[Greatest Hits] Everybody Has Had Major Crises Coming Up the Ladder with Hector LaMarque

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 Ready. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

We got a treat this afternoon especially for me. My longtime friend Hector Lamarque is joining us. Hello Hector.

Hi. Hi Larry. It's great to be on. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

Yeah. Hector is out in Las Vegas now. He built a huge business starting in California. It's all over the country now. And what you would not know about Hector, one of the most influential leaders with million dollar earners and top entrepreneurs. I not only know that because I know about Hector, but Hector, what you don't know is the second hand great feedback I hear from people talking will be on a subject or one thing and another and they'll reference Hector told me this or Hector and also in the big hitter call. The thing is you've had a much bigger impact around the country than you're aware of. Even though I know you have devoted your life to that and so appreciate that. It's just great for me to know somebody who cares enough to give back and actually has the credentials like you did it to pass on information that actually works. And I'm not a great history buff, but you've probably forgotten this. But one of the things I'm proud about the most about a linkage you and I have along with Andy Young is when our company way in the mid early 90s went through the transition that seems like all big companies are destined to go through is where they throw the founder out in the streets and they bring in a whole new regime. It just seems like Apple, Microsoft, eventually that happens.

Yeah, it does.

We went through it and tremendous period of turmoil and you have probably forgotten, but me, you and Andy were recognized as the most valuable people to kind of bring the company in at its most traumatic moment. And so you probably forgotten all about that, got so many awards.

But I wanted, I'll never forget that.

I wanted to make sure everyone knows the pivotal role you've played at a company level rather than just individual or in your hierarchy. So thank you. Congratulations on that.

Thank you.

And the thing is, Hector from coming up, you've got all of this experience, but most stories have a starting point. And I know I've looked back over the last five, 10 years and looked back and said it's taken me this long to realize things. I heard people I met, people who took an interest in me and told me Things that really made all the difference in the world. That's really why I wrote the book and Serial Winner. That's why I did do the podcast. It's like, not everybody has access to these kinds of people. I wouldn't have turned out like this had I not had powerful people in my life who told me powerful things.

Right.

Just steer it. You still have to drive. You still have to run the road.

You still got to do the work.

But if. It's a lot easier to do that if you have the questions removed. So how would you say, you know, in your starting point, people, once you're successful, everybody thinks you just had it made from the beginning?

Yeah, absolutely.

No. The blood and guts that successful people go through and the fears and the questions and this, that and the other. And so what would you say got you going in this direction?

I mean, if you really want to go back. It really started when I was a kid. I grew up about a block away from the city library, and I used to live in that library. I mean, I went there every day and I had two kinds of friends. I was an athlete in school, and I had those friends that I played sports with. And then I had my nerd friends in the library that I used to hang out. So I started reading. And I've been a voracious reader my entire life. And that had a. I think what happens when you reach. I used to read the sports autobiographies and all kinds of stuff. What I learned early, very early, is that everybody has challenges. I mean, everybody, every, even the most successful people in the world that you think that are had a privileged life. They've all had challenges on their way to getting where they're at. Most people never see that. Nobody's. Most of you haven't seen all the ones that you've had or I've had. And I just learned that going to have problems, challenges, whatever, coming up. And the winners, people that end up being special, if you will, they have this tenacity, this relentlessness, this ability to just keep going, even though things around them are falling apart. And so I knew I was going to have problems on my way to becoming successful. But I also already had decided that I was going to go through that, learn from it, and get better. I think a lot of people, when they start having challenges, they think, oh, I'm not cut out for this. Maybe they have. They get in a business in primary especially, and they get some dark houses or people, policies lapse, or people quit on them, and they take that as A sign I'm not good enough for this. This isn't right for me. And I didn't take it like I thought. I just took it like every time I had a chance. Well, you know what? I got to get better. I've got to improve. I've got to shore up the weaknesses I have and turn them into strengths. That was my thought from the very beginning. So I never thought about. Be honest. Did you ever think about quitting? No, I never thought about quitting ever. Not once. I just knew that over time I could figure it out and I would follow the people that have succeeded. And I think I've read well over 1500 books on personal development over the last 40 plus years. From having to do with time management, to people skills, to sales, to emotional intelligence, it goes on and on. I've just read a tremendous amount of material that got me thinking like a winner. And that's really the key for everybody on the call you need if you want to win, you have to think and act like a winner. And if you don't grow up in a successful family, then you have to go find that information somewhere. And for me, it was a library in the beginning, then later, now with the Internet, my God, there's so much information and tools for you to become successful. The only way that you won't be successful today is if you're just lazy. You don't access it, you don't take advantage of it, you don't study it, you know, then implement it. So that was the beginning for me was really when I was a kid.

