Not all interruptions are bad. A lot of times, they allow us to completely rethink the way we live our lives and use it to transition to something good. These good interruptions are what allowed Les Brown, one of the world’s most renowned and highly-sought motivational speakers, to transcend the limitations that he and other people have set upon him and create a highly successful career and life for himself. A veritable walking encyclopedia, he shares copious amounts of wisdom about life, entrepreneurship, education, resilience, success, greatness and legacy in this conversation with Michelle Seiler Tucker. At 75 years old, Les is still on top of his game and his energy is palpable all throughout the episode! So listen in, learn and share a few laughs with the one and only Les Brown.

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Good Interruptions: The Les Brown Legacy

I’m excited to have a special guest joining us. He’s one of the world’s most renowned motivational speakers, Les Brown. He is a dynamic personality and a highly sought-after resource in business and professional circles for Fortune 500 CEOs, small business owners, nonprofit and community leaders. As a premier keynote speaker and leading authority on achievement for audiences as large as 80,000 from Denmark to Dubai, Canada to the Caribbean, Les Brown energizes people to meet the challenges of the world around them. Brown received the National Speakers Association coveted Council of Peers Award of Excellence, and ultimately his most prestigious Golden Gavel Award for achievement and leadership and communication. Toastmasters International voted him as one of the Top Five Outstanding Speakers Worldwide.

A stumbling block in elementary school was when he was mistakenly declared educable mentally retarded. Teachers did not recognize the true potential of little Les Brown. However, he uses determination, persistence, and believes in his ability to go beyond being a sanitation worker to unleash a course of amazing achievements, including broadcast station manager, political commentator, and multi-term state representative in Ohio. Les Brown audio series, Choosing Your Future remains his all-time bestseller for his acclaimed impact worldwide.

Welcome, the one and only, the legendary, Les Brown. 

How are you?

I’m great. Welcome to the show.

Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here with you and thank you for the light, inspiration and motivation that you bring through your show.

I’ve been following you for decades, but I was impressed hearing you speak at City Gala and everybody in the room was. You’ve had quite an entrepreneurial speaking political and nonprofit background. Is there anything Les Brown hasn’t done?

There are some things I’m not through yet. I’m 75 so I’m still growing, learning and expanding.

It’s because to retire is to expire. If you’re not growing, you’re dying.

Most people don’t know that people who retire die within 24 months of retirement.

Is that the average 24 months? I had no idea.

The other thing is that most people die after Christmas. They say, “I just want to see one more Christmas.” 

I did not know that. My core competency is to help business owners exit their business and sell their business but I don’t help them to retire. I help them try to plan the next phase of their life. If that’s politics, if that’s buying or starting another business, or if that’s traveling the world. I don’t help them to retire. I help them to exit.

We need to talk.

You were kind to give me and Sharon Lechter a testimonial for our new book coming out called Exit Rich. Thank you for doing that.

It’s my pleasure. What you’re providing is important now more than ever before.

Before COVID, businesses were dropping like flies. It used to be that 90% of startups were at risk from 1 to 5 years now, out of 27.6 million businesses, 70% of business owners who had been in business ten years or longer will go out of business. Now they say after COVID, business shuts down every eight minutes. It’s scary. You hear about the big-box stores like J.C. Penny, Kmart, Toys”R”Us, but you don’t hear about all the small business owners. Let’s talk about you. I was going through your bio and you have quite an impressive resume. One thing that stuck out to me, probably because I have a nine-year-old daughter, is that when you were in elementary school, your teachers labeled you, put you in a box, and diagnosed you as educable mentally retarded, is that correct?

That’s true. They put me back from the 5th grade to the 4th grade, I was labeled educable mentally retarded. I fail again when I was in the eighth grade when I went to high school.

How did you deal with that? How did you handle that? How did your parents handle that? I’ve had teachers try to label my daughter and I’m like, “Don’t you dare label my daughter.”

