Epiosde 449: The First Taste of Working for Yourself Makes You Never Want to Go Back with David L...

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell.

And before we get started, if you.

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Of Million Dollar Mastermind. My guest is David Landrum. Hello, David.

Hey. Hey, Larry. Good morning.

Good morning. And I have to congratulate you on how young you look. I haven't seen you since the COVID and the quarantine and all of that kicked in. You're looking happy, healthy, and I know the family's doing great. And so congratulations on coming through and surviving.

Yeah, it's been a different time, definitely. But yeah, we're glad to be kind of moving into post Covid. So excited about where things are headed.

Well, I know Zoom, like all business people, Zoom has made the difference. And you just to give an idea of the size, You've got about 5,000 people in your companies, 224 offices. You're in the financial services business primarily and got about 60 million in new money coming in from all the various offices, Canada, U.S. where primarily are your offices centered, would you say?

Yeah, we're pretty much from, you know, the Phoenix, Arizona, of course. I live, I live in Mississippi, born and raised here, but, but everywhere, you know, we've got North America, U.S. mainly province of Ontario. We've got about 80 locations, offices up there. And then of course down to South Florida, across the south, naturally, and Ohio. And So we're about 25 states and also Canada.

And David is the perfect example of a Southern gentleman, Southern businessman. He married, I think he married the prom queen. She's certainly a beauty queen. And they've had a phenomenal life, you know, great kids, been in the same community for where actually Mississippi.

Yeah, yeah, we're from, from down in down south Mississippi. Deep, deep South Laurel, Mississippi. I think there's a HGTV show now about Laurel called Hometown. And so I was born and raised there. Jill was born and raised there. About an hour and a half from. I live in Jackson. So, but my parents, my family, a lot of my family still lives down in a place called Jones County. And back during the Civil War, there's a book out there was actually a movie, the Free State of Jones. We actually seceded from the Confederacy and didn't like the way the Civil War was going, so we just formed our own state down there. So, but, but anyway, yeah, so we, other than The I spent three years in the military. Oldest son of five kids. In between college, didn't really know what I wanted to do and ended up joining the right right after Vietnam it joined the army. I was part of the 1st Volunteer Army. Spent three years military policeman year over in Germany and then went to college at Southern Miss down in Hattiesburg.

And where did, where in Germany were you?

I was in a little place called Wildflicken, Billflicken and near Wurtzburg. So I spent a year over there, not about an hour and a half from Nuremberg. But yeah, that was a great time. Just, you know, I wish I'd have had some money so I could have enjoyed it being in the army.

Yeah, well you might have gotten into a lot more trouble too if you.

That's true, that's true.

Now people also to kind of complete a little bit more of the background. And you grew up and your brother eventually was he pro football player and then eventually got into business himself and he's built a huge organization. He's another million dollar earner eventually. I like to get Mike on here.

Yeah, yeah, he would be great. Mike is my younger brother. So when I got started in the business, I started at the time I was going to Southern full time. I was managing a health club full time, going to school on GI Bill. And then I saw Jill. I graduated from high school with Jill's older brother. So one day I was in Laurel in front of McDonald's in my car and all of a sudden this Cutlass supreme pulled up beside me. And I looked over and it looked like a supermodel. And I thought, good Lord, who is that? And I realized she had grown up. And so we got married in college, we went out, got married in college. And so. But my brother Mike, he was six years younger than me. So he played college ball at Southern Mass, then went on with the Atlanta Falcons for three years. Got his knees messed up. And then I, I asked Mike, I had been in the business then about 10 years, I said, Mike, just give me 90 days. I said, Just give me 90 days. Because I always knew with his work ethic and commitment, I said if, I always tell Jill, I said, if Mike ever commits to this, he'll be big. And so that was 31 years ago, 31 years ago now. And Mike's. He's got 80 over 80 offices and just one of the top leaders now. So in our organization now, talk about.

How you, what was your motivation early on coming out of the Deep south, you know, there's what people don't often pay attention to is the fact that when you come from an area that doesn't have a lot of, you know, it's like dead, you know, like, you know, there's not going to be any Silicon Valley starting in Laurel, Mississippi, you know, or maybe Jackson. But when you grow up in those small towns, it's sleepy, it's hot in the South. My, my. I grew up going, spending a month every summer down in South Georgia. You got the gnats and people are farming, scratching out a living, and it's hard to have. It's kind of like the poor people down in Mexico. It's hot all the. God bless the time. It's kind of hard to have to get all go, go, go when you're fighting the temperature and all the elements and so swatting gnats, I think I used up part of my life swatting gnats down there. And it's hard to get. You don't get up. You're looking at pine trees, you're looking at rural, you know, landscape views. You're not really getting inspired to greatness all the time. However, I do remember I went to third grade down in South Georgia, and I do remember they were pretty gung ho about bringing in the traveling show to the school. I remember one time they brought in somebody at a traveling show with all kind of birds, you know, like 4,000 parents. So they would. They would bring in things to kind of expose you to the outside world, but without the tv. This is the era where you didn't have television on there to expand your vision. And how did you get to the point where you started thinking about a bigger world?

