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Introducing Chuck Hester

Todays guest, joining us on the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast interview is Chuck Hester.

He is a man who believes that one of the best ways to create an income and business is to provide massive value to everyone you meet.

He fully subscribes to the “Pay It Forward” methodology.

And when it comes to using social media he believes wholeheartedly that this is the only way to go about building your valued network too.

As he says ” I live by the pay it forward lifestyle – if you are helped, don’t help that person, instead “pay it forward” to someone else in need. The blessing will come back to you!”

How The Dots Joined Up For Chuck

And as an expert on how to utilise LinkedIn, Chuck Hester has for the last ten years travelled the country advising and presenting to eager attendees on how to make the most of this business resource, which lets be honest not many of us really know how to do for best results.

But that is just one side of his life, as with 30 years spent in PR and Marketing and a published Amazon bestseller “Linking In to Pay it Forward: Changing the Value Proposition in Social Media.”

He is a man on a mission.

So was this way of operating always in him, or did he come to a conclusion that this was the best way to do things?

And is he surprised at how little people actually harness the power of LinkedIn?

Well let’s bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs in todays business coaching podcast, with the one and only Mr Chuck Hester.

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Chuck Hester such as:

How he doesn’t like the words guru, or expert, but embraces the word “Maven” which simply means a person who knows a lot about a particular subject

Why he advises his children that they should “Do what they love, love what they do, and love the people that you do it with” everyday of their lives!

How real success is achieved only be developing “Stickability” when you push through obstacles and challenges like you never thought possible in life!

How the words of chat show host Conan O’Brien “If you work really, really hard, and are very kind , then amazing things can happen” are so true!

And lastly……

How he has experienced the “Pay it forward” gift more than once in his life, so knows that providing value to the world is the way forward!

Products By Chuck Hester

How To Connect With Chuck Hester

Return To The Top Of Chuck Hester

If you enjoyed this episode of Join Up Dots then why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Niall Doherty, Lolly Daskal or the amazing Alfie Best

Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.

Audio Transcription Of Chuck Hester Interview

Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.

David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, hello, bear world. Hello, it is Episode 186 of Join Up Dots. It’s the 31st of October. And it’s Halloween. So if you aren’t prepared for ghostly goings on in the spooky gatherings tonight, I wonder what you’re going to be doing? Well, I’m going to ask my guest today whether he is all prepared. And he’s got the jack o’ lantern set up. And he’s got everything because he’s an American, and Americans love Halloween in a big way. And he is also a man who believes that one of the best ways to create an income and business is to provide massive, massive value everyone you made, and he fully subscribes to the pay it forward methodology. And when it comes to using social media, he believes wholeheartedly that this is the only way to go about building your valued network to as he says I live on a pay it forward lifestyle if you are helped, don’t help that person is dead, pay it forward to someone else in need, the blessing will come back to you. And as an expert on how to utilise LinkedIn he has for the last 10 years travelled the country advising and presenting the eager attendees on how to make the most of his business resource, which let’s be honest, not many of us really know how to do For best results, we just kind of click and mess around with LinkedIn. But that is just one side of his life as we have 30 years spent in PR and marketing and a published Amazon bestseller linking into pay it forward and changing the value proposition in social media. He is a man on a mission. So what’s this? He’s way of operating? And was it always in him? Or did he come to a conclusion that this was the best way to do things? And is he surprised at how little people actually have the power of LinkedIn? Well, let’s find out as we bring on to the show to start Join Up Dots, the one and only Mr. Chuck Hester, how a chuck?

Chuck Hester [2:08]
David Ralph, I’m excellent. I think I’m gonna hire you as my publicist, my friend.

David Ralph [2:13]
I’d like to give you a bit of a demo. I start with a bit of a push on that. But um, you are a wonderful guest. And I’ll be honest that you’re one of the most wonderful guests because you lent me your wife or in the evening.

Chuck Hester [2:28]
I did indeed, you know, and and I guess the comment should be my wife had a wonderful time with you. I’m not sure I can say that so many guys. So that’s a good thing.

David Ralph [2:38]
To know, Chuck. I wouldn’t expect anything else do in English. We know what we’re doing in that regard.

Chuck Hester [2:45]
Here. Yeah.

David Ralph [2:46]
Yeah, no, she was Episode 184. So she was only two days ago. And we had a wonderful conversation that he went in many different ways. And the only thing that we really didn’t touch on was yourself. We didn’t really touch on you. It was almost like she was ashamed.

Chuck Hester [3:03]
No, no, I think it was more she was concentrated on who she was. Which is always a good thing. And that’s one of the reasons I married her because she’s a independent, solid woman who knows who she is.

David Ralph [3:14]
Absolutely. And that’s what came across big time. Halloween then. So you are an American and it is Halloween today. And you are here we come in to embrace it in a little way. We kind of just mess around and we go knock on a few doors. And that’s it really. But I was in where was I? I was in New Orleans once at Halloween. And it’s not fair, isn’t it? It is huge. Well, what is it about the Americans and Halloween because it seems to me you squeeze literally all your festivals in about two months. You have Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and you go mental? Why? I

Chuck Hester [3:50]
wish I knew that that answer. But you know, it’s really kind of disconcerting. Sometimes when you’re trying to enjoy Halloween or Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff is out. That’s one of the things that quite frankly, Stephanie that’s the wife and I do not embrace Halloween quite like Americans do. We’ve, we’ve had three kids and we were empty nesters now, so it’s a little different for us we enjoy the giving as the pay it forward aspect of it, I guess would be the best way to describe it. We like we like handing out candy and doing all that cool stuff with that. But you know, this year we’re not carving pumpkins because stuff is an artist. So we we actually painted a goose neck gourd of all things, which now sits out on our front step. And you know, we’re, we’re we’re doing some interesting things. And as we speak, as you like to say, I’m actually in Tampa, Florida, at a social media visionaries conference. I’m a member of that particular group. And so I’m not sure what we’re doing tonight as the six social media visionaries. But I know Steph is back in Raleigh, North Carolina, passing out candy and having a ball doing them.

David Ralph [4:52]
And so she should. So are you really I kind of linked in guru and I everything that I say about you just keeps on saying LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn. And I have a problem with LinkedIn. And hopefully you will shed shed some light on it. But I don’t really understand what it’s about. It’s just like I, I connect with people to almost build up a network, but actually then doing anything with it. I kind of don’t, is that how most people do it?

