Ep305: Dale Dupree – Do Not Be Tricked Into Taking Shortcuts to Riches

Andrew Stotz 00:03
Hello fellow risk takers and welcome to my worst investment ever, stories of loss to keep you winning. In our community. We know that to win in investing, you must take risk but to win big, you've got to reduce it. This episode is sponsored by a stance Academy which offers online courses to help investors, professionals, business leaders, and even beginners to improve the finances of their lives and their businesses go to my worst investment ever.com right now to claim your discount on the course that excites you the most fellow risk takers. This is your worst podcast host Andrew Stotz. And I'm here with featured guest Dale Dupree Dale, are you ready to rock?

00:46
I'm ready to go, bro.

Andrew Stotz 00:47
Let's do it. So let me tell the audience about you. Dale is leading a sales rebellion. Ladies and gentlemen, join the rebellion. And that rebellion is against the mediocre ways of the status quo in order to put people over profits or over products, community over commissions experiences over performing a pitch and fellowship over negotiations. They'll take a minute and filling for their tidbits about your life and tell us about your rebellion dammit. Yeah, absolutely.

Dale Dupree 01:28
I'll be honored to do that. So I'm just a little old soul born and raised here in Orlando, Florida, in the United States of America, or as we say, down here in Florida, America. So and I sold copy machines, for the last 14 years of my life had been running the sales rebellion for two. And so if you can put the math together there for 14 years, I suffered through a b2b commodity sell, that I fell in love with and and I fell in love with it through a legacy, the legacy of my father, my father started selling copiers in the 70s. He started his own business in 1984. I was grandfathered into that business. When I decided I wanted to have a profession. And before I decided I wanted to have a profession, I was a musician. And from 17 years old until about 23, I was on two major record labels toured all over the United States, and spent a lot of time just being a weird kid and playing heavy metal music. So to go from, you know, forwards and backwards, I enjoy doing it that way and telling my story. The lessons that I've learned more so than anything to found and produce the sales, rebellion or birth it as a lot of my friends like to say is that I experienced all the things that I'm out preaching against. And as a matter of fact, at some point in time, I was the person that I don't agree with in the first place. So that's a little bit about me and my company.

Andrew Stotz 02:52
So maybe your rebellious nature came from your rock and roll hard.

Dale Dupree 02:58
It definitely did.

Andrew Stotz 02:59
If you remember that movie, history of rock when he says rock and roll is about sticking it to the man

Dale Dupree 03:08
that is ever jail jack black. That's exactly right. Yeah, that's a great movie.

Andrew Stotz 03:12
Yeah. And then the kids go like, buddy, but Who's the man? And he's like, well, Mrs. Smith, the principal's she's the man. Well, she's the man What? Huh? But anyways, yes, rebellious, rebellious. And just tell me a bit about, you know, why why do you have to call it a rebellion? I mean,

03:31
come on.

03:32
Yeah, that's a great one, you know,

Andrew Stotz 03:34
this, you know, just do a little bit of good stuff. Dale, why does it have to be a frickin rebellion?

Dale Dupree 03:42
It has a couple of different meanings. The first one being that, you know, I am a rebel, right? And in the way I just described my life, right. I'm a rebel. And, and furthermore, I believe that the rebellion that we're leaving is one based on leading I should say, is based on hope. It's based on something that's better for the future. And rebellions are literally built on that in the first place. They're built on this ideology around a community rising up and saying, what is happening to us is not of us, it's not part of our makeup. It's not part of our wants, and desires and needs is not what it is intentionally that we want. And, and a profession like sales. I believe that most of us have been sold a bag of goods for a very, very long time. And it's tough. It is now time for people not influencers, not the bigwigs and the CEOs, but people to start to shift the way that sales works, which will, in my opinion, become a movement and change the way that leadership looks at sales in the first place. So we're kind of doing a bottom up concept here, right. But I did it in two organizations that I represented in the 14 years that I was in copiers and so I know that it can be done and if I can create a vast army and movement across the world that's doing it alongside of us at the sales rebellion that I know that will have real change and the generations to come will have more hope inside of the b2b world.

