Greg Voisen
Welcome back to Inside Personal Growth. This is Greg Voisen, the host of Inside Personal Growth. And joining me from Cleveland, Ohio, is Deryck Richardson. And we're going to be speaking about his new book called The Goal play and the ultimate roadmap to winning the game of life. This is a very small book, as you can see listeners, but it's also quite impactful. It's not in the number of words you write. It's in how good you write. And I will say Deryck did a great job with that. So Deryck, thanks for being on insight, personal growth and spending a few minutes with us. I'm going to let my listeners know a little bit about you is the President CEO of Richardson Marketing Group. It's a marketing firm, specifically designed to increase customer acquisition efforts of insurance agents. Deryck is also a partner in an insurance agency is acting COO of freedom direct LLC 2016, both businesses moved into a call center in Columbus, Ohio, and employees enjoy excellent pay for benefits, ping pong, foosball, Video Game and Game looks. So he's got it all going on. He's extremely active in the community. It sits on several boards and volunteers his time, wherever he can. Deryck has all been committed to developing people. So that's what this book is all about. Whether it be kids, he's coaching during more than 20 years of coaching career, young professionals he managed and trained the kids he mentioned in and out of the classroom because he was a classroom teacher as well. Deryck’s and his wife Desiree have four kids and a granddaughter already. Wow, that is pretty impressive. Bio, thank you. And for my listeners, don't go out and get the book go play, we'll put a link to Deryck’s website. And it's pretty easy. It's D-E-R-Y-C- K, that part is the toughest part. The Richardson part is pretty easy. R-i-c-h A-R-d s o n? Nope. problem there will definitely be able to get that when in and also to Amazon will put a link to Amazon to get the book. Is there. Is there an audio book yet? Or no?

Deryck Richardson
There is there is an audio book, it is not out on Amazon yet because I just recorded it. But it will be maybe by the time the listeners have a chance to Google it. So yeah, great. We out there very soon.

Greg Voisen
Very good. Very good. Well, Deryck, if you would tell the listeners a little bit about yourself. I know I gave a real broad brush view. But there's a more depths to you than just what I read on the back of that. Um, and why you were so compelled to write this book. Now. I know you have many reasons for wanting to write it. And always ask the authors this. It's like, hey, writing a book is not an easy thing. In most cases. You know, I have writer's takes teams of people to get books done. Tell us why and what your purpose is.

Deryck Richardson
So you know, it's a funny thing that you asked that because the book is called go play, right? It's literally about going and playing when we're kids and Mama's cooking dinner. She says go play. And we don't ask for any instructions. We don't say are we going to go play with Legos? Mom, are we going to go knock on Johnny's door, or we're going to go shoot hoops in the driveway. She literally just says, go play right, get out of here. And really the book is about doing that in life. So you know, I wrote a book because simply that's what I wanted to do at the time. And I kind of go through my life that way, right? If I want to be a teacher, let's go be a teacher. You know, if I want to start a an insurance agency, let's go started. If I want to write a book, let's go do it if I want to run for office, if I want to, etc, etc, etc. And that's really what the book is about. Because as adults, we're just not doing that on a regular basis, specifically when it comes to careers and entrepreneurship. But yeah, a little bit about Go ahead.

Greg Voisen
Well, we all know that play is what creates creativity, right? And obviously, without that play, you stifle your ability to be creative. And most entrepreneurs quote at one point in their life work creative. A lot of times they lose that going down the path. And it's because they become conditioned, and the business gets bigger, and they get all the problems with it. And I would say many of them frequently forget how to play, how do you remember to play when you get into this position,

Deryck Richardson
you just got to make sure that you're never bored. I mean, you read the bio about our office here, you know, ping pong, pool tables, foosball tables, video game notes, I mean, we want to make sure that our employees aren't bored, we want to make sure that they're having fun in a sort of a recess type environment. I think that at recess, we were very creative, when we were in grade school. And then we had to come back and do the work, right, and you know, do your math and do your, your science in your, in your writing and stuff like that. So we want to make sure that we are always in an environment where we can be creative, be loose, be childlike, there is a psychology behind why our office is how it is. And that's the way that I operate operate best in this in this facility. You know, during COVID, obviously, people were working from home and we shut down for a while and I found myself feeling confined, being at home and not being able to sneak away and, and just have myself in my thoughts over a game of of eight ball, right? Or nine ball. So, you know, I think that we have to remember that. I think at heart, everybody is very elementary, I think we try to put on this persona, that I'm this big business guy, or, you know, on this big, you know, business professional or whatever. But I mean, by ourselves at home, and we kind of giggle it silly stuff, right? So, you know, so we keep that, you know, at the forefront of our mind, I think that it helps us to, to just remember to be creative, and remember to be childlike, and doesn't mean that we're, we're not smart, right? We're very intelligent beings, but it just means that we can have some fun and keep it like,

