Learning It My Way Cost Me Two Heart Attacks and £100 Million: Dariush Soudi's Journey from Refugee to Multimillionaire

You'll hear how he's battled through immense hardships , transformed losses into opportunities and built a life dedicated to service , growth and mentorship . As he says , the more people we serve , the freer we become .

And Darius shares how his gladiator mindset has helped him rise again and again on what it means to walk into every meeting , into every battle like your life depends on it . If you're an entrepreneur ready to level up , grab a pen and paper , take some notes , because this episode is going to ignite your inner fighter , darius Soody . Welcome to the up .

Grab a pen and paper , take some notes , because this episode is going to ignite your inner fighter , darius Soody . Welcome to the show , buddy . Thank you , man , appreciate it . I'm looking forward to having the original gladiator himself here Russell Crowe's . Nobody without his gladiator .

So Isis is outside the house every single day waiting for my dad to come , and then one night they dress me up and we go to this place and I'm sitting and everybody's crying and my granddad was there . He'd taken custody of me . I said sitting and everybody's crying , and my granddad was there . He'd taken custody of me and said why is everybody crying ?

He goes because there's your dad . He's dead just like that . So something inside me thought that fuck , I can't even trust my family because even they can lie to you . I think that's something that still is in me , right ? And you were four and a half five years old .

He got up , he was burping , he had a bit of chest pain when had a shower hot shower , which you are supposed to when you're having a heart attack came and slept and never woke up . And then that day they took me up , pick me up I'm thinking about seven and a half seven and then put me in the next door neighbor , and ignored me all day .

So I can hear the screaming , the shouting . I look out and my granddad's been taken on a stretcher with a white sheet over him into an ambulance and nobody even bothered because they were just into their own world .

I'm sure they were hurting , just didn't know how to deal with me as a child .

So what happened is the king will say go to this town and destroy all the dodgy stuff that's going on , put law and order in place . So he'll go in . I remember him as this very authoritarian big guy , old man . We had two dark circles here because he used to pray all the time . He was a very religious man .

He has very hard circles here because he used to touch the stone every day and he died and he was only 54 , right , and I'm 58 now and I'm like , oh my God , I also saw him as an old man , but he wasn't . So every few years the king will say I go to this town , go to this town and he'll go and fix things .

And when he died and the revolution came , they actually want to dig my , because my granddad's buried on top of my dad , and they want to dig their grave up and turn him into toilets Because he put all those religious guys in jail .

So they're saying respect to your granddad because he changed their lives . And then when five and a half thousand people turned up at his funeral and we found out later on that he was helping people and never telling anyone , he was paying people's family education , and they all turned up and I thought that's my , that's the legacy I want to leave behind . Hey .

This comes out nearly every day . Make sure you go and check it out on iTunes , spotify , youtube , wherever you listen to your content , and I'll

see you in a future episode . And back in those days 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , where did you think the future lay for you ?

So I guess there's a lot of anger inside and they take it out on someone , right ? So I was the one that she took it out on . So it was like a lot of verbal abuse , a lot of physical abuse . I just couldn't wait to leave home Because I knew there was something better and bigger outside , but it was miserable .

I wasn't allowed to play with my friends Be careful , you're going to get this , something's going to happen to you Because they experienced so much sadness so early . It was just scarcity , mentality and miserable mentality which I just thought . You know . I want to go out and play with the kids . No , no , be careful , they're not good kids .

Be careful , be careful , do no , I want to go and play with the kids . I want to . No , no , be careful , they're not good kids . Be careful , you be careful , do that ? Do this ? Just make sure your education goes . Education , education . My aunt who brought me up with my mom and my grandma .

She was a headmistress of a school , so it was all education and I just didn't like education , I didn't like anything , and I was even as a kid I was like when is this going to serve me ? Yeah , I don't want to be a teacher , I want to be . How did you do with your results ?

We've got 71 entertainers and drummers so I know exactly where they should enter , how the lights should go on , where the music should play and it really moves people , exactly where they should enter , how the lights should go on , where the music should play and it really moves people . Yeah , creativity , I think , is my escape .

So I left school at 15 , and actually 16 , because I took my a levels , got three o's and went into sales , got fired from some In Iran , in England , oh , so I was going to say 78 , I was 12, . We went to England . Okay , I was bullied nonstop for two years .

