David Meltzer

David Meltzer Enterprises (DME)

Founder

Napoleon Hill Institute

Chairman

Unstoppable Foundation

The Unstoppable Foundation is a non-profit humanitarian organization bringing sustainable education to children and communities in developing countries thereby creating a safer and more just world for everyone.

Our Mission: To ensure EVERY child has access to the life-long gift of an education.

JA Worldwide

JA University is a program that delivers fundamental principles of success to JA students, staff, and alumni in a way that complements the financial literacy, business, and entrepreneurship programs already delivered by JA.

Chief Chancellor

The Playbook Podcast

On the podcast you'll find a mix of interviews, Q&A, fireside chats, keynotes, and exclusive conversations with the most influential CEO's, sports icons, and successful entrepreneurs who share their personal and professional play-by-play of the "what", "why", and "how" to achieve anything you set your mind to.

Host

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch

What happens when a 60-second pitch can make or break a business. A new pitch show from Entrepreneur where you could be a part of the next million-dollar idea. Real investors. Real entrepreneurs.

Executive Producer & Judge

Athlete Network

Athlete Network was founded by athletes with a simple mission - create an online community where athletes can fuel their driven lifestyles. 
Our Goal is to keep athletes competing by uniting them in one network built by athletes,
for athletes.

Board Member

Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation

The Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation is a 501(c)3, tax-exempt organization whose primary purpose is to financially ensure the appropriate honoring of a historic past, while building a premier future through making the venue and surrounding activity spaces even more distinguished and iconic as one of the world’s most celebrated entertainment areas.

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

The Transformational Leadership Council is an international organization of leaders of personal and organizational transformation who support each other in their contributions to the world. Members of the TLC are leaders in their field and are composed of CEOs, trainers, facilitators, thought leaders, authors, movie producers and directors, and coaches. Members are focused on transformational leadership and deliver their work in the world through workshops, trainings, seminars, books, films, speaking engagements, coaching sessions, TV and radio shows, and special events.

Ellis Island Honors Society

The Ellis Island Honors Society was created on the conviction of its founders that the diversity of the American people is what makes this nation great.  Its mission is to honor and preserve this diversity and to foster tolerance, respect and understanding among religious and ethnic groups.

In his early 20s, David Meltzer quickly rose to the top of his game in the business world, becoming a millionaire. David lectured around the globe and saw rapid success in every business project he touched. But something was missing, and in his 30s as a multimillionaire, he went on a rapid downward spiral that ended in bankruptcy. It was only then that David realized, in order to revive and thrive, he needed to codify what had made him successful in the first place. He has since emerged to realize even more rewarding heights of success in business and life. 

David Meltzer has created a platform that uses four overarching principles—gratitude, empathy, accountability, and effective communication—and these principles have allowed him to communicate and mentor everyone from college students to c-suite executives. These four principles in everyday practice allow David to live by his mission to “make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun.” 


These are the true stories of the blockbuster sports deals that went down in the locker room, boardroom, and between the lines that made many people very rich.

People often assume that success is the result of perfect decisions, perfect timing, or perfect discipline. I'll tell you the truth most people don’t want to accept.


Success is built on mistakes, and the people who reach the highest levels usually have a longer list of failures than anyone else.


What most people don’t realize is that messing up is not the thing holding them back. What holds them back is the belief that mistakes disqualify them.


Take a moment to think about how many opportunities you’ve walked away from because you were afraid of failing again... or afraid of failing at all.


For most people, the cost of perfectionism looks like this:

• Years spent second guessing instead of taking action
• Ideas never tested because the outcome wasn’t guaranteed
• Confidence lost from replaying old mistakes instead of learning from them


And the longer you wait for the “right moment,” the more those mistakes start to define you, not because they should, but because you never let them teach you.


When I lost my hundred million dollar portfolio, I thought my credibility was gone. Instead, it became the reason people trusted me even more. 


Not because I avoided failure, but because I learned how to grow through it rather than hide from it.


That’s the part most people miss. 


