Secrets To A Happy 57+ Year Marriage, Water Skiing At Age 79, And Delivering 3,000+ Paid Speeches w/ Speaking LEGEND Joel Weldon

Joel Weldon - powered by Happy Scribe

All right, ready to go? All right. Greetings, everybody. I am here with the man, the myth, the legend. Mr. Joel Weldon. So, Joel, welcome to the show.

Well, thank you very much, Brandon, so glad that you've joined us. It's wonderful talking to millennials.

Yeah, of course. And it's funny because, you know, we were chatting before and I realized that when we were in Genius Network together, that I was the youngest member and you were the oldest member. So now we get to kind of share the cumulative wisdom in between those ages. And when we chatted last time, we joked, we called it a grandfatherly chat because you shared so much wisdom, not just in your incredible speaking career, but also in your life.

And for everybody listening right now, you're going to find out why Joel is, I believe, a shining example of the 7-Figure Millennials mission. But to start off, Joel, people know that you've done 3,000 paid speeches. You know that you've coached 10,000 people, one on one. And when we talked last time, you had made a small comment that at 24, you were making $62.50 a week as a carpenter. So if you could start us out at that time in your life and maybe tell us about how you got started on your journey. We'd love to hear that.

Well, I was actually 26. So we looked up, so according to Wikipedia and I'm quoting now a millennial is 24 to 38. So I am the equivalent of three millennials.

But really when you think of your life and, and if you are a millennial and I know that on the podcast you can have anybody, but if you are a millennial, you've got a long life ahead of you. And so I'm actually 79 years old, working full time. No plans to ever stop. And that's what you need to think of. I know that you want to make a lot of money. But also the other part of this podcast is to have a balanced life.

And that's so important, and that's really what Brandon and I talked about. So as you listen to these ideas, think of your experience, if you were my age, looking back at your life. In many decades from now, hopefully, you will feel you made the right choices, the right decisions, and you wouldn't change anything. And that's literally how I feel at this stage of my life, that as I look back on the relationships, the business, the physical activities, the fun things, the hobbies, the sports, I made the right choices. But everybody is different, so you have to make your own, and I think that's a great question about what was I like when I was a millennial and at age 26, I was a carpenter in the construction industry, working in New York. Out of Jamaica, Queens, was where the contractor's headquarters were. And I lived in Far Rockaway, Queens, in New York and had no sense of anything that you knew and know now.

You know so much more. I didn't have anything figured out. I just was making $62.50 a week banging nails, digging ditches, working hard. And then at night, I had another job as an architectural draftsman drawing house plants. And I had a goal and my wife, Judy, worked at Prentice Hall as an editor. So just picture: a 26 year old, I was married at 21 and Judy was 19 and we're married 57 years now.

But imagine if you look back at that and thought of what you were like when you were 26. The goal was to make $10,000 a year for both of our incomes in three jobs. And we weren't close to that. Now you probably have $10,000 in one day. And it took two of us to do that with three jobs in one year.

Now, obviously, a dollar was worth a lot less than, or it was worth more, than it is today in current dollars. But still, I figured out that what I earned per year was the equivalent of about $23,000 in 2020 money. Which would not be very much, Brandon, you couldn't do very much on that at your young age. And when I first met Brandon as the youngest member of Genius Network, I told him, I have socks older than you.

So just picture yourself. There you are making $62.50 a week, banging nails, working hard. And a friend comes up to you at a church on a Sunday and he says, I want you to come work for me. And I said, well, what do you do? He said that we pay people a commission and I didn't even know what the word commission meant. And I said what is commission? And he said, we pay you what you're worth. I didn't like that right away because I didn't think I was worth a lot.

What were you worth in your own mind when you were 26? And you might be 26, you might not even be 26 yet, but you have a higher sense of self-worth than I certainly did because I didn't think I could do anything. Matter of fact, I was offered a college scholarship by the golf course that I caddied at, the Inward Country Club, and in 1959 they made me the Caddy of the Year because I didn't say anything. I just carried the bags, knew where the ball was, handed the clubs and members like that.

I didn't talk because I was so shy and they said they would pay for four years of college any place I can get into and they'd cover room, book, tuition, everything. I turned it down. I didn't think I was smart enough to go to college. And I went into construction because I was only good at working with my hands, certainly not good at dealing with people. So when this guy offered a job, if you were that kind of guy, you never spoke in high school, I couldn't even lead my Sunday school class in silent prayer. I mean, that's bad. If you were that way and somebody offered you a sales job on a commission, what would you have said?

Well, he was so convincing. I said, well, I guess I can look at it. And he got me to quit my job and sell World Book Encyclopedias door to door on a commission. So imagine, Brandon, that was you and you're in New York, a borough of New York City, Queens, going out, knocking on doors and I set a company record and I had never sold anything before. I was shy and self-conscious. And in the first four months, I made 1,200 sales calls -- and one sale. In four months. And my commission was 48 dollars. Judy was pregnant with our first daughter at that time, we had no money and savings, we were broke.

Can you imagine how you would feel making 1,200 sales calls and you make one sale? Would you like to know what happened. Her name was Irene Dunn, and I knocked on her door and I -- did you ever sell anything door to door, Brandon?

I did not, no.

Nobody goes door to door now. But this was in 1967 and I knocked on the door and I made my standard approach. I looked down and I said, "You don't want to buy any books, do you?" And then they would say you're right and then they'd slam the door. So I knocked on his door in Bay Shore, Long Island. I knocked on the door and I said, "You don't want to buy the book." She said, "Young man, we love and cherish books in this house. What books are you selling?" I said, "Well, it's the World Book Encyclopedia." She said, "World Book. I wanted that for my kids. I didn't know where to get it. Come in, come in, come in. I'm going to give you a check."

So can you imagine how you would have felt as you're listening to this? 1,200 nos, and somebody's going to give you a check. She comes back with a checkbook because we didn't have credit cards. Then she said, "How much do I make the check out for?" I said, "I don't know, nobody ever asked me that, could I use your telephone?"

So I had to borrow a phone, I had to call the office, find out the price of the books, and it was $189. And she wrote out a check for $189. I rushed into the office in Hempstead, New York. I turned it in and the big boss, Vernon Kaval, was there. So can you imagine, your boss has seen you go out, make 1,200 sales calls, four months, go by, your wife is pregnant, you have no money, you made your first sale and he said, "This is wonderful. You did it. Tell me how you did it." And I said, "Well I knocked on her door. She said she wanted them and gave me a check." "Well, you didn't make a presentation?" I said, "No, I never made a presentation." "You didn't close?" I said, "No, I didn't close. She just gave me the money." He said, "Joel, you are the worst salesman I have ever met in 22 years of hiring salespeople. And you also have the worst attitude of anybody I have ever hired. And you're never going to make it dealing with people."

