People’s relationship with money could go two ways. It’s either going to be a tool that can help your purpose or it could be adversarial. Join your host Susie Carder as she sits down with Ike Ikokwu to discuss how you can build your wealth so that you can live your best life. Ike is the founder of the Righteous Billionaire Movement and it’s his goal to help people identify, clarify, and magnify their purpose. And all of that revolves around your relationship with money and financial independence. Learn how you can acquire new wealth in today’s episode.

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Strengthening Your Relationship With Money So You Can Live Your Best Life With Ike Ikokwu

Welcome, Ike Ikokwu. He’s having made seven figures in his business twice and lost it. It brings very relevant experience to his role as a business growth strategist, a mindset coach and a professional finance expert to his clients. He’s working with the largest national coaching companies in the industry and leaning on wisdom gained from overcoming many adversities in his life.

I can see the ability to change the way his clients think, feel about beings and how they can create the results they truly desire. He’s purpose-driven and he works with purpose-driven entrepreneurs. He’s working with professionals and families hire him to shrink their financial independence timelines down from 30 years to as little as two years while growing yourself and your team as a leader.

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I have a business growth strategist. I’m going to bring you my great friends in the world. Ike welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank you for who you are in the world and serving. I always love our time together.

Thanks for having me.

It’s like my brother from another mother. Our stories are similar. I’ve done your formal bio but I want you to share what you do in the world, who do you serve and your secret sauce.

You’ve run across this before you meet people who seem to be existing versus a living. What I do is I help people identify, clarify and magnify their purpose. In the process of doing that, I helped them build 6 and 7-figure streams of active, passive and residual income, so they can live their best life and give full expression to their purpose, passion and promise to the world to make it a much better place for all of us here.

What does it mean to live your life on fire because that’s your tagline, jam and what you do? What does that even mean?

It’s an acronym that I came up with for living life financially independent and retiring early. Part of my claim to fame is I have made and lost seven figures twice. Some considered it to be a curse and some considered it to be a blessing, depending on which side of the coin you’re looking at. In one of those runs, I went from being bankrupt to building 7-figure net worth, 6-figures in passive income and I did that in five years. That was several years ago.

When I found out was having wealth and not having any purpose around wealth is probably one of the most tragic things you can ever do in life because you’ll self-sabotage. What I love to do is help people become financially independent and retire early, but also be fired early. That gets back to the whole idea of purpose.

I’ve launched my Righteous Billionaire Movement because as I look at the last several years in the journey that I’ve been through, making losing money, being at the feet of many mentors and coaches to not survive but thrive through all of that. Pulling together all the insights and wisdom that I’ve gathered from decades of being in the financial services industry and learning how to become a coach or consultant.

All of that’s been weaved together with a bigger-than-life purpose now, which is to try to help raise and create 10,000 billionaire leaders by the year 2030. That’s a pretty big call. It’s one that quite frankly scares me but I know that I’ve been created to such a time as this to bring that big vision to the world. It’s what drives me and having served in the financial services industry.

Back in the day, people would work 30 years for GE or GM, and that was their gig. They were waiting for the Rolex Watch, the big party, and then they would start living life. I’m like, “Who does that? Who creates somebody and goes to the other to take 30 years out of your life.” It’s going to be 30 of your most miserable years as soon but as you retire at 65, it’s got to be a party.

You’ve got to break all those habits that you’ve made for all those years and it doesn’t work. Most people hit that age and they start getting sick or their health becomes the thing. I love that you’re doing that now for us so that we’re not waiting because there is no waiting. Do it now or do it never. I’m watching clients waiting. I’m going to wait for this pandemic to get over. I’m going to wait for the world to get back to normal. There’s no waiting. We’re not getting back to normal. This is the new norm. What are you seeing? What are the biggest challenges you’re seeing in your line of work and working with clients?

We both hang out in the expert space where we work with coaches and consultants. People who are trying to bring their brilliance into the world. I believe that one of the biggest challenges that I want to across is a lot of people in our space have been sold a bill of goods that comes from a dark place. We’ve all bought into this whole idea of the hustle and grind mentality.

