Mentorship and coaching is critical. If you don’t know something, going to somebody that does instead of spending your lifetime trying to figure things out is critical if you want to get ahead. A mentor to many notable personalities, Jim Britt has been in personal development for a few years, working with small business entrepreneurs and anyone seeking to remove the blocks that stop their success in any area of their life. On today’s podcast, Jim sits down with Michael Silvers to talk about how he got into mentoring and why investing in mentorship and coaching can take you where you want to go.
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Why You Need To Invest In Mentorship With Jim Britt
I’m glad you’re here. I am honored one of my mentors and guest is on with us. We have a lot of shows coming up. It’s exciting. Everybody knows that I don’t usually announce what the next show is because I like the suspense. We’re going to have Joseph McClendon joining us. Mark Yuzuik is back again. He will be joining us. I’m going to have Mary Glorfield do a call for us. She was Tony Robbins’ vice-president for eighteen years. If you ever wanted to know how to be on stage, how the whole amazing Tony Robbins happened, she’ll talk about that.
She’ll also talk about the world, where it’s going, and what she sees with everybody that she puts on. We’re going to have a great bunch of shows, and then we have some special guests also because we’re already booking. Go to TheMentorStudio.com. We’re also going to put a calendar up there. We also have Tuesday events that we can invite people to. It’s networking for your business. We do training. We do it every single Tuesday at 11:00 AM. As a member of The Mentor Studio, you get that complimentary. That’s our way to also give back as we take this out to the world and help the villages out there.
Without any further ado, it’s an honor of mine. This gentleman has been in personal development for a few years. We don’t want to ever start to go from there. He was one of the mentors because one of my first moves, as most people know, back in the ‘90s was in network marketing. Being in network marketing, I heard his and his business partner’s name a lot. Also, another gentleman that we respect, a tall guy with a first name, Tony. He was also a big part of Tony’s education. He’s been a mentor to people I know and work with. There are many of us out there. Let’s give a big round of applause to Mr. Jim Britt. Jim, thank you for being on.
Thanks, Michael. It’s a pleasure to be here.
It’s great to have you on here. There’s going to be people on here that don’t know who you are. There are people that on here that don’t know who I am. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background? Also, what got you into doing what you did and how you created that?
I’ll try to make it short. I’ve been in the speaking field now for many years. I’ve seen all the changes take place over the years. I’ve also been involved in the network marketing industry over the years. That’s where I got my start. I’m a high school dropout. No education formally, no business background, no nothing. I worked in a factory on an assembly line. One night I was working a swing shift and got off at 12:30. A fellow stopped me and says, “Are you going to work here for the rest of your life?” I’m going, “I don’t know, maybe.” He said, “Come go to this meeting with me. It’s something we could do to make some extra money.” I said, “What is it?”
He said, “I don’t know. They told me to bring somebody with me.” I said, “I’m not your guy. I’m not taking my night off the next night and go to something meeting.” He said, “If you go with me, I’ll buy the beer afterwards.” I said, “What time’s the meeting?” I went to the meeting not expecting anything. I’m looking forward to having a few beers afterwards. I watched a presentation for about an hour and as it unfolded, I was blown away with it. I kept telling myself, “I can do this and I could get rich doing it.” I didn’t know what rich was. My income was about $64 a week. Rich to me would have been doubling that, but I saw people making $10,000, $15,000 a month and that blew me away.
Long story short, I got started in that business. It cost me $4,000 to start. I only had $9, so that was a challenge. I went to 23 different loan companies and banks. Finally, the 23rd one loaned me $4,000 and I got started. I’ll never forget. My training was the guy says, “Your job is talking to people. If you talk a little, you’ll learn a little. If you talk a lot, you learn a lot.” I said, “How much is a little?” He said, “One a day.” “How much is a lot?” “Ten a day.” I said, “I’ll do the ten.” I set out to talk to ten people a day. I didn’t know what to talk about or how to talk. I never sold anything in my life. I quit my job on the first day.
Over the next twelve months, I lost everything I owned. My home, both of my vehicles, my furniture, everything was taken. I’ll never forget, it was five days before I had to be out on the street by order of the sheriff. I had $0.15 in my pocket, a wife and a child. I didn’t know what to do. When you mentioned mentoring, somebody knocked on my door. I’m assuming it was probably a bill collector of some kind. I had nothing left to take. I opened the door and he said, “I understand you’re working hard and not making any money.” He was a guy from the company.