Greg Voisen
well, you know, you mentioned this and you say one of the things you heard growing up was go play. And it was a go play guys dinner, I'll be ready shortly, is what your mom used to say. And you obviously love to play. And if you would reflect on these were times that really most memorable to you in life. I mean, you have some great memories of this. And one of them is about a game called Throw ball with a little I guess it it seemed like maybe a building behind it or something that you were trying to get the bill into a throw balls a game that you made up, and how this influenced your life. Just the fact that you were able to play that you were able to come up with some fun games that all the kids liked it. You had a buddy named Greg, I remember reading in the book, that's my name. So I remember that. Yeah. So So tell us a little more about that.

Deryck Richardson
You know, it's so funny, because throw ball just reminds me to, to speak up. When you have an idea. I mean, how many times we said, you know, I thought about that first, right, or that was my idea. Or how many times have we had ideas that we just don't act on. This is a sort of exaggerated the football, essentially his OLYMPIC HANDBALL, I didn't know that because I had never seen an OLYMPIC HANDBALL played. What I did know is that we had a shed that had a door, we had some kids in the backyard. And we had one of those just plastic balls that you get in the bin at Walmart, or Kmart or your local grocery store. And we were bored. And so we decided to put a goalie in the shed the door of the shed, and we decided to throw the ball and see if we can make it in the gold. And it became this, you know, elaborate game that we played for years, we had throw lines, you couldn't pass the line. You know, obviously, it's sort of half court because we didn't have a full court in the backyard. We just had one shed door. So you had to return the ball. Once the defense got the ball to switch it. The offense was pretty elaborate. And we had this plan to make this game a you know, a professional game, it was going to be the next big thing. And I'll never forget the first time I watched the OLYMPIC HANDBALL, so that's my game. We played that growing up and I called my cousin I said, Hey, man, turn on NBC. Right now they're playing pro ball called handball.

Same game,

Deryck Richardson
same game, just reminded me that, you know, my brain whoever came up with throw ball. I'm sorry, whoever came up with OLYMPIC HANDBALL, just had an idea at one point, or idea made it to the Olympics. And that just reminds me that my ideas also are worthy of making it to the Olympics or to boardrooms or to the White House or to whatever right it just gives me the confidence to know that that my brain is also power.

Greg Voisen
Well, you know, it's interesting. I walk my dogs through a park and the girls and guys, young people were talking 1314 15 years old are always playing soccer. I always love watching the goal practice. Because what happens is you'll get a line of girls, this was yesterday actually, for me, one girl's got the mitts on and the whole nine yards, and she's trying to protect the goal. And she's got all these girls, girl after girl after girl after girl just running and kicking his ball into the goal, or hopefully she's stopping it from getting into the goal. And they just think about in life that practice because one of the things we'll talk about here a little bit later, is practice how practice really makes you good. And you know, in each of your chapters, you start off with Dr. Seuss quote, and on the chapter on attitude, the quote is, I've heard there are troubles of more than one kind, some come from a head and some come from behind. But I've brought a big bat, I'm ready to see how my troubles are going to have troubles with me, speaking with us, what about the importance of attitude and mindset, as it relates to your challenges in mind in life?

Deryck Richardson
You know, my father is a psychologist. And growing up, I think that, you know, the worst punishment for me was having to sit down and talk to my dad, I'd rather beat my mom was one of those that went off, and she grabbed a switch or belt, right, but my dad was the one that sat you down in any major talk it out. What I learned from those punishments, though I hated them was that I am in control, even when I think that I'm not in control, right? I mean, I have a journal that I do now, and I did it with my kids when they when they're young. And that drill is can you raise your right hand. And if you can raise your right hand, that means your brain is still in control of your body, and you're still in control, you know, brain, same things, breathe, right, breathe, breathe. But you know, that quote is important, because, you know, my problems are going to have problems with me, you know, because I am, you know, in position to, to solve problems. I'm in position to handle those problems. And I have a history of solving problems and a history of being a good problem solver. So when problems come my way, you know, I'm ready, I'm prepared, right? And you have to have the attitude and the mindset that everything is a life lesson. If you go through something, once, when you go through it again, it should be much easier, because you've been there before you've seen it before. Much like a playbook. You know, that's why that's why you practice in the summer when you played football. The Superbowl was played in February, but these guys are practicing in June, July and August. And that's why because they want to make sure that they see every situation and know how to handle every situation and very much the same thing with attitude and mindset.

