Do you wish you had greater creativity and value creation skills? In this episode, Lori and Jimmy share an approach they use to create significant value for people, producing growth and referrals for their company, Compass Capital Management, LLC.

Episode Keys

• How you can determine what is valuable to the people you meet and create a strategy to meet their need.
• Why you must be a value creator to truly rise above your current income level.
• The two simple, yet powerful skills you must develop to become a greater entrepreneur or stronger employee.
• What Jimmy did in undergrad school to meet a desire of his for sledding during the winter.  It is funny (and borderline illegal)!
• Why you must maintain an optimistic attitude in life to truly observe and resolve the needs of those around you for greater income, better quality of life and fulfillment of your dreams.

Podcast Transcript

JW:
If you wish to live truly a life by your own design, it is critical that you become a value creator. I am re reminded of the story of two shoe companies that each sent a salesman to Africa, tribal areas to sell their products. After the first week one shoe salesman sent a telegram to his vice president of sales that contained the message. Hopeless will never make money. No one here wears shoes. The second company shoe salesman a day or two later sent us a telegram to his sales manager with the message unlimited opportunities. No one here owns shoes. So to be a value creator, you must master two skills in life. First, you must observe instead of only seeing what’s around you. Wow, we all have that problem today. The second salesman observed the natives war, no shoes, and his optimism led him to an idea that all of these people he met would want to buy a pair of his shoes. The second skill is the ability to create something that others want to obtain to solve their challenge or problem in life. Hey, good morning. It’s Jimmy Williams.

LF:
And I’m Lori Few.

JW:
This is the Live a Life By Design podcast, your Monday morning moments of motivation to help you start your week in a positively powerful manner. Lori and I have been joining you every Monday morning for the past. Hold on, are you sitting down Lori?

LF:
I

JW:
169 episodes. Wow. This is our one hundred and seventy one hundred seventy episode, and that is a lot of information to share with our loyal subscribers and listeners, Lori.

LF:
Wow. That is a lot of valuable positive points to help you live a bigger, better and bolder life today, Jimmy and I are gonna help you become more of a value creator that will give you the edge in life to grow your income, attract the right type of people in your life and help you become the go-to person for those seeking greater value in their own life. So how do you know what people think is valuable in 1954? Psychologists, Abraham Maslow surveyed the research in his field about what motivates people. He created a ladder of needs that applies to all people. His ladder started with basic needs, then progressed to psychological needs and finally self fulfillment needs. His only fault was that he viewed the ladder as if a person would have to meet the need of the first rung to accomplish the second rung and so on.

LF:
And so on to reach the top of the ladder. If we believe his ladder of needs is valid, we can attract people to us by solving their challenge on one of the rungs of the ladder. Okay. So for example, the first rung is physiological leads. This can consist of needs such as food, water, breathing, sex, sleep, et cetera. Let’s focus on a higher rung. Assuming the people we wish to attract have met those physical needs, and let’s assume we can provide great value in the area of self actualization. If we could develop a plan, a higher rung, assembling the people we need through products or services that have helped people realize their goals of lifetime income debt, free living, for example, traveling to exotic places or locations on the planet, that’s definitely a Jimmy or anything that helps them feel confident in having achieved their a you would have to provide something that the people would view as extremely valuable. It’s all about value.

JW:
Absolutely. So how do we know it’s valuable to them, Lori? You’re absolutely right. We have to learn and observe what their needs are. Let me give you a quick story. We had a little old lady coming to our office many, many years ago, 13 years ago to be exact. She came in and she did not have a lot of means, but she had a decent job. She was good to manage her money. She lived within her budget and she had one big, hairy, audacious goal in mind. And Lori, it wasn’t for her to become wealthy. It was for her to grow her wealth by investing in her grandchildren. Pretty cool, huh?

LF:
Oh, that’s awesome.

JW:
She had a goal for her two children to go to a university and get a higher degree of education. Something she had always wanted and could never afford to have. So she came into our office. She said, I wanna send my granddaughter, which at that time was only five years of age. I wanna send her to a university in, in, in the state, which we lived. That’ll help her become more valuable in life to the people around her. And I said, I think it’s a very admirable goal. So we sat at it and we made a target. Now, Lori, we had 13 years to get this goal met. And I sat down with her and I said, if we just do X dollars per month, which is achievable on her budget, then you could send your granddaughter to any state sponsored school in our state and have no debt. When she graduates. That sounded pretty daunting. When I gave her the final figure about what she needed to send this child to school. As I can tell everyone, it’s not a five digit figure, it’s a six digit figure. Oh. So she was raising her grandchild and she wasn’t wealthy as I said, but she showed up at our office one day recently without an appointment, which was highly unusual for her. And she had tears in her eyes and Lori, I thought, oh no, something terrible has happened.

