Latest / How To Talk To Humans / "Entrepreneurs vs Normal People" #30

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"Entrepreneurs vs Normal People" #30 · How To Talk To Humans

• 0:03
  Larry Wilson: Hi, this is Larry Wilson and this is how to talk to humans. This is the podcast that shows you how to improve your communication skills. Are you looking to get a better job?
• 0:15
  Larry Wilson: Are you looking to find a relationship? Are you trying to do things in your life that have frustrated you and eluded you so far, I can show you so easily how to change that. Now, I can only do it with humans. If you're looking to deal with vampires or zombies, extraterrestrial, this is not the show for you. But if you're really looking to improve your communication skills, I can show you what I've learned from 40 years and show business, working with the biggest celebrities and superstars in the world. And their secrets are unbelievable.
• 0:54
  Larry Wilson: What I'm going to be teaching you during this course of this podcast every week, are tools that you can use to communicate toward success. Hi, this is Larry Wilson. Thank you again for joining me for another episode of how to talk to humans, the show that promises to teach you the communication skills necessary to navigate your way through this very, very strange world. Today's episode addresses this very distinctly.
• 1:42
  Larry Wilson: Because I'm interested in the difference between entrepreneurs and normal people. Some of you may think you're both, but I don't really think you can be. I think you have to pick a team.
• 2:04
  Larry Wilson: And I want to address the problem of communication.
• 2:10
  Larry Wilson: Because both sides have a tendency to talk past each other. And I want you to eliminate that. I want you if you're a regular listener of this podcast, you know, I want you to be able to connect with anyone. And I want you to be able to do it in a way that allows you to convey your message. So you can create an authentic bond with them.
• 2:42
  Larry Wilson: Entrepreneurs are a very special breed of cat. They frequently find themselves in the position of the one man band, they have to do everything they have to, of course they must have a product or service that they're offering to the public. And most people, I think, imagine that that's the bulk of what being entrepreneurs, I think that may be the least of yes, you may be an expert Tailor of special clothing. Or you may be able to paint portraits of people or you could be anything that you do, you might make the world's greatest cinnamon bread that you sell online. It could be anything. But I think that's just the entry point. Because quickly entrepreneurs learn that no one feels the way they do about their business. And this may be a very common mistake that beginning entrepreneurs make where they think other people will see their passion for what they do. Look at these fantastic marbles. Every one of them is different. There's not a single one. That's it. Well, you may feel that way. And no doubt there are other people in the world who are interested in marbles and special marbles, who also feel that way. But most people may not share your rabid enthusiasm. And this is difficult for entrepreneurs to negotiate especially in the beginning. There's a word I hate that I'm going to invoke and then hope we never say it again.
• 4:52
  Larry Wilson: My old friend. The actor Kevin Pollak is also brilliant comic and impressionist, but I I always think of him first and foremost as an actor for all the fantastic films he has been. But he used to say sometimes when someone would say a word or phrase that he didn't like, without any hesitation, he'd say, I'll give you $40 to never use that again. And I never saw anyone take him up on it. They were just sort of so startled and taken aback that, but I never get that. And I once asked him, I said, Why $40? And he shrugged. I don't know. It didn't, it just came out of his mouth, I'll give you $40 There's a word that I hear that I'm tempted to offer money for people never to say again, but I'm afraid too many of you would take me up on it bankrupt me.
• 5:42
  Larry Wilson: That word is so low printer.
• 5:50
  Larry Wilson: Even saying it, I feel saliva well up in my mouth, like I'm going to be sick. Sorry, sorry, if you're fond of this word, I'm sorry, I don't mean any offense.
• 5:59
  Larry Wilson: I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. The solo printer. It's obviously a combination of solo and entrepreneur, it's supposed to emphasize the solitary nature of the entrepreneur, who is forced to handle everything themselves. They not only have created a product and a service or a service, and but they also must do the marketing. They must do graphics and video and voiceover, they must build their websites and on and on and on, they must handle logistics of inventory, scheduling, and they handle all the financial matters that ensue from business licensing and accounting. And if well, some of them actually have staff that they may have to manage. And that simply multiplies all the headaches and nightmares that go along with any business endeavor. But even if you're have no employees, if you're the only person involved, it's a mountain of responsibility for people who are entrepreneurs. They can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to be an entrepreneur. For normal people who have normal jobs, they may have applied for a job or gone in for an interview being hired. And then, as is customary, the management on some level will tell them what their responsibilities are, what their tasks are, what their hours are, how they're supposed to be dressed, how they're supposed to appear, how they're supposed to comport themselves, all these things. And those people can't imagine why anyone would want to be an entrepreneur, sometimes people zero in on the idea that an entrepreneur could potentially make a lot of money. Yes, that is true. But of all the entrepreneurs I've ever met, I've never found that to be the real motivation. They like that idea. They're grateful when they're successful. But I think what's most telling is that when these entrepreneurs do achieve a great, monumental success, so they're making millions of dollars, why don't they stop? If it's only about money, after they've made 5 million, 10 million, 20 million. I have a very good friend who built a company out of nothing. It's an online company.