Greg Voisen
Yeah, I remember an old quote, which I'm sure you remember from Zig Ziglar. He said, it's not your aptitude that determines your altitude, your attitude. And you know, the reality is, is that when you can overcome almost anything by a shift in mindset, I'll just call the mindset, the mindset, the attitude. And you know, when your parents sit down and talk to you, and you were having those discussions with your father, it was about getting you to shift your perspective about how you saw the world. And he did a good job of that. Because you turned out great. Now in your chapter on practice, which we were just talking about, you save to excel as anything you need to practice. Totally, I believe, you know, I believe in that I'm helping a gentleman, as we speak, write a book. He's climbed Everest two or three times, or is seven summits. And I get the pleasure of interviewing people like NIMS, who climbed all the highest 14, seven summits in the world. When you talk about practice, and you look at their checklists, you'll see when you go on a 45 to 60 day expedition, how prepared these gentlemen are in most of March, gentlemen, just a few ladies to go up above 8000 meters. Okay. So we're talking 26,000 feet above 26,000 to 28,000. Right? You know, this whole practice thing is about practicing that how much practice you think about a mountain climber. Those guys are our climbing peaks here in Colorado at 14,000 feet to practice to get there to acclimate. And we understand the acclimation process. And what advice would you have to inspire people to keep practicing so that they can get what they really love in life? Right.

Deryck Richardson
Well, you know, I had a, an old basketball coach, he unfortunately passed away last year. Ah, no, not out. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I had an old basketball coach named Granville waiters. He was sort of a local legend here in Columbus, Ohio. And, and he always said, practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes preparation, right. And so I've instilled that in my life ever since I was a little kid. And when I heard that the first time, it was powerful at nine or 10 years old. And the reason why I say that you have to practice things is because you know, I just said it, you wouldn't when you see a situation, you're able to, to be comfortable in that situation, knowing that you've seen it before. That's why these guys who are climbing, you know, at 8000 meters, I mean, they've seen it before they breathed it before they've practiced this before they, they don't panic, because it's not new to them. And so if we, if we go through life, and we actually do things with purpose, and with intent, and we practice, if I'm going to go to an interview for a big job, and I practice that interview, that I can't be thrown off by the questions that are asked, if I'm in a sales training in my first presentation, I can't be thrown off if I practice that sales pitch, if I've done a mock call or a mock presentation. Same thing with anything in life, I can't I just can't be thrown off if I practice. I am very weird in the fact that I talked to myself out loud, audibly. Every morning, when I brush my teeth. When my wife and I were dating, she probably thought I was crazy. And she probably wanted to run. But when I brush my teeth, I talk to myself and sort of prepare myself for the day. What do I have to do today? Have I seen it before? If I haven't seen it before? How can I prepare for what I'm about to see. And the reason why I talk to myself audibly is because it sort of enhances the senses. Because I'm listening to myself, I'm verbally speaking it I'm, you know, I'm soaking up the information audibly. And it's just a thing that I've done for a very long time. But I mean, you have to practice anything you do. I mean, you would never see an NBA team go out without practicing, you would never see a politician, give a speech without practicing. Right? I mean, you just would not see a professional do their trade without practicing. So

Greg Voisen
I'm glad you're my professional to that, because I have seen plenty of politicians go. Wait a minute. Perfect. I think the word professional is really important. In other words, becoming really good at your practice, as a salesperson, as a dad, that takes practice as being a good husband, that takes practice. And knowing when you need to make a shift a course correction. And you say it's never too late to become the person you always wanted to be. To me, this is around course, correction. People have been living lives, a lot of people that are not really what they want. Right. But yet they keep doing the same thing, as Albert Einstein once said, expecting different results. And that's the definition of insanity. You know, what are the crucial steps in making that happen? In other words, in your estimation, changing the course correction, knowing that it's not too late, and you have them listed in the book, actually,

Deryck Richardson
yeah, there's several different things that we can do. But again, I keep going back to you know, intent and purpose. I mean, that's just so powerful. If you're going to do something, do it, you know, what I mean, if you're not going to do something, don't do it. And we see people all the time in their in their careers, who are mentally checked out. So the job isn't getting done at 100%. Because they haven't quite made the decision to leave. And they haven't quite made the decision to stay. Right. So that so there, they can't be 100%, because they're not even thinking about the task at hand. But you got to write out a plan, you got to make sure that, okay, if this is what I want to do, if this is my task, it has to be on paper. And then you have to write out the plan, right? You have to you have to come up with the playbook of how to actually get to where you want to be, you're going to envision yourself there, you're going to act like that person. I mean, you literally if you want to go, I'll take an example be an author. I didn't just pick up a pen and start writing, right. I said, You know what, I want to write a book. And what I did was I studied how to write a book, How to Get a publishing deal. I mean, these are the things that we have to do. But sometimes we just don't do that. We say, oh, no, that task is too big. I can never be an author, right? I can never be a CEO of a company. I could never, etc, etc. Right? So write it down, study it, research it, start to act like that person, and just go get it done. Just go do it. We're only here for a relatively short time. And if we spend those years doing something that we don't want to do, there's going to be a miserable time. So I would rather have it be a fun time, a lifetime. You know, you never work a day in your life. If you love what you do, right? So start doing things that you love, so that you're not so miserable for the remaining years that you're on this earth.