JW:
She looked at me in my eyes and she began to tell the story of her granddaughter, Megan. She said, Megan did something recently. That is just so exciting. And I’m like, well, well please hurry up and tell me, cause I’m sitting here worrying my brain’s going. what, what happened to me? Bicycle wreck, somebody run over. I please tell me what happened. She began to tell the story that her granddaughter, Megan had enrolled in her first semester in college and she will graduate from college debt free. Woohoo. That’s pretty exciting mouth. Yeah. Her mouth turned up killed to the biggest grand Lori I’ve ever seen. And she hugged my neck and simply said, this means more to me than anything in the world. Thank you. So all we did, Lori was we took one of those self fulfillment rungs of the ladder on Maslow’s hierarchy and helped her find a solution by developing a plan that she could work, but it took her 13 years. The problem I see Lori, a lot of times is we want these instantaneous humongous goals to be realized

LF:
What I like you telling that story like that the hair on the back of my neck just stood up. Like what, what a tremendous gift to give someone, you know, we talk a lot about education and how education is so important. And we are so lucky to be able to seek education and do the things that we want and learn the things that we want. You know, there, there are endless opportunities that are presented to us and college is so extremely difficult for those who cannot afford it. What a sacrifice for the grandmother to make and, and what a great Testament to her legacy in her lifetime, that she valued education so much that she wanted to be able to give that, pay it forward and give that to her granddaughter.

JW:
Y know why Lori though, let me tell you why education is so important to people like that. I am the first person in my family of six children that ever graduated with a bachelor’s degree the first and I’m the youngest of six. And I’m not saying that to brag. I’m just saying I had this in my head. My goal as a young man was, I’ve got to find a way out of the cycle where we’re at at this level of life. And the best way to get there for me was education. Lori. Now mm-hmm . I did something terrible while I was at the university where I attended one of my favorite things to do was to go sledding. When the ice storms hit, there was a big hill on the south side of campus and all the kids would go up there and would sled down into the parking lot that goes to the football field across the road. And I mean, this hill was steep. You’d be probably going 40 miles an hour down through this. well I did something that’s probably pretty terrible. Can I tell you what I did? I mean, I’m gonna go ahead and say, cause I’m on.

LF:
You have to now,

JW:
Well the lunch room cafeteria, if you will had these trays that were laminated with nice coating of plastic and they were orange which is the school colors and, and you, you could just get a couple of those trays. You’d put your bottom in one and your feet and the other, right. And you said, yes. Yes. So what I did, I didn’t steal them. Lori. I borrowed them so we would sled all this time. Then I’d return them ly the next morning, when I went to eat breakfast. And what happened is after a couple of years, we got to noticing there were a lot of those trays missing that laminate, that plastic coat mix on there so it wasn’t just me, Lori. Okay. Everybody else had the idea

LF:
Who would’ve thought that college cafeteria trays would make great sleds, but listen, that’s a way to improvise. I mean, and if you return it, you weren’t really feeling your right. So technically, I mean, you, you, you didn’t break any rules, but that’s

JW:
Maslow’s H’s hierarchy. I had a, I wanted to lead I had to be creative Lori. So I sought a solution. That’s what we’re talking about today. Right? Get some valuable

LF:
seeking solutions. Well, I love the story about the grandmother. And I think that is one instance of how your team has helped many people, not just this grandmother, but many other people that walk through your door, you all help them realize their B a. So this process is rather simple yet. It’s so powerful. Look at the world. You work in each day. Think about it. An area that needs improvement doesn’t have to be something that is organizational chart change or person or personnel issue changed. But just something that you see that an area that needs an improvement. So brainstorm on solutions or ideas that will make the challenge less daunting for your company. Talk to your management, inform them, have a conversation, let them in on the idea, along with an implementation plan don’t ever go in with a problem. If you don’t have a solution, even if you don’t think it’s the right solution, a starting point is better than walking in with a problem with no solution insight at all.

LF:
So remember, you must give it value to get value. That’s what we have to do. We have to put in the work and we have to see the value. If we want others to see the value and for things to have value, it’s always going to be a team effort. Every idea doesn’t have to go to plan not everything’s perfect. And we know that that’s part of the reason that we do this podcast is so that we can help educate and give people the skills and the tools and the knowledge. So having tenacity and diligence, not a bad thing to have gotta have those things too, if you wanna hire profitability of your success. So that’s how you keep it up.

