Here is the full transcript of entrepreneur Tjibaria Pijloo’s talk titled “Why And How Everyone Could Be A Millionaire!” at TEDxSwansea 2024 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Right to Freedom
I believe that everyone has a right to a right to a right to a right to a right to a right. Everyone has a right to be free. That’s why I will sing this song for all eternity.
If you’re the kind of person that wants your own freedom and you’re really excited to go and create a life of your dreams, then man, this is going to be the talk for you. Because my purpose for this talk is not to necessarily share something new with you, but to rather move you to go after your own dreams. Maybe even if you have never done that before.
And my purpose here with this talk is to make sure that you, whether you’re here live in the audience or when you’re watching this on the replay, to really walk away with hope, with courage, with the power to go after that one thing whether you already want it or not or if you’ll be able to actually start creating it for yourself. And maybe it’s something that you want for yourself. Maybe you want to create a better life, more abundance, more health, more love in your life.
Or maybe you want to do this for somebody else. Someone that you really care about and someone that really needs it the most right now. And by sending this email, you’ll finally be able to get closer to them. And I know that this is a big bold statement to make, but I love to make change.
Empowering Others
I like to give people hope. And so I will do my absolute best to make sure that I can empower you today so that on day two, you will start doing something that will bring you closer to your dreams. And so the way I’m going to do this in this talk, I’d actually like to specifically go into the topic of wealth creation.
So if you have different goals that you’d like to replace or end share in life, things that you want to create for yourself. And I do this because I really believe that everyone has the right to be free. And maybe right now you’re thinking, “I am free. I don’t need any chains on my hands and any final decisions.”
For this goal, answer this question for me. Where would you, what’s all up to you, like this to yourself in five years time? Where would you be? Who would be there with you? What would you be doing? How would you feel?
And when you do this, don’t really be realistic or anything. This will come from your dreams. And picture this world, if you open your eyes, and it was the creation of what you want. Now does that world look different in your reality today?
Taking Action
And what are you going to do about it? And more importantly, what have you been doing about it so far? Have you done anything at all or nothing for a long time?
And with the problem that a lot of people face, they think that their dreams are way out of their reach. They think it’s better to just wait around and play it safe. And they don’t make any active steps to go and create their dreams.
And that’s why today I want to share with you guys that you absolutely have the power to create the life of your dreams. And maybe even become a millionaire. And that’s why the title of my talk is “Why and How Anyone Can Become a Millionaire.”
And I know, I’m supposed to be crazy, right? And when I make my first million, I feel really crazy about it too. And I just want you guys to know that you can absolutely do this.
My Background
Because I come from Amsterdam, and I’m a part of a family that is the most beautiful family that’s here with me today as well. And my parents always instilled so much hope and love and power and confidence in me and my siblings. And they actually instilled something in us that created from a very early age my mission.
And that’s the mission to be free. And to empower other people to be free as well. Whether it’s physically, whether it’s mentally, spiritually, or financially.
And so, I really want you guys to understand that you can do this too. As I was going through the most amazing education. I had two bachelors in physics and in astronomy.
Then I did a master’s in astronomy. Then I went for a PhD in astrophysics. And then I had a cycle of months before I was going to become a doctor, a physicist.
Finding Purpose
And that’s when I decided to start rolling. And I don’t know if you’ve ever felt this way. That you’re doing something, you’re doing your job, and it pays for the bills.
But it doesn’t really fulfill you if it’s not your purpose. Has anybody ever had something like that before? And so, that’s how I felt.
And I felt like I was destined for something so much bigger, so much more. And I also found myself going on YouTube and finding videos about how I felt in that business. And then, as if it was magic.
An act, a part of it, on me. And it was a business that I could go to. And it was a chance next to my house, so I went there.
Finding a Mentor
And this is where I met my first mentor. Master J. Feshman. And this is actually the first thing that I want to give you guys.
If you’re making notes, definitely write this down.
And it is, find yourself a mentor. And I wrote this actually on an entire TED talk about this topic.
Why is it so important to not just reinvent the wheel, but to go out and learn from someone and set the results that you seek. And this thing was actually happening for me as well. I had the opportunity to learn from business mentors.
And this program had a price tag of $7,000. And I was moaning. I heard a little voice appear.
Overcoming Self-Doubt
Hello! I’m so happy to be here with you guys on the TED stage. And so, we all have this little voice.
It’s basically the voice that we have in our heads that tries to protect us by saying things like, “I don’t have money. I don’t have the time. I’m not sure if I’m good enough.
What if I fail? I’ll go later.” And we all have a little voice like this. Maybe yours is not as high-pitched as mine.
But we definitely all have it. And for those of you who are thinking, “I don’t have a little voice,” that’s the little voice. The thing is that this is exactly what my business mentor shared with me.
Success is a Decision
And it opened up my eyes. It opened up my eyes to see that this little voice is perfect to give us faith. But it’s not optimized to get us to success.
And it’s actually the little voice of ourselves that we talk ourselves out of taking the steps that are necessary to reach success. We are, in fact, the ones that stop us when we achieve goals that we want. And this brings us to point number two.
