EntreLeadership - #331: How to Accomplish Impossible Goals with Art Williams

Episode Date: July 15, 2019

If you’ve ever dared to dream an impossible dream, A.L. Williams & Associates founder Art Williams says you’re one step closer to achieving greatness. Straight from our EntreLeadership Summit 2019 stage, the high-school football coach turned self-made billionaire shares his personal success story that defies every odd out there. Art also offers his valuable insight on the three things all people everywhere want. You’ll laugh, you’ll probably cry (we did!), and if this one doesn’t fire you up, check your pulse.   entreleadership.com/podcast Art Williams' website Find out more about EntreLeadership Summit 2020 Free download: How to Create Core Values We want your opinion! Review this episode.   Want expert help with your business question? Call 844-944-1070 and leave a message or send an email to [e-mail]. You could be featured on a future podcast episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost as a way of life to almost everybody, but the winners, they do it. They do it and do it and do it until the job gets done. Helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is Entree Leadership. Now here's your host, Ken Coleman. Coming to you from the Music City, this is the broadcast of leaders by leaders for leaders. Thank you so much for joining the conversation. Our feature content this episode is none other than the legendary Art Williams.

Now, he was a special guest at the Entree Leadership Summit in 2019. Tell you a little bit more about him. If that's a new name to you, boy, oh, boy, are you going to love this introduction? And then we've got a great Entree Leadership tool for you that we're going to talk to you about how to create core values. And we're not talking about company core values. We've had a lot to say about that. What about your personal core values? This is really important stuff.

Alex Judd, one of our Entree leadership coaches, is going to join me for that. So, hey, let's get to this. Art Williams, if you've not heard the name, he's the founder of A.L. Williams and associates. And he is somebody who had tremendous impact and influence on Dave Ramsey when Dave was young. In fact, Dave has been very, very open and honest that it was Art Williams that led to a massive spiritual conversion for Dave, and has had tremendous impact on Dave for a long time. So what a treat it was for Dave to invite Art to be a part of our signature event, the Entry Leadership Summit. And let me tell you something, folks.

As somebody who sat in the audience and watched alongside the rest of our attendees, he lit the stage on fire. And so we thought, well, wait a second. Let's bring you this special moment in Entry leadership history. And this is going to fire your soul up. So, hey, if you're not ready to learn and you're not ready to be fired up, you might want to press pause and come back to this. when you're ready to get turned on fire. Here is R. Williams. I'm going to talk to you about how to change your life

and how to do something absolutely incredible in business. I mean, I was a football coach, graduated in college with a PE degree. The kind of person's not supposed to make it, you know, in business. And I found out a lot of things about winning in business, the real important things to winning in business. You know, a lot of these people, that write books that ain't ever done nothing, but they try to tell you how to do it.

That's a pile of crap. You know, going to college and listen to these professors that ain't ever done nothing, tell you how to build a business, a pile of crap, you know. Only when you've done it like Dave Ramsey, do you know the little things, the real small things that are difference between winning big and just being average and ordinary. And I'm going to cover with you today the real small things and important things that you need to do to win big in business. So you know what?

I believe nobody wants a boss, but everybody needs a coach. Bosses intimidate. Coaches motivate. Bosses look for your weakness. Coaches look for your strengths. Bosses criticize you. Coaches praise you. The number one thing that we had in A.O. Williams was, I want to be somebody.

I wanted to be somebody so bad it just ate me up inside. It was in my bones. It was in my blood. It was in my heart. I want to be somebody. Those five little words were important to those A.O. Williams people. It hit a nerve for anybody that wanted to make a difference with their life. There was a goodness in A.O. Williams.

There was a goodness that drew the right kind of people to us. We believed you had a responsibility to do what's right. We believe your reputation was everything. If you don't do what's right, you might get by for one day, one week, one month, one year, but sooner or later, they're going to smell you out. A.O. Williams believed that character was more important than education. We believe that morals was more important than status. We cared more about determination than ability. People who joined A.O. Williams saw that we were built for people that it grew up tough, for people that had a number of disappointment.

in their life for people that wanted their life to be special. I hate these companies and these universities. They tried to program people like me to believe that it's the winners of the pretty people. These people that have the perfect bodies, you know, they're six feet two, 185 pounds, slim, three-piece suits, wingtilted shoes, power ties, beautiful teeth, beautiful smile, great tenants players. That's a bunch of crowd. They have these perfect background.

you know, these people put this out there that if you're born on the right side of the tracks, if you're born rich, you're the privilege class. You're supposed to go to college. You're supposed to get all the good jobs. If you're born from a poor, average, ordinary background like me, that you must give up all your big dreams and all your big ambitions. If you have a high IQ, they rule you're brilliant. If you have an average IQ like me, they say you're supposed to drive a truck or be a janitor. Will Bull. People are judged by how high they, they're going to. score on aptitude test, personality test, achievement test, and crap like that. Ain't nobody ever designed a test or will they design a test that can measure the heart of a champion.