JW:
This does not apply in marriages. So like if my wife found a younger, more handsome, you know, that six pack AB me, I run more of a, maybe a keg pack, but anyway I’m working on it. Okay. So this doesn’t apply in all things in life folks, but it does apply in most everything that is not familial. So if it’s not, you can’t trade your kid off and get somebody it’s not, you know, mean or whatever. but no lawyers, great idea. I mean, look at the world around us, but observe. And I’m trying to hone in on that word with our people today because I tell my team, don’t just look at someone, observe someone to me, it takes a deeper train of thought to observe what they’re doing and really absorb in your brain. Hey, are, are they hurting? You know, is there some way I could help solve some of the hurt what’s going on?

JW:
It’s sad to say, but we do have some of our families that have disruption in them. For example, that have been married many, many years, you know, and they will come into our office just concerned about their future. So they dropped from an area of self actualization. Maybe they were at the top of the rung of Maslow’s ladder. Guess what? Lord, they’re down now in those physiological needs, where am I gonna live? How am I gonna have food? Where is my income coming from? Because maybe the spouse controlled most of the income stream. You know, these are just areas and we just work diligently to try to help create the value that they perceive they need. And then they will appreciate you with that value. By returning the favor of giving you something, you might need a higher income, referring more people to you, you know, that type of stuff. And it’s, it’s kind of a kind of a create the value as you said, to get the value in return process.

LF:
Oh, I absolutely think that that’s true. And I think that’s one of the, the other great testaments to your team is that every person that walks through the door may not have, I think there’s an expectation for you all that, you know, they’re not gonna have the same thing. Everybody is different. Every package comes in a different, you know, paper, ribbon, bow. Sometimes they come crumpled. Sometimes they come very, you know, crisp and clean. And I think that that’s the greatest approach for you all is that you all look at people as individuals and that’s important because individually they all have different value and they contribute things to your team and bring new sets of ideas and new sets of not necessarily the word challenges, but, oh, what’s a better word for that. You know, task. Yeah, bring it on. We’re ready. We have, we’ve either experienced it or we’re getting ready to experience it. And, and that’s one of the things that I love, especially working with Jimmy and his team, they aren’t afraid to experience anything. We will learn. We will grow, we will adapt. And you know, we will pivot all those fun words. There’s if, if you’re familiar with the show how I met your mother, oh my quote, the great Barney Stinson played by Neil, Patrick Harris also known in my lifetime as the great Houser.

JW:
She’s telling her age now. Okay. There we

LF:
Barney. But to, to Bonnie’s point, he was always very open and, and to ideas and he would always say challenge accepted. And so I, that’s how I think about it. I think of as a, how I met your mother Barney since and challenge accepted, let’s go to work, let’s see what we can accomplish. We’re never afraid to get our hands dirty or do the work

JW:
Gotta tell you are spot on. And, and Lori, you of all people have seen us behind the curtain. As we say, in the backstage and folks, you know, making the omelet. It’s not always how pretty you put it on the plate with the garnish on it. Okay. When it comes out, it’s all that mess behind the scenes. But you know, if, if, if you’re listening to the people around you, the needs will be made clear to you. In my opinion I’ve always said this to everyone in our team when they come to work with us and I say, look, find a need and meet it. And you have made a friend for life, and it’s not that we’re doing this to gain friends and all, but if we help enough people get what they want outta life, Lori, we’ll get everything we want out of life.

JW:
That’s a Ziglar quote. I just love, you know, by observing the discussions of the people, their actions you’ll discover their need for which you might can bring about a small solution or a big solution, or whatever’s necessary to give their life a better stance. I love Steve Jobs. You know, lemme say this back up. I love Steve’s jobs approach to life. He died really young, you know, from cancer. But, but man, he had such a zeal for serving people in a way that he created such great products that we still use today. And Steve Jobs saw people using cassette tapes for listening to music. Now, lawyer you’re too young, but a cassette tape was the one right after the eight track. You remember the big one and then went down. Lori’s very young folks still in her twenties.

LF:
No, I think no. Well twenties plus 20 more.

