Shadowing Practice: These Millionaires Gave Us Life Changing Advice... - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
229 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
What's going on everyone?
2
This is James with the School of Hard Knocks.
3
I'm here with Jack and Josh.
4
We've got a crazy busy day planned today.
5
We're going to go get some grub
6
and then we're going to be going all around downtown Austin to interview some multi -millionaires.
7
You know, stay tuned for today and tonight we're going to be going out downtown again, down to 6th
8
Street to film part two, video number two for after hours for the new channel that we've been growing.
9
So, you know, let's just, let's get after it today and I can't wait to deliver this content for you guys.
10
Let's get it.
11
You know what's your name and where are you from?
12
My name's Elliot Hill and I live here in Austin.
13
What industry did you decide to pursue a career in?
14
I sold sneakers and t -shirts for a living.
15
No way.
16
Yeah.
17
So did you own your own company?
18
No, I worked for Nike.
19
You worked for Nike?
20
Yeah.
21
And what were you doing exactly?
22
I did a little bit of everything from sales to retail to product.
23
I was ultimately the president of the company. Of Nike?
24
Yeah.
25
No way.
26
You were the president of Nike?
27
Yeah.
28
Oh my goodness.
29
That's amazing.
30
That's why I saw the white whites there.
31
Yeah.
32
Do I know Phil Knight?
33
Yeah.
34
Yeah.
35
I know him real well.
36
Wow.
37
That's amazing.
38
So as someone who's been an entrepreneur, what is your best piece of advice to someone starting a business in 2022?
39
Super strong focus on the consumer.
40
So like who are you trying to serve
41
and what type of problems are you trying to solve for those people
42
or what type of products are you trying to create for them?
43
But I think it all starts with having a really super strong focus on the consumer you're trying to serve.
44
So for someone who's been a president and has overseen a company like
45
Nike, what have you seen throughout
46
Nike that's really enabled them to really grow and scale their brand?
47
I guess what is your advice to someone trying to scale
48
and grow their brand and build a business into like a renowned name like Nike today?
49
Well, I think what great companies do, not just Nike, but great companies, it comes back to what I've already said.
50
It's the consumer, in the case of Nike, it was athletes.
51
We served athletes, we listened to those athletes, and the insights that they gave us,
52
we translated into innovative product that people coveted and desired and wanted,
53
and we told really emotional cool stories that connected the consumer to the brand and to those products.
54
And so I guess net -net is super sharp focus on the consumer
55
that then translates into a great product and then you've got to tell emotional stories.
56
What would you say has been your secret to sales in 2022?
57
A lot of people are scared to go out and ask
58
and you've walked up to me and said hey can I talk to you?
59
You got to be bold, you got to be confident, you got to stand up and ask people for the order.
60
Yeah absolutely thank you so much for your time have a great day.
61
Thank you.
62
Just got back from Better Haves and now we're here in downtown Austin
63
and crazy just ran into the former president of Nike got
64
to know him a little bit find out about his story downtown gonna go talk to some more people
65
and find out about them
66
and you know just ask them questions again on what's you know made them so successful and helped them throughout their careers.
67
What industry did you guys pursue a career in?
68
Finance.
69
I'm in finance business.
70
How can someone become financially free in 2022?
71
Honesty, transparency, honesty with yourself.
72
You know, I think people today get caught up too much in social media.
73
Remember what it's really about.
74
It's about yourself, not what other people think about.
75
You know, I think that people look at social media too much, honestly.
76
And do you think as far as like a skill set that people should be looking to obtain, whether it's a soft skill or hard skill
77
that you've seen has really helped people kind of grow and separate themselves from other people in the business world?
78
So communication, ability to communicate, get out of your comfort zone, talk to someone, do like this, you know, be open with someone.
79
I think that's the most important thing, really, because you can use that for anything.
80
Absolutely.
81
Get out of your own way.
82
Yeah, get out of your own way.
83
That's good.
84
Do you guys think a college degree is necessary to be successful in today's society?
85
No. Why not?
86
I don't.
87
I really don't.
88
We have a kid in school.
89
Yeah, I mean, we have a daughter.
90
Our youngest is in college.
91
Our two older picked a different route, and we picked – he went to college, I didn't.
92
Debatable subject, always.
93
I think it doesn't hurt.
94
I think it's good, but I don't think it's the end -all be -all.
95
I think if you talk to most millionaires today, I don't think most of them went to college or finished college.
96
Depends what you want to do.
97
If you want to be an attorney, you've got to go to school.
98
But if you just want to be successful, no, you don't have to go to college for that.
99
excuse me gentlemen question for you guys if you were to go back to
100
when you were in either high school
101
or college what is the best piece of advice you tell your younger self go into marketing why marketing
102
because that's a great skill to have what industry business
103
i'm in engineering engineering wow how can someone become financially free in 2022 invest save 10 15 to your paycheck
104
Try to try to put that, pay down your debt first.
105
If you were having a conversation with your younger self coming out of high school, what would you tell your younger self?
