Design Your Exceptional Life: Recent Episodes
Dr. Tom Hill and Alvin Brown
Design your exceptional life (DYEL) is exactly as the name says, a passion podcast project of Dr. Tom Hill and Alvin Brown aimed at helping each participant to utilize a 6-step process to finally living the life you’ve imagined but never thought possible.
Jason is a serial entrepreneur and his goal is to help others mitigate "stupid human decisions" from the growing business process. Having worked as an owner and manager, Jason has had the privilege of making several great people decisions, few good people decisions, and tons of poor people decision.
In This Episode, You Will Learn About:
[03:40] Where does problem-solving foundation starts from
[6:28] Why did you not lose enthusiasm after the first shutdown as a kid
[12:40] Have you been tempted or distracted away from the goal
[17:03] What is the Culture Index Program
[24:03] More strategies, tips, and G-Curve discussion
Connect with Jason here.
Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D. (University of London), and Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas, is a writer, editor, and international business consultant, with publications ranging from poetry therapy to human rights, including two books of poetry and four television tie-in books with Bill Moyers.
In This Episode, You Will Learn About:
[04:23] About Betty
[7:45] Do you believe that people don’t know what they want
[14:01] Checking your ego
[17:03] Tips on raising kids
[23:03] Past, present, and future
Connect with Betty here.
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself. In this episode, Dr. Tom Hill discusses the origin of Design Your Exceptional Life.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
What are the books you are reading this year? (01:31)
How many times did you have epiphanies but did not take action? (6:30)
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
Orlando is the President and CEO at KO Delivery & Logistics, a family-operated business that is an Amazon Delivery Service Partner. Prior to that, he was a member of the business development team at Verizon, where he was responsible for driving customer engagement and creating the company’s Smart Communities and Venues Go-To Market strategy, as well as serving stints in the energy services sector and in food facilities and services provided to schools.
How to be authentic leader (17:58)
- I don’t want to walk on a perfect solution
- Thinking of what can we do to make it better
- You have to show your team you care
How to stay motivated (24:40)
- I really enjoyed positive mental attitude
- I’m a big reader
- Quote of a day
Connect with Orlando here.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
Defining “Design Your Exceptional Life” (2:59)
- Most people just go with the flow
- We can actually sit down and plan what’s our life going to be in advance
What is Gcurve: (6:32)
- Importance of proper priorities
- You can’t dream big enough
- Putting your odds in your favor
- Setting goals 18 mos segment -6 years
- Having daily discipline
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself. In this episode, Dr. Tom Hill discusses the origin of Design Your Exceptional Life.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
Where did you hear the quote “put your odds in your favor” (02:31)
Why it is important to be patient (05:17)
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
Dawn is Partner and Principal owner of the The Krause Basler Real Estate Team, powered by Keller Williams Realty. Dawn and her partner, Tom Basler, bring a combined 40 years of real estate experience to their team with the philosophy that “No one succeeds alone”. Their Mission Statement “To develop a lifelong relationship with every client through the highest level of trust, integrity, authenticity, passion and industry knowledge” is one by which they truly live and lead!
Background (04:10)
- Started with counselling work but do not love pay and hours
- I worked in healthcare field: recruitment
- Goes to real estate business due to necessity
My life with my twins before (9:00)
- Had twins where I’m more sad than happy
- My kids were diagnosed with autismx`
- I had pity party and apologizing for the boys
- I decided to switch mindset and use my experience to share my story and learnings
- And many more...
Connect with Dawn at: dkrause@kw.com
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
What is Money? (5:05)
- Money is attracted not pursue
- Money is only an amplifier
- Money is not correlated to happiness
Having an accountability partner (9:49)
- Benefits of having an accountability partner and mastermind groups
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
Touching one life (5:05)
- I have a moral obligation to be the best person I can be
- I have a moral obligation to make positive difference to every lives that I touch
Tips to do to touching one life (12:10)
- Create and post a note on your bathroom
- Choose 1 person and 1 thing you can do for that person
- Practice it daily
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
Katy McKinney is the Founder and Head of School of the Classical Academy de Lafayette (CAL). She founded the school in 2016 to offer an exceptional classical education to grade school through high school students. She is passionate about all things “education” and has found herself in some form of teaching over the last 20 years.
The mission of The Classical Academy de Lafayette is to develop the academic potential of each student through a rigorous, content-rich, classical liberal arts program while cultivating in them a virtuous character.
Start of her school (12:51)
- Started with 9 students
- Homeschooling my kids on classics art program
- I started it because of my love for my country and children
Connect with Katy here.
Young was born in Alberta, Canada, but spent much of his early childhood in New Guinea (West Papua) with his missionary parents and three younger siblings. The family moved back to Canada while Young was in school, and he attended thirteen different schools before graduating. In recent years, Young has been open about the struggles he has dealt with as a TCK (Third Culture Kid) and survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
Young has written multiple books including the best-selling book, The Shack
Young currently lives in Happy Valley, Oregon with his wife.
Connect with Paul here.
Paul Young life story (2:05)
- We carry forward what happened on our family structure and history
- The whole third culture kid has some struggles, and also special windows and huge impact
- How The Shack started as a gift to my kids
Dave Kirby encourages people to be better versions of themselves on the 1 Simple Thing Podcast. Connect with Dave here.
Dave Kirby’s background (2:44)
- All I did was talk when I was a kid
- I grew up in Christian church
Podcasting medium (8:24)
- History of podcast- on-demand radio
- Podcast and website management
- Why podcast is another connecting point for communication on a more personal level
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself. In this episode, Dr. Tom Hill discusses the origin of Design Your Exceptional Life.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
Joe Schumacker is no stranger to achievement, both in and outside the bowling industry. He is also a part of the Board of Directors of SF Junior Achievement, and Prestige Club; Presidency of a Rotary Club, and Youth Services Chair.
His professional life is the combination of three challenging and rewarding steps forward; SpareZ, Community Bonding, and Vistage Group Development.
The problem of today’s generation today (13:58)
- We are in period of generation change
- Biggest change since since 1960
- Communicate quicker but less
Tom’s Hill’s Philosophy (20:48)
- Discussing Tom’s Hill 6 areas
- Joe’s top 3: Spiritual, Intellectual, Relationship
Why is it alright to be alone sometimes (27:34)
- 3 day Solitude
- Knowing thyself
- Stay on his lane
How can focus affect success (31:30)
Connect with Joe here.
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself. In this episode, Dr. Tom Hill discusses the origin of Design Your Exceptional Life.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
Audiotape that changed our lives forever- (03:42)
- I asked my wife to listen to it with me
- Rating our lives in 6 areas
- How support system is super important for the next leap
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself. In this episode, Dr. Tom Hill discusses the origin of Design Your Exceptional Life.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
What can you tell your young self (02:42)
- Have a 3-day solitude- to do nothing
- By doing that you can come back fresher and better
- Why you should do it at least once a year
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
Mark Whitacre is Executive Director of t-factor of Coca Cola Consolidated, Inc. Mark was most recently Chief Operating Officer (COO) of CBMC, an organization that has impacted his life greatly the past two decades. Mark was an executive at CBMC from 2013 to 2020. From 2006 to 2013, he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Science Officer at Cypress Systems, Inc., a California biotechnology company. His undercover work with the FBI during the ADM scandal was the inspiration for the major motion picture, "The Informant," starring Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre.
Story about Mark (04:12)
- I was 32 years old- half my life ago
- I became addicted to the CEO lifestyle
- Great company- but bad leadership
The informant (8:01)
- My wife is the whistleblower, and I’m just the informant
- She convinced me to do the right thing
- I have 2 choices to be arrested or informant (wear a wire)
The Downfall (13:01)
- I was so worried about money as no one will hire me after this
- My personal and professional hits rock bottom- to the point of wanting to end my life
- I was sentenced 8 years in prison instead of 6 months
Rainbow after the Storm (16:05)
- Strangers reached out to me and started to mentors me to turn my life around
- I become Christian on my first year in prison
- Why $20/mo is more rewarding than $20k/mo
Connect with Mark here.
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself. In this episode, Dr. Tom Hill discusses the origin of Design Your Exceptional Life.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
Story about Larry (02:09)
- He wants to be my client as he told me his stories
- He became very successful when he made a 180 degrees choice
What is the difference between Larry and other people (5:01)
- His financial game is good, and he was able to realize the value of it- he was able to help a lot of people as well
- Why is money attracted, not pursued?
