Ep456: MD Imdadul Islam – Never Borrow Money to Invest

Andrew Stotz 00:02
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 to join our community for free go to my worst investment ever.com and receive the risk reduction checklist I've created from the lessons I've learned from all of my guests and get my weekly email to help you increase your investment return also in the community, you can get a super special podcast listener discount on my six week valuation masterclass boot camp in the boot camp, you can learn how to value companies like a pro and advance your career in finance go to my worst investment ever.com to join our community for free. Fellow risk takers This is your worst podcast hosts Andrew Stotz, from a Stotz Academy and I'm here with featured guests. Muhammad dhanu Islam I gonna I'm gonna ask you, are you ready to rock?

MD Imdadul Islam 01:05
Yes, absolutely. Andrew, thank you very much for having me. Like I'm really very excited to be here today.

Andrew Stotz 01:11
Yeah, and I was talking with you before the show that sometimes you know, I have a hard time with names and I'm trying to learn how to pronounce everybody's names, but I'm gonna call you him Don.

MD Imdadul Islam 01:23
Yes, sure. Absolutely. That sounds perfect. It's my name. Eric. Julie.

Andrew Stotz 01:26
Yeah, there you go. So in that is a nice name. And you know, in Thailand names are so long that really everybody has a nickname. So somebody you know, a funny nickname that that you hear sometimes is someone's called Wuhan. Wuhan. Wuhan means fat, fatty, fatty, fatty. And then they have other nicknames like you know, bird, not and other types of nicknames. But they have a lot of fun. And my best Thai friend in my business partner. He's such a master in Excel. And he made his life out of Excel basically his career. So when he had his son, he called him nickname, Excel. Okay. So let me introduce you to the audience. him Dan is a business strategist, a speaker and a collaborator. He collaborates with CEOs, cxos sales leaders, realtors and financial advisors to help them grow via personal branding, social selling and employee advocacy. In Dan, take a minute in Philly for the tidbits about your life.

MD Imdadul Islam 02:35
Yeah, sure. First of all, thank you again Andrew. So what is happening that as I have actually studied finance in one of the best universities were hearing bondage so when I was in you know, the first year I just wanted to be exactly the same way like you honestly speaking, since I was in finance. So what was happening that I started learning more about finance more about cfaes carrier a stock market and everything so that's, you know, the fascinating stuff. But before it was not before I got into a 33rd year so what happened that uh, my focus started shifting a little bit from the old finance to more into the business more into a little bit of entrepreneurship down the line I started working I like got to know a lot of, you know, accounting professionals, finance professionals from different programs on from different events and some of the works I have the opportunity to work with them as well. So what happened there down the line, I came up with a chartered accountant over here in Bangladesh, he was an ACC professional. So and I and by the way, I was also deeply involved in corporate training as well at very early age, because I had a little bit fascination for the language English over here. You know, in Bangladesh, a lot of people suffer out of it, since I had a little bit advantage along say, I am so good at it. But lol But so I used to go out and do it. So yeah, down the line, I started going ahead and coming up with working with a lot of professionals. And I came up with one of my accounting firm as well as when I was in third grade partnering with a chartered accountant, it's helped me actually to go out and work with a lot of entrepreneurs learn from their problems go out and how do the two things, what are the problems they face and everything. So that actually kind of, you know, a shift in my career. So from the coal fires, I started thinking as an entrepreneur and working as an entrepreneur, so yeah, this is how like it went ahead and later on I started, you know, doing that as long distance that I have already mentioned. So that's a little brief, you can say I can give about how it turned out.

Andrew Stotz 04:36
Interesting. You know, I, when I started to be an analyst in 1993, you know, I didn't know much about anything. So I was just studying hard. I had my head down. I was reading everything I could. I was taking the CFA exam, I was doing all those things. And I was wondering, you know why some people rise higher and faster and further than others. And as I studied as an owl, As I'm analyzing everything I see, you know, I started to see there was a couple of core things. The first thing, the first thing I talked to you about before we turn on the recorder was authenticity. Whenever anybody talked to me, you know, I was authentic, I wasn't trying to put on a show or anything like that. The second thing is I was willing to reveal personal situations that I face. And when I did that, about my own businesses I had in Thailand, while I was an analyst, I was investing in other businesses. And I think that fund managers around the world really appreciated that I was authentic, and that I would share some personal stories. And then the third thing that I learned was said, if you're not a great presenter, it doesn't matter how great you think you are, or your ideas are, if you can't get them out. And so I decided to really become an expert in that area. And I think that, you know, when you talk about helping people with their branding and social media presence and all that, truthfully, it's not that complicated. You know, they follow someone like you and say, let's just set a path, get started, you know, and move in this direction. I think you can add a lot of value that I had to figure out on my own and it took me years to get it, you know, but I suspect you can take someone there much faster.