We’ve got to work hard. We’ve been taught that the key to success is to go to school, work hard, get a good job, eventually, maybe become an entrepreneur and work hard. What I know is if we could shift the formula a little bit. If we could shift the trajectory of what that looks like and get into a position where we’re not only working hard to bring our dreams to pass, but we’re putting our money to work, to have it work as hard as we do, maybe even a harder than we do.

We can get in a position as I did almost decades ago. We could shrink what is ordinarily, maybe a 30-year timeline for somebody to become financially independent to as little as 2 to 5 years. That’s part of what I’m precedent about is empowering people with the knowledge, the wisdom, as well as the opportunities to learn that they can change their relationship with money. Especially once they identify, clarifying and magnify what their purpose is and they can have many serve as a tool that furthers their purpose versus them being an adversarial relationship with them.

Help people identify, clarify, and magnify their purpose so they can live their best life.

To shorten that path and learning curve. I’d love in the beginning, you said active to passive, to residual. I don’t think people think that big. They’re like, “I want to make money.” We just own a job. Nobody wants to own a job. We didn’t do this to own a job. I see 88% of small businesses make less than $100,000 a year. Go get a job and you can make more than that.

What’s been your pivot during this whole pandemic and during this whole whatever’s happening in the world? What’s been your biggest pivot that you’ve done in your own business to be able to harness it and capitalize on it? I know we’ve done well. I think people are searching for people like you and I to go, “I got to have somebody helping me figure this out to have the active, passive and residual income.”

Three key things in the pandemic and even before that were recognizing one, which business were we in? I tell people all the time, you’re in two critical businesses. One, recognize that you’re always in the belief changing this. Whatever it is that you do, the secret sauce is or brilliance it is that you bring into the world.

You’re going to run, slap into a wall of opposition from existing beliefs that people have around what’s possible for their life, but they can be due or having that space and how your unique secret sauce can help them get there. You’re going to have to figure out a way to change their belief system about why Susie is the one and the only one that can help them get to the mountain. That’s the first thing.

The second thing is to remember that the greatest the secret sauce might look and smell and taste. Nobody buys the secret sauce. We don’t buy products, online courses, programs, challenges and all the other tools that we use to try to get people to become a client. At the end of the day, people buy relationships. You’re always in the relationship to the extent you do a good job of honoring, recognizing and leveraging that ethically for the good of both the person you’re looking to serve as well as yourself. There’s a direct correlation to how successful you’re going to be. Those two things have been the key.

The last one has been recognizing the power of what I would call movement marketing. Whenever you shift the trajectory of the emphasis and the focus of what you do to where you draw a dividing line that says, “This is what our company is all about.” If you have 100% of people who believe in you and who want to sing your praises, you’re probably doing it wrong. You should almost have a 50/50 split. When people recognize what you’re moving is about what you stand for, they either flock to you like bees to honey and they go “That’s the girl I want to follow.” They go, “I can’t stand Susie’s guts.”

It’s so hard to believe that there are people in the world that didn’t get me or don’t like me. It’s like, “She annoys me.” I’m like, “How can I annoy you?” I guess I’m doing it right.

If you don’t have haters that are championing your cause, chances are, you’ve got too little cause that you’re championing.

I know that I’ve learned more and I’m transparent. What I love is you are too about sharing your story. I learned more in my failure. Yes, the wins are great and that’s a given, but in my failures or we call them challenges. I know you’ve had a few, I’ve had a lot. It’s built my character. What has been your biggest failure and what was the biggest lesson from that?

I think for me, that’s a little bit of a two-part equation. That deprecating, what I would call the selfless love that my wife has shouted me and shouted our family for decades. She is my hero, rock star, a stay-at-home mom, she homeschools our three kids and does such an incredible job at that. I am shocked and amazed by the depths of patience and sacrifice that come with all that she does. The Bible says that, “Many a man claimed to have unfailing love, but who can find the faithful man.” I’ve got my work cut out for me.