I believe you labeled jars, not people. I was a foster kid and then I was adopted. I always say I’m here because of two women. One gave me life, the other one gave me love. God took me out of my biological mother’s womb and placed me in the heart of my adopted mother. My twin brother was smart and I have been always the one with a lot of energy. That energy got me to a lot of trouble. In my junior year in high school, my life was interrupted just like lives are being interrupted.

Now, interruptions are not bad. I was in this class and this instructor said, “Mr. Brown, go to the front of the room and work this problem out.” I said, “I can’t do that, sir.” He said, “Why not?” I said, “I’m not one of your students.” He said, “Do it anyhow.” The other students started laughing saying, “He’s Leslie, he’s got a twin brother Wesley. Wesley is smart. He’s DT.” He asked, “What’s DT?” They said, “He’s the Dumb Twin.” They started laughing. I said, “I am, sir.” He came from behind his desk and he said, “Don’t you ever say that again. Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.”

That was a turning point in my life. On one hand I was humiliated but on the other hand, I was liberated. He looked at me with the eyes of Goethe who said, “Look at a man the way that he is, he only becomes worse, but look at him as if he were what he could be, then it becomes what he should be.” How people live their lives is the result of the story they believe about themselves. He interrupted my story on that defining day. 

Thank God he did. 

How people live their lives is result of the story they believe about themselves.

I’m grateful for that, Michelle. People like you help people to get an expanded vision of themselves because as you are aware, we live in a world where we’re told more about our limitations rather than our potential. Thank God for people like you and your program. What you do is help people to rise above their mental conditioning and the words negatively that have been spoken to them and allow them to live out of their imagination rather than their history.

That teacher broke the story that moment in time. How were you still able to stay motivated and rise above that noise and realize your true potential? I feel like teachers are always looking for, “How smart is your kid?” but not, “How is your kid smart?”

What he did that was important. They did a study of some top achievers around the world and they wanted to find out what was the common denominator among them that determined their success. You were onto something, 85% reached their goals because of their attitude, 15% because of their aptitude. What he taught me was that there are three main things. There are seven principles of success that I teach but three of them, he said, “Develop your mind. You don’t get in life what you want, you get in life what you are.” Number one, as a man thinketh, so as he is. He continues to think, so he remains. Number two, upgrade your skills and knowledge. We’re living in a time where we need at least three core competencies. I speak, I trained speakers, and I’m an author. He said, “Practice the principle of OQP, Only Quality People.” You earn within $2,000 to $3,000 of your closest friends. Create, collaborative, achievement driven, supportive relationships, that will allow you to soar to new heights. That will allow you to accomplish things that you don’t know now.

Tell me about your parents, your adopted mother. How does she deal with that adversity? I’m going through something like this myself with my own daughter, labeling her and putting her in a certain box. My daughter is extremely intelligent, but she’s intelligent with her core competencies. Not necessarily the way they want to stick you in a box in school.

My mother only had a third-grade education, but she had a PhD in mother wit. I always tell people that what I learned most about my adopted mother, who I consider my real mother, was she had high expectations for me. They said that I was educable mentally retarded. She didn’t understand what that meant. Consequently, she thought my subconscious mind was in my behind. She said, “A hard head makes us soft behind.” 

You said you have a twin. Was your brother adopted with you?

Yes. We were adopted together and then she took in five other children. Altogether, there were seven of us.

What an amazing woman.

She did it single-handedly. She had high expectations for all of us. What we have to do, we can’t expect schools to do the job that we must do. We are now in a vulnerable period of time in history because this online coaching and what teachers are asked to do are driving many of them to leave the profession. Those that are staying out of desperation because they have bills, they have not learned how to connect with students in reality, in real-time to say nothing of doing it virtually. This is a time that parents have to be involved, even though you have to work and pay the bills, keep food on the table, roof over your head and transportation. This is a time that we must monitor. The Bible says, “Watch as well as pray and be in God, and control as much as we can and make the time.” If I had my life to live over again, I would build my business around my family and not my family around my business.