I was the first foreign kid at this school , couldn't speak a word of English , so I couldn't .

So I learned English without an accent . So people often can't tell that I'm a foreigner because I support Liverpool , right . But when I supported Liverpool in Iran , I'd say Liverpool because it's spelled with an I and I'll get beaten up for that at school . So I thought you know what ?

I've got to concentrate so much on my pronunciation so I don't get beaten up . Everything was

survival rate .

But then I look back , then I was like God , my mom was 31 . Nothing , you know

really nothing .

And now , even if you're not going to live longer , because people expect to live longer and because obviously healthcare is better and anti-aging and all the other things that goes on , I guess , whether it's psychological placebo , you know , call it what you want you know , probably 20 , 30 years ago you want to walk around with that hunch because you kind of want

to feel sorry for yourself , that you're at the end of your life , whereas now you're thinking I'm always at the beginning of my life because you know , you know I've got another 10 years , you're absolutely .

So why do I want to die Because ? So why do I want to die ? Because , oh , I had this repetition of the same shit in my life , so I must fucking die . Now I'm like well , I haven't discovered Amazon yet . I want to go to the Antarctic , I want to do . You know , there's so much to do now . So I feel this you're absolutely right .

And also there's lots of possibilities . You know , I have a huge bucket list still to fill .

was on it Anything . So , teenager , you finish your A-levels . You didn't do very well , did you stand for A-levels ?

I was number one in my town , but not because I was any particularly good . I should have been coached . I could have been international , but they used to call me the tiger . I never quit and I used to bounce off walls and I never stopped running . So I think that not quitting is something that still stays with me .

But then I reached a limit whereby younger people were beating me because they were coached right and I had too many bad habits . So , yeah , I went to . Uh , my mum caught me not going for a year , so to a piece that I went to college the last year , got three O's and then retook them and got a couple of passes

. But then I just went straight into sales , selling photocopiers , fax machines you name it Kirby vacuum cleaners , everything . I've sold the original sales training ground .

I was in northampton knocking on doors on a friday afternoon at six o'clock but did you have anyone teaching ?

And then I realized some of the shit that I did was actually being taught in America . Right yeah , reading somebody's how to overcome objections , I just did it , naturally

.

I'm still learning more than ever before . Right , and also now we're a bit spoiled , because before , if I want to learn anything , I had to either know someone who was rich and successful or go to the library . There was that one book somebody told me about . Now we can sit on the toilet , on the bus .

All the information we need is in the tip of our hands , so fingers . So , um , yeah , I can't wait to consume more information , learn more . Um , but those days it was tough but but those days were you not ?

Was the Tony Robbins a big eye-opener to you ?

So by year 1990 , I'll be so many days old . By year 2000 , I'll be so many days old If I live to be 76 , I only have so many days left . So I was always very , very aware of time , so I didn't waste it . Okay , and I was always productive . I had to do something because I don't want to waste it , because I've .

I've watched young people die in front of me and they had limited times . You know limited lives . When I see people , it breaks my heart and I'm thinking well , you guys are walking around like you're going to live forever , right , and you just don't know that you're going to have regrets when you're old , that you just wasted your time .

So it was just in me and it was just like I have to provide . It wasn't about personal growth . So I had to earn money , and then I realized that was my mom telling me I was no good , I was useless . This , this , this , all the abuse . So I think inside of me was like fuck you , mom , I'm going to show you .

I'm going to show you that I am not the useless person you say I am . Yes , I'm not going to . So I started being driven as a reaction of proving my mom wrong , because whatever you say , even last week , she's a lie , so hopefully she's not going to watch this . Even last week I launched . My book sold out in a day . My book sold out in a day .

And I said , hey , mom , I was talking to you a couple of days ago and she was going about how wonderful everybody else is and I thought you know what ? I'll just throw something on in the , in the pot . And I said , mom , by the way , my book came out and , uh , you sold out in a day . So who would buy your book ? You know not . Wow , amazing .

And what's it about ? Because immediately she's thinking am I in there , you with me ? And I was like here we go . Never in my life I've ever had somebody who can literally get under my skin and say , wow , I'm proud of you ,

you're amazing .

