The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 037: Aaron Walker – Success AND Significance – The Importance Of Both | A View From The Top

Starting point is 00:00:00 Success to me, we all want financial freedom and stability in our lives. We chase that, and that's good. That's not a bad thing. But I discovered through this process that having an engaging family and meaningful relationships were as important, if not more important to me, than the financial freedom. Are leaders born or are they made? Our host, Ryan Hawk, believes that leaders can be made through determined, focused work on learning the art and science behind the makeup of other successful leaders.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Now it's time to inhale knowledge and exhale success. You're listening to The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk. And welcome to The Learning Leader Show. I am Ryan Hawk, extremely excited tonight about my conversation with businessmen and life coach Aaron Walker. He's inspired many through his leadership, mentorship, and consistent pursuit of excellence. He enjoys helping others. and believes experience is a great teacher. Over 36 years of entrepreneurship and marriage have given Aaron a wealth of experience.

Starting point is 00:01:21 I love this conversation. He's such a great giving guy. A couple things we got into. How to Live both a successful and a significant life. That significant part is really, really important. Also, the power of mastermind groups. Aaron and I discussed his mastermind groups. group with Dave Ramsey and Dan Miller, among others, and how they got started long before

Starting point is 00:01:46 any of them were famous. And at the end of the episode, Aaron's done something different than any other guest has done. He has created a giveaway for the listeners of this show with a specific link for you guys. I'm very, very excited and grateful that he's done that for you. Without further ado, it's Aaron Walker. Okay, Aaron, man, really, really excited and happy to have you. here. I got a quick question to get us kicked off. What is the best piece of advice that you have received? And also, what's the best advice that you give to others who come to you?

Starting point is 00:02:36 Fear missing an opportunity more than you fear failure. Oh, wow. I'm going to write that down. Fear missing an opportunity. More than you fear failure. An opportunity more than you feel failure. I love it. Okay. Now, dig into that. Tell me more. Well, here's the thing, you know, Ryan. I have raised two daughters. I've got a daughter that's 32 and one. It's 29. And they used to say to me, dad, I'm afraid if I do that, I'll fail or I want. I say, hold on, time out. Failure is in not trying. Failure is not in not succeeding. And I said, I would hate to lay down at night, Ron, and think, would it have worked? That would drive me. be crazy to think maybe it would have worked, maybe it wouldn't. Now, I don't suggest you put your

Starting point is 00:03:27 family in jeopardy. I mean, I'm not suggesting that at all. I don't bet the farm, you know, I don't roll the dice and put it all on black. That's not what I mean. But what I do mean is, is nothing ventured, nothing gained. There's a lot of truth in that. And where there's big risk, there's big gain opportunities. There's also an opportunity that, you know, it may not work. And if it didn't, then all you've learned is one way it won't succeed. And so let's figure it out. And so I just think, and here's what I do believe in doing is going to trusted advisors, going to people that have succeeded in the past and whatever venture that they might have tackled.

Starting point is 00:04:08 And so I do do my diligence. I mean, I want to really dig deep and find out. My sister worked for the Japanese for years, and she said they'd go in the boardroom, I mean, they would spend days and weeks doing contingency plans, and then they would have contingency plans for their contingency plans. And when they pulled the trigger, they were ready to go. But we don't do that as much today as we should. So I'm all about that.

Starting point is 00:04:36 But I fear missing an opportunity more than I fear failure. That's a great, great quote. You know, the whole basis of this podcast, my show is, you know, Kobe Bryant, you know, Obviously, great athletes said there is power in understanding the journey of others to help create your own. And it made me think of that when you said, you know, you'll go to trusted advisors to help. Talk to me a little bit more about your process for both being a mentor and a mentee. Yeah, they go hand in hand. Obviously, I always want to be learning and I always want to be giving back.

Starting point is 00:05:16 And so for 20 plus years, Ryan, I've been involved in mastermind groups. That may be a new term for some people, and a lot of people may be involved in those. And I'll just explain it this way. We met with 10 guys in a professional's office for over a decade every Wednesday morning from 7 to 8.30. And we did life together, and we celebrated victories. We went through trials, tribulations. we would really dig deep into each other's lives personally. And you have to be transparent.

Starting point is 00:05:48 You have to give yourself over to that kind of scrutiny. You know, you can't have thin skin. You've got to be a guy that's willing to take it on the chin to be in groups like that if you're really being candid and honest. And I would go in these groups and say, I've got this business thing that I'm thinking about doing. What do you think? And I'd lay it out. Some guys that go, no, tweak it here, don't do this.