Yeah. Well, let me say, back it up. The best invention ever for the south was air conditioning. So it made it where you could tolerate it.

Yeah, right.

But anyway. Yes. So Laurel, Laurel, you know, small town, great community again, born and raised there. But I'll tell you, Larry, as I was, you know, when I got out of the military again, Vietnam had just ended the military. It was not cool to be in the military. You know, at that point, you really never had anybody thank you for serving. And so, you know, even though I was a tough guy, my dad, you know, played college ball, University of Louisville and, you know, was a man's man. So I was tough, but I was really kind of broken. I was. The thought of corporate America really intimidated me, and I just, I really didn't really. I was afraid of, like, I didn't know if I had what it. What it really Took to, to do something big in business. But I tell you what, the thing that always was in the back of my mind, I said, man, I want to be. I didn't know the name of it at that time, but I want to. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to own my own business. And I tell you what, one of the best things that happened to me, one of the head football coach in my hometown, one of the, one of the schools Santa Fera said offered me the chance to manage the health club full time. And, and I told Sonny, I said, man, I, I mean, I know how to work out, but I don't know anything about managing the club or whatever. And so I did that. But I tell you what, watching people come in at the end of the day to that health club, we had 600 members. And I tell you what, I just began to notice a pattern. And the thing that I noticed was the people that were the most excited about their life, they were not building somebody else's dream, they were building their own dream. And that's where I, that's that two years at the health club, that's where I really locked in to say, okay, I want to own my own business. Had no idea what I could do, you know, but, but anyway, so that, that really. And then the other thing too, I wanted to be, I wanted to be the go to guy. I wanted. My. My wife Jill was working at a bank, trying to put me through school. She came home like, hated her job. She came home like crying every day. And I told her from having to count everybody else's money because we didn't have any, but I wanted to get her to where she didn't have to work at the bank. I wanted to be kind of the go to guy for my family, her family, my family. So I had some goals and so that, you know, that really encouraged me to. Again, I didn't know what it was going to look like, but that put the desire there to have my own business.

And at some point, you know, David, talk about that thing. You notice patterns, that, that'll be a kind of a good thing for us to get going on. You noticed you were, you were young, you're just trying to make a living. You had a lot of distractions, you know, and school and this, that and the other. But it was such a strong element that it spoke to you that like, who's successful here and who's not. It wasn't like, you know, you couldn't help but notice that how patterns, those patterns. And basically comes from what they want and how they think, how that dictated results.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, it. When you, when you think about. And you think about, you know, again, just watching that, you know, there was a. Even though a lot, you know, of course, you know, all entrepreneurs, you know, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. Right? Right. Entrepreneur just sounds really great, you know, but, but, you know, all, all entrepreneurs, though, were on commission.

Right?

I mean, there's no but. But the thing about it is even though there's that responsibility, you know, and the other thing I noticed is, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, once you get, if you ever get the key to your company on your key ring, okay, Once you've had a taste of that, you never want to go back. How many entrepreneurs ever go back to working for somebody else? You know what I mean? I mean, once you get a taste of that, that freedom, even though that responsibility is there and you've got to be your own toughest balls and all of those things that go along with that. But, but that, that's the thing that hit me is that they weren't bouncing around. You know, naturally, a lot of businesses don't make it, and a lot of the businesses you try at first don't make it. You know what I mean? But. But anyway, once they kind of find their niche and find that. That vehicle for them, then, then they typically want to, you know, stay with that. And also, then naturally it can morph into other things. You know, the bigger you think, then you see other opportunities that are. That are out there that you can build on what you. What you've done.

