In this episode of CEO Chat Podcast + I AM CEO Podcast, host Gresham Harkless interviews the Co-Founder of Stock Sharks, a company that provides education, alerts, and coaching programs for the stock market. The guest also recently launched Stock Sharks News, which is a media website for business news, and is working on a new project called Never Benched, a sports gambling social media platform on the blockchain.
Throughout the interview, the guest shares insights on the stock market and provides valuable tips for anyone interested in investing. He emphasizes the importance of education and coaching to make informed decisions and avoid common mistakes. He also discusses the benefits and risks of investing in the stock market and how to navigate the complex world of finance.
The guest shares his CEO hacks and nuggets, which include the importance of networking and building relationships, and staying focused on the mission. He defines being a CEO as being responsible for the success of the company and creating a positive impact on the community.
Overall, the episode provides valuable insights into the stock market and the importance of education and coaching for investors. The guest's experience and expertise in the field make this episode a must-listen for anyone interested in investing in the stock market.
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Transcription:
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Sheraz Ali Teaser 00:00
We really manage expectations. We're not here to sell you. So at the end of the day, if you're not a good fit, it's not for you. We'll be very honest. Like I said, we're more about building relationships and this is how businesses should be no matter what business you're in, it just build that rapport and take it from there.
Hopefully, you guys help each other in the long run with even our members and their businesses and stuff like that too.
Intro 00:20
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs, without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.
This is the I AM CEO podcast.
Gresham Harkless 00:46
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners. Or what I like to call the CB Nation architects, those that are looking to level up their organizations.
This month we are focusing on knowing thy numbers. I could hear the phrases from Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank, and if you understand or don't understand exactly what numbers is, think finance, economics, accounting, capital, investment, funding, bootstrapping, anything that's around numbers. So, we have to understand how important it is to know your numbers and how important that is for you to forecast, make decisions, and to be able to truly strategize around your business and do that successfully.
Things are gonna be a little bit different obviously, this month. So look for CEO hacks and CEO nuggets and interviews that focus around this. But more than everything else, make sure that you know your numbers because they're extremely important to the life of your business.
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Sheraz Ali of Stock Sharks. Sheraz, it's awesome to have you on the show.
Sheraz Ali 02:11
That's awesome to be here. Thanks, Gresham. I appreciate your time, taking your time out to do this podcast with me.
Gresham Harkless 02:16
No problem. I appreciate having you on the show and for taking some time for us. What I wanted to do, was read a little bit more about Shiraz so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing.
He's the co-founder of Stock Sharks, which is an education alerts and coaching program just recently launched Stock Sharks News, which is at stocksharknews.com, which is a news media site for business news. Future projects include Never Benched, Sports gambling, and social media platform on the blockchain.
Sheraz, it's awesome to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
Sheraz Ali 02:46
Yeah, I am. Let's do this.
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Gresham Harkless 02:47
Awesome. Let's make it happen. So to start everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you get started with your business?
Sheraz Ali 02:55
Sounds good. Actually, I've been in business since I was 16 years old. In my twenties I was involved heavily with nightclub restaurants, sports lounges. What happened was in those twenties, I had my ups and I had a really rough down, decided to get into a business without much counts, payables, high leases. Got into real estate, got back on my feet with real estate, and then started getting back into other businesses. That's where I came up with stock sharks. Stock sharks came about as I was actually looking at financial advising to invest my money, and so I was meeting a lot of financial advisors across Canada.
One thing I realized is my risk tolerance was a little bit higher, but I realized talking to financial advisors, they knew how to take their money, but they didn't know how to manage your money. They would put it in these systems and have other analysis, manage your money in these random portfolios, what we call mutual funds, which in the states is more like ETFs. It wasn't something that was exciting, I was 26 and I wanted to really learn about the stock market. What happened was I met a guy, his name JR Sylvester, and he's my partner in Stock Sharks. He taught me about the stock market, the really nitty gritty about the stock market, the stuff you don't actually learn in school.
