Podcasts about Sam Walton

When Tamara Mellon's father lent her the seed money to start a high-end shoe company, he cautioned her: “Don't let the accountants run your business.” Little did he know that over the next fifteen years, the struggle between “financial” and “creative” would become one of the central themes as Mellon's business.Mellon grew Jimmy Choo into a billion dollar brand and her personal glamour made her an object of global media fascination. Vogue photographed her wedding. Vanity Fair covered her divorce and the criminal trial that followed. The Wall Street Journal reported on her relentless battle between “the suits” and “the creatives" and Mellon's triumph against a brutally hostile takeover attempt.But despite her eventual fame and fortune, Mellon didn't have an easy road to success. Her early life was marked by a tumultuous and broken family life, battles with anxiety and depression, and a stint in rehab. Determined not to end up unemployed, penniless, and living in her parents' basement under the control of her alcoholic mother, Mellon honed her natural business sense and invested in what she knew best—fashion.In creating the shoes that became a fixture on Sex and the City and red carpets around the world, Mellon relied on her own impeccable sense of what the customer wanted—because she was that customer. What she didn't know at the time was that success would come at a high price—after struggles with an obstinate business partner, a conniving first CEO, a turbulent marriage, and a mother who tried to steal her hard-earned wealth.Now Mellon shares the whole larger-than-life story, with shocking details that have never been presented before. From her troubled childhood to her time as a young editor at Vogue to her partnership with the cobbler Jimmy Choo, to her very public relationships, Mellon offers an honest and gripping account of the episodes that have made her who she is today.In My Shoes is a definitive book for fashion aficionados, aspiring entrepreneurs, and anyone who loves a juicy true story about sex, drugs, money, power, high heels, and overcoming adversity. This episode is what I learned from reading In My Shoes: A Memoir by Tamara Mellon. -----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.-----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Get ready for a powerhouse episode of BizNinja Entrepreneur Radio as Tyler Jorgenson sits down with none other than Fran Tarkenton—NFL Hall of Famer, serial entrepreneur, and timeless innovator. From wheeling groceries at age five to building over 20 companies, Fran proves that a relentless spirit and hustle can take you far beyond the football field. You'll hear how his childhood side hustles and early leadership instincts shaped a lifetime of business wins.Fran dives deep into lessons on leadership, authenticity, and the underrated magic of partnering with bigger players (spoiler: his $100k company scaled to $120M with one smart partnership!). He also shares candid advice on why you can't — and shouldn't — try to do everything alone if you want to truly scale. Plus, Fran's take on adapting to today's wild pace of AI-driven innovation is both hilarious and wildly motivating—especially coming from someone who still outworks most 20-somethings.If you've ever wondered what it really takes to win at both business and life — even after major setbacks — this conversation is packed with gold. Fran also drops some gems about Sam Walton's influence, why "selling" is outdated, and how he stays future-proof while still enjoying life's bucket list (hello, Pebble Beach hole-in-one!). This is one of those episodes you'll want to play twice and take notes!TakeawaysStart Early and Stay Curious: Fran's entrepreneurial journey began at age 5—and he never stopped learning or evolving.You Can't Scale Alone: True growth happens through strong partnerships and learning from others, not solo heroics.Adapt or Get Left Behind: Even at 85, Fran embraces AI and new marketing strategies, proving that innovation is a lifelong game.

Jim Simons never took a single class on finance, wasn't interested in business, and didn't start trading full time until he was 40. The company he founded —  Renaissance Technologies — has made over $100 billion in profits.Starting out with the heretical belief that there was a hidden structure in financial markets, Jim decided to staff his “crazy hedge fund” with mathematicians, computer scientists, and physicists. He went to great lengths to collect more historic financial data than anyone else, spent a lot of time recruiting “killers” (people with single minded focus that wouldn't quit), invested heavily in computers (and the people who ran them), and designed the most collaborative work environment.Jim was a world-class mathematician, code breaker, exceptional manager of people with exceptional minds, a genius in system design, and deeply understood the power of incentives. He was also incapable of giving up, willing to endure a decade of struggle and pain, and hell-bent on doing something “historic” with his life.Jim Simons lived a life defined by persistence, unconventional thinking, and an unwavering pursuit of excellence. Studying his life and work is time well spent. This episode is what I learned from rereading The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

This is my conversation with Rahul Sonwalkar, founder of Julius AIJulius is an AI data scientist loved by millions of users.Timestamps:0:33 Building his own email service 3:03 Trying to build a social network 4:01 Launching Podcast comments dot com 7:16 Unambitious people & founding Waterview10:49 Bill Gates & Napoleon 13:42 Truck tracking startup 17:09 Sam Walton 20:00 Early versions of Julius 27:59 Why startups die33:21 Growing from 5k to 500k users35:22 Everyone answers support tickets 38:22 Hiring for high-slope 40:22 Asking for what you want

Akio Morita was a visionary entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony. Born as the first son and fifteenth-generation heir to a 300-year-old sake-brewing family in Japan, Akio eschewed the traditional path to forge his own legacy in electronics.In post-war Japan, Akio joined forces with Masaru Ibuka to found Sony. They started in a burned-out department store with limited resources—to build their first product they had to buy supplies on the black market. Akio was determined to change the global perception of Japanese goods as poor quality. From day one he set out to build high-quality, differentiated products, targeted at affluent markets. Akio believed in long-term vision over short-term profits, product innovation without market research, and brand building over immediate profits. Against all opposition, including inside of his own company, Akio invented one of the most successful consumer products of all time: The Walkman. It sold over 400 million units and inspired countless other entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, James Dyson, and Phil Knight. This episode is what I learned from rereading Akio's classic 1986 autobiography Made In Japan. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

This is one of the most extraordinary founder stories you will ever hear. Michael Dell started his company with $1000 when he was 19 years old. The revenues for the first 16 years of Dell look like this:1984 $6M1985 $33M1986 $67M1987 $159M1988 $258M1989 $388M1990 $546M1991 $890M1992 $2B1993 $2.9B1994 $3.5B1995 $5.3B1996 $7.8B1997 $12.3B1998 $18.2B1999 $25.3BDell had been profitable for every quarter of its existence. By 2012 the story had changed. The consensus was that Dell was dead. Michael Dell certainly didn't think so — and besides—he was incapable of giving up on the company that bears his name. As he said at the time "I will care about this company after I'm dead!"  Michael takes his company private, completes the largest acquisition in technology history, and remerges perfectly positioned for the age of AI. Michael Dell has been working on his company for over 40 years and it feels like he's just getting started. In his autobiography he shares the most important lessons he's learned. It's a treasure trove for entrepreneurs and leaders. This episode is what I learned from reading Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey From Founder to Leader by Michael Dell and Direct From Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry by Michael Dell. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Mathew Kerbis is The Subscription Attorney who is on a mission to affordably serve latent legal market clients at scale via the subscription model and inspire attorneys to abandon the billable hour. He founded the law firm Subscription Attorney LLC. In this episode, Mathew shares how he's leveraging subscription pricing to disrupt the traditional billable hour model in the legal industry, making legal services more accessible. He highlights his strategy of targeting an underserved market while offering premium pricing options for higher-value clients. Mathew emphasizes his business's profitability, operating with minimal expenses while maintaining a large margin and serving both small and large-scale clients.   Why you have to check out today's podcast: Discover how subscription-based pricing is disrupting traditional legal service models, making legal help more accessible and predictable. Learn how addressing the vast underserved legal market can create new opportunities for both clients and lawyers. Gain insights on how offering premium pricing options alongside accessible subscription plans can balance profitability with customer satisfaction.   “Don't be afraid to experiment and to try something new. I experiment with my pricing to find what works. And so, you should experiment, too, and listen to Mark.” - Mathew Kerbis   Topics Covered: 01:37 - How he was led into pricing 03:24 - Discussing the similarities between doctors transitioning to direct primary care (DPC) and lawyers adopting subscription-based pricing 05:05 - Explaining his flexible subscription model 08:48 - Sharing how instead of tracking time or focusing on cost accounting, he views his business costs as fixed expenses 11:03 - Optimizing efficiency and delivering value through his subscription model 14:04 - Arguing that while clients can access AI tools themselves, they can't match the expertise of a lawyer using them effectively 16:04 - Emphasizing that while AI can generate rapid insights, it requires human judgment to interpret results accurately 18:52 - What he meant when he said he drives prices down and discussing the unmet demand creating a significant opportunity despite price competition in the legal industry 21:53 - Targeting underserved clients while maintaining flexibility to serve both small businesses and larger clients 24:26 - Maintaining accessible pricing while using tiered subscription pricing to price higher 26:30 - Highlighting the importance of strategic pricing to remain competitive without risking client loss or revenue instability 27:30 - Mathew's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Ron Baker has educated me on how cost accounting isn't the way to think about what your actual costs are as a business owner." - Mathew Kerbis "What's great about a month-to-month subscription is, I could drop the client just like they could drop me. And the fact that they have the flexibility to leave at any time actually makes them not leave." - Mathew Kerbis “I still want to offer the accessible pricing, but I will have super premium pricing for the best customers that need it.” - Mathew Kerbis "I don't assign any dollar number to my time or the hours that I spend because things don't take as long as they used to. I was using AI when I launched my firm because I knew less time equals more money doing what I do when you're not billing by the hour." - Mathew Kerbis "Sure, you could use the legal AI tools that I'm using, but are you able to get the same output that a lawyer who is actually using the tool in the way in which it was designed can get better output?" - Mathew Kerbis "Judgment is really important. I don't think AI replaces subject matter experts, frankly ever." - Mathew Kerbis   People/Resources Mentioned: Ron Baker: https://impactpricing.com/podcast/497-classic-trash-the-timesheet-exploring-opportunities-in-subscription-businesses-with-ronald-j-baker/ Calendly: https://calendly.com Adobe Photoshop: https://www.adobe.com/ ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com ClaudeAI: https://claude.ai Perplexity Pro: https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/faq/what-is-perplexity-proUber:https://www.uber.com Grandview Research: https://www.grandviewresearch.com Walmart: https://www.walmart.com Target: https://www.target.com Sam Walton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton Jeff Bezos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos   Connect with Mathew Kerbis: Website: https://mathewkerbis.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerbisverse/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

Welcome to JAT Chat, presented by the Journal of Athletic Training, the official journal of the National Athletic Trainers' Association. In this episode, Dr. Shelby Baez is joined by Dr. Sam Walton as they delve into health-promoting behaviors among former National Football League players. The paper discussed in this episode, "Health-Promoting Behaviors and Their Associations With Factors Related to Well-Being Among Former National Football League Players: An NFL-LONG Study" is available open access in the February 2025 issue of JAT.   Article: https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-0537.23   Guest Bio: Dr. Samuel (Sam) Walton is a certified athletic trainer who studied at the University of Southern Maine (B.S. in Athletic Training, 2008) and the University of Virginia (M.Ed. in Athletic Training, 2013; Ph.D. in Sports Medicine, 2019). He has 11 years of clinical experience with three different NCAA Division I universities and he completed postdoctoral research training at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (2022). Currently, Dr. Walton is an Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and a Research Associate with the Richmond Veterans Affairs Medical Center. His current research focuses on 1) the short-term, long-term, and cumulative effects of concussion among athletes and military personnel, including a specific focus on sex-differences, 2) promotion of brain health and well-being across the lifespan, and 3) guiding transition experiences to life after sport & military service. He also provides service for marketing, promotions, and communications efforts to the World Federation of Athletic Training and Therapy (WFATT) and the Concussion in Sport Group (CISG).     

Stay Humble Or You Will Get Humbled, Bad Santa Movie Is One Of The Best Movies Ever Made, Billy Bob Fuckery, Post Nasal Drip As Fuck, 5 Years Since The Pandemic & The Results Are I: Politicians Lie & Majority Of Society Just Follows What The Next Person Does While Not Thinking For Themselves, Certain Locations Of 24 Hour Fitness Aren't Even Open 24 Hours Anymore, Getting Back To Running 6 Miles A Day, In-N-Out Expanding To Southern Red States, Joann Fabrics Is Closing Which Affects Absolutely Nobody, Economy Sucks - Get Over It, Michael Dowd From The 75 Documentary Is The Biggest Corrupt Cop That's Ever Lived, Billboard Chris Is Given A Ticket For OPPOSING Transgender Mental Ill Bullshit Which Is A Reminder All Law Enforcement Are Compromised & Will Align With Liberal Bullshit, Costco Vs Sam's Club, Costco Hot Dogs & Pizza Are Still The Same Affordable Price, Sam Walton, Wal-Mart, The People Of Wal-Mart Has A Website, World War 2 Veterans Who Hate America In 2025, UFC Fighter Cain Velasquez Gets 5 Years For Shooting A Pedophile - Only In California, Presidential Pardons, Remembering All The Bullshit That Happened During COVID, Normies Following Political Party Popular Narratives, Watching The Scamdemic Documentary On Week 2 Of The Pandemic, October 7th Proved Republicans Are The Same As Democrats, October 7th Exposed Everything In Politics, Bald Dude In A Honda Looking Determined Driving By, The American Dream Still Very Much Exists, Successful People Thinking Outside The Box, All These Celebrity Podcasts Are All Unoriginal, Gold, Mike Myers, The Music Business Is Ran By Jews, The Reboots & Remakes Are All Fucking Stupid, They're Bringing Back Malcom In The Middle And Of Of The Brothers Is Transgender, Hard Work Pays Off, Women's Sports Getting Destroyed By Low Level Men, Viral Video Of Trump Voter Getting Chased By A Man Trans Person Is A Great Example Of Mental Illness, Liberals Sound So Stupid Calling Elon Musk A Nazi When He's Owned By Israel, + Much More Fuckery!

On Labor History Today: Joe McCartin, Leon Fink and Patrick Dixson discuss the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that undocumented workers don't have the same rights as Americans, Sam Walton's anti-union legacy, and they remember dock union leader Harry Bridges and the Texas cowboys strike. PLUS: Saul Schniderman on Martin Luther King and striking sanitation workers in Memphis. Music this week includes “Glory,” with Common and John Legend, from the motion picture "Selma” and “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. Originally released March 25, 2018. Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory 

John Maxwell, Elon Musk, Sam Walton

Walmart, la cadena de supermercados más grande del mundo, decepcionó el pasado jueves con sus resultados. La nota negativa de las cuentas del gigante minorista estuvo en el beneficio neto, que con un resultado final de 5252 millones de dólares en este último trimestre fue inferior a los 5400 del mismo periodo del año anterior. Eso sí, este beneficio superó las previsiones que tenían el consenso de analistas. Tanto es así, que el beneficio por acción ha sido de 65 centavos, un centavo más de la previsión de los analistas. Aunque en estos tres últimos meses las cuentas hayan sido peores, en el conjunto del año Walmart ha conseguido unos sólidos resultados. Es verdad que las ventas fueron mejores, sobre todo las que tuvieron que ver con el comercio electrónico, que subieron un 20%. Así pues, en el conjunto del año, el beneficio estuvo cerca de los 20.000 millones de dólares, creciendo un 25%. Aún así, esto no fue suficiente para que el valor no sufriera fuertes correcciones a lo largo de la sesión del jueves. La clave sin duda fue la previsión que hizo la compañía de ventas netas, que según Walmart crecerán entre un 3 y un 5% y los ingresos operativos, que aumentaran entre un 3,5 y 5,5%. Walmart fue fundada por el empresario y militar estadounidense Sam Walton en 1969 y lleva cotizando en la bolsa de Nueva York desde 1972. No solo es la cadena de supermercados del mundo, sino que según Fortune Global 500 es la mayor corporación pública del mundo. Y es que es de carácter público porque la familia Walton posee el 48% de la compañía. Su rápida expansión también ha provocado que muchas voces críticas denuncien el efecto que la apertura de tiendas pueden provocar sobre todo en las comunidades locales. Son muchos los estudios que se han hecho al respecto, pero destaca sobre todo el del profesor Kenneth Stone, de la Universidad Estatal de Iowa, que después de analizar el impacto de las tiendas Walmart, concluyó que una ciudad pequeña puede perder casi la mitad de su comercio a los diez años de la apertura una tienda de los grandes almacenes.

Mohnish Pabrai's session with Cambridge Investment Banking Society at University of Cambridge on January 31, 2025. (00:00:00) - Introduction (00:01:38) - Marcus Aurelius: Stoic philosophy (00:04:28) - Learning from mistakes (00:09:01) - Ignore Macroeconomic factors (00:11:57) - Value vs growth investing (00:14:58) - Investing in Turkey: Reysas (00:19:22) - Venture Capital: Bill Gurley (00:23:06) - Handling the 2008 financial crisis (00:24:12) - Skills for value investing (00:27:02) - Look for undiscovered opportunities; Warren's Swiss Army knife approach (00:30:22) - Handling the portfolio concentration and risks (00:33:49) - Sam Walton (00:36:31) - All knowledge is cumulative (00:38:43) - Nick Sleep The contents of this website are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and do not purport to be, and are not intended to be, financial, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. Investments or strategies that are discussed may not be suitable for you, do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and are not intended to provide investment advice or recommendations appropriate for you. Before making any investment or trade, consider whether it is suitable for you and consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment adviser.

