[Greatest Hits] Episode #349: Business is Not Designed for You to Have Fun in the Early Day with ...

Welcome to this edition of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

This afternoon we're going to have some.

Fun talking with Mike Tuttle and we're going to hear ideas on winning from somebody who not only knows how to win, but knows how to have fun, knows how to pass along. His insights build teams really in all areas of life. You know, his relationships, his, his beliefs, his charitable work. He's got a foundation. He's just got, you know, just the full life, the kind of life you dream of where you have unlimited income, but you have also control over your time and you can go out there and impact the world and make this thing ripple effect, you know, create a ripple effect of wonderful things. And so it's Mike Tuttle, folks. Hey Mike, thanks for joining us.

Well, glad to be here, buddy.

And you know, Mike, you inspired people all over the country for decades and decades. You've built an organization, a business all over North America, you've traveled the world, you've had a foundation for probably three decades and you put a lot of energy and time into that. For people who don't know, Mike is in Dallas and you know, I know back when he had, you know, a lot of people buy big houses just so they could enjoy. He had a big house, he had like three grills in the back. And he would bring over hundreds and hundreds of inner city families out for barbecues and cookouts and all kind of games and activities. He used these facilities not only in his church and all, but also in his community. And so Mike has got far ranging impact way beyond business. I mean, he's in a basement too, because it just, I really don't know how he does it, but he's got a heart for other people and he just loves to see smiles on people's faces provide the answer. Maybe he'll get in and talk to you about Zorro and Santa Claus and what he's doing now. But Mike, thanks so much for getting on and you spend a good bit of your time with other people because you don't spend your time doing what you have to do. You spend your time doing what you want to do now. And that creates a really fulfilling life. And talk about that like the price of what you had to go through early on, the way it's turned out to be worth millions of times more than any kind of effort or tough times. You had to go through to get there.

