Philosophy for Life
Welcome to the Philosophy for Life podcast, hosted by Darron Brown, where we explore the profound questions and timeless wisdom that shape our existence. Join us on a journey of self-discovery and intellectual exploration as we delve into the depths of philosophy, spirituality, ethics, and the human experience. Through thought-provoking discussions, engaging interviews, and insightful analysis, we seek to unravel the mysteries of life and uncover the underlying truths that guide us. Discover practical insights and philosophical perspectives that can enrich your daily life, challenge your perspectives, and inspire personal growth. Whether you're a curious seeker, a deep thinker, or simply someone passionate about understanding the complexities of our world, Philosophy for Life is your gateway to wisdom and enlightenment. Subscribe now and embark on a transformative quest to gain clarity, find purpose, and embrace the profound beauty of existence.
Find me: https://linktr.ee/darron.r.brown
Philosophy for Life
She Made Robert Kiyosaki Rich, meet Sharon Lechter
Ever thought about how your relationship with money can reveal your true character? Money and success are the center-stage themes in our enlightening conversation with Sharon Lechter, globally recognized financial literacy expert and co-author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series. Lechter opens up about her personal journey, from her successful partnership with Robert Kiyosaki to her difficult decision to leave the company over conflicting visions.
Our dialogue takes a deep dive into the dynamics of relationships, success, and the significance of choosing the right partner for a thriving life both financially and personally. Lechter passionately shares her insights on the power of aligning your passion and talent, and how perseverance led her to unearthing Napoleon Hill's long-published book, Outwitting the Devil. She also shares her inspiring journey of entrepreneurship, which interestingly took a detour into the world of children's books, driven by her commitment to financial literacy and education.
As we delve into Lechter's journey, we explore critical topics like the importance of business structure, women's success, financial independence, and the persistent wage gap challenge. This dialogue is a treasure trove of wisdom for women navigating the complex terrains of male-dominated fields. We discuss how mentorship and forming positive habits can act as pillars of support. Our conversation rounds off with Lechter shedding light on how our most challenging experiences can transform into positive life choices, given the right mindset and support system. Join us and discover how you can turn your financial fears into stepping stones for success.
Well, we were partners for 10 years and I chose to leave because he wanted to go in a direction that I didn't believe in and it was a great direction for us. He wanted to go into franchising, so it was very profitable for us, not very profitable for the franchisees, so I could not, in good stead, stay there. But it had become a very difficult couple of years because money just brings out more of who you really are. 11 years later he sent me a letter of apology, but other than that we haven't really been in communication. He can tend to be a bit volatile.
Speaker 2:So I'm honored to have today's guest on the show, Sharon Lecter. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I discovered her while reading Out With In the Devil and since then I found out a lot more about you. I didn't even know that you were part of the work with Robert Kiyosaki. When it came to Richie Dad, poor Dad, I did not know you were part of that. I guess that was how you first got into, I want to say, self-improvement area. Correct me if I'm wrong, but how did you actually meet Robert Kiyosaki?
Speaker 1:Well, I had already built the Talking Children's Book Industry books. They had the sound streams down inside, and that was back in the late 80s and Robert actually went to see my husband, mike, as an intellectual property attorney well-known and licensing, robert went with his idea for a board game on a piece of butcher block paper. So I actually met him at the first beta test on that and it was exactly what I was teaching trying to get curriculum into the school systems related to the importance of taking control of your financial life, the importance of buying, building, creating and producing assets. And so I loved the game and I just volunteered as a friend to help him commercialize it because of my background and the connections that I had. And during that process he told me that's the game that later became cash flow. And during the process he told me he was going to charge $200 for it and I said that's kind of pricey, we're talking 1996.
Speaker 1:And I said you might want to write a brochure that explains your philosophy, so it will encourage people to invest in the game. And that's when he asked me to become his partner and we formed the company together in 1997 and released Rich Dad, poor Dad, and that was actually written as a brochure. We never expected to take on a life of its own like it did and we never thought we'd write more than one book. But the one turned into three, which turned into 15 books that we wrote together during the 10 years that I ran the company. So we were equal partners and I was the CEO helping grow it around the world.
Speaker 2:So, whatever happened to the board game, how successful was it?
Speaker 1:The board game is very successful. It's still available. I think they sell it online now, but the game is very successful. But the book itself was standalone and kind of took the world by storm. So collectively we had many games, we had many books and we ended up in the 10 years becoming the largest personal finance brand in the world. So it was very over 100 countries, over 50 languages.
Speaker 2:OK, wow, definitely I have to check that out. How was your relationship with Robert? The reason I asked is because I don't know if you've been keeping up with him lately, but he seems to be really stressed out now. So I'm just wondering, like how was the relationship with you guys? Like how was it working with him and building this rich dad, poor dad brand?
Speaker 1:Well, we were partners for 10 years and I chose to leave because he wanted to go in a direction that I didn't believe in and it was a great direction for us. We wanted to go into franchising, so it was very profitable for us, not very profitable for the franchisees, so I could not, in good stead, stay there. But it had become a very difficult couple of years because money just brings out more of who you really are and you know, it was just not a good environment and I wanted to stay true to who I was and what my personal mission was. And so I made the decision. And at the height of our success, we were making million dollars every month. But I said I just couldn't stay there.
Speaker 1:So we have not really been in communication, other than it took a few months for us to get the valuation of the company and then our amicable split turned not so amicable. So we were in litigation for a year and settled. So, you know, in essence, I was able to walk away the way I wanted to, and then, 11 years later, he sent me a letter of apology, but other than that, we haven't really been in communication. He, you know, he, he, he tend to be, he can tend to be a bit volatile, so OK, all right.