You know what? I believe people want three things. Really deep in their heart, they want three things. They want to be their own boss. They want to be their own boss. Number two, they want to work at something they love, something they believe in, something they're passionate. about. And number three, they want to build total financial independence for them and their families where nobody can put their thumb on you and squeeze you and use you. Well, you can tell everybody

out there to take a flying leap if you want to. And A.O. Williams provided for its people those three things. February 10, 1977, A.O. Williams was born just a peanut. 85 people in one city and one state. the enemy was 250,000 peoples in every city and every state. Our weapon was by term and invest the difference in an IRA. Our motto is a company where salespeople are king. See, folks, I really believe the first step to winning is you've got to have impossible goals, big goals. Listen to these goals we had at A.O. Williams, where we're just a peanut, 85 of us in one city, one state, fighting the largest, most powerful industry in the world.

Our number one goal was to change the largest industry in the world and destroy cash value life insurance. That's impossible. Can you imagine a little peanut, 85 people, just like this first two rows right here, talking about changing the largest, most powerful industry in the world. Number two, we wanted to become number one. There were 2,000 companies in that industry, and we wanted to beat Prudential. 40,000 agents versus our 85.

1977 we were born. They were born in 1864. Number three, our goal was to see our families become financially independent. Now, folks, can you imagine I started off making $4,600 a year. My last year, seventh year in coaching football in Georgia, I was paid $10,700 as head coach and athletic director. Can you imagine how impossible that goal seemed to me to become financial. independent to change my family financial future for generations. Folks, when we founded

A.O. Williams in 1977, I told every new recruit in our company for two years, I spoke at every meeting like this for two years in A.O. Williams. And I said, I want you to know if you're going join A.O. Williams, I want you to understand up front going in this thing, that the odds are like this of us surviving. I'm not talking about beating prudential. I'm not talking about changing in industry. I'm not talking about becoming financially independent. I'm talking about the odds are like this of us surviving. But if you ask me, said, art, be honest with me. Tell me how you really feel. I got to tell you, I feel it. I feel it. I feel it in here. I think we're going to do it. And I think it's going to be big. You know, being somebody is seizing the moment. Winston Churchill

said it best. He said there comes a special moment. in everyone's life, a moment for which that person was born, that special opportunity when he seizes it will fulfill his mission, a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment he finds greatness. It is his finest hour. In 1977, the life insurance industry owns 60% of the assets in the United States. They own the politicians and they own the regulators. They had been in business over 100 years. They did everything they could possibly do, to put A.L. Williams out of business. But the industry had to defend things that were indefensible. They had to defend selling a fraud. They sold a cash value life insurance product, whether it was

called Whole Life or Universal Life or any of that stuff out there. There were two benefits locked together in one contract, insurance and savings in one contract. You paid for two things, but you only got one. If you died, your family got the life insurance benefits, but they kept your savings. If you wanted your savings you had to surrender your life insurance. A.L. Williams separated that, split funding, we called it, where you bought an insurance, cheap term insurance from an insurance company, and you invested with an investment company. You paid for two things, and you got both things. Next, they had to defend you lose your savings if you die. Let me ask you this. What kind of low-life scum-sucking dog could create a product like that, a savings program you lose if you die?

They had to defend Perditchell's average size benefit, like in my family, $4,500. Was there an average death benefit? Just a burial policy. The industry's average death benefit was $6,000. Just a burial policy. They had to defend that 90% of their agents, 90% of those scum-sucking dogs own term insurance on their own life,

they bought the inexpensive stuff and sold trash value to their clients. Who could do something like that? See, winning in business, in my opinion, is accomplishing your goals. We had impossible goals. But we did it. We did it. Number one, we destroyed trash value. Now, these are the industry numbers.

These are not A.O. Williams made up numbers. From 1977, we were born to 2003. The life insurance industry lost 41 million policies. 41 million policies. In 1977, 90% of all life insurance sold in these United States was cash value life insurance, only 10% term. In 2003, 90% of all life insurance sold was termed and only 10% cash value. Ain't that something? See, A.O. Williams did that.

A.O. Williams did that. Think about this. In 1977, there were 2,000 life insurance companies in 2003, only 6,000. 69 companies sold one new policy. Only 39 life insurance companies recruited one new agent. Ain't that something? Ain't that something? Think about this.

In 10 years, A.O. Williams grew from 85 people in one city and one state to 225,000 people in every city and every state. The life insurance industry went from 250,000 people to 170,000 people, lost 80,000 people. Ain't that something? Ain't that dad gum something? Now, folks, this is impossible. This is impossible. But you can still do those things today. But you've got to do the important things.

And I'm fixing to talk about it in just a minute. Our second goal was to beat Prudential, who had been number one forever. But in 1989, A.O. Williams did $92 billion in business. We beat number two, Prudential, number three, New York Life, and number four, metropolitan combined. Ain't that something? Hey, ain't that something? See, our number three goal, our number three goal seemed impossible for our families, just a bunch of coaches and people that had played on a team to build financial independence

for their families, and we did it big time. In 13 years, we produced 140 millionaires. Now, back in the 70s, a million dollars were worth something. We had more $100,000 earners today, that's $400,000 than any company in our era. Think about this. In 1988, of the 100 largest companies, 34 were A.O. Williams' team. Number five, Bob Bucon's team did $26.7 billion. Number six, Prudential, did $26.5 billion.

One of our teams beat Prudential. Ain't that something? Ain't that something? See, folks, you've got to set impossible goals. You've got to set impossible goals. You've got to dream big. You got to go out there and do impossible things. Another key to A.O. William's success is we gave our people ownership.