You said something in the show that interruptions are sometimes good.

Some things happened to you and some things happen for you. When I was fired, when I went through foreclosure for the first home that I purchased from my mother because I didn’t do a title search, I learned a lot about myself. That’s why Viktor Frankl said in Man’s Search for Meaning that, “Adversity introduces a man or a woman to themselves.” This place where we are, Zig Ziglar said, “Most people in a fearful place forget everything and run.” There are a few people like the Michelles of the world who face everything and rise. That’s what your program is designed to do, teach people how to rise in the face of fear.

Interruption is sometimes God’s pause to us to do things differently, to reflect, transformational versus transactional so we can change our lives, evolve into something better and create our business around our family, not our family around our business.

I agree with you 100% because interruptions cause you to rethink your life.

It’s either cause you to panic and do nothing or to pivot and completely revamp, revitalize your entire life, your business, and your family.

When I came back from Dubai, I got back just in time before the quarantine that people were required to go through once they’ve landed. My staff said, “All your speaking engagements are gone.” I had to throw my net on the other side. Now, I’m doing three, sometimes four virtual presentations a day at home in my Mickey Mouse pajamas.

When did you decide you wanted to become a speaker?

I was at an event and after I came back to the radio station, I was a disc jockey and the program director, the staff who went with me said, “You can do with those guys do.” I said, “I can’t do that. I don’t have a college education. I’ve never worked for a major corporation. I was labeled educable mentally retarded.” My mentor who is still my mentor, Mike Williams, he wrote the book, The Road to Your Best Stuff. He said, “Browny, all of us are born the same way, dumb, naked and speechless. You can learn.”

You don’t get in life what you want. You get in life what you are.

Even though he told me, “You could do this,” and others had told me that I have a passion for people. I love to help people and I love to make people feel good and make them laugh. I just couldn’t see myself doing it. I suffered from the possibility of blindness. I felt inferior to people that had a college education and then I was at an event, a guy was speaking. It was Bob Proctor and I felt like he was talking to me. We’ve all had that experience. He stopped in the middle of his speech. He said, “There’s somebody here that should be up here holding this microphone but you’ve convinced yourself that you don’t have what it takes. I want you to know what you have is enough.”

He started speaking again and he said, “Okay, Holy Spirit. You know who you are. You squirming in your seat right now and probably got tears in the eyes. The reason I’m standing up here in your dream and you’re seated out there, I represent the thoughts you have rejected for yourself.” When he said that, I jumped up as somebody had punched me in the stomach. I ran outside to a payphone, a telephone booth that you could get a telephone call for a dime where Superman used to change his clothes.

I called Mike Williams. I said, “Mike.” He said, “Browny, what’s up?” I said, “I’m not rejecting myself anymore.” He said, “Browny, calm down.” I said, “Listen to me. I’m not rejecting myself anymore. My mother has breast cancer. She needs me and I’ve told her I will not allow her to go to a nursing home, that I will take care of her. I’ve got a story and I can use my voice to earn a living and take care of my mother and keep my word to her. Will you help me?” He said, “Yes.” One of the things that I teach, ask for help not because you’re weak, but because you want to remain strong. Don’t stop until you get it. He told me to put my money where my mouth is and I did and the rest is history.

How many decades ago was that?

I was 51 and I’m 75.

When you told me that at the beginning of the show, you don’t look like it. You have a young face and you still have a great voice.

Thank you. I received that.

There are two types of speakers. There are business people like myself, business experts that have businesses that speak, and there are speakers that are trying to have a business. Would you agree?

Yes. Something, I would say to both of those, those who speak to speak and those who are speaking for their business. Speakers speak. I see speaking as a calling. A job is something you get paid for. A calling is something you are made for. You want to speak as often as you possibly can. That’s number one. Number two, you want to speak on something that you have a passion for, that you feel passionate and confident, and that have value for people. That’s your story. That’s something that’s in your heart. Where your heart is there, your treasure is also. The other thing is you want to get some coaching from someone who is experienced and speaking on the level that you like to speak. I had a friend telling me that he stands in the mirror and he practiced every day. I said, “You have untrained eyes looking at you.” The other thing is in order to be an effective speaker and not just a speaker, you want to stand out and dominate your niche. You want to learn how to use your story because when people listen to you, they’re asking three questions. Who are you? What do you have and why should I care?

