Visualize Communication Success with Justin Ledford
Justin's book http://visionstothetop.com/
More from Justin www.JustinLedford.net
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Below is a transcript of the interview
0:05
speaking the show about effective speaking in public to the media at work
0:15
and in life speaking with TJ Walker
0:25
my guest today is as close as it comes to a natural-born salesman as I've ever
0:32
encountered Justin ledford is with us by the age of 18 he sold more than a
0:37
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars worth of cutco knives
0:42
I don't know what that is but it sure sounds difficult by the time you is just
0:47
a college it sold more than a million dollars almost 2 million dollars worth
0:51
of other products he's also the author of visions to the top a millionaire
0:57
secret formula to productivity visualization and meditation Justin
1:04
thanks for joining us
1:05
TJ thank you so much for having me i really appreciate it
1:08
so is it a myth or is there such a thing as a natural-born salesman
1:13
um I think it's a myth because anybody can be taught how to communicate with
1:21
people effectively and anybody can be taught how to sell a product especially
1:28
if they find a passion behind what they're selling you know at the end of
1:32
the day we're all selling herself and meeting with people i mean we're always
1:38
selling herself and so I believe it's a myth
1:41
I fortunately had great training great mentors and I literally learned from the
1:47
best of the best in the business and just followed after them and did what
1:52
they did and had great success from that philosophy follow the best I want to
1:58
hear about your mentors in the beginning in a moment the first share with us one
2:04
of your top nuggets from the book visions to the top what are people gonna
2:10
wow that's a great question i truly believe that more and more people need
2:15
to access their inner spiritual self what i mean by that is we all have the
2:21
ability to close our eyes focus on our breath and we all have the ability to
2:26
some people call meditation it's actually known as visualization Olympic
2:32
athletes they they all do this stuff
2:35
Michael Phelps he just won the gold medal
2:38
two girls in the volleyball arena in the Olympics they just won the gold medal as
2:44
well and in their interview they talked about visualization as being the key to
2:50
visualization is a practice where you in the quietness of your home or your
2:55
office you close your eyes and you see your day as if you want it to happen so
3:02
i have put together the the four phases of visualization and basically it i
3:08
teach people how to access a calm state phase one is just being focusing on your
3:16
phase two is past successes or you're focusing on you you literally go back in
3:25
time and you see past images in your mind images that were you want in life
3:30
or a moment in time where you are happy somebody gave you love a moment in time
3:35
where you were celebrating and that's in your past and you cycle through multiple
3:40
times of your past that's past images future vision future visions is phase
3:49
that's where you focus on how you want your day to go and you see your day as
3:54
if it's happening right there before you at the highest level of success what you
3:59
want to achieve for the week
4:01
see those things unfolding before you and what you want to achieve for the
4:05
month or the year I go as far as five years 10 years 15 years and the practice
4:11
is anywhere from five minutes to 30 minutes every morning and I've studied
4:17
literally like some of the most successful businesspeople spiritual
4:22
leaders athletes celebrities and there's one thing in common its visualization so
4:31
let me play devil's advocate with a moment because I i certainly think that
4:35
visualization can be an important part of any successful persons toolkit and
4:42
I've heard Michael Phelps talk about that as well but i also know that for
4:45
example Michael Phelps has watched in detail all of his gold medal
4:51
winds from the swimming sessions he's actually not just visualized himself
4:57
winning gold he's watched video of himself watching gold and he's been able
5:02
to see the ultimate vision video in front of him so I so my frustration is
5:08
when it comes to communication is I often hear so-called public speaking
5:14
experts say close your eyes and visualize a standing ovation or
5:19
visualize your audience loving you and my point is don't even think about doing
5:26
that until you've practiced your speech on video and actually seen a vision of
5:33
yourself on video speaking the way you want it
5:36
tell me at are very contradictory or am i off base now you're absolutely correct
5:40
you actually have to practice
5:43
I mean there is a study but published by some russian scientist and they took for
5:47
group of Olympic athletes group one did 100-percent physical training group to
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did 75% physical training and twenty-five percent mental training
5:56
group 3 50 50 physical and fifty percent mental group for they did 25-percent
6:03
physical training and seventy-five percent mental training and they found
6:07
that over and over group for was the one who outperformed all of them
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yes they did their physical training twenty-five percent of the time and
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seventy-five percent of time they did their visualization the reason this is
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because our mind literally the neuroscience behind it are mine gets
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wired even though we're just sitting there closing our eyes and tapping into
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those emotions and feelings and senses and imagery our mind don't knows no
