I am Michael Sarfelt
Blue Diamond / Thailand
For things to change, you have to change. For things to get better, you have to get better
My beginnings at b:hip
I started more than 20 years ago, but my brother and my parents began at b:hip before me.
In my beginnings, I was very, very young and had no education. I remember I had horrible grades at school.
But I started for one simple reason: I wanted to live an extraordinary life. And I knew that if I didn’t make extraordinary sacrifices, I wouldn’t reach my goals.
From the beginning, I worked super hard, and I was very disciplined. As people say, without a dream you never start, but without consistency and discipline you will never finish.
Within the first month in the business, I was able to earn almost a thousand US dollars.
After one year my income grew to $3,000 a month. By the fourth year my income was around $30,000 a month. At that time, I was just 20 years old, and my life had changed drastically.
By now, I’ve been doing the business for 22 years and my income last year was just above $4 million. And that’s the short version of my long story.
Why I decided to join b:hip
For me it was pretty simple – a couple of different things tipped the scale. The first thing was the other people I saw being successful. I saw so many people earning an unrealistic amount of money – and I knew I could never achieve that without building my own business.
Because I had the ambition to achieve more than most, and I saw proof that other people could do the same, I thought to myself: “If they can do it, then why can’t I?”
This means I started with an attitude that was different than most people. I knew from the beginning, that it was not going to be easy, I knew it was going to be super hard work.
I knew that Rome wasn’t built in one day. And I also knew that no get-rich-quick scheme works. If you want to build something sustainable, it will take time and effort.
I believe in the law of sacrifice: If you’re not willing to make a sacrifice to achieve something, then you can’t expect great results. So I started working hard, and I soon decided to quit school.
Quitting school was probably one of the most life-changing things, because it was like burning the bridge behind me – there was no turning back. I knew that if this didn’t work out, I would be screwed.
12 hours a day – 7 days a week: My progression
At that time, my friends were out partying, picking up girls, drinking and having fun, playing computer games, watching movies, and enjoying life. And I was working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I did that not just for a day, a week, a month – no, I did it for 1, 2, 3, 4 years straight. No breaks. And it paid off – my income went from 0 to $30,000 during that period.
To sum up: I went from zero to $1,000 in one month. I went to $3,000 in one year. $30,000 in three and a half years. And now I am at $300,000 approximately. At this point I don’t know how much exactly.
When you start doing something, and you begin seeing results, it creates excitement, confidence, a clearer vision, and bigger dreams. In turn, this all meant that I was willing to make an even more rigid plan for myself, take even more action.
The types of challenges I faced
I think the challenges become bigger as your income grows. But they also become easier, because the higher your income, the more ability you have to solve your problems.
Even though the first problems are the easiest to solve, they feel like the most difficult – because you don’t yet have the mental strength to overcome them easily.
Most people pray to God when they face problems: I wish I was wiser than what I am right now. And then God gives them problems to solve. And then they complain to God, why do all these problems come into my life? And then God is like, but you wanted to be wise, so I gave you some problems to solve.
The first challenge I remember facing was feeling I lacked credibility speaking to people, because of my young age. But if I was in the same spot today, I´d be able to turn the obstacle into an opportunity.
When you’re new in business, you don’t think that way. You see challenges as problems, not as opportunities to grow.
I faced other type of challenges when I moved to Thailand. I didn’t know the culture, I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know anybody. And at times, I found it difficult to be in a foreign place.
My parents came to Thailand for three months and I decided to join them. During those three months, I started building a team. Later, when they went to the next country, I decided to stay and take it from there. Today, I’ve been here for 22 years.
My method for successful b:hip business
I don’t think I was the one who necessarily came up with everything. Maybe I was just the person who blended it together in a way that made sense. And maybe this mixture eventually became “the Michael Method”.
I don’t think a good method is something that happens overnight, but instead gradually over time. Then you adapt and maybe include something new, see if it works, continually improve.
I always ask myself: “How can I make my method even better?” And over time it evolves into something that becomes more and more efficient – to the point where it’s the system we use today.
And 20 years from now, hopefully I will look back at the system we have right now and think: oh my God, I had no clue what I was doing. It’s like this never-ending evolution, ever-changing and adapting to tendencies in the market.
I think I started with the internet even before there was anything called social media. I did business through normal marketing and advertising – banners, email and the like.
Eventually, the first social media came – it was something called High Five, which I don’t even think exists anymore. It made it easier to get in touch with more people in a shorter period of time.
And then Facebook came along, as well as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X. But I think that even today, some of the business is still generated in real life, mouth to mouth. It’s more of a combination. When something works, you don’t have to replace it completely – you can combine old and new and do both.
Opening markets for b:hip in new countries
If a market opens with serious leadership and revenue, then I go there. The distributors often do that themselves and start it up. A good example would be Malaysia.