Attention is the new currency. Holding the attention is the ability to create a story with this experience about how it has value for them. Something you’ve gone through, something you’ve overcome now becomes the audience’s survival guide. You have to attract attention and hold the attention with the experience. What gave me an advantage in the speaking industry and allowed me to break through was based upon the Dale Carnegie course, “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them and then tell them what you told them.” My mentor told me, “Browny, never let what you want to say get in the way of what the audience needs to hear. Do your research and custom design it to meet their needs and exceed their expectations and create an experience.” I say, “Why is that important?” He said, “If information could change people, everybody would be skinny, rich, and happy. It’s an experience.” Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Once a man’s or a woman’s mind has been expanded with an idea, concept or experience, it can never be satisfied to going back to where it was. It will ignite their spirit and their energy to make new choices and perform differently.”

What advice do you have for speakers during the pandemic when stages are non-existent now?

It’s an incredible time.

We have digital platforms. 

The computer eliminates geography. Looking at this little green light, you can earn thousands of dollars daily from your home without getting on an airplane and putting yourself at risk like the 11,000 people that were tested positive flying. This has been an incredible time for speakers and coaches. The computer allows you to share with your audience ideas and strategies of how to stay connected, even though they are apart. The major challenge that businesses are facing is employee engagement, as you know. When you are a powerful speaker, a trainer, a coach, and you know how to use your story, your knowledge, and your information to keep people connected even though they’re apart physically. It helps them to have a unified vision and to impact their energy and spirit where they’re more motivated and focused because where a focus goes, energy flows. This is an incredible time for the industry.

I’m glad that you said that because people see the glass half empty, people see the glass half full. You’re a half-full kind of guy. It is a tremendous time. I’ve had lots of speakers saying, “I don’t know what to do.” With my launch of Exit Rich, we are reaching out and going on as many digital stages and radio interviews as we possibly can. I do think it’s a good time for speakers to pivot and use this platform to reach even more people than it could before.

Einstein said, “The thinking that has brought me this far has created some problems that this thinking can’t solve.” We have to throw out a net on the other side. We have to begin to rethink how we are approaching our business. This gives us the opportunity to provide a greater impact and more frequent presentations for our whole organization while we are using our knowledge and ability to do research. All the information are at our fingertips and provide a better delivery of experience for a corporation that you could not do when you’re up and down on airplanes and running from hotel to hotel. I am rested. I’m a father. I’m a grandfather of fifteen kids. I love to be fruitful and multiply, I took them seriously.

Is it fifteen kids or fifteen grandkids?

I have ten children. I have 5 boys and 5 girls, 15 grandchildren and 4 great-grandsons. My family sees me more and I’m enjoying this time. I’m rethinking my life. I’m in this place where Leo Tolstoy the Russian author said, “As I face inevitable death, what is a meaning and purpose of my life that will not be undone or destroyed when I’m gone.” When you realize that you have more yesterdays than tomorrows, you focus on legacy. What are the things that I need to do? Living a life of no regret and not allowing the cemetery to rob you of your dream, your voice, your story, your potential and the things that you were chosen to come here and to do.

Do you think the speaking world will change forever now due to COVID?

I don’t think people ever feel comfortable going forward, even with a vaccine, and I’m going to wait until everybody else takes the vaccine.

Me too. I’ll go right before you.