And then, Brandon, he said, one of the most powerful words I have ever heard in my whole life. Unless. And he paused, he said, "Unless you change the way you think."

Now, imagine, as you're hearing this story, if that was you. What would you say? Well, I said to him, "How do I do that?" He said, "Maybe this record will help you", and he opened up his desk drawer and he pulled out a record called The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale. Now, Brandon, I see you're nodding your head. You have heard of Earl Nightingale?

Yes.

Have you ever heard The Strangest Secret?

I have not, no, but I've heard it recommended many times.

It's the largest selling recording of a spoken word message in history. It was in 1967. It was recorded in 1955 and it still is today in 2020. And you can just go on the Internet and look on YouTube and put in "Earl Nightingale Strangest Secret" and you can watch it. Earl gives it as a talk or you can listen to it on an audio. And I said, because I didn't know what he was talking about, he gave me this record, I said, "I don't dance." He said, "No, no, no, it's not a dancing record. It's a talking record. And you and Judy need to listen to this."

So can you imagine, Brandon, if you were in that situation, you have no money, you make one sale. He's told you you're the worst salesman that he's ever seen in 22 years. And his solution is to give you a record. I thought that was the dumbest thing that I had ever heard, but I did what the man told me, I took it home and put it on the record player.

And by the way, as a millennial, you could go to an antique store and you could find a record player where they took these round discs and sound came out. Matter of fact, I went to an antique store and they tried to sell me. So, you know, I've been around the block.

So anyway, imagine listening to that. So I put it on and truly, it was like a light came on in a darkened room. I had never heard anything like that in my whole life. It was revolutionary, and the strangest secret is simply this: you become what you think about most of the time. And the record went on for about maybe 25 minutes or a half hour talking about goals and attitude, things you already know in this day and age.

But in 1967 people didn't learn those things. Right. There were no self-help books, and Earl Nightingale's Strangest Secret started the whole business of learning through listening. Now you can go on Audible, get any kind of book, and listen to it in your car or working out at the gym or in your spare time. So in listening to that. I heard it over and over again and I started to think, what have I thought about? I'm 26 years old.

All I could think of, I thought about all the things I couldn't do. Three high school coaches asked me to try out for teams, Brandon, swimming coach, basketball coach, baseball coach. I never went for a tryout. I didn't think I was good enough to make a varsity team, didn't even try out. I didn't stand up in front of my classmates and give a talk because I didn't think I could speak in front of a group, so I never did.

And I realized listening to The Strangest Secret for a solid week, Judy and I would listen over and over, we'd talk about it, and think about the things that he said. And I realized, what if I changed from what I couldn't do to what I could do? What would happen?

Now, I don't know your experience growing up if you had a set of encyclopedias, but World Book was very different. It wasn't like an Encyclopedia Britannica that was very technical and detailed. It had beautiful pictures and it was written in a language you could understand. And when I saw the product, I knew if my mom, as poor as we were, if she had ever seen those books when I was in high school, she would have bought them for me no matter what it would have cost, because it might have changed my whole attitude to school. I didn't care about anything in school. Nothing was of interest to me except woodworking shop. It was the only thing I liked, and PE.

So imagine that was you and you had that kind of experience. So I thought, what if I thought about what I could do? These books are so wonderful and if my mom had seen them, she would have bought them. And that's I have the ability to do is help other mothers get these for their kids.

So I went out with the same product, same territory, same price with a whole different mindset, and that first day, in four hours, I made two sales. I doubled four months of production in four hours. And I was so excited, I had an old beat up Volkswagen with a crack in the rearview mirror, and I pulled down the rearview mirror and I looked in and said, "I did it. I did it!"

And then I thought, what did I do? Same product, same territory, same price. Oh... A different thought of what I could do. And that was the day my life changed. I imagine there's a day in your life that everything changed for you. It was like a switch went from negative to positive. From bad to good. To success. Now, if I had had a podcast like this and maybe had heard some of the things that Brandon has brought to you before, that would have been accelerated. But in that day and that time, it was Earl Nightingale's Strangest Secret. By the end of that year, Brandon, I was the number one salesperson working for Mr. Kaval out of 1,100 salespeople, including the first four months of nothing. I was on fire.

I didn't know anything about selling, but I knew how good this was and how much it would help the kids. And I was closing almost everybody I talked to because I was so focused on how this could help these children not end up like I did in school. And then they made me a manager and I was starting to make so much money. Not a lot by your standards, not the kind of seven figures we're talking about, you know, I was making five figures and thinking that was pretty good. And we moved to Arizona because I got scared, I was moving so fast and wanted to kind of slow down. And maybe that's the other thing we should stop and talk about a minute, because part of your being on this podcast is not just about wealth, but it's about your health. It's about your lifestyle. It's about your relationships. And isn't that important. Brandon.

Yeah, there's so many things I want to ask you. So thank you for sharing that incredibly powerful story. I did want to ask you about Earl Nightingale, but we can transition into the health aspect of it. So one of the things that struck me as I met Joel for the first time, and so I'll have you tell another story here, but I'll say two comments. If you go on Joel's Facebook right now, you'll see this smiling picture of Mr. Joel Weldon, holding up a sign with this ski and it says, "79 passes, slalom, ski course, sky skiing nonstop, 39 miles for one hour and 51 minutes." You have Mr. Joel Weldon. 79 years old, doing 79 passes. Absolutely incredible. You're one of the most fit, energetic people I've seen. It's absolutely incredible. So I thought, Joel, a good place to start to maybe talk about this health aspect of what's been so important to you is the date, March 16th, 1981.

You want to hear that story?

Yeah. That one or any other. Any other places you want to go.

OK, all right. So let's stop that story about Earl Nightingale and then if you want we can come back to it. What happened in moving to Arizona, and it was on September 14th, 1969, I gave my first talk. And the guy who came back in the room after it was over to give me feedback said this. "You are the worst speaker I have ever heard in my whole life."

And that was turning point number two. So let's go to Brandon's thing about health and fitness and what happened. Well, I was always in pretty good shape. I was never overweight. But I never really worked out. I went to the gym. I kind of fooled around a little bit. Never had a personal trainer. Yet, I've had one for over 20 years, the same guy. And I work out three days a week and that's the reason I was able to do that waterskiing, which was just a few months after I had open heart surgery. Which is a whole other story, because I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned and picked up a virus at the dentist that ate my heart valve, and they had to replace it.

And two months later, I was waterskiing. So it's amazing what you can do when you keep your body in good shape and that's what you can do at an early age, start that way. But it starts with what you really eat and drink. That's the beginning. And I think that's why Brandon remembers this story. So picture this. You're going to be my invisible partner, and you and I are going to go to Miami, Florida, to the Fountain Blue Hotel, where I'm speaking for the IBM Corporation.

