SPI 953: How Pat’s Spending His SPI Sale Money

SPI 953: How Pat’s Spending His SPI Sale Money

Liz Wilcox: Record. Okay, we are recording. We are excited to hear what has been going on in the, can I call it the Pat-o-sphere? Is that… I don’t know.

Pat Flynn: Pat-o-sphere? I like that.

Liz Wilcox: Okay, the Pat-verse. Pat-o-sphere sounds better. What’s been going on with you since going all in? You’re m- I would say probably mostly full-time now. I think I’m bothering you a little bit still

Pat Flynn: No, this is not a bother at all, Liz. What are you talking about?

Liz Wilcox: Um, I didn’t mean bother. I, I’m still taking up some of Pat’s time. But anyway, we’re, we’re, like, 90, 95% full-on Deep Pocket Monster, so tell me what that looks like now

Pat Flynn: Oh my gosh. It was very poetic the way the rollout of our announcement happened because that same week, so we had announced this on a Tuesday, Liz, you and I, and it got a great reception. Actually, first of all, that was a huge relief ’cause you and I were both like, “H- okay, we’ve talked about this a lot.

We’ve done our best to position you well and position me well and just kinda make sure everybody knows that this is actually a great thing that’s happening for everybody involved.” And it went so well. I, I, I mean, like 99.99% positive, which was exactly what we were hoping to, to happen, especially for a brand that was so tied to me initially.

I think we did it really well, so I wanna say I’m proud of us to start out with, Liz. I think we did excellent.

Liz Wilcox: Yay, round of applause for us.

Pat Flynn: That same weekend, though, was a trip to Dallas for Card Party. This was our seventh Card Party, and Card Party is a Pokémon event that I put together in 2023. We’ve now started to do it three times a year, and this was our most well-attended and the craziest crowd we’ve ever had.

Uh, Dallas showed up big time. We had over 10,000 people show up. So, like, I’m talking about major event, like Comic-Con style. Obviously, Comic-Con has way more people, but it’s that kind of event with a convention hall with a lot of vendors and sellers and things like that. But also, we put together a nightly show that has almost like a game show feel, Price Is Right style, for people who are in the audience, and it was just unbelievable.

And it really… I– First of all, I got a lot of congrats there. A lot of people who were there did listen to the podcast that we did together with the announcement. A lot of those people followed my SPI journey for so long and now have kids who are into Pokémon, and now the parent is into Pokémon, too, and they came.

And I got so many congratulatory remarks. It was, it was very poetic to be now in this sort of space with the community that I’m now serving in person with the other creators and, and my, my new team. And it was, it was so beautiful. I mean, it was, it was amazing. So to come back after, it was like, “Wow, this was the right move.

This is where I wanna spend my time.” And to see the impact that I was having in real time with people in the audience and people there who told me stories about how the channel’s helped them through some severe mental illness and, and things like that, it’s just like, this is the right– the– we made the right move.

We made the right move, and this is, this is awesome. So that was, like, really cool

Liz Wilcox: Yeah, that’s so really cool. But listen, y’all, so my sister Patricia, if you guys have been following the story of Pat and Liz, that’s our connection there. But, you know, she’s telling me about these events, but I’m not really getting it until I really saw pictures, and maybe we should, we should have a blog post with pictures.

Pat Flynn: You should come

Liz Wilcox: I am going to one day, if I…

Pat Flynn: Okay. You’re always

Liz Wilcox: I would love to come. Yes, yes. I would love to come. I know next year Pat’s doing Orlando and Nashville, which are both only about five or six hours from me, so I just gotta pick which one I wanna bring the girls to, ’cause my daughters are super into it, especially now that there’s a connection.

They’re like,

Pat Flynn: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wilcox: “Ooh, mom’s famous.” I’m like, “Y’all know I was on TV.” Like… But, you know, they’re like, “Yeah, but this guy’s on YouTube,” you know? It’s just so, media is so interesting. But anyway, what I, I’m so in, like, I don’t know, interested in, and I, I don’t know if you’ve talked about it at length on the show, just how these events are run.

Like, what’s going on at these events I think is so super dope and, like, so you. It’s so fun. It’s so… Y’all, they’re doing, like, Family Feud and stuff. Like, let’s talk about that first. Like, what is the event itself?

Pat Flynn: So it is, it is a, an event for collectors and creators and fans of Pokémon. There is a element of the playing of the game, the tournament. You know, it is a card game, but m- a majority of the people who come are fans of the channel or fans of some of the other creators that are gonna be there, and we’re there to collect.

We’re there to find cards we wanna add to our collection. Or a lot of my videos on Deep Pocket Monster are when I’m going around different cities hunting for different cards, whether I’m trying to finish a complete set by a certain time period, or I am trying to find all of one Pokémon, for example, because there’s one Pokémon maybe across many years of different sets and I’m looking for them all.