As a kid, the last thing in my mind was the library. And so there had to be a. Something that triggered you to make you aware that this world of information was even in there.

Yeah, well, I don't know. I don't know what it was. I honestly, I don't remember. I just knew I liked reading and I like being in that place. It was quiet. Honestly. I've always been a very shy, introverted kind of a person. So the library was a perfect place for me because it's quiet and people didn't bug you and you could. I could read, I could get lost in the books I was reading and improve my imagination and my thought process and all that. And so I just like being there. I like the way it felt being in a quiet place, reading and studying and learning stuff. So there was nobody that pushed me towards that. I. My parents didn't do that, that's for sure. And my brothers and sisters didn't either. I don't know how art you say, I don't know why I am like I am, but my butt's always burning. Remember that statement?

Yeah.

That's kind of how I've always been. I don't know why I'm like this, but I'm like this. And I'm grateful for being like this. Where I just always wanted to always thought about being great at something. I was a good student, I was a good athlete. I wouldn't consider me great at either one of those things or great at any. I made a decision, a conscious decision, that, that I wasn't going to be good at it. I was going to be great at it. I was going to study everything I had to study in order to be great at it. And that's exactly what I did. And most people never do that. They ever make that decision. They never do the work. They don't study. They don't. Or they study for a period of time until they have some success and then they stop, you know, if they're not following me on Twitter, you should follow me on Twitter at Hector Lamarck. Because I'm constantly studying and reading about success and what allows people to become successful. And all I ever put out on Twitter are tweets regarding personal development and success. That's because I'm really just regurgitating things I'm reading or things I've learned or things I've seen before, books I've read that have helped me become successful in business. And I think it should be a never ending process that you should do that for the rest of your life. And the other thing is, if you don't learn the things that allow you to be successful, how can you teach those things to the people in your team that are in your business? You know how you can't teach what you don't know, so you have to keep studying. And there's always new stuff. There's a way of phrasing things in a different way that maybe touches this person but doesn't touch that person. So I think that's really important that people do that. I would highly recommend you do that. And there's other people that you can follow online, I'm sure that can help you in some way. And the other thing I've done, I think that's really big is whenever I had a weakness, because everybody has weaknesses, like time management. For me, time management, procrastination was a weakness of mine when I first got started. So I read everything I could on time management. I actually attended seminars on time Management and that time management was one of the things that I think has allowed me to really do much better than I would have done otherwise. So I mean, I just. Or maybe it's sales or maybe it's people skills or maybe it's something else, I don't know. But everybody has them. And I think what. One of the things I always try to do was turn any weakness I had into a strength and by studying and paying attention, then acting on it. So I think that's something that everybody, from where you are right now, it's. There's. You could be in a year or two or three or four or five in a dramatically improved situation. If you do the work, you just study, learn, become great people want to.

I tell people that I played all sports in high school too. Not very well, but I found that it was easier to become a starter if you went to a small school.

Yeah, that's true. I went to a small college. I played basketball and tennis in college both.

But I said the one thing I did learn. You didn't have to have professional level skill to be able to learn that winning was better than losing.

Absolutely. Yeah.