Speaker 2:So I guess, with the image I'm seeing on the Internet is kind of accurate of like his personality, I would say when, when did you join like the Napoleon group, did that? How quick did that happen after you left your relationship with Robert Kiyosaki?
Speaker 1:Well, I left Rich Dad the day to day participation in management in March of 07. And it was later that year.
Speaker 2:You can get on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, later that year that I got the call from the Napoleon Hill Foundation it was actually March of 08, almost one year later and they did. I knew Don Green from being in the same industry and he had just learned that I had left Rich Dad. So that was. It was in the middle of the economic crisis in 08. And they wanted to reinvigorate the teachings of Napoleon Hill.
Speaker 1:And I read, think, I read, think Gourich when I was 19. But what an incredible honor, having built the world's largest personal finance brand and then to be asked to step into the largest personal finance brand, personal development brand, and so it was a huge honor. My first book was three feet from gold and I wouldn't have that phone call had I still been at Rich Dad. So I really I tell people all the time sometimes you have to close the door for other doors of opportunity to open. Had I not left Rich Dad, I wouldn't have been called by President Bush to be on the first President's Advisory Council on financial literacy that I served both President Bush and President Obama on. And so we just sometimes you have to stand in your own power, stand true to your own personal mission and make some difficult decisions to preserve your own integrity.
Speaker 2:Amen, I definitely. I've been there and this is more of like a spiritual thing. It kills me inside if you go against yourself. I want to know I did Well, I got through about three fourths of the book. Three feet from gold what inspired you? I mean, I read Napoleon Hill's book, I Think and Grow Rich. I've heard that story in his book. But there was a plenty of different stories within that book as well, like what, what helped you? What inspired you to actually get through that book and where the stories in those books in the book, actually where they did they represent something actually happened in real life?
Speaker 1:Oh yes, three feet from gold. We we wanted to take the original story from Think and Grow Rich, where R U Darby went out west to discover gold and he got impatient. You know, he spent a lot of money, found gold and then all of a sudden he ran out of gold and so he got impatient and left. So he didn't have the perseverance he needed. He sold the claim for the mine and his equipment to the town junkman who'd been studying gold, knew all the right people. He brought in the experts.
Speaker 1:They went back in and says easy, he was three feet from gold. He had punched through the vein of gold and if he had gone back three feet he would have been, and at that time it was one of the largest Gold discoveries, and so R U Darby was upset about it. But then he said I am never going to stop three feet from gold again. And so it was that concept that we wanted to share, because, again, we're talking about 07 and 08, when, you know, in 2008 people were just giving up because of the financial crisis. So we wanted to bring some inspiration to help people understand how to break through, how to persevere, how to keep going when you're three feet from gold. How many people do we know that stopped right before the miracle would happen, and so that was the message we wanted. So we have a lot of different people that we interviewed that are very successful, but they didn't. It wasn't an easy street. They had to persevere.
Speaker 2:How did you overcome issues where you had to persevere to actually get some kind of success? Because people, when they have a business idea, maybe they don't have the faith that that idea will actually grow into fruition. Sometimes people have family members who try to discourage them from actually accomplishing their goals.
Speaker 2:A lot of times. I've experienced that a lot and I had to distance myself. And you also get friends, people who you love, who you think love you the same way, and they care about you on some level. But at some point in time you have to decide if you're going to create some distance between you and that relationship or go for your goals. But how have you used perseverance throughout your career?
Speaker 1:Well, I want to share the personal success equation and get a copy of it in a workbook for yourself at personalsuccessequationcom. But it is what we share in the book Three Feet from Gold, and it's really P plus T which is your passion and your talent. That's all about you. What is it that you want to accomplish in life, or what are you mad about? I mean your passion plus your talent. What's your experience? For me, my passion came from anger that we weren't teaching kids about money in school. My talent was yours as a CPA in years, in publishing, and we typically put those together and we think we have to do it on our own and that's where we're going to drive our own success. But that's the employee mindset. Is P plus T times a power of association? That people around you? Do you have people who want to support you? Do you have people who are strong where you are weak? Do you have a mentor that helps speed your way to success and steer you around the pitfalls Times?
Speaker 1:A taking the right action. How many times do we know what we're supposed to do? We just don't do it Right. So, passion plus talent times, right association times, action, and then all of it plus F, and that's faith Faith in yourself, faith in what you're doing, faith that is needed and necessary and faith that you will succeed. And for far too many of us, that F is fear, and that fear holds us back from creating the success we deserve. And so when I have a new mentoring client or and I actually share this formula with every speech, every interview, because it applies to everyone, and usually it's the power of association that people need work on, and their faith, their self confidence, and they go hand in hand when you have the right people around you and you have a bad day we all have bad days they won't let you stay there.
Speaker 1:And to your point about family so many times I tell people you know, when you start making something of yourself, when you start really persevering and trying to work on your future, your family, your close friends are going to try and pull you back, and that's not because they don't want you to succeed, it's because they see you doing something productive and they're not. And so I always help you put that guy actually do it physically cone of protection, put the cone of protection on and know that you are doing what you need to do for your future, because those same very same people, when you start showing success, they're going to turn into your biggest cheerleaders and they're going to ask you for a loan. But remember that you are doing what you need to, and it's not you that's the problem, it's them. So have some grace. I have a little sign up here Act and grace, have some grace, wish them well, but still stay focused on your own personal mission.
Speaker 2:You mentioned power associations. Was that the?
Speaker 1:power of association.