Chuck Hester [5:23]
Yeah. And that’s kind of where I come in and a qualification there. I first of all, I hate the term expert, I hate the term guru. The term that I use is Maven, which is a Yiddish term, actually, that means a person who has knowledge and imparts it to others. Because I’m always constantly learning and trust me with LinkedIn, you’re learning on a weekly daily basis, you know, from my podcasting conversations, trying to keep up on what’s going on with with the platform, but the platform now is it close to 250 million people worldwide, you know, when witness the fact that I’m talking to you today, but I’ve got good friends in Australia, Warsaw, Poland, you know, English all over the place, India, and because of LinkedIn, and that’s, that’s really where it’s all about. But you know, to more to your point, David, it is a platform that folks can join and then get lost on and that’s honestly where, where I come in and be able to learn how to use LinkedIn, specific areas that I work in, is using LinkedIn for business development and sales, using LinkedIn for personal and professional branding. And again, for customer service. So I’m working with a bunch of different clients in that regard, and trying to help them and my latest endeavour is social media for the rest of us a boomers perspective. So I’m talking to older people older being my age 55. The boomers, and I’m not so sure that’s, that’s a big thing in England as well. But, you know, if you were born from 1946, to 1964, Europe, you’re a baby boomer, and a lot of those folks have a tendency to say, just like you are to a certain extent, you know, throwing up their hands and saying social media as a young person since vehicle and communications tool, I just don’t get it. And so that’s, that’s kind of my new Crusade, if you will, is to help people to truly understand it. Because I’ve gotten several jobs off of a definitely gotten speaking gigs and, and, and consulting gigs as a result. So I’m, I’m madly in love with the platform, I believe it’s the best business social media tool out there.

David Ralph [7:22]
Well, I agree with you totally. And before I did this job, I’ll be honest, I kind of I just hid from social media, I didn’t see a point, if I couldn’t actually touch the person, man, why would I want to connect with them? Now, I would say I have more valued friends on social media than I do in real life. And the fact that I can bridge the world and have conversations with people and I can Skype and we support each other. It’s absolutely amazing. So with social media, I agree with you totally, totally, totally. But with LinkedIn, the thing that really jumped out at me when you were saying it, I went really, is that you learned new things every week, because every week, I don’t get what you’re learning, because it just, I don’t know what I’m missing on LinkedIn.

Chuck Hester [8:08]
Well, I’m a good example, on LinkedIn publisher, which is the blogging tool on LinkedIn, I’m a LinkedIn publisher, they rolled out over the last six months, allows you to actually long form on LinkedIn and share with your network. Now, I know you probably don’t know the numbers, or you may not have seen them. But you know, I have 14,000, direct Connexions on LinkedIn. So that’s 14,000, people that are seeing my blog posts on a weekly every other week basis, my 12 blog posts out there, for instance, have pulled in 26,000 hits. So you know, that’s content marketing at its best. And that’s really what LinkedIn is all about as far as that goes. So they’re constantly changing things in that regard. They’re changing how groups are set up, and how you can interact with people. They’re changing. You know, my favourite, I use the term easter eggs, David, it’s really, you know, hidden features that I can teach other people how to use. And one of the best hidden features is a feature, you’re called who’s viewed your profile. And the point behind that is if somebody is actually clicked on your profile and wanting to know more about you, there’s an interest there. So there’s no reason and you can message that person back and say, Hey, I saw you saw my profile. Is there something I can be of service and and that’s the start of a relationship. So no icebreaker, basically, and get some really good relationships. And it’s happened for me and a wide variety of ways in that regard.

David Ralph [9:25]
Yeah, but don’t you need to know their email address? If they know, well, they clicked on your profile, I thought there was a kind of, you go to connect to them. And they say, How do you know these person and if you just kind of go, Well, just because they’ve looked at me, you want to do it with it,

Chuck Hester [9:40]
ya know, you can do it as friend and a good percentage of people to use LinkedIn can then connect directly to them. But you know, honestly, I’m a kind of a digger. I was before the full up internet was there and I could find any email or phone number in the area that I needed to find is by by digging, basically, but there’s, there’s some tricks and tips that I teach to my, my consulting clients, and my students, if you will, on how to do that. But a good percentage of the people can do that. And there’s that then the, probably the best point that’s coming around here is you on LinkedIn as any good social network, you need to look for a commonality, LinkedIn, and any social network is a community, it’s about being part of that community and contributing to that community, as opposed to grabbing the bullhorn and saying, you know, this is the greatest radio show you ever going to possibly hear. Come Listen to me. It’s more about you know, who you are, how you can help other people. So you look for a commonality. And you know, hey, David, you talked to my wife last week, on your radio show, why don’t you talk to me as well, or let’s connect and let’s figure some things out. That gives you something in common with that person. As as we were talking before we we got on the air, you know, if if we’re in a in a pub somewhere, and you ordered me a pint, please do that, by the way. I definitely love that kind of stuff. But, you know, I may walk up to you and see for a fact that you have a Manchester United shirt on and say, I’m a Manchester United fan as well. Let me buy you a drink that type of thing. So that’s that’s the general idea.

David Ralph [11:12]
But you haven’t heard of the football team? I support Ipswich Town.

Chuck Hester [11:17]
Okay, no, I have not I have not.

David Ralph [11:19]
Well, when we finish you do Glee, and I’ll be looking where we’re going to build commonality. So I want to see you in Absolutely. By the end of the week. There we go. That sounds good. Guys, great the power of the town across the world. If we went back in time, because that’s what Join Up Dots is. And I’m going to come back to LinkedIn, because there’s so many sort of questions I would like to ask. And I know if I want to ask you, Mike, my followers, and my listeners want to ask it as well. But if we went back in time to sort of that little Chuck Hester, you were obviously a million miles away from things like LinkedIn, and social media and all that kind of stuff. Because it wasn’t, it just wasn’t around. Right? What did you want to do when you was a little kid? If I had said to you as a five or six year old chap, what do you want to do when you grow up? what you’re doing now?

Chuck Hester [12:07]
No, not necessarily. I come from a background of teachers and writers. I mom was an English teacher, my grandmother was as well I was I’ve always been a writer, I’ve always been a connector of people as well. So in the the first book, linking into pay it forward, I talked about this at 11 is a better, better timeframe. But 1112 years old, I grabbed my mom’s Women’s Club directory and called every single person about a fundraiser that I was doing. And you know, you, you know, Virginia has to so you must know me and can you buy some grapefruit, and I sold $900 with a grapefruit as a result. So I’ve always been a connector of people. But I’ve always had a love for good writing good grammar, good, good novels. So I’ve always thought of myself as someday I would, I would be that writer that I am today. So that that’s really where it came came down to, you know, the old cliche is, oh, he’s good with people. So it’ll be great and public relations was was honestly, something that was very accurate for me. I never The only person in the room, who was a stranger was somebody I hadn’t met not met yet. And, and that still holds very true today.