One of my top distributors in Thailand went to there. He opened the market, and after several months the business started getting going.
He opened an office, organized a group of people, and started doing some revenue. There were customers, people of higher ranks, and when he invited me to go, I accepted. If I hadn’t seen the development, I wouldn’t have gone.
What characterizes a b:hip leader?
I think the optimal leader and the reality of a leader are two very different things.
An optimal leader is someone that understands that you can never expect anyone to do something that you don’t do yourself.
An optimal leader is someone born with the DNA of wanting more, someone not easily satisfied. And I think these two things are some of the most difficult things to find. Because most people love telling other people what to do, but won’t do it themselves.
They love to motivate and inspire people, but there’s nothing inspiring or motivational about someone saying something they don’t do themselves. And most people say what they want to be a millionaire, but the second they start earning $10,000 a month, they become lazy.
And the reason they become lazy is because they feel they have enough to live a comfortable life. Earning a lot of money does not depend on how much you earn – it depends on your perception of what a lot of money is.
What characterizes “a lot of money”?
Let’s say we ask a kid in Africa if we are wealthy. He would say certainly yes because we have a roof over our heads and food on our tables, and we could be the queen and king of their village. But if we asked the same question to Elon Musk the answer would be very different.
So whether or not you have a lot or a little does not depend on the amount of money you earn – it depends on the self-perception you have about yourself and others. For instance, I earn around $300,000 a month, and I don’t think I earn a lot. Why? Because of my perception of what $4 million a year represents.
I think this is the difference between someone that becomes very wealthy – and someone that doesn’t. So it’s very subjective. It also depends on what success means to you, and how often you renew your goals.
People say one thing, but when it comes to reality they don’t do it. “I want to be a Diamond”, “I want to be a millionaire”, “I want to have a Ferrari”. But then when it comes to do the work, it’s much easier to be lazy.
Often, I hear, “My $10,000 a month or $5,000 a month is plenty to have an okay life, and an okay life is enough for me”. “I don’t have the patience to do all those crazy things”. And that’s fine – but it doesn’t make you a millionaire.
I think the biggest obstacle to having a good life is being unproductive. Because being unproductive, no matter how much money you have, is bad for you. I think being productive is what gives purpose, and purpose is what drives good behavior.
Having a purpose in life:
When you don’t have a purpose, you fall into the trap of doing things for immediate pleasure.
Many people within the company would say that I’m already on top, but what motivates me to keep pushing is my sense of purpose. And what is the top? The top of what, exactly? My top is moving up continuously.
When you see Mount Everest, you see the moon. I think the reason I keep working is because of two reasons: The first is, my ambitions exceed what I have already achieved.
And the second reason is that we have 7 different things we want out of life, seven basic needs any human being has. The first 4 four are things everybody in the world more or less have, but the last 3 three determine whether or not you live a life to the fullest.
The first thing that we all need is oxygen, because without oxygen you die.
The second thing you need is liquids, because if you don’t drink anything for three days you’re going to die. Third thing you need is nutrition, because if you don’t get nutrition for three weeks, you’re going to die.
The fourth thing you need is rest and sleep. If you don’t get that, your body collapses.
The fifth thing that every human being needs is safety and security. A thousand years ago, safety and security meant you had somewhere you could hide from predators at night, some place where lions couldn’t attack you. A community where you felt safe, where you could sleep tight without worry.
But today, security and safety are also related to financial and economic security. That if there’s a bill coming tomorrow, you know you can pay it. If the economy crashes, you have enough money to live a reasonable, good life.
The sixth thing I think everybody wants is a lifestyle. Building a lifestyle for yourself, where you go from sitting in the bus to start taking the taxi and eventually upgrade to a Toyota Camry. And then one day you get a BMW and then you think: “That’s not the best car in the world, I want a Porsche!”
And then you get a Porsche, and then you want a Ferrari. And then you want to travel the world and fly economy, but then you want to do business class. And then you fly in first class and later you strive for the private jet.
The seventh and last thing is something money can’t buy: fulfillment.
Fulfillment is having a purpose in life, where you feel your actions give you fulfillment. You do something that’s bigger and more important than just driving an idiotic car. You do something bigger than just buying material things.
My purpose at b:hip
My purpose is helping distributors achieve their dreams. I think our world today lacks one thing more than anything else: Someone who gives encouragement and knowledge to people who wants to improve their life.
I believe the school system is the number one cause to everything evil in people’s lives. I don’t know how to say it exactly the right way, but this is what I believe.
I believe we get programmed into believing things that are so far away from reality. And are the things we learn in school really that good? We have been brainwashed since we were born, and there´s this strong belief that if you study hard and get a good education, then you’re going to have a good life.
But the reality is that most people that become hyper-successful in life never studied.