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difference it wires itself as if it's already happening and yes you do have to
6:40
you do have to practice some of the greatest speakers tony robbins zig
6:45
ziglar jim rohn they off you know as well as I know TJ they practice there's
6:50
the presentation or their pitch or their whatever they wanted to come across
6:56
multiple times before they went onstage
6:58
the book is visions to the top a millionaire secret formula to
7:05
zation and meditation Justin ledford thanks for being our guest
7:10
you're very welcome okay stop timeout let's pull back the curtain now that was
7:15
sort of the typical length of an interview if you were on let's say a
7:20
public radio show or NBC's Today Show Good Morning America 56 minutes now
7:27
let's step back for a minute just it and tell us what we're trying to accomplish
7:33
their how did you prepare how do you typically prepare for an interview like
7:37
that how do i typically prepare for an interview like we just had
7:41
yeah I literally get into power pose
7:44
there's something called power poses and weak poses and imagine you're standing
7:48
there with your chest out
7:50
you have one hand on the table your your your focus on your breathing
7:54
that's a power pose and then imagine the week pose where you're here maybe one
7:59
hand is on your chin or your arms are crossed
8:03
you're slouching over they've done Studies on power poses and weak poses a
8:08
person who's in a power pose their brain releases testosterone and decreases
8:13
cortisol levels whenever they're in a week pose it's the opposite
8:17
they lose testosterone and increased cortisol so long story short what that
8:22
means there is a woman in the Olympics recently and all ten girls are 11 girls
8:27
are about to race and run for the sprint from the jumping over those little
8:31
things and one of these ladies was in a power pose jumping up and down constant
8:36
state of a power pose and the other girls are just standing there literally
8:41
not doing anything and it was mind-boggling to me because I knew what
8:47
I knew she was increasing her blood with testosterone and we're reducing cortisol
8:53
from the power pose long story short once the gun was fired
8:57
she flew down the track and beat everybody house this house this
9:03
associated with communication when you're in a confident state or also
9:08
known as peak state you feel confident you feel ready and that's how I prepare
9:15
i show up in that state of mine confidence
9:19
and a peak state with my chest out ready to take on whatever somebody has to
9:23
offer and Justin this probably won't surprise you it might surprise some of
9:28
our listeners I'm standing right now are you standing or sitting i'm standing
9:32
both hands on my hips chest out
9:35
ok it we're two peas in a pod and we didn't we didn't coordinate that advance
9:41
the other just practical reason I think it's a good idea to stand for podcast
9:46
interviews radio interviews is you're more likely to gesture move your hands
9:51
you're more likely to breathe more deeply and I'm not someone who stood
9:56
historically puts a lot of emphasis on the whole breath thing but i do think
10:01
standing and not being all slumped over is an advantage for any sort of spoken
10:07
presentation I agree
10:09
whenever you're you can breathe in you you have more time to think and respond
10:15
instead of being so like it's easy
10:19
I've been on stage before my first you know presentations and business and I
10:23
wasn't breathing and i noticed i started getting nervous
10:26
so it's important to take a breath when you're in front of you know we have we
10:30
have professional communicators here listening to us it's important to take a
10:34
breath calm your mind and focus on what you need to focus on to close that deal
10:40
or get your point across
10:41
let's talk about focus what was your specific goal in the interview we just
10:45
did and what were the three or more or fewer messages you really wanted to
10:50
leave with the audience my specific goal on I really truly believe I've had a
10:57
crazy amount of success before the age of 30 have made millions of dollars i
11:01
have multiple businesses that produce millions of dollars in business and it's
11:06
all because my goal is I want more people to tap into their inner power
11:11
self their their level 10 life i want more people to understand that we can
11:17
all visualize I give keynote messages all the time literally twice a month and
11:24
whenever i do the visualization practice i see people with huge smiles I see
11:29
tears coming down her face while their eyes are closed going through the
11:32
this so what I want people to realizes we all have a great power within us we
11:38
sometimes forget you know it's like going to the gym the first time you go
11:42
you might not be so strong you might run it might be difficult but the second and
11:46
third and fifth and tenth time you start to enjoy yourself running that's your
11:52
I'm talking about your inner mental clarity and focus and and that whenever
11:57
somebody starts tapping in that regularly that's when they start to
12:01
become more powerful so my purpose is to help people tap into visualization and
12:07
meditation ultimately so they become more productive and fulfill their dreams
12:14
so let's ask our audience let's ask them to give you feedback if you picked up on
12:20
those messages from the interview
12:21
feel free to to send a tweet to Justin and your twitter handle is with your
12:30
oh my goodness it's that's a great question i am i why and for that you
12:38
know I think presumptuous my why I'm on my wife desert my wife handles all that
12:43
well but you don't have to use Twitter my question should be actually what is
12:48
the social media outlet you prefer people communicate with you on it so
12:54