Jerry Jones rolled the dice until his knuckles bled. He started working at 7 years old. Jerry could sell, sell, sell. He sold fruit at his father's grocery store in grade school and sold shoes out of the trunk of his car in college. After failing to sell pizza franchises he tried real estate and insurance. He never met a high risk deal he didn't like. Jerry got pitched a deal to drill for oil that everyone else had already said no to. Jerry said yes. That well made $4 million. He hit again on the next 14 wells. Jerry decided to drill for natural gas next. He drills 200 wells. He hit on 199 of them. He sells that company for $175 million. He has $90 million in the bank. He buys the Dallas Cowboys for $140 million. 75 other people had the opportunity to buy the team and said no. He empties his bank account and borrows $50 million at steep interest rates. The year before Jerry bought the team the Cowboys lost $9 million. Financial advisors told Jerry that the Cowboys were ridiculously overpriced and that he was committing financial suicide. Within a few years the team is printing $30 million a year in profit. The Dallas Cowboys are worth $10 billion today. This episode is what I leaned from reading King of the Cowboys: The Life and Times of Jerry Jones by Jim Dent. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Vesto: All of your company's financial accounts in one view. Connect and control all of your business bank accounts from one dashboard. Go to Vesto and schedule a demo with the founder Ben. Tell him David sent you. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book---- ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

2025.02.11 Sam Walton y WalmartSi no escuchas a tu cliente, alguien más lo escucharáEsta semana estamos hablando de cuatro grandes empresarios que comenzaron sus negocios después de los 40 años, y aprendiendo de los éxitos y fracasos de estos gigantes. Busca Cápsulas Gerenciales en tu plataforma de podcast favorita, y descubre como Sam walton creó Walmart, pero solo después de intentarlo varias veces. #cápsulasgerenciales #capsulasgerenciales #desarrollopersonalholistico #mejorcadadia #inspiracionyexito 

Back in high school, my social studies teacher—who was, of course, also the football coach—told my class that entrepreneurs were the heroes of American history. If we enjoyed a dynamic economy and good jobs, it was all thanks to their genius for innovation and risk-taking. And if we wanted to get ahead, he said, we'd need to foster the same sort of entrepreneurial spirit in ourselves. You are probably rolling your eyes right now. I certainly remember doing the same back in 10th grade. But Erik Baker's new book, Make Your Own Job How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America, revealed that my teacher was far from outlier: he was part of a century-long current of entrepreneurial boosterism. From Henry Ford to Marcus Garvey, Peter Drucker to Sam Walton, the War on Poverty to the shareholder value revolution, Baker shows how the entrepreneurial work ethic captivated thinkers in every corner of American life. And he reveals how for workers, it promised a way to transcend precarity and—just maybe—become the protagonist of one's own economic life. 

Most business owners think competition is about outworking the other guy. But the real winners? They collaborate, learn, and leverage smart strategies to grow FAST. In this episode, we dive into: ✅ Secret Shopping – How to spy on your competitors (ethically) and improve your sales process. ✅ Shop Tours & Hands-on Learning – Why working with industry leaders outside your market will fast-track your success. ✅ Sam Walton's Strategy – How the Walmart founder used competitor insights to dominate retail (and how you can apply this to your business). ✅ Avoiding Expensive Trial & Error – The smartest way to learn new services and level up your operations without wasting time or money. Join our Boardroom Elite —an exclusive group designed for blue-collar entrepreneurs who are ready to scale. Access weekly Zoom calls, personalized advice from Chris and Kevin, and a network of outstanding entrepreneurs. Learn strategies that work, hear real success stories, and build the business you've always dreamed of.

Clay dives into the life and legacy of Sol Price, the pioneering retail entrepreneur who revolutionized the industry with FedMart and Price Club, ultimately leading to the creation of Costco.  The episode explores how Price's business philosophies, including treating employees well and maintaining a relentless focus on providing value to customers, inspired iconic entrepreneurs like Sam Walton and Jeff Bezos. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 01:45 - The story of Sol Price starting Fedmart and Price Club. 19:30 - Sol Price's core business philosophies 50:47 - The key ingredients to the success of Costco's business model. 52:58 - What led to the emergence of Costco and the eventual merger with Price Club. 01:01:40 - An overview of Costco's business model today And so much more! Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, Kyle, and the other community members. Books mentioned: Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary & Social Innovator, and The Joy of Costco. Jim Sinegal's interview with the Motley Fool. The Science of Hitting Blog. Email Shawn at shawn@theinvestorspodcast.com to attend our free events in Omaha or visit this page. Related Episode: Listen to TIP492: The Best Investor You've Never Heard Of. Related Episode: Listen to TIP634: Value Investing Fundamentals w/ John Huber. Follow Clay on Twitter. Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcast episodes here. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed. NEW TO THE SHOW? Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Check out our We Study Billionaires Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try our tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance Tool. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Hardblock SimpleMining Unchained The Bitcoin Way Found Fintool Bluehost Vanta Fintool PrizePicks Onramp TurboTax Fundrise HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Spotify! It takes less than 30 seconds, and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it! Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

Sam Walton left JC Penny and realized that people in rural America had to travel to shop in department stores. He changed all that. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is... Well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients. So here's one of those. AirVantage Heating & Cooling Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast, Dave Young here alongside Stephen Semple. And Stephen just told me the topic for today's podcast, and it's Walmart. Stephen Semple: That's it. You're so excited. Dave Young: Oh my gosh. We're finally going to talk about Walmart. Stephen Semple: Walmart's just one of those companies that they've been unbelievably successful, and I'm going to defend Walmart here, but they're hard to love. Dave Young: They're hard to love, but man, if you live in a small town, they're hard to avoid too. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: And you got to hand it to Sam Walton. Stephen Semple: Yep. Dave Young: I've read his book. It is actually the one that was ghostwritten while he was dying in the hospital. And it's a really good read and it's got some great lessons, so I'm anxious to hear what you found out. Stephen Semple: It's a great read. It has some fantastic lessons in it. I think there are a few things that Walmart as a corporation has started to deviate from those ideas that if they had kept closer to them, Walmart is a company that would be deeply loved. There's a few things I think they've moved away from, but here's one of the things that I'm going to say I admire about Walmart is that if we did not have a Walmart in the marketplace, I think it would be far easier for prices to increase for consumers on certain products, groceries, and things along that lines, Walmart being in there, to a degree, has managed to keep prices for certain commodities at a certain level because Walmart is dedicated to that, keeping prices down. And I think having somebody in that space is good. And this was stats from a couple of years ago was over 10,500 stores in 24 countries, that number surprised me. I didn't realize it was 24 countries, and it was started in 1945 by a former JCPenney employee. I didn't realize that Sam Walton had worked for JCPenney, and the first thing he did when he left JCPenney is he bought a branch of Ben Franklin stores from the Butler brothers. So he started with those stores, and what Sam saw was retailers were putting a few large stores in big cities, but those big stores in big cities was inconvenient for rural shoppers. And what he decided to do was open a large department store in Rogers, Arkansas. Now, here's the crazy thing is, this was a place with a population of 6,000 people. So one would go, "This is nuts. Why would you open a store in a town of that size?" So it's 1962, and he opens basically the first Walmart. And his primary focus was to sell products at low prices, higher volume sales, lower profit margin, and really do this crusading for the consumer. And the funny part is the name Walmart was derived from Fed Mart, which was, if we remember when we did the episode on Costco, was the first version of Costco that was done by Saul Price, was Fed Mart. And Walton has also stated he liked the idea of calling the chain Walmart because he really liked Saul's name, Fed Mart. He even talks about how a lot of his really good ideas came from studying Saul. So it's really, really interesting. But within its first five years, the company expanded to 18 stores in Arkansas and was 9 million in sales. So it really did this... Really, really, really,

Diving into the stories and lessons we can learn from the life of Sam Walton and the rise of Walmart from his autobiography, Made in America -----When folks would ask Sam Walton how he built Walmart, he responded with the same answer, “Friend, we just got after it and stayed after it.”1:15 - Lessons from parents and childhood 4:45 - How Sam knew what he was going to do for the rest of his life7:15 - First store8:00 - Be a student of your craftI learned a lesson which has stuck with me all through the years: you can learn from everybody.12:20 - The worst moment of Sam's life13:45 - Love your fate16:35 - Steal and steal oftenMost everything I've done, I've copied from somebody else.18:10 - The start of Walmart 18:50 - Find your leverage22:25 - Increase your embarrassment capacity“If you wish to improve, be content appearing clueless and stupid.” - Epictetus 26:35 - Six keys to Walmarts success34:10 - The ultimate goalI always wanted to be the best retailer in the world, not necessarily the biggest.35:15 - Thinking small37:35 - Sam Walton's Ten Rules 40:45 - Life is about trade-offs42:20 - Lessons/takeaways -----You can check out my book, website, and apparel below: WebsiteBook: Chasing Greatness: Timeless Stories on the Pursuit of Excellence  ApparelInstagramX

What if you could transform your leadership style and create not just followers but future leaders? Join us as we explore the fascinating world of entrepreneurship with the multi-talented Jeff Hoffman, a celebrated humanitarian, bestseller author, and Hollywood film producer. Through this episode, Jeff shares his insights on cultivating a mindset that blends confidence with humility and encourages trusting one's instincts—what he calls "fast intelligence." His experiences, including scaling Priceline and empowering individuals through the Global Entrepreneurship Network, offer a refreshing perspective on nurturing self-reliance and leadership in others.Jeff takes us on a journey through various leadership paradigms, highlighting the importance of understanding customer needs and aligning business actions with core missions. Inspired by industry giants like Sam Walton, Jeff illustrates how a customer-centric approach revolutionized strategies at Priceline, driving efficiency and profitability. He also delves into the often overlooked but critical component of leadership—supporting employees' personal aspirations. By fostering an environment where personal dreams are valued alongside professional goals, Jeff demonstrates how this alignment can lead to increased loyalty and a motivated workforce.The conversation isn't just about business success; it's about redefining productivity and meaningful connections. Jeff challenges the conventional grind culture, advocating for smart, efficient work that values quality over quantity. He also reflects on personal moments that emphasize engagement over mere presence, urging listeners to rethink success as not just a personal gain but a means to contribute positively to the world. This episode is brimming with wisdom for anyone aiming to enhance their leadership and entrepreneurial endeavors, promising a wealth of knowledge on achieving success that is as fulfilling as it is impactful.This is episode #2 in the Billionaire Fire Side Series.To learn more about Jonathan's recession resilient mobile home park real estate Fund, as our next Fund raise is $50 million and only for accredited investors: https://www.midwestparkcapital.com/To learn more about Jonathan's highest level business growth consulting and fractional CMO services, and digital marketing for small businesses, startups and growing Ecommerce brands:https://www.revenueascend.com/consulting/The Family Office Club was founded in 2007 and has now become the world's largest association in the industry with over 4,000 registered ultra-wealthy investors-Richard C. Wilson is the partner of the Accredited Investor Podcast: https://familyoffices.com/To get your very own podcast tour as a guest and become the thought leader in your industry: https://getpodcastbookings.com/Sign up to get on the list for the World's Most Exclusive Social Networking App: https://www.prestigesocialapp.com/To those looking to potential exit or sell their business or talk about potential business roll up partnerships:https://www.businesscashout.com/Join one of the fastest growing real estate groups on Facebook, which is our 26,600 Multifamily Investor Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/451061265284414To learn more about mobile home investing, acquiring your first mobile home park:  https://www.mobilehomewealthacademy.com  https://linktr.ee/jonathantuttleAccredited Investor Podcast- sign up to the email list and get notified of new episodes, bonus content, and potential deal opportunities: https://www.accreditedinvestorpodcast.com/

Want to Start or Grow a Successful Business? Schedule a FREE 13-Point Assessment with Clay Clark Today At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com   Join Tim Tebow, LIVE and in-person at Clay Clark's December 5th & 6th 2024 Thrivetime Show  Business Workshop!!! Learn Branding, Marketing, SEO, Sales, Workflow Design, Accounting & More. **Request Tickets & See Testimonials At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com  **Request Tickets Via Text At (918) 851-0102   See the Thousands of Success Stories and Millionaires That Clay Clark Has Helped to Produce HERE: https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/testimonials/ Download A Millionaire's Guide to Become Sustainably Rich: A Step-by-Step Guide to Become a Successful Money-Generating and Time-Freedom Creating Business HERE: www.ThrivetimeShow.com/Millionaire   See Thousands of Case Studies Today HERE: www.thrivetimeshow.com/does-it-work/  

Get more notes at https://podcastnotes.org Business* Active Listening by Carl R. Rogers* Key reading for getting better at negotiations* Source: Chris Voss's recommendation to Jordan B. Peterson (PN)* When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert* One of the best books about philanthropy* Source: Brent Beshore's recommendation to Shane Parrish (PN)* Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan* A simple guide to creating great advertisements* Source: Chris Beresford-Hill and Tim Ferriss in discussion (PN)* Words That Work by Frank Luntz* Mastering the art of words* Source: Chris Beresford-Hill and Tim Ferriss in discussion (PN)Economics* The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin* Analysis of bank bailouts* Source: Michael Saylor and Peter McCormack in discussion (PN)* Broken Money by Lyn Alden* “Money” is the biggest total addressable market in the world, and the money now is currently broken* Source: Dylan LeClair recommendation (PN)* The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History by David Hacket Fischer* Explores the recurring cycles of price inflation throughout history, connecting economic trends to broader social and cultural changes* Source: Rudyard Lynch's recommendation to Tom Bilyeu (PN)* Fiat Food: How Government, Industry, and Science Manufacture the Foods We Eat by Matthew Lysiak* Why inflation has destroyed our health and how Bitcoin may fix it* Source: Matthew Lysiak's appearance on We Study Billionaires (PN)Entrepreneurship* Zero to One by Peter Thiel* One of the most commonly recommended books for entrepreneurs* Source: Multiple* Only The Paranoid Survive by Andrew Grove* Must read for all entrepreneurs* Source: Morgan Housel and Chris Williamson in discussion (PN)* Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours by Noah Kagan* The idea of starting a business is often so overly romanticized that people never make the jump into entrepreneurship* Source: Noah Kagen's appearance on Deep Questions with Cal Newport (PN)* Mastery by Robert Greene* The value of mastering a skill set* Source: Sam Parr's recommendation to Andrew Wilkinson (PN)* Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott* How to overcome creative roadblocks* Source: Chris Beresford-Hill and Tim Ferriss in discussion (PN)* Chase, Chance, and Creativity by James Austin* Talks about how certain people attract luck and how luck can be created* Source: Mike Maples, Jr. recommendation to Lenny Rachitsky (PN)* Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb* The impact of randomness and luck on success* Source: Cyrus Yari and Iman Olya book review (PN)* Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb* “You cannot separate knowledge from contact with the ground. Actually, you cannot separate anything from contact with the ground.” – Nassim Taleb* Source: Cyrus Yari and Iman Olya book review (PN)* Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw* “I got married at Carnegie Hall because of my love for Andrew Carnegie… He did a lot of bad things, but he was mostly amazing” – Sam Parr* Source: Sam Parr's recommendation to Andrew Wilkinson (PN)* Tycoon's War by Stephen Dando-Collins* Cornelius Vanderbilt: How his mind worked and why you wouldn't want to compete against him* Source: David Senra book review (PN)* Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow* Most successful entrepreneurs can be honest family men, too* Source: Sam Parr's recommendation to Andrew Wilkinson (PN)* The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How To Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo* Nobody had more compelling presentations than Steve Jobs* Source: David Senra book review (PN)* How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty* “I would like to convince young businessmen that there are no surefire, quick, and easy formulas for success in business” – J. Paul Getty* Source: David Senra book review (PN)* Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man by Vance H. Trimble* Discover the rags-to-riches tale of billionaire Sam Walton, founder of the discount chain Wal-Mart and America's richest man, in this study of old-fashioned values like honesty and hard work* Source: David Senra book review (PN)Investing* What I Learned About Investing From Darwin by Pulak Prasad* How to beat the market, the biggest mistakes investors make, why history is more important than projections, and how natural selection applies to investing* Source: Kyle Grieve book review (PN)* The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham* Understanding the difference between price and value* Source: Bill Ackman's recommendation to Lex Fridman (PN)* The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway* “America is a loving, generous place if you have money. It is a rapacious, violent place if you don't.” – Scott Galloway* Source: Scott Galloway's appearance on The Rich Roll Podcast (PN)* A Mathematician Plays The Stock Market by John Paulos* Source: John Paulos appearance on Infinite Loops with Jim O'Shaughnessy (PN)* Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charlie Munger* Charlie Munger understood incentives and human psychology, but never used that knowledge to manipulate others* Source: Warren Buffett's recommendation to shareholders (PN)* Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition by Michael J. Mauboussin* Making decisions is part of life, this is how you make better ones* Source: John Paulos and Jim O'Shaughnessy in discussion (PN)* Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson & Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman and Joe Knight* Books that Ateet Ahluwalia gives people who join his firm* Source: Ateet Ahluwalia recommendations to Jim O'Shaughnessy (PN)* eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work by Randall Stross* An intriguing insider's look at the rise of Silicon Valley through the lens of the pioneering venture capital firm Benchmark Capital* Source: Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan in discussion (PN)* Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis* How the insiders got exposed* Source: Joseph Stiglitz and Tyler Cowen in discussion (PN)Productivity* Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity by Gloria Mark* Illustrates four myths about attention span* Source: Cal Newport book review (PN)* The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting The Right Things Done by Peter Drucker, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, and Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen* Three books that embody the evolution of productivity* Source: Cal Newport recommendation to Chris Williamson (PN)* Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman* How to embrace the fact that you can't do everything* Source: Cal Newport recommendation to Chris Williamson (PN)Leadership* The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz* Great lessons about running a business and being a leader* Source: Marc Andreessen's recommendation to Rick Rubin (PN)* Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman* Frequently recommended over and over again this year* Source: Bill Gurley, Michael Mauboussin, and Patrick O'Shaughnessy in discussion (PN)* Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card* Sci-fi novel but also a great way to study leadership* Source: Tim Ferriss recommendation to Chris Williamson (PN)* Art of War by Sun Tzu* Do not assume that your enemy thinks in a similar way that you do* Source: Source: Jocko Willink recommendation (PN)* Adventures of a Bystander by Peter Drucker* A captivating journey through his encounters with remarkable individuals who influenced his thinking and shaped the world of management* Source: Jim O'Shaughnessy's recommendation to Ateet Ahluwalia (PN)Motivation* The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho & Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks* Helped Mike Posner on his spiritual journey* Source: Big Sean recommendations to Mike Poser (PN)* Driven From Within by Michael Jordan* Written during his career peak* Source: David Senra book review (PN)* Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby* The key insights into Michael Jordan's competitive spirit and how it made him the greatest basketball player of all time* Source: Ben Wilson book review (PN)Deep Thinking* The Beginning of Infinity and The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch* Naval Ravikant praises David's work, considering him the smartest human alive* Source: Naval Ravikant and Niklas Anzinger in discussion (PN)* The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self by Thomas Metzinger* “Life is not a mystery anymore” – Thomas Metzinger* Source: Thomas Metzinger's appearance on Making Sense with Sam Harris (PN)* Gold by Haleh Liza Gafori (a new translation of Rumi's poems)* Remedy for overthinking before bed* Source: Tim Ferriss recommendation to Chris Williamson (PN)Get the FULL List at Podcast Notes Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.