David Ralph [13:17]
I think that ability to make Connexions as binary appointment important, and so many people miss out on it, I’ve always kind of been naturally good at it. Even though naturally, I’m quite anti social. If I’m on my own, I’m very happy to be on my own. And I, you know, I don’t want to answer the phone, I want to answer the door or whatever, but put me in a social environment, I kind of come alive. And I think the only people that I haven’t connected with are the people that are mentally I’ve decided not to connect with because as you say, you’ve got to find those commonalities. And you’ve got to be more interested in the other person when you are yourself. And that’s one of the things that people fall on base, they start talking about themselves, and the other person just gets bored.

Chuck Hester [13:59]
That’s, that’s the changing the value proposition. And social media. And that’s what I talked about originally, you ask about the other person first, you ask how, you know, how can you help them? Tell me more about you first, as opposed to the you know, the New York Life salesperson that says, hey, I’ve got insurance and and what’s your problem? How can I solve it? I haven’t you buy an insurance policy. So that’s really what it comes down to. And so that’s that’s the value proposition that has changed. And quite frankly, I’ve been on LinkedIn for close to 10 years now. And 10 years ago, that was an unusual situation where somebody would actually do that. I’m seeing more and more of that philosophy being embraced, which, you know, I take great, great pride in the fact that that’s happened. I don’t believe that I’m the person that this caused that change necessarily, but it’s more that you know, and we talked about the pay it forward aspect of its people helping people and people connecting for to connect with people and help them as opposed to trying selling them something or or the hidden agenda that always seems to be around the corner. I’d love pay

David Ralph [14:57]
it forward. There was that film wasn’t there with Kevin Spacey, pay it forward. And I remember the end, it wasn’t a sort of classic film, but the, the the message, the message was absolutely brilliant. And I was speaking to a chap on episode 150 called Dan Martell. And whenever he goes to a drive through and gets a cup of coffee, he always pays for the car behind. And he always just drives off. And I said to him, why did you do that? He said, because one day he said one day, I’m hoping that I will get to that drive through. And they will say you’ve already been paid for and it was accounting from it comes around to him. And really, if we all focused in on it like you are and Danny’s there’s a good chance of that happening. Because he got to explode, doesn’t it?

Chuck Hester [15:44]
Oh, it does. And and, you know, there’s two storeys in that regard. As matter of fact, this week, I paid for a soldier’s coffee. She was she was coming into Starbucks, and I paid for a coffee. Thank you for service. And she said, Whoa, okay. I said no, there’s no no payment back is paid for somebody else. But you know, Mike, my classic, pay it forward storey is very similar to America. I know, Dan, but very similar to Dan’s in that regard that you know, I was a guy who was in front of me rushing like crazy, and the not paying attention and Starbucks and you know, I motion to the barista and said this, this coffee for him is on me. And he turned around and said, Okay, I’ll pay it forward. And And sure enough, within, as you mentioned, probably a month or two, I was in the same Starbucks, and I’m in line and I’m not the one paying attention and all sudden, I hear that this coffee is on me. And I look over and it’s a person I’d paid for a couple of months ago. So it does happen, there’s no doubt about it is you know, it’s so much easier to be kind to people than to hate the people. And and it takes up a lot less mental energy. And not only that, but it you know, it’s a lot of fun. And I mean, I have a lot of fun paying it forward as Stephanie does as well. And we just we we really relish in the fact that, you know, we can help other people without requesting anything in return.

David Ralph [17:00]
I saw this quote on Facebook the other day, and you get a lot of these sort of motivational quote, picture kind of things that people share around. And you know, some of them you’ve seen 1000 times, but this one was I’ve never seen it before. And it was from Conan O’Brien, a show host in America, we don’t know very well in in United Kingdom is a sort of unknown quantity. But he said, If you work harder than anyone else, and you’re incredibly kind, amazing things will happen. And that kind of buys into the pay it forward thing, isn’t it?

Chuck Hester [17:31]
Oh, absolutely. I mean, there’s no doubt about it. You know, you cannot complain when you’re working hard, because you are doing what you’re supposed to be doing. And that’s something that’s another philosophy, I’m sure Steph got into that as well as how we feel about what we’re in the process of doing with our lives. You know, we’re working as hard as we can and doing the things that we want to do and how we can help other people. And in the process of you know, we’re we’re successful, we may not be monetarily successful. All the time. But you know, it really does come back and and a variety of wonderful ways for you.

David Ralph [18:03]
Did you meet you, oh, a little hustle monsters, you do have hustle muscle running through you. Because the fact that you was a little kid and you picked up that directory, and you found all those people as you were telling me that storey I thought, God, he was a hustler, even in those days. And that’s one of those kind of things that many people would go, what’s the point? I don’t know any of these people, but the fact that you just went with it blindly? Is that something that’s ingrained in you? Or is that something that you kind of had as a kid, you lost them and you got back?

Chuck Hester [18:32]
To a certain extent, I think it was it was the latter, I think it was something I had I lost to a certain extent, became somewhat complacent, and then picked it back up. And I’ve been in a pick it back up aspect of, we know what it is when I went through several different downturns. But before I met Stephanie, and then after financial and and, you know, really some family issues that we add, you know, it really gets you to the point where you just understand that, you know, you’ve got to continually accept the gift that you’ve been given and make sure that you’re you’re honouring that gift and working on it on a daily basis. So, you know, if you listed everything that I do on a daily basis, and is daily, you know, everything from writing a new book, to blogging, to doing the podcast to consulting, to looking for a full time job to being a decent husband. And Father. I mean, that’s a lot of stuff that’s that’s going on.

David Ralph [19:26]
Have you have you always known your passion, Ben, because I know Stephanie was telling us a storey where there was a part of her life that she was kind of lost, and she didn’t know what she should be doing. So she went away and locked us up in a hotel room and just wrote in earnest. And she came up with what she should do, or at least enough of an idea to start making movement towards it. Have you always known what you should be doing? Or is it just a kind of mishmash of things that have happened that have led you to?

Chuck Hester [19:53]
I think it was so nice, and I’ve always known I was a PR guy. I mean, I, you know, the term I uses, I’m just a PR guy. And that’s always been around for a long time. But you know, as far as whether or not I was going to be a successful writer, and speaker, and that’s what it was going to be all about. I always knew I wanted to write, I always knew that I wanted to be on the radio. And you know, we talked about this a while back, when my podcast finally came about a year ago. You know, I basically looked at stuff and said, you know, God said that I’m supposed to be on the radio, and now I’m finally on the radio. So that’s, that’s a big part of what I’m doing. But you know, for a long time I was corporate I was agency or in house public relations or marketing, and still do that, to a certain extent, enjoy that, but not into as much as we know where my major passions are. And that really is helping other people, right, and writing myself and doing some really cool things. And Anthony has said, I’ve never met a microphone I didn’t like. So if I’m if I’m in a room, I’m going to be up there eventually either leading it or speaking to it. And I think if I could do that, for the rest of my life, I’d be very happy.

