How To Create Generational Wealth Through Business

Sharon Lechter: Well, my biggest regret is that twelve years ago, I lost a child. You think about things that happened to you. Right? There is a negativity in the world, and are you going to allow that negativity to permeate your brain? We can control three things, our thoughts, our words, our actions.

I realize how few people understand money because we grew up without getting any education about money. We grew up in homes where we said money doesn't grow on trees, count your pennies, save for a rainy day. So as a young person, it's money negative, money negative, money negatives. Information about money is intimidating, and you have to make it so that people can ease into it and understand it. You are the CEO of your life.

And so you can listen to these these podcasts. You can go to events. You have to take action.

Steve Trang: Everybody, thanks for joining us for today's episode of Disruptors. I'm very excited for today. We have Sharon Lechter with Pay Your Family First, and you might know her as the coauthor of Rich Dad Poor Dad, of which so many people on the show have said they got their start reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. Sharon is obviously another legend in Scottsdale, Arizona. And today, we're talking about how to create generational wealth through business.

Now, guys, I am on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. Information on the show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire. In the next five to seven years, you'll take consistent action. You'll become one. And if you get value out of today's show, please hit that share button.

That way we can tell YouTube this is good content, and we can create more wealth. You ready?

Sharon: I'm ready.

Steve: Alright. So, again, I'm super, super excited to have you here today. We're gonna go all the way back to the beginning, though. Right? What what was your life like before you got into business for yourself?

Sharon: Well, interesting story because I grew up in a very lower middle class home. My dad had we lived in a little tiny house between my mom's beauty shop and my dad's used car lot. I was embarrassed by where we lived. Mhmm. And my friend's parents were, you know, corporate officers, CEOs, or military officers.

And I was like, that's what I wanted to be. So I just decided I was gonna be, you know, become a professional. Right? Sophisticated professional. But at the same time, I didn't realize that what I was learning was amazing.

Because at the age of 10, I've been a real estate investor since I was 10. Mhmm. Because I had to go scrub out bathrooms between tenants because my dad had rental properties. He had orange groves that he always said, that's cash flow, Sharon. Yes.

We hope the land's gonna appreciate. But every year, it pays for itself through oranges. Mhmm. And so all these things were just, like, embedded in my brain. And years later that those orange groves are now part of SeaWorld.

So, you know, he's I learned through the the process of how to invest in income producing assets. My favorite word, asset. My favorite word on Earth. And I my latest tagline is assets are sexy. But I, of course, did not give it the due at the time.

I wanted to become this professional. So I got only woman in my accounting classes, became one of the very first women in public accounting. I had arrived. I was very successful. And then at at 25, my parents looked a whole lot smarter because I was working incredibly long hours, having a great time in Atlanta, but not in control of my life.

Mhmm. And so, you know, this is not what it's all cracked up to be because I'm kinda I'm not a really good employee. I I like to be in control of my own life. And that's at 25 is when I left public accounting and started my entrepreneurial career.

Steve: Wow. So being exposed to entrepreneurship at 10 years old, and both sides, mom and dad.

Sharon: Yeah. Exactly. And I did not realize that not everybody else learned about money at home. Mhmm. I just assumed that that was my life.

Everybody's life was like that. And when I got out into the real world in public accounting, I realized how few people Mhmm. Understand money. Yeah. How few people get beyond go to school, get a good job, and get a job that you go to every single day and exchange time for money.

Steve: Mhmm.

Sharon: And I also had the benefit of learning how businesses create a success and probably even more importantly, how businesses failed from the inside out as a as a CPA. So it was like, wow. People need need to be educated about money.

Steve: Yeah. Isn't it funny though? Because you're exposed to that and you think you might just roll your eyes. You know? I was like, why are they doing this?

You're embarrassed. Right? But looking back, like, that's what, you know, was the best option. Entrepreneurship really wasn't, to my understanding, really a popular thing. It seems like, you know, real estate's been around forever.