And after I do a two hour presentation, you watch me, you don't come into the bathroom. But I'm in the bathroom, in the bathtub, taking a hot bath, trying to get my energy back because I was spent, I was worn out. And I come out of the bathroom dry. I get dressed and then you and I head to the airport because we got a plane back to Phoenix from Miami, stops in Dallas, continues on to Phoenix.

We get on the plane. My ticket says 1A, but since you're invisible, you can come with me and they won't even see you. So we hop on this plane, sit in the first row of first class and seat 1A and a guy comes and sits in 1B, I don't know who he is. And the plane takes off and maybe about 45 minutes later they start serving drinks and the meal and the dinner because it was a dinner flight.

And just as this flight attendant, now this is 1981. Way before 9/11, when first class food was really first class, linen napkins, sharp knives. And she puts the dinner, which is a piece of filet mignon, it was beautiful steak. And at that same moment, row three is the smoking row. Now Brandon, you can't conceive in your mind that they had smoking on airplanes, but they had smoking sections.

And on that particular flight, the row three smoke was pouring forward in the aircraft, hitting the bulkhead, which is in front of us, and coming right into my face. And I just kind of said, almost out of the side of my mouth, "Boy, that smoke is really bad today." Now, have you ever sat on an airplane and started a conversation with somebody, or do you just try to keep quiet and do your own work and listen to something or do your computer? What do you do, Brandon, when you're on a plane?

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I'll be chatty in the beginning, but if it's chatty throughout the whole, however long the flight is, maybe not. So usually I like to get some work done.

OK, well, in this flight I had a lot of work to do, wasn't looking for a conversation. I was worn out and I was hungry. And the plate comes and I mentioned about the smoke. And now sometimes when you hear a person tell a story, they exaggerate something. I'm not exaggerating. So I mentioned that smoke is pretty bad. And the guy sitting next to me says, in this exact tone of voice, "Not as bad as that crap you're about to eat."

Well, I was shocked, I didn't know what to say. I mean, I'm pretty good on my feet speaking, but I'd never expected that. And so I just said, "I don't know what you mean." He said, "Do you really want to know?" in that tone of voice. I said, "Well, yeah, what are you talking about?" And he reaches over with his left hand and he grabs the roll, and he picks it up, he said, "Do you like rolls with your meal?" I said yes. He said, "This is not a roll. It's white flour. It's crap. Rats don't even eat white flour." He squeezes it and he threw it on the floor right in front of me.

Then he picks up the butter in the little plastic container. He said, "Did you put butter on the roll? Read this, there's no butter, it's chemicals, it's crap." Threw it on the floor. Picks up the salad dressing. "You put salad dressing on your salad?" I said, "yeah, I do." He said, "There's no salad dressing in here. It's crap. It's poison. It's chemicals." Threw it on the floor. He said, "You drink that Pepsi?" And there was actually a bottle of Pepsi, because that's all I drank was Pepsi. "You drink Pepsi with your meal?" I said drink it all the day. He said, "You know, that's loaded with sugar. You might as well drink poison."

Now, if you heard this from a complete stranger that you'd never met or talked to. And then I said, who are you? He said, "I'm just a guy, my name is Alvin Kazuto, I'm a lawyer in Miami. I'm heading to Scottsdale, Arizona. I'm going to John Gardner's tennis ranch. And I'm going to play tennis with kids younger than you in their 20s. And I'm going to run them off the court. And I'm fifty one years old and I'm magnificent physical shape, and you know why? Because I don't eat the crap that you're eating."

And then he says this, "it's all your mother's fault." Now, he's bringing my mother into it. My mother, what did she do? He said, "She wanted you to be big and strong. So eat meat. What's your name?" I said Joel Weldon. He said, "What do you do?" I said, "Well, I'm a professional speaker." He said, "Were you speaking today?" I said yeah. He said, "For how long?" I said two hours. He said, "Who did you speak to?" I said it was a division of IBM. "You spoke for two hours. Why do you look so tired? Are you tired?" I said, yeah, I feel tired. "How do you get tired speaking for two hours? You know how you get tired speaking for two hours? Because you're drinking Pepsi and you're eating crap, that's why you're tired. I'm not tired. How old are you?"

I was exactly 40 years old. As I said, I'm 40 years old, he said, "Well, you look 40 but," he said, "You look tired, you shouldn't be tired speaking for two hours. Put your hand on my stomach." Now, Brandon, you're sitting on a plane with a complete stranger named Alvin Kazuto. And I kind of hesitated, he said, "Don't worry, I'm married. I just want you to feel my stomach." So I got to put my hand, it was like a steel plate, six pack abs.

He said, "I'm fit. I wasn't always this way, Mr. Weldon. You know why? Because I ate crap and I've got my food right under the seat." Now, you know, you've sat at the bulkhead seat. You can't put anything in front of you on an airplane. It's got to be in the overhead or under the seat. And he had put a bag under the seat and he pulled it out. He said, "Here's my dinner. I've got fish in here and I've got fresh vegetables and I have fruit. And I have my water." Now, you could bring water on a plane. And he said, "It's your mother's fault. She wanted you to be strong, to eat steak like that. What's the biggest, strongest animal you know, Joel?" I said, "I don't know, an elephant." He said, "You ever see an elephant eat a steak?" I said no. He said, "You don't need to eat meat to have protein. You need protein, but you can get it from chicken and fish and certain vegetables and beans. That's what you should be eating."

And then he points to the big piece of chocolate layer cake that was sitting there. He said, "Do you like chocolate cake?" I said I love chocolate cake. I eat sweets all day long." He said, "That's why you're tired and in the shape you're in. It's poison, eating that sugar." He said, "What do you talk about when you do this two hour seminar?" So I had my feedback cards that I was going to work on before dinner and I pulled them out. I said, "Well, this is the feedback from about the 300 people that were in the room. And they critique me and they write the best idea."

He said let me see one of those cards. So I give him, 30 day goals was the best idea. "Do you talk about 30 day goals?" I said yeah. He said, "Why don't you take your own advice? Why don't you set a 30 day goal? Why don't you set a 30 day goal, drink only water? No sweets, chicken and fish, a little lean meat, fruit and vegetables. And see how you feel."

That was a life-changing experience. Life-changing experience number three. You heard one, you didn't hear two.

We'll go back to two.

And I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Just try it. It changed my life. It can change yours." Well, I got his business card and I told him I would get back in touch with him, so I went home and I told Judy what happened on the plane. She couldn't believe somebody sitting in first class would behave that way. I said, well, he was so passionate about what he believed in and he felt that I had a need and I appreciated what he said.

She said, well, yeah, but throwing your food on the floor without your permission. I said, well, you know, he was an attorney, you know, so he could do whatever he wanted, I guess. And so we kind of laughed at that. And she said, "You know, I just finished reading Sugar Blues, which was a popular book in the 60s, I mean, excuse me, in the 80s. And maybe that's a good idea."