David Ralph [20:59]
And you know, not scared of that, because so many people are terrified of public speaking Where were you just naturally comfortable getting up in front of people?

Chuck Hester [21:09]
Yes. Short answer, yes. You know, improvisation and, and being able to speak in front of front of people. But the other part of that is as as, as I continue to understand and learn the profession of marketing, public relations and social media, LinkedIn, in particular, I became more comfortable with what I was speaking about, you know, the open the kimono full, went, as I’m speaking now about social media for boomers. And that side of it, it’s a it’s a different feeling. For me being up in front of people to talk about that I’ve done a seminar and a speech so far on that I’ll be doing several more in the next couple of weeks. But in the process of doing that first seminar about social media for boomers, which was different from what I normally talked about, yeah, of course, there’s there’s some, some time where we just didn’t feel right. Or I was stumbling here, there. But you know, again, if I get a chance to have a microphone, and because I’ve done LinkedIn for 10 years, I can do radio interviews such as this, or I do seminars or whatever reason station, whatever it may be, without a script. Without information, just throw me throw me a question I can answer the question is what it really has come down to but I think any professional speaker would be, would be lying. Basically, if they said they’re not nervous before they get up to speak. But the energy in the room and stuff and I both speak so we talked about this, when we come off a speech, it can be an hour to two hours before we quote unquote, come back down. Because we really do enjoy the interaction with the audience and the chance to talk to them. And that’s the difference between stuff and I and beakers that I’ve seen. There are several that do it very well, but but we interact with our audiences, as opposed to lecture them. And that’s the bigger difference. So the, you know, just the rush of being able to interact and help. And as you said, You know, I didn’t realise that if I if I get one or two of those during a speech, then then it’s golden. For me, if somebody says, Oh, my gosh, I didn’t realise I can do that. I’m going to go do that tomorrow morning. And I’m using LinkedIn different than my job’s accomplished.

David Ralph [23:11]
I used to do public speaking a lot. I used to do presentations. And more often than not, I would do eight hours at a time. So I would go mornings, been half hour lunchtime and been straight through the afternoon. And I was on it. Absolutely on it. Because I always knew that those people, it might have been the only time that they saw me, so I needed to leave them with a good impression. But at the end of it, I used to be exhausted. And I used to say to people, it’s like doing an eight hour interview that feeling when you go into a room and you know, you’ve got to perform. And you’ve got to answer and you got to think things through and you’ve got to come out with good, good stuff. When it’s taken away from you. And you sit there you just slump, don’t you but you know, yeah, in your heart of hearts. But it was a great day because you over delivered.

Chuck Hester [23:58]
Absolutely, yeah. And it’s their day, there is no other feeling there truly. Well, there is one, but we won’t go into that right now. But you know, that there truly is, you know, it’s it’s the aspect of understanding who you are and what you’re capable of presenting to other people and opening eyes and helping other people out is just, it’s amazing. I say, I can’t describe that,

David Ralph [24:20]
when I’m going to play the first about motivational speeches now. And you’ve kind of lead into that quite well. And then I want to ask you some questions based on outward. So this is Jim Carrey,

Jim Carrey [24:29]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

David Ralph [24:56]
Well, so many of our listeners out there, and I get emails constantly, constantly, constantly. And I’m going to have a couple of live conversations with them tomorrow sort of coaching calls. They all say they don’t like what they’re doing. They don’t know what they should be doing. And they’re just kind of lost, they’re trapped. Now, Jim Carrey says, you know, do something that you love, take a risk on what you love. And I think to a man and a woman, we would all agree with that. That’s the better way of doing it. Why should we go for our life doing jobs that we just think is a bit crappy? Basically, just because we’re getting paid? Now, when you chuck it? I’m not sure whether you’ve taken that risk? It doesn’t seem like that, it seems like things have naturally gone your way. Is that why or am I missing a trick with

Chuck Hester [25:37]
you know, you’re missing a trick, I mean, honestly, I’ve gone through two financial downturns and and, and quite frankly, in the middle of one right now, and I don’t stuff and I’ve had this conversation don’t know that is because I’m not doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing in pursuing other things that that aren’t quite right. So but you know, the, the Carrey speech, which I heard when I think the day after he gave it or whenever it went up, you know, it resonates significantly that you really have to, and my mantra and stuff, attest to this as well. love what you do, do what you love, and love the people you do it with. That’s significant. So when I’m interviewing for a position or talking to somebody about, you know, working with me, that’s one of my my biggest mantras, you know, I truly have told our children this, you know, our youngest in particular, you know, you really need to be doing what you love and loving what you do, and and avoid the miserable. But I will tell you this, that if you don’t try something and you don’t fail, then you really don’t live life. And that’s the bottom line on where I come from is, you know, I’m going to try some things about it doesn’t work. Well, you know, then at least I tried. And that’s the other bottom line on that if you know, you can sit around. And when you’re 90 years old and said, Gosh, I wish I would have tried x and not really have a feel for whether or not that was the thing you were supposed to do. And unless you do try and fail or try and succeed, how will you know that?

David Ralph [27:02]
You think everyone will resonate with those words of Jim Carrey? Because when I heard it was like a hammer below, but wasn’t a prime, that message do you have to be wanting more of those words to really hit home?

Chuck Hester [27:15]
Yeah, I think so to a certain extent. And you know, we’re not downplaying the housewife, the, you know, the the insurance salesman, whomever that person may be, who may use their application, their vocation, to be able to such a vocation to be able to provide for their family. And then on the weekends, they’re clear, happy because they’re out, and they have enough resources to be able to enjoy the family at the same time. You know, I’m not downplaying that at all. There may be some people out there, it won’t resonate with. I’m a entrepreneur at heart, I’m an entrepreneur, meaning that, you know, I’m entrepreneur when I’m inside of a company. And I like to do that I like to work with a variety of things. And, you know, to a certain extent, I’m probably ADHD, I’d have no clue. I’ve never bought it to get diagnosed one way or the other on that, but I need to have the stimulation of different things going on all the time. There may be some people like and I’ve got an amazing CPA, who’s so very happy to do our tax returns on a yearly basis, and really excited when you know, he finds a refund for us or whatever it may be. And he does that all day long. 360 days a week, a year. I mean, that’s that’s what he does. And he’s done. Joe’s happy. So I don’t know by now it. I think you’re right, David, when you said you were primed to, to hear that. And yes, when I heard the Carrey speech as well, I was hit over the head to a certain extent or, or realigned, again, I guess it’d be the best way to describe that of, you know what, you really got to go out there and do what you enjoy doing and be happy

