In this 10th episode, Jason Hartman interviews Sharon Lechter. They discuss her latest book Something Greater: Your Magic Key. She gives us insight into her experience as former CEO of Rich Dad. Then compares it to the Napoleon Hill Foundation. She discusses how the two organizations have positively impacted society and help people become more successful.
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Welcome to the holistic survival show with Jason Hartman. The economic storm brewing around the world is set to spill into all aspects of our lives. Are you prepared? Where are you going to turn for the critical life skills necessary to survive and prosper? The holistic survival show is your family’s insurance for a better life. Jason will teach you to think independently to understand threats and how to create the ultimate action plan. sudden change or worst case scenario. You’ll be ready. Welcome to ballistic survival, your key resource for protecting the people, places and profits you care about in uncertain times. Ladies and gentlemen, your host Jason Hartman
Jason Hartman 1:00
Welcome to the show. This is Jason Hartman, your host and every 10th episode, we do something kind of special kind of different. What we do is we go off topic so regardless of which show it is on the Hartman media network, whether it be one of the financial shows economics, real estate investing, travel, longevity, all of the other topics that we have every 10th episode, we go off topic, and we explore something of general interest, something of general life success value. And so many of our listeners around the world in 164 countries have absolutely loved our 10th episode shows. So that’s what we’re going to do today. And let’s go ahead and get to our guests with a special 10th episode show. And of course, on the next episode, we’ll be back to our regular programming. Here we go. It’s my pleasure to welcome Sharon lechter back to the show. She’s been on several times before over the years. She’s the former CEO of rich dad and pay your family first. She’s an entrepreneur number one New York Times bestselling author, international best selling author, philanthropist, international speaker, mentor licensed CPA and chartered Global Management accountant. She’s the author of several books, including her newest success in something greater. Your magic key. Sharon, welcome back. How are you?
Sharon Lechter 2:25
I am delighted. Thank you so much, Jason. Always thrilled to be with you.
Jason Hartman 2:28
It’s good to have you on again. And you’re coming to us from Phoenix, right?
Sharon Lechter 2:32
I am. Yes, it’s starting to lattice down to 105.
Jason Hartman 2:37
It’s a dry heat. Yes, I lived there for six years and liked it quite a bit. First of all, before we dive into your new book, Sharon, and maybe you can just hold it up for us for those on video. Absolutely. Good stuff. Tell us about some of your other books because I didn’t mention all of the titles and your work with Robert Kiyosaki and such
Sharon Lechter 2:59
well. Robert and I became partners we wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad and 14 others in that series your partner for 10 years and certainly created quite the global success because I think it was the right message at the right time. It was kind of a viral marketing success even before the internet. And then when I left Rich Dad 2007 was when the Napoleon Hill foundation reached out and said, We’d love to have your support. So my last four books have been in cooperation with the Napoleon Hill foundation. So it’s been just an incredible journey and huge opportunity to help reinvigorate the teachings of Napoleon Hill and successes, something greater is my fourth book with the foundation, just very newly released. So
Jason Hartman 3:41
is Napoleon Hill. Would you sort of consider him kind of the original self help author for the first kind of prosperity guru?
Sharon Lechter 3:50
There’s no doubt about it. He really is thinking Grow Rich back in 1937. But it was his life’s work. He spent 25 years charged with that responsibility by Andrew Carnegie the richest man in the world at the time, he said, I have all these rich friends. And I think we have things in common. And so he really charged Napoleon Hill with he introduced him to all of these rich people. And at that time, they were all men, and said, I want you to create the thesis of success. And that’s what he did and thinking grow rich. That’s why it’s still as applicable today as it was in 1937. Because it’s not a man’s philosophy. It was the commonalities of all of these people and how they created success in their life.
Jason Hartman 4:31
Yeah, good stuff. Well, success in something greater sort of expands that definition of success beyond economics, right?
Sharon Lechter 4:39
Oh, it does my first book with a foundation three feet from gold we wrote back in 2008 2009. And that was when we were in the middle of a economic crisis. And we wanted to talk to people how they survived those valleys. And so we talked about perseverance and the three feet from gold is kind of like you’re right there what you know, having faith in yourself and one You’re doing. And so what we wanted to do this time, which is 10 years later is we wanted to really share with people that success means different things to different people. We have never before published content for Napoleon Hill himself. But we also interview and share the stories of close to 20 successful entrepreneurs. Every one of them followed a different path. Every one of them had a different secret sauce or magic key that they use create success in our life. But also that success, they went beyond that and did something and something greater amounts of use and what were honored about his that was actually the title that Napoleon Hill was going to use for his last book. And before he died, and he was never able to use it. So the foundation reached out to me and said, Sharon, we’d like you to use this title. And it’s perfect success and something greater.