If some group of people had the courage to come together and go out there and knock their butt off, you can do, it's just unbelievable what you can do. We gave our people ownership. We gave our people a chance to build their own company within a company. And when people have ownership, they love it more. They protect it more. They try harder. Let me give you a couple of examples. Bob Turley died a few years ago. He had built an army of 16,000 people in 36 states in Canada. He had a payroll of $145 million a year, $1.4 billion over 10 years, and he left that to his son. He changed his family for generations. Bob Saffert, another great leader in A.O. Williams, had an army of 19,000 people operating in 38 states plus Canada, had an annual cash flow. of $110 million, $10 years, $1.1 billion,

and left that to his two sons. And we had dozens more examples like that. See, I believe to win in the free enterprise system, folks, you've got to do two things. Number one, you've got to have an edge. You've got to have an edge. You've got to have something that you're better than other people that you're competing against are.

You've got to have a better product at a better price and a better delivery system. Now, how do you get that edge? You get that edge by studying the competition. Like if I was going after Starbucks, I know everything about them. I know them from A to Z. And I guarantee you, if you go look at a company like Starbucks that's got over 3,000 coffee crap places, you know, and that kind of stuff, you can find all kind of things that they're overblooded on.

They got fat and lazy and sorry, right? But you've got to take this stuff serious to get an edge. You've got to look at the competition. And you've got to analyze them and study. I studied Prudential. I studied New York Life. I studied metropolitan like, you can't believe. And I found out their weakness.

It was just like when I was a football coach and we were playing somebody on Friday night. I'd look at those game films. And I'd study those game films and I'd find the weakness of the opponent. So we studied the game films. And we looked at the life insurance industry. The largest industry in the United States, they owned 60% of the assets in the United States. They looked so big. Prodential looks so big. They look so powerful. They look so unbeatable. But then when I got in there and I looked at them, I found out there were nothing but a paper tiger. I found out the big life insurance companies is like the federal government. They're fat, lazy, slow, and inefficient. Everything the federal government touches turns to crowd. And let me give you, let me give you two examples. FedEx. They have better service and they make a price.

The post office run by the federal government, poor service, and they lose money. The competition spent millions and millions of dollars on things we didn't think were important. As an example, in advertising, Prudential spent $68.50 per policy. A.O. Williams spent $4. In office expenses, Prudential spent $1,383 per policy. A.O. Williams spent $149 per policy. equitable took out a full-page ad in USA today and said they spent $220,000 per agent getting them ready to sell life insurance. A.O. Williams spent zero. Our part-timers paid their own $100

licensing fee. See, A.O. Williams took all the money we saved by being more efficient, and we built a better product for the consumer, and we built more commissions for our sales force. Next, to get that edge, we had to simplify the complicated. When you get as big as Starbucks as an example, it's just like a bureaucracy. It just gets out of control. The life insurance industry was a million times bigger than Starbucks, and we had to find a way to simplify how complicated they made it. Let me give you an example. This is Prudential's rate book.

If you look at us 176 pages, it's an inch thick. This is what they got three series of products. They got the Gibraltar series. Modified Life 3, Modified Life 5, Modified Life 5, Modified Life 25, 10 played light up at 85. Economomatic Whole Life, Life paid up at 90, life paid up at 85, life paid up at 65, 20-year pay life, 10-year pay life, co-life, joint whole life. Now, if you don't like any of those, they got the State Series. They got the ProuCo Series. is our rate book is one page thick.

We sell our best product that we own on our own life every time. You've got to get an edge. You've got to simplify the complicated. The next thing we had to do is we had to build a better delivery system. C.O. Williams was the first company that built with part timers. We wanted to build an army of part timers and go to the kitchen table and educate the consumer. Now A.O. Williams had that edge. Now the second thing you have to do once you study the competition and get the edge is you've got to compete better than the competition. In the free enterprise system, you've got to get up early and you've got to compete hard or you're going to get your butt knocked off. And to compete, your attitude is everything. I believe the single most important thing you develop in your lifetime is a positive attitude. The glass has always got to be half full. You've got to expect. your people to be positive. You can't ever let your meetings turn into a gripe session.

Positive attitude is everything there is, plus everything there is, plus everything there is. Positive people are like a dadgum magnet. People are drawn to them like bees to honey. Folks, I believe you can overcome every problem in business. You can overcome financial problems, sales problems, health problems, business problem, recruiting problems, personal problems. you can overcome everything and still be all you want to be in business. But you can't ever overcome an attitude problem. The moment you give up on you, you're dead as a doorknail. Now, if you get this positive attitude, you can't walk around like a dead butt.

You've got to show it. You've got to walk faster. You've got to talk faster. You've got to show your excitement about what you are doing. See, I believe 90 plus percent of winning is always being excited. Stamp this in your brain. People won't follow or believe in a negative, dull, disillusion, frustrated, dadgum, crybaby.

The greatest definition of a winner I ever heard. This person said almost everybody can stay excited for two or three months. A few people can stay excited for two or three years. But a winner will stay excited forever. People want to follow a leader that's positive, that's aggressive, That's enthusiastic. This tough. Another principle I believe in. Winners are disciplined. You've got to have standards in your life. You've got to have rules you live by. Discipline, the definition, is doing what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it. I had one rule on my football team, and that was you're going to come to practice every day. Unless your butt was in the hospital, hooked up to life support, your butt was going to be at practice. And one day, you're going to, you're going to be at practice.

