From Little Rock to Center Stage with Jim Cathcart

FN Intro/Outro: Welcome to the Freedom Nation podcast with Jeff Kikel. On this show, Jeff shares his expertise in financial and retirement planning from a different perspective. Planning for Your Freedom Day, which is the first day that you wake up and have enough income or assets and do not have to go to work that day. Learn how to calculate what you need, how to generate income sources, and listen to interviews from others who've done it themselves. Get ready to experience your own Freedom Day.

Hey there, Freedom Nation. It's Jeff here once again, and we are on our last interview and for a really exciting one. Our last interview of Podapalooza. Today I get to interview my friend, Jim Cathcart. His story is one of the most amazing stories you're ever going to hear a speaking career if you want to learn how to speak. This is the man that can show you how to how to create a career speaking, knowing Jim for several years now, when he moved to Austin, Texas, we became instant friends within like five minutes of knowing each other because we both have the same heart for helping people and just we hit it off and love to tell his story. And he's got a lot of really great things that he's doing right now. To as a mentor, helping people to start building business or start building speaking careers and everything else. Jim, welcome to the show, my friend.

Thank you, Jeff, great to be back with you.

I know it's been fun. And we did an interview. So if y'all want to see it, we did an interview probably about a year and a half ago. But we'll we'll kind of rehash some of that and talk about this. So, Jim, let's do a quick cliff notes of your career, and how you got to where you are today.

For that now, here comes the Cliff Notes. So there's going to be a test at the end. First off, born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1946 grew up with my dad being a telephone repairman. mom was a homemaker taking care of me, my little sister and my invalid grandfather, and my grandmother. And I expected life like dad's, you know that, except for World War Two. I want her to grow up and go to work in a company like the phone company, but in an office instead of as a lineman, like he was. I didn't really aspire to excellence in anything. And I joined the swimming team in high school for one season. That was it didn't you know, I like to play football, but I didn't get on the team didn't try out. My Academics were just average, you know, as a C student overall, mostly. And then one day, years later, after I was married 1972 years later, 72 I was working as a clerk and a government agency and heard a radio broadcast by Earl Nightingale. And what he said that day rearranged my whole psyche. He said, If you'll spend one extra hour every day, studying your chosen field, in five years or less, you'll be a leading authority in that field. And I thought that's 1200 50 hours, five hours a week. 50 weeks, five years. 1250 Yeah, that would work even for me. Yeah, even for me. And I didn't have a high IQ or any nice got a special abilities. I didn't know anybody didn't have a college degree at two years. No money in the bank, no rich uncle. So I decided to become a fanatic about the field I wanted to choose which was his personal development. Yeah. Short story. Five years later, I was a full time professional speaker and author flying around the country, conducting 120 seminars a year for high fees. Now I've done 35 100 of those all over the world. 23 major cities in China 10 trips to Australia, I've spoken in Europe, has spoken in the all throughout Asia, and every one of the 50 states plus most provinces in Canada. And I've written and published 25 books and received every major award given to professional speakers on Earth.

Wow. Yeah. Who knew? But you I mean, you were you were a five year overnight success. Yeah, it was. Yeah. You just it just overnight success. Five years. Let's talk about that a little bit. Because I think this is an interesting story for you know, there's so many people out there that you know, in our audience, they're looking at why I want to get out of the cubicle or I want to know I'm an entrepreneur, and I want to build my expertise. I want to speak on stages. Yeah. How did you get to that point, because you did it in five years to where you're getting paid to do it.