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself. In this episode, Dr. Tom Hill discusses the origin of Design Your Exceptional Life.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
The origin of DYEL (02:31)
- One of my staff members showed me a cassette tape of Jim Rohn
- There is so much potential outside my comfortable job
How did other people feel about leaving your job to do coaching (3:52)
- People thought it is crazy and stupid
- But my wife supports me all the way
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
This is an ongoing short and sweet conversation with Dr. Tom Hill wherein I pick the brain of the man himself.
Dr. Tom Hill has spent his life in the pursuit of success. Unlike many who typically measure success by only one metric, most often financially, Dr. Hill measures success across six areas. His experience shows these areas provide the most complete assessment of an individual. Those six areas are Spiritual, Health/Wellness, Relationships, Intellectual, Emotional, and Financial.
What’s your secret on reading books (02:31)
- There are so many books out there and knowledge
- I always believed one idea well executed will change your live forever
- Figure out what you are trying to get out of the book
What is your routine on reading? (4:21)
- I spent 15 mins to figure out if I want to read the whole book
- Why you need to set up a time and stick to it
Connect with Dr. Tom Hill here.
Sharon Lechter is a keynote speaker and as a business strategist and mentor, is an elite entrepreneur. She is a bestselling author, philanthropist, business strategist mentor, licensed CPA for 35 years, and a mother and grandmother.
What was his childhood like? (03:21)
- I grew up in Florida and started working in Georgia wherein only a few women in business
- When I’m 26, I started building my own business as I don’t want to work hard for others
How did you start with financial education (8:28)
- My son had a little bit of credit card debt- I thought I was mad at him but I was mad at myself
- So for the rest of the year, I dedicated myself on financial education and literacy
How did you get involved with Napoleon Hill Foundation (10:47)
- My husband and I have a publishing company and become friends with the CEO of Napoleon Hill Foundation
- I got a call one day- and my project was to bring Napoleon Hill’s message back to the market
Connect with Sharon here.
Giacomo Fallucca has more than 30 years of experience in the food industry, primarily working in the family business. Today he is an owner of and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Palermo’s Pizza – Milwaukee’s hometown frozen pizza manufacturer. The family-owned business was founded in 1964 when Giacomo’s father and mother opened a bakery in Milwaukee’s Third Ward, which evolved into an award-winning restaurant before expanding into a nationally recognized manufacturing company.
What was his childhood like? (03:21)
- My brothers and I are raised in our parents’ business
- My parents have no plan B. They had to make it work
- I grew up in an adult world but still enjoy playing as a child
How did you get through obstacles in business? (16:01)
- They were several obstacles that may take years to resolve from growing the brand, day to day fight, etc.
- They were a lot of times I almost give up, lots ups and down
- But I’m resilient and sticking to my goal-and not giving up contribute to our success
Check out Giacomo here.
Ralf Weiser is a thought and community leader with a passion for creating an organization that employees are drawn to because it offers a purposeful, fun, and safe environment with many career opportunities. He has helped create a work environment that is very attractive to this very talented and gifted part of the workforce
What you currently do (04:30)
- Work with Gen z and Millennial talent
- Create a career pathline for younger talent
The Millennials and Gen Z (13:20)
- Give some time and try to find out what’s working without reinventing the wheel
- Millennials and Gen Z are willing to learn and so structured
How do you hire/maintain talent (20:40)
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Hiring process from job description to interview will reflect your company to Millenials and Gen Z
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Put ownership and encourage self-development
- And many more...
Connect with Ralf here.
Craig Hughes is the Founder & Chairman at Total Transit based in Phoenix, Arizona. Craig Hughes has been honored as the University of Arkansas Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2012 and one of 25 Most Admired CEO’s & Top Level Executives by the Phoenix Business Journal.
What inspires him to be a businessman and early beginnings (02:30)
- My father is a big inspiration
- I started working commission-based rather than salary based
- At age 30, I decided not to work with any boss
How does the journey started (8:10)
- When I purchased it, I don’t know what I’m doing and don’t have any control with the revenue
- I decided to start another company where I have own control
- The company evolved through the years, changing with the times and still growing
- I created a foundation because of Eagle summit
- Why you can’t dream big enough!
- Why you need input from experienced people to achieve more in life
Check out Total Transit here.
Jeff Goins is a writer, speaker, and entrepreneur. He is the best-selling author of five books, including The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve. His award-winning blog Goinswriter.com is visited by millions of people every year. Through his online courses, events, and coaching programs, he helps thousands of writers succeed every year. Jeff lives just outside of Nashville, where he makes the world’s best guacamole.
How does he get started with his journey? (02:27)
- I’ve worked for myself for years but had a feeling of dissatisfaction with my job
- I’m feeling guilty but not really happy with my position
- Why I fear success on another field
Tips on how to look for your real passion (5:30)
- Imagine your funeral, and plan your life background
- Why you need to be in a right train and why is it not too late to restart
- Don’t waste your life chasing things that do not matter to you
Connect with Jeff here.
Michael is the president of Comprehensive Benefits, LLC, a thriving Medicare-benefits agency. Having spent years as a career agent on an insurance agency, Michael brings in sales leadership, marketing, strategic planning, recruitment and customer service..
**What is your motivation for helping seniors? (05:26)**
* I remember my grandma living with us and I watched her go through some of the challenges
- My dear aunt, my mentor growing up, made me fell in love with this population
Where are you now? (14:50)
- After working with Humana, I started a new agency with a partner
- But something is still missing, then Tom came in
- Tom's challenges are game-changer
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Importance of clear priorities
Connect with Michael here.
Brett Blair is the founder and president of Best Life Global, LLC., a coaching and consulting company providing business growth, leadership and executive coaching, training and organizational consulting services. Brett is also founder of Sanford Rose Associates-Brighton, an executive search firm headquartered near Detroit, Michigan. Brett helps executives, business leaders, and teams to improve business performance while achieving balance and growth in their personal and professional lives.
What got you to where you are now? (02:55)
- I’m pretty outgoing and loved people and very driven
- I chose to be an engineer for about my profession, went to the university of Missouri, an engineering degree, got a job. Right out of college and hated it and engineering
- I got my MBA as fast as I could and moved into non-technical roles and then met a girl, got married and spent 20 years in a corporate environment
- I woke up one day with kind of an epiphany that what I'm doing at work is not making a difference.
Is your book based on what you’ve learned from Dr. Tom Hill? (10:14)
- Yes, it's a memoir. The last 10 years of my life, and some part of Dr. Tom Hill as well
- I wrote it to honor Tom
- And as Tom says, I have a moral obligation to make a positive difference in the life of every person.
Connect with John here.
In this special episode, we have John Hall. He is the co-founder and CEO of Influence and Company. They work with clients ranging from fast-growing companies on the Inc 5000 to establish fortune 500 brands. He has a weekly column on Forbes and inc.com and has contributed to sites like the Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, and others.
What was your journey for the last 4 years? (02:46)
- I didn't have a LinkedIn, I didn't know what Twitter, my FB is just getting started
- But right now, we're somewhere between 75 and 100 people on the team, we've got about 60 something full-time, and then we have quite a few contracted out as well.
Tips on someone who is just getting started (06:17)
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The first thing is to start to document exactly where you are and where you want to be, and what are the potential steps that it's going to take to get you where you want to be.
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Then create plan and the next steps
Building a platform the right way (12:58)
- It's not just about reaching a lot; it's reaching the right people consistently.
- Don't worry about the number as much as the quality of the people because I would rather have a platform of 1000 quality people than 20,000, nonqualified
Connect with John here.
Elizabeth Ledoux is the founder of The Transition Strategists, an international boutique consultancy offering transition and succession planning strategies to family and private businesses as well as individuals. She is also a thought leader and sought-after speaker, addressing the topics of business succession planning, navigating transitions for companies and leaders, strategic growth, and the business journey.
Where did this mindset come from? (7:37)
- It has to do with following my intuition and following my spirit
- Making that decision as clear cut, and then you follow your heart too
What drove your transition into narrowing your focus into this niche (16:39)
- I'm constant learner- but really focusing in on what was it that made me truly happy and fulfilling
- Now I love working with successful
Impact of Dr. Tom Hill? (21:55)
- I met Dr. Tom Hill around 8 years ago- and it was amazing
- I love his positivity and his spirit
- I have updated my six year map and I've updated my G curve as well
Connect with Elizabeth here.