106
And maybe maybe that like I would I think I would have invested more in like real estate
107
and in stocks and stuff rather than just putting in like leaving it in cash
108
and things like that or spending it on trips and stuff.
109
But we obviously want to have a good time
110
and you're young that's so
111
but you still want to have maybe some targets right to uh to like shoot for
112
so you know you put that away.
113
Okay.
114
Excuse me, sir.
115
Yeah.
116
Question for you.
117
If you were to go back to when you're in either high school or college,
118
what is the best piece of advice you tell your younger self?
119
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
120
Y 'all school hard knocks?
121
Yes, sir.
122
I've seen.
123
Yeah.
124
I feel like I've done this before yeah let's right right
125
so y 'all really have some time to really sit down
126
and talk you got about 30 minutes of your time let's do it we're down well follow me
127
this way let's go
128
yeah you're not growing you're dying i guess what do you think like made austin such a uh capital for
129
that kind of growth for technology and all these businesses to come out here
130
and flourish i think it's the laid -back attitude of everyone i think one of the coolest things about austin
131
that i noticed is
132
that in austin you get this more authentic you know kind of uh you know lifestyle
133
which i really like you know people aren't afraid to be them
134
so obviously guys you know crazy spot here
135
you know one of the probably probably one of the coolest apartments
136
i've ever been to in austin um yeah wow no this is this is crazy yeah wow
137
Wow, this is unreal.
138
For those of you who don't know, this is LeVon Perrin.
139
And one of the coolest things about LeVon and us is that last year around August, we actually asked him to do an interview.
140
Just let me just read you off some of these statistics real quick.
141
We did an interview with LeVon and the video itself got 2 .3 million views,
142
3 ,000 comments, 30 ,000 saves, 70 ,000 shares.
143
Not only did it blow up on TikTok,
144
but it also got over a million views on Twitter and was honestly one of our favorite interviews we've done.
145
Got so many messages about it.
146
Where did you start out?
147
What industry are you in now and what plans, if you have for the future?
148
A couple industries I was in.
149
You know, I started off with MCI back in the day.
150
A lot of y 'all don't know what that is.
151
A lot of y 'all don't understand.
152
You used to have to pay for long distance.
153
So I started off with that, selling long distance.
154
Was very successful.
155
One of the youngest supervisors there won many awards.
156
So I bounced around and started my own business.
157
I was actually a private driver, drove around a couple celebrities, then COVID hit.
158
And then that's when things changed.
159
So I decided whether I was going to get back in insurance like I've done before, or was I going to simply,
160
you know, go maybe real estate because it was really booming at the time.
161
So I went ahead and got back into insurance.
162
Through insurance, I've been able to, you know, be successful, hire people, teach them how to help protect families and just move up the ladder
163
and move up the scale
164
and be one of the best new writers they've seen in a
165
while and just start growing my business and growing my pipeline that way and finding something that you're passionate about,
166
something where you can get paid for what you're worth.
167
In my case, I was being in business for myself but not by myself.
168
This skyscraper balcony apartment, and it's one of the best views I've ever seen in the city.
169
A lot of younger people aspire to be able to own and live in a place like this.
170
You know, as a business owner, what has been that thing throughout your lifetime that's been a constant factor that's enabled you to,
171
you know, be successful?
172
The belief.
173
I've always had in my mind that I can be and do anything I want to do.
174
That belief and sometimes blind ambition that you just go for some things and kind of figure it out later.
175
What I did then is just really start looking at the numbers.
176
Go for it and see what you find.
177
So some of that has helped me not be scared, not to be afraid to approach things.
178
What is the difference between like whole life and term life policies
179
and which one should people really be looking to get for themselves when they're looking to make that investment?
180
Well that's a great question
181
and it's an argument that's been around forever almost like what came first the chicken or the egg.
182
The truth of the matter is you actually probably should lean toward both.
183
So let me explain to you what I mean by that.
184
First of all a term plan is just like it sounds.
185
It starts at a certain point and ends at a certain point.
186
Let's say
187
if it's a 30 year term
188
you simply make your payments the payments stay the same for the entire term for 30 years, 360 payments.
189
At the end of that, usually you don't really have any more coverage left.
190
But the benefits for that is because if I'm a younger person, I have family and I have kids,
191
I'm going to get the more bang for my buck to make sure
192
that house is paid off while the kids are young and something happens.
193
For younger people, depends on their situation, term is really fits them at the time.
194
As you get older and you mature, kids out of the house, things of that nature, or even before they're out of the house,
195
but when you're trying to plan for that, whole life may be a little bit better.
196
Now, a lot of people think the term is cheaper.
197
right?
198
And part of the reason why it appears to be cheaper is because the premium you pay every month.
199
However, when you did it with whole life, it appears to cost more money because you pay more money every month.
200
But the part that a lot of people are missing is the understanding you pay more money.
201
That's because part of the money that you put into a whole life is actually invested on your behalf.
202
So if you look at a whole life plan,
203
that money that you put in and invest it is equal amount of money that you put in over that particular term.