Jason Hartman 5:50
Fantastic. So how many people were profiled in the book,
Sharon Lechter 5:54
we have just under 20 people, where we talk to them about their successes and they’re from all different walks of life. JOHN assaraf of course is very easy to show. No. Yes, yes. And then we also have Bob bond Ron who’s a very famous racecar driver, Rita Davenport, who led our bond from 100 million to a billion in sales and revenue. We have in john asked for the money created the golf apparel company. And we have Lisa men and women no, yes, yes. Lisa Copeland who was one of the top women in automotive. So every one of them has a unique story the founders of barefoot wines, and each one of them you know, one found a gap in the market and one after one of them Bob banjaran says know the track do your due diligence, you know, even though he was one of the top rated drivers, he would still go in early and drive the track. Always pay attention to where you’re going. Always have your eye on where you want to be.
Jason Hartman 6:50
Okay, so looking at some of those, you know, thoughts become things find your purpose, set a goal, overcome obstacles, find the gap power Asking be a visionary, surround yourself with good people, you know, and just kind of I won’t say them all, but you know constant forward motion Walter O’Brian. That’s it, that’s a good one, going the extra mile being unstoppable setting milestones. What do you want to share from these,
Sharon Lechter 7:16
you know, highlights? At the end of the day, any reader that reads the book, you know, they might find a chapter that they already did that I’ve done that, or they might the next one might actually hit you, between the eyes. And you’ll see if they can do it. So can I, the best way to learn something is by feeling it. And so through telling stories and sharing the success stories of others, people who can relate to it more, and it makes it easier to take that action to take that step in your own life. Mm hmm.
Jason Hartman 7:45
Yeah, because it’s more relatable to them. Right. So in terms of the types of success and success, meaning more than, you know what the worldviews financial success. Tell us about some of the other types of success. If you Would you profile in the book?
Sharon Lechter 8:01
From my perspective, success is how you feel about yourself when you look in the mirror. So we have people in the book that were basically their success was created financially through a business and allow them to create foundations to give back and to make a different world. Cynthia Kersey created the unstoppable Foundation, she shares that story. She’s now changing entire communities in Africa by bringing in not just education, not just money, but understanding how they can be sustainable and create ecosystems and build entire universities so that she’s really changing the face and dynamics in Africa. And she shares that story. And so it gives people the idea the concepts of things that they can do in their own life in their own communities to make an impact. Mm hmm. Okay, good. So is that the only sort of definition of success I like what you said about how you feel about yourself, you know, because we really are the ultimate arbiter of what success means, you know, you can be poor and successful, you can be rich and miserable. anything in between a lot of permutations is that the only sort of key marker of success I guess I should say. Every one of these stories has a different marker of success for them obviously Bob montura was so that you know, the number of wins he could get on the raceway. And obviously, with that came money, but for him it was, you know, becoming the best at what he was doing. Someone else’s win is opening up an orphanage in Africa, somebody else’s win is becoming a billionaire. That’s not mine. That’s not my definition of success. You know, I believe in little wins every day, we can create a lifetime of success because successes can be small or large. It depends on what your goal is and what you’re looking at. And if you create success, just a little bit every single day, you’re gonna wake up and have created a large success.
Jason Hartman 9:53
No Good, good stuff. Okay, so other profiles or stories or any more details, you want to about any of them.
Sharon Lechter 10:01
Well, my dear friend Fred wagon hauls is in the book and he, his story is a really unique one, because he’s an inventor is an innovator. He basically had the original patent for the jetski and sold it for $75,000. He was about to lose this house, he couldn’t pay his employees. And he was about to lose his marriage. And by selling that patent for $75,000, he was able to keep this house, pay his employees and move on to the next. And so his secret sauce is make a deal so you can get to the next deal. Mm hmm. So even in our interview with him, and I’ve known him for a long time you learn things about people that you that you’ve known for a long time, right? conversations. And he said, No, I never, you know, we said don’t you? Don’t you regret
Jason Hartman 10:47
it? Right. That’s essentially whatever you think. Yeah.
Sharon Lechter 10:50
Right. And I hold on to it. This billion dollar industries have no, he said because that allowed me to pay my employees and allowed me to get to the next deal. And he went on, and he invented the bucking bronco. The sandbar scene. He invented the little car that was on Fantasy Island. And then with his connections and the people he knew in NASCAR, he started doing a little diecast cars for NASCAR. And he sold that company for all over to having $240 million years later. So he doesn’t look back and regret selling that pen.
Jason Hartman 11:24
I’m really curious what the jetski pet would be worth.