For over 25 years, Roger has consulted with leaders from all types of companies, judges in federal courts, university faculty, social workers, teachers, nurses, construction workers, landscapers, and box-makers. He also helps his clients become better version of themselves so they can improve their own lives and the lives of those they serve.
When did you discover your passion? (04:07)
- I did have some skills in the areas of helping people grow and change and so It probably started in high school
-I didn't really know exactly how it would all turn out and how the gifts and skills that I have would eventually be used, but it all kind of muddled together and turned out, okay.
Advises on how to look for passion? (06:14)
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I think they need to look at their passions
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I think lots of people have passions. And they ask that very practical question, can I get paid for this?
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if you can't marry your passion with your income production, then you darn well better reserve a ton of time and energy for it outside of work.
Tom's six areas and habits of success (19:57)
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A lot of people think success is this thing, or that thing, is this all over the map. It's literally taking these six areas, and focusing on the six, and mastering the six.
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One of the practices I see is time and quiet reflection
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Really successful people recognize the importance of good sleep, and of quiet reflection, contemplation, and meditation
Connect with Dr. Roger Hall here.
Welcome to another episode of the podcast featuring Brian Lunt. As the Chief Creative Strategist for Seed Level Creativity Lab, Brian guides clients through a holistic process of building their own, customized user manual for their life or business with access to a comprehensive network of resources. He specializes in helping entrepreneurs and companies identify their primary mission and effectively deliver value to their current and prospective customers.
How do we achieve more in life? (02:15)
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Set the path for them. I've seen doctors being doctors who didn't want to be doctors. And so how did you make that jump? How did you get the courage to say I'm going to go my own path and not in banking.
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Being a fish out of water being in a situation that just did not feel right, even though on the surface, it looked incredible.
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And so I finally said, this is too uncomfortable for me to continue to try and live this life. That appears so wonderful when it's not. I think it takes that moment of discomfort to say, I can't do this anymore.
Mastermind success group (24:36)
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We meet on a regular basis. What a true master mind is meant to do, which is give insights from all those different arenas. And so our business club is built around that group.
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Dr. Hill is great at that building a network Finding that nugget, if you have an idea, you don't know how out there, iyou don't have to know how to do everything. You can really leverage your network, leverage knowledge, leverage, expertise, experience, and to get to the end goal.
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So if you have a great idea, don't get stuck that you have to know everything, bring in, be humble enough. To bring in the help and ask for help and collaborate.
Connect with Brian Lunt here.
Welcome to another episode of the podcast featuring Dr. Gargiula (Dr. G.) who lives in St. Louis, MO with his beautiful wife, Sue, and they are blessed with four wonderful children. He has been coaching clients and patients since 1990. His knowledge has been the result of working with thousands of patients whose underlying cause of their health concerns was the inability to adapt to the stress in their lives.
How do we achieve more in life? (02:15)
- That's kinda my big umbrella is making sure that I'm helping people in that way. And what excites me about that is even though I love being a chiropractor, and again, I plan on being a chiropractor a lot of years, cause it's a wonderful service. Um, I can do other things, but still be fulfilling the same exact purpose in my life.
How do you maintain consistency? (20:36)
- I follow my calendar. So that keeps me doing things consistently that I know are important to me. But then I also have accountability people in my life for the if and when I fall off of though, even those routines, um, or people that just challenged me to make sure I am doing. As much as I could or should do as well, because it's easy to get complacent with where we are and they helped me grow.
Connect with Dr. G on his website here.
In today’s episode, we have DeWayne Ables who is providing a method for growth for this generation of Pioneers who are designing and building America. Guiding leaders with a conviction to utilize their craft and grow an organization that serves a need and intentionally impacts their world.
Over the past 18 years, DeWayne has evolved a unique growth process for design and construction firms that uncovers their unique purpose, empowers leaders and employees to deliver it, and explores the market to find owners who need and desire it.
What is the vision and purpose of DeWayne’s life? (05:15)
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There's a clear vision there, a clear blueprint or a plan and it takes a whole lot of different people with skills, gifts, and talents to make a phenomenal construction effort work.
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DeWayne loves building companies because people spend, 40 to 60% of their life in a company.
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The vision is kind of morphing based on the environment
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Importance of focusing on very heavily on a ten-year perspective of a vision.
What do people need to reach their full potential? (19:36)
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Crucial thing is to help executives with what is to come for the next 10 years versus the last 10 years. Make adjustments as weather conditions on a mountain could be rain or wind or fire.
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Know that things that could be affecting your journey and learning how to identify it, learning how to jump back on track are something that's mission-critical.
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How entrepreneurs need to come back down and actually apply and put it into action, moving from just a vision and a dream to an action, which is probably why a lot of businesses don't make it is that they're missing that piece. A company is only as good as the leader.
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One of the big frustrations in my career and starting the businesses is attract a lot of visionary forward thinking, hard driven entrepreneurs but without a proper foundation.
Relationship between company success and vision? (30:23)
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Focus on the greater need that the company serves and the vision that they have in a great plan to execute and achieve that second reason why we do that, so that you get everyone working in their personal sweet spot
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Once people really start to understand that they really aren't a great fit for a CEO, which most people are not they start to realize where they are good fit. Everything starts to fit into place.
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More importantly, leaders respect one another more because they understand their own weaknesses and the strengths of someone else that, that overcome some of them. That synchronization is where a lot of trusts happens and more respect.
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The Pioneer method is really simple in concept but a little bit more challenging and application. Every human being in every organization is uniquely prepared to serve a need with a certain group of people in the world.
In today’s episode, we have Lawrence Kellogg. In this episode, we talk about how to create the well-balanced quality of life that you desire for yourself.
We also talk about taking calculated risks, getting into the financial industry and its implications, and about religion and the role it plays in our daily lives.
What influenced you to get into the financial industry? (11:15)
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It was just something that Lawrence looked up to. His father was in the lumber business, which was one of the companies my grandfather had started, but he always wanted to do some sort of business from the time I was a little kid,
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Everybody has heard of Tony Robbins and he talks about six human needs and why those human needs is for variety for we need certainty, but we need a level of uncertainty, but he seem to thrive on a little bit of uncertainty because even though he stayed for 13 years, The job though, gave you a lot of challenges because you had a variety of roles.
Explain about your religious belief? (16:18)
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A lot of religious aspects apply to modern times and things that are, that are happening in your life now.
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Ask yourself other than going to church? Do you meditate? Do you often read the Bible. Do you journal, how do you maintain a high spiritual area?
What do people often misunderstand about success? (19:36)
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You shot for the moon and you're not to behold the old saying you shoot for the moon.If you miss you end up with the stars. And that's what that 4 million steps was. It was all about right. You just got going.
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Lawrence has dropped 40 pounds. He's ran a half marathon. He's basically, as he said, shot for the moon. And, you know, even if he doesn't hit the moon, he's the star. So if you're out there now listening, and you're at a point when you are frustrated or. Daunted just take your first step. The journey of a thousand miles begins with that first step.
Welcome to another episode of Design Your Exceptional Life podcast with Alvin Brown here he interviews Paul Young, author of The Shack, Cross Roads, Eve & Lies We Believe About God. Young originally wrote primarily as a way to create unique gifts for his friends, until his wife repeatedly urged him to write something for their six children in order to put down in one place his perspectives on God and on the inner healing Young had experienced as an adult. The resulting manuscript, which later became The Shack, was intended only for his six kids and for a handful of close friends.
The Beginning (03:15)
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Jesus is God, but then there's really God, the father who is the one you really have to deal with
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My dad met my mom into Bible school and get married.
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As a firstborn missionary kid preacher's kid, I guess I'm going to be cleaning toilets and shipping out soldering tips, the rest of my life.
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We need to find someplace to plant our feet
What can we inspire the people around us? (19:36)
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If you can do the magic words and say the center's prayer, Jesus will cover you up with his righteousness so he can get you into heaven, but you're still a piece of crap. What happens next?
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You know, if you have a daughter who begins to see in the mirror, I'm not enough, right. Or I'm damaged goods, or I'll never be enough. What will you do?
