The Billionaire Who Risks His Life to Save Trafficked Children ft. Paul Hutchinson

Host (Paul Alex): This episode is brought to you by Amazon Business. We could all use more time. Amazon Business offers smart business buying solutions so you can spend more time growing your business and less time doing the admin. I can see why they call it smart. Learn more at amazonbusiness.com.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): He said, "Pablo, I have a gift for you." I said, "Really, what's your gift?" And he hands me his phone and there's a picture of an 11-year-old girl on his phone. "This is Princess. She's 11. She's zero kilometer miles." And I said, "Fuego, you have more like her? Zero kilometer?" He goes, "Oh yeah, I got three or four more." I said, "I want every one of those newer models." It ended up being the largest child rescue mission in one day. The largest we ever did, 124 children.

Host (Paul Alex): Hey guys, and welcome back to the Level Up Podcast. My name is Paul Alex, and today we have a very special interview, guys. I want to tell you that today's guest is Paul Hutchinson, an entrepreneur turned undercover hero. I like to call him Bruce Wayne. Seriously. He is the real-life Bruce Wayne. He built billion-dollar businesses, guys. Yeah, multiple billion-dollar businesses. But it's not about the money, guys. He then walked away to rescue kids from human trafficking. We're about to get deep, guys, because I have been in that field as well. I have helped fight against human trafficking and I'm a big believer against this. He now works side by side with his wife Vanessa to fight for those who can't fight for themselves. Paul, welcome to the show.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): Thank you. Super excited to share with you and your audience today.

Host (Paul Alex): Absolutely, man. Let's go ahead and start this out. How was life for you growing up, man?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): It was beautiful. I realized over time that very few people had the blessings I had as a child. I had four younger sisters. I started recognizing the darkness that existed when in high school I was asked to be the president of what they call the Peer Leadership Team, which was kind of peer counseling. A lot of kids, if they have domestic abuse in the home or other things, if they go to a teacher and talk about it, then legally that teacher has to go to the authorities. So a lot of kids won't say anything and they just don't trust the adults. I went through a bunch of training paid for by the school that helped me recognize those things and I became a peer counselor. At that point, I recognized how many kids deal with abuse in the home—physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse—and they carry that with them throughout their life if they don't get the help they need.

Host (Paul Alex): Wow. So you were out there helping the community, helping people that needed help at a very young age.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): Yeah. I remember I had a party at my house. We were helping kids with drug and alcohol abuse and things like that. At the end of the school year, there were a lot of parties with a lot of crap going on. So I said, "We're going to throw the party." Multiple schools. My parents stopped counting at, I don't remember, like 300 and something kids that were there at the park in the backyard. No sex, no drugs, no alcohol. We had a live band and a bunch of stuff. So that kind of defined it when I was younger. I've always had a heart for wanting to make a difference, but I didn't know where that would go.

Host (Paul Alex): Paul, were your parents a big advocate of you doing this? Were they like, "Paul, go ahead"? Were they enforcing that action? Or were they like, "Paul, what are you doing? Why are you exposing yourself to that?"

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): They were supporting whatever. I remember when I was a little kid, I went in and said, "Mom, I know what I want to do when I grow up." She goes, "Oh really? What do you want to do?" I said, "I want to be a brain surgeon." She goes, "Well, why do you want to be a brain surgeon?" I had just gotten beat up at school. I said, "Because I want to fix how people think." Later I changed that to being a heart surgeon for real. I took all the pre-med, everything. I think innately I realized that in order to change that behavior that was plaguing me, it wasn't about changing how people think, it was about changing the heart. I remember doing a report in third grade on the human heart. I had taken all of the required pre-med classes. I was literally two months away from taking the MCAT when I got in a major car accident. I severed all the tendons in my hand. They didn't know if I'd have the dexterity to be a surgeon. They said, "Well, you can be a regular doctor." I said, "I don't want to be a regular anything." If I'm going to be a garbage man, I'm going to own the dump. That's just how I think. I didn't want to be a doctor. I wanted to be a surgeon. Not a regular surgeon, a heart surgeon. Not a regular heart surgeon, but one who specialized with children. I wanted to be a pediatric cardiologist. But that accident changed everything, and I changed into business and finance.

Host (Paul Alex): So you were very aware at a young age what type of person you were. For me, I was an introvert. I barely spoke to people because I was raised in a single mother household. I was a latchkey kid. I was raised on movies. I used to watch Leave It to Beaver and think, "Wow, what a dream life. I wish I was able to live my life." For you, where did you get those traits? Was it your parents? Was it your dad? Was it your mom? Where did you learn that habit?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): It's interesting. My parents were good people. They weren't really involved with a lot of charity work.

