How To Reach The Top 1%: Mindset, Public Speaking, and Personal Development | Jim Cathcart - Small Business Pivots

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome to another Small Business Pivots.
Today we have a very, veryspecial guest, but, as you know,
if you listen to our podcast,no one can pronounce their name
and their business like thebusiness owner.
So I'm going to let you havethe stage and tell us a little
bit about yourself.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Thank you, michael.
I appreciate that.
My name is Jim Cathcart and I'ma professional speaker and
author, but primarily today.
Today, meaning in recent yearsI work as a mentor to
professional experts.
Now, what's a professionalexpert coach or a personal coach

(00:47):
, a consultant, an advisor, anauthor, someone who has a
specialty and they're buildingtheir business around that
specialty, as opposed to, say,owning a Subway franchise?
That's, you know your specialtysandwiches but you're not the
sandwich expert.
You're a Subway franchise owner.
But if you are, say, anegotiations expert and you sell
your skill as an expert innegotiations or teaching others

(01:10):
how to do it, then your brand isyou and the way you package
yourself, communicate yourselfto the community of the
marketplace determines the levelof success you're going to
reach.
So everybody has an area ofexpertise that kind of stands
out around, I mean, above theother things that they do.
And if yours is the focus ofyour business, then you're the

(01:35):
kind of person that I work with.
I've written 27 books.
I've been a professionalspeaker all over the world.
I've been president of theNational Speakers Association,
inducted into the ProfessionalSpeakers Hall of Fame, sales and
Marketing Hall of Fame inLondon.
I'm best known for my books,the Acorn Principle and

(01:57):
Relationship Selling and morerecently, the book Mentor
Minutes how to Reach the Top 1%of Any Field.
I wrote a book a couple ofyears ago called what to Do when
You're the Speaker, and it'sfor people like us, michael, who
are already speakers.
But this gives instructions onwhat do you do when the building

(02:19):
catches on fire, literally,when a person dies in the
audience, when the speakerbefore you goes 45 minutes over
time and eats up your time frame, when the sound system goes out
, or the lights, you know, orsomeone comes in the room and
said, oh my God, the president'sbeen shot.
All of those things havehappened to me, all of them, and

(02:42):
so that's what I wrote thatbook about no-transcript.

(03:08):
So I've received fromToastmasters though I'm not a
Toastmaster, I received theirhighest award for
non-Toastmasters, the GoldenGavel, which my heroes had
received Zig Ziglar, EarlNightingale, walter Cronkite,
people like that, zig Ziglar,earl Nightingale, walter
Cronkite, people like that theCavett Award, which is a
lifetime service award to theNational Speakers Association,

(03:32):
and so forth.
I've got a TED Talk, tedx videothat has about 3 million views.
So I've hit some home runsAbsolutely, and in my field I've

(03:53):
held most of the majorpositions, received most of the
major designations or awards,and I know the players, personal
phone number of people likeBrian Tracy and you know Tom
Ziegler, zieg's son, who hiredme to speak to the Ziegler group
shortly after Zieg passed away.
You know people like that.
Les Brown is a friend of mine,and on and on.

(04:15):
So I'm well connected in myfield.
Now, ok, yeah, good for you, jim.
Yeah, you're a big deal, but Ididn't start out that way.
See, this isn't about me.
This is about how do you thelistener or viewer today, the
person who's been hanging outwith Michael and following this
podcast how do you use a fieldeither the one you're in or a

(04:41):
new one you want to get into getto the top 1% of the people
involved in that field and staythere for decades?
How do you do that?
I know how to do that.
I've not only done it, I'vecoached others in how to do it
and they've done it in theirfields and this has been going
on.
You know, I've been at it foralmost 50 years, so I got a lot

(05:03):
of people from way back when whohave gone on to achieve
worldwide significance in theirparticular niche.
So that's the thing I helppeople become an expert in their
niche, or more of an expert,and then reach the top of that
category.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
That's amazing.
Well, listeners, you are in fora treat today.
Let's hurry up and introducethe show and we'll be right back
.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.

(05:42):
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
All right, welcome back toSmall Business Pivots, my friend

(06:05):
.
So you did.
You mentioned you didn't juststart here.
So can you catch us up in life,like how you kind of grew up a
little bit?
Just so we kind of know,because a lot of us small
business owners were challengedwith mindset.
It could be something thathappened in our childhood and we
can't quite get over the hump,but, like you said, you didn't
start here.
So what was your childhood like?

(06:26):
So everybody can kind of catchup.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Clearly I had an advantage.
I grew up in Little Rock,arkansas.
My dad was a telephonerepairman.
I mean, how could I not be agreat success?
Right Right, I was a homemaker.
My grandparents were in ourhome when I was growing up and
they needed constant care.
And I was not an athlete.
I was not an academic achiever.