MD Imdadul Islam 06:20
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Like you see that I have seen you know, what happens that we as if I since I had the opportunity to work with some accounting and finance professionals, what happens that we actually denied very Hursley to go beyond the numbers initially, of course, like people in your level, you guys are boss, of course. But what happens that like, if I talk about myself, when I was in the first year, I was thinking like, okay, fine finance, accounting, all about crunching numbers. So I don't really need anything out of numbers. So all I need is just go out and crunch numbers and get the decision analyze it that said, boom, but And truth be told, I hated literally marketing, I hate the pegboard thing that I do. Because I was thinking like, finance is the best subject over here. I am studying finance, I had this ego problem. But down the line, when I started my business, I learned that oh my god, marketing is like everything I need to make sales, it doesn't matter how good my product or service or let's say how much good analyzes I come out with, if I cannot go out and pitch to the investor, if I cannot make them believe in my ideas, I'm gonna suck and nobody's gonna buy. Yeah,

Andrew Stotz 07:24
amen. That.

MD Imdadul Islam 07:28
Okay, so and the same problem, that was my problem first, and I solved it for myself, spending years and I still see there are a lot of ACA cfaes accounting professionals, ACA is over here, they're very good at what they do. All they need is a little bit of ways to go ahead and you know, leverage their idea to actually pitch before the investor or their community or the guys they want to work into. And of course, there are better ways to go ahead and do it. Due to the blessing of social media. It's not about just going ahead and you know, if I'm not wrong, I listened to one of your podcasts while you were mentioning girl was coming to you. And you know for advising you on investment, and they actually offer investment advice to expats. So they're coming to you. So of course, you see that it was a bit funny, like, you know, like, how do you how can you get to know a guy like him? And at least before you go ahead and make a sales pitch, you definitely need to have a little bit of ideas, right, regarding whom you're going to do it. So yeah, these are the some of the steps that I suffered a lot from betrayal, the initial I, I did the same mistake. But down the line, I worked out for myself, and currently I'm helping others to go out and plastic for themselves.

Andrew Stotz 08:45
And let me just ask you, before we get into the question, if somebody likes what they hear, likes, what you do, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

MD Imdadul Islam 08:54
Well, of course, it's LinkedIn. It's a moment in data in Islam. If you search on LinkedIn, you will see me, you'll get me and yes, of course, and there is my contact number is also given over there, how you can reach out to me and you can also go out and get to know what I do. Just a beacon to see me on LinkedIn. So it's been

Andrew Stotz 09:13
all of it. And I'll have a link in the show notes. Ladies and gentlemen, click on the link and learn more. And I think I think I want to talk to you more after the show about some ideas that I have for things that we can do together. Anyways, sure,

MD Imdadul Islam 09:26
sure. That's exciting. Honor,

Andrew Stotz 09:28
you know, for all the listeners out there, you know, that's part of the benefit of doing a podcast is of course bringing great content used to you the listener, but it's also about the relationship that that we get to develop as you know, as I bring people on the show, well, now it's time to share 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 it then tell us your story.

