Networking, Mentorship, and Client Engagement

Speaker A 00:05 Welcome to the Wisdom Parlor, a thoughtful discussion of important ideas among people who are committed to succeeding in life. This is a gathering of leaders from a variety of industries, and our role here is to help you reach the top 1% of your field of choice. I'm Jim Cathcart, so come with me and let's discover how much more successful you could be. Jim Cathcart 00:38 I called this the Wisdom Council Zoom Parlor. P A R L O R. Zoom Parlor. Why Zoom Parlor? Because what everybody's used to is podcast and interview programs, and they're. They're used to masterminds, and they're, you know, things like that. Are they. What used to be rare is now very, very common. Right. And the Wisdom Council Zoom Parlor is intended to be what its final word implies, a place to talk. You know, houses in the past were built. Homes were built with a parlor right off the entryway so that people could gather there and speak. And the kitchen wasn't part of that. You know, today, open space is the way they design homes most of the time. But back in the day, you'd have a living room, a dining room, a bed room, a kitchen. In other words, each room has had a unique designation, and the living room was the parlor. And some homes had separate parlors, but the purpose of that one was a place to talk. Okay, this is a place to talk. Years ago, years 2001, I moved from La Jolla, where I'd been for almost 20 years, to thousand Oaks, California. And I was. We were living in a gated community called Sherwood Country Club, and Sherwood Country Clubs, where Tiger woods held his Target World Challenge every year. So it was a big event. And. And the homes there are unbelievable. Mine was a big town home, but my gosh, the homes, I mean, you know, 10,000 square foot mansions and people like Britney Spears and Wayne Gretzky and Paul Anka and Tom Selleck, you know, I was giddy. I grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. You never, ever, ever saw celebrities in Little Rock, Arkansas, except on tv. And I moved to California, and I end up in Thousand Oaks in this community. And they're sitting across the table, you know, in the restaurant from me. And then I got to know a few of them. Well, anyway, when we moved into Sherwood, we didn't know a soul. And the reason we left La Jolla to go north was our grandson was born in Santa Barbara. Well, LA is between Santa Barbara and San Diego, so that stunk. And we said, you know, there's no way we can justify the commute. 220 miles each way every week to see our grandson. So I said let's move. And Paula said, where we move? And we moved to Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. So there I am in the new community. I don't know a soul except my realtor. And so we applied for membership in the country club social membership and we got accepted. I went to the general manager and I said, and by the way, I'm sharing this because I think this is an idea you can use. You'll use it in a variety of different ways, but it's a very useful idea for networking or business building or whatever. So I said to the general manager, her name was Alex Quilty. And I said, Alex, I'm a, as you know, a professional speaker and an author and pretty well connected. I know people like you're looking at in this zoom meeting and I can bring them in and if you will host. The by host I mean announce, promote and, and cater a meeting once a month. Let's call it Sherwood Parlor. Let's have it in that big elegant Getty mansion looking room at the front of your country club. And I will be the, the meeting host and facilitator of discussions among interesting people on important topics. And she said that is awesome, I like that. And so we announced it to the membership and I ended up doing 39 of those over a three or four year period. Well, what happened was the new kid on the block, me all of a sudden is connected with all the top thinkers and shakers and movers in Sherwood Country Club and they're coming to these events and I'm bringing in astronauts and best selling authors and hall of fame speakers and business experts and you know, celebrities and people like that one at a time. And every time I did now note the expectation is this will be a lecture series. Every time I brought in one of those people, I would say our guest today is Clayton Eckhart. Clayton Eckhart invented puppies. And everyone who's ever had one is the beneficiary of the wonderful work of Clayton Eckhart. And he's here today to tell us how he invented puppies and what we can do with that knowledge today. And I would say to him, he's going to speak for five minutes. And they say, wait, wait, Jim, you know you got this group of us, there's between 12 and 30 of us here in this parlor. And you've got this wonderful guest, he's going to speak for five minutes. And I would say, yeah, look around the room. There is everyone in this room could be the featured Speaker. So, anyway, I would have the. The guests speak for five minutes, and then I would open it up to question or comments. And I would say, there's more knowledge, experience, and expertise in the rest of this room than there is in front of this room. And that's why it's set up as a parlor for all of us to be in the discussion. Well, what happened as a result of that was I not only became really well connected within the community of Sherwood Country Club, but on top of that, even the staff got to know me. And so when my wife and I would go to the dining room or to a social event or something, all of the staff members would call us by name. All of the other members of the club would say, oh, Jim, Paula, come on over, you know, and so conversation just flowed, and we never had to do that awkward social dance of, hi, where are you from? Where you know, what are you doing here, how long? That kind of stuff. And so there's an idea you can use commercially. You could charge for that. You could sell that to one of your clients as a service with you hosting the parlor discussions, or you could do that in the community where you live to connect better with the people you want to connect with. So, Wisdom Council. Why Wisdom Council? Because when I'm taking people through the experts academy, experience, the mentorship, I tell them, here, here are the levels one can aspire to in any field, whether they're a doctor or speaker or entertainer, whatever, here are the levels they can aspire to. 1. Competent. That means you get to sit at the kids table. You don't have to leave and go sit over and observe you. You're competent. You've got this skill and this knowledge. Okay, next level. Excellent. That means you can not only do it, but occasionally you can do an impressive job of it, right? So you've mastered many of the basics, and you can occasionally perform excellently. Next level, expert. Meaning that you've mastered this craft and that you can consistently do excellent performances. Not occasionally, but regularly. And as a. As a mastery level expert, then the world can expect more from you and you can charge more for doing it. Okay, next level. Beyond that. Now remember, we're competent. Excellent. Expert. Leading authority. Leading authority. That means that not only do you do it well, not only are you highly skilled and knowledgeable, but other people quote you. Other people, when they hear you say something, they say, that carries some weight. I'm going to tell others that. Right? So that means you are influencing the direction of things. Anyway, when I got into this field, Earl Nightingale was my role model. Well, Earl Nightingale wasn't a superstar or celebrity. He was a leading authority. I wanted to be like Earl Nightingale. I wanted to be like OG Mandino, the author of the Greatest Salesman in the World and a lot of other books. Looking at this, my aspiration was leading authority. And I did it. You know, I not only did all the basic