(06:49):
I graduated 176 out of the 430in my high school class and
academically, so you know, Ididn't have anything much going
for me.
I didn't know anybody who hadany money, never had known
anyone, and so I didn't havethat going for me and I didn't
have a mentor.
But well, first off, what Iexpected from life was

(07:14):
mediocrity.
I expected to be a statistic.
You know, if everybody in mygene pool dies at 73, that's
when I check out.
If everybody retires at 65,that's when I check out.
If everybody retires at 65,that's when I would retire.
So I expected to have like1.175 children, live in a
suburban home of moderate means,have maybe two cars, retire at

(07:38):
65 and die at 70, something.
Okay, then what changed?
Well, I didn't have a collegedegree.
I got married in 1970.
By the way, I'll be 79 in amonth, so that'll keep things in
context, but I got married whenI was 23 years old, 1970.

(08:01):
And we had a baby shortlythereafter, years old, 1970.
And we had a baby shortlythereafter and I had had all
kinds of jobs, none of whichstuck, and I was working as a
clerk at the Urban RenewalAgency, the housing authority in
Little Rock, arkansas, making$525 a month, 50 pounds

(08:24):
overweight, smoking two packs aday and not doing pretty much
anything to advance myself inlife, just hoping to, you know,
get a little tenure and then getpromoted over the years.
And then I heard the radioplaying in the next room.
By the way, for those oftoday's generation, radio is

(08:45):
what came before these things.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yep and eight tracks and cassettes.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
Though there weren't podcasts, there was a show, a
little five-minute show, fromEarl Nightingale, the dean of
personal motivation.
He was on 900 radio stationsall over the world.
Personal motivation he was on900 radio stations all over the
world and he said that day in1972, if you will spend one hour
extra every day studying thefield you've chosen, in five

(09:22):
years or less you'll be anational expert in that field.
Michael, that hit me like anoncoming train.
I thought that's actually true.
I mean, well, that would evenapply to me.
Me, with nothing going for meexcept ambition.
Wow, hour a day extra, fivedays a week, 50 weeks a year,
five years, that's 1,250 hourson one subject.

(09:45):
If the subject was narrowenough, yeah, now you could say
well, okay, jim, what if youwant to be like the next John
Maxwell, you want to be theworld's leading authority on
leadership?
Well, leadership's a broadcategory.
So if you don't start from ahigh level beginning point, like

(10:05):
John did, then you got a longroad ahead of you.
But what if it's crisisleadership of small teams?
Oh, okay, if you study that,then you'll study military
leadership.
You study disaster responseteams.
You study all kinds.

(10:26):
You know medicine.
You study business crises.
You study fire departments.
You become a reallyknowledgeable person within the
first year on the subject ofcrisis leadership of small teams
, and then, within that year,you would start noticing
opportunities to advise otherson how to prepare for crisis

(10:50):
leadership.
So what do you do when apandemic hits?
What do you do when a weatherdisaster occurs?
What do you do when name yourpoison right?
And the second year otherpeople would start knowing you
as a knowledgeable person onthat kind of thing and then you

(11:11):
would probably have gottenconnected a little bit in the
community and in your industryor maybe multiple industries
contacts list of several folksand on the local news reporters
list of subject experts theycould call in the event of a

(11:33):
crisis.
So now you're being interviewedfor news shows.
Now you're being asked to siton a committee to help with
local disaster preparedness.
Now you're being consulted bypeople who are interested in
what you do.
Third year, you're still anhour a day of new study on this,
not just working in that field,because that doesn't count.

(11:55):
This is an hour extra every daystudying the field you've
chosen.
Third year, you're the go-toguy or gal.
People are saying well, youwant to know about it.
Contact Michael, contact Ellen,contact Jim.
Right by the fourth year, youare probably a member of any

(12:18):
national associations that areor societies that exist in that
field, and you may have servedon some committees or gotten
elected to the board ofdirectors, and so your voice has
been heard.
You're writing articles fortheir publications.
You're doing blog posts andinterviews on podcasts Fifth

(12:39):
year you're on national news.
You've written a couple of books.
You're conducting seminars.
You're holding summits andretreats to train other people
in your field.
You see what I mean.
Now, that was just one I pulledout of the air Disaster
preparedness.
You know things like thatmusician.

(13:01):
I want to be like Garth Brooks,or you know Carrie Underwood, or
name your person.
Right, okay, but I don't playan instrument and I can't sing.
Fine, do you still want to dothat?
Yeah, all right.

(13:22):
Do you have to be the performeror do you just want to be in
that world and be at the top ofthe industry, the music industry
?
Well, I'd like to be aperformer, but I don't have to,
okay, Well, what are you goingto do?
I don't know.
I got to get a job.
What kind of job are youqualified for?
Well, no, college degree, nomusical training?
No, I don't know.
I guess I'll just have to goentry level.

(13:44):
So what are you going to do?
Sweep floors and run errands?
Yeah, I guess.
Okay, for whom?
What do you mean?
Why not for a music shop?
Why not for a musicalinstrument maker?
Why not for a college or highschool or professional band?
Why not for a broadcast stationfor their entertainment side?