This is a special episode about Extension:AutoModerator. Here we meet Sam Walton from Wikimedia Foundation, talking about the new tool.

Ever wondered how the founder of Walmart built a $600 billion empire with just six simple rules? In this episode, Adam Stott unpacks the fundamental lessons learned from Sam Walton, the iconic founder of Walmart, who built a $600 billion empire through six simple yet powerful business rules. Adam offers an insightful analysis of how these principles can be adapted to both large corporations and small startups alike. With a focus on customer commitment, employee empowerment, cost management, and embracing change, Adam delivers key strategies for business owners seeking to enhance their operations and growth. Commit to the Client: Shift the focus from transactional interactions with customers to fostering long-term relationships with clients, prioritizing commitment over immediate financial rewards. Empower Your People: Foster a culture where employees feel like partners. This can dramatically increase their engagement and commitment to the business's success. Keep Costs Low: While maintaining cost efficiency is crucial, invest wisely in sales and marketing to drive growth and profitability. Stay Close to the Front Line: Regular interaction with frontline employees provides invaluable insights that can lead to strategic innovations and improvements. Embrace Change: Accept change as a constant and an opportunity to progress, ensuring the business adapts and thrives in evolving environments.   Get your Business Growth Secrets SUCCESS PLANNER for FREE and profit like a pro: https://adamstottplanner.com/free-book47315172 Adam's website: https://adamstott.com/?el=Pod Watch the Episode on Adam's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/adamstottcoach?el=Pod Connect with Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamstottcoach/?el=Pod Join Adam's network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-stott-coach/?el=Pod Coaches, consultants, and business owners - lower your marketing costs, increase ticket prices, and get more high-ticket clients: https://3daybrandbuilderworkshop.com/start-here?el=Pod

How do You Become an Authority Part 1  Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over a one minute investment every day for a lifetime of results.  Among the top priced in your niche, or among the lowest. Walmart is thought of as the best logistics company in the world. They charge the lowest amount, and they have taken most of the inefficiencies out of the supply chain. They're Walmart. They're brilliant at what they do. How do they get a $10 item from the other side of the world for $8, beat everybody out, and still?  You ever read like the Forbes top 10 billionaires in the world? Six out of the top 10 are the Waltons. If you've ever seen it, it's like, oh, well, Jeff Bezos, yeah? Well, let's have a family Walton reunion,  and Jeff Bezos doesn't even come close, right? Sam Walton's kids are half of the top 20. It's ridiculous, right? So they're experts. Google is expert at search. We pay nothing for that.  They are experts at it. Now, in this room, it would be very hard for us to be the lowest price and be the authority. Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.  

Today Matt Cochrane & I are discussing a great business book, Sam Walton: Made In America. The book is Sam Walton's autobiography and guiding you through the life of Sam Walton and the tremendous growth phase of Wal Mart from the 1960's through the early 1990's.Links:* The book, Sam Walton, Made in America. https://www.amazon.com/Sam-Walton-Made-America-ebook/dp/B008ZPG704/* Long Term Mindset: https://longtermmindset.co/start/DisclaimerNothing on this podcast is investment advice.The information in this podcast is for information and discussion purposes only. It does not constitute a recommendation to purchase or sell any financial instruments or other products.  Investment decisions should not be made with this article and one should take into account the investment objectives or financial situation of any particular person or institution.Investors should obtain advice based on their own individual circumstances from their own tax, financial, legal, and other advisers about the risks and merits of any transaction before making an investment decision, and only make such decisions on the basis of the investor's own objectives, experience, and resources.The information contained in this podcast & show notes is based on generally-available information and, although obtained from sources believed to be reliable, its accuracy and completeness cannot be assured, and such information may be incomplete or condensed.Investments in financial instruments or other products carry significant risk, including the possible total loss of the principal amount invested. This podcast, the host, and the guest do not purport to identify all the risks or material considerations that may be associated with entering into any transaction. This host & guest accepts no liability for any loss (whether direct, indirect, or consequential) that may arise from any use of the information contained in or derived from this content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.securityanalysis.org/subscribe

What I learned from rereading James J. Hill: Empire Builder by Michael P. Malone. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Notes and highlights from the episode: —He had unlimited energy, was stubborn, had a temper, was supremely arrogant and he did more to transform the northern frontier of the United States than any other single individual.—One of the things he learned from history and biography: The power of one dynamic individual: Like so many other nineteenth-century youths, young Jim Hill fell under the spell of Napoleon. He came to believe in the strength of will, the power of one dynamic individual to change the world, the conquering hero. (He says that the railroad entrepreneurs conquered the distance between remote communities in the American west)—He accustomed himself to handle a large workload.—If you want to know whether you are destined to be a success or a failure in life, you can easily find out. The test is simple and it is infallible: Are you able to save money? If not, drop out. You will lose. You may think not, but you will lose as sure as you live. The seed of success is not in you. –James J. Hill—He held people's attention as he engaged them in characteristic rapid-fire, highly animated conversation, gesturing expansively and driving home his point with jabbing motions of his hands—the embodiment of high energy.—He worked incredibly hard, sometimes laboring late into the night, falling asleep at the desk, then getting up for a swim in the river and a cup of black coffee, then going back to work.—“Rebates existed in other industries. I just applied them to oil.” Rockefeller said. [Don't copy the what, copy the how]  —John D: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers by David Freeman Hawke. (Founders #254)—"The very best employee at any job at any level of responsibility is the person who generally believes that this is their last job working for someone. The next thing they'll start will be their own. — Max Levchin in The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. (Founders #233)—Hill drank little, worked hard, and confined his socializing to respectable settings. As always, he read incessantly. He permitted himself few distractions in his relentless drive to achieve wealth and status.—Inefficiency disturbs him greatly.—James J. Hill loved eliminating steps.—Genius has the fewest moving parts.—Hill limited the number of details. Then he makes every detail perfect.—Hill called vertical integration, rational integration.—Hill always gets out quickly in front of the emerging trend.—Hill had an entirely pragmatic business personality. When competition suited him in a market, he competed fiercely. But when competition became wasteful to him, he did not hesitate to end it, even if this meant joining with old enemies and creating a monopoly.—Hill was making profits owning steamboats. Then a competitor from Canada starts running the same route and the rates and profits dwindle. Hill discovers a neglected maritime law that prohibited foreign ships from operating in American waters. Hill then persuades the US Treasury Department to enforce the law against his competitor. The competitor has to transfer ownership to an American. After that Hill then merges with that competitor and forges another monopoly.—This railroad is my monument. — James J Hill—As man emerged into history, he became a road maker; the better the road, the more advanced his development. — James J. Hill.—By 1885 Railroads brought in twice the revenue than the federal government.Railroads were the nations largest employer.The railroaders were the largest private land holders in the country.They owned more than 10% of land in the United States.—Hill identified an opportunity hiding in plain sight: Unlike most who viewed the Saint Paul and Pacific as a near-worthless derelict, Hill viewed it as a miracle waiting to happen, a potentially wondrous enterprise simply lacking competent leadership. He studied the road constantly, reading every scrap of information he could find about it and boring anyone who would listen with endless detail as to what it could one day be.—He possessed a priceless advantage compared with most other nineteenth-century rail titans. Rather than coming from the outside world of finance, as most of them did, he arose from the inside world of freighting and transportation, and he knew this world in all its complexities. He was about to demonstrate how certain well-established, regional capitalists on the frontier could challenge and even best larger eastern interests.—Being obsessed is an edge. Hill was obsessed getting control of the bankrupt Saint Paul & Pacific rail line:  Hill, who knew the road better than anyone else, constantly argued to his friends, the potential prize defied description. He seemed completely fixated on the project. Many years later, his friend recalled that Jim had spoken of it to him “probably several hundred times” during the mid-1870s.—James J. Hill finds what he is best at in the world at, at 40 years old, in a field where he had no direct experience.—“It pays to be where the money is spent” — James J Hill—James J. Hill was very easy to interface with. He had an easy to understand organizing principle for his company. Hills credo: What we want is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature that we can build.—He had appreciation for those who had dirt underneath their fingernails.—Many observers would later compare Hill with Villard. The comparison was inevitable. “While Hill was building carefully and checking his costs minutely Villard built in ignorance of costs.” Like other transcontinental plungers, Villard did in fact build rapidly and poorly, much of his main line would later have to be torn up and rebuilt. He had rushed to get the massive land grants. Amid mounting deficits and acrimony, Villard was then forced to resign the presidency of the NP in 1884.—Find what you are good at and pound away at it forever.—He simply could not delegate authority and live with the outcome.—Hill on how to build a railroad: Work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work. — James J Hill.—They managed the finances of the railroad in a highly conservative and prudent manner.  Hill advocated and practiced a policy of plowing large percentages of profits directly back into the property, knowing that the best defense against invading railroads was a better-built system that could operate at lower rates.—Give me Swedes, snuff and whiskey, and I'll build a railroad through hell. — James J. Hill—From the Hour of Fate: James J. Hill had built the Great Northern with deliberate thrift and brutal efficiency. His railroad would become among the most profitable in the Northwest. He didn't need JP Morgan the way other railroad executives did. (Financial strength was kryptonite to JP Morgan)—He cared most about freight, never frills.—The life of James J. Hill certainly demonstrates the impact one willful individual can have on the course of history.—I've made my mark on the surface of the earth and they can't wipe it out. — James J Hill.----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

What I learned from reading Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Ingvar Kamprad and Bertil Torekull and The Testament of a Furniture Dealer by Ingvar Kamprad.----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Notes and highlights from the episode: Ingvar works on IKEA from the time he is 17 until he dies at 91.The Testament of a Furniture Dealer by Ingvar Kamprad (1976) is a sermon on the culture of IKEA  IKEA's common goal: We have decided once and for all to side with the many. IKEA will offer a wide range of well-designed furniture at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.Billy Durant (founder of General Motors) describing Henry Ford's one single idea: Durant noted that Ford “was in favor of keeping prices down to the lowest possible point, giving to the multitude the benefit of cheap transportation.” — Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors by Lawrence Gustin Something Ingvar repeats: We will do it a different way.This will not be easy. We must demand much from ourselves.IKEA must have low prices. Ingvar's dedication to that idea is total. Without low costs we can never accomplish our purpose. The principle can never be compromised: Our policy of serving the many can never be changed.If you are not enthusiastic about your job, one-third of your life goes to waste.Wasting resources is a mortal sin at IKEA.Expensive solutions to any kind of problem are usually the work of mediocrity.Planning is often synonymous with bureaucracy. Exaggerated planning is the most common cause of corporate death.Simple routines have a greater impact. Simplicity in our behavior gives us strength.No reports. No committees. Just done. — Elon in the early days of SpaceX Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger. (Founders #369) We dare to do things differently.You had to remember he'd been picking up the best ideas from all around the country. — Copy This!: How I turned Dyslexia, ADHD, and 100 square feet into a company called Kinkos by Paul Orfalea. (Founders #181) Concentration is important to our success. The general who divides his resources will invariably be defeated.We can never do everything, everywhere, all at the same time.We must concentrate for maximum impact, often with small means.Concentration means that at certain vital stages we are forced to neglect otherwise important aspects.Constant meetings and group discussions are often the result of unwillingness or inability on the part of the person in charge to make decisions.Only those who are asleep make no mistakes. Making mistakes is the privilege of the active.The fear of making mistakes is the root of bureaucracy and the enemy of development.It is always the mediocre people who are negative, who spend their time proving that they were not wrong. The strong person is always positive and looks forward.Happiness is not reaching your goal. Happiness is being on the way. It is our wonderful fate to be just at the beginning (He said this when he was already 33 years into running his company!)Bear in mind that time is your most important resource. You can do so much in ten minutes. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. You can never get them back. Divide your life into ten-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.Let us continue to be a group of positive fanatics who stubbornly and persistently refuse to accept the impossible.Ingvar's family had to rent out all the rooms in their house to strangers to make ends meet.Selling things became an obsession. Trading was in my blood.By 1997 IKEA had mailed out over 100 million catalogs.Ingvar was the first person in the furniture industry to combine a mail order catalog and a furniture store.Cost awareness was to be IKEA's anthem.Ingvar's greatest regret was working so much that he missed out on seeing his 3 son's grow up: Childhood does not allow itself to be reconquered.I have not been able to avoid severe losses. Both fiascoes and triumphs have marked the history of the business.Ingvar would rather his employees make mistakes than be idle.The wave Ingvar rode: Sweden's housing construction boom. More than 1 million new apartments were built after the war. All of them needed well designed, affordable furniture. The way IKEA was described by its competitors: A monster with seven heads: “If you cut off one, another soon grows.”A golden rule of IKEA: Regard every problem as a possibility. The boycott by the National Association of Furniture Dealers was the best thing that ever happened to IKEA. It forced IKEA down a path of product differentiation and helped them stumble upon the idea of flat packing and self assembled furniture.The laws of IKEA since birth:  -A good cash reserve must always be ensured.-All property must be owned.-All expansion is to be largely self-financed.-There shall be no boasting.We push cost awareness at all levels with almost manic frenzy.Ingvar believes in the ability to wait out difficulties.Ingvar believes in gathering unfiltered intel from the front lines. He makes unannounced store visits and spends time talking to the employees unloading furniture and helping customers.The day he is free of IKEA life for him will no longer be worth living. He loves it, aways wants to lie as close as possible to it, and never tires of improving it.A demon in me says I have so much to do. I am never satisfied. Something tells me what I'm doing at the moment has to be done better tomorrow.Behind this multinational tycoon is a country boy with a fierce sense of being an underdog.He has a peasants distrust of a favorable destiny that keeps his feet on the ground.----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Fran Tarkenton is unquestionably one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game of football. A true legend who rightfully earned his place in the NFL Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame (for his championship career with the University of Georgia Bulldogs), and on the list of the 50 Greatest Minnesota Vikings AND the 50 Greatest New York Giants. In his rookie season in 1961, Fran joined an expansion team called the Minnesota Vikings, and in the first-ever Vikings game he threw four touchdown passes and ran for a fifth, upsetting the great Chicago Bears. At the time of his retirement from the NFL in 1978, Fran owned every significant passing record: 3,686 pass completions, 47,003 passing yards, and 342 touchdowns. Legend. After retirement, Fran became a commentator alongside the one and only Howard Cosell in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth, he landed a job hosting That's Incredible, one of the biggest sensation TV shows of the 1980s, and he became an early entrant into the software business, a visionary move that launched what would become the longest-lasting and most lucrative part of his illustrious and multifaceted career. At 84.6 years old as of the date of this interview, Fran is as sharp – and as busy – as he's ever been. His company, Tarkenton, is as highly regarded as it is successful in helping other businesses grow and prosper. All the incredible lessons he learned growing up, on the gridiron, in entertainment, and in his many business ventures coalesce into his leadership of Tarkenton to this day. But Fran claims no responsibility for the success he's achieved. He attributes it all to the coaching he's received; in the NFL, from greats like Sid Luckman, Norm Van Brocklin and Bud Grant; and in business, from former IBM CEO John Akers to Walmart founder Sam Walton. In this episode, Fran shares colorful stories about his journey from the streets of Washington, DC; to Athens, Georgia, home of UGA; to the NFL; to entertainment; and ultimately to a wildly successful business career. You can learn more about Fran by Googling his name, and you can learn more about Tarkenton Companies by visiting www.tarkenton.com. Second Act Stories theme music: "Between 1 and 3 am" by Echoes