When you study too much, you get into a rigid thought pattern where the way you think, the way you behave, and the way you live your life are limited to other people’s beliefs.
My mission is to give people another perspective. You don’t need to live in the rat race where you run around and do what everybody else says and does. You can be your own master in life.
If you want to be a musician, then go for it 100%! Do it with passion and do it with love, with excitement and belief, do it with faith and with everything you have!
The worst thing that may happen is not becoming successful. And what do you do then? You find something else and you try again. You will have disappointments, but you forget them.
And you start every month, every year, every decade with new passion and energy, new beliefs and new visions. And you keep doing that until you find something that works for you.
I believe everybody in the world can achieve great things if they stop being depressed about what happened to them in the past – and start getting excited about what could happen for them in the future.
What drives me in my daily work?
The only thing I was born with was ambition. My ambitions would never allow me to live the life I see 98% of people live. I just couldn’t imagine it.
Like waking up early in the morning is the worst thing in the world for me. I remember when I was going to school and I used to wake up at 7.30 am. I thought to myself, “do I have to do this for the rest of my life? I simply can’t. That´s impossible!”
I always knew that I had to find something where I didn’t have to live in a way I dislike. I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I knew what I didn’t want.
I remember when I was a kid, the first time I heard about a casino, I thought to myself: “I could work for 10 years and save all my money. Then I’d go to the casino and put it all on one number. If I win, I become a multi-millionaire and if I don’t, I go back and work again for another 10 years”.
At least I´d have a chance of making it! But just living an average life where you earn, let’s say $4,000 a month, and then you spend $2,700 on fixed costs and save $1,300, which then becomes $15,000 a year. In 10 years, that’s $150,000. How old do you have to be to finally become a millionaire? I knew I couldn’t do that whole concept – I just couldn’t.
I´d rather be dead broke, living in the streets of Copenhagen with a hope of making it, than just living a “normal” life for 40 years. To me, it just seemed so horrible.
Limit your options
When I started, I quit school, so I was quickly all in. There was no turning back. I´d say to myself “If this doesn’t work, I’m literally screwed”.
I had horrible grades, so there was no other option than finding a way to make it work. Which was good, because one of the worst things in the world is having too many options. When you have too many options, you don’t go all in on anything!
When you find the right thing, you have to believe enough in yourself to say “okay, I’m going to go all in and just do it until it works!”
To be a winner, you need to have the right attitude. It’s all about the mindset from the beginning. If you decide that something is going to work, you’re going to find a way to make it work. And even though you failed the first time, you’re going to do it again.
And when you finally win, you start getting the taste of it and believe it’s possible. And then you win one more time. And this is when you understand that if it doesn’t work one time, you just have to do it again.
But too many people feel hurt when they get their first disappointment. And when they feel hurt, they think: “I don’t want to be disappointed again, so I better not dream”.
But if you don’t dream, then what the hell is the purpose of everything we do? Why are we here? We’re here to achieve new things and see beautiful things.
How do I inspire my team when they lose focus?
I think inspiring is very different from motivating someone. When you motivate your team, it may last one day, but when you inspire someone, it can last for a lifetime.
Motivation is something very temporary, while getting people to be inspired about living life to the fullest is much more valuable.
When someone joins my team, there are two very simple rules, and if they cannot commit to them, I don’t allow them here.
Rule #1: for the rest of your career, I will always tell you the brutal truth, without caring if it’s nice or not. If you’re an idiot, I will tell you immediately. You never have to worry or think about what I actually think, because I will tell you faster than you can imagine.
And rule #2: I don’t allow anyone to join unless they can commit to working hard for the next 12 months. Because anyone that’s motivated with discipline and with consistency for one year, will get so many results that they will never be unmotivated again.
How good are b:hip products?
Do I think b:hip products are the best products in the world? Yes, I actually think they are. And they’re definitely the best products for me.
At the same time I could tell you that I truly don’t care. Because it’s a very subjective conversation where it’s impossible to get an answer. Let me give you an example:
When people talk about cars, let´s say BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which brand is better? It always depends on the taste. It would be like: “I like the BMW”, yeah, okay, “But I like the Mercedes-Benz”, yeah, “But I think actually Lamborghini is better”, no, “I think Ferrari is the best!”
So, I don’t think you actually compete with other brands. I don’t think BMW will sell less cars because of Mercedes-Benz. I think BMW and Mercedes-Benz in combination create a demand for luxury cars that make both of them sell more. So that’s the first thing.
The second thing is, I don’t think any of the customers could analyze which product is best in terms of ingredients. Maybe a doctor or scientist could though.
What do you respond when asked if b:hip is a pyramid scheme?
There’s the business answer and there’s the personal answer. And they are very different ones.
My personal answer is that, in general, people have opinions about things they have no knowledge about – which to me is so strange.