So from that day on, I have never had a single sweet -- candy cookie, ice cream, nothing. I've drank only water. I got off the meat, I still eat now lean beef, and as I've gotten older, my trainer wants me to eat more steak, but lean steak and fish and chicken and vegetables and fruit. And literally within two days of that experience, my energy level soared. And I know at 79 I'm in better shape than I was when I was 39. No question about it. I've got more energy than I had.

I mean, I didn't go to bed until 11:30 last night, and I was on some calls at 7:00 in the morning. I was up at 5:30 this morning, had a 7 o'clock Zoom call and I've got this schedule all the way through the afternoon.

I'm going to bed at like 10, you're up later than me, Joel.

So March 16th, 1981, Alvin Kazuto told me how to eat better so I'm passing it on to you. It's not my idea, it's Alvin's. Why don't you do this. Why don't you cut back. Now, how can you just stop something like that, because that what. 81, that would be, that's 39 years ago. 39 years ago, not once have I been tempted, even thought about, gee it'd be nice to have ice cream with the family or nice to have a piece of that apple pie.

I mean, I would do that Sunday before church. I'd take my daughters to Baskin's and Robin's, I mean to a Dunkin Donuts, now it's Baskin Robbins Dunkin Donuts, to Dunkin Donuts loading up on sugar donuts for breakfast. I mean, I ate candy all day long. Again, I wasn't fat, but I was taking in the wrong stuff. And I didn't have the energy. And I don't know anything about all the nutritional values, but I knew, you know, that we hear a lot about the devastating effects of sugar and of drinks that are loaded with sugar. But drinking water, fruit and vegetables, chicken and fish, and, of course, daily exercise, and it was life changing. So since the theme of your podcast is the wealth, but also your health and wellbeing. So that's the story you asked me to share.

Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing. I'll be completely honest, I have a sweet tooth, but I have it in moderation. So I still have my, I'm from Wisconsin, we have our custard, which are really obsessed with, but in moderation. And it's incredible. That was one thing that stuck out to me as soon as Joel told the story is like, wow, 1981, 39 years. That's absolutely incredible to do something like that. So thank you for sharing that story.

I did want to go back. So there was actually, I don't know if this is point number two, so I don't know, I don't have your life transition points memorized, but I know from other conversations we've had and other content you've put out, we were talking a lot about Earl Nightingale before. And you had told a story about how Earl Nightingale told you about how much you were going to make for the rest of your life. Does that have to do with point number two or is that a separate story?

No, that's different, but we can add that story to your collection. This is your show. We're doing fine on your dime.

Please let us know that one.

All right. Well, since our target audience, are these youngsters out there beginning their career as millennials and obviously you might be older than a millennial. And again, we saw in Wikipedia it was 24-38 years old. So all of this happened in the beginning part, well I was 40 when I had the experience with Alvin Kazuto, but I was 26 when I heard The Strangest Secret. But if you think about this guy, Earl Nightingale, and you should just do a little research on him, it's unfortunate that today a lot of people don't know about him.

But he was truly the most listened to voice in America between the 50s and 60s and 70s. He had a daily radio show which was very fascinating and was just a couple of minutes and responses all over the country. Largest syndicated radio show. And he retired very early in life and spent his life really reading and researching and then recording some of these ideas. And I wrote him a thank you note about The Strangest Secret and how it had changed my life and he responded.

I was also a distributor for his cassette programs. And The Strangest Secret, I mentioned earlier, Brandon, that it started the learning by listening in history. And it began with a program called Lead the Field, and Lead the Field took The Strangest Secret principles, broke it into 12 steps, and he recorded 12 about 15 minute messages on six audiocassettes, recorded both sides. And in 1971, I became a distributor for those cassette programs because I figured it would change so many people's lives to hear these ideas.

They sold for $175 for six cassettes, and unfortunately in 1971, people didn't have cassette recorders. So I had to buy a cassette recorder for $24 at a local retail store to put with the six cassettes when I sold them for $175 and I started to do very well when I had a guy tell me you need to call on successful people, not people who need help. People who need help don't have any money.

Successful people have money, but they need reminding of what Earl said. So he led me into the area of successful people and he was absolutely right. You know, if you want to sell a book to somebody, who do you sell it to? The guy who has no books or the guy who's got 100 books on his shelf? The one who has 100 books because he reads books or she reads books. So that's when I learned about personal development.

The best prospect for something like you're offering are successful people. Because they know it comes from ideas, and that's why you were able to join Genius Network at such a young age in your 20s. So anyway, I wrote the note to Earl and I was a distributor and he had hundreds of distributors, but he was so touched by the note he wrote back and he said, well, if you're ever in Naples, Florida, come and see me. I have a home. And I forget where he lived in California, but he also had a home in Naples, Florida, and I happened to be speaking at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida, and I told him, I'm coming there. I'm going to be. He said, well, I live right near the Ritz Carlton. Come, we'll have dinner together. So I thought, boy, this is great. I get to have dinner with Earl Nightingale.

So we had dinner and, you know, it was interesting. Here's a man. And this must have been, this was in 1987. So it was almost 20 years after I heard The Strangest Secret and built everything on those principles. And he said, "I'm so grateful for the letter you wrote me." I said, "Earl, you must get millions of letters like that." He said, "Oh no, no, no, I get some, but not like what you wrote." And I couldn't believe it, that somebody who had such an impact on the world had no clue on how valuable his message was.

So that's just a reminder for you, when somebody helps you, take the time to say thank you and express that. And anyway, we really hit it off. And he liked my approach to things. He said, well, maybe I'll come and visit you in Arizona and then I get a letter from him or maybe a phone call because we didn't have emails then, and he said, I'm coming to Arizona. I said, "Well, I'm getting a new houseboat. I know you love boats. Would you like to come up to Lake Powell on my new boat?"

This was 1987. So he said, "Sure, I'd love that, my wife and I love going on boats." So he came up, we spent a week together on our houseboat, he fell in love with Arizona, went back to Florida, California, sold both of his homes. He said, I'm moving to Scottsdale, Arizona, find me a realtor and get us a house. So I hooked him up with a friend of ours. There was a realtor. He bought a home in Scottsdale and he moved here and lived three more years and then he passed on.

But in those three years, I spent a lot of time with him and took him fishing. And on one of these fishing trips, the story that Brandon wanted to hear. And just stop a minute and ask yourself, do you know how much money you're going to earn for the rest of your life? Well, you probably say, no, I have no idea, but Earl knew how much money you would earn for the rest of your life based on three things. So would you like to hear what he said?

Absolutely, yes.

