WEBVTT - Get Off Your Butt and Do It: Tom Vu 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.400 Ridiculous crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.240 ZI what Elizabeth does? 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.719 See a ro Zeren nice to see. 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:09.559 I'm not spelling your name. 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:13.720 Don't do it this minute. You know it's ridiculous. Oh 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:15.200 my god, I do yes, tell me. 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:19.400 Okay, there's this crazy relationship or ratio. So I can 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.200 hold my air underwater. I can hold my breath underwater 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:24.360 for about two minutes, okay, right, Like I can easily 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.000 do two minutes. I try to get past that. It's 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:27.600 really hard to get like up to like three minutes. 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:30.560 But I can do two minutes guaranteed. Do you know 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:32.879 that dolphins can hold their breath four times as long 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.199 as I can about eight minutes underwater? Really, we're both mammals. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:38.120 We're both required to sam I need to take a breath. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.279 They can do it eight eight minutes, eight to ten 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.000 sometimes that's about the average. Do you know what other 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.199 mammal can do four times as long as a dolphin. 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.199 Can four times as long as a dog? 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.280 Huh that's what I just said. Oh dang, do you 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:57.040 know who sloths? What the tree mammal sloss? The one 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.240 slow moving trying to cross it. You gotta cark and 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:00.040 wait while they cry. 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.280 The correct then in half an hour. 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.199 Forty minutes they can hold their breath underwater. What yes, 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:10.000 forty minutes four times longer than a dolphin, four times 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.479 longer than a dolphin. Wow, that's nuts. Which is four 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:14.760 times longer than me, So sixteen times longer than me. 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:16.560 Elizabeth does work. 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:20.039 But you know what I'm saying, ten times twenty times 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:21.840 the actual math. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.640 But but my whole thing is, you know how, No, 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:30.560 by being super slots, they're saying they can slow down, 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:32.920 that they can go into water and slow down their metabolism, 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.520 slow down their wreathings, slow down all their their heartbeat, 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.440 all of it to a third of its normals. 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:43.480 Great, it's a slots of shoe money in a toilet, 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.360 a collector waiting animal before it starts to slowly. 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:50.080 I hope you brought a book. 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:55.880 Yes, Wow, that's ridiculous, right, that's super ridiculous. Do you 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:57.480 want to know what else is ridiculous? 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:58.840 That's what I came here for. 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:23.680 Deserving to be broke? What this is? Ridiculous? Crime a 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:29.160 podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, ice and cons. It's 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:32.720 always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:34.440 ridiculous heard that. 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:39.880 I know you did, ha ha. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.400 You're familiar with the Vietnamese boat people. 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.840 Correct, Yes, I am familiar with the Vietnamese boat paper 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:48.799 for me to. 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:55.960 Make that transision, ha ha, Vietnamese people familiar, So you are. 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:02.800 I'm talking about refugees. They to leave Vietnam. It's so 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:04.040 hard to come off. 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:05.840 Of the Oh yeah, no, I understand that. Yeah, how 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:07.920 do you get out of the It's a casey case 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:08.400 in moment. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.280 Oh my, it were like those newscasters like, yes, you 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.840 know anyway, US refugees leave Vietnam end of the war 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:22.000 nineteen seventy five, terribly terrible wature humanitarian crisises. So when 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.200 I say major, I'm talking hundreds of thousands of people. 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:29.400 Between nineteen seventy five and nineteen ninety five, eight hundred 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.880 thousand people who fled Vietnam by boat arrived safely in 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.800 another country, and a lot of others left by other means. 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.080 But we're talking about those who left on boat, specifically 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:44.120 barrowing journey. So they went up against these wild storms 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.960 in the South China Sea and beyond oh Indian Ocean, 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:55.280 Philippines seas. Those are intense disease was rampant. They encountered pirates. 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.800 Of course, yeah, because they never stopped, right. 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.520 Exactly, It's not like they're own cruise ships. And these 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.280 small boats crammed with people running for their lives. Somewhere 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.040 between two hundred thousand and four hundred thousand did not 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:12.360 survive the journey. So what's your ridiculous takeaway? Now? So 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.080 over order a million people made this trip, but like 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.040 a quarter of them didn't make it, so trailer of 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.800 tiers over the ocean completely. First the people went to 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.640 like Hong Kong or other areas in Southeast Asia, and 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.120 then from there a lot of them were sent to 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:33.080 resettle in other countries Canada, Italy, Australia, France, UK, West Germany, 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.640 which was a thing at the time, and the United States. So, 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.159 like I said, this was a humanitarian crisis, and you 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:45.520 had people who'd until then had led really normal everyday. 