-If Jesus is supposed to take the punishment, why isn't he an eternal conscious torment? Right? It's a problem.
- Do no harm, which is the Hippocratic oath. And two to completely restore you back to fullness of life. That's the judge, right?
Dan has 27 years of experience leading, training, and coaching high performing individuals. He has risked everything and started over twice career wise in 1993 as a benefits broker and again in 2005 with his Sandler Training office.
How did your background inspired you to be where you are today? (03:15)
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I was working for a company as a sales person and they decided to shut down a division that I was part of. We spun off and start our own company. I was 29 at the time, and I just thought this is an opportunity to start something on my own.
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I knew these other three people. I thought, you know, now's the time. If it doesn't work out, I can always go back and get a salary job
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I was a client of Sandler when I was a benefit broker. I was working down here in Kansas city and I hired them to help me get better at my craft
What can we learn from success and failures? (09:36)
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I was considering joining a much larger benefits, brokerage like way larger. And I kinda felt like things were negative as I was moving towards it.
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I just look what doors are opening, what doors are closing. Pay attention to the little things and not just look for the one decision.
What can we inspire the people around us? (19:36)
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We gotta give it enough time to make sure that it's working, but we don't want to stay in something that's not working.
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We always think that you have to give something up to get something else; which is not true most times
Connect with Dan:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danstalp/
In today’s episode, we have Ken Blanchard on the show. Organizations are being called upon to reimagine the way they do business and care for their employees. Learn about Blanchard's approach to human-centered leadership development in today's learning environment. One great leader can change a person’s life. But when inspired leaders at all levels, act with courage to connect and engage those around them, an entire business can be transformed.
How did your background inspired you to be where you are today? (05:15)
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Few people have influenced the day-to-day management of people and companies more than Ken Blanchard. A prominent, sought-after author, speaker, and business consultant, Dr. Blanchard is respected for his lifetime of groundbreaking research and thought leadership that has influenced the day-to-day management and leadership of people and companies throughout the world.
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They want me to write a textbook and I've been looking for a good writer. Like you they're good writer. He read my papers, you know? And I said, well, we ought to be a great team. And so he wrote management of organizational behavior.
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I moved to California on a sabbatical leave for one year and I ran into Spencer Johnson. And he wrote children's books. I don't know if you ever remember any of those now, the value tales for kids. If the value of courage, the story of Jackie Robinson, the value of believing in yourself, the story of Helen Keller, and then Margie met him first and I got to a party in hand, carried him over and said, you guys ought to get together and write a children's book for managers
What can we conclude about the ideal leadership? (09:36)
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If men would realize to get their egos out of the way and listen to their wife. Then you're really a team. The only time I've seen people get divorces and all was when he get in the way and they're arguing, who's brighter than the other.
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Those are times when yeah, there was, you know, marginalization of the female. And I mean, now it's now it's makes sense. You know, the bill are changes, but even back then you were a game-changer back then having your wife lead the way. And you know, that wasn't a common thing. No, but I was smart enough to know who was smarter than me.
How the more you don't know, that's just how you grow? (17:23)
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When it comes to talking to our audience about designing life, when we take it from the six areas. Are you consciously have a routine or how does that play a part in your design? Yes. Well, one of the things that when I worked with Norman Vincent Peale, and we wrote a book called the power of ethical management
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Enter your day slowly, take some time. Do you, do you purposely. Section amount of time for connect, reconnection for 20 minutes to half hour.
Derrik Kassebaum is Co-Owner of Cosmos Corporation which is a family owned manufacturing company that makes Health and Wellness products in the pet industry. In addition, the Kassebaum family’s nonprofit organization, GOLI, oversees a couple different endeavors in Guatemala and Haiti.
How did your background inspired you to be where you are today? (05:15)
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Derek started listening to Zig Ziglar's of the world and got education on wheels as opposed to my education behind a desk
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His dad was in the military, actually got an honorable discharge for when he was sick and wanting to do something. So he became a barber and for the next 22 years,
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His dad is a loud praying guy- practically screaming.
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He remembers his mom and dad are just crying and my dad said, I can't do this anymore. God, you either grow this or take it away from me. And it was within about a year that a lady called him and said, Hey, I was in a dog or in a beauty shop getting my hair done. The shampoo that was being used on my hair would work great for dogs. Would you consider making it for dogs? He started a company in 1992. That's really where I got my foothold.
What can we conclude about the ideal leadership? (09:36)
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I have one brother who oversaw finance once oversaw manufacturing, one over marketing, and I of course oversaw the sales. And when we stayed in our lane, there was peace.
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When we tried to get into each other's lane. Then there were, there was turmoil. So I think, I think if you can find your lane in life and go, this is my lane and not to cross over into someone else
How the more you don't know, that's just how you grow? (17:23)
- And at one point I surrendered, let go. And, you know, I realized that ideas and options started to come to me because once you let go, you're letting ideas and, and, and the faith come in, you know, when you're busy, fighting, you're all that energy is expended on the fight and you're not letting the opportunities come to you.
-We need to learn to listen and hear when speaking, you know, if we can just hear the hurts in another or hear the feelings of another person, we can learn, go grow into a new area of our life.
Contact Gifts of Love International: https://www.goli.org
In this episode, we have Joe Clendenny. Joe was a businessman selling shoes who decided to take a missions trip to several countries that year. One of the stops along the way was to the leprosy colonies in India. A mission trip Joe made in September 2002 changed their lives forever.
How did your background inspired you to be where you are today? (05:15)
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Grew up in a little town of 48 people. It was predominantly a farm country and my parents owned a general store. We sold everything that I think the slogan was. We sell everything from soup to nuts. But it was groceries and hardware. We had the lunch counter, packaged liquor for a lot of years, my dad sold appliances, televisions, washing machines, just about everything.
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We spent a lot of time on the Mississippi river, boating and water skiing.
What can we conclude about the ideal leadership? (09:36)
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I had this yearning or desire even fairly young age to try to get into business for myself. It wasn't really sure what that was, but after spending a little over a year in Denver, I got transferred with the gallows down to Colorado Springs to run their distributor ship continental distributor ship, and became acquainted with a franchise at that point in time called the athlete's foot.
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Gone bankrupt in St. Louis and had been taken back by the parent company. And over the next two and a half years, we were able to turn those stores around to the point where they were become very profitable. Stream in that the parent company who I was actually in partnership with. Got acquired. It was a large group out of France that acquired the parent company of the athlete's foot. So I was partners with them.
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They ended up buying me out. I went to work for them for a short period of time. But after having owned my own business or operating it as my own, just wasn't as comfortable working in the larger corporate setting any longer.
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Excellent training, they demanded a lot, but it was phenomenal. Foundational training, from a business standpoint. And when I say took a chance to a risk in getting involved in this business in St.Louis. It wasn't so much all about the location. It was more about how the people were being handled and treated.
How the more you don't know, that's just how you grow? (17:23)
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Being stripped down to nothing, thinking that there was that, that I had blown it all and he opened up this little crack that, um, you know, allowed me to put one foot in front of the other.
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What's the right mix with confidence and what you, the wisdom you have now to know that, you know, you can't do it alone and right. Faith. And how do you what's that? What's that right mix for that. Now, looking back at those early days, um, you know, had confidence
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There's really a purpose also for what this is all for. And so you're leading right into some of Tom's principles where I wanted to touch on Tom has six areas of life. When he delivers his message, you'd like some in this order of importance where spirituality, your health relationships, intellectual, professional, and financial, where back then you were fulfilling a lot of those.
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I would never been a person of prayer or you know reaching out to the Lord. A pastor actually told me what you need to do is start taking your start, taking your problems to the Lord first.
In this episode, we have Nancy Erickson, The Book Professor. Her entire life and all her experiences have led her to this point. She has worked in big business, small businesses, nonprofits, and has been self-employed. She has written books, developed curricula, published other people’s books, and taught university classes. And now she is The Book Professor, your personal book writing coach.
Who Nancy was before the book professor? 02:50)
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My original career was in high tech, and I was a systems engineer for IBM.
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Sometimes you get trapped in a job, or a job category. In this case, the money was so good, how can I leave, but I didn't like it
-I went back to school and I got a master's degree
Do you believe there's a writer and everybody? 07:45)
- I think that everybody has a story
- Well afraid of being vulnerable or afraid of exposing others is also a drawback for some people.