OK, so we go fishing and before we get to the lake, I stopped at a bait shop to get water dogs and he told me he liked to fish with live bait. I didn't do a lot of live bait, I liked the artificial for bass. But he said, the water dogs they have here are pretty good. So we bought a couple of dozen water dogs -- they're like salamanders and maybe about four or five inches long and you put them alive on the hook and they move, of course, and the bass are intrigued by that. They take them and then you catch fish.

And so we bought a couple of dozen of those. We head out to the lake, we're catching bass and having a great time, the beautiful weather. And then he says to me, "How much do you think that kid in the Bait Shop earns?" Just out of the blue, right in the middle of nothing, he says that. I said, I don't have a clue. He said probably minimum wage. And in 1980, maybe this was about a year or so, maybe he was 88 or 89, the minimum wage is about four bucks an hour. So I said, "I don't know, maybe about minimum wage." He said, "That's right. Probably four bucks an hour. Did you speak recently?" I said, yeah, I just spoke the other day. He said, "How much did you get paid?" I said, "Well, I had a keynote address for an hour and I got paid ten thousand dollars."

Now that was my fee then. It's a lot more now. And he said, "How is that possible? How could you get ten thousand dollars for an hour and that kid gets four dollars an hour?" I said, "Well, I don't know." He said, "I know, and it's the key to how much you're going to earn for the rest of your life, if you know these three things." I said tell me more. He said, "Well, let's talk about that kid. Was he good?" I said, "Well, he seemed very good." He said, "Yeah. Did he give us the right amount of bait? Did he smile? Did he make us feel good? Did he say something about hope you have a good day at the lake and you catch some fish?" I said, yeah, he was really good. "So why is he getting four dollars an hour?" I said, "Well, I don't know."

He said, "How long do you think it would take to replace him and change with a new kid?" I said, "To put water dogs in a pail, an hour? Show him where the cash register is, tell him what the price is. Tell him how to mix big ones and small, maybe not even an hour." He said, "That's right, because he's easily replaced. So here are the three words, Joel. If you remember these, it's going to change your life forever." I didn't have a pen, but I figured I could remember three words. So he said, "Number one, need. Number two, ability. Three, replacement. Three words: need, ability, replacement. Ask yourself, is there a need for what you do?"

So as you are listening to this podcast, is there a need for what you do? Most likely. Number two. Your ability. How good are you at doing what you do? Hopefully you're good. So let's go back to this kid in the bait shop. Is there a need for a kid in the bait shop to put water dogs in a bucket? Yes. Ability, how good was he, he was a ten. You couldn't have done better. OK, why is he getting four bucks an hour? Because of the third word. Replacement.

It was so easy to replace this kid, you didn't have to pay more than four bucks. If he doesn't want to work, there's another kid that'll work for four bucks. What about you, how easy is it to replace you? How many people can do what you do at the level you do it?

He said, that's where you want to be. So if we go into modern day, like last year, 2019. Tom Brady, I love Tom Brady and I know a lot of people don't like him. They think he's arrogant. He's won too many Super Bowls. I love him because of his excellence. And at age 43, he still -- he didn't have a good game last week, the worst game of his career. But he was up against a pretty tough defense.

But Tom Brady made 20 million dollars the last year at the New England Patriots. Why did he get 20 million dollars a year for throwing a football around or handing it off? Because nobody in the NFL is doing it better than he is. Now, there are other people that make in the 20 millions and stuff, not very many. Is there a need for quarterbacks? Yeah, they need quarterbacks. How good is Brady? Six Super Bowls, more Super Bowl records than any other football player. Pretty good. A pretty good ability. How easy is it to replace him? Look at what is happening now with the New England Patriots without Tom Brady. They couldn't replace him. They're not doing very well at all. And that's why he has earned the money that he's earned.

So what about you? Are you doing something where there's a need? How good are you getting at it? How good are you at what you're doing and are you getting better? And then three, could anybody do what you do?

So think about this. There's a guy who is in the Guinness Book of Records that nobody has ever been able to beat in 21 years. He's held the world record of balancing a milk bottle on his head and walking 81 miles without it falling off. I mean, the Guinness Book of Records.

I'm going to take him up on that, Joel. I think I'm going to start, I'm going to make a shift. I'm done doing podcasts. I'm going to go with the milk bottle.

Maybe you might not when you hear the rest of the story about this guy, because how much do you think he earned last year? Nobody in the world has been able to do what he's done for over two decades. How much do you think he made last year?

I'm going to guess close to nothing.

Nothing. Why? Nobody needs a guy to walk with a milk bottle on his head for 81 miles. He spent his whole career learning to do something nobody needs. Now, it is a true story about the guy with the milk, but he's done other things and he's one of those freaks of nature that has, I don't know, maybe 100 things in the Guinness Book of Records he's done that nobody else has done. He sure doesn't make the kind of money that you can make if you get so good at what you're doing that very few people can replace you.

That's incredible. Well, I think that also dovetails very, very nice into another thing that I wanted to ask you about, how you began to develop your skill sets and what you do and how you've become so irreplaceable in the speaking world. And again, I'm just going to keep tossing out these stories and I'm hoping that I'm going to land on the number two. But we'll make sure to get to number two very clearly.

But another story I wanted to make sure you taught that I thought was so valuable is the story of the first paid speech that you gave when you were 28, when you joined Toastmasters and how you got started with speaking, because now we know your journey from the carpenter to selling and we know the health component, now I think this is the part where we talk about where you transition into the speaking world.

Well, that's number two years ago. You did it! So I tell you what, September 4th, 1969, I was giving my first presentation. And after it was over, as I said earlier, a guy came back and asked if I wanted feedback. And by the way, when anybody asks if you'd like feedback, now experience has taught me it's probably not going to be very good. And you definitely want to say yes, because you need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is wonderful, but you need to hear the bad and the ugly.

I didn't think it would get that ugly, but I said, sure, I'd love your feedback. And that's when he looked at me, and he was much older than I was, because I was exactly 28 years old. I would have been a millennial, but they didn't have those words in those days, you know what they called us then when you were 28?

No idea.

Kids. OK, so he said, "You're the worst speaker I have ever heard." And I just started to cry. And then he yelled at me. He said, "Stop crying, Joel, you're not a baby. I'm going to fix you." And I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Just stop crying. Wipe your tears away. It's fixable. You're going to join Toastmasters with me next Tuesday morning. You're going to come to the Tempe Toastmasters and we're going to fix you. We're going to teach you how to speak because speaking is a learned skill." And that was the next turning point, Brandon, was joining a Toastmasters club in 1969 in Tempe, Arizona.

I sat there and he didn't show up, the guy who invited me. And the president starts the meeting and says, "Oh, we've got a guest. Who are you? Stand up and introduce yourself." And I went, me? And he said, yeah, you, and I said, "Joel in Scottsdale, Arizona, thank you very much."