Starting point is 00:06:08 recently one of the guys in our mastermind group came to us with a product that he was going to launch online and it was a course he was doing and quite honestly I hope he'd listed this episode but it was terrible I mean what he was proposing to the group I was embarrassed and you know we didn't let him go live with it we said listen you know you sounded terrible you talked too long the music was bad the intro was horrible you need to do these things and so he did he went back he took art and I'm telling you the end product was fantastic. When he came back, the music was upbeat, it wasn't depressing. So all I'm saying is I'd rather be embarrassed in front of 10 masterminders than I had

Starting point is 00:06:51 be embarrassed in front of the whole community. And so you need that safe place. And that's what I've done for the past two decades. So, you know, I love the thought of mastermind groups. I've been talking with people about that now that I'm into this podcasting space. And it's been so helpful to have trusted people who are willing to be honest with you. And it sounds like the key ingredient of mastermind groups. There's probably a couple, and I'll let you expand on this. But to me, it's having those few people that, one,

Starting point is 00:07:20 are creative thinkers, are intelligent, but even probably more important, are willing to be brutally honest with you in order to help you be successful. And likewise, you to them. Right. Without a question. And the thing is, is most people want a general consensus around what they want. And if you go into a mastermind group with that in mind to say, I'm going to give myself over to the honest scrutiny, I'm going to be transparent. I'm going to be blatantly honest, not hold back. You'll have a group of trusted advisors that will be there for you that will give you honest feedback. So, Aaron, and we're going to get to your bio. One second, that made me think of one more question before we get to that. And that is,

Starting point is 00:08:08 To the person who is listening right now, let's say, you know, it's a 32-year-old who works at a big company and they've worked their way up a little bit since graduating from college and they're doing relatively well. But the thought of a mastermind group or any type of group like that is very foreign to them. They're like, what are you talking about? You know, I have a pretty good job. You know, everything's okay. I have some ideas to do things maybe that are bigger than what I'm currently doing, but I'm okay, and I have responsibility now, right? What do you say to those people that maybe is in that mode?

Starting point is 00:08:48 And I think that's a subset, a big subset of the people listening to this show. What do you say to them when they hear the phrase mastermind group, they hear the phrase, you know, maybe doing something in addition to their current day job? You know what I mean? What advice would you give to them? Well, here's the thing, first of all, Ryan, that we've got to be willing to take advice from season veterans or people that have a different perspective. I don't know why I've always been interested in other people's opinions and thoughts, but it served me well, quite honestly, because as you're younger, you don't know what you don't know, right? And only life experiences will teach you a lot of things. there's a college here in Nashville.

Starting point is 00:09:33 It's Belmont University. It's kind of a well-known school in this area. And I wanted to go back to school and take some adult classes. And I went in and there was a lot of college kids there that were, you know, 20, 21, 22 years old. And I'm in my 40s, you know, and the teachers hate me because I'm there. I don't need their degree, but I just want to learn some other things. And so the teacher's up there teaching one day and she's teaching about property and the acquisition. And I raised my hand and I said, what your teaching is inaccurate.

Starting point is 00:10:05 And the class started laughing, you know, because I called the professor out. And she said, Mr. Walker, would you like to explain? I said, I'll be happy to. You may come up there, you be doing it from here. And she said, no, right there, right where you're sitting, this will be fine. And I said, well, you don't mention recovering depreciation. And she sat there and didn't say anything for a minute. And she said, well, theoretically you're right.

Starting point is 00:10:28 And I said, no, technically I'm right. I've done this over and over and over and over, and if you don't recover depreciation, there's a big cost factor in selling the property after years. You have to recover the depreciation. And then she said, well, you're right. And I said, then why don't you teach people that? She goes, well, it's not in the book. And I say, well, it doesn't matter what the book says.

Starting point is 00:10:51 In reality, this is true. Well, see, all of life is that way. It doesn't always pan out the way the book says, right? And 20, 30, 40 years of experience will teach people that this is reality. May say it in the textbook, but in reality. And that's what the mastermind group brings you. It brings you experience, and there's nothing better than experience. And so I've just given myself over to people that are experienced.

Starting point is 00:11:21 Now, you don't have to take it hook, line, and sinker, right? Everything that they say is not the gospel. I went recently, Ron, to 12 people individually. There was a business deal I was going to do. I was convinced I was going to do it. My wife said, well, won't you go check with your advisors? I went, had lunch with them, had coffee with them individually. 11 of the 12 told me not to do it.

Starting point is 00:11:44 Wow. And I'm like, wow. See, I had no idea from their perspective what they taught me. They said it'll change your relationship with this person. you've had a 20, 25-year relationship. It's going to change the dynamics, and you've not worked with anybody like that. And I'm like, you know, I didn't even think about that. And it saved me.

Starting point is 00:12:05 I'm like, man, thank you, Jesus. I am so glad. Well, that's what the mastermind will give you. But the problem with a lot of people 30, 32 years old, they don't want to appear that they don't know what they're talking about. And so they don't give themselves over to experience. or they don't give themselves over to a general consensus. And so I would just say it's the smart man that gathers information from trusted advisors.