I'm like the results of that anger it's not going to serve me well . I was in my 40s , sat in jail for beating somebody up . I was in my suit and my in jail for beating somebody up . I was in my suit . My knuckles were all bleeding .

I'm like I've been here six hours because they used to put me in jail to calm me down and I was thinking there's more to life . It's an embarrassment . Yes , I'm sitting here as a business owner because somebody crossed me behaving like this , so I just made a decision to just curb it a little bit , right , I think . In Dubai I've lost it three times

, that's it you've not been to a Dubai jail yet .

And you're knocking and everybody else is knocking and don't answer the door , shitheads , right . So the British police and I'll tell you why I say the British , because I had really bad experiences with the British police here I went in and there's like 200 people in one big cell and they're business cards . They're trading Midday . A person comes with a trolley .

They get the cash out the best sandwiches .

At six o'clock they come in and then the gentleman came in with a list and he goes Abdul , 20,000 . So Abdul comes out , gives it 20,000 , off , he goes Asghar , 10,000 , 10,000 in common went . I was like this is good business . So they were ready with the fines , they're paid and I didn't get a fine . Obviously I was not guilty and left .

But yeah , it's totally different . But you know what ? I liked it in a way that you're not effed . You know like when you've got no views , no light , no anything , you can mess with your head . Right Over there you're talking to people and they still treat you with respect . Right , I felt respected , although I was in jail in Dubai . Nobody knows about this .

My wife was giving birth to our second child , so I'm in a really good place and I hear these two ladies coming and started abusing the black employees of mine . It just like didn't make sense , right , and they threw bottles of water at them and everything In the office , in the office , and no reason .

These are the nicest guys and they were supposed to come at five . They came at eight in the evening . My staff stayed behind . You know , I was hearing about this and it was a great service . Obviously , they had issues , so I sent them a message and I said uh , please , there's a full refund waiting for you and we'll give you all the codes .

We don't want this energy . They didn't like it . They felt rejected . So they go to my bank and they say this guy's , this company's , dodgy . And so bank manager phones me up and said what's wrong with these two women ? They're very wild . So I sent him a text message saying um , mrs , so and so we're giving you a full refund . We give you a code .

You haven't lost anything , you've gained . You can take a website somewhere else and I'll give you a full refund . I never bitch behind anybody's back , so please don't talk behind our back wrongly and I sent it that's a threat . They take that like a threat , so I get in and the police call me and say , can you come ? And I knew it was about them .

So I go in with a whole file of our conversations , everything to show that everything's okay . And they got their money back . And I sat there in the police station and the guy pulls out this piece of paper with the word bitch circled , and I said I don't bitch behind people's back , but they took the word bitch , translated it in a female dog .

You call bitch , translated in a female yeah , female dog . You call them a female dog . So I had to . 18 months I was in and out of court and my lawyer was saying you , could you know ? If you found guilty , they're going to pack your bags and send you home . And I just built a business for myself , you know , for , uh , for a final time .

So there's lots of uncertainty and this , this particular day , I've been like they did not once they turned up in court . So I've been there like 10 times ruining my life . Yes , not once . They were on holidays , they're chilling out . And then nine times you got adjourned .

The 10th time I went thinking it's going to get adjourned and they go , can you sit over there ? I said yes and then took me downstairs to jail , yeah , to jail , yeah , so for 12-13 hours until they came in a tent and not guilty . I thought let's get me out there's . No , no , sit down .

Till 6-7pm I was there and then he found not guilty and that was it .

I don't text anything to anyone anymore , right , even if it's because you could be trans . I had three international translators saying I don't bitch behind people's back . It's an english terminology . You're not saying you're a bitch . And even to the last day I was like how's this gonna end ? Crazy , isn't it ?

so you're in your 20s , you're doing the selling . Were you selling for yourself or for other people ? No , what happened ?

And because before it was all big rooms of servers and I saw an opportunity that , oh my God , we can take these servers down into desktop machines , and I met someone who was an engineer and we started putting little desktop machines together and I went knocking on doors and it did really well .

And then we were first before Dell came to the country I was going to say it's this circa 1990 kind of time .

And I mean anyone who's born from 2000 onwards or from kind of 1990 , their computer experiences will just be walking into the shop and buying a computer or particularly , you know , ordering a Mac online or something now , but back in those late 80s , early 90s , I mean that was like being a computer builder was big business . It was like exciting , wasn't it ?