(14:08):
See what I mean.
Yeah, if you gotta sweep floors,sweep studio floors.
Why?
Because I'm only going to makeminimum.
Excuse me, who are you going tobe around?
Yeah, but I'm no low level.
Listen to yourself.
If you're in a studio, you'regoing to be talking with the

(14:29):
other people in the studio alittle bit and you're going to
hear them talk to each other.
So you're going to pick up thelanguage and the ways of
behaving and thinking thatpeople in studios do.
And you're going to meetperformers who come and go from
the studio and you're going tomaybe you're going to clean up
after them and while you're inthere, you're going to say, yeah
, I really enjoyed thatperformance the other night and

(14:51):
they're going to strike up aconversation with you and
they're going to say, hey, we'regoing out for burgers in a bit.
You want to join us?
Yeah.
And then they say, hey, we'relooking for somebody to work as
a roadie, to help us with ourlocal gigs.
Could you help us set up ourgear and take it down,
absolutely.
So now you've got a higherpaying position.

(15:12):
See what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
And one of them says hey, do you play an instrument?
No, but I've always wanted tolearn to play the blank.
Well, let me show you, and theyteach you how to play guitar,
banjo, keyboard, whatever ithappens to be, and you learn
some fundamentals and, the nextthing you know, another door
opens, and another door opensand one extra focused hour every

(15:40):
single day, nonstop, noexceptions, even on bad days,
even when you're ill for fiveyears.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Top 1%.
Yeah, that's amazing and itreally isn't that long.
I mean, an hour a day is reallynot that long.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
It's organic if you just stay the course, right.
But you've got gotta pick alane.
Let's say you decide okay, I'mgonna be top one percent of the
experts in the world on music.
Yikes, yikes.
You're gonna have to put in 15extra hours a day.
Music's too broad.
But how about music in the keyof B flat on a zither?

(16:25):
You'll be the world's leadingexpert by Tuesday.
Exactly the narrower the field,the faster the advancement.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, what did you decide to doafter you heard the message?
What was that first thing thatyou started spending an hour on?

Speaker 2 (16:45):
I was overwhelmed.
I was blown away by the ideabecause it never occurred to me
I could matter.
You know, I was just anordinary kid from the
neighborhood, didn't, didn'tstand out, so I thought I'm
probably not ever going to.
And then Nightingale says thison the radio and I get inspired

(17:06):
and I think so if I really gotserious, honestly, I could make
a difference.
I could matter.
Wow, I could be somebody.
And then I thought what do Iwant to be an expert on?
Well, it wasn't urban renewal,though.
That's where it worked and itwasn't any of the other things
like banking that I had donebefore.

(17:27):
I'd worked as a bank teller anda bill collector and things
like that.
And then it hit me after acouple of weeks I want to do
what that guy on the radio does.
I want to be like EarlNightingale.
Well, I didn't know a MichaelMorrison, you know, I didn't
know someone who was in thatworld, so I didn't know what it

(17:49):
was really like.
I just knew it felt right to meand I had two conditions that
would tend to limit one'sprofessional speaking career I'd
never given a speech and I hadnothing to say.
That pulled off.

(18:09):
Well that's two strikes.
So I thought, okay, if I want tobe like Earl Nightingale, what
does it mean?
And I thought, well, okay, hisworld is like how to succeed.
I found out there's a technicalterm for that applied
behavioral science.
And the study of humanachievement is applied

(18:30):
behavioral science, not clinicalbehavioral science, but
application-oriented behavioralscience.
So I thought, okay, I'll startstudying Earl Nightingale, I'll
listen to him every day or weekon the radio and then I'll go to
the library.
And at the time bookstores werefew, there was no internet and

(18:54):
at the library the number ofbooks on how to succeed in life
were probably less than 12.
Wow, seriously, there was howto Win Friends and Influence
People, the Power of PositiveThinking, think and Grow Rich,
and a couple of others, but thatwas about it.
So I read those and then I metother people that were

(19:17):
interested in this and I gotaround them.
And then I joined the JuniorChamber of Commerce, the JCs,
which at that time was huge350,000 members in the US.
And the purpose of JCs, unlikethe Lions or Kiwanis or Optimist
Clubs, the difference in JCswas it was only for young adults

(19:38):
and its purpose was not socialor civic activity.
That's what it did, but that'snot why it did it.
You know the others are calledcivic clubs and they serve the
community.
Well, the JCs serve thecommunity and they are a civic
club, but their purpose wasleadership training To train

(20:01):
young adults in the skillsnecessary to be senior adults so
that they could practice byserving the community and then
enter business at a higher level.
So I learned goal setting, Ilearned project planning, I
learned how to organize andmotivate the staff of volunteers
, how to find resources andacquire donors, how to build

(20:23):
excitement for a cause, how tospeak in front of a group, make
reports, how to run a meeting.
You know things like that.
And I learned that through 400JCs meetings in the state of
Arkansas in two years, afterwork and on weekends for no pay.
400 meetings in two years forfree, actually for out-of-pocket

(20:47):
expense.
And the first year I was justan active participant.
The second year I startedgetting appointed or elected to
positions like district directorin charge of servicing five
chapters in my neighborhood ormy broader neighborhood, and

(21:08):
then I was the state.
I was local chapter presidentand then I was the state
chairman in charge of leadershiptraining for all 280 chapters
in the state of Arkansas backthen and JC's Today is a tiny
little organization.
Back then it was huge.
And so I went from nobody andknew nobody to somebody who knew