Actually, I did it in less Because I heard a roll on the radio in 1972. Okay. And by 1974, I had left my job at the urban renewal agency and gone into the business of selling Earl nightingale's recordings, on audio cassettes, yeah, door to door to businesses. And so in the two years after hearing the radio broadcast, I was in his field. And I was listening to those recordings every day and reading books like thinking grow rich and all the usual. Now I've got up right here. Yeah. They can grow rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People, man, how to be a genius by Wallace Wattles who wrote The Science of Getting Rich Psycho Cybernetics power positive thinking, Zig Ziglar. See you at the top. I read all those books. And ultimately, the people that wrote many of those, the ones that were still alive became my friends. Yeah. I actually got to know them. Wow. Yeah. But how that happened? Well, five years, I made a five year commitment to be a fanatical student of personal development, because that's the field I wanted to get into. And a few years later, after I was into it, people started calling that the human potential movement. Okay, because everybody it seemed at that time, in the mid 1970s, was getting into personal development, goal setting motivation. I joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce Jaycees, and 73 and went to 400 Jaycees meetings in 73 and 74 402 years where you spoke and in most cases, yeah, in most cases, I was there to give a report. So I was reading something from a manual that I had read an hour earlier, after work on my way to the Jaycees meeting. All 400 meetings were unpaid. Yep, they have to work, weekends, holidays, my time. It was all for the purpose of leadership training, by doing community service projects. So I worked with there were 280 chapters in the state of Arkansas at the time. And I went to all to at it. I mean, I drove myself there and back in the evenings after work. And those were four hours away. One way you can imagine, you know, I was sleeping in roadside parks for an hour to avoid dying on the way home. The first 100 meetings or so I wasn't particularly any good. I didn't really know what I was talking about. So I was quoting a lot. After about 100 of them, I was pretty doggone good. And after 200, I was excellent. 300 I was the number one most popular guy in the state in the field I was in among Jaycees. And by the 400. I was getting hired by companies to come speak at their meetings. And so I ended up going into business for myself first, first, I got a call. After I'd gone into business selling their old Nightingale tapes, the US Jaycees national headquarters. Now they had 356,000 members at the time. They were enormous, because it was a peak of the baby boom, yeah. 356,000 members, they called me and said, We would like you to be the national program manager in charge of leadership training for all 300,000 members. transwell Jeff Well,

But but the fact is, you're probably the only person in the Jaycees that had ever actually read all the manuals that they create.

Honest, honest, repeat, I read every manual three times, word for word, including the subtitles at the bottom of the page. I literally forced myself to read the officers directors guide the leadership and action manual, Chairman's planning guide all those other things three times cover to cover minimum. Yeah. And then I could go into a meeting. And Jeff is the chair of the meeting. And he says our guest tonight is Jim Cathcart. He's going to talk about project planning. And I would say there are seven steps in a project plan starts with primary purpose and then background related to and then the meat of it, they go and they go wow, How'd you learn all this after read it an hour in the book? Really, and so that led to you know, quick regression regression. So here it was government clerk. Here's making 525 bucks a month. Here are all nine go on the radio in 1972 1975. On August 28 1975, I go to work for the US Jaycees national headquarters as a national expert in charge of leadership training. name for a third of a million people. Three years. Yeah, three years. And then I was there for two years and then went out on my own. And I've been doing this ever since. And this my only profession since 1974. So now I've written 25 books, like I said, and I've been President of the National Speakers Association, inducted into the professional speaker Hall of Fame, sales and marketing Hall of Fame, over in London, and on and on and on. I've got video programs in China, the US and Canada.

Yeah. But I mean, once again, it all started with that one spark of listening to that, that, you know, and I didn't totally agree with the fact when people come to me and I talk about financial freedom and their freedom day and they're like, Well, I just don't have the time. Yeah, you just didn't have the time to spend, you know, reading every manual, the Jaycees have, and you just didn't have the time to spend driving all over the state of Arkansas

I had a new wife and baby at home. You know, what's interesting, I was hyper intentional about the way I lived every part of my life back then, because I recognize the danger of being a monomaniac. On a mission less Tom Peters used to say, so metal, physical family, social spiritual, career, financial, emotional, I took each one of those was wrote out a detailed plan for how I was going to live that art in my life, put it on little reminder cards, and put it in front of my face every day. This is the actual content from back then. And I used to take these little things, which you can see have been weathered badly. And I put them on my bathroom mirror. These are the qualities I wanted to work on in me. So my son, who's now 52, and he's a general manager of a luxury resort in Santa Barbara, California. He said that when I was little, and you were gone, 123 different engagements every year, as a professional speaker. I never felt like you weren't around. Yeah. Because I was absolutely intentional about when I called in what I talk about, who do I talk with? What did I do when I got home? How did I spend quality time with them with follow with, you know, whatever. And it totally worked? Yeah. Thank you.

