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REality
Welcome to the REality podcast--the best podcast for real estate agents. Join us each episode as we talk with industry experts and top producing real estate agents to peel back the curtain and reveal what it takes to make it in today's ultra competitive real estate business. This is real life, in real time, sharing real experiences of industry professionals to help both new and seasoned agents achieve their goals and realize their potential. Are you ready to take your real estate business to the next level? Let's get started now. Sign up for Gary's weekly FOCUS newsletter, delivered right to your inbox each Monday morning: https://mailchi.mp/e3771e6a2516/focus-email
REality
Resilience and Leadership: Dave Sanderson on Surviving the Miracle on the Hudson, Building Relationships, and Achieving Personal Growth
Imagine surviving one of the most harrowing events in aviation history and then transforming that experience into a powerful message of leadership and resilience. That's precisely what our guest, Dave Sanderson, has done. As a celebrated leadership speaker and survivor of the Miracle on the Hudson, Dave shares his inspiring journey from that fateful day on US Airways Flight 1549 to becoming a bestselling author. Through his three books, starting with "Moments Matter," Dave teaches us to cherish every moment, influenced by his chance encounter with Holocaust survivors. We also learn how the reflective period during COVID-19 shaped his storytelling approach, much like the iconic Star Wars trilogy.
This episode dedicates itself to unearthing profound lessons on faith, gratitude, and the art of being non-judgmental. We explore how Dave's shift in mindset helped him become the top salesperson at KPMG and how strategic thinking and dedication can lead to exceptional results. Drawing parallels to Tom Brady's disciplined practice regimen, Dave shares actionable strategies for achieving success, whether in sales, leadership, or personal development. His stories about focusing on clients' needs and navigating internal politics serve as a masterclass in securing major accounts and building a flourishing career.
Welcome to Reality Podcast. I am your host, gary Scott, and today, I think for the second time, guest, mr Dave Sanderson. Dave, welcome.
Speaker 2:Gary, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be back with you today.
Speaker 1:Well, dave and I had a chance to chat about six weeks ago and it inspired me to invite Dave back to the Reality Podcast. To invite Dave back to the reality podcast. I'm going to take a moment and read a few lines from Dave's bio. Dave Sanderson is a nationally recognized leadership speaker, accomplished author and inspirational survivor of what is known as the miracle on the Hudson, known as the miracle on the Hudson. As the last passenger off US Airways Flight 1549, which had to ditch into the river, he took the lessons he learned from that profound experience in the frigid water and emerged from the wreckage with a mission to encourage others to do the right thing and share coping skills to address any adversity they may face.
Speaker 1:I met Dave two different ways. One, I read a book called Brace for Impact and Dave correct me if I'm wrong they interviewed 26 or 27 of the 150, 151 folks that were on that flight, known now as the Miracle in the Hudson, and one of the chapters was Dave Sanderson. That's correct. So that is over here, which is how I began to meet Dave and then received a call from a common friend, a gentleman named Trip Durham. I knew Trip through his brother.
Speaker 1:Dave had met Trip and I go back to 2011,. I think might even be 2010. And I share this relationship journey, dave, because I think it just speaks to a lot of the topics we'll discuss today. The topics we'll discuss today. And I called Dave Sanderson and he had just begun back then speaking about his journey on that January day in 2009, I believe correct and Dave then, where I was previously working, I think, spoke to all seven or eight regions and shared the story and come to find out that Dave and I live less than a mile apart, and so when they say six degrees of separation, we believe it's a one degree of separation. We live in this massive world, the United States, with 340 million people, but every now and then there's a connection that is not by accident but it's intentional. Dave, welcome again to Reality Podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much, Gary. I think it happened for a reason or purpose. I'm honored to be back with you and have you call you a friend. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't even know really where to start, other than I do think it's interesting, dave. Dave has authored three books since Brace for Impact and I think what's really interesting, dave, is the evolution of those three books. I would like you to share with our listeners a little bit about book one, a little bit about book two and really about book three. That's what really hit me when we spoke a couple months ago.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you very much, Gary. And yeah, I first sort of put the pre-frame. I had never intended to write a book, never intended to write a book, but something happened that sort of generated that enthusiasm, and it happened actually where I'm sitting right here. I got a phone call from my wife and a couple of our neighbors needed some help. They lived down the street, they were older ladies and their TV was having a challenge. I tell people I don't know where you all grew up. I grew up in southwest Ohio where everybody helped everybody, especially older people. You just helped your neighbors right, went down there, fixed their TV and they asked me if I would stay for milk and cookies. Now, I love milk and cookies, man, especially from older ladies who could probably bake. I'm all in.
Speaker 2:So as they're getting the milk and cookies ready, I'm sitting in their room and they've got these books of World War II history and I love World War II history. So as I was looking through these books, I was like I've never seen this material. So I was looking through these books, I was like I've never seen this material, so I was fascinated. So when they came back in, I said where did you find these? I've never seen these. And all of a sudden, these two ladies rolled up their sleeves and showed me the numbers and letters down their arms and they said we're in those books. We survived the concentration camp. And for the next two hours they told me the story, how they survived the concentration camp. I was blown away. I came back here. I said you know what they made? All the moments in their life matter. They survived something that very few people ever did their family didn't. And I said that's it. All these moments in our lives are there for a reason and a purpose and it will serve us sometime, and just like they did for me on January 15, 2009. So that's how Moments Matter came about. It was really around the thought process of the moments that I grew up with. All these little moments were there for that one defining moment for me, which happened to be January 15th. So I tell not only the story of what happened that day, but how these moments, these certain things like when I first had a leadership experience and how I was always responsive to people, how those things played into that day, and to remind people don't ever take a moment off because all these moments are there for a reason or purpose. So that really took off and I self-published that, gary, and I'm very honored. We've had over 40,000 copies out and self-published, which is pretty I'm really just honored to do.