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.800 Live taken away from them. And yeah, yeah, they had. 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:51.080 Good jobs, they owned businesses, homes, land, and then all 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:52.720 of a sudden they got nothing. They're out on the 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.679 ocean praying to at least reach dry land. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:57.160 Hold in luggage. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.400 Yeah. One of those people was a kid named twan 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:06.400 On Vu and Twan was seventeen years old. He was 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.480 the oldest of ten kids in this upper class family. 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:16.599 Me too, Twan. His dad military man, but he also 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.359 had a real estate business and he owned some land. 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:21.520 And so they got all. 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:23.839 This pretty well. Oh yeah, they do it really well. 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.720 Yeah, total in the upper classes. Twan gets sent to 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.839 Catholic school. He's this good kid, yeah, super super smart 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.560 kid and he so he has this lovely life, one 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:38.400 of privilege until April nineteen seventy five, and so that's 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.120 when he and his family they had to flee Vietnam 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.360 by boat. Two months later, they found themselves in the 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:49.920 Florida Panhandle at the refugee camp at Eglin Air Force Base. 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.400 Other than the temperature and humidity, what a culture show. 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.160 A lot of culture sucks. And they had nothing. They 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.840 had to start from scratch. They don't speak the language, 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:02.560 like this is rough business. They made their way toward Orlando, 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.200 and Twan got a job as a busboy in a 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:12.920 town called a Popka. He had other jobs concurrently other 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.839 than bus boy. He was a grocery bagger, did some dishwashing. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.280 This is a very common story from that era. So 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.680 the Vietnamese and the Cambodians and the monk who had 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.200 to flee after the war. They came here and they 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.800 like busted out serious hustle culture. 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:33.000 Total, especially down there the Delta, the whole, yeah, the Gulf, 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.080 that region in the Mississippi, Alabama, Florida Panhandle exactly. 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.320 There's a really great documentary about a Cambodian refugee who 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:44.479 kicked off a donut empire in the Yeah, it's called 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.760 Donut King. I highly recommend it. There's another documentary called 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.400 Nailed It about how Vietnamese immigrants took over the nail 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:55.400 salon Dope and you can trace that to the actress 0:06:55.480 --> 0:07:00.720 Tippy Hedron. So she was heavily evolved, Yeah, heavily involved 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.440 in humanitarian work with Vietnamese refugees in nineteen seventy five. 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.359 Some of the women that she met complimented her manicure, 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.200 and so she came up with this brilliant idea. She 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.320 brought her manicurist to one of the refugee camps in 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.960 northern California to teach the women there how to do 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.240 nails just like they did them in Beverly Hills. And 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.120 so it didn't require a lot of startup money. You 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:27.720 could work absolutely anywhere. You didn't have to speak a 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:31.320 whole lot of English because like conversations and exchanges could 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:34.480 be done with pictures or holding stuff up. So the 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.320 refugees they got licensed for nails and then for hair, 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.520 and then they took over the nail businesses, and I 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.680 love that so much. So back to Twine, Yes he's hustling. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.080 It's in nineteen eighty. He'd been in the US for 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.520 five years. In those five years, he learned how to 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:56.280 speak English. He worked a bunch of jobs, still managed 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.840 to go to the University of Central Florida and get 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:03.720 a bachelor's in General Business administration. Business degrees they're great 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:05.960 if you think you're going to have trouble getting hired 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.240 by someone. So when I taught in the prison, that's 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.920 the degree we offered associates in business because like there 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.440 are other prison programs that offer all sorts of degrees. 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.120 But you know, we did business because you could be 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.240 your own boss. No one's going to ask if you've 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.720 been convicted of a felony if you're your own boss, 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.520 which in California they can't ask that anymore. The Fair 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.640 Chance Act called Ban the Box, so Anyway, if you're 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.599 a refugee without a work history, it's really tough to 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.920 get a job. And so for Twan, getting a business 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.480 degree fit in perfectly with that hustle culture attitude that 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:45.439 he had. So we talk a lot about hustle culture these. 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:48.920 Days, not you and I, the culture does general. 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:53.160 And I think you know, having lots of side gigs 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.360 that you try and grow in order to survive and 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.439 then thrive, that's what you know hustle culture. I think 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.800 that for the most part, though, it's just a way 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:02.920 to exploit labor completely. 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.480 It's like it used to be the immigrant culture when 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:07.199 I was a boy, they called immigant culture, when you 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.560 had to have multiple jobs to survive. In American capitalism, 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:12.480 now it was just everybody has to do this because you're. 