Host (Paul Alex): Did you have friends? Did you have a girlfriend at the time? Did you have a mentor?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): A lot of girlfriends. That's a whole other story. Someday I'm going to write a book called *How the Hell Do I Get Off the Short Bus?* and it's going to be all about the girls I've dated around my life.

Host (Paul Alex): I can't wait for that one.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): From a charity standpoint, early in my career—I was 20, 21, 22 years old—I had a mentor. He said, "Paul, there are a few force multipliers in the universe. You have 24 hours in your day just like everyone else. If you want to be infinitely more successful in your business"—this is when I changed over from medicine to business—"you can't be trading time for money for things forever. You've got to figure out how to multiply your efforts." I'm like, "Okay, what does that look like?" Building the right team, whatever. He said, "One of the keys is charity work." I'm like, "What do you mean by that?" He said, "This isn't a religious thing, but I'm just going to tell you. Jews, Muslims, Christians, all of them believe in some version of the Old Testament. In the last book, the book of Malachi, there's something that says, 'Prove me now herewith if I will not open you the windows of heaven that there will not be room enough to receive it.' What's God talking about? He's talking about charity. They call it the tithe, giving at least 10%. Sadly, the average person gives about 2% of their income annually to making a difference in the world, to charity work. Millionaires, it's even less than 2%. However, decamillionaires, centimillionaires, billionaires, the number is significantly higher. If you want a force multiplier of a 10x or more on your efforts—you can call it God, you can call it karma, you can call it the universal love exchange, you can call it whatever you want—there's a higher power very interested in us doing good. When we put that time or money into making a positive impact in the world, then those windows of heaven open." I believe that's absolutely true in my life. How does somebody become a partner, let alone a founder of what is now well over a $50 billion AUM investment fund? You're not a University of Utah dropout, right? That's what I am. The only way I can understand it is that I made that decision early on to give until it hurts. I told him, "That's why I want to be rich. I want to be charitable." I never realized that I should be charitable so that I can be rich. You don't want to just give out money in hopes that it's all coming back, but in reality, that's what happens. Every bit of my actions as I was building those companies, there was an unseen force that was helping the success happen as long as I was in alignment with showing that I was a good steward of the money.

Host (Paul Alex): You actually cared. You actually looked after people. You had the right intention. People could see that, man. That's what creates great leaders, great founders. Not everybody can lead. There's a difference between being a supervisor, being a manager, being an owner, and being a leader. I'm a big believer in leading by example. I would never ask my people to do something that I've never done myself. Let's transition into the big turning point here, Paul. What happened that made you walk away from the business world?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I saw firsthand the darkness that happens when we have an unhealed world. The high-level story: I received a phone call from our attorney general. He said, "Paul, I know you've donated a lot of money to child-related charities over the years. I need to talk to you about something that's pretty dark. It's the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, and good people don't know that it's happening." He started talking about human trafficking, child trafficking. He introduced me to some operators. These guys were in Colombia. I had found some kids that were being sold for the unthinkable, and they needed some money to rescue the kids. I was already helping with a lot of different child-related charities. That's where I had decided I was going to put my money. I decided a long time ago that my charity money—although giving it to the guy on the side of the street who's asking me for money that may use it on drugs, I can't judge because I don't know if I wouldn't be there if I hadn't been raised in a somewhat healthy home—I decided to focus my charity on the truly innocent. A nine-year-old child in a place completely outside of any decisions that she made. A big part of it is on law enforcement. I know that you served as well. Anybody who puts their life in danger to protect mine and my family is something that I want to serve in some way. So that's where I put a lot of money. I was on the Make-A-Wish Board of Directors for about seven years, incoming chairman in our area. My fund was growing huge. It was in the billions already. I got a phone call saying, "Hey, Paul, I know you've helped with these rescues. We found over 100 kids in Colombia in three different cities. We have a plan that if we can rescue them all on the same day—because if we take down one operation, the others might go into hiding—we've got to do a simultaneous thing on three cities to make this happen. I need your help." I said, "Well, how much do you need?" He said, "Can you be in Colombia in two days?"

