March 4, 2026 • 34 mins
Ever chased the shiny job only to feel strangely empty once you got it? That’s where our conversation with Larry Long Jr. begins—on the far side of achievement, where the paycheck is large but the purpose is small. Larry, a former college baseball player turned sales leader, speaker, and author of Jolt, walks us through the messy middle: leaving a prestigious consulting role, launching a baseball academy that eventually failed, and discovering how cash flow discipline, radical relationships, and faith could rebuild a life that actually fits.
Larry describes being financially rich yet spiritually broke, the power of prayer and quiet listening, and the moment a severance became confirmation rather than collapse.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the worlddedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional, andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders, soif you have any questions,
comments, or suggestions to makethis show even better, please
let us know.
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
(00:28):
newsletter at Leaderimpact.ca oron social at Leader Impact.
And if you're listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at leaderimpact.com.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Larry Long
Jr.
Larry is the founder and CEO ofLLJR Enterprises.
He's a motivational speaker, MC,sales trainer, and coach focused
on motivation, inspiration, andmost importantly,
(00:50):
transformation.
Larry is the host of the weeklylive show Midweek Midday
Motivational Minute, which has300 plus episodes and author of
the book, Jolt, Get Zapped intoIntentionality.
Rediscover and believe in yourinner greatness.
Recognized as a four times topsales influencer by Salesforce,
(01:10):
Larry is a sales and revenueacceleration expert and serves
as a LinkedIn influencer andsales thought leader.
As a former college athlete whoplayed baseball for University
of Maryland, GoTerps, Larry isextremely passionate about
serving and helping professionalleaders take their game to the
next level.
Welcome to the show, Larry LongJr.
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
Oh my goodness.
Lisa, the check is in the mail.
What an amazing intro.
Happy to be here with you.
SPEAKER_00 (01:37):
Oh well, you came highly recommended to speak to
you, and I can see why.
We've had a little bit of adiscussion before, um, and my
cheeks hurt already.
So I I'm thank you.
I'm I'm blessed to have you andso great with gratitude.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Um, so you you're a baseballplayer.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
Uh former.
I uh I played baseball growingup, and uh it's funny.
It taught me so much.
Uh, teamwork and setting goalsand overachieving and failure is
not final, but uh it's learningthe lessons, lessons learned as
well as lessons earned, I thinkthey call them.
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
So you're a comedian as well.
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
I think a wannabe and out-of-work comedian.
SPEAKER_00 (02:20):
Yeah, if anyone's watching this on YouTube, he's
got prompt props.
Yeah.
So Larry, I'm excited to jump inand hear more about your journey
of how you got to where you aretoday.
And you already talked aboutthis being a baseball player and
what you learned from that, butreally those pivotal moments
that got you where you are todayon your journey.
SPEAKER_01 (02:39):
Yeah.
Uh after college, I worked for acompany called Accenture doing
IT consulting.
And uh it was quote unquote thedream job for most.
For me, it was not a dream job.
I enjoyed the travel, I enjoyedthe people that I worked with, a
lot of bright people, but justsomething in my heart I wasn't
fulfilled with the work that Iwas doing.
Some of the clients that I had,America Online, if you remember
(03:02):
AOL and Verizon, um, they werebig clients, but the work wasn't
meaningful.
And I pretty much said, Is thiswhat my life is supposed to be?
I'm helping these billion-dollarcompanies make even more
billions by eliminating people'sjobs.
And uh, my heart really spoke tome that no, that's not your
purpose on this earth.
(03:22):
So I ended up moving from DC,Maryland, Virginia, doing the
consulting uh to open up anindoor baseball and softball
academy, sewing into the livesof youngsters through the game
of baseball and softball,teaching life skills.
We called them the fundamentals,capital F-U-N.
I don't know if you can tell,but I like to have fun and
(03:43):
really honing in on the basicsof baseball, softball, but more
importantly, life.
And that's what's led me.
I had a 16-year career after mybaseball academy failed, 16-year
career in sales, software sales,and um, I was blessed five, a
little over five years ago, uh,to step into my own business as
a motivational speaker.
(04:05):
You mentioned it, CEO, that'schief energy officer.
I'm not your traditional CEO,but I'm an MC, I'm an author of
a book, a coach, a trainer, justliving my best and my blessed
life.
SPEAKER_00 (04:18):
Yeah.
You know, it's funny.
I loved when you said um the jobyou first got was uh most people
dreamed of.
Um I have been in positionswhere it's like, how could you
not take this job?
It's the best job.
How could you leave your job?
And it's like, yeah, but it'sit's not for me.
I'm not finding somethingfulfilling out of this.
So I appreciate that becauseeveryone thinks it's the best
(04:39):
job.
You're doing, you know, you'remaking the money, you're, but
I'm not happy.
So what can I do?
And um I love that you talkedabout um the and not that I love
that sounds bad, but you know,you talked about the academy and
that it failed.
And, you know, because we'regonna talk about failures a
little later, but um, I think Ithink you learned a lot.
I mean, I'm hoping you'll sharemore, but um learning from
(05:02):
failure, right?
We we never fail, we learn, andwe take that to the next, you
know, thing in our life.
SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
So true, so true.
And life, when you look atlife's journey, uh, I think they
call it a journey line, the upsand the downs, the highs and the
lows, the twists and the turns.
As I've gotten older, I'verealized to really enjoy the
journey, enjoy the process,enjoy all that happens.
I'm gonna be uh vulnerable.
(05:30):
Last year, Q2 and Q3 were verytough financially, but they were
some of the most fulfilling froma learning about myself, being
able to trust in myself, that Ican persevere and uh really
showed the people in my lifethat are there to support me,
that I don't have to do italone.
Like I've thought that I've hadto do it alone to be Superman.
(05:53):
I don't need to be Superman.
I I can be Superman by askingother people for help.
I work with a coach and shesaid, Larry, healthy people ask
for exactly what they want.
And at that point, I wasn'thealthy.
I was afraid to ask because Ithought it was a sign of
weakness, and I've learned andI've grown and I continue to
(06:14):
learn and grow through thisjourney.
SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
Yeah, and I think um when we I we didn't say this out
loud, but you have two children,and your children are watching
you, right?
Like they're watching dad um gothrough a low time and really um
getting through it, and they seethat, and and you know, that's
our legacy, you know.
Our kids are watching us.
So uh thank you for sharingthat.
(06:37):
So before I get into fails,because I'm excited to hear, but
I want to talk about your bestprinciple of success.
So um, if you have one and tellus a story that illustrates
that.
SPEAKER_01 (06:45):
Yeah, the best principle of success in my life
is relationships.
And I learned from a sales guru,Steve Neudelberg, down in South
Florida.
He said, Larry, what I'velearned is the difference
between contacts, people youknow, and contracts, people you
do any kind of business with.
It's the letter R, and that R isrelationships, true, genuine
(07:08):
relationships.
Because there's a saying that uhpeople like to work with and
refer uh folks that they know,they like, they trust, and they
believe in.
And I found that throughout mylife.
There's a saying, help me out,Lisa, it's not what you know,
but it's Who you know.
Uh in my Steve Harvey FamilyFeud voice survey says, that's a
(07:30):
traditional saying, but I'm nottraditional.
It's not what you know, and it'snot even who you know.
What I found is it's who knowsyou, who likes you, who trusts
you, and who believes in youthat makes things happen.
And the perfect example, as amotivational speaker, the
majority of my business comesfrom word of mouth.