This is a strange time where we are. Think about this, a few days ago the Center for Disease and Control said, “The virus is not just what we said it was. The update is that it’s airborne.” It’s not enough to wear shields, masks and gloves. One day later they issued a statement, “What we said was an error.” That came from the White House. We have politicians telling us and controlling the narrative of what we need to do to stay safe. This is straight-up insane. We’ve never been in this place and seen anything like this before. This is the time that we want to be concerned, but not consume, and look for ways and how we can win and doing the things that we do continue to provide the best service for our customers. John H. Johnson said, “There’s no excuse for excellence that meets a pressing public need and how you serve the people that are doing business with you.”

I always tell my clients, “Times are changing and you have to reach out to your clients and find out what their new needs are, what their wants are, and how you can make their life easier to do business with you.” There are many business owners who become complacent and they stop innovating.

I don’t think they’re being complacent now. Through the inspiration of desperation, they are awake.

Many will take massive action, but there’s even more. They won’t do anything less. They’re stuck in panic and fear mode. That’s why many businesses are closing now. One thing that we do is not just sell businesses and do mergers and acquisitions, but I also partner with business owners and help invest money and help them build their business back up so they can sell it for their desire price tag. We also buy businesses and flip them as well. My passion is to help save as many businesses and business owners as possible.

People who are stuck in fear have skinny children. We can’t afford to do that now. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love.

I’m curious about this. Did you ever go back and talk to your teachers who put this label on you?

It’s interesting you should ask that question. I had been paid $5 million to do a talk show in ’92. I went back to Miami speaking in Liberty City on a full auditorium. A lady raised her hand. She said, “Can I come up and speak?” I said, “Yes.” I looked and it was Mrs. Compton. The lady who identified me as being educable mentally retarded. She said, “I’ve written a book about my most famous retarded student, Les Brown and it’s available in the back.” I said, “Thank you.” 

She did it?

Yes, she did. You can make this stuff up. “He’s my most famous retarded student.” She was so proud.

Thank goodness your mom who has a third-grade education did not get stopped that she labeled her son. She knew that you had much power, spirit, fire and greatness inside you.

We all have greatness. I believe we all have stories of greatness in us. What do you do with this type of problem, Exit Rich, with the methods and techniques that you introduced, and the guests that you interview? It creates an experience that interrupts the vision of how people see themselves personally, which will affect how they see themselves in business. As a result, they’ll be able to achieve far more than they can ever begin to imagine. You know that play Lion King, “Simba, you are more than that, which you have become.” Your whole coaching strategy and your philosophy is to help business people to realize they are more than that, which they have become. They owe it to themselves to exit rich. Most people exit broke because they don’t know that they don’t know, and they think they know. You as a coach will take a person to a place within themselves that they can’t go by themselves because you can’t read the label when you’re locked in the box.

Live a life that will outlive you. Rob the cemetery of your gifts of your dream, your voice, your story.

You sounded just like me. One of my favorite quotes I came up with years ago is, “You can’t read the label from the inside of a bottle. You need an outsider’s perspective to read the warning signs and keep you out of the danger zone.” I’m not quite as articulate as you, but I’m getting there. Your entire career has been speaking and you’re most known for speaking, but you’re also an entrepreneur. You’ve been State Representative of Ohio for several different terms and you are a business person. You have all these different facets of Les Brown. Tell us about that side of you.

My children work with me. One of the things I believe is it’s not what you leave for your children, it is what you leave in your children. We work together and it’s exciting to see them bring their own shoes to the party, find their voice, and have their own business. I get a chance to coach them and they coach me as well. I believe that you’re never too old to learn, and you’re never too young to teach. I’ve developed a regimen, a ritual. When I first get up in the morning, every day is the best day of your life. If you don’t believe it, try missing one. That’s number one. Number two, I write down seven things that I’m grateful for. 

Do you physically write them down?

Yes. The fact that I’m talking to you. Many years ago, I was diagnosed with fourth-stage prostate cancer. My PSA, which stands for Prostate Specific Antigen was 2,400, and the cancer metastasized to seven areas of my body. The third thing I do is review my goals, and learn something today that I did not know yesterday. That keeps you young, mentally sharp, and keep momentum in your life. I’m a little kid, I wear Mickey Mouse underwear but I’m not showing it.