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.120 Not full time. You don't get benefits exactly. You have 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.080 to put in your own capital for supplies or like 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.280 a car or whatever, and you don't have any ownership 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:20.880 stakes in it. 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.439 And also you're likely to compete against your fellow coworkers 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.000 basically because now each of you is your own little boss, 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.520 your own little running enterprise. 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.240 And so you look at like the Cambodian families who 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.720 worked just like crazy at these donut shops. I'm talking 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.160 like eighteen to twenty hour work days for the whole family. Kids. 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.160 Oh yeah, kids, we're up in there. But they had 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.360 an investment, you know, they had a franchise that they could. 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:44.960 Grow, and they're investing in their family. 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.200 Essentially, there's some ownership to it. 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:48.840 Yes, exactly. 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.160 So the work like that is worth it if you're 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.480 going to work really hard, but you have ownership in it. Yeah, 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:54.840 you getting are hustle. 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:55.920 Culture white equity for your own life. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:00.160 Yeah, you're hustling for someone else. That's exploitation. Yes, so 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.920 I get I get really frustrated watching old movies and 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.679 TV shows where you see like a taxi driver or 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.720 a garbage man or a teacher is the sole breadwinner 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:11.559 in a family and they can afford a home and 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.320 a car and food on the table. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:15.280 True, basically true till Reagan. 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.480 Yeah it's not now, but not for decades has that 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:22.240 been true. Anyway, We've entered the winter of darker. I'm 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:24.320 sorry about that. I don't call the shots. I just 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:24.760 worked there. 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.120 It's the hustle. The culture is bringing it out. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.960 Yes, it is so, Yeah, twe I like that name 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.280 t U A N T one. He's killing it. 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:36.199 Oh good on him. 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.920 Yeah, so he he has a degree, he has a 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.200 desire to make it and what he's hustling towards is 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.679 an ownership in something. Oh great, you know it's his own. 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.439 He realizes that's the secret to America owned some games. 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:52.319 Yeah. So within two years he was leading real estate seminars. 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.840 He's teaching people how to build a real estate empire 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.200 that he has not built. No, that he's at twenty 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.000 four by this point, he's he's building it. 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.080 Okay, so he does have enough that would qualify as 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:04.600 an empire. Okay, I did to know if he's like, 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.080 I got two houses, here's out of building. 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.360 He's already like he's cracking this stuff up. And by 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.480 this time he's calling himself Tom Tom Vu. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.120 Oh my god, that name. 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:18.960 Yes, so he started picking people's brains. He met a 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.720 woman who worked at a title company, and he asked 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.240 her all about the real estate business, and she shared 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.760 everything she knew, gave him like little pointers that she developed. 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.520 He's working at a restaurant and he brought a glass 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.040 of water to this man, like this rich guy. He 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.080 goes up to him He's like, tell me all your secrets, 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.480 like how do I become rich? And the guy just 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.360 loved him because he was so magnetic. Yeah, so he's like, 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.160 I'll tell you the secret to my fortune. And Tom 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:50.760 he condensed the secret into three words, three words, three words. Now, 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.120 I'm sorry, it's a secret. I can't share it with 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.160 you right now, Zarin, But are you for real? I'm 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.400 dead serious. So Tom he used that secret and he 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:00.439 ran with it. 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:01.600 Why do you do this to me? 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.360 You know? He later said, quote, one day a thought 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.320 go through my head. It almost like a command, go 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.400 teach people how to do this. So he's like, I 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.920 have the secret, is there in voices? Now now now 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.480 the voices are telling me to share it. So, just 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.400 like his dad before him, he got into real estate naturally. 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:21.560 He worked and worked and he saved money and then 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.679 he bought his first house in Orlando for twenty thousand dollars. 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.680 Two years later, that's eighty one. Two years later, he's 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:32.520 leading seminars teaching people how to get rich by investing 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.920 in real estate. How do people like? How did he 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.840 get people through the door? Like to hear his. 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.640 I'd be curious to commercials, oh like late night commercials. 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.240 Yeah, so do you remember those commercials of his? Like, 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.719 I have vague memories. I think they ran late at night. 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.400 Oh yes, yeah, I watched a bunch of them recently 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:54.000 on the YouTube. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:55.240 You want me to tell you what I remember? 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.000 Were incredible? Hit me? 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.800 Okay, telling me this is accurate because I had not 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.880 seen one since they were like way back then. He's 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.600 on a boat, like a like a white like bayliner, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:08.960 like some kind of like you know, small yacht, and 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.719 then'll be like two girls on either side of him 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:13.480 while he's sitting on the back of the boat, and 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.880 they're both in bikinis, and he's wearing like a like 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:20.000 a Don Johnson Miamivice style like color combination, and he's 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:23.280 always like, look at these babes, and he's like all excited, 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.640 like he's like gonna sell you the secret, but the 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.560 secret is how to get close to these babes exactly. 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:33.320 Here's here's how the Orlando Sentinel described the commercials, super 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.160 in line with what you're saying. Quote, here's Tom on 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:42.280 a yacht surrounded by bikini clad women of geographically proportioned cleavage. 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:47.160 Here's Tom and his mansion. Here's Tom with a scarf 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.360 around his neck, bouncing a tennis ball on his private court. 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.320 Oh yeah, he is by his swimming pool. And here's 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.480 Tom riding in his Rolls Royce convertible at a party. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.600 And again with the bikini clad women. When the camera 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.960 zooms in for a close up of Tom's face, we 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.880 get some cleavage just north of his ear lobe. Do 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:09.560 you like my toy, he says, grinning smugly, referring not 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.880 to the women but to the roles. It's one of 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.840 the many toys I have. I'm talking about toy cars 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.800 to the Mercedes, BMW's, all sorts of things in my garage. 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.800 You want to be wealthy like this like I am. Well, 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:23.280 you need to come to my seminar. 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.480 Oh man, Yes, when you started describing that, I was 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:31.600 getting the mental images like the car, the definitely the tennis. 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.920 Oh my god, Dennis, he's got all the signifiers. 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.320 He's like the Robin Leech style of that early eighties. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.120 Well, oh, completely yes. And so the commercials they're pretty 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.080 much Tom giving like a pep talk and pumping up 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:48.560 the viewer, all with bodacious babes landing around. Yeah, and 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.400 so like there are some that start with photos of 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.080 his family in the refugee camp. 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.440 How does that work with the question he talks about. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:57.680 No, it's funny because it just certainly cuts over. He's 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.680 talking about how Hardy works and how much they needed, 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:01.080 and then all. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.800 Of a sudden, him on the boat. Yeah, with the boobs. 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.600 And the seminars, they're there, you know. He says, like, 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:11.280 I'll teach you the secret in three little words, but 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.520 you have to attend the seminar to learn those three words. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.320 And then the seminars are copyrighted. So he said, no 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.160 one else can teach this stuff. Okay, So he shows 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.640 off a waterfall outside his mansion. He rolls up in 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.240 a Rolls Royce. He barks, if you're not willing to 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.320 come to my free ninety minute seminar, you deserve to 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:30.760 be broke. 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:31.960 The seminar's free. 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.320 Yeah, wow, free ninety minute seminars. 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:35.640 He was charging to get into the room. 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.080 No, you'll see. So there are testimonials in some of these, 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.760 and many of the folks they speak with distinct accents, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.320 which kind of adds to like anyone can do this, 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:45.680 and no one who kept out. 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:47.480 That was very much part of the cell. It was 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.800 he would have people who's like this plantation and look 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:50.880 at what he's done, you. 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.120 Know, Yes, And then the testimonials, people hold up checks 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.880 showing like how many hundreds of thousands of dollars they've 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:58.720 made from selling distressed property. 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:00.000 Totally I bought three homes. 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:02.520 Yeah, and then it goes back to Tom. He's giving 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.760 his like wealth affirmations, you only live once, don't let 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.920 your life slip away. One that I loved there's an 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.600 old American saying, get off your button, do it like 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.680 that's on the back of the declary one to say 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.760 that he's like there are doers in there, talkers, So 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.680 you know, he's just he's so confident and positive that 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.200 you can see how people get roped in. And he 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.240 talks about how he's not smarter than anyone else. He's 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.680 just got motivation drive. Anyone can have it if they want. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.160 And so these they're ninety second commercials. They're also like 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:41.680 thirty and sixty minute infomercials. Yes again, Yeah it's Babes Mansions, 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:42.640 Rolls Royce, just. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.480 A shorter, truncated version of the same thing. 