Cosmos

Hello, my fellow extraordinary Americans. For today’s guest, we have Naresh’s Visa. Naresh is the founder and CEO of Krish Media and Marketing, a full-service e-commerce technology development, online and digital media and marketing agency, and solutions provider. 

He has worked with CNN Radio, Clear Channel Communications, JP Morgan, Nachase, EverBank, the Institute for Energy Research, Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, the American Junior Golf Association, Agora Financial, Agora Publishing, Stansbury Research, and Trade Stops. 

He is the number one best-selling author of 50 Shades of Marketing, Whip Your Business into Shape and Dominate Your Competition Podcast Nomics, the book on podcasting to Make You Millions, The New PR, 21st-century Public Relations Strategies and Resources to Reach Millions, Trump book How Digital Liberals silenced a Nation into Making America Hate Again and the new book From Nobody to Bestselling Author, how to Write, publish and market your book. 

He is the co-host of the Work from Home show. He has a master’s degree from Duke Senior University Fuqua School of Business. He has been featured on USA Today, Yahoo, Bloomberg, MSNBC, Huffington Post, Businessweek, MSN, Money, Business Insider, India Today, Hindustan Times, and other domestic and international media outlets. He’s an extraordinary American, and I’m honored to have him on the show. Naresh, are you there?

Naresh

I’m here. Thanks so much for having me on.

Cosmos

Thank you so much, Nish, for taking the time to do this podcast with me. I’m honored to have you on the show.

Naresh

Well, it’s an honor to be here, and I’m looking forward to discussing some awesome topics that make America great. Naresh is a real estate investor and founder of Krish Media Marketing.

Cosmos

Yeah. Naresh, I wanted to understand. I know you’re into entrepreneurship, business, advertisement, and marketing. Can you tell the audience more about yourself, your background, and how you started?

Naresh

If I were to give you my CV or my resume and you looked at my education, my background would start in public communications, broadcast and digital journalism, finance, accounting, management, and business. 

Those six areas. I have formal training and undergraduate and master’s degrees. Now, my background: I have experience working, as you said in the intro, at places like CNN Radio, Clair Channel Communications, Wall Street, and JP Morgan Chase. I combined my media and business background to work in financial marketing for a financial marketing company where I handled. I started their financial media arm or their media arm. They did a lot of hack marketing and online and digital marketing but not a whole lot of media, whether social media or digital media. 

And this was 12, 13 years ago, May. Yeah, 13, 14 years ago, that introduced me to technology and marketing. I did not have a degree in marketing. I didn’t have any experience working as a marketer. But this company was a financial marketing company. I learned the ins and outs of marketing, not just the financial market, but of marketing and technology, because I feared technology before I worked at that company. Now, I run a tech company called Krish Media Marketing. It’s a digital media marketing agency. After getting experience working at that company for about three years, I left the company and started Krish Media and Marketing in 2013. 

So we’re coming up on 12 years that I’ve been running Krish Media marketing. In 2017, I became a real estate investor. And how did I do that? Because somebody who worked for me started investing in real estate, and I said, hey if they’re doing it, I should do it too. Krish Media marketing was working with a lot of back. Its first, its first new client in 2013, was a real estate company. 

I have worked in the real estate space but on the back end. Now, it was time to work on the front end. In 2017, I started a company called Krish Capital, which is a real estate sales, marketing, and investment company. We can also call it a coaching company. So, I help promote residential properties and invest in them myself. 

So, I own properties throughout the southeastern United States and help people invest in real estate. So, students can do it completely free of charge. Students can come to me and say, hey, like I want to invest in real estate, how can I do it? I will walk them through the process, guide them, introduce them to people all around the country, and help them invest. It’s called being a laptop landlord. So again, it’s a bit of a tech element where you can sit behind your laptop, buy properties, rent them out, and collect cash flow every month.

Cosmos

That’s the ideal lifestyle for most people if they know how to do it right.

Naresh

 It is an ideal lifestyle. And I think part of the reason I learned how to do it is because I was very young, in my teens. I was 16 years old when I got my first job, or you can call it an internship. It was paid during the summer. Most of my peers in school were working at restaurants, seven elevens, golf courses, and lifeguarding at swimming pools. I got a white-collar job for almost three months. It was about a two-month job that I had at this marketing company. 

And that’s when I realized at 16 that I could do much work behind a computer. Once I got my laptop, I started being more entrepreneurial, and I think the next generation of kids will get it. I mean, when I was six years old, there wasn’t even a, there wasn’t, there was a laptop, but nobody had them when I was 6 years old. Today, you have two-year-olds using iPads. 