Speaker 2:But over COVID, I was sitting here like a lot of people. I was like what are we going to do now? Right, I mean, we're all sitting at our desk and waiting for the Amazon guy to show up every day and all of a sudden I'm thinking you know what I just saw? I was watching Star Wars because I got bored. I was watching Star Wars again and I said you know what? The way they set that up was a trilogy and they told the story right of Luke and Darth Vader, and then they told the story how Darth Vader became Darth Vader. Then they showed the story at the end how Luke took him out.
Speaker 2:So I said why don't I tell the story of how I got to those moments and that's from Turmoil to Triumph? So what I did is I went back through all these key moments that I wrote about and I wrote a story about how I first learned them and how I started really putting them into play, and what really the essence of that book is is I really tell 13 stories. The last story is about my swim in the Hudson River. 13 stories, uh, the last story is about my swim in the hudson river. Uh, so that's really sort of adjunct chapters of 12 stories of lessons that my mother taught me that I didn't listen to, but then my mentor came into play and he taught me the same things and I. So that's the story is all these, all these things happen and sometimes you need somebody else to come in and sort of give you a different perspective and all of a sudden it'll hit because these lessons that you learn your parents probably already gave you, but they're too close to you. So that was a story.
Speaker 2:How I got to January 15th and I said, you know, last year I'm thinking how did you? How did Star Wars end up? How Luke sort of took over, right, he said what did I learn after the miracle on the Hudson that helped me start building what I call my limeless life? How I became an entrepreneur because I worked for as you know, worked for corporations for 37 years. I was a top sales producer in every company. Then I went out on a whole journey by myself called entrepreneurship, and so I tell the story and the Limitless Life is.
Speaker 2:These lessons I learned afterward helped me take those lessons from the miracle in the Hudson to become not only an entrepreneur, but start my philanthropy, start being able to write books, meet people that I would never have the opportunity to meet. So I tell the story. You too can have a Limitless Life. It all starts with your mindset. It starts with your mindset, but you have to take control of your life. Don't let somebody else control your life. So that's how all three books started coming together. They're all based on the trilogy of Star Wars, but it's really a trilogy starting from 1983 all the way through to 2024.
Speaker 1:2024. So share a little bit more about the third book, the Limitless Life. You know it's interesting, as Dave and I have mentioned. You know he and I have been become very good friends and that's the first time I heard about the Star Wars. You know that that's how your trilogy came to be. But I think there's some really interesting pieces in the Limitless Life that you learned after and I think there's so many lessons in that.
Speaker 1:Dave, you know, every day, no matter how old we are, how young we are, there are learnings to be had, and so many of them are served right up to you. But you have to look for them. That's right. And to your point from book number one, you know moments matter. Interesting quote I read from Mark Wahlberg is every minute matters. Very similar but a little different take. So share a few thoughts on the limitless life and what are some of the lessons that you can share with our listeners today that will benefit them. Granted, most of the people listening today are real estate professionals, but they've got a personal life, a professional life, a familial life. They've got adversity. They've got success. They've got challenge. They've got a personal life, a professional life, a familial life. They've got adversity. They've got success, they've got challenge, they've got everything that everybody in this world has. And I know that I have not read the third book, but I read the first two books and there are just nugget after nugget to be taken away.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, as I was looking back and I was writing this book and I was writing you know I was. I go into a book, I basically sit down for four or five hours, just write a chapter and I don't edit it, I don't do anything else and all of a sudden, you know, things start coming to me and I start realizing. I go back, I said what was the lesson I learned from that experience? And one of the biggest lessons I learned that I write about is don't be judgmental experience, and one of the biggest lessons I learned that I write about is don't be judgmental. And or, you know, because I realized through a circumstance what happened to me on Good Morning America, about six weeks after the plane crashed, they got all the passengers and crew back together and did that reunion thing and I noticed something in the green room where one of the passengers got, I would say, emotional and I immediately started judging him. Like what's wrong with this guy man? I mean, you know we're on national TV. You know we're on, you know we survived a plane crash. Life could be a lot worse. But then what happened? About a week or so later, I found out through another person on the plane that that person had just lost his job and he was going through a divorce and he basically blamed the plane crash for all of that. So I said how many times in my life have I judged somebody so quickly like that that I may have cut off an opportunity to learn a job, money, whatever it may be? If I could change one thing in my life, just do what Martin Luther King Jr said judge people by the content of their character. Right, just do that. How would that change my life? And all of a sudden, just by being less judgmental there's still moments, right, you're going to judge. But just becoming less judgmental has opened up so many avenues for me. I mean me and I may not have even met each other if I was going down that pathway.
Speaker 2:And the circumstance that really opened that up for me is when I had the opportunity to be invited to speak at the Supreme Court by way of the American Red Cross, and Justice Anthony Kennedy pulled me into his quarters and asked me for my personal story. I mean, how many times do you get to go A to the Supreme Court and, second, have a one-on-one Supreme Court justice? So one of the big lessons is to just be less judgmental and watch what happens in your life, it will open up. It will open up in ways you never thought about would open up. You know, another lesson that really came to play was, you know, it's really about around faith and I tell the story about.