Host (Paul Alex): Wow. When he told you that, what was your thought process? Not many people—I mean, it's easier said than done. Obviously you have the money to say, "Hey, how much do you need?" But it's another thing to risk your life.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I don't think I recognized right at first how dangerous it was. I'm like, "Okay, what do you need it for?" He says, "Why do you need me there?" He said, "There's a trafficker down here who's got 14 kids and he has access to over 50 through some other traffickers in Cartagena alone. We've got to figure out how to get him to call the other traffickers and get them to bring all their kids together at the same time. The plan is this: This guy's got this business dream of being able to build almost a Jeffrey Epstein Island. He wants to have this resort that you can bring wealthy Americans in and sell his victims. He believed he could make tens of millions of dollars a year selling these victims. But he needed a few million dollars to build it out. It's like $8 million. This operator's like, 'Look, I can't teach my Navy SEALs how to negotiate this deal. These guys will see through fake money all day long.'" I immediately said, "Yeah, I'll be there." It was interesting. One of my business partners was in the room and overheard the conversation. An hour later, John Pennington, the co-founder with me of Bridge, calls me up. He goes, "Paul, I heard what you just agreed to. Have you thought this through? This is incredibly dangerous. Why would you do this? You could sell out, buy an island, be happy the rest of your life." I said, "Would I really be happy if I bought an island? Tell me this: If I was climbing Everest tomorrow, you and I would probably have the same phone call, right? You'd call me and say, 'What are you thinking?'" He goes, "Yeah, I probably would." I said, "When I'm 95 years old and I look back upon my life and I say, 'I climbed this mountain, I built this multi-billion dollar company, and I helped rescue this many children'—which one of them matters?" He's like, "Yeah, you're right. You need to go." Once I got to Colombia, a few things happened that scared the shit out of me. I thought, "Oh my word. Maybe John's right. Maybe I should have thought this through." This is a dangerous place. On the way down there, I'm Googling, looking up everything. I realized at one time in the eighties, Pablo Escobar had a $200 price tag on any people involved in law enforcement. So at one time, my life would be worth $200 down there. I was supposed to show up as a wealthy playboy. I've got $2,000 cuff links on. I've got a $50,000 watch. I've got a suit that costs more than my first car. I'm there supposed to play this role, but I was dressed as a target in a country. Colombia—there are areas that, a place that we have a sanctuary down there in Medellin is literally safer than most U.S. cities today. But back then, I didn't know what to expect, and it was pretty sketchy.

Host (Paul Alex): Paul, back then, what year was this?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): This was 2014, a little over 10 years ago.

Host (Paul Alex): 2014 is when I got hired for the police academy. That was the beginning of my journey when I needed to transition to do a greater good for myself and to help the community. That's insane. What did your wife—I just had my one-year anniversary with my wife. We're expecting a baby boy. I know my wife would be like, "Oh no, you're not going." I know for a fact because she won't let me jump out of a plane now. I should have done it before I got married, but it is what it is. I married the love of my life. How did your wife Vanessa react when you told her what you wanted to do?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): First of all, congratulations on having a baby coming. That's super awesome. Second of all, Vanessa is actually my third wife now.

Host (Paul Alex): We jumped the gun. I was like, "Oh my God."

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): We met in Haiti. Vanessa and I met after I had done undercover work. I had done 12 undercover missions in Haiti. I tell people meeting a beautiful Colombian actress is kind of cool, but when she's donating her time at an orphanage in Haiti, that's my kind of girl.

Host (Paul Alex): It brings it level. It's such a flex.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I was in this unhealthy relationship at the time. One where—I've thought about it, I've looked back. There was a part of me that was really looking for purpose. I had everything. Sadly, my first marriage ended in divorce. I was in a second marriage or I was dating at the time, and it was kind of toxic. I was like, "Is happiness going to come from one more party, one more girl, one more—I had two helicopters, one more helicopter? Who the hell needs that?" This was this energy of arrogance that just wasn't fulfilling in any way. I was looking for that. I didn't have to ask anybody. I just said, "Yeah, I'll be there." That was the best decision of my whole life up to that time.

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Host (Paul Alex): So at that time, we're painting a picture here for the audience. You could have anything that you wanted during that time, and you still can. But during that time, what you're saying is you were looking for purpose, fulfillment. You were trying to find it. So you were like, "Why not? Why not go do this for a good cause?"

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I was donating a lot to child-related charities. There's a big difference between writing a check and getting involved. It's huge. When I got involved with the kids with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, we helped raise money. I was on the board there. But when I got involved in fulfilling the mission, the wishes for those kids, that was so much more beautiful. We have a friend who's making a million dollars a week in his company. His wife every Thursday physically goes to feed the homeless at the soup house type of thing because of the fulfillment of physically getting involved. Early on, my mentor said, "When I was telling you you should donate 10%, 20% of your income, you should also consider giving 10% or more of your time to the charity work that you're doing." Deciding to go was the first decision. But being there in person is what changed everything. Seeing that darkest part of humanity firsthand completely transformed my life.