Speaker 2:Power of association For somebody. I know that people say that books can be a good substitute for mentorship, which it can be, but when you're trying to associate yourself with positive people like what kind of people should we know what kind of people you should stay away from? People who are basically haters, in short. But what kind of people? What are the types of signs that you have a person that is like a positive, powerful association that's going to help you? They may not have connections, but they may be able to help propel you to the direction you're trying to get to.
Speaker 1:Well, people that are interested, not interesting. I mean. There's a lot of people out there that are showboats and they're interesting, but they're not going to go the extra mile for you. So you really want to find people that are invested in your success and want to support you and say you know, how can I support you? Or you know where's your gap? How can you find that gap? People that are really good at asking good questions instead of just talking, they actually involve you in a conversation and it's really important to the associations that got you to where you are today May not be the right ones to get you to the next step. So you constantly need to reevaluate am I surrounding myself with the right people?
Speaker 1:You know, I don't know if you've read Cash for a Quater, my second book on the Rich Dad, but it talks about how people ways that people learn money. And the left side, the top left, is employee, that's a mindset about money. The bottom is S, which is small business or self-employed, like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and so that left side of the cash flow quadrant is what school teaches us. But it's you working for money, you exchanging time for money, and so I teach people to move to the right side, and that's the top right is B for business owner, where you own a business, not a job. The business has systems and other people running it, so you are an owner, not a workaholic. And then the bottom right is I for investor, where your money is working for you. Now I still make money out of all four quadrants.
Speaker 1:I'm an employee of my own companies. I am a business mentor. I choose to work one-on-one with people, but that's my time, that's my energy. I am a speaker, so that's me exchanging time for money, but I choose to do that because it brings me joy. My husband and I make far more money as business owners and investors. And so when you think about who are you hanging out with, are you hanging out with people who are all employee mindset? It's going to be hard to work on yourself when that's the environment you're in. Your environment is so important. And analyze where you're spending your time and, instead of spending it, let's invest your time in seeking out those people that live on the right side, because you can learn from them, and that's where you're going to find the mentors that can help you where you want to go.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the things I like about Napoleon Hill is that he, unlike other I want to say self-improvement coaches or motivational coaches, he mentions not only the importance of associating yourself with great people, he mentions the importance of choosing a good spouse. He mentions it in Think and Grow Rich and he also mentions it in Outwitting the Devil. Like can you go into, like how, how, I guess how people should vet and try to get, like I guess, like a supporter spouse, like how important is that association when it comes to becoming your best self and, you know, achieving your goals?
Speaker 1:Well, it's really important and certainly in this day and age, I tell people they need to go on a money date before they get married to understand what their parents' philosophy was about money and understand where they each are financially. Because you know, I've seen couples get together and one has hundreds of thousands of debt and then the other one didn't know it and it becomes a real tragedy. And so it's really important to understand you know, your philosophy about money. My husband and I have been married for 43 years and our parents were both depression. You know, they're both couples who grew up in the depression, but they had very different mindset. My husband's parents they had every penny they ever made. They were so tight with their money right. My parents were both entrepreneurs and they were very generous and if they wanted something, they made the money to get what they wanted. They didn't. They didn't live way below their means. They did live below their means just because that was their mentality, but they were very entrepreneurial minded and so that when we got together, we had to address that, we had to talk about it. What are we going to be as a couple? What are we going to do together? And I think that's very important, because financial distress is often the number one cause of divorce, because you have different thoughts and different philosophies.
Speaker 1:But I think you know when people ask me you know what's the secret to a long term marriage, and I have two answers One's funny and one's honest. But the funny one is actually true too. So for 43 years we were secret to a long marriage is having separate bathrooms. So that's your chuckle for the day. But the true, the true philosophy of long term marriage is you need to respect your partner as much or more than you love them, because there's plenty of times when the love gets stretched and gets tried and proven and that's when the respect steps in. And so you know if you truly. That's truly when you have a life partner where they're not just your, your sexual partner, but your life partner and your best friend.
Speaker 2:So makes a lot of sense when you have a hard time. If you have that respect, then you guys will.
Speaker 1:You work through it, you put the work. I mean today, in today's world, is so easy to walk away, I mean, and so it's like that concept in three feet from gold. Perseverance also applies not just in the world of business, but in relationships.
Speaker 2:We, you know, on the respect. No, it's just crazy because I think the way that people are raised are a little bit different. I remember, just when I was a kid, like you, didn't speak when grown folks spoke. You know, you had manners, you respected your elders. And now it's like I have younger cousins that just you would think that you know they think that they're on the same level as like our elders, as our grandparents and whatnot. And when you grow up in a society that kind of loses that I wanna say, that hierarchy of respect, you have issues in other areas of your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I wanna get into the book Outwitting the Devil. I literally have that book on display. My book case. To the right of me have that book and two other books and I just wanna know, like when you first, like how did you first start writing this book? Did they hand you Napoleon Hill's notes? Like how was it delivered to you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a very interesting story. Thank you for that question. The month we released Three Feet from Goal, which was my first book with the foundation, don Green, who's the head of the foundation, called me and said Sharon, we just got this manuscript and I have no clue what to do with it. So he sent it to me and I do most of my writing in San Diego, so I live in Arizona. But I got the manuscript and went over to the beach to read it and it literally was typed on a handwritten typewriter. So it was Napoleon Hill's manuscript and he had handwritten notes in the margins. So it was like I was actually having a conversation with him. And in a few short hours I read it and I said, oh, my God, this has gotta get out. It is life changing.