they can find me on instagram at just ledford dot-com somebody took justin so
13:01
it's j ust led ffordd or you can obviously find me on Facebook Justin
13:07
ledford or of course my book visions to the top . com it has a contact form or
13:12
just inlet for.net no good rule for those of you hosting podcast don't
13:19
assume everyone thinks the same you to who
13:22
same as you do i'm assuming people like to give out twitter for instant feedback
13:27
but instagram is the perfectly fine social media outlet where I am
13:32
profoundly ignorant so i'm showing my pious there so thanks for thanks for
13:38
sharing that and go ahead and contact him on Instagram with any thoughts you
13:44
have on the messages now
13:46
mention anthony robbins I it's been probably 10 years but I've been to one
13:49
of his seminars he doesn't awful lot with visualization so do many of the
13:55
other self-help gurus you mentioned what's different about your approach how
14:00
do you how do you communicate differentiation in your brand of and i
14:07
don't mean this pejoratively self-help but it is help for business people in
14:11
more than just business but life
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how do you differentiate your take on visualization well one of the things
14:17
that I do with the audience that is listening to me whether it's in a
14:21
keynote environment or if the reading my book are listening to the audiobook is
14:27
there's something called a dreams list and it's you know what is a GPS do a GPS
14:33
takes you to point a to point b as fast as possible and we all have dreams that
14:39
we might not be fulfilling because we forgot about him
14:42
we we are busy with work our family and whatever the case might be so what I do
14:49
is I tap into people's dreams and simply put allow them to just get out a pen and
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paper and we write dreams list physical intellectual spiritual emotional
15:00
material psychological and we go through several others and then we list out 325
15:06
per category and the thing about it is when people don't know what they want in
15:11
life how can they expect to get it when you go shoot up up bow and arrow you
15:17
have to know what you're trying to hit and that's the concept with the dreams
15:22
list so I tie the dreams list into the visualization practice and when I'm
15:26
guiding somebody through the visualization practice i say certain
15:30
things where they're able to see what they want to happen in their dream so I
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might need money might not be i'm not a guru or anything I'm just a normal guy
15:41
who has had a lot of success before the age of 30 and i tribute that too hard
15:47
work and visualization and our guest today is justin leopard he's the author
15:53
of visions to the top a millionaire secret formula to productivity
15:59
and meditation it is available on amazon i read the kindle version lot of good
16:06
nuggets there i would urge you to check it out
16:09
by the way this program is brought to you by media training worldwide if you
16:14
would like a free no-obligation media training or presentation training course
16:20
more than a hundred videos good media training worldwide dot-com and click on
16:26
the online school you can get that no obligation course Justin you do several
16:32
keynote addresses to various audiences conferences all over the country in the
16:39
what is your signature story that is an awesome story so when I was 18 years of
16:45
age I was having great success like you mentioned selling cutco knives which is
16:50
a really high-end kitchen knife that's made here in America and i cut my up i
16:56
was about to cut a pumpkin
16:58
i sat down on the floor to get better leverage i pulled a brand new knife out
17:02
of a sheath i put the pump the knife inside the pumpkin with my right hand I
17:06
put my left hand on the pumpkin and I push down and before I know that I i
17:12
dropped the knife for some reason and I felt this rush of heat go straight
17:17
through my hand I stood up and my hand was on fire and then all the sudden just
17:22
split open from out from my from my thumb all the way down to near my pinky
17:28
and at that moment I said to myself do not freak out I literally said that over
17:34
and over don't freak out
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don't freak out what I I think I would be freaking out and because i knew i
17:39
could die if I'd freaked out blood
17:41
I mean I don't straight up man blood was gushing hitting my ceiling
17:46
I was hitting my fan was all over me all over my house my couch everything so I
17:50
ran inside my bathroom grabbed a purple towel rush wrap it around my arm went
17:57
outside started screaming for you by yourself i myself this is the day after
18:01
Halloween I went outside and I'm screaming how
18:04
path as long as I can and two people walk by me because my my apartment is
18:10
facing the the parking lot they thought I was joking they were literally
18:14
pointing at me like huh that's funny good prank and I'm screaming for help
18:19
fortunately somebody showed up by the grace of God at the you know nick of
18:24
drop me off to the hospital and I drop me off at the wrong location i had to
18:29
run to the ER and it with every run the blood was pumping from my arm with every
18:36
step and I get to the window and I'm like help help the lady said no no
18:42
you're fine just go sit down will be with you in a minute
18:45
I remember saying some curse words to her and hitting the window that she was
18:50
behind because I was dying you know and I go to the door
18:56
the big blue doors and I kick through the doors with all my might
19:00
ice cream how as loud as I can and the doctors they all they're pushing
19:06
patients this is behind the ER where doctors are supposed to go only and they
19:10
all look at me and start running to me I fall on the ground and i'm on the ground