Starting point is 00:12:34 And if you want to go it alone, you may find out that the way you saw, it's not reality. So if there's a key takeaway here in this specific point, it's around surrounding yourself with people who are, I think, progressive thinkers, creative, always probably questioning things and are willing to be very, very honest with you and you with them. So there's a big trust factor involved. And that's not the easiest thing to find those people, but it's probably a good mission to be on to finding those people to be in your group that you can talk to on a regular basis and hold each other accountable, run ideas by one another's to ensure that, you know, like you said, you could have made a pretty big mistake if it weren't for those, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:23 those 11 people telling you, hey, man, hey, Aaron, this is probably probably not a good idea. Well, here's the thing, Ron, that you've got to keep in mind. This is a very, very important part of mastermind group. If you're doing this with a family member or you're doing this with a business partner, you've got to beware because just naturally people are going to give a biased opinion if they have something to gain or lose in the conversation. And I have elected to be in a mastermind group with people where they have nothing to gain or lose. If you go to your wife, she's going to stick her finger in the air, see which way the wind's blowing, she's going to check your emotions, she's going to want you to get what you want. If you go to a business partner, naturally,

Starting point is 00:14:08 he wants to do what's best in that decision for his family. That's just human nature. But when you go to trusted advisors, they don't have anything to gain. They don't have anything to lose with their answer. Then you're going to get an honest reply. That's a good point. I really like that, Aaron. So I meant to get this a little bit earlier, but I'd like to give you the floor here for a second to explain a little bit of your brief history of how you've gotten to the point that you're at today. I think I've read, you know, over 36 years of entrepreneurship and marriage have certainly given you a wealth of experience. So I'd love to give you the floor to tell us your mini story here and we'll, I'm anxious to learn.

Starting point is 00:14:51 Well, I'll give you just a little backstory. I won't bore you with all this because this is not going to be real beneficial to your audience, and I want to give them something that's going to help them. But just a little backstory, I started really early at 13 years old. I went to work for a pawn shop in Nashville, Tennessee. I didn't even know what a pawn shop was. Never even heard of one, but my dad had built this for a guy here in Nashville. And went to work there, Ryan, at 15 years old, I fell in love with that business.

Starting point is 00:15:18 And I thought, this is what I'm going to make as, as a career. So at 15 years old, I went to summer school and night school. I had enough credits at the end of my 10th grade high school to graduate. I didn't have to go my junior and senior year. I met two guys that really, really had a lot of money. They owned the 21st largest insurance company and the country at that time. They were investing in diamonds and gold with me. And I approached them when I was 18 years old. And I said, have you ever considered going in business for yourself doing what I'm doing? And he said, how old are you? And I said, I'm 18. So they got to checking on me a little bit, found out I

Starting point is 00:15:55 wasn't Charles Manson, you know, and so they said, hey, let's do it. So we went to the bank, we signed a $150,000 loan. And the reason they wanted me to go to the bank and do it, because they wanted me on the hook. Well, my parents didn't have anything. I came from a very humble background. We lived in an 800-square-foot house. My dad never made over $15,000 a year in his life. I knew all about being broke. I knew about being poor. And so I said, hey, I'm going for it. So the Lord really blessed our business when I was 21. Three years later, we paid off a 10-year loan in 36 months. I saved the money. I got married, listen to this. I got married two weeks out of high school. My wife graduated from high school at 18 years old, and we got married two

Starting point is 00:16:38 weeks later. So we elected to put all the money back into the business. We said, we're not going to increase our lifestyle. We're going to live just like we're living. We took $18,000 a year out of the business and we lived on that. I mean, you know, that was a little more than it seems to be now because it was 36 years ago. But for nine years, we poured the money back into the business. I grew that business to four stores. Cash America in Fort Worth, Texas learned about me and they wanted to grow through acquisitions. So they came to Nashville and they wrung that bell. They said, here's what we're going to give you for these stores. And at 27, Ryan, I was through. I mean, I said, I'm done. So I went home. I thought it was a great decision, but based on what we've been talking about,

Starting point is 00:17:25 I didn't have any trusted advisors. See, I was making all these decisions on my own. It ended up not a good decision because I became extremely depressed. I was bored. I was getting in the bed in the middle of the day at 27 years old because I had no reason to get up. Yeah. Right. I'd made the money. How much money did they give you? Well, it was enough that I didn't have to work. We'll just say that. So, I was done. And so what I found out, though, that I had no purpose. I'm like, why do I need to get up? I had two small daughters at that time.

Starting point is 00:17:58 I just said, hey, I play golf every day and I fish. Don't tell your audience. I gained 50 pounds in 18 months. Wow. You go back and edit that out. I'm embarrassed to admit that. No, I'm just kidding. So my wife said, you've got to do something.