Speaker 1:And I really believe the story goes that Thinking Grow Rich was a 25 year project. He released Thinking Grow Rich in 1937. And when he published it he was frustrated because he said here I'm giving you the doctoral thesis of success and people will read it but not take action and they let fear hold them back. So he added that last chapter, the six ghosts of fear, to Thinking Grow Rich and released in 1937. But he was still frustrated in 1938. He sat down and wrote out winning the devil about how to conquer your fear, and the title scared his wife to death. She worked for the Presbyterian College, so she forbid it to be published and it was hidden away for 73 years before Don Green sent it to me and I think I was probably only the fourth or fifth person to ever read the manuscripts and I just said, don, this has gotta get out.
Speaker 1:Because I believe it wasn't just the wife. I think there was a higher power. I believe in God tremendously. I believe there was a higher power that said this book needs to wait. Let's let Thinking Grow Rich have his huge success.
Speaker 1:But this is for a different generation and we truly believe that it was to bring Napoleon Hill's messages to your generation, younger generation, to open their eyes, because sometimes you have to be a little in people's face. And this book is a little in your face Because Napoleon Hill takes on every single taboo sex, politics, religion, education, what you diet, all of it. And you know what. He wrote it in 1938, but it is as true today as when he wrote it in 1938. And it really he says in the book. You can believe I'm talking to the real devil or an imaginary devil. Will you derive any benefit from what I share? And boy do we.
Speaker 1:And when we did the audible version I don't know if you've listened to that, but you have to download that Because I made them get two actors to act the part in the interrogation of the devil and the devil's voice is low and grovely. So I mean, it's just I have people calling me. I had to pull off the side of the road, sharon, this is crazy. It goes in. It really goes into your spirit and your soul. You can feel it. But it really is something that I just was so honored to be able to do it, and what I did was I separated my comments because it was written 1938. And because of the target.
Speaker 1:The goal was to get to the younger audience and introduce them to Napoleon Hill. I put in, I annotated it, which is in a different type. Face is bold, so die hard. Napoleon Hill fans don't need to read my stuff, they can just read right through. But for others that are being introduced to me, it kind of compares what was happening to 38 to the reality in today's world and it was just an incredibly fun project and impactful one. People are just. It's changing hundreds of people's lives.
Speaker 2:That's one of the best books I've ever written. I actually I have the audio book and I had the physical copy. And when I first heard that book, it just I resonated with that on a deep level, cause I was already doing a lot of introspective spiritual work. But then when the devil came in and he said you need to call me, your highness, you know, because I do believe that most people are hypnotized, like they're they're the walking dead, like they're just unconscious of, like how they're being, as he meant drifters.
Speaker 1:They're drifters, they're just drifting through life, going with the flow. People say, well, whatever you know, what would you like to do? Whatever? No, what would you like to do? Make a decision. And so he talks about 98% of the population. Do not control their own thoughts, 2% do. Are you an independent thinker? And I, you know, I teach. There's three things. You can control your thoughts, your words, your actions, but it starts with your thoughts.
Speaker 2:And that pisses people off, cause most people are unconscious or they're just repeating something that they heard on the news or on social media. And then they see especially the people close to you they see you doing something different and getting success doing it. And then it's like you have your fighting your own demons and you have these other people you know attacking you as well.
Speaker 1:Cone of protection. Gotta put on the cone of protection.
Speaker 2:I hear you. I hear you, I'm a lot more aggressive about it now, now that I really can see things for what they are. I wanna know in that book I mean, he mentioned so many different things in that book what is like if you can mention, if you can state one thing like what is the biggest thing that stood out to you? And now, what in the devil, his biggest advice?
Speaker 1:Oh wow. Well, I think it's being the master of your own mind and making decisions to move forward. You know, I think, adjusting from fear to faith. So so many people have the fear and it's negative. And so if you're a student of the law of attraction which actually Napoleon Hill wrote it back in 1919. So if you're thinking negative thoughts, you're gonna attract negative results. But if you can adjust your thoughts so I tell people, when it comes to money, how many of us say we can't afford it? Well, most of us. Well, we can't afford it. It's negative, it's a statement you just wanna turn off the lights and get back in bed. But if you can take a moment and adjust your mind to, instead of saying I can't afford it, say how can I afford it, because that's you trigger your entrepreneurial mindset your subconscious goes to work immediately thinking. You know, just goes to work immediately, thinking of ways that you can afford what you want, and it's positive. So you attract the ideas, you attract the possibilities. Don't shut the door on the possibilities. Invite them in.
Speaker 2:From your experience, like have you seen anybody that was a drifter get out of that mindset and then become more goal, entrepreneurial, you know, start taking control of their mind? Because I think I'm at the age where I mean, hopefully I still have a lot more life to live and I feel like a lot of people I've been trying to, you know, pass books to or, you know, inform them of certain things that I've learned. It's kind of been one year out the other. So I'm wondering have you ever seen anybody that was like at the low end, that was down, and then they just, they suddenly just took to control their thoughts and then started, you know, propelling forward and living a? I wanna say I think yeah, definitely outwitting the devil.
Speaker 1:I hear from people every single day that have turned their lives around because it triggered something. It triggered something in their mind to realize that they weren't living their potential, and then certainly from a financial side of thing. You know, I have people every single day related to Rich Dad opening their eyes. But it doesn't come from a book, you know. People always tell me you know you changed my life. Rich Dad, poor dad, changed my life. Outwitting the devil changed my life. And I go stop, take a step back. I wrote something that inspired you and that makes me very, very happy. But if you changed your life, you changed your life. You were inspired by what I did, but so many millions of people have read my books and not taken action. So if you've actually read it, were inspired and took action and improved your life, own that, own your own power and so say, instead of saying you changed my life, say I changed my life because of inspiration I got from you. Love it. That's what I want to hear.
