Please share with me your first, last name, where
you're located, and the name of your business.
Oh, me? It's Matthew Lesko. And my business is
called leskohelp .com. And you really don't need
me. Because what I do is I plagiarize everything
from the government that anybody could get for
free. My first New York Times bestseller was
a book I literally plagiarized the whole thing
from the government printing office. Because
nothing in the government is copyrighted. People
don't realize that. I flunked English in college.
So to have a New York Times bestseller, when
that hit the Times list, man, I'd try to find
that English teacher. That is too funny. I love
that. So where did the idea of coming up and
providing all this information for? I think you
had a list of like 10 different situations and
topics. Yeah, it is for almost anything. And
I ran into it by accident. I was a consultant,
actually had an MBA in computers back in the
70s, computer science. uh major and uh talk computer
science but i also was helping fortune 500 companies
uh grow their business and i was in washington
and when i saw god everything i could get that
yeah and i didn't know anything about this before
i started and they made me smart because they
were paying my bills and they'll pay anything
if they could get more money and so i'd find
them government programs that grow their business
start new businesses buy businesses yeah um And
I said, Jesus, why doesn't everybody know about
this stuff? And I grew up in a little town called
Wilkes -Barre, Pennsylvania. It's a coal mining
town. My grandparents both came over from Eastern
Europe to work on the coal mines. And I thought
the government was, you know, the DMV, the motor
vehicles and the post office, you know, and that
was it. But boy, it's just phenomenal. And I
saw, you know, it was the first successful businesses.
I had a software company that failed, failures.
And, but I got sick of helping rich people. Helping
millionaires become billionaires. And why doesn't
everybody know about that? So I started, I couldn't
do it by charging thousands of dollars like I
did to them, but it was books. And now I'm even
able to give better help because of the internet
at cheaper than ever. And that's very gratifying.
How many have you helped? Give me a number. I've
been doing this for 50 years. And so I've sold
four or five million books. But nobody, many
people didn't do much with them. Because it's
sort of like diet books. You buy a diet book
and we all keep getting fatter, don't we? Fattest
country in the world, actually. Fattest country
in the world, yes. We also are. We have more
poor people in this country than any other developed
country in the world. So all the rich people,
there's about 30, 35, you know, what they call
developed countries. And we're number one in
poverty. I mean, that is just. But yet people
see us so different. Exactly. We're also number
one in millionaires, but. But again, in poverty
as well. So a little bit backwards. Right. That's
so stupid. I don't know how we get away with
that. So I'm trying to show people the programs
that are out there. And today I thought of a
headline, too. I'm from the government, and I'm
here to help you. It became a joke. But I say
that. I'm from the government. I'm here to love
you. This is where, as a community, we show love
to other people in the community. Capitalism
is great. It gives a value to everything. But
what does it do for the people who don't have
money? If you have money, you could play capitalism.
And we're made up of two parts in the country.
We have capitalism, which is only 60%. It's not
the whole country. 40 % of our community is nonprofit
organizations or government offices, which are
here to show love to other people, which are
here to help other people, which have money to
get you out of financial trouble. They're good
neighbors, not capitalists. Capitalists will
help you if you have money. Just think if we
had the capitalist fire department. And they'd
come when your house is on fire and they ask
for your credit card first. So we have things
in our society that are loving towards everybody
because they want to help. And that's in us all.
I mean, it's not a magic thing. We all have that
in us, in our heart, where capitalism doesn't
encourage it as much. But only for people we
have love for you as long as you have money.
But now we have so many people that have no money
at all. So what do we do? Ignore them and make
them poor? That's just not a nice, comfortable
society to live in, I think. Absolutely. And
Matthew, quick question in regards to your why.
What is your why? What's your why? Excuse me?
Your why. Oh, why? I thought you knew I was married
three times. I said, my wife. We'll get on that
topic soon. I'm going to change that one day.
It's like, what's your wife? It is. As I age,
I mean, I'm 81 now. I'm going to be 82 soon.