David Ralph [28:43]
that way. Good. Because I think for a long time, I would have been really happy to be your tax guy not doing tax returns. That’s just boring. Sure. That’s dreadful thing to do. Thank God, we’ve got people that want to do all that stuff. That comes a point in your life. And I remember distinctly sitting in my office one day, knowing that something had changed in me, and looking around that these people who were coming in doing their work and being quite content to do their work. And I was thinking, why do I feel like this, but you don’t. Now, I, I feel blessed really, in one regard, but I didn’t feel like them. But also on the other side, I was thinking, I’m making it harder for myself, I’m going to put myself into a path. But I don’t know where it’s going to end. I don’t know if it’s going to be successful. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. If only I could go back in time to the time when I really didn’t know. But I didn’t also know that there was other people doing these kind of things that inspired me and excited me and made make me want to go along. And I remember going into a shop and I think I’ve told the storey once or twice on the show. But I was on holiday and I was in a really bad state at work. And there was so much pressure, it was untrue. And so I went off on this two week holiday. And for the first three or four days there, I was still at work, basically, I just couldn’t focus. And then on the two week holiday, there was about three days in the middle. But I started to relax. And then I started winding myself up to go back. So looking back on it, I think I shouldn’t been in that job anyway. But I went into a supermarket and there was a woman and she was just taking my products and go beep be. And I looked at him for what a fantastic job. And I just sit there get paid don’t have to think about anything and just take some money and stuff. And it was a real sort of mindset shift. But she seemed happy as Larry because she wasn’t striving for anything. She was really contained. And that’s what this show is all about is very much about if you’re in a job that you love, Ben, just try to do it better. And you’re going to love it even more. But if you’re not, then you have options, and you can you can drive forward to a future that’s all yours, but you need to want it so much. And that was the problem with me. I really wanted it and that’s what you seem to want as well.

Chuck Hester [30:57]
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it really does make a difference here, right? There’s, there’s, there’s times when the bills are due. And you know, I look at a barista or McDonald’s clerk or whomever it may be and go, Okay, well, they get a paycheck, I mean that that’s all they’re having to do is serve me up the fries at a coffee or whatever it may be. And you’re right. I’ve run into same type of people, I’ve run into people who are baristas. You know, when we’re in Southern California, I knew a barista very well who had a chance to become a manager, nice, a nice like to be a barista, I’m gonna be a barista, and be very comfortable that that allows me to take care of my family, and you know, I’m taking care of, and I’m happy me interacting with the customers anyways. So you really need to decide what makes you happy. And some and the other part of that is, and you know, we talked about this as far as, okay, so what is different now, you know, we really need to understand what does make you happy, and work may not be what you live for. But it may allow you to live, I guess it’d be the best way to put down.

David Ralph [31:55]
So how do people do that? That’s the killer question that really comes up in every show. And my listeners are basically only listeners, because they’re looking for something and I’m very aware of but you know, you wouldn’t come to Join Up Dots just because you fancy you. You’re trying to find inspiration because you want more in your life. And certainly from the emails I get in the conversations. That’s exactly what we’re sort of touching on. But how do people find that thing that they need to do if for many years, they’ve been on a path that isn’t right for them? And I’ve almost forgotten who they were originally?

Chuck Hester [32:28]
Yeah, that’s a, that’s a very difficult question. I mean, really, honestly, you’ve got to look at what what really excites you what gets you going, what makes you happy. I mean, the best way I can describe it is, you know, I always knew I wanted to be on the radio, because my uncle was on the radio. And two uncles actually were on the radio, I did radio when I was in college, you know, little did I know that podcasting would come about to the point where you and I can have this conversation, or I can have conversations with with a wide variety of people on my podcast show. But the other part of that is I’ve always, always been a writer, and I’ve always enjoyed reading. And so you know, you if somebody said, you know, because you enjoy reading, learn how to write or take some time to learn how to write or express your feelings or do whatever it may be, that may be part of that. And I’m a big proponent of what I call parallel paths, meaning that I could be that grocery clerk, and during the day, and at night, I could be creating the next big web app, or whatever, you know, mobile app, or whatever that might happen. I can go to meet ups with other technical people, I can, you know, on the weekend work on that, on that one little product that I think that the grocery store would do so much better if they had that product and start prototyping and working it through. And there’s no reason nobody says, you know, there’s no such thing as 40 hours a week, they’re quite ugly, isn’t there’s there is, you know, for entrepreneurs, it’s 80 Plus, but if you combine your passions with with with fun, and you find something that you enjoy, and thanks a lot of thinking, there’s a lot of fun, then there’s no reason why you can’t continue to do that.

David Ralph [33:58]
Because I’ve just been now days, exactly as you say parallel paths is the way forward, I think if you are in a job, but you are not overly satisfied, you maybe don’t hate it, but you just kind of think there must be more to life, and you are willing to put in that extra effort. You have got, I don’t know, five hours, six hours from when you get home if you don’t get home show late. But you can create something, which is quite amazing. And you can do it on a shoestring Now, can you with the internet. But what people struggle with, I think is and they do struggle with finding their path. I think I was very lucky. I think I went through a very long transition over five years. But when I look back on it, it doesn’t seem that long. But once I’ve started this, I know absolutely nailed on, this is what I should be doing. And so my passion and my energy levels are totally challenged every single day to push it and push it and push it as much as I possibly can. But what people have the proper, which is the fact that they will get this idea of a passion and think yes, I would really like to do that. But in their head, they kind of think well, how the hell am I going to earn money? Who’s going to pay for this? No one else would like this. It’s only my personal taste. And that’s the kind of mindset but I think we all get stuck in Don’t we?

Chuck Hester [35:19]
All Oh yeah. To a certain extent we do. And that’s that’s, you know, you talked about, okay, the younger self, where would it be? Well, the younger self didn’t have an internet. The younger self didn’t have Connexions in Warsaw, Poland. So there’s a lot of difference as far as where you go. So while you may think that this may be the dumbest idea, and nobody else likes it, but I like it. And I’ll put it out there it says somebody else that what’s going on if you can find meetups where people are talking about new products, or Toastmasters, if you want to be speaker, you know that type of thing or writing groups or in a book clubs, whatever it may be, you can find like minded individuals the Do you and I sounds like Danny are not like Stephanie Esther, where she can go away. And she did for a four hour for sorry, a four day timeframe and come back with her new organisation, the remarkable woman lined out as to where she’s going to be and what she’s going to do with that. But she was coming from a really a standpoint of this is the passion that I feel. And that’s why it feels right to me. And every time she talks about that organisation, you know, she can be the most tired person in the world. And then somebody asked her about the remarkable woman and she she perks up. So that that’s really where it comes from. She is and and I am to a certain extent, at good creative person is the same way. And that’s for your listeners as well. You know what, I don’t think this is good enough because somebody else doesn’t like it. Well, that may not necessarily be the case, because you haven’t talked to everybody that that could be your potential audience for it, or find somebody with a shared passion. And you know, if you find somebody with a shared passion, that that is so significant, it’s not even funny.