How did Dr. Tom Hill impact your life(20:40)
- I met Tom hill at how long it's gonna be about seven years ago, I think, and I wasn't planning to meet him but I had the good fortune to and it's weird because I was connected on LinkedIn with a person who was connected with Tom.
- Every 18 months, we achieve certain goals that we set goals are achieved in cycles, and you can write out the big hairy audacious goals in six years, three years. 18 months and so on, where are you in 18 months,
Brooke Graham and Shaun Duvall started their company in the end of 2018, and they knew each other for a while, but it was not the appropriate time for them to start a business, until a few years later.
Graham's story starts in the early 2000s when he was introduced to a gentleman that was working in a recruiting firm. At the time, the owner of their business did not want to add another recruiter, but it felt right, so they took the chance, the gentleman ended up being the top performer. The company was then sold, and the recruiter moved on, and then met Shaun, and that became a hinge between the two.
How are you different?
- What it boils down to are the people that are brought to the group - the heart of why they are doing it.
- Their industry is predominantly a very metric driven type industry, transactional, with a lot of moving parts.
- They wanted to make their company different, they did not want it to be about just profitability, but look at what they can offer to provide care and assistance.
- Graham and Duvall enjoy coaching, and preparing.
How has Covid affected your company? How have you adapted to that?
- It had a great impact on Graham and Duvall's company.
- They paused and took the time to reinvest in their employees, and get some projects that they normally did not have time for.
- Graham and Duvall took the time to build their relationship with their employees, and support them during the pandemic.
Shaun, have you both managed to balance the leadership together without being in each other's way and making a healthy balance between you two?
- Duvall says that Graham came in and filled his weak spots, and vice versa.
- The two have taken a fun approach in their business, with different themes on a weekly basis, and tried to focus on giving.
- Each one puts together their strengths, and have managed to push themselves 25% harder.
- Humility plays a role in balance.
Where are you currently focused on developing yourself?
- Duvall says it is difficult for him defining it down to one thing. Everybody has their own upbringing and exposure. For Duvall keeping his spiritual life in check, as well as his health. The balancing of everything is what Duvall believes to be most important.
- Graham says that he is a very passionate individual, and will place most of his attention on one area, while other areas struggle. He has started to see the importance of balance. Graham has been getting better in the area of health, as well as trying to maintain his spiritual life.
Shaun, did you manage to stick to a discipline?
- Duvall says that one thing he has always had instilled in him was the discipline piece.
- His morning quiet time will not happen if he does not do it in the morning.
- Duvall and his family have a gratitude book, and find consistency within exercising to be an important factor in their health and balance.
Brooke, speak to me about if someone beats themselves up and just throws their hands up and can’t figure out what the use is.
- Graham believes that God is a God of Grace, and there are times you fall short, but he considers it to be very important to surround yourself with good people in order to have them encourage him to build himself up in areas he falls short.
- God created everyone unique, and gave us each a unique gift, there is not just one better than the other, it is balance oriented.
Shaun, tell me a bit about coaching and how important it is to you.
- Duvall says they will never stop learning, and coach themselves continuously.
- If they want people to work with them, they have to ensure they provide an environment for financial growth and all those different pieces.
- Duvall says they want to ensure that they continue building, and keep thinking creatively.
So, Brooke, where do you see yourself - both personally and professionally - in 6 years from now?
- Graham believes they will be adding staff and another sales component.
- It may be difficult to see where his business goes during the Covid.
- Graham sees their company growing on a customer base, and wants to see how they can push their company more.
- Graham and Duvall agreed that it was time they focused on investing time in their people and reaching out and connecting.
- Graham does not think he has it all figured out, but says that within the week they will have their projections done through the end of the year.
- Graham is putting God in control of their hearts and will allow Him to lead their direction.
So, Shaun, what does your next 6 years look like?
- Duvall says that they want a staff team above 20, and would like to bring in a sales team.
- Duvall says tehya re looking to expand their clientele.
- There are so many approaches to go with, and Duvall's approach is concentrating more on the people, and to serve.
- This has allowed the doors to be opened to more opportunities.
Success in the pizza business isn’t just a matter of a proprietary sauce and tasty toppings. Innovation is crucial, even in a mature market. In today’s episode, we have Giacomo Fallucca. Giacomo is the CEO and second generation CEO of Palermo's pizza.
How did your background inspired you to be where you are today? (05:15)
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His father was a very passionate individual, how did it affect him in life
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I remember in high school,I was sort of like a freak, cause I didn't really know much about high school traditions. I didn't know what homecoming was. I didn't know much about prom. And I think my friends looked at me as sort of like a freakazoid. He doesn't know anything, you know, but I knew my, I knew my way around a bunch of adults and adults situations. They want to drink beer in the backseat of my car.
What can we do in helping others get what you want? (09:36)
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Social skills, sense of pace, urgency, detail, ingenuity, logic. And so when we look at those main six traits of an individual, there's not a right or wrong, it's called the culture index or the predictive index.
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His classmates always had money in their pocket while he always borrowing the money for lunch.
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Part of my engagement is looking at how I communicate emailing employees personally, checking up on them, talking to them, you know what, with Microsoft teams and the virtual, I just feel like we're more, there's definitely more communication with them.
How the more you don't know, that's just how you grow? (17:23)
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In the front of the pizza business, you're working with multi-billion dollar companies and it's a lot more complicated even to collect money from a retailer
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So I go to school in the morning and work in the afternoon. And so I was taking courses in marketing and sales and it just blew my mind. I'm like, Oh my gosh, the world of frozen pizza just became open to me. And I was really excited and supercharge, my father saw that. And that's why he says I'll help you as much as I can.
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No company grows transcended down. I can pull up a document that talks about my company goals.
In today’s episode, we have Jon Schram. Jon is married to Jill for the last 26 years and a father to Gracie and Cooper, Lucy and Lucy, three kids. He grew up in the woods of upper Michigan received an industrial engineering degree from the University of Michigan. His first real job was with Prince Waterhouse Pricewaterhouse out of Chicago. And later on, he started a company, which is where he's making his impact.
How did your background inspired you to be where you are today? (05:15)
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Arbor's not a very big town, but the school is giant. And then I moved in. So Chicago, and I don't know that I'd actually like New York, but I liked the size of Chicago and the opportunities that were there. And I was actually on the road for the first four years. So with Pricewaterhouse, I was a consultant and got into the Canada computer thing.
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Mostly, it was just a project to project. I was in Boston. I was in Nashville. I was actually back in Detroit for a project. Bryce Waterhouse is really the way I met my wife. I was sent on a two week engagement to Nashville and my version of the story. She picked me up at a bar. The more details to that, uh, we did actually meet in a bar and actually the anniversary of our meeting was yesterday, May 20th, 1993, met her there.
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She moved to Chicago. And then I got sent on a project to Boston and we did the long distance relationship. Wound up moving to Kansas city to raise a family, which is actually where my wife grew up. So that, that is now home. Home is now Kansas city and it's a good mix. It's it's not out in the middle of the woods and it's also not downtown Chicago.
What can we do in helping others get what you want? (09:36)
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Like they would've moved and transferred to another base and it didn't really hit me until I was much older. That, I mean, I can make friends really quickly, but actually hitting deep and sharing kind of the, who I am is hard for me, really hard. Because I did that as a kid and I'm like, well, wait a minute.
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All these people are gone. So there was just a ton of loss that I didn't realize was there until I kind of unpack that later in life. But that, that's a huge part of what shaped me with my childhood.
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I'm not great at picking partners. The third time was the charm though. My second company, we, we picked a logo color that was purple and we had purple pens that write in purple ink. That's really my only good marketing idea I've ever had. So when we started purple guys, it was not called purple guys.
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It was actually called Versant. Uh, but the only thing I knew is I want the logo to be purple so I can keep having my purple pens with purple ink. So this was in 2001. We started the business. I was actually a customer of this business, the business right before this was an it staffing firm. We went and zero to 90 employees and zero to $10 million, right.
How the more you don't know, that's just how you grow? (17:23)
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A couple of companies that have been successful and you make it sound so nonchalant from going to a million.
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Secret sauce is spouse and there's no way I can do what I do without my wife. My wife has a sales person through and through. So are we. Team up. It is a, it's a good combination.