Andrew Stotz 05:00
Beautiful and you know, I was just looking at some of the words in your bio and some other stuff from your website and the podcasts and all that. And, you know, just just looking at some of the words, and I just want to bring this out to the audience, which is, you know, you talked about status, you know, breaking the status quo, and putting people over products. So let's look at the words here, you're talking about people, you're talking about community, you're talking about fellowship, right, and experiences. Also, you say something in your bio that I think is quite interesting, in your longer description on your website, which is take your prospects on an adventure. And another one that I saw that I really like, which is I wield a sword to fight against poor cold call efforts, bad sales experiences, depleted pipelines into protect integrity, and values as the root of my relationships with my clients and prospects. So ladies and gentlemen, who are listening to this podcast, I want to introduce you really, to this rebellion. And what's the best way by the way, before we get into the question for you, what's the best way that people can follow you and join the rebellion?

Dale Dupree 06:17
sales, rebellion, calm is a great resource to learn more about what we do and connect with coaches, we've got some videos on the coaching page that introduce you to me and everybody else on the team as well too. But heading to linkedin.com, backslash, n backslash copier warriors a great place to go and find daily content from myself. And you can find the rebel coaches on LinkedIn as well too, or the sales rebellion on LinkedIn. But we're also on every single social platform. And it's actually me, it's not somebody that we hired and pay $10 an hour from another country, that you would have to do it for me. But instead, it's actually me, it's actually me responding to the direct messages. It's me posting the content, it's me being very present and intentional. And I believe that as a CEO that I will continue to do that. So. So if you're listening, and you want to get involved, and you want to see things that are coming straight from the heart, straight from experiences, and no fluff, then just find us on any social network that you like the most is probably the best way to put it. And come follow us.

Andrew Stotz 07:14
And we'll have a link to all of that on the show notes. Now, it's time to show your worst investment ever. And since no one ever goes into their worst investment thinking it will be. Tell us a bit about the circumstances leading up to and then tell us your story.