Speaker 2:You know, and I told a little bit about it in the from Turmoil and turmoil tribe, about my mentor, how his son lost his life in Korea, and but he, he told me he taught me something that really came through that day on the miracle on the Hudson. And after, you know, he said cause we had a, we had a son that passed away and we were relating that story and what he says you know, my son, I had the opportunity to get my son out of that. He was a man of means. I mean he had. He owned 80 movie theaters and restaurants through the Carolinas for, yes, it's the twenties throughout those years. So he had money. He told me that I could have got him out of that, but everybody has to do their duty. He said so he went to Korea and he lost his life. But he said, just remember this, the same guy that started this, the same God with Jesus, the same God was with your son, the same God was my son. That's the only thing that's consistent. So, if you just have a belief in something bigger than yourself, give thanks, which I talk about gratitude, a lot about gratitude, and for salespeople, I think that's important Be grateful, because that's changed my life tremendously. So that was another lesson, but you know, one of the bigger, other big lessons is you don't have to be special, you just have to be willing to do things that other people aren't willing to do. And that one really came about after the miracle on the Hudson because you know everybody was doing it. Oh yeah, they think that the Tom Brady's of the world are special just because you're Tom Brady. And they think that the Tom Brady's of the world are special just because they're Tom Brady no, people who are outstanding in sales and I'll speak to my sales career, because I was the number one guy in sales in every company I was with.
Speaker 2:It took me about a year, gary, to sort of figure things out, figure the game plan out. I always had a game plan, but it took me a year because I wanted to build relationships and build trust, but I was doing things that other people weren't willing to do and sometimes I actually admit I had a couple of managers of mine who really didn't like the way I was approaching it, but I had a senior vice president who gave me air cover. He gave me because he knew that. You know, if I was working, he knew my strategy, if I was working, the strategy, I was doing things that his other people weren't doing. And one of the biggest things I've never understood, gary, is I work for Oracle, as you know, is that no one has ever asked me for Oracle how I did this.
Speaker 2:I love teaching this. I teach this to sales teams all across the country these strategies, right, I could teach a salesperson in 100 days how to get a quota. I could show them how to do that because I've done it and I actually put it into play when I went back into Hudson River. The same strategy, just doing it with swimming instead of sales. It's the same strategy, but there are strategies for everything, so everything comes down In the Limitless Life. I talk about the 13, 14, 15 strategies that I used and realized and how I implemented them in my life.
Speaker 1:So that speaks, dave. So much to what I believe our listeners are dealing with right now, and that is, you know, our industry is going through some change and you know one of the things that we really encourage. Number one I want to say thank you for your comment about gratitude. You know we're big, big, big believers in start meetings with gratitude, start your day with gratitude, and I think I shared with you. I've actually moved, and not only do I start the day with gratitude, but I end the day with gratitude, and that was kind of a new thing for me.
Speaker 1:But you think about, you know, kind of the beginning and the end of your day, and if that's where your mind is you already mentioned mindset earlier and you know, I think it's just it's so interesting that there are strategies I think I'll hopefully I get your your terminology correct Willing to do things that the other people are not willing to do. And when we think about our successes or our shortfalls and we relate to when we had our most success in life it's a great exercise. One of our managers put our team through think about that time when you had the most success. Tell me about what got you there and whether it was on an athletic field or a dance recital or a test or whatever. And if you take whatever got you there and apply that fundamentally to everything you do, then you'll get that feeling again.
Speaker 2:And it's repeatable. So hard to do Discipline right, it's the repeatable discipline Most people were not willing to do that, you know. I mean you look, I was reading an article and you'll appreciate this because you and I love football. We talk football a lot. I read about Tom Brady and his last year. All he did was really practice being an announcer. Now a lot of these guys just come in and be announcers the next year, right, like Tommy Romo, that's what he did. He retired and became an announcer. But Brady has said that mindset he had to put the reps in. Right, he had to do the things that other people aren't willing to do, and we'll see what happens. Right, we'll see how he does this coming next week actually. But those are the kind of people that's why they get outstanding results. That's why they're outstanding.
Speaker 1:They do things that other people aren't willing to do. That's what makes them special. So, dave, I know that if we had a call-in show, that I'm going to now predict a phone call that would come in to me and it would be something like this Gary, great having Dave Sanderson on Reality Podcast. I think I heard Dave just say that he's got 15 strategies to hit my sales quota in 100 days. Could Dave share a couple of those, because I'm just interested in a few of those secrets to success that I might be able to put into play in my business. Share a couple of those.
Speaker 2:There's five strategies, five things. All right, that I did in sales. I just repeat it, rinse and repeat. When I get into a situation where I got to have an outcome. It's like going back into Hudson, as you know, I didn't know, I hadn't swam for 40 years. How am I going to swim 3.1 miles in the Hudson River, going back to a place that almost took my life, and be with the Navy SEALs, who will definitely raise your standard, right? You don't play down, they don't play down to you, you play, you go up to them. And so the strategy that I use over and over I did this in sales First, number one you got to know the mission.
Speaker 2:Why are you doing this right? Why am I doing this? And it's not because you're trying to hit your sales number. It's because you have to focus on your client, right? There's always two questions I always start with and I've done this now for almost 30 years Gary what's most important to you and what has to happen for you to realize that. So now I know the mission right. What's important to them? It may be that in your business hey, listen, I want a backyard that I don't have to maintain and I want a fence, I want an acre of land and I want bathrooms that look like this. What has to happen? How do you want that done? And they'll tell you. So that's number one the mission. But second is the one that I employed, especially to go back into Hudson and how I became a number one sales guy at Oracle.
Speaker 2:Over and over and other companies, you got to find your who's for your house. What does that mean? And when you have a sales process and I was a sales guy especially I had complex sales, I was a technology, right. So you have, you're not only dealing with the CFO, you're dealing with the CIO, managers, ceo, and they all have their own whys, right. But you got to find out there might be other who's in there that can help you with those hows. So find those who's and I'll give you an example, a sales example. This is how I became the number one guy at KPMG, my second year there.