The other thing which is a homage to her, that’s something I haven’t perfected, but I recognize that I have more to grow is learning how to tap into the wisdom that comes from not checking the boxes, dotting the I’s and crossing the Ts. Paying homage to your gut, that inner instinct and for females, it’s a lot easier because you guys are more in touch with how you feel and sense things.

Guys are all about, “It looks good. The numbers add up.” As long as the numbers add up and I can go through my checks and balances, “It’s go baby go.” Whereas my wife might get around a guy and be like, “I don’t like it. There’s something about it.” It’s that discernment that’s picking up. Initially, it rubs me wrong because I’m like, “What do you mean you don’t like him? What has he done?” Days, weeks, months, years later, we find out something. It’s like, “I should listen to her.”

The art of being able to bring in what I would call spiritual discernment in business, and you and I are both of the Christian faith that this isn’t foreign for us to talk about the holy spirit and how we can invite him into our decision-making process. That’s a growth phase of recognizing that as good as you and I are with our skillsets, everything we’ve done in business, that there is a place that relationship and what we do. Being able to honor the wisdom that flows that isn’t dependent on, Is being dotted and Ts being crossed, but an inner knowing that says, “Pass on this deal. Don’t mind about the details. Pass and you’ll find out why later.”

Those have been hard. I’ve had a couple of those, but I need the money. I’m like, “All money is not good money.” When you need the money, it’s like that integrity thing like, “I got to surrender.” It is not hard for me. I know that it is hard for me to surrender.

Especially driven people, where we’re so used to being able to go, “1 plus 1 equals 2.” I can tell you the one that I did and the one that I added to that to get the two. I’d Be able to step back and go, “Maybe 1 plus 1 equals 11.”

Who do you love working with? I always tell my clients, “Do you want to find that ideal qualified client?” Not just an ideal client, they have to be qualified. For me, qualified is I got to love and adore their mission, their passion, their movement, as you called it. I’ve got to love wanting to work with them and then they’re going to love working with me. I want to push people’s appeal anymore. I’m a little too seasoned for that. There’s another word for that old, I’m too old for that. I’ve already done that.

I can’t believe in your dream more than you believe in your dream and then they got to be able to swipe the card. If you’re always chasing money, it’s exhausting and I can’t do the work I’m supposed to do. Who’s that ideal client for you that I don’t qualify client because I’m trying to cram that into my student’s head of qualified makes the bigger difference than the attributes of that client? Who is that for you?

People buy the secret sauce not because it tastes good. They buy because of relationships.

It’s purpose-driven, vision-driven, mission-driven entrepreneurs who recognize that there’s something much bigger for them to bring into the world other than what they’re doing. They’re on the path to doing that, but they know that there is so much more that they can add to the equation of what they have right now. They have both a bigger than life, vision, but they also have the financial means to pay for the right team that they need around them.

You and I both know nobody wins by themselves. You’ve got to have an extraordinary team around you. You have to align yourself with the right coaches and mentors to be able to suck all of that purpose and destiny that’s hidden on the inside of us. People who recognize that they’re here to change the world in what little way that they can. They know that they need help and aiming for that help is one of the best investments that they could make to get to where they want to be. Those are my kind of people.

Your model is a little bit different. People think it’s radical. I think it’s amazing. Share people your business model because we put a down payment upfront but then you have the crazy ROI guarantee that I love that you stand behind. Share with people because I think it’s innovative. Innovation is where more millionaires come from. More millionaires will come out of this period in history. If you look at the past, the great depression, when you look at when we had the recession, more millionaires, because they capitalized on that time and served. Share with people how you work because I think it’s sexy and very inventive.

People like Jay Abraham and a host of other people who’ve talked about the importance of having a market-dominating position, a value proposition, creating a blue ocean, whatever terminology you want to use for that. What I have found is, I’ve spent way over six figures as coaches and mentors. Some other good, some of it not so good, but all were necessary to get you down the path of where you need to be.

Through all of that, what I’ve come to realize and appreciate is people want the results, bottom line. On both of my two key flagship programs, take the manifests the wealth safely program. Our goal within that program, which is the key initiative of the Righteous Billionaire Movement is to try to help people raise their first $1 million in new wealth over the next 2 to 5 years.