In this episode, we dive deep into the essential steps that can set you on the path to becoming a millionaire and achieving financial freedom in just six months. Discover proven strategies that can transform your financial landscape, starting with the importance of investing in yourself—whether it's through education, skills development, or personal growth.   We'll explore how starting a side hustle can create additional income streams, and how to leverage debt wisely to fuel your investments rather than hinder your progress. Embracing minimalism will help you focus on what truly matters, allowing you to allocate more resources toward your financial goals. Plus, learn how automating your savings can streamline your journey to wealth and ensure you're consistently working toward your objectives without the stress of manual tracking.   We'll also introduce you to the 'Profit First' system, a revolutionary approach to managing your money that prioritizes profit and ensures your business remains financially healthy. Real estate investment is another key topic, as we discuss strategies for getting started in this lucrative field. Mastering sales techniques is crucial for success in any venture, and we'll provide tips to enhance your selling skills.   Tracking your net worth is an essential practice that helps you stay accountable and motivated, while overcoming the fear of failure will empower you to take risks and seize opportunities.   To inspire you along the way, we'll feature insights from successful visionaries like Sarah Blakely, Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, and Howard Schultz. They share actionable advice and concrete steps that have helped them build their wealth, demonstrating that with the right mindset and strategies, anyone can achieve their financial dreams. Join us for this transformative episode and take the first steps toward your millionaire journey! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Founders ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  “If Steve Jobs studied Edwin Land, I think every other founder should as well.” – David Senra Optimize for breadth as well as depth; hire the chemist who does photography on the side! Something magical exists at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences “Missionaries make better products.” – Jeff Bezos Missionaries and mercenaries are the two types of people that will be attracted to a companyWhile the mercenaries are there for the perks, status, and money, the missionaries are there to make better products because they believe in what the company is doingLeverage the power of demonstration: No argument in the world can compare with one dramatic demonstrationA first-class product needs first-class packaging and marketing! The founder is the guardian of the company's soul If you are lucky enough to find your life's work, why would you quit? You should take yourself seriously, but don't make yourself miserable; none of us get out of this alive Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat I learned from rereading Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Episode Outline: — The most obvious parallel is to Apple Computer. Both companies specialized in relentless, obsessive refinement of their technologies. Both were established close to great research universities to attract talent. Both fetishized superior, elegant, covetable product design. And both companies exploded in size and wealth under an in-house visionary-godhead-inventor-genius. At Apple, that man was Steve Jobs. At Polaroid, the genius was Edwin Land. Just as Apple stories almost all lead back to Jobs, Polaroid lore always seems to focus on Land.— Both men were college dropouts; both became as rich as anyone could ever wish to be; and both insisted that their inventions would change the fundamental nature of human interaction.— Jobs expressed his deep admiration for Edwin Land. He called him a national treasure.— Books on Edwin Land:Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #263)A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein (Founders #134)Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #133)The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experience by Mark Olshaker (Founders #132)Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid(Founders #40)— Biography about Steve Jobs: Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli— Edwin Land of Polaroid talked about the intersection of the humanities and science. I like that intersection. There's something magical about that place. There are a lot of people innovating, and that's not the main distinction of my career. The reason Apple resonates with people is that there's a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and great engineers are similar, in that they both have a  desire to express themselves. In fact some of the best people working on the original Mac were poets and musicians on the side. In the seventies computers became a way for people to express their creativity. Great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were also great at science. Michelangelo knew a lot about how to quarry stone, not just how to be a sculptor. —  Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson (Founders #214)— Book on Henry Ford:I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow (Founders #9)The Autobiography of Henry Ford by Henry Ford (Founders #26) Today and Tomorrow Henry Ford (Founders #80) My Forty Years With Ford by Charles Sorensen  (Founders #118)The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten Year Road Trip by Jeff Guinn (Founders #190) — Another parallel to Jobs: Land's control over his company was nearly absolute, and he exercised it to a degree that was compelling and sometimes exhausting.— When you read a biography of Edwin land you see an incredibly smart, gifted, driven, focused person endure decade after decade of struggle. And more importantly —finally work his way through.— Another parallel to Jobs: You may be noticing that none of this has anything to do with instant photography. Polarizers rather than pictures would define the first two decades of lands intellectual life and would establish his company. Instant photos were an idea that came later on, a secondary business around which his company was completely recreated.— “Missionaries make better products.” —Jeff Bezos— His letter to shareholders gradually became a particularly dramatic showcase for his language and his thinking. These letters-really more like personal mission statements-are thoughtful and compact, and just eccentric enough to be completely engaging. Instead of discussing earnings and growth they laid out Land's World inviting everyone to join.— Land gave him a four-word job description: "Keeper of the language.”— No argument in the world can ever compare with one dramatic demonstration. — My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Founders #170)— The leap to Polaroid was like replacing a messenger on horseback with your first telephone.— Hire a paid critic:Norio Ohga, who had been a vocal arts student at the Tokyo University of Arts when he saw our first audio tape recorder back in 1950. I had had my eye on him for all those years because of his bold criticism of our first machine.He was a great champion of the tape recorder, but he was severe with us because he didn't think our early machine was good enough. It had too much wow and flutter, he said. He was right, of course; our first machine was rather primitive. We invited him to be a paid critic even while he was still in school. His ideas were very challenging. He said then, "A ballet dancer needs a mirror to perfect her style, her technique.— Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita.— Another parallel to Jobs: Don't kid yourself. Polaroid is a one man company.— He argued there was no reason that well-designed, wellmade computers couldn't command the same market share and margins as a luxury automobile.A BMW might get you to where you are going in the same way as a Chevy that costs half the price, but there will always be those who will pay for the better ride in the sexier car. Rather than competing with commodity PC makers like Dell, Compaq and Gateway, why not make only first-class products with high margins so that Apple could continue to develop even better first-class products?The company could make much bigger profits from selling a $3,000 machine rather than a $500 machine, even if they sold fewer of them.Why not, then, just concentrate on making the best $3,000 machines around? — Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products by Leander Kahney.— How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story by Billy Gallagher — Books on Enzo FerrariGo Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A.J. Baime. (Founders #97) Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and The Making of an Automotive Empire by Luca Dal Monte (Founders #98) Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine by Brock Yates (Founders #220) — Soul in the game. Listen to how Edwin Land describes his product:We would not have known and have only just learned that a new kind of relationship between people in groups is brought into being by SX-70 when the members of a group are photographing and being photographed and sharing the photographs: it turns out that buried within us—there is latent interest in each other; there is tenderness, curiosity, excitement, affection, companionability and humor; it turns out, in this cold world where man grows distant from man,and even lovers can reach each other only briefly, that we have a yen for and a primordial competence for a quiet good-humored delight in each other:we have a prehistoric tribal competence for a non-physical, non-emotional, non-sexual satisfaction in being partners in the lonely exploration of a once empty planet.—  “Over the very long term, history shows that the chances of any business surviving in a manner agreeable to a company's owners are slim at best.” —Charlie Munger----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast 

Founders ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  “If Steve Jobs studied Edwin Land, I think every other founder should as well.” – David Senra Optimize for breadth as well as depth; hire the chemist who does photography on the side! Something magical exists at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences “Missionaries make better products.” – Jeff Bezos Missionaries and mercenaries are the two types of people that will be attracted to a companyWhile the mercenaries are there for the perks, status, and money, the missionaries are there to make better products because they believe in what the company is doingLeverage the power of demonstration: No argument in the world can compare with one dramatic demonstrationA first-class product needs first-class packaging and marketing! The founder is the guardian of the company's soul If you are lucky enough to find your life's work, why would you quit? You should take yourself seriously, but don't make yourself miserable; none of us get out of this alive Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat I learned from rereading Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Episode Outline: — The most obvious parallel is to Apple Computer. Both companies specialized in relentless, obsessive refinement of their technologies. Both were established close to great research universities to attract talent. Both fetishized superior, elegant, covetable product design. And both companies exploded in size and wealth under an in-house visionary-godhead-inventor-genius. At Apple, that man was Steve Jobs. At Polaroid, the genius was Edwin Land. Just as Apple stories almost all lead back to Jobs, Polaroid lore always seems to focus on Land.— Both men were college dropouts; both became as rich as anyone could ever wish to be; and both insisted that their inventions would change the fundamental nature of human interaction.— Jobs expressed his deep admiration for Edwin Land. He called him a national treasure.— Books on Edwin Land:Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #263)A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein (Founders #134)Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #133)The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experience by Mark Olshaker (Founders #132)Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid(Founders #40)— Biography about Steve Jobs: Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli— Edwin Land of Polaroid talked about the intersection of the humanities and science. I like that intersection. There's something magical about that place. There are a lot of people innovating, and that's not the main distinction of my career. The reason Apple resonates with people is that there's a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and great engineers are similar, in that they both have a  desire to express themselves. In fact some of the best people working on the original Mac were poets and musicians on the side. In the seventies computers became a way for people to express their creativity. Great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were also great at science. Michelangelo knew a lot about how to quarry stone, not just how to be a sculptor. —  Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson (Founders #214)— Book on Henry Ford:I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow (Founders #9)The Autobiography of Henry Ford by Henry Ford (Founders #26) Today and Tomorrow Henry Ford (Founders #80) My Forty Years With Ford by Charles Sorensen  (Founders #118)The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten Year Road Trip by Jeff Guinn (Founders #190) — Another parallel to Jobs: Land's control over his company was nearly absolute, and he exercised it to a degree that was compelling and sometimes exhausting.— When you read a biography of Edwin land you see an incredibly smart, gifted, driven, focused person endure decade after decade of struggle. And more importantly —finally work his way through.— Another parallel to Jobs: You may be noticing that none of this has anything to do with instant photography. Polarizers rather than pictures would define the first two decades of lands intellectual life and would establish his company. Instant photos were an idea that came later on, a secondary business around which his company was completely recreated.— “Missionaries make better products.” —Jeff Bezos— His letter to shareholders gradually became a particularly dramatic showcase for his language and his thinking. These letters-really more like personal mission statements-are thoughtful and compact, and just eccentric enough to be completely engaging. Instead of discussing earnings and growth they laid out Land's World inviting everyone to join.— Land gave him a four-word job description: "Keeper of the language.”— No argument in the world can ever compare with one dramatic demonstration. — My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Founders #170)— The leap to Polaroid was like replacing a messenger on horseback with your first telephone.— Hire a paid critic:Norio Ohga, who had been a vocal arts student at the Tokyo University of Arts when he saw our first audio tape recorder back in 1950. I had had my eye on him for all those years because of his bold criticism of our first machine.He was a great champion of the tape recorder, but he was severe with us because he didn't think our early machine was good enough. It had too much wow and flutter, he said. He was right, of course; our first machine was rather primitive. We invited him to be a paid critic even while he was still in school. His ideas were very challenging. He said then, "A ballet dancer needs a mirror to perfect her style, her technique.— Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita.— Another parallel to Jobs: Don't kid yourself. Polaroid is a one man company.— He argued there was no reason that well-designed, wellmade computers couldn't command the same market share and margins as a luxury automobile.A BMW might get you to where you are going in the same way as a Chevy that costs half the price, but there will always be those who will pay for the better ride in the sexier car. Rather than competing with commodity PC makers like Dell, Compaq and Gateway, why not make only first-class products with high margins so that Apple could continue to develop even better first-class products?The company could make much bigger profits from selling a $3,000 machine rather than a $500 machine, even if they sold fewer of them.Why not, then, just concentrate on making the best $3,000 machines around? — Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products by Leander Kahney.— How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story by Billy Gallagher — Books on Enzo FerrariGo Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A.J. Baime. (Founders #97) Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and The Making of an Automotive Empire by Luca Dal Monte (Founders #98) Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine by Brock Yates (Founders #220) — Soul in the game. Listen to how Edwin Land describes his product:We would not have known and have only just learned that a new kind of relationship between people in groups is brought into being by SX-70 when the members of a group are photographing and being photographed and sharing the photographs: it turns out that buried within us—there is latent interest in each other; there is tenderness, curiosity, excitement, affection, companionability and humor; it turns out, in this cold world where man grows distant from man,and even lovers can reach each other only briefly, that we have a yen for and a primordial competence for a quiet good-humored delight in each other:we have a prehistoric tribal competence for a non-physical, non-emotional, non-sexual satisfaction in being partners in the lonely exploration of a once empty planet.—  “Over the very long term, history shows that the chances of any business surviving in a manner agreeable to a company's owners are slim at best.” —Charlie Munger----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast 

What I learned from rereading Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Episode Outline: — The most obvious parallel is to Apple Computer. Both companies specialized in relentless, obsessive refinement of their technologies. Both were established close to great research universities to attract talent. Both fetishized superior, elegant, covetable product design. And both companies exploded in size and wealth under an in-house visionary-godhead-inventor-genius. At Apple, that man was Steve Jobs. At Polaroid, the genius was Edwin Land. Just as Apple stories almost all lead back to Jobs, Polaroid lore always seems to focus on Land.— Both men were college dropouts; both became as rich as anyone could ever wish to be; and both insisted that their inventions would change the fundamental nature of human interaction.— Jobs expressed his deep admiration for Edwin Land. He called him a national treasure.— Books on Edwin Land:Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #263)A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein (Founders #134)Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #133)The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experience by Mark Olshaker (Founders #132)Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid(Founders #40)— Biography about Steve Jobs: Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli— Edwin Land of Polaroid talked about the intersection of the humanities and science. I like that intersection. There's something magical about that place. There are a lot of people innovating, and that's not the main distinction of my career. The reason Apple resonates with people is that there's a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and great engineers are similar, in that they both have a  desire to express themselves. In fact some of the best people working on the original Mac were poets and musicians on the side. In the seventies computers became a way for people to express their creativity. Great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were also great at science. Michelangelo knew a lot about how to quarry stone, not just how to be a sculptor. —  Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson (Founders #214)— Book on Henry Ford:I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow (Founders #9)The Autobiography of Henry Ford by Henry Ford (Founders #26) Today and Tomorrow Henry Ford (Founders #80) My Forty Years With Ford by Charles Sorensen  (Founders #118)The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten Year Road Trip by Jeff Guinn (Founders #190) — Another parallel to Jobs: Land's control over his company was nearly absolute, and he exercised it to a degree that was compelling and sometimes exhausting.— When you read a biography of Edwin land you see an incredibly smart, gifted, driven, focused person endure decade after decade of struggle. And more importantly —finally work his way through.— Another parallel to Jobs: You may be noticing that none of this has anything to do with instant photography. Polarizers rather than pictures would define the first two decades of lands intellectual life and would establish his company. Instant photos were an idea that came later on, a secondary business around which his company was completely recreated.— “Missionaries make better products.” —Jeff Bezos— His letter to shareholders gradually became a particularly dramatic showcase for his language and his thinking. These letters-really more like personal mission statements-are thoughtful and compact, and just eccentric enough to be completely engaging. Instead of discussing earnings and growth they laid out Land's World inviting everyone to join.— Land gave him a four-word job description: "Keeper of the language.”— No argument in the world can ever compare with one dramatic demonstration. — My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Founders #170)— The leap to Polaroid was like replacing a messenger on horseback with your first telephone.— Hire a paid critic:Norio Ohga, who had been a vocal arts student at the Tokyo University of Arts when he saw our first audio tape recorder back in 1950. I had had my eye on him for all those years because of his bold criticism of our first machine.He was a great champion of the tape recorder, but he was severe with us because he didn't think our early machine was good enough. It had too much wow and flutter, he said. He was right, of course; our first machine was rather primitive. We invited him to be a paid critic even while he was still in school. His ideas were very challenging. He said then, "A ballet dancer needs a mirror to perfect her style, her technique.— Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita.— Another parallel to Jobs: Don't kid yourself. Polaroid is a one man company.— He argued there was no reason that well-designed, wellmade computers couldn't command the same market share and margins as a luxury automobile.A BMW might get you to where you are going in the same way as a Chevy that costs half the price, but there will always be those who will pay for the better ride in the sexier car. Rather than competing with commodity PC makers like Dell, Compaq and Gateway, why not make only first-class products with high margins so that Apple could continue to develop even better first-class products?The company could make much bigger profits from selling a $3,000 machine rather than a $500 machine, even if they sold fewer of them.Why not, then, just concentrate on making the best $3,000 machines around? — Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products by Leander Kahney.— How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story by Billy Gallagher — Books on Enzo FerrariGo Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A.J. Baime. (Founders #97) Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and The Making of an Automotive Empire by Luca Dal Monte (Founders #98) Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine by Brock Yates (Founders #220) — Soul in the game. Listen to how Edwin Land describes his product:We would not have known and have only just learned that a new kind of relationship between people in groups is brought into being by SX-70 when the members of a group are photographing and being photographed and sharing the photographs: it turns out that buried within us—there is latent interest in each other; there is tenderness, curiosity, excitement, affection, companionability and humor; it turns out, in this cold world where man grows distant from man,and even lovers can reach each other only briefly, that we have a yen for and a primordial competence for a quiet good-humored delight in each other:we have a prehistoric tribal competence for a non-physical, non-emotional, non-sexual satisfaction in being partners in the lonely exploration of a once empty planet.—  “Over the very long term, history shows that the chances of any business surviving in a manner agreeable to a company's owners are slim at best.” —Charlie Munger----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast 

Guest: Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and co-founder of KlarnaLiving and working in Stockholm, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski thinks a lot about how he's perceived in Silicon Valley: “I feel like here I am, I am the small, country cousin from Sweden.” And on top of that, he knew that someone like Sam Altman wouldn't initially think of a European banking startup as an ideal partner for OpenAI — so, he made up an excuse to fly to San Francisco and meet with Altman. “I felt like, OK, this is going to be the busiest man in the world very soon,” Sebastian recalls. “When I first booked it with Sam, I think I got three hours in his calendar. By the time I arrived in San Francisco, it was down to 30 minutes.”Chapters:(01:02) - Workday and Salesforce (06:01) - Rolling your own (08:45) - AI-driven customer service (15:33) - Automation at scale for business (19:28) - The Toyota way (23:40) - Sam Altman (25:36) - Playing offense (28:25) - Reinventing Klarna (31:44) - The startup journey (35:37) - Common equity (39:28) - Champions League (42:24) - Hype cycles (47:35) - Sebastian's father (52:28) - Control and stability (57:23) - Comfort zone vs. stretch zone (01:02:27) - Creating resilience (01:06:23) - Why Klarna isn't hiring Mentioned in this episode: OpenAI, Seeking Alpha, Slack, Workday, ChatGPT, Stripe, CRMs, Mark Benioff, Twitter, Anthropic, Waymo, Devin AI, the Collison brothers and Stripe, Pieter van der Does and Adyen, Daniel Ek and Spotify, General Atlantic, DST Global, Anton Levy, Michael Moritz, Sequoia Capital, Niklas Adalberth, PayPal, CNBC, “Under Pressure” by Queen, Boris Johnson, Elon Musk, Google, Sam Walton, Made in America, Nina Siemiatkowski, and Snoop Dogg.Links:Connect with SebastianTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Ready to unlock the secrets of single barrel bourbon? Join us on the B-Team Podcast as we welcome the esteemed Mr. Brewer, who brings along a bottle of Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit for an enriched tasting experience. Josh, Matt, Rob, and Michael delve into the intricate details, history, and craftsmanship behind this exceptional bourbon. We chat about the nuances of adding water to bourbon, share trivia about the distillery, and sprinkle the discussion with some good-natured banter about work, stress, and fresh haircuts.Our narrative then transitions into an engrossing tale of family history and the reconstruction era. Hear captivating stories about ancestors George, Frank, and Nub, and discover Bentonville's transformation from an apple orchard haven to a key player in the agricultural industry. With documents dating back to 1843, we'll help you understand how these personal stories intertwine with the broader historical context of the region, highlighting Bentonville's impressive contributions to the apple trade.We don't stop there. Uncover the intriguing history of Arkansas through personal anecdotes about fossils, arrowheads, and the impact of the Great Depression. Listen to fascinating accounts of Sam Walton's early ventures and how Walmart reshaped Bentonville. From three-digit phone numbers to old dice games, we reminisce about the past and reflect on the town's rapid evolution. This episode promises a rich blend of bourbon appreciation, historical insights, and heartfelt storytelling that is sure to enlighten and entertain.