Speaker 2:Example this is how I became the number one guy at kpmg, my second year there. Kpmg had just hired their first set of salespeople because if you know a big five company, yeah, the partners are responsible right for the relationship. Well, kpmg turned that upside down when arthur anderson's stuff was going on, right, all the uh fun with enron it was going on. This is dating going way back. So they hired a bunch of sales people like me. So first year a lot of us didn't know our heads from our backsides, right.
Speaker 2:But the second year I got involved. I got, I prospected, right, I was doing my job, and I got in with the largest consumer package goods company in the world in Atlanta they make a beverage, just to give you some examples. Okay, and I got in and they were looking for a supply chain strategy. That's what I marketed. I had supply chain finance and human resource. All right, we're in the game, right. So I bring the partner in because now the partner has to be involved. Right, the partner. And plus, this is the number one, right, and, by the way, kpmg is one of their biggest audit clients at that time. We're going back in the 1990s.
Speaker 2:Now, right Was PepsiCo. Number one are tribal. So now you got an auditor over here that's saying you know, don't touch my business, right, and you're going after a big piece of chunk of business over here and you're in the middle. So number one was I had to do an internal sales, right, and I put my job on the line. I talk about this story. I put my job on the line. I said if we don't get this, I'll leave the firm, I'll leave the firm, but if we do get it, you got you know auditor back off, right? So I had a partner who backed me on that. So I got the internal sale done.
Speaker 2:But now I got a problem, gary, I don't know how Coke buys, right? I did not know how Coke buys. It's a big company, right? So I'm down in Atlanta doing whatever I do and I said, man, I got to come up with something. I got to come up with something, right. So I started calling around and I found somebody who used to be one of their legal people. Coke is retired.
Speaker 2:So I tracked this guy down. I called him, told him who I was, I gave the firm. So I got a little credibility. Right, I'm with KPMG, so I'm not with some schmo company, right? I said can I meet with you? So I met with him. I said I need to understand how Coke buys. Can you help me? He goes yeah, but my consulting costs $10,000. This is back in the 90s. All right, 10 grand was a lot of money, right. Right. I go to my partner. He goes no, we don't pay for that right, we don't pay for that kind of stuff. I told the part. I said listen, yeah, we're gonna lose. We are gonna lose because we have we may have the best strategy, but we don't know how they buy. So he bought off on. I said if it doesn't work out, I'll take a ten thousand dollar hit. I put my job on the line again. We got him on board and we got a $5.8 million engagement. So I have found my who for my how right. That strategy the second part of that strategy not only helped me in sales, it helped me get back into Hudson River and do that, because I had to find how to do that.
Speaker 2:Third is you got to take massive action. See, people take action. Right, gary, they'll take action, but they take massive action. Do they go all in? Do they go like the poker table, right? Are they just having a couple of chips in or are they all in right? Take massive action right.
Speaker 2:But number four is the thing that most salespeople get sort of hung up with. You got to have focused execution. You can't just go about it. You got to understand take their who, their hows or their who, what's most important, the whys. You got to be focused on everybody's win, so you got to have focused execution. But the number five is the one that sort of came out during the Hudson River. So this is how I brought it all together. So I did the number four things to go into Hudson. I've done the top four things in sales over and over and over One one one.
Speaker 2:But I'm in the middle of the Hudson River, about 600 meters to go right. I'm with my wingman, suzanne, and I take a stroke, gary, and I look up and I see where the plane crashed. I see it. I stop. Now I tell people it's not good to stop swimming in the middle of 70, 80 foot water. Right, you got to keep moving, but I stopped and I was just like she's, like you, okay, I'm like. All of a sudden I realized you know how many people it took just to get me to where this point is. Right, I said it all came down to gratitude, giving thanks to my creator and everybody else. I said that's step number five. You got to have gratitude for your team and the people and your family. It's because all this stuff just doesn't come together, because you throw it up in the air and it comes down the right way. So those are the five steps I do repeatedly when I have a significant outcome and it works in sales.
Speaker 2:You do it in sales right Over and over. Just do it. Rinse and repeat and watch what happens In your business. Right, understand what the buyer is, what's most important, what has to happen for them to realize that. Second, right, do they have somebody of influence, whether it's a spouse, whether it's maybe their attorney, maybe somebody else, that they can help you with some other information? Third, take massive action. Do whatever you got to make sure you can do what they need to have done and set it up.
Speaker 2:Fourth, be focused On every meeting you have. You got to be focused. You can't just go willy-nilly and throw it up against the wall. You got to understand every word means something in sales, right, especially if you're selling a house or apartment complex. I mean there's a lot of things that have to go into that. They're very complex. And then, but really come around and just thank everybody who's helping you get there. I mean, in your business I know you've got associates and assistants and assist other people that help, or your salespeople. Put all this together right? It's not just that person, so have gratitude. A lot of people would love to have this opportunity and I've got it, thank you. That's it. Those are five steps.
Speaker 1:So to our caller, first of all, I want to say thanks for the first caller ever on our podcast, albeit it was a make-believe, but I knew that. You know there's a formula, there's a recipe, and you know it's interesting. Dave, every word means something. You know. I love listening to folks like yourself servant leaders, successful family people, business people and I love to learn oftentimes from a phrase, and one of the things that we've been talking about here, uh, for the past two years is words matter. Make sure you choose the right words. I love your. Your phrase takes it to the next level. Every word means something. Moments matter. So I will tell you, of your five love all five, but the two that resonate with Gary focused execution Not just execution, but laser focused execution. And I love number three take massive action. You know it's interesting.