What was the other thing?

The third thing is that you want to have some fun. Life is short and unpredictable. As Helen Keller would say, “Eat the dessert first.” Life is fragile. You want to focus on finding ways to win, to have peace, to anchor itself, to get still, to make sure you practice your buck, you meditate, you chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and you pray. Things that get you anchored inside yourself like listening to calming music, reading 30 to 40 pages of something positive every day. That’s a part of my ritual for myself. One quote that I heard once and I love it says, “Give to yourself until your cup runneth over, and then give to others from the overflow.”

Ten children working with you and they all have their own businesses as well. You need an exit strategist like myself for these businesses and we’re going to have to continue talking.

I’m going to be burning your line up. I will be calling you. 

Did you graduate high school?

I never went to college, but I did graduate high school. I’m at the bottom of my class but I graduated.

Look at you now. You’re at the top of the world.

The valedictorian called me and said, “Will you teach me how to speak?” I said, “I’m honored. I graduated because of you.” I said, “Do you know how long my neck is from reading your answers and copying off your papers?” 

Your children work with you. Are you still involved in politics, Les?

No, I’m not. What I’m doing now I have a lot of politicians called on me to teach them how to tell their story because politics is about the story. The story you tell about yourself and the story you tell about your opponent, the story your opponent tells about themselves and the story they tell about you. The one who’s most effective in telling the story, that’s the one that’s going to dominate. I went in a district and they told me, “There’s no way you can do it.” Three attorneys lost, “You don’t have the money. Both newspapers are against you, and all the community leaders.” What I had was a microphone and I know how to tell a story. I won hands down 26,000 votes to 3,000.

Who’s going to win the story come November 3rd?

I am shocked that that’s even a conversation. Someone said and my mouth dropped open, “The Coronavirus has virtually no impact on the American population.” What? Two hundred thousand people have died and virtually no impact? That took my breath away. This is a no-brainer.

You’re right about that. It’s shocking. I used to think nothing has shocked you anymore.

I said, “2019, I’m sorry about everything that I said about you. I take it back. Could you delete 2020?”

I know you’ve been involved with nonprofits before, entrepreneurs, people that own businesses that want to exit, politicians. What advice has Les Brown, the number one speaker, to the world? 

Horace Mann said, and I believe this with all my heart, “We should be ashamed to die until we’ve made some major contribution to humankind.” I say to business people and everyday people, number one, live a life that will outlive you. Number two, rob the cemetery of your gifts, your dream, your voice, your story, and what it is you came here to do. I believe that we were chosen out of 400 million sperm to bring something here that was not here before we showed up. You’re a masterpiece because you’re a piece of the master.

You’re a walking encyclopedia. How many books did the teacher sell?

I read a minimum of 2 to 3 books a month. Brian Tracy said, “Knowledge is a new currency.” If the average American reads one book a year. He said, “If you read one book a month, if you discipline yourself to do that, in five years, you would have read 60 books the average American would have read five books. That will make you an expert.” This is the era that the late Peter Drucker calls, the era of the three C’s, accelerated change, overwhelming complexity, and tremendous competition. I discipline myself to read 2 to 3 books a month. I love it and I encourage my kids to do the same thing.

Do you still read 2 to 3 books a month?

Yes. 

What do you think it was about them putting that label on you? I do believe that children learn differently and we need to focus on how children are smart, not how smart children are.

That is such a profound statement that you made. People have different learning styles. There are some people that get that. They did not know how to find my sweet spot, how to channel that energy, and find out what is it that he can do well that we can focus on that. Now that teachers are teaching online in many cases, you have to see kids. You have to be in their presence. I have one lady, she’s a teacher I’m working with. She said, “I miss hugging my students. I miss spending time one-on-one with them to find out where are they in terms of what are they good at? What do they love? What captures their attention?” When they’re young, they live out of their imagination. They have not been conditioned and indoctrinated with the world.