Greg Voisen
Well, it's interesting. You talk about writing a book. I've written two in one of them. Just before the second one I enrolled in Michael highest scores. Really quite an interesting guy to help me write the book. And I was surprised with the instruction that was given how quickly I was able to actually complete the book. And as we know, it takes a commitment every day to write, you know, in other words, if it's two hours, if it's one hour, whatever it is, you have to stick to it. Because if you start writing and then you stop, what happens is the, the part that distracts you from writing takes over and you don't ever get it completed. Left, right. You told me when we started this interview that you had a story you wanted to tell? I said the beaver in his golf balls, right? Yeah, yeah. And you said that wasn't your story. But that, but that you have a story you'd like to tell? Can you relate to the listeners, because this is this one was around goal setting. And I think goal setting is really important.

Deryck Richardson
Well, goal setting is very important. And everybody talks about goal setting and writing down benchmarks and checking off those benchmarks. I mean, I operate very old school, I literally have a pad here every single day. And I don't get to leave until everything is checked off with this pad. You know, those are goals for the day, right? And if I don't accomplish those goals, I don't get to go home. So as an entrepreneur, I need to make sure that I'm my own boss. And those are some of the things that I do. But the reason why I wanted to change the story is because goal setting is easy, or at least it's we say it all the time. It's an easy concept to grasp. The story of the lumberjack is not quite so easy. It's something that we probably all struggle with. And it's something that that will continue to help us elevate through life and whatever situation we're trying to elevate in. And the story of the lumberjack is pretty unique because he's, he's the best lumberjack that there ever was. He's LeBron James of lumberjacks, right? I'm in Ohio. And one day, he says, You know what I'm done with this, I'm time to retire. I've gotten all the awards that I needed to my wife wants me to sit and drink lemonade on the porch with her. And so he does, he retired from the timber mill. And he's sitting there drinking his favorite beverage with his wife, and he says, You know what, that fire to chop down trees that fire to be the best lumberjack out there is still alive inside of me. And so he goes back to the timber mill. And he says to the manager, hey, I want to come back retirements not for me anymore. And I'll make you a promise that promises that I'm not going to do this haphazardly. I'm going to come out and be the best lumberjack that I've always been our main number one on the charts when it comes down to chopping down trees. And of course, the manager welcomes him back with open arms. And if the normal lumberjack brings home 12 to 13 trees a day, this guy is bringing home 15 1617 trees. Because his desire and his is great. It's just so great that he wants to be number one. But eventually what happens is, you know, 234 weeks down the line, he's right on the same level as these other kids. He's bringing 1011 trees back. And eventually a month, two months later. He's not at the top of the board anymore. Seven, eight trees, six trees. And he goes to the manager and he says I promise you that fire is still there. I don't know what's going on. But I'll, I'll figure it out. I am giving you 100% I promise you that. And the manager looks at him and says you're very busy chopping down trees, I see you working hard. But when's the last time you sharpen your axe. And you have to sharpen your axe in this world. So we can write down our goals and we can get to where we want to get to. But if we stay there, and if we stay complacent, it's going to be very hard to get to the next level. We have to remind ourselves to sharpen our axe and Zig says it it's not so many words. He says people say motivation doesn't last Well, neither does bathing. That's why we take showers every day, right? That's six well, but it's the same premise, right? You got to continue to motivate yourself every day. You got to continue to read personal development or listen to personal development. I see your reader with all the books behind you and you read my book in a relatively short time. But you have to continue to sharpen your axe and the world is changing so fast these days in business with technology. I mean, if you don't sharpen your axe when it comes to social media, I mean, you're I don't know how your business can grow unless you hire somebody young to do it for you. Right. But I mean, you have got to continue to learn and grow and sharpen your axe in every situation that you're in 100%