• 9:33
  Larry Wilson: It was in a, an area that he knew nothing about, but educated himself about. He built it out of literally nothing. I take that back. It was nothing. He had a computer. If you didn't have a computer he couldn't have done. But he did everything for years, until he started to get a little bit more successful. And then started to take Get more people on to help him with tasks and start delegate things. Last year, I believe his company did$60 million worth of business now, I don't know how much of that goes into his pocket. I don't really I'm not privy to any of this. But I do know that if his only focus was on money, then he quit. My experience with entrepreneurs is it's an adventure. It's a wild, crazy expedition of something. Maybe it's a dream. They've always thought I wonder if I could dot dot dot fill in whatever that crate. I wonder if I could create the world's greatest bagel. Wonder if I could teach people to tap dance on ice skates? Whatever it is, it's something that really speaks to them.
• 11:10
  Scott Edwards: Larry, Larry, Larry, it's it's your friend Scott. I was driving by the studio. I was listening to your podcast.
• 11:19
  Larry Wilson: What in your ears?
• 11:19
  Larry Wilson: You have grandma? Well, that was you know,
• 11:23
  Scott Edwards: I was listening to what you were saying. And I was saying, You are so right.
• 11:25
  Scott Edwards: I'm an entrepreneur. And I'm not normal at all. And it's certainly not about the money.
• 11:34
  Scott Edwards: But I couldn't drive by the studio and not stop it and kind of reinforce what you were saying.
• 11:40
  Larry Wilson: Oh, thank you, Scott. I appreciate that.
• 11:43
  Scott Edwards: Was amazing podcast, by the way. Oh,
• 11:46
  Larry Wilson: there's no doubt it's clearly a revolutionary earthshaking?
• 11:51
  Scott Edwards: Well, we should point out also, the entrepreneur that's made $60 million is not me. But I have successfully opened over a dozen companies and kind of know what you're talking about. Tell me a little bit more. I mean, maybe I should try to be more normal.
• 12:08
  Larry Wilson: I think for you, Scott, that ship has sailed. I don't think that's really an option for you. And you know, obviously, I'm teasing Scott.
• 12:16
  Larry Wilson: And I go way, way back. But that's why I can say with certainty, because I've seen you, any guy who has opened a barbecue rib restaurant, and a submarine service is not going to be happy being normal. Well, it doesn't work like
• 12:42
  Scott Edwards: that, that you're absolutely correct, we should tell your audience that I had a special barbecue sauce. And so I opened a barbecue restaurant.
• 12:49
  Scott Edwards: And then the situation came up where I had an opportunity to purchase a submarine for tourists. And you know what I purchased a submarine and had a lot of fun with it. And it just the reason I had to stop and jump in and interrupt your show, and I'm so sorry, listeners, and Larry, but was the, my wife has put up with my entrepreneurial exploits for several decades.
• 13:15
  Scott Edwards: And it is, and she's like a government worker, you know, not in a cubicle. But you know, pretty much that kind of nine to five person.
• 13:27
  Larry Wilson: So she has a normal job.
• 13:28
  Scott Edwards: She Yes, she's a normal person, very smart, normal person. But it is true that as an entrepreneur, she would tell you that I loved creating and opening new businesses and attacking all those things that you mentioned earlier in this show. Somehow that gets my juices going. I enjoy that challenge that risk.
• 13:50
  Scott Edwards: And I've failed many times. And I've made many, many mistakes.
• 13:54
  Scott Edwards: But I just keep doing it because I enjoy that. But she would also tell you that once I got one of these entrepreneurial adventures going, I would move on, I would leave staff to run it. And I would move on to the next adventure. Because for me, the joy was in the creation and the hard work to get something created from nothing. As opposed to once I got a restaurant open or a nightclub opened or got that submarine in the water. I wasn't interested in actually operating it. I just liked that.
• 14:33
  Larry Wilson: Well that's the normal part is operating it and you have no interest in normal.