Failure compounds for you when you let it educate you. It compounds against you when you let it silence you.


Show yourself what your life looks like if you stop treating mistakes like a dead end and start treating them like data. 


Then imagine what the next six months, twelve months, or even the next decade looks like when you stop disqualifying yourself for being human.


Every super successful person has messed up worse than you.


That’s not the exception. That’s the path.

Chairman of Napoleon Hill Institute | Former CEO of Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment | Consultant & Business Coach | Keynote Speaker | 3x Best-Selling Author

Motivation feels great when it shows up, but it rarely stays long enough to build anything meaningful. 


Consistency is what carries you through the days when motivation dips, the projects that take longer than expected, and the goals that require steady effort instead of quick wins. 


When you show up the same way on the good days and the difficult ones, you create momentum that doesn’t depend on emotion. 


Over time, that rhythm compounds into real progress and real results. 


If you want growth that lasts, build a consistent practice and let motivation be a bonus instead of the engine.

There's a price 99% of people pay that costs them more than anything else in their lives. I'll tell you what it is.

It's the price of inaction.

Here's what most people don't realize: doing nothing is the most expensive decision you'll ever make.

Whether it's the founder who's too scared to delegate because they don't trust anyone else, or someone stuck in a job they hate.

Every day you delay action, it compounds against you.

Take a second to calculate what staying stuck is costing you right now.

For the founder doing work they shouldn't be doing, it's:

• $250K in lost revenue from opportunities they can't pursue
• 20 hours/week on tasks someone else could handle
• Missed time with kids that they'll never get back

It gets even worse for the person who doesn't leave that job, because most of the time, they spend 40+ years doing something they hate.

When you attach real numbers to staying stuck, you realize how much potential you're wasting.

And whether you admit it or not, inaction means you're comfortable in situations you claim you're not.

When I lost everything in my 30s, my wife confronted me.

She said, "You're going to die. Take stock in who you are."

I'd been telling myself I'd make changes "when the time was right."

That moment made me realize: I'd already paid years of my life staying stuck in ego-driven decisions.

The cost wasn't just money; it was everything I built in my first 30 years of life.

You're not being cautious by waiting. You're hemorrhaging opportunities, time, and energy every single day.

Show yourself what 6 more months of this costs. Then 12. Then 24.

Inaction compounds against you. Action compounds for you.

Even if you fail the first time you take action, you learn. You become more decisive. You gain experience and information by trying instead of speculating.

The price of inaction is always higher than the price of change. Always. Over months, years, decades—but especially over a lifetime.

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The number 1 skill that will change your life is the ability to adopt new habits and stick to them. Here's how I've managed to do this: 

I've been rebuilding my life since 2008, and I came up with these 5 rules that help me keep my habits consistent.

Most people fail at building habits because they try to change everything at once, and they create too much friction. 

I learned this the hard way, and I kept failing, getting down on myself, and then restarting the bad habits all over again. 

So, since then, I've done 5 things: 

1. Make One Change at a Time

Don't make 10 big changes at once.

Start with one:
• First: establish a sleep routine
• Then: add 30 minutes of exercise
• Next: 2 hours of focused work

Master one before adding the next.

2. Start Small

I cut my morning routine by 10 minutes a day.

Doesn't sound like much? That's 60+ extra hours per year.

Small changes compound into massive results.

Start so small you can't fail.

3. Be Intentional

Every decision you make needs to be in favor of the person you want to become, not the person you are.

If you want to live a healthier life, it's not just about being at the gym.

Think: how would the healthy version of me:

• Eat
• Sleep
• Drink

4. Stack Your Habits

Don't create new time slots.

Attach new habits to existing ones:
• Meditate AFTER I wake up
• Make calls WHILE walking on the treadmill
• Fold clothes WHILE watching sports

Use what you already do as triggers.

5. Remove Friction

Make the new habits as easy as possible and the bad ones impossible to fall back into.

We're creatures of convenience—if the good habit is easier than the bad one, that's the one we'll do.