What happened was it just by fluke we were making trades. It was obviously a bull market. We were making some money in our friends. We're like you guys know the stock market, how about we start giving you some of our money? What happened with that was we started an Instagram page once again. It started getting a lot of followers. Now we're at around 210,000 followers, and we realized the education in North America, across the world, the formal education system is not what it was, not what you need now to progress in life and in business. So we started Stock Sharks to teach people the stock market, to educate them with video lessons and audio lessons and webinars and blogs. That's how the company came about.
So, it's been a blessing. We're learning lots on a day-by-day basis. We have members across the world, last four were from Istanbul, Italy, Israel, and New York. We're learning from other traders as they specialize in their own niches. It's just been a blessing and it's so cool that the world's so connected now. I'm in Canada, and you're in Washington. 10 years ago, my parents had to call back home using a calling card, so the world's changed and it's just pretty awesome how the world's connected now.
Gresham Harkless 05:13
Yeah. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Definitely sounds like you're an entrepreneurial soul and you have a lot of ventures and things that you've worked on and you had that DNA, but I wanted to hear a little bit more about Stock Sharks.
Could you take us through exactly how it works and some of the things that we can find.
Sheraz Ali 05:26
For sure. So right now we are still in starting phase. So for 120 bucks American a month, you sign up and you get the education in the curriculum. So a lot of webinars, a lot of Skype dates with me and my partner. Then at the same time you get the alerts. Now a lot of guys that have been trading for a while join us just for the alerts we specialize in. When I say we, me and my partner, we specialize in swing trades and long-term trades. We do a lot of research on the companies. We study their earnings reports. We study who's on the board, where the competition, along with the industry and where that industry's gonna be 10 years from now.
A lot of homework goes into these alerts along with we see what other hedge funds private equity that are picking up the stock as well, along with the banks. Then from there we would alert it to our members. Now we have members from Goldman Sachs, PayPal, huge hedge funds across the world which is awesome. So these guys aren't just in it for the alerts. Now saying that, there are a lot of members with an appetite for risk and where they actually put out their own alerts as well. So, we'll do the research on their alerts. A lot of guys in our group specialize from day trading to biotech to tech cybersecurity, which is a popular one. Options, ETS, pre-IPOs. A lot of guys in the Vancouver, Canada are into the cannabis industry, so they're taking companies public.
So we're getting an idea and knowledge in that field, which I have no idea about. So we're learning from them. Then along with options about five weeks ago, one of our 21 year old members turned 10 grand into 50 grand on a beyond-the-meat call. Beyond the meat, plant-based meat a lot of guys made a lot of money in our group. I was not one of them. I did not believe in that product. I definitely do now. That's what you get. You get the education, and the alerts, and you have a real-time chat. Now, the 24/7 chat is extremely what I call hyperactive.
I'm not too involved in the chat, but it does take up a lot of time and it's at first, if you're a beginner, it's gonna take a little time to get used to. But a lot of knowledge, a lot of education, a lot of great members across the globe.
Gresham Harkless 07:20
Yeah, it definitely sounds like, and definitely correct me if I'm wrong, it definitely sounds like a really awesome community where you have different people that have different expertise, but you're able to mastermind, for lack of a better term, and learn about different industries in different ways.
Sheraz Ali 07:32
Absolutely. Actually, a lot of guys are doing stuff outside. There's been accountants, and lawyers in our group. There are a lot of guys that are building relationships with each other now doing out stuff outside of stock shares. For instance, I'm involved in a sports gambling company in Vegas from one of the members. My partner's doing a FinTech thing in Canada. Guy, a member from Silicon Valley, a member from Boston, got together, started artificial intelligence, smart mirror. We have guys talking about doing a tech hub in Detroit. We're talking about real estate in Cleveland.