Greg Voisen
Well, you know, this show is an interesting outcome from that. You know, I think I told you this. I had quite a career in the financial services, life insurance business. I was MDRT. And I used to go to the million dollar roundtable meetings and hear the guys speak. And I'd come home and I'd share it with my kids. And I was always pumped up and I was I'd come back and I'd hear Zig Ziglar I'd hear just you name it. I heard everything Because I was constantly going to those meetings and being inspired. And my son says to me, it says, Dad, you know, you just, you really love this and you know, and to sustain it. And this was 15 years ago. He was, I forget exactly what his age was at that time. But he's now 40. So let's say he was in his 20s. Right? Yeah. 25 He says, let's do a podcast. And I was like, podcast, what the hell's a podcast? Yeah. And he said, You should do a podcast. And here I am, 15 years later, from what he helped me do and get together. That started off very small. My first interview was with Larry Wilson, the king of selling will swanning and he was the guy who founded consultative selling. And so, you know, I look at the path that I've been on, and I look at people and I say, Look, I'm putting out, you know, 900 plus podcasts now, opportunity for you guys. Just listen, even if you only listen for 10 minutes, but take some ideas away from the podcast, just like this one. You know, that's how you keep yourself sharp. Trying to sharpen your axe, continue to be curious and look for ways to circumvent the obvious and make the invisible. Visible better,

Deryck Richardson
right. 100%.

Greg Voisen
So that's, that's what got me here. Deryck, you had a sales manager. I mistake I said, earlier, I thought that was the basketball. But his name was out.

Oh, man was out there that has a concept of writing a

Greg Voisen
book and title. It's always halftime. What is the importance of analyzing what happens in the first half of the game? And how will this strategy help us in real life? Because there's a book out there called halftime? For guys like me. Yeah. Right. Because you're looking at your life. You're going through it. And I don't even know if mine's halftime anymore. I'm going to be 68 in July. So, so maybe I'm beyond halftime, right? Depending if I live to 120. Yeah, it's halftime. That's right. But you got to you basically have to reassess things. And I think, speak with our listeners about your sales manager saying it's always halftime. And what that really meant for you.

Deryck Richardson
Sure. It's so funny, because our did finish his book. He did not title at halftime. So his book is called the sales floor. I believe it's in editing right now I was honored. And I had the pleasure to write the foreword to that book. And so people look out for the sales floor by Al Garcia coming out shortly. But you know what, it's just the way that I was brought up again, having a psychologist as a dad, I think that we were taught how to think and to analyze. I didn't realize when I was in my young 20s that not everybody thinks and analyzes. I mean, that's why there's a lot of people that make a lot of stupid decisions over and over and over again. But when our told me that if you if you think of every minute, every situation is halftime, that means you're constantly looking at the first half, making adjustments to go out to play a better second half. So you can do that in your lifetime. Like, what am I done? I'm 40. So what have I done over the last 40 years? Let's analyze that. What can I do to have the next 40 years be even better? I can do that for the year, what happened last year? How can I analyze that, okay, let's make adjustments. Let's have a better year, this year, the month, the week, the day, the sales call, what happened on the last sales call, okay? Let's make some adjustments. Let's analyze that. Let's move forward and have a better sales call this relationship this I mean, we can go on and on and on and on. But if you're always analyzing and learning from the past, and then tomorrow should always be better than today. And today should always be better than yesterday. And that's continuous growth, continuous improvement. And so when he was telling me that he had this, this idea for this book called halftime around the same premise, I think, man, that's how I've grown up. I've always analyzed situations I've taken losses as lessons, try to analyze it, dig deep and figure out where it went wrong or where it went right. And take the things that went right and add to those and take things that went wrong and get rid of those and, and everything I do try to move forward and it's just like a coach making halftime adjustments. I mean, if you can live every day as if it's halftime. You'll have a pretty good, pretty good life moving forward.

Greg Voisen
That's a great analogy in OWL definitely had an impression on you. You can tell. Obviously somebody coming in at halftime, whether it's a football game, a basketball game, soccer game, reassessing what went right. What went wrong, and looking at what you can do moving forward. You know, and I think it's really interesting because you talked about sales, the sales book that's coming out that Al's got, and I'm going to ask you for a referral to probably Mr. Garcia. In and I had the guy on from Franklin Covey, Dale Merle, and Dale and Franklin Covey wrote a book called strikingly different selling. And you know what the fact is, is that the sales people believe if you ask a salesperson after the presentation, how to do they'll go? Yeah, I nailed it. I nailed it. Right. Right. And here's what really they found out. Because they asked the vendor, the clients, the people that are buying only 17% of the time, where was that person relevant, meaningful, and distinct, different? They otherwise they say it was a waste of time. Because everybody that came through the door sounded the same, whatever. And you know, when you think about that, that's like, Wow, that's crazy. They did a study with of these big companies where people were coming in making presentations, telling them, the glass guy sounded just like the guy before the guy before that, the guy before that. And by the way, this is the biggest frickin waste of my time, I say, Be strikingly different. Do something different that presentation. You know, in chapter eight on embrace the assist, you speak about the analogy of being unselfish, when you know, a teammate is in a position to make a better shot than you. We see this happen. You know, there was just recently I think it was in Ohio. I'm not certain, but I just watched it. This young man who was developmentally disabled, they let him come into the last game, right? Like this a lot.