I mean, you know, and that's the thing. I think when you and I met, it was that both of us love family more than anything, you know, and we've been married to, I've been married to my wife, over half my life at this point. Now years for billing three years for you. And all I mean, just I think the world of Paula. And I've never met Jim Jr. But the way you talk about him, you know, it's the joy of your life, and you had such a great relationship with him. And I think that's the important part about this is yes, starting a business takes time starting a speaking career takes time. All of those things take time. But we all have 168 hours per week that we can spend. We all have the same 168 hours. Nobody has more or less than that. And it's how we spend that that makes the difference in our lives.

I want to share something with you. This is one of my most successful books relationship selling. Yep. It's what got me inducted into the sales marketing Hall of Fame, sir, London. I wrote this book in 1985, rewrote it in 2002. rewrote it again in 2015. And now I'm working on the next edition. And I want you to see the dedication. I'll tell you what it says. But I'm gonna hold it up just with its own camera. Yeah. To my son, Jim Cathcart Jr, a natural leader and a man whom I admire Jim, I want to grow up to be like you, Dad.

What a great dedication. Thank ya. But I mean, you know, once again, it's it's that balance that you've kept in your life all these years that, you know, yes, you've been obsessed with growing your career, but you didn't. He didn't give up on all the things other than that. I mean, you're still a great musician. You know, most people unless people knew. I mean, Jim's an amazing, amazing musician. He's a great guitarist and singer. And his wife is even IV she's got a beautiful voice. Yeah, so I mean, it's

I'm the entertainer, now. She's the singer. Who's the best guitarist. Yeah.

And that's a whole nother story of about that because he tried to make force him to do and he just figured out a better way. Now.

Yeah, thanks for remembering really well,

So Jim, let's talk a little bit about you. You just created a book. I mean, see you, you know, you reached the pinnacle of your career. And most people would go, hey, I can rest on my laurels and do nothing. And you know, I learned about orals

Laurels aren't that comfortable? Now?

They're kind of prickly and painful.

Yeah, I like to sit on the edge of my chair like I am right now.

So, you know, I think the thing that has always impressed me about you is, you just don't stop. You have more energy than anybody I've ever met. And I've said this, I met the lady earlier today that I interviewed you. And I told her, I said, I've known a lot of 90 year olds, the youngest 90 year olds in the world and the oldest 60 year olds in the world. And the thing that, you know, I think is impressed me the most is you just don't stop. You keep going. You keep reinventing yourself. I mean, you know, I 77 Next month, and still going strong. You know, I mean, it's just I don't seem to have

No intention of ever retiring. I mean, if my voice or my mind retires, then I'll retire. But as long as I've got those two, yeah, you know, other things to do. People to see. actly.

And, you know, I think a lot of professional speakers that I met, you know, over the years COVID hit, and it just blew apart their career. Yeah,

They they got a day job. Yeah. You know, they did what Mom and Dad told them to do when they said they were going to be a speaker. Yeah, why don't you get a real job,

Get a real job and, and do that. And they went and got a real job. And they stopped being a speaker. At that point, they gave up on their dream

Boy in their life? In many cases, yeah. Oh, because if this is the path you've chosen, whatever your path happens to be, it doesn't have to be mine. Or Jeff's it. You know, it could be any field you're in, you could be running a Subway sandwich franchise, fine. Do it because you want to do it. Yeah. And do it because it gives you a sense of meaning and purpose. When you have meaning and what you do you bring more value to what you did. I spoke years ago in Bogota, Colombia, to help raise funds for Opportunity Foundation that had built a school for kids in the barrio, in the slums, they would bring the kids in on buses each day, clean them up and put them in clean uniforms, feed them well, and teach them life skills during the day, and then send them back in the evening. And they said, We want you to come and speak. But you can't speak until you've been to the school had not said that. That's fair. So I went to the school and I fell in love with it. And I was there surrounded by the happy faces of these little kids because it was only safe and supportive environment and clean environment. They knew they had to go back to squalor and danger every night. So I was there among all of them for a few hours that day. And then I got up on stage that night and man hours three times as good. They would have been otherwise.