So, I think this was unheard of in my generation. But I think the next generation will be able to get ahead of the curve at a far earlier age. And there are just so many opportunities moving forward. It was unheard of for a teenager to make money behind a computer. Now, 13—and 14-year-olds can do that.

Cosmos

Yeah, technology is advancing rapidly because, just in the last few years, you have had a chat, GBT, and the rise of AI, which will change everything. The 21st century will be nothing like the 20th century, you know?

Naresh

The 21st century is nothing like the 20th century, and there are actual inventions. So, right next to me right here is the iPhone. The iPhone came out in 2008. It didn’t get massively adopted until about 2010, after which it took off.

So we didn’t have an iPhone, we didn’t have smartphones in the 20th century, and not even in the 90s did we have these devices. I’m I’m pro. These certainly come with their caveats. My kids, for example, I sold all our iPads and don’t let them use my phone at all. Other family members let them use it all day, but it has drawbacks. Don’t get me wrong, but I’m very pro-technology. I find this technology to be efficient. 

My personality is such that it’s good for me, and I know there are many other people for whom these devices are bad, but it’s good for me. And I think people can be more efficient. They can work from home, stay connected, and connect to their work more. And I think that’s a good thing.

So nourish, uh, from your perspective, what is your motivational drive?

Cosmos

So nourish, from your perspective, from the inception of when you started your career to right now, in your entrepreneurial journey, what is the strategic goal and vision that you had started from when you first started doing business to where you are right now?

Naresh

The goal was to make a living, to be quite frank, to make a good living, and then just to grow and grow and grow. Look, I have a passion. If people don’t have a passion for something and they’re doing that something, they’re not going to do very well at it. I’ve always had a passion for problem-solving in business. 

So, I was very close to becoming a management consultant and full-time problem solver on Wall Street for a large consulting arm. And I’ve always just had that in me. And even today, that gets me up in the morning; it puts me in front of the computer. It’s what drives me. I enjoy problem-solving and helping clients. I enjoy that rush. In the corporate world, you don’t necessarily get that because the corporate world is a very 9 to 5 type of structure where if you are solving a problem, there are probably ten people above you who are also trying to solve that problem. So whatever solutions you have just won’t even be looked at. 

I’ve been through that, and I’ve seen it in the corporate world, so I like being on my own. I am responsible for my successes and failures. There’s quite a bit of real estate and investment activity right now, and my companies have done well on the marketing and sales sides. So that’s what drives me. That’s why I got into it and wanted to do my own thing.

Cosmos

So nourish the way you achieve so much success within a relatively few years, whereas other people go decades without achieving the same level of success. It’s a mindset and motivational factor.

So, from your perspective, what is the motivational drive and the ultimate mind hack or mindset that puts you apart from somebody who would try their hardest and not succeed?

Naresh

A few things. So many people think that the motivating factor is money. And I’ll tell you what, if you want to, if you’re a young person listening to this or just any person listening to this and you think that just starting a business will make you a lot of money, that’s not true. Statistics show that more than 90% of businesses fail within four years and that the businesses that make it after four years are called lifestyle businesses. They’re businesses that pay the bills that you would have otherwise. The amount of money you’re making is what you probably would have otherwise gotten had you been working full-time. 

So, the fact of the matter is starting a business does not mean you’re going to become the next Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. And you’ll quickly. These companies shut down within four years because these founders think they’re going to get so wealthy, and they’re like living like poppers, living paycheck to paycheck, and they’re like, this is not what I signed up for. It was much better to have a job where I knew exactly what I was making and how much money would come in, so that was not a motivating factor. I already brought up the biggest motivating factor: providing value. I brought up the problem-solving part, which provides value. That’s finding meaning and purpose in your work. So that’s the first thing. If you find purpose and meaning in something you like doing, turn it into a job because you’ll be very good at it. 

So, the first thing is purpose. The second thing is meaning. The third thing is providing value. The fourth thing is problem-solving. And the fifth thing is probably the most important, the most important quality of why people go into business for themselves. And it’s the purpose of your show. It’s freedom. It’s not just financial freedom because, as I said, finances, the financial side, may not even be that great. It’s the freedom, the freedom of schedule, the freedom to go out in the middle of the day if I have to. I can get on an airplane on a Wednesday afternoon, turn off all my devices for four or five hours, and still get my work done later that night. It’s that type of freedom where I have two very young kids; I can take care of them. 