things speakers do, and I got my CSP Certified Speaking Professional, but I got elected to the Board of Directors of NSA National Speakers Association. And I was the guy they put in charge of creating educational structure for the professional certification that NSA does. Certified Speaking Professional. Because I pointed out, even though I had it, I had one at the time, which is this medallion over here on the shelf. Certified Speaking Professional. At that time it was a frequent flyer award. It meant I had sold 250 speaking engagements to 200 different clients over a five year period. Well, that's not proof of professionalism or excellence. That's proof of marketing skill. Right? So I said, guys, we cannot continue to do this as a frequent flyer award. It's got to have teeth. And they said, well, what do we do? And I said, I don't know, I'll get back to you. So they put me in charge of it. And over a five year period I went and researched all kinds of other associations and societies and professional groups to see what they did to certify people. And I came back with a structure for the National Speakers association built around a set of professional competencies, a competency being a set of skills. So there were competencies around knowing the profession, there were competencies around becoming excellent as a platform performer, marketing and managing your business and, and becoming an expert and so on and so forth. So that's still in use today. Well, what's the next level above leading authority? The next level above leading authority is celebrity. And that's where you come in the room and people go, it's Julie Furman, take a picture. You know that. I mean, they see you come in the room and they recognize you because you've been in all their magazines and publications. You've been on stage at their big conventions, you've been the person that was interviewed on their podcast. You've got books in the bookstore, right? So you're a celebrity. And what's above celebrity, star and maybe superstar above that, but certainly star. So here, here again is the levels that you can aspire to in any field. Competent. That'll get you to the table. Excellent. That'll get you to where you can amaze people. Once in a while. Expert. That's where you've mastered the craft and you can consistently, intentionally produce excellent performances. Right? Expert from their leading authority. That's where you're known and quoted widely. Celebrity, where you're not only well known, but people are inviting you in. They're, they're, you know, they want you present at their events. And then beyond that, star or superstar. Now every one of those is a perfectly valid thing to aspire to, but if you're going for star or superstar, it's going to take everything you've got. I remember years ago, a speaker that I was coaching said to me, I want to do what Tony Robbins is doing as Tony is doing it, in other words, in the same way, at the same level. I said, whoa, are you sure? And he said, yeah, I'm sure. I said, you do realize you're not going to have a life that's going to be, that's going to consume every ounce of your being, every moment of your life. He said, that's what it takes. Well, and he almost burned himself out trying to do that. And he ultimately got a lot of success. But then he had a big fall from the top because he hadn't gone about it in a way that he could sustain it, and he ended up getting in trouble. So it's fine. I mean, some people aspire to that and hit it. God bless them, right? So choose your level of aspiration that tells you how hard you're going to have to go after it. Right? So the next thing is, when I'm looking at expertise, I'm looking at, I use a formula. V I, D A H, V as in virtue. I D A H, B stands for valuable. A cpe, A certified professional expert is value able. What is value? Value is something someone cares about, cares about achieving or cares about whatever, just cares about, like, caring about another person. But if you value accuracy, then accuracy is important to you. May not be important to me, but if it's important to you, then that's going to have to happen if we're going to work together. Right? So an expert is value able, meaning that they understand how to determine what the other person values, how to read people, how to interview, how to probe, how to, how to get someone to reveal what matters to them so they're able to reveal and, and understand or recognize value, and they are able to deliver it because they've been intentional, which is that when you go down V I, D A H, intentional is the I. I can look at a person's life and Career and measure only one thing and tell you how far they're going to go. The one thing I'd measure is intentionality. Why do you dress like you do? I meant that. Okay, so if that's intentional, good on you. You know, you may need to get some feedback on it to make it work for you better. But if it's intentional, that's step one. All right. Why do you talk that way? Why do you hang out with those people? Why do you have your office in that location? Why do you brand your business in this way? Why did you choose to align yourself with this other individual? If it was intentional, chances are good it's going to have integrity and. And feed the rest of the flow toward what you want out of your life and your career. So valuable intentional. Third one. Dis. Disciplined. Meaning the more things in your life you are disciplined about doing a particular way, the more things in your life are going to feed your success. Makes sense. Okay, so you can have discipline about the first five minutes of every morning, even if all you do is brush your teeth. You can have discipline around that, right? You can have discipline about the way you greet and interact with people. You can have discipline about how you use free time when you're stuck somewhere, and all of a sudden you can't do what you were there to do. Like, you show up for an appointment and the other person didn't, Right? So you can have discipline around all kinds of things, and the more often you have it, the more likely you are to get what you want in life. Right? The next thing Vida is accountable. I believe the who was it said the greatest disinfectant is sunlight or spotlight. In other words, if someone's. Someone's got secrets, the quickest way to solve the problem with those that is created by those secrets is just put a spotlight on them. Show it to everybody. I told Paula one time, I said, I am the worst, worst, worst candidate in the world for anyone to ever try and blackmail. Because if someone said, I know something about you and I'm telling if you don't do so. And so I would say, let's call them right now. Put them on speakerphone now. What was it you were going to say? And if they didn't say it, I'd say it. Game over. Right? I mean, seriously, if you're accountable, if you're open, if you're honest, if you tell the truth all the time, then there's nothing waiting back there to bite you in the butt. So honesty and openness. Telling the truth is quickest. Way in the world to advance. And then the final V I D A H. Valuable, intentional, disciplined, accountable and honorable. Take a look at everything you do and ask, how could I add some dignity to that as it relates to other people? How could I, if I'm just strolling along the street? Make that a more honorable act, Strolling down the street. Well, how about observing good things and pointing them out? Yeah. I carry a little card with me that's called my passion and purpose statement. And it says my passion and purpose is for to allow life to emerge fully through me. That by living abundantly, I encourage and inspire others to live abundantly. And I said, I broke it down into three steps or three pieces that I focus on to assure that I'm doing what realizes or actualizes my passion and purpose. Intelligent observation and going with the book that I