(21:35):
a lot of people, to somebodywho was known by everybody in
the state in that organization.
In a couple of years, two and ahalf years, and in 1975, now
this all began in 72 here in theradio.
Okay, in 1975, in August I wentto Tulsa, oklahoma, to the

(21:56):
national headquarters of theJaycees to interview for a
position on the national staffto be in charge of leadership
training for 350,000 people.
I got it.
Wow, september 1, I startedthat position, 1975.
Now I heard Earl Nightingale onthe radio in probably January

(22:20):
of 72.
In probably January of 72.
In 1974, in a seminar I wrote agoal to become a national expert
in the field of personaldevelopment by five years hence,
which was September of 1979.
But one year later I was thenational expert in charge of

(22:46):
leadership training for 350,000people at the JC's headquarters.
Wow, at twice the salary I wasmaking back at the housing
authority.
And then I got a raise to threetimes the salary I was making
back at the headquarters and Iflew all over the country and I

(23:13):
wrote training manuals and Iconducted workshops and trained
trainers and did all kinds ofcommunication to motivate people
.
And then, in 1977, I formedwhat is now Cathcart Institute.
Back then it was Jim CathcartIndividual and Leadership
Training and I've done 3,500paid speeches and done all those
things I mentioned earlier.

(23:35):
What, how on earth is thatpossible?
I mean, I didn't suddenly becomea PhD on human development or
achieve Zig Ziglar levelspeaking skills or you know
things that would just kind ofturn the key and open the doors
for me.
I got every one of them at thatbus stop on the way to my

(24:00):
ultimate destination and slowlygrew, you know, made a lot of
mistakes, invested in thingsthat didn't pay off, spent a lot
of time doing things thatdidn't help at all, listened to
a whole bunch of the wrongpeople and made stupid decisions
and then recovered.
And finally, you know, presidentof the National Speakers

(24:22):
Association, the other day I gota call from a woman I had done
a TED talk coaching for.
She's from the Philippines andshe's a world expert on AI and
the metaverse.
She said, jim, look at yourtext.
I got to show you something.

(24:43):
So I get my phone out and lookat it and there's a photograph
of her in front of a wall in ashopping mall in Manila,
philippine Islands, and it showsa bunch of hot air balloons and
there's a quote in the middleof it and the quote says the
future you see reveals theperson you'll be.
Jim Cathcart, my quote was onthe wall in the Philippines, in

(25:10):
a shopping mall.
I guarantee you, the son of thetelephone repairman in Little
Rock, arkansas, did not ever,ever, ever even dream of
something like that occurringspontaneously.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
And that seems to be like almost every person on this
planet.
And I have a quick question,since you're in the personal
development space what do youthink that trigger was at that
time?
Because I'm sure there wereother people on the radio or
other things that you'd seen,but at that moment, what do you
think it was that lit that fire?
Because I know a lot of peoplethat are stuck.

(25:51):
They want something better.
They just can't seem to getmotivated to do it.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Well, up until that time, I had literally 40, 4-0
different jobs.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
You're listening to Small Business Pivots.
This podcast is produced by mycompany, Boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.

(26:26):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.
What do you think that triggerwas at that time?
Because I'm sure there wereother people on the radio or
other things that you'd seen,but at that moment, what do you
think it was that lit that fire?
Because I know a lot of peoplethat are stuck.

(26:48):
They want something better.
They just can't seem to getmotivated to do it.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Well, up until that time I had literally 40, 4 zero
different jobs.
If you count mowing lawns formy neighbors, you know, for
pocket money, running a paperroute, working as a teller in a
bank, being a warehouseman,unloading trucks and boxcars,

(27:15):
things like that.
40 different jobs by the time Igot to the housing authority
job.
Since that time I've had theJC's job and my current job
period.
I've been a professionalspeaker and author, an expert in
the field of business skillsand success skills training ever
since.
Okay, when I heard that radiobroadcast, I had the ambition.

(27:40):
I had the.
I didn't have the expectation,but I had the desire.
I had this wish it could bemore, wish it could be better,
wish I could be somebody otherswould admire, respect or ask for
advice.
Right, it didn't have an outletand I didn't have the mindset

(28:01):
to believe I could pull it off.
And Nightingale showed me, atmy age 26, a formula that, when
I thought it through, made totalsense and I realized it would
work for pretty much anybody.
One of the things I also did atthat time is my job was boring.

(28:22):
I was an assistant to a man whodidn't need one, so I was an
assistant loan specialist to BobMoore and Bob Moore wasn't busy
so I had hours every day ofidle time.
I read the Bible cover to coverin three months at work.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Wow, that is a lot of time on your hands.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
The state of Arkansas paid, through their taxes, my
salary, for me to read the Bibleat work, and of course that you
know I mean reading the Bible,for heaven's sakes will
transform your worldview, ofcourse and that just created
more questions than answers, andso I started exploring religion
, and you know differentworldviews and ways of looking

(29:13):
at philosophy and psychology,and all that At the same time.
I'm thinking about business andabout career, and so everything
was kind of in a state of churnfor me at the time, and that
was perfect timing, because Ihad already had a job selling
mutual funds and life insurancefor investors, diversified

(29:36):
services and my boss this was acouple of years earlier had
given me the book Think and GrowRich, which I read, but it went
right over my head.
I didn't get it because I wasn'tready for it, and so I tried
selling for a couple of yearsand then flopped.
So I left that job and didother things things when I was

(30:09):
at IDS one of the ironies theydidn't train me well in how to
sell.
We had motivational sessionsevery Monday morning and then we
were told to memorize the salestalk and go out and make calls.
And I did, but I wasn't makingsales because I didn't see the
job as helping people solveproblems and getting paid for
doing so.
I saw the job as getting peopleto buy products, and that's the

(30:29):
way I'd been trained.
So I was a vendor.
I was not a helper, not aproblem solver, not a solution
source.
Since that time I've completelychanged my mind, my view about
selling, and I see selling ashelping people for pay.
So I've written, as I said, 27books.

