DR is VERY good at figuring out how to harness other people into making him money.
Imagine the millions he saved by getting churches to not just promote, but also to host/staff his Financial Peace University courses for free?
His ELPs not only have to adhere to his philosophies, they pay him generously for the privilege of being one (from what I understand from talking to someone who used to be one, Dave charges a monthly fee for people to be listed + gets a referral kickback when people hire an ELP)
When he realized he only had a few more viable years as a one-man show, he started rolling out the "Ramsey Solutions" brand, including the "Ramsey Personalities." He had a major mis-step with the first iteration of this, though. He hired Jon Acuff as a charismatic heir apparent. Acuff developed the first non-FPU or Entreleadership oriented event (the Smart Conference) but then quit the day after the first one -- he probably had an NDA so he didn't go into the reasons. It was after that that Dave started rolling out the many other personalities and "their" authority-establishing books (I suspect at least a few of these are ghostwritten) and podcasts. Chris Hogan was originally the host for Entreleadership after the first guy left (the first guy was MUCH better). He had a good voice but was a horrible interviewer. So they packaged him up as the "retirement expert" but he isn't one at all -- he struggles to keep even the simplest things like the benefits of Roths vs traditional retirement straight. So they plopped him on the "everyday millionaire" project as well, which actually seems to be a better fit.
They pivoted pretty quick to offering "Ramsey Unlimited" as a package when in-person FPU and the events business were tanked by Covid. And at this point the real estate empire can probably prop up the rest of the business for awhile if necessary (though I wonder how much of their portfolio is commercial versus residential).
Of the personalities, Rachael clearly got her job cuz she's his daughter, but she has gotten better with time. Christy Wright seems to know her stuff on small/home based business -- though I bristle at the traditional gender stuff and the "god who made you" packaging. Hate Hogan. Not really a fan of Ken Coleman. Jon Delony is an interesting addition, though I kind of doubt he will stick -- he seems to push back on/against some of Dave's conservative viewpoints more than anyone else. It'll also be interesting to see whether the Dave Ramsey show loses listeners now that he is mostly co-hosting and/or having the other "personalities" sub for him. He commented on people complaining about it a few weeks ago and he basically said shove it -- he likes cohosting and wants more time off. I'm guessing they have a plan to just keep trying new personalities every 6-12 months, give them a bit of time to build an audience and discontinue anybody who isn't making money in a reasonable timeframe.
Dave is probably worth several times what MMM is, but is also a workaholic. I'll take the MMM model for my eventual cult, thanks very much.