INVESTING IN YOU – Les Brown

Introduction to Investing in Yourself

Hello, how are you? I want to talk to you about investing in you. This is a different time, a very different time, and I encourage you to think about this, to invest in you. I started thinking about this the other day. I said, “I got to take time to think about taking care of me, of doing something for me.” Because at the end of the day, life has no duplicates, and you want to live life on your terms. Sometimes, if you’re the go-to person in the family, you spend so much time giving to others without giving to yourself. My first seminar was $2600. That was just a weekend, and I had no idea at the time how valuable that would be. If you know how valuable it is to be able to communicate, to be able to tell your story.

Unleashing Potential

I got to tell you this. I wasn’t going to tell you, but I got to tell you this. Have you ever seen someone with a lot of talent, a lot of potential, but they say they saw it, but they really didn’t do everything they could do to manifest it or capitalize on it? Let me tell you about this particular case. And this person, I don’t even want to have them as a client now, but this person is a phenomenal speaker. And her family, and I’m going to make a point here, because I train never to make a point without a story, never tell a story without a point. Her family talked her out of working with me. She said, “They’re not on board.” She said, “I talked to my family.” I want to ask her, has your family ever earned over a million dollars in their lifetime doing what they do, doing something that they love? I don’t want to embarrass her, but I know the answer was no. And the next question was, the people who told you no, do they know a way in which you can be known nationally and internationally, and be able to have the endorsement of someone on my level, and save you time, and bring audience and create more opportunities, and help you to begin to get to where you want to go faster? You’re 50 years old. I didn’t ask her that, you know why? A person convinced against their will is of the same opinions still. Here’s something, the point that I want to make here. Don’t get opinions from people that are on your level. It’s on your level? No, no, why? Because you take on that lifestyle. I don’t care how smart they are. If they haven’t done what you want to do, if they haven’t earned $70,000 an hour doing what you want to do, and if you have a direct contact with someone who’s doing that, you have their phone number. That’s a no-brainer. But it is for some people. This person, they’ll never be able to connect with me again. Why? I got too many people who can see it. So you have to seize the opportunity in the lifetime of the opportunity.

Seizing Opportunities

When I started out as a speaker, listen, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote, “Les Brown has a rare gift.” He was called the dean of motivation. He wrote the book “The Power of Positive Thinking.” I never had his phone number. I only spoke before him on stage, and I spoke to him behind the curtains, but I never had his phone number. Zig Ziglar, I never had Zig’s phone number. I spoke on stage before Zig, and we would talk briefly behind stage, but these guys, they didn’t share with me, “Here’s how I developed my message. Here’s who helped me. Here’s what you need to do to become known nationally and internationally.” They didn’t share that with me. But the criteria for me and for them, it was different. I applied for the same company that spent millions of dollars promoting Tony Robbins around the world. Every hour, I sent them my material. You know what they said? “Oh, we don’t believe the American public is ready for a black speaker.” I sent them a letter back, “Thank you.”

Breaking Barriers and Seizing Opportunities

For reminding me that I’m black, I’ll see you from the top. I had the complexion of rejection there. That Tony, he had the complexion of connection, so he could get people to spend money on him. They wouldn’t even consider me until about 1980 when I decided to do this. Nobody was on stage looked like me. Now there are thousands all around the world, people from all walks of life. Why? Because I broke the ice. You want to do something? I didn’t go and ask people who didn’t do what I wanted to do. What do you think? What do they think? No, write this down: answer the call on your life. This was calling me. See, what you’re seeking is also seeking you. Just like you’re coming across me right now. That’s no coincidence. I believe what you’re seeking is also seeking you. People say opportunity knocks on every door. Maybe. But I also believe that opportunity stands by silently, waiting for you to recognize it.