Host (Paul Alex): How long was the duration of that first mission in Colombia?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): The very first time I went down, it was to set up the sting. It was literally one day in and out, meeting with the traffickers with the undercover operators. In the middle of that meeting, we were negotiating. One of the traffickers was so excited I was willing to fund his project. He said, "Pablo, I have a gift for you." I said, "Really, what's your gift?" He hands me his phone and there's a picture of an 11-year-old girl on his phone. He said, "This is Princess. She's 11. She's zero kilometer miles." You can guess what that means. He was selling her purity. He was selling her innocence. He said something about he just took delivery. I realized that if we could get these kids out before they're ever trafficked the first time, that's a miracle. I said, "Fuego, you just took delivery? You have more like her? Zero kilometer, as you call them?" He goes, "Oh yeah, I got three or four more." I said, "You're going to bring those to my party, right?" Because our sting was, "Hey, I'll fund your project under one condition. I'm going to have a party in a week or two. I'm going to bring a bunch of my rich friends. They're into this kind of thing. You show up with all of your inventory and any of the others that you're connected with down here so I can make sure that you have the inventory. You do that, I'll fund your project." I told him, "You're bringing those too, right?" He goes, "Oh no. They're too expensive." I said, "Too expensive? I'm already paying $25,000 for this party and paying $500 per child for 50 children minimum, just for two hours in the afternoon." He goes, "Oh, jefe, you already paid $25,000. You want to f--- those other virgins? It's going to cost you maybe $10,000 more. Maybe $2,000, maybe $5,000 for that little one. It costs you maybe $10,000 more." At this point, I'm legitimately pissed. No acting involved. I wanted to shoot him in the head. My Navy SEAL that was right behind me, he clears his throat. "I need to check out the neighborhood, the restaurant, make sure we're all good." Later in debriefing, he said, "I almost unholstered my weapon right there. That little girl looked like my daughter at home." I'm like, he's like, "It's going to cost an extra $10,000." I put my hands on my chest. "You don't think I can afford an extra $10,000?" He said, "Oh no, jefe, I know." I said, "I want every one of those newer models that you have right now at the party." He goes, "Oh yeah, jefe, I understand." Two weeks later, we had the sting all set up. It ended up being the largest child rescue mission in one day that I knew of at the time. The largest we ever did, 124 children.

Host (Paul Alex): How did you feel seeing the children in person?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): That almost broke me. We had rented an island. Actually, the federal agents gave us access to one. We had a beautiful palapa-type house. These two boats show up, 54 kids. They get off this boat and they're funneling them all into the house. I recognized one of them—that little girl that he had shown me on the phone, that 11-year-old Princess. In the movie *Sound of Freedom*, she was the one that we kind of highlighted. She was actually at the island in the movie. We did eight different rescue missions and put them all together. The jungle scene with the doctor, that was a different country altogether. It was in Haiti. But she was there and some of the others. In the movie, my character is Pablo Delgado, the billion-dollar fund manager who quits his job to rescue kids and helps fund it. When Jim Caviezel is like, "Hey, if we can convince Pablo"—well, I am. In the movie, my character is like, "I don't want to go." It wasn't until Jim gave a picture of this 11-year-old girl to my driver. I look at this picture and see that face of what I knew was a trafficked child. He says, "Don't do it for the 50. Just do it for the one." In real life, I was already there. I was face to face with these traffickers when he showed me that picture. Fast forward, we have the sting all set up. Boom, they show up with these kids. That little girl getting off the boat with all the others—she had red, long pigtails, braids. She had a little kitty cat on her shirt. She was just a child. About halfway through the negotiations, one of the traffickers gets up and says, "I'm going to show you the gifts that I brought you." He goes in the house. We could hear some of the kids crying, including this one. They came back out. The most transformational moment for me up to that point was when they had this little girl in front of me. I'm sitting down. She's standing up. She's not much taller than I was sitting down. We're almost eye level like you and I are right now. She's just a child. All I could see was fear in her eyes. Her makeup had been smeared because she was crying. I made a promise at that moment to myself, to God, to that child, that I would dedicate my life to eradicating that evil. I couldn't imagine anything worse. All the other child-related charities I was ever a part of—would I rather have a child of mine that was struggling with cancer, or in an accident, or in the hospital? There was nothing I could imagine worse than what I was seeing in front of me. The most beautiful moment was after the agents came and stormed the party and arrested everybody—me included. The bad guys think we got extradited to the USS *Chantrial*. The child protective services people, there were about 30 of them in the house with the kids. I could hear them laughing and singing with the children. That sound of freedom was the most beautiful sound that I ever heard, especially compared to the crying that we heard like half an hour before. I turned to the operator. I said, "Bro, I spent my whole life making money. I'm making rich people richer. I want to make a difference like this kind of difference. What can I do? How can I fund things?" He told me at that time, "Paul, sadly, there's a large demand for stuff like this that comes from guys like Jeffrey Epstein. Guys who are filled with arrogance and greed and lust and wear watches. They're not the only people that do the abuse, but in situations like that, it worked really well. If I can teach my Navy SEALs how to pose like that—and I don't know of any ultra-successful business owners who've had the training that you've had—if you're willing to be the bait, I'll change your whole life."