Speaker 1:We subscribe here at our company to a selling strategy called ninja selling, which you may be familiar with. I'm not going to recite the ninja nine, which you may be familiar with. I'm not going to recite the Ninja nine, but one of them is mindset skillset take action. You've already talked about mindset, uh, so I I'm I'm obviously going to change it Mindset skillset take massive action, like be, uh. What do they say? Uh, go big or go home. You know my I think I've shared this with you before. You know my father as I was growing up. He would always say you know, number one, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing, like no matter what we were doing. If it's worth doing, then do it. Like don't kind of his definition of focused execution, right? So, dave, you made mention a couple of times about the swim in the Hudson. Super intriguing To your point. Hadn't hadn't been in the water for 40 years Is this year number three or four.
Speaker 1:This is number four, and we're going back to Coronado Bay for special ops this year, so why don't you just share with our listeners just a little bit about how it came to be and why you do it, and you know the discipline it requires to go from the pool this morning in Piper Glen to the Hudson and the team. So just share with us the why. I think to your point. You have to know the why before you go to two, three, four and five.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I never intended to go back into Hudson. I never did Right, that wasn't my gig. But my wingman, suzanne, called me and said she was going to do it and she wanted to ask me if I would do it with her and maybe it would give me some redemption. So that gave me some intrigue. But I still had to do what, take massive action Right, and I didn't buy Hoos from my house. I had none of that.
Speaker 2:But what I found out, what really started inspiring me the first time, were two things. Number one the suicide rate in the people who are transitioning, especially special ops out of the military, is 22 a day stated. It's more like 40. But so the suicide rate is out of control. So raising money to help hopefully combat that, to give people resources that's what I'm doing this year, working with the honor foundation to give people resources to transition. So that was the number one driving force. But second was I want to show my kids and I actually, if you watch my new video, I talk about this how I go back in. I wanted to show my kids how to face your fears right, and anybody who has gone through something it's an auto accident, whatever it may be you got to face that fear and going back. I have to admit, when I jumped in the water the first time and I smelled it, right, it was like all of a sudden I went back to that day, right. But I had to get over it and like I talked about getting stuck out 600 meters. You have to keep moving. So that was the second reason.
Speaker 2:But this year I'm going to coronado swimming from coronado island to the uss midway uh, 3.3 miles. In addition, we're doing 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and I'm doing 10 chin-ups. They're doing pull-ups because I'm not at steel or a green beret, I'm a Patriot. So I'll do chin-ups. But yeah, I, it takes discipline, right. I mean, I just went back to the five strategies, right, I just talked about putting them back into play every year. The last four years do the same thing and have discipline. So I get up every morning at three 50, just to get to do it over and over and over. So my body when I go in, my body's already tuned to do it.
Speaker 2:But you know it's very emotional. Have you never been to one of these ceremonies, right, with the flags and singing, and you got patriots who've been in war right, who survived, and now they're going to do something to help their fellow special operators, right? It's very special. So that's why I raise money for these folks and that's why I continue doing it. That's why I raise money for these folks and that's why I continue doing it. That's why I put myself on the line to do it. It's because I want to show everybody you got to do your part right. I mean, we live in the greatest country in the world. I don't care what anybody says. We live in the greatest country in the world. We got the freedoms that very few people have. We got to fight for those, and these people fight for them outwardly. I want to help them fight for it and really give them all the resources they need.
Speaker 1:That's why I do it how many folks will do the swim?
Speaker 2:this year the number is going to be 120 because I I don't know why, because you know, hudson was about 200, right, and I asked the lady, jessica said, why is it? Because, well, we're going to keep it at 120 because that channel I've never been to coronado island, right. That channel, I've never been to Coronado Island right. That channel is really tight and their boats get a little crazy right. So they're trying to keep 120 people in line. So we're not going to grow much more than that because we don't want people spread out through the channel.
Speaker 1:How much money will be raised, Dave?
Speaker 2:Last year they raised close to $480,000. Great. So I'm on a quest right now to raise a few dollars, and last year we got $8,800. I don't know what we're going to do this year, but we'll put it out there and whoever feels compelled to help their fellow service person, we've given them the freedoms. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Great, dave, I'm going to shift gears. As I shared with our listeners, you and I had a really great gosh 90-minute conversation. It was probably six weeks ago and we had good conversations, but not one that lengthy. And you know we were talking about your business and how it evolves and how it changes. You already made mention of we all sat here during COVID and asked ourselves what was next. You learned the Zoom environment and you know, I think one of the things you shared with me was, for a period of time, the predominance of your business and I'll say it, maybe revenue came from keynote and now you're trying to shift it to some more coaching. So just, I think adapting to changing business relates to everybody. Take a minute and just talk about you know what you saw, what you're doing about it, probably consistent with the five pillars, but I think the importance of evolving in any business we're in, obviously you saw it many, many times in your sales career.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Yeah, I mean, one of the things we learned through COVID is people like me who are primarily revenued, got primary revenue from speaking all of a sudden that dried up so ways that I can help people, which opened up so many other avenues for me which, like you said, right now, my big, big push right now is you know, we have our magazine which I'm really excited you could be a part of and that's. But that's not really driving a lot of revenue, but it's exposing other people's missions and the moments are made up there. So helps expose that. But it's really, you know, know, my, I made a commitment, as I think I mentioned you back in 1997 when my mentor, bill, was on his deathbed and, uh, I was over he little, his last house is over in myers park here in charlotte I don't know if everybody's here from charlotte, but myers park area and he had this big roller desk and, um, when I was over there, he, he said two things.
