Gene Simmons wears a lot of hats. As a founding member of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers KISS, the God of Thunder has been rocking the world for the past 40 years, and has held lucrative side gigs in TV, film, investing and publishing. With over 100 million CDs and DVDs sold, KISS is also one of the biggest brands in music history, with over 3,000 licensed merchandised items.
Out today (Oct. 21) is his latest book, Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business, in which Simmons— a Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award winner who emigrated to America from Israel when he was eight years old—shares his manifesto for business success. Inspired byThe Art of War, Me, Inc. is organized around thirteen specific, easy-to-understand principles for prosperity, drawn from Simmons’s own triumphs and failures to help you attain the freedom and wealth of your dreams. (And if you’d like to meet the author himself, check out our slideshow for upcoming dates of his book tour.)
In this exclusive interview, Simmons phoned me from his Beverly Hills home (where he was eagerly awaiting his advance copies of the book) to give his candid opinions on why young men shouldn’t get married, how his love for his mother cemented his work ethic, and what his wife Shannon Tweed really thinks about KISS.
What was the inspiration for this book?
Life, really. I’ll ask you this question and see if you can answer it. You went to high school, I presume.
Sure did.
What was the name of the class that prepared you for what you do now for a living?
I don’t believe there was one.
How about that? Because I didn’t have a class that prepared me for this or the restaurant business or the football business or being in a rock band or branding or the television business or the movie business or the corporate speaking things—none of it. There is no class for that. In essence, it whittles down to—although I didn’t understand it in those days—you have an inferred fiduciary duty to yourself, to learn people skills, language skills, have the right thing, be at the right place, and at the right time. And surround yourself with people who are smarter, not stupider, than you are. And get rid of all losers in your life and make smart life decisions.
Like, don’t get married, guys. Different rules for girls. Don’t get married in your early twenties—you’re an idiot; you’re still full of c—. You haven’t made your fortune, and why would you want to take on mortgages, kids, and, well, divorce—because statistics say you will get divorced—and in certain households of certain ethnic and/or racial groups, 80% of households don’t have a father; they run out. And if you’re of a certain religious belief, you might have ten kids. Why would you do that? When each child could cost a million dollars by the time they graduate college. A million dollars! That’s pretax; that means two million dollars per child at the highest tax rate—the highest tax rate just earn more than 250,000 dollars.
So the book is sort of Cliff Notes of life and business, because life is business. And the thing that made me write the book is sort of my personal journey to learn what I learned, and then more importantly, how to implement that. In other words, how to use what I know, and how to make a lot more money. And I make a lot of money. Not just with a rock band.
The book is organized around thirteen principles for success. Could you tell us what your favorite was, and some interesting tidbits you learned in your research?
Look, let’s call it for what it is, even though it sounds like a sound bite: You’re alive. You know, once you’re born and you’re alive in Western society—not in Iran or North Korea or any of the Arab countries or Ebola-stricken countries and stuff—you have a chance. You have all the chances in the world, because you have freedom of speech and all the opportunities you could ever imagine, because, by the way, the same person living in other conditions—doesn’t matter what your work ethic and stuff—you’re doomed.
So here, you have every chance to succeed; in fact, you cannot fail. It’s true. If you fail, you can declare Chapter 7 or Chapter 11; your debts are excused and you can start all over again. Youcannot fail. So the reason the book was written is to turn people’s heads around from this era of entitlement when people look to the government as their mom and dad who’s going to give them a new allowance every week, and understand that it’s your duty to learn language skills, people skills, learn what the right thing is, be at the right place and be at the right time.
What does success mean to you, Gene?
When I didn’t have a dollar, when we came to America, I couldn’t speak a word of English. My mother, either. My father left us when I was about six or seven years old, and that’s not unique, sadly. You know, fathers leave families all the time. Pretty f—king pathetic for men, but statistics speak louder than words: The more children a family has, the faster the father leaves. And of course, there’s always infidelity. First and foremost, if he doesn’t have the ability to support the family—because he can’t give birth—after too many kids and it’s too much for him, like cowards, men leave. So when I didn’t have a dollar and my mother was working hard and I didn’t understand it, the concept of capitalism or anything, I went into work with my mother in the sweat factories, because I wanted to help her make money because I didn’t want my mother to suffer anymore. I wanted to sort of get her away from physically having to go to work 7 a.m. till 7 p.m. six days a week.
So initially, I wanted to get money because I loved my mom—it was a very simple kind of idea before I understood what I learned from Junior Achievement and how capitalism and the free market system works. And then as I understood it, I understood that wanting to become an entrepreneur—which is a stupid French word, because nobody knows how to pronounce it or spell it; it’s like “rendezvous,” good luck spelling it. It happened when the Normans invaded the Saxons and brought about 50,000 French words into the English language. That’s the history of it.