I never thought I would live this long. And I'm
having the best time of my life. And I keep saying
my joke is if I knew being 81 was this much fun,
I would have got here a lot earlier. Why did
I wait so long? And it really is using more of
your heart. I think that's so important. We don't
think of that. You don't find a business school
is talking about your heart. And that's the motivation
or anything. When I first started this business,
it was really getting information to people in
businesses, big, small, whatever. So I always
thought I wore question mark suits because I
thought you could get the answer to anything.
But you have to ask the right questions. That's
the problem. There's so many answers. You get
a thousand answers to anything you want. Ask
the right questions. Now, as I get older, I said,
OK, that's OK. That's good. But to make it happen,
your heart has to be in it. I think it's from
a personal relationship or a professional relationship.
Ain't going to work unless your heart's in it.
Because life is a pain in the ass, just like
a relationship personal. We're all fucked up.
You're going to see our bad shit no matter what.
But if your heart is in it, you get through that.
And it's the same way professionally. Anything
you do that's new, you're going to have lots
of failures. That's all it is. But you have to
get through that. And you don't get through it
if you think you have the seven steps of success.
That's a trap because there aren't enough. Maybe
there's one or two. They're all different for
everybody else. But if you have those seven steps,
you get on number three and you fail, you say,
ah, fuck, why did I give that guy so much money?
But if it's from your heart and your own ideas,
you learn from them. You pick your ass up. It's
sort of like riding a bicycle. When you fall
down, you say, oh, I can't ride the bicycle.
I'm going to leave it. No. you get on that bicycle
again and start figuring this stuff out. And
that's the only way you're going to get anything,
particularly professionally or business -wise
and things like that. And we get advice, the
wrong advice from loved ones, because loved ones
want to protect you and they don't want you to
fail. And when you ask them about doing, I'm
going to do this, that's not, you're going to
fail. I just say you're right. You're right.
I am. Yeah, because that's how you learn. You
have to do that. And but they want to protect
you. And so you don't get good advice from loved
ones. And I love that, Matthew. Using more of
your heart is definitely, I believe, now the
way of the world. I believe that things were
so focused on money and selfish things. You just
taking the time to say, hey, I'm done helping
rich people get richer and choosing to do something
completely different. And it set you apart. Obviously,
it set you apart to blow up into this person
that helps people and has fashionably dressed
all the time. So, you know, I'm going to ask
you about your fashion, Matthew. Like, go ahead
and tell me. Back on the love, I couldn't even
say the word. I mean, growing up at my age, you
know, it was a macho culture. And the only time
I felt safe to saying that is when I married
you. That's what a guy culture is that. You work
on getting stronger, faster, smarter, you know.
And when you get 80, none of that shit's going
to get better. You're just going downhill on
all those things that you had to work on. But
I can love harder. Yeah. No matter what age you
are, you can love harder. And that, I think,
is the most selfish thing in the world to do.
Because it feels so good. And that's why I see
even our community now, we have 5 ,000 people
that, I mean, 15 ,000 people that help each other
get this stuff. I thought I couldn't grow a community
because I can't help everybody. What am I going
to do? I don't have one person. But no, people
help people. That's what's so neat about it.
And not somebody dresses like a clown. How can
you trust me? But a person like you just learned
how to do this to me is even more powerful than
that. But back to the clothes. I'm glad. I'm
loving it. I'm loving it. I came in with a gray
shirt on and Matthew said I didn't get the memo.
I immediately put myself on mute, turned my camera
off, and I went and got the memo. I said, you
know what? I'm joining the crew. I'm with Matthew
all day long. So I want to say I love it. I think
the brighter you are, the more happier you are.
That's just my opinion. And also what it does,
if you're happy, other people are happy. And
that's what I see. Walk down the street, makes
people smile. They don't want my work or anything.
Come up and hug me. Homeless people just get
off the street and come up and hug me. I don't
know what it is. And it's just wonderful. Or
people come up, oh, God, you just made my day.
I mean, God, if I can do that by being happy,
man, I have nothing better in the world to do.