Dale Dupree 07:28
Yeah, so I preface a little bit of my story with that rock star lifestyle that I lived in around the time that I was 23 or so. And I was actually getting back into my community here locally in Orlando. And, and part time working for my father doing a little bit of sales here. And there. I was also rubbing elbows with some of the top dogs and some people will know the name Lou Perlman, and some people won't. But he was a very popular manager for a very popular boy band that made the mainstage at one point it actually I think it was both of those boy bands actually had Lou at their at their back at some point, I don't know for how long with all of them, but, but he was a local Orlando all star. And if you were doing anything in the music scene, and he spoke your name, you'd land on fire, and, and so rubbing elbows with people that were in his circles was important. But one day, I got an invite to come to his beautiful mansion, and hang out with him. And some of the artists that he has helped to produce, you know, and turn into big wealthy status figures, right. And so it was it was kind of exhilarating, like, Oh, sweet, I get to go out and meet all these people. And they're not necessarily in the genre of music that I played. But once you get into the music industry, it doesn't really matter what your genre is. What's most important is that you're an entertainer. And, and and in the entertainment world, if you're creative, if you're an artist truly at heart that there's a level of respect, and that goes out across the board for everybody. And then there's that, you know, whole beef concept to where people try to pick somebody where they can, you know, spend the next 10 years writing hate songs about them every once in a while on their albums. And it makes everybody money. It's kind of the thought right? And, and nobody talks about it that way. Everybody just thinks it's like, oh, that's normal in the music world. Now that's like it's literally prefixed like a meal straight up. So I roll out with my buddy, actually, who's a country artist. His name's Sean Holcomb. I definitely recommend anybody that listens to folk or country to check out Sean he's a great artist here in Orlando, but at the time, he was still kind of coming of age and rising in the music scene. And the two of us just thought I mean, this is gonna be awesome. We're gonna go meet Lou Perlman all these rich dudes and dudettes and rub elbows and network and hand out cards and talk about our music careers. And, and then in my mind, too, I'm like, maybe I'll sell some copiers who knows, you know, running that part time gig with my dad. And, and so so what ended up happening was that we show up to this event, and the curtain goes up, the lights go down and you know projector Lew greets us he's in the house by the way, right but but they have this elaborate video lined up and, and all these big wigs from Warner Brothers and Sony and Universal Records and, and and now again this is all recorded on video but these people are also in the room which I found so strange and they all were like locked eyes with themselves as they were speaking on the video, you know, kind of like, you know, very interested in what they were saying it's very strange, my friend It was very strange so so I kind of started to feel like it was in a cult at that point. To an extent like this is probably not where I'm supposed to be. But we stuck around we watched the video and then we realized that what we were invited to was a company called burn lounge. And now if you if you Google it, I'm sure you'll find details and information about burn lounge, which is one word, but if if anybody knows Spotify, or, or even Napster, if Napster rings a bell and burn lounge was this concept, you know, back in 2007, that timeframe and era 2008 2007 somewhere in there when it was founded that was essentially selling artists music, through membership structures. And so you can essentially be a user of this burn lounge product. And you could go into your burn lounge and you can say, Oh, I want the new Britney Spears album, and you could pay you know, half the price or a few bucks less sometimes, right it was they had this whole savings thing happening inside of their pitch but at the same time to they said and now you're an artist and and and your musics on here. And you can also you know go to your friends and say hey, buy my CD, but also, you can buy anybody CD on here. Now, again, you got to think 2007 here because it's 2020. And you and I are probably sitting here going well, you can just go on a torrent and download anything you want these days. But in oh seven, it was kind of it was kind of exclusive to be able to have access to like a discography or let alone like, you know, an entire discography of different artists, you know, not just one artist, right, but an entire book that a record label owned. So this, there was kind of this temptation to think like, this is actually kind of cool, this looks interesting. Well, you know, it was 50,000 20,000 $10,000 to get bought into this. And it was done, done, done a pyramid scheme. So I, I'm sure you were kind of waiting for that to show up here. But, you know, they, they, as they kind of go through this whole we're learning about this stuff, I'm thinking like, this is awesome, and then they go, now, here's the best part, after you sign up, get 10 of your friends to sign up underneath you and all their sales will level you up, you know, and and basically, what was really interesting, now this is the kind of the second time I was ever introduced to a pyramid scheme. First time I put money into it. What was really interesting about it is that they sold it as a pyramid scheme in that room. I mean, they straight up told all of us that this is basically that this is an illegal pyramid scheme without really using those words, but it's how they sold it. They said, Listen, right now you need to get in right now. Because in five years, you know, things are gonna change was their exact words. And I and I swear to you, I believe that it was 2012 that they got sued by the federal government, which would have been five years later, right, like the FDA or whatever took them down. And so but maybe in this dumb kid in this room full of big rich people, you know, names I should say when I mean, when I say big, I mean big names, standing around, you know, dropping cash in a bucket, basically saying, you know, sign me up, I at the time I was I had the money and and I was doing pretty well for myself between music and selling copiers on the side. And so I did it. Well, I mean, it wasn't for me personally, it wasn't even a year later that I hadn't seen any return. And two years later that it just started to feel like it was fizzling out. And I want to even say that by 2010 there was like this first wave of shutting it down, essentially. And it was shut down so fast and so furious that it felt almost like you know, there was no way that we were going to get any kind of answer about what happened even It was pretty intense and I kind of just lost sight of it. I lost the money obviously and I never really paid much attention to it after that, but man it was definitely one of the things I look back and I think about some of the things that even they said because what they identified money as burn points is what they called them. They said you know, they were like yeah, you're gonna put $10,000 in but it turns into burn points and burn points are worth $50,000 and like, you know our 50,000 burn points it was insane and I literally fell for every single freakin word gullible little Dale, just like my money.

Andrew Stotz 14:55
Um, and for the listeners out there, you know, a pyramid scheme is also called a Ponzi scheme, and it's really a form of fraud that lures investors in and basically Pays Profits to the original or early investors with the funds that are coming from recent investors. And that's really the key. And it was a guy named Charles Ponzi that's named after who, in the 20s basically had the one of the biggest Ponzi schemes at the time, which is why we call it that. So tell us what lessons did you learn from this experience?

Dale Dupree 15:30
Well, the number one lesson, I think, that I can give to people is that, you know, when the big wigs put their name on something, it doesn't give it credibility. And Matter of fact, I mean, if you know who Lou Perlman is, and you look them up, I mean, the guy is, is you took advantage of the bands that he worked with, and really had a bad reputation. But that was this, this secondary Look at him, right. And most people have two looks, right one, one would be like the fake media, and one would be the real media, you know, essentially that, that these people can operate under based on their reputation, and the way that they are imposing themselves into the local community and the national community as well, too. So understanding that just because the Dwayne The Rock Johnson said you should do something doesn't mean that you should, and, and sitting back and understanding that we control our outcomes much better than other people. And when you put your money in a place that's uncontrollable, and the first and to begin with, where, you know, there's this promise of like, if you sign a bunch of people up, you'll make a bunch of money. But if you really look into it, a concept like that, and you'll recognize that it really has nothing, what they're telling you is that just sit back, relax, and you'll become a millionaire. And that's not how that's not how it operates. Right. And most people that are that have made a lot of money will tell you strictly that they made a lot of money because they did work hard. And that luck is not an a factor that plays in making smart decisions, intentional decisions, and being very aware of what it is that you're doing is what's going to create that wealth that you desire, not buying burn points and joining burn lounge by any means.

Andrew Stotz 17:08
And it's a, maybe I'll share a couple things that I took away. I mean, the first thing is that there's a there's a fine line between multi level marketing and pyramid schemes or Ponzi schemes, you know, the key element is that if, if you're getting paid out from what other people are paying in, as opposed to, you know, some real products and services and something like that, there are legitimate multi level marketing methods of distributing products. And it's very important that they follow the law because a pyramid scheme is illegal. And the other thing is that, you know, that's just the typical scam that comes out, particularly here in Asia, which is like the Forex trading scam, and you're gonna make so much money. And you know, I think that just be where, because I just go back to I teach, one of my courses is about, you know, how to start building your wealth investing in the stock market. So I try to aim for young people to help them get started. But occasionally, an older person gets into my seminar, and then they say to me, they pull me over at lunch, and they go, you know, I understand everything, you're saying, it takes time to make money, you know, you got to invest it and let it grow slowly in the stock market, but it will grow and compound. But, you know, the problem is, I'm 55. And I haven't saved it all. I'm really screwed, and I want it to retire when I'm 60. Can you tell me the fastest way to make money. And that's when I say if I had the fast way of making money, I would do it. And you know, the reality is, is that there really aren't $100 bills on the floor, just waiting to be picked up. Even when somebody is trying to convince you of that. The second thing that I take away is the idea that a big name, person, think about big name, people, big name does not mean good name. And that doesn't, it may be that they're big and all that. But it doesn't necessarily mean that they're good. And then also, the last thing is to understand that everybody who's approaching you with an opportunity is doing so from a financial incentive perspective. And that's, you know, that's business, whether they're a salesperson, whether they're an entrepreneur selling a dream, no matter what it is, they'll be motivated by some sort of financial incentive. And generally, the rule that I follow is, I would like to understand that incentive, so that I can make a better decision. And if you find that those incentives are either not clearly stated, or hard to figure out, or someone's denying that they have some financial incentive, you know, those are some of the warning signs. Those are some of the things I think about anything you would add to that.

Dale Dupree 19:55
Yeah, you know, I would also just say that the you know, for me One of the things, looking back was is that I did have a mindset of, you know, what, how can I make a million dollars real quick here. And I'm 35 now I run my and operate my own business I've invested into other businesses that I've, you know, that I've been a part of, or a small part of I've invested in in artists, I've, I've done all kinds of different, I should say, I've put my money in all kinds of different concepts around how to make some dollars. But after those first couple years of seeing that, that Fast Money fails, that playing the long game was so much more riveting and way more important to my actual success, because success isn't, isn't created overnight. It's not a buzzword, it's something that is a lifestyle. And if you're committed to a lifestyle of success, then you have to sit back and say that like retirement at 55 isn't a thing. Because at 55, you should be writing a new book and helping and serving people to help them to understand what it looks like when they get to 55 and 30. Right. And, you know, I just sat with one of my mentors and had lunch today. And he's 60. And he, you know, the cliche, like if I knew what I knew, if I knew what I knew right now at 30, things would be different, but at the same time also having this ideology around that that stuff is okay, to miss, right. And what I mean by that is that, if you miss it at 30, and you don't find it until 60, it's okay, because you're going to get to it at some point and being patient with your outcomes is what's most important instead of trying to force them.

Andrew Stotz 21:34
And that goes back to some of the words that I highlighted about your sales, rebellion, you know, journey. And one of those words is experiences over performing a pitch. And what you're talking about is sharing the experiences that you've had. And again, that claim brings us back to authenticity, it's your experience, it brings us back to helping and building community and fellowship and all that. So fan tastic. All right. So based on what you learn from this story, and what you continue to learn, what one action would you recommend our listeners take to avoid suffering the same fate and just imagine how many young people today are being lured in one way or another into that room? into that weird room? Yeah.

Dale Dupree 22:21
Remember that if you can't touch it, feel it, see it, believe it, right? That it's not real, that, that what the generation that's coming up behind me suffers from is this Instagram or Facebook lifestyle that they perceive people living, you know, oh, I'm this, I'm this big, rich badass. And here's a picture of me in front of my Porsche and my wife, that's a Russian model, you know, and these things are all fake. In most cases, the relationship with that woman between that man is fake, the car was rented in the first place or taken back because you know, he didn't make his $10 million The next year, right. So there's, a lot of fake out there and be very careful about what you perceive to be real. Remember that until someone proves to you that they care and that they want your success to come of what it is they're asking you to commit to that it doesn't matter. It's not real in the first place. And that no matter what, at the end of the day, nobody will care as much as you and so show people just how much you actually care by making the right decisions around your wealth, your family, your community, your legacy, the integrity that you want to live by in the first place. And remember that there is fake at the corner of every street and every crossing. So beware.

Andrew Stotz 23:39
Beware of the fake Russian model hoax. Were Russia. Russia meddling? I can't remember anyway. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Yeah, great, great, you know, points. Because when we were younger, when I was younger, you know, we didn't have all of this instant stuff coming up in our face. where, you know, we were constantly, you know, we saw both sides of people, we didn't see their picture. You know, we just operated in a world that was much smaller. And I think the best way to encapsulate what you just said, and that I can think of for myself is that I just think of Robin Williams, a man who had it all, and then killed himself. And you think, you know, what struggles were going on inside of him. And we all thought he was amazing, funny, happy. And he wasn't any of that. He was, you know, corn inside. And so he's a great, you know, one to think about that. You know, what, all that glitters is not gold. Last question. What's your number one goal for the next 12 months?

Dale Dupree 24:50
So we've developed an app. It's called refuge, and it's for rebels that don't have 1000s and 1000s of dollars to spend on sales training because it is expensive. It's part of our ministry. as a sales organization to help those that, you know, don't make 100 to $200,000 a year and want to have, you know, personal development and growth in their life or access to it, I should say, through a community such as us, like the rebellion itself. So we've made a $29 a month membership like Netflix, and we have created a world that is gamified. And which salespeople can come and dwell and learn and build community. So over the next 12 months, we're working on not just launching the first iteration, but releasing the second end, hopefully, and possibly the third before the end of 2021, as well too, so that we have something that's evolving as well that people are committing to that continues to meet the demand of the market and innovates.

Andrew Stotz 25:47
And something tells me that as you play the game and the gamification of that app, you're not going to be earning earn points

25:57
might drop.

Andrew Stotz 26:00
Alright, listeners, there you have it. Another story of loss to keep you winning. Remember to go to my worst investment ever.com to claim your discount on the course that excites you the most. Dale as we conclude, I want to thank you again for coming on the show. And on behalf of a Stotz Academy, I hereby award you alumni status for turning your worst investment ever into your best teaching moment. Do you have any parting words for the audience?

Dale Dupree 26:27
I'm just grateful to come on and share some of my experiences. I appreciate you and what you're doing with this podcast.

Andrew Stotz 26:32
Amen. And I appreciate your sales rebellion. I think we've all learned a lot from that. And ladies and gentlemen, if you want to learn more, just type in Dale Dupree or sales rebellion and in the internet, but also just come to the show notes and I'll have all the links for you there. And that's a wrap on another great story to help us create, grow, and most importantly, protect our well fellow risk takers. This is your worst podcast host Andrew Stotz and I'm here to say that I'm going to see you on the upside.