Did you see it? I did, yeah. Four, three pointers in a row and a runner better.

Greg Voisen
And you know, and they saw the other teammates from the other team, actually giving him the ball, even though they know they were they were down. I mean, that other team was down, because they got into the emotion of it, right? The whole thing of, you know, this developmentally disabled guy have never been out there. But yet he practiced over and over and over again. Yes, yes, three pointers? What advice would you give the listeners about getting out of her ego and embracing the assist? Because that is a great example, of people getting out of their ego and saying, oh, no, we got to win the game. And the other team guy, no, we don't have to win the game. We want to give this guy a moment. Right? Yeah, it was, it was phenomenal story, wasn't it?

Deryck Richardson
It was it was and I'm going to mess this quote up. And I'm sure you've heard it. So please correct me in exactly verbatim how it's how it said. But I think it was Steve Jobs. His CFO was talking to Steve Jobs and says, Hey, we're giving these guys too much training, you know, what happens if what happens if they leave? Right? We're making them too smart for their own good. What happens if they leave? And Steve Jobs says, Well, what happens if we don't train them and they say, you know, it's, it's one of those things, you know, I always operate that I want the best teammates around me. One of the one of the awards that we're proud of is the best place to work in Columbus, Ohio, we've been in the top 10, three years in a row, we have a number one award there as well. So it's one of those things that you know, I want my guys to be the best. It's up to me to make sure that they stay, right. That's my job to make sure that they stay. But I want the best people on my team. We have guys here with different businesses on the side that I'm helping them with as an entrepreneur. We have guys here with websites, and they take some time out of their day that we're paying them for, to work on their own websites and things like that. I want my guys sharp, I want my team around me sharp. I mean, you are the average of your five closest people. I spent a lot of time in this office with my employees. And if they're not sharp, I can't move forward, right. So I want them sharp. But at the end of the day, I also believe in karma. And I believe that what you put out into the universe comes back to you. I am a product of people taking a chance on me, a young mortgage broker many moons ago, I was a telemarketer just generating leads for these guys. I was not licensed to sell mortgages. I was putting myself through college and the owner of the company when I graduated from college, I said, hey, thanks a lot, man. I'm out of here. I'm going to go teach school. And he says, No, you're not let me let me pay for your license. So you had to make some big boy money. And he did. And that was one of the turning points in my life to go from sort of just as that kind of poking along in life. Oh, I can make some serious money. If he didn't do that. I don't know that my life would be what it is today. I probably wouldn't want to go to school. I did end up teaching school in the mortgage market out, but I probably wouldn't want to go to school and remained a teacher because I didn't see the fire of entrepreneurship. Before the wants to try to give back the same way that somebody had given to me. You know, I hate it when people say, you know, I'm too busy to help you out. No, you're not, you know, nobody's too busy to point somebody in the right direction. Nobody's too busy to take a 10 minute phone call and nobody's too busy to help somebody out. And I don't know why you wouldn't want to help people out, why wouldn't we want? You know, our associates? And those people that look up to us? Why wouldn't we want them to? to better themselves? Why would we want to keep them down? It's just not a philosophy that that I believe in. So I certainly believe in the assist, and helping people out when you can and providing resources pointing people in the right direction. And I'm really hoping that they win cheering for other people.

Greg Voisen
Well, you know, you can tell that you've got a lot of compassion. And that's good. You've got a big heart. And I like that. And, look, the telemarketing business is not easy business. So whether you have a roomful of people dial outbound dialing, I have a question. That wasn't one of the questions that's on here. What do you do to differentiate your telemarketing so that the interruption that people get, or whatever pitch it is you're making, or however these people actually sound on the phone, makes it different so that there's a higher probability that the person won't hang up?