The best investors are not investors at all. They're entrepreneurs who have never sold. — Nick SleepNick Sleep's letters are a masterclass on the importance of understanding the underlying reality of a business — what he calls the engine of its success.I read all 110,000 words of Nick's letters (twice!) to make this episode and what I found most important is Nick's ability to develop a deep understanding of “honestly run compounding machines” (like Costco and Amazon) years before everyone else.Nick explains clearly how Jim Sinegal and Jeff Bezos set up their companies for long term success —from the very beginning — and gives us a few hints along the way on how we can do the same in our business.And the absolute entrepreneurial history nerd in me loved the references to Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Rockefeller and other greats from the past that are sprinkled throughout Nick's letters.No surprise that someone who was able to make $2 billion for his clients has a deep understanding of the great work that came before him.If you want to read all of Nick Sleep's partnership letters you can do so here for freeYou can also read William Green's book Richer, Wiser, Happier: How The World's Greatest Investors Win In Markets and Life —which both Nick and I recommend. It has an excellent chapter on How Nick and Zak built their firm. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube (Video coming soon!) ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

MUSIC Linkin Park is back Yesterday's countdown finally revealed: A new album called From Zero will be released on November 15th, the first single from the album, "The Emptiness Machine," is out now at all streaming services, Emily Armstrong is now the new vocalist and more... A new Motorhead compilation, We Take No Prisoners, is due out October 25th as a seven-inch single box set and as a two-CD set. It collects the band's A- and B-sides from 1996 to 2006. Hulu and Disney+ have announced that Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will start streaming on October 15th.  Mastodon and Lamb of God, who did a co-headlining tour this summer, are teasing a new collaboration that will be out on September 12th. David Gilmour wants to sell Pink Floyd's catalog for more than just the money. He told 'Rolling Stone' selling it would be a "dream", because then he could "be rid of the decision-making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going.”  Motley Crue is releasing a 35th anniversary deluxe box set of their 1989 album, 'Dr. Feelgood', on November 22nd. NEW IN RECORD STORES AND STREAMING ·         10,000 Maniacs - MTV Unplugged (Expanded Edition) (CD/LP 3 bonus tracks; first time on vinyl) ·         Airborne Toxic Event - Glory ·         America - Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975 ·         Bleachers - A Stranger Desired ·         Blink-182 - One More Time Part 2 (digital only) ·         David Gilmour - Luck and Strange ·         Paris Hilton - Infinite Icon ·         George Strait - Cowboys and Dreamers & more... TV Peacock is turning the 1989 Tom Hanks cult classic "The Burbs" into a series starring Keke Palmer. ·           Check out the trailer for "Mr. McMahon", the Netflix docuseries about former WWE boss Vince McMahon.            MOVING ON INTO MOVIE NEWS: IN THEATERS: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  Michael Keaton returns as Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara are back as Lydia and Delia Deetz, and Jenna Ortega is Lydia's rebellious daughter Astrid. Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci also join the cast. "The Thicket" (R)  A western starring Peter Dinklage as a bounty hunter helping Levon Hawke track down the ruthless killer who kidnapped his sister. Juliette Lewis is the killer, Cutthroat Bill, and Esme Creed-Miles from Amazon's "Hanna" is the kidnapped girl. Hugh Jackman still has his Wolverine bod to show off. On Wednesday, the actor posted a shirtless thirst trap picture on Instagram.   MISC Former New England Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick created an Instagram account. “Hello everyone. Surprised to see me here? Well, I am too. Over the past few months, and not being with a team, I haven't had the opportunity to express my thoughts at a moment's notice. So now I'm changing that. I tried to join SnapFace, but I couldn't find it."  Beacon, the golden retriever who provided support during the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic trials this summer, has been hospitalized.  AND FINALLY! The daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton has assumed the title of world's richest woman taking the top spot from L'Oréal cosmetics heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. AND THAT IS YOUR CRAP ON CELEBRITIES! Follow us @RizzShow @MoonValjeanHere @KingScottRules @LernVsRadio @IamRafeWilliams > Check out King Scott's band @FreeThe2SG and Check out Moon's bands GREEK FIRE @GreekFire GOLDFINGER @GoldfingerMusic THE TEENAGE DIRTBAGS @TheTeenageDbags and Lern's band @LaneNarrows http://www.1057thepoint.com/Rizz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MUSICLinkin Park is backYesterday's countdown finally revealed: A new album called From Zero will be released on November 15th, the first single from the album, "The Emptiness Machine," is out now at all streaming services, Emily Armstrong is now the new vocalist and more...A new Motorhead compilation, We Take No Prisoners, is due out October 25th as a seven-inch single box set and as a two-CD set. It collects the band's A- and B-sides from 1996 to 2006.Hulu and Disney+ have announced that Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will start streaming on October 15th. Mastodon and Lamb of God, who did a co-headlining tour this summer, are teasing a new collaboration that will be out on September 12th.David Gilmour wants to sell Pink Floyd's catalog for more than just the money. He told 'Rolling Stone' selling it would be a "dream", because then he could "be rid of the decision-making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going.” Motley Crue is releasing a 35th anniversary deluxe box set of their 1989 album, 'Dr. Feelgood', on November 22nd.NEW IN RECORD STORES AND STREAMING·         10,000 Maniacs - MTV Unplugged (Expanded Edition) (CD/LP 3 bonus tracks; first time on vinyl)·         Airborne Toxic Event - Glory·         America - Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975·         Bleachers - A Stranger Desired·         Blink-182 - One More Time Part 2 (digital only)·         David Gilmour - Luck and Strange·         Paris Hilton - Infinite Icon·         George Strait - Cowboys and Dreamers & more...TVPeacock is turning the 1989 Tom Hanks cult classic "The Burbs" into a series starring Keke Palmer. ·          Check out the trailer for "Mr. McMahon", the Netflix docuseries about former WWE boss Vince McMahon.           MOVING ON INTO MOVIE NEWS:IN THEATERS: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  Michael Keaton returns as Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara are back as Lydia and Delia Deetz, and Jenna Ortega is Lydia's rebellious daughter Astrid. Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci also join the cast. "The Thicket" (R)  A western starring Peter Dinklage as a bounty hunter helping Levon Hawke track down the ruthless killer who kidnapped his sister. Juliette Lewis is the killer, Cutthroat Bill, and Esme Creed-Miles from Amazon's "Hanna" is the kidnapped girl. Hugh Jackman still has his Wolverine bod to show off. On Wednesday, the actor posted a shirtless thirst trap picture on Instagram.  MISCFormer New England Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick created an Instagram account. “Hello everyone. Surprised to see me here? Well, I am too. Over the past few months, and not being with a team, I haven't had the opportunity to express my thoughts at a moment's notice. So now I'm changing that. I tried to join SnapFace, but I couldn't find it." Beacon, the golden retriever who provided support during the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic trials this summer, has been hospitalized. AND FINALLY!The daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton has assumed the title of world's richest woman taking the top spot from L'Oréal cosmetics heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.AND THAT IS YOUR CRAP ON CELEBRITIES!Follow us @RizzShow @MoonValjeanHere @KingScottRules @LernVsRadio @IamRafeWilliams > Check out King Scott's band @FreeThe2SG and Check out Moon's bands GREEK FIRE @GreekFire GOLDFINGER @GoldfingerMusic THE TEENAGE DIRTBAGS @TheTeenageDbags and Lern's band @LaneNarrows http://www.1057thepoint.com/Rizz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chris Blum is the executive director of the Heartland Cancer Foundation in Lincoln Nebraska. Chris joined the foundation after a 25-year career as a professional in the Boy Scouts organization and then working three years for the Nebraska Safety Council. Chris tells us that he is strictly Nebraska born and bred.   During his time as a Boy Scout professional, he did work elsewhere, but all roads eventually brought him back to Lincoln. He left scouting when the organization wanted him to move elsewhere to assume another position.   It was fun speaking with a nonprofit expert and professional. We talked about a number of issues faced by the not-for-profit world, and we even talked about the differences between for profit sales and not for profit fundraising.   Chris brings lots of insights to our conversation. For this being his first podcast appearance, he did quite well, and I think you will like what he had to say. At the end, of course, he gave information about how people can support the Heartland Cancer Foundation.   About the Guest:   Chris Blum joined the Heartland Cancer Foundation in August of 2022.  Chris has 30 years of non-profit leadership experience.  He has spent his career making every team better and every company or organization more efficient and more profitable.  Chris is skilled at recruiting people with talents and skills which compliment his to make the organization stronger.  Here in Nebraska, he has served as the Business Development Manager for the Nebraska Safety Council, the Chief Philanthropy Officer for the Nebraska Children's Home Society, and the Scout Executive/CEO for the Cornhusker Council, Boy Scouts of America.  He served in a variety of positions during a 25-year Boy Scout career with assignments in South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas.  Chris has a bachelor's degree in public relations from Northwest Missouri State University.   Chris provides strategic and professional leadership for all development and operational efforts of the HCF. He works with volunteers and other stakeholders to prospect, cultivate, and solicit support for growing HCF programs by leveraging all available resources.  Chris' professional goals are to develop long-term relationships with donors, friends, and community partners by deeply engaging them to realize their charitable goals and maximize their gifts of time, talent, and treasure to HCF.  Chris and his wife Lori are Nebraska natives (Omaha and Wahoo), they have a son, CJ, who attends Mickle Middle School.  Chris have been active in Rotary, and as a Cub Scout Den Leader, and currently coaches Junior High Cross Country and Track for St. John's Catholic School.     Ways to connect with Chris:   https://heartlandcancerfoundation.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cfbc6e1709361a145ed40d367&id=d94fe9ca05&e=9ea37134d3   https://heartlandcancerfoundation.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cfbc6e1709361a145ed40d367&id=01db9189e7&e=9ea37134d3   https://heartlandcancerfoundation.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cfbc6e1709361a145ed40d367&id=c4ffa1a2af&e=9ea37134d3   https://heartlandcancerfoundation.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cfbc6e1709361a145ed40d367&id=1a81f3f0cb&e=9ea37134d3   https://heartlandcancerfoundation.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cfbc6e1709361a145ed40d367&id=0112187c95&e=9ea37134d3   https://heartlandcancerfoundation.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cfbc6e1709361a145ed40d367&id=60e930e34a&e=9ea37134d3   About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi and welcome wherever you happen to be to unstoppable mindset, where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Unexpected is always fun, and it's what we mostly do on unstoppable mindset. But I'm really glad you're here, and I want to welcome our guest today, Chris Blum, who is the Executive Director of the heartland Cancer Foundation. He's going to tell us about that and a lot of other stuff. And I know, Chris, you had a long stint in doing things in the boy scouts, and having been in scouting and and risen to the rank of Eagle with vigil in the Order of the Arrow, I'm very familiar with scouting as well, so we've got lots to talk about, and I want to welcome you and to unstoppable mindset and again, thank you for being   Chris Blum ** 02:02 here. Yeah, Michael, thanks for having me. So it's pleasure.   Michael Hingson ** 02:07 This is Chris's first podcast, so we'll try to be nice, but thanks for doing this. Why don't we start by maybe talking about the early Chris, growing up and all that, and kind of what, what, what drove you, what you learned, and anything else that you want to tell us about the earlier Chris   Chris Blum ** 02:28 Sure. Well, hey, I'm Midwest boy. I grew up in Omaha Nebraska. Council Bluffs, Iowa. If you know anything about Omaha Nebraska, you're familiar with the College World Series, so yeah, I was Yeah. Grew up average milk. Middle class family. Have two parents, one sister, two dogs. You know, lived in Omaha for seven years, and then both my parents were working in Council Bluffs Iowa, so we moved across the river and actually moved to the country because living on a gravel road went from city streets with sidewalks and a park right across the street to to a gravel road with eight houses on it and ended up going to high school at Council Bluffs Lewis Central. Played golf and ran cross country. Was very active in our East Side Christian Church and and I went to Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri, thought I thought I wanted a career in broadcasting, so I did some work on the radio station and the TV station there in at school. Thought maybe I wanted to go into sports management. So my first job out of college was with a summer collegiate baseball team in St Joseph Missouri, the St Joseph Cardinals had a lot of fun working in a minor league baseball setting, but couldn't make any money, and didn't like spending my whole summer at the ballpark because I didn't get a chance to play Golf or do a lot of other things, and then an opportunity presented itself to go to work for the Boy Scouts of America in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And having grown up in scouting, I thought, hey, this might be something that I'd be good at, and that that career lasted 25 years, took me to from South Dakota to Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and then back here to Lincoln, Nebraska, my wife's Nebraska native from Wahoo, and I'm from, as I mentioned earlier, Omaha, so we're. Like, hey, this is a great opportunity to come back home. All of our family is between Council, bluffs, wahoo and Lincoln. So we had, we've got 15 nieces and nephews. I think we got 15. I might be off on the count, but thought it'd be a good opportunity to put down some roots and stop moving all over the country and and then that has led me to to the heartland Cancer Foundation.   Michael Hingson ** 05:32 So when did you leave the scouts? From a professional standpoint,   Chris Blum ** 05:38 left the scouts in 2019 February, 2019 and then had a spent a couple years at The Nebraska Safety Council here in Lincoln, doing some business development and some marketing, helping them as a nonprofit work to keep keep the workers safe through OSHA trainings, we also had some driver ed programs for teaching teenagers how to drive safely and effectively. And then we also had a wellness component to make sure that the the employees of of our companies, you know whether they be manufacturing or in the desk, the office employees making sure that they're taking care of themselves, physically and mentally. You know little things like drinking enough water, getting up and stretching every few hours, having a stand up desk so that you, you don't spend eight hours a day sitting you and yeah. And had two years there, and then an opportunity to present itself, to come, come work for the Heartland Cancer Foundation. And so in in August of 2022, I came on board with the with the heartland Cancer Foundation. So   Michael Hingson ** 07:04 being with the scouts for 25 years, what prompted you to leave and go elsewhere?   Chris Blum ** 07:12 The biggest, the biggest thing was that they were asking me to move again. Oh, I, I had. They're no fun. Yes, set up roots here in Lincoln early on in my career. When you're single, it's easy to move every three or four years, even when you're newly married and you and your spouse don't have kids, it's Hey, it's kind of fun, a new adventure. But then when you realize your spouse has to give up her career and start all over and and you realize that the the raise that you got gets wiped out because your household income gets cut in half, and then you got to start all over with, you know, finding finding a gym to go to, Finding the grocery store, you know, meeting the neighbors finding, you know, the new house that you just moved into. Where's, where's the water shut off, where's the, you know, where's all the stuff I was used to, yeah. And so we had made the decision when we had moved to Lincoln, was that if, if we decided that the Boy Scouts wasn't going to work out for us. Could we stay in Lincoln? And again, we were around family. We had started to put down roots. My son had just started, you know, was into school and like, Look, I'm not uprooting all of this. And decided, you know, there's, there's an opportunity to do, do other things that I can do, and be very successful professionally and personally. And chose to, chose to leave the Boy Scouts.   Michael Hingson ** 08:58 Do you still have family in Omaha, Yes, yep, and that's not very far away.   Chris Blum ** 09:04 Nope. My mom and sister live actually in Council Bluffs. I've got an aunt that lives in Bellevue, which is a suburb of Omaha. And then my wife's got brothers and sisters, and I'll miss that. Count up, she's got seven brothers and sisters in Wahoo and and Lincoln. So we're all we're all right here. So, yeah, it's,   Michael Hingson ** 09:33 it is it is tough to move. And I know my wife passed away in November of 2022, and people started asking me after she passed, well, are you going to move because you've got that big house? And as as I love to say to people, first of all, moving is incredibly stressful, especially when you've been somewhere for a while. But. For me, I pay under 200 I pay under $2,000 a month for principal, interest, tax and insurance. Why would I move? It'd be costing me any a bunch more money to move anywhere. So sure. And the house is seven years old, so it's built to all the codes and solar and all that. So there's a lot to be said for being content with where you are. So I'm with you. I know that I've spent time in Lincoln and worked with the Department of Rehabilitation back there and then across the state somewhat. I have a former geometry teacher, Dick herbalsheimer, who was my sophomore geometry teacher. He now lives in Sydney, Nebraska. He kind of always wanted to move back there, even though he was teaching out in Palmdale, but we visited him. He is, what, 87 this year, and we always discuss the fact that he's older than I am, and he keeps telling me, I'm catching up. And I said, Nope, you're always going to be seven years ahead of me. I'm not going to worry about it, or not seven years you're going to be 14 years ahead of me, and I'm not catching up. Sure, that's kind of fun. But I like, I like Nebraska. It's a lot of fun to be there and so on. Well, you and it's interesting to hear what you say about the Safety Council. I haven't spoken at any State Safety Council meetings, but I've spoken at safety and emergency preparedness organization conventions, and had a lot of fun doing it, and really appreciate some of the kinds of things that you're talking about and what you're trying to teach people to do. Because, yeah, if you just sit all day, every day, and in an office at a desk, that's not good for anybody,   11:46 correct? Well, so   Michael Hingson ** 11:49 you, you, you went to the Nebraska well, to the heartland Cancer Foundation. Tell me about the foundation, if you would   Chris Blum ** 11:58 sure. So the the heartland Cancer Foundation was founded in 2008 by a local group of cancer doctors who, as they were helping their patients and treating their patients, they they saw a need to help them with their their basic expenses, their their car payments, their mortgage, their utilities, and then the the travel expenses to and from treatment. You know, those are, those are expenses that when you get a cancer diagnosis, they don't, they don't stop. You know, they wanted to do something locally for the local patients. You know, raising money for the national organizations for research is is important, but when you're going through treatment and struggling to figure out how to pay your bills, you don't really care about cancer research and funding that leaves the state. So these doctors put together this foundation, and over the past few years, they've just steadily grown it through some special events. We currently provide grants of $750 to cancer patients in Nebraska. You've got to be a resident of Nebraska, you have to be in active treatment, and you have to qualify financially. What we our requirements are, we take the federal poverty guidelines, and we times that by four, and the application process is pretty easy. It's online, or we can actually, we can actually mail a paper copy to a person working with their nurse practitioner or their social worker, the medical staff that they work with they get it filled out. Our turnaround time is about a about a day or two, depending on how, how quick our program director reads it and then, and then we we approve the grant. The The nice thing that I think we offer is we actually pay the bills directly to the mortgage company or the car company or the utility company for the for the patient, so that takes that burden off of them, or their family who's ever might be helping them out throughout the the whole process, if they, if the patient says, Hey, I my biggest need of those four categories is travel expenses to and from treatment, then we will, we'll mail them gas cards to that they can use for their. For their trips. Nebraska, being mostly rural, you know, a lot of our folks are driving outside of Lincoln, you know, 45 minutes an hour into Lincoln for treatment, or if they're in one of our outstanding community towns that we serve, whether it be Beatrice or Grand Island or Hastings, you know, they're, they could be driving, you know, 1520 minutes, you know. And the gas prices the last few years have kind of skyrocketed. So that's been our, our biggest need in the past couple years, to ensure that folks have, have the, have the travel expenses. And again, we we pride ourselves on immediate and practical financial assistance for for local cancer patients. So like I said, as long as you live in in Nebraska and you're in active treatment, you you're eligible, and we've been blessed that we've never turned down a request. So we're, it's something we're we're planning on continuing to a streak with. We hope we'll. We plan on continuing.   