David Ralph [37:00]
And there’s so many shared passions aren’t out there. You know, when I when I started this show, I almost didn’t launch because I suddenly got frightened of the competition. And now I look at it. And I think, Well, yes, there is competition out there. But it just shows you that there’s people listening, there is nobody would launch a show if nobody was interested in podcasts and radio, right. And now with the sort of death of the gatekeeper, where as you were saying, You love being in radio. Now you can create your own radio station. This is amazing. And yes, I love writing. Now you can self publish. And yes, I like doing this. And you can, you know, pretty much across the board we was having a conversation was and we said, you know, what’s the only things that you can’t get on the internet. And the only two that we came up with was a haircut and McDonald’s. That was the only thing that we could think of. And I don’t know why you can’t order McDonald’s on the internet, it seems to me they’re missing a trick there. But yeah, actually everything he wants you can do. So if you are out there, and you’ve got an idea. You’ve just got to think globally. I tell you, I’m on a bit of a rant now. But this this struck me the other day, episode hundred and 55 is woven castle Jr. And he’s a 15 year old from the Caribbean. And he’s he wants to set up his own investment bank. And he is dreaming big, big, big. And I said to him, You know what, what’s, what’s the biggest mistake you made? Or what would you like to change? And he said, when I was four, and I started my first company, which is kind of a while on that? Yeah, he said, I should have fought bigger, because I just thought about the island that I was on. But I should have thought about going across the globe, because there’s more customers across the globe. And when you get a kid and I say that with little quotation marks about him because he’s more adult and I am really, but when he’s saying those kinds of things, you think, yeah, it is unbelievable. You can create a business. And literally, you’ve got 7 billion people to sell to, and how much of those people do you need to make a comfortable lifestyle? Not many at all. And it’s just power isn’t it is power our fingertips?

Chuck Hester [39:11]
Yeah, it really is. And it’s the long tail aspect of sales and marketing. I mean, there’s, you know, these days because of the internet’s reach and where we are globally. You know, you may create a black and blue bow tie that only certain people are going to like, but there’s enough people out there to like that to make you you know, a comfortable millionaire.

David Ralph [39:32]
It’s exciting isn’t it? Did you do have these ideas all the time, when I’m when you sort of sitting at home watching Telly? Do you have these kind of ideas that pop into your head? And you think obviously the way forward?

Chuck Hester [39:42]
Yeah, to a certain extent, you know, and honestly, because of Carrey and and what’s going on with with several other folks who were inspiring me, I’m trying to stay focused on four or five things because otherwise I just all over the board. And that’s what it really comes down to. So I have certain things I need to do, and I want to continue to pursue. And that’s the other part of where, you know, the advice that I could give listeners and I talked to people on a regular basis, if you decide to do something, stick with it. You know, the the I don’t know if you guys get the blacklist over there. But you know, with James Spader, but his his speech the other night was basically, you know, I when I was in the summertime and I was laying floors, and I hated the job. And the first week out, I came back to my dad and I said I wanted to quit. And my dad said no, you What did you say to the guy that hired you. And he said, I made a commitment to stay for the eight weeks of the summer, he said, then you will stay and you will stick it out. And at the end of the summer, you know, the guy came to me said you’re the only kid that’s ever stuck. And here’s a bonus of 40 bucks. He said I’m a multimillionaire now, but that $40 was the most important money I’ve ever earned. Because I stuck it out. And that’s sometimes the most difficult thing for entrepreneurs and for folks who really want to do stuff is to be able to get through the you know, the rejection, I got a rejection letter this week from from magazine, they wanted an article and they said you know, you can’t write you don’t know how to write, which I know is not accurate. But you know, I get those in the first thing I said was, you know, I know how many rejection letters Hemingway got before an old man in his he was published. So I look at those type of things in a stick to it. And this, if you will, is something that that can be difficult to do, but rewarding in the long run. Well, we touched on this

David Ralph [41:27]
literally every episode perseverance. And I always call it because I just like the way it seems the American Idol syndrome where you think that you can turn one song and you’re suddenly playing Madison Square Garden. And there’s a big problem isn’t there in life generally, where people won’t realise that they’ve got to put the work in when it comes to a business or a future. You know, if you want to play Rory McIlroy, at golf, you would go, I’ve got to practice and you’d be quite happy to practice because you’ve got to be the best go for you possibly can. But when it comes to business, people think it’s get rich quick, you can do it overnight. And unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. It is madness, isn’t it? So many people think that they don’t have to put the spade work in.

Chuck Hester [42:13]
Yeah, you know, I worked for a 20 year old entrepreneur, who by the time that he was done, the soul was routed and $67 million. But that 2020 year old entrepreneur from the time I knew him, of the five years that I worked with him he would come in to his office at 10am in the morning and leave at two o’clock in the morning. And he was constantly when he went home he was still working. So you know and we had different schedules because I was an early morning guy. So by the time I got in at seven o’clock in the morning, I had been working for three hours on stuff that he gave me the night before that he was working on. But point being for the five to six years before he cashed out. This guy was working and he was working on a regular basis and sticking to it and walking through all the issues that you run into. And there’s no such thing. No such thing unless you are you know, Jed Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies. And you hit that oil patch. There’s no such thing as overnight success.

David Ralph [43:06]
But but we like the show highlights don’t wait, we see the success real and go. It’s all right that Chuck Hester, he’s got talents that I haven’t got. And it’s all like that, Stephanie. But I’ve never picked up a an autobiography. But when I open it up, it just says it was easy. It is always a struggling belt isn’t there. And when you look at these people who have really got up there, I remember reading Tom Hanks biography, and Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and all these. I have stickability I persevere when probably things I should give up on. But these guys, they really do stick Don’t lie. They really, really when most of us will go. It’s never going to happen. And I keep on going keep on going keep on going. They get there. They’re just rewards at the end these the 10,000 hours syndrome, isn’t

Chuck Hester [43:57]
it? Exactly. Yeah. Okay, and some something to be admired and something to live up to?

David Ralph [44:03]
When do you know about something’s not working? I don’t I don’t like to get negative on this show. Because it’s very positive show. But when do you know that it is time to pivot and change direction when you’re working towards something.