Host (Paul Alex): That's crazy, man. I resonate with your story so much, dude. Being seven years in law enforcement, I've arrested anybody from murderers to rapists, child molesters. The worst of the worst. I worked in Oakland, California for seven years. It took a piece of me, man. I lived it. Some of the scenarios that I've been in—when you speak about how you felt when you saw the children, dude, it takes me back to this one incident. I was two years in patrol. I was a very proactive cop. I wanted to make a difference in the community. There was a wanted 261 suspect, meaning a rape suspect. It was a 35-year-old man that was raping his girlfriend's kids while she was at work. I looked at that picture. The gift that God gave me is I'm able to see people's faces and remember them on the spot. I'm not good with names, but I have that facial recognition. As a patrol officer, a rookie, I did my own research. I found out where the guy worked. He was a chef at a taqueria. I went to that taqueria by myself and said, "I'm going to take this guy in by myself." We locked eyes. He started running. I chased him down. It took everything for me not to beat him down. Everything. I don't know how you held your peace, man. Hurting children is something that I cannot stand. When I watched your movie *Sound of Freedom* when it came out, I'm going to be very transparent with you. I broke down in the theater because of the PTSD that I had from doing that type of work back when I was in Special Victims Unit. It is not the type of work that anyone should see, but it is the reality of what's out there. I feel like it should be brought to light even more. I was enraged that they didn't broadcast your movie even more. Why do you think that was, man? Why do you think they kept your movie from being broadcast everywhere?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): Because too many people are involved. Too many people are involved. I can't even tell you how prolific this is in the elite circles. But the problem is, it's a problem everywhere. This isn't just people going to a third world country and doing these horrible things. If you walked out your front door—I don't care if somebody's in an apartment complex or an affluent neighborhood—if they walk out their front door and look left, look right, there's a very high chance that one of those doors in their neighborhood is a dangerous place for children.

Host (Paul Alex): I agree.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): People leave *Sound of Freedom* and they're like, "Oh, I want to do something. I want to help." The worst thing you can do is go to Mexico and try to go undercover. You're going to get arrested. You're probably going to get shot. You're going to get killed. The best thing you can do is go home and hug your kids. People are like, "Well, how does that make a difference?"

Host (Paul Alex): Well, the majority of children who are being trafficked or moved around don't come from a healthy home. They come from a broken home, a broken foster care program, runaways, et cetera. Those are the easy targets.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): However, the real number isn't the 10 million plus children that are being sold, trafficked, that are taken from their parents. The real number is this. One in every four women who are listening to this today, one in every four women that we know have admitted that they were a victim of this kind of abuse as a child, sexual abuse, physical abuse as a child. That's one in four. And that's just the ones that talk about it. The average age of somebody talking about it is 52 years old. That's my age. I've raised my kids. I have grandkids, right? So sadly, there are so many people that are holding onto this pain. And somebody doesn't just grow up and at 45 years old go to Colombia, go to Mexico, go try to do things to kids. Chances are, it's already happening in their own homes, in their own neighborhoods. 92% of the victims of sexual abuse as children, 92% of them, it was familial. It was somebody they knew.

You need a relationship with your kids where they can very comfortably come to you and say, "Hey, Dad, hey, Mom, I don't like it when you tell me to go hug Uncle Harry. He touches me weird. He says that we need to have sleepovers at his house. He tells us that we should have secrets outside of you. He looks at me in a really weird way." These kids know when things are out of alignment. You need a relationship where they can easily come to you and say, "Hey, Dad, I really screwed up. I was playing on this online gaming platform, and this girl was on there, and we started talking privately and she sent some pictures and I sent some to her and now she wanted more and now they're videos. I don't even think it's an 11 or a 13-year-old girl. I think it might be somebody else." And sure enough, that's a 45-year-old dude using sextortion. That's telling the kids, "If you don't do this and this, send more, I'm going to send this all over your school." It happens all the time.

There are even apps out right now where a predator can—we call them nudify apps—they can literally take a picture of a celebrity or your child off of the internet and use this app to take their clothes off. And it looks real. Then they send that picture to your kid saying, "This is what I got." So there are so many things we can't control. We can't be helicopter moms and dads and just control everything, but it is so important when it comes to the safety of your kids.

In fact, that's one thing: the movie created massive awareness, but I knew that parents needed the tools. It's one of the reasons I put so much time into the *Sound of Freedom* book that's out on Amazon. Well, it will be on the 29th. It gives parents these tools, the signs that they need to be looking for when something is off with their kids. Your 12 or 13-year-old daughter, if all of a sudden she goes from being super outgoing to a recluse, don't just think that's going through puberty. The average age of a child brought into these horrors is 12 years old. So it's so important that we are hyper-aware and have those healthy relationships where you are the 911 to your kids. You're the one that they call if something's out of alignment. They can very comfortably come to you and you tell them, "Listen, I love you unconditionally." It doesn't matter, because these perpetrators will use shame and guilt to control the kids.

