Billy Samoa Saleebey is an entrepreneur, podcast host, and award-winning filmmaker. He has led learning and development organizations for some of the most disruptive companies in the world, including Tesla, where he was Head of Global Sales & Product Training.
He is currently CEO and Co-Founder of Podify, a podcast agency that provides production and promotion services to companies and individuals who want to create a podcast.
He is also President & Founder of Insight Media, a Los Angeles-based production company specializing in podcasting and digital media.
In addition to being the host of For the Love of Podcast (a podcast about podcasting), he’s also the host of the podcast Insight Out, where he interviews best-selling authors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to uncover powerful insights, reveal why they make an impact, and explain exactly how they can be applied.
“There is only one you. There has only been one you, and there will only ever be one you. That is your competitive advantage.”
Billy Samoa Saleebey
Worst investment ever
Billy had a great job at Tesla, arguably, the most disruptive company on the planet. He had worked in the corporate world for about 10 years. Billy truly enjoyed doing sales, and it came easy for him. He loved being real, honest, and speaking from the heart. And so his career blossomed.
Enjoying the safety net for far too long
Billy was very fortunate to get multiple roles in leadership and management. He moved from manager to director during the 10 years. Billy’s position was a relatively high and prominent one at a global level. He had a team in Asia, North America, and Europe. He felt good about his career and never saw an exit point from it. He was happy.
His role becomes obsolete suddenly
In January of 2019, it was decided that Billy’s role was unnecessary because there were team leaders in North America, Europe, and Asia. And so his position was eliminated.
Billy admits that though this came as a shock to him, it was a relief in many ways. He had known that he was ready to go out on his own for a long time, but he just never put in the time to figure out what exactly he was going to do.
Making his worst investment ever
After Billy was relieved of his duties, he decided to take his stocks and parlay them into more money. At the time, he had zero experience in the stock market. But he chose to learn day trading. He did it for about a month and made about 40 grand by making a few short trades. This made Billy get this false sense of early success.
Feeling confident, Billy cashed in his Tesla shares. He had over 1,000 Tesla shares, which he cashed for $300 a share. Now, had Billy not touched those shares, they would be worth almost $4 million today.
While Billy’s poor investment decision cost him a lot of money, what he feels was wasted was the time he spent doing day trading. He spent the next six months day trading after he cashed his Tesla shares, and he never quite made much in return. He regrets that those are six months he would have spent building his business.
Lessons learned
Time is more precious than any amount of money
Make sure that you always spend your time wisely. When you dedicate your time to anything, make sure it is fulfilling in the long term, and not a shortcut that you think will give you a quick benefit.
If you make a wrong turn, fret not, you can always pivot
If, for some reason, you find yourself doing something that you are not passionate about and you are struggling with it, stop and pivot. It is never too late to start doing what you have always wanted to do. Just make a hard pivot now, and you can make up for the lost time.
Andrew’s takeaways
Invest your time in long-term things
If you want to invest your time and money into something, make sure it will bring you long-term benefits.
Listen to your gut and your instinct
Always listen to your gut and your instinct when making investment decisions. It is also essential that you separate feelings from instinct. Instinct is that sensation you feel when you know something is not right.
Know when to pivot and be willing to pivot
It does not matter what happened yesterday; that is gone. You have to think about the future and decide whether it is time to pivot and, if yes, be willing to do so.
It is tough to accumulate wealth from day trading
Even though day trading is so seductive, rigorous academic research shows just how difficult it is to make money from it, especially in the long term.
Actionable advice
Every morning when you wake up, remember that you have a decision to make on what you can do and how you use your day. Be intentional with that decision. Your intentionality should be tethered back to a central purpose and theme. So get clear on what that theme is.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Billy’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to help as many people as possible to amplify their message and voice through podcasting.
Parting words
“Every single thing that you do make sure that you do it because you want to do it. Not because other people think you should do it.”
Billy Samoa Saleebey
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