Well, you know, Art always said the business was not designed to have fun in the early days, but designed to win so you could have the fun rest of your life. And you've experienced that. I've experienced it. So many of us did because we busted our butts in the early years to build it. But once you got it built, that compound interest starts taking. It keeps growing and groping. I couldn't stop my business if I tried. You couldn't stop yours if you tried. You've got so many people, your organization, they're trying to get to where you are, and it just keeps growing and growing and growing. But you know, Larry, for me and a lot of what you were just talking about. Who is it? Maxwell. He makes a statement. Actually, I'm doing a zoom call in Mexico people right now on his book Intentional Living. I have to get someone to translate because my Spanish is bad. But they are feasting on this book. And last night with these people in Mexico I was talking about, Maxwell says, what makes you cry and what makes you sing cry. When you see something that just breaks your heart and you want to help them or someone you see them, that is just so much fun. You want to be a part of it. And I thought, well, that's where my life is right now. I love Mexico. I love the culture down there. I probably have spent 12, 15 weeks down there this year helping poor. I was with a little boy that I met recently. A lady said his mother is the sister of a lady that works for me. Would you go meet this little boy? Four years old, never been sick a day in his life. All of a sudden he started stumbling. He's got a brain tumor. They give him six months to live. And I got involved and just fall in love with his little family. They don't have air conditioner. They don't even have a refrigerator. And so poor. And I said, no, we're going to get this kid to a special doctor in Mexico City. So we got him down there and had surgery, and he was there almost a month. It took him two weeks of therapy just to get strong enough to have the surgery. That's how devastating this cancer was, this tumor. And he came back. We got him back and had him in therapy, and finally we got a clean report. So I wouldn't have just have a celebration party for this little boy. He would capture your heart and his sisters if you met him. And his birthday was September 8th, minus the 15th. We decided to do a joint ceremony. And two weeks before I go down there, found out the tumor was back worse than ever. And they've given him now about maybe three or four months to live. So I went down last week, just spent a day with my little buddy. And so, you know, when I see Maggie, what makes you cry? When I see people have no money, no way to fix it, I got involved. My Spanish teacher down there again, I claim she's a bad teacher because my Spanish is so bad. So, Mike, you got to meet this little boy. I'm down there hunting. You've hunted with me in Navajo. And when he was like two years old, he had cancer in his left eye. They did surgery to take it out. The problem is there was another little boy also of cancer that day. And the other something, a bad eye. They got him mixed up and took both wrong eyes out. This little boy now has no eyeballs. Now, the one boy, they gave a lifetime settlement. But typical Mexico, they said, well, because it was cancer, he probably would have lost his other eye. So they didn't give him nothing. Ladies and I want you to go meet this boy. They're in a tiny little house, no beds, no bathroom, no running water. He's about 10 years old now. Can you imagine? Totally blind, no eyeballs, waking up at 2 in the morning, needing to use the restroom, feeling your way outside the house, trying to find something. I mean, just breaks your heart. Didn't even have a bed in the house. Well, the lady introduced me, just bought the parents a bed. I went and bought him a bed that day. We've now put a kitchen in. We're trying to. The problem is you can't just build a house anywhere down there because most of it's homestead and you can't get a title for the land. So we're trying to find someplace. But, you know, that's another project this year. I wasn't planning on getting involved in that one. They called me. Another guy said, this guy, his foot is rotten. There's literally worms growing in his foot because he didn't have the $10,000 to have the amputation. And I said, you got to be kidding. Let's cut it off today. And now see that guy, he's about 45, great Christian family, but he would have been dead. And I love calling Art Williams and saying, art. And I've had some of these call and talk to Art or send him notes saying, you know, Mike, we wanted to thank Mike, but Mike says, first off, thank the Lord. But number two, you need to call Art Williams and thank him for getting Me in a business and teach me how to make unlimited income. So I'm in a position to do those things. So people often ask, why do you spend so much time in Mexico? And I can just go through list and list and list of people just like these I'm talking about and think that we're in a position to help them. I think I bought three or four cars this year for people down there. Bought a house for a family down there. Trying to buy another house for another family right now. And what fun it is to be in a situation to do those things. But, Larry, when before I met A.O. williams, which was our original name, I had spent five years in the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. And to be honest with you, Larry, I got tired of having a boss. They would bring these pastors who never worked with college students and because they didn't have experience as students, and put them in a management position over us. And so I've got a yahoo, didn't have a clue how to do what I'm doing. And I just thought, you know, this isn't working. And I was tired of being broke. I had the good, great privilege when I was in college. I actually made more money every year in college than my dad did. And I don't know that's a commentary on my dad or a commentary on me, but my dad was a factory worker. He made about 4,000 a year. Every summer I made around $4,500 in the oil fields working in Montana. And then I sold books door to door Southwestern. I actually made 5,400. I still don't know how I did that. And then I had five jobs on campus. So I was the fat cat on campus. I was actually funding ministries. I would send kids on Campus Crusade for Christ retreats. Then you go off Campus Crusade and you could have no outside income. So if I had a free Saturday and I wanted to cut your yard, I could do it, but I couldn't take money for it. We used to home babysit for Jim Carl Carlin, who was the head Tech, Texas Tech football at the time. He loved it. They'd go off to the games. We took care of the kids. He didn't have to pay us a dime, but we liked it because we had a tv. We didn't have a. We were too poor to buy a tv. So I got to thinking, you know, I'm just tired of having a boss. I'm tired of being broke. But I still want to be in a position to impact people's lives. So I Left there. But most people, Larry, they never have a clear picture of what they're looking for when they go through life. And I knew when I left Crusade exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a situation. I didn't have a boss. I was tired of being broke. I wanted to make a lot of money. But the other thing I wanted to do was be in a position to influence large numbers of people. Campus school provided that I'd go on any campus and work. Now, I didn't know I was going to find that. But when I found Art Williams, man, there it was. He says, mike, I don't want you to be a salesman. I want you to be a management. But when I met Art, he says, you know, we want you to build RVPs and make them do RVP's. And Larry, that was the design. That's the exact model that Jesus used himself. He never tried to reach the whole world. He