237. How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs with Chris Do

237. How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs with

"The Futur" Chris Do 

Imagine fleeing your home country (Vietnam) at 3 years old with nothing but hope. This was the harsh reality for Chris Do as his family escaped Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon in 1975. In this inspiring video, Chris Do CEO of The Futur shares his incredible journey from being a penniless refugee in Kansas City to building a 7-figure creative business and now commanding fees up to $30,000 for a 45-minute engagement. You'll witness Chris Do's pivotal "dark night of the soul" moment that transformed him from a struggling student into a hyper-focused man on an unstoppable mission to succeed against all odds. Discover the mindset shifts and strategies Chris used to provide massive value, develop an audience of 2.5+ million, and have the confidence to raise his rates 100x higher than industry standards. If you need motivation to overcome adversity, stop underearning, and start getting paid what you're truly worth, this must-watch video will inspire you to reach new heights.

Timestamp:

00:00 Chris Do's Incredible Journey Begins

00:52 Fleeing Vietnam: A New Beginning

01:57 Growing Up in America: Challenges and Adventures

02:46 Early Entrepreneurial Spirit

03:54 High School and Family Struggles

05:28 Dark Night of the Soul

07:07 Turning Point: A New Resolve

08:41 Building The Futur: Success and Impact

09:17 Commanding High Fees and Providing Value

10:28 Final Thoughts and Inspiration

Ash Roy and Chris Do's Video Transcript (This transcript has been auto-generated. Artificial Intelligence is still in the process of perfecting itself. There may be some errors in transcription):

Ash Roy:

This is a story of Chris Do who fled Vietnam at the age of three with $0 and nothing but hope. And he went on to build a seven figure business and he now charges $30, 000 an hour. Thanks for joining us on the Productive Insights podcast. It's a pleasure to have you here. I hope you choose to subscribe to get more content like this.

Let's dive in to Chris Do's story. Imagine this, you're three years old and you're starting over. in a new country with nothing but hope. Today, we're diving into the incredible story of Chris Do, who went from fleeing Vietnam at the age of three to achieving his goals of becoming a seven figure entrepreneur and beyond.

This conversation is a testament to the power of goal setting, persistence, focus, and determination in achieving big goals. Welcome to the Productive Insights Podcast, Chris. It's a pleasure to have you.

Chris Do

Thanks for having me, Ash. I'm happy to be here.

Ash Roy

Chris was barely three years old when his family fled Vietnam during the fall of Saigon in 1975.

They landed in Kansas City, Missouri, leaving eight children behind. Everything they knew behind

Chris Do:

My parents fled Vietnam, April 30th, 1975, the fall of Saigon. I'm three years old. We land in Kansas City, Missouri, where we're going to reset our life. We leave everything we know behind our culture, our language, our food, our customs, everything behind.

We've lost everything. And so we're starting over from the very bottom of the rung. My dad was, um, in the military. I think he was an engineer. And so he didn't have to actually shoot a gun or do anything like that. My mom worked at the embassy as an assistant. So, we landed in America, and it was through, I guess, the kindness of people in the church, because we're Catholic, and the Catholic church members supported us, so we had sponsors.

So eventually, my parents are able to make enough money to move from, from Kansas City to San Jose, California, where I essentially grew up, from there, from about the ages of 5 to 18. And throughout this time, there's an emphasis on education, about trying to do better than your parents, and living the American dream.

Ash Roy:

Adjusting to a new life in America, Chris's parents. Worked hard to make ends meet, leaving Chris and his siblings to navigate much of their day to day lives on their own. Chris and his siblings were latchkey kids.

Chris Do:

My parents worked very hard. So when we grew up, there was a term, it's called latchkey kids.

Essentially they go to work. Before, basically before you wake up, and you lock the door, you go to school, you school bus back, and then you take care of yourself until mom and dad can come home and take care of dinner and take care of you.

Ash Roy:

True to his entrepreneurial spirit, Chris was a risk taker.

Chris Do:

We got into a lot of trouble, nothing criminal, nothing like that, but we would explore construction sites, go into caves and light firecrackers.

We, we'd go to the creek. There was an incident where my brother almost drowned. And he had to be resuscitated, that kind of stuff. So there's a lot of wild stuff.