They didn't worry. They charged me up at that point. The I'll do whatever it takes to help these kids out.

And they got lots of donations. It went really really well. I came out on stage with a guitar. And a woman who's a professional guitarist. Yeah. And asked if we could borrow her guitar. Yeah. And so I came out on stage and I was doing this a child arrived just the other day he came to the world in the useful that let's say I got the child arrived just the other day came to the world in the usual way. But there were laying Sick Cat shannonville bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away. He was talking for undo at the dassie career. He said I'm gonna be like you dead. You know, I've gone to the beach and I care when Nick nuts in the cradle and was silver versus land and yeah, I love it. Opened my speech that day. And boy, it went over well. Yeah.

So you have now kind of transitioned with your latest book. Yep. Talking about how people can actually make that that step. How do you become a professional speaker? How do you how do you develop that?

Well and more than animal expertise. Yeah. What to do when you're the speaker is the name of the book. And man, I've been blessed with endorsements. People would die for this Ronald Reagan sold his son Michael Reagan endorsed it. Les Brown Brian Tracy Denis Waitley. Dr. Neato Cobain of Hotpoint University, Don Hudson, Tom Hopkins Tom's Ziglar Zig son, Dr. Ivan Meisner of BNI. Eve Spangler, who has been on Oprah half a dozen times Shep Hyken. Jason Dorsey. I mean, it just goes on and on with the big names that have stepped up and said, Yep, you're by this. Yeah. What sets it apart? is, it's not about how to give a speech. Yeah. It's about how to be a speaker. What do you do? When you're up next to do the keynote and the guy before you went 40 Minutes Overtime? And you got to do it in 15 minutes? What do you do? When the building catches on fire during your speech? At 700 people in the audience, and you're the only one in the room with a microphone at? What do you do when someone in your audience is having a seizure? And looks like they're gonna die? Yeah, what do you do when the lights go out? In the room, and there's not a light anywhere to be seen? What do you do with that? Especially since that was the week after 911. And the audience was frozen in fear. I've had all those things happen to me. And that's what I wrote about in the book. Yes. What do you do when things go? Well, what do you do when they go poorly? And how can you be more creative and have more fun doing it and then make money off of it? And then when I wrote this one, mentor minutes, that was written initially to be a message to my grandchildren, life lessons. Yep. And then I changed it and then tweaked it toward how do you reach the top 1% of any field you choose? That's the way we roll. Yeah,

I love it. I love it.

I'm running out of time. And you've got others to talk to. And I've got one coming up myself. So I appreciate this opportunity today. And it's fun being with you. I've missed you over these last weeks.

I know we've been busy this year. And we need to catch back up even though we live in the same town. Yeah. All right, Jim. Well, thank you so much, as always, you're just a joy to talk to. And I'm just so excited to see where you're going with this. And I think it's going to help a lot of people out and I would, I would absolutely read the book. And I would encourage you if you're if you want to be a speaker, this is this is a life lesson

Yeah. Or if you are a speaker, you know, if you do sales presentations or speak to groups, board, committees, whatever. Yep. Then it's a good one for you. And it's free. Yeah, read dot Cathcart. My last name free.cathcart.com. You can download a free copy of that book. And if you want a paper copy, of course, you can order it through Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Please leave a comment online. I love it. Good. Thanks. So my friend Hello warming give her I hope see you real soon. All right, my friend. We'll talk to you soon. Adios.

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