accidents every day?
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, yeah.
David Rivero:For sure. Millions of car accidents. Personal injury. Is that gonna go any time going going away when there's an inflate when there's a recession or anything? People are gonna get in car accidents.
David Rivero:Right? So these lawyers are always gonna need these leads, and lawyers don't know how to market. They know how to be lawyers.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, I agree. I agree. They don't.
David Rivero:So I started that business because I'm like, that's a recessionary proof business. And so there's other biz another business I started too that's recessionary proof, but I'm just saying that's what I learned during these difficult times. You gotta adapt, and it was speed.
David Rivero:I saw the market. I saw the economy going down. I'm like, my businesses are very are are affected by this. I need to I need to start something that's gonna, like, make money during these down downtimes. And now that business smart.
David Rivero:Now that business is making money. It's got 30 employees. I'm looking to hire 10 more this weekend. We're growing like fucking crazy. So it's a good problem. Right?
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah.
David Rivero:So but you now guess what? All these AI companies, all these companies are gonna lay off twenty, thirty thousand people at a time. You got Amazon employment law. I'm gonna have all these leads for employment law law attorney.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, for sure.
David Rivero:Right? For sure. When the market's doing good and it's booming, more companies are gonna hire.
David Rivero:There's more people. There's gonna be more layoffs, more people driving personal injury. I mean, there's just so many, that's so smart. Right? So that's one of my advices, but it's speed. I was like, I saw a problem. I'm like, I'm gonna start a business. I'm gonna implement it. I built it. And we we're up and running with that idea. I had a business up and running in two weeks.
Linnsey Dolson:Someone needs to do that for I just opened a drug and alcohol treatment facility in San Diego, and that would be a good industry to do that as well because those leads never stop coming in and they're high ticket leads.
David Rivero:Yeah. That's why I just what I've learned as an entrepreneur is speed is more important than perfection.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, for sure.
David Rivero:And people, this is what this is the problem with people. Oh, I don't before I start my business, I gotta have my business cards. I need to have the website perfect. I need to have all this inventory.
Linnsey Dolson:Done. Just done is better than perfection.
David Rivero:Get my corporation set up. I need to get my Dun and Bradstreet number. Right? No. Just launch. Just get it up. You know, with my first business, I did it backwards. I worked for a while, made some money, then bought a license because I had enough money. Then I got insurance. Then I got bonding. Then I got all the things. I did not start out with a fancy corporation or any of that. Everything was under my social security number when I started.
Linnsey Dolson:So done is better than perfect.
David Rivero:Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:Just start and fine tune later. Like, agree 100%. People wanna get everything all perfect. They're never gonna fucking do it.
David Rivero:Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:They're never gonna do it before they even start. They're already so in debt with all this bullshit they bought and they realize half of it I don't even need.
David Rivero:Yeah. I tell people you gotta learn why you're, why you're building it. That's what I mean. I I've never sold legal leads to lawyers in my entire life. Never done it in my life. I'm not an attorney. Right?
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:But I'm like, I'm gonna figure it out. I started I got one lawyer client. I go, I'm gonna start sending you some leads. Great. Wow. This is really good leads. Great.
David Rivero:Got another attorney. I'm gonna start sending you some leads. Sounds good. Now we have a ton of attorneys we send leads to.
Linnsey Dolson:Right? Exactly you learn. Just do something. Especially like the drug and alcohol treatment facility. Whole new industry.
Linnsey Dolson:I've never done the medical industry. Right? So I started looking at it, and I was like, oh, this is a lot. Because just it's very technical because you're dealing with medical and insurance and all that. So we're just like, fuck it. Let's just jump in. We're gonna build it. And like, as you go, you've just learned so much. So just jumping into anything, and right away, I found somebody kick ass in the industry, you know, hired him as a consultant.
David Rivero:Yep.
Linnsey Dolson:Teach me everything you know.
David Rivero:Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:You know? And so, it's a it's wild how it's been three no, four months since I implemented the idea of the drug and alcohol treatment facility.
