Les Brown on deciding whether to keep pushing a business idea: align it with something you love and would do for free. He earned $410,000 for a 90-minute speech after early rejections told him his story wasn't marketable because he was Black. Success arrives unpredictably, he says. Don't listen to critics or self-doubt.
Let's see, let's pick a random question here. Let's see, this one comes from James Allen, which I believe he's actually in the stream right now. Yeah, let's bring him on in. James Allen, come on down. I believe you are muted, so let's unmute you there, buddy. You are muted. There you go. James Allen, ask, ask us a question.
Uh, first of all, Thank you for everything you do. I went through Mary Morrissey's coaching institute, Life Mastery Institute, and, uh, David Norris is also a coach of mine. He says hi.
Oh, those are very good friends of mine. Yeah, absolutely.
So that's awesome. Uh, actually, yeah, I have a question for a friend of mine that I wanted to ask people if they had any questions, and he was curious kind of what you do. Um, let me pull it up real quick just so I get it for sure. He said, how do you know when to keep going or throw in a towel on a business idea?
I don't happen to— your, uh, screen there.
There you go.
There you go.
Oh, sorry. Yeah, he— his question was, how do you know when to throw in the towel on the business idea or to keep going?
I've got to know the business to be able to, to make an honest decision on that. I like— if I knew that, I can give him some coaching on that, because we're living in a time now, James, that it's a level playing field. Even if you don't have the money, even if you don't have the contacts and expertise. I don't have that. I remember writing to Gunthy Raker, who put millions of dollars in the career of Tony Robbins with an infomercial, and asked him, I said, listen, I've got a story too. Send it to them. They said, oh, your story is inspiring. However, you're Black, and we don't believe that America is ready for a Black motivational speaker. So I wrote them back. I said, thank you very much for reminding me that I'm Black. I never would have known that if you hadn't told me. I said, I see you from the top. And I went on to become one of the top 5 speakers in the world. So the thing is this. If it's something that resonates with you, if it's something that's in your heart, if it's some value that you can create for people and some service, some specialized knowledge, something that you're so fired up about that you don't need the alarm clock to get up in the morning. I love changing lives. That's what I do. And so therefore, when you are doing something that you love, you are not going to work for a living, but to live your making. And living your making will make your living. And so I know that for years, I spoke for free. Why? Because it's something that I love. And then I got better at it, and then people wanted to pay me to do it. So I encourage people to find something that has some value for people, something that you love so much that you'd do it for free. And then you can do some other stuff on the side. But don't just give up because it doesn't happen when you think it should happen. When I used to go home after being on the road for months, My twin brother would ask me, hey, Leslie, when are you going to make it? I said, this is my year. But you said that last year. I said, I know, Wesley, but this year is different. He said, but you said that too. And my mother would say, leave him alone. And the question becomes, when does a dream become reality? When will a baby walk? It will walk when it walks. When will it talk? It will talk when it talks. And some talk sooner than others. You don't know. Had I listened to the critics, and most of all, had I listened to my own inner critic when I was bathing in the sink down the hall on the 21st floor in the Penobscot Building in Detroit and sleeping on the floor of my office, I would have never earned over $410,000 in one presentation in 90 minutes. All right, a lot of people work for a whole month and don't make that. All right, had I listened, had I judged according to appearances and all the rejections that I received and couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'd never spoken in the Georgia Dome before 80,000 people, and that took my career to a whole new level. I would have never been paid $5 million by King World to do a talk show had I judged according to the appearances that this is not going to work. We don't know. We don't know enough about ourselves, James, to be a critic. Simba, you are more than that which you have become. And if we begin to affirm that and believe that and live from that place of power and knowing, eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has entered the heart of mankind what God has in store for you. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. That's just flat-top wisdom.
I love that.
You gotta hashtag that one, Les. Flap Top Wisdom. Oh man, we just started a trend right there, buddy. All right, thank you for your, uh, question there, James. That was really like you.