(30:50):
Nine of those books are onsales.
I've been inducted into theSales and Marketing Hall of Fame
in London.
I mean my name's up there.
Yeah, it's a category of sales.
I wrote the book the originalbook, relationship Selling in
about 1985.
And it's been translated allover the world.

(31:11):
So I was ready.
But the teacher hadn't appearedyet until I heard Earl that day
.
And then I started thinking,okay, I'll just follow his
formula and everything will befine.
But I never, never dreamed itwould go anywhere beyond maybe
me being on the local radio or Idon't know.

(31:35):
It never occurred to me to writea book, and now I've got 27 of
them.
You know, I mean jeepers.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, that's amazing.
That's amazing.
So in your book that youreferred to earlier, getting to
the top 1%, is that part of theformula?
Spending the hour?

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Yeah, Mentor minutes is 336.
One minute ideas Each of thesethings takes one minute to read.
One minute ideas Each of thesethings takes one minute to read.
How do I know?
Because I first wrote them asscripts for a radio broadcast
called Acorn Minutes, Because mybook the Acorn Principle and my
logo is the acorn.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Why?
Because an acorn is theuniversal symbol of potential.
Tall oaks from tiny acorns grow.
So in this book, every ideait's 336 life lessons.
Why 336 and not 365?
Because I had 365, and I had abunch of other people review

(32:46):
them and they said to me Jim,you know there's a good 40 of
these that are just so obviousas to be useless.
Okay, so I made it 336 insteadof 360.
And then I wrote the book aroundthe concept of how do you take
the field you've chosen andreach the top 1% in that field
and stay there.
How do you become a certifiedprofessional expert if you

(33:08):
choose to?
Because that's what I do withthe people in my mentor program.
When people sign up with me formentorship, I take them through
a learning process thatsharpens their their skills in
all those key areas I wasreferring to earlier that make
them capable of achieving, nomatter what field they're, in a

(33:29):
high level of advancement.
And so at the end of that, Ipresent them with a medallion as
a certified professional expert, a certificate, and then they
become one of the certifiedprofessional experts.
Now let me tell you who's on thelist.

(33:51):
There's only 31 people so far.
I'm not going to read the wholelist Dr Nito Kubain, Tony
Alessandra, Patricia Fripp, DonHudson, Ivan Meisner, founder of
BNI Business Networking.
Brian Tracy, Les Brown, VictorAntonio, sales expert.

(34:12):
Todd Duncan, mortgage industryleader.
John Mitchell, who wrote thebook the Missing Secret from
Think and Grow Rich.
John Mitchell, who wrote thebook the Missing Secret from
Think and Grow Rich.
Dr Terry Paulson, who's apsychologist and a professional
speaker and author.
And Dr Dennis Waitley.

(34:33):
I mean, that's some heavycompany.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Got television producers, I've got movie stars,
I've got all kinds of people inthe list from different fields
and they are certifiedprofessional experts and so on.
Cathcartcom, there are many,many, many pages of content.
If someone wants to see somevideos or, you know, explore CPE

(35:01):
, certified professional expertor any of that, all I've got to
do is go to MyLastNamecom andclick around and there are free
things, there are inexpensivethings, there are more expensive
things, but it's a fun thing toclick around in.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
I know you saw a picture of me skydiving.
It's a smorgasbord ofeverything.
Just pick your poison, as yousaid earlier.
So on those, oh, I got to tellyou a quick one.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
This will put a cap on what I was saying about Earl
Nightingale.
Now remember, when I startedout I was just a likable loser.
Okay, I wasn't going anywhere,but I was a nice guy and I was
reasonably intelligent.
But I never hit high numbers onIQ tests or anything.
So that's where I start out.

(35:54):
I hear Earl Nightingale on theradio.
I get inspired by him.
A couple of years later I meeta guy who's selling Earl
Nightingale's audio recordingsand he said, jim, you should buy
these.
I said how much?
He said $560.
I said, oh my gosh, I only make$525.
He said, well, let's work out apayment plan.

(36:15):
So we did and I listenedfanatically to those recordings
for better part of five years.
During that five-year period Iwent from hearing Earl on the
radio to becoming arepresentative selling Earl
Nightingale's recordings tobusinesses.
So I'm doing door-to-door calls, selling, and this time I'm

(36:39):
succeeding.
So I've changed my worldviewregarding selling and when I go
to call on people, I'm nottrying to sell them something,
I'm trying to help them and showthem how my product will do it
and it works.
And so I start gettinginvitations to give speeches.
Well, hey, okay, and we'll payyou.