Ash Roy:

Chris faced the considerable challenges of growing up in San Jose, California. But even back then he explored his entrepreneurial spirit by trying small businesses of different kinds.

Chris Do:

But one thing that I really wanted to do was to be a person of my own means to have the freedom to buy the things I wanted. I'm not unusual in that way. I think I'm just like every kid. So I'm a teenager and there's this idea of a paper route where you throw newspapers and deliver newspapers and that was a coveted job because when you're 13 years old, you can't work until you're 15 and I want to make something.

So I figured out ways to try to make money. I started a car washing business, failed because it's just too hard work. I'm too small. I go to the local creek, I catch crayfish and try to sell them to neighbors, but I'm too shy. I don't know who to sell it to. So I just wound up giving it to my grandma. It's doing stuff like this over and over again, failing each and every single time.

But the drive is there. I know that I want to do something where I can take advantage of this concept of arbitrage, buy low, sell high. I even tried to do a a business selling candy because my uncle owned a liquor store. I put in an order at wholesale, which is like an amazing concept. Like you mean the price they sell it at the stores and the price I can buy it for?

This is incredible. So I put my order in with my cousin, who then would pick it up for me and then bring it over and I would sell the candy. Would do that for a while, but I was thinking this isn't fast enough. This is taking a really long time.

Ash Roy:

So the years roll on and Chris graduates high school.

Chris's older brother, who he really looks up to,  is at University of California, San Diego and invites Chris to come and live with him.

Chris Do:

So I'm 17, 18 years old. My older brother is four years older than me. He graduated from UC San Diego. And these were his words. I still remember it. Get away from the parental units.

My older brother, his name is Arthur. I love him. He's always seen things in me that I couldn't see in myself way ahead of it. Right, in many ways, for much of my childhood, he was like my surrogate father because he, he taught me about how to dress, how to behave, how to defend yourself, those kinds of things.

So I drove down to San Diego and I wound up living with him for about a year, and the time was meant for me to prepare my portfolio.

Ash Roy:

But like in all our stories, there's a girl and that relationship starts to break down.

Chris Do:

And the problem was I had this really sticky, messy, toxic relationship with this girl that I fell in love with.

The first girl I ever fell in love with. It was a bad relationship and everybody could see it but me and I held on to this idea that she was going to be the one. Instead of focusing on my work, I was like calling her and then my brother would get the bill and he's like, what is this? And my brother at this point had gotten me a credit card.

He was paying things for  me and I just took it all for granted because I'm a dumb kid. All of a sudden there's some strife between us and I don't think it really came from him but the lady who he was living with. His girlfriend later to be his wife was seeing like, Hey, our life was great and then you invite your ratty kid brother, who's messy, who doesn't cook, who doesn't clean, who's racking up bills.

So I'm sure it's creating some problem, but I don't know this. And I'm just like, I don't like her. And then my brother eventually gets fed up with me too. He's like, I see you. You're here, you're hanging out, You're doing homework really late, you're watching TV show, late night TV show, and you're not doing your work.

You're not applying yourself, and you said you would, and at this point, I'm going through really tough time with my girlfriend.

Ash Roy:

Chris discovers problems that take him to a really dark place.

Chris Do:

We break up, I find out that she's dating some guy and I'm like, this sucks. I'm feeling all that stuff, the self-pity, wallowing in self-doubt.

I'm telling my mom, I'm crying. I was like, oh, my brother's such a mean guy. He's not looking after me. It's so cruel. And my mom's like,  you know, your brother's taking care of you.

Ash Roy:

Yeah.

Chris Do:

I'm like, you don't understand mom. No one understands me. You know, you go through that whole  bit. And then I just felt like so brokenhearted.

So my girl seeing some other guy, My older brother who had to look out for me, I was like, he betrayed me. My mom turned her back on me. These are the stories you tell yourself. I'm in my room, door closed, just crying my eyes out, and I'm laying on the floor next to the futon, and I'm laying in that fetal position, just feeling the depths of my depression and my sorrow.

And I just thought, you know, I don't know if I want to continue living like this. This is a bad place.

Ash Roy:

Eventually, he has his moment of truth.

Chris Do:

I remember having an outer body experience. Floating above myself towards the ceiling, looking down upon myself, like, as if you're directing a scene from a movie and you can see it from the boom arm of the crane comes up and you can see yourself.