A lot of people come to Card Party to finish their sets or to work on their, their master sets and things like that, so that’s a fun part of it. But it actually started… It was a conversation that started in 2022 with a guy named Dan Franks, and Dan Franks is the owner of Podcast Movement. He reached out to me ’cause he saw that I had once did a business event called FlynnCon in San Diego in 2019, which got postponed and then canceled because of COVID.

He reached out to me and said, “Pat, we’d love to help you come on and see… You know, we’re trying to partner up with people who want to or who have run events, and we can take care of the operation stuff. You just bring your people and the sponsors and, and whatever programming, and then we can call it a deal.”

And I was like, “Yeah, FlynnCon isn’t really a thing I, I’m gonna do anymore. I’m just gonna take this as a sign that’s, that’s not where we wanna go.” It was gonna take multiple years of FlynnCon to even be in the positive revenue-wise, but even then it was just a smaller event for 500 people who were paying a lot of money to come to San Diego, and I was like, “You know, it was great for a one and done kinda thing.”

But I have started this Pokemon YouTube channel, Dan, and I m- maybe would love to put an event together because I’ve been to Pokemon events. After I got started in the Pokemon space, I went to events, and they were very transactional. It was literally you just go into some gymnasium or some big convention center, and it’s just buying, selling, and trading.

There was literally nothing– Like, I’m so glad I didn’t bring my kids to those events because they’re not as into Pokemon as I am. Uh, well, they were at one point, but they’ve grown in and out of it. But it was very transactional. It was just, like, business only, and I was like, “There’s so much more opportunity here with the families that are coming, with the kids to kind of do some fun things.”

And I remember there was an episode that– of the SPI podcast where I interviewed Noah Kagan, and Noah, when I asked him about his first event that he put on, this was such a callback, too. I mean, I don’t even remember when I interviewed him, mid-2010s, I think. He said that for, for the event that he ran, which was, yes, a business event, he said there was no other event like it, so he just made it himself in the way that he would want to go to an event.

He just built the event that he would want to go to. So that’s what I did with Card Party. I wanted an event, yes, with those buying, selling, trading things happening, but I also wanted a bunch of activities for families and stuff to distract the kids and get them trading with each other, which is why we have trade night.

I wanted to play fun games, and I wanted to get, to get to know the creators a little bit more, which is why initially we had a nightly show that was more of a, like, a late night show style thing where these other creators that people saw on YouTube would come up, and I’d interview them. I was like Jimmy Fallon, if you will, or Conan O’Brien, and we’d just have a fun conversation, get to know them a little bit more personally, and then we’d play, like, a random game like those late night show guys do, and it kind of is a fun way to, again, get to know the, the person.

But then we started reading the feedback after a couple years, and people were like, “Ooh, we love the games. Like, let’s just do games.” So now it’s become Price Is Right at night, where we include Family Feud. We have a Deal or No Deal type game called Trade or No Trade, which eBay Live sponsors. We have very much games that call up the audience, and there, there isn’t, like, a they have to guess a price in order to get up on stage.

It’s just sort of a random drawing. But then there’s this one game where we, we ask the age of people before they come into the show, or they, they scan a QR code to potentially get drawn. But there are certain games that, like, we want a kid to play, so we ask for their ages because we purposefully select a kid to come up, and they do this fun game where it, it involves plushies and having to find the right one and earning chances to win a big prize.

And those have become some of the best moments because this kid, like, imagine a six-year-old coming up, and there’s a crowd of 5,000 people watching, all helping the kid put the things in the right order, like yelling and screaming, and it’s just like the kid’s having fun, and, uh, the audience is getting involved.

It’s become like camp. That’s what people have said about the event. It feels like camp. And people have come and made friends. They’ve come together, traveled together to, to, to future events with people that they’ve met at previous ones, and it has become sort of a tradition for a lot of people to come to Card Party with their families and just make memories.

We do another thing where– And again, Dan– Kudos to Dan Franks, who’s my partner on this, because he basically is 50% of the company, and I– Like, we created a company. He’s 50%, I’m 50%. And the way that I wanted it to be run was just like, I want it to be as organized as Podcast Movement. I want it to be essentially the same thing that you guys are used to doing, except instead of podcast material, it’s Pokémon material.

And instead of big sponsors that are microphone companies, let’s get the card companies to come in to do, like, a vendor hall type thing. And it’s been s- it’s, like, people have said they come in, registration’s fast. Instead of breakouts, we have pack battles. Instead of a keynote, we have the game show. It’s literally the same structure as these organized business events, but just, no offense to anything like podcasting, but it’s a lot more fun.