(37:00):
Really, a lot of times it wasjust hey, we'll buy your lunch
and I would still do it.
But then somebody offered well,tulsa Junior College, because
I'd moved to Tulsa from LittleRock.
Tulsa Junior College said we'dlike you to speak as the opening
keynote speaker on our facultyorientation day at the beginning

(37:21):
of the school year.
There'll be a few hundredpeople in the audience, full and
part-time faculty, and Ithought I are you sure you know
who you're talking to, right b,to give a speech to college
teachers.
Holy smokes, never saw thatcoming.

(37:43):
They we'll give you a hundredbucks.
Would that be enough?
Absolutely.
I just said yes, at five, youknow five bucks.
So I did that speech and thenthings just kept getting better.
Okay, so I do the job at theJC's headquarters and I go out
on my own as a speaker andtrainer, and I ultimately moved

(38:03):
to California for 37 years.
I'm in Austin, texas, now, butfor 37 years I was in Southern
California, formed a businesswith a college professor, dr
Tony Alessandro.
And one day I'm sitting in theoffice in La Jolla near the
beach, phone rings, I pick it upand it's Earl Nightingale

(38:24):
himself asking to speak to JimCathcart.
I almost wet my pants.
I couldn't believe my hero wascalling me.
He said I've read an article ofyours that would make a good
audio program.
And I said well, that articleis in fact an audio program we
sell.
And he said, well, send it tome and if we like it, my company

(38:52):
will produce it NightingaleComic Corporation.
I sent it.
He liked it.
We re-recorded it.
In 1984 and 85, earlNightingale's company sold three
and a half million dollarsworth of my audio program with
Tony Alessandro.
Yeah, that is awesome 72, Iheard him on the radio.
74, I'm selling his products.
84, 10 years later, he'sselling mine.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Mine yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Blew my mind.
And then in 1989, I waspresident of the National
Speakers Association, which isabout 2,500, 3,000 professional
speakers, you know, like theRyan, tracy, zig Ziglar, liv
Brown type people and I was thenational president and I called
Earl Nightingale and I saidwould you please come to our

(39:40):
convention, join me on stage andlet me interview you in front
of thousands of your peers?
He said I might.
He said it's not paid so Ican't say yes and turn down
other business, but if I'm openI'll do it.
And I said okay.
So a couple of months go by, Iget a call from diana

(40:01):
nightingale, his wife.
She said Jim Earl passed away.
Oh, I was crushed.
She said we're not going tohave a funeral.
We had a little service here athome.
We cremated him and spread hisashes here.
But I would like to have amemorial service for Earl at

(40:21):
your convention, because you arehis people.
And I said absolutely, we wouldbe more than honored to do that
.
So at the Anatole Hotel inDallas at our annual convention
while I was president, we held amemorial service for Earl and
there were hundreds of big nameprofessional speakers in the

(40:41):
audience and one of the peoplein the audience was David
Nightingale, his son, and theonly two speakers were his widow
and me.
I had the honor of being apresenter at the memorial
service of my mentor and whenshe initially asked me, I said

(41:06):
no, it wouldn't be appropriate.
I mean, he's a big deal, I'mnot.
She said, jim, you don't get it.
You're a product of his product.
You are the result he wasseeking to produce by delivering
these messages.
You've lived it and proven itand you're totally appropriate

(41:28):
as a presenter.
So she spoke, she showed ashort video message from Dennis
Waitley and then I got up and Ispoke, and I've never felt so
absolutely blessed and, at thesame time, completely
unqualified for a moment in myentire career.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
That's so inspiring because I think most people are
brought up with the same mindsetthat you had and they just
can't seem to see themselvesbeing any different.
Right, and so you didn't either.
But look what happens when youapply yourself.
And that draws me to that onebook, because you said, each of

(42:10):
those things are a minute long,and I know for a lot of business
professionals that I work withsometimes they're like OK, I
have this grand plan, here's thegoal, but I don't know what to
do tomorrow, the next day.
Is that a book that can helpthem then?

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Give me a number between one and three thirty six
.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
Oh, two eighty four.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Best one of all.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
Oh, I hit the jackpot .
Does that come with a prize?

Speaker 2 (42:38):
No matter what number you had said.
That would have been myresponse.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
That would have been the best one.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
OK, here it is.
What do you need to learn next?

Speaker 1 (42:47):
Perfect.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
If you look over your life, what do you think will be
your next big challenge?
Wealth, health, relationships,career choices, philosophical
concepts?
Why not get ready for it beforeit arrives?
Just ask yourself what do Ineed to learn next?
Then start today to prepare, asif it were already scheduled to
appear.
They say that many of thelottery winners quickly squander

(43:11):
their newfound wealth andbecome poor again.
That's because their thinkingdoesn't change, just their bank
account changed.
If you knew that you'd soon comeinto a lot of money, wouldn't
it make sense to learn how tomanage money?
You'd soon come into a lot ofmoney.
Wouldn't it make sense to learnhow to manage money?
Wouldn't it make sense if youknew a big challenge was coming
with another person?
You'd sign up for some webinarson dealing with difficult

(43:33):
relationships.
The time to learn life skillsis before.
We need them.
Think of how your life mayunfold and start today to learn
what you will someday need toknow.
When you are ready for them,your challenges transform into
opportunities.
So that's the kind of guidancethat's throughout the book.