19:16
bleeding out and this guy comes up to me he takes the purple towel off me it was
19:21
blue but now it's purple and he looks at my hand he's like oh my god what cut you
19:27
and I looked up at this guy and right in his eyes and I said cutco have you ever
19:34
heard of it it's okay i was still trying to sell the guy even though as died but
19:41
that was a great moment of my life I'd say that was a signature moment in my
19:45
life from that moment I realized you know I could make the choice to their
19:50
prescribing drugs because of the serious pain that I was in I I could have made
19:55
the choice to you know be a victim and play the victim mentality and all
20:01
woe is me but instead i realized that we are powerful we can accomplish anything
20:07
we want life and i decided to say no to what their prescribing and and heal
20:14
through my mind through meditation through prayer through this
20:18
organization there's a guy named dr. Emoto he studied water and the cells of
20:23
water something i highly recommend your audience look at and i decided to heal
20:29
myself and within a month the doctor by the way the doctor said you'll never use
20:33
your hand again he told me right in my eyes and I looked at him I said I will
20:38
not accept your diagnosis and then I woke up in a couple days later you know
20:45
within a week I was that back out in the field closing deals meeting with people
20:50
having a good time because i live by the five-minute rule if something happens in
20:54
my life and it's bad or good
20:57
let's just say it's a bad it happened I can't change it so why dwell on the past
21:03
you know some people get upset and bring it up a week or two or a month later for
21:08
me the five-minute rule i can i found out when i first learned about this
21:12
about 11 years ago I can be super upset stop my feet you know bigger and moan
21:17
but then it after five minutes I did that for like 30 seconds and i'm like
21:23
okay well I'm supposed to do this for five minutes and I'm already done I
21:26
don't have anything else to complain about
21:28
so after doing that the fourth or fifth time I realized you know what I can't
21:32
change it so let's just focus on what I can focus on and what I can achieve so
21:38
that's the moment in my life I'd like to share with your audience
21:41
anytime we go through challenges those are really just opportunities to see how
21:46
we're going to take it we're gonna grow from it or put our tail between our legs
21:51
and become weaker from it i chose to grow from it so how did you really start
21:57
selling your career at age 14 I was someone who was more comfortable public
22:05
speaking certainly than most kids i was one of these little student government
22:08
nerds running around giving speeches all the time and I had no problem doing that
22:14
but I could never sell anything I always came in last place for the magazine
22:18
sales in the candy sales for the various your baseball team your Cub Scout Troop
22:24
and I did try to sell i don't know if it was cutco knives but some sort of direct
22:30
sales thing I went out three days I think I sold nothing i was a kirby
22:36
vacuum cleaner salesman for three days so nothing so I have tremendous respect
22:42
for anyone especially the young age you can do that how did you do that
22:45
well i was actually mowing yards and doing odd jobs painting houses anything
22:50
of that nature at a young age I grew up in kind of a humble background you know
22:55
we didn't have everything
22:57
some of my friends more blessed and fortunate to have a nice home nice car
23:02
and my family went through a divorce at a young age and it was really
23:07
challenging I never wanted that to happen with my future family so I
23:11
realized it was mostly about money
23:14
the fights and stuff in my growing up so I realized I never wanted that so i
23:19
started as an entrepreneur at a young age I was that weird guy you know
23:23
selling candy in school I was you know selling the football tickets and and
23:29
just having car washes and and I always always like always very entrepreneurial
23:34
and one day I was painting a house i got a phone call while i was on a ladder and
23:40
was a guy named matt storm never remember it
23:43
he called me is super hot outside in Texas and asked if i was looking for
23:47
work I spilled the paint all over the house so obviously I was upset while I
23:51
was talking with him but he told me one of my friends had a lot of success which
23:56
I knew that guy was very successful
23:58
I went in for an interview and the rest is history and I just knocked it out of
24:04
the park once i got trained and started learning under the top people in the
24:07
business and what was the key to that just the ability to walk into any store
24:13
home and not worry about doors shut in your face or rejection is a numbers game
24:18
or how much of it is about just being a great communicator and good listener
24:23
once you've got someone
24:24
well you know in any business whether you're dealing with CEOs are trying to
24:28
close a prospect or you're dealing with your wife or husband or children you
24:32
have to know you have to listen to them and I wasn't afraid of hearing no
24:38
because you're right it is a numbers game so I'd go in people's houses and
24:44
most how to win friends and influence people it's a great book I wanted to
24:49
become their friend first and foremost and by doing that if they like you and
24:54
they trust you then we'll do business with you
24:56
so that's what ended up happening people people like me because I was friendly
24:59
and I had a great product so they ended up buying it
25:04
so how've you continue to improve you obviously started honing your speaking
25:09
skills even if it's just one on one when you're 14 15 and selling knives
25:15
how do you continue to improve as a speaker and what what motivates you to