So for me, learning what entrepreneurship meant is an important life lesson to everybody, which is, be an army of one: Me, Inc. You are the corporation, you are your own boss, you are your own worker. You determine which days you work and which days you don’t—and shame on you if you don’t work seven days a week—and it’s your responsibility to have a balanced budget. Earn much more than you spend, because remember, you’ve got to pay tax, and once you reach 250,000 dollars a year, you’ll pay as much as Warren Buffett does—the same percentage as the richest person, because once you’re 250,000 worth, you are perceived at the highest tax rate; you’re rich.
So there are a few life lessons that of course are business lessons that the book offers that are a kick in the pants that you need, and so does I and so does everybody, to make more money. If you’re the male of the species, don’t have kids in your twenties—maybe not in your thirties—wait until you make a lot of money. Wait until you can afford to get married, until you can afford to get divorced, until you can afford to have kids, until you can afford to have mortgages and car payments, and everything else. If you can’t afford it, you cannot do it. With that noted, everybody borrows money and it’s some sort of credit card borrowing society. Don’t do it. High finance, by the way, it’s good to borrow. But that’s another story; the book goes into that as well.
Is there a word you can use to define what success means to you?
Freedom. When you don’t have money, you don’t have freedom. You don’t have freedom of what to do with your day; you’ve gotta go to work at whatever time to go to work. You’ve gotta get up at 7 a.m. to be at work by 9 a.m.; there’s no freedom there. If you’re working for somebody, you don’t have freedom to determine what to do, and you will be told where to go, what time to be, and what to do. There’s not much freedom to do anything else. Being successful, in other words, being rich, enables you to determine for yourself what you want to do, if you want to do it, and when you want to do it. It offers you the freedom to support your family, give to charity, buy your mother the hip operation she needs, to do everything. Without money, you can’t do any of it.
“But love is the most important thing in the”—well, yeah, that’s true, but not really, not in real life. Unless and if you have the money—and the hard work that goes before that—first you need hard work, then you get the money. Without the money, you can’t even feed your kids, no matter how much you love them. First money, then the implementation of money, love, then everything else is fine. And whoever said “money is the root of all evil” probably still lives in their mother’s basement. The truth is, lack of money is the root of all evil. If you have all the money in the world, why would you want to hold up a 7-Eleven? The people that hold up 7-Elevens don’t have money.
It’s true. I’ve heard you say some of those throughout the years, and it’s great to see them all in one place.
I’ve googled it—I’ve never seen Warren Buffett hold up a 7-Eleven.
In the book you touch upon your long relationship with Shannon Tweed, whom you finally walked down the aisle with in 2011. How has being married changed your lives since then?
Well, she’s a much higher life form than I am—I’m probably closer to Neanderthal compared to her. I used to think it was pronounced “Neander-thal,“ but it’s not; it’s “Neander-tal.” Women are a higher life form; they understand the real value of life. They get to have kids, and family and all that. And guys are too busy, because I think we’re trained that way: to be competitive and be out on their own, and when somebody tosses you a bone you want to run to the goal line all by yourself—you see the football reference? LA KISS. I’m one of the owners; I’ve gotta do the football reference.
So we’ve always been trained to just be all about ourselves, and women, maybe because it’s in their DNA to be life givers and so on, have always thought about everybody else first and themselves last: “My family first, my guy first, my everything first, then me.” Guys are exactly the opposite: “Me first.” Now, by the way, in business, that’s a good idea: “Me first.” “Me, Incorporated.” And after you get the money and the success, you’ve got to put yourself second and third, so you can take care of your family and your children and so on.
Out of curiosity, what are Shannon’s favorite KISS tunes?
Oh, she’s not a fan of the band.
Not one that she’s ever said to you, “Hey, I really like that one, Genie”?
No, she thinks their songs are silly.
Who does she normally listen to?
I don’t know—[Michael] Bublé and P!nk. You know, girl music.
I wanted to ask a few KISS questions, if that’s okay.
Yeah, although I don’t want to change the focus, because I really believe this book is gonna help a lot of people. Not specifically, just about making some really important life choices, even before you decide what it is you wanna do, this book will result in people making more money, period. Like, right away. If [it’s] the only thing you get out of this book, even without telling you what you should be doing to make money, because making money also depends on spending money. So if you’re 24 years old and you’re a guy, and you’re thinking of getting married, and after reading this book you decide you’re not going to get married for ten years, smart. Smart. Why? Because I just saved you millions of dollars.
And you’re not mature enough to get married—you don’t have the wherewithal, you can’t afford it, soon as you go through your first car, because the family’s going to need a new car, you need car payments and mortgage, and well, you’ve got to be able to afford a divorce, because statistics tell us you will get divorced. You can’t afford it, and on every child, at the low end, will cost 500,000 dollars after college, and on the medium level, a million dollars through college. That’s pretax money; that means two million dollars per child. And you’re going to have ten kids, really? How much money is that?