Chuck Hester [44:15]
I have a group of loose advisors, who are really, you know, can be anything from a person who’s a friend of mine on Facebook to people I’ve meet directly, or who have known me forever and including my number one advisor, not Stephanie Esther, who who will look will be able to tell me and look me in the eye and say, You know what, it’s it really isn’t working, you need to move on. That’s number one. Number two is when I stopped liking, doing what I’m doing or loving doing what I’m doing, I’m thinking I this is not working, you know, when I’m miserable, not because things aren’t happening as they should be, but because I’m not enjoying the struggle. And I know that kind of sounds funny, but you know, I’m a big proponent of struggles and failures are what really shaped you and what really caused you you to be a success. So you know, if I, if I feel like I’m not not, and this doesn’t mean that on Monday, I have to like it, it means over a week timeframe, or several days time frame, talking it through and walking through problems, if I’m still not enjoying the struggle, or being able to handle the struggle that I’ll move on.

David Ralph [45:22]
i and i i agree with you. And I think it’s it’s almost to the point that if you are willing to do it for nothing, then that’s a good indication that you should be doing it.

Chuck Hester [45:31]
Sure. Absolutely. You know, and and that’s a big part of it. And I found that to be true I am I have tried several times to be a salesman several times to be a business development person. And I mean, lack of a better way to put it, I suck at it. I truly honestly do as greatest a connector and marketer I am I can’t sell anything other than the grapefruit that I sold when I when I did back then. And honestly, I saw my books in the back of the room when I speak. So the speech is what brings the book to to fruition on that and my marketing capabilities on that. But you know, I’ve known a long time that and there’s occasions where, you know, money site or whatever, okay, I’ll go and try and sell something, well, I just gotta remember, I can’t sell anything. So I’ve got to stop trying to do that.

David Ralph [46:17]
But you aren’t sending it on you because you are selling it now. Just the fact that we’re having this conversation, and you have got the ability to dip in and out of different areas. And we just know that you’re a Maven, I know nearly said an expert then but I pulled back on it. But you can just see that you are a salesman, and you don’t have to sell the commodity, you’re selling yourself.

Chuck Hester [46:39]
Right? Oh, yeah. Well, that that I’m very good at I’m very good at selling myself. I’m very good at selling my clients, and then the companies I work for so that but let’s see, I consider that public relations and marketing because I’m not commodity on that side of it. So there there isn’t a transactional invoice at the end of the day, per se of you know, 1200 widgets dollar apiece. It’s not that’s not who I am. And that’s what I’m comfortable doing. I could not David, I could not get on the phone for six hours a day and just cold call people. That’s just not the way.

David Ralph [47:11]
You know, I’ve done that. And that’s a rough old job that is Oh, yeah, man, I tell you what, you learn a lot from it by doing it.

Chuck Hester [47:18]
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Perseverance is one of them.

David Ralph [47:20]
Yeah, absolutely. I think over Jobs, I found the hardest. I’ve learned more than the things I found the easiest. But it’s when it’s the easiest. It’s when I beat myself up more, because I know that I can do it even better. And at the end of it, I will go. I know that felt good. But inside, I think I can deliver even more, even more, even more. It’s like doing this show, I’ve done like 197 episodes, hundred 90 episodes. And I must have listened to those hundred 90 episodes, probably 10 times I’ve listened to these shows thousands of times, because I just wanted to get better and better and better, and have more breath and have more emotional aspects and all those kinds of stuff. And it’s because in many ways, it’s quite easy that you want it to be as good as you possibly can you just beat yourself up, don’t you but you’re not doing a good job because it seems to flow.

Chuck Hester [48:17]
Yeah, and it’s fascinating. I’m sure you run into this as a podcast, as you know, I’ll do an episode and think oh, man, you know, technically, that just really was not a great show. And it ends up being the one show that everybody liked the most, mainly because of the guests in the conversation. But you know, you in the background are sitting there going, Okay, so I need to tweak this, and I need to change that volume and do whatever and, you know, not my strong point technical side. And and so, yeah, you run into that on a regular basis. I know how that goes.

David Ralph [48:43]
So are you in that kind of basis at the moment cuz you said something earlier, and I let it go. But I’d like to sort of Delve back into it, where you are discussing with Stephanie, about your position at the moment, whether it’s the right thing for you, are you in that kind of not quite sure that you need to carry on on the path that you want.

Chuck Hester [49:03]
I know what the path is, but the realities are the are the bills still need to be paid. So from that aspect of I know what my path is. But quite frankly, I’m running a situation where especially with the book, for instance, where you know, I’m getting a lot of opportunities to speak and a percentage of them are, you know, would be great exposure for you in the book, but we’re not going to pay you to speak. So I still take some of those I got a good percentage of them as a matter of fact, but you know, it’s not bringing the dollars. And so what I’m doing and what I’m passionate about is not generating the dollars that we need at this point in time. So therefore, that’s the pivot that I’m trying to work through right now going back to corporate, because I’ve got to pay bills. So yes, I am struggling back and forth. And I’m not struggling. And I guess maybe there’s the qualifier here, I’m not struggling about what I’m good at and what I should be doing. I’m struggling about how to bring any income in order for me to do that

David Ralph [50:03]
is an interesting point, isn’t it? Because when we had these conversations, many ways, I suppose I suppose we create a show highlights Anyway, when we talk about how people have become successful. But sure, there are points when you’re not successful, and you need to change, I was talking to a chat the other day, who sold his business for 700 million to Google. And you would go wow, sit on an island and rest for the rest of your life. But he’s now into working 80 hours a week again, because he wants to build something else. And that might fail. And people might look at him and go, Oh, you were successful before and you over stretch yourself. And then there’s other people I know that have gone through these paths and have been basically just sliding through success at an early age. And then they hit a brick wall. And it’s those points, isn’t it being an entrepreneur, that I think probably the hardest, and especially for people who are just going into it. But when they look at you and see that you have done so much, but you’re still striving forward, striving forward hitting challenges and obstacles, so many of them will be frightened of even going in the first place.

Chuck Hester [51:14]
Yeah, but if I didn’t try and I didn’t make the attempts, then again, I’m that 92 year old guy that sits back and says, You know, I really wish I had done my podcast when I had a chance. I wish I’d written that second book. I mean, it just really, you know, unless you make that attempts and the failures that come with those attempts, then then, you know, I you know, we’re talking about Facebook axioms on a regular basis, and we see them all the time. But you know it, I don’t know how to phrase it exactly, David, but it would be along the lines of living the life that you tried to live is better than living the life that you regret. You didn’t. And that’s that’s I think, approximately what the point being, you know, if you don’t make the attempt, you’re gonna regret not doing them.

David Ralph [51:57]
That does that really scare you at the end of day, you know, what you want to old man, and you’re on your deathbed. And you kind of go, that was it. And I didn’t give it up?