25:20
watch TED talks to watch old Ziggler videos you watch that's a great question
25:25
I'd say what motivates me I listen to podcasts literally every day on my way
25:29
to my office i rarely watch TV unless it's something very specific beneficial
25:35
knowledge because we are what we put inside of ourselves and if we're
25:39
listening to you know top-performing people speak and we're listening to you
25:44
know the best of the best
25:46
then it's going to rub off on us you know our level of income is in direct
25:49
proportion to the level of how much we're growing personally and we r who we
25:56
surround yourself with so i try to surround myself with you know very
26:00
successful people I'd like i said i don't watch very much TV unless it's a
26:05
documentary or something specific i do listen a TED talks all the time I love
26:10
your podcast and multiple other people's podcast knows that if you could share
26:15
with and thank you by the way but share with us some of the names of other
26:17
podcast you find particularly helpful very very good question i'd say Mady a
26:22
with millionaire mind set is one very good show podcast another one is how
26:29
Elrod with achieve your dreams
26:33
another one is the front row factor with John Roman the smart passive income
26:39
podcast with pat flynn those are a couple that just stick out to me but I'd
26:45
say the one that inspires me the most is John Roman the front row factor and how
26:49
I rod achieve your dreams never heard of those so i will check those out
26:54
certainly heard of pat flynn and do subscribe to his
26:56
podcast but the others are new to me so I will double-check that those out and
27:03
get the best speech you ever saw someone in person not necessarily on video or
27:10
Franklin Roosevelt's inaugural address but someone you saw in person the best
27:14
speech ever saw in person was in 2008 with a man named matthew kelly he wrote
27:19
the rhythm of life that book changed my life
27:22
he also wrote the dream manager that book also had a big influence of who i
27:28
am today Matthew Kelly is from Australia he's got this crazy awesome
27:33
Australian accent and he went up on stage and just dazzled me with how he
27:38
spoke his words and told his stories and it was just great man i left that
27:44
conference feeling like I was on fire and that was the best speech ever
27:49
ok and my next question it's okay did not mention somebody by name but can you
27:54
think of the worst speech you ever so on person to me it's peter low of the whole
28:00
success seminars to me he always seemed like sort of a bad parody of a
28:05
motivational speaker but is there anyone you can think of and if you want to just
28:09
describe them that's okay too
28:11
I can I can't on honestly think of like a bad speech that I've listened to I am
28:17
I could say that I've seen speeches where people weren't prepared where they
28:22
were shuffling through their notes where they weren't connecting with their
28:25
audience where they weren't getting their audience engaged
28:31
those are I can't nail one person is the worst speech I've ever heard but i can
28:36
say those simple things that if you're not connecting with your audience you
28:40
know shuffling your papers you're not prepared if you're standing in week
28:44
poses like i mentioned people can sense this stuff and those are some of the
28:50
things that i would say I've noticed bad speakers do any other major influences
28:57
on you as a communicator when you were growing up in particular TV announcers
29:02
are politicians you admired or respected because of their speaking skills
29:06
honestly my baseball coach he wasn't like a
29:09
you know the famous or anything but he had a really really big house and he had
29:13
a baseball field in his backyard and he was a drill sergeant and some when the
29:19
Marines or something like that and just the way he spoke to us he was caring but
29:24
at the same time he was Stern he was you know passionate and that the heat of the
29:29
moment like when we were in our baseball championship games but he was also you
29:34
know common collected when he needed to be
29:36
I didn't really watch much TV grown-up sorry don't have had nothing to be sorry
29:42
about i'm sure you will not be on your deathbed regretting a little TV you
29:46
watched yeah you just gave me a flashback talking about your baseball
29:51
coach I remember for completely different reasons the speech of my
29:56
little league football coach i was in fifth grade and everything out of the
30:01
coaches they were two coaches mouths was an obscenity and how I was brought up in
30:07
a very sort of cloistered protective Leave It to Beaver family great family
30:13
and your parents were mild mannered conservative southern baptist and I just
30:19
had never really heard a curse word other than you know once every five
30:23
years in a major crisis and i just remembered having this terrible you like
30:31
depressing almost like a slap in the face what I heard it from the football
30:36
coaches so it is amazing the things that can stick with you now for me that was
30:42
more than 40 years ago and that's amazing you brought that up because
30:46
things are ingrained in our subconscious mind forever
30:51
that's a fact and sometimes we can get rid of those things but our subconscious
30:56
is like it's like that you know hey you say the tip of the iceberg
31:01
while our conscious mind is the tip our subconscious is underneath the water its
31:05
deep its vast it goes on and on and on and on and that's your subconscious mind
31:10
clicking and saying hey remember that moment and i truly believe I mean that
31:16
I'm not the only one like i said i'm not a group if you know how to program your
31:19
subconscious mind you can achieve anything you
31:22
life i learned this 11 years ago when i first started in business and I've been
31:27
doing it since $YEAR and helped a lot