tried. He took 12 men, discipled them, then they had 70 disciples. Then he had the multitudes. And that's what Art was doing. I said, my gosh, every other thing I see, they're just wanting to sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. And I knew when I saw Art Williams, I had found the deal. I knew I was going to make money because I knew multiplication. Now, a lot of people ask me through the years, well, why did you leave the ministry? No, I said, who told you I left the ministry? I never left the ministry. Well, I thought you used to be at Campus Crusade for Christ. You didn't ask me why I left Campus Crusade for Christ. You asked me why I left the ministry. Here's the reason. I left Crusade. I still love Crusade, but it just. At that time in my life, I needed something different. But what was I looking for? No, boss. I was looking for a chance to have unlimited income. But remember the third thing? I want to be in a position to influence large numbers of people. Now, Larry, you know and I know, both know we got this business. We had no clue how big our organization would get someday. They tell me I've got some 30,000. I think I've got 1500 RVPs. They got 20 plus to make over a million a year. Do you realize to have that many people, how many we actually had to recruit? Through the years, we've had hundreds of thousands of people that we've been a chance to influence people. And I sit there and I think, tell me one pastor has a chance to influence as many people as we do. I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, I look at Pastors they get in the ministry because they want to find a guy like Larry Waddell, work with you, teach you, disciple you. But they become a pastor and they found out they got to do hospital calls, they got to do weddings, they got to do meetings with their staff, they got to work on budgets. And if he's got any free time, the problem is you're traveling, you're busy, and they're the most frustrated people. Most of them I know. And I thought they would love to have my job. I do what they got in the ministry. Do you know when you're building a base shop, you're pouring your life into those guys. You know where they live, you know what they eat, you know what their family life is. You know, if they're having struggle with their kids, and you're able to go there and wrap your arms around them and love on these people and give them direction, that's what pastors want to do. They can't do it because they got a stupid board of elders or deacons that don't know nothing about nothing, telling them how to do their job. And I'm thinking, I'm the most free guy in the world. I just go out and love on people. If I see a need, I take care of it. I call them my eyes of Mexico. I've got 20 people down there I'm on this, doing these calls with. And their job every day is to be looking for people that need my help. And, boy, they bring some of the greatest people to me. And we're having fun. And what's happening, they're beginning to get a vision for helping people themselves. And so when I got in this business, it just exploded. I think we made 160 our first year. And you understand, as a vision leader, we didn't have our else back then. When you're the only guy that was out here. Bill Arinda finally come out here about two weeks after I got started. But, you know, we didn't know what we were doing. I didn't have an office. I didn't have a. I didn't even have a business card. Didn't know where to get one. I never been in business. But then to make. Go to RVP your first year, make 460 your first year as an RVP, you're 20, 30 years old, 31. We went from zero to 2,400 folks in two years. Now, Larry, we did that because we just loved on people. I couldn't understand why we were having so much success because businessmen started calling me and Said, mike, we want to go to work for you. These were 45 year old businessmen. I was highly intimidated, Larry. I thought, I don't know why this is working for me. I don't know what I'm doing. These guys would just kill it because they're professional businessmen. And as you know, Larry, most of them, they struggle in this business. And I began to realize, I listened to Art one day and it's like the Bible, read the Bible one day, there's a new verse that was not in there last week. God slipped it in there. So I'm listening to Art one day and he said, the key to this business is to build relations and communicate with people. How come I never heard that before? And it hit me, Mike, that's the only thing you know how to do. I don't know how to do all that technical stuff. I'm not a tech guy. I don't know how to do budgets, I don't know how to order people around. The nice thing about our business, we deal with a volunteer sales force. There was a pastor, and I wished I could think of his name. I came up in the Northeast, famous guy, but he had a meeting with Clinton one time and he said, clinton, you've got the easiest job compared to mine as a pastor. And Clinton gave him a horse laugh. You know, there's nothing harder than being the President of the United States. He said, no, no, no. He said, think about it, President, if you need more money, you raise taxes and you do. If I talk about money more than two times a year, half my church will leave. Now in the United States, if they don't want to pay your taxes. You got the National Guard protecting your boundaries. I've got two fat deacons who couldn't even stop grandma from leaving if she wanted to leave. And the point he was making, you rule from a position of power and authority. As a pastor, you have nothing. You have to love on people and build relationships with them so they will do what they need to be doing versus what just they want to do. And that's our business layer. You have to love on people. You can't. There's nobody you can say, you got to go to work, you got to do X number of sales, but if you're good at this, you better learn how to master loving them so they want to do what they should be doing to listen to you, to let you help them to get to where they want to go. And I sit there and I'm thinking, that's our business. And I realized these Businessmen, they knew how to do budgets. They knew how to boss people around. You never saw a car in their driveway. You didn't see them taking people fishing and hunting and playing Zorro at Halloween time, being Santa Claus in their homes at night. And Larry, I poured my life to be we had giant parties every July 4th on Thanksgiving Day. People don't have anything to do in the mornings. Everybody's having a big lunch and watching the Dallas Cowboys go Cowboys. So we'd do a turkey shoot in our backyard and we'd have trophies for the kids and the dads and we'd serve breakfast tacos. I mean, people love coming to that stuff, but you don't see the businessmen doing that. So the stuff that I was doing, naturally having come out of a ministry background where you had to build relationships to encourage people to go where they want to go, need to go. I applied that to our business and it just exploded. So again, thank you, Art Williams, for making such unique business. I've never had a boss and since I've joined him and never had one day of a financial challenge since I've been in this business. And now every day I wake up and say, okay, who can I impact today? That is why I love Maxwell's book on intensive living and I just love intentional living. I say I am going to sue him someday because I think he came to one of my seminars when I was young and took my notes from my seminar and went and wrote my book on it. But I am loving teaching that.

Mike, thanks so much. I mean, thank you for that solid goal. Tremendous insights for people to hear over and over again and digest it because that's how you can transform your life, focusing on what you can do for others.

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