Make sure to write this down. Success is a decision. You have to decide if you are going to be successful.
And eight years ago, when I had this opportunity, I had decided. But I went against all odds because I didn’t have the money for a seven-day mentorship. I didn’t have the time because I was doing my PhD.
Seizing Opportunities
And I considered doing it later. But I don’t know if you’ve ever had this step. You come across an opportunity.
And it feels like it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And you don’t do it now again. Once in a lifetime opportunity.
And so I felt that way, too. So I actually made it happen. About the money, I actually borrowed the money.
I went to my parents and asked, “Did I borrow the money?” I went and banged it. It popped up in my already existing study book.
Taking Action with Conviction
And regardless of the time, I put in my PhD. And then, basically, I actually did it on September 10th. And moved to the UK for work in a company off my mentor.
And this was really scary. And I was really thrilled. I thought, “Oh my goodness, what am I doing here?”
But for some reason, I felt in my heart, this was going to be okay. I had that trust. And so this is tip number three.
Replace your worries with trust. And take action with conviction. Because it’s really important that you believe in it, too.
Living Life Fully
You have to take action with conviction. And that opens some doors. And it might feel scary.
And what I really want you guys to realize is that we’re living this life not just to get by. But to actually live. And there was actually a video by Prince EA.
They got fired over it. But he said that there was a hospital setting done with all people. And they asked them, “What are the things that you regret the most?”
And it was not the things that they did do, but the things that they didn’t do that they regret the most. So I felt like, I’m going to take that action. I’m going to take that action with conviction.
Helping Others and Making Money
And so within the three weeks that I went to the UK, I became CEO. I sold $70,000. That’s enormous.
It would take me three years to be able to do that. And the cool thing was that we made that money by being able to help people. So let me ask you guys a question.
How many of you like to help people? Raise your hand. Raise your hand.
Beautiful. And I want you guys to repeat after me. Say this.
Setting Concrete Goals
“If I can help people, I can make money. If I can help people, I can make money.” Beautiful.
But before we do that, I really want you to get tip number four. Which is, you need to write down a concrete goal for yourself. And that’s what I did, too.
When I started out, I wanted to make $1 million in one year. I didn’t get there, though. It took me 18 months to get there.
Fast forward to now, I feel so blessed, so happy that we get to help people from all around the world. And without company, I think we’re still millions. And we’re traveling around the world.
Overcoming Fear
And we’re now on the track of creating a billion-dollar empire. And I’m not saying this to give you guys good impressions, or to think, “Oh, look how cool I am.” Not at all.
I’m going to share with you guys that if I can do it, but with no formal business education, then you can do it, too. And this is super important to understand. But what is that thing that actually stops us?
Why do we sometimes have this fear that it just paralyzes us? How many of you ever have this? If you want to do something, a fear stops you.
Anybody at all? Anything in your life? I certainly have as well.
The Inner Child
So why is this? Because when we were children, we were so happy. We were so courageous.
We were so confident in loving ourselves. So now, what do we do? We just worry all the time.
And I don’t think I’ve ever heard this saying where they say that the majority of things you worry about never even happen. And maybe you guys have it, too. That you went through a furlough, you should have known better.
You were thinking about all the things that could go wrong. And you’re just waiting and waiting and waiting. And finally, when you approach that person, it wasn’t actually that bad.
Breaking Free
How many of you can understand what I’m talking about? And then all the new scenarios that we make up in our minds are just a waste of time. So I want to ask you that.
Who here is ready to finally break free?
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Reigniting Your Dreams
Who is ready to actually go and reignite your dreams? Raise your hand. And raise it nice and high, by the way.
Because how you do anything is how you do everything. And so, there is one more myth that I need to get out of your mind so that you can really start doing this effectively. And that is that.
Myth number five. The failure that you know doesn’t exist. Because for some strange reason, we always, from a very young age on, are very good at conditioning ourselves that failing is bad.
Like, we get an F at school, and we feel so bad about it. But if you want to reach success, you actually need failure. And you actually need to collect as many assets as possible.
Embracing Failure
And what you will realize is that fear of a failure is actually not what you think it is. It is just testing. It is just you getting upset and so on.
And you only get it in the middle. The problem with that is that, because then, you actually own the fairness to your success. So what is that thing?
What is that thing that is stopping us? And the thing that I really want to ask you is, what are you waiting for? Or better yet, what have you been waiting for all these years?
And I don’t mean to be harsh, but I just want you to understand what we are doing to ourselves. And I want you to understand that we have the power to be free. It actually reminds me of the story of a little elephant that was thrown to the surface.
The Elephant Story
And the little elephant was running around. It was so excited. But it couldn’t have that.
Because you have the jets that were coming. They just really had to come behind you. So what they did is they put a little rope around the paw.
And they put it inside the ground. And it tried to break free. It couldn’t break free.
It was just a little elephant. So it tried for days. It tried for weeks.
Limiting Beliefs
But at some point, it just stopped. It just was healed. And like, it’s not going to work anyways.
And so at that moment, it grew up to be a big, strong elephant. And it was put inside that same rope. And we all know that a big, strong elephant can easily break that.