Seizing the Opportunity in Adversity

In this place where we are, where over 40 million people have lost their jobs, this place where we are, over 864,000 people are applying for unemployment compensation, and this place where we are, there are thousands of people waiting two and three miles in line for food, for handouts. Hey, I know what it is. I remember when Reverend Ed Graham from Mount Zion Baptist Church knocked on our door and gave us a food basket. I remember asking Mama, “Who is that man who brought us the food basket?” Reverend Ed Graham, Leslie. And I watched him. He was about six-two. I said, “When I become a man, I’m gonna be just like him, only help families just like him.” And I aspire to do that, to use my skills. He was a great orator, he and Father Fedoral Gibson. He was the first African-American on the city council, Miami City Council. Boy, he was a great orator, and I wanted to be like him. And Malcolm X and Dr. King. And I listened to them. Adam Clayton Powell, “Keep the Faith, Baby,” out of New York. I wanted to be like those dudes. Those are bad dudes. Those back in the day when speakers were speakers. Dr. Howard Thurman, the primary question that one must ask oneself in life: number one, where am I going? Number two, who’s going with me? And if you ever ask those questions in the wrong order, you will be in serious trouble. Doctor Howard Thurman, let me tell you something. They don’t make them like that no more. Do you hear me? Here’s the mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Schweitzer and Mahatma Gandhi. He wrote “The Sinistering Moment,” “Deep is the Hunger,” Dr. Howard Thurman.

Learning from Inspirational Figures

Oh my goodness, whoo, incredible. I studied people. Winston Churchill said, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but at the end, there it is.” I studied people. Zig Ziglar said, “If you give enough people what they want, they’ll give you what you want.” Jim Rohn said, “Your life can be an example or it can be a warning, an example of what to do or a warning of what not to do.” I studied all these dudes. Yes, because my goal was not to just be a speaker. My goal was to be a dominant speaker.

Personal Calling and Passion

And everybody doesn’t apply for my program. Why? Because it’s not for everybody. I want people who can feel what I feel, who live a hot centered life. I talk about that in my book “You’ve Got to Be Hungry.” Who want to be a dominant speaker. See, the speaking industry, and I don’t appeal to everybody because I don’t teach you how to speak to sell. I teach you how to bring the greatness out of people. When you bring the greatness out of people, when you’re able to transform an audience individually and collectively, they’re going to want your products. But I don’t let that be the dominant factor in my life, because I am who I am because somebody saw me. Mr. Leroy Washington, young man, someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality. He was an incredible communicator. So when I teach somebody, I take years off their learning curve because I’ve studied this. This is my calling. A job is what you get paid for. A calling is what you’re made for. You want to master something, whatever area it’s in, you want to be with somebody that that’s what they do, that’s who they are. I was born to do this. I was born to do this. This is my making. And you were born to do something, and I encourage you to go for it.

Making a Difference and Building a Legacy

And I encourage you, don’t talk to family members and friends about what you should do. It’s your life. Make a decision. “I want to do this because this is me.” And don’t do it because you want to make a lot of money. I wasn’t looking to make a lot of money when I started doing this. I was looking to help people. I volunteered and spoke and gave many speeches on a volunteer basis. When it’s something as your calling, you love it so much you do it for nothing, and you do it so well that people will pay you to do it. And after a while, I was doing it and doing it, and got better and better, and somebody gave me a $50 love offering. I said thank you, wow. I wasn’t making $50 an hour on my job. I’m telling you, I just want to make a difference, and I feel good when I speak. I could be paid to do this. You signed up for my program, fine. If you don’t, it’s okay. I got people to play with that I enjoy, that we have fun together. And then I’ve only got a limited number of people that I have ready to go to my next summit. And so we’re not doing bad. But I said, I want to build a legacy. That’s where I am now.

Passing on Knowledge and Inspiring Others

You learn, you earn, and you pass it on. I’m looking for people that heard my voice and it made a difference for them. I’m looking for people who, that’s in their heart. They say, “Hey, I want to do that. I want to help people. I want to make a difference in people’s lives.” There’s thousands of people and children, children who will be displaced, children along with their parents who will be homeless, people who never dreamed something like that would ever happen to them. Each voice has an energy signature. Listen to me. Each voice has an energy signature. There’s some people that will hear me, but there’s some people that will hear you. That there’s something about you, something about your personality, something about your energy, something about your message.