She said, “I missed that time. I do hope that we go back to that time soon for our children and for generations yet unborn.” There are some impacts of some collateral damage of social distancing, not being able to touch and hug. It’s challenging emotionally, spiritually and mentally. It’s affecting our kids. The suicide rate before the Coronavirus was 32%. It had increased. Now, it’s off the hook, including children. Some children hanging themselves at age five. That’s how unprecedented this is.

What at age five would make a child want to do that? 

Listening to the conversations in the house. They hear everything. These kids come here smarter than we were. They know everything. When I was a kid, we had just ABC, NBC and CBS. You separate a child from being an adult by the information that they’re exposed to. Now, they’re exposed to everything on the computer and their phone.

That’s why my daughter’s not going to get a phone until she’s 21.

You’re right and say, “Garbage in garbage out.” That works for a computer. Garbage in young, tender, impressionable mind, garbage stays and it shows up.

Dr. Nido Qubein says, “Garbage impregnates to other people with giving them garbage. ” Does that make sense what I’m saying?

Always strive to get on top of life because it’s the bottom that’s overcrowded.

You’re infecting other people with your garbage.

What other words of wisdom would you like to share with our readers?

This is a great time. We are resilient. We live in the greatest country in the world. We won the lottery. I remember being in a foreign country and they had a sign that says, “Yankee, go home and take me with you.” What we must do is have a spirit of optimism. When you are optimistic about the future, I didn’t do what I’m doing now for many years because I was suffering from possibility blindness. When you have a spirit of optimism, you expect things to get better. You hold a vision of what it is that you want and see it already accomplish. You constantly moving in that direction knowing that you will fail your way to success, knowing you were born to win, knowing always strive to get on top of life because it’s the bottom that’s overcrowded.

I tell my clients, there’s silver lining all around us. They can acquire businesses now and grow their business bigger than ever before. There were more multimillionaires out of the Great Depression than ever before. There are money and silver linings all around us. You just have to open your eyes, recognize an opportunity, and then take massive action.

People believe opportunity knocks on every door. I believe opportunities stand by silently waiting for you to recognize it.

I can listen to you all day long. I know our audience does too. I still am impressed with you overcoming the label that you grew up with in a box that you were put in. I remember listening to Stedman Graham one time. He carries around a book and he wrote a book about the box. The box says that, “Your teachers, your doctors, your friends, your coworkers put you in a box.” Him being Oprah’s boyfriend, he was put in a box. I loved some of the things that he said because he grew up with some of that misdiagnosis as well.

I’ve interviewed him. You’re right.

We need to stop labeling people. We need to stop putting people in a box.

Label the jars, not human beings.

Any other thoughts? I know you’re a busy man and I appreciate you being here.

“Shoot for the moon because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” That’s a Les Brown quote.

I love the Les Brown quotes. Is there a book with Les Brown quotes?

My book called You’ve Got To Be HUNGRY: The GREATNESS Within to Win. They can go to, IAmHungryLesBrown.com or go to Amazon. It is a five-star that Amazon has given it. They’ll see the reviews on the book. It’s an experience. It’s not something you just read and put down. When you read this book, your life will never be the same again when you get to the last chapter. 

I have your book sitting on my shelf. Read that book You’ve Got To Be HUNGRY by Les Brown and then read Exit Rich too. Thank you for being here. It’s an absolute pleasure. Thanks to all of our readers for joining us. 

Thank you. I’ll be reaching back to you. Bye for now.

Thank you. 

Thank you to all of our readers for tuning in to another episode. Make sure you go to Exit Rich to find out all the information and how you can get in contact and find out more information about our amazing guest Les Brown.

Important Links:

• Les Brown
• Choosing Your Future
• Exit Rich
• Man’s Search for Meaning
• The Road to Your Best Stuff
• IAmHungryLesBrown.com
• Amazon – You’ve Got To Be HUNGRY: The GREATNESS Within to Win