It was like the pick and mix .

Right , I just had a production line and I was selling , but 50% of our computers kept back , come back in first three months . So I had other things that I learned from those experiences , and then photocopiers I got into . And then I met my second wife .

She was a beauty therapist and I was doing okay , but I knew this and also , very interestingly , after a couple of years , people didn't respect you as a computer assembler like they did two , three years before , because everybody was doing it .

It's like when social media comes out , you as a computer assembler , like they did two , three years before , because everybody was doing it . Yeah , it's like when social media comes out , you're a social media manager . Wow , before you know it , every time they can hire the social media management , right . So I felt like nobody was giving me the credit I deserve .

So I need to get out . I met my second wife . She's a beauty therapist and I went to a beauty show and first thing I said to the woman who was selling this product I said what's your usb ? And she goes what smells good . The box is nice colors . I was like that's not good enough . What's their benefits ? Right , and nobody knew .

So I said to my wife at the time , michelle , I said I think I can do quite well in this industry . So we flew to america . We got a couple of products that they were very results oriented rather than stick it on , it smells good , peels the skin peels , um . And then they did very well .

We kind of like saturated the uk , saturated europe , really did well . And then I quit the computer business . At the same time she had a beauty salon above a post office , but then out of town david lloyd centers . Yeah , they were doing really well . I said to her I quit the computer business .

At the same time she had a beauty salon above her post office , but then out of town David Lloyd Centers , they were doing really well . I said to her we should have an out of town health club . She goes , try it . So I went and got a lease one and in the first year we got like 10,000 customers go through . But nobody became a member , right .

And I was like , look , I've had 10 000 , okay , I haven't been able to keep them . A lot of people coming and going and not becoming members . I need you because you're a farmer , I'm a hunter , right . So after a year she joined and it just took off .

Then we had seven uh , in over 17 years we had seven clubs , 30 000 members , 600 staff and they were doing really well it sounds .

I don't know if you've seen these glass blocks with 3d images inside them I think I know like they burn holes in these glass blocks absolutely yeah and um . I was at dubai airport . I became a . I met my second wife then , but I was nearly a single dad . I inherited my first two children and um .

We're at the dubai airport and they said , dad , look at these crystal blocks . And they had the images done 3d inside the glass . I was like , wow , I can keep this forever . This is incredible , because photographs are 2d . This is 3d . I can keep this . As I sat there for a couple of hours . The machine was never used .

I'm like this is really clever , but why is it not used ? And they're paying all that rent . So on the flight back I do a business plan . I said the problem is that they're not going to the schools where the customers are . They're sitting and hoping that somebody stops by .

So I wrote a business plan , contacted the manufacturer , bought a machine and got cameras all over the UK and within six months I was in every single kindergarten . Oh really yeah . And I saturated the market with 3D kids . I ran out of money . The machine that could only print like 12 blocks an hour couldn't print anymore . It was 120,000 euros .

The cameras were 20,000 euros . So I ran out of cash . So I thought , oh , franchising . So I got myself six franchises in a very short period of time . One of them was from Liverpool

. The guy was dodgy and he would like pay me cash . He said don't email me , don't message me , call me . You know . All the signs were there , well , and I was just so busy I didn't see it and I knew the guy must have been dodgy . It has nothing to do with me , whatever he does with his money .

One night at the house there was a knock on the door . I opened the door , him and three other men broke into my house and my kids are in the house and they put a knife to my neck demanding money and I said I don't have it . They said we know where your company is , we know your kids school and if you don't give it we'll kill you all .

So that night I sent my kids to dubai because I was scared for the safety and I got a police escort , packed my q7 and I drove because I had three properties in spain . My angela , my second wife , wasn't my wife at the time . She was in spain and I drove through england tunnel , france , spain , in 48 hours where in england were you ?

He gave two assailants , him and somebody else . He didn't even give them the other two names and they did a deal . I had to go to court , sit in front of them and they did a deal behind the scenes Six months house arrest . So they only got a tag . Oh , is that what they call them ?

She goes whatever you do on the way within show hospital , go and check it out . I went in and said you've had a major heart attack . So and I was there they said you're probably gonna die , it's not good . And I was lying there and I was thinking okay , if it's death , fuck it , it's gonna come to us all .

I couldn't stop crying because I was on my own man and I thought , if I survive this , I want to be with my loved ones . So I want to take my new wife and take her to Dubai to be with my kids . And I was very honest . I told everyone I had buyers for the business . They paid me 10% . They didn't pay me the 90% .

They said sue us , fuck you , sue us Right . And if I was going to sue them it would have taken years . I went to Spain , did a house sale , left the keys on the kitchen top and walked away with doors wide open . My house was in Spain Came to Dubai . Taxman came after me , the bank came after me paid Dubai .

Taxman came after me , the bank came after me , paid everybody off . And then the reason the new buyers gazumped me , they didn't know . I was very honest to say September , then 2000, . I bought the ticket , I'm going to Dubai , so they took advantage . But at the same time I had a dispute with a VAT in England for £30,000 .

and michael jackson was like . You know , it was like because I grew up with Michael . It's really weird . Everything was just magnified and it was raining and it was just like what is this about ? So I couldn't wait to come to Dubai and start again .

So what happened was if you're in a dispute with a government body , like the VAT or tax it's an old English law , I didn't know this they have to announce it in the London Gazette . So as soon as it goes in the London Gazette , the lawyers of my purchase of my business saw it . So they said let's screw this guy . Okay , I had in one of my accounts .

I had 750,000 pounds . The dispute was 30,000 pounds . That account still froze in Royal Bank of Scotland Can you believe it ? And they were coming after me for the loan payment . I said but the £700,000 sitting in that account pay us our loan payment . It was just like weird . You know , it was like from every angle . It was coming at me .

Did you ever settle that case ? Yeah , because what happened was I couldn't trade , the bank account was frozen . I was trading cash . So we'll be getting our customers to pay cash from the cash I was paying salaries , rent , this , this it was just too much and also staff starting . What the hell's going on , right ?

So I just , I just walked , I just said it done . I burned my boats and paid everybody off , didn't go bankrupt . I wish I had done , because I could have walked away with something right . I came here with $700 in my pocket ,

totally broken .

I said no , this is my punishment , because I felt I've let people down and for literally for a week I never got out of bed Because I was just recovering and started knocking on doors , selling everything you could imagine . How long ago . Is this ? Now 2009. ?

And then I just knew , matt , I was just going through a fucking bad winter of my life because I knew I was a good human being . I knew I worked hard . I knew if you do great things , eventually good things will happen . I just had this inner belief Everybody gave up on me , everyone , you're a loser , you're this that that ?

I just had this inner belief that if I work hard enough , monetarily , things will happen , because I've always been a decent human being . Yes , I always want to serve , but I was just going through a cold winter .

But when you go in and they're all making money because I have a business card and everybody's going to Dubai , they're not gonna . Who needs a consultant ? Right ? But the good thing was opportunity came when the recession hit . Suddenly , people weren't making money , suddenly , the phone wasn't ringing . So I'll go in and say what's your USP ?

They didn't have a clue . I said if I can increase your sales by this amount , would you give me a percentage of that increase ? And that's how I made my money . So I go in , I train the salespeople . I had a recruitment program that I used in my own companies . I brought that here , a seven-step recruitment process . Then people found it amazing .

So I charged $7,000 , durham's , which is about $2,000 per hour and people started paying me , got fully booked after six months . Got my own place , the address which is not too far away from here . Got a studio apartment and one bedroom . I had vision boards .

I had cards everywhere reminding me what I had to do to get what I wanted , and every single goal I set I hit every six months , literally , and I was like then I thought I'm a fucking gladiator , right , because I should be dead , I should be defeated .

Yes , but then you know what drove me mad Was my kids looking at me because I couldn't afford to send them to school . So every day I come home they were looking at me like I was so embarrassed to be their dad and I thought I've got to get this out . So whenever I was older , I never had a peer group , nobody helping me .

I always sat in an appointment thinking if my 11-year-old son was here , would he be proud of me , and I made them my kind of like invisible judges and I thought if they would be proud of me . I'm doing the right thing . And then I built it down . I'm doing very well , more than ever before

and you just used the word gladiator then .

Then , after hang on a second , we're all born well . Most of us are born poor in like financial slavery , okay , and the more people we serve , the freer we become , right . The only difference between 2000 years ago and today is that we just dabble with life . If you dabbled in the arena , you get killed , right . Which one do I want ?

Do I want a quick death or do I want a prolonged , agonizing , slow death ? So I thought you know what . I want to go out there , because I can't afford to walk out without a deal . I want to walk into every battle , every meeting , like my life depended on it , like a gladiator .

And I look around and I think people get up in the morning and the first thing the bank manager says don't worry , 80% of businesses go bust in the first year and after that , 20% , 80% of that business goes bust . I'm like . You're building people for defeat every single day , right . You're conditioned to lose in life .

You're conditioned to pay your taxes and die poor , right .

I was thinking well , he's got two arms and legs , maybe he's smarter than me , he's better looking than me , he's stronger than me , but I can work it okay . So the questions I asked always gave me the answers . That makes it I was never . I don't have one ounce of jealousy in me .

me and when did you start to um , I guess serve others with the information that you'd been learning ? I know you were doing it throughout your career but , quite specifically , when did you start putting on events , building the Gladiator brand , doing the podcast ? Is that a recent thing or was that part of a business model or just part of giving back ?

I was there three hours and all the other speakers were pissed off because they're all professionals , right , and I'm there and in the room I think about . Off because they're all professionals , right , and I'm there and in the room . I think about 190 people were there .

When I finished there was more people in the room than when I started , because they could hear people crying , dancing , hugging each other . And somebody opened up a Facebook page and I got thousands of followers . I was like , hello , maybe my shit works right . And then people called up and said would you speak ? Would you do this ?

And I thought you know , if I have this following , maybe I can hold a classroom of 20 30 people in a room . They can pay me for what I teach them , because selling my time I'll never get rich , but if I have bigger and bigger rooms , yeah , I could get wealthier , and for just one hour instead of one hour per person . So it worked .

And then I was doing seminars my own classes called gladiator mastery one weekend every two months , 100 people , three thousand dollars a piece , but then nobody could sell the ticket price . So when there was a query about why should I pay three thousand dollars ? The call will come to me , and it was exhausting selling hundreds of tickets myself .

And it's like you're a brain surgeon , yes , but then you run behind the counter , write the prescription there you go to the till . I felt like those losers who pretended they were brain surgeon experts scaling businesses . Well , I couldn't scale my own , so I stopped . May 2023 . I stopped exhausted and my events were .

When I say events , the maximum I had was 110 people . Two day events , 8am till midnight . 8am till midnight , saturday , sunday , I used to get blisters in my feet , back aches it's a long event , that's it yeah , and it was me just me talking right , and the feedback was really good . So I stopped May 2023 .

But then I just thought , screw this , I'm rich now . I don't need this . I'm going to book loads of holidays and trips and stuff like that . But the phone kept ringing . It was saying when is your next event ? What are you going to do ? And I'm like I'm not going to do another one , I'm not going to do another . One thought what was my pain ?

The pain was the ticket price was high . Well , I thought it was value , but selling it was on the phone . What if I dropped the ticket price ? So it's just somebody goes and pays online . They don't have to call me . What if I get the best venue in dubai ? What if , instead of speaking for 24 hours , I'll call a few of my friends I've met in my life ?

I feel they got a lot to contribute . Everybody said , yes , they'll come and speak on my stage , right ? So I , april the 27th , had my first event and I sat down with my poor staff and I said hey guys , we've got this event going on . It's gonna be called gladiator summit . What do you think ?

Okay , nobody really shares your vision that was this April , right , yeah ? and then I said look guys , the worst nightmare for me is put this all up and nobody shows up . I don't mind them , I've kissed them on the goodbye and we're not selling anything , right ? So , whatever happens , I'm going to lose . We're not selling anything .

We don't have any sponsors , nothing . I just want to see if this gladiator movement legs . We sold out in four or five weeks and with five weeks to go , we were refusing tickets because our license in the room was limited to 500 people . We squeezed another hundred . Um , and then people were coming saying it's the best day of my life . This is incredible .

We're hugging each other . Event finished , the 7 , 9 , 30 , 10 people weren't going home and we were coming back to me Dorish , when is your next one ? I was like I'm was thinking of having another one and I said if you have another one , we'll bring our friends .

So , very next week I drove to , I looked at venues , looked at the World Trade Center , popped 2 million dirhams down . I said I'll take you for three days . How big is it ? Two and a half thousand people Already sold 1,500 tickets With five weeks to go . Amazing , right . And now my phone's ringing . World-renowned , not particularly .

I like them or don't like them . I don't have an opinion , but world-renowned speakers are speaking on my stage . Isn't that weird ? Some of them are paying me to speak . It's my second and you know . They said why don't you hire an event manager or event company ? Because nobody can see what you can see .

Right , I feel if I hired an events company it would have been just like other people's events and then it was going to be like very heavy business sales event . And I hired this gentleman , a friend of mine , called Munir . I said , munir , I believe in you , and he'd done like one hour emceeing .

I said , would you emcee all day for my Gladiator Summit coming ? He goes yeah , yeah , yeah , I will . And he came to me and said , daria , do you mind if I have my intro ? I said , sure , we play . And it was music and it was up and down . I said I didn't see the summit becoming a bit of a music thing going on . But he planted a seed right .

So over the next week I wrote a whole show and then we had entertainers and stuff like this . So even our AV company said I didn't realize it was a musical production . Yes , so every single thing , because I done 100 tony robbins seminars and all the joe dispenser , all these people . This beats them all matt . It's a whole production designed to the second .

Right motion creates emotion . I create a big space you can't imagine like two and a half thousand people in one space . But they don't have egos . They're all loving each other , supporting each other , they're dancing

, they're crying and what's what's a typical uh attendee for you , I mean , is it ?

They just want to achieve a goal and they're more open to learning . They're more open to new ideas , to change . So 70% , I mean , if you want to pick up women , come to one of my summits right , because I was thinking if I was single , you know , it's incredible because I'm honored .

I really am honored that all these people are becoming part of the tribe and I suffer from this . What do you call it imposter syndrome . So I asked my team . I said you sold 1,500 tickets . Do a survey why people are coming . And over 50% are coming to hear me speak and I'm here . Is that weird ? I honestly thought I wouldn't be even on the list .

It'd be Brad Lees and Vishen and all these people . There were two , three , four , five , six in the long distance . So I'm thinking maybe my message . Even today I've got like 6 million followers on social media and I was like this actually means something . I'm changing

lives .

I've never done anything like this , so I've got no sleep for 48 hours . I couldn't see , I couldn't think what I was going to talk about , so I wrote on a piece of paper . My hand was shaking , shaking , I couldn't see it .

So I spoke for about 30 seconds , maybe a minute , and I got off this time around now , knowing people won't want to hear me speak , I want to speak for 15 minutes . I'm still giving the bigger platform to my speakers . All I know is I speak from the heart . Okay , so when I got up , I'm going to not cry . When I got up .

And now we stand here today and because of this young man , because he hadn't been , he didn't have , when his friends were playing football . He was on the phone , cold calling , you know , and if it wasn't for him , I wouldn't be here today and turn around . The crowd were crying yes , because it was from the heart .

your vulnerability .

A lot of people want to speak on my stage , okay , so suddenly I become everybody's favorite guy . Second , for whatever reason , my stature has gone up in other people's views , so I'm being called into the Royal Highness's office to advise them on certain businesses . Same guy A year ago I was calling these offices .

There's a major developer with two and a half billion dollar project coming to our office tomorrow asking for my advice on branding and things , and I never invited it . So I'm thinking if these events send my brand up the scale , I might as well do another one , but I'll never do another one at this scale .

It's too big , because from 500 , 600 to 2,500 is 20 times more work . It's now four times more work . Actually , logistics of a lot is huge and I'm going to lose about about 2 million dirhams . I will lose around two million dirhams , but then the byproduct of this is far greater than the money .

Like why do you do these podcasts ? Or what do you do ? What do you earn from that ? What have you been paid for that ? And I mean they can't get the heads around the fact that I haven't been paid , never mind the fact that I may have paid to do something .

But then the , the knock-on effects of that , of the , of the platform , of the opportunity that ultimately turns into business , into more opportunity to integrate a quality of life , it's unquantifiable and intangible so true , so true .

I said no , and that authenticity of giving and loving has paid me back 10 times more , and now the biggest event organizers in the region are calling me to join my forces . This is my second one and it's not even happened and people are calling me saying can we do some joint ventures together ? Incredible , so just be . My thing is be authentic .

Be authentic , be real . Put your ego aside , you know , and be honest . Don't give a shit about what people think . Although it can hurt , stick to your values . A friend of mine , I'll just give you something that I'm just going through . Right now I work with a financial company and they are big sponsors of my event .

For the first time , I'm going for sponsors so I don't financially lose so much more money . And I passed some leads to this to this uh company and the sale . I've watched the sales people sell and they weren't very good .

Okay , I trained them seven years ago and helped them grow , but somewhere along the way in this five , six years of me stopping now they lost their way . So I went to the owner . I said hey , listen , I know you're not broke and I know you're doing very well , but I feel I can enhance because I'm all about contributing .

Right , and we had an opportunity for some of these amazing leads to invest in your company , but we missed out because of these reasons . And he said would you want to train my staff . I said , sure , so how much do you charge ? No , I love you , I believe in it , I'll train you for free .

Okay , so I'm in this good place and I walk in and in every single training class , seminar , anything I go , there's always one or two people who want to mess you up . Okay , and I'm giving my time , 40-year sales experience for free , and two , three people are constantly fighting Okay , and I couldn't understand this .

And then afterwards and it's everywhere I go it happens One or two people just resist Before you even walk in . They don't like you . Then I realized that and I checked the numbers and they're the worst salespeople in the room . Always , always , always , the successful ones are taking notes . They want to learn . So I thought you know what these assholes ?

Right , they're making themselves an excuse for failing and they accept it . So this guy comes along and says hang on a second , let's wipe that label . Right , you can be successful . They fight till they die for that label they've given themselves , and I know in 20 years they're going to die an unfulfilled life .

And that's what bothers me that most people don't want to help themselves to have abundance . And I haven't . For the last three nights I haven't slept very well , and I haven't for the last three nights . I haven't slept very well and I'm thinking don't go in that market again , because you're too fragile , you care too much .

You know I'm not doing it for the money , I'm doing it for the love of it and I'm getting resistance . So no matter if you're a gladiator or not , you are going to get hurt . People will steal from you , lie to you , challenge you , confront you . Just stick to your values , have your clear boundaries .

I had a meeting this morning with my staff and I said you know what ?

Maybe I took you for granted , but having this last three days experience with these people , I just know how amazingly lucky I am to have this culture in our company , where we respect each other , we take a bullet for each other , we have each other's backs right , but out there , people are killing each other .

Yeah , it's a dog-eat-dog world savages out there , and it doesn't have to be , because most people think if I win , you have to lose . Right , and rich people real rich people , truly rich people think you can be rich , he , he can be rich , I can be rich . It's enough for everyone , right ?

Right , and by the way , we own Roxy Cinemas and let's do a joint venture with your followers and let's give away hundreds of tickets to cinema . So on the evening of the 14th , I'm hoping that , quite confident that we'll have a whole cinema to ourselves .

with all the speakers . Darish , before we go , I've got to ask you . Just before we started recording , you kind of sat down , you were a bit like oh you know , I'm tired , I'm grumpy , and you said what do I do all this for ? I asked myself what do I do all this for ? I could just give it up . So what's the answer ? Why do you do it ?

Why do you suffer the struggles and why do you not just go and sit on a desert island and put your feet up ?

So I asked myself this question and , god or universe , I'll give you one example . I went to babel champs , same , took a weekend with the family , quality life , no phones ringing . I'm going to stop this , god . Why am I doing this again ? These cards to go from the hotel to the restaurant and the guy goes are you , mr Dariusz ? So he goes .

I lost my mother through two months ago and my wife died a week after . Your , your podcast and your videos keep me alive . I'm like what the hell ? And God just sends them to me . At the weirdest times when I'm questioning myself , I get letters and emails saying you changed my life and I'm like this is god saying don't give up .

Yeah , because you are affecting people's life , because my legacy is what happened to my grandfather that hopefully thousands of people will show up and say he changed our lives , to my kids and along the way , I've got 3 000 videos .

So the next generations hopefully some of them will keep on the straight and narrow knowing that their great granddad was a good human being

well , darish .