Speaker 2:One he said I have lung cancer Now. He smoked unfiltered camels since the 20s, so it wasn't a surprise, but still he's got lung cancer, right, he's 90 years old. But then he went over to his desk area and got these crumpled notes out and he said I want to give this to you, but you got to promise me something. I said what? Do not let it die with you. And these were the handwritten notes he took in 1929. Now he was going to become a success which he was teaching me, and now I have. So I made that commitment. So I've been doing my mission is because, back in that it happened right around the time I was at these older ladies down the street and I think that's a sign it was a sign for me is because you know one of the things my dad taught me. Gary, I don't know about your dad, but your word is your bond. Whatever you say you're going to do, you better back it up, and he always did with me. A lot of times I didn't like it, but a lot of times he did right. So I made a promise that I had not fulfilled. So I'm fulfilling that promise and being able to do webinars, coaching people, teaching them all these things that he and Tony Robbins and Don, my current mentor, have taught me, passing it on so the next generations have the gift that I was given so they can hopefully pass it on Everybody. I train and teach this to. Part of the written commitment is you're going to teach somebody else, at least one person. You're going to pass it on to one person. I make them put that in writing. So that's why I do what I do. So, yeah, we're doing webinars, I'm doing workshops.
Speaker 2:I do a lot of workshops for sales teams because people want to understand how did you become a top sales producer the way you did in every company? Yeah, there's strategies, but it's more than that. It's more of the mindset. Right, it's more of the mindset how you approach it, investing in yourself first. And that was the first lesson my mentor taught me. Bill taught me Gary, and that's when I started reading books right, think and Grow Rich and all this stuff. Right, started reading these books and then he got me involved with going to see Jim Rohn and Tom Hopkins and investing in myself.
Speaker 2:So every year, one of the things I teach salespeople I said if you're not doing this, you're, you're behind. All right, you're behind is I invest five figures a year back into my personal development personal Cause, he told me. He said this and I was at that point. I was with a copier company. I sold copiers up and down the streets in West Charlotte out of a van, right, and he said they'll teach you. They'll say I call it sales training. And he said they'll teach you. They'll call it sales training, but what that really is is product training.
Speaker 2:You got to learn how to really do this and you got to do that yourself. So I've always over the last 40 some years I've invested five figures back into myself every year whether it's seminars, books, whatever it is to be able to help my game. Because I got to be ahead, I got to be ahead. Right leaders leaders go out front. So I got to be able to help my game. Because I got to be ahead, I got to be ahead. Right Leaders go out front, so I got to be able to do it. So, first thing, I teach salespeople. The first lesson I learned invest in yourself first.
Speaker 1:So I really love that. We talked a little bit about ninja selling and just to give you a little anecdote, so next week we start a ninja training up in Asheville and it's not inexpensive, it's not five figures. By the time you go do it all you know, it's probably $1,500. Team is those that are concerned about the investment versus concerned about the return on the investment. And I just I think what you just said I wrote this down. You know personal investment and it's a lesson I learned from my father. We'll share a few father lessons today is from my father. We'll share a few father lessons today is he would say to me. He said there's no greater investment, gary, than you can make in yourself, your kids, your family and your grandkids. There's no stock bond piece. There's nothing more important than investing in those people so they have the best chance to become great people and to make a difference. And you know, don't get caught up in this investment or that investment, because these are human. Many, many years has invested in his success. So I think one of the comments he made earlier highly successful individuals do things others are not willing to do, which might mean invest 50,000 or five figures. Excuse me, all right, I'm going to shift gears one more time.
Speaker 1:You and I chatted and I was enthralled to our listeners. I was asking Dave, I want a day in the life. You're writing a book and you're preparing webinars and my life is filled with a million people rushing at me and I just how do you do it? And he walked me through Mondays and what he does and time blocking, and none of what I would share with you would surprise you after listening to Dave for 40 minutes. Because he's disciplined, he's got a plan, it's a plan that's proven and he stays true to the course. The guy's about to swim 3.3 miles. So therefore, commitment, discipline. But he shared with me a strategy and I wrote it down. Probably incorrectly, it was called the 1040 strategy. And I got thinking to myself isn't this a strategy that is made for success for a real estate professional? 1040. And so, dave, walk us through 1040.
Speaker 2:I'll probably Tell me first thing I love things. Tell me what you like so much about it, and I'll sort of start going a little more yeah so what I liked about it?
Speaker 1:it was number one, it was a plan Right. Number two it was very intentional. Number three it was easy to understand. Number three it was easy to understand. Number four fairly easy to execute.
Speaker 1:You know, I think so often when we build a business plan and I'm as guilty as the next person we make it so massive you're never going to get it done. You know, I'm going to have 4000 names in my database. I'm going to. I've got initiatives of. I got 12 initiatives I'm going to conquer in the first 12. Yeah, we, we also subscribe to the 12 week year. You know, here are my three things in the first quarter, my three things in the second quarter Less is more. All of those things you and I know are real.
Speaker 1:But what it really hit me is, in a real estate professional, there are about 10 key business generating resources. Whether I'm doing 20 million or 2 million, these 10 people may or may not have ever bought or sold from us, but they will refer everybody they come in contact. They're my 10. Call it an A list from the old days. Then, instead of a big A list and a big B list and a C list, dave says I got a 10 and this is what I do with these 10, because these 10 are my team, that's right. Then I've got 40, I think you call them the farm team, farm club, the farm club. Those 40 will ultimately move a couple of them into the 10, because the 10 will move on right For whatever reason.
Speaker 1:So it intrigued me because of its simplicity. I love a program, dave, that's got like a number definition. You know, I love it Like it's a 12 week year. Easy to understand, four disciplines of execution. Easy to understand. Now I'm going to deploy your five keys to success. Easy to understand, easy to remember. And if I remember it and I understand it, what can I do? I can execute, you can execute.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it Because one of the things I've learned through my life is habits control your thoughts. Whatever habits you're doing is controlling that thought process. So several years know, several years ago, I heard about this but I wasn't really implementing it. But I all of a sudden realized, you know what? Yes, there is like I liken it to a baseball team, and that's because, as you know, I try to associate everything to sports because that way I can think through it logically and I love baseball.