Chuck Hester [52:08]
Yeah, to a certain extent. I mean, I’ve made my faith, which leads me to believe that you know what, when I when I hit 90.1, I’m in a much better place. So there’s that to a certain extent, but you know, we can the other the flip side of this is there’s only so many things that you can attempt and still be able to provide for your family and do what you need to do. But my my real point on that is, is if you sit back and don’t do anything, or don’t make an attempt to, to try something new, or try something you feel very passionate about, you’ll always regret that. I mean, that’s what it comes down to. But you know, more to your point, or am I scared on a regular basis? You darn right? Am I scared as to you know, where things are going to come from in the for this coming month? And then following year? Of course I am. Am I scared to somebody’s going to say you can’t right, which you know, occurs on occasion. Sure, I don’t like it. But it’s all part of the struggle. And and the term that stuff I use is the iron sharpens iron. You know, it’s the issues of, you know, if you go through struggles, you come out stronger. You know that that really truly, honestly is accurate. You know, you learn how to adapt, and you learn how to deal with those struggles in a more a better way. And you’re a better person for that.

David Ralph [53:23]
So you have got deep faith in yourself, you you have a hunch, but your efforts,

Chuck Hester [53:29]
I die of deep faith in God. And because I have the faith in God and he has a credible and that’s where the remarkable woman comes from an incredible faith in who I am and what he created. I will rest in that, quite frankly. And that’s really what it comes down to. I believe I’ve been gifted to do certain things. And honestly, one of the things that motivates me on a daily basis is If, for some reason, I’m either grumbling or complaining or not trying to do better at what he’s gifted me to do that I feel like then I am letting him down. So that’s the other part of that.

David Ralph [54:01]
But let’s play the words of Steve Jobs because he made a fantastic speech back in 2005, when he talked about having faith in yourself and following a path but wasn’t toward really making your own path. This is Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs [54:13]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference. Good words.

Chuck Hester [54:50]
Excellent words. Truly Yes. Meaning you know, you, you really can understand why you walk through a struggle or why you do certain things or why you’re better at something, then something else until you have a chance to look at it. In retrospect, I know Stephanie and I both believe that we go through certain things because it adds to who we are and adds to what we’re able to do. stuff could not create the remarkable woman if she had not gone through her PTSD issues. And you know, the financial issues that we’ve had, and a struggle with self worth and everything that she’s gotten to the point where then now she can help other women with those same struggles. I mean, I’m in the same situation is in that regard of you know, I can’t help other people, unless somebody had helped me with our pay it forward philosophy stemmed from our first time around 1999 2000 financial struggles that we had and the people that came forward and paid it forward to us, that allowed us to see how important that is and how big of a difference it made in our lives, to the point where we felt like we could not do anything else. But pay it forward and move forward in that regard.

David Ralph [55:55]
It really is about providing value is and if you can, if you can provide enough value to people. Vain you are going to be wealthy end up storey and you’re going to feel good about yourself as well on you.

Chuck Hester [56:06]
Absolutely. Absolutely.

David Ralph [56:08]
I’m going to send you back in time now. But just before I send you back in time on the Sermon on the mic, I’m going to ask one last question. And it’s a question that I throw in every now and again when I feel like doing it and I feel like doing it. So don’t you think that everyone out there if I work hard enough can have a kick ass life?

Chuck Hester [56:28]
Yes, and and the kick ass life is defined by what you think is a kick ass life. A kick ass life is not necessarily being a millionaire, on a Caribbean island with a yacht kick ass life can be having a loving wife and five kids and you know, on the weekends getting a chance to go to farmers market and just enjoying yourself. So absolutely. And it really comes down to attitude and who you are. And as we have a philosophy of taking a bite and just enjoying the people around you enjoying helping other people and enjoying the environments.

David Ralph [57:01]
Say listeners VAT is it Chuck Hester says, but and I say as well, you’ve got a chance to be happy. And if you are in a crappy job, and you will, you know in your heart of hearts, that you’re an employee, you don’t have to stay in that job, you can get a different job, and just jumping from one job to another one. If it doesn’t work, you’ve done it once, then get another job. And then ultimately, you will find one that makes you happy. I came to a path where I realised that I couldn’t do it anymore. And I had to go off in this this route. But if it’s not your thing, then just Just be happy. Find something that lights you up. It means that when your alarm goes off each morning, you don’t dread it. And you just try to do the eight hours until you can go home to do it all again. It’s about right, Chuck?

Chuck Hester [57:46]
Absolutely. could have said it better myself.

David Ralph [57:49]
Well, let’s send you back in time, sir. And this is the part of the show. Well, that we called a sermon on the mic. And if you could go back in time and have a one on one with your younger self, what age Chuck would you choose? And what advice would you give him? Well, we’re gonna find out now because I’m going to play the tune. And when it fades out, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.

Chuck Hester [58:31]
So I’m talking to the chuck Hester of about 2021 years old, about ready to graduate University, Southern California, and about ready to get married. And at the time deciding that, you know, this is the way to go and the path that I should be on, Chuck take some time and really, truly understand that you don’t need to rush into things as far as career goes and where you’re going to go continue on a regular basis to write, to interact with people to appreciate who other people are, as opposed to who they are for what they can do for you. If you can do that and learn to pay it forward, then you will be much more successful and much more happy. And the other thing is make sure that you take the time to get off that couch. Get away from the TV set and go find something that you haven’t tried before. Find other like minded people who have the same passion that you do, and invest in the time outside of just you know, electronics and and really get a chance to find out who you are, and and enjoy life.

David Ralph [59:35]
JOHN, how can our audience connect with you there?

Chuck Hester [59:38]
I am Chuck Hester all over the web. I mean, the best way to describe it. So if you’re looking for me on Twitter, I’m at Chuck Hester, my new book, social media for the rest of us has a Facebook page, which is Facebook, com backslash sem for boomers, and also on LinkedIn. I’m linkedin.com backslash, backslash Chuck Hester. And finally, please send me an email address. Chuck Chuck Hester calm, I’d be more than happy to engage with you. And I’ll leave this this way, David, as I do on a regular basis for my speeches. Just put a little note in there that says, Chuck, I heard you and you rocked. And I’ll be more than happy to respond immediately back to you.

David Ralph [1:00:18]
They have it listeners. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining those dots, Chuck and please come back again when you have more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up those dots and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures. Mr. Chuck Hester, thank you so much.

Chuck Hester [1:00:34]
My pleasure, David, anytime.

Outro [1:00:37]
David doesn’t want you to become a fated version of the brilliant self you are wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up Dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.

Chuck Hester: A Man Who Uses LinkedIn To Pay It Forward To The World