Ash Roy: Many of us have moments of despair, but it's how we respond to those events that define us. 

Chris Do: I looked at myself with judgment and I said, you know, who is this person, you know? And I remember thinking like, you're way cooler than this. This is a terrible person that you became and you're breaking promises to yourself.

Like you broke promises to people, but you're breaking promises to yourself. You said you're going to be  somebody and right now you look like a nobody. That was like my eternal dark night of the soul. And I went really dark and deep and explored that. Like what is the ultimate outcome of this kind of thinking and this behavior?

And I was ashamed of myself.

Ash Roy:

And Chris makes a very clear decision about how he's going to show up from here on in.

Chris Do:

And I dried up whatever tears I had left. I went to sleep and the next morning I woke up and I became a different person. I said, you know what, mom, I'm going to show you one day. And you're going to regret saying that, you know, this wasn't going to be a good idea.

He never looks back. So I got quickly over the negative emotions of it and got caught up in the positive, the virtuous part, which is, Oh my God. The things you're capable of doing if you're focused, and immediately people could see, like, who's this guy now showing up to class? The person we met on Friday, or knew, is a different person on Monday.

Because this happened over the weekend, this dark night of the soul. And I'm focused, and I'm doing work, and my output is crazy now compared to everyone else. And my teachers immediately recognize this, like, oh, you want to go to Art Center? We're going to help you. What do we need you to support you? And so it seems like there's this  whole tribe of people who are now conspiring to help you when you're ready to be helped.

And my life changes and I tell people that's the night that the boy died and the man appeared And the boy needed to die so that the man could be there. 

Ash Roy:

I have a question for you What do you think was that thing that flipped the switch for you?

Chris Do:

So it's kind of like one of those movies that you see in the marvel cinematic universe where Dr. Strange hovers and levitates and he thinks about all the possible futures like he comes back in a snap. He says I've calculated there's one way this works. It's a narrow chance. It's 1:48 billion, but it could work So I'm sitting there thinking well, I know the one way it's not going to work which is to continue down this path I'm gonna be a total loser reject it reject and I'm gonna be so ashamed of myself So I knew that the opposite of that was the way

Ash Roy:

Chris's journey to success was marked by hard work and sound strategic decisions.

He founded the company called a Futur and online education platform. That's helped countless creators build and develop their businesses and careers. His YouTube channel now boasts  around 2. 5 million subscribers. The power of education and sharing knowledge can't be overstated, and Chris's impact on the creative community is a testament to that.

One of the keys to Chris's success has been his mindset. He continuously challenges himself and pushes boundaries. By focusing on providing immense value, he's been able to command fees as high as $30, 000 for a 45 minute engagement.

Chris Do:

 So from 15 grand, I just say it's 30 grand. Here's something that I, I don't say that often, Ash, which is this.

I go to conferences. I'm a really critical person. I'm in the backstage, I'm in the green room, I'm in the audience and I'm listening to people bomb, talk about themselves, show you their portfolio and just go blah, blah, blah, not entertaining, not engaging, super awkward. And here I am putting my heart and soul trying to deliver value.

Be engaging, helping them with social promotion, hanging out. Cause a lot of speakers, what they do is they, they speak and they disappear. Because, you know, I don't blame them. They're equally awkward and shy. They don't want to be around people. But I, I'm already here. I'm already bought and paid for. I want to go talk to the people now.

So that's when I realized, you know what, it's $30k. It has to be 30k. And I think now it's even low because I hear people getting paid way more than that. And I think, do I bring more value? Do I move more butts and seats? And I think I do. And if that's the case, then I need to be paid more. And here's the thing about life.

You don't get what you don't ask for it, Ash. And if you don't ask for it, they're not going to volunteer to pay you more.

Ash Roy:

It's inspiring to see how a shift in mindset can transform challenges into opportunities, opportunities for growth. Chris Do's story is a reminder that resilience, creativity, and determination can overcome even the most seemingly insurmountable challenges.

From fleeing Vietnam to achieving goals of seven figure businesses and beyond. Chris's journey is an inspiration to us all. If you enjoyed this video, please take the time to leave a comment, share it with somebody else who you think might benefit and subscribe  to our channel. We've got a lot more content just like this coming your way.

Thanks for watching.