MD Imdadul Islam 09:56
Okay, now that's fairly a very tough question. answer but yes of course so what is happening that since my childhood if I can recall myself I have been a little bit rough and tough not so a green like not of course in in a bad way but I was very sporty I used to you know play cricket very well and at the same time I used to go clubs Of course not nightclubs but pool club billiard one I used I used to be a very good billiard player okay when I was in school, that's although a little early and I did everything but study well Okay, so that's that's really true and I can still remember I used to be the 62nd student of the 6040 student when I was in the 10th grade This is true it's absolutely true but what was happening that deep in my mind I just knew one thing that of course I definitely want to get into business that that was for sure. Like I don't know why it felt to me like that yeah i i had the spatial fascination for the business world for I don't back in that and I didn't know much about the investment but still I was thinking I had some idea that yes if I want to get into business where if I want to make a lot of money investment is great too because how many how much money can you really make just by working of course investment is greater so that is that is started like you know hanging around in my mind that taught so I used to go to meet a lot of people and talk to a lot of my seniors for what they do, how do they go out and do it and down the line I started I found a guy actually reached out to me okay and he was kind of very known to me but what was happening that then he invited me to come up with and he shared one of the investment you know, store investment opportunity at a company so that company was involved in some kind of online business okay and to be told I didn't really have much idea regarding what they do but I believe that guy so what happened that I was very much motivated what they actually shared with me and how I got to you know, how can I multiply my money and everything so I was very much you know convinced with idea so I went ahead I went to home told my mom that mom I need some money and I need some very good money of course not no small one because the more money I can invest the more money the more return I can actually go out and generate for myself then actually what happened that since I was the eldest son and my mom loves me very much it's just she loves me a lot so she gave me you know, to like stack over here in about the stack so that's a six figure I'm out and back 10 years back what I'm saying and back in that time I used to be the 10th grade by the was very young so what was happening that I invested that money I took the money from my mom and she actually gave it to me and once I asked her and listen to the money so the company went well for a couple of months I got some return in the first month and the second month and suddenly ice it started being returned there were saying that Okay, there are some problems you know as what happens that of course not all business goes the same way in all the months or all the time so they're saying they can please hold on for a while and we will go ahead and start giving you all start at the beginning sir being returned. So I was like okay, fine. Then a little while went ahead and what happened that all of a sudden, I got to understand that I was scammed the company was shut down I went to visit their office more or after a while as I saw that the office was slowed down like you know it does look so yeah like that's that's the thing so you can say that this is one of the worst investment I can say I had it was just a scam it is not even investment.

Andrew Stotz 13:53
And let me ask you when you was it when you went to their office that you realized it was a scam or did you already suspected it was a scam or what were When did you really realize it was a scam

MD Imdadul Islam 14:05
Okay, well I after a while when I went to the office it was locked so what happened that I tried to contact some of the people they were not answering my phones at some distance the phone were actually switched off and gradually I contacted some of the people who invested like me so yeah, they were also talking the same stuff. Okay, so like yeah, they are not they are out of control. So after a while, we got some news in the newspaper as well. So

Andrew Stotz 14:33
this gap so tell me what did you learn from this experience?

MD Imdadul Islam 14:38
I got you know, a very great lesson undoubtedly, because first of all, it's not investment so why it is not even investment because not to come up with an investment. You definitely need to learn what you are investing in. That is the business so I had literally no idea what they do in business, how they make money, and how are they How are my money going? Do not generate return for myself and for the company as well. Okay, so this is what I have learned that yes, in order to make an investment, you definitely need to learn about the business. That's the one thing you gotta you got to analyze, you got to learn or whatever it is just learn the business.

Andrew Stotz 15:17
And that's a major lesson for all the listeners, too. It's kind of the number one mistake that people make is they fail to do their research. So this is a great lesson, maybe I'll share a couple things that I wrote down while you were talking. One of the things that I wrote down was the words, he reached out to me. And one of the things that I always tell people is never invest in something that somebody has contacted you about investing in. Okay? In other words, ideally, you want to originate your own ideas of what you're investing in. Yes. Now people say, Well, how is that? How am I going to do that, if I don't know that much? My point is, is that, you know, I just want to raise a red flag to people that when people are calling you, they're calling you not, it's not talking about, you know, your best friend. But I'm talking about a stranger or someone you may know a little bit calling you and telling you to invest in this so that it has an idea. Stop. Because that is usually the first way that it starts to happen. The second thing is that, you know, these people are experts at playing on your emotion. And they know how to do it so well. And you were describing how you were so hungry, as a young guy, yeah, you saw the opportunity. And you thought I gotta take it, you know, this is, this is the way we do business, you know. And that's where you have the reason why you often want to hang up, as you know, people call me and say, you know, I want to tell you about this investment opportunity. And I just say, all I say I let them talk for a few minutes or minute or whatever, with their pitch, and I just say, I'm not interested, please never call me again. And please remove me from your list. Okay, and I say that exact same thing every time not not, I'm not mean or anything. And then the third thing is that I wrote down is borrow money. When you borrow money, it's like, the pain happens twice. First, the pain of losing, and then the pain of having to deal with the person that you borrowed the money from. True. True. And I can only imagine, you know what it felt like to go back and tell your mom