David Rivero:Yep.
Linnsey Dolson:Signed on the place, and did everything, and we're in a few weeks gonna be licensed and open and taking clients.
David Rivero:Freaking awesome.
Linnsey Dolson:So it's and that's the speed. Yeah. That's like Speed. I knew when I moved here, I'm like, I wanted to do it, so fuck it. Let's do it.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. I wanna do it. Let's do it. And it's been like four months, and it just went from that idea to the name to boom. We're gonna be taking clients here in a couple weeks.
David Rivero:Yeah. That's what you gotta do. It's speed to market. Right? It is.
David Rivero:I tell people you're never gonna nothing's ever gonna be perfect. Just launch. Yep. And launch. And if if you fail, you're gonna learn from your failures.
David Rivero:The the only way you succeed is by failing. Right? Everything you do I understand. That's how you learn. Right?
David Rivero:So, oh, that didn't work. Okay. I gotta do something different. Oh, that didn't work. I do something different.
David Rivero:Right?
Linnsey Dolson:Exactly people are so scared to fail. Yeah. I'm not even scared to fail anymore. Like, it used to give me so much anxiety when I first like got sober and just started like in business. I'm like, oh my god, I can't believe that went wrong.
Linnsey Dolson:Now I'm like, oh, fuck. That was well, let's not do it that way anymore. Yeah. Or what did we learn from that? Or, you know, tell me what exactly what we did when we got those results so we don't do it that way.
David Rivero:No.
Linnsey Dolson:And so it's like that's how you learn and oh, well, if you fail. If you're not failing, you're not learning.
David Rivero:Yeah. And I I I figured if you my thing is if you're not failing, that means you're not trying.
Linnsey Dolson:You're not.
David Rivero:Because you gotta try. Right? I I don't care what if you're if you're an if you're an athlete. Right? If you're if you wanna be the best basketball player or whatever, you're gonna fail.
David Rivero:Right? And if you wanna get good the time. It's repetition. Right? Yep.
David Rivero:And people just don't do the reps. When I oh, I I tried doing this business and it failed. Like, oh, how long did you try it for? Oh, we tried it for two months. I'm like, two months?
David Rivero:You don't even know what the hell you're doing into the first two months.
Linnsey Dolson:Well and then they keep doing the same thing. Yeah. You'll hear them. They're like, I failed. Okay.
Linnsey Dolson:So what did you do? Well, I kept doing this and it wasn't changing. It wasn't changing. Okay. So you were doing that and getting those results.
Linnsey Dolson:So did we try something else to see if we're getting other results? Yeah. No. It's the okay.
David Rivero:There you go.
Linnsey Dolson:I see why you failed. Or there's people I've like had people that I, you know, hired me for coaching, and a couple weeks in, I'm like, you're not coachable. Like Wow. Plain and simple. There are people that you're not coachable.
Linnsey Dolson:You're stuck in your ways, you're not willing to try anything different, you're not willing to do anything different, you're not If you're not willing to do anything different, you're gonna keep getting the same results. And your business is not successful because of the things you're doing. And the way you're running it. And if you're not willing to change that, why are you wasting your money hiring a coach?
David Rivero:It's funny you say because I turned down clients. Yeah. So I had a I I had a couple clients. I had a I have a lady that actually just hit me up, just called me, like, five minutes before I walked in here. And I'm like, I'm not gonna I don't want her as a client because she just I just could tell she's gonna be a disaster.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, I know.
David Rivero:You know? So you just gotta, like, pick your battles. Right? There's not every customer is a good customer.
Linnsey Dolson:Hell no.
David Rivero:And you don't be scared to take don't be scared to say no. Right? And that's one thing. When people are starting on a business, they take on clients that they shouldn't take on.
Linnsey Dolson:Right? My god.
David Rivero:Yes. And then it puts them in the wrong wrong did you say no? So I like money, but that I don't like I don't like everybody's money. Right?
Linnsey Dolson:I agree. When I first started, I did jobs or you know, because I was cleaning when I first started my business. Cleaning all day and night, and I would clean this humongous dentist office for a $100. Wow. Now, I would do nothing for a $100.
Linnsey Dolson:You can't bribe me to do shit for a 100 Yeah. And I would clean this humongous dentist office for a $100, and they were so cheap and so picky, and that was something I learned early on. Yeah. Is that not all clients do you want. And to this day, I pick and choose my clients because a lot of people are not teachable.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. A lot of people aren't.
David Rivero:Yeah. Yeah. If they're not teachable and they don't wanna listen or you know they're gonna be, you know what, pain in the ass, you just say, I'll I'll have a call. I'm like, okay. This is not gonna work.
David Rivero:I don't Yeah. After the call, hey, Dave. No. We're tied up this month for services. Sorry.
David Rivero:We hit our cap.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. We're booked. Yeah. Books solid. That's my famous one.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, we're booked solid. But I'll put you on my waiting list.
David Rivero:Yeah. Yeah. And it'll probably be $20.27. We're booked for the next two years.
Linnsey Dolson:That's my famous one. I'll put you on. I tell my sales team that. I'm like, oh, yeah. When you come across, just let them know we're booked.
Linnsey Dolson:We're happy to put you on the waiting list. If anything comes up, we're gonna give you a call, which will be never.
David Rivero:Yeah. But it creates scarcity, so it's a good thing.
Linnsey Dolson:That's true.
David Rivero:Yeah. But it creates like, wow. They have a big waiting list. Yep. Sorry about that.
David Rivero:You know? But, just not all money is good money. Not? And speed is is the most important thing in any business I tell people. That's the one piece of advice I wanna give your audience is speed is probably the most important thing.
David Rivero:And it's not even talent. Like, intellectually, I'm I'm an average guy. I'm smart now because of all the reps I've put in. Sure. But I'm when I was growing up in high school and college, I had friends that would get an a on a test.
David Rivero:They wouldn't even study. I would study for all week and get a c.
Linnsey Dolson:See, I was I sucked at school too.
David Rivero:Yeah. So I was like Horrible. I would study all week for and get a c. My friends would study for ten minutes and get an a because they're just smart. Right?
David Rivero:But how did I catch up to them? I put in the reps.
Linnsey Dolson:Yep.
David Rivero:Right? 100%. Kobe Bryant wasn't gifted this amazing basketball play. He wasn't good when he was growing up. Same with Michael Jordan.
David Rivero:Don't if you know the story about Michael Jordan. I don't. Michael Jordan was one of the worst basketball players
Linnsey Dolson:No shit.
David Rivero:Worse than his high school. Worst. Growing up, junior didn't even make the team. What did he do? He put in the goddamn reps.
David Rivero:He practiced every damn day, trained, and now he's the best player. He was the best he's best basketball player of all time. Probably one of the best athletes of all time.
Linnsey Dolson:Oh, 100%.
David Rivero:Didn't even make his junior high team or his high school team. Like, what? You would think, oh, he was just gifted that this amazing Michael Jordan. No. He put in the goddamn reps.
David Rivero:Right? So you can be the worst. Right? My friends were all smarter than me. They could get an ace ace a test in five minutes without studying.
David Rivero:I would have to study for a week to get a c. But I just kept on putting the reps every day about business, about marketing, about sales, following people, listening to people, and just putting in the reps every day. When people are out screwing around, partying every day, I'm just putting on the putting in the reps. And finally, like, okay. Now after you put in enough reps, you get good.
David Rivero:I don't care what you are. Like 100%. You do. If you do if you do a thousand of these podcasts, you're gonna be a really damn good host. Right.
David Rivero:Because you've done a thousand of them. But if you've only done, like, two or three, you probably Lindsay, I'm sorry. You're not gonna be that good. You've only done two or three. Right.
David Rivero:But after you've done a a thousand, you're gonna be freaking awesome. I know. Right? Right. So it's that's how it is in life.
