What I learned from Billionaire Jeff Hoffman
When you first hear the word "billionaire" what goes through your mind?
I mean I just think oh my gosh how much money can one person have and how did this person make so much money? It's so interesting to actually meet one and have the opportunity to spend time with them. I met the self-made billionaire Jeff Hoffman at the 1LifeFullyLived conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the Sunday morning keynote speaker.
I remember Jeff arriving Saturday night during the dinner 1Life was hosting, and I immediately noticed several people go up to him and introduce themselves. Every time I asked if they knew Jeff and what did they know about him everyone's face would light up and say he was the kindest person ever and that he was the founder of several businesses. I was excited to hear his keynote and really know more about Jeff.
Before he went up to give his speech he and I spoke a bit. Right away he asked me what I did and where I lived. He quickly gave me instructions to email him and told me he would introduce me to a few people who could help me with the future plans I told him about. He genuinely wanted to help me out and little did I know he helps out so many people for living.
Little bit about serial entrepreneur Jeff Hoffman:
- He is the founder of Priceline.com
- Worldwide motivational speaker
- Producer of a Grammy-winning jazz album in 2015
- He is the creator of the kiosks you see at the airports that make getting your boarding pass super efficient and simple.
- Created an illiteracy program to help people from all over the world to learn to read.
- Created an Entrepreneurship program that is literally a ship full of entrepreneurs that travel the world for 100 days and they learn about the issues going on in the world.
- Serves on the boards of companies in the US, Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia
- He also serves on the boards of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, Unreasonable Group, and Global 1000
You can learn more about Jeff Hoffman here in his LinkedIn page.
Jeff started his one-on-one session with us by describing how you need to be careful who you take your advice from. When he was starting a business his mom would constantly comment about how his business decisions were not the best. He soon questioned why he would take advice from someone whose never even started a business. This really was relatable to me when I made the college decision. He suggested to take advice from people who you want to be like and ignore the people who you don't want to be like.
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Jeff Hoffman has accomplished so much in his life. He is constantly growing his list of goals. I was dying to ask him how does he have so many ideas and accomplish every single one of them? He suggests to write 3-5 of your main goals on a piece of paper and post them on your wall or mirror. A place where you will see it everyday and just focus on those goals. He has another list of goals that he writes down but those are for later until he finishes those first 3-5. It does not mean he doesn't care for them it's just at the moment he cannot focus too much on those goals.
- TAKE ACTION: Write down all your goals. Brainstorm everything you want to do and at the end circle the top 5. Write them down on a piece of paper and post it by your mirror.
Don't chase money, chase excellence. This was one of my favorite advices for sure! Jeff talks about how every time he was creating his businesses he would not think about the money, but how he was going to provide value for people. When you provide value for others then people will simply be willing to pay for it. Creating a start-up business is so difficult especially when no one in your family has ever started a business. This is not a n excuse for me, but people expect me to make thousands of dollars in my business the first year. It makes me laugh because I'm not really just focusing on the money but truly my WHY and how I want to provide the best for people. It was just a reminder for me to focus on the excellence of my work and later on the money will come. Patience.
- How are you going to provide value for others? How can you do what you love and provide value for others?
- If you can picture the perfect life how would it be? How would your perfect day look like? Who do you see in your life? Be super specific.
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Plan your goals backwards. Jeff Hoffman shares how he thinks of the biggest goal he can have and plans it backwards. For example: He wanted to be a music producer. Then he would tell himself that in order to be a music producer he needed to know someone in the industry in order to have a connection. What did he have to do to know someone from the industry? He would have to do his research and actually understand how the industry works...etc. He breaks down the goals from largest to smallest.
I encourage you to complete the TAKE ACTION questions. Journal about it. Meditate. Pray. However you feel comfortable. I wanted to share these questions that self-made billionaire Jeff Hoffman asks and reminds himself till this day. I am not saying just because he is a billionaire to listen to him but his intentions are always the best and his heart is in the right place. He shares a very strong message that no dream is too big, and you can create the life you want. I love to meet people who are not closed minded and challenge me to think differently.
I also recorded a Facebook Live video of Jeff Hoffman's one-on-one talk. You can watch it on my Facebook page. He shares tons of valuable information.
Related: Why I dropped out of college
Future blog posts: How to be More Productive, My Trip to Cancún, & Self-Care