Someone heard me, they like me,they might even love me, they
(07:53):
trust me, they believe in me,and they tell their friends, oh,
you've got to check out LarryLong.
He's gonna motivate, he's gonnainspire, he's going to transform
your audience, and he does itwith a genuine authenticity that
actually gets results.
Relationships for the win.
And we all know this, but what Ifound is that knowing isn't
(08:14):
always doing.
SPEAKER_00 (08:16):
Yeah.
This makes me think of thebecause we talk about mentorship
and sponsorship.
And sponsorship is taking thatperson's name into the room that
they're not in.
And so that that's you know,like, are they gonna say
something good about Larry LongJr.
when they go into that room andgo, oh my gosh, you have such a
great motivation.
He he inspired me, you know.
So what are they saying aboutyou?
What are they taking into thatnext room?
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
So Yeah, he he's he his his energy is, I think, in
the words of the greatphilosopher Aristotle.
No, it wasn't Aristotle, it wasJJ Walker.
His energy is dyno my and he'sgonna lift up your audience.
You gotta give him a try.
So I've I've been trulyfortunate with those
relationships.
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Yeah, good for you.
Um makes me makes me think moreof all the relationships I need
to build, you know, contactsversus contracts.
I love that.
Thank you.
Um now we jumped into a littlebit of failure, but I want to
hear more about uh failingbecause we all know we learn
more.
Those lows, we learn more.
We we learn more.
We yeah.
(09:14):
So can you share one?
Can you share a failing or afailure and what you learned
from it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Which which one do I pick?
I wrote a whole chapter in mybook.
It's uh strikeouts, they're apart of life because I've struck
out on the baseball field.
I used to play slow pitsoftball.
I struck out in softball.
How does that happen?
I've struck out inrelationships, in love, in life,
uh, in business.
Um, my biggest failure, mybiggest learning lesson was my
(09:41):
baseball academy, which was mybaby.
It was my baby before I hadbabies.
Being able to teach youngstersthe game that I love and the
game of life.
Uh, unfortunately, we ran out ofcash.
And what I learned is that ifyou run out of cash, you run out
of business.
And uh if you don't know thenumbers that matter in business,
(10:02):
we knew batting averages, stolenbases, home runs, but we didn't
know the income statement, thebalance sheet, the statement of
cash flows.
You're going to go out ofbusiness.
And we didn't ask for help.
And uh what I learned is thatthat you're if you're drowning
silently, no one has theopportunity to help you.
(10:22):
And uh it was the hero, it wasthe ego that uh stood in my way,
as well as I call it FUD, notElmer FUD, but fear,
uncertainty, and double doubt.
So out of out of thatexperience, I learned number
one, if you're gonna go intobusiness, you you need to know
your numbers inside and out.
Your accountant, your accountingprofessional, you need to ask
(10:45):
the quote unquote stupidquestions, at least for me.
What does this mean?
What is this all cash flows?
What does that mean?
Oh, you got more money going outthe back door than you have
coming in the front door.
That's a problem, Larry.
You need to make an adjustmentand do something, as well as you
need to ask folks for help.
People want to help you.
(11:06):
I work with a coach who said,Larry, how do you feel when
someone asks you for help?
I light up.
I say, Well, I'm honored thatLisa would ask me for help.
That's a privilege.
She said, Why would you be soselfish to not allow someone
else to have that same feelingto help you out?
My mind was blown, myperspective was changed.
(11:28):
I'm now not selfish.
I ask for help genuinely becauseI know that I need it and other
people want to give it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:37):
When you say that, I think of um women who maybe were
trying so hard and it's seen asa weakness.
We feel weak.
And and I think what you'reyou're saying the same thing.
I I sometimes think we're alone.
We we think that we're the onlyones, but we're not we're not
weak.
We're yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:56):
It it takes strength to ask for help.
It's uh and the perspective of Ihave to do this alone.
I I have to have the S on mychest of superwoman.
Yeah.
Well, having that S on yourchest is asking for help because
you help everyone else, yourfamily, your friends, your
(12:18):
colleagues, your neighbors.
You give so much.
I'm a big believer that when yougive, you've earned the right.
I think they call itrelationship equity.
And sometimes people try to makewithdrawals and they haven't
made deposits.
But I know that your listenersand your viewers are always
depositing into otherrelationships.
(12:39):
I know how that goes, yet theyvery rarely look to withdraw.
I'm giving them permission.
You got my permission to goahead and ask for help and to
make a withdrawal from thoserelationship banks that you've
built over time.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
Yeah, you you mentioned uh silently drowning.
I think a lot of people can umfeel that.
You used the term we had failed.
Who was we in your what did youhave a partner?
Was this your wife?
Like who's we?
SPEAKER_01 (13:10):
I had a business partner in my baseball academy,
and that was another lesson thatI learned with regards to
relationships, the power ofcommunication.
And uh, when you're in business,it really is similar to a
marriage.
And uh it takes work, it takescommunication, it takes
intentionality to make it work,and if both sides aren't
(13:34):
committed, ooh, it's gonnacreate some challenges.
But uh, like I said, I learnedmy lesson.
I'm actually in the process nowof building a new offering with
a partner, and we are putting itall on the line.
We want to protect ourfriendship first, no matter what
happens with the business.
(13:54):
And we're committed to makingsure that happens because when
you start talking about moneyand you start talking about
feelings and families, it canget a little bit dicey.
They say never do business withfriends and family.
Well, we're we're gonna go aheadand make this thing work.
SPEAKER_00 (14:11):
And would you find this person you're working with
is very diverse from you?
Like when I think of do theyhave a completely different
mindset?
Do they challenge you?
Are you guys just both on thesame page all the time?
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
No, we we are definitely, we complement each
other, which is a a great thing.
And it also creates some somefriction, some conflict, and
that's where the communicationof uh making sure that we're
open, we're honest.
I think they call it radicalcandor.
Making sure that we're being,we're we're not bottling
(14:41):
anything up because that's whereresentment happens.
But we're in the spirit ofmaking this work, we're gonna
express exactly how we feel,when we feel it, and we're both
gonna have respect uh at thecenter of everything that we do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:55):
Yeah, we uh we all at times when you feel that um
the the connection is nothappening, we all need to step
back.
Okay, wait a minute, what partdid I just play in this?
You know, because we we thinkthey didn't understand me.
Well, just step back for aminute.
Uh, how did we communicate?
So, yeah, keeping those linesopen.
Uh thank you for sharing that.
That was a great uh reminder.
(15:16):
Um, and and the story of well,your stories are good.
Strike out.
I love that because we allstrike out, just using the
baseball analogy.
Um, so getting into leaderimpact, what we are about um is
we want to grow personally,professionally, and spiritually
to have impact.
So I'm wondering if you'd bewilling to share an example, uh,
how you promote the spiritual tomake a practical difference in
(15:37):
your life.
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
Yeah, so I I speak from example, and when I was
stuck, I wrote a book calledJolt, uh, get zapped into
intentionality, rediscover, andbelieve in your inner greatness.
I almost called it unstuckbecause I was living in
corporate America, life wasgood, but it wasn't.
I was rich financially, I wasdoing well, but I was so broke
(16:00):
spiritually.
Uh, my life just didn't have themeaning that I was put on this
earth for a reason, and Irealized it.
And uh I was at a crossroads.
Stay comfortable in my comfortzone and do the right thing or
do the right thing.