He came in and we sat down on my floor for two hours. He taught me what I was doing wrong and what I needed to be doing because for the last twelve months, I talked to ten people every single day, and 3,650 people told me no. People ask me now, “How do you handle rejection?” I say, “I’ve already done that.” That’s how I got started. My business took off like a rocket. My next year in that business I earned almost $500,000. I started another business not in the network marketing field. By the end of my second year in business, I was a millionaire. I met Jim Rohn at that company. We became best of friends back in 1970, and joined up together in business shortly after that.
What I love about the story too is you were willing to go back to the mentor. There’s a time in mentoring where we almost have the fear for some reason, “I am not successful or successful enough. I’m afraid to ask the questions.” Can you talk a little bit about that?
I look at everybody as a mentor. Everybody is a student and a teacher. It’s interesting that fellow that came by and spent time with me, I don’t remember his name. I never saw him again after that, but what a life turning experience that two hours I spent. A little tweak was all I was missing and my business took off. Mentorship and coaching are critical. If you don’t know something, go to somebody that does instead of trying to figure it out and spend all your lifetime trying to figure things out. It’s critical if you want to get ahead. A lot of people go, “I don’t have the money.” If you don’t have the money, probably the best place to go get it and invest it is in mentorship or coaching to take you where you want to go.
It makes a big difference because a lot of times we try to do it on our own. Especially entrepreneurs, they have that tendency of wanting to do it on their own. When I tell my story, I say, “I was Director of Coaching for Chris Howard, T. Harv Eker, Success Resources in the US, and Peak Potentials.” I said, “There’s something about that story. Is everybody seeing that I’ve partnered along the way, that I’ve always created partnerships?” You created a partnership with Jim Rohn. Can you talk a little bit about that business and why you did that even though you’re still doing the network marketing? Now you’re mentoring, training and teaching. What brought you to that?
Jim and I met in that company. He was doing training and it was the first time I’d ever heard of any training like that. Every time he would show up in a five-state region, I would be there listening to the same seminar over and over. That company ultimately closed their doors maybe two years later. I lost track of Jim. He changed his phone number. We didn’t have cell phones and stuff. I was doing some building and real estate development. I lived in Oklahoma but I was in Phoenix looking at some property. I walked into a restaurant to have breakfast one morning and there sat Jim Rohn. We had breakfast together and caught up. He said, “Why don’t you join me in business?” I said, “Doing what?” He said, “Promoting seminars.” I did. I wasn’t that good at it the first month, but I learned quickly. We put probably close to one million people through events over the years. It was a great business experience and personal experience with Jim as well. He was a very close friend.
It's so important in business to do more than expected. Click To TweetThat’s an important part too because there’s the tendency for people to get a little bit star struck, or you have a mentor because, “They’re going to change my life.” You still have to do the work. I do believe greatly in working with people that you know, like and trust. That’s an important relationship because Jim, how many shiny baubles are out there? Everybody’s looking for that next piece and you don’t always hit it. Even in the beginning of your business, how many people did you have to talk to?
I always looked up to Jim Rohn. I was star struck a little bit in the beginning. We were doing a leadership seminar at a ranch where all of the people were staying in the bunkhouse. Jim and I and a couple of people were in the main house. I’m sitting there, turned the TV on and having a glass of wine. Jim went off into the bedroom to take a shower or whatever. He came back out to the kitchen in his underwear and I’m going, “He’s just like me.” I’d never seen him like that.
It’s funny you say that. I didn’t have quite the same experience. Living with Harv on the road for three and a half years, him, I and Michelle sat in every single greenroom in all of these different countries. Probably for six months, I didn’t say anything because I knew him ten years before this. He mentored a lot of my team and we brought a lot of people to the millionaire mind. I finally loosened up. It was Michelle, his partner, who said, “Ask what you need. He will always be there for you,” and he was. He was wonderful. He treated me amazing on the road.
There was one time he was changing. He took me up to a suite. It’s the only way we had time before he had to go on stage again. That same realization is there’s no difference. The other thing too is when my wife and I started in this business, we did it together. I’d like you to talk about being of service because whether we volunteered, we moved chairs, or a microphone had to be run and a new one bought, we always came from, how can we be of service and how can we help? Can you talk a little bit about that in business?