And one day we were fixing to start practice, and I had my starting right guard, Johnny Campbell, walking out to practice in his blue jeans and his t-shirt. And I said, Campbell, if you quit, have you quit? He said, no, coach, a beastung me in my eye, my right eyes closed, or my head swollen up. I can't get the helmet on my head. And I said, Campbell, if you want to play on this football team, you get your butt back in the locker room, you fit that uniform on, you find a way to squeeze that helmet over your head. and you get your butt out here to practice.

And just think, Campbell, if you can practice with one eye, just think how great you're going to play Friday night with both eyes. See, you know what? You know what? To win big, you've got to have a big dream. You've got to have a big vision. I had the privilege of coaching in high school, and I believe for most men and women,

their high school years were their peak years to dream and be excited. I'd have these guys and gals come in the ninth grade, and their eyes were as big as a baseball. They'd start driving or dating or playing before hundreds of thousands of people. They were in beauty contest on debate teams. They felt like life was a bowl of cherries, that they were put on this earth to conquer the world or really be somebody to make a difference. And then they graduate. And they get dumped out in the big, bad world, and they get married to have a few kids.

They change jobs a few times. And one day, this vibrant, turned on, pumped up human being becomes a shell of a man, and his foot hits the floor. And he's developed an attitude that life's dealt me a bad hand. I can't do it. I just got to give up on all my dreams. See at A.O. Williams, we didn't sell life insurance. It was so, so much bigger than that.

We gave a different kind of person a chance to dream again, a chance to hope again. a chance to get excited again. See, folks, it's your responsibility as a leader to reach inside your people's heart, to grab your people's heart, and to help that person get excited again, to believe in themselves again. I believe you win with your heart, not your head. Coach Lombardi, the great coach of the Green Bay Packers, who was speaking at his last speaking engagement in Washington, D.C.,

before he died of cancer to a group of top executives, And early in his speech, he said, I'm fixed to give you the secret to winning in business. And there was a hush came over the room. You could hear a pin drop. And he said, the secret to winning in football and the secret to winning in business is heart power. You capture the person's heart. You capture the person. See, folks, the secret is passion.

Your passion's your heart. Your passion's your mind. Your passion's your soul. winning big in business has got to be more than just making money. You've got to have a passion. And to get a passion, you've got to love it. Mickey Mantle, the great baseball player with the New York Yankees, said, I love hitting the baseball.

I wake up every day I'm excited to go out to the ballpark. I love hitting a baseball. Man, when it rains the game out, I get angry because I want to go hit a baseball. I don't like it. I love it. He said if you like something, you'll never be good at it. You've got to love it. See, how do you keep a passion once you love it?

How do you keep a passion by not ever forgetting the things that blow your butt out of the water? Let me give you two examples. I never got over what they did to my mama. My daddy died at age 48 of a heart attack, and he was sold too little of the wrong insurance, and I had two younger brothers still at home with my mother. I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to punish them. I had the daddy of one of my football players.

I was making $4,600 a year, assistant coach in Thomasville, Georgia. I had a wife and two kids, and he said, all, I want to talk to you about insurance. I knew I needed insurance. And so I said, sure, come on. And I didn't want to know anything about insurance. I didn't want to know anything about investments. All I was interested in is football, right? He sits there and he talks to me about insurance, and he says, how much can you for?

And I said, $20 a month, and he sold me a $10,000 whole life policy. and I found out a couple of years later he could have sold me $150,000 of insurance. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to punish them. Don't ever forget the things. It gave you your passion. Another principle I learned

is you always got to learn to do a little bit more. I learned this 40 years ago in A.O. Williams from two of my vice presidents in Dallas, Texas. On the outside, both looked the same. They were the same age. They were the same sex. but one made $500,000 a year and one made $50,000 a year. And I started studying and I said, man, why such a difference?

They both do everything you're supposed to. They both are loyal to the company. They work hard. They make money. They save money. They treat their people good. On the outside, everything looks the same. But what does a $500,000 year person do?

The $50,000 year person doesn't do. The $500 year person does everything you're supposed to in a little, bit more. He works hard and a little bit more. He makes money a little bit more. He saves money a little bit more. Three years ago, I had back surgery and I had a partial knee replacement, and I became a swimmer. I swim every day from an hour to two hours. I swim time. I don't swim louts. And I probably hadn't missed five days of swimming in the last four years. And folks, when I get to that hour mark, let's say I'm swimming an hour today. It's so programmed in me. For 40 years, done this. It's so programmed in me. When I get to that hour, the finish line, I always go another

three minutes, another five minutes. If you want to win in this life, you got to do what you're supposed to and a little bit more, and you can't ever stop at the finish line. Let me give you another example about being tough. In my five years of head football coach, I never had to call time out and drag one of my players off the field. I told my players, I said, listen, football's not a game. It is an eight. Football is a game between you and that guy in the wrong-colored jerseys right across from you and somebody's going to win

you or him. And the first four plays of the game are critically important. You've got to hit him hard and show him who's boss and then from there on you look for every weakness. And you can't ever show hurt, you can't ever show doubt, you can't ever show quit. I never

let one of my teams take a need during a timeout. I said on a timeout, you turn around and you look at that guy, you see him on his knee. You see him take his helmet off. See how much he's sweating. You see how much water he drinks. You know he's sucking eggs, hit him hard, and we chalk him up. Now, we pray before every game. We pray before every game, and it's a sincere player that nobody on either team would get hurt. That's not the purpose of sports. But right when our kids in the locker room came in to dress for the game and exit the back door, the boys,