wrote with Lisa Patrick that was published by Michael Butler, Intelligent curiosity. I notice more, intentionally notice more than most people do. I notice patterns. I look for principles and, and fundamental truths that are behind patterns. Because if you understand only patterns, you're stuck with your patterns. But if you understand the principles that drive the patterns, you can create new patterns because you understand what causes them to work or not work. Right. Okay. So through intelligent observation, vocal appreciation, meaning if I notice, you know, I noticed Dave Reed did something really nice or really, really respect worthy, then I'm going to comment on it. I'm going to say, dave, the way you interacted with that guy back there, it was obvious he was having a bad day. You just made his day a little bit brighter. Good work, my friend. Right. So through intelligent observation, just noticing more than others notice, and vocal appreciation, actually speaking up and commenting on things. Yeah. Like right in the middle of a negotiation, you might say to somebody, you know, excuse me, you know, we hadn't found the common ground yet, but the way you described that just now was brilliant. And I just thought I'd say, way to go now here's my counter, but good on you. Well, all of a sudden I just diffused their adversarial level quite a bit simply by acknowledging something that was true, that they were doing a good job in the negotiation with me. Right. Intelligent observation, vocal appreciation, and full self expression. Meaning I live my life intentionally live my life as fully as I can. I'm active, socially active, mentally, physically, family, socially, spiritually, career, financial, emotional. I've got all of those cylinders firing on a pretty regular basis. But I don't try to allocate one eighth of my life to each one. I try to dedicate about 80 or 90% of my life to each one in sequence so that none of them ever get neglected. Because whichever one you neglect is going to come back and bite you in the butt. It's like if you neglect your finances, then sooner or later finances will step forward and say, it's my turn, my turn, we're going bankrupt, you know, or you neglect your relationships, my turn, we're going to court, etc. So that's, that's the way that I live my life. And that's part of what I teach in the experts academy. Now, let me pause for a second because I've been rambling a lot. And before I go into describing the document I shared with you in the chat, I want to get some reactions or feedback. So let me open it up so that you guys can unmute. I. I wanted to say, Jim, first of all, that was fabulous. Speaker C 23:40 You've got that down inside and out. Jim Cathcart 23:44 And, and what I want to say is that whatever you posted in the chat is not there until someone comes. They only see the chat that was while they are here. So would you please repost? Yes, I will repost. Thank you. Who was that? Speaker D 24:03 I just want to chime in. Jim Cathcart 24:04 Oops, sorry, Trigger. Speaker D 24:06 Yeah, I heard you share some of this down to Michael. Michael's epic event. You've added more into it. You, you've added more clarity in it since we talked about what you did, which I was really excited to see. You added some more meat and substance to the gaps that you did. The brief overview, which was great. But this is even meatier. So thank you for adding more meat to the meal. Jim Cathcart 24:30 You bet. You bet. Any other quick comments or questions? Pardon me again for the laryngitis effect. Okay. Speaker E 24:39 Very good content. Jim Cathcart 24:40 Thank you, Jim. Speaker E 24:41 Very epic. Jim Cathcart 24:42 You bet. By the way, I just created my own publishing label with Michael Butler, so Cathcart Press. And here's the way to check it out. Book.cathcart.com that takes you directly to landing page that describes the Cathcart Press label. And there's a video on there that's about, I don't know, 12, 15 minutes long. That's called Find the Book and you. And I'm really proud of it. I really think it's good. You know, I could be clearly bad wrong on that, but I would like him. Speaker E 25:23 I put the link in the chat for everybody. It's hyperlinks. Go ahead and, go ahead and click Jim Cathcart 25:27 it and put your information in there. Watch Jim's video and. Yeah, very well done, Jim. Thank you. And then there's a shorter video, like three minutes long with me in a western shirt where I'm talking about the difference between being a best selling author and only having a best selling book. Greg Godek, a friend of mine who sold over a million books personally, not in bookstores, personal activity, sold a million books. He explained that to me years ago and I thought it was brilliant. To be a best selling author means to acquire the qualities that would cause any book you produce to likely become a bestseller. And that's part of the, the thinking behind the Experts Academy. By the way, here's another one and I'm going to type this into the chat. Free.cathcart.com that landing page takes you to a place where you can download a book. I wrote the title, working title of the book is what to do when you're the speaker. And it's got 54 lessons, little micro lessons on every aspect of speaking you can imagine. What do you do when the introducer is talking about you to the meeting? What do you think about and how do you behave when you're sitting there off to the side or in the front row and they're listening to your introducer? What do you do when the person before you ran overtime and ate up all your prime time? What do you do when the person before you quit too early and they're saying, stretch, stretch. What do you do when your story bombed? What do you do when you want to tell a story? So in other words, the 54 lessons are really good, surgically precise lessons for who are speaking. Okay. For pay especially. And at the back of that book are eight half hour audios that have been transcribed on how to lead meetings effectively. And Roger and Dennis and I have worked with a board of directors recently on a lot of that. How do you run meetings effectively? How do you. How do you run board meetings and committee meetings and business meetings so that other people want to attend them instead of dread attending them? So that's in there anyway, that's a free item for you, so you can just download it. There's no obligation whatsoever. Speaker F 28:18 It's. Angela, what was the name of that book, please? Jim Cathcart 28:22 The name of the book is what to do when you're the Speaker. But just go to free.cathcart.com it'll be in your face. Speaker G 28:29 Thank you. Jim Cathcart 28:30 You won't have to look for it, Angela. It'll be right there. So here's, here's the document I created the Experts Academy. And this has evolved, as some of you know, over the last several months into what it is today from being a three month program I was doing called Going Pro that Connie Fife and I created together. So I decided I want to go all in. And I don't want to have something else to sell. I want to give somebody the key to the side door of me for a whole year. What would I include and how do I do it? So here it is, the Experts Academy, which includes the ability to participate in these forums. The Wisdom Counsel Parlor. It's a thoughtful forum of important ideas among people who are committed to succeeding in life. Now that's very, very, very intentional. It's a thoughtful forum. So people who don't really want to think much, they just want to hear or be entertained, probably won't find it very interesting. But it's a thoughtful forum for important ideas among people who have said I will succeed, not people who are trying. And the way I can tell people are committed to succeeding is I only want to really talk with people that have already succeeded to some extent. And if you look around this room, that's who we