Host (Paul Alex): Absolutely.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): So you help them get out of that shame and guilt. You let them know it doesn't matter. I don't care if I need to—if you knock somebody off. I don't care if you got drunk on your way home. Whatever it is, let's talk about this so that we can resolve it.

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You know, a few things that you said. Number one, being a former police officer, and specifically the city of Oakland. City of Oakland has a very, very, very problematic issue with underage prostitution. The average prostitute or escort in that city would range anywhere from—I believe the youngest I've seen was 10 years old all the way up to 17. And you see these 10-year-olds with a face full of makeup. And you're like, "Hey, what are you doing here?" "I ran away from home." "Where's home?" "We're in Oakland, Northern California, Bakersfield, LA. I'm from another state." I was like, "What are you doing? Where are your parents?" "My parents don't know I'm out here. I'm out here with a friend. And my friend introduced me to this guy. And he actually dropped me off here and told me to make him money." These are kids. Kids that don't even understand what's going on. And it happened over and over and over and over.

And mind you, Paul, I was in Special Victims Unit for only two years out of my seven-year career. I primarily was taking out cartel members and narcotics. So when I went in there and I saw, I was shocked. It's a big problem. And they're not putting the awareness out there. Watch your kids. Be a parent. Tell them the hard things now. The reason why I was so aware is because my mom cared. Even though she was a hardworking Latina, she wasn't able to afford a babysitter. She said, "Paul, a stranger tries to get you in their car. What do you do? You run. You run. You ask for help." She would make it aware. And that's what we need—to have this hard conversation. So you're absolutely right, dude. Everything to the T, Paul, that you are saying is absolutely correct, dude. And this is coming from somebody that's seen the worst of the worst. I agree, dude. Kudos to you, man. No, seriously. Kudos to you, dude. I'm super grateful. You're the real deal.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): Well, and so many parents, it's important to know that in today's age, the dangers for our kids isn't lurking in some dark alley. The dangers for our kids is in their backpack and in their back pocket.

Host (Paul Alex): Yeah, right. Absolutely.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I can't tell you how many of the operations—the perpetrators identified their victims through online contact. Whether they were traveling to Cancun, whether they knew a lot about their personal life and their home life, et cetera, so they could identify those who were the easiest targets, the soft targets, to be able to bring into this. And sadly, there's a huge percentage of kids who are being trafficked by a trafficker who sleep in their own beds at night. And their parents have no idea because that trafficker's got some dirt on them. They go to a friend's house and the friend's brother takes pictures of them while they're changing and says, "I'm going to use these all over the school unless you come every Tuesday after school here and we're going to do some things with my friends." These kids are being controlled through fear, guilt, manipulation. And it's so important that we have a healthy relationship with our kids where we can find out when something's not right.

Host (Paul Alex): Absolutely. And it goes to number one, your environment. That's why every entrepreneur that I've interviewed on this podcast, I always ask them the question, "Was your parents a big impact in you being successful in life?" And every single person that I've interviewed this week, every single one of them said, "Yeah, they said that I could do anything in this life." And I look at them, I'm like, "Dude, you're so lucky. You're so lucky." Because you're not limiting your kid's belief, even to reach out to you, even to communicate to you, man.

The first time I ever experienced depression in my life was at the age of 29. And the reason why I say this is because I wasn't able to reach out to anybody, not even my own mother. I love my mother. She is everything. She's my heart. But at the end of the day, she raised me to be hard. And me as a new father in the next couple months, I told my wife, "Yes, I'm going to be strict. I believe traditional values, but I'm going to have an open line of communication with my son." So at the end of the day, best believe, man, we're going to have those hard conversations. It's needed.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): You're going to be a great dad.

Host (Paul Alex): Dude, I can't wait. I can't wait, dude. You don't understand. I used to mentor the police officers to become detectives. And I loved it. I loved it. And I do the same thing with the guys that work for me. I trained them to be like me, carbon copy to me. I'm a big nurturer, dude. So I have a big heart, for sure.

So, Paul, I want you to give a little bit of advice to our viewers. Because you're a man of purpose, fulfillment, dude. You have a big heart. What advice would you give to someone that is chasing money but feeling lost right now?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I say this: it is okay to create value in the world and to have wealth because of it. There's nothing wrong with that. I had at one point a house that had 10 bathrooms, eight private suites, three kitchens, seven fireplaces, a basketball court in my basement, and I lived there by myself.

Host (Paul Alex): That's crazy.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): It's crazy. Bruce Wayne. Off the charts, just crazy. I was living there when I was doing some of the undercover work and I had a guy come in to put in a new camera system. I wanted like four cameras. And he said, "Paul, I have to tell you this. You're the closest thing to Batman of anybody I've ever met. I'm not trying to upsell you, but kind of—you need more." So we put in 32 cameras for a spot like that.