So, everyone's coming up with different ideas and it's just cool that we are building a community. We've kicked people out that we realize weren't a good fit and we tell them, you know what? We're trying to build something here, trying to build it with relationships and our churn is extremely, our customer retention is really high, and we want the right people in this right group. It's not about money, it's about relationships. Right now we are at about 260 members and all 260 members have the same type of personality and the same kind of entrepreneurial spirit, so it's pretty awesome.
Gresham Harkless 08:25
That makes perfect sense. It doesn't sound like it's community for somebody that maybe is just getting their feet wet or in the beginning stages, or is a little bit more of a I guess a mature investor maybe?
Sheraz Ali 08:35
Both. I think we do have an 18-plus demographic. But we also have members that are 50, 60 years old in it. That is just strictly for the alerts. So, everyone like I said, we have hedge fund guys who got some Goldman Sachs. They're just strictly there for the alerts. They're not really looking to build relationships, you got the young guns that are looking to build relationships. So it really varies.
But one thing that we realize, especially being it's all remote and online it's through taxes and emails, a lot of the members are very mature. Even the guys that are just starting out know that they're not at the other levels with the other members of the group. And eventually, once we build it up a bit more, we'll probably split it up a little bit more in regards to the people and their trading level and capacity.
Gresham Harkless 09:13
Got you. That makes perfect sense. So it's always good to be in a place where you can learn and also be pushed, which I think is always a big thing if you're ever trying to accomplish anything as well.
So I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. It could be for you personally or for your business, but what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?
Sheraz Ali 09:28
I think I would call that the USP, right? Unique selling proposition. I would say our main, which is in like every book out there, but the main takeaway in this compared to our competition is we're not sales guys. We've had people sign up and at the end of the day we've realized, Hey, it's not for you. Here's your refund. Good luck. We're not here to make you rich overnight, even though we really manage expectations. We're not here to sell you. So at the end of the day, if you're not a good fit, it's not for you.
We'll be very honest. Like I said, we're more about building relationships and this is how businesses should be no matter what business you're in. It's just, build that rapport and take it from there. Hopefully you guys help each other in the long run with even our members and their businesses and stuff like that too.
Gresham Harkless 10:06
Yeah, that's great to hear. I think all the time, sometimes people are just there for the money or just for being able to generate revenue or whatever those things are. But I always think those are short-term times of kind, focus. Yeah, and I think when you are thinking about relationships, building connections, so on and so forth, it's pretty awesome where things can go.
Sheraz Ali 10:22
Yeah. It's important that's for sure. Call it the Starbucks slash apple-like sauce, right? Where they built it on customer retention and customer loyalty, so we're trying to do the same.
Gresham Harkless 10:32
Exactly build a base of Raven fans. And you can never go wrong. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This could be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.
Sheraz Ali 10:45
I read a lot of books. I quit TV probably two years ago. I've read 118 business books last year.
Gresham Harkless 10:51
Awesome.
Sheraz Ali 10:52
I'm around 90 this year. It's changed my life sometimes. Right now I'm reading Million Dollar Financial Advisor. I just have books everywhere on my desk. So, you know what? It doesn't matter what you read, it depends and you're gonna get one or two good points from each book.
I tell everybody it has changed my life and it's able to have communications about various different businesses. I think it's better these days to know a little about a lot than about a little, and it's definitely changed my life, so keep reading.
Gresham Harkless 11:19
Yeah, definitely. Reading is fundamental as they used to tell us in school, and it's always something important because I've read that a lot of billionaires and people that are super successful, what they'll do is, they pay $20, $25 for a book and you get one or two things that can absolutely change your life or.
Sheraz Ali 11:33
Absolutely
Gresham Harkless 11:33
Some insight into an industry that you never knew about and it helps you make a good trade or know what is to get and not to get just from that little small investment.
Sheraz Ali 11:41
Absolutely. Even podcasts. I'm in the gym in the morning, I wake up at 4:30, go to the gym, and I've been listening to Entrepreneurs on Fire Podcasts, right? It's a really popular podcast now and just getting ideas and, you're in a gym for an hour and a half, you're gonna run through three or four episodes.