• 14:36
  Larry Wilson: I mean, so that no one thinks this is a put on. Scott has besides opening maybe one of the most successful a chains of comedy clubs in the country that were in business. I think one of them still in business now. In Sacramento area. But Scott is open to art galleries and restaurants and jazz clubs. And I mean, there's kind of no end to it. What you're describing, of course, I think is what really motivates entrepreneurs.
• 15:15
  Larry Wilson: The creative process is very exciting. And I think if there's one thing that differentiates the entrepreneurs from normal people, is that entrepreneurs don't want anyone telling them what to do.
• 15:39
  Scott Edwards: That is so true, I should add of fairness of in being clear, one of the reasons I opened my own companies is that when I worked for others, I was often fired. And it's because I wasn't shy about telling them what they were doing wrong. And somehow they didn't appreciate that,
• 16:02
  Larry Wilson: that funny, they no one likes to hear that kind of information. But truthfully, that's the one thread of continuity, I see differentiating entrepreneurs from regular people is that entrepreneurs, they have a vision in their head, or they have a passion for something, or they are following a pathway or a tune that a Piper is playing that there. And they don't want someone to say, Oh, we don't allow breaks, except at noon.
• 16:36
  Larry Wilson: It's like, No, I'm taking a break now, because that's what entrepreneurs do. And to normal people with normal jobs, it seems so baffling. And, again, I don't think that there's one way is right, and one way is wrong.
• 16:54
  Larry Wilson: I think sometimes different people's personalities resonate more with one than another, that regular jobs offer something that entrepreneurs never have, which is structure and security.
• 17:13
  Larry Wilson: That if you are hired. I don't know, I was trying to make up the most mundane job I could think of and I don't know what that is. But if you CPA, all right, you're very well done that's a little deeper, that you're a bookkeeper, you're doing all these people's the tax prep, sorry, to
• 17:31
  Scott Edwards: all those people that do bookkeeping, we need you,
• 17:33
  Larry Wilson: of course, we need them. That's the point is that they fulfill a very important role. But they know, I'm going to go in, I do ABCD, I do these specific tasks, I break at this time for a snack or something, or maybe I break it's time for lunch, and then I come back. And they know I'm going to be paid X number of dollars, out of which the government will take X number of dollars in taxes. And every week I make this much.
• 18:05
  Larry Wilson: There's something to be said for that. I mean, that's a enormously comforting structure and security. Now, on the other hand to entrepreneurs, who frequently are flying by the seat of their pants, it's a wild Mr. Toads wild ride. That's what it is, you know,
• 18:29
  Scott Edwards: it's fun. It's really very scary. Very risky, but fun.
• 18:34
  Larry Wilson: If yes, if you are oriented that oh, yeah, it's
• 18:38
  Scott Edwards: fun for me. It drives my wife nuts, it drives my friends nuts,
• 18:42
  Larry Wilson: I feel the same way you do. Scott, I find it enormously exciting. And that, you know, it's so gratifying when something that you've done this crazy thing with. This is why I keep saying this about Wilson method training. I never thought I never in a million years imagined I could make this somehow successful. I didn't think that. And it was really at the urging of other people who could see something that I couldn't see. And when they really pushed me to do this, I thought, Okay, I'll try it. And then to find out, they're all these, there's tons of people and of course, what may be?
• 19:32
  Larry Wilson: Well, I was gonna say some it sounded pompous. So I won't say.
• 19:35
  Larry Wilson: I won't say that. I'll put it a different way. I was surprised that there was a mix of people coming to me for Wilson method training of both entrepreneurs and normal people. No, not the normal people. Yes, yes. Now, maybe it's not fair of me.
• 19:56
  Larry Wilson: Because maybe those People I thought were normal. Maybe they don't think of themselves as normal. Maybe they have an entrepreneurial spirit. And maybe they have all kinds of bones, I don't know. But from what I understood about them, and from what they told me of their stories, it may be that people who want what better communication can deliver. That may be the entrepreneurial spirit, that normal people may feel like, well, this is just the way things are. And when I try to communicate to that other department at Human Resources, half the time they don't know what I'm talking about. And half the time, I don't know what their response is, and stuff doesn't get happening in a timely fashion. That's just the way things are maybe, maybe that's what normal life is about.
• 20:50
  Scott Edwards: Yeah, in entrepreneurs always have a different spirit. But I do I have to get going. I'm sorry to drop in on your podcast. But I have to get back to my dog walking, new bit. That's new, my new adventure. But anyway, thanks, sorry, people for interrupting Larry doing a great job. And I love the Wilson method. I'll be listening to the podcast. I
• 21:13
  Larry Wilson: like the sound as he roams out onto the street of his voice becoming more distant.
• 21:15
  Larry Wilson: That, of course, was Scott Edwards, serial entrepreneur.