Host (Paul Alex): Absolutely. A hundred percent.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): So, here's what I will say. Yes, it's okay to have a vision board that's got Lambos and jets and nice houses and everything else. And I talk about that. We'll talk again in a few months when my next book on infinite abundance and being a conscious capitalist comes out—what that is, how you can create massive abundance in the world while creating value for yourself. But one of the most important pieces of that puzzle is ensuring that your heart's in the right place and the contributions you're making to the world.

People say, "How do you make a billion dollars?" Well, create a billion dollars worth of value in the world and set your system up in a way where you have a billion dollars. That's all money is. Money is simply reward for your efforts and your contributions. So I encourage people to have a vision board, to work hard, to create value. I use things—jets, cars, boats, stuff—to motivate myself to get out of bed so I'm not as lazy. To motivate myself to do the right thing long enough until I realize the right reason to be doing it. And the right reason isn't things. It's making a difference. But it's hard to make a massive impact if you don't have the resources to do so.

Host (Paul Alex): You're absolutely right.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I'm the primary investor in the *Sound of Freedom* movie. Investing in movies is usually a waste of money, right? I knew that even if we had a chance of getting these stories out to the world, it was worth the risk. So the money that I put into *Sound of Freedom* was considered in my book throwaway money. If I never make a penny off this, but we have a tool that can show—I knew that we couldn't take millions of people to see what I had seen. But we could help millions of people feel what I had felt.

Host (Paul Alex): Oh, I felt that. Trust me, dude.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): And that's—you can use money for good. You're using money for good. You've been very successful in business and you're now saying, "How can I use that to create a beautiful studio, to build an audience so that I can make a powerful, positive impact in the lives of others?" I had a poster on my wall when I was a kid and it had a bunch of Lambos and Ferraris and a nice house and a helicopter on the side. And I had a sign that said, "He who has the most toys wins." I now have one that says, "He who has a powerful positive impact in the most lives wins."

Host (Paul Alex): Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I love that, man. And it's actually going to tie into my next question. Now that you've obviously mastered what I like to call "life by design"—life by design, guys, you always hear me saying this. Life by design is not only being financially successful, but it's also having core values, having faith, having fulfillment, helping other people, just being a good person, right? So now that you've done everything, man, you're still doing it, right? What does success mean to you now, today?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I believe that at the end of this life, when I'm meeting my maker, the conversation is going to look like this: "Paul, these are the gifts that you received in this life. The ability to communicate, the success in your businesses, your childhood, all of these—what did you do with them?" Success is a journey, not a destination. Every single day we wake up and we can choose to contribute positively or negatively to the world. And that all starts with the man in the mirror.

I love the story of a man that's sitting on a couch reading his newspaper and his little boy comes in and says, "Hey, Daddy, Daddy, I want to play."

Host (Paul Alex): You're having a little boy or a little girl?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): Little boy.

Host (Paul Alex): Little boy.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): So imagine Maverick. Imagine this little boy comes in and says to his dad, "Hey, Daddy, I want to play baseball." And let's say this guy didn't have it together like you do. He's reading his newspaper. "I'm busy right now." Not prioritizing that time with his son. The little boy comes back a little bit later. "Daddy, Daddy, it's a beautiful day outside. Can we play ball? Please, please, please." His dad turns the page of the newspaper and there's a map of the world on the next page. So he has an idea. He tears out that map, tears it up into little pieces, throws it on the floor and goes, "Son, you need to learn your geography. You go get some tape. You tape together every single country, every single state, exactly where it's supposed to be. And if you do that, I'll go play baseball with you." He turns the page thinking it's going to be a few hours. Five minutes later, this little boy comes back and the map is taped together perfectly. The man's like, "What? How did you do that? Did your mom help you?" The little boy says, "Oh no." He turns it over. He says, "There was a picture of a man on the other side. I just put the man together and the whole world came together."

Host (Paul Alex): Wow. That was good. That's the answer.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): It starts. We can sit here and say, "I want to change the world. I want to fix this. I want to fix this." Start with yourself. Start with that man in the mirror. You put that together. You find the ways to fix that and you can heal humanity. And that's really what it is. Every single day, my goal is to be a better version of me than I was the day before. Because in doing so, I know that the ripple effect of my words, my thoughts, my actions will show up throughout humanity if I start with the man in the mirror.

Host (Paul Alex): Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And I always get asked this question: "What keeps you pushing when you've already obtained the majority of the goals that you've had in life?" And the answer that I always give—and I've said this in a few of our podcasts earlier this week—is I'm always chasing the better version of myself, man. Kudos to you, brother. Right. Kudos to you, man.