Starting point is 00:18:12 So I went back to the pawn shop that I had started at, and I bought half that store. spent the next 10 years. We took that store to another level. I mean, literally to another level. And in the process of that, I met a guy that asked me to advertise on his show. And I'd never heard of him. He was on one radio station in Nashville just gotten started. He even gave me advertising to try him. Well, that was my first encounter with Dave Ramsey. And Dave Ramsey invited me to join his personal mastermind group. And that's when I started in the mastermind groups. So Dave and I've been friends since 1995. I was his second sponsor, and I've been on his show every day for the past 20 years advertising a business I own or have owned.

Starting point is 00:18:58 Dan Miller's in the group, 48 Days to Work You Love, Ken Abraham, he's got 100 books in print. He's a national known 10 times New York Times bestselling author. So I've been around some cool guys and everybody would say, yeah, I would be in a mastermind group too if I could be in with those guys. but I want to point out they weren't those guys when we started. Right? They were just building their businesses. Nobody even heard of Dave Ramsey. Well, as a result of being around those businesses and watching them grow,

Starting point is 00:19:29 it has really inspired me to be the man of character that you need to be, to have a moral compass to do things the way you're supposed to do. So in 2001, Ryan, I had a horrific automobile accident. I was on my way to the office and a pedestrian and was crossing the street to get on the bus. He didn't see him. He ran out in front of me. And unfortunately, I struck that pedestrian, and he didn't make it.

Starting point is 00:19:53 He lived three days in the Vanderbilt trauma unit, and it rocked my world. So I went to my partner and I said, listen, man, I've got to take some time off. I mean, this is rock. You can imagine. And so I took some time off. And then I went back to him and I said, hey, I'm done. And I'm going to sell out. I'm going to cash in.

Starting point is 00:20:13 I've been chasing success. my whole life. And so I said, I've got enough. I'm done. So I sold out. Robin and I took five years off. We traveled. We built a new house. I had to regroup. I had to rethink. Well, in that, Ryan, I discovered that I did have success financially. And I had some success in other areas. But what the Lord really revealed to me was, is I didn't have any significance. I was all about myself and I wasn't about other people. And I'm kind of on this thing now where I'm teaching guys that you can have success, but you can also have significance. And to kind of break down that just a little bit, if you'll allow me, success to me, we all want financial freedom and

Starting point is 00:21:03 stability in our lives. We chase that, and that's good. That's not a bad thing. But I discovered through this process that having an engaging family and meaningful relationships were as important, if not more important to me, than the financial freedom. And then I thought through how I did business, and I've always been ethical, but I said, success to me means having a clear conscience. It means laying down at night in the bed, thinking about my day, thinking I've treated everybody fairly. And then, obviously, you know, my health was a concern and I had to get the 50 pounds off. And I wanted to learn in my life how to enjoy what I had. See, we always move the bar.

Starting point is 00:21:44 We're always saying, well, when I get there, I'll be happy. And then we get there and then we move the bar. And then I wanted to learn to be content in whatever circumstance I was in and not be complacent. And there's a difference. We can always be moving the needle, but we can learn to enjoy the now. the present, this conversation with Ryan, my buddy, you know, I want to enjoy this. I don't want to be thinking about an hour from now when I've got a coaching client. I want to learn to be content here and now.

Starting point is 00:22:15 And then having a clear sense of direction, I wanted to know where I was going. Well, and then as a Christ follower, I wanted to learn to trust in a higher power. I wanted to go, you know, it's not all about me. It's about putting my confidence in faith in something larger than me. And at the end of the day, I wanted to be considered wise. Like when they put me six feet under, I wanted Brian to go, hey, there's Aero and my buddy. That was a wise guy, you know. Yeah, of course.

Starting point is 00:22:40 So those things are good from a success standpoint. But then I thought, what am I doing for Ryan? How am I helping Ryan maybe move the needle, you know? And I thought, I've got to be able to meet the needs of others. I've got to be looking outward and not so much inward. And then I want to help others with the right motive. I don't want to help those that just can repay it. I want to be able to help others when they can't repay me.

Starting point is 00:23:07 Then I'll know I've really been significant to those guys. And then people say, well, I'm busy. You know, well, we're all busy. I mean, sure. So I want to help others when it's not convenient for me. And then I'll know I've really got you at the forefront of my mind. And then I thought, what other things can I do to really grow me as an individual along with my business? and I thought, you know what I want to do?

Starting point is 00:23:31 I want to be the guy that puts his personal wants and desires aside for the benefit of others. And you've got to really think through that to do that because we're selfish by nature. And so I thought those are some of the things that I want to do. And then I want to underpromise and overperform. I want to provide above and beyond the expected amount or the minimal requirements. So my whole focus has changed, Ryan, in being able to look outward and say, how can I help Ryan be successful? What can I do to help you move the needle?

