CFD 500 – The Difference Between Being Successful and Significant with Aaron Walker

December 17th, 2018

It would be safe to say that Aaron Walker is a veteran entrepreneur. Having started over a dozen businesses during his four decade journey has been pretty awesome. Beginning at 18 years old and selling to a Fortune 500 company just nine years later set Aaron on an adventure of a lifetime. The secret sauce for Aaron can clearly be identified with these four attributes: grit, authenticity, determination and perseverance. The glue that holds it all together is his weekly involvement in Iron Sharpens Iron Mastermind groups. Aaron started masterminding 20 years ago with Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller and several other notable Nashvillians. Today, he spends time with his wife, two daughters and five grandchildren.

Podcast Highlights

  • What’s been happening with Aaron Walker?

Aaron is part of a mastermind called Iron Sharpens Iron and they are about to open up their 14th mastermind group. He also wrote a couple of books since his last appearance, created the Mastermind Blueprint, and is co-authoring a third book about finding the right mentor.

  • Why is margin important?

We all need margin in our lives. Accountability and trusted advisors are necessary to keep yourself in check. The idea of balancing life and work is a myth, things don’t need to be equal. The thing you need to do is prioritize your priorities and focus on what’s important.

You have to be an inch wide and a mile deep. What are the three or four things that are really important to your life? If you’re not careful, you’ll come home one day with a pocket full of money and house full of strangers. You have to spend an inordinate amount of time on the things that are important to you.

You only have one vantage point to see things in your life. Other people will have other filters you can use to see solutions that you can’t see. They can also help you see your blind spots.

  • Starting at the Beginning

Aaron almost lost his family because he was focusing on his business too much. There are seasons in your life and sometimes you need to focus deeply on work, but not all the time.

Money is a tool, you need to value it but not make it the ruler of your life.

The internet affords us so many opportunities now that it’s hard to choose what to do, this means that many people lack clarity.

Passion is an exhaustible resource, you need to have purpose if you are going to do anything long term. The more you teach and give away, the more that comes back to you. If it gives you energy, there is purpose at the end. If it drains you, it’s not your passion.

How can you add value today to other people’s lives? If you are intentional about it, you can build your work around your lifestyle.

Getting perfect clarity before you launch is a mistake. Getting the courage to get something going is the hardest part. There are so many opportunities to make money today, just find something you enjoy and get some mentors or coaches around you, then do it until you want to throw up. It takes 1 to 2 years to get a business going so you need to be committed.

  • The Top 3 Success Traits

The process is what’s important. You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fail to the level of your processes. You need systems and processes to automate, eliminate, or delegate.

Is something takes you an hour a day, you have to be willing to take 30 hours to teach someone how to do that task. But if you do that, you will achieve a massive return on your time. What could you do with that hour back every single day?

You can get back money but you can’t get back time.

  • Why write books?

There are a lot of opportunities to learn today but books have some unique things about them that make them special. Books give you an authority you wouldn’t have otherwise and opens a lot of doors because of that. As good as your podcast is, there are more people who read books.

Books can also be a great lead magnet and can point people to your true call to action.

Writing a book is a great way to succinctly align your thoughts. If you can change the life of one person, would it not be worth it to write your book?

Mentors get out of people what they can’t see in themselves. Fear missing opportunity more than you fear failure.

  • Aaron’s Takeaway

Quit listening to your negative voices. Don’t be around people that are stealing your thunder, get around people that are encouraging and edifying you. You may have to get rid of some of your friends, you can’t fly with the eagles when you are running with the turkeys. Don’t let anyone steal your dream or tell you you can’t do it.

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