Inspiring Others Through Personal Challenges

Something about the challenge that you’ve gone through becomes the blueprint for them. Where they’ll say, “If she can go through that, hmm, I can make it through this.” To God be the glory. Listen, when you hear some of the testimonies of people who get on the phone, and I mean on the Zoom, that I helped them with their story, let me tell you something. I don’t drink or smoke, but I still been thinking about it. [Applause] And I worked with it. I delivered the message. He said, “Man, he said this is crazy. How did you do that?” Well, I was born for this. That’s how I did it. But there are ways that I take their stairs and I’ll let them, let them tell their story first and I listen and I take notes. Yes. See, you can’t see the picture when you’re locked in the frame. When you’re in the frame, you can’t see it. There’s stuff that I’m gonna see that you can’t see, even if you’re looking in the mirror at yourself as you practice. Why? Because those are untrained eyes looking back at you. Or when your friends say, “Oh, you’re real good.” Well, ask them, will they write a check to pay you? No. My goodness, oh boy. This thing called life.

Making Money Moves and Seizing Opportunities

And right now, you want to make some money moves. When I decided to be a speaker, I looked at where I was and I saw all the changes taking place in broadcasting. I made a money move. I said, “How can I use my talents, my voice, my story in a different way, my communication skills in a different way?” And why? Less, because it’s better to have money and not need it than to need it and not have it. So you have to ask the “what if” question. What if my morning show is syndicated? I asked that question. And it wasn’t long after that, it was syndicated. It was eliminated. Technology will eliminate over 47 million jobs. So I’m going to share something with you right now. Use this. This is my gift to you. One, ask yourself, what do I know? What do I enjoy? What do I love? What are some opportunities out here that I haven’t taken advantage of? Let me share something with you that’s money. Whatever that is that you said, there’s some stuff that you haven’t even looked at. As this young lady said, there’s something in your life you become blind to that you’ve been seeing them for so long, you don’t see them anymore. But most importantly, you don’t see that they can make you some money. Case in point, are you ready for this? Patty LaBelle. She has Patty’s sweet potato pie. I saw the figures on that, $58 million in one year. Whoa. I talked about my mother, Mrs. Maybe Brown’s baby boy, and she makes a sweet potato pie so good that you can’t eat it with your shoes on because you had to take your shoes off and wiggle your toes. Somebody asked me, “Do you know the recipe for your mother’s sweet potato pie?” Absolutely. Why aren’t you selling them? I never thought about that. Maybe Brown’s sweet potato pie. So good you have to take your shoes off to wiggle your toes. [Laughter] There’s more out here. Yes, everybody know about me, Patti, and her pies, and he talked about her sweet potato pie. There’s more out here for Patty and for me. There’s Colonel Sanders’ chicken and what other chickens they got out there? They got all cars out here. It’s not for everybody. See, there’s never a shortage of money, just a shortage of thinking.

Empowering Others and Sharing Knowledge

I didn’t think about it. Somebody said to me, “Why aren’t you doing that?” And I got something special I’m gonna do with. I’m not gonna tell it now ’cause you’ll run with it out there before I get it out there. I can tell you how to make money with your voice that will amaze you. And all of it is not where somebody pay you to speak. I got faith to train some people in one month, Monday through Thursday, using my voice. My voice gave me credibility. My voice showed them I’m a resource person. And in one month, I made $640,000. The average American earns $240,000 in their lifetime. The most money, up to that point, that I’ve ever made was $70,000 in a year. Now, and I’ll make that in an hour. No, 45 minutes. That’s how long my speeches are, 45 minutes. And so you want to be trained. If you could spend $1,000 on yourself to listen to somebody say, “This is how I do this. These are the secrets that I can share with you that will help you to tell your story.” So,