Speaker 2:So I want to start from the beginning. You mentioned that you wrote children's books. Who were you when you were younger, Before you even started? You were an entrepreneur like who was Sharon?
Speaker 1:Well, I'll try and give you the Clifton Oats version, because I've obviously been around a long time. But I grew up in a very lower middle-class environment. We lived in a little tiny house that I was embarrassed by, between my mom's beauty shop and my dad's used car lot. We had rental properties that I had to scrub out bathrooms between tenants at the age of 10. We owned orange groves. So we had conversations at the dinner table about assets, about cash flow, about depreciation, and I didn't realize that that was unusual. But I was embarrassed by where we live.
Speaker 1:My parents, my friends parents, were CEOs or military officers, and so I swore I was going to succeed. I was going to become a sophisticated professional because neither of my parents had college degrees, or even in high school diplomas. My dad went on to run the engineering school for the Navy. He was very self-taught, very, very brilliant. But I went on. I was the only woman in my accounting classes because, yes, this was well before the glass ceiling term ever existed. I was one of the very first women hired in public accounting in the Southeast United States, and so I was definitely a trailblazer and I worked very hard. I just knew I had to work a little harder than the men that were hired with me. I just accepted that because my dad always told me you can do anything you want if you work hard enough.
Speaker 1:And so, at the ripe old age of 25, I realized I wasn't in control of my life. I wasn't in control of what I was doing because I was working incredibly long hours and I realized that my parents looked a whole lot smarter than they had a few years prior, because I was becoming the reality of understanding that I was given the gift that so many people were not. Plus, being in public accounting, I saw how businesses succeeded, but, probably more importantly, I saw businesses failed. And so all that knowledge was like okay, do I want to keep doing this or do I want to make a difference? And I had a client ask me to join him in buying a company out of bankruptcy. So it was my opportunity to become an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:And I went back to my condo and at that time that was well before PCs or cell phones. So I had the old yellow legal pad and I did pros and cons and didn't help me a bit. I could argue both sides, but my hand took off across the top of the page and said why not? And why not? Is my philosophy still today, so many, many years later? Why not do something different? Why not take the road less traveled? Why not solve a problem or serve a need? The most successful businesses all solve a problem or serve a need, and that's where you find your passion and your mission.
Speaker 1:And so that's when I decided I was going to go ahead and leave public accounting. It was a bad decision. A few weeks later I realized there was a little kind of corruption in this company. But had I not made that decision, I wouldn't have met a young attorney named Michael Lecter. And so Napoleon Hill says out of every adversity, every failure, comes a seed of an equal or greater benefit. My worst business decision became my best life decision, and, as I said, we've celebrated just celebrated 43 years of marriage.
Speaker 1:But then we had kids and they didn't like to read. And so I said you know, I've met the inventor of the first talking children's book, the books that have sound strips down the side. And I joined forces with him, and that's why I learned so much about publishing and manufacturing. We were a brand new company. People didn't know who we were and, at that time, dinosaur days, the kids had no screens, they had no electronics, and so we said how can get parents to trust us? And so we did deals with little companies like Disney, warner Brothers, sesame Street, and so it was a huge success. We grew that very quickly and sold it in the fourth year, and that's when we actually moved to Arizona 32 years ago and so continued, had another company that failed miserably, had another one that was successful, and then my oldest son went off to college in 1992 and came home, left in September, came home in December and credit card debt and we didn't even know, had a credit card.
Speaker 1:He ended up going to school and there was a table free pizza, free money, free t shirt, free money so he had a really good time. As for semester in college, and then the bills started coming in, and so that was December of 1992. And that's really when I dedicated the rest of my career, the rest of my life, to financial literacy and financial education. And a few years later is when I met Robert, then Napoleon Hill, and so I'm as passionate today as I was back then about financial literacy.
Speaker 1:And when I was on the President's Advisory Council, we passed the credit card act of 2009, which prohibits credit card companies from soliciting people on campus. Students on campus, and I'm very proud of that can't really take credit for the bill myself, but I can certainly take credit for being a squeaky wheel about it. So kids today don't have that same experience. They still get solicited, but not the way that my son was bombarded with offers free money it wasn't quite so free, yeah brings you around. You know, I'm still still very closely aligned with the foundation. I wrote the book Exit Rich, wall Street Journal bestseller two years ago, and my most recent book is how Money Works for Women and because it's take control or lose it how money works for women and it's really to help women understand that they need to understand their own credit, their own opportunities to create financial success.
Speaker 2:I wanted to mention. Could you say that you have these credit card companies going to college campuses and basically tearing apart students credit before they even know what's going on? I think that same thing happened to me. It wasn't exactly, it didn't happen exactly with your son, but I do remember Wells Fargo being on our college campus, me getting the debit card and then getting like an email about a credit card and I for one I wasn't the one actually killed my credit. My mom actually started buying stuff from my credit card and I had to fix my credit years later. But they're still there. They're still hunting for, you know, for students. You mentioned that you know the difference between a business that succeeds and one that fails. Like, what is the difference, what is the main difference between, how do you know a company is going to succeed versus one that's going to fail?