So until you can afford to do anything, don’t do it. And even when you can afford it, spend one tenth, two tenths of the amount of money you can afford to make. Not all of it—don’t live paycheck to paycheck. You need me to tell you that? Actually, you do. Because life is like carbs; carbs taste great. I love cake, and I’ve got a few pounds on me. And every once in a while, either Shannon or a trainer or somebody else kicks my ass and says, “Stop it. Eat less carbs; you’ll be thinner, you’ll be able to run faster, be healthier, and all that stuff.” Yeah. The book is kind of a Cliff Notes of life and business, that’s what it is.
This stays on the topic of books: You penned a memorable back cover blurb for Joe Perry of Aerosmith’s new book, saying, “When I grow up, I want to be Joe Perry.” How did that come together, and why do you want to be Joe Perry?
Well, he asked me to write that and I’m trying to make nice. Wouldn’t you say nice things if I asked you to write the foreword to my book?….My thing is really: I make a living, I don’t need to write this book, but I think it’s an important book to write.
What else do you want to get out of helping people with this? Are you looking to turn this into a new business motivating people?
There’s always that. I do lecture tours, speaking engagements—I’ve done about 50 of them. Sometimes it’s corporate, sometimes it’s for regular people. But the real story is that people don’t know how to make money. It’s a bold statement. You know, it’s easier when you’re linear—you want to be a doctor, so you spend twelve years going to med [school] and then you become a doctor, but then there’s a limit, you know, you’ll only go so far—you’ll make your six figures and you’re done. And [then] you want to be a lawyer, so you spend twelve years doing that after the twelve years of school, and you’ll be there for 24, 25 years of schooling. So that by the time you’re 40, you become a lawyer. But an entrepreneur has no rules; they are their own judge and jury, and their own masters of their own fate, and some of them have never even gone to school, which is why it applies to everybody out there.
If you take a look at the big entrepreneurs out there, they were not the most qualified; they were all self-taught. Warren Buffett started off reading the newspapers every day, and at [age] 14 he had a thriving business where he was investing people’s money because he was a voracious reader: “Buy low, sell high”—good idea! He’s probably done better than anybody in the marketplace. And then you take a look at [Mark] Zuckerberg, when he ascended the ladder of success—he [was] 19. But he wasn’t the guy that created Facebook; the Winklevoss twins did. You know, you don’t have to create it. Steve Jobs didn’t create Apple; he was not a technological guy. He understood branding and being at the right place at the right time, but it was Steve Wozniak who actually created the technology. And Richard Branson had a partner. So it’s all about right thing, right place, right time.
You don’t have to go to school, but you do have to be willing to work longer hours and harder than the person sitting next to you. And there’s still no guarantee that you’ll be enormously rich. But one’s thing’s for sure: The more you work, the richer you’ll be, the more money you’ll have. If you don’t take that two-week vacation and you work those two weeks, you’ll get more money. It’s so simple. If you don’t smoke or drink, you’ll have more money. And you may not get cancer, and therefore all the bills that go along with it, and you may not become an alcoholic—you may not. And all the bills that come after it and your life may not be in chaos. And that’s even before you make the right choice of what to do for a living or how to live your life, or whether you should get married or at what age or any of it.
So all those things: Life is business, and every day, every decision you make is either going to make you money or cost you money. The problem with anything that costs you money is in after-tax dollars, which means you’ve got to earn a lot more, see?
You wrote the first KISS memoir as a member of the group back in 2001 with KISS and Make-Up. Would you be interested in penning another memoir at some point?
Sure. But…maybe I’ll wait until the day that KISS ends, which is not happening anytime soon. We have a KISS golf course and LA KISS the football team, and all kinds of KISS stuff. And we continue to tour the world and have a great time. I think the only reason to write another sort of memoir is gonna be at the end of the train ride, when we look back and say, “What a crazy trip this has been” kind of thing….
What I’m trying to do [with Me, Inc.] is not to be so full of myself, and just be willing to kick people in the nuts and say, “Look, this is really important; you’ve gotta cut the sh— out.” And we all need that; I do, too. You know, if I stuff another piece of cake in my mouth, Shannon walks over and says, “Hey! Get out of here; put that down, you know it’s not good for you.” We all need that. And in life and business and anything else.
Hard lessons are the most difficult ones for most people to swallow. They have to see the bottom before they can reach up for the stars.
Echh, not everybody does.
You’re a driven guy. I can see how that can make people think that you’re only focused on one thing. But the truth is, driven people succeed, and success breeds envy.
Yeah, but you can’t be running a race and looking over your shoulder to see what everybody else is doing. Forget about everybody else, just run your own race and be the best that you can be, to borrow a motto from our military. Be the best that you can be, and then get up the next day and be better.
For more on Me, Inc.,visit www.genesimmons.com/me.