And so-

Liz Wilcox: Love this. I, y’all, and honestly, it has inspired me. So Pat and I, by the time this is out, we will have done it, but we’re doing an event, just really small, 30 people, in New York City, in person. I’m so excited. Speaking of, like, perfect timing and things, it’s, like, my first SPI event. Pat’s probably, like, last hurrah as, like, a co-host.

But it’s really inspired me because I was looking at my sister’s pictures, and Jess, Pat’s executive assistant, you know, she’s sending me pictures throughout the week, just the incredible, creative, fun mayhem that is Card Party. And I’m like, “Okay, well, how can we make our event better?” Because right now there’s a lot of talking.

And so I’ve, I’ve redesigned it where we’re gonna have stations to, like, create content, and it’s gonna be less me and Pat just telling you, you know, “Oh, this is what we did and this is what you should do,” and more of, like, actually meeting each other, interviewing each other, cr- We’re, we’re gonna have a B-roll station.

Y’all, it’s gonna be so fun, and I’ve, I’ve been really, really inspired by what Pat is doing at Card Party. And it even reminds me, you said Noah said this to you, but it reminds me, I’m a huge Disney… I wanna… Y’all, I’m a D- I’m a Disney adult. You have to know it now. You should know it now. That’s what Walt Disney said.

He went to, like, a, an amusement park or the park or something, and he said, “This kinda stinks. Like, this is awful.” I mean, he’s, he was s- The v- story goes, like, he’s sitting on a bench and he’s like, “I could, I could make it better. I want a place where parents and children can come and they, they both have a time.”

And wow, did that come true. So Pat, it, it’s giving Disney, so I’m so

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I am inspired by Disney in that, in, in that way. Many listeners might remember, gosh A number of years back on the podcast, I talked a lot about wanting to do something that involved kids, and specifically, like in the education world. I wanted to be an agent of change in the curriculum that’s in schools.

I wanna teach like budgeting and business and all those kinds of things that like I only learned after I got laid off, and I think it would be important for kids to learn. That’s why I love kid entrepreneurs and, and, and, and teaching those kinds of lessons that whether a person becomes an entrepreneur or not, those entrepreneurial principles are very important for success in life when it comes to communication, collaboration, you know, just problem-solving.

All those kinds of things are really important. And it’s funny because I attempted to do that. I actually got involved with some organizations here in, in San Diego, Classroom of the Future being one of them, and, and many others, and it just was like, there’s so much red tape and politics and, and, and like not fun things that involve all that.

And it just was really sad, and it’s like I always felt defeated as a result of that. Okay, I’ll just continue with SPI as my way of hopefully leading by example, and then here I am now doing one of the most kid things that you could do, which is play with cardboard with cartoons on them and having a bigger impact than I probably would even in schools with who is watching these.

I mean, and I’m, I’m talking millions of people are seeing these videos now, and millions of families are having discussions about what it’s like to fail and be okay with that, what it’s like to help other people, to leave the space that you enter cleaner than when you arrived. All these kinds of lessons that I’ve now been able to include in my videos, that’s the deep in Deep Pocket Monster.

It’s not just the deep pockets part, but it’s the deep in philosophy and life. This is why, and you might remember me saying this on the podcast when we made the announcement, this is why Mr. Rogers is such a big inspiration because although I won’t be him ever, I can follow the pathway that he started in terms of bringing positivity to the world in a way where kids are watching.

They are, they are literally watching, and families are watching. I can use that opportunity to, to put some good out there. And case in point, I mean, yesterday we had a video come out on the channel. This is our first video after a little bit of a hiatus because of Card Party and all the things happening, so it’s been a couple months since a video was premiered.

But we’re premiering these videos now. They’re so popular that we premiere them, which means they play at a certain time that we set, and you kind of watch with a live chat. The video’s pre-recorded, but it is a live chat while watching the video. That’s a, that’s a YouTube premiere. Almost eighteen thousand people watching a three-hour video of me going around New York City trying to complete a set in forty-eight hours, and I lose my luggage in the beginning, and it’s just like, I make it a point that when, although it was bad that I lost my luggage, when it was actually happening, in my head, when I was filming that, I was like, “This is gonna be a perfect opportunity to teach a lesson.”

Because you can’t always control what happens in your life. I lost my luggage and all my streaming gear and all the stuff I needed for that whole weekend, and yet we were able to turn it into a story and, and learn from it together as a, as an audience. And now it’s not even been 24 hours. The video’s been seen 700,000 times already.

So we’re reaching, like, audiences that I would’ve never reached otherwise, and these videos are much about not just Pokémon. They’re, they’re, they’re, they’re not even about Pokémon. Yes, they involve Pokémon, but they’re about the story. They’re about life. They’re about, you know, friendship. They’re about all these things that I’m so happy to, to sort of lead the charge on in this kind of way.