Speaker 1:Well, I've written Exit Rich, which talks about that. I also have a program called Essential Components of a Successful Business. My husband and I have teamed together to make that, to create that program. It's available on my website. The vast majority of businesses do not structure themselves appropriately. They get all excited about their product and their sales, but they don't build the structure of the business, and you cannot have a successful business that scales, that is available to be sustainable and saleable, if you don't concentrate on the inner structure first, and that is having the right business systems, identifying the right contracts, having the right intellectual property, identifying it, protecting it and leveraging it. And most people are so enamored with the first sale. They just focus on sales, but they don't build the house. They build a house of cards instead of house of concrete. And so we do a lot of work with companies, helping them solidify their foundation so that they can scale and scale successfully.
Speaker 2:Do you do mentorships?
Speaker 1:I do. We do not a lot. We minimize it because I'm at the age where I want to enjoy life a little bit. But we do high-level mentorship and we also have group mentoring at much less expensive. That we do on a monthly basis. Twice a month we meet with our group mentoring clients. I just love it because I'm a mom and grandma at heart, so I love helping people identify things that they can do and new associations they can have.
Speaker 2:Awesome, that's great you. I think you also wrote a book I was looking at when I was doing research on you. I was looking at some of the books that you wrote. I believe you have one that's like Thinking Grow Rich for Women, is that?
Speaker 1:correct. Yeah, that's one of the books I did with the foundation Thinking Grow Rich for Women. That was a huge honor. That was when we were just released out waiting, the devil Don called me again and said Sharon, I think it's time to do Thinking Grow Rich for Women Because again in 1937, when Napoleon Hill released Thinking Grow Rich, there were no women in business.
Speaker 1:So it's a very male-centric book Now and I believe the steps to success are the same for men and women, but we approached them very differently. So I had the honor of same chapter outline as the original book, but looking at each of the philosophies, each of those steps to success, through the eyes of successful women. It was such a fun project. I have over 300 women in the book and from all kinds of backgrounds, from today's world, from history, about how to look at those concepts. So you might be reading it and say that doesn't apply to me, but the next one, oh, I could do that. What's beautiful about it is also great for men, because they can see how our thought process are different, because one of the reasons I wrote Thinking Grow Rich for Women is that I wanted to change the dialogue.
Speaker 1:Way too many women were out there complaining and criticizing them in the Studner way, and that still happens today. But I said let's wake up. What do you do when you're complaining? Criticize You're attracting negative results. So let's change the dialogue from complaining and criticizing to one of celebration. Celebration for how far women have come, and it's not at the exclusion of men. The greatest results are when men and women are both at the table and work together. So let's celebrate our progress, let's celebrate the men that have helped us along the way, and more doors will open when you're in a state of celebration instead of criticizing and complaining.
Speaker 2:I understand you want to be in a positive mindset to attract those things to you.
Speaker 1:You know I'm a little I don't want to have it exclusive of men. I think men need to be at the table. I love working with men and so I think when we come together, men are much more decisive. Women were better problem solvers, but as a problem solver and researcher, we get into analysis, paralysis. So when you have those skills together you get the best results.
Speaker 2:I'm a little naive about all the hurdles that women have had to face over the decades, I do know that there's still issues that need to be addressed. The reason I say that is because there's a dialogue on the internet that says that women there is no pay gap, that women they just don't work as hard as guys do our work jobs, that guys don't want to work, and a lot of people are basically believing that narrative. But I personally know women that are well educated, you know they're in great fields, but they're not getting paid as much as some of their male counterparts.
Speaker 1:The wage gap is still there. It's basically 82 cents to every dollar a man earns and it's been kind of static for almost 20 years. But a lot of women are turning to entrepreneurship. They're just saying I'm not going to deal with it, I'm going to make it on my own. And you know it's an issue. There's still progress that needs to be made. But in 2000, there were only two women CEOs the Fortune 500. And today we're pushing close to 30. So there has been improvement. There's still a lot of room to improve, but the same thing.
Speaker 1:I put my masculine hat on and I say we have to earn the stripes. We have to. You know there weren't very many women in management back then and we occupy more than 50% of management roles. So the tide is changing. And women today 42% of households the woman is the wife is the primary breadwinner. It's a huge social change from what it was years ago. And so with that dynamic changes relationships. You have to redefine the relationship, you need to be respectful of each other. And those 42% primary breadwinners also are still the primary caretakers of the kids, still the primary household managers. So those are things that we just need to accept and we need to deal with and we need to continue moving to make it a more even playing field for everybody.
Speaker 2:OK, I have a question for you. What, how would you define femininity, and how can a woman maintain her femininity while competing in a world that is dominated by men?
Speaker 1:Well, I believe that your femininity can be an asset or it can be a liability, and I think one of the problems we have is a lot of women are using their femininity in the wrong way, and I'll probably get all kinds of hate mail from saying that, but I think I am very proud to be a woman. I enjoy my femininity. But I will tell you, when I first started in public accounting, I wore the pinstripe suits, my hair in a bun, and you felt like I had to conform to that male role model. And the day I passed my exam, I put on my skirts, let my hair down, and I've never looked back. I think the first step is being comfortable in your own skin. All right, so you know, I look in the mirror. I'm going to be 70 in January. I don't like the fact that I'm that old, but I've earned every year and it's something that being comfortable in your own skin gives you the confidence to move forward.
Speaker 1:And we each have a feminine side and a masculine side, and for us to say we don't is wrong because we do. And the issue is are you going to be the best you that you can be, utilizing both your feminine and masculine. I mean, I can go toe to toe with any man in a conversation, but I don't see it as a male-female thing. I see it as two humans having a conversation. And so if we face the world with, I am woman before anything else you're putting up a barrier. Let's not put up a barrier, let's you know I'm here. Let's have a conversation, let's do see what we can create together.