Sharon Lechter 11:28
Yeah, exactly.
Jason Hartman 11:29
Yeah. By the way, did he say what year did he sell that patent? I mean, that must be a lot older than I thought, because the reason I can tell is when you talk about some of the inventions or things he did afterwards, I’m looking at those points in time. And the jetski doesn’t seem that old to me, you know, maybe more than what 35 years old or something. But I guess it’s a lot older, huh?
Sharon Lechter 11:53
Well, and that probably no, probably 2025 years ago, I could probably get I don’t have that exact date on the top of my brain. But I know that he’s done a lot since then. So he was in his new company 20 years ago that I know of. So the jetski patent has got probably 30 years. Yeah. So that means it’s no longer a valid patent today, because the life of the patent is run out, but I’m sure they’ve made additional advances on that that happened. level as well.
Jason Hartman 12:20
Yeah, yeah. Really interesting. You know, that’s an interesting point, too. It’s one that I’ve been pondering a lot lately is that this old idea of never quit, you know, never give up. Be persistent, be tenacious, and you’ll win the game. Ultimately, the world will yield to your plan, right, rather than you yielding to the Ural world’s plan. But sometimes being a quitter is the right thing to do, isn’t it?
Sharon Lechter 12:47
Well, being persistent and never giving up are essential components to success. But there’s also something in thinking Grow Rich called the sixth sense and also being you know, being aware The market may change something, you know, when we started the rich dead company, we thought we were gonna build that company globally through the 25 most powerful women in Forbes magazine. That was a colossal failure. You know, the world told us No, we’re gonna build this through these companies that have distributors everywhere. And we had no idea that was never even part of our original marketing plan. And so you do have course correction. And so that never give up is like in your original goal, maybe. But yes, there’s definitely course correction along the time, markets change, industries change, technology changes. And so you have to be aware on the front lines of what’s happening in your market and be able to be nimble enough to make corrections so that you can maximize your potential. But sometimes, you’re in an industry that just goes away. You got to pay attention that never quit attitude can become you know, full hardiness, and you want to make sure you’re constantly aware of the end industry of the market where you’re going and really having benchmarks along the way. Yeah,
Jason Hartman 14:04
good. Good point. Good point. Okay, Sharon. Well, um, what else do you want to share? Maybe a question I haven’t asked you.
Sharon Lechter 14:11
Well, I’m absolutely excited about success. And something greater, as I said, is out this week. And I, most of my career was releasing a new book every nine months to a year Jason and I, this is my first book in five years. And that’s because six and a half years ago, I lost my youngest son, so
Jason Hartman 14:30
sorry,
Sharon Lechter 14:31
kind of put me in neutral. Right. Sure. And, and I’m sure everybody watching and listening has had something that stopped them in their tracks. And so I really a couple years ago, I thought about retiring had a lot of pushback, because I just wasn’t getting the same zest. And so I kind of made the decision instead of retiring, I was going to re fire and so I have a movement called play big movement is a private Facebook group. Anybody can join us free, where I’m showing the things that I’m doing now to get back in the game. I turned 65 In January, there’s a lot of runway left, there’s a lot more for all of us to do. And it’s really through power of association. Like you’ve been so gracious having me on your show again. And so continuing to reach out and supporting others create to create success in our life. We all have a lot more to do, as I said, so I’m excited to be back on your show. And I’m excited to be part of the play big movement and inviting people to come along with me. And the beginning of success of something greater. I got another book coming out in the spring. So we’re back in the game.
Jason Hartman 15:30
Is this the new book? Did you give the new book,
Sharon Lechter 15:33
this is the success in something.
Jason Hartman 15:35
Right? Is there another one though,
Sharon Lechter 15:38
is going to be called exit rich? So we’ll get scheduled back on your show for that. Oh,
Jason Hartman 15:42
exit rich Oh, is that about selling businesses?
Sharon Lechter 15:45
Probably. Yes. It’s about building your business, the foundation and with the concept the system so that you can get maximum profit when you sell it. And we’ve been picked up by ink magazine’s imprint for that one. So I’m excited about that, but That’s, that’s for April next year, Sharon,
Jason Hartman 16:02
you’re just you’ve been doing such innovative great stuff for so many years. It’s always great to hear. So keep up the good work and definitely can’t wait to dig into the book myself and dive in. give out your website,
Sharon Lechter 16:15
absolute Sharon lechter le ch t er, Sharon lechter calm. I’m sharing lecture on all social media accounts so you can find me everywhere. And thank you so much. I appreciate your support.
Jason Hartman 16:27
It’s good talking with you again. Thanks, Jerry.
Sharon Lechter 16:29
Thank you.
Jason Hartman 16:31
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