And it’s funny ’cause I, at Card Party, I’ll get a lot of parents to come up to me. First of all, they say things like, “I’m so thankful ’cause you’re the only YouTuber I let my kids watch.” And I think that’s, like, the highest of, of, of compliments I could, I could get. You know, it’s a kid-friendly channel. I’m teaching them stuff, and that’s, that’s so cool.

But secondly they say, “Pat, I wa- I wasn’t even into Pokémon, but I can’t stop watching your videos. Like, I don’t even know what you’re collecting, but the way you tell the stories just has me hooked, and it makes me feel so good when you finish a set, but I also feel pain when you don’t.” Because I don’t finish every set that I attempt, and so that again, that’s a part of life.

So again, going deep into story is, is what I’m having so much fun with over here, and we’re going to… Now we’re at the point where we’re close to now experimenting in the world of live streaming the storytelling aspect. This is why, and I, I touched on this and, and Liz, you know about this. You were in here.

But I had invested in purchasing a building in San Diego that will become our new film studio, a film studio that houses multiple different sets, one of those sets being a card shop where, like in Mister Rogers, you can come into my card shop and let’s hang out and let’s chat. You’re, you’re kind of a part of the crew.

And then I go home and turn the lights off, and then that ends the video. And, like, that’s gonna be the live stream, and we’ll start storytelling there. And just to give you an idea of, like, how much we’re investing into this, we had a lighting consultant come in the other day because we’re building these sets out who’s gonna help set up trusses so that the lights just aren’t on the ground.

And some of the trusses are gonna be, like, off to the side and hanging over. Some of them are hanging from the ceiling. Our estimate for the lighting and truss system only was over six figures. So it’s like-

Liz Wilcox: Ooh, are y’all sweating now? I’m just sweating now.

Pat Flynn: So it’s like, you know, a lot of people are like, “Pat, since the sale, like what are you doing with all that, all that money?” I’m just putting it right back into, into what we’re doing. Yes, lighting.

Liz Wilcox: And, sound team, I’m sure.

Pat Flynn: We spent 25K on acoustics for the space. We, we had a consultant come in and say, “You need to put these panels here and do this here.”

And we’re investing into it. You know, I’m not, I’m not here to sit on the beach sipping piña coladas. I don’t think I’ll ever be that. But I wanna be in a place where I can impact the world, tell story, have fun doing it, lead by example. And I think what’s really cool after the sale from people who were at SPI, I’ve had so many messages, thank you so much for them.

A lot of congratulatory remarks. Liz, a lot of people saying you couldn’t have found a better person to take over than, than you, so I wanted to pass that forward to you. But a lot of people who reached out were like, “Oh my gosh, like I never knew a business like yours could do that, could sell. And, and you’re inspiring me to think about making a business sellable.”

Not to sell, like we’ve talked about, but sellable in case something were to happen or want- somebody wanted to move on. And I think it’s the fact that I didn’t even know anything about Pokemon six years ago has inspired a lot of people too. Like, wow, you can come in and make huge change in a space and, and come in with a positive force, and that is so inspiring.

‘Cause there… I know a lot of people who have been working the same job for 30 years who are like, “I’ve been so tired, and I didn’t think this was possible. But you’re showing me that it is.” And I think that’s really cool. So that’s kind of the, the, the quick update. There’s a lot of other things that are happening in my life.

Of course, my son is now about to turn 17. He’s getting his learner’s permit. Little late to get his license, actually, age-wise. I remember when I was 15 and a half, like that day I was like, “Give me my li- learner’s permit now. I wanna start driving today.” And kids-

Liz Wilcox: A lot of kids are like, yeah.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, they’re not, they’re not into it.

Liz Wilcox: Literally. Well, they are driven by us, but-

Pat Flynn: Had to force it. And I, uh, part of my theory is, like, back in the day it was like we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have phones, and we weren’t playing games together like w- like kids are these days. It’s like, like even, even friends coming over, my, like my kids are like, “Why would they come over?”

Because then they can’t use their computer at home, so we could play Fortnite together or Roblox or whatever it might be. It’s like, no, your, your time together is away, but in a virtual world, which is so strange and different, but I get it. I was right kind of when it was happening. I understand that with Counter-Strike and other games that I used to play together with friends in dorms, but it’s definitely a different time.

But I mean, my son is, is, is… Next calendar year he will be 18. Next calendar year. And people remember the episodes where I brought him on as a young kid talking about business, and we had our podcast together, All of Your Beeswax, my son and I, and my daughter’s gonna be in high school next year. It goes by fast.

It goes by fast. But they, they, they are involved in the business too. They’re actually employees. They have a lot to do with not just being on camera now that they’re, that they’re at this age. You know, they’re, they are comfortable with that, my wife and I are comfortable with that. But they actually help.