Speaker 2:I'm not trying to create any drama, but how are women poorly illustrating the femininity?
Speaker 1:Well, I think it's pretty obvious women that are, that they use their sexual attributes to try and get ahead, women that Are not respectful to other women I mean, when I started, women weren't very helpful to each other, and so it's really important for us to understand, to support one another and to work together to create progress. And you know the women that complain and criticize that they feel they have to become really masculine in an environment. They add fuel to the fire that women are antagonistic, and so stay, be who you are, be authentically you, be proud of you who you are, no matter what your gender, and and contribute. But don't you know, don't feel like you're wearing a sign that says, you know, don't be mean to me because I'm a woman. You create a problem before it exists.
Speaker 2:I Hear you, okay, I get what you're saying. I want to talk about your new book that you just wrote. What was the name of it?
Speaker 1:again, I Just happened to have right here how money works for women.
Speaker 1:Take control or lose it, All right okay you can get it through Amazon or you can get it on my website, and I love this book because I'm this my 28th book, but it's a four color. You can see Four color and they have different Avatars in it, and what we did was we took women from every decade of life, from 1986 and the various things that happen to women that we need to pay attention to. So, like the 19 year old is Looking at college debt, that that's a male female thing, it's not specifically women. But then the 20. The one in her 20s is trying to plan for a wedding and is trying to start a business. The one in the 30s she's married but she has a special needs child, and so she that causes all kinds of drama and not knowing what to do and Financial hardship, so she had to redefine how she worked to make sure she was there to care for her child. Then we have one in her 40s who was in an abusive marriage, and so she had to escape that with two children and start all over, and so every bit of domestic abuse 99% of the time includes financial abuse, and so how do you get, find the resources to help you to get through that situation? Then we have a one that is looking at how she's going to apply for social security.
Speaker 1:And then we have a woman that was married 25, 30 years, whose husband comes home. She's looking for a future of retirement, happily blissful marriage. He wants a divorce and all of a sudden she's never had anything in her name, it's all been in his name. So she's divorced, her standard of living drops and she has no credit, and so there's an issue that happens all the time. It just breaks my heart.
Speaker 1:And then the next one is in her 60s, late 60s, early 70s, her husband dies and they've had a very happy life together and they have things set aside for retirement, but it's all in his name. He dies, and so she's in the midst of grief, losing her husband, but she has no access to any of their accounts. She has no idea how to find anything, and so that's the kind of thing that's happening all the time to women, and I want to wake them up and tell them you know, take control of your own financial life. You have your own credit score, not just your husbands. Make sure that you're establishing your credit worthiness as During your life, not not when you're when you're at risk, because when you're at risk, you can't get the credit.
Speaker 2:You know it's crazy. You say that because as you, as you were speaking, I dated a woman who was. She got a master's in finance and she's a CFO and she was. She remember telling me that she had friends that knew nothing about, I guess, how the finances worked within their marriage. They had no idea about, they just trusted their husband to take care of everything. And For a lot of men, I mean, that's honestly, that's the way a lot of men like it. They like to just not be bothered, like to take care of the paper and you, just you know, sign this right.
Speaker 1:They agree. And I you know that when I did thinking grow rich for women, I was Having a birthday party. Somebody threw me a birthday party so I had like 12 of my closest friends, all of them very high incomes. I'm all but one married. And I said, just by chance, how many of you sign your tax return without looking at it, without knowing what's in it? And all but one Raise their hands. It's just shocked me to death. And the one that didn't raise her hand was a single lady who, you know, has her own business so she has to understand it. But it's really is. It's pervasive in today's world and with the rate of divorce, it's just it's like putting a Shotgun to your own head. You need to understand your finances and be in charge of your own personal credit.
Speaker 2:Do you do any kind of like female mentorship programs, because you have think of grow rich for women and he had this, this program, this book that helps women as well. Do you have any kind of programs that young women can get involved in?
Speaker 1:or yes, yes, I actually have an online program around the book, thinking grow rich for women, and I have a money mastery program that is on my website. It's $1497, but for organizations and people we give a really really deep, deep, deep discount $197 for people if they want to reach out to me. Info at Sharon Lecture because I want people to have the information.
Speaker 2:I want to know. I want to get into some of the mindset stuff I want to know when it comes to, like perseverance, because I'm in this journey right now. You know, I'm sure, that every other young entrepreneur that's trying to make it there we're all encountering the same things. How is there any kind of tips or tools that anyone could use when it comes to strengthening their perseverance skill set or just strengthening our tool set when it comes to perseverance, avoiding the naysayers like how can you create a healthy, a healthy environment to actually accomplish those goals?
Speaker 1:Well, the number way. One way to do that is by having a mentor, somebody who is seasoned, who's not emotionally involved, because what happens is when you are in the highest need of perseverance, you're usually pretty emotional. The high emotion is low intelligence, and so when you're highly emotionally charged, you make bad decisions. That's why you need to have people around you that are more level headed, that can ask you questions, help you kind of come off the cliff. And that's so important. And you know, recent survey, 87% of people agreed mentors are important. Only 27 or 30% actually have them, and so that tells you the people. If you talk to the highest and most successful people out there, they all had mentors. They had mentors that help them succeed. And in today's world, when speed to market is everything, you don't want to handicap yourself by trying to learn it on your own. Find the people that have been where you want to go and let them help you succeed.
Speaker 2:Any advice on how to find these people, because you said that you went to college at the age of 25. You just work in so many hours, but then you went straight to Rich Dad, poor Dad, and it's like you were connected immediately. Like how do you like, how does that look like to find these mentors? You just bug them, keep him on the number. You know how does that? How do you build those relationships?