But it didn’t do it anymore. Somehow in its mind, it had thought that it can’t do it anymore. And this is exactly the thing that we do to ourselves.
Maybe you’ve had it in your life that you’ve done something wrong. You’ve had hurt you. Or maybe you’ve tried different things and you’ve failed.
You Are Good Enough
Or maybe we want to test you that you’re not good enough. Well, let me tell you one thing. You are absolutely good enough.
And there’s nothing that you cannot do to create the life of your dreams. So I want to ask you that once again, who in here is ready to go and create the life of your dreams? And perhaps even become a millionaire.
And if that is you, I want you to join me in a big, “Hoot! Ha! Hoot!”
Everybody with me. “Hoot! Ha! Hoot!”
The DFPEA Model
One more time. “Hoot! Ha! Hoot!”
Beautiful. So now, how many of you can’t do it with elephants? How?
Good. And by the way, these desks work for all industries. They work for all types of people.
And they basically are five of them. So the first thing is D. Then we have F.
Then we have P. And then we have E. And then we have A.
Decide to Be a Millionaire
And so basically, the first one is you have to decide. Decide if you are a millionaire. Decide and put a concrete goal in place for yourself.
So by me, I said I want to make one million in one year. And what you get there exactly at that time doesn’t even matter. What matters is that you could believe that you could get there.
That you take that action with conviction. And so you might be thinking, “All right, I’m going to take action with conviction, but where do I even start?” And let’s say you are you.
You want to start figuring this out by being on the step. So what I want you guys to write down is basically these letters. And I want you to write down, “What are all your feelings?
Identify Your Strengths and Passions
What are all the things that you have knowledge about? Do you have any knowledge from school? Do you have any knowledge from your work?
Do you have any knowledge from the streets? What are all the things that you have experienced? Write those down.
Don’t be modest with this. Maybe at one point in your life, you want to be more fit. Because you are in the service and it was done for your health.
And so you did something about it. How many people do you think are out there right now that are healthier and fit and they would love to know what you did? So write those things down.
Shortlist Your Top 5
Then, what are you passionate about? Maybe you’re passionate about singing. Maybe you’re passionate about school, about cooking.
Write those down as well. And on the left on the list, write down all the things you think that you are talented. And then, you may have tens of things or hundreds of things even.
I want you to shortlist it to only five things. And how do you do that? You basically go through every single step of them and you ask yourself this question.
“Can I help a lot of people with this or not?” And so you’re going to find out that the five things that are left over are those things that you can help a lot of people with. And so again, what do you do?
Empower People and Add Value
Then, you want to be with the people. Go out there and empower people. How do you access these five different topics that you have left over?
Go and ask out whether that’s in person or whether that’s on social media. Make a little tip about it. Make a video about it.
Share the value. Because people buy from people that they know, like, and trust. And so you want to make sure that people get good value and get that value across to people.
But you might be thinking, “Well, there are so many other people already that know way more than me about all this stuff. They are much, much better.” But if you’ve ever watched a TED talk on Science Connect, you know that people don’t buy from you because you are the best.
Be Authentic
People buy from you because they believe in what you believe in. So the moral of the story is to be yourself, be authentic, share with people what you believe in, and then start listening. As you’re adding value on social media consistently on these types of things, start seeing which people’s topics are getting more traction, which of the topics are most interesting to people.
And if that’s the one, the future is worth it. On that one topic that you have left over, you are going to create your business. There are three options there.
You can either create a program. So let’s say you have the option of cooking that is left over for you. Then it could be that you create a program about cooking.
And you teach people how to cook healthy food while still being very healthy. Or you can create a product. You can maybe create a recipe book that you go and sell to people.
Three Business Options
Or, step number three, you can create a service. You can actually have a cooking service that you deliver to people. For example, say I have a program, a product, or a service.
And then what you want to do is get good in effective communication. Start speaking to people, start adding that value, and get good at the art of sales. Because repeat after me.
“Selling is serving. Selling is serving.” Thank you.
And so this is something really important to realize. And as long as you start doing that, you start getting your first client. And then, once you are seeing this proof of concept, then you want to automate it.
Automate Your Business
Then you want to make sure that it’s actually happening on the market. Because just think about it. Imagine that you have something, a system out there, that can add value to people for you, and actually bring you sales.
While you’re there, let’s think of a pep talk. How amazing would that be? And repeat after me.
“Automation equals freedom. Automation equals freedom.” Thank you guys so much.
And so, what I basically want to say is, go for it. Implement this model today. Take your first step today.
Start Today
It doesn’t matter how small or big the step is. Just make your writer post, make your first post today. And what’s really important for you to realize is that, you just want to go to bed a little bit more smarter than what you woke up with.
Which is what’s driving a lot of the results you feel in your head. Because when you do so, it adds to the belief that you’re going to reach next step. But you might be wondering, “What about the risk?”
Truth of the matter is that everything has risk. Action has risk. Inaction has risk.
But the risk in inaction is a lot more dangerous. Because you don’t notice it until it’s too late. So be bold.
Be Crazy Enough to Change the World
Be courageous. Be crazy. Because as Steve Jobs said, “It is those people that are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, that you should do.”