The way in which we get compensated for being able to do that for them is we use a wealth share model. If you get accepted into the program, as an instance, you might pay $25,000 to be accepted into the program. Our goal is to 10X your investment. Over the next 2 to 5 years where we’re helping you raise seven figures of new wealth and create a minimum of six figures in passive income. Once we get you to the first $250,000 of new wealth, then you pay another $25,000.

Once we help you get the $500,000 in new wealth, you’ll pay another $25,000 and once we help you get to $1 million in new wealth, you pay the remaining $25,000. You’d have invested $100,000 with us over 2 years, 5 years, whatever it may be but the outer right to you is for the rest of your life. You can bank on the fact that you have at least $1 million in new wealth and six figures of passive income.

It’s a new wealth. It’s not more money that you’re already doing, this is new money generated.

I might be will be able to tie the results that we’ve generated for you, by the time that we’ve been working together.

What do you want to be known for?

I want to be known for that rare jeweler who comes from far away, shows up at your doorstep, has got this big briefcase. He comes in and it’s a custom jeweler. You’d given him the dimensions and all of the details of what you want. This piece of jewelry that you’ve always dreamed of, to look like fuel, etc. It takes the dimensions. He does all his magic. At the end of the day and he goes, “I’m done. I’m ready to give you this masterpiece.” He reaches back into his briefcase and grabs a mirror. “You are the masterpiece. You don’t need that external jewelry. All the value and worth lies hidden within you. You need to be able to see it.”

Reflect on who you are and who you’ve been. A good coach helps craft that next piece of you. There’s that 2000-year-old Chinese poem that says, “When the task is accomplished and the work is done, the people will reply. I’ve done it myself.” When I see my students celebrating who they are, it’s like, “Our work is done.”

The finances, growth and business and all of that but to know that you were somehow remotely or integrally involved in the transformation that somebody experiences, there is no better feeling for me.

We’ve done this for free for years when you’re figuring it out. I always tell my students, “If you’re not willing to do it for free, it’s not your passion.” We don’t want to do it for free. We all have mortgages and we have our own wealth goals, but that’s when you know you’re in your jam, lane and mojo. You can make money at anything but that thing that you never feel like you work again. I don’t feel like I work.

I’m working right now. It doesn’t feel like work. I’m hanging out with my brother. We’re having this juicy conversation. Our goal for you is to go, “What’s that thing that lights me up to where it’s exciting?” Every appointment for me is exciting. It’s a new opportunity, possibility wealth-building strategy and I know you’re the same way. I think that’s where we’re kindred spirits, soul brother and sister.

What’s one question you wish I would’ve asked you that you know our readers need to read because they’re in that sweet spot where they’re growing and scaling a 7 to 8-figure business. They’re wanting and looking for their next. What’s one thing you wish I would have asked so that you can share with them?

If you don’t have haters that are championing your cause, chances are, you’ve got too little of a cause that you’re championing.

It ties back to the philosophy that they have about what success looks like. I laugh about the mindset around the transition from being an employee to taking the leap of faith and starting your own thing. Many of us complain about, “Do you want me to work overtime? Are you kidding? I got things to do people to see.” We probably have the idea of working twelve-hour days for somebody else. I can build that mousetrap better. I’m going to do this myself and we step out there, we try to do it ourselves. All of a sudden, twelve-hour days become the norm. Where it’s like, that’s all you do. You’re like, “That was a light day at the office.” This whole ideology of working hard has been ingrained in us for a long time.

I want to shift the trajectory of our thought process around what the success equation looks like? Yes, work hard, build the vision, align yourself with envision care is to help you take that business to the next level but don’t be ignorant about your money, the parable of the talent. There are all kinds of juicy parables and stories that we can look at that talks about the responsibility that we have in properly stewarding the gift that we have at generating cashflow.