204
On the long run, whole life is cheaper even though you pay more money per month.
205
So neither one of them are bad, right?
206
It just depends on where you are in your life and what you need.
207
How important is it for young people to at least try to pursue their dreams?
208
There's no practice life.
209
It's not always about what you do to get to your goal.
210
A lot of times people want to work in their passion.
211
If you can work in your passion and be successful, that's great.
212
But also you can work something else that makes you the money so you can live your passion.
213
So when you're young and you don't have too many ties, it's a lot easier for you to get out,
214
try stuff, travel, put together money, save money.
215
Just depends on your goal and your drive and your why.
216
If you don't quit, you don't lose.
217
A lot of people have been going on our website, sfgaustin .com is our website.
218
You can look at all the things we have to offer.
219
We also hire from that website.
220
Also, you can actually get coverage yourself on that website.
221
I work with With a company that allows me to have 30 different carriers I can do business with.
222
That separates me from a lot of companies because
223
if someone has a certain element or they were diabetic before the age of 50 or had any kind of health issues,
224
some companies may not cover them.
225
But because I have 30 different companies I can choose from, I can take the time to find what works for the customer,
226
also what works for their budget instead of just giving them one solution to their problem.
227
All the companies we use are over 100 years old and they're A -rated.
228
So those are some of the things we do and how we're able to be successful is just really helping others.
229
The impact you make on others is going to determine how successful you are.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
B22
She Made Over $20 Million Doing THIS
Business EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
I Started With $600... Now I Make $10B/Year
Business EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
Asking Billionaire Women How They Got RICH!
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B12
Multimillionaire Explains Time Is More Important Than Capital When Running a Business
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B25
Asking Millionaire Homeowners How They Got Rich
Business EnglishInterview EnglishWorking Adults
B22
Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley)
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
I Asked Will Smith How He Made $350 Million
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B21
Asking Miami Billionaires How They Got Rich!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
Asking Billionaire Women How They Got RICH!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B21
I Asked Tom Cruise How He Made $600 Million
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
C16
Asking Billionaires How They Got Rich! (Beverly Hills)
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B27
Asking London Billionaires How They Got Rich!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B2The secret wealth formula nobody teaches
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B2Asking One Of The Richest NBA Players How He Got Rich!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B21
126 sentences
LeBron on Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers | BEST OF MIND THE GAME
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
178 sentences
Why Being FAST Makes You More Successful (Copy Me)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2259 sentences
24h Inside $5M Silicon Valley AI Startup Building Personal Super Intelligence
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
526 sentences
Josh O. P. & DFS formula-education team, BarberSociety Live 2026
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
29 sentences
My 3 pieces of advice for new content creators
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
325 sentences
You can progress more in 6 minutes than you would in a month | Daniel Coyle
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
134 sentences
The Truth about the OG Illiminate Gang.
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
477 sentences
Tom Holland on Going Sober & Building a Brand That Matters
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
496 sentences
Asking Young Female Millionaires How They Got RICH! (NYC)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B23
193 sentences
How I Became A Profitable Day Trader | My Trading Journey
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “These Millionaires Gave Us Life Changing Advice..”. This video has 229 sentences and 2501 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:01. The speaker talks fast, about 208 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| downtown noun | /ˈdaʊ̯nˌtaʊ̯n/ | The main business part of a city or town, usually located at or near its center. |
| invest verb | /ɪnˈvɛst/ | To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| passion noun | /ˈpæʃən/ | A true desire sustained or prolonged. |
| pursue verb | /pɚˈsu/ | To follow urgently, originally with intent to capture or harm; to chase. |
| athlete noun | /ˈæθ.liːt/ | A participant in any of a group of sporting activities including track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking. |
| whoa | /woʊ/ | Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. |
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| hire verb | /ˈhaɪɹ/ | To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment. |
| knock verb | /nɑk/ | To rap one's knuckles against something, especially wood. |
| enable verb | /ɪˈneɪ.bəl/ | To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| youngest adjective | /ˈjʌŋ.ɡɪst/ | Most recently begun or formed. |
| honesty noun | /ˈɑ.nɪ.sti/ | The act, quality, or condition of being honest. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| move up verb | To promote, put onto a higher level. | |
| bounce around verb | To discuss or brainstorm (ideas) on a topic. | |
| caught up verb | Involuntarily involved in a situation. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| get out verb | To leave or escape. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- We've got a crazy busy day planned today.
- You know what's your name and where are you from?
- What industry did you decide to pursue a career in?
- What industry did you guys pursue a career in?
- Where did you start out?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | we've been growing · have been going |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | who's been · have you seen · I've already said |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is paid · is actually invested |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 56 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: passion /ˈpæʃən/, sharp /ʃɑɹp/, passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, ambition /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/, flourish /ˈflʊ̈ɹ.ɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: millionaire /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/, celebrity /səˈlɛb.ɹɪ.ɾi/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, innovative /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/, entrepreneur /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like skill, downtown, invest.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.