Right after this interview, I will pick up my older one from school. It’s the freedom to coach their baseball teams or teach them how to ride a bike or coach them in tennis or whatever, to teach them math, reading, or whatnot. This aspect now, when I was and got started, I was only 24 years old. It was a different type of freedom. When I was 24, I still would have given the same answer. However, the freedom was different. It was, you know, the freedom to go to the gym every day, sleep late at night, and not worry about waking up early in the morning. I could move my meetings to the afternoon. So freedom is the biggest reason. And freedom comes in many different aspects.

Cosmos

No, I mean, I agree.

You need to identify your one to two buckets that you enjoy

And one thing I wanted to also take note of was that you’re talking about path and purpose. A lot of people do not have. They don’t know their path and purpose in today’s world. Like they just go about their life. They follow other people’s paths and purposes, but they don’t tend to know what their mission in life is or what they are born for.

Naresh

I know people my age, I’m in my mid-30s, and I know people. My. A friend of mine just called me the other day, and he said, Man, I want this freedom lifestyle. And I want it but don’t know how to get it. I don’t know what to do. And the guy has an excellent job at a well-known tech company. Not even tech. It’s a well-known company that most people in this country have heard of. Very good job. He told me that he wanted to leave and have more freedom. 

And my response to that is, number one, this individual, when I asked him, okay, well, what do you want to do? He said he didn’t know. He just wants freedom. And that’s the first I knew. When I was 23 years old, slightly before turning 24, I knew that online and digital media and marketing was a skill set that I could monetize, and that was where I could get clients and monetize. I knew it. I didn’t know I would still be around today at the level I am around 13 years later. But I knew I could; I could do it. I knew I could get by for four or five years. 

Then, when I discovered real estate in 2017, I developed because I had a finance background and a passion for real estate. And those two are online and digital media marketing. I clumped that into one bucket and club real estate into another. Those were the two areas. Even within real estate is residential real estate. Those were the two areas that I felt I should only focus on those two areas and pursue those two areas. And even within those two areas, there are so many different branches. 

So, I started with one branch. So, I only started on the online and digital media side. Then, I added the marketing side. Then, within marketing, I added affiliates. So there were these little branches where you could start or add to your business. On the real estate side, it’s the same thing. I started as a real estate marketer; then, I became a real estate investor and a real estate investment coach. Then, I became a real estate agent doing traditional real estate, which I don’t do. But I have the license, and I do, just not traditionally. 

So there are many differences. You must identify the one to two buckets you enjoy and are good at and only pursue that. I see too many people with good tech jobs, but they don’t like them. They’re doing it or something, and then they quit and become real estate agents, completing a career change. Or they quit, and they open up a restaurant. That’s, that’s a little more. I’ve never done something like that. I stick to what I know. I don’t take that level of risk because when you. Again, I keep repeating this. When you do something that you’re good at, when you do something that you like those two things, you’re good at it, and you like it, you’re going to do well at it. And the learning curve is much, much shorter.

Cosmos

So nourish.

The part of like doing business, uh, is also taking a risk

Like doing business, the part is taking risk and not just risk, calculated risk. And I know you’ve taken a lot of risks in your life regarding doing business because you have to. Right. It’s just part of it. So how do you calculate risk and process the ROI and like and the risk-reward ratio when?

Naresh

You bring up roi; for example, I can quantify all that information in real estate. There are pro formas that I can create or pro formas that are given to me. I can see the data in front of me now. That said, there’s a risk that doesn’t show up on a pro forma. There’s absolutely risk. I like it from my mid-20s or late 20s. I like as little risk as possible. That’s why I said I would do something when I left my full-time job. 

So, here’s something to talk about to mitigate risk. I didn’t leave my full-time job to start a business. I started a side hustle that was never meant to become a business. So it was a side hustle. I’d been running for four years and was just doing stuff on the side. 

Even working full-time, I was doing stuff on the side to make extra income, so by the time I built that side hustle up, I had left my full-time job. It’s like I gave myself a 20% raise. That’s legitimately when I left the full-time job and went to my side hustle. It was a 20% raise, except now that I didn’t have a boss or a boss on paper.

Cosmos

Yeah.

Naresh

And I could work from home. So, the answer to your question is how I mitigated risk there. Well, it was a side hustle that mitigated the risk if I didn’t have that side hustle. I quit my job and said I was going to pursue this. That’s super risky. That was a side hustle when I started my real estate business in 2017. 