Deryck Richardson
So that's a long question, because we got to do it with intent and purpose, right. I'll give you two of my secrets. Okay. And see, I just talked about getting people stuff for free, I normally charge for this information, I get it and get it for free. There's two main components to that. The first one is my five keys to success. Before you make a phone call, you need to make sure that you know what the five keys to success are. And you need to make sure that you're ready to be successful. And if you're not ready to be successful, you'll never make a phone call in this building. The first one is you have to have a why sales is not easy. So if you don't have a why of why you want to be in sales, it's not money either. Money is not the reason. Okay? People say cuz I got to make a lot of money. Well, what are you going to do with the money? Right? What if money was obsolete? And the piece of paper didn't exist? Why? Why do you want money, right? What's your why? But the second key to success is you are not a telemarketer, you are a consultant that happens to do work over the phone. And you have to actually believe that and what I tell people is the story of the hands in my training classes, you know, the hands if you know if somebody who I look up to let's just say LeBron James came to me and said, Hey, Deryck at 136 Eastern today, I'm going to be down the street at McDonald's. I'd love to meet you for a coffee. I look up to Lebron James. Right. So I'm down here looking up to him. And I'm going to say, You know what, I have a podcast but I'll get right over there, Mr. James, and if he's not there at, you know, two o'clock He's late. I don't care. I'm still waiting for him. So I got this sort of feeling that he's better than me. We're never here on the phone. Even though we're telemarketers even though we're phone consultants. We're never here. We're at least here. Or at least eye to eye. So if my buddies said, Hey, meet me at 1:36pm on Friday, I want to say I can't man, I'm on a podcast with Greg right. You know, sorry, I got some other things. And I can try to meet you over there at 230. I'm there at 230. And he's not there at 232. I'm calling him say, Yo, man, where are you at? It's Friday, I'm trying to in my day, because I see eye to eye with him. We're at least here but really, as a consultant, and as a professional on the phone. We're here. We're where we have the product that's going to take them to the next level. Right? So if I tell you know, my kids that meet me somewhere to or my employees, they meet me somewhere too, and they're not there to with a difference. Not Hey, man, where you at? It's yo Hurry up. Let's go. You know what I mean? We're here on the phone. And the reason why we're here is because we liken ourselves to Nike, I don't have to ever play basketball. I could be you know, I am a big guy. As you can see, I can be old, I can be fat, I can be non-athletic, I can have zero legs. But if I have a shoe that will enhance the Bron James's game, because I work for Nike LeBron is going to take my phone call. Because I have product that's going to enhance him, I have to have that confidence on the phone. So you know, be a consultant, not a telemarketer knowledge is the third key to success, we got to make sure that not only do we know our product, but we know their business as well. So in that same meeting with that Nike executive if LeBron says, Hey, I understand how the shoe helps my vertical jump. But how does the shoe embrace my ankle in the middle of a crossover dribble? And I say we explain a crossover dribble to me, Mr. James, I've lost all respect because I don't understand his business enough to be worthy of having that conversation. So knowledge. And then the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is obviously the extra. I need you guys to be extra all day long. So the first thing is those five keys to success. But the second thing is a little tool that if you're in sales you should use and I'll give it to you free of charge because Greg asked me for it. And this tool is an acronym called clap. So before we get into our presentation mode, salespeople are just going diving right into their presentation, we're actually going to do a discovery piece by finding out what they're currently doing to solve the problem, what they like about that solution, what they would alter about that solution, and then we are painting the picture. So every single presentation is customized to that client, we are literally addressing what they are currently doing for their marketing needs. If they if they like that the leads come from statewide versus, versus the zip code, well, hey, we can do that too, right? We have the knowledge to know that we need to enhance that piece of our presentation, because they liked that about their service. And whatever they would change or alter about their president, their present solution, we're going to make sure that we show them, hey, we don't do that, right, we know that you don't like that. So for your we're going to customize it. And we don't do that. And then we're going to talk then we're going to paint the picture after we've gotten that information that does two things. Number one people like to talk. And so it gets them talking first. You know, it gets them opening up to you first, because you're asking those questions in a very particular way to make sure that they're talking. And then once they talk, that sort of gate of frustration that telemarketers on the on the phone comes down a little bit, and they first are peeking over and the same, like currently used, you know, XYZ marketing. And well, I'll tell you what I like about it, you know, this is what I would change. If I had a magic wand I changed and all of a sudden that gets gone. And you're in there because you're the friend. So you've made a friend with the clap technique for sure.

Greg Voisen
Well, you've become vulnerable, they've become vulnerable, they're willing to become vulnerable, because there's now a degree of trust associated in being able to do that. And I think I would assume that you guys do it really well. Now, Deryck, in the end game, you speak about the ultimate roadmap to winning at the game of life. And for everyone listening, it's different, right? Whatever their win is, whatever you want to call in, what are some things that we need to navigate, in my estimation to manifest a life of love? Honor, truth, and excellence?