We did the same thing. I used to show up at Jim Rohn’s events. We call him the lead generator. He did the evening event that we sold lower tickets to. I would show up maybe three hours before and check to make sure all the tables were right. I used to tell my staff, “It takes 2 to 3 years to train a hotel to set it up the way you want it.” We’re always rearranging, doing things, taking chairs out, putting chairs in and checking the microphone five times. I’d always find the wait staff there and give them a couple of hundred dollars and say, “Take good care of us,” so they’re servicing us well.
It’s so important in business to do more than expected and then check on it, giving service, being valued for that and keep looking at it as a way to earn more income. It’s something that you do if you’re in business. This mentor back then taught me this. He said, “When you meet somebody, I don’t care who it is or where they are, if it’s on an airplane, in a party or whatever, always be thinking, ‘What can I do to help this person?’” I’ve lived my life that way.
I met for a short time Zig Ziglar. He always came from, “How can I be of service and how are you going to service those around you?” That was also a time in my life that was a big a-ha. Did you ever work with Bill Gove too? I met him right towards the end and I found him brilliant.
I never worked with him, but I did know of him. I worked with Zig, Og Mandino, Brian Tracy, and Tom Hopkins. I did a couple of events with Earl Nightingale, who was one of the grandfathers of personal development. What I tried to do is co-brand myself with well known people that were out there. If I could get on stage with them, then it helped me to co-brand and excel my brand. That was always my objective. We didn’t have social media. If you want to write a book, you had to print 30,000 copies of it, not like now.
The point was it is about being of service. You don’t always have to be the shining star. Sometimes that’s not what your role is. It’s truly to be of service for those around you, and pick the ones you know, like and trust. It makes a big difference.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the network marketing field. I’ve never been out of it, but mostly my experience has been in the speaking area over the years. My philosophy is always, “I don’t want to be up on stage. I want the people that’s accomplished something more that’s working with me, that’s helped me get where I am. I want them to be on stage. I want to get out there and applaud for them.” At one company, I was the recruiter of the quarter for six consecutive quarters. They always called me up on stage every time, for some reason, I was out of the room. I learned something from that. One of my group came up to me afterward and said, “How come you don’t get up on stage? We want to applaud you.” It goes both ways. I wasn’t not going up there. I didn’t happen to be in the room when they announced it.
It’s the time you get a drink or you have to use the restroom. We’re human beings. The other thing too for our audience, sometimes they tuned-in to these shows, sometimes they go away. We’re all busy doing things, but what are 2 or 3 things that they could do in the next couple of weeks that could help them with their habits and attitudes? What are three life issues or things they can get up with every day that you could let them know?
Many years ago, my whole approach changed in the personal development field. I was thinking about the habit patterns that we have as human beings, both positive and negative. The positive ones, it would be hard to live without. They’re the ones that become second nature like walking, talking or driving a vehicle. You don’t have to get back in the vehicle every time and learn how to drive it. You get in and go. We probably do hundreds of things we don’t realize we do out of habit. That would be difficult to live without. On the other side of that, we have negative habit patterns that becomes second nature and we don’t know we’re doing them. What’s happening for people is they get stuck. They try to break out of something they don’t know they’re in. It’s like a self-imposed prison that they’ve created through subconscious programming over their lifetime or it’s been created. They might have unintentionally created it, but their programming is in there.
Those habit patterns run your life and they become core beliefs. When there were core beliefs and you launch out to try to change that, maybe you believe money is hard to earn and you can never get ahead financially. If that’s your core belief, you’re going to do everything in your power to prove to yourself and the outside world that what you believe is true, even to your detriment. We’re trying break out of something we don’t know we’re in. I call it an addictive cycle. Every time you try to break out, it keeps strengthening that cycle. You try it again, whether it’s about money, weight loss, health, relationships or whatever it is.
What I’ve done over the years has helped people to recognize the cycle that they’re in, and now that habit pattern becomes conscious. Every time they exercise it, whether it’s procrastination or being late for meetings habitually or whatever it might be, it’s now a conscious choice. I then show them how to break the cycle. To me, that’s critical. In order to break it, you got to decide what you want in life. What do you want in your business? Whatever it is you’re going for, you’ve got to decide to the point where nothing less than that will do. Why did I go there for a year talking to ten people and get all those thousands of noes and wouldn’t give up? It’s because I decided the night I was in that meeting that I’m going to do this and I’m going to get rich doing it.