Speaker 2:So you know, I have 10 people that are my top 10 people. Every week they get touched. They get touched every week and these are people who will go to the mat for me. These are the people who I can call at 2 o'clock in the morning if I need something right. Those are my top 10 people and every week, you know, I may change one of them out during the week, but it's always consistent and they know they're going to get touched by Dave somewhere during that week. So I build rapport and build trust with these people.
Speaker 2:Then I have my farm. It's like a baseball team. You have a farm club, right, you have your farm club. Those are the next 40 people that I have listed out and these are people I'll touch once a month, maybe once a quarter 640 people that I have listed out and these are people I'll touch once a month, maybe once a quarter, but they there are also people that they they trust me and I trust them, but they may not be the right be there for me right now, that I need something right now to be able to help execute. But I'll give you an example. There's one. It was one of my top 40s, now my top 10. He, he and I've known him for years. You know he was in my top 40 and he, you know I would talk every month and all of a sudden he needed some help with something he was writing a book about the now in my top 40. But this way, you know, I think you got to build trust with people and the way you build trust is and a lot of people. Gary, I don't know about your business. I'm sure it's in your business because it wasn't my business.
Speaker 2:We get so accustomed to text and chats and I mean I pick up the phone with these people. I pick up the phone, you know, because how many times you get a phone call right? Most times you get them blocked right. So I pick up the phone and they hear my voice. They know that I care. And that's I mean back in early sales, back in the 80s. Right, you were back then too. That's the only way you could do business. You had to get good at the phone.
Speaker 2:So I think one of the big challenges that a lot of salespeople have now, especially the up and comers, it gets so tied into I got to send an email. I got to send a, you know. I got to send a newsletter. I got to have some. I have to have that crutch. No, you got to be able to relate to people on the phone. That's what you got to do. So these people, these top 10 in my top 40 farm club, they will get touched by the phone.
Speaker 2:So I spend at least an hour a day talking to at least two to three people, and my team knows that, they know that and I call those buffer days. Buffer days are those days where I'm going to be doing those kinds of things. My focus days, gary, are the ones where I'm making money and those days and my team knows day focuses on money. These days we're not going to be doing podcasts, we're not going to be doing phone calls, we're going to be focused on money. And then we have what's called free days, which means you know what, the older you get, what you realize is you've got to rejuvenate yourself.
Speaker 2:I started talking to some of these top producers people who've done millions more than I have and they all have figured out they have to have a free day, which means they disassociate from everything. And I started this process and it's been tough for me. It's been tough for me, but once I have a free day, my mind comes back, I'm rejuvenated. So I set it up as 1040, and then I have buffer days, focus days, free days, and that's how I structure my calendar, and my team all understands. See, that's part of it too. Your team has to understand. If they buy into the mission, which my team does, I give them all a test. Have you ever heard of a Colby test?
Speaker 1:I have not.
Speaker 2:It's basically helped me understand how do they think, how do they make decisions right it's not about your traits and things and I then have somebody else look at that, help me decipher, to make sure, and that's how I have people come on my team, because I've got to understand are they the right fit for this? Because if you can't believe, gary, I made a mistake about five, six years ago. I had a great person, wrong position. It was a disaster. Right Great person, though lover. So I started doing this and all of a sudden I've got right people who understand the mission. We all buy into the mission. My job is to basically go out and set the vision. They help me execute the vision and I do that by about 1040 and buffer free and focus days.
Speaker 1:So I want to know is today a buffer, a free or a focus day?
Speaker 2:This is actually a buffer day today.
Speaker 1:Okay, I was asking because if it was a focus day, I was getting ready for a sales pitch, but just kidding. Tomorrow is a focus day. I was getting ready for a sales pitch, but just kidding.
Speaker 2:Tomorrow is my focus day, so tomorrow, if you look at my calendar tomorrow, ain't nobody getting to me tomorrow right?
Speaker 1:So I love it and I think that I want our listeners to think about their days and the chaotic nature in which, my guess is, they find themselves, and I want them to now just shut their eyes for a minute and imagine that they have 1040 and focus, buffer and free days. We talk all the time about this important stuff, whether it's called balanced living or quality of life. You've got to be able to reset, you've got to be able to rejuvenate. It has been the biggest challenge in my life. I do want to share a great, great, great story and compliment for Dave Sanderson.
Speaker 1:When Dave and I first began doing business together 12, heck, 14 years ago, we would stay in touch, we would stay in touch, we would stay in touch and virtually I was probably on the 40 list and I'm going to go on record that I think there was probably at some point in time there was a belief I'd get to 10. And it didn't work, for nobody's fault, it's just the way our lives and our businesses went, but we always remained 40. One of the things Dave Sanderson has done for me is we'll have a conversation and we'll talk about what's going on in our lives One of the nice things about Dave. Lesson for everybody today. He was asking questions about what was going on in my life. He was asking questions about what was going on in my life. Clearly, the guy can tell you what's happened in his life because he's a national speaker who is well-renowned and somebody that people love to listen to. But he would always then, literally and I just thought about this today, dave after every conversation, you would introduce me to somebody who you thought we might enjoy the connectivity. And I just think I had not put that together and I probably can't remember their names.
Speaker 1:But Trip Durham introduces me to Dave Sanderson. Dave Sanderson introduces me Scott Mathorn. Dave Sanderson. Dave Sanderson introduces me Scott Matt, matt, matt, matt. Now, we never did anything, but every two, every six months, we connect with each other. Hey, is it a good time to talk? Is it a good time to talk? Dave talked about writing a book and I've I've threatened, I'll call it. I've threatened to write a book Someday. I will, but I think it has been an inspiration. I've talked to him about publishing, self-publishing how do you find the time? And the four to five hours for a chapter and, again, I think that, the ability to leverage these relationships. But I think if I said to everybody listening to this podcast, if you went and took an hour, your 10 greatest, my dad would call them foxhole. Who's getting in the foxhole?