You know? You got the infomercials promoting it forever. But entrepreneurship didn't really seem to be, like, a big buzzword until, like, I it feels like the last ten years. Was that is that accurate?

Sharon: You're No. You're absolutely right. It was kind of like, you can't get a job, become an entrepreneur. Right? Like the old term, I'm a consultant because I lost my job, right?

So, it's all about the nomenclature at the time, but entrepreneurship is growing and particularly for women because you know, those women that feel like they've been stopped by the glass ceiling, well, they start their own business. They don't have the glass ceiling anymore. They have the ability to create their future. But, you know, entrepreneurship truly is the American dream. And, you know, for those of you not in America, it still is a dream of financial freedom.

Mhmm. And you you can't control what your employer decisions are, but you can control your own. We have we can control three things, Steve. Our thoughts, our words, our actions. And, unfortunately, when you have a job, you can't necessarily control your actions because you gotta follow the rules.

Steve: So Right. And then you look at movies, right, or you look at the media, really, entrepreneurs, you know, the only ones you really get exposed to are, like, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos. Right? Or, like, in the movies, it's always the guy with his failed business. Like, oh, you failed this one.

Oh, you failed. Like, he's always the black sheep in the family. It's not a lot of movies. Like, maybe the founder and even then, they made him look like a bad guy in that movie. Right?

Where we're really, preaching entrepreneurship. So, you got to see it from inside, and then you got to look at the books from other people and see how their business is around. So they gave you a lot of insight. So you decide, okay. I'm not gonna be just a CPA.

I'm gonna go off on my own. So what did you do?

Sharon: Well, this one this is kind of a funny story. I my one of my clients at 25 asked me to leave with him. He was buying a company out of bankruptcy Mhmm. As as some new technology. And I still remember going back to my condo in Atlanta with the pros and cons because this was before PCs, before cell phones.

I know it's hard to imagine, but it was the old yellow legal pad, pros and cons. And it didn't help me a bit. I could argue both sides. Mhmm. But my hand took off across the top of the page and wrote, why not?

Mhmm. And that is still my mantra today. Why not do something different? Why not solve a problem or serve a need? That's what a successful business does.

Mhmm. Why not take that path less traveled? So I made the decision to leave public accounting. And within a few short weeks, I realized it was a horrible decision because I found all kinds of corruption at this new company. Mhmm.

But had I not made that decision because it was still the worst business decision of my life, I wouldn't have met my collector who is we are now celebrating forty four years of marriage. So I tell everybody, Napoleon Hill said it out of every adversity comes the seed of an equal or greater benefit. So my worst business decision gave me my best life decision.

Steve: So Gotcha. Awesome. Well, that's amazing. Congratulations. Forty four years.

Sharon: Thank you.

Steve: Okay. So that didn't pan out. So then what did pan out? Most business owners waste their time and money on solutions that never fix the root problems. They'll address all the symptoms due to slow revenue.

And because they're only fixing the consequences, the real problem stays hidden, and the cycle of wasting time and money continues. It's like having a lingering headache that won't go away despite trying every over the counter medicine. When reality should have just gone to the doctor and had them figure out exactly what was causing the headache. And that's what's so difficult about business. You can see and feel the symptoms, and yet struggle to find it.

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Sharon: Well, we we met. We were married nine months later, so I moved to DC and went back into an employment role for the life insurance company for a short time, but all started my own practice helping other people with their with growing their businesses. Mhmm. And then, we moved to Wisconsin, and I met a man that had created, the talking books our children didn't like to read. Mhmm.

And I was, like, so sad. You know, such an readers are leaders. Right? Mhmm. And he had invented, a talking book, and I loved it.

And so I joined forces with him. And at that time, dinosaur days, we're talking 1987, kids didn't have electronic toys. Mhmm. And so, you know, parents, are they gonna know us, this little company called Sight and Sound? Mhmm.