You can't decide to be wealthy and want to live in mediocrity at the same time. Click To TweetI would not give up. I even had people say, “You got to go back to the factory. You can’t keep doing this.” I’m broke, I’m on my knees. That decision has to be firm. If you want to get wealthy, as an example, whatever that means to you. You can’t make a decision to be wealthy and want to live in mediocrity at the same time. It’s two different decisions. People say, “I don’t want to make the decision until I have a good opportunity to make the money.” No. When you make the decision, it creates a mindset. Now your view of the world changes and you see opportunities. The view of the world changes and they come to you instead of you having to go after it. That’s so critical. I see people setting goals, doing vision boards and all this stuff. If it’s not backed by decision, it’s just mental gymnastics.
It’s to have the vision. The vision is to enroll others in where you’re going, but without the decision and the action, I’m agreeing with you.
You got to act on it. There’s no doubt about that. It’s not just going to come to you. You can’t just sit back and wait for the Law of Attraction to bring it to you. If that’s how it supposed to, we’d all be cruising the Caribbean in our 90-foot yachts. You got to take action. What throws us off course is for some people, they’re not bold enough. They don’t put themselves on center stage in the spotlight. They hang back. You can’t hang back in this time. You got to put yourself out there, be seen and be recognized. If you’ve got an opportunity or a product you’re promoting, you got to toot your own horn because nobody’s going to toot it for you.
The biggest thing is when people go to do something they’ve never done before, it’s painful. It’s like leaving that comfort zone and then you make a decision. Do I sink back into my old ways and do I want to lose this weight? It’s so much more comfortable to have a few glasses of wine, eat some potato chips, a hamburger and sit with the remote watch TV than it is to go on a diet or eat right. The same thing with anything in your life. We always weigh out that pain of changing. Whatever is the least amount of pain is what we usually go with. If you want to get ahead in life, you better go toward the pain.
This has been great because sometimes it is. You never know who it’s going to be, but it’s listening to that one mentor, that one person and you’d go, “I got it.” You then go make the decision and stand up. Here’s where the confusion happens. I hear this a lot. Maybe you could talk about this for a second. If I stand up and I’m the one who’s always talking about it, is it not then about my ego? Am I not then boasting?
You’ve got to set the example. You got to do it yourself for people who want to follow you. I have six sons. I wrote a book, What I’ve Learned from My Six Sons. I look at all of them as my mentor in some ways. It’s been interesting observing them. We homeschooled 4 of the 6, and I did a class on entrepreneurship once a week. I never tried to influence them to become entrepreneurs. I said, “You need to think like one. Even if you’re going to work for a big company, you’ll be more valuable to that company.” I did an hour every week on entrepreneurship for a couple of years, and all four of them are entrepreneurs, not in my business but in their own business. That influence, I didn’t stand up and say, “You’ve got to go do this.”
I’ve learned some things over the years and I’ve been around for a long time that is valuable. I don’t want people to believe me. All I ask is to give it a try and see if it works for you. I have an old program called The Power of Letting Go. People don’t understand the letting go process. If you’ve got this glass in your hand, it doesn’t mean you have to carry it around in your hand for the rest of your life. You can set it down. The same thing with emotional healing, the things that’s gone wrong in your life, the failures that you’ve had, the business and money that you lost. Whatever it is, you can set it down. It’s not that hard to let go and move on. I’ve practiced that for probably many years now. It’s second nature for me. If it’s not feeling right, I set it down and move on. I did an infomercial a while back and cost me almost $750,000 and it didn’t work. I just moved on. What else are you going to do?
I get hung up sometimes. The biggest thing I learned is that failure is an education piece. The more you fail, that means you’re getting out there and doing something. It’s whether you’re willing to learn from it or you’re taking it as like a crushing blow denial of who you are.
I look at it as another way that didn’t work, “That didn’t work. Let’s go with this.” I never look at failure as failure. It’s just something that didn’t work. It’s the same thing with fear. To me fear is a whole made-up story. We concocted it all in our minds that something is going to happen if I go talk to somebody or a stranger, do this, invest this or invest your time in something. You’ve got a fear that something’s not going to work. It’s all made up. If it’s a made-up story, why not make up something a little bit more productive? Typically, it’s taking a past experience, projecting it into the future with the anticipation of it happening again, and then re-experiencing it at the moment. The question is, is it real in the moment if it was based on a past experience? It’s more real at the moment because you brought it back in. Let go of that stuff and move on.
I want to thank everybody for being on. Jim, this has been great. You make it simple in a way. It’s not easy. There’s nothing easy here, but it’s not about complicating it. Before we do end the show, tell us a little bit about what you’re involved in now.