Here are my daily non-negotiable habits:

• 1 hour minimum for health
• Daily time with family (even 2 minutes counts)
• Say thank you before bed and when I wake up
• "Do it now"—anything I can do immediately, I do

Simple but powerful.

Bad habits feel good short-term, but destroy you long-term.

Good habits feel hard short-term, but build you long-term.

Choose your hard. The pain of discipline weighs ounces. The pain of regret weighs tons.

But here's the most important thing:

Aim for improvement, not perfection.

Trying to be perfect is the biggest obstacle to action.

You don't build wealth by saving up; you do it by increasing your earning potential. Let me explain: 

A lot of people confuse parking money with building wealth. Whether it's 401 (k), stocks, or a single piece of real estate that you expect to hold or increase in value. 

While these are all better than having money sit in your bank account, the majority of them simply keep up with inflation and aren't worth the time and effort.

If you want to build wealth, you need to invest in a skill that you already have and become better at it, invest in other skills that add value to the original skill, and learn how to deliver that skill as a service at scale

Wealth is built through active and not passive investing, whether it's real estate, stocks, or anything else. 

1. Don't Stop Learning

Most of us are 1 skill away from doubling our income, but it's important to make sure these are skills that can be leveraged in business: 
 
Sales, Marketing, etc. 

Your ability to make more money is tied to how much value you can provide to someone else.

If you can help someone: 
• Make more money 
• Save more time 
• Reach more people
• Improve their lives in any way

You guarantee your necessity and your ability to leverage that into income.

2. Help First, Profit Second

This works a little like this:
• Help 100 people
• 10 become allies
• 1 becomes a game-changing partner

The return isn't 1-to-1, and it doesn't have to be.

All it takes is one person and one shot for you to change your life.

People always limit themselves by thinking in scarcity. 

"I helped 100 people, but only 1 helped me in return."

When in reality, you've just statistically increased your chances to find the opportunity you've been looking for, by showing 100 people how you can be of use.

3. Energy Management 

Most things have an 80/20 rule. 

This is where 80% of the outcome comes from 20% of the effort. 

In most businesses, this is sales.

Even though fulfillment and client success make up 80% of the work, sales is the 20% that keeps the business running.

This is where energy management comes in...

You need to put in 100% effort into the 20% that moves the needle in your business or service. 

All of the other tasks won't need as much effort.

4. Solve Problems Others Ignore

In other words, solve boring but daily problems. 

Businesses and services that succeed are the ones that are necessary in daily life.

Think Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, these cover communication, transportation, and housing. 

You don't need to reinvent the wheel; you can just make it a tiny bit better. 

5. Build your network 

It's as easy as giving free value and asking for help. 

When you approach someone, be more interested than interesting.

Learn what they do, and see if you can be of use to one another. 

You don't need to elevator pitch yourself to everyone you meet.

6. Seek Guidance

It's easier to learn how to make money from someone who's done it than from someone who hasn't.

We’re often harder on ourselves than anyone else ever could be, and yet every truly successful person I’ve met has a long list of mistakes behind them. 


The difference is that they learned to see those mistakes as part of the process instead of proof that they weren’t good enough. 


I’ve lost a hundred million dollar portfolio and people still come to me for business advice, not because I avoided failure, but because I grew through it.


When you stop beating yourself up and start appreciating the lessons inside every setback, you create the space to rise, rebuild and lead with more clarity and compassion than before.

Most people complicate the word “no.” 


They justify it with price, emotion, or excuses, and that invites endless debate. But when you anchor your no in timing, the conversation shifts.


“This isn’t the right time. When it is, I’ll let you know.”

 Or

 “This isn’t the right time for you. When it is, let me know.”


Timing creates clarity. It removes pressure. It keeps the relationship open instead of defensive.


A simple shift in language can preserve trust, end the back and forth, and create space for the right opportunity to show up at the right moment.

Napoleon Hill Institute Training: How to Break a Bad Habit

Burning Desire The Starting Point of All Achievement

Friday Training Topic: Surround Yourself with the Right Environment

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