That's all. I was scared to say that, just to say my name in front of a group. And I watched that meeting and I knew, Brandon, they would help me. Have you ever been to Toastmasters?

I have not, no.

OK, well, Toastmasters, if you're listening and you're not familiar, there's a worldwide self-help group and there's tens of thousands of clubs, we have over 200 clubs in Arizona, and Arizona is a small state population-wise, and I joined that club to overcome my fear of speaking.

And I overcompensated, I never missed a meeting for five years, but I kept watching speakers and listening to the critiques and finding out whether there is a way to open and there is a way to close and there is a way to engage the audience and there is a way to make it relevant to the people you're talking to. And then in 1974, five years after joining, they had a speech contest every year, but I never entered. And when Judy saw the invitation, she said, you can enter the speech contest.

I said, oh, no, I couldn't win a speech contest. She said, yeah, you've gotten really good. So on Judy's encouragement, I entered the speech contest and I won in the club. And when you win in your club, Brandon, they have something called an area which is like five or six clubs. And then you go to the area competition. I won there. And then there's a regional competition and a district competition. And then there's the world finals.

And in 1974, I went all the way to the worlds finals in front of 2,000 people at the Disneyland Hotel and placed in the top three in the world out of 60,000 competitors that year. And it was written up in the Arizona Republic, our local paper. And about a week after that experience in California, the phone rings and the guy says, "Is this Joel Weldon?" And I said, yeah. He said, "My name is Paul Cronin. I'm the executive director of the Phoenix Garage Owners Association. We need a speaker for our upcoming banquet. Would you come and speak?" And I said, why are you calling me? He said, "Well, I see that you won this Toastmasters competition and if you're speaking, you must know something." And that was the great lesson. When you speak, it positions you as an expert.

So I said, sure, I'll come. He gave me the time and the place and everything. He said, now we need to talk about money. I said OK. He said, "How does $25 sound?" I said, "Well, it sounds OK, where do I send the check?" He says, "No, no, no, no, no. We send you $25." I said, "I get $25?" He said, "Yeah, you get a chicken dinner." Well, I gave my little talk and they gave me a check for $25 and fried chicken dinner.

Then a guy from Discount Tire -- Discount Tire is a nationwide tire company, but they started in Phoenix, small company -- he said, "I'm the sales manager, down at Discount Tire. That was a great talk. Would you come and talk to my guys on our sales meeting?" I said sure. He said, "What do you charge?" "$25!" So I went and gave a talk there, and that year I gave 274 talks, off of those first two talks, all on referrals and word of mouth. And Judy and I started thinking about, you know, maybe I should quit my job and do more speaking. And that's when I became a professional speaker.

And then that year helped found the National Speakers Association, which was headquartered in Arizona. And I'm one of seven left in the world that was an original founder that's still speaking full time and still an active member. And now there's like 4,000 members of the National Speakers Association, and it all started from joining Toastmasters. And that's why now, 51 years later, I'm still in Toastmasters, Chadds Toastmasters in Scottsdale every Monday at noon. We are doing Zoom now because we can't have live meetings, but I'm there for our club and helping our members become even better speakers. So that was the second part. You snuck that in perfectly.

That's awesome. There's so much wisdom in there. So many things I want to unpack, too, because, I think so many people look at that and they're like, OK, 274 speeches. But there's a lot in just that number, 274. Joel did 274 speeches at $25 a pop. And that's how he became the legend that he is today is because he kept showing up day in and day out.

And the other thing that I want to highlight here is in the three points that we've discussed today about being the terrible salesperson, and then you were told you were a terrible speaker, and then you were told that you were terrible with your health. It's interesting because it's like Joel has this unique perspective of accepting feedback even when it's not something that he wanted to hear. And I personally found in my life, too, that whenever I ask for feedback, if it's uncomfortable, it's usually something I need to lean into. And it's incredible to hear these stories that Joel has shared about hearing these terrible things when you don't want to hear it, there's two opportunities you have. You could either go and hide, or you could leverage it as one of the most powerful learning moments of your life.

That's exactly what Joel has done. So that's absolutely incredible. So thank you so much for sharing those. Now you've mentioned Judy multiple times. You mentioned in the beginning you've been married for 57 years. So I feel like I'd be missing out if I didn't ask on the keys to a successful relationship of 57 years and of her being an incredible partner and supporter of you as you've went through this incredible journey of yours.

Well, it's just five words. Now, if any of you listening are married or you have a relationship, here's all you need to say. Why don't you ask me what the five words are.

What are the five words, Joel?

You're right, dear. Yes, you're right. Yes, you are right, dear. Yeah. Yes, you are right, dear. That's it. You've got to have the same values, and that's what is important. Judy was 15 and I was 17 when we met in our church Sunday school, and we've been together ever since. And we had the same values. We wanted the same things. We did things together. So the activities that I did was not with a bunch of guys. It was always with Judy. And then when we had children, it was always with the family. And family comes first. And we don't have a big family, we have an immediate family of ten people.

So I have two daughters and a wife, that's four of us. And they have husbands, and that's six. And then there are four grandchildren, and that's ten. And we talk all the time. We see each other. Three of the grandchildren are out of state and one's at Annapolis, one's in St. Louis and one just moved to North Dakota or Wyoming, I forget, because they just got there. But they're all terrific young people, and they're going to be extremely successful at what they do and matter of fact, my youngest grandson, Barrett, was at Annapolis when he got accepted and they only accepted eight percent of the applicants that year. And the admission officer who told them he was accepted said one of the reasons was his speaking ability.

Wonder where he gets that from? Not you.

Well, they got it from Toastmasters, we arranged that when they were in elementary school at our local elementary school, all three of them went to the same school, there was a Toastmasters program by a volunteer from our club that would go in and talk called the Youth Leadership Program, teaching them how to speak. And this was in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. So those three kids learned to speak in elementary school, have no fear of it today, and are highly successful at it and Barrett, particularly, now at Annapolis and going to be a naval officer, that skill is going to be just priceless.

That goes back to Earl, your ability to do what you do. So he's way ahead of the curve on speaking ability. And whatever you do, you're going to have to communicate to other people.

Yeah, it's an incredible first principle skill. Like I truly believe that copywriting and speaking, if you can add those on top of anything that you do, you immediately multiply the results you can get in almost every area of your life. So if you're looking at what what Joel was talking about earlier with the three things that he learned from Earl Nightingale, if you want to become that kind of person that can't be replaced, you know, adding that in addition to what you already do, it just will make you incredibly valuable.

Joel, I want to highlight I know it's probably not a question you get asked all the time is, what are the secrets of marriage after 57 years? And you say, yes, you're right dear. The thing that I am really curious to ask -- let me ask you this first. Have you seen The Greatest Showman, the movie?

Yes.