They, they helped with the script writing. They help with the packaging and shipping. They, at Card Party, were on stage performing because we did some storytelling. We had a, a group come in to steal the trophy card, and then we had to get it back by the end of the show kinda thing, and th- they were a part of that as well.

And they come up with great ideas. And it’s been something that has brought our family closer together too, which has been really, really amazing. And my wife getting involved, April getting involved as well. It’s been really cool to see the Pokémon stuff, not just bring audiences and, and myself together, but even my own family together too.

Liz Wilcox: I feel like even SPI, buying SPI has brought my family together too, in a way that I wasn’t expecting. So my daughter, she’s almost 12, and then I recently adopted a teenager who’s 15. And I, when I was bringing in this teenager was probably like a few weeks before Pat and I started talking about, “Hey, is this a thing?”

And so they’ve been with me, like, on this j- roller coaster of, is it gonna happen? I think it’s happening. And, and then even them finding out, “Oh, that’s Deep Pocket Monster? Whoa, Mom, like, you’re, you’re in the game. You know, like, you’re not just playing around in that office.” Like, it’s like, “Yeah, who do you think pays for this house?”

Um, you know, but it’s, it’s been so cool, and even the other day I was… You know, I’ve been working a lot more than I typically do. I mean, one of the reasons I purchased SPI is because I found I actually created SPI, Smart Passive Income, and now I have the time to dedicate to a larger audience. And my daughter, I actually have it hanging on the wall ’cause it was so sweet.

She brought me a snack after she got home, and it had, like, apples, and she had carved “I love you” into the apple, and she wrote me a letter and it said, ’cause she’s, she, I mean, I started my business in an RV, like in 200 square feet when she was a toddler, and now she’s almost a teenager. And it said, “Thank you for buying SPI. I know that this is gonna bring so much goodness to our family,” which I know she’s thinking about a boat, right? She wa- she just wants us to get a boat

Pat Flynn: She wants a boat.

Liz Wilcox: The water. She wants a boat.

She-

Pat Flynn: That’s still so cool that she’s thinking about it that way.

Liz Wilcox: Yeah, and she’s just been, it’s been so incredible. Even the teenager, she’s looking at it like, “Oh, well maybe I c-…”

‘Cause she comes from an immigrant family, and her dad works seven days a week type of, type of family life, and now she’s seeing what’s possible on the internet, and she’s just so jazzed about it. She’s like, “Oh, let me see what you’re doing. Oh, you have a podcast? Oh, let me look at the reviews.” And it’s been so amazing to open their minds.

You know, it’s like, “Oh, Mom’s doing her thing. Oh, but now she bought a business? What is that? What does that mean? What kind of bu- oh, it’s an internet business? That’s exci-…” You know, they’re at that age where the internet is very, very exciting and the possibilities are there, and so it’s brought us closer together, too, and it’s also made me think of the SPI audience.

Should we expand to maybe not kids, but you know, to those Gen Z and up-and-coming Gen Alpha that are trying to make money on the internet? Is that an audience that we haven’t even tapped into yet? Who’s tapping into that audience? Not everybody has Pat Flynn for a dad, where they, or a Liz Wilcox for a mom, where they can see it.

So that’s, that’s where my head is at. But I’m just, yeah, it’s so interesting how this has affected so many people in our personal lives so quickly, too.

Pat Flynn: It’s wild. It’s wild. And, and to, to, to think about where each of us are going, and, you know, I know we’ll both be continually supporting each other along the way. I’m not going anywhere permanently. I will be here month to month or as long as you’ll have me, Liz, to give people an update. And I think starting the story of, “Okay, okay, we’re investing in lighting right now.

Like, what happens when we start going live, and, and what does that look like?” You know, we’ve had ideas for an interview show, taking the podcasting skills that I’ve learned over the last 16 years and putting that into the Pokemon space, right? In, in our space here. I have now access to these crazy athletes and celebrities who follow me who would be wonderful to interview on the show, and I’m pretty uniquely positioned to do that.

And maybe instead of hot ones where they eat progressively hotter wings throughout the show, we’re opening progressively more interesting packs while I get to uncover the fact that said celebrity was a nerd when they grew up, but they always hid it because it wasn’t cool back then, right? I actually…

Interestingly enough, I went to Pokemon Worlds, which was in San Francisco recently, and I was invited to the San Francisco Giants game, and I got on the jumbotron and, and, and, like, the cameras were catching me signing autographs, which was pretty cool. Uh, that’s never happened before. But right next to the park, there’s a card shop called Card Vault by Tom Brady.

Yes, the Tom Brady. He has started to build his own card shops and do collectibles and things like that. So I went to the store, and I filmed a little video just mentioning I was there. I- they had some really cool products, and I bought something. And then not 15 minutes later, their marketing guy from Card Vault reached out and was like, “Pat, we’re big fans over here.