So, my side hustle turned into a full-time job with the media marketing company. Then, I started this real estate side hustle in 2017. That’s why I propped it up, and because of inflation and the asset values of homes going up, that side hustle has now, five or seven years later, taken care of my retirement. My family, like my wife and I, like our retirement, and that’s like we’re saving for retirement on top of that. But in a matter of seven years, that’s what that undertaking has done. It’s taken care of our retirement when we’re 70-plus years old. So, what I’m saying is that everyone’s different. In my case, my side hustle became my full-time thing. Then I started another side hustle, which has now made me nowhere close to finishing it. I’m still working on that business, but it’s gotten to where my retirement has been taken care of.

Cosmos

How you logically deduce it is the essence of how business is done. It’s like you’re thinking in a certain way, and that’s what most people need to do. But I think many people end up having roadblocks when doing business and doing a risk management thing; they don’t succeed that way. 

So, from your perspective, what are the biggest roadblocks entrepreneurs and business people face in attaining financial freedom?

How you did this ties into risk again because most people fear risk.

Naresh

How you did this ties into risk again because, for most people, the biggest roadblock is fear. The fear of uncertainty, the fear of whether I will start buying real estate or whether somebody will burn it and look again—I’m very anti-risk. And I remember when I started buying up properties, people were like, “You’re a risk taker.” 

And I, I didn’t view it that way. I viewed it as almost no risk buying these properties. And the reason why I viewed it as no risk is because I educated myself. I used to be one of those people, by the way. I used to think, you know, these people buying real estate, it’s so risky. These houses are so expensive. And you know, what if a tenant trashes the house? It just seems very daunting. But then, once you learn about something, it can be real estate, tech, or restaurant business. It doesn’t matter what you learn, the ins and outs. 

And then you realize, hey, there’s no risk. Very, very little risk. In my case, real estate, for example, let’s start with Krish Media marketing. In the case of Krish Media Marketing, I knew I was in my mid-20s. If this fails, I can always return and get a full-time job. I knew that because I had people recruiting me to work for them. I had former employers; I had current clients. Even I have current clients today. Companies who are like, come work for me. 

So I know that’s always an option. It still is today. That’s always an option, and I can always go back and work a full-time job, M, so that mitigates any risk if you just know, hey, I’m going to start this business. But if I fail, I can just return and work a regular corporate job. Then, that takes away the roadblocks that hold you back. In the case of my real estate business, I had to do the research and get down to the nitty-gritty of the numbers, home insurance, and all these factors that hold people back from buying houses. It’s interest that you have to pay on a mortgage. That’s extra money, and if something breaks, you have to fix it, and you could get a bad tenant. 

So I understood all these risks, and I realized, hey, a mortgage is an asset because the mortgage company is the one taking on 80% of the risk. After all, you’re putting 20% down on a home. Usually, the mortgage company takes on 80% of the risk and wants to protect their investment even more than I want to. So they made me get the home and flood insurance and want me to succeed as an investor. 

So when I understood that basic concept, like somebody else is paying for this house, they’re taking on the risk, not me, they made me get this home insurance and said I had a good property manager. And then I realized there’s no risk. If a hurricane destroys a property, the home insurance will pay for it. Home insurance will pay for the house if something bad happens. 

So then it was a matter of how to ensure I didn’t have a bad tenant. Okay, be strict about who you allow to live on your properties. Have high credit score requirements. Have annual inspections where the property manager goes in and inspects a property and will fix whatever needs to be fixed every year, no questions asked. That’s how you mitigate the. It requires a little investment and spending money, but you mitigate risk that way. And so, for people listening, the question is about roadblocks. How do you overcome these roadblocks? It would be best to feel prepared mentally, and your mind needs to be clear of the worst. Oh, well, if the worst does happen, this is how I can come out ahead. It would be best if you asked yourself all those questions. Then you realize, hey, there’s not a lot of risk.

I bought all my real estate assets before 2021

Cosmos

So, Naresh, one of the questions I wanted to ask you, which is connected to the concert risk, is related to inflation and debt. In the last two years, many people have suffered from inflation. But from a businessman’s perspective, how would you look at real estate debt and inflation to increase your assets if you wanted to do business?

Naresh

I bought my properties and all my real estate assets before 2021. The last property I bought was in 2020. If you are a real estate investor and bought property before 2021, you know that today, you’re sitting on property worth at least 50% more than what you paid, depending on when you buy. Now, I bought mine in 2017. If you bought a property in, let’s say, 2010, you’re up at least 100%. At least, if not 150%. 

So why is that? It’s because we’ve gone through an inflationary cycle. From 2021 to. Until earlier this year, we were in an inflationary cycle. I have not bought real estate since. I’m. Not because of the inflation, not because of the appreciating property. Values, but because I’m saving up for my next property, which will be a lot more expensive if you want to call it that. It’s going to cost a lot more. So, I will buy my next property within the next three or four years. But I haven’t bought it since then because I’m saving for it.

Your question deals directly with inflation. Right now is a good time to start a business.

Is now a good time to buy real estate, for example? Right now is a good time to start a business. Your question deals directly with inflation, and I’m here to tell you that the inflation rate has decreased. 

Today It’s 2.4%. Next week, some statistics are going to be published, and the Federal Reserve is going to reach its 2% rate, I think, by the end of this year. By mid-December or, sorry, by February or March, we will see 2% inflation. When starting a business, you have to. I brought up pro formas; for example, in real estate, you must look at the numbers considering all the costs. You can’t just think, oh, I, you know, I know somebody who started a McDonald’s, and they’re doing well, so I’m going to start at McDonald’s too. That doesn’t work because that person, just like I bought my real estate pre-2021, that person bought their McDonald’s, like, in the 1980s. That’s why they’re up, times 20 on their investment. 

So the bottom line is getting into a field, a business that’s inflation proof, can withstand inflation, has been around for a very long time, and that you think will be even after you pass away. McDonald’s, for example, yes is expensive right now, but the fact of the matter is McDonald’s is going to be around, I think, 300 years from now. It’s not going anywhere. So you need to think. You can’t just jump into any business and think it will do well. You have to think, has it done well previously, and will it continue to do well? Real estate and marketing have done well since the beginning of humankind. Since the beginning of humankind, real estate has been around. Marketing has always been a very important concept and idea. So that’s how I pick those two. People and other people need to think that way, too.

Cosmos

No, totally. You have to have a greater understanding of which business you’re going into, especially during these times.

Do not put off getting a lawyer and an accountant when starting your business.

So, Naresh, what is the biggest lesson you have understood throughout your career? It’s like a bit one. For example, what would that be if you had to choose one insight regarding business and entrepreneurship in life?

Naresh

A few things. So, number one, do not hold off or do not be cheap and put off getting a lawyer and an accountant. When you start your business, both of those things have somebody who doesn’t have to be full-time, obviously, but somebody who can help guide you on the accounting side, the business structure, the tax filings, the bookkeeping. You want to do that because it’s expensive to make a mistake. 

Number two is legal. Take legal stuff seriously. If you sign a contract, get a lawyer to read over it. If you’re making someone else sign a contract, don’t create your own. If you put together your contract, get a lawyer to edit it; put it together properly because disagreements will happen. When disagreements happen, the law, all they have to look back on is what’s written and what was signed in writing. So those things are incredibly, incredibly important.

Number one is skills. Number two is focus. Number three is leverage.

Then, I’ll also talk about the most important attributes you need in today’s economy, inflationary economy, and moving forward. Number one is skills. Number two is value creation. Number three is focus. Number four is leverage—and number five. Well, there’s more. Number five is technology. Number six is reading. Number seven is writing. Number eight is speaking those eight. And I can go into each one of those eight things. Maybe you want to pick a few of them. But if you can master all eight of those attributes, you will always be. 

So, no matter what you do, whether you go into medicine, accounting, or law, you’ll be fine if you can do all eight.

Cosmos

That is awesome, Naresh. I mean, I’m so glad that you could precisely tell all these different points because many people need to know in a very deductive way how they should do it. Many people in today’s world want to start a business, but they’re not. They don’t know where to start, you know?

Naresh

Yeah, and I’ll repeat those, especially regarding business. Do you want to start a business? Number one, you need to focus. It would be best to focus on the business and its core values. I see so many businesses focusing on all these different areas that don’t contribute to that bottom line. 

This Pareto principle 8020 rule says 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients or customers. 80% of your output, your positive output comes from 20% of your work on something. The rest of the 80% of your work is unnecessary. Focus on what matters. 

So focus. Leverage. 