OK, so there's that song, A Million Dreams. It's probably like my favorite song and it relates so much to, you know, for those who are listening that haven't seen The Greatest Showman. First of all, I would highly recommend that you watch it. But it's about this guy named P.T. Barnum.

That was Hugh Jackman, right?

Ye s, Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman. And he created the circus. And so it's this crazy story of him with his wife and having this dream to create the circus. It's an incredible entrepreneurial journey and an in A Million Dreams he just talks about how, you know, he has all these million dreams and his wife is just going along and supporting him. And it's just incredibly beautiful. I cry when I listen to that song, it's crazy. But you talked about all this time Judy's been there supporting you, even when you were selling and you were making the transition from carpentry to selling. What are those conversations like? Like how do you guys deal with those times of uncertainty or how did you deal with those times of uncertainty when you were making scary moves in your beginning years as an entrepreneur?

Well, you know, I mentioned that we were 15 and 17 when we met, and I could never figure out in the beginning why she even went out with me, because she was beautiful and smart. And I didn't think I was good looking or smart. But she saw potential. She saw everything that I couldn't see in myself because I was always the same person. And I think as you listen to this, if you think back to your life and the success that you've had, it was always there, but maybe it took a mentor or an Earl Nightingale Strangest Secret or a person telling you you're the worst speaker that they've ever heard to bring it out. Or a man throwing your food on the floor in an airplane yelling at you and telling you you're eating crap to get you to up your game in that area.

And I think that's what has given us these 57 years that she always knew I could do the things that I didn't think I could do. And she had the confidence in it. So in those days, you know, once we were married, wives didn't work. They didn't have their own career. Their life was really spent raising the children and taking care of their husbands. And that's what she did. And yet she was very active in church and led a youth group and had a large number of people involved in that and of course, worked in our business.

Once our daughters grew, she took over the business and ran it for many years, over 30 years. And she was the go to person with all of the money and investments. She did all of that. All I did was speak and prepare for speaking or coaching people. So I think you need to have the common values. And we've heard that expression, the opposites attract. Maybe they do attract, but I don't know how good that makes for a relationship when you're opposite. And since we just had an election, I mean, if one is a Democrat and one is a Republican, one is a spender, one is a saver. One is an extrovert, one is an introvert. If everything is the opposite, then what do you have in common? So when it came to what was really important in our lives, our values, our religious beliefs, our attitudes towards things, we had the same values. And I think that's why it lasted as a long relationship.

That's so beautiful and it's funny. The other thing, one of my favorite quotes, and you're very familiar with this, and I got it from Joe Polish, but it's up on the wall. I think there's an artwork for it, but it's like you can't read the label from inside the jar. And I think it's like when you have a partner that shares the right values and loves you the right way, but is willing to give you feedback from another perspective, it's just incredibly valuable. So I had another interview with Jewels Duncan, and that was another thing that came up as a very important part of a relationship, is having somebody that supports you but is willing to give you feedback from that external perspective from a loving way. So that's awesome.

Joel, I know we're kind of coming up on time here, but I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you. You've done all this speaking, you've been speaking for so many years. You have a product, a system called the Ultimate Speaking System. And one of the things that you help people do incredibly well, which I think is so well stated, is you make it so that it's impossible to be misunderstood when you help people. So can you maybe tell people about the Ultimate Speaking System and what are the core messages and strategies that you teach people when you're working with them?

Well, that's a great question. The last part is the most important one, of the core values of the system. Just like we were talking about in relationships, it really is based on your core values. And the same thing with your podcast. What are the core values of this podcast? What is it? You were very clear on that and the same thing with our Ultimate Speaking System. And see, as you're listening, if you accept these core values.

There's three of them that this system is built on. Number one, speaking effectively is a learned skill. You are looking at living proof that somebody who never could speak in high school, was not class valedictorian, wasn't winning debating contests, couldn't even lead in Sunday school class in silent prayer, and never spoke until that meeting in front of those 17 people, could become a Hall of Fame professional speaker for 46 years. How is that possible? Because it's a learned skill. So whatever your skill level is now, it does not matter. It can get better. And out of all of those thousands of people that I've worked with and coached, I've never met anybody worse than I was in the beginning. So there's hope.

Second belief to accept is to be yourself. The best speakers, the best communicators, are the same off the stage as on the stage. There are people that have worked with many "famous speakers" who become disenchanted and have this illusion when they see what they're really like. One of the best compliments I ever got was in 1986 at a National Speakers Convention. I had done a major presentation at that event, and afterwards in the hall, a guy -- a young guy, probably would call him a millennial -- comes up and he said, "You know what? You really believe the crap you talk about, don't you?" He used that same word, crap. Now, I would not use it, but I'm quoting somebody else, but I said yeah.

He said, yeah, it really shows. And it was like he had not seen somebody who really believes everything they say, and so as you've been listening to me for this time that we've shared together, I didn't have a script, I didn't write anything out. I had no idea what Brandon was going to ask me. I'm just telling you what happened. And if you came over to my house and had dinner and we sat down and you asked me the same questions, I would have told them exactly the same way.

I can attest to that. I've had those dinner conversations, they're great.

Well, what you see is what you get, and that's what you should be like. So being an effective communicator is not performance. It's not, "Oh, let me tell you. So there I was on the plane and this guy comes over and..." Come on, who talks like that? Except an actor. And speaking is not acting, it's connecting, it's being congruent, it's being who you are. And in our system, if you have things that can distract an accent, you're dull, boring, and monotone, keep speaking dull, boring, and monotone. Just set it up the right way.

I had a client. His name was Boring bob and the CEO of the company said, "You've got to help our CFO. We call him boring Bob. He's got to talk at the national sales meeting. Everybody falls asleep. Fix him." So he said, go meet with him, so I met with him. This guy was really boring. And if you looked at boring, his picture would probably be in the dictionary or the encyclopedia. He was that boring. So he said, "So you're going to fix me?" I said, no, I'm not going to fix you. Let's just fix the presentation." He said, what do you mean? I said, "You've got to speak every year at the meeting. You've got to give them the numbers. You're the chief financial officer. Nobody knows what you know, but you're boring." He said yeah, I'm boring. I said, "That's what you do. Don't change anything. We're just going to change the intro. So I'd like you to have a different opening when you start. And then we're going to change what the CEO says before he brings you up." He said, "That's all you want me to do? I can do that."

So the introduction I wrote for the CEO basically gave his background and said, "Now he's going to talk for an hour. He gives us an annual report every year at our national sales meeting. Everybody falls asleep because we call him Boring Bob." And he went into how boring he was. "So we've got to change the rules a little bit. So here's what we're going to do. If the person next to you starts to fall asleep, it is your job to wake them up. Now, for those of you in the front row," and again, this is Live Me, he looks at the front row, "for those of you in the front row, if Bob falls asleep while he's speaking, it's your job to run up on stage and wake him up."