MD Imdadul Islam 17:26
Oh, you know, like, is really, really very horrible. My mom was also very sad. But she was more sad for me. Because you know, at this very early age, I had a setback, I lost some good money. But although my mom was like, yeah, to be told, we were not that rich of that, well, that money really mattered a lot for us. But But still, I lost it. So I was sad. But my mom was even more sad than me. So like, describing worse how it felt. So yeah.

Andrew Stotz 17:56
So that brings me into my last thing I wrote down, which is you said that there was some return in the first and second month. And one of the things that, you know, for the listeners out there, the way some of these scams work is they do actually pay you they do, they do show you that the stock price went up or something, yes. But basically, that's all to just keep you hooked in and maybe get more money from you if they can, but that usually in a scam case, it's just it makes it confirms your decision was the right decision. Look, they're paying, but in the end, and maybe that from a defense perspective, they can say to somebody, they get in trouble. Well, we tried to pay, you know, but then it all went bad. So those are the things that I learned from is anything you would add?

MD Imdadul Islam 18:41
Yes, like, for I'll just say that, yeah. Like, before we come up with some investment, like we got to actually learn. And one thing I would love to definitely share that you actually just mentioned, please don't invest just by borrowing money. Because that's not your money. And what if you actually lose the money? So?

Andrew Stotz 19:01
Yep. So based upon what you learn from this story, and what you continue to learn, I want you to think about the young men and women out there that are very hungry to try to, you know, get ahead in life. And there are all kinds of scams going on. What one action would you recommend our listeners take to avoid suffering the same fate?

MD Imdadul Islam 19:23
It's all about actually learning about actually Bigfoot and like, knowing what you actually gonna do before we actually do it, okay? Cause it's really very important because you see that most of the time we go out of our emotion that actually mentioned that he has a lot of emotional stuff. So maybe some of our friend or our colleague just said something, we have blind faith on them. And we start going into it, start doing it, investing in it, and everything okay, but I would just recommend that please have at least a basic idea. Before you do anything. It's not about investment is in everything in life.

Andrew Stotz 20:00
device while listeners there you have it another story of loss to keep you winning. And my number one goal for the next 12 months is to help you my listener reduce risk and increase return in your life. To achieve this, I've created our community my worst investment ever.com. And when you join, you get that special discount on the valuation masterclass boot camp. Let me ask you one last question. Sure. What is your number one goal for the next 12 months?

MD Imdadul Islam 20:29
Well, as I've already mentioned, that I'm currently working in personal branding, social selling, and employee advocacy stuff. So what I want to do is that in the next 12 months, I want to reach out and more, I want to add value to more people in this regard to help them grow their personal brand, of course, in accounting, finance and real estate industry. These are my core areas or my core industry to work in. And I'm trying to currently help the financial institutions that were here in Bangladesh to leverage their employees for their branding and marketing staff. So yeah, that's the real thing. So I'm currently focused more on doing it more in the next 12

Andrew Stotz 21:07
months. Well, fantastic. And for the listeners out there, I'll have the link to his LinkedIn so that you can go and learn more about that. And, you know, as I always say, on this show, when when people come on the show, there's many people that I invite on the show and they refuse, they don't want to talk about the worst investment but I always say that when someone's willing to identify their worst investment talk about what they learned from it. That's the type of person I want to do business with. Now as we conclude him Dad, I want to thank you again for coming on the show and on behalf of a starts 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 our audience?

MD Imdadul Islam 21:50
Last thing I want to say is that you are your best investment okay? The best investment you can ever make is in yourself it can be in your health it can be in your knowledge and getting whatever but it's all about you so please never feel you know, never get yourself back to invest in yourself and the rest of the investment you can of course make very bad.

Andrew Stotz 22:10
I love that. And that's a wrap on another great story to help us create, grow and protect our well fellow risk takers. This is your worst podcast host Andrew Stotz saying. I'll see you on the upside.