31:31
our guest is justin ledford he is the author of visions to the top a
31:36
millionaire secret formula to productivity visualization and
31:40
meditation available now on amazon and especially the kindle edition the 1i
31:47
read by the way this is speaking with TJ Walker you have any questions comments
31:54
suggestions for guests in the future criticisms critiques send it to me
31:58
directly on twitter at TJ Walker you can also email me TJ at media training
32:09
is there anyone else you respect now in the business world political world media
32:16
world as a communicator and we're not really talking about their politics or
32:21
even what business there in but just their ability to communicate as far as
32:25
ability communicate i would say how alrod he is the creator of the miracle
32:31
morning which is incredible book that changed my life
32:35
he's one of the best speakers that I've ever listened to
32:38
same with jon berghoff jon berghoff is not very well known but companies hire
32:43
him like Vitamix he helped that company go from i think it was 50 that 50
32:49
million to over 200 million and one year he isn't very effective communicator i
32:56
don't really keep up with current events as much as some people do
33:01
I'm kind of in my own bubble of personal growth I like to listen to your podcast
33:05
and the other podcast i mentioned and then go close deals with people that's
33:11
pretty much what i'm doing throughout the day or giving speeches at
33:14
conferences let's talk about speeches you were speaking in an early age making
33:20
sales of your painting gigs everything else one-on-one but was the first time
33:25
you spoke and said you so okay that's an actual speech it's more than five people
33:30
it's not just a schoolroom
33:32
what was your first speech my first speech I'd have to say would be actually
33:39
at a cutco vent when I was 18 years of age I had an awesome summer I was
33:44
produced over at five hundred thousand dollars in sales personally and over a
33:48
hundred twenty-five thousand dollars as a manager I train people and taught them
33:52
how to sell and I was in room with 500 people in Arizona at a big conference
33:57
and I remember just the feeling of just nailing that conversate that that speech
34:03
people standing up clapping it was a great feeling man
34:07
well that's if only we could all have so many nice successes to start with that
34:14
is it a good benchmark some people have great first speeches son like Barbara
34:20
Corcoran the famed real estate investor who is now on shark tank always talks
34:25
about our very first speech she stood up 1,000 people and her just throws nothing
34:31
came out of her mouth and she ran out of the room
34:34
it's but things turned out for her to you know speaks all over the place it's
34:38
a muscle TJ it really is my first speech ever
34:41
it was a childhood play and school I don't know how old i was i was a sheriff
34:46
and I remember being nervous and you know feeling anxiety as a kid I remember
34:51
these feelings today and the first time I didn't do so well and then the second
34:56
time and third that you know you get better with practice
34:59
they say practice makes perfect but i like to say if you try to practice
35:05
that's how you get it perfect and any star athletes have bad days had
35:13
what are some of your bad speeches surely you must have had some that
35:16
weren't quite as smooth as the first one
35:18
some of my bad speech is let's see i was trying to I'm trying to think my worst
35:26
speech i I've been brutal stages before I I've tried fallen off the stage before
35:33
that stuff my worst speech ever happened when i was $DAY i was young I you know
35:41
19 years old I started to try to sell to real estate agents inside of their
35:46
so I'm used to one-on-one personal person i tried to do business to
35:50
business sales but the thing is i have to go in and do a team meeting where
35:55
there's like a hundred or two hundred real estate agents and I tried that and
35:59
the people in my business that do that phenomenally but when I tried it I
36:03
didn't do so well and I didn't have that immediate success that I would use to
36:07
having so i decided to stick with my strength my strengths were one-on-one
36:13
with the people you know I've been referred to and that's the thing with
36:17
your with your communicating your audience that communicates find out what
36:21
your strengths are and focus on those strengths
36:25
that's what you want to focus on that's what I do in my business and in all
36:31
parts of my life as well and its really helped me go very far by focusing on my
36:36
strength I do agree that that's generally the best way to go too many
36:43
people obsess over the the two-percent area where they're not doing something
36:47
so for example i am just not a good stand-up comic i took a stand up comedy
36:51
class 20 years ago never got to the point where I really felt like it was
36:57
working even with a test audience of friends in the stand-up comedy class and
37:02
you know what I just don't do stand-up comedy and no one's been disappointed
37:08
on the other hand i was doing an interview at ABC couple years ago my
37:16
wife was with me and she said you started every single answer using the
37:22
word well I didn't say our arm but I said well so i did have a problem there
37:30
and i decided to improve so I wrote out the word well but the International no
37:35
sign around it like no left-hand turn no parking and I tape that sign on my cell
37:40
phone computer and a few other places and drastically reduce it so we all have
37:47
flaws i know i'm certainly not perfect
37:52
do you see any flaws you have now as a speaker where are you still trying to
37:56
improve as a communicator
37:58
I feel I definitely have flaws and I feel I always find myself doing things
38:03
last minute I i like to rush I like that feeling of showing up in a peak state