I listen to three or four episodes of yours and you're gonna get something from these different individuals out there, right? So, yeah, the information's out there, it's just up to the individual to retain it. Unfortunately these days I feel like a lot of people don't.
Gresham Harkless 12:07
Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
Sheraz Ali 12:15
In my twenties, I played the game of risk and I still do. I think it's important to fail forward. I think when you fail and I failed over and over again, lost all loads of money. If I had to go back, I would've done it the same way. I probably would've failed more. I think that if there's anybody out there listening to this, and if you're failing, you got to know when to cut your losses. Don't hold it because you feel like or you have a passion. If the business model's not there, cut your losses. Take the hit, move on.
I think a lot of people, especially the ones that have this vision, but they didn't really study the competition or study the gaps or study the market conditions, which you should do before you get into business, but when you see it going down, just cut your losses. Take the hit, and move on.
Gresham Harkless 12:59
Yeah, that's a really big thing. And I think Seth Godin had a book that was about that, about winning, knowing when to cut your losses as you said, and not to continue on. And I think that's a really tough thing to figure out.
But I appreciate you for bringing that forward because I think it's not an easy kind of decision to make, especially if you're passionate about what it is that you're doing, you can feel that kind of sunk cost and feel like you wanna invest more and more into it.
Sheraz Ali 13:20
So Seth Godin, you know what I read? I have all his books purple Cow's. Still a great book. This is Mark he brings. I was just listening to him on a podcast recently too. I feel like he is very good with writing scales. Not as good on speaking, but very smart individual, very smart individual. One of the best marketers that this world has for sure.
Gresham Harkless 13:37
Yeah, absolutely. He's really big into, just as you mentioned in his book, he just creates a lot of different ideas. He tests out a lot of different ideas, which I think is always a great thing for us to remember. So I appreciate you for reminding us of that as well.
I wanted to ask you now for my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show.
So Sheraz, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Sheraz Ali 13:58
I think it's about leadership and I think it's about building rapport with your customers, with your employees, and then building a reputation with that. I'm trying to get more into podcasts, more video stuff too I think especially these days where people don't wanna see text and con, they wanna see the face and the composure and the personality to build that relationship saying, Hey, I can trust this person.
Being a CEO is mostly based on who you have around you. One thing I tell people, one thing I do well is I hire people smarter than me. My partner with Stock Sharks is the stock market guy. I'm more of the guy behind the scenes putting it all together, right?
So hiring people smarter than you is probably one of the best things you can possibly do, and that's how you're gonna go forward and be able to leverage your skills and stay in one niche, but hit it in different angles and be different than your competition.
Gresham Harkless 14:44
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Sheraz, I appreciate your time so much and I appreciate all the awesome things that you're doing. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know, and then of course, how best they could get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things you guys are working on.
Sheraz Ali 14:59
Yeah, for sure stocksharksalerts.com. Please give us a chance if you're interested in learning about the markets. It's 120 bucks American a month. You can cancel any time, if not happy with the service. You can find me on Instagram straw on the score alley or at stocksharks. You could get me on there too.
One thing to look forward to, we are starting a company, a sports gambling company called Never Benched. We're adding gamification to it. It's gonna be kind of like ESPN meets Twitter Meets Action Network. We think that sports gambling is gonna be legal across the world. In the next five years, and we're jumping on that.
So that launches in about two months. I'm super, super excited. We are after going after emerging markets, including the XFL in February, the CFL in Canada, hockey soccer across the world, and it's gonna be a really cool app. So I'm hoping, for your viewers to check it out soon and keep in touch about that.
Gresham Harkless 15:46
Yeah, absolutely will love to have you back on as that gets launched and we can talk a little bit more about that and hear about all the awesome things you're doing, but again, appreciate you so much and we will have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. Again, appreciate your time. I hope you have a great rest of the day.
Outro 16:00
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