Michael Hingson ** 16:16 Are the grants one time grants? Or can people receive more than one? Or how does that work?   Chris Blum ** 16:20 They can, they can receive one every 12 months. Ah, okay, so, yeah, unfortunately, cancer doesn't usually get fixed in a year, no. So we, we offer, you know, after that 12 month cycle, they can, they can reapply. We also collaborate with other other foundations here in Nebraska, the Hope Foundation, the Grace Foundation, and angels among us is another one where we our patients can help. You know, if they get grants from them, we actually encourage that. We don't, we don't disqualify them because they get grants from somebody else. So, you know, we and we share that. We share those resources with our on our website. Hey, here's some other other areas of needs. Because as as great as the needs are for for cancer patients, our mission that we've stuck to is these are our four categories that we fund, and we'll give you money for their for these four if you need help outside of those four categories, here's some here are some people that you you should reach out to.   Michael Hingson ** 17:37 Are there similar organizations in other states,   Chris Blum ** 17:42 that is a very good question. I want to say yes, but I I don't know that for sure. I would. I have to believe that there are. I That's probably a something I need to be more aware of. But like I said, most of the stuff we have done has been all in Nebraska, so we are very familiar with the foundations in Nebraska that help. Again, the great thing about Google is we could probably, I could probably Google it more talented to be able to do this while I'm while I'm talking to you, but I don't want to mess mess that up and hit the wrong button and get cut off from the podcast here.   Michael Hingson ** 18:29 I know, I know what you're saying. We   Chris Blum ** 18:31 can probably Google and like I said, I'm sure there are groups   Michael Hingson ** 18:38 in other states well, and there are a lot of different organizations in Nebraska, as you say, what sets the HCF apart? What makes you unique and what you do? What   Chris Blum ** 18:50 makes us unique is that we provide the immediate, practical assistance, and it's, it's a quick turnaround time, you know, you're not, you're not applying, and then waiting, you know, you you apply and say, Hey, I need my mortgage paid for. We agree. We start, we start covering that mortgage. You know, that mortgage payment, you know, and and most of our, most of our clients at mortgage payments somewhere between one and three months. And so if we can take that burden off of an individual for that that amount of time, and they can spend now that that one to three months just focusing on healing and not having to worry about, how am I going to pay pay the mortgage this month? You know, we're we have a local, a local board of 12 members. So all our decisions are are made here in Lincoln. We're not we're not having to call somebody in in Dallas. We're not having to call somebody in New York. You know, if, if we have a, if we have something we need to do, we we talk to the board and we. Make a decision. Most of our, majority of our funding, is all raised here in Nebraska. And we do get several, several 1000s of dollars of support from the pharmaceutical companies through some educational programs that we run and why those dollars aren't headquartered here in Nebraska. They all have local, local representatives that live and work here in in Omaha or Lincoln, and that, you know, we're, we're we're based local. We serve local, you know, and our staff all lives here. Fact, our one, our one staff member who works part time for us, she worked at the Beatrice hospital for a time in the intake office. So she she was involved with the patients on a daily basis before she came to workforce. So, yeah, that's, I think that's what makes us unique. And again, we were, we were started by local doctors helping helping local patients. Several of those doctors are still involved. Several other spouses are still involved in our our impact. Guild, um, so I think that's a long winded question. Answer to your to your short question. Michael, sorry about that.   Michael Hingson ** 21:27 That's fair. So I'm curious you, you said something that at least prompts a question. So you get funding from some outside sources like pharmaceutical companies and so on. Do they ever try to restrict their funds, or is that part of the message that you send is you can't do that? Yeah,   Chris Blum ** 21:46 that's, that's part of our message is that, you know, we, they can't really restrict the the funds. And if they ask to to restrict the funds, we we just say that we're we can't accept them. So again, the four things that we support are mortgage payment, car payment, utilities and then travel expenses. So that's what we ask them to to support. And it's great that you the most of the companies again, because I'm dealing with local reps, they understand what we're doing. And then we can, we can just work, work through there. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 22:35 you've spent most, well, pretty much all, of your professional life in the nonprofit world, which, generally speaking, certainly from a financial standpoint, doesn't pay as much as working a lot of times in the corporate world, but you've been very successful at being a leader and building teams and so on. What? What makes you stay in the the nonprofit sector as opposed to going elsewhere.   Chris Blum ** 23:01 Oh, good question. I think part of it is in my Gallup strengths. You know, realized I'm a very mission driven individual, a lot of times working in the boy scouts. It, it gave me the the ability to act and operate like an entrepreneur, without the risk I didn't have. You know, there was, there was always a there was always an umbrella there. And so I like the flexibility. I like being able to to help folks. I've never really been a nine to five or so. There's a lot of times meetings, meetings and activities outside of the workday. It's a, it's more of a, it's more of a calling and being able to being able to help folks, is and give back. I think that's why I spent a lot of time with the Boy Scouts, is I knew what it did for me as a kid, and I thought, if I could this, this is my way to help, help give back. Was it the best camper, the best knot tire? I like camping, but I prefer a Marriott, yeah. And so I figured if I could help, you know, raise the money and handle stuff on the back end of things, that that would be something that would be my way of paying it, paying it back or paying it forward.   Michael Hingson ** 24:43 I hear you, I, I, I didn't mind going camping. I enjoyed it, but at the same time, it was always a whole lot more fun to stay indoors, as I learned a whole lot later in life. So there's, there's a lot to be said for hotels, but at the. Same time, I never regret the knowledge and all the information that I learned in my years as a scout, including camping and learning how to function in those kinds of environments, whether I choose to do it or not, having the knowledge is also a very helpful thing to to be able to tie yourself to Yes, and so I don't mind it a bit. How what? What caused you to start being a professional Scouter? What was it just a job that came up? Or how did that work out?   Chris Blum ** 25:38 Oh, so, yeah, that's an interesting story.   Michael Hingson ** 25:43 Love stories.   Chris Blum ** 25:45 When I left the so I was working in minor league baseball, as I mentioned earlier, and the season was over. September. I was actually working with the Wichita wranglers double a team in Wichita, Kansas. Season was over early September, and they said, Hey, we love you. We want you to work for us, the internship to be a full time job, but it's not going to start till January. Well, it's September. I, I got a car payment. I, you know, I got, you know, rent. I need to eat. I can't not work for four months. So I moved back to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and I answered an ad in the Omaha World Herald marketing and fundraising professional. Or maybe it was a, I think it was a marketing, public relations and fundraising professional position. Okay, so I go to the address on the paper back in those days, you didn't Google it. You Oh, the address. Okay, get out the road,   Michael Hingson ** 26:53 get the Thomas brothers map out. Yeah, and   Chris Blum ** 26:57 I showed up at the Boy Scout office. I'm like, Okay, this, this is odd. I didn't know that there was a professional side of scouting, and so I sat down, I interviewed and and they were telling me, you know, here's what you do. You you talk to people, you get a you recruit kids. You gotta raise money. I'm like, oh, that's kind of like sales, sales in minor league baseball, working in the stadium operations department, on putting on camperies, and they're like, Yeah, and you, you're not going to deal too much with kids, you know, you're not, you're not a scout master or a cub, cub scout master or a den leader. You're handling the business side of scouting. Okay, that makes sense. And so I I interviewed in Omaha. And boy scouts have a National Personnel System, so So I was in their system. Omaha didn't have a job. They didn't, they didn't select me for a job. But I got a call from the scout executive in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Scout executive is, would be the CEO of the local council or the local franchise. And I talked to him, he's like, Well, I've got a job for you. I need you to come up here and interview and say, Okay, I really, really don't want to drive three hours for an interview unless you're going to give me the job. And he said, Well, I can't enter. I can't give you the job without interviewing. Yeah. I said, Well, we've got a phone. Let's just interview here. And, and we bantered back and forth, and he's finally just said, Well, you just drive up here and take the interview so I can give you the job. Oh, there you go. So drove up and we talked and and he was telling me, he's like, now you're going to, you're, you're going to work 50 to 60 hours a week. Okay, well, that's a lot less than I worked in baseball. So alright. He's like, you're not going to make, make very much money. I I can only pay you $23,000 I'm like, well, that's, that's, you know, 1012, grand more than I made with the baseball team. So where do I sign? And he's like, Well, you're, you're going to cover 11 counties in South Dakota, so there's a lot of driving time. Okay, well, I've driven all over Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa,   Michael Hingson ** 29:18 and I came here, didn't I? Yeah, I'm like,   Chris Blum ** 29:23 Okay, where do, where do I sign? And so I actually had relatives in my I had a aunt and uncle, great aunt and uncle that lived in winter South Dakota, which was going to be one of my, one of my communities that I would be in charge of. So, you know, I'm like, this is like, a no brainer. I think, you know, the good Lord's looking out for me. You know, go going from not having any job to getting a new job with a car and and a raise and benefits and and so, and I ended up working out of my house. So I had a I had an old desk that I, you know, fact, it wasn't even a desk before I got a desk. I had a two saw saw horses and and an old piece of plywood that I used as my desk because I I remembered reading something that Sam Walton, that's how his desk started. Well, if it's good enough for Sam Walton that it worked for me, and the price was right. I, you know, everything was free. So, so I started working for the Boy Scouts, and really, really enjoyed it. My first summer, I was in in charge of a traveling Cub Scout day camp. So we traveled and put on, kind of like a carnival event in all the communities in South Dakota and Minnesota, and I got paid to run around and shoot BB guns and bows and arrows, run around in shorts and a T shirt and, you know? And I'm like, wow, this is pretty fun. And so it never really felt like a job. I found my two, two good things I was really strong at in in scouting, was I was running good at running camps, making sure kids got signed up. Camps were full, they had a good time, and that we turned a profit. And I was really good at raising money. And realized, if you run camps for the Boy Scouts, it's kind of like being in minor league baseball. Your summers, you don't get a lot of time to do anything but, but work and be at   Michael Hingson ** 31:28 camp. How tough?   Chris Blum ** 31:29 If you raise money, you're always going to have a job. And a lot of times your summers are off, so or you're, you're spending your summers with donors, playing golf, or, you know, going to a ball game or, you know, and so my my skill set translated, you know, Boy Scout councils needed somebody that could relate to donors, raise money, work with marketing and project management. And so my career track with the Boy Scouts, took the the fundraising track and and the development track and and continued to sharpen that skill set, and ended up working for the Boy Scout foundation in Dallas, traveling around the country, working With Boy Scout councils and their and their donors to help figure out how to how to secure gifts of $100,000 to 5 million, and really understanding how to match the donors. Donors passion with the local council's vision, you know, to make sure that you know the donor wanted to give a give money to build a swimming pool, but the council needed a new dining hall, so let's not put a new swimming pool in. Let's figure out how to, how to make a new dining hall work, or find out, you know, does the does the donor really want to do a swimming pool? Or they just thought it was a neat idea, yeah. And so that was, that was kind of how it worked. And I, again, they, they needed local council leadership here in Lincoln as a CEO, and the powers to be at the Boy Scouts thought I'd be a good candidate. So I came here to to Lincoln to interview and and was selected to serve as the scout executive. And, like I said, did that for four years and and enjoyed it, but it when it got to the time that, hey, it's time for you to look at a new job somewhere else, and we want you to start over somewhere else. I think the options they gave me were Pennsylvania and Montana, and they said, why those sound great? Could have come 10 years ago. It would have been a lot easier for me to say, yeah, yeah. So yeah. That's how the kind of the Boy Scout, Boy Scout story started and   Michael Hingson ** 33:55 you you equated or mentioned early on about the fact that what they were asking you to do with the Boy Scouts was really like sales and so on. Tell me what, what do you think the differences are? Or really, are there differences between sales and what, what people do in traditional kinds of selling of things and fundraising? And I'll and I'll tell you why I asked the question, because my belief is that they're really the same thing. Obviously, there's a little bit more of a mission component to fundraising than sales, but really are they all that different?   Chris Blum ** 34:36 Oh, that's a that's a good question. In fact, one of my, one of my really good friends from my time living in Michigan. Matt Stevens is a professional sales coach with Jerry Weinberg and Associates. He's a Sandler assistant guy and and disciple and very talented and very good. There are a lot of a lot of similarities. I. Um, I, my, my viewpoint is that sales is more of a science fundraising, fundraising is more of an art, but they do intertwine. Yeah, the thing about really good sales people and the representative is both of them. It comes down to relationships, yeah, but with sales, the the best ones are the ones that are disciplined. They they know every day. I'm I'm going to make certain amount of calls, I'm going to talk to a certain amount of people, I'm going to meet with a certain amount of people, and then, and they've got that system in place where there's a follow up, okay, you need to, you need to follow back up this conversation. And so sales, in sales, it's about finding the pain point and getting at what the prospect really needs, and for them to tell you what they really need.   Michael Hingson ** 36:04 That's, of course, the real issue is that they need to tell you what they need. And, you know, I I really find that there is a science and an art to sales, because I think the best salespeople are really teachers, they're counselors, and most people don't get that. But I think that's as true for people in the fundraising world. Yeah, there are some differences, but, but I think there, there are, as you said, a lot of similarities, and I think that all too often we miss that and and the best fundraisers and the best salespeople are people who really can dig down and understand or or learn to understand what drives their customer or their donor?   Chris Blum ** 36:51 Yes, I agree. And in fundraising, a lot of times, in fundraising, I know early on, it was very transactional. Hey, I've got this golf tournament I'd like you to buy Forza or, you know, we're doing this fundraiser for this, this trinket or or recognition piece. You know, as I, as I grew up and went to work for the foundation, I really learned more about listening, you know, finding out what the donor, you know, asking them to tell their story. Why are, you know, tell me why you why you're involved in scouting. And once they start telling that story, then you start picking up, you know, bits and pieces. The other thing, I think, was fundraising, is if you can take two people and visit with the donor, you increase your odds of success, because you are going to hear something that the other person won't, and you can actually better strategize. And then a colleague of mine that I worked with at the foundation, he told me, he said, if, if you want somebody's opinion, you ask for their money. If you want somebody's money, you ask for their opinion. And it, it sunk in with me that. Well, yeah, if you, if you ask them what they think and how, you know how, how they think something should work. Or you show them the campaign brochure and, like, give me your thoughts on this, they'll lead you down the path. So similar to to salesman, and I know my friend Matt, he drives me crazy because he's always asking he, he always asks me questions. Or, you know, we go out to eat somewhere, we meet somebody, and, you know, 20 questions later, Matt's still having a conversation with a guy. And I'm like, dude, let's go. But he's, he's got that down. He, he asked, you know, fact Sandler, I've got it here on my desk that I think I got from him in one of his trainings. I I snuck was questions that you should, you know, and so, so, yeah, I think it's, they're very much related. And I think, you know, I've learned, you know, I'm, I've brought the sales discipline to the fundraising, and then I've and then some of the again, asking the questions and not not being, not being so much in a rush. I think that's part of the challenges with fundraisers and nonprofits as we are so into I got to get this money, I got to get this sponsorship for this, for this event, or our year end budget. We, you know, we got to get these year end gifts in. And we don't really, you know, we don't really stop and and and take a donor to coffee and just say, hey, thank you. Thanks for what you do for us. Yeah, why do you do what you do for us? And, once we start having those conversations, and we listen and we and we don't listen to and we're not sitting there thinking about what we're going to say next, that's where, you know, the magic happens. That's where the the sale, the. Or you know, you know. And sometimes I think, you know sales, you're selling a product, and we think that that customer needs that product. Well, do we know if we had asked the issue, right, if they need it? And sometimes they don't even know they need it. And and and I've, I sit on that end all the time, I get emails, hey, we can help you raise more money at this event. You know? We can help you with a bigger with a better CRM and, like, no, no, no, you know. And so, yeah, it I think again. Like I said, I've learned a lot from some of the my good friends that are salespeople and very successful. It's about the discipline. Put it in your calendar, you know. And I've actually been on, I was a sale Salesforce disciple for a few years at the foundation, and that was, to me, that was just too rigid, because, like, well, you met with, you met with Bill Smith three weeks ago. Proposal needs to be completed today, and sent like, Well, no, he's he's not ready. Yeah, you know. And so it felt like I was always managing, managing the tasks of the sales force, but, but understood why they were doing it, tickling it. Okay? It forced me to look okay, well, why isn't bill ready? Oh, because I haven't, I haven't found why. Or I haven't, you know, it's been three weeks since I've talked to him. So, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 41:30 there are, there are definite challenges. It's, it is true that that ultimately, you've got to really have the opportunity to step back and look at what the customer wants, or the donor wants, who is, in a sense, the customer. I know the Sandler system is often about pain. You know, well, what pain are you feeling as the person that we're trying to sell to? And can I figure out your pain? And that works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't, but it isn't any different in fundraiser fundraising, the The difference is that you probably don't call it pain. You call it more an issue of what drives me to want to give to this organization or that organization, or what what influenced me to even come there? And it amounts to the same thing, but we we tend to still put things in such rigid terms that we ultimately don't get back down to what is the what is the customer, the donor, or, in your case, the foundation, really need, and then you map a strategy accordingly.   