Would love to get you and Tom together one day.” And it’s just like, “Wait, I have access to Tom Brady? Like, just like that? Like, this is crazy.” And whether that happens or not, I don’t know, but the fact that the network continues to expand is mind-blowing, and those possibilities are, are, are, are wild. And so, you know, my biggest thing right now is like, how can I make sure that I always continually use this power for good?

There’s a lot of companies… I mean, I, I’ve said no to pretty much all the companies that have recently reached out to me that have tried to get in front of my audience with a lot of money. Crypto-type companies, a lot of these kinda gambler type of websites are like, “Pat, we wanna pay you a million dollars.”

I’m just like, “No.” Like, this is going to ruin the trust that I’ve built with my audience over the years. And so using– Like, I’m grateful that I have this experience in business ’cause I know how this works, and I know how to make this work with an audience that I’ve built, right? I, I wrote it in Superfans.

Like, everything I’m d- I’ve written in Superfans, I’m doing in the Pokémon space right now, and I see other people who are brand new or maybe a little bit younger who don’t have that business experience and the entrepreneurial sort of notches in their belt, if you will, who’ve already made mistakes.

They’ve taken that money and are kinda getting shunned by the audience and those kinds of things. And again, similar to with SPI, I’m in it for the long run. So we’ll see where it goes from here, but I’ll definitely be here to keep you all updated as w- as we go and happy to share whatever we do because we’re always trying new things.

We’re always experimenting, and I wanna pass forward those things I learned to the audience that helped me get here. So, so thank you so much.

Liz Wilcox: I love this, and it reminded me, and I think you’re probably in the, in a similar way, and I’m just even listening to you, I’m like, “Wow, I’m not thinking big enough. I’m not thinking big enough.” And that was something when the sale was announced, I, I was not expecting this feedback, but I, I heard it from, I wanna s- use the word many people.

Like, almost everyone that reached out to me was like, “Wow, you’re really inspiring me to think bigger.” And it w- it was just such, for me, and if you’ve heard the story, I was just like, “Oh, I wonder if Pat would sell SPI?” You know, it wasn’t even me, how can I think bigger? It was just a thought. And so even listening to you, oh, we’re gonna create this set, and we’re spending this on da, da, da, da, da.

Like, it’s such an interesting thing, and somebody actually emailed us today and with a question, and they said like, “What do you think or what kind of person, you know, makes it? What do you think is that, that secret sauce?” Pat, I know you’re a humble guy, but clearly you, you’ve got the sauce. Like, you’ve got some- There’s something in you.

Pat Flynn: I’ve got some sauce.

Liz Wilcox: thinking bigger, whether it’s a conscious or a subconscious wiring.

But I’d, I’d love to hear your take on like what do you think or who do you think that person is? ‘Cause yeah, you started 18 years ago, and I’m thinking about your first YouTube video. I watched it a few months ago, and yeah, you guys, he was, he did not show his face in the video. It was very like POV, here’s my apartment.

Here’s my dog. My wife is pregnant. Here’s my office, which it was just a table in a corner. And now he’s got 18,000 people live streaming a prerecorded video you know? Like, that’s an incredible journey.

Pat Flynn: An 8,000 square foot building in San Diego. Like, what is going on here? This is, this is way bigger than a kitchen table. Yeah, I think it’s a few things. I, I am remembering my first $1.18 that I made online. It was through AdSense on the architecture website. I had put Google AdSense on there and woke up the next day, and I was like, “$1.18.”

That changed my life because that made me realize that it was possible. There’s a quote by Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.” And it was at that moment that I realized, like, this is actually possible. This thing that I’m attempting to do, although it’s $1.18 and I can find that in my car between the cushions, like, that opened up the entire world for me, knowing that this was possible.

So I think the first characteristic for somebody who’s very successful is just table stakes. You have to know that this is possible. If it feels impossible, it will never happen. So that’s number one. I believe, maybe I’m overly optimistic for a lot of this, but I think without that over-optimism, I wouldn’t have gotten here.

Because if I didn’t believe I could start a YouTube channel, if I didn’t believe that a podcast would work, if I didn’t believe that we could build a community at SBI!, then none of it would’ve ever happened. So that’s, that’s number one, is, is the belief. A lot of that belief came, yes, from micro experiments and trying those things, like I was saying, but I think a number of that belief or a lot of that belief came from the outside with the network of people that I’ve surrounded myself with.

I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the mastermind group that I’ve continued to be a part of. I’m in two groups that have been together for over 13, 14 peop- 15 years each. Two groups, Monday and Wednesday, 15 toget- 15 years together. They’ve helped me see things that I couldn’t see myself ’cause you can’t read the label when you’re outside the bottle.

So having people on the outside, having people to connect with, people who, who are further ahead to get inspired by and show me the ropes and help me not make the same mistakes that they made, really key. And this is why I think the SPI Community is so important because it allows us to connect everybody together and find each other and help each other out and lead the way for each other, but also be there to support each other on that path as well.

So that’s, that’s number two, the network. And when I got into the Pokémon space, for example, first thing I did was understand who’s here And how can I help them? There was one YouTube creator that I bought stuff from who I really loved a- and still do, big fan of his, Nick from PokeRev, and I bought some cards from him, and in his box, it was just like there was nothing branded in there.

So I actually got 100 stickers made of his logo and sent it to him. I was like, “Hey, put these in every, every package because I think it would be really a fun, nice surprise for everybody.” He was like, “Oh my gosh, like this is such a great idea. I never thought of that. Hey, who– like, let’s chat, and how can I help you?”

And so when I wanted to start a YouTube channel, he was the first person I went to who supported me and gave me a shout-out on day one because I had built that relationship ahead of time. So that’s s- that’s not something that just sort of randomly happened. I, I was hoping something natural and organic would happen, but it was definitely in my head.

I was like, “How can I position myself in a way so that when I might need help from others, it will be an easy ask,” right? I’m digging my well before I’m thirsty. When you dig your well when you’re already thirsty, it’s too late. So go out there and build relationships and serve others, and naturally, they will want to serve you back.

And three, I think it’s that ability of mine, and I’m so grateful I’m no longer a person who’s possessed by perfection. I was possessed by perfection. I wanted things to be perfect before anybody saw it. And in the beginning, that’s what made it very, very difficult for me to launch anything. And it was only after I was pretty much desperate back in the days when I had just gotten laid off that I was like, “Okay, I can’t worry about this being perfect because if it’s not gonna be out there potentially generating revenue for me, not…

Like, I’m definitely gonna be worse off. So I might as well screw up a little bit with the chance of getting something to, to work versus just, like, worrying about it to be perfect.” And so now I ready, fire, aim in my approach often. Ready, fire, aim, not ready, aim, fire. I will use the firing to help me aim.

It’s very much what I talk about in lean learning. It’s almost that force function, getting something out there that’s good enough so I can figure out, okay, where do I go from here? Because that will give me enou- enough and even more information than if I were to just research this whole time and then pull the trigger.

So ready, fire, aim is, has been a big approach of mine that has helped me get to where I am too. So I– Those are the sort of three major things. I mean, there’s a lot of other things that I’ve learned over time, like not letting the haters and trolls get to me, which was something that affected me at first.

There are haters and trolls in the Pokemon space. Yes, there are. There are people who don’t like me, great, but there are people out there who need me to show up, and that is who I’m showing up for because every second you waste thinking about a troll or, or a hater is a second you’re taking away from the people who actually do care about you, who d- who do deserve your time.

Why would I let a person whose life I would never trade for affect me? That’s how I sort of get my mind over a lot of those comments, right? I would never trade places with this person, so why am I allowing their comments to weigh so heavily.

Liz Wilcox: Wow. That’s so… I love that so much, and, and the people you might trade places with would never bring you down, right?

Pat Flynn: Amen. Exactly.

Liz Wilcox: Yes. Amen, I love that. Yeah. Wow. I’ve, I love that so much, ’cause that’s a lot of the fear. The, Pat, you mentioned, like, getting over perfection, and a lot of that fear is what will people think or, you know.

But I, I quoted you yesterday, you know, “You gotta be cringe before you binge.” Y’all, I’ve been so cringey. I’ve been, I’ve been… I mean, I was cringey yesterday. I’m probably being a little cringey right now. Who-

Pat Flynn: Cringe is good though. Cringe is not AI. Well, AI is cringe, but-

Liz Wilcox: AI, right, but-

Pat Flynn: Cringe is human.

Liz Wilcox: Yes. I love this so much. So you mentioned believing in yourself, believing that it’s possible.

That’s so true, the network, because sometimes you can surround yourself with people, and you can… That helps with the belief, like, oh, if they can do it. You know, and the more you get to know people that are doing it, you’re like, oh, the secret is just action, you know, and maybe a little bit of grit or resilience, but mostly belief.

So I love that so, so much and not being perfect. So we’ve heard a lot about all the things that are happening. I’m really excited about this studio. But I’m just really curious, because I’m nosy, and I’m sure you listening, you are, too. How much work are you doing? Like, how many hours in a day are you working?

‘Cause it seems like a lot

Pat Flynn: Uh, very similar to SPI, it kind of depends on what’s happening, right? There are days where I can literally take a day off and, and because nothing’s going on. Team is working on a video that’s being edited. I’ve submitted what I need to submit for them to do that, and I am just maybe replying to people on social for a little bit and, and nothing is needed from me.

Although that being said, every day there’s a video that comes out, right? The should I open it or should I keep it sealed? I do pat- batch process those. I do and have gotten those down to about 10 to 12 minutes each that I can edit. So I can get a full week done in just a couple hours if I need to. But I don’t batch all the time, and sometimes it is just like, “Okay, I gotta go edit my video,” and I’ll take a half hour and boom, I’m done.

And that’s kind of the daily work, I guess you could say, that is, is happening. But in general, coming up to Card Party there’s a lot more work. You know, I’m working eight to 12 hours a day on the games, on the, the slides, ’cause there are slides during these things, on just making sure the other creators are there and got everything they need, and working with my team to make sure everybody’s good on travel.

I am in meetings still. I can never get away from meetings, but these are meetings with other companies that might be potential sponsorship deals for the channel, or I might be making an appearance at an event and we’re working out a deal there. So that’s happening. So I would say on average, probably four hours a day at this point, if we, if I had to put a, you know, an amount to it.

Although again, because the studio’s being built and Caleb is in the studio every day, he’s sort of our studio manager. There are contractors who come in. There are consultants who come in as we’re building this stuff out. We finally got internet hooked up, which was a big pain in the butt. Spectrum, I’m looking at you.

Thanks for nothing. But we finally got it hooked up, and we’re ready to go. So as long as we’re getting a set design, we are working with somebody who’s worked with Lucas Films to build our, our card set. There’s a per- there’s a person named Chris who designed the original Pokemon logo and the Pokemon font.

Got to meet him at Card Party and then at a later event, and he’s– I’ll be working with him to create a logo for the shop that we have on set. So, like, we’re doing a f- doing a lot of fun little things. Yeah. I’m just having an absolute blast, and I am thinking about it all the time, though. It is similar to how I felt in 2008 with SPI, where it’s, like, literally all that’s on my mind.

Thankfully, I know how to turn that off when it’s family time and dinner and all that kind of stuff, so I can put it away, unlike back then. But I’m just like, “What if we did this?” And I’ll text Dan Norton, who’s my producer, an idea, and he’ll like, “Oh yeah, what if we did this and this?” And we just, like, we’re just swapping ideas all day long.

And he’s over in Long Island in New York, so I mean, he’s not even close to me. But, you know, there’s a world where he moves his family to San Diego so we can be closer, but that’s for the f- further distant future. But for right now, most of my thought is with Deep Pocket Monster and the storytelling and the fun, creative things that we could do.

Liz Wilcox: That’s so awesome. I think what I, I would love for everyone to understand is just what you said about fun. Like, I’m having a lot of fun. Like, yeah, I’m thinking about it a lot, but he’s thinking about it ’cause it’s fun, not because, you know, he’s working 12, 16 hours a day and has to edit constantly, and he’s, “Oh, I gotta feed the machine,” right?

No, you’re, you’re having so much fun, and I love that. It’s really inspiring, and similarly, that’s why I’m still in the game is, you know, any time I’m not having fun, I kinda, “Hey, Liz, uh, remember you started this because you w- wanted to have a good life.” And similarly, like I’m, I’m working a lot right now, but I am having a lot of fun with it.

If I wasn’t, I would’ve already crashed and burned. S- We’re six months in now, but I’m, I’m just having so much fun. People use the word obsessed a lot lately. I don’t think I’m quite obsessed, but I am very infatuated with what we’re doing at SPI, and it seems like the same for you, and I love that you get to bring your family into it.

I just… That’s super dope, man. I’m, I can’t wait to catch up in another month and see how the lighting’s gone. Hopefully Spectrum gets their act together. This, this episode is not sponsored by Spectrum, that’s for sure.

Pat Flynn: No, it’s the opposite of that actually. Um, no, um, I am so grateful for you, Liz. Again, I can’t say that enough. You are a blessing in my life and have come at the perfect time like an angel. And honestly, to have that kind of excitement to, to hear you say that you are here to help, obviously, but also having fun doing so just lights my heart up because I can’t imagine a world where I have sold this to anybody else, honestly.

And I’m so excited to see what you do with it, and I’m excited for everybody listening who is going to be a part of this, both of our stories now. It’s super fun. So yeah, if you’re curious about, like, the things I’m up to and, and you wanna see it happen in real time, Deep Pocket Monster on YouTube or on most social media platforms, you’ll kind of get a sense of that.

And if you’d like to check out Card Party, we’d love to have you, of course. Card.party is the website. Three locations in 2027: San Diego, Orlando, and Nashville. Nashville’s gonna be the biggest one for sure. And yeah, or just tune in next month when we talk again, and I give you the update, and hopefully have some better things to say about Spectrum.

Liz Wilcox: All right. See you next time.

Pat Flynn: See ya.