board the bus to go to the stadium to do battle. I had a giant board and it was a knockout chart. And our goal was to referees in the third quarter, we're going to have to raise their hands and say, look, those folks ain't got nobody that wants to keep on playing, you know, and our goal was to knock them out. In our championship year, we had 49 knockouts to nothing, to zero. And I would tell the players, you know, they're down there working out, you know, an hour before the game, you know, and then minutes before the kickoff, the players always go to the dressing room for the last minute instructions. I told my players this for five years. I said, now, fellas, you saw me talking to the ref tonight. And I told him, I said, Mr. Ref, you see those guys in a wrong-colored jersey

down there? They don't love it like my guys. They're not as tough as my guys. Mr. Ref, I've never had to pick up one of my guys and drag them off the field. And I want you to know on Friday night, I wear my nice, clean clothes to the game. And if one of my guys get hurt, I'm not going to go out there and get all his blood and sweat and all that crap all over my clothes, you know. You're going to have to move the ball to the other side to field and play a little bit till he can walk himself and get off the field. Now, folks, if one of my players had got hurt, I'd have been the first one out there, but they didn't know it so they didn't get hurt.

My first two years, my first two years when I went in business, all I heard was no, no, no, no. I don't want any. No, thank you. No, no. And it was killing me. But two years later, I paid a death claim. I took a widow and two children a check for $150,000. And if it had not been for me and my company and my toughness, they'd had to try to live on $10,000. And my whole world changed. I said, wow, wow. You know, I thought this thing worked. The number of proved to me that by term and invest the difference was the best way to go. But now I see a real live situation where a family's in desperate crisis. And this stuff really works.

But you know what? You know what? What? People kept saying no. No. No. No, thank you. And you know what?

What? See, I forgot that 95% of the people I went to see said yes. Yes. thank you. I changed my attitude. I said, look, all you can do is all you can do. You can't do no more than all you can do, right? I mean, I can't do no more of the sell what's right, right?

I can't do no more of their sell what I own on my own life, right? So when I walk in a house, I can't pay the premium for the people, right? I can't make the decision for them, right? They've got to pull their own little red wagon, right? So all you can do is all you can do. You can't do no more than all you can do, right? But all you can do is enough. You've got to keep being positive and have a can-do attitude.

The worst two words in the English language is I can't. You know, I was watching our kids in the wait room for a few weeks, one year, and I kept hearing these guys say, I can't. You know, maybe they wanted to get in a 300-pound club, and they'd get it almost up here and they'd say, I can't. The spotters would take the weight and put it on the rack. And I said, wow, that's our problem. And I called an emergency meeting the next day,

and I got all my team together in the locker room down there. And I said, fellas, I'm passing a law today. You can't ever say I can't. And in fact, I'm going one step further. You can't even think I can't. And anybody that catches one of my football players saying, I can't, you get to give them three licks for the board. And it took me about two or three weeks every year.

I'd have a kid come down and knock on my door and he said, coach he said it. Coach he said it. And folks, you could not create a word game to get one of my kids to say I can't. They're bringing home a little bit closer. When Art and April, my kids were this little and could understand words. When they said I can, I made them do three push-up. Stamp this in your brain. A winner is not afraid to fail.

A winner is not afraid to fail. In a high school football game, if you've got two teams of equal ability, there's about 120 plays, 60 plays on each team. And 98% of those plays fail. You know, you're going to fumble the ball, you're going to make a yard or two, you're going to lose a yard or two, you're going to drop a pass. And if you really study football, you're going to find that four or five plays are the difference in winning and losing.

But see, every player on that team knows when he's in that huddle, he knows that 98% of those plays are not going to work. But he also knows that the next play might be one of those four or five plays. So the team that wins is going to give it everything they got, leave it all on the field 120 times. And one of those plays are going to be one of those four or five plays. You've got to keep calling the play. You've got to keep called to play. Most of the things you do in business don't work like it's supposed to. You just got to keep calling to play.

Let me give you another leadership principle. Reward and punish. See, you've got to have long-range goals. Like I talked about earlier, you know, these goals that seem impossible. You've got to have long-range goals. But then you've got to have a plan to get there with short-range goals. In football, my long-range goal was to win a state championship. But in order to get there, we had short-range goals every week.

We'd go out on Thursday in shorts and we'd loosen up, and then I'd take them up to the classroom and go over our goals. And this was our goals for five years as a head coach. That if you go out there tomorrow, fellas, and you really get after it, and we have a great offensive effort and beat them by 21 points, or we hold them scoreless and win, we're going to go out in shorts on Monday. And you know, you formal football players, they're not a greater feeling in the world,

then go out there and win, and then you go out on Monday, and you put those shorts on, and you're prancing around, and your little girlfriend sitting up there on the hill, you know, watching you out. Man, that's the ultimate, right? But I said, listen, if you go out there tomorrow and you slop it up, and you just give a half-butted effort, and you win, but you don't beat them by 21 points, and you don't hold them scoreless, we're going to go out in pads.

We got to punish ourselves, because we got to get better, And if you lose, I'll see you Saturday morning. My first year in business, my long-range goal was to build financial independence for me and my family. And my short-range goal is to punish myself until I got there was I, for Monday through Friday, my goal was to have five sales and three recruits. Monday through Friday, if I met that goal, then I took off on Saturday and Sunday and spent it with my family. If I didn't make those goal by Friday, I worked on Saturday. If I didn't make it by Saturday, I worked on Sunday.