Leverage means knowing you’re good when you’re building yourself up. Then people pay you accordingly, and they come to you rather than you going door to door begging for their business. That’s leverage. Value creation. Do you want to start a business? Well, what value can you provide? If I’m just some random guy, you start a business, pitch it to me, and tell me why I need this product or this service. Value creation. Four ideas. Be an idea machine. Always be thinking, always be reading. Reading is for me. I read and listened to podcasts, watched documentaries, and watched good stuff. You get a lot of ideas: number five, skills. You need the skills. 

And I brought up those skills. You are reading, writing, speaking. Technology. You are reading, writing, speaking. Pretty self-explanatory technology means knowing how to use it today. I’m constantly adapting even though I work in tech. There are all these new things coming out. New programs, software, apps on the phone, and apps on the iPad. It would be best if you always were adapting and learning these new things and not say, oh, I found my niche, and therefore, I don’t need to learn how to do TikTok anymore; I don’t need to learn how to use GPT, and all this. It would be best if you always were learning and adapting.

Cosmos

No, yeah, basically, self-improvement.

Naresh

Yep.

Cosmos

You have to adapt and always self-improve. One of the main things about entrepreneurship is that the people who are most successful always need to learn and improve over time, no matter how good they get.

Naresh

You want to improve constantly, and that should be throughout. I even have a parent who just realized, “Oh, I can be improving my kid.” There’s so much more to learn. It doesn’t end. Learning never stops.

Naresh 

There’s a reason why undocumented illegals are coming to America

Cosmos

So Naresh, on another note, I wanted to ask you about America. They say that America is the land of the free and the place where dreams are made. Do you agree or disagree with that?

Naresh

I agree with that. I still believe that. The proof is that I don’t even think this is a political belief. There’s a reason why all these undocumented illegals are coming to this country and why they’re not going to others. They can go anywhere they want. Other Countries have open borders; there’s a reason why they want to come to the United States and not to these other countries. And it’s because the United States is still the greatest until those people stop trying to come here. They come here because they know they’ll be better off here, and their children will be better off here. 

So I mean, that’s a bad thing, by the way. Like, I 100% believe in closed borders, and people coming here should be vetted and should be good people and add a lot of value here. However, the point is that people worldwide want to come to the United States because it is still the top destination for tourists. It’s still the largest global economy in the world times. It’s almost two times bigger than the next largest global economy. We have China, India, Germany, the UK, Japan, and others, but nobody comes even close to the U.S. economy. 

So yes, the U.S. economy is still the greatest. Is it the freestyle? There’s always room for improvement. Our U.S. Constitution, I think, is the greatest guarantor of freedoms in U.S. history. You won’t find any other constitution that guarantees people’s rights. Whether you’re a man or a woman or a transgender person or a child, you have the greatest rights because of the U.S. Constitution. And the system is set up so you can fight back if those rights are taken away.

Cosmos

No, I agree as well because I was originally born in India but came here as a naturalized citizen. It’s just the way people think and act here that is on another level. You know, there’s just a sense of hospitality, and then there’s a sense that you can do whatever you want as long as you put the hard work in.

Naresh

Yes, there. And I’ve learned this is why I’m very optimistic about this country and our kid’s future. Because where you are, you said you were, you’re from India. And I feel like you don’t have that level of freedom in India. You almost kind of have to be born into a certain family or get a certain degree or go to a certain school to make it; it’s not as I don’t want to say as easy, but it is not as easy as it is here where you don’t even have to go to school. All you need is a focus on hard work and a little bit of smarts, dedication, and perseverance, and you can do well. And I’ve seen this; I didn’t know this growing up because my parents are also from India, and they had that Indian mindset. And I’m not saying education is bad. Education is very good.

 The more educated you are, the better you’ll do. However, the wealthiest people I know didn’t even attend college in the United States. And they found something that they were good at. We talked about this throughout the episode. They found something they were good at and either started a business and did well in it, from real estate to fixing fences to contracting, home contracting to even more educated fields like technology, starting an online store, or selling things online. 

But even in the corporate world, it’s the same thing where I know people who did not get good test scores or did not do well in school. They were C students and C minus students, and they got their first job at a corporation. It could even be a Starbucks, a McDonald’s, or an Apple Store. I legitimately know people who started working at the Apple Store, helping people unlock their phones because they forgot their passwords on their phones.

Cosmos

No, that was my biggest revelation when I first came here. Because I used to get really good grades in school. When I came to America, I was like, wow, grades don’t mean anything. It’s about whether you can start a business and be successful. It was just like one of those mind-blowing shifts in my mind. Right. 

The school was very much prioritized. Getting good grades would be best for getting a good job. But no, you must think and act a certain way to make money. And that’s one of the things I realized.