38:10
and just nailing that moment so I should probably spend more time planning and
38:14
preparing and by what i mean by that
38:17
I kind of live in the philosophy of ready shoot aim instead of the
38:23
philosophy of set of the philosophy
38:25
ready aim fire so it helps me in the past but it's also hurt me in the past
38:33
so I should probably be more prepared
38:36
that's one of my flaws and speaking of not being fully prepared
38:42
can you think of your i'll give the opportunity positive to your worst media
38:48
and your best media interview my worst media interview ever and my best okay so
38:55
I'm gonna start with my best my best interview ever or speech ever
39:01
it was funny enough it happened last week I was a keynote speaker at a
39:05
conference in Arizona or it could have been a two months ago in Houston there
39:10
they both felt the same just awesomeness if that's even a word that the speech
39:15
was titled visions to the top obvious in my book and I basically felt like tony
39:20
robbins because the room was interacting their answering questions people came up
39:26
on stage and I did some mental psychological techniques on them the
39:31
connection in the room was it was really on point at the end of it people were
39:35
crying during in at the end people were crying with joy the negative ones in the
39:40
room they ended up being cheerful and happy and the managers of each division
39:45
they contacted me afterwards and they said their teams were noticeably doing
39:49
better in performance and more productive so that would have to say one
39:53
of my best training some cells people in different states especially that last
39:58
statement that people were contacting you after the fact seeing an actual
40:02
change of performance because that's the hard part getting a tier or standing
40:07
ovation for a lot of people can be easy but it's all forgot
40:12
sometimes hours even minutes later
40:16
yeah you got to give them like a plan of action you know okay so what did we
40:21
one two three and then you know you get them something to do rather than feel
40:28
people they will remember how you made them feel but if you give them a plan of
40:32
action with that feeling they'll go home and do that action since you made them
40:37
feel great now my worst interview man thats I i don't want to sound like i
40:44
don't consider anything but i'm i'm really trying to have a hard time my
40:49
worst interview okay so this was I here we go
40:52
I was on bourbon street at the crowne plaza hotel I was a keynote message for
40:56
young college students who were also in sales and there was just a lot of
41:02
distractions i'm going to blame it on the distractions like bourbon street and
41:05
you know a TD and these kids I was the last person to speak so they were ready
41:10
to get you know go and have fun
41:13
someone to blame it on that but I also that does seem like a less than ideal
41:18
scenario and inform hat for a serious interview is a
41:23
I well remember when I was young on Bourbon Street and listening to people
41:28
pontificate on anything serious who is not the top priority and you know as far
41:32
as your audience goes like if I have found that the introduction is the
41:37
biggest one of the most important things the district manager he didn't introduce
41:43
he just like hey this is just left he's awesome let's let's hear him talk
41:47
instead of what I'm used to this guy has succeeded ah he's doing great and here's
41:53
why you should let you know the introduction whenever you're meeting
41:56
somebody or introducing somebody make that person feel special and what
42:01
happens is they become more receptive to you and open to listening and this is
42:06
slightly different but related how do you introduce yourself let's say you're
42:10
at a speaker's convention or some conference and all the sudden it's 30
42:16
people the room and they say okay let's all go up us all stand up and introduce
42:19
ourselves for 20-30 seconds how do you introduce yourself in that situation
42:24
because I know a lot of people who are articulate and accomplished suddenly
42:30
turn into just the most boring name rank and serial number people when that
42:36
happens first of all I would stand in a power pose and I would smile and that's
42:43
a how's everybody doing and I get some odd get some interaction with the stage
42:48
or with the group whoever i'm talking to and then if there was no interaction i'd
42:53
say i'm sorry i can't see very well and I put my hand on my ear and say how is
42:59
everybody doing in the next thing you know everybody's like we're doing great
43:02
so I get some interaction and then save guys my name is Justin ledford i'm not a
43:08
guru I'm just a young man who has a passion and a dream to help people
43:12
become a better version of themselves
43:14
I've had a lot of success before the age of 30 and i just have a message
43:20
it's inside my book visions to the top I teach people how to use visualization
43:23
how to use meditation and ultimately live a dream fulfilled life you know
43:29
that's basically what i would do
43:31
I'd say whether whether you're super successful in life or maybe you haven't
43:36
made it to the success that you want
43:38
it's like a buffet platter it has nuggets of wisdom inside of it that can
43:43
teach anybody at any walk of life and that's something you're interested in
43:48
you should come check we should have a conversation and I did it with a smile
43:52
and just a hot you know waving my hands people can sense if you're if you're
43:57
stuck up and stubborn and you know I like to have fun with life i wear
44:02
flip-flops you know I'm just a laid back kind of dude who home wearing Crocs
44:07
right now myself away but with we heard two peas in a pod it sounds like an
44:12
awesome i want to hear from you I don't certainly want to end on a negative note
44:18