have here today. Everyone in this room has achieved some noteworthy success in their own niche. And everyone in this room still has a whole lot more available to them. So it's a discussion forum. And in the Experts Academy, this is what I believe. I figured if I don't state my beliefs, then I. Then people don't get who I am. And what makes me different from say, a Grant Cardone or a Tony Robbins or know some other option that they would be considering connecting with for an extended mentorship. So life needs outlets. The life force exists throughout the cosmos, but it needs portals like a plant, a puppy or person. And every one of us is capable of allowing that life to emerge through us in positive, powerful ways. Or converting it to negative, for that matter. But if we want to be a great portal for life to live fully and abundantly and to have a meaningful and satisfying life, then we've got to develop the parts of us that allow it to flow. For example, a few years ago, one of the world's great guitarists passed away. And I was thinking about that and I thought, how horribly sad that that mastery level of talent has disappeared. That this person passed. And with him, all of that practice and all of that expertise and those wonderful potentialities passed with him. Now, of course, we have recordings and remnants of his presence here. But that talent left with him. Well, let's look at it another way. Let's not talk about people who passed. Let's talk about people who Became fully functioning adults and never developed a major skill, never became the expert they were capable of in a particular category. Well, I love to play guitar and to sing, I just, I'm a compulsive performer when it comes to that and I'm good at guitar. But when you look at levels of aspiration, my level competent, excellent. There are a few songs I can do in a way that could be considered excellent, but Most of the 500 and Something songs that I know, and I really do know that many by heart, I'm competent. So I can entertain a room, I can put on a two or three hour show in a nightclub or something, but I'm not going to have people walking out thinking, what, wow, that was amazing. They're just going to go home with a smile on their face saying, that was fun, wasn't it? So that's my level of expertise when it comes to guitar and performance. Now if I don't spend lots of time practicing and learning new techniques on guitar, then the excellence that that world class guitarist had will never find its way through me because I'm not giving it a good enough portal. Well, the same thing's true in selling. The same thing's true in leadership. Same thing's true in relationship building. The same thing's true in investing in publishing. If you don't take the time to develop the expertise to get you beyond just being in the game, then you'll never be able to allow that abundant life to emerge through you. So that's, you know, I've got this belief statement and then down at the bottom of it it says, look, life's not respect restricted, we are. If we want the benefits and joys of a highly productive life, then we've got to be a better portal that can come through. So what is the experts academy? It's a mentorship, but it's a mentorship where I'm creating a society of people who have chosen to become one of the very best in their own field. Is it for speakers and trainers? Yeah, but not exclusively. If you want to be excellent in another field like Dennis Madden has achieved a high level of mastery in the field of association leadership and in transmission repair, rebuilding and, and repairing and understanding, even designing transmission functions. Right. Well, he's going into a whole new field and it's all focused around swimming pools and all the things related to that. So for him it's not about speaking and training or publishing or whatever, although those may be involved as vehicles. It's about a totally different focused field. So the experts Academy is for people like that. And what I've done is I've created an annual program where I can be all in for people. Now, what are the elements that I make sure are covered in the Experts Academy? A full training suite of training experiences and programs on presentation skills, whether it's sales presentations, public speaking, being a podcast, guest hosting meetings, all that sales and marketing skills, motivation, relationship intelligence and assessment tools. You know, Tony Alessandra. Tony Alessandra is Dr. Tony Alessandra owns assessments 24 7. He and I formed a partnership when he was a College professor in 1982 in. No, in 79. And I moved to San Diego La Jolla in 82. And Tony and I, he left the university and we merged everything we had together in one filing system and one checkbook and for five years did everything together as Cathcart Alessandra and Associates. And the big home run hit we had was we created the first ever audio training program on personality types. Let that sink in. There had been training programs, there had been books. You know, Carl Jung was out there and, and William Marston had done his DISC model, Emotions of Normal People. And Myers and Briggs had, had taken, you know, mother and daughter had taken Carl Jung's work and developed their own model. So there were a lot of people talking about it, but there weren't many. There weren't hardly any speakers and trainers going around teaching it with an audio program as a supplement. So Tony and I created, and the name of it was Relationship Strategies for Dealing with the Differences in People. This is what we looked like. Unbelievable. Well, this was published by Earl Nightingale and they sold three and a half million dollars worth of it in the first two years. Wow. So Tony and I went from nobodies to, you know, worldwide celebrities for a short while. And even the DISC people, which back then was a company called Performax out of Minnesota, came to us and said, would you record a new version using DISC instead of the language you had in yours? And we did. So anyway. Tony Alessandra now owns a multimillion dollar company that works worldwide, providing the assessment tools for disc, for colors, for animals, for all the variations on those four personality types, and for an emotional intelligence assessment, Sales iq, which is one I authored. Leadership Ability Company Culture Values and Beliefs and more. The Hartman Values Assessment Motivators. Tony's company is the one that does the back end, the, the private label of the assessments for Tony Robbins, for Grant Cardone, for Dale Carnegie, for Action Coach International, for lots of big Net, Brian Tracy, you know, lots of big names. In the marketplace around the world. I'm a master licensee for him. So whoever goes through the Experts Academy can be a licensee of mine, an affiliate, and resell all those with their own custom version if they choose to. So people enroll in this for a year. Here's the year. Okay, it could begin at any time. It's not just January to December. So whenever they enroll, that's, that's the beginning. And the first three months of it are focused on absolute unstoppable clarity on what you want, what your signature message really is, who you're going after and how you're going to do that. And, and what, what is it about you and your value that others are willing to pay for? Okay, so that's the first three month part. The second few months are focused on method. So first is message, you know, getting absolute clarity on what you, what doing. The second part is methods. And that's where you take that, that clarity and you turn it into speeches and systems and consulting processes and models and, you know, all kinds of products and things that will help other people benefit from the value you are able to bring. Value able. The third part of the year is all focused on bringing that to market and turning it into money, you know, making it work, making it