There are several things that I’m involved with. Kevin Harrington from the TV show Shark Tank, we’re doing a collaborative book series with twenty coauthors in each book. We’re now in volume five. All of them had become the number one international bestsellers. It’s a great PR marketing branding and lead generation for people that are in the book with us. I’m working on that. I’ve written two books myself since March 2020. One’s called The Entrepreneur: Why 90% Fail and How to Avoid the Mistakes They Made. The other one is called Directing the Movies of Your Subconscious Mind. It’s the two things I know well, entrepreneurship and the personal empowerment side.
If they want to reach out to you, what’s the easiest way? Should I send them to your website? How would you like them to reach out to you?
They can catch me at JimBritt.com. You can message me through there or CrackingTheRichCode.com. You can email at Support@JimBritt.com and I’ll get that.
Jim is mentoring with us now with The Mentor Studio and we’ll have him on a live mentor studio call. We’ll be setting that up and I’ll talk to Jim about his schedule. For myself and The Mentor Studio, this has been an honor to have you on, Jim. Thank you. Go to TheMentorStudio.com. We appreciate all of the comments everybody’s leaving on there. Thank you for all the wonderful subscriptions to The Mentor Studio and also the comments of how much you’ve enjoyed the show. We appreciate all of you out there. Jim, any last words before we go?
The key to success at anything, once you’ve made the decision, then realize that every action you take from that point forward is going to move you toward it or away from it. Success at anything is that simple. Watch yourself and observe. Observe your actions. We can’t do it 100% of the time, but if you become aware of that and start to self-observe, you can save yourself a lot of time and become more productive in the process.
Thank you, Jim. Thank you, everybody. We look forward to you at the next show. We enjoy all of you in the audience being part of this.
Important Links
- Joseph McLendon
- Mark Yuzuik
- Mary Glorfield – LinkedIn
- Mr. Jim Britt
- What I’ve Learned from My Six Sons
- The Power of Letting Go
- The Entrepreneur: Why 90% Fail and How to Avoid the Mistakes They Make
- Directing the Movies of Your Subconscious Mind
- CrackingTheRichCode.com
- Support@JimBritt.com
About Jim Britt
Jim Britt is the author of numerous best-selling books and programs. Some of his many titles include Rings of Truth, Do This. Get Rich-For Entrepreneurs, Do This. Get Rich! for Network Marketers, Unleashing Your Authentic Power, The Power of Letting Go, and Cracking the Rich Code. He is an internationally recognized business leader who is highly sought after as a keynote speaker for all audiences.
Jim was recently named as one of the world’s top 20 success coaches, the top 50 speakers world-wide and presented with the “Best of the Best” award out of the top 100 contributors of all time to the Direct Selling industry.
As a performance coach and trainer, Jim leverages his skills and experience as one of the leading experts in peak performance, entrepreneurship and personal empowerment to produce stellar results. He is pleased to work with small business entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking to remove the blocks that stop their success in any area of their life.
Jim’s formal education stopped before graduating from high school. His career training began at a gas station and then on a factory floor on an assembly line. His first attempt at entrepreneurial success he started at rock bottom with $9 in the bank and a borrowed $4,000. A year later he had lost it all…home, both vehicles, furniture, everything. But after that first year, a lot of tenacity and a timely mentor that shared with him the secrets to success, the tables turned and shortly thereafter he had made his first million.
Over the years he has built a fortune worth millions of dollars with multiple streams of passive income from various business models. He also has studied human behavior and what really motivates us to take action and achieve great things in life and business, as well as what keeps us stuck. Today he puts his efforts into sharing what he’s learned over the years and influencing others to achieve success beyond their wildest dreams.
Today, Jim’s background spans all levels of experience and application. In addition to the many businesses he has launched over the years, Jim started his speaking career as a business partner with the late, great, Jim Rohn for almost 10 years, where Tony Robbins worked under his direction for his first few years in the seminar business. Jim has worked with more than 300 corporations around the world as a performance coach helping executives, their employees and field leaders improve performance, access their true potential, and live lives filled with personal and professional advancement.
Today, Jim presents seminars on personal achievement, entrepreneurship, small business success strategies, network marketing, leadership, and all aspects of peak performance and personal fulfillment. His powerful program The Power of Letting Go has helped hundreds of thousands let go of the blocks that stops their success and happiness. To date, Jim has addressed thousands of audiences around the world totaling well over 1,500,000 people from all walks of life.
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