but i do want to know what you think is some of the worst communication advice
44:23
out there because anybody can call themselves a communications expert or
44:27
are you communications guru that to use that word that I think you're not a huge
44:32
fan of what i want to know what some of the best
44:35
communication advise you think there is that isn't it either isn't followed or
44:41
people just don't stop to think about but I also want to know what bad advice
44:46
is out there that you think people should really tion absolutely that is a
44:51
great question and I will say as far as like the best advice goes you know
44:58
there's a quote that I've i live by
45:01
let's see if I can find it it's from jim rome and he said I'm having a hard time
45:07
finding it would be basically said your level of income is in direct proportion
45:14
to the amount of time you spend growing yourself and as far as communication
45:20
goes know who your audiences that's one of the best piece of advice know who
45:26
they are know what their struggles r know what their strengths are know what
45:31
they're trying to accomplish know where they're having difficulties and if you
45:37
can know that come from a place of value
45:40
how can I offer value to this audience whenever I got that in my head by
45:46
offering value people that helped me in my communication tremendously so that's
45:52
a one of the best pieces of communication that people rarely follow
45:56
know your audience and offer value to them now
45:59
did you ask me about the worst communication advice yes I'd say worse
46:05
communication device
46:07
great question uh going up and not being confident not looking people in the eye
46:15
not connecting with your audience not interacting with them these are things
46:20
I've mentioned before but I've seen it before when they're up on stage in there
46:24
they're just kind of going through the motions you know conceded like that's
46:29
not good you want to connect with your audience and get them interacted that
46:34
would be my tip and are there ways of interaction that just don't work out i
46:41
will be honest with you I personally just
46:44
really don't like it when a speaker gets up and says how's everyone doing today
46:51
or you know who here wants to make more money to me always feels very contrived
46:58
and like they're manipulating me it's like okay I have to raise my hand and
47:04
how do you how do you make this judgment between the right amount of engagement
47:09
versus something that can maybe half the audience likes be the other half thinks
47:13
is cheesy and manipulative
47:16
that's a great question you really got to feel your audience out and they're
47:20
you're right TJ there's people who don't like don't like that stuff so there's
47:27
what you do is you change their physiology and what I do is when i
47:31
noticed that kind of weirdness in the audience
47:33
I'll get them to say everybody stand up please grab all your belongings
47:37
I need everybody to take a deep breath in and a lot of times as they need to
47:41
breathe and then ok next I want you to turn to your neighbor on your right and
47:45
give my little massage turn to your left and give a little massage and that
47:49
changes their physiology changes their mental state and then if I see it again
47:53
in the presentation I will literally all guide the audience if it's a one-on-one
48:00
will walk somewhere else and change the atmosphere if it's a group presentation
48:04
i'll change it up and we'll go we'll all get them to move into a different
48:11
whenever it's like a hundred or 200 plus people will have everybody switch seats
48:15
that changes the philosophy physiology of people and it kind of throws them off
48:20
a little bit and then they're they're back in peak state and final question
48:27
just what is it you want my audience to do well the is av audio sounds
48:34
pretentious amari audience what am I rush limbaugh been doing this for 50
48:37
years now what you want the listeners to the bizzle of this show to do
48:42
well you know obviously I appreciate asking i would love your audience to
48:46
pick up a copy of my book i'm actually for your audience i'm giving away that
48:49
first two chapters for free just so they can get a feel for it
48:53
I want them to read that at visions to the top .
48:57
Tom against visions to the top calm and if you like it be a supporter join our
49:03
Facebook community there's people all around the world
49:06
I never would have expected this Russia China Japan all over Europe emailing me
49:11
everyday telling me how this tactic or this technique has really helped them
49:16
and business are in their health so I want your audience to become the best
49:20
version of themselves and that how does that happen it happens by personal
49:25
growth whenever people are personally growing that's when better better this
49:31
begins it allows them to focus on contribution and and living a better
49:37
life you know as well as I know TJ whenever you learn something new you
49:42
want to share it with somebody right of course
49:46
so I want your audience to be the best communicators possible learn how to
49:51
visualize and definitely pick up a copy of my book visions to the top calm and
49:56
they could find you on facebook just by typing in Justin ledford that is correct
50:01
they can search for genocide for addition the time that's led f 0 rd
50:06
that's correct and also my website
50:08
Justin led for.net Justin led for.com and.net 3 w's . Justin ledford . net and
50:18
we'll post a link to that in the show notes as well
50:21
Justin thanks for being our guest today again the name of the book visions to
50:25
the top a millionaire secret formula to productivity visualization and
50:31
meditation available now on amazon
50:34
Thank You th-thank you speaking with TJ Walker has been brought to you by media
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