Speaker 2:That's right who you call at two o'clock in the morning right.
Speaker 1:He would always say you know and you know. I think people think the inner circle is bigger than it is the inner circles. You know one of our favorite leadership gurus, a gentleman named Mike Staver. He does an exercise. Here's your inner middle, outer. Most of the people are outer right at the end of the day and you know, if you've got a couple in here you're probably blessed right. And so I think that if you everybody did that and then wrote the 40 and then said in the next 90 days don't even go out a year, go take the 12 week year, dave, right Maybe a quarter.
Speaker 1:What am I going to do and then how am I going to time? I got a time block, like that's a bad two word phrase in a realtor's life, I think right, or in any salespeople, because we get caught up in it. So a lot of great learnings today. So obviously, dave has written three books. I do want to mention that, not to get into detail, you had a fourth book written.
Speaker 2:I did.
Speaker 1:And you pivoted because whatever occurred occurred, and so a book which I was privy to some of the content of it never made it, Not because it couldn't have made it, but because Dave chose for it not to make it, and I just share that with our listeners as a real lesson Stuff happens right.
Speaker 2:Life happens, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1:And I know there's another phrase for that, but we are a very clean podcast.
Speaker 1:We definitely are Stuff happens and what we have to do is do the right thing, the right way in the right frame of mind and the right mindset. So I just throw that out to our listener. You know we can sit here and listen, like I'm sure we could have an hour podcast with Dave on things he did in his life. That didn't work, which is really why everything does work and and I think we all know that, you know I was just interviewed another gentleman earlier. You know, breakdown to breakthrough, uh, which is, uh, turmoil to triumph, um, you know breakdown to breakthrough, which is turmoil to triumph. So, dave, you talked about reading and I know you're a reader. I know you would recommend the books you wrote, but you wrote. You did mention Think and Grow Rich. Give our listeners another book or two that they need to go load, listen, walk, read in the fourth quarter of this year.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what I was thinking through that as you were talking. First one would be the gentleman who I met. Actually, he came on stage after me in Nashville. I was actually in the elevator with him. This guy's name is Joe Polish. He is the CEO of the Genius Network. He is known as the number one, basically mastermind connector in the world, and I was in the elevator with him and I got a copy of his book. It's called what's In it For them and he really breaks it down really fundamentally, very simply focusing on what's in it for them and how to do that effectively. So that's one book I would suggest everybody check out, especially if you're in sales. It's a great book for sales because, as Gary was talking about, it's not about you, right? It's what's most important to them and what has to happen for them to realize what they want to get. So that's number one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the other one that you may have already read and I listened to it over and over every once a year is Tommy Cabot's by James Clear. I mean, yeah, I mean it's basic stuff. But you know what I did, gary, is I got that book, I listened to it a couple of times, I wrote down a lot of stuff Habits, control your thoughts, right. But then what I did is I bought Masterclass and I went through his Masterclass on habits and that blew my mind. So what I suggest for people is, if you get one of these books and if you don't have Masterclass, check out Masterclass. I spent 150 bucks for Masterclass, right, and you can see the strategies of all these people on how they get. You know I mean Sarah Blakely, right how she became Sarah Blakely.
Speaker 2:I didn't know she was from Charlotte, gary. Did you know that? I did not? I didn't know she was from Charlotte, gary. Did you know that? I did not? She sold fax machines here in Charlotte to start out. Now, look at her. She just came out with a new product, right, billionaire. So what I did is I now, when I get a book, I check out Masterclass, listen to the book, then watch their Masterclass, because they really break it down in masterclass. You go online in masterclass and get it. I mean I read, I watched Bill Clinton on how to compartmentalize when all heck's breaking loose in your life. You can learn something from everybody, right? So those are a couple of books right there that I would recommend and I listen to them and I listen to books. That's how I get through a book a week. If I had to read a book it'd take me a month, but I can listen to a book in a week and all of a sudden I can now use focused execution and put that into play immediately.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I think I shared this on our last podcast and we'll put a bow around this. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in the year 2015. Dave and I were at Starbucks down in the shops at Piper Glen and he brought a book to me written by a gentleman named Bob Buford, called Halftime, and Dave already mentioned more than once that our shared passion for sports and how we have a tendency to connect what we do in life to to a sporting event. He's a big JMU fan, uh, he knows that. Uh, our company is the proud, uh sponsor, uh proud partner, excuse me, of, uh Appalachian state athletics and we got a big game on November 23rd.
Speaker 2:We do. It's going to be a big one.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a big one, it's going to be a big one, and this book speaks to really the sports analogy. The metaphor is the great teams adjust at halftime, and this book talks about in life. And halftime doesn't have to be 30, 40, 50, 60. It's never too late. Which is simply put, dave, how one moves from success to significance. Correct, correct. And the first part of our life we chase success and if we understand halftime, we move to significance, which speaks to Joe Polish's book. What's in it for them?
Speaker 2:What's in it for them?
Speaker 1:Yep, dave Sanderson, you are a good friend, a mentor of mine and a friend of our company, and best of luck to you. In a couple of weeks, while some of us are sitting by the pool, you will be out doing 3.3 miles. Good luck physically and mentally and, most importantly, providing an opportunity to give back to some folks in real need of your help and support. So thanks for being with us. My friend.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for having me and I appreciate it and God bless, and I look forward to our next interaction.
Speaker 1:Take care partner.