Deryck Richardson
Awesome. Question. I was just telling a young kid that I was mentoring yesterday, on our call that in business, some people are greedy, and sharks, and others are not so greedy, and they sleep very well at night. And I think that if you can sleep well at night, surrounded by people that you love, that in itself is a victory. And so what does it take to get there? What does it take to, to have people around you and be surrounded by love? Well, you can't be a jerk to them, because now they're not going to be around you. Right? So you got to be a good husband and father. And what does it take to sleep? Well, at night, it means making ethical decisions. And I don't know what those decisions are. Because I'm not in your business. I don't live your life, but you know what they are to make sure that you sleep well at night. So if you can, if your ultimate goal is to sleep well at night, surrounded by people that you love, then I think that you've won, and you've got to decide what those decisions are to get you in that place.

Greg Voisen
That's a great, great answer. So three things, I always like to get my podcast listeners and wrap these podcasts up with something that's actionable. Because like, look, we can talk for 40 minutes, which we have. And in the end, it's like, hey, Deryck, I want to take something away that I can apply to my life today. So I say, what are three things that you want the listeners to leave with regarding the ultimate roadmap of winning at the game of life? And how can they implement them today, in their life?

Deryck Richardson
The first thing is, I want you guys to mimic success. I talk about that in the book. You're not copying anything. You're it's actually a strategy to mimic success. Kobe Bryant did a phenomenal job mimicking everything that Michael Jordan did, you can YouTube, the videos of exact movements on the basketball court that Kobe studied from Michael to be great. So mimics success if you see somebody doing something great. You know, mimic it, study it, ask them you know, you know, if they don't give you help, we just talked about the assists when you ask them for help or ask them how they did XYZ you know, shame on them but ask him and mimic

Greg Voisen
Tony Robbins mirror and match NLP neuro programming.

Deryck Richardson
Got it? Greg,

Greg Voisen
where's the rubber bands on my

Deryck Richardson
mind? I got it right there.

Greg Voisen
So if you mirror and match mirror, that is a mimic.

Deryck Richardson
Mimic you got to mimic success. Number one. Number two, listen, you can do anything that you want to do in this world. I promise you specifically in this country, you can do anything that you want to do. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy. But if you want to go be a teacher, go be a teacher. If you want to start a podcast, they'll start a podcast, but do it with intent and with purpose don't just want to do something thinking that the end result is going to be so fantastic because oftentimes the journey is much more fulfilling than the destination. Right? So when the LA Rams just won the Super Bowl, the stories are going to be about holding the trophy, and the champagne, the story is going to be about getting through those teams in the playoffs in the game and the call that should have been and wasn't the, it's the journey that's you're going to talk about, it's not the end game. So when you want to do something, you have to envision the entire journey, because that's going to be the piece that you remember, you can do whatever you want to do, do it with purpose and do it with intent. And finally, again, I'm just a huge fan of giving back. Once you get there, even if you're not there yet, make sure you give back for the next generation, make sure that you can spread some knowledge and see if you're not, you know, if you're not helping the next generation, how what are we going to look like, if our generation can't grow and flourish, you have the knowledge and you have the experience. And you've gone through these situations and you've gotten out of these situations. If you don't want these young kids or younger generation to get out of those situations, then we're in trouble. As a being we're in trouble as a planet. So do your job to make sure that we continue to grow and, and continuously improve as a planet as well.

Greg Voisen
And the Cincinnati Bengals were a fine team are a fine team. And Joe burrow has many more years to come back. You guys have quite a quarterback I watched the game. And it was it was really well he executed on both sides parts. As a matter of fact, I didn't think LA was going to win. So I didn't.

I'm sure you did.

Greg Voisen
But any rate, hey, Deryck, a pleasure having you on inside personal growth. Talking about your new book, go play for my listeners, this is a short, sweet, you can read this on the plane from a very short plane ride from like, in this case, San Diego to Phoenix, you would have this book completed. And there are gems of wisdom in here that you're going to take away. Also go to Deryck's website, which is basically d r YCK. Richardson, RI CH, AR d s o n.com. We had a wonderful, wonderful time having you on the show. I really appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for supporting the show as well. And thanks for those three takeaways at the end here. I think for our listeners, that's going to be a wonderful way for them to like take some of this and apply it. And again, you know, a book is a book is a book, but only a book. If you take something away from it and you apply it to your life. You take one thing away from any book that's back there, or the other 1000 that I have here in the house. You know you're doing good. Thanks. Thanks so much for being on inside personal growth.

Deryck Richardson
Hey, Greg, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Greg Voisen
Thank you for listening to this podcast on inside personal growth. We appreciate your support. And for more information about new podcast please go to inside personal growth.com or any of your favorite channels to listen to our podcast. Thanks again and have a wonderful day.