In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Don Williams, a serial entrepreneur who dedicates most of his time to helping small‑to‑medium enterprises (SMEs) under $100 million in revenue uncover an additional $1 million in sales. Don shares what energizes him—helping others achieve goals—and stresses the critical need for diverse feedback, warning against the echo‑chamber effect of relying on a single perspective. He advocates a mindset shift from merely working hard to working smart, emphasizing concrete boundaries between work and personal life and the importance of forward‑looking focus, illustrated with a rear‑view‑mirror versus windshield metaphor. Don recommends fellow entrepreneur Jeremy Spann, a former Marine, SWAT officer, and top U.S. real‑estate broker, as a future podcast guest. He concludes with a vivid anecdote about his first paid job driving a John Deere tractor on his grandparents’ wheat farms, which taught him the difficulty of farming and reinforced his desire to pursue other ventures. Listeners are directed to donwilliamsglobal.com for more information.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
My name is Don Williams, and I own multiple companies, but I spend most of my time helping small to medium enterprises, say $100 million and under, find an additional million dollars in revenue.
Well, Don, it's such a pleasure to have you on the show, and I want to find an extra million dollars in revenue myself.
Who doesn't? Who doesn't?
I know. Question number 2. What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
So I love helping other people improve, and my mission is to help other people. And so I'm thrilled to work with people and help them hit their goals.
Mm, I love it. And I can hear the passion in your voice. It's awesome. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Seek diverse feedback or seek feedback from diverse people. I think entrepreneurs— I know in my own journey for many years, I thought I had the corner on what was ultimately right and wrong. And as I've put a couple miles behind me, I've seen the fallacy in that and the benefit in getting feedback from multiple people, certainly on big decisions.
I like that. And it's so true because, you know, what I've experienced is when you have very limited feedback, you kind of get that blinders on. Am I right? You do.
You get to the point to where your thought pool is somewhat incestuous. You're only fishing in your brain. And I think I'm a genius and everybody else doesn't think I'm a genius. And so it pays to enlist their genius. And this goes way back even to like Napoleon Hill, where 2 or 3 people are involved in a like endeavor, there is a separate mind that's created. And so get help, get lots of help.
I love it. Very, very insightful. Thank you. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?
So I'm not a great believer in working hard. I'm a believer in working very smart and setting really hard, really concrete boundaries on this is what— when I work, this is when I don't work, this is when I concentrate on my family, etc. But probably the number one thing I would say is this. If your mindset is not right, understand that no matter how hard you work, you can't achieve your vision. It's just impossible. You have to have some positive self-expectancy. And, and most people, uh, spend too much time looking in the rearview mirror of their life. So when I look in the rearview mirror, I'm looking at where I've been.
Okay?
When I look through the windshield, I'm looking at where I'm going. So many people are fixated on where they've been. And if you look at just the math, the rearview's like this, the windshield's like that. That's probably about the ratio that we should pay attention to it. I need my past. I learned some things, things I'm going to do, things I'm going to avoid, but spend all of my time looking out the windshield to where I want to go.
And I absolutely love the metaphor of talking about the, you know, the car, because I mean, we can all relate to that. And, you know, as you were describing it, I think back to that if you spend your time in the past, you're not moving towards the future and you end up letting other people pass you by. Am I, am I right there?
You're 100% right. And even worse, if you drive your car always looking in the rearview, I bet you touch something you're not supposed to— another car or a tree or a bridge. And so, um, your past is valuable, okay? But treat it for what it is. It's where I've been. I can't change it. It's where I came from. Okay. But concentrate and fixate on where you want to go. Okay. And the little piece of your brain called the reticular activator will work for you 24/7, 365, trying to help make that happen. And to me, that's much more important than working a little harder or an extra hour here or there.
Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. And I love how, the way you emphasize it too. It's fantastic. Thank you. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast? Wow.
So, you know, I know a lot of people. All over the world. But I'm going to give you somebody today. But I, but I got more people I could probably give you. But, but I have a really good friend, entrepreneur, uh, one of the top real estate brokerages in the U.S., okay? Former Fort Worth police officer. SWAT team officer, internal chief of internal affairs. And prior to that, I think 20 years, United States Marine Corps Special Forces. Very interesting guy, very interesting path. Now in basically his third career and absolutely slaying it. And his name is Jeremy Spann. And I'll be happy to introduce you. And I think he'd be happy to be on the show.
Perfect. I'm looking forward to talking to him. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
My first job. So, um, I may be older than most of your audience. And so when I was a child, you mowed the yard, not because you got paid, but because there were consequences. The yard not being mowed every week. And, but my first paying job, I was, I think, 11 years old. My grandparents were wheat farmers in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma, had farms in both states. And, um, my first job was driving a big John Deere tractor, disking the field. So you're pulling an implement that has discs, and it basically is how you turn the soil over. And so as the combines are going through the field, uh, cutting the wheat, about 30 minutes later in 105-degree temperature in the dustiest, filthiest environment you can imagine, you are pulling this tractor— okay, pulling this implement on a tractor— and you're literally starting to prepare for next year's crop 1 hour after you've harvested this year's crop. Very efficient. I learned 2 things that day. 1, farming is hard work. 2, I'm not going to be a farmer.
Which goes perfectly where, you know, with the mindset and not having to work as hard as a farmer.
I love how you bring it all back, back to I love being on the farm. I don't want to be a farmer.
I love that. And Don, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
You can find me at donwilliamsglobal.com, and I'm everywhere on social media.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