If you’re generating cash flow, let’s put that cash flow to its highest and best use. That’s why my Live Your Life on Fire Masterclass is something I’m passionate about because that’s part of what we’ll be imparting to people. This whole idea is that we can get our money working harder for us and we’re accustomed to working for it. In doing, we can shift what will take 30 years to accomplish down to as little as 5 or maybe even 2 years.

How do we find that about that Live Your Life Masterclass because I know people are like, “Where do I find this masterclass because we are lifelong learners in this tribe and community?” I have always done my due diligence. Ike’s the real deal. There are a lot of charlatans in our industry. Who doesn’t want you to come across that? How do we find out about that?

They can simply go to www.LivingYourLifeOnFire.com and if they want to Bitly link, Bit.ly/lylonfire.

We love free things. We want to paste the like before investing in Ike. I’m saying, I’m hooking my friends up. What’s the hookup, Ike?

I want you to access my complimentary guide or the three-step guide on how to do exactly what this masterclass class is all about. Live Your Life On Fire, you can access that at Bit.ly/threestepguide.

Any encouraging words to encourage people to explore with you. How to play? What’s the best way to get some more Ike juiciness?

My final word to the readers will be this. When you look at your past, and we all do, pay particular attention to what you see because when you start looking at the past, you might see missed opportunities. You might see regrets and opportunities to perhaps gain wisdom and insight. That’s all great but regardless of what you see, I want you to do me and to do the rest of the world this favor. Never draw a conclusion or a summary based on an exclamation point around what’s possible for you to be, do or have in this life based on your past experiences because that limits the seed of greatness that lies within you about what’s possible for your future.

The living proof of that I’ve made and lost seven figures, I have fought battles the SCC. I have been betrayed. There isn’t a negative experience that you can probably list that I haven’t gone through here. Here I am on the verge of declaring five years from now, not only will I be a billionaire, but I’ll have at least 9,999 other friends of mine that I bring with me along the way. Here we are on September the 22nd, 2021. Susie and I will do another show on September the 22nd, 2026. Visit this and talk about what changed.

When he said that, I got chills. You got to say, when he’s talking about his failures, he got this big cheesy grin on his face. That’s when you know you’re complete with whatever the past was, is that you can laugh about it. You’re not crying about it. It’s money, we can always get more money. What we can’t get what you said earlier was those relationships, this thing, the love of your wife, children and family. We do what we do to provide for them, my children, your children.

I appreciate you, your magic, your love and your commitment. I love that you bring God into this space and every conversation that we have. I’m proud that you’re a man of God and faith. You proclaim that and say that the world needs to stop fighting out and share what we all need to hear. Thank you for being my brother in this journey, for supporting me and our tribe. I’m so excited to introduce you to our community. I look forward to creating more magic and to be on the billion-dollar wagon because I’m going to go into our wagon with you. I’ll be one of those 9,999.

Please go search him on social media. Start getting the wisdom and start implementing. I have two pages of notes. We want that active, passive and residual income. It’s not for some of us. It’s for all of us. Wealth is your birthright. You’re in business for yourself. Not by yourself. We’re here to help you in any way that you need.

I know that I’m not always the right coach. That’s why I want to bring people that are a complement to what I do. We’re not in competition. Ike will refer me business, I’ll refer him business, because every now and then you need somebody different. You need another flavor. I’m bringing you on my flavors, on my people, on my great gun. Thank you, my brother. I appreciate you, I look forward to continued success and the billion-dollar ride.

Let’s hop on that train.

I think it’s more of the bullet train than that. Thank you, my brother.

Important Links

• Ike Ikokwu
• Live Your Life on Fire Masterclass
• Bit.ly/lylonfire
• Bit.ly/threestepguide
• https://Twitter.com/ikeficoach
• http://www.Facebook.com/Ike.ikokwu
• https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/ikeikokwu
• https://www.Instagram.com/ikeikokwu/
• https://www.YouTube.com/user/ellaibim

About Ike Ikokwu

Purpose-driven entrepreneurs, working professionals, and families hire me to shrink their financial independence timelines down from 30 years to as little as 2 years, while growing as a leader and unleashing their purpose