JW:
Yeah, there you go. But you know, Steve Jobs saw these cassette tapes and man, I tell you, I bet I had hundreds of these lawyers and I still do today because I’m the guy that’s nostalgic. Right? You don’t throw away the wax cuz guess what? It’s come back. My daughter,

LF:
He’s gonna come

JW:
Back. Yep. My daughter, we got her a new turntable. Now they’re a lot better quality than I had the old Fisher back in the day when I was a kid. But they are they’re here to play. So I I’ve got all these cassettes and he decided that that more songs could be maintained in a higher quality. So you wouldn’t see that degrading of that magnetic tape so quickly, if the songs were on a better medium. So he looked at, well, what can we record on that would keep that quality after playing it hundreds of times, cuz you know, if it’s a van hailing one album, I probably wore the tape out and had to go buy another one. Right. And so a few months later Steve Jobs and his team at apple come out with this remarkable thing in the marketplace called an iPod.

LF:
Oh iPod. I wanted one of those. I wanted one of those, but I couldn’t afford it. I was in college and I was so poor and everybody had the iPod, the iPod and no one knew what it was. And when the first one showed up on campus, that was like, whoa.

JW:
Yeah, I got in trouble. I gotta tell you what I did. I went to the first and the only apple store I ever knew of. And it was in Dallas at the time and I was in college still. And I’m looking at that and I’m going iPod. Wow. That’s that’s remarkable. But the price, like you said was a little high. So I went up and I pressed my face against the glass. Cause I had this entire glass wall I got in trouble cuz you know, you Dr. A little on the glassy and all that nice stuff. and that’s back when they had, you know, the apple two, the bigger computer and all that. Yeah. Anyway. Oh I had an MP3 player. I gotta be honest with you, but I think it was like a 30 song deal as all it would hold

LF:
My I’m telling you what my Disman I had a, I had a Disman yes. And I, it had an adapter that plugged into my car through a cassette tape. Yes. And it was revolutionary except it never failed. When you hit a pothole. As we do in Oklahoma, the CD would skip and then it would scratch. And then every time, I mean I digress, but yes, goodness. Thank goodness for Steve Jobs in the iPod, it, it really was revolutionary.

JW:
So it appears I’m not the only nostalgic person here folks. But anyway, this iPod came to market and Lori, I gotta tell you, this was a tremendous success for millions of people that could afford them. Right. And then the price did what? Just like anything in technology kept coming down and down and down. It’s so much cheaper, but simple in its design, but powerful in its utility. That’s all we’re saying today. What may seem too simple for you cuz oh, I work with this stuff all day long, but applying it to a person’s particular challenge or need may be of great value to that person. So you can do the same in your world. Don’t listen to the naysayers. I gotta tell you one of my other phrases I just really use is I hate it. When some other people reign on my parade,

LF:
don’t rain on Jimmy’s parade.

JW:
The clowns in my world are always smiling. They don’t have that fake teardrop thing coming out and all that. But no, most of your friends will do their best to keep you though Lori, in my opinion, living in the same mediocrity of which they find themselves, they will be concerned because, oh my gosh, you’re growing. You’re out doing things that are helping people. That’s gonna help give you a better lifestyle perhaps. And you know, this is just not your address, Lori. And I know that you don’t live at 1 0 2 mediocrity lane. You live at prosperity lane and you’re living at fulfillment corner, right? So, you know, people were put on this earth. I think Lori, to reach their full potential, not doing what they barely need to do to get by. But the people that listen to this podcast know that by doing their best and achieving their highest potential, gives them only the life by design that they can choose.

LF:
And I think that’s great. And a perfect segue into this week’s challenge. So this week, your challenge is to observe the environments where you work and where you live, brainstorm, how you might solve the challenges that you see. Some of them might be small. Some of them might be large, but nonetheless pay attention and make sure that you’re seeing clearly into the vision go out and make it happen and become the creative person that is within you.

JW:
Ooh. I got goosebumps from that, Lori oh, I was talking about your cassette in the you know, the old Disman story. I’m sorry.

LF:
Oh,

JW:
I gotta tell you that was a great time in life. Because back then I thought I was living life by design. I had about 112 cassettes out. You know what I mean? It was great.

LF:
Yes. It was amazing. It was amazing. We didn’t call them cassettes. We called them mix tape.

JW:
Oh, oh, that’s really good. that’s

LF:
Really good. I’m showing my age.

JW:
She is gonna tell you next week of how we carved out a stone tablet and chisel out words on it while she was in the first grade.

LF:
Big writing tablet. That’s a whole ‘nother episode.

JW:
Number two pencil, right?

LF:
That’s right. That’s right.

JW:
Yeah. Hey, thanks for joining us folks. I’ve gotta be honest with you. This has been the 100th and 70th episode of great fun for Lori and I. And we can only say thank you. Those of you that listen, recommend it to your friends and family. We only want change the life of that next person in a powerful, positive way.

LF:
And we’re grateful for each and every one of you and go out this week and live a life by design.

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