pay off, whether it's money you're going after or some, some other result. But the third part's about implementation. So someone enrolls and here are the steps. And you can, I'm not going to walk you through all this, but you can see that it's Zoom meetings. It's a private Facebook page where I share resources. It's. It's an. A video series, a short one, 15, 16 videos. But, but they're all short videos and it's called Acorns to Oaks. And I recorded it with a company called Tome T O M E App out of Dallas maybe five months ago. I think it's the best I've ever produced when it comes to absolutely telling someone what I can do for them and what they can do for themselves. I'm. I really feel strongly about it. And so I've made it required viewing as part of the Experts Academy. I mean, don't view it, you don't complete the process. So it's that important. And then next is, I'm affiliated with a company called Be Known, which is Daniel Pope and Jacob Eliasson out of Tennessee. And they do on the back end what speakers need done for them or for, you know, people that are service providers, what they need done on the back end. They do all that technical work, and they're very marketing strategic in their doing. And so they told me we do a service that costs $2,500 called. I've forgotten what they call it, but I call it a missed profits audit, where you're looking for my L O T money you left on the table. Okay. And they say we can almost guarantee that anyone we do this for, we're going to find at least $5,000 that they have been leaving on the table that they could easily have made just with minor tweaks. So I've just included that at no charge into the experts Academy Speech coaching. One of the things I'm offering, since this is the first part, is going to be all about clarity, is once you and I determine what is your signature message, what is the real essence of what you bring to the world, then I will work with you, assuming you were one of the students, I will work with you over four sessions, privately, me and you, to refine that into a keynote speech or a key presentation you can use on podcasts or whatever to refine it for you. And then if you want to deliver it and videotape that, I'll review it and I'll assess that with you using an artificial intelligence tool that I have called Yudely. That's an amazing thing. And then, you know, you can see the other things in here. Anyone who wants their own book, they can either get their own book by having someone write it, like a ghost writer, and that's something Michael's company can provide. Or Cathcart Press, that's a premium price, of course. Or they can simply contribute a chapter to an anthology, like many of you and I certainly have done, and that's fine. And that doesn't cost much. And they get a book and they're in it. Or they can collaborate with me in crafting their own book or taking a book they already have and figuring out ways to leverage it better and turn it into other profit centers and sell more of them and so forth. And then the next level is they can take one of my books. I've written 27 books, 23 have been published so far, and there are probably 12 to 15 of them that are ready for rewriting. Like, if somebody's full time in the assessment field and they want to make a career out of that, my book, the Acorn Principle international bestseller, is ready to be revised and released with a co author. And that whole book focuses on assessments. And, you know, so that's an opportunity relationship selling for a person. Specializing in sales that could be rewritten and re released with the co author. So that's part of what I'm doing there. And then there's graduation day and then there's a Experts Academy mastermind retreat that will take place probably in Southern California and maybe in Southern Texas. But it's going to be super, super special. And that is the name of that tune. So people ask me what does it cost? And I said, well, what does it cost if you don't do it? Or what does it cost if you do it? Well, okay, what does it cost if I do it? Well, if you don't do it, it could take you up to five years to do the things that I'm walking you through in one year. It took me more than five years because I went from a government clerk who heard Earl Nightingale on the radio to a full time speaker and trainer traveling around the country. But it took me five years to get there. Right. So what it cost is $30,000 for the year. Why 30,000? Because I wanted to price it at a level that would allow me to turn away speaking engagements if I wanted to to make work optional, you know, outside of the context of this work. So it would allow me to do that. But at the same time it wouldn't cost the, in the people who enrolled any more than it would cost them to hire a personal assistant for a year. Because a personal assistant is going to cost a minimum of $20 an hour and that's going to work out by the time you pay benefits and you supply them with the equipment they need and you supervise and train them for two or three months before they become productive and you're legally accountable for them and all that. It's going to cost you way more than 30,000 a year just to have an assistant who you've got to motivate with me, 2500amonth is what it works out to and you get me all year long and I'm ready to be productive the first day and I make you worth more. Okay, so that's fine. Jim, what if a person just wants to do the going pro first three months? That's $7,500. And so they can do that. And if, if at the end of that they want to stay in it, they can do that too. So that's, that's what I'm up to. And they're all the things I've given you the full description. Let me stop the screen share and go over to you any questions or comments or observations while you're Thinking about that. Let me do this. Lest I forget, any of you could easily do the things I do in the Experts Academy. So I'm talking to the fellow eagles here and naturally you're not the prospects for enrolling in this. Some of you may be, but most of you are not. You may want to do it anyway because I guarantee you that we will have a lot of fun together and, and do some profound and powerful things. So now then, open to you Q and A and, and observations. Qaos. Bill, you had a comment or question? I'm just going to say that's very comprehensive, Jim, and you're up to a lot. Speaker H 48:19 I've got to race to another meeting Jim Cathcart 48:22 now, but thanks for including us all. It's very exciting. Happy to have you here. All right. Yeah. Speaker D 48:29 I'm curious. Speaker G 48:32 Go ahead. Speaker D 48:34 I was just curious. It's like a lot of says live one on one mentorship or one on one group coaching. Is most of it live, Jim, or is some of this recorded with the combination of live? I'm just curious of how this really manifests itself there. Jim Cathcart 48:49 There are plenty of recordings and that's an important part of the process because if the people don't watch the recordings and check those off, then I certainly can't certify them at the end of the cycle. But there's plenty of FaceTime one to one with me during the speech coaching and the end processing. And there's also 10 meetings throughout the year like this one where it's me and the Experts Academy enrollees or members, whatever you want to call them. So yeah, that's, and that's the difference, primary difference between, let's say somebody says, well Jim, yeah, this is cool, but I mean, you know, you're, you're not a mega, super humongous star like so and so is. And they have these big, big events with 10,000 people in the audience and, and they bring in movie stars and you know, it's, it's thrilling. And, and they've got a coaching program too, so, you know, I can go with them. Yeah, you can. And you will get a thrilling experience and you'll get lots of videos to watch and you'll get their trainers to talk with and you may get some one to one meetings with them at these big events and your photo taken with them. But how much of their onetoone personal focus on you time will you see in a year in round numbers? Almost absolutely none. Right. And that's the difference here. I want to work with people I admire and I want to help them have a more abundant life. And if I can do that, at the end of the day, I'll call Dickie and I'll say, pastor, I did some good today. This was a good day. So, Julie, you had a comment or question? Speaker F 50:49 Yeah, yeah. When Jim first showed this to me, he really. We don't know that. We just barely met. We both sing, and we both live in Austin. And so he doesn't really know a lot about me, but I used to lead a coach, a group of 12 all around the world. It was called Coaches that Rock. And when he showed me this program, I was like, oh, wow. Because I have seen people pay 50,000, even $10,000, and they don't get the one on one. They're completely lost in the most important key things that he's actually walking you through. I was like, this is a screaming good deal compared. And then it's just like, you have no idea. His magical secret treasure cove that comes with it that he's not talking about. I mean, it's just this is such a real deal opportunity to actually have it work for you is how it's set up. Jim Cathcart 51:42 So I just wanted to say thank you. What a. What a nice validation. Thank you for that important. Ah, okay. Clayton, how are you doing? Good to see you, man. Speaker I 51:59 I'm great. Actually, I had a question just about something that I noticed with your recall ability. I was just really curious if you could kind of touch on that between. You talked about with your guitar skills of knowing over 500 songs. And then what you did at the beginning, I thought was also very impressive with just going through everyone, giving a brief kind of synopsis of who they are. Was that something that you've always been gifted at? Jim Cathcart 52:21 Or. Speaker I 52:21 Or do you. Is that something you kind of learned and picked up on? Jim Cathcart 52:24 That's something I learned and picked up on. It goes with this book, Intelligent Curiosity. The whole point of that book is notice more. Because the more you notice, the more you know. And the more you know, the more options you see. And the more options you see, the more possibilities you have. And the person with the most possibilities usually prevails. So how do you develop a recall? Well, first off, there's got to be something to recall. So the key is not in the recall, it's in the noticing. And it's like Susie, who worked for me years ago, she came to me like three times in a row and said, jim, where do you want this filed? And I'd look at it and tell her where to file it. Well, the Third time she came in, I said, no. She said, what do you mean no? I said, I don't want this job. She said, what job? I said, filing assistant for you. And she said, well, I said, no, you are making me a de facto filing assistant for you and I don't want that job. My time needs to be focused on these more powerful things that are going to pay off for us, so figure it out. And she said, well, where do I put it? And I said, well, let. Stop. What's the purpose of filing? She said, storage. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Susie, for heaven's sakes, if you store it and we can't find it, you didn't file it, you hid it. And she said, what? And I said, no, seriously, if you file it away somewhere for storage and. And we can't easily find it, it's hidden. So where do you file things? Well, you filed them where you would have looked for them if you had no idea where they were. Oh, and that opened up a whole new vista for her. So same thing's true for your memory. I read the memory book by Jerry Lucas and Harry Lorain years ago, and it talked about ways to structure your. Your in intake so that the recall was easier. And that's the key. It's Ira. Image, repetition, also relationship and association. Image, repetition, association. So one time I was at a meeting and. No, I was on a way to a meeting in Arkansas with the jc, his junior chamber of commerce. And I stopped at a McDonald's for a quick meal in Jonesboro. And standing in line and the guy behind me in line said, you're Jim Cathcart, aren't you? And I said, well, I. I try to be. And he laughed and he said, where do you know me from? I said, where do I know you from? I said, I've seen you. I know that. But right now I can't place it. I said, tell me something about you. He said, david Th e I S S I said, david Thies the real estate guy who's a JC who lives in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who held a meeting and we were sitting around a table and the guy, Jim from the state police that had on a gold colored shirt and green pants, was seated next to you and your name is Clayton Eckhart. He said, how do you do that? And I said, I make a point of absolutely focusing when I'm in a situation so that the impression is clear and that way I can recall things like names and places. I said, by the way, the other People I met that day, outside of that meeting, I couldn't tell you who any of them were if they were standing next to me right now. I said my focus was on that room. And because my focus was so strong on that room, and at that time, I was practicing the skills from the book, the memory book, I was able to recall that. So that's my best short answer. Clayton, does that work? Speaker H 57:00 No. Speaker I 57:01 That was great. Thank you so much for that. Jim Cathcart 57:02 Number one, notice more. Be more intelligent about observing. Be James Bond, you know, walk into. Read the room, read the people, notice patterns. Because everybody notices details. Very few people notice patterns. Those who notice patterns are well equipped, but the ones who are really wise notice principles that are at play in those patterns. Okay, Ramon, you look like you've got something to say. Speaker H 57:37 Yeah, I do. But I didn't want to take away from the main thrust of what you shared, so thank you. I will take that opportunity. Jim Cathcart 57:46 Since you did ask. Speaker H 57:48 The challenge I have as a speaker, Jim, and it's just an honor to be here with such ballers, is I don't see myself as a speaker. So I found I find myself very lonely in the NSA community and beyond. I am a speaker. I am paid to be on stage. But here's my challenge, Jim. I love help with. Not right now, but anybody here or you can follow up later on. But I build media companies, so, yes, I'm a speaker. Yes, I. I build media companies. Jim Cathcart 58:14 Okay. Like. Speaker H 58:15 Like Cheddar, Business Insider, Forbes, Fortune, Inc. I build small versions of that. Jim Cathcart 58:21 Yeah. Speaker H 58:22 So right now I have the opportunity. I'm doing that right now. I'm building a business that has 60 hosts. Our traffic is skyrocketing through the roof. We have podcast, a daily email newsletter traffic, and I'm almost ready to cry right now. I won't because it's recorded, but some days I feel overwhelmed. And so my point is, I would love your recommendation. Not now, per se, but for the few of us, maybe speakers. Yeah. How to speak better and all this, but I got 100 people who are speakers. We're doing a daily podcast, and I would love to know if you have in your Rolodex or if you remember it, no pun intended. Who built Cheddar? Who built Business Insider? Who built buzzfeed? That's just. You said say something, so I would love it. Doesn't have to be those names. I'm sure there's smaller sites that do it, but that's where I'm at. And I've done it a few times on a Small level, you know, sub a million that I can do on my own. But I'm right now, as we speak, I'm holding the tail of something that I'm watching the traffic, it's exploding and I'm like, lord Almighty. So I'll stop there. But that's my question. Jim Cathcart 59:27 Good