(43:56):
I call my grandkids, who have acopy of that, and I say hey,
jason, hey, amber, 76.
What?
I'll just pull a number out ofthe air and they go hey, amber,
76.
What?
I'll just pull a number out ofthe air and they go and we read
it together and it's just a funthing to do.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
That is fun Well, on the speaking stage.
Do you have any tips that canhelp our listeners on that,
because I know a lot of peoplewould rather not speak in public
, and so I know that's a bigchallenge for them.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
And you've spoken a lot, yeah, a lot, thousands of
times, and I coach a lot ofpeople who are doing TED Talks
and corporate talks andorganizational presentations
where they feel like they've gota lot on the line, and so they
buy a few hours of my time andwe go through it on a Zoom call
or in person.
So the most popular phrase orstatement about speaking public

(44:57):
speaking is that it's the numberone fear that came in, even
above death, on the list offears in the book of lists back
in the 1970s.
Well, that may be true for thebook of lists, but in life it is
not that terrifying, but itstill is terrifying for some
people, and I've had people saywell, I'm one of them.

(45:18):
Man, I am terrified of speakingin public.
I'll say, no, you're not.
Well, jim, yes, I actually am.

(45:43):
No, you're not.
How could you know that?
Hey, didn't you go to Lake,whatever, this weekend?
How was that?
Do you answer them, well, sure,in private?
Or do you tell the whole groupWell, that's my family.
For heaven's sakes, you speakin public if the public's your
family.
Yeah, yeah, you're not nervous.

(46:05):
Well, of course not, it's yourfamily.
Yeah, yeah, you're not nervous.
Well, of course not.
It's my family, ah.
So your problem is not speakingin public.
Your problem is feeling likeyou're being judged truth
everything else is just a matterof your attitude.
You've got the skills.
You've got the knowledge.

(46:26):
You don't need training in howto speak.
You need training in how to notbe afraid of something that
doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
So come with me and let's discover how much more
successful you can be.
And then I walk them through aprocess.
First we've got to reframetheir fear and help them realize
they're not afraid of thespeaking part.
So they've got to get over thefact that some of these people
might judge them.
But every single person in theworld is afraid of something.

(46:59):
The biggest, bravest, mostscary CEO in a boardroom that
you've ever seen in your life isafraid of something, is ashamed
of something, is embarrassedabout something, hopes
desperately.
Nobody asks about something andthey dream of something and

(47:23):
they're proud of something.
In other words, everybody's gotthe same humanity, and when we
learn to connect with thathumanity, the judgmental things
just fall by the wayside.
If you've got to scream fire toa group of people that are in a
burning building, are you goingto do it timidly?

(47:43):
Are you going to yell it outlike you're in charge of all
exits?
Well, you're going to yell itout.
You're trying to save lives.
For heaven's sakes, you don'tcare how they judge.
You Get outside before you die,right?
If you're screaming at a groupof people to get their attention
for anything that might be anemergency or might be important

(48:05):
to know your fear goes awaybecause your purpose was focused
on the audience instead of yourattention focused on yourself.
Quickest way in the world to beafraid is think about you.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Yeah, that's true.
How do I look?

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Did my voice sound?
Okay, you know, air out ofplace.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Air.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
yeah, Is there air left, you know, is there
whatever I'm getting there.
So when I'm coaching and I'vecoached lots of Hall of Fame
speakers I've had people who areliterally in the Professional
Speaker Hall of Fame call me inthe middle of the night.
Where they were this one I'mthinking about was in Egypt and

(48:51):
she called me and she said Jim,I've got a speech in the morning
for a big group of executivesfrom around the world.
I need you to talk me down offthe ledge, I'm terrified.
I said you are terrified.
None of them can do what you doon the platform.
Yeah, but you know.

(49:11):
And so I talked her through thewhole thing, got her focus off
of herself, helped her realizethey don't know her subject and
her fear dissipated and shecalled me back and said man,
knocked it out of the park,quick story, yep.
And she called me back and saidman, knocked it out of the park
, quick story, yep.
The American Medical Associationhired me when I was in my 30s,

(49:31):
had rosy cheeks, a lot of blackhair and looked 10 years younger
than I was.
They hired me to speak onleadership, which I knew a lot
about through my JC''sexperience and other experience.
And so I'm at the Los AngelesBiltmore speaking to a room full
of chiefs of staff of hospitals, doctors who are the chief

(49:56):
doctor among doctors I mean,it's like a doctor is not scary
enough and they are fromhospitals all over the Western
part of the USA and I'm going tospeak on leadership and I look
like their grandson, right.
So I go into the room early andthe presenters are getting up
and putting on their halfglasses.

(50:17):
You know the nose end of noseglasses.
Chuck Schumer.
Look, and they're reading theirpapers to each other and the
audience is going to sleep.
And then they introduce me andI come to the front and they see
me and they realize it's ayoung kid, you know, a young
adult.
What could he know?
And so they all roll their eyes.

