Back in 2008, I swore off TV. The news was getting out of hand, the shows were getting dumber, and I just couldn’t take it any more. I started watching YouTube videos at night instead of TV shows. I’ve kept that trend up for nearly 10 years now. Matter of fact in my office and at my home, I have 8 TVs but have not had cable in over 5 years. 

As I get older and more business savvy my curiosity started rising up about TV again. I mean, after all, I am a marketer and TV is marketed to the masses and viewed by millions daily. Surely there’s something to be learned from TV. Even though it’s archaic and on it’s way out, there’s some pretty damn good shows on for us business folks.

When I swore off TV it was mainly because of the news. That shit will rot your brain. In 2008, the shows that were on TV were way more limited than those on now. I think TV has reached out and offered something for almost all of us. To the braindead Jersy Shore watchers to the Shark Tank crowd, there’s something for everyone on TV, but be careful, and make sure you watch the right shows, not the dumbshit. 

I’ve taken the time to create what I think is the best list of shows salespeople and entrepreneurs should be watching. If you’re gonna watch TV cool, jus shift your habits to watching the right shows, instead of the mindless crap they have playing on most channels 24/7.

Billions – This is my favorite show. It comes on Showtime and is on it’s 3rd season. The show is about Bobby Axelrod, a cool-guy hedge fund manager who owns Axe Capital. He treads on the fine line between legal and not so legal trading. The SEC is after him constantly and his DA nemesis is Chuck Rhoads.

The show keeps you on your toes and exposes how ego causes a lot of trouble. As a salesman, I’ve learned that there isn’t anything money and finesse combined can’t get you. This show is a must if you work in sales. 

Power – This show is on it’s 4th season on Stars. it’s basically the same story as Billions for from the other side of town. James St Patrick aka Ghost is a big time drug dealer moving major weight who’s the target of the DEA, FBI and just about every rival gang in town. His partner Tommy is a loose cannon and Ghost is banging the DA. 

Salespeople should watch this for two lessons. Lesson one on how to market your business by word of mouth. They move massive amounts of cocaine without a single ad. The second lesson is choose your partner wisely. Ghost constantly gets betrayed by Tommy his business partner and his wife as well. You’ll learn how to find quality people in your life unlike Ghost. 

Ray Donovan – The guy who plays Ray Donovan on the show, has the easiest job in Hollywood. Ray almost never speaks. Which is a lesson every salesperson needs to learn immediately. How to communicate without talking! This show is on it’s 5th season and still going strong. Showtime is the parent network of the show. 

Ray is a Hollywood hit man. He always finds himself in the middle of serious situations in which he always manages to find a solution for. As a salesperson, watching Ray come up with solutions is a must because it makes your sales situations seem like nothing. 

Suits – This show is on it’s 7th season on USA Network. It’s about Harvey Specter, a lawyer who’s got an unconventional legal partner. These two are straight up problem solvers. Everything that gets thrown their way, they solve. They use very unconventional methods to benefit their clients. 

Salespeople will love this show because it’s all about selling defendants, judges, and juries on their way of thinking. There’s some seriously good word tracks and closes in this show. I think every salesperson can get a lot from watching it. 

House of Lies – Being on season 10 on Showtime is no easy feat. House of Lies has done it though and it’s due to the badass sales strategies that take place in the show. The show is based around a consultant named Marty Kaan. Marty and his ex girlfriend constantly battle over contracts to consult for major Fortune 500 corporations.

The way the characters on this show put plans together is fascinating. There’s so many sales lessons to be learned in every episode. Matter of fact, when I go to pitch people on my consulting skills, I like to pretend I’m Marty Kaan lol 

The Profit – I met Marcus Lemonis in 2016 at Funnel Hacking Live. He and I both spoke on stage. He’s a really great guy. His show is on CNBC in it’s 4th season. Marcus basically takes over companies and turns them from failing to scaling. Each week he picks out a business to invest his time and money into to turn it around. 

This show benefits salespeople but it’s really driven for entrepreneurs. You’ll see the mistakes others have made and how Marcus turns their business around. You can gain experience from watching others in the trenches. Marcus is a business genius and his unconventional thinking is an amazing thing to watch on TV. 

Shark Tank – If you haven’t watched Shark Tank, IDK what you’ve been doing. This show is all about the sales pitch. It airs on ABC and is in it’s 8th season. The show consists of a panel of extremely wealthy investors like Damon John and Mark Cuban, who listen to sales pitches and make decisions on investing.

If you own a business, this show will give you insights on what you need to do in order to evaluate and get investor money to grow what you’ve built.  You’ll see what investors do and don’t want along with how deals are made and what you can expect. This show is also filled with badass sales pitches from contestants. 

Ballers – If Dwayne Johnson is in it, I’m watching it. I love him. He’s literally the last badass left in Hollywood. Spenser Stratsmore is a retired NFL player with a pill habit and a black mark against his financial planning license. He spends his time trying to convince current football players that they shouldn’t blow their money, which turns out, is not easy at all.

This show is based on two salesmen. There’s so many lessons to be learned in every episode. No matter what happens, they always close the deal, handle outrageous objections and party like rock stars. This is a show you can watch on a Sunday night an get fired up for work on Monday. It’s in the 4th season on HBO. 

Million Dollar Listing NYC – Real estate don’t really go down like it does on this show but that doesn’t make a difference. Fredrik Eklund is a salesman. I know him personally, we worked together on a training program back in 2014. He’s my favorite of all the MDL cast. Fredrik sells over a billion dollars a year in real estate across multiple countries. 

Salespeople can learn a lot from Fredrik. He’s himself and no one else. His quirks actually get him business instead of costing him. On top of that, he’s the expert. He knows his industry and city like no one else. There’s a reason he’s the #1 broker in NYC. Catch this show on Bravo in it’s 6th season. 

Entourage – This show is no longer putting out fresh episodes but I couldn’t leave it off the list. Despite the storyline being about an actor who gets free drugs and bangs every hot chick in Hollywood, there’s this guy Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven that makes the show. Ari is a stone cold closer. If he wants it to happen, it happens. 

Salespeople should idolize Ari. He’s loosely based off of Ari Emmanuelle the founder of the William Morris Agency. Ari Gold only works with big time, big star clients. Vinny Chase, his main client always gets himself into some shit and Ari always sells his way out of it. You can catch this on Amazon TV for free or Netflix. 

Like I said, I’m not the biggest fan of TV, but if you watch it strategically and pay attention to the right shows, you can actually take away good lessons from TV instead of FAKE NEWS!!!

If you’d like to spend your time away from the TV, that’s cool too. I only watch TV 1-2 hours a week. I spend most of my time online networking with millionaires. You can too by joining us at www.breakfreeacademy.com/entoruage