Folks, there's no easy way to the top. You've got to reward and punish yourself. To be a great leader, you've got to be a great motivator. Always remember the most powerful form of motivation is praise and recognition. In the early days of A.O. Williams, we didn't have any money, and we became famous for our T-shirts. I would go out and spend $2.5 on a T-shirt, and I'd put, I am a stud, I am somebody, play like a champion, just do it. I've literally seen grown men and women cry at a meeting.

They were making $200,000 and $300,000 a year, not get one of those little two and a half dollar t-shirt. They would go back to their room. They couldn't sleep at night. They'd beat the head against the wall and cry all night. See, folks, you're never too old and you're never too young to be praised and recognized. People are starving in this world today for recognizing.

It's the most powerful form of motivation in the world. I believe being somebody is being an example and a doer, not just a thinker and a talker. I want an inn in Schuylands, North Carolina, old Edwards Inn, and I want all of our employees to feel like a family to feel important like we tried to do at A.O. Williams. Let me just give you, for example, I handwrite a letter every day, every day I handwrite a letter to one. 500 employees now to one of our people and tell them I love them. I appreciate them and thank you for what you do. Number two, I instructed all our 500 employees to call me art or call me coach, not Mr. Williams. I told each one of them, I said, you're much more important in this business than I am. And number three, I don't want to see teammates shaking hands. You don't do that to a

teammate. Somebody you go to work with every day for heaven's sake, shake the darn hands. I want you give them a high five or I want you to hug them. I want old Edwards to become a hugging company. And I would go around every week, every week I do this, every week. And I give every leader, every leader in Old Edwards a cookie or a piece of candy and just hug them and tell them I love them and tell them I appreciate them. See, I wanted to create an environment where we are a family. You're my teammate. You're my friend. And you know what? See, it's not the cookie. It's not the candy. It's not the letter that was important. It was my heart.

It was me showing our people that they're important to me, that they're special to me, that they're special to this company. See, folks, I believe the difference in being a somebody and being a nobody is people that are somebodies have a special kind of belief in themselves. They have a change-the-world kind of desire and determination. Their attitude is bringing on.

the tougher the better. They understand you don't get what you want or what you'd love to have. Life gives you what you'll accept. If you'll accept being average and ordinary, that's exactly what you're going to get. Somebody's expect to win. They demand for themselves.

They demand for themselves. Happiness and success and fulfillment. They always have a can-do attitude. Somebody's really believe in their heart that they're supposed to be. somebody. A somebody would be the most surprised person in the world if they wound up a nobody. I had a coach, my only hero in life, where there was somebody important to me. My only hero in life was my high school coach. In every way, I was just a little bit better than average athlete, just a little

bit better than average student. But Coach Taylor saw something in me I didn't know I had. Coach Taylor made me feel like I'd do something important in my life. He made me feel like I was different, that I was special, that I would make a difference with my life. And you know what? I found out one thing about life. Nobody has ever accomplished anything significant on their own. Think about this, folks. Nobody has ever accomplished anything significant on their own.

They always had somebody, some one person, some adult, like Coach Taylor to me, who cared about them, who saw something special in them. who believed in them. I wanted to be that someone at A.O. Williams. I wanted to be that someone that was always there in the toughest times, encouraging them, fighting with them, pushing them forward, never giving up on them. I wanted to be that someone that was willing to invest time one-on-one, building relationships, building friendships, that would last a lifetime.

See, I believe coaches believe that you practice until perfect. coaches believe you practice until you can't fail. I believe you win by outworking the enemy. Gary Player, the great Hall of Fame golfer from South America that's won more international golf tournaments than anybody in the history of golf. He said, you know, I've played golf in every civilized country in the world. And, you know, I find out that people are the same everywhere. People have the same desires, ambitions, everywhere.

And I always had these guys and gals come up to me after I. I play around. They say, Gary, I love watching you hit a golf ball. Man, I love watching you hit a golf ball. I'd give anything if I could do a golf ball like you. And he said one day I had a particularly bad round and somebody said that and I turned around. I said, no, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't. You'd give anything to hit a golf ball like me if it was easy. But see, nothing good comes easy. You know what you got to do to hit a golf ball like me? You got to get up at five o'clock in the morning. You go down and you hit a thousand golf balls. You hit so many golf balls that your hand starts bleeding. Then you run up to the clubhouse. You wash that blood off your hand.

You slap a bandage on it. And you go down and you hit another thousand golf ball. Yeah, you'd love to hit a golf ball like it was me if it was easy. Well, nothing good comes easy. All I ever wanted to do is a young boy would be a football coach. Now stamp this in your brain. See, your players live up to your expectations of them. See, if you see your player as a dud, he's going to turn out to be a dud. If you see your player as a loser, he's going to turn out to be a loser. Let me give you an example. If you want a wide receiver that 6-4 runs a 4-4-40, but your wide receiver is 5-8

that runs a 4-840, you've got to look at him as an all-American. You've got to make him believe you think he's an all-American. That you wouldn't trade him for anybody. My first head coaching job was in a town that hadn't had a winning season in 20 years. The last two years had won one game and lost 19. I went to all the clubs around town. I went to the school and I said, we're through losing. I guarantee I'm a winner and we're going to win beginning this year.