Let's talk about your book. Let's talk about that book now. I know you have another book coming out, but specifically, what can people look forward to in this book? You're saying that you wrote it with the intentions of helping parents understand their kids. So specifically, what can they go and look forward to in your book?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): There are the stories of the rescue missions—the one in Colombia, the one in Haiti, a bunch of others, different missions that we put together as part of the *Sound of Freedom* movie. And through those, I take the reader through the emotional transformation that I went through in seeing the darkest part of humanity and then going from that darkness into the light with the kids, with the rescue, rehabilitation, and reuniting of the kids with their families.

But the first part of the book is all about—I call it "The Making of an Undercover Operator." It goes through the training, the situational awareness training, how to read a room, how to identify where there's abuse going on, all of these things that I learned in that peer leadership team in high school. All of those things so that parents can say, "Oh wow, that makes sense. Okay, I'm going to write that down." Now they see ways to keep the kids safe. Then I go through some of the rescue missions.

The last part of the book, I call it "Liberating Humanity." Because I recognized after 10 years of doing undercover work, over 70 undercover child rescue missions in 15 countries, I recognized that just pulling the children out of hell was never going to fix the problem. We needed to pull the hell out of humanity.

Host (Paul Alex): Wow.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): We need to take away the demand. How do we fix that? How do we fix humanity? Why in the world is there something like trafficking even going on? Why is this the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world? Why do we have one in four women in their home that have been abused as children? Why do we have one in five men at some time in our life, and a majority of those as kids? Why is this even a thing? What is it that needs to heal?

So I talk about creating global awareness as step one. Realize that back at the time of Abraham Lincoln, it wasn't guys like me and my team that created the biggest difference rescuing the slaves. It was people like you. It was influencers. People like Harriet Beecher Stowe. She wrote a book called *Uncle Tom's Cabin*, which was the media, it was the podcast of the age. It created an awareness with good people of what was going on in the South. In fact, years later, when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet, he shook her hand. He said, "So you're the little lady that wrote the book that started the big war." She made the noise.

Host (Paul Alex): Exactly.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): So that's the key. Creating awareness. We talk about that here. We talk about identifying those traits in the kids so you can keep them safe. We talk about situational awareness. And most of that whole last section is about us as adults, about the guy in the mirror that says, "I put the man together and the whole world came together." That's what it's about. And I talk about some things in some healing retreats that I did that completely transformed my life in every way, because I was still living in some of this darkness even after I had started doing some of the undercover work.

Host (Paul Alex): Wow. That sounds amazing. When is this book coming out?

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): It'll be out July 29th.

Host (Paul Alex): July 29th. So it'll be in bookstores everywhere. It'll be on Amazon for sure.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): They're coming out in bookstores as well later. But yeah, July 29th. You can pre-order it today. You can go on Amazon, just type in *Sound of Freedom*. It's there. Or you can go to liberatinghumanity.com and you can get information to keep your kids safe there. You can pre-order the book there. You can get information on personal healing and what that looks like. All of that is right there on Liberating Humanity. And the Child Liberation Foundation, there's a link on that as well in order to help the foundation in fighting trafficking.

Host (Paul Alex): I love that, Paul. I love that. And the last and final question, my friend. If you could say one sentence to the world, what would it be? I have to limit it to one sentence. That's it. We only got one sentence.

Guest (Paul Hutchinson): I would say, recognize the divinity within yourself. Learn how to love yourself with infinite, unconditional love and release all those things that no longer serve you. And in doing so, we'll save millions of children. Not just 20 at a time, not just 50 at a time. We'll save millions of children.

Host (Paul Alex): I love that. And that's what we call the level up, guys. Paul Hutchinson, an entrepreneur turned undercover hero. Built billion dollar companies, but left all of that to go ahead and battle—I'm going to say the worst of the worst, man. The worst of the worst. And he's making a big difference, making a bigger impact. And that movie made a big impact when it came out in my life, dude. That was just like, "Wow, this is as real as it gets." Watch it, guys. If you haven't, watch *Sound of Freedom*. Get the book when it's coming out. And also, it's going to be in the link in the bio, guys.

And that's it, guys. The Level Up Podcast, guys. We're currently ranked number one in business on Apple Podcasts, ranked number 19 in all categories right now. And if you guys love this podcast, make sure to share it with someone that you care about, okay? We need to spread the message. Spread the message that Paul started out here with battling human trafficking, guys. He is doing it for a real good cause. Dude, you're amazing, bro. With that being said, guys, we will catch you on the next one.

[Outro begins]

Hey, JJ Virgin here. On my podcast, *Well Beyond 40*, we ditch the idea of aging gracefully and go all in on aging powerfully. Every week I host powerful experts who can give you powerful insights on building muscle, boosting your energy, and feeling amazing no matter what your age. This is your one life. And trust me, being smarter and stronger are superpowers that can turn lifespan into strength span. Listen to *Well Beyond 40* wherever you get your podcasts.