Starting point is 00:24:05 And Ryan, what's funny is I'm more successful now than I was then, because I'm looking outward trying to help other people move the needle. So what's happened? Now I'm successful and significant. And that's what I'm trying to teach these people that you said are 30, 35 years old to do. It's a mindset change, and you can do it just like I have. That's powerful, man. I appreciate that, Aaron.

Starting point is 00:24:29 And so it's funny, you brought up Dave Ramsey, and I've been to two of Dave's big time trainings, on trade leadership. You just had a summit out in San Diego. I went to a few months ago, as well as I went to Nashville last year to one of his trainings. And it's really, really powerful. And I admire the guy because you can tell that he is incredibly honest and very, very transparent. And so I'm thinking of, you know, I'd like for you to tell us a little bit about, Let's picture.

Starting point is 00:24:59 Let's have a visual for everybody. Because we're listening here, but I want to create a visual, right? And here's a visual I'd love to create. You know, you, so Aaron Walker is sitting in whatever room you and Dave and the others, Dan Miller, you're in a room talking about or meeting for a mastermind group. Can you walk us through what that is? Where do you guys go? What, you know, is it in the morning?

Starting point is 00:25:26 Is it at night? what are the things you talk about? Is there a specific process or an outline that you follow? I just want to learn a little bit about what that specific meeting is like. The reason why is because like you said, you guys started before any of you were famous and now all of you are. And so you've kind of grown up together. I got to believe being together and kind of going through that together has helped create the success for all of you. And in some cases, immense amount of fame, which I know that wasn't what you're going, for, but it's just a byproduct. So can you walk us through what that's like? Yeah, sure. I'll be happy to. Well, first of all, we met in Dave's office. Dave's office is in Franklin, Tennessee.

Starting point is 00:26:09 I've been there, yeah. Yeah, and he's got a conference room just off of his office, and so we met in there. And I'd get there early. Normally, I was there before anyone, and so I'd go in, make the coffee and, you know, get the lights on, and a couple other guys to trickle in. And so anyway, We're hanging out just like all guys do, and we're talking, we're bragging on our kids or bragging on our grandkids. I mean, you know, just we're guys. I mean, right? I mean, we're just normal like anybody else. So, but then what we have discovered through the process is guys will continue down that path of talking about fishing or hunting or MBA or the NFL, right?

Starting point is 00:26:48 We're guys. And so we're going to talk about those things. So we have to have something to keep us focused and we read. We're all avid readers because you just start. don't wake up smarter, right? You've got to be filling your mind with things that are positive and very diverse. I mean, there's hundreds, literally hundreds of books that we've read, and we've cataloged those books. And if some of your listeners, you know, want to copy those, I'll be happy to give them, you know, the last 50 or 100 books or something that we've read.

Starting point is 00:27:17 But we would start out with a couple of chapters of whatever book we had just read. And then through that, it wasn't quite as regimented. And the reason, because when you have 10 guys around a table, invariably, somebody's got a new business deal that they're launching or there's a problem. Some of the guys would come in and say, hey, I can't take this to my board or I can't mention this to the employees, but I'm stuck. And here's the problem. And there was one guy, you know, had a CFO that he didn't know if he was the right guy. Well, he couldn't go to his board and talk about that. And so he said, what do you guys think, well, a lot of those guys had had experience and we would talk through it. Everybody's got to have a safe place. And we didn't have to say this is for this room only. That was understood.

Starting point is 00:28:05 It was like, if you had to say that, we hadn't instilled the confidence in trust factor yet. It was like you just said it. It was understood that it didn't leave that room. So we never had to worry about hearing it at Starbucks or at your church or at the racquetball court or at the jubal court or at the gym, it was like it was locked in the safe if it was spoken in that room. And so we would talk through whatever scenario it was. There would be times that we would talk about things that were celebrations. There were guys come in there that I know Ken, you know, wrote a number of number one bestsellers. You know, he wrote, let's roll Lisa Beamer's book. He wrote all of Joel Osteen's books. He wrote John Ashcroft's biography. There were celebration times. It'd be like, hey, we sold this

Starting point is 00:28:52 many of this book or this book did better than I thought. There'd be other times, it'd be like, man, that book didn't sell anything. You know, we didn't do anything. And so we would go, oh, man, what could you've done different? You know, it was just honest, candid talk. And there was a time in my life where there was something I was stuck on. I was literally stuck, and I couldn't get over it. You know, we've all had those times. So I get a phone call one Saturday morning from one of the guys, His name is James, and we didn't talk to each other much on the weekends because that was for our families. So I thought, well, something's wrong. So I entered the phone, and James said, hey, I got a word for you today.