Well, by this time, the audience is roaring in laughter. And then he introduces, he said, now our chief financial officer for the most boring one hour of your life, please welcome Boring Bob. And they gave him a standing ovation before he even started. And then I told him this opening and he was to thank the CEO, look at the audience before he went to his slide deck, and say something like this. And I didn't write it out. I just said, you think about it. And he said, "Well, thank you for the introduction. Many of you know that Evelyn and I have been married for 27 years, but on our first date she slapped me. I wasn't getting fresh. She just thought I was dead."

And they roared and he said, "Well, I know I'm not dead, but I sure seem to put people to sleep. So please, let's follow the rules the CEO had", then he went right into his presentation, never changed a thing. And he got a standing ovation at the end, and every year the CEO would write and say Bob killed. He's now the favorite speaker we have because he now has seen that if he can make fun of himself, so he always has some kind of a boring thing that he's done during the year to emphasize how boring he is. But he never changed who he was because that's who Boring Bob was. He was low key. He was monotone. And then I remember one year he sent me this, he said, "So I tell them, I know I act boring and I don't have any energy or enthusiasm, but it's all internal. I love this company. I love what you do on the sales force. It just doesn't show on the outside. But you've done a wonderful job. And I know this year coming up, you're going to do even better. So let me give you the numbers that are going to help you do better." And he just embraced who he was.

Now, you're probably nowhere near as bad as that, but there could be something you do. Maybe use sarcasm, put that in the introduction so it doesn't become an issue. Or if you have an accent, tell somebody where you're from and that English is your second language and you're going to have to pay close attention. But what Brandon has to say is so important that even if you only get half of it, you're still way ahead of the game. And then people will say, well, I got everything, but it forced them to listen. So that's all part of our system, how to be you.

And then the third thing about the system is it's all about your audience. If you would go back and replay our recording and count how many times I said "you". Who did I say went on the airplane? I didn't say I had a seat in 1A and I'm sitting on the airplane. I said, you come as my invisible partner, you come along. What would you have said? How would you have thought if the guy next to you saw your food on the floor, what would be going through your mind? That's all part of our system. How do you make your audience part of your message? Because premise number three is it's not about you, it's all about them.

This podcast is not about Brandon and it's not about me. It's about you as a listener. And how can these examples, stories, and illustrations help you? And if you would use that and then what I've assembled with videos, audios, printed materials, and we have a one-on-one coaching system as well. If you would embrace some of these principles, it will. It's a system. And you know, Brandon, that's an acronym. It's not my original one, but it's one of the most powerful. When you have a system, an organized way to get something accomplished, it SYSTEM -- saves you stress, time, energy, and money.

And that's what we have. A system to save you stress when you speak. To save you energy and time and money. So that's what the Ultimate Speaking System is, a set of tools that breaks down the entire process from the introduction to your opening, to your closing, to your call to action, to using visuals, to adding humor, to telling stories. All of that is on videos, audios, printed materials. And it's a lifetime investment. Once you've got it, you never pay another penny.

And we keep adding to it. We have new videos coming out all the time, like I did one not too long ago on how to do a Father of the Bride speech. Now, I know you're not old enough to have a daughter getting married, but you will someday. I had three clients in one month need help on a Father of the Bride speech. So I made a video how to give a Father of the Bride speech, another one on eulogies, how to give a eulogy, how to open with impact, how to add humor, how to tell a story and involve your audience in the story.

All of those are systems that make it easy for you to be an even better speaker and capitalize on the 46 years it's taken me to develop all these systems and they're transferable because they're simple. So let me give you one little tool. In our toolbox, we have a printed tool. This is one of 55 ideas, just one. If I said to you, I can help you earn more money. I said, I can help you be in better shape.

Now, those good statements are bad. We'll look at the first one. I can help you earn more money... because you're probably not doing very well now. I can help you get in better shape.... because I don't think you're in good shape. One four letter word in front of "more" or "better" changes everything. Even "I can help you earn even more money, I can help you be in even better shape". Look at the difference that word adds.

That's huge.

How long did it take you to learn that system? One minute. How long is it going to take you to remember that? You got it. And if you look at your writings any time the word "more" or "better" comes in, drop in "even" and look at the difference it's going to make. So that's a tool. And when I share all of these tools and systems with people, they said, well that's so simple, how come I didn't think about it. Well, you haven't been doing this for 46 years. Once you have a system, the longer you have a system, the better it gets because you keep perfecting it and adding to it all the time. And that's why the system keeps growing.

That's incredible. Thank you for sharing that. I'm for sure stealing that. I'm also stealing saves you stress, time, energy and money. And it was funny that you had said this because I was going to encourage people -- you've been listening this whole time, but now Joel has kind of shown you some of his magic. If you go back and listen to this, just pay attention to how Joel structured his stories, how he told everything. He practices what he preaches.

So he's pulling you in -- the small details, the little details he has. You notice the pauses, the tone, everything is just so very valuable. Joel, I know we've only got a few minutes here. So I just have one final question for you. And that is actually, I normally would ask this a little bit differently, but I'm going to ask it differently for you. Because I would normally ask the question, if you could kind of impart one thing on the audience, what would that be? I'm going to ask a little bit differently for you, and that is if you were to kind of impart one piece of advice for your grandkids or people that you really care and you love, what would that piece of advice be?

Your life is your choice. That's it. There's no excuses. It's up to you. You can't change people, you can't live their life for them and your life, you are where you are today because of the choices you've made. And if you don't like where you are, make different choices. It's really that simple. And, you know, and I didn't say this before, but since this is such an exciting group, you have, if you just go to our website, which is ultimatespeaker.com, and we came up with a special code for you, Brandon. It's really hard... it's "brandon". That's it. So you can get everything I've got on there at half price. It's a 50% savings.

Because you're a millennial, you know, you've got a long way ahead of you and it's not a big investment and it's guaranteed. So you just put in that as the promo code and look that stuff over. The ultimatespeaker.com.

Now, you never end on a call to action. That's my call to action for you, is to get some of these tools and be an even better speaker. But you never close on a call to action. You've got to close on something else. So I'm telling you, I'm closing right now. And here it is. Ask me if I was to sum up everything I've learned about speaking and put it in one sentence, what would that be? Oh, Brandon, was that your question?

That was exactly that was my voice right there. We'll have to edit that back. That was my exact question. I don't know how you did that.

Here it is. 22 words. Speak to your audience about what they need in an organized way they can follow and get yourself out of the way. Now, make it a great day.

Awesome, thank you so much. I'm not going to add anything on top of that because that would diminish the incredibly powerful close that we just had. So check out ultimatespeaker.com. And thank you so much, Joel, for spending time with me here. I'm sure everybody loved the stories and we'll be talking soon.

Make it a great day, Brandon. Enjoy.