Chris Blum ** 42:42 Yeah, and it's, it's really, again, goes back to, you know, I think sometimes in the fundraising world the nonprofit, we think we know why somebody, oh, they, they support us because they come to our golf term, okay, well, do you know why? You know. And a lot of times when you sit and ask, Why can't? Because, you know, definitely on the foundation, well, you know, Dr green asked me to to play in his Foursome, or Dr Nate Green was, was my wife's oncologist. Yeah, I was just gonna say, you know, Dr Dunder is my neighbor. You know, those are the, those are the type of things you know that you know, in my, my year and a half I've been here, I've been finding out, you know, you know, there's a ton of golf tournaments. Why do you, why do you come to our golf tournament? Well, my, my spouse, was a patient, or, you know, the foundation helped my, my uncle, or, you know, and so it's, it's finding that, and, and then the, you know, the question that I think we, we don't ask enough in the nonprofit, is, well, we, if we didn't do the golf tournament, would you still support the organization? You know, do you? Would you still support the mission? Because, from my standpoint, I would love to have somebody just write me the sponsor check, yeah, and not have to worry about, you know, paying for a golf course, and we're paying for, you know, if you put on a gala and you got to, you got to pay for the food, you got to pay for the venue. If we didn't have the gala, would you still write the check, you know? And a lot of times I get it the corporate money. It's easier to to be tied to, to an event because they they work at Mark, they look at it as a marketing or a public, public thing. But I think just again, having that conversation so that, you know, well, they're coming, this is why they're coming to the golf term. This is why they're coming to the Mardi Gras Gala, you know. And again, the challenge with with with nonprofits is that we, a lot of us, do a lot of non special events, and having having a lot of special events. But you know, you're not going to get the same sponsors back every year because the dates not going to align, or the person who wrote the check for that company got promoted or left the company and the new person isn't familiar with you. So I think again, that's a that's a question in the nonprofit world, we we need to ask, but a lot of times we're afraid of asking that, would you write us the check without coming to all the events, or if, if that's the why you're coming, or why you're writing the check is because the event that's that's also important to know, because then you know they're not coming if they're if we don't have this event. And I would guess that most, most supporters of your organization in the event, that's not why they're they're coming but,   Michael Hingson ** 45:49 but they do love the personal contact, yes,   Chris Blum ** 45:51 yes. And then they love to see the the stuff you know, the the program in action. And they, they like the personal contact and, but yeah, the the special events are very, very time, time intensive to to put on and, and so, yeah, it would be be much easier if we could just have somebody, you know, give the gift, because they support us and come back, you know, you know, come back next time. I can help so   Michael Hingson ** 46:28 and maybe if they start out coming because of the events and so on, as given the way you operate, as you gain more of a personal relationship with them, you may find that you can guide some of them away from just needing to come to the event to support the organization, and it may mean that you can get them to the point where they'll be a larger donor because you do the event, but also just because they they buy into what you're doing, And you're able to educate them about that? Yeah,   Chris Blum ** 47:02 absolutely. That's, that's where the magic happens is, is after the event, you know, how, how do you follow up? You know, is a thank you, a personal visit, you know, finding out, Hey, why? Why were you there? And, yeah, and we've, you know, we've, we've had some success here at the Foundation with that. We've got. We've got a couple donors. Yeah, they've, they've come to one or two of our events, but yet they, they call us towards the end of end of the year every year, like, hey, what else? What else can we help you with? And sometimes I don't even have to answer, like, we're sending you the check. Use it how you need it. So there you go. And I think a lot of the successful nonprofits around the around the country that they do the exact same thing. It's just with most nonprofits, you're always trying to put 10 pounds of potatoes in a five pound bag, and you literally could work 24/7, and and still be behind. And that's probably the same way in the corporate world. I'm fact, I'm sure it is, you know, and I had a, I had a friend a long time ago. He said, Yeah, faster planes and shorter runways, and that was back in 1993 so could almost say we've got supersonic planes and no runways now, so just how fast things move? The problem with   Michael Hingson ** 48:27 all that, though, is that it's not the planes and the runways, it's the roads getting to the airport that tend to slow you down a lot, right? I was reading an article a couple weeks ago all about how efficient, more efficiently. We have become an R with air travel and so on directly, but it's all the things leading up to it that take a lot longer than it used to, and it adds so much more stress in our lives, and that doesn't help either. But you know, with what you're doing, anyone who understands nonprofits and understands the mission of an organization, and buys into it, knows full well the value and the joy in a lot of ways that you get from doing what you do, and the joy of accomplishing a task, and that's probably a little bit different than what happens in a lot of sales environments, although, I would say for me, when I was selling computer products, and I would spend a lot of time talking with prospects about what they want, what they need, And and also making sure that my product was the one that would do what they need. And I had never had qualms about saying, you know, our product's not going to work for you, and here's why. And that always eventually was a very positive thing, because they would call me back at some point. Say, because of everything you taught us, we've got another project, and we know your product will do exactly what we want. So just tell us how much it is. We're not even going to put it out to bid. But that, again, is all in the relationship. And the joy of knowing that you helped someone really solve a problem is super so it is true that it translates into sales, but you got to look for that opportunity, and you got to look for that joy in your own life and what you do. And I think it is emphasized a lot less than looking at and understanding the mission of a nonprofit.   Chris Blum ** 50:34 Absolutely, good,   Michael Hingson ** 50:36 yeah, which, yeah, which is, was? It's part of the issue, part of the issue. So what does success look like for you? You, you clearly are, I would, I would say successful in what you do and so on. You enjoy what you do. So what is success to you?   Chris Blum ** 50:51 Oh, that's, that's an ever, yeah, ever moving. It is moving obstacle. I guess it just depends, I think, from a professional standpoint, at the foundation here, success is making sure we've got, we've got enough money to to never have to say no to a to an applicant, being able to to grow the foundation you know, you know, live, capitalizing on the success of of my predecessors. You know, the board, the previous director, Amy green, and the previous donors that have set us up for for success, continuing that and making sure that, you know, five or 10 years down the road, we've, we're given grants at, you know, $1,500 or 2000 or, you know, we're paying, we're paying everybody's mortgage for a year being able to, you know, and that, that's kind of pie in the sky. But the the success is that, you know, hey, we're able to fund everybody. You know, we are, we're in, we're we're covering every county in Nebraska, you know our when somebody says the heartland Cancer Foundation, they're like, yep, we know what they do. You need to, you need to support them. You need to get involved with them. I think, success wise, personally, you know, make sure that you know my my wife and son know that I don't spend more time at the office than I spend at home. But no, but their understanding is that when I'm in the office, they understand why I'm is because, you know, there's, there's a deadline for one of our special events, or that, you know, what I'm raising money for and engaging the community with is, is having an impact and changing the lives of cancer patients. But when I'm, you know, success looks like when I'm at home, that I'm, I'm present, you know, when I'm, when I'm at CJs baseball game or basketball game, I'm not on my phone, you know, checking emails or texts of people. I'm, if I'm on my phone, I'm taking a video or or a picture of him. You know, when, when we're at, when we travel to one of my wife, Lori's marathon trips, you know, I'm, I'm not working on the laptop. The laptop doesn't even come with me, you know. And you know, my, my role is the support. Okay, get out on the course. Cheer with her, you know. Make sure she gets to the start line on time. Make sure, you know, she gets picked up on time, and I've got, I've got the change of clothes and and the money to pay the for the massage table, if, if needed that. You know, that's my role. I think success on that end, making sure that what I the effort I give at the office, is the effort I give at home. And sometimes that's not easy,   Michael Hingson ** 54:06 but, but you do it, which is what is so cool, and you are very volitional about doing that. So Lori's a runner,   Chris Blum ** 54:12 yep, yep. She's, she's a marathon runner, half, half marathon runner. I try to be as well. I just my mind can't, can't stay focused for 26 miles. I can stay focused for 13 and and be glad that I'm done with with that part.   Michael Hingson ** 54:32 Does she work?   Chris Blum ** 54:33 Yeah, she's a, she's a seventh grade school teacher. Oh, cool. And so she's up. She's been a, she's been a school teacher since I married her, and then she she took some time off to run the household when my son was born, our son was born, so she, she was the CEO of the Blum household for nine years, and then she jumped back into the teaching world.   Michael Hingson ** 54:58 Now it's a team effort. Yes,   Chris Blum ** 55:02 and so, and yeah. And then success for me personally is making sure you know that I'm, you know, staying in relatively good shape and and and being healthy, and, you know, being proactive, you know, with my health and I need to do a better job of watching what I eat. From a healthy standpoint, I love watching cake and cookies and sugar. You know, desserts go into my mouth. But, you know, I like to make sure that I stay in shape through classes at the Y I teach a spinning class to help get help. Help participants start their day off. It's, it's a 530 Tuesday morning. So let's, let's get the day off while most people are sleeping. Let's, let's get the blood flowing. You know, set, set a good, good example for for our other family members who're still home in bed, but get, get yourself off to a to a good start, and just try to keep the body movement we're we're meant to move and and I, I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk, sitting in my car, sitting at, you know, tables, talking to people. So I gotta be up and moving and just making sure that I'm healthy. Because I, you know, want to be able to play golf and want to be able to, you know, survive and snow, yep, do things as I get get older.   Michael Hingson ** 56:43 There you go. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? I'm sure that you've, you know, you had mentors and coaches and people that you've worked with, and a lot of people I'm sure have offered advice. What's the one that sticks out in your brain?   Chris Blum ** 57:01 One of my, yeah, one of my first bosses. He told me, always trust your instincts. It seemed like every time I'd ask him a question that I was, you know, or I had a something I was dealing with, trust your instincts.   Michael Hingson ** 57:16 Good piece of advice. That's that's always   Chris Blum ** 57:18 there. And then a co worker of mine when I was at the Boy Scout Foundation. He, he had a slogan, shut up and do stuff. And I just always thought that that, you know, it's kind of his version of Talk is cheap, you know. And so, yeah, I think trust your instincts. And then the shut up and do stuff always makes me laugh, but it's just something that I just kind of   Michael Hingson ** 57:49 remember and make sense. Well, where do you see the nonprofit world going in the next five or 10 years? I mean, we're seeing so many changes in so many things, and everybody is trying to grab a little piece of each of us and so on. Where do you see nonprofits going?   Chris Blum ** 58:08 It's it's going to continue to be a challenge. I think the nonprofits need to, need to refocus how we put together strategic plans. I mean, you know, having a three to five year plan is just non realistic anymore. Your your strategic plan is probably six to eight months, and then it's gotta, it's gonna, it's constantly evolving because, you know, the world is changing that that that quickly. I think nonprofits, those that are going to survive and be successful, need to operate more like a business. So many times in the nonprofit world, my experience is when times get tough, they cut back on marketing dollars. They let go of their development staff, which, in the for profit world, that would be like, Well, why are you, you know, if times are tough, you got to sell more so you got to, you know, your salesman. You got to, do, you know, make more sales. You make more product. You don't cut your sales force to in the for profit world. So I think nonprofit wise, we've got to operate. We've got to change our mindset. You know, not only the staff getting out of the scarcity mentality, but also our boards, making sure that our boards understand it's okay to end the year with a with a surplus, because you can use that surplus to put it into an endowment. You can use that surplus to fund cash flow to pay down debt. Having a surplus, you're a winning team. People. People want to be on a winning team. You know, you don't want to recruit new board members and say, Oh yeah, by the way, we're. We got, you know, a debt of this amount, and we don't know how to get out of it's, it's easy to recruit a board member. Hey, we had a we had a significant surplus. We were blessed because we were, you know, we tightened our belt. We were aggressive in fundraising and relationship building. And we've got money in the bank. Our balance sheets positive. So I think again, in five years, the nonprofits that continue to be aggressive and strategic with relationship building and sharing their mission and then operating like a business and not, oh, we don't want to spend money on this. Let's see if we can donate. Get it donated. Well, you're spending all your time and effort to try to get something donated that if you would have just spent the $500 to take care of it already been taken care of, but you just spent your your staff time and energy trying to get it donated, and a lot of times, it ends up costing you more to get it donated than if you would have just wrote the check. Yeah, and I think you know, and I do feel that several foundations are starting to understand that we've got to operate like a business. We don't, you know, because years ago, foundations that you could never put in your proposal that this is going to fund a staff position. You had to call it, you know, program delivery, yeah, and, you know, because nobody wanted to fund overhead. And if your overhead was over, you know, 40% or whatever, you just weren't doing stuff effectively, right? We've got to change. We're changing our the nonprofits that change their messaging to here's your impact. Yes, we have we might have 40% overhead, but we serve 30,000 people. Would you rather do that than have 10% overhead and serve 3000 people? Which impact do you want to make? And you know, the more people you serve, the greater impact that you have. Chances are your your overhead is going to be more and so sharing that message, getting your board to understand that, that it's it's okay to it's okay to budget a five or 6% raise for your staff. You know, well, the industry standard, and you know, in our industry, is three Well, 3% when you're making 150 or $200,000 sounds like a lot. You know, 3% when you're making 50 or $60,000 that's not a whole lot. A six or 7% raise, you know, is, is more impactful at that 50 or $60,000 level, and what you'll keep good quality people, you know it, you know, again, the nonprofit sector is always going to be here again, I think the the ones in five years, the ones that act like a business, that relate to donors, that take more of a relationship based for the fundraising part, and educating the donors. You know, sometimes I think, oh, they give us a lot of money, but do we really tell them what we're what we're about and and do we ask them to, do we ask them to critique our our annual report? Or do we ask them to, you know? Do ask them to review the golf or some assignments, just to say, hey, what do you what do you think you know? You know? And I've been guilty of this too, or they don't really need to know that. But sometimes it's, you know, it's just a courtesy, and maybe they see something. Hey, you know, I wouldn't put these two guys together because they're competitors or whatnot, but have we? Do we ask donors and, and our board, you know, their for their thoughts and, and, you know, so I think, yeah, five years down the road, it, it'll be interesting. I like to joke. I hope I'm retired by then, but my, my son, will be going into college then, so I think I'm going to still be working to to fund his college, his college adventure. But is, is he in scouting? He was in scouts we I was his den leader. He was one of the first lion cubs that we, that we had here in Lincoln, as lion cubs started and we got through arrow of light. And then he went to a first couple of his troop meetings. And then other other things got. Got to compete for his time, music, music in school. And it happens, baseball and basketball and our, our cub Dan went through that covid, those two covid years, and so it, it was. It was pretty rough. I. Yeah, I would like to see, it's going to be interesting to see the the effects that covid has had on that, on that group of kids that you know for basically three years actually, here in Lincoln. Three years were, you know, my son, yeah, third grade year. Half Year was work, learning from home. Yeah. Fourth grade year was all mask. Fifth grade year was, I think, all masks. So, you know, but a lot of those extracurricular activities for those three years, we weren't meeting in churches. We weren't, you know, we weren't doing the social things. I I'm curious to see how that, how that affects them down the road. And there were a lot of organizations that it covid really struggled. You know, the the service clubs that had, you know, relied on those weekly meetings, and those that weekly human interaction, those really struggled, yeah, and so he still, you know, he still reminds me when we're doing stuff, he's like, oh, gotta take this. Gotta be prepared, Dad, we don't. We don't need three bags for full of stuff. But okay, yep, you're, you're right. We need to, we need to be prepared. So had a, we had a great time in in Cub Scouts, and several of several the kids in Cub Scouts are now all on the baseball team and the basketball team and several of the parents. It's funny because few of the parents that I was the den leader for their kid, they're now the coach. They're the baseball and basketball coach for my son. So that just takes a village.   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:36 It does well if people want to support the heartland Cancer Foundation and reach out to you. How do they do that?   Chris Blum ** 1:06:43 It's, it's, again, real simple. Go online, Heartland Cancer Foundation, org, click the donate button. Or they can, and they can, you know, make a donation, cash check. You know, we can take, we can take Venmo, you know, we'll take, we can take stock gifts, you know, we, we can help, help anybody out who's willing to, to make an impact for cancer patients here in Nebraska. But yeah, our website, Heartland Cancer Foundation, org, tells you all about us. If you're, you know, if you're want to come to our Mardi Gras gala February 17, it's a that's a good time. It's like being in New Orleans without having to go to New Orleans. We we do a golf tournament in August here. So if you're, if you're a golfer, and find yourself in Lincoln, Nebraska, we'd love to have you at our at firethorne Country Club.   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:43 And if, if they'd like to chat with you, how can they do that?   Chris Blum ** 1:07:47 It's very, very easy. You can send me an email at Chris at Heartland, Cancer foundation.org, or you can can reach out to me cell phone number 972-835-5747, that's a that's a Texas number. I just learned that number. I wasn't going to relearn a new number when I moved to Lincoln here. So I actually use that to my advantage, because when it comes up, people think, Oh, they're calling me about lapsed auto insurance or life insurance. So I get to leave a voicemail, and they're like, Oh, the heartland Cancer Foundation.   Michael Hingson ** 1:08:22 Okay, yeah. Well, Chris, I want to thank you for spending all this time with us. I value it and really appreciate you telling us all the things that you have and on all the insights. It's been very educational for me and inspiring, and I hope it has been for everyone listening. I hope that you all enjoyed Chris's comments. We'd love to hear from you. Of course, as I always ask, I love a five star rating from you, if you would please, wherever you're listening to us, if you'd like to reach out to me. It's easy. It's Michael, H, I M, I C, H, A, E, L, H I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I, B, E.com, or go to our podcast page, www.michaelhinkson.com/podcast and Michael Hingson is spelled M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S O Ncom/podcast, but again, love to get five star rating from you. We value that very highly. And any opinions and comments that you'd like to make love to read them. And so Chris, for you and any of you listening, if you know anyone else who ought to be a guest on unstoppable mindset, please let us know. We're always looking for people. And I have to ask Chris, since she said this is your first podcast, how did it go for you?   Chris Blum ** 1:09:38 Well, I enjoyed it. I guess probably need to get, need to get the see how many rating, five star ratings you get. Yeah, we'll have to see how that goes. But yeah, very, very nice. It. It was good. Brought me with the headset and the microphone. It brought me back to my radio radio station days in college,   Michael Hingson ** 1:09:58 and so I know the feeling. Well, yeah, well,   Chris Blum ** 1:10:01 me too. If you need, need another speaker down the road, I can, I can come up with some, some other topics to talk about, I guess.   Michael Hingson ** 1:10:09 Well, if you want to, you're welcome to to do that. If you want to shoot some more questions and all that, let's, let's do it again. Always will be, I'm always ready. Yeah, happy,   Chris Blum ** 1:10:20 happy to do it. But let's, let's see how many of your star ratings you get. If you get like, half a star for this one, then you're probably like, Yeah, we're gonna lose Chris's email. Nah.   Michael Hingson ** 1:10:29 Never happened. Well, thanks once again for being here and for all your time. All right. Thank   Chris Blum ** 1:10:35 you very much, Michael.   **Michael Hingson ** 1:10:40 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visi