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We grew and we focused on the core skills that we knew were in the highest need in Kansas city. The thing that set us apart when we had the staffing firm was.
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He had almost 90 employees and they were all full-time staff and we kept them all busy all the time because we hired the skillsets that we knew were in the highest demand in the market.
In today’s episode, we have Julius J. Anderson who began his career in the financial services industry 38 years ago as a recruiter for an agency of Home Life of New York. His two years of field experience at Home Life led to a Field Training Coordinator position at the home office in New York City. Through his travels across the country, he shared and learned agency operational techniques that prepared him for a lifetime of management in the financial services industry.
What are the correlation between business building and family life? (05:15)
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Importance in building relationships because relationships can distinguish what you do. Relating to people, whether they're your employees or whether they're your customer, whether they're your vendors. So. It relationships and networking and reaching out to other people.
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Making contacts is really a key point in business. D you have a system or how do you keep track? Do you have a philosophy or you call them or email them
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If you want to stay active and involved in a business in a career, in a profession, even in an industry after you kind of retire and step away from it, you have to continue to involve yourself in what goes on in that business, that industry as long as you come to the table, willing to listen to what's going on in their lives and what their needs are, they're open to have you involved in, in their lives, in that fashion.
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Succession planning for business owners is a difficult area because most of the time, small businesses are contingent upon the founder and passing it to the second generation is challenging. They desperately wanted to pass the business, you aren't born an entrepreneur and you aren't born to financial planner. You're not born into it. You have to actually embrace it.
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It's a matter of be able to communicate between generations in order for them to create a successful. A pattern that will actually lead them into the same kinds of results for the offspring of the father or mother had when they started the business.
What can parents do to enable kids to reach their full potential? (09:36)
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What we're doing is we're bringing people together with a mission and a purpose. And we're guiding that mission and that purpose through the lives of those individuals.
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If you're going to be a successful business owner, you got to embrace the value of those people. And you've got to make them feel exceedingly good. Richard Branson has a thing that says treat your people and train your people makes them realize the value of what you're offering them in the relationship. It's more than just a job they buy into your career and they make you more successful.
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Know that the people I were going to work with who was going to represent my company, what products would I deliver to the public? And could I have confidence? As long as you are delivering something to them that was in their best interests, not necessarily in my best interest. And the thing I found was the more I could deliver to the customer.
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They can buy into what you're doing and, and, and cloak it in integrity. That's the most important thing. That goes a long way. Take lot of advice from her and got professionals around you to cover your weaknesses. And you went with your strengths with your business partner.If you make something better, Steve jobs, he broke down. How much of the Apple phones Steve jobs was paid and for a $400 phone, when it came out, he was making four or five bucks in his valuation, but what was he giving to the world?
How he see the business progressing and advice for business owners? (17:23)
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It's not a zero sum thing. Create creating a product like you did with your insurance business. And rebuilding packages that other agents could sell and becoming a wholesaler. And that whole thing you provided a service and people bought it and everyone benefited, raised all the boats.
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You have to be out there in the marketplace all the time in order for things to happen. For the water to boil. And it was really good advice because you know, one of the hardest parts about being self-employed is a lot of times you, you don't have anybody to go to you pretty well got to figure it out.
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You really have to involve yourself in wide circles because the wider, the circles that you involve yourself in, oftentimes. The more knowledge you'll secure and you'll get that, just that one little crystal of an idea that you can turn around and apply in your business in your practice.
In today’s episode, we have Doug Damon of Damon Industries. Doug is truly a man of vision with an inspiring formula for success for those who dare to think outside the box. Doug has a genuine enthusiasm that is contagious and inspiring. It is further enhanced by a deeply rooted desire to make a profoundly positive impact in the lives of individuals and organizations. He is able to motivate people to exceed their wildest expectations.
What are the advice for young entrepreneurs? (05:15)
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Realize that by setting some goals and then the strategic as longer term. Is it not just ready? fire aim. Well, then that doesn't always work so well. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, but not a whole lot of knowledge of when you're starting out of how business works. Learn how banks view you learn about money and banking. Learn about accounting. So you can read a balance sheet, join outside activities and get a lot of good coaching.
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When it comes to money do the uncomfortable things. Sometimes you have to step back and learn about the other parts. And third is mentoring and coaching. Get a mentor and get a coach. To help you with things you don't know how to do and support you.
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Consider every possible thing in any decision or anything that you're working on in your life. Six areas again are just for our listeners is a spiritual, the health relationship, intellectual professional and financial.
What can we all do to grow in personal development? (09:36)
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Have an interest on a subconscious level in psychology. Which gets you interview your mental, emotional, intellectual part of improving oneself. Mistakes that I've made in business in my personal life always have been really good teachers in the area of human development. We are all each other's teachers and we're all each other's students.
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We talked a lot about valuation over the years and my children. That was one of the aspects that went into the transition of the business. Succession planning and among those questions that family businesses need to ask.
How he see the business progressing and advice for business owners? (17:23)
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Experience in manufacturing beverages for food service industry, a lot of business where the casinos overnight. 90% of that business went away. So how do you survive that? What do you do?
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Getting into some surface cleaners that will help our industry, the restaurant industry, hotel industry, reopen their businesses, the casino everything's going along fairly smoothly. Stayed connected with your people. Building that culture, staying connected with your employees and making sure they're okay.
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Looking at all the government programs to help support the employees protection and so on, get support that way. Then he pivoted started really looking at going on the offense pivoted so he could support his end users, innovated some new products to deal with the current situation.
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Did a lot of studying on what my passions are and I, so many people don't really know what they're passionate and there are ways to seek that out. Have action steps underneath that plan, keep it flexible because you never know when something like COVID-19 you gotta be flexible.
In today’s episode, we have Kim Langen. She has the mission to provide opportunities for youth — in Canada and around the globe — that expand their knowledge and foster their ability to approach difficult problems now, so they will be emboldened to tackle even more significant challenges later. Kim envisions a world where other individuals, companies, and institutions believe as strongly as she does in nurturing today’s problem solvers and choose to work alongside me in creating tomorrow’s leaders.
What gave her the inspiration to start this school for kids? (05:15)
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In she beginning she was teaching high school, math and science at that time. Her husband had just got out of the military and she thought this would be pretty cool. She noticed the kid’s thought pattern was so different than anything else. I
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This lead her to this program in the basement of home, developed it with 35 students at the beginning of the year, ended up being 80 students coming in throughout the week and ended up developing it like they started with grades seven, eight, nine
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Understand that doubters are going to push back at you and you gotta be able to not be afraid to continue to push through the limits. Create a goal that's far beyond your lifetime and your reach because sometimes you set a goal solo and you hit it.
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How kids are in generation, how they're going to come up and make an impact themselves.That strong vision, the collaboration, the teamwork between our mom or dad and her, and just this ability to push the limits.
What can parents do to enable kids to reach their full potential? (09:36)
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There are people all over the world. Who've come through our program who are in leadership positions and making good decisions because they've learned how to reason, their way through things.
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Grit is needed. Discipline is needed, and that's when you have something tough, you feel so much better when you actually succeed.
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What it is like to pick out the nuggets out of things and share it. You may have a listening audience may already heard this loud and clear but it's not an whatever you want. It's not going to be a straight line getting to it. It's going to be challenged.
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There's no limit to the possibilities. Kim is going to launch to go all over the world. They're in Pakistan right now in Uganda there's interest all over the world with what they're doing.
How she see the business progressing and advice for founders? (17:23)
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The leaders of the future, we do have maths need to have spirit of technology so it is crucial to build a community of people who are bringing together highly performing students, not just students, high performing people that are changing the world, as opposed to just looking at all the problems
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It's like Martin Luther King has been quoted to say is, you don't have to see the whole staircase. You just keep taking the next step.
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Another big shift is really understanding what it means to be illiterate, to not be able to read and write and how much it affects the person we think. There are so many lies being told to people who don't know how to read and write. They do not have the freedom to even look up information, to determine even if, if they're watching a video of this person is really telling the truth.
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In North America, we really focused in on that creative thoughts. We have people who want to go out and do different things and we're problem solving all the time. There's problem solving happening in every part of the world is just a different type.
In this episode, we are speaking to Tim Hobbs about science, spirituality, and making a difference in the world that will matter not only to us but for generations to come.
Tim is the founder and CEO of Data Connect Corporation, a company that specializes in data management and automation. He is a passionate individual with a love for people, thus striving to make a change in the world.
Tell us more about your geeky side; where you started, what your passions are, and how you got to where you are now? (03:23)
- Tim says he is a scientist by education, but he has always cared about the big questions and has been a truth seeker for as long as he can remember.
- He studied a lot of different faiths, but in practice, he studied physics and nuclear physics because he loves space and the cosmos. He asks questions like how we fit into the universe and what our purpose is.
- His work and education revolve around questions like why are we here? where are we going? How do we learn more?
- Even in data connection, he strives to have people automate systems so that they have more time in their daily lives for the important things.
Tell us a bit about your upbringing; how was it, and did it have an impact on your current path and this empathy to change the world? (04:32)
- Tim says he was working in a lab one night when he realized that he has the capacity to build gadgets that could be useful to people; he is a smart guy.
- But to him, his ability to build gadgets wasn’t enough. He wanted to create something that could make a real difference. He was looking for something that would make a long term sustainable shift in people’s minds and what their doing for their family, kids, and the community.
- He was fortunate to have been a part of a lot of advancement through the years; one of his employees wrote a book on CD ROM before it was invented, he was part of the internet before the web existed, and he worked with Novell 1.0 on networking computers.
- His career took him into almost every major organization type; hospitals, airports, universities, food industry, construction, and so forth. He was part of automatization from the start. In today’s world, you only get to be a small part of something big, but he had the opportunity to be a big part of the beginning when people were still figuring technology out.
- Today, there’s so much knowledge available that it’s impossible for one person to learn, so people collaborate to share knowledge.
You’re so passionate about the human journey, where did you find that connection? (07:36)
- For him, his heart was in understanding how things work. Once you do that, you get into artificial intelligence.
- He says some of the most passionate scientists in the world are a blast; all of these smart people have a fun side that takes them places they couldn’t go before. He says Einstein, for instance, loved the theatre and wanted to be an actor.
- He says these scientists are focused on why we exist and what’s going on in the universe. They don’t pay attention to making money or making the next quantum computer.
- They look at using what we have to explore deeper and richer. He uses Carl Sagan as an example and says that he wanted to use what we have to explore and explain why we exist, what the possibilities are, where we’re going, and venture of the universe to get there.
What impact has Tom Hill had on you since you met? (10:07)
- He describes Tom Hill as an incredible human being, with a passion for bringing people together and making a difference.
- Tim says Tom does summits to unite people. Not for monetary reasons or advertisement, but to allow people with the same passion for making a difference to get to know each other.
- Tom is always encouraging people to write a book so they can describe themselves and their place in the world.
- He says the beautiful thing about Tom is not only the fact that he makes such a big difference himself, but that he puts other people that make a difference together.
Looking at the six areas of life; spiritual, health, relationships, intellectual, professional, and financial, which area are you working on right now? (11:17)
- Tim says there’s the personal area that he’s been working on with Emergent Wellness. He has been focused on integrating spirituality with life and purpose.
- He has a 1000 year plan, where he is trying to create a world for future generations, where good and positive actions will become the new normal for the future of humanity.
- His real love lies with doing something to benefit future generations. The work they’re doing is concentrating on an industry that is in need of a big change. People need to realize who they are and what they can do with their health and overall wellbeing.
- Everyone has a vision of who they could be if given the safety to play with that concept. How do you help people become the best version of themselves by looking at their ambitions and abilities? Furthermore, what are we providing in terms of coaches and providers to make that possible?
In today’s episode of Design Your Exceptional Life, we have Terry Lammers as our guest. We look into Terry’s journey from starting out with nothing and being able to make such a massive impact today.
Terry is a certified valuation analyst and was the owner of Tri-County Petroleum for 20 years. After selling the company, he went on to become the vice president of a commercial bank.
Terry, introduce yourself and tell us about your journey (01:53)
- Terry grew up in a small town in Illinois. His family owned a wholesale fuel and lubricants business, along with a grocery store and a gas station. The fuel business was their main business though.
- He worked away from the company but came back in 1991 when the company was in rough shape. They had the opportunity to buy another small oil company, at this time Terry started Tri-County Petroleum, and he bought the oil company from his parents.
- They merged the oil company with his dad’s company, and that was the beginning of a 20-year journey. Throughout the 20 years, they bought 11 more companies and grew the business from $750 000 a year in sales to 42 Million by the time it was sold in 2010.
- He was at home for three months and then did some commercial banking for three and a half years. In 2014 he wanted to become an entrepreneur again and started Innovative Business Advisors along with Steve Denny.
- IBA helps people buy and sell companies, they do business valuation as well as coaching and consulting. They’ve also involved in the financial aspects of the business; bankability, and the financial things that can affect your business.
You walked into your parents struggling business; how did you save them, where did you get the insight? (06:12)
- Terry says it was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. He started out with no salary. Before he went back to his parents he was working in the credit card division of a mercantile bank, but the suit and tie were not his passion.
- His parents were struggling and he knew he had to come back. They knew about the acquisition before he came back, and he knew buying the oil company would be a turning point.
- His parents were hard workers, while his father was good at running the company, Terry was better with the finances. With his father’s love for manual labor and his financial insight, they merged together magnificently.
- In the beginning, they had to do everything themselves, but by the time the company was sold in 2010, they were covering 14 counties in Illinois with three operations managers and a full-time office manager.
What are the three key things to keep in mind when starting a new business? (11:19)
- Terry explains that the basis of his book is you don’t know what you don’t know. And knowing what he knows now, he would never start a business from scratch again. He advises entrepreneurs to buy an existing business and build it up.
- The second is you need to know how to work with cash flow, and you need to know your bankability. There’s a difference between net income and cash flow, and not understanding how your cash flow works will drown even a profitable business.
- You need to have an exit plan from day one. You need to determine what your goal is. In his case, he knew he wanted to grow the business through acquisitions so that he could sell it.
- So to recap, buying a company with existing cash flow is much easier, understand your cash flow and have an exit strategy from the get-go.
When you met Dr. Hill, which area of his six areas of life were you at that was most beneficial for you? (16:19)
- Terry says his philosophies are very much like those of Tom Hill.
- One of the things he values is the Hills Angels group, which is a great network where you can reach out and share stories.
- What he loves about Tom Hill is that he has a humble canning ability to approach anyone, and his love for people; the fact that he’ll go up to a random person and give them a $100 bill.
- Terry tries to follow that example. Not because of the recognition, but because he wants to make a difference in someone’s life.
What impact are you trying to make, what’s your legacy? (20:28)
- Terry says he and his wife have discussed this specific topic, and he wants to be known as someone who did a lot of good in the world, someone who made an impact and had a lot of fun.
- He doesn’t want the traditional funeral when he passes on, but he wants his wife to rent a hall and have a party.
- He enjoys helping people. He has been very fortunate to be able to influence a lot of things such as the community foundation, hospital board, and the fire department.
- He has been blessed with a great family, a thriving career and the ability to change someone’s life for the better.
In today’s episode, Chris Coleman shares his life story. He provides us with some insight into the factors that contributed to his success, and how faith is the glue that holds his life together.
Chris is a franchise consultant and owner of FranNet. His goal is to help individuals evaluate their career choices and determine whether self-employment is a viable option.
What’s your history, where did you start and where are you now? (01:55)
- Chris says he grew up in an entrepreneurial household, where hard work and determination was key.
- Hard work became part of his lifestyle at a very young age, but career-wise, the risk-taking only sunk in much later.
- He went through college and got a criminal justice degree; he was ready to enroll in the police academy. However, his brother approached him about an automotive startup company that was looking for people to start at the bottom and work their way up.
- His plan was to do it for a year and see how it plays out. He learned a process called paintless dent repair and went on to fixing cars himself.
- He did that for the first 13 years of his career, and only then decided to do something else.
What was it about that time that pulled you in a different direction? (06:14)
- Chris explains that the change was very necessary; he was in a very physically demanding job and he reached a point where he had three surgeries done on his right arm.
- He tried working with his left arm, but it wasn’t working and it resulted in poor productivity. At the time, they had small children and he assured his wife that he would take care of finances if she wanted to stay home and raise the kids.
- His father had a franchise consulting business, and even though he knew nothing about business, he gave it a shot. He knew he had to make a plan to take care of his family.
- He grabbed the opportunity with both hands; he fixed cars in the mornings and put on his suit in the afternoons.
- Although he knew nothing about business, he worked his way up as a consultant and ended up being the chairperson of the advisory council for the company.
What would you say to someone dealing with challenges and uncertainty post-COVID-19? (09:37)
- Chris explains that everyone has a different mindset and a different set of skills.
- To ease the adaption process, you have to have a positive attitude.
- There is a lot of disruption and uncertainty going on in the world at the moment. Don’t take advantage of the situation but recognize that there are also opportunities in the crisis.
- You have to be willing to put yourself out there, to take advantage of the arising opportunities; don’t get caught up in the negativity.
Where are you now with the different projects you’re working on? (12:12)
- Chris says there’s been another major shift in his life in the past 13 to 14 months. These shifts seem to happen every 11 years.
- Through a business connection, Chris met up with Tom Hill who gave him a book to read and advised him for probably the fourth time that he needed to go on a solitude journey.
- He went all-in; fasting, no people, no electronics. Chris was at a point in his life where he was experiencing a lot of friction. He took some time alone, read his Bible and prayed a lot.
- During his reflection, he noticed the beauty of nature, and how every force/element just takes it’s course effortlessly. At this point, he realized that he was not where he was supposed to be. Within 6 weeks he sold his business.
- Even though he doesn’t know where he will be a year from now, he is more financially secure and at peace than he has ever been before.
When it comes to Tom’s six areas of life, what are you working on right now? (19:30)
- Chris says one of the six areas is relationships, and for the past 7 years he has been working on his faith and his relationship with God. He spends a lot of time praying, which has been the glue holding it all together.
- The second thing is health, which he jokingly adds has not been at the top of his list of priorities.
- Back to relationships, he has been focusing a lot on professional relationships, because he has been growing a business, then sold the business, and is now waiting to see what happens next.
- He says he likes to have safety and stability, but he is in a season in his life where he doesn’t have a lot of it. However, opportunities are abundant.
In today’s episode, I have Mary Meyer as my guest. We talk about the turning points in her life, and what paved the way to her becoming the inspirational woman she is today.
Mary is a loving mother of four, and the author of I Meant It for Good, A Memoir of Dreaming, Visualizing and Becoming My Authentic Self.
What was the turning point in your life, what made you want to restart? (02:36)
- Mary says one of the key factors that played a role in her transformation, is the divorce she went through in her mid 40’s. She was determined to let it be a turning point and realized she had never gone to college.
- She was studying part-time and working full time. It was a struggle, but she knew she was working towards something.
- After graduating from college, she started her own business. Around this time, she met Dr. Tom Hill, who helped her restore balance in her life and work on her spiritual wellness.
- She was diagnosed with cancer a few years later. But after working through her emotions, she decided this was just another journey she had to get through.
I also want to talk to you about the ability to get proper help. Did your support system play a part in your ability to move forward? 07:17
- She explains that for her, going back to college and getting educated was a big part of her recovery.
- She grew up in an era where self-help books didn’t exist, and seeing a therapist was reserved for those with “real problems”.
- Seeing a therapist helped her find herself, and helped her realize that it’s okay to question things.
- In order to move forward, you have to plan ahead and visualize your future; you will never be able to take baby steps if you don’t know where you’re going.
- It’s essential to have a passion, something that drives you. Everyone’s vision will be different, but it’s what will pull you forward on days where you want to give up.
Where were you in life when you were diagnosed with cancer? 09:52
- Mary says three years ago, she fell ill with bronchitis twice in one year, but much worse than usual. She went to numerous doctors, but no one could give her a diagnosis. She says after two months she became very ill, but doctors started believing it was all in her head.
- She then consulted a new doctor, who ordered blood work. The doctor contacted her the very next day and told her over the phone that she has cancer, and she needed to get to the emergency room right away.
- Mary says she went through all the emotions - anger, denial, fear.
- She made an appointment with a doctor who did alternative treatments. She listened to the voice in her head and decided she wasn’t going to stay angry. Anger would mean surrendering, and she was not ready to give up.
- Mary believes in the power of prayer. But she knew prayer wasn’t enough; she had to pray and believe that she would be healed.
How does someone like you, who is used to taking action, just surrender to faith? 12:30
- Mary says she chose to believe she was going to be healed.
- She knew there was also a chance she would not survive, and she had to be okay with that.
- She surrendered to the situation and gave it to God. but she knew she couldn’t just give it to God and expect him to do everything.
- She would sometimes just sit and visualize being healed; mostly because she was too sick to do anything else. But she was okay with that, and she knew it was where she needed to be.
Let’s dive into your book; what will readers get from reading it? 16:59
- Mary says the book was about her journey through illness and how she fell through the cracks of the medical community; documenting what she was going through.
- The writing was therapeutic for her, so she started writing about her childhood and raising her own children, and about the time she met Tom Hill.
- The book has exercises at the end of each chapter, most from which she got from Dr. Hill.
- These exercises are meant to help you in setting your goals; learning to know yourself and becoming your authentic self.
- The business world has lead people to believe that they need to be something or someone else in order to succeed, but in the end, you need to be who you are; when we are free enough to understand and implement that, that’s when the magic happens.
In today’s episode, we have Jeffrey Hartman as a guest. We are looking into key components in life; gratitude and discipline. Jeffrey tells us about their work in Honduras and the change they are trying to make.
Jeffrey is the president and board member of the CareLink foundation, which is a faith-based non-profit organization. CareLink is aimed at helping individuals in third world countries start their businesses, as well as providing free water filters to eliminate illnesses.
Are you a professional geek? (1:45)
- Jeffrey jokingly answers that he is not a geek by nature, but he has been smart enough to know that he needs to surround himself with a lot of smart geeks.
- He knew, as the owner of a tech company, that he needed to surround himself with a lot of smart people who could control the bits and the bytes, and he could oversee the whole operation.
- He created a digital forensic firm about 20 years ago. He spent the early years of his career working for a big tech company.
- Around the year 2000, he decided to start his own digital forensics firm. He sold the company to his business partner around a year ago and has since been in retirement.
How did you get connected with Bob Buford and Halftime? (4:12)
- Jeffrey says Halftime was recommended to him several years ago, and he knew right away that it was a book filled with knowledge.
- The book describes the first half of your life as the part where you essentially live for profit.
- The second part of Halftime is about the significance of your life. Jeffrey says he wasn’t ready for that chapter, so he put the book away, and filed it in his brain.
- When he sold his business, he dusted the book off and has been trying to live by the principles ever since. These principles include using your gifts and refocusing your energy and resources to do something of significance; something that matters.
You’re making a difference with water filter distribution, explain that? (6:18)
- Jeffrey explains that there are two components to their work; the first being microfinance lending. This entails going into third world countries and providing small business loans to individuals who want to start up a small business.
- The idea around this notion is to provide hard-working individuals with the training and capital to start a small business, allowing them to make a difference in their communities.
- The second component is distributing free water filters to families in countries like Honduras where water is such a big problem.
- 29% of children in Honduras suffer from waterborne illnesses, so they provide free water filters to help reduce human suffering and improve the health of the individuals living in these conditions.
Do you find that your past made an impact on your current need to make a change? (10:36)
- Jeffrey says he believes that his past made a big difference. One of the primary drivers in his life is gratitude.
- He had a good foundation in life. He grew up in a blue-collar home; his parents were poor, but he didn’t know it, which is the way he normally describes it to people.
- He grew up with a feeling of gratitude, which allowed him to become more successful in the business world.
- Along with his success and the capital that came from the success, it was also his Christian faith that motivated him to help those who aren’t as blessed as he is.
How do you make gratitude a key part of your life and the way you operate? (11:53)
- Jeffrey says gratitude is not to be taken lightly; you have to believe that it is an essential component of your life and how you live it.
- Gratitude is the fuel that allows your engine to run, and he has been determined to make it part of his life daily.
- Just as oral hygiene is essential for your overall health, gratitude is essential for your overall mental health.
- He starts every single day by taking 45 minutes to pray, meditate and reflect on the things he has to be grateful for. Regardless of whether he is on vacation, traveling or at home, these 45 minutes have become a ritual.
- This is the only way to move forward in life with any success and with discipline.