Starting point is 00:29:31 And I thought, well, hold on. I'm in Ace Hardware. Let me go out so I can hear you. So I went out to the parking lot, and I'm standing there. And he said, I was praying for you this morning, and the Lord gave me a word for you. And I thought, well, this is going to be good because this guy travels the circuit and he speaks. And he's promised keepers, and he's a nationally known speaker. And I thought, this is going to be good.

Starting point is 00:29:50 This is going to be profound. That's what I'm thinking in my mind. And I said, okay, James, what is it? And he said, you're wearing the crap out of everybody around you. And I just sit there, Ryan, I'm like, God, what do I do? It made me so mad. And I said, what are you talking about? He said, you can't get over this thing.

Starting point is 00:30:10 And the Bible teaches us where Christ followers take the chains from around your neck and move on. And, man, it's time. I'll see you. I got to go. And hung up. Wow. And there I'm standing in Ace Hardware and Parkin' on. I'm ready to bite a nail into.

Starting point is 00:30:25 And then I think, you know what, this guy cares for me enough to tell me the truth, right? And Ryan, it changed the focus of my life. At that point, I said, he is exactly right. I got to get over this. And I did, and I moved forward, and I was successful at going forward. But, see, if we don't invest time, effort, and energy in other people's life, we don't have the privilege to say that. See, I couldn't go over to Billy and make that comment, even though I thought it because I haven't invested the time. I haven't earned the right to say that to Billy.

Starting point is 00:31:01 But to James or Dave, you know, or Dan Miller, I can say, hey, man, I wouldn't say that. I mean, what are you doing? I can say that because I've invested time. He knows I care about his best interest. Well, that's what it looks like. That's what master mining looks like. It's not just going in there. Here's what happens.

Starting point is 00:31:20 Guys want other guys to think they got it all together. And if I'm vulnerable, if I'm transparent, if I let the curtain down, you're going to see I'm real. And then you're going to think what we think is people think less of us. And the truth of the matter is people think more of us when we're vulnerable and transparent. when we say, I don't have all the answers. I don't know all the answers. I don't have it all figured out. And I need you to help me.

Starting point is 00:31:48 Well, now we've got a camaraderie going on. We've locked arms. We're in the foxhole, and we're going to figure this thing out. The other way is like, no, I don't need your help. I got it. I'm smart. I know what I'm doing. And then what you do is alienate yourself from other people because inside they're thinking,

Starting point is 00:32:07 I don't have it all together. Yeah. Let's just go ahead and say that. just go ahead and be transparent and honest. I'm so glad you want to hear. The most successful leaders I feel like I've been around, they have this openness and transparency to them. They're vulnerable.

Starting point is 00:32:27 They're real humans. And they're not just this, you know, this guy who just stands up and acts like everything is perfect. And I've really learned a lot about this from doing this podcast and speaking to guys who are willing to do. I know one of the, it made me think of Jason Gainer, one of the very first guests I actually had in this podcast who was so willing to share some really, really tough things. I mean, he went broke, not, he went worse than broke. He went into huge debt from mistakes that he was willing to admit.

Starting point is 00:32:55 And now he's turned around has been an immense success. And so I love that that you guys have that set up. I think that's so powerful to be able to go to one other and say, hey, you know, I'm struggling with this. And the other guy says, yeah, I know. not a very good idea. And you can honestly say that and remain friends and actually your friendship thrives off of that honesty. I think that's great. And that kind of dovetails into my next question. And that's around people who have achieved whatever it is, your definition of successes. In your case, it's living successful and a significant life. So the people that you have known,

Starting point is 00:33:37 you've been very fortunate to be around a lot of people who have achieved both successful and significant lives. If you had to pinpoint one characteristic that all of those people share, what would it be? They're great at building relationships. And if you're not intentionally building relationships, you're missing the boat. and I've done that probably for 30 years and it's hard work. See, what happens is we get in front of that computer or we get on the task and we forget the people. And I would just say all those people spend an inordinate amount of time intentionally building relationships. And here's what I've coached guys to do now.

Starting point is 00:34:26 I'll give you one little example. I've got a client in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I flew out to his business. He's 30 years old, a great guy. And I said, tell me how you intentionally build businesses, I mean relationships. And he said, what do you mean? I said, how are you building relationships? And it was kind of a foreign concept. He's like, well, I'm doing this task.

Starting point is 00:34:48 And I said, well, here's what we're going to do. He hired me as this coach. And I said, here's what we're going to do. He was doing about $2 million in gross revenue. And he was a 10-year-old business. And I said, we're going to hire somebody to do the task you're doing. and he said, I've always done this. And I said, am I the coach?

Starting point is 00:35:05 And he said, yeah, I said, well, we're going to hire somebody to do that task. And here's what I want you to do. I want you to get your customer list out, past customers and potential customers. And I want you to schedule a lunch three a week. And I want you to go eat lunch with past customers and potential clients. He said, okay. And I said, I don't want you to ask for business. He said, what?