It's just what a wonderful gift every day. then
I could do it. This has been in me my whole life.
I never had the courage to wear it and make it
outside because most of us grow our life by being
told what we should do and how we should do it.
And so we're all trying to fit in and be successful.
And the best thing after me was failure because
I was failing at everything and not successful.
So having a shitty time. failing and i'm not
successful maybe i would have hung in there if
i was successful right but this is stupid so
i said i got to reverse this oh my god i do something
for 30 40 years to maybe have fun and have fun
today yes yes and and that's when i turned around
and then this is inside this is me inside and
i find the more i take what's inside me and we're
outside a lot of people think i'm idiots i've
been thrown i've lost millions of dollars thrown
off tv shows and everything but i just had to
do it this is me and it brought a lot more uh
and it just and it's a filter if you think i'm
an we're saving each other lots of time because
this is what i really am but if you love this
i'll love you too oh i love it i love it and
it's so hard to believe that people you know,
are judged by based off of what they wear, not
knowing who Matthew Lesko really is behind everything,
you know? And I guess that's one thing I love
about the show. Matthew is the fact that I get
an opportunity to go to your website and see
this person, but I get to share with the world.
The person behind the website, you know, and
it's like you have followers all over the place.
You're so happy. And I get to be able to tell
people he really is happy. We're not encouraged
to give the best we have. We're encouraged to
copy somebody else who was successful. And you're
not going to do that as well as the other person
because it's natural for them. So we have to
find out. what is natural for us. And that's
how we grow the most. If you're trying to grow
in someone else's, whatever it is, you're not
going to grow. You're in the right, wrong pot.
You're a plant. Somebody put you in the wrong
pot. You're not going to grow. You got to get
over in the right pot. You could grow. It's crazy
because I tell you, just getting into the entrepreneur
life. You tend to want to make someone else.
You know, it's almost like they're making it.
So if I do what they do, you have to find yourself.
But how do you find yourself? Matthew, you're
81, almost 82. What age did you become to say,
frick it, I'm going to be Matthew. Let's go no
matter what. Probably in my early 30s. And the
problem was all the way through that, because
when I was doing things, I got an MBA and things
failing, I said, oh, I've got to start having
fun because this is stupid. But then when you
start a little success, then you get back in
that old mindset. You get all these people, you
can make more money doing this, you can make
more money doing that. See, I think what it is,
nobody knows what to do. We're all guessing.
And we're all scared as shit. We don't know what
to do. And so we'll take advice from anybody
because we're so insecure. And people get more
money for their advice if they convince you they
know for sure. Yes, yes, yes. And they don't.
And when I got into the love thing too, I see
that's what love is. Love is helping somebody
do what they want to do. Not what you think they
should do. Because that's how they're going to
grow the most, is doing what they think is right.
They're listening to something. They don't have
a reason. But if you love that person, you have
to help them do whatever they want to do. It's
not telling them what to do. What are the greatest
joys of what you do? Watching people smile. Yes.
I mean, your smile now, man, it's ear to ear.
I had some grandkids here over the weekend. We
played with them. I say, what gives me the energy?
I mean, I just entertain the hell out of them
because they're so easy to make smile. Absolutely.
And obviously, you make it easy for me to smile.
And it's so funny as I sit here side by side
and I'm looking at myself. I'm like, are you
going to stop smiling, Javanka? No. Right. Well,
that's our best we have to give, too. Yes, and
especially when it's authentic and core deep,
it's a whole different ballgame. Yeah, and that's
why people in your circle, God, just treasure
their life so much because they're good parts
and you're not going to find better. And the
more you find, we all have bad parts, so we all
could be assholes. I think that's pretty easy
to do too. Right, exactly. That comes pretty
easy. But nothing than that gives. Yeah, the
more I try to make people smile, the better I
feel. And listen, my bottom line thought about
all this is your heart is smarter than your brain.
Yeah, you have to follow that heart for the important
questions. I love that. Thank you for being here
today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to
Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing
your reactions as these episodes continue to
move forward. This is going to get more and more
fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a vision pro yourself.