Damion Lupo on losing $20m and Re-Inventing Life

Damion Lupo is the founder of Yokido and is a self-proclaimed financial architect and American sensei. He teaches accelerated learning programs and is the author of 7 books including Reinvented Life, Total Control Financial Guide to the QRP, and The Quick and Dirty Guide to Gold and Silver. Damion’s focus and aim is in financial and spiritual mastery. His greatest passion is helping people move from financial fear to financial freedom. He has a black belt in Aikido, is a practitioner of yoga and a student of reiki.

Damion’s entrepreneurial journey at the age of 11. He became a multi-millionaire at 25 and lost all of his money when he was 31. Listen as Damion explains his rise and fall, the introspective journey he had to undergo to get back up, and why he will always be a high risk taker.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:05 – Entrepreneurs Organization proudly presents Virtual Learning podcast 00:36 – Dave introduces Damion Lupo 02:18 – Damion became a multi-millionaire at 25 years old and lost his $20 million net worth 6 years later when he was 31 02:54 – Damion’s vision is to move from financial fear to financial freedom and for people to become financially literate 03:44 – Damion is a single guy 04:17 – An American sensei is a martial arts instructor residing in America 04:44 – Damion feels this phrase best describes him 05:51 – As you go deeper into martial arts, your own unique experiences influence what you are already doing; then you can create something different 06:07 – Damion’s influences are from yoga and reiki work and all of his life experiences changed the way he was doing Aikido 06:46 – Martial arts is a different way of engaging with people because it is connected and lethal at the same time 07:39 – Damion’s martial arts philosophy involves relationship connections, refocused energy and healing 07:56 – Martial arts is about being present and this is the same in business 08:22 – Krav Maga is a lethal martial art that is about inflicting damage and Damion thinks people join in with the wrong intentions 09:25 – Dave joined a Krav Maga class and says the mentality is to suspend the attacker’s ability to do something against you 10:07 – Damion’s training is about being hyper-aware of your surroundings and if you need to, be able to inflict damage 10:40 – The idea behind Yokido is for the conflict to fade away 11:25 – In the Matrix, there is a scene where Neo just blends into the scene and this is the same in Yokido and in business 12:55 – With martial arts and in business, people with an ego or those who are afraid tend to lose 13:05 – The ego takes the space of being present 13:20 – Being afraid causes people to become paralyzed and not make decisions well 14:17 – Reinventing financial control is about taking the control away from the system 15:28 – Financial freedom is about having the confidence to create 16:59 – Damion thinks most financial advisers should be called insurance salespeople 17:14 – Financial advisers do NOT know more about money than any other person; they may just be good at selling 18:17 – Creating money and investing are totally different things 19:26 – It’s good to seek mentors and have a team in place when it comes to your investments 20:03 – There is no number big enough that can give you the leeway to hand over your investments to somebody else, you have to be involved in it 21:08 – Damion was in his mid-20s and had a $5 million net worth and $20 million in assets—he felt he was hustling and was naïve at this time 21:36 – His mentality during this time was to get more money and he was willing to do anything to get it 22:08 – Damion had a shift from just getting money to making an impact and helping others 22:19 – Damion was in the hospital for a week 22:50 – Damion was buying houses and selling it on contract to people 23:32 – Damion’s ego took over and he even got into development 23:53 – When the market crashed, Damion realized he did not have a foundation that was driving him 24:32 – Damion had 7 different projects where he lost a million from each project 24:48 – Damion had lots of debt and did not have room to move 25:14 – When the markets froze, Damion couldn’t sell anything and he ran out of money—he had a million dollars of debt on credit cards 26:21 – Damion was at Costco and was paying for his groceries when his card was declined 26:55 – At that point, Damion realized that things were changing 27:26 – Damion’s overhead at the time was 75,000 a month 28:24 – Damion had to get real and within 6 months he moved from a penthouse-type condo to a regular house, sold his Ferrari and lost his credit cards but he still pretended to be okay 29:20 – The hardest part about losing stuff is losing your identity; this was Damion’s low point – losing his worth and what it was all about 30:38 – In 2010, Damion joined a campaign and felt that he was still not willing to be fully honest with himself 31:06 – Damion was fired as a volunteer, but he pretended he resigned 31:21 – Damion looked at himself and acknowledged the truth about what was happening to him and began to ask for help 32:08 – Damion shifted from just wanting more to being able to create something positive 33:02 – Damion gets out of a low point by spending time with people who have a positive outlook and an abundance mindset 33:34 – Decide consciously who you spend your time with because you are going to become those people 33:55 – Damion spends his time with people who are seeing the bigger picture and those who are creating financial and spiritual wealth 34:21 – Teaching helps Damion to be future-focused and optimistic 35:15 – Damion dropped out of college three times and was kicked out once 35:36 – Damion hated that students had to pay so much money for books, so he made his own bookstore in his dorm room 36:08 – In a week, the bookstore felt a loss in revenue and went to Damion’s university president 36:24 – Damion refused to stop selling and was kicked out 37:03 – Damion kept on coming back to college because he was pressured by his family and society even though he was not feeling it 37:23 – The last time Damion was in college, it took him 45 minutes before he was running out of the campus 38:11 – Damion says his parents did not understand what he was doing and it was hard for him to share it with them 39:10 – After Damion’s mom read his book, she asked him why he did not tell her all those stories; Damion said she would have no way to relate to it 39:28 – Being a part of Entrepreneur’s Organization, Damion was able to connect with people who understood him 40:03 – Damion was just happy he created the book—the feedback from his mom and others is valuable for him and made it worthwhile 41:04 – Damion’s father was doing a bit of buying and selling, but was focused on the traditional aspects of work 42:08 – Dave says Damion’s level of risk is extremely high 42:56 – The tagline of Damion’s work is to disrupt Wall Street 43:20 – Damion is now doing something based on a mission—the fear does not catch up to him as he keeps on moving 44:28 – Check out the Reinvented Life Workbook on Damion’s website and also check out Total Control Financial 44:48 – Damion wants to help free you from financial bondage 45:27 – Dave closes the episode and encourages you to visit his website

3 Key Points:

Money alone, is not enough; have a set of values that act as your foundation and guide you through all that you do. Surround yourself with positive people with an abundance mindset—these people will be your greatest influencers Fear cannot take over if you keep on moving.

Resources Mentioned:

Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network Yokido – Martial arts that Damion founded Reinvented Life, Total Control Financial – Damion’s books Damion Lupo – Damion’s website