(50:38):
And it was one of those lecternmicrophones that's wrapped
around a gooseneck.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
You know, on a tabletop, yeah.
And so I walked to the frontand I've watched all these other
people put them to sleep and Iwalked to the front briskly and
I grabbed the mic and I unwrapit and I step out from behind
the table and they all kind ofback up because they don't know
whether I'm going to approach orwhat, but they feel threatened

(51:07):
right.
Oh my God, what's he going to do?
No touching, you know.
And so I said they were all men.
I said, gentlemen, I'd like allof you to go back in your mind
to medical school, to one of thecourses you had on leadership
and managing people, one of thecourses you had on leadership
and managing people.

(51:27):
I said now, could I see a quickshow of hands?
How many of you had a course onleadership and managing people?
And of course, no hands went up.
And I said please look aroundthe room.
I said do you know what thismeans?
It means I know more than youdo on this topic and you should

(51:50):
be taking notes.
And they started laughing andthen they started applauding
Good point, kid.
All right, what have you got tosay?
I got a five out of five ratingand was hired again for the next

(52:11):
month in washington dc went inthere, intimidated, and then I
realized, oh my gosh, they don'tknow what I know on my subject
and I don't know what they knowon their subject.
So we'll trade.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
Shift of mindset.
That's awesome.
That is awesome.
Well, I know you've wet theears of many.
What is the best way to followyou?
I know we got your website thathas a ton of information.
Is there a social media channel, anything like that?

Speaker 2 (52:39):
Yeah, if you remember the name, cathcart
C-A-T-H-C-A-R-T, you can find mealmost anywhere.
I'm all over Facebook, linkedin, youtube, tiktok, twitter,
instagram, name it.
I am saturated in those worlds,mostly LinkedIn and Facebook

(53:03):
and YouTube, but the others too.
But the best place to startjust Cathcart.
And, by the way, if you go tobookcathcartcom bookcathcartcom
it will take you to a landingpage where you can fill in your
email and get a free download ofmy what to Do when You're the

(53:26):
Speaker book.
So that's a quick way to getsomething free.
And others go to cathcartcomand scroll around and watch some
of the videos, because there'sno cost for doing that.
And I'd love to hear from youIf you want to connect with me,
connect with me on either JimCathcart Mentor on Facebook or

(53:47):
connect with me on LinkedIn,because my personal page just
Jim Cathcart on Facebook is at5,000.
I can't accept any more withoutbooting somebody off.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
Yeah Well, I appreciate that and I encourage
the listeners to download thatbook.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
Easy for you to say yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
Well, I'm reading it on my screen, the book itself,
and I'm talking, so I can't dotwice.
I don't know why I'm eventrying, but what to Do when
You're the Speaker.
I've got it.
It's an excellent read and wekind of talked about that.
Yeah, we kind of talked aboutthat a little earlier.
That is a book.
That is a quick reference.
So if you've got a challenge orsomething you'd like to, you

(54:28):
can skip to any chapter and,like you said earlier, not have
to worry about missing thechapter before, because each
chapter has its own purpose.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Can I add one quick item?

Speaker 1 (54:39):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
I was sitting at my desk one day and I got a call
from Les Brown, the famousmotivational speaker, and he
said Jim, check your text.
And I go to my text and there'sa video that he recorded about
a minute long of him saying thisbook is phenomenal, you need to

(55:02):
buy this book.
Talking about my book, what todo when You're the Speaker.
And he said you can use thatanywhere you want to.
Wow, what a nice gesture.
Thank you, Les.
Well, then months go by and Iget a call from Les and he says

(55:22):
hey, what would it cost me toget about five of your books and
have them personallyautographed?
And I told him and he saidgreat, I want to buy them for my
kids for Christmas.
Now, wait a minute, One of thetop motivational speakers in the
world is buying my book to giveto his kids as a Christmas
present.
Wow, Good heavens.

(55:43):
I mean, that's kind of like theEarl Nightingale journey, right
from hearing him on the radioto this Wow.
But when you think about that,why would someone do that?
Because I might be sayingexactly the same thing he says.
But he's dad, Right, and theydon't listen to dad.

(56:03):
They need to hear it fromanother voice, right?

Speaker 1 (56:06):
yep, yep, yep.
Well, jim, you've been ablessing to many today, and you
are today's version of earlnightingale.
So I.
It is an honor that you're evenhere sharing your insights with
me and our audience, so Isincerely appreciate you taking
this time you bet, bet.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
It's been a treat.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Absolutely Well.
You have a wonderful rest ofthe day and we'll catch you
around on the social channels.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
There you go All right, thank you.
Anybody.
If you want to be the boss,follow Michael.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
Now you got my heartstrings All right.
Have a great day.
See you, my friend.
Now you got my heartstrings Allright.
Have a great day.
See you, my friend.
Thank you for listening toSmall Business Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, boss.
Our business is growing.
Yours, boss, offers flexiblebusiness loans with business

(57:00):
coaching support.
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at michael at
michaeldmorrisoncom.

(57:21):
We'll see you next time onSmall Business Pivots.

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How To Reach The Top 1%: Mindset, Public Speaking, and Personal Development | Jim Cathcart

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