It's pretty obvious you didn't have to. You know, I found out I didn't have to be a pro level athlete to learn that just because we won last week was going to make me feel okay if we got beat this week. You know, once you get the taste of winning, you never want to lose. Makes it easier for you to have some success because you get that taste in you and it becomes a game, it becomes fun, it becomes. You can connect the dots between learning effort and the payoff. It's a matter of what kind of life. You know, it goes back to what you said, the decision you want to make. Not your father, not your mother, not your brother, not your neighbors, the other you, yourself, what kind of life you want to live.

Absolutely.

One big educator for me in high school was those crappy summer jobs I had, all those hard working out in the hot sun. You know, I was actually graduating from high school out in West Hampton, up in the Hamptons. And in the summer you got these construction jobs, carrying bricks up ladders, roofer, roofing.

Yeah, fun jobs, Fun job.

The hot sun. And I was. And then you work at the. Like. I remember I worked three days. I only lasted three days at the Tasty Freeze. But I never. It became immediate. One good thing that I do, and I think you're the same way, is I kind of see where things are headed. I can notice And I could see that the lower paid people are usually they've got the worst jobs and they're treated like crap. And it's like I made up my mind then. I didn't know what it was going to take. But wherever I went, I was not going to be in the low end of the thing. I was going to figure out I didn't know what it took. Nobody was, there was nobody there to tell me. But I was going to find a way to get to the upper levels of wherever I was. Because, you know, you got 24 hours in the day.

Yeah, absolutely.

That relates to what I was figuring out for myself at that time. What you have just said is the sooner you learn the things you need to know to be successful, the sooner you can start doing them and becoming successful and climbing that ladder. And so a lot of what you're saying just resonates and it's the kind of information that sticks because once you get this into your mind, it's not a matter of. And that's why I love talking to winners here. Because winners who have results can say things in a way they stick in people's minds. And you were picking up a lot of that from your reading those autobiographies and riddle.

Yeah, absolutely. And in order for you to start winning, you have to improve your skills and improve your knowledge. I think one of the things I have a saying that money follows greatness. I say this all the time, tell people all the time, one of the big mistakes I see, they're chasing dollars. And what they should be chasing is being absolutely great at what they do. If you think of every single thing that people do in life, whether it's sports or business or acting or whatever, the greats make big money because money follows greatness. It just does. And so instead of chasing dollars, chase being great at what you do. Great at sales, great at prospecting, great at selling, great at presenting, great at training people, great at all the things that you need to be great at, great at getting referrals, great at being able to sell the features and benefits of your product and services and your opportunity just being great. When you become great, not only money follows you, but people follow you, people want to follow you, people want to be associated with you. So if you're have, you're struggling with that, where you're struggling, you're losing people or you're not making the kind of money you're not, your bay shop's not growing like it should be, you have a problem where your skills and knowledge aren't up to snuff to allow you to be great or to have success at your business. So you should be thinking about talking to people and thinking about sharing what you're doing with everywhere you are, everywhere you go, everyone you meet, get referrals, talk. Just get relentless about prospering. That's what I was in the beginning of my business. And for years I was relentless about prospecting. I was always, always looking for people. Like minded people, motivated people. It's not that complicated. I think people over complicated. I'm a professional salesperson. I listened to Tom Hopkins how to master the Art of Selling Anything audio program two hours to three hours a day at least five days a week for three straight years. That's all. I listen to my car to and from work and I got to become a professional salesperson. And then what I've done is I've taught people how to be professional salespeople. You want to lock people in, Teach them how to be professional salespeople. Teach them how to make money. And you lock them in. That's the only way to lock them in. And you can't grow if you're having as many people leaving as coming. You can't experience growth. You have growth because you have more people staying than are leaving. And the only way they stay is if they're they make money bottom line. And people are a lot of time. I got a lot of gruff about that as building my business because I talk about this. But I don't understand why any has buddy has a problem with being a professional salespeople. Everything about our business is selling. From prospecting to setting appointments to presenting to all, everything is selling. So why wouldn't you if you were in a everything about your business was about selling. Why would you not become a professional salesperson? It never made sense to me how people poo poo that or or think that's the wrong way to go. It's absolutely not.

Thanks so much Hector. Can't wait to get into our next phase where we're going to talk about really everything is selling.

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