And my mom, as wise as she is,she said, Larry, little Larry, I
(16:21):
won't, I'll always be her littleLarry.
She said, You need to pray andpray harder and then do
something that you rarely do.
You need to shh be quiet andlisten.
When you listen, you now havethe opportunity to learn.
You now have the opportunity toget the direction, at least for
(16:45):
me.
And it was loud and clear.
On March 26, 2021, my positionwas eliminated in corporate
America.
Essentially, I was fired.
I got a severance, and uh therecouldn't have been any any
clearer sign of what I was meantto do.
And I wanted to be aprofessional speaker, I just
(17:08):
didn't believe that that waspossible.
Not for me.
Yeah, I know people do it, butthat's that's not my journey.
Well, yes, it is, Larry.
And I'm setting everything up.
I had my first paid engagementMarch 17th of 2020, at the start
of the pandemic.
And I know you're like, hold up.
Yeah, that was St.
Patrick's Day, and I'm not evenIrish.
(17:29):
So that prepared me for March26th of 2021, when my position
was eliminated, that this is myplan for you, Larry.
It's your opportunity to stepinto it.
Don't let me down.
And I come from a family ofservice, a heart of service.
And for me, this is anopportunity to really serve the
(17:50):
world with my gifts.
I've I've been practicing for 47plus years, talking and serving
and speaking, and now it's myprofession.
It's what I get to do each andevery day to serve others with
my words, with my feelings, myemotions.
So I've just been hashtag tooblessed to be stressed.
(18:11):
It hasn't been all sunshine,rainbows, and unicorns, but I
can tell you it has been sofulfilling.
And to be able to have my familyalong for the journey, um, it
has been just amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (18:24):
Yeah.
You mentioned um you mentionedone point financially well off,
and then you got let go, versusI think last year uh Q2 and
three were bad.
When you think of how you feltfinancially good, you got fired,
Q2 and Q bad, no money.
Um, like can do you rememberturning to God and going, okay,
(18:47):
like and is it the same?
Because those feelings are verydifferent, right?
Like one financial financial,you know, it really is, and we
have to believe that God canprovide, and and that's it's
it's a struggle.
SPEAKER_01 (19:01):
So I yeah, um there's a saying that you can't
have faith and fear at the sametime, and I've tested it, I've
tried, and uh what I realized isyou can't, and as a believer,
I've had faith.
(19:22):
Uh, there's a book, my my coachshared this book with me.
It's called Three Feet fromGold, and it's a great reminder
of so often people give up whenthey're this close.
You're three feet from the gold,and I've committed that I will
not give up.
You can't stop a person thatjust will not quit, and I will
(19:43):
not quit to make this happen.
Now, I've had to make someadjustments, I've had to check
my ego at the door, and I've hadto get some lessons learned and
lessons earned through this hardnoggin.
I'm I'm hard-headed, but uh forme, just that trust in the Lord,
for me, uh I know that he'sgoing to bring me through.
He's he's brought me throughevery situation that I've been
(20:06):
through, and uh Lord knows I'vebeen through some situations.
SPEAKER_00 (20:10):
Uh I want to talk to you about listening to God.
So you talked about in 2020 youhad your first uh keynote, and
then you know, there was a yearafter then you got fired in
2021.
So there was a year.
Can you think of moments was Goddid God ever drip on you like,
look, I gave you this speakingengagement, you should start
listening to me?
And then finally, did you getfired and go, okay, I'm
(20:33):
listening?
But did you see, were there anytimes God talked between that
year going, I'm telling you, youcould do this?
SPEAKER_01 (20:40):
There were plenty of them, but at least I hate to say
it, I was too busy talking andtrying to figure it out on my
own to listen.
And it's by design, God doesn'tmake any mistakes.
There's a reason why, for themost part, we've been blessed
with two ears and one mouth.
Think about it.
We are supposed to listen twotimes more than we're supposed
(21:03):
to talk.
But like I said, I'mhard-headed.
Yeah, I'm a rules breaker.
And uh, my wife, it was actuallymy wife in December of 2019.
She said, Hey, baby, you telleveryone else to follow their
passion and pursue their dream.
Look in the mirror.
You're you're faking the funk.
You you put on this smile for amile for external, but I see you
(21:26):
when you come through the doorand you are not happy.
What are you going to do aboutit?
unknown (21:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
I said, uh-oh.
And uh my mom, with her adviceto pray and pray harder and to
listen, that year of 2020, inthe pandemic, I was stacked up
with virtual remote Zoomengagements where I was getting
paid.
I was being set up in a goodway.
God was showing me that there isa way so that when March 26th of
(21:55):
2021 hit, I was ready.
It wasn't like I was startingfrom ground.
I had already built thefoundation so that I was
prepared for that next stage.
Now, I can tell you there's beena lot of lessons from that time.
And sometimes you have to laughto stop from crying.
But what I've learned is it'snot, it's not me alone.
(22:20):
If I do it all alone, I willfail.
If I pray and I listen and Ifollow God's plan for my life,
I'm going to be great.
It's going in the end.
It doesn't mean thatimmediately, short term,
everything's going to beawesome.
That's not, but I realize in thelong run, God's plan for me is
(22:40):
uh it's the perfect plan.
So trusting in that is tough,uh, but life is tough.
Choose your tough.
Which tough do you want?
You want the tough where you doit all alone?
Superman, super woman, or do youwant to trust and believe and
follow God's plan for you?
I I choose the latter.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
Yeah.
I have to ask you about umregret.
Where do you put regret?
Where do you place regret?
Um, I have learned long ago, I Idon't want to have any, I can't
change that, I can do better.
But I I just listening to you,I'm like, you you we take what
we learn and we move forwardbecause that's faith.
So I would love to hear what youthink.
SPEAKER_01 (23:22):
I I try to intentionally live my life with
no regrets.
Yeah, and I haven't always beenthat way because fear, at least
for me, can get you stuck.
For me, fear has has frozen mein places where I wanted
something, but I was so afraidof failure.
Oftentimes for me, I'm aperfectionist.
(23:44):
Well, up until now, I've been aperfectionist, but I realized
it's never going to be perfect.
And having those folks in mylife that support me and
encourage me and cheer me on,you got this, Larry.
And in 2022, when I was writingmy book, uh I learned a great
lesson.
My coach said, Larry, you're sooptimistic, positive, uplifting
(24:05):
with everyone else.
But when we start talking aboutyou and your book, you're so
negative.
You're a negative Nancy, anegative Nellie, a negative Ned.
Why is that?
And we unpacked it, and it uh itcame to the fact that it wasn't
serving me.
It might have served me beforeand probably not, but I thought
that it did.
(24:25):
Uh what's serving me for myvision, for my goals, to support
my family, is uh for me toencourage myself.
And uh that wasn't my naturaltendency.
My natural tendency was to beatmyself up.
But what I realized withintention is Larry, uplift
yourself, encourage yourself,trust in yourself, and you don't
(24:47):
have to do it alone.
You're going to be okay.
So go for it.
A good friend of mine, MelissaMurray Bailey, she used to be
the chief revenue officer of acompany called Hoot Suite, their
social media platform.
She had a saying.
I spoke at their sales kickoffin 2023.
She had a saying called Giat.
I said, is that the long-lostcousin of the fiat?
(25:08):
She said, Larry, you're crazy.
I said, I know.
Some things never change.
She said, no, Giat, give it atry.
That was her motto for her team.
Well, I'm thinking about Giat.
Well, I want to Giat.
So for anyone out there that'snoodling, that's doodling,
whether it's starting abusiness, whether it's asking
(25:29):
for the raise, whether it'smaking that big, hairy,
audacious goal, GIOT.
Give it a try.
You got this.
SPEAKER_00 (25:38):
Love it.
Oh, that was a greatconversation.
Thank you for just extendingthat conversation on how you do
that and praise, place yourspiritual, and not even place,
live it, live it out every day.
Um, at Leader Impact, we areabout leaders having a lasting
impact.
So obviously, this is just everyday.
What are we doing?
So, as you consider, as youcontinue to move through your
(25:59):
journey of life, what do youwant your faith legacy to be
when you leave this world?
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Yeah, I want everyone that I touch to realize
that uh I didn't do it alone,and that for me, the
spirituality, for me, my faithcomes number one.
Uh, and I encourage people tothink about their priorities.
For me, I've got eight buckets: faith, spirituality, family, (26:17):
undefined
friends.
The only one that I'm really,really good at fun, finances,
fitness, philanthropy.
And I know there's spelling Bchampion saying that doesn't
start with an F.
I spell phonetically andfrenetically, sue me.
And then career is that eightbuckets.
(26:39):
And I ask people to think aboutwhen you stack rank your eight
buckets and priorities, what arethey?
And then how do you gradeyourself on each of those
buckets with intentionality?
And then for your top threebuckets, what can you do?
What action can you take toenhance your number?
(27:00):
I thought that I was an eightwhen it came to family.
My coach said, Why don't you askyour wife Maria and your two
kids, Trey and Lucia?
Trey said, Daddy, you're a nine.
He knows who pays his allowance.
Lucia, my daughter, she said,Daddy, you're a five.
I said, Oh my goodness.
Oh, yeah, staking the heart.
I said, Why so high?
She said, Well, you take me togymnastics every Monday.
(27:22):
I do.
She said, When I look up,because the parents sit on the
second floor.
She said, When I look up, Daddy,you're looking down at your
phone.
So now I've got that's mydaughter giving me the
encouraging eye to be present,to be at where your feet are at.
So that's my encouragement forfolks is to be intentional.
(27:43):
Sometimes you have to slow downto speed up and to enhance and
really live in your big vision.
We're we're put on this earth todo great things, to make great
impacts.
And my hope is that the impactthat I make on everyone I touch,
my family, my friends, is uhsomeone who did it the right
(28:04):
way, who did it with sincerecare, who didn't do it alone,
and just uh yeah, I'm hopefulthat I pass that along.
SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
Yeah, um, I I I I think many parents have been
caught looking down and notliving in the moment of you
know, the daughter's justlooking up at the sun, you know,
is looking up like hi, and andyou're looking down.
That's a heartbreak.
And so so to hear it from yourdaughter, I'm sure that was a
heartbreaking moment to go, uh,I can do I can do better.
SPEAKER_01 (28:36):
It was it was that opportunity that was knocking on
my door to make a change and tobe better so that I don't regret
it.
Because time flies.
We know this, but sometimesknowing isn't doing.
So I've committed to doing sothat I don't have any regrets
when I'm sitting on my deathbedsaying, I wish I had lived in
the moment of my daughtergrowing up, of my son growing
(28:59):
up, and really been therebecause you don't get those
moments back again.
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
Yeah.
And I would say that you canstart now.
Don't, don't look back becauseyou can't change that.
But you know what?
Put the phone down now.
Be intentional now.
Yeah.
Because I mean, my daughter'sgonna be turning 23, and uh it's
it just got better.
And I know that at times I wasalways working and I, you know,
I had my own company.
I was busy, busy, you know, andI I forgot about them.
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
So you're your priority.
What are your priorities?
And for me, you know, I'm I'mone of my bit biggest and best
accomplishments.
I took my whole family to aspeakers convention in
Scottsdale last year.
I'm taking them to an engagementin Portugal.
So the international with myfamily involved, it is just uh
it's a blessing.
(29:47):
Like I said, I pinch myselfevery day, Lisa, just not too
hard because I don't want towake up from this dream that I'm
living.
And if if I can do it, anyonecan do it.
SPEAKER_00 (29:57):
Yeah, takes takes intentionality.
unknown (29:59):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
So my final question is for you is what brings you
the greatest joy?
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
It's really seeing the smiles and the impact on
people that I have, especiallythose that are closest to me.
My son, my daughter, my wife, myfamily, uh, as well as those
that I have the opportunity totouch outside of my family, and
just to share my joy, to sharemy gifts uh with them.
(30:27):
And my gift is that I see somany gifts in other people.
I see greatness in each andevery person, sometimes when
they don't even see greatness inthemselves.
I do have to give a shout out.
My mentor, Dr.
Willie Jolly, he shared thismessage in 2023.
It was June of 2023.
I'll never forget it.
He shared this in a group ofspeakers, but the message was
(30:49):
really for me.
He said, sometimes we have tolean on the faith and belief
that someone else has in usuntil ours kicks in.
And I needed to hear that wordfrom him uh because I know that
for me, my God has faith in me.
I'm more than a conqueror.
(31:09):
And sometimes I need to lean onthat.
Oftentimes, I need to lean onthat to jumpstart my internal
belief that yes, I can be great.
I will be great.
Let's get it in, let's get itdone.
Show up and show out, Larry.
So that's my encouragement.
Someone needs to hear that.
Yeah, lean on, lean on who youneed to lean on until yours
(31:33):
kicks in.
SPEAKER_00 (31:34):
Um it's tough.
It can be tough.
And I think that's probably theone of the greatest reasons I
love Leader Impact is we aremarketplace leaders who get
together every week.
Uh, and maybe some groups don't,but my group does online, and we
encourage each other and weshare because leadership is
lonely.
And if you don't have on somesomeone to talk to, you you need
to find someone.
(31:55):
So if it's a coach or if it's agroup of, you know, like Leader
Impact, and I'll share later howto join, but um I am thankful
for that because it it's justimpacted me my whole life.
And I've been involved for gosh,I think 12, 13 years in this
group, which I've never been insomething so long.
Like so surrounding ourselves,and and you know, I think we
(32:15):
realize you talked about umsmiling and making an impact on
people.
You don't realize who you'regoing to make an impact on
today, Larry.
You know, you've impacted me.
And so, you know, I think when Ilook at you and I think when you
look at a baby and you smile, Ibet that baby lights up because
they just love smiles.
And they're like, I don't know.
Like, I look at you and I wantto smile.
So thank you for joining ustoday.
(32:36):
It has been a pleasure.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:40):
So if anybody wants to engage with you and find you
and go, I want to hear moreabout Larry Long Jr., what's
what's one of the best places,or do you have a couple?
SPEAKER_01 (32:48):
Yeah, uh, best place, they call me LinkedIn
Larry.
So please connect with me onLinkedIn, Larry Long Jr.
Uh you can also find me.
Uh I'm gonna tell my story on mywebsite, LarryLongjunior.com.
That's LarryLongJR.com.
Please connect.
I'd love the opportunity toserve, to support, to help you
(33:10):
along your journey.
I appreciate you so much, Lisa.
SPEAKER_00 (33:14):
Thank you, Larry.
It has been a pleasure.
All right.
Take care.
SPEAKER_01 (33:18):
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
All right.
I want to thank everyone forjoining us.
If you're part of Leader Impact,you can always discuss or share
this podcast with your group.
And if you're not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpact.ca.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
Leaderimpact.ca, or if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outleaderimpact.com.
(33:40):
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And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
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Thank you for engaging with us.
And remember, impact starts withyou.
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the worlddedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional, andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
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We love talking with leaders, soif you have any questions,
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The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
(00:28):
newsletter at Leaderimpact.ca oron social at Leader Impact.
And if you're listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at leaderimpact.com.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Larry Long
Jr.
Larry is the founder and CEO ofLLJR Enterprises.
He's a motivational speaker, MC,sales trainer, and coach focused
on motivation, inspiration, andmost importantly,
(00:50):
transformation.
Larry is the host of the weeklylive show Midweek Midday
Motivational Minute, which has300 plus episodes and author of
the book, Jolt, Get Zapped intoIntentionality.
Rediscover and believe in yourinner greatness.
Recognized as a four times topsales influencer by Salesforce,
(01:10):
Larry is a sales and revenueacceleration expert and serves
as a LinkedIn influencer andsales thought leader.
As a former college athlete whoplayed baseball for University
of Maryland, GoTerps, Larry isextremely passionate about
serving and helping professionalleaders take their game to the
next level.
Welcome to the show, Larry LongJr.
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
Oh my goodness.
Lisa, the check is in the mail.
What an amazing intro.
Happy to be here with you.
SPEAKER_00 (01:37):
Oh well, you came highly recommended to speak to
you, and I can see why.
We've had a little bit of adiscussion before, um, and my
cheeks hurt already.
So I I'm thank you.
I'm I'm blessed to have you andso great with gratitude.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Um, so you you're a baseballplayer.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
Uh former.
I uh I played baseball growingup, and uh it's funny.
It taught me so much.
Uh, teamwork and setting goalsand overachieving and failure is
not final, but uh it's learningthe lessons, lessons learned as
well as lessons earned, I thinkthey call them.
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
So you're a comedian as well.
SPEAKER_01 (02:16):
I think a wannabe and out-of-work comedian.
SPEAKER_00 (02:20):
Yeah, if anyone's watching this on YouTube, he's
got prompt props.
Yeah.
So Larry, I'm excited to jump inand hear more about your journey
of how you got to where you aretoday.
And you already talked aboutthis being a baseball player and
what you learned from that, butreally those pivotal moments
that got you where you are todayon your journey.
SPEAKER_01 (02:39):
Yeah.
Uh after college, I worked for acompany called Accenture doing
IT consulting.
And uh it was quote unquote thedream job for most.
For me, it was not a dream job.
I enjoyed the travel, I enjoyedthe people that I worked with, a
lot of bright people, but justsomething in my heart I wasn't
fulfilled with the work that Iwas doing.
Some of the clients that I had,America Online, if you remember
(03:02):
AOL and Verizon, um, they werebig clients, but the work wasn't
meaningful.
And I pretty much said, Is thiswhat my life is supposed to be?
I'm helping these billion-dollarcompanies make even more
billions by eliminating people'sjobs.
And uh, my heart really spoke tome that no, that's not your
purpose on this earth.
(03:22):
So I ended up moving from DC,Maryland, Virginia, doing the
consulting uh to open up anindoor baseball and softball
academy, sewing into the livesof youngsters through the game
of baseball and softball,teaching life skills.
We called them the fundamentals,capital F-U-N.
I don't know if you can tell,but I like to have fun and
(03:43):
really honing in on the basicsof baseball, softball, but more
importantly, life.
And that's what's led me.
I had a 16-year career after mybaseball academy failed, 16-year
career in sales, software sales,and um, I was blessed five, a
little over five years ago, uh,to step into my own business as
a motivational speaker.
(04:05):
You mentioned it, CEO, that'schief energy officer.
I'm not your traditional CEO,but I'm an MC, I'm an author of
a book, a coach, a trainer, justliving my best and my blessed
life.
SPEAKER_00 (04:18):
Yeah.
You know, it's funny.
I loved when you said um the jobyou first got was uh most people
dreamed of.
Um I have been in positionswhere it's like, how could you
not take this job?
It's the best job.
How could you leave your job?
And it's like, yeah, but it'sit's not for me.
I'm not finding somethingfulfilling out of this.
So I appreciate that becauseeveryone thinks it's the best
(04:39):
job.
You're doing, you know, you'remaking the money, you're, but
I'm not happy.
So what can I do?
And um I love that you talkedabout um the and not that I love
that sounds bad, but you know,you talked about the academy and
that it failed.
And, you know, because we'regonna talk about failures a
little later, but um, I think Ithink you learned a lot.
I mean, I'm hoping you'll sharemore, but um learning from
(05:02):
failure, right?
We we never fail, we learn, andwe take that to the next, you
know, thing in our life.
SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
So true, so true.
And life, when you look atlife's journey, uh, I think they
call it a journey line, the upsand the downs, the highs and the
lows, the twists and the turns.
As I've gotten older, I'verealized to really enjoy the
journey, enjoy the process,enjoy all that happens.
I'm gonna be uh vulnerable.
(05:30):
Last year, Q2 and Q3 were verytough financially, but they were
some of the most fulfilling froma learning about myself, being
able to trust in myself, that Ican persevere and uh really
showed the people in my lifethat are there to support me,
that I don't have to do italone.
Like I've thought that I've hadto do it alone to be Superman.
(05:53):
I don't need to be Superman.
I I can be Superman by askingother people for help.
I work with a coach and shesaid, Larry, healthy people ask
for exactly what they want.
And at that point, I wasn'thealthy.
I was afraid to ask because Ithought it was a sign of
weakness, and I've learned andI've grown and I continue to
(06:14):
learn and grow through thisjourney.
SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
Yeah, and I think um when we I we didn't say this out
loud, but you have two children,and your children are watching
you, right?
Like they're watching dad um gothrough a low time and really um
getting through it, and they seethat, and and you know, that's
our legacy, you know.
Our kids are watching us.
So uh thank you for sharingthat.
(06:37):
So before I get into fails,because I'm excited to hear, but
I want to talk about your bestprinciple of success.
So um, if you have one and tellus a story that illustrates
that.
SPEAKER_01 (06:45):
Yeah, the best principle of success in my life
is relationships.
And I learned from a sales guru,Steve Neudelberg, down in South
Florida.
He said, Larry, what I'velearned is the difference
between contacts, people youknow, and contracts, people you
do any kind of business with.
It's the letter R, and that R isrelationships, true, genuine
(07:08):
relationships.
Because there's a saying that uhpeople like to work with and
refer uh folks that they know,they like, they trust, and they
believe in.
And I found that throughout mylife.
There's a saying, help me out,Lisa, it's not what you know,
but it's Who you know.
Uh in my Steve Harvey FamilyFeud voice survey says, that's a
(07:30):
traditional saying, but I'm nottraditional.
It's not what you know, and it'snot even who you know.
What I found is it's who knowsyou, who likes you, who trusts
you, and who believes in youthat makes things happen.
And the perfect example, as amotivational speaker, the
majority of my business comesfrom word of mouth.
Someone heard me, they like me,they might even love me, they
(07:53):
trust me, they believe in me,and they tell their friends, oh,
you've got to check out LarryLong.
He's gonna motivate, he's gonnainspire, he's going to transform
your audience, and he does itwith a genuine authenticity that
actually gets results.
Relationships for the win.
And we all know this, but what Ifound is that knowing isn't
(08:14):
always doing.
SPEAKER_00 (08:16):
Yeah.
This makes me think of thebecause we talk about mentorship
and sponsorship.
And sponsorship is taking thatperson's name into the room that
they're not in.
And so that that's you know,like, are they gonna say
something good about Larry LongJr.
when they go into that room andgo, oh my gosh, you have such a
great motivation.
He he inspired me, you know.
So what are they saying aboutyou?
What are they taking into thatnext room?
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
So Yeah, he he's he his his energy is, I think, in
the words of the greatphilosopher Aristotle.
No, it wasn't Aristotle, it wasJJ Walker.
His energy is dyno my and he'sgonna lift up your audience.
You gotta give him a try.
So I've I've been trulyfortunate with those
relationships.
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Yeah, good for you.
Um makes me makes me think moreof all the relationships I need
to build, you know, contactsversus contracts.
I love that.
Thank you.
Um now we jumped into a littlebit of failure, but I want to
hear more about uh failingbecause we all know we learn
more.
Those lows, we learn more.
We we learn more.
We yeah.
(09:14):
So can you share one?
Can you share a failing or afailure and what you learned
from it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Which which one do I pick?
I wrote a whole chapter in mybook.
It's uh strikeouts, they're apart of life because I've struck
out on the baseball field.
I used to play slow pitsoftball.
I struck out in softball.
How does that happen?
I've struck out inrelationships, in love, in life,
uh, in business.
Um, my biggest failure, mybiggest learning lesson was my
(09:41):
baseball academy, which was mybaby.
It was my baby before I hadbabies.
Being able to teach youngstersthe game that I love and the
game of life.
Uh, unfortunately, we ran out ofcash.
And what I learned is that ifyou run out of cash, you run out
of business.
And uh if you don't know thenumbers that matter in business,
(10:02):
we knew batting averages, stolenbases, home runs, but we didn't
know the income statement, thebalance sheet, the statement of
cash flows.
You're going to go out ofbusiness.
And we didn't ask for help.
And uh what I learned is thatthat you're if you're drowning
silently, no one has theopportunity to help you.
(10:22):
And uh it was the hero, it wasthe ego that uh stood in my way,
as well as I call it FUD, notElmer FUD, but fear,
uncertainty, and double doubt.
So out of out of thatexperience, I learned number
one, if you're gonna go intobusiness, you you need to know
your numbers inside and out.
Your accountant, your accountingprofessional, you need to ask
(10:45):
the quote unquote stupidquestions, at least for me.
What does this mean?
What is this all cash flows?
What does that mean?
Oh, you got more money going outthe back door than you have
coming in the front door.
That's a problem, Larry.
You need to make an adjustmentand do something, as well as you
need to ask folks for help.
People want to help you.
(11:06):
I work with a coach who said,Larry, how do you feel when
someone asks you for help?
I light up.
I say, Well, I'm honored thatLisa would ask me for help.
That's a privilege.
She said, Why would you be soselfish to not allow someone
else to have that same feelingto help you out?
My mind was blown, myperspective was changed.
(11:28):
I'm now not selfish.
I ask for help genuinely becauseI know that I need it and other
people want to give it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:37):
When you say that, I think of um women who maybe were
trying so hard and it's seen asa weakness.
We feel weak.
And and I think what you'reyou're saying the same thing.
I I sometimes think we're alone.
We we think that we're the onlyones, but we're not we're not
weak.
We're yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:56):
It it takes strength to ask for help.
It's uh and the perspective of Ihave to do this alone.
I I have to have the S on mychest of superwoman.
Yeah.
Well, having that S on yourchest is asking for help because
you help everyone else, yourfamily, your friends, your
(12:18):
colleagues, your neighbors.
You give so much.
I'm a big believer that when yougive, you've earned the right.
I think they call itrelationship equity.
And sometimes people try to makewithdrawals and they haven't
made deposits.
But I know that your listenersand your viewers are always
depositing into otherrelationships.
(12:39):
I know how that goes, yet theyvery rarely look to withdraw.
I'm giving them permission.
You got my permission to goahead and ask for help and to
make a withdrawal from thoserelationship banks that you've
built over time.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
Yeah, you you mentioned uh silently drowning.
I think a lot of people can umfeel that.
You used the term we had failed.
Who was we in your what did youhave a partner?
Was this your wife?
Like who's we?
SPEAKER_01 (13:10):
I had a business partner in my baseball academy,
and that was another lesson thatI learned with regards to
relationships, the power ofcommunication.
And uh, when you're in business,it really is similar to a
marriage.
And uh it takes work, it takescommunication, it takes
intentionality to make it work,and if both sides aren't
(13:34):
committed, ooh, it's gonnacreate some challenges.
But uh, like I said, I learnedmy lesson.
I'm actually in the process nowof building a new offering with
a partner, and we are putting itall on the line.
We want to protect ourfriendship first, no matter what
happens with the business.
(13:54):
And we're committed to makingsure that happens because when
you start talking about moneyand you start talking about
feelings and families, it canget a little bit dicey.
They say never do business withfriends and family.
Well, we're we're gonna go aheadand make this thing work.
SPEAKER_00 (14:11):
And would you find this person you're working with
is very diverse from you?
Like when I think of do theyhave a completely different
mindset?
Do they challenge you?
Are you guys just both on thesame page all the time?
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
No, we we are definitely, we complement each
other, which is a a great thing.
And it also creates some somefriction, some conflict, and
that's where the communicationof uh making sure that we're
open, we're honest.
I think they call it radicalcandor.
Making sure that we're being,we're we're not bottling
(14:41):
anything up because that's whereresentment happens.
But we're in the spirit ofmaking this work, we're gonna
express exactly how we feel,when we feel it, and we're both
gonna have respect uh at thecenter of everything that we do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:55):
Yeah, we uh we all at times when you feel that um
the the connection is nothappening, we all need to step
back.
Okay, wait a minute, what partdid I just play in this?
You know, because we we thinkthey didn't understand me.
Well, just step back for aminute.
Uh, how did we communicate?
So, yeah, keeping those linesopen.
Uh thank you for sharing that.
That was a great uh reminder.
(15:16):
Um, and and the story of well,your stories are good.
Strike out.
I love that because we allstrike out, just using the
baseball analogy.
Um, so getting into leaderimpact, what we are about um is
we want to grow personally,professionally, and spiritually
to have impact.
So I'm wondering if you'd bewilling to share an example, uh,
how you promote the spiritual tomake a practical difference in
(15:37):
your life.
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
Yeah, so I I speak from example, and when I was
stuck, I wrote a book calledJolt, uh, get zapped into
intentionality, rediscover, andbelieve in your inner greatness.
I almost called it unstuckbecause I was living in
corporate America, life wasgood, but it wasn't.
I was rich financially, I wasdoing well, but I was so broke
(16:00):
spiritually.
Uh, my life just didn't have themeaning that I was put on this
earth for a reason, and Irealized it.
And uh I was at a crossroads.
Stay comfortable in my comfortzone and do the right thing or
do the right thing.
And my mom, as wise as she is,she said, Larry, little Larry, I
(16:21):
won't, I'll always be her littleLarry.
She said, You need to pray andpray harder and then do
something that you rarely do.
You need to shh be quiet andlisten.
When you listen, you now havethe opportunity to learn.
You now have the opportunity toget the direction, at least for
(16:45):
me.
And it was loud and clear.
On March 26, 2021, my positionwas eliminated in corporate
America.
Essentially, I was fired.
I got a severance, and uh therecouldn't have been any any
clearer sign of what I was meantto do.
And I wanted to be aprofessional speaker, I just
(17:08):
didn't believe that that waspossible.
Not for me.
Yeah, I know people do it, butthat's that's not my journey.
Well, yes, it is, Larry.
And I'm setting everything up.
I had my first paid engagementMarch 17th of 2020, at the start
of the pandemic.
And I know you're like, hold up.
Yeah, that was St.
Patrick's Day, and I'm not evenIrish.
(17:29):
So that prepared me for March26th of 2021, when my position
was eliminated, that this is myplan for you, Larry.
It's your opportunity to stepinto it.
Don't let me down.
And I come from a family ofservice, a heart of service.
And for me, this is anopportunity to really serve the
(17:50):
world with my gifts.
I've I've been practicing for 47plus years, talking and serving
and speaking, and now it's myprofession.
It's what I get to do each andevery day to serve others with
my words, with my feelings, myemotions.
So I've just been hashtag tooblessed to be stressed.
(18:11):
It hasn't been all sunshine,rainbows, and unicorns, but I
can tell you it has been sofulfilling.
And to be able to have my familyalong for the journey, um, it
has been just amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (18:24):
Yeah.
You mentioned um you mentionedone point financially well off,
and then you got let go, versusI think last year uh Q2 and
three were bad.
When you think of how you feltfinancially good, you got fired,
Q2 and Q bad, no money.
Um, like can do you rememberturning to God and going, okay,
(18:47):
like and is it the same?
Because those feelings are verydifferent, right?
Like one financial financial,you know, it really is, and we
have to believe that God canprovide, and and that's it's
it's a struggle.
SPEAKER_01 (19:01):
So I yeah, um there's a saying that you can't
have faith and fear at the sametime, and I've tested it, I've
tried, and uh what I realized isyou can't, and as a believer,
I've had faith.
(19:22):
Uh, there's a book, my my coachshared this book with me.
It's called Three Feet fromGold, and it's a great reminder
of so often people give up whenthey're this close.
You're three feet from the gold,and I've committed that I will
not give up.
You can't stop a person thatjust will not quit, and I will
(19:43):
not quit to make this happen.
Now, I've had to make someadjustments, I've had to check
my ego at the door, and I've hadto get some lessons learned and
lessons earned through this hardnoggin.
I'm I'm hard-headed, but uh forme, just that trust in the Lord,
for me, uh I know that he'sgoing to bring me through.
He's he's brought me throughevery situation that I've been
(20:06):
through, and uh Lord knows I'vebeen through some situations.
SPEAKER_00 (20:10):
Uh I want to talk to you about listening to God.
So you talked about in 2020 youhad your first uh keynote, and
then you know, there was a yearafter then you got fired in
2021.
So there was a year.
Can you think of moments was Goddid God ever drip on you like,
look, I gave you this speakingengagement, you should start
listening to me?
And then finally, did you getfired and go, okay, I'm
(20:33):
listening?
But did you see, were there anytimes God talked between that
year going, I'm telling you, youcould do this?
SPEAKER_01 (20:40):
There were plenty of them, but at least I hate to say
it, I was too busy talking andtrying to figure it out on my
own to listen.
And it's by design, God doesn'tmake any mistakes.
There's a reason why, for themost part, we've been blessed
with two ears and one mouth.
Think about it.
We are supposed to listen twotimes more than we're supposed
(21:03):
to talk.
But like I said, I'mhard-headed.
Yeah, I'm a rules breaker.
And uh, my wife, it was actuallymy wife in December of 2019.
She said, Hey, baby, you telleveryone else to follow their
passion and pursue their dream.
Look in the mirror.
You're you're faking the funk.
You you put on this smile for amile for external, but I see you
(21:26):
when you come through the doorand you are not happy.
What are you going to do aboutit?
unknown (21:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
I said, uh-oh.
And uh my mom, with her adviceto pray and pray harder and to
listen, that year of 2020, inthe pandemic, I was stacked up
with virtual remote Zoomengagements where I was getting
paid.
I was being set up in a goodway.
God was showing me that there isa way so that when March 26th of
(21:55):
2021 hit, I was ready.
It wasn't like I was startingfrom ground.
I had already built thefoundation so that I was
prepared for that next stage.
Now, I can tell you there's beena lot of lessons from that time.
And sometimes you have to laughto stop from crying.
But what I've learned is it'snot, it's not me alone.
(22:20):
If I do it all alone, I willfail.
If I pray and I listen and Ifollow God's plan for my life,
I'm going to be great.
It's going in the end.
It doesn't mean thatimmediately, short term,
everything's going to beawesome.
That's not, but I realize in thelong run, God's plan for me is
(22:40):
uh it's the perfect plan.
So trusting in that is tough,uh, but life is tough.
Choose your tough.
Which tough do you want?
You want the tough where you doit all alone?
Superman, super woman, or do youwant to trust and believe and
follow God's plan for you?
I I choose the latter.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
Yeah.
I have to ask you about umregret.
Where do you put regret?
Where do you place regret?
Um, I have learned long ago, I Idon't want to have any, I can't
change that, I can do better.
But I I just listening to you,I'm like, you you we take what
we learn and we move forwardbecause that's faith.
So I would love to hear what youthink.
SPEAKER_01 (23:22):
I I try to intentionally live my life with
no regrets.
Yeah, and I haven't always beenthat way because fear, at least
for me, can get you stuck.
For me, fear has has frozen mein places where I wanted
something, but I was so afraidof failure.
Oftentimes for me, I'm aperfectionist.
(23:44):
Well, up until now, I've been aperfectionist, but I realized
it's never going to be perfect.
And having those folks in mylife that support me and
encourage me and cheer me on,you got this, Larry.
And in 2022, when I was writingmy book, uh I learned a great
lesson.
My coach said, Larry, you're sooptimistic, positive, uplifting
(24:05):
with everyone else.
But when we start talking aboutyou and your book, you're so
negative.
You're a negative Nancy, anegative Nellie, a negative Ned.
Why is that?
And we unpacked it, and it uh itcame to the fact that it wasn't
serving me.
It might have served me beforeand probably not, but I thought
that it did.
(24:25):
Uh what's serving me for myvision, for my goals, to support
my family, is uh for me toencourage myself.
And uh that wasn't my naturaltendency.
My natural tendency was to beatmyself up.
But what I realized withintention is Larry, uplift
yourself, encourage yourself,trust in yourself, and you don't
(24:47):
have to do it alone.
You're going to be okay.
So go for it.
A good friend of mine, MelissaMurray Bailey, she used to be
the chief revenue officer of acompany called Hoot Suite, their
social media platform.
She had a saying.
I spoke at their sales kickoffin 2023.
She had a saying called Giat.
I said, is that the long-lostcousin of the fiat?
(25:08):
She said, Larry, you're crazy.
I said, I know.
Some things never change.
She said, no, Giat, give it atry.
That was her motto for her team.
Well, I'm thinking about Giat.
Well, I want to Giat.
So for anyone out there that'snoodling, that's doodling,
whether it's starting abusiness, whether it's asking
(25:29):
for the raise, whether it'smaking that big, hairy,
audacious goal, GIOT.
Give it a try.
You got this.
SPEAKER_00 (25:38):
Love it.
Oh, that was a greatconversation.
Thank you for just extendingthat conversation on how you do
that and praise, place yourspiritual, and not even place,
live it, live it out every day.
Um, at Leader Impact, we areabout leaders having a lasting
impact.
So obviously, this is just everyday.
What are we doing?
So, as you consider, as youcontinue to move through your
(25:59):
journey of life, what do youwant your faith legacy to be
when you leave this world?
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Yeah, I want everyone that I touch to realize
that uh I didn't do it alone,and that for me, the
spirituality, for me, my faithcomes number one.
Uh, and I encourage people tothink about their priorities.
For me, I've got eight buckets: faith, spirituality, family, (26:17):
undefined
friends.
The only one that I'm really,really good at fun, finances,
fitness, philanthropy.
And I know there's spelling Bchampion saying that doesn't
start with an F.
I spell phonetically andfrenetically, sue me.
And then career is that eightbuckets.
(26:39):
And I ask people to think aboutwhen you stack rank your eight
buckets and priorities, what arethey?
And then how do you gradeyourself on each of those
buckets with intentionality?
And then for your top threebuckets, what can you do?
What action can you take toenhance your number?
(27:00):
I thought that I was an eightwhen it came to family.
My coach said, Why don't you askyour wife Maria and your two
kids, Trey and Lucia?
Trey said, Daddy, you're a nine.
He knows who pays his allowance.
Lucia, my daughter, she said,Daddy, you're a five.
I said, Oh my goodness.
Oh, yeah, staking the heart.
I said, Why so high?
She said, Well, you take me togymnastics every Monday.
(27:22):
I do.
She said, When I look up,because the parents sit on the
second floor.
She said, When I look up, Daddy,you're looking down at your
phone.
So now I've got that's mydaughter giving me the
encouraging eye to be present,to be at where your feet are at.
So that's my encouragement forfolks is to be intentional.
(27:43):
Sometimes you have to slow downto speed up and to enhance and
really live in your big vision.
We're we're put on this earth todo great things, to make great
impacts.
And my hope is that the impactthat I make on everyone I touch,
my family, my friends, is uhsomeone who did it the right
(28:04):
way, who did it with sincerecare, who didn't do it alone,
and just uh yeah, I'm hopefulthat I pass that along.
SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
Yeah, um, I I I I think many parents have been
caught looking down and notliving in the moment of you
know, the daughter's justlooking up at the sun, you know,
is looking up like hi, and andyou're looking down.
That's a heartbreak.
And so so to hear it from yourdaughter, I'm sure that was a
heartbreaking moment to go, uh,I can do I can do better.
SPEAKER_01 (28:36):
It was it was that opportunity that was knocking on
my door to make a change and tobe better so that I don't regret
it.
Because time flies.
We know this, but sometimesknowing isn't doing.
So I've committed to doing sothat I don't have any regrets
when I'm sitting on my deathbedsaying, I wish I had lived in
the moment of my daughtergrowing up, of my son growing
(28:59):
up, and really been therebecause you don't get those
moments back again.
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
Yeah.
And I would say that you canstart now.
Don't, don't look back becauseyou can't change that.
But you know what?
Put the phone down now.
Be intentional now.
Yeah.
Because I mean, my daughter'sgonna be turning 23, and uh it's
it just got better.
And I know that at times I wasalways working and I, you know,
I had my own company.
I was busy, busy, you know, andI I forgot about them.
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
So you're your priority.
What are your priorities?
And for me, you know, I'm I'mone of my bit biggest and best
accomplishments.
I took my whole family to aspeakers convention in
Scottsdale last year.
I'm taking them to an engagementin Portugal.
So the international with myfamily involved, it is just uh
it's a blessing.
(29:47):
Like I said, I pinch myselfevery day, Lisa, just not too
hard because I don't want towake up from this dream that I'm
living.
And if if I can do it, anyonecan do it.
SPEAKER_00 (29:57):
Yeah, takes takes intentionality.
unknown (29:59):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
So my final question is for you is what brings you
the greatest joy?
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
It's really seeing the smiles and the impact on
people that I have, especiallythose that are closest to me.
My son, my daughter, my wife, myfamily, uh, as well as those
that I have the opportunity totouch outside of my family, and
just to share my joy, to sharemy gifts uh with them.
(30:27):
And my gift is that I see somany gifts in other people.
I see greatness in each andevery person, sometimes when
they don't even see greatness inthemselves.
I do have to give a shout out.
My mentor, Dr.
Willie Jolly, he shared thismessage in 2023.
It was June of 2023.
I'll never forget it.
He shared this in a group ofspeakers, but the message was
(30:49):
really for me.
He said, sometimes we have tolean on the faith and belief
that someone else has in usuntil ours kicks in.
And I needed to hear that wordfrom him uh because I know that
for me, my God has faith in me.
I'm more than a conqueror.
(31:09):
And sometimes I need to lean onthat.
Oftentimes, I need to lean onthat to jumpstart my internal
belief that yes, I can be great.
I will be great.
Let's get it in, let's get itdone.
Show up and show out, Larry.
So that's my encouragement.
Someone needs to hear that.
Yeah, lean on, lean on who youneed to lean on until yours
(31:33):
kicks in.
SPEAKER_00 (31:34):
Um it's tough.
It can be tough.
And I think that's probably theone of the greatest reasons I
love Leader Impact is we aremarketplace leaders who get
together every week.
Uh, and maybe some groups don't,but my group does online, and we
encourage each other and weshare because leadership is
lonely.
And if you don't have on somesomeone to talk to, you you need
to find someone.
(31:55):
So if it's a coach or if it's agroup of, you know, like Leader
Impact, and I'll share later howto join, but um I am thankful
for that because it it's justimpacted me my whole life.
And I've been involved for gosh,I think 12, 13 years in this
group, which I've never been insomething so long.
Like so surrounding ourselves,and and you know, I think we
(32:15):
realize you talked about umsmiling and making an impact on
people.
You don't realize who you'regoing to make an impact on
today, Larry.
You know, you've impacted me.
And so, you know, I think when Ilook at you and I think when you
look at a baby and you smile, Ibet that baby lights up because
they just love smiles.
And they're like, I don't know.
Like, I look at you and I wantto smile.
So thank you for joining ustoday.
(32:36):
It has been a pleasure.
SPEAKER_01 (32:38):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:40):
So if anybody wants to engage with you and find you
and go, I want to hear moreabout Larry Long Jr., what's
what's one of the best places,or do you have a couple?
SPEAKER_01 (32:48):
Yeah, uh, best place, they call me LinkedIn
Larry.
So please connect with me onLinkedIn, Larry Long Jr.
Uh you can also find me.
Uh I'm gonna tell my story on mywebsite, LarryLongjunior.com.
That's LarryLongJR.com.
Please connect.
I'd love the opportunity toserve, to support, to help you
(33:10):
along your journey.
I appreciate you so much, Lisa.
SPEAKER_00 (33:14):
Thank you, Larry.
It has been a pleasure.
All right.
Take care.
SPEAKER_01 (33:18):
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
All right.
I want to thank everyone forjoining us.
If you're part of Leader Impact,you can always discuss or share
this podcast with your group.
And if you're not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpact.ca.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
Leaderimpact.ca, or if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outleaderimpact.com.
(33:40):
Or get in touch with me at infoat leaderimpact.ca and we will
connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
us a rating or review.
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
Thank you for engaging with us.
And remember, impact starts withyou.
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