In this solo episode, Codie dives into the consequences of poor leadership, emphasizing the importance of trust and long-term thinking in building a successful company culture. She shares insights from top leaders like Elon Musk and Sam Walton, along with tips from successful entrepreneurs and her own experiences in leading businesses. The episode wraps up with a Q&A session where she answers listeners' questions about entrepreneurship and leadership. Record your first video https://creators.riverside.fm/Codie and use code CODIE for 15% off an individual plan. 00:00 START 01:43 Rant: Leadership Lessons 03:00 CEO Story Time: Elon Musk's Leadership 11:44 The Contrarian Creed 15:22 Deal of the Week: Customer Leverage 21:19 Q&A: Advice and Insights

Since its founding in 1967 Fastenal has grown from a small fastener store in Winona, Minnesota, into a multibillion-dollar global organization. How did a small town “nuts and bolts” shop become one of the world's most dynamic growth companies? Whenever asked, company founder Bob Kierlin attributes Fastenal's success to the company's high-quality employees and their commitment to a common goal: Growth Through Customer Service.What I learned from reading The Power of Fastenal People by Robert Kierlin.  ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube (Video coming soon!) ----Other books mentioned in this episode: Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going! by Les Schwab.Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton.All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger – A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense by Peter Bevelin.Bloomberg by Michael Bloomberg.Born of This Land: My Life Story by Chung Ju-yung.The Bugatti Story by L'Ebe Bugatti.Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary by Robert Price. How To Make A Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs.----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast 

Join us in this episode as we reflect on International Beer Day and explore the acquired taste of beer. We then delve into a discussion on Sam Walton's approach to change in business, focusing on the concept of the “RC factor” – resistance to change. Discover how our pattern-seeking minds […] The post Priority is not Plural – Business Brain 570 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

What I learned from having dinner with John Mackey and reading his autobiography The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism.----Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube (Video coming soon!) ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast 

What I learned from reading The House of Arnault by Brad Stone and Angelina Rascouet. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event----(3:00) While other politicians were content to get their information from a scattering of newspapers, he devoured whole shelves.  — Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill by Michael Shelden. (Founders #320)(7:00) Arnault had understood before anyone else that it was a true industry. — The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai. (Founders #296)(9:00) Arnault is an iron fist in an iron glove. — The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai.The public conception of Sam as a good ol' country boy wearing a soft velvet glove misses the fact that there's an iron fist within. —  Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man by Vance Trimble.(12:00) People often ask me, “When are you going to retire?” And I answer, “Retire from what?” I've never worked a day in my life. Everything I've done has been because I've loved doing it, because it was enthralling. — Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell. (Founders #269)(16:00) “I am not interested in managing a clothing factory. What you need, and I would like to run, is a craftsman's workshop, in which we would recruit the very best people in the trade, to reestablish in Paris a salon for the greatest luxury and the highest standards of workmanship. It will cost a great deal of money and entail much risk.” — Christian Dior to Marcel Boussac(17:00) Arnault believed that luxury brands could be larger than anyone at the time imagined.(20:00) Arnault said this 35 years ago: “My ten-year objective is that LVMH's leading position in the world be further strengthened in the luxury goods sector. I believe that there will be fewer and fewer brand names capable of retaining a worldwide presence and that those of our group will be among them as we will provide them with the means for growth.”(25:00) There are huge advantages for the early birds. When you're an early bird, there's a model that I call surfing—when a surfer gets up and catches the wave and just stays there, he can go a long, long time. But if he gets off the wave, he becomes mired in shallows. But people get long runs when they're right on the edge of the wave, whether it's Microsoft or Intel or all kinds of people, including National Cash Register. Surfing is a very powerful model.”  —  the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)(25:00) One thing I learned from having dinner with Charlie was the importance of getting into a great business and STAYING in it. There's a tendency in human nature to mess up a good thing because of an inability to sit still.(25:00) The incredible career of Les Schwab: Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going! by Les Schwab. (Founders #330)(30:00) Dior in his autobiography: It is widely, and quite erroneously, believed that when the house of Christian Dior was launched, enormous sums were spent on publicity: on the contrary in our first modest budget not a single penny was allotted to it. I trusted to the quality of my dresses to get Christian Dior talked about. Moreover, the relative secrecy in which I chose to work aroused a positive whispering campaign, which was excellent (free) propaganda. Gossip, malicious rumours even, are worth more than the most expensive publicity campaign in the world.(31:00) Munger: “There are actually businesses that you will find a few times in a lifetime, where any manager could raise the return enormously just by raising prices-and yet they haven't done it. So they have huge untapped pricing power that they're not using. That is the ultimate no-brainer. Disney found that it could raise those prices a lot and the attendance stayed right up. So a lot of the great record of Eisner and Wells came from just raising prices at Disneyland and Disneyworld and through video cassette sales of classic animated movies. At Berkshire Hathaway, Warren and I raised the prices of See's candy a little faster than others might have. And, of course, we invested in Coca-Cola-which had some untapped pricing power.”— Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor by Tren Griffin(33:00) The benefits Arnault receives from owning commercial real estate: He makes money from his own stores, from leasing space to rivals—and from the appreciation of premium real estate. When LVMH buys a building, it takes the best storefronts for its own brands and often asks rivals to move out when their leases expire.(35:00) Arnault is all about details. He has 200,000 employees and he's paying attention to details about landscaping in the Miami Design District.(36:00) If we lose the detail, we lose everything. — Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. (Founders #347)----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

What I learned from reading Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man by Vance Trimble. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event----(2:30) Sam Walton built his business on a very simple idea: Buy cheap. Sell low. Every day. With a smile.(2:30) People confuse a simple idea with an ordinary person. Sam Walton was no ordinary person.(4:30) Traits Sam Walton had his entire life: A sense of duty. Extreme discipline. Unbelievable levels of endurance.(5:30) His dad taught him the secret to life was work, work, work.(5:30) Sam felt the world was something he could conquer.(6:30) The Great Depression was a big leveler of people. Sam chose to rise above it. He was determined to be a success.(11:30) You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient. — Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton. (Founders #234)(15:30) He was crazy about satisfying customers.(17:30) The lawyer saw Sam clenching and unclenching his fists, staring at his hands. Sam straightened up. “No,” he said. “I'm not whipped. I found Newport, and I found the store. I can find another good town and another store. Just wait and see!”(21:30) Sometimes hardship can enlighten and inspire. This was the case for Sam Walton as he put in hours and hours of driving Ozark mountain roads in the winter of 1950. But that same boredom and frustration triggered ideas that eventually brought him billions of dollars. (This is when he learns to fly small planes. Walmart never happens otherwise)(33:30) At the start we were so amateurish and so far behind K Mart just ignored us. They let us stay out here, while we developed and learned our business. They gave us a 10 year period to grow.(37:30) And so how dedicated was Sam to keeping costs low? Walmart is called that in part because fewer letters means cheaper signs on the outside of a store.(42:30) Sam Walton is tough, loves a good fight, and protects his territory.(43:30) His tactics later prompted them to describe Sam as a modern-day combination of Vince Lombardi (insisting on solid execution of the basics) and General George S. Patton. (A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.)(43:30) Hardly a day has passed without Sam reminding an employee: "Remember Wal-Mart's Golden Rule: Number one, the customer Is always right; number two, if the customer isn't right, refer to rule number one.”(46:30) The early days of Wal-Mart were like the early days of Disneyland: "You asked the question, What was your process like?' I kind of laugh because process is an organized way of doing things. I have to remind you, during the 'Walt Period' of designing Disneyland, we didn't have processes. We just did the work. Processes came later. All of these things had never been done before. Walt had gathered up all these people who had never designed a theme park, a Disneyland.So we're in the same boat at one time, and we figure out what to do and how to do it on the fly as we go along with it and not even discuss plans, timing, or anything.We just worked and Walt just walked around and had suggestions. — Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. (Founders #347)(1:04:30) Sam Walton said he took more ideas from Sol Price than any other person. —Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary by Robert Price. (Founders #304)(1:07:30) Nothing in the world is cheaper than a good idea without any action behind it.(1:07:30)  Sam Walton: Made In America  (Founders #234)----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast 

If you're like me and you would rather burst into flames than go shopping, have we got the story for you…Special shout out to my UK listeners! On today's fresh new episode: we'll see how cold and aloof British parents can be; we'll see how bad psychology makes some shoppers believe they are practically immortal and fire proof; and we'll see which planet in our solar system has better, more breathable air than was available in today's story – and hint, it's not Earth.Let me mention, there are actually three disasters in this episode. The actual disaster in Manchester, another one at an IKEA right off the bat, and that poor Woolworths that Hitler hated? He hated it with a rocket. And the reaction of some victims of this disaster would lead to the creation of an actual area of study for academics interested in the bizarre behaviour of people in emergency situations. We've had people walk into burning buildings before because of trauma, but this will be something completely different.At the time this episode took place, it was the worst fire-related tragedy since WWII, but we'll also discover how this disaster changed the history of home and business safety and ended up saving thousands of lives.Special celebrity guests include retail super juggernaut, Frank Woolworth; hated former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; poison obsessed Swiss physicist, Walter Jaeger; worst mother in the world, Catherine McGuinn; British author and redneck enthusiast, George Orwell; former President Donald J. Trump; former Philippino dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda; and the former wealthiest man in America, Sam Walton.And if you were a Patreon supporter, you would also enjoy an additional 9.5 minutes where we discussed:•   where Philippino dictators and Donald Trump fit into NYC's real estate dick measuring contest•   where American rednecks came from•   the conspiracy surrounding Mattress stores on every corner across the US•   and we'll took a minute to find out just how much Hitler hated Woolworths If the idea of getting episodes a little early and ad-free with ridiculously interesting extra material strikes you as a good thing, you can find out more at:www.patreon.com/funeralkazoo All older episodes can be found on any of your favorite channels Apple : https://tinyurl.com/5fnbumdw Spotify : https://tinyurl.com/73tb3uuw IHeartRadio : https://tinyurl.com/vwczpv5j Podchaser : https://tinyurl.com/263kda6w Stitcher : https://tinyurl.com/mcyxt6vw Google : https://tinyurl.com/3fjfxatt Spreaker : https://tinyurl.com/fm5y22su Podchaser : https://tinyurl.com/263kda6w RadioPublic : https://tinyurl.com/w67b4kec PocketCasts. : https://pca.st/ef1165v3 CastBox : https://tinyurl.com/4xjpptdr Breaker. : https://tinyurl.com/4cbpfayt Deezer. : https://tinyurl.com/5nmexvwt Follow us on the socials for moreFacebook : www.facebook.com/doomsdaypodcast Instagram : www.instagram.com/doomsdaypodcast Twitter : www.twitter.com/doomsdaypodcast If you like the idea of your podcast hosts wearing more than duct tape and bits of old Halloween costumes for clothes and can spare a buck or two, you can now buy me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/doomsday or join the patreon at www.funeralkazoo.com/doomsday

We might think of the CEO of a large company as being completely disconnected from their employees. Sitting in a fancy office in a high-rise. But I've heard stories like that of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. From time to time he would show up to a warehouse in overalls and a hat with the sole intention of driving a delivery truck. CEO's who aren't above mopping the floor, or a boss who shows up in the morning with donuts for the team. These are leaders who show their appreciation to their employees rather than barking orders from the top floor. In the Bible, the book of Titus says, “Since an overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.” As you find yourself in leadership opportunities, think of bosses like these and use your position to live out your faith to those around you.    

A Note from James:Today, we have a very special guest, Steve Forbes, who is arguably the world's leading authority on billionaires. Each year, Forbes magazine publishes the Forbes 400, listing the 400 wealthiest people on the planet. Although I sometimes disagree with the list, Steve always provides fascinating insights into what it takes to become a billionaire. Our conversation covers various intriguing topics about wealth, success, and the unique traits that make these billionaires stand out. Let's jump into it.Episode Description:In this episode, originally recorded on August 10th, 2018, James sits down with Steve Forbes, the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, to explore the traits and strategies that define billionaires. Steve shares his wealth of knowledge from years of curating the Forbes 400 list, offering a rare glimpse into the minds and habits of the world's richest individuals. This conversation is not just about money; it's about understanding the relentless drive, innovative thinking, and strategic decisions that set billionaires apart. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a business leader, or someone fascinated by success stories, this episode offers unparalleled insights you won't find anywhere else. What You'll Learn:The key habits and mindsets that distinguish billionaires from millionaires.How billionaires maintain agility and innovation even as their companies grow.The role of passion and obsession in achieving monumental success.Insights into the economic and technological trends shaping the billionaire landscape.Real-world examples of how billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett manage their businesses.Chapters:01:30 - Introduction to Steve Forbes and the Forbes 400 list.03:12 - Why billionaires fascinate the public and insights on the self-made nature of most billionaires.05:00 - Discussion on Jeff Bezos hitting the $100 billion mark and the strategies of top billionaires.08:46 - The actual number of billionaires and their strategies for staying under the radar.13:10 - The differences in habits between millionaires and billionaires.18:14 - The importance of passion and seeing opportunities where others don't.21:11 - The evolution of media and Forbes' approach to digital transformation.25:15 - Inflation, deflation, and the economic impacts of technology and productivity.29:26 - Potential billionaire candidates for the presidency and their political prospects.32:11 - Billionaire Blitz! Quick thoughts on notable billionaires featured in James's book "Think Like a Billionaire."Additional Resources:Forbes 400 ListThink Like a Billionaire by James AltucherI Love Capitalism! by Ken LangoneForbes MagazineThe Two Pizza Rule: How Amazon Delivers High-Impact ResultsTune in for an enlightening conversation that goes beyond the numbers to reveal the essence of what it means to think and act like a billionaire. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn

What I learned from reading Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success by Ken Segall. ----Come build relationships at the Founders Conference on July 29th-July 31st in Scotts Valley, California ----Learning from history is a form of leverage. —Charlie Munger. Founders Notes gives you the super power to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand.Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for FoundersYou can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs?Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffett's best ideas? (Substitute any founder covered on the podcast and you'll get a comprehensive and easy to read summary of their ideas) How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent?What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?Get access to Founders Notes here. ----(1:30) Steve wanted Apple to make a product that was simply amazing and amazingly simple.(3:00) If you don't zero in on your bureaucracy every so often, you will naturally build in layers. You never set out to add bureaucracy. You just get it. Period. Without even knowing it. So you always have to be looking to eliminate it.  — Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton. (Founders #234)(5:00) Steve was always easy to understand. He would either approve a demo, or he would request to see something different next time. Whenever Steve reviewed a demo, he would say, often with highly detailed specificity, what he wanted to happen next.  — Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs by Ken Kocienda. (Founders #281)(7:00) Watch this video. Andy Miller tells GREAT Steve Jobs stories. (10:00) Many are familiar with the re-emergence of Apple. They may not be as familiar with the fact that it has few, if any parallels.When did a founder ever return to the company from which he had been rudely rejected to engineer a turnaround as complete and spectacular as Apple's? While turnarounds are difficult in any circumstances they are doubly difficult in a technology company. It is not too much of a stretch to say that Steve founded Apple not once but twice. And the second time he was alone. —  Return to the Little Kingdom: Steve Jobs and the Creation of Appleby Michael Moritz.(15:00) If the ultimate decision maker is involved every step of the way the quality of the work increases.(20:00) "You asked the question, What was your process like?' I kind of laugh because process is an organized way of doing things. I have to remind you, during the 'Walt Period' of designing Disneyland, we didn't have processes. We just did the work. Processes came later. All of these things had never been done before. Walt had gathered up all these people who had never designed a theme park, a Disneyland. So we're in the same boat at one time, and we figure out what to do and how to do it on the fly as we go along with it and not even discuss plans, timing, or anything. We just worked and Walt just walked around and had suggestions." — Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. (Founders #347)(23:00) The further you get away from 1 the more complexity you invite in.(25:00) Your goal: A single idea expressed clearly.(26:00) Jony Ive: Steve was the most focused person I've met in my life(28:00) Editing your thinking is an act of service.----Learning from history is a form of leverage. —Charlie Munger. Founders Notes gives you the super power to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand.Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for FoundersYou can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs?Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffett's best ideas? (Substitute any founder covered on the podcast and you'll get a comprehensive and easy to read summary of their ideas) How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent?What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast