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Podcast Transcript
Ken McElroy:
Hey everybody. It’s Ken McElroy here, and I’m very excited to have my good friend Blair singer. You guys might know Blair. He is obviously the original rich dad advisor, and he’s got multiple books. He’s got a big company, a big training company on sales. And he is my guy when I, I, I always run into roadblocks on things. And he’s my guy. When I, when I have issues around sales or growing revenue or whatever. And, and so Blair, welcome to the show.
Blair Singer:
Hey, Ken, it’s great to be here with you. And, um, the same goes both ways. I get a roadblock and you, and you seem to laugh at it and we just move past it. So it’s, very mutual.
Ken McElroy:
Well, I, I tell you what, you know, we’re gonna, uh, obviously, you know, your books, the L you know, little voice and, and, you know, sales dogs, and all the other stuff you’ve written, but what’s been most impressive is that you’re, you’ve, you’ve pivoted pretty well during this pandemic. And you’re still trying, I just slow the other day. You had like a couple hundred people on the phone and you’re like raised capital for all of them and you, and you raised money for philanthropy. And so once you talk a little bit about that, cause every time I go to one of your shows, it’s packed, and then you got these people that you don’t don’t know how to raise money. And they they’re. I was like millions of dollars in the room raise like, like in an afternoon, like how does that work?
Blair Singer:
Well, the way w well, first of all, thank you for that. And, and yeah, I mean, we had to pivot quite a bit. We had to pivot our business because, uh, as you mentioned, we have a global training company, got trainers all over the world. And when the shutdown came, everything shut down. I mean, our promoters got shut down and the money they were holding that belonged to us got shut down, everything got shut down. So we had to shift everything to online. Obviously some digital products, my products. So what you’re watching was a live show. And yeah, we had about 170 people, I think, total. And they raised, uh, $18,000 in about 10 minutes for a charity. And it was, it was great. And, and how do we do that? It’s real simple. And it’s kind of what we’re talking about here. I always tell people that the distance between you and where you want to go can take forever, or it can take 10 seconds. It’s a decision, right. Then you are, we’ve all gone through it. And, and it’s not as far as people think. So my job is to put the challenge in front of them, push them, get them across the line, and then they go on, Holy crap. I can’t believe we just did that. Then they can continue on with that.
Ken McElroy:
Well, it’s been, it’s been fun to watch over the years. It’s been fun to be part of, uh, it’s actually works perfectly for this, you know, this topic, which is how to turn the shutdown into an opportunity, which was exactly what you did. This is exactly what we did. Uh, and I think a lot of people are, you know, they’re, they’re depressed mentally, the are not going their way. And so this is a rough time. So what was the biggest challenge for you in 2020 relating to the shutdown?
Blair Singer:
Okay, well, that’s a great question, Ken. And the first, you know, there were two major ones, Oh my God, my business. But then just very soon after that hit my brand, I’m going, Oh my God, my team. So I had to make a decision, what am I going to do first? Because we have this global team of a couple hundred people out there. We all get together. They work together, we share stuff together and I’m going, okay, team first. So I immediately call everybody together on a weekly basis. Some of them, the, the, the more senior guys twice a week, get your business together. What are we going to do? What are we going to do and keep them going. Okay. And so that was the first thing. The second thing was obviously is to pivot the business, which is a much longer process. But what you said is really true, what’s really true is, and I say, it’s a gift. It’s not a gift in the moment, but it was a gift at the top now is that, that pandemic, that shutdown forced everybody including me to hit the reset button, to sit back and take a look and assess at a couple of things, you know, your, your health, mostly your mental health, your financial health, um, your spiritual health, uh, mental health, all of that. And that’s still going on. And I think that the people that are people aren’t committed to that at some level are still going to struggle.
Ken McElroy:
Right. I love the fact that you focused on team first. And I don’t, I think a lot of people would not do that. So, um, a lot of people focused on the company and, and you focused on the team. I thought that was really interesting. I chatted with you before about this. Can you talk a little bit about why, because I, I know your book, the code of honor. Uh, I love that book. Obviously we did a whole thing on our own company on it. It’s a great book for those of you don’t have it. Let’s talk about why you started there.
Blair Singer:
Honestly, the very first reason I started there is because I felt I had that responsibility, you know, I had as a leader and I brought a lot of these people into our tribe, our, our network of trainers around the world and coaches around the world on the, on a vision, on something that we could do. And I just didn’t feel good about abandoning people in the middle of that, just because we had a problem. So, so the first and I figured longterm, the business is a team. Okay. The team is your primary asset. Okay. We always talk about that at rich dad, rich dad advisors. It’s, it’s your primary asset. And lo and behold, just, just to let you know, is it now, like over the last four or five months, some of the biggest deals we’ve been doing have not been with promoters has been with members of the team. So that early support really paid off. I mean, we did a major program in Japan, a major program in India make, now you can do all of that from right here. Right. Um, you don’t have to go anywhere. And so it really paid off.
Ken McElroy:
Yeah. Well, I know you’ve always been that guy and, and, uh, I think that a lot of people focus on the company and not the team. And, and, uh, so I think that was a big, big piece. So, so what advice do you have for people dealing with challenges that arose from 2020? What are some of the things that they can do? Because there’s a lot of people that are in, you know, confused.
Blair Singer:
Yeah. Well, it runs the gamut, Ken. I mean, it’s like, there are some people that are struggling. There’s some people that are really struggling, you know, what was it, 18 million people unemployed right now in America. I mean, that’s, that’s a problem, you know? And so I think that what people can do right now, first thing don’t quit. Don’t allow yourself to quit. You know, I was talking to one of our friends, Radha Gopalan and, uh, he’s, uh, a heart surgeon and all that. And the, and the cases of men, the, the mental health cases right now are skyrocketing through the roof. Suicides are up all kinds of crazy things. So don’t quit. Number one, number two, surround yourself with people that, A, won’t let you quit. And that support you. I know the one thing that when this came down and you Robert and I flew someplace to get our heads together and do some study and work, work on stuff, and it really paid off.
Blair Singer:
So you get to surround yourself with the right people at the right time, see depression. The first side of depression is when people isolate themselves. So if anybody’s watching this and you know, somebody in your team or somebody out there that is kind of disappearing and fading away, go grab them by the collar and get them back in the game. Somehow, get them to go do something, go serve something, stay active. That’s the one thing, the other thing I think that to do is to study new skills. It’s the best time, you know, what real estate is inflating, right. In some places, I mean, it’s a bubble, right? But education unfortunately is deflating. So, so the cost of education now is going down because online and people are, are, they don’t have all the costs. So it’s the best time in the world to get yourself educated, new skills, new ideas, new, new ways to manage that little voice between your ears.
Ken McElroy:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think some great points there, but I, I, for those of you guys might not know, but when, when the lockdown happened, Blair, uh, and I, and Robert Kiyosaki chartered a jet because everything was closed. We flew to a ranch in Texas and we literally studied it because we were all mentally just like toast, like, like, like a lot of us and we’re and confused. How do you, you know, how do you run a business? How does this all work? And we basically got together and, and I, I wouldn’t, you know, I don’t know if we healed each other, but we came back a little more healed, right?
Blair Singer:
Oh yeah, totally. And the education was priceless. And one of the things, one of the, that came out of that is, is that what we studied is the most powerful thing that you can do. The most powerful thing you can do is become part of a team. A holistic learning unit, I think was the thing, is to be able to study. Um, and so for when that, when the lockdown hit study, uh, everybody needs new skills. AI is coming quick. You, you got to keep yourself abreast and you’ve got to keep, and you got to keep developing yourself. Otherwise it’s not going to get any better. Uh, those, the people that are waiting to change or come back, man. Good luck with that.
Ken McElroy:
No kidding. So, Hey Blair. So we’re going to take a quick break for the ad and we’ll be right back with Blair Singer. Okay. Welcome back guys. So Blair, uh, one of the books I love is the little voice book. And you, you talked a lot about your little voice and, uh, you know, I, everyone has it. I know, I sure have it. So can you please explain to the audience what, what that is?
Blair Singer:
That’s a good question. So what the little voice is, is that thing in your head that just said, what little voice? I don’t have a little voice. That’s the one. Okay. So if you don’t know what it is, that’s it. And, um, you know, I don’t know what your sounds like. Um, and maybe you have more than one and all those things, but, but the reason that I wrote that book and the reason that’s important is to understand that the little voice, the chatter that goes on in your mind all the time is not necessarily the best version of you, or even the real you, it’s a composite of your teachers and parents and relatives and friends and media and all that other stuff that goes on in there. And you’ll know that that’s true because sometimes a little voice gives you really bad information. You make bad decisions and bad moments, emotional moments, and later you’re gone. What was I thinking? Well, the truth is you, weren’t thinking you’re a little took over and you’ve made a stupid hair-brained decision, right? So the idea is to get control of your mind back. And if nobody knows what that is anymore, the quarantine, the shutdown, it brought it right to the surface. So understand that. That’s what the little voice is.
Ken McElroy:
Oh, I know I have on my mind, sounds like my mom, by the way.
Ken McElroy:
No, I know. I always get into trouble. Kenneth. My mom would call me Kenneth. I knew when I was Kenneth, I was in big trouble. So, uh, what would your little voice be telling you about the challenges that arose last year and this year?
Blair Singer:
Yeah. Well, one of the common little voices would be, you don’t know what to do. You’re not smart enough. You’re not good enough. You’re not this enough. You’re not all of these other things enough to just fill in the blank. You’re not something enough. You’re not old enough, not young enough, not pretty enough, you know? Right. So that’s a real common one that pops up, you know, in other ones that I, like we said earlier, I can’t do it. Or I don’t know how or things like that. And, and so there’s ways to combat that really quick. It’s, it’s normal. It happens to the rest of us, uh, have as all of us. But I think that when you start hearing that incessant conversation going on in your brain, the first thing you gotta do is just stop. Just be aware. So as of right now, everybody watching this podcast, everybody here you’re on notice, you are now aware that you have a little voice, so no more excuses about, well, yeah. You know, you have the ability to stop and say, Whoa, stop. And just take a breath for a minute. Think for a second, uh, meditate, if you need to, for like 30 seconds something in order to regain awareness awareness, you know, Descartes, totally talks about awareness and, um, ma spiritual leaders all over for hundreds of years of talking about awareness, stop for a second and observe what’s going on for you. And you’re going to be 50% of the way to fixing the whole problem. Right. It’s still true.
Ken McElroy:
Thank you, Blair. I appreciate that.
Ken McElroy:
So guys, don’t forget, pick up the book, little voice mastery. He’s got 21, uh, pieces in there that you can walk through and it’ll just help you disconnect from that. And, and hopefully set you on a little bit different path, you know, during this very, very difficult time. So Blair as always. I appreciate you. Thank you very, very much.