for you. Well, what I do is not focus exclusively on speaking, okay? Just that speaking is a major part of it. But, you know, when I'm working with someone on their signature message, they might not even speak publicly, but they've got a message and the message is more of a marketing message or more. It's their business. What's the message? Your business is communicating to the world. And when I help them get the kind of clarity they need on that, then they can be more intentional about the other things to make sure everything feeds the main cause. And by the way, when you feel overwhelmed, there's a chance that item one, you're doing some things that don't need to be done. By you, I don't mean just things you could delegate. Some of those things you could drop entirely and not do them at all, right? And you'd have more energy for the mainstream. The other things, you need maybe a better scaling strategy to keep you from having to do the detail work. Because strategy work is not overwhelming, implementation work is overwhelming. Getting all the details right, doing the follow through, that, that kind of thing, and that's delegatable. When you delegate, use Dr. John Lee's model, the four Ds, you look at everything you've got to do and you say, what can I drop? What could, if I never did it, who would care? What difference would it make? All right, number two, what can I delay? What is it I'm trying to get done now that doesn't have to be done yet. And I could just schedule it. I could push it down my pipeline a little bit further to be handled later. Number three, delegate. What could I delegate? Now the problem with that is many, many, many of the things that maybe conceptually could be delegated practically can't. Yet. I love that word yet. So how can I make more things in my world? Delegate a bowl. How can I do that? Well, you can structure them to be easier for others to understand how to do it. You can train others to understand your thinking. You can train others to do some of their functions. You can do cowork, have somebody shadowing you and learning, right? So that makes more things delegatable. And so what you can't let go of now, you can let Go of later on. Right. And so it's drop, delay, delegate. That's just cleared a big part of your plate. Do. And then you do according to the priority of what hits your signature message, your main reason for existence, your purpose and passion. And, and you just, it's like Steve Jobs said, you know, the, the most successful executives are really, really, really good at saying no. So there you go. That's, that's, that's our prescription for the day. Ramon, that was beautiful. Speaker H 62:55 And I'm going to, I have your, you know, the, the experts academy and all those things. So thank you. I, I, Yes, I didn't realize that you could help be on like just speaker, which is great. Not nothing bad speakers, but you bet. Jim Cathcart 63:05 Okay, other questions. Comments, anybody? Speaker D 63:10 So, so with this new program that you're launching that you just ran through, you and I have talked on the changes of the speaking world and the shift. Are, are you going to, in this new program, spend a lot of time discussing where the speaking world is versus where it's going, the shifts? Is that part of this? Jim Cathcart 63:26 Not really. I'm going to acknowledge that and I'm going to share what's been published about that in the last few months because there are some documents that NSA did an extensive, or at least funded an extensive survey. And so I'm going to make people aware of that. But it's like when I was in Dallas presenting for Michael's event. You were there? I, I started my presentation with about, gosh, I don't know, 30 or 40 slides of me speaking in all kinds of different context, you know, leading a toast at a, at a wedding, officiating at a wedding, being on a podcast, conducting a seminar, you know, doing a solo media interview, being on camera in a studio, giving a speech in front of a huge audience, giving a speech in front of a tiny little classroom audience. All those various forms of, of speaking, including entertaining. So all of those are you to many. But for the people in the many, every one of them considers it one to one because you're the only person they're listening to at that moment. And so we need to think like that as a speaker in any context of speaking, even if we're a newscaster, for example, is yes, we're telling the world, world through the medium, but the people viewing it are only listening to us. For them, it's one. For us, it's millions maybe. Right? So we've got to be able to, to capture that mind frame of being one listener. And that's what, that's what Makes people so effective on camera and on stage and in front of a room. Right. Okay. Dennis, your mind looks like it's full of ideas. What. What. What do you have to share or ask? Speaker E 65:24 It would take too long. But I would like to thank you for this and I would like to Jim Cathcart 65:28 have a shout out to Dickie, who I met at one of your retreats, Speaker E 65:34 and just say hello. It was wonderful to meet you and it was very inspiring. But getting back to the point, Yes, I. I would love to do this. This program with you. Jim Cathcart 65:48 So sign me up. Done. Done. Thank you. Speaker J 65:52 That's awesome to see you, Dennis. Jim Cathcart 65:55 Yeah. Speaker J 65:56 Here. Things are going well for you? Jim Cathcart 65:58 Yeah. Thank you. Well, I'm glad to see you're looking healthy. Speaker J 66:03 I just. This morning, it's like, I think I'm gonna come back to normal. Jim Cathcart 66:09 Good for you. He had. Was it covet or just a cold? Speaker C 66:13 Yep. Jim Cathcart 66:14 They. Speaker J 66:14 That's what it tested for. Speaker C 66:16 But. Jim Cathcart 66:17 Yep. Speaker J 66:17 Anyway, I'm negative now. Jim Cathcart 66:20 Well, be positive about that. I tested negative, but I've still got, you know, the laryngitis and the symptoms. Speaker J 66:27 Right, right. Jim Cathcart 66:28 For the time being. Who else? Somebody else had to raise their hand a moment ago. Was it you, Connie? Speaker G 66:39 No, no, I was cheer. Speaker C 66:40 I was cheering on that. He was. He was signing up. He was working with you. But I would like to share with everybody just a little bit, call it a testimonial for Jim. And I've no Jim for a lot of years, as many as you do as well. And whenever I have a question or just need some guidance on something, Jim is the guy I go to. I mean, we work with him through our agency, through Tallow Concierge. But when it comes down to business and doing any types of projects or programs, Jim is the guy that I always. That I always go to. So if this is something that you're looking to up your game, this is where you need to go. So I just wanted to give you a little pitch. Jim Cathcart 67:23 Jim, tremendous. Thank you, Connie. Carlos, you had your hand up. Oh, I'm sorry, Dickie, did you say something? Speaker J 67:31 No, no. I was just going to tell everybody what a blessing it was to me to have you in the congregation every Sunday. So I am extremely blessed. Jim Cathcart 67:39 Thank you. God bless you. Carlos, you had your hand up. Yes. Speaker E 67:43 Hello. How are you? First of all, thank you so much. It's amazing to be here with you. I've been following your words online and I shared the same passion with music that you share and. Jim Cathcart 67:56 Oh, that's right. I've seen pictures of you on your website. Playing guitar. Speaker E 67:59 Playing the guitar since it was 11 years old. So it's been a long time. I'm 36 now. But I just want to say thank you. Jim Cathcart 68:07 Carlos performs on big stages. You know, I mean, he's not like, he plays guitar at home. He. He's a performer. I mean, I. Speaker E 68:17 The dream. Yes, like, like, like you had. The dream was when I was in Los Angeles, the dream was to become a superstition star. Like