I had 75 players come out for spring practice. After one week, we were down to 17 or 18 players. I lost my first two quarterbacks. We were going to have a spring game against last year's old sorry. seniors that had won one game in two years. Only time I ever did this, never did it again. And they came up Thursday and I issued them uniforms. They hadn't practiced. We've been practicing for four weeks. I thought we'd beat them 100 and nothing. The whole town comes out. They were going to see the savior of the football program, you know, and they were excited and all that crap.

And I sat there on a 50-yard line. I said, this is going to be a joke. We're going to beat them like a drum. And they beat us. And I got lower and lower. And I said, my life's over. There's no way I can recover from this. Who would hire football coach like me? And I went home and I cried and I moped around all weekend. And then Sunday afternoon, I looked in the mirror. And I was ashamed of Art Williams. I said, shame on you.

Yeah, you're playing in a tough league. Yeah, you only got 17 or 18 kids, but they believed in you. And they did everything you asked. And I called the next morning I went up to the principal's office and I got on the intercom system, and I called all the football players down to the gym. And I said, fellas, when I came here,

I told you this was the greatest opportunity of our life because nobody except the town and the school thinks we're going to win. As great as I thought it was, it's 100 times greater today because nobody, even our town and our school, don't think we're going to win. The only people that think we're going to win are the people in this room, but I ain't nothing but a stud,

and I know how to win, and I'm going to teach you how to win. win. The first thing I did, greatest thing I ever did in my life, my business life or my coaching life, is I brought each one of those players in and I started talking to them about their goals and their dreams of what they wanted to do and how a bunch of football meant to them. And I found out something unbelievable that I was looking at most of these kids and say it and comparing them to some of the kids I'd coached before at a better football school. And I was looking at them what they didn't have.

And I said, wow, every one of these kids, they have some good stuff. They had some good stuff. And I started at that moment, folks, I started praising their strengths and not criticizing their weaknesses. And all that rag-tag bunch of players did

was give me the greatest coaching thrill of my life. Six months later on that same field where those sorrows seniors beat us, we beat the number one team in the state of Georgia. Now listen, you know what? One of my great life lessons is I preach balance. See, I wanted our people to win in all areas of their life, their spiritual life, their family life, and their business life. The first company I went with was ITT, and my first people that I admired in business were these vice presidents that were making six-figure income, and they were traveling around on airplanes and motivational speaking and all like.

And I said, man, if I could ever get to be one of those people, that's all I'd want out of life. And I met a couple of years later I got promoted, and I met those people on a personal basis, and I was devastated. So many of them were alcoholics, and they'd been divorced two and three and four times. And I said, man, if that's the price you've got to pay to be successful in business, it's not worth it. and I began to preach, and I tried to be an example. I failed a bunch of having balance in your life. I believe God should come first, your family second, and business third. And it's hard.

It's hard. But I tried to help our people win in all areas of their life. To win big, listen to me, folks, to win big. You've got to make a total commitment to one thing. I mean a total commitment to one thing. You've got to burn all your bridges. There can't be any plan B. See, most people fail because they run out of time.

See, it takes 20 to 30 years to win in business. And most people keep changing and keep changing and keep changing. And they're no longer 25, 35, 35, 45, 55, 55, you know, somebody once said, and I believe it's true. I turned 77 last Friday. They say the biggest surprise in life is old age. See, folks, you're here on this earth for flicker. It's scary. You're here on this earth for a flicker.

I don't feel 77. I fell in love with my wife in the second grade. I remember that just like yesterday. I remember suiting up in high school, just like yesterday. Having my first baby just like yesterday. Got 14 great grand babies right now. I mean, you're here on this earth for a flicker. See, it's not going to be long.

They're going to be planting me in the ground out there. And they're going to be planting me in the face with a shovel. And it's going to be a tombstone over my head. And it's going to say one of two things. Here lies a stud or here lies a stud. Now, folks, let me ask you this. What's your tombstone going to say about you? What's your tombstone going to say about you?

You're here for a flicker. Time's running out. My last principle. Almost everybody does almost everything you need to do to win. Almost everybody gets there. Almost everybody's over the hump. Almost everybody has it going. Almost is a way of life to almost everybody, but the winners, they do it.

What do they do? They do whatever it takes to get the job done. They do it and do it and do it and do it until the job gets done. We need leaders who can do it. If you want to become somebody, do it. If you want to become financially independent, do it. I hear too much talk around AOW. You need to do it and then talk.

I hear people say, Art, you can count on me. Great, just do it. All right, I'm going to be a sales leader in 30 days. Wonderful, just do it. Ord, our life underwriters association is going to run all you termites out of the business. Super duper, just do it. Boy, Art, if I could just have one good month, I know I could make it big. Great, just do it.

Art, if I could just pay off this debt, I could really go. We'll do it. Art, if I could just hail my house, do it. But houses ain't selling. Do it anyway. Or, I'm not making any money. What can I do? You just do it.

Do what, Art? You do it and do it and do it. All right, when I get to be a vice president, can I quit doing it? Nope. Art, I guarantee I'm going to win this contest. Great. Just do it. All right, I'm over the hunt.

Now, watch my smoke. wonderful. Just do it. Art, I want to make it so bad I can taste it what I do. You just do it. Art, I'm hurting. I don't know if I can keep on, keep it on what I do. You just do it. Do what art?