How can I have an opinion about something I don’t know anything about? And when people make remarks such as “pyramid scheme”. It just shows they don’t have any understanding of what a pyramid scheme is. It’s just like a buzzword, you know? Like this word is trending and cool to say but they don’t know what it means.
And every time someone asks me, is it a pyramid scheme? I always ask back: “What is a pyramid scheme to you?” And 99 out of 100 have no idea.
I said, well what do you mean by “pyramid scheme”? And they are like: “In a pyramid scheme the one on top always earns more than the one below”. Then I’m like, “that’s interesting because the one above me, he earns maybe $10,000 a month and I earn $300,000 a month. My downline earns like $30,000 a month and his downline earns $90.000. So, now I’m confused. You said the one at the bottom earned the least – but in these cases it’s the opposite? I don’t understand”. And then they get even more confused.
I’m like, okay, so do we all agree a pyramid scheme is illegal? Then they say: “Yes, it’s illegal”. So what you’re telling me is, that a company like b:hip – that has been operating for 20 years now, approaching $100 million in revenue per year and operating in 30 countries around the world, including countries like Spain, Holland, Denmark, and Germany – is illegal? You’re telling me that in all these 30 countries, with tens of tens of millions of dollars in revenue with 40,000 distributors, we’ve been doing something illegal for 20 years without the police getting involved?
And when you say that to people, they don’t know what to say. And I see the same thing happening in all walks of life. For example, in politics. When you talk to people about politics, usually the ones with the strongest opinions are the ones that know the least. They have incredibly strong opinions about something political, but when you ask them what they actually like or don’t like? Then they’re unable to answer.
Before having an opinion, you need information. Otherwise your opinion just becomes irrelevant.
That’s my personal opinion. Now, in terms of the business side of it:
I think we do it in a much more edgy way than other companies in the industry. The way we speak, the way we dress and the way we behave is not traditional.
And that may bother others, make them feel uncomfortable and even upset. And instead of saying, “this is not the right thing for me”, they say, “these guys think they are rich, wealthy, and powerful, it’s just a pyramid scheme, blah, blah, blah”.
In my opinion, the business allegations usually arise out of spite.
My biggest personal and professional satisfaction
What makes me the happiest is seeing people become more than who they were.
To see Sebastian Ramirez in Bogota go from being just a teenager, having both of his parents commit suicide and living in the streets of Medellin, to today running an office with 1,500 people in Bogota, on his way to the Emerald rank!
Seeing my new team member in Thailand, a 19-year-old girl that went from zero to platinum, earning more than her mom and dad combined!
And it’s not only about the earning potential, but also the person they can become, the new mindset they get, and all the behaviors that have changed them for the better. The development of people who never experienced success in their lives before.
Seeing people’s lives change is the most rewarding in terms of self-satisfaction. And of course also the ton of money you can earn, travel the world, and stay in six stars hotels. I’m not discounting any of that, because the money and the improved lifestyle, is something we all work for.
We are a product of our environment and the people we meet
I don’t think anyone in the world does anything well without the help from other people.
I think 99% of my ability comes from other people, and maybe 1% from myself. There are so many people that have taught me so much. Some small things and some bigger things. I would say the biggest lesson I´ve learnt is that self-pity is the root to everything bad in your life. And the highway to hell is paved with good intentions.
What I mean is, people have good intentions, and they want to achieve a lot, but they let self-pity come in their way. Feeling sorry for themselves because of their circumstances, the government, the economy, their Facebook got blocked, the customers don’t buy, the distributors don’t sign up, their team doesn’t grow as fast as they want, they have to wake up in the morning, they fight with their mom, they get in a traffic jam. There’s always something.
The reason I’m not successful is because I’m too short, I’m too tall, my nose is too big, I’m black, I’m white, I’m yellow, I’m green – there are so many excuses, and they serve no purpose, other than blocking your path to success.
I feel the political scene in the world is focused on why people don’t succeed. “You don’t succeed because you don’t have equal opportunities as a black man”, or “you don’t have equal opportunities if you are Asian”, or “you don’t have equal opportunities as a woman”, or whatever it is. If that’s true or not, I don’t know. But what I do know is that, saying it every day to yourself is not good at all. It’s actually the worst thing you can do to yourself.
I could have told myself, “I can’t succeed because I’m only a teenager”, and “I can’t succeed because I live in Thailand and I don’t know the language nor the culture”. I could mention a hundred things.
But what I told myself instead was, it doesn’t matter, because: “The wind doesn’t direct the wind. What matter is how you set the sail. Our life circumstances are not what defines who we can become – instead, it’s the attitude and action you take towards the obstacles that come. This is what directs whether you’re going to succeed”.
The second you say, ‘everything I have today is a product of what I thought and did in the past. And everything I will receive in the future is a product of what I think and do today’. That’s the second your life starts getting on track to a better place!