you said, the levels of competencies. Right. And I needed to of course, train as much as I could. And I know that unfortunately it's not only about the training. It's about a little bit of blessing and divine permission and being on the right timing, in the right place with the right people. And unfortunately in music businesses, it's really challenging right now to be exposing ourselves. So it's different from the past. So I just navigated into another level of professional area. So now I'm creating pretty much a new company called Yasteo. You're still the one which is focused on education and technology and we have a specific area in our company which is focused on public speaking. So that's why I follow you. Yes. That's why I love your work as much as Bill Gove, Nightingale and many others. So I think it's a great honor for me to be around your community and I hope I can add more value and bring benefits to you as well. Jim Cathcart 69:35 Thank you. Thank you very much. And Ana has her hand up. Carlos, a quick note. I've got in the experts academy, one of the things is my professional presentations video library, 28 items. And that might be something that you'd want to participate in. Yes. Speaker E 69:57 Thank you. Speaker G 69:57 Hello, Jim. Thank you for having me. I greatly appreciate it. Hello everyone else. My name is Ana Thalas. Jim, I would just like to ask you, you something a little bit deeper, a little bit more personal, if I may. Jim Cathcart 70:14 Certainly. Speaker G 70:15 How do you incorporate your belief stance and your personal core values for your home and through your message without entangling yourself in politics? Because one tends to go in hand with the other. And in my experience and my profession of faith, just being a Christian woman, it. There's always some sort of spiritual warfare, if you will. Jim Cathcart 70:58 Yeah. Speaker G 70:58 So how do you avoid that? How do you go about doing that? Jim Cathcart 71:03 Let me defer to the pastor of my own church, Richard Alkawks. Dickie, you've observed me many times on stage and working with people one to one and all kinds of social and. And other contexts. What is your observation of how I navigate that? Because it's clear that I'm a Christian. My political views are conservative. I'm not shy about expressing that. But I also am very careful to be appropriate to the context of every communication and conversation and to not bring that in where it's. Where it doesn't belong. We're not bringing in in a way that would offend or annoy or confuse people. Like when I was in China, I occasionally told the audiences, and the audiences were always thousands of people. I'm speaking through an interpreter for four to six hours a day all over China, 23 major cities. And I would occasionally say, by the way, so that you know my views and my. My upbringing is Christian. And. And so when I look at the world, I look through that filter. I'm not recommending that all of you adopt that, because clearly you should honor your country, honor your company, honor your family's legacy, but also, please honor your gift, because that's what you can do to make the world a better place. And if you don't, we're all denied the benefit of your existence. And then I would leave it and I'd never bring up my faith or anything again. But, Dicky, what? Just observations. And feel free to tell the bold, unadulterated, awkward, if necessary, truth. You know? Speaker J 72:59 Now, the wonderful thing about Jim is how positive he is. And one cannot be positive by just thinking, I've got to be positive to make the sale. They actually have to have a deep conviction that what they have available is truth. And it is going to be a blessing. From my view or from Jim's view, it's going to bring prosperity and a full life to others. Well, that truth that I see in Jim, that's deeply embedded does not necessarily have to be expressed in Christian terms. In other words, all truth is truth. And just an example, and Dennis will remember this at the Going Pro in Austin, but in Acts 17, when the apostle Paul went on Mars Hill, he did not even use Scripture. The Apostle Paul quoted their own poets. He realized if he was to have a hearing at the Aeropagus, the only way he was going to have it was to get a hook in what they already were thinking. And so he said, the unknown God, I declare unto you. I don't know, that's just a short version, but I think it's. It's greatly connected with that deep conviction that you have truth that will be a blessing to others. And if it's truth, then it is going to be a blessing to others. And that when you are a blessing to others, it garners the interest rather than attempting to force yourself on someone else. Jim Cathcart 74:46 Excellent. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for that, Dickie. Excuse me. We're coming up to quitting time here, so I'm going to close this at the, at the half hour as promised. Oh, I was just thinking. Oh, the Experts Academy full description. The document I shared with you, please download that. And if you didn't and the meeting's over and you can't find it, send me an email. Regular standard, run of the mill email, not LinkedIn or Facebook, to GM cathcartcart.com and just put in the subject line document and I'll know that's what you want and I'll attach it and send it back to you. But in the Experts Academy document, right there in the first page, I've got, these are my beliefs. And, and I intentionally did not make biblical references in it because I didn't want people, people at first to get concerned. Oh, is this going, you know, in that direction? Because I can, I can clarify that with them later without any diminishing of my own faith or the expression of it or any imposition on them and whatever they believe to be true. But if they know what my beliefs are about life and how the world works, then they can say, this is my kind of guy. Or, no, he's not. And it's something I say in that document is, if I'm the kind of guy you want in your life, let's do this if you feel like. Nah, not so much. I'll be fine. Then don't do it. Because I only want to work with people I admire and enjoy because then it'll be mutually beneficial. Okay, so final moment. Anybody have anything you want to quickly say or add or ask? No. Well, then just. Speaker J 76:45 Thank you so much. Jim Cathcart 76:46 Oh, you're welcome. And send me a note after, if you would, and just tell me, you know, I wish you had done this or thank you for doing that or something, but just send me an email and give me a little bit of feedback so that, you know, I feel like I know what worked about this and what was still needed. So when I do another like this in the future, then I can improve. By the way, the future Wisdom Council meetings will be a collaboration where I'll bring a concept, an idea, and we'll talk a little bit and I may feature one of you for a few moments. But then we will open it up to the group and I'll facilitate that dialogue. So it's going to be a fun ride and something you'll want to drop in on. It's not going to be a podcast in or interview program in the traditional sense because you got plenty of those. Fair enough. We'll go forth and multiply. So much. You made my day. Speaker G 77:53 Thank you so very much. Have a blessed day. Take care, everyone. Bye bye. Jim Cathcart 77:58 See you. Thanks, Jim. Thank you. Epic zoom. Thanks, Jim. Thanks so much. Speaker A 78:06 Thank you for joining us today in the Wisdom Parlor, a thoughtful discussion of important ideas among people who are committed to succeeding in life. If you are committed to making more success happen in your own life, go right now to my website, free.cathcart.com and download my free ebook and then watch the video. If you decide that you'd like my assistance in helping grow your success, then come with me and let's discover how much more successful you can be.