Yeah, the. In the fastest track to that before you can get a. You can get a preview of that when you move into management somewhere, you know, you get to where, you know, you master a skill, you do a great enough job to get recognized and earn the right to wind up moving up into the management where you're making the decisions, you've got the responsibility, you're moving the levers, you know, you're dealing with the people. Just like if you're. You climb up the top of a tower somewhere, you know, the Eiffel Tower, you know, even the water tower in Europe in Laurel, Mississippi. You know, you get up there, you get a view, and you see things. Things become obvious to you that people could tell you over and over and over. But so much of this thing is seeing things for yourself. And what was what I would say happened to you and what people that are listening on these podcasts is they've gone through experiences where They've been able to be elevated and get an elevated view of the scenario, you know, the scene. And like they can't get that view out of their mind. You know, they, they can see if they settle for a job, you know. And that's what I went through, David. You know, I went through, you know, when I got out of construction, I did construction because it was following up on my degree out of Georgia Tech and I had to do, do something. So I built, you know, work with a small home builder there in Atlanta. And I didn't realize what a crappy industry that was in terms of a roller coaster thing and undependable. And you, you know how talk about Vegas, Las Vegas, talk about a gamble, you know, a builder out there, folks, these builders that on single family houses, they don't know what price range, they don't know what subdivision to buy. Some lots, they don't know what price range is going to be hot next, you know, season. And they go to the realtor, realtor doesn't know, they go to the bank, the banker doesn't know and it's a crapshoot. And so you get out there and you get a 90 day construction loan and then if that thing doesn't sell in 90 days or you know, pre sale prior to closing, then you're going to be making payments on that. And then things slow down and all of a sudden every one of those construction loans that time out, that's another house. And all of a sudden you got seven or eight houses you're paying mortgages on. And back in a, back when I was in it in Atlanta, seemed like no matter how successful these guys were, these big builders, they were, you know, country club and you know, the great families and the houses and everything. But then every seven years they're bankrupt, you know, and there goes the marriage, there goes the private school for the kids and you know, they're scrambling around to put things back together. But it was, and it wasn't that they were bad guys. I mean it wasn't like they went to, to the Caribbean and chase women to lose all their money. They, you know, the industry crushed them. You know, they're working, most of them are working about 80, 90 hours a week while they were going down, you know. And so I said I had to get a new industry. That's why I got over into financial services much like you did. But it was because of the viewpoint I had. You know, I was in it long enough to be able to see the future in that industry. And talking to enough people, learn how to think and cast my vision forward about what was going to happen to me. And when you went and got out of college and went into the military and then came back and ran those, ran that gym, those were exposures that elevated your eyesight above the average person. Because you were seeing things just by going to Europe, being over there, even though you don't have money, it changes your attitude forever. That's always in your mind. And then you come back and you run a gym, you learn things that nobody can ever get out of your mind. I mean, you can use that, you know, and have used that the rest of your life, you know, to be, to put yourself in position to make the decisions that would keep you from getting in a box.

Yeah, yeah. And you know, Larry, you know, a couple of things you just say are kind of jogging my mind here. But you know, the thing about it is regardless of whether you're an entrepreneur, want to be an entrepreneur or whatever, or you're working on a career, you're moving up and you've got good things happening. You know, I think the main thing is to bloom where you're planted, right? Bloom where you planted. Do the best when you know where you are. And then the other thing too is just start, you know, keep moving, keep trying to get better. You know, it's kind of hard to steer a parked car. So you know, the, you know, as you, as you move forward and do the best where you are. And then the other thing too, you know, when you're in those environments, just like I didn't know I could run a health club, but you know, you don't know what abilities many times that the Lord blesses you with until you're put in an environment that's going to pull that out. And you know, I thought about this, that I tell you the military was good and the club, the health club was good for me for one main, well, a lot of reasons, the discipline and all that you learn. But I think the most valuable thing I got out of the military and the health club was learning to serve people. And I tell you, when I was in basic training, for some reason they picked me to be a squad leader and they put me, they sent us to a one day leadership class because we were going to be together for two months, our platoon, so they had four squads, so I was a squad leader. So they sent us this leadership class and they, they sent us in, they said, look, there's two ways you can take care of your squad. You can, you can you can manage it one. One way. Like if you're asked to go pick up paper or clean the bathroom latrine or whatever, you can watch over your guys and make sure they do it, or you can be the first one down there and set the example. And I thought to myself, man, that's what I'm going to do. So whatever I asked my guys to do, I'm going to just get with them and make it happen. Well, and so we did that. And that's when I really first learned just to serve people and love people and care about people. Because by the end of that two months, man, we had the best team. We had this little squad. We loved each other, we took care of each other. And then when I was asked to manage the health club again, I didn't know anything about that, but you know what I said? I said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to do the same thing that I did in the military. I'm just going to. I have these 600 members, and I'm just going to love them. I'm going to take care of them. I'm going to have the cleanest health club. I'm going to have make the best smoothies. And, you know, when they came in, I said, man, can I do anything for you? And and same thing happened there. Next thing you know, the owner was saying, look, David, do you want to buy this place when you get out of college? He said, you know, do you? And because people. Members started bringing members, new members. So when I got in the financial business and I learned how to do this, I was just on the side, too, on top of the health club. In college, I started doing this just on the side in the financial business. And I did the same thing there. I just started loving people, caring about people, serving them, kind of servant leader. And then next thing you know, that started going people. And that. That was. That became a domino. Just learning to serve care, be genuine, authentic people in spot a pony a mile away. And so anyway, that. And then we grew there. But that whole lesson of servant leadership, man, that, to me, that was a game changer for me.

All right, great insights, David, and I can't wait to dig into more of this later. Thanks so much.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to Whiteellumwinning.comwebinar now, in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Widell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, Go.