Starting point is 00:35:29 I said, I want you to go get to know. these guys. I said, the first thing I want you to do is to read how to win friends and influence others by Carnegie. And I said, what I want you to do is get in that guy's life. I want you to ask him about his wife and his children, his vacation, and his business. And whatever you do, do not ask him about business. He said, okay. He said, I said, just do it. And so he started doing it. okay, we've been together 18 months now. And this year he did four million gross revenue. Wow. The first 10 years, he did 2 million. 18 months later now, he's done 4 million. We've paid his business off entirely. We've paid his house off entirely. And he called me not long ago, and he said, I can't do all the work. And I started laughing. I said, well, now it's time to hire more people. That's how you grow a business. And see, it's, I don't care what service.

Starting point is 00:36:26 and I don't care what widget you're selling. If you're not building relationships intentionally, you're not going to have the success that you're desired. That's powerful, and it's definitely a common theme I've learned from talking to a lot of people who have done a lot of great, great things and accomplished a lot. It seems to be a common thread amongst all of them. It really does. So I love, love that advice.

Starting point is 00:36:54 All right, Aaron, I have one more question because, again, I got to be respectful. I know you have a lot going on. One more question for you. And it's really around what the whole purpose behind me doing this podcast. You know, I, you know, I did an exercise, and I've told this story before, but I wanted to tell you. I know we talked a little bit prior to recording. I did this exercise prior to creating this podcast, and what it is, what it was, I encourage

Starting point is 00:37:21 everyone to do this. I took out a sheet of paper, and I drew a line down the, middle of that piece of paper. On the left side of the paper, you write down everything that you love doing, things that you're passionate about or topics that you love talking about, you love learning about. Write those things down. On the other side, the right side of the sheet, take it to people who you're very, very close to. In your case, it would be, you know, mastermind groups. In my case, you know, like close, very close family members, very close friends, my wife. And I say, please write down what you think I'm really, really good at or you'd consider,

Starting point is 00:38:01 you know, you consider me potentially an expert at. And then see if there are things that are on both sides of the paper. And if they are, that's probably something that you should explore, you know, doing, doing more of. And in my case, it's around leading. And that's something I've done my entire life. And people have written down the fact that they notice I've always seemed to be reading something new on a daily basis to learn, to get better, to improve, and then share with others. So that's how the title of this show was created, Aaron. It's the learning leader show.

Starting point is 00:38:35 It's about leadership. It's about learning. It's about learning from the journeys of others so that we can potentially improve our own and then help others. So when you hear me say that, what would be your definition of? a great learning leader. Well, I think it's exactly right. I think what you've outlined is a very good exercise. And I've actually done that personally in regards to asking others how they view me

Starting point is 00:39:07 because I want to promise you others view you differently than you view yourself. And you've got to ask people, where am I missing the mark? Do you see me doing this or do you see me doing that? But as a leader, going through the exercise that you've just defined is something that we intentionally must do each and every day. Where I see myself personally is the encourager, the empower, and the engager. And let me explain that just for a second. And those are the things that I do naturally. Invariably, my clients tell me that they feel very empowered and encouraged as a result of being around me.

Starting point is 00:39:47 because I think that you can do it if you want. My mom had a little saying when I was a child. She wouldn't allow us to say the word can't. In my house, you couldn't say can't. I don't know what you call that. You couldn't say can't. So she had a little saying, and it was can't, couldn't do it, and could did it all. And as a direct result of that, I grew a lot of self-worth, self-esteem, because she wouldn't

Starting point is 00:40:17 allow me to say can't, so I had to try it, and then I was successful as a result of it. Well, now what I want to tell people is, you can do the same thing. So our limitations, most of the time are within ourselves. It goes back to that fear factor again. If you want to put the resources, the energy, the effort, you can accomplish most things that you want to do. And the other thing is the engaging part as a leader is I tell everybody, stop waiting your turn to talk.

Starting point is 00:40:44 most people, when they're in a conversation, they're thinking about what they're about to say, the point they want to make. If you will listen to people, you can easily fulfill their needs. Most people are not listening. And so you've been in a restaurant having lunch with somebody and they're interested in everybody but you, right?

Starting point is 00:41:07 They're looking around. Well, engage, lock eyes and listen. And then the people naturally think they're interested in what I have to say. I went to buy a car recently and went to the salesman and I said, I want this kind of car and we want a blue one. And this is exactly what we want on it. And he said, well, I don't have a blue one, but come here.

Starting point is 00:41:28 Let me show you this. I've got that same car you want and it's red. And I said, I don't want a red car. I want this car and I want a blue car. He said, well, this one's on sale. And I said, well, that's good. I want this car and I want a blue one. and he said, this one's got leather inside.