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:44.840 Yeah. 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.280 And there were there were in Living Color and Saturday 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:51.160 Night Live sketches that parodied the ads okay, because they're 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:52.640 ridiculous and they're. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.240 So memorable too. It's late night and you know who's 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.080 upstated late at night shows exactly. 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.160 But the ads are genius because they tapped in the 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:04.280 people's desire for riches, or at least like better circumstances. 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.560 And accessibility to the riches, and they just gassed people 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:08.199 off like you can do, this, can be you. 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.600 It was so such motivational speech, but then like really 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:12.600 plain talk. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.680 And this is still new that kind of yeah, because 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.800 we're coming out of the seventies idea of like personality 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.240 st and all this, like you can be and maximize 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.439 who you are. They like Dale Carnegie, how to win 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:25.840 friends and influence people all that, but it's also also 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.840 very focused on you being charming, and this was like 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:30.919 you getting rich, and that's what the eighties switched. It 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.639 was like, forget all that soul stuff. You want money 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:34.960 now here in this world. 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.720 Believe in yourself because like Tom already believes exactly. So 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.000 let's take a break and we come back. We're going 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:42.800 to look into some of these seminars. 0:17:42.800 --> 0:18:05.920 Oh yeah, all right, sarenes So Tom. 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.920 Vu say that without knowing at all what's about to occur. 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.359 He's kind of yeah, we'll find out. He makes a 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.120 ton of money on real estate. Most of his fortune, though, 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:22.040 came from the seminars. He'd advertise these free seminars, like 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.680 you said, generally in like Florida or California, and they 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:30.880 took place in hotel ballrooms. You know the drill. There's 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:35.480 like rows of chairs ac making the room freeze, and 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.720 they'd be like up to like a thousand people in 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:40.800 these rooms, and you know what, like, let's go to 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:47.679 a freeze saren, close your eyes a picture. You are 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.760 a young man standing in the ballroom of the Marriott 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.399 Hotel on a Friday evening. There's a seminar going on, 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.040 and you are there because you work for events services 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.600 at the hotel. You run the sound system and sit 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:03.280 at a table at the back of the room, making 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.240 sure the MIC's work and the sound stays clear. You're 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.960 also in charge of the gentle background music that plays 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.800 between presentations. For this one, you've been told to play 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:15.640 some cool synth music like you'd hear in an episode 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.320 of night Rider favorite show. You keep it nice and low, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.840 and the beat seems to be getting some people kind 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:23.880 of excited and maybe a little fired up for this 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.560 thing you saw on the signs. That's for that guy, 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.480 Tom Vu. He has those infomercials about making a ton 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.399 of money on real estate, but you really remember the 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:39.200 hot ladies and bikinis, hubba and the hubba. Tom Voo's 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.760 sister has been coordinating the whole event with the hotel staff. 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:45.480 She's really nice. She runs a tight ship and has 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.919 high standards. That works for you. You're really proud of what 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:51.600 you do and you take it very seriously. She loves you. 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:54.200 She's standing off to the side of the room as 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.280 people file in, chat over paper cups of coffee and 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:01.400 sit in the upholstered straight back event chair. You keep 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:03.439 an eye on her so you'll be ready when she 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.440 gives the signal, which she does. She nods your way 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.880 and you dim the lights, quiet the music. You raise 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:13.160 the volume on the wireless mic you supplied mister Voo earlier. 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.400 Hi Tom Voo comes bounding into the room and takes 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.199 his place up at the front of sympodium. The crowd 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:25.040 goes nuts. You ready to bake big money. Everyone cheers. 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:27.960 Motivating folks is in my blood. You want to be 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.600 rich don't you. Well, if you make no money with me, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:35.480 you're a loser. Keep wo holler, clap and whistle. You 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.439 have to admit this is kind of exciting. Tom vo 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:42.320 continues his platitudes and basically says the same stuff that's 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.159 in his ads. You're getting into this and kind of 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:47.800 hoping that maybe he'll pick up some tips, but no. 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.080 Tom Voo now moves on to the next level. He 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.560 tells the crowd that if they want to lock in 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.119 and get rich, they need to sign up for the 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:59.520 full class that weekend. As people walk through the room, 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.119 circular a pamphlet for the course. You take one and 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.720 read it just like you. The brochure says, I want 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:10.040 it now, all caps, fifteen hundred dollars for the class. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:12.040