You do it and do it and do it. Art, all my life I want to be somebody important. We'll do it then. All right, I'm going to recruit 20 people this month. Wonderful. Just do it. All right, I'm going to save money so I don't ever have to go through this again. Great.

just do it. I'm hurting Art, I'm really hurting what I do. You just do it. Art, I don't feel like I've had enough training what I do. You just do it. Art, my manager don't give me enough help what I do. You just do it. All right, I want every award at my form of company. You don't mean somebody like me's got to start off down there and do it, do you? Yep, you really got to do it. Art, what's the primary difference between winners and losers? the winners do it. They do it and do it and do it and do it until the job gets done. And then they talk about how great it is to have achieved something unique.

And how glad they are that they didn't quit like everybody else. And how wonderful it is to finally be somebody they're proud of. Thank you. All right. I hope that was all that I said it would be. I've been known to hype things. But I'm going to tell you something. That was a special moment.

There's not many Art Williams left. And I hope you appreciate what we've given you there. There is somebody that is truly one of a kind. All right. So I told you that Alex Job was going to join me. He joins me in studio now for a new entree leadership tool that we are as a team very excited about, how to create core values, specifically the first part of this resource. We're going to talk about creating personal core values. Now, you know who Alex is.

You've been listening to this program. He's one of our entree leadership coaches day to day. the phone, on video, talking with you folks who are part of our All Access coaching program. And Alex, I wanted to bring you in to talk about this resource we're going to give folks. We'll talk more about how it helps them. But let's talk about personal core values. How would you define personal core values? Well, one of the things we coach people on all the time, specifically for their business, but also for their life, is that you need to be able to answer three questions.

And those three questions are, why do we exist as an organization or why do I exist? Where are we going? And then what do we stand for? And specifically that third question being, what do we stand for? Or what do I stand for as a person? What do I stand for as a leader? That's what core values answer. They tell you this is what I stand for. So why are they so important? Why do we drill this as a very important bedrock exercise? One of the things that we coach on all the time is that this is an exercise in what we call advanced decision making. So because I make this one decision. today. Because I invest the time, the energy, and the effort necessary to make this one decision

today, this will make thousands of decisions for me moving forward. If I can define what I stand for today, it will tell me which opportunities to pursue and which ones not to pursue, which promotions I should take, which people I should hang around with and spend time with, which people I should learn from. I think it honestly connects very closely to what you talk about with the proximity principle and probably how you teach people to find their sweet spot too. Absolutely right. I've said many times on the show, if you don't know who you are, you can't grow where you are. And this is really important to what you're talking about. You've got to be self-aware. We talk about that all the time, but this is a different level of self-awareness. This isn't about personality stuff. This isn't about strengths and weaknesses. This is why do I belong on this planet? What am I really about? Who am I at my core? What moves my heart? And you've got to know your why. If your why doesn't, make you cry, it's not your why. And so this idea of really getting clear about who you are, what you stand for, what you're about is going to be your North Star is going to guide you.

And it's pretty fascinating. And I'd be interested if you've heard some of this too. In getting clear about what you are, you are also simultaneously getting clear about what you're not. That's exactly right. Which is probably just as powerful. It's just as powerful. And again, we touched on this a moment ago. Once you know who you are, it allows you to figure out where you're supposed to be, you know. And so you might be not in the right place. You know, I talk about this all the time. You can be doing the right thing, but not in the right place. And so this is really, really important stuff. This is a great resource. We're going to walk you through this. As always, these entre leadership resources do the hard work. All you've got to do is show up and participate. You're going to

get asked some very detailed questions that will generate answers. But again, it's all about engaging in this process. Let this resource open you up maybe to the most clarity you've ever had in your life. How to create your own personal core values, which become, again, the bedrock by which you build everything else. And by the way, Alex, I know you believe this. It's not just professional success that we're concerned about here. It's personal success. In fact, I don't know how you can grow professionally if you aren't growing personally. This is an exercise I was challenged to do even before I came to work here. And I now have five core values. My first one is I will relentlessly do the right thing. Second one is I will take ground every day. I will communicate and lead for God's

purposes and not my own. I will honor and respect authority and I will love intentionally and actively. And I tell myself those five core values every single morning. And so the big decisions are already made. It's like I know what I'm going to do. And if it doesn't fall in line with those five things that I have no business doing it. It will give you so much power and so much clarity, but it takes time to do this work. It does. So let us guide you through this process of this all important work. You can get this guide and create your personal core values by texting EL values, the letter E, the letter L, and then values altogether, no space. Text EL values to 33444. That's 33444. Ordex.

you can click the link in the show notes. Alex, thanks for stopping by. Always good to have you. Thanks for having me, Ken. All right, folks, on behalf of Alex Judd and the rest of our Entree leadership team. Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk with you again very soon. Hey folks, I want to make you aware that we have other great podcasts from Ramsey Solutions. Here's a sample of the Ken Coleman Show. According to a recent Gallup poll, nearly 70% of Americans are disengaged at work. If you dread going into work every Monday morning and you're just trying to make it to the weekend, the Ken Coleman show is for you.

Everyone has a sweet spot. Your sweet spot is at the intersection of your greatest talent and greatest passion. We will help you discover what it is you were born to do and then will help you create a plan to make your dream job a reality. You matter and you have what it takes. Join the conversation on the Ken Coleman show. To hear full episodes, just search Ken Coleman in iTunes or go to Ken Coleman Show.com.