Starting point is 00:41:45 And so finally, I just told Robin, I said, let's go. So we left. Well, if he'd have went inside and checked another dealership and found that car, a blue one, I probably would have wrote a check and we'd be driving that car today. My point is, is we all do that. We have the end goal in mind, making the sale. We have the end goal making more money. So he could have made me a lifelong customer if I felt he was engaged in me and meeting my needs.

Starting point is 00:42:11 so when the learning, the part that you're simply comes from listening well. So those are the things that I do in the learning process to be a better leader. It's awesome, man. Aaron, I really, really, again, appreciate getting to know you a lot better. You investing so much time with us here at the Learning Leader Show. You've provided so much value. Where can all the people listening go to learn more? more and to read more about you?

Starting point is 00:42:44 Well, I've done a little something for your listeners. If it's okay, I've got something I'd like to give you. Sweet, sweet. There's a landing page that we've built just for your listeners, and it's viewframetop. com forward slash Ryan Hawk, all in lowercase. And let me tell you what I've got for you there. There's three documents that I wrote that I use every day with clients. One of them is called personal assessment to where a lot of these things that we've talked about is on that document.

Starting point is 00:43:17 You do an introspection. You really look deep into yourself. You're candid, you're honest, and you answer these questions. The other document is called, What Do I Want? And here's where most people miss it, Ryan. They don't live a life intentionally. They live reactive and not proactive. And I teach people to live on purpose.

Starting point is 00:43:39 Robin and I for 36 years have set on the front porch and we've decided how we want our life to look. What are the goals? Where do we want to be in 30 days, 90 days, five years from now? When we retire, do we want this kind of house or that kind of house? What do we want to instill in our children? What kind of possessions do we want to own? What are things we don't want to own? We just design a life intentionally.

Starting point is 00:44:03 So it's what do I want? not live a life compared to the Joneses or a life that your parents expect you to live. How do you want to live your life? That's the second document. The third one is, okay, now I understand myself, the personal assessment, now I've discovered what do I want. And the last document is called Steps to a Productive Day. And it's how to implement your day, starting early, I walk you through a regimented process,

Starting point is 00:44:30 and it's kind of a to-do list on steroids, if you will. Those three documents are in a word document. You can download them, save them on your computer, fill them out every day. And so I don't want to sell them to you. I want to give them to you. So I've made them free. You can go there and download those. You can simply find me at viewfromatop.com.

Starting point is 00:44:51 My Twitter is at V-F-T-Couch. My email is A-A-A-A-A-R-O-N at Vue-F-Top.com. I lead mastermind groups. I'm the facilitator of those. I'm a life and business coach. I would love to help you if you need anything. Feel free to reach out. I'd love to talk to you.

Starting point is 00:45:11 That's awesome. Repeat for the listeners here. View from the top.com slash Ryanhawk, R-Y-A-N-H-A-W-K. Aaron, thank you so much for being such a giving person here and sharing and then really giving us a place to go to where we can follow up and put these, the things that we talked about here and actually put them in action. It's one thing to learn about them and to, maybe take a few notes. It's a completely another thing to have giveaways or takeaways for

Starting point is 00:45:40 the listener to be able to implement these right now. So greatly appreciate that. And I love having you on the show. I'd love to have you on again if you'd like later on. Well, that would be great, Ron. I'm writing a book. Right now, it's going to be out at the end of this year, the first of 2016, and it's called an Eagles view. The name of the mastermind group that I've been in for all these years is called the Eagles. And so I'm going to be giving a peek behind the curtain. It's going to be much more detailed about how we did mastermind, the things that we did individually, about the different businesses that were in there, my personal story, and maybe I can come back on and talk to you then. We also have what's called the community. And it's where you pay $30 a month. You listen

Starting point is 00:46:27 to me on four webinars a month. It's live. You can get my newsletters. There's interaction in a private ning site, kind of like Facebook where we have interaction. And it's a very, very nominal fee to pay to be a part of the community to where we have inspiration, empowerment, encouragement, access to me. I'd love for you to join the community. So you can go to that on my website as well. But, hey, I'd love to be on again. I've talked to you to death. Man, I don't want to wear out my welcome You've been a great host, man. You've made me feel really comfortable, and I appreciate it. And I'd love to be back on your show.

Starting point is 00:47:04 It's been an honor to be on this time, and thank you for having me. Awesome. Cool, Aaron. Again, I appreciate it, man, and we'll talk soon. All right. Thanks for you. Bye. This episode of The Learning Leader Show is over, but we have plenty more to keep you

Starting point is 00:47:17 locked in until next time. Head over to Learning Leadershow.com for more information and to request your favorite entrepreneur, CEO, world-class athlete, or any other. else that inspires you. You can also talk to Ryan directly by reaching out to him on Twitter at Ryan Hawk 12. Thanks again and we'll see you next time on the Learning Leader Show.

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 037: Aaron Walker – Success AND Significance – The Importance Of Both | A View From The Top

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