Speaker 1:Well, putting yourself in the right environment. You're reading out winning the devil. So now, winning the devil. It talks about learning from adversity, having that self discipline, having your purpose. What is your definite purpose? But then it talks about the importance of your environment. Who are you around? Are you with people who are as driven as you are, because you feed each other from that environment? And then how are you spending your time? Are you spending your time and saying goodbye to it, or are you investing your time? Because our only precious resource we can make money and make it back, but our only precious resource is our time, and so make sure you're investing your time in your future. You pay attention to that, and so those elements work together to create your success.
Speaker 1:Your mindset we all have stinking thinking. We all have negative thoughts. It's not like you can erase them there, but you train your brain to reach for the positive, to figure out what you know. This happened, okay. What am I going to learn from it? But that happens much more quickly when you have people that have been where you want to go. That can help you make those decisions with less emotion and more intelligence.
Speaker 2:You know, as you're speaking, remind me of a passage and I would in the devil. There was a part of the book. It talks about hypnotic rhythm and I remember, before I even read this book, I used to well forgive me when Instagram first came out. That's when you started seeing a lot more IG models, and then I started following all these IG models and then I noticed that throughout the day I was thinking about IG models, I was thinking about women. I was like man, why am I thinking about this so much? And I concluded that was because of this, it was because of this app. So I deleted the app from my phone.
Speaker 2:But then I had the idea, because at the time I was reading as a man, think it, and I was reading and I was listening to it. So because of that, I was like, okay, let me see if I can trick my mind. So I started listening to out, thinking as a man, think of every morning for about over a year. Every morning I wake up because only about an hour, so I'll listen to that book every morning. And when I read, I went in the devil. It mentions, like hypnotic rhythm, how we, we have our I want to say our natural like pattern away of thinking and it becomes habit.
Speaker 1:Exactly, rhythm is just habit and in the book he really references it from a negative standpoint, saying that you can get yourself so deep in hypnotic rhythm, in a negative way, that it's hard to get out of. But I, you know, when I speak about out winning the devil, I say you know there's, you can also have hypnotic rhythm, this positive.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:When you spend your time creating the right habits, surrounding yourself with the right people, you're going to have more success more quickly because you're positioning yourself to receive it. You know so if you're around negative people, you're closing off those doors of opportunity. So it's really important to pay attention to it. But you hypnotic rhythm is huge and it's something that we all need to think about because, for instance, when COVID hit, I got so angry back. When I get angry usually start another company, solve problems or beneath. I was angry because of all the negativity. So I launched a program called a TM, kind of a play on the bank ATM, abundance tips and mentorship, and I've just done, I think, my close to 1500 daily motivational tip related to abundance tips and mentorship. But I realized at beginning of COVID I was getting agitated because of all the negativity I was hearing and seeing. So I literally turned off the television, turned off the news and started providing positive input into the world. And it makes a huge difference because I was no longer agitated all the time it was, you know, I wasn't even listening to it, but it was playing in the background and my subconscious was picking up all that negativity and so it's really important to pay attention to what you allow in your brain. What are you listening to? What is your subconscious listening to? What are you reading? Because that does impact you and if you focus on, you know affirmations, like you're reading the book every day or listening to my ATMs.
Speaker 1:You can check that out at shareonlectorcom. They're very inexpensive, you know. A bucks a month, I just really to cover the administrative card, but I want people to have that daily dose of. They call me Mama Sharon, right to get your day and every single one of them I end with you are fabulous. Say it with me. I am fabulous to give that daily affirmation of I am perfect, just the way I am. Every single one of you watching and listening today. You were created to be the best example of you, not us. You and you have everything you need to create the success that you deserve. You just need to believe in yourself and surround yourself for the right people.
Speaker 2:You know, the crazy thing about that book is that you know, I always feel like I'm very confident, very ambitious. But that book and made me actually watch my thoughts and you know, I was aware that I like, even when I tell people this like, because I'm pretty positive person, so people think that, oh, you know, deron, he knows everything, yada, yada. But it's not true. I remember when I would wake up and I just wake up in a bad mood and a lot, of, a lot of cases of people are unaware of just how the news or how you know media is impacting them subconsciously and how it affects other areas of their life. And I'm just, I mean, I'm just glad that I became a lot more cautious of how the media knows things actually impact you, because it's definitely been helping me feel like, really feel like my younger self, you know, when I really been worried about too much of anything. Sharon, we're getting closer in the podcast so I asked my guest is one question what is your philosophy for life?
Speaker 1:My philosophy of life was created when I was a little girl. My dad would ask me every night Sharon, have you added value to someone's life? Today he's been gone for 17 years, I think, but I still ask myself that every night. And wouldn't the world be a better place if everybody asks himself have I added value to somebody's life? Let's be givers, not takers, and add value to the world every single day.
Speaker 2:Sharon, thank you for being on the show. I don't tell every guest that I'm honored to have them on. I literally your book I went in the devil has changed my life and I listened to it periodically.
Speaker 1:You changed your life. You were in by out winning the devil. You changed your life All right.
Speaker 2:You inspired me to change my life. You know I'm glad that you're willing to come on my podcast. You know it's a blessing.
Speaker 1:That will stay with you, that now that you've heard that and that I've challenged you will remember that and it will change. You will change your life even more and you'll start changing other people's lives, because it's you know. Let's stand in our own power, own what you've done and I'm so proud of you. Thank you for that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate it. Sharon, have thanks for being here and have a good one.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much.