David Rivero:Anything you do, it's just put in the reps and you're gonna get good. It's like default. You, you can't go. If you're a contractor and you freaking do drywall every day, if you do drywall every day for two years, you're gonna be really good at drywall. Right.
David Rivero:There's there's there's it's an impossibility not to get good. You can't not get good if you do it for two years every day.
Linnsey Dolson:I agree. And people only see the good part. Like, Michael Jordan. Yeah. People only seen his success.
Linnsey Dolson:They didn't see him not making the team or all of that behind the scenes. So sometimes people think I mean, even me, like, I'll meet people and they like think that I've had like this privileged life my whole life. And I'm like, no. Like I was a fucking homeless drug addict that like had nothing.
David Rivero:Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:I was the black sheep of my family. I literally was the one that they probably thought was gonna get a knock on the door that I overdosed or something and died. You know. And then I turned out, I would say I'm probably the most successful one in my family
David Rivero:Awesome.
Linnsey Dolson:Today, you know. Yeah. And so people don't see that. And so it's one reason like I love my podcast. Showing that part.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. There there is that part to success. You see all of this, but what about all of that shit? Yeah. What about, you know, bankrupt or living at your parents or in jail or all of that?
Linnsey Dolson:They just see the success.
David Rivero:Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:So I love to show the road map
David Rivero:Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:That got you there.
David Rivero:Yeah. No. You have an amazing story, but the reason you you succeeded, you put in the reps. And that's what it is. If you put in if you've just put in the work of that whatever skill or business you want and you just do it every day Right.
David Rivero:Every week, every month, it's almost an impossibility not to succeed.
Linnsey Dolson:Well, and you just do it. Right? You say that, like, people are like, oh, I gotta get it right. Just do it. Just keep doing it the way you know how, and keep doing it better as you learn to do better, and as and you you will.
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. I mean, I didn't know what the hell. I remember running my first payroll, and I was like so confused. And I'm like, shit, how do I do this?
David Rivero:That's funny.
Linnsey Dolson:You know? And it because it was so new. Yeah. And like all these aspects of business, and like, oh my gosh, I gotta figure out w twos, and I gotta figure out like, da da da da And now it's like nothing. But Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:All those little things. Okay. Let me just figure it out. Let me just hire a payroll company and figure out this aspect or this aspect or this aspect. And did I fuck up on some payrolls?
Linnsey Dolson:Yeah. I did. Did I, you know, have to go back and fix some things? Yeah. But you just learn each time.
Linnsey Dolson:All those mistakes I made though, I only made one time. Right? You've only make them one time and you're like, shit. I won't do it that way again.
David Rivero:And the bigger the mistake, the more the more you'll never make it again.
Linnsey Dolson:I'll tell you that. My god. So true.
David Rivero:Yeah. I I had a $2,100,000 mistake. I had to write a lawyer a check. Right? Oh.
David Rivero:So no. When you have to write a $2,100,000 lawsuit check, I'm like, okay. I learned it was that was a valuable lesson. Yeah. Was.
Linnsey Dolson:Right? Ain't happening again.
David Rivero:So you you you learn about asset protection. You learn about trust. You learn about because I had so much exposability. Like, oh, this guy's worth a lot of money. And so you, you know, you now I'm very asset protected.
David Rivero:You take things out of your name and you learn all this when you get in a huge lawsuit. Right? You learn all these things. But if I had never gotten that huge lawsuit, I might be very exposed right now. And then another guy might be able to get me for 20,000,000.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:Right?
Linnsey Dolson:No. 100%.
David Rivero:That's so true. That's not impossible now because I've protected myself. But it was a $2,100,000 lesson that I learned.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:Right? When you have to wire someone that much money, I was like, wow. That was very painful. But next day, I'm already changing everything into trust. Just, you know, just done.
David Rivero:I'm like, I'm never this is never gonna happen to me ever.
Linnsey Dolson:Pain causes change. Yeah. Depending how painful the mistake was Yeah. Is how much change comes from it. I always say almost every policy in my businesses came from some kind of mistake.
Linnsey Dolson:Right? Yeah. Every policy
David Rivero:Yeah.