• 21:19
  Larry Wilson: And he's a very good example of how normal people see entrepreneurs as nutso. Because it doesn't make sense. And and I think at the beginning of this episode, I may have made reference to the fact that entrepreneurs and normal people frequently speak past each other, which of course, is a disaster, we don't want that.
• 21:53
  Larry Wilson: Now, I can't be held responsible for the normal people, many of them may think that how you communicate how you speak, how you write, they may think it has no bearing on your life, on your finances, on your success, they may think everything that happens in life is just luck.
• 22:14
  Larry Wilson: Well, I'm not really sure I believe in luck, other than to say that the more opportunities you create for yourself, I guess, the higher chance there is that you may get lucky that when you're doing things and moving around, and creating new channels to explore and experiment with, I think that may be creating the opportunity for what we call luck to take place. And I can tell you, from my personal experience, I'm sure Scott feels this way. I'm sure every entrepreneur feels this way. That when you labor, to bring some idea, some dream, some passion, to fruition. And then it succeeds. Even even if it's a tiny bit of success, it feels like nothing else you've ever experienced in your life, you really do feel like you have superhuman strength, like you could lift a house over your head. And you know, it's funny, because I just said, even a little tiny bit of success. I remember reading a article million years ago, someone asked a bunch of famous people about money, they're asking about, you know how much money they needed, or what was it like being wealthier? When did they feel really wealthy. And I'll never forget, there was a quote, they asked Neil Simon, the playwright, and he said, getting paid $250 a week as a writer on some radio show or something like that. And he said, After that none of the rest matters.
• 24:21
  Larry Wilson: Said getting $250 a week to write. That was incredible. And boy, do I understand that sensation. And obviously, if you I was referencing earlier before, Scott came blundering in here to the studio. I was talking about a friend of mine who has an enormously successful company. And I know that he's not done. He's told me he has plans, all kinds of new directions. And I know that he just wants that experience of, okay, we've done this incredible job. Now let's see, can we do more? Can we be even more amazing, and I won't be at all surprised if, you know, I'm not mentioning this guy's name, because it's not my place to say and I don't mean to put him on the spot. But this was the guy before his company was doing $60 million in business. This is a guy who was on very, very close association with Top Ramen. He, he was scraping by when he was trying to build this company.
• 25:46
  Larry Wilson: And that's normal for entrepreneurs, you until you've convinced a lot of people that what you have in mind is valuable. You may be in there by yourself, you may be alone. And And this, of course, is why your communication skills are paramount. Because it's your job to be able to convey this dream, this goal, this passion, whatever it is. Have you ever seen someone in an interview who doesn't have these skills, and they may have been successful, but they're just sort of frothing at the mouth? And they're obviously excited?
• 26:33
  Larry Wilson: They're like, it's it's so great. It's so great. Oh, my God, oh, my Well, yeah, but you're not telling us what it is. Now, sometimes those people are smart enough to hire someone like me. Because they know they can't communicate. Many years ago, I'd forgotten about this. I was hired to promote a film that had gotten such scathing reviews from critics, that the producers were worried that if they released it, to more critics for reviews, that they would kill it with these terrible reviews. And so they hired me to go out with them on sort of a national tour, and do all this crazy stuff and make all these have very tongue in cheek presentations, where I was pretending like this ridiculous low budget film was some great work of art, which it was not. But the people who came out to those screenings got caught up in the infectious sense of fun. And they got that the producers didn't take themselves that seriously. And the film made a huge amount of money. I don't know how long it was before eventually, people realize woof, this films of stinker. But before that, lots of people came and saw it enjoyed it had fun, really liked it. But sometimes that's what's required, the producers film realized we need somebody like Larry to go out and explain this in a way that makes it appealing. This, of course, is I think, at the heart of the entrepreneurs journey. If that's you, I would devoutly wish that you explore Wilson method further, go to the website, the Wilson method.com. There'll be some interesting stuff there that's free that you can look at. And I hope that you'll continue listening to this podcast. Because all the things I talked about here are the same things that I talked about in Wilson method training. I'll be back next week with another episode of how to talk to humans. And I hope that entrepreneurs and normal people alike will join me that this has been Larry Wilson, I want to thank you for spending this time with me. And I hope you found this information useful. If you're looking for more you can find it at the Wilson method.com There's a ton of stuff there that if you want, you can even speak to me because I'm human.
• 29:35
  Larry Wilson: Send me an email at info at Wilson method.com Because I read every single one. I hope that you will join us next week in this continuing journey. And you'll be with me for the next episode of how to talk to humans.