Embracing Challenges and Inspiring Others

Something about the challenge that you’ve gone through becomes the blueprint for them, where they’ll say, “If she can go through that, hmm, I can make it through this.” To God be the glory. Listen, when you hear some of the testimonies of people who get on the phone and, I mean, on the Zoom that I helped them with their story, let me tell you something. I don’t drink or smoke, but I still been thinking about it. And I worked with it. I delivered the message. He said, “Man, he said, this is crazy. How did you do that?” Well, I was born for this. That’s how I did it. But there are ways that I take their stairs and I let them tell their story first, and I listen, and I take notes. Yes. See, you can’t see the picture when you’re locked in the frame. When you’re in the frame, you can’t see it. There’s stuff that I’m gonna see that you can’t see, even if you’re looking in the mirror at yourself as you practice. Why? Because those are untrained eyes looking back at you. Or when your friends say, “Oh, you’re real good.” Well, ask them, will they write a check to pay you? No. My goodness, oh boy, this thing called life.

Making Money Moves and Finding Your Calling

And right now, you want to make some money moves. When I decided to be a speaker, I looked at where I was, and I saw all the changes taking place in broadcasting. I made a money move. I said, “How can I use my talents, my voice, my story in a different way? My communication skills in a different way?” And why? Less, because it’s better to have money and not need it than to need it and not have it. So you have to ask the “what if” question. What if my morning show is syndicated? I asked that question, and it wasn’t long after that it was syndicated. It was eliminated. Technology will eliminate over 47 million jobs. So I’m going to share something with you right now. Use this. This is my gift to you. One, ask yourself, what do I know? What do I enjoy? What do I love? What are some opportunities out here that I haven’t taken advantage of? Let me share something with you that’s money. Whatever that is that you said, there’s some stuff that you haven’t even looked at. As this young lady, she said, there’s something in your life you become blind to, that you’ve been seeing them for so long, you don’t see them anymore. But most importantly, you don’t see that they can make you some money.

Harnessing Your Unique Gifts and Opportunities

Case in point, are you ready for this? Patti LaBelle. She has Patti’s sweet potato pie. I saw the figures on that, $58 million in one year. Whoa. I talked about my mother, Mrs. Maybe Brown’s baby boy. And she made a sweet potato pie so good that you can’t eat it with your shoes on, because you had to take your shoes off and wiggle your toes. Somebody asked me, “Do you know the recipe for your mother’s recipe, the sweet potato pie?” Absolutely. “Why aren’t you selling them?” I never thought about that. Maybe Brown’s sweet potato pie so good, you have to take your shoes off to wiggle your toes. There’s more out here. Yes, everybody knows about me, proud and her boy, and he talks about her sweet potato pie. There’s more out here for Patti and for me. There’s Colonel Sanders’ chicken, and what other chickens they got out there? They got all cars out here. It’s not for everybody. See, there’s never a shortage of money, just a shortage of thinking.

Conclusion: Seizing Opportunities and Embracing Growth

I didn’t think about it. Somebody said to me, “Why aren’t you doing that?” And I got something special I’m gonna do with… I’m not gonna tell it now, ’cause you’ll run with it out there before I get it out there. I can tell you how to make money with your voice that will amaze you. And all of it is not where somebody pays you to speak. I got faith to train some people in one month, Monday through Thursday, using my voice. My voice gave me credibility. My voice showed them I’m a resource person. And in one month, I made $640,000. The average American earns $240,000 in their lifetime. The most money, up to that point, that I’ve ever made was $70,000 in a year. Now, and I’ll make that in an hour. No, 45 minutes. That’s how long my speeches are, 45 minutes. And so you want to be trained. If you could spend a thousand dollars on yourself to listen to somebody say, “This is how I do this. These are the secrets that I can share with you that will help you to tell your story…”