Naresh

Well, here’s an example from the Apple Store. I know people who started at an Apple Store when they were 22 or 23. Fast-forward 12 years, and now they work at Apple corporate, making more than $200,000 a year. 

So you start making, you know, back then it was today, I think the Apple store pays $20 an hour. So you, which is, which is decent, you start out making $20 an hour today. But you, as I said, your dedication and perseverance, you work your way up, you work your way up, and you end up at Apple Corporate in Cupertino, California. And now you got a corporate job. And that’s the beauty of this country, where you don’t have to go to that nice, shiny school. You don’t have to have that great SAT score. You can start out flipping burgers at McDonald’s again. I know people who this happened to, whether it was Chipotle or McDonald’s. They did well. They became a store manager, making $100,000 plus a year with great benefits, great everything. 

And these are people who don’t have college degrees in this country. There’s no excuse. And this is why when I see. On unemployment or welfare, and they’ve been on it for a long time, like, pretty much they’re addicted to it. This is why I don’t. I’m, like, dude, this is America like you. You can. Especially if you’re young, the sky is the limit. You. You might have to start down, but you can work your way up, do very well, and live a very good life.

Cosmos

No, yeah. It’s one of the things that I realized when I came here. It’s just. There’s freedom, and you can do whatever you want. For example, if you work hard enough, you can succeed. And then there’s just. The laws are designed to be more pro-business than other parts of the world.

Naresh

Well, the United States was meant to be a meritocracy. I’m all for meritocracy. Suppose you’re good at what you do, whether it’s. You start your own business; if you’re good, it will do well. If you’re working a job and are good at it, you will get and keep getting promoted. 

So you will be rewarded regardless of race or color or gender or sexuality or whatnot. In a meritocracy, which is what the United States was founded on, the principles it was founded on, people are judged by, if you want to call it, the content of their character. They should be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin, religion, race, or any other things.

Cosmos

No, I agree. And that’s what makes it so extraordinary.

What is the biggest hurdle Americans face in achieving the American dream?

You know, Naresh, I also wanted to ask you. From your perspective, what is the biggest hurdle Americans face when living the American dream, and how would they overcome it?

Naresh

There are a couple of hurdles. I think. Number one is the. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the dogma that goes around is just false. So when I Say dogma. The US Education system, for example, the public education system, is meant to create factory workers. It’s based on an old Prussian concept where you get people to become good listeners and to do as they’re told. That’s how the US Education system is right now. 

And if you grow up in that education system, you’re wired to be told what to do and to do that one thing. So it’s factory workers. That’s how the education system was created. So you’re graduating many people from college who don’t develop these skills that, everything that we’ve talked about, they don’t develop these things on their own because the education system is failing these people. 

And it could be intentional, I don’t know, or it could be that the people running the education systems just are not very competent. Parents send their kids to private schools because private schools are outside of the government education system. You see why parents even homeschool. So, continuously homeschooled children continue to have much higher time and much higher rates of graduation for college and high school than even private school kids. More than public school kids. So I think that’s a serious limiting factor holding people back.

Another factor that’s holding people back from being their best is social media.

Another factor that’s keeping people from being their best is social media. When adults nowadays go on social media and see what all these other people are doing, some people get inspiration from it, and others get envious and almost jealous. They get envious of it, and it holds them back. 

So if you’re a certain, I know people my age, and they see, oh, all these other people my age have this house, and they drive this car. They have this job, and they work from home. I have to go in and work this crummy job, that’s become a limiting factor for many of these people because it’s almost, it’s almost like people get more depressed when they see that when they should be getting inspired, but they get more depressed instead because they’re comparing.

Cosmos

They compare themselves to other people. Then, you’re always going to see yourself in a negative light and see the best in yourself. People always show their best on social media, and then we show their average actual life.

Naresh

You know, that’s true also. But at the same time, the other people on social media might be doing much better. Who cares? It is a country where you can. If the guy is on social media, I guarantee. Or the girl. On social media, they worked hard to get where they were, and I can tell you they put in the work and the effort. I certainly have.

Cosmos

Yeah. What you’re saying about social media is true, but I especially meant that they usually show their best life when they put pictures over there. But a lot of people compare themselves to the best part of themselves. And then, they’re like, you should never compare yourself to others. It would be best if you tried to be the best version of yourself. That’s what I. Look.

Naresh

We’re all guilty of it. I take a picture, photoshop it, add filters and whatnot, and crop it. I have a video. I take the video, add the good part, and remove all the bad stuff, so I’m putting the best up there. We’re all guilty of it.