Linnsey Dolson:We don't do it this way because
David Rivero:Yes.
Linnsey Dolson:Something, you know, somebody did it that way Yeah. And it was expensive.
David Rivero:Yeah. So that's how you learn though. Right? Right. So now, like but now I could give this advice to other people when they're starting to make money.
David Rivero:I'm like, get that out of your name. Oh, I have this one. I'm like, get the hell out. You're making money now. You're a target.
David Rivero:Right? Once you start making money, I'm dealing with lawyers right now. Think about it. I'm selling leads to lawyers. I know how these people think.
David Rivero:Right? Oh, you're a target.
Linnsey Dolson:So much liability.
David Rivero:Right? You're a target when you start making money. So when you don't have any money, they're not gonna go after you. Right? The second you start having money, that's when you need to be protected.
David Rivero:If you're broke and you have no money right now
Linnsey Dolson:Nobody gives a shit.
David Rivero:No. You don't have you don't you can have everything in your name. Right. Because you don't have any money anyways. What are gonna do?
David Rivero:Right? The second you start making money, get it out of your name. That's what I tell people. But just Advice. Just little business advice, little for your for your followers that have a business.
Linnsey Dolson:I know. No. That that's
David Rivero:that's a
Linnsey Dolson:great advice. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Tell everybody how they can find you on social.
David Rivero:My social media handle's the David Riverero on Instagram. Right? You could go to davidriverero.com, my website as well. But, you know, I'm all what I wanna make sure your audience knows, you always want to you know, like, Lindsay's channel, her podcast, her social media, you always wanna learn from experts, people that have people that you wanna be. So if you wanna be like Lindsay or you wanna, you know, you wanna get on you wanna have your own podcast one day or you wanna open up one of your own coaching business, you follow someone like Lindsay.
David Rivero:Right? If you wanna do real estate and you wanna become great in real estate and you're like, wow. I wanna invest in big projects, maybe someone like Grant Cardone.
Linnsey Dolson:Right.
David Rivero:Right? Me, I'm a guy that knows a lot about AI automations and marketing and sales and business. If you wanna learn about AI automations and marketing and sales and business entrepreneurship, you follow someone like me. Right? So you you just follow different people for different aspects.
David Rivero:And that's what I do. I like
Linnsey Dolson:I love that.
David Rivero:Yeah. I follow a whole bunch of different people. Like, oh, today, wanna learn about real estate. I'm thinking about buying this property. I'm gonna start looking at some real estate people and see if I could learn something from them.
David Rivero:Smart. You know? But that's it in a nutshell. I want the I want the best for you, Lindsay. Good luck with everything.
Linnsey Dolson:Thank you so much.
David Rivero:Alright. Thank you for having me on your show.
Linnsey Dolson:I appreciate it. And tell everybody about monetized talks real quick because I love your networking group.
David Rivero:Okay. So Monetize Talks is an event I throw at my house in Beverly Hills. I throw it every six to eight weeks at my house. It's about a 150 to 200 people that show up. It's a great crowd.
David Rivero:It's all entrepreneurs. It's business people trying to grow their business.
Linnsey Dolson:Right. Such a great crowd.
David Rivero:I always have, like, four good speakers. The speakers speak for about fifteen minutes each. They all provide value to the audience. So you're learning. You're networking with other entrepreneurs.
David Rivero:You gain tons of value. And it's just a great community. So if you're, like, in the local if you're in California and then you it's easy. We have people fly internationally. We have people fly from out of state to come into this stuff.
David Rivero:So if you're really serious about business, you wanna network with other entrepreneurs and business owners and millionaires, it's the place to be. It's called monetizetalk.com is the website. You could go there to look when the next event is. The next one is, I'm not sure when you're airing this, but it's gonna be Wednesday, December 3. You air that before then.
David Rivero:If not, it's gonna be mid January, probably January 14. But just just go to monetizetalks.com, and then you'll you'll be able to get the next date there or the David Rivera on Instagram.
Linnsey Dolson:Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you guys.