Cosmos

No. Yeah, but. Yeah, but it’s true. Our generation is almost living these virtual lives rather than living a life.

Naresh

It’s very. It’s very. And look, that’s. I brought up earlier that social media can be a bad thing. And I said that probably two or three times throughout this interview. And it’s another nugget that I just. People need to live real physical lives. I’m saying this as somebody who works in tech, works from home, and hasn’t worked in an office in 13 years or 12 years, and people have to. 

This is why when I parent my kids, you’re getting out there not because of the crappy public education system of you. You’re getting out there because you’ll meet people and see things you won’t get behind a screen. 

And many of those things are going to be bad. And that’s okay because that’s part of learning. That’s part of life. I make them leave the house and play with other kids, and they’re in baseball and tennis. It would be best if you got out of the house. You cannot sit at home. I see teenage boys nowadays. It’s gotten really bad. This was not the case when I was a teenager, but teenage boys are. They stay in their room, on their computer and devices, the entire time at home. They won’t even leave there. Their bedroom. That. That’s. That’s not the life you want to live.

Cosmos

No, I mean. If you’re like the 1980s person or the 1990s, you would realize that there’s this massive transition where people used to play outside. And then, over 10 years, they just got technology, social media, etc. And there’s this transition where people started staying indoors more. And it’s something that I noticed as I was growing up.

Naresh

It isn’t good. And look, even older people—my parents—can be guilty of it, too, where they’ll say, oh, you know what? I’m just watching something on YouTube on my. I’m just going to stay in today and finish watching this thing. Somebody sent me something on WhatsApp, like a long video. Let’s just watch this. 

So it’s all of us. It affects all of us. But our parents at least grew up when that wasn’t an option. And now they’re playing catch-up. These kids are being born into a world where, you know, my son is born, and I have a phone recording the video. The first thing he sees coming out of the womb is a phone. Literally.

Cosmos

Yeah, it’s the new world we’re living in.

Naresh Krishnamurthy writes a book on how to write and market a book

But Naresh, I wanted to ask you about your book. I know you wrote this book, from nobody to best-selling author. How to write, publish, and market your book. So, can you tell me in the audience a little bit more about this book and the premise of what made you write it?

Naresh

I wrote the book because I’ve written five books, and I felt like I had a lot to share when it comes to writing a book because I believe everyone has a book inside of them. So, the book walks people through how they can go about writing. The easiest way to write this was obviously before GPT. I still recommend you write your stuff. Amazon is cracking down on GPT content as well. But that’s the basis of the book. It’s only about 50 to 60 pages, super easy to digest. 

And like you said, you talked about the deductive, reductive way I’ve done this interview. That’s how the book is also. It’s really like a guide. Every chapter says you know how to write the book. It gives you a very nice cheat sheet on writing, marketing the book afterward, or publishing it. It also gives you cheat sheets on how to do this.

Cosmos

That is awesome. I recommend that anybody listening take a look at your books because they all have a wealth of knowledge. I was even looking at the podcast No Nomics, the book on podcasting to make you millions, and I found that title very interesting.

Naresh

Yeah, that book came out 10 years ago. It’s a little outdated, but it is still very relevant and still selling well. And I’ll even do this: I’ll give your listeners if they go to my website. Krishmediamarketing.com K R I S H media marketing.com contact me through there. I think my email address is there. Contact me through there and ask for your free book. I will send you either podcast Nomics or From Nobody to the bestselling author free of charge.

Cosmos

That is amazing, Naresh. I’m really glad you made that offer. So they can contact you on your website. Is there any other way the audience can contact you?

Naresh

They can find me on X. I’m at X, Naresh. X. Or they can follow me on Instagram. Just type in my name. You’ll find me there. You can also get all my books on Amazon—paperbacks, audiobooks, Kindles, and hardbacks. They’re all on Amazon.

Cosmos

That is awesome. Nourish and nourish. I’m so grateful that you took the time to come on this podcast and share your wisdom because the way you succeeded in your life, there’s a mindset, there’s a thought process. And if we all adopt that thought process, we will also succeed in what we do. It’s all about thinking and acting in a certain way. I appreciate you sharing this wisdom with me and the listeners.

Naresh

Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure doing this interview.

Cosmos

 And I want to conclude this episode by telling my fellow extraordinary Americans that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us. We must awaken it and unleash it. Until next time, bye for now.