So how can we get them to trust us? Because people do business with you if they know, like, and trust you.

Steve: Right.

Sharon: And so I learned so much about publishing and about licensing. We did licensing deals with little companies like Disney, Warner Brothers, Sesame Street, and even Marvel Comics, the first time around for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But it allowed us to expand that brand globally very quickly.

Steve: Mhmm. Dani, you brought it here.

Sharon: Yes. This is a this is an example of the one of the very first ones we did. Mhmm. And, it was such fun because kids really loved it. And I still have parents telling me they loved it, and then I have parents say, oh my god.

It was so much noise in my house. So but it it got kids into reading again, and I just loved it. And we were we thought we were hot stuff. The first year, we had 1,000,000 in sales. And then the second year, we went to 9, and then the 23,000,000.

And then we ended up in the fourth year on the way to 52,000,000.

Steve: Wow.

Sharon: We sold the company.

Steve: Wow. That's awesome. And then what'd you do after that?

Sharon: What's that?

Steve: What did you do?

Sharon: Well, that was when we moved here to Arizona, actually. And 1992 7019, '92, our oldest son went off to ASU Mhmm. And for his first year in college. And he left home in September, came home in December in credit card debt. Mhmm.

We didn't even know he had credit card. He got to ASU, and there was a table, free pizza, free money, free t shirt, free money.

Steve: Mhmm.

Sharon: He had a really good time his first semester in college. And he asked us to bail him out. We refused, said, nope. Not gonna not gonna bail you out. And so it took him seven years to get out of debt and Wow.

To repair his credit. But it's

Steve: '92. So I graduated high school in '98.

Sharon: Okay. Yep. So you're a little younger than he is. Yep.

Steve: And I went to ASU.

Sharon: And but in if you went to ASU six years later, you may not have had it because

Steve: Oh, we had it. I remember those.

Sharon: Okay.

Steve: Yeah. Thought it was a disaster.

Sharon: They they don't have it anymore because of when I was on the president's advisory council. I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but we passed the law that prevents credit card companies from going on

Steve: Oh, that's great. So, fortunately, even though my parents were not entrepreneurs, my grandparents were, my parents were not. They were they were maybe like you. They were helping their parents Mhmm.

Sharon: With

Steve: their business. And my parents did have one failed venture with a restaurant, but they did teach me about money. Right? And not to the degree of, you know, assets and cash flowing, this and that, but they did teach me about debt, right, and saving money. And as our family, we talked about money very freely, and it was odd to me once I got out into the real world to learn that people don't.

Right. They don't have money.

Sharon: Afraid to talk about it. You can't share it.

Steve: Right? And, like, we knew everyone knew how much everyone else made everybody. Right? It was not a very well kept secret within the family. And so I walk around on campus, and I see all these people, you know, the shirts and the pencils and the koozies for credit cards.

Like, this doesn't this doesn't make any sense.

Sharon: Good for you. Yeah. You were the unicorn. You were the unique one. But, yeah, so that was when that was December 1992, and that's when I dedicated the rest of my life to financial education, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship education.

And I started working with school systems. In fact, my hair used to be red. It's now white because if you work with school systems, it's an uphill battle. It's very frustrating. But fast forward a few words, a few years, my husband called me and I still remember where I was driving on Lincoln.

He said, Sharon, I met a man today that has what you've been looking for. For, and I always tell women in the audience if your husband called you and said they'd met a man that has what you've been looking for, I'm still going, okay, honey. That sounds a little kinky. Tell me more. And you know, Robert Kiyosaki had gone into his office in flip flops and Bermuda shorts.

Mike was in the top of the downtown building, mahogany office, the whole thing. You can just imagine the picture. And he had this idea for a board game drawn out on a piece of paper. And so I met Robert at the first beta test for the board game Cashflow. Mhmm.

And, great first impression. The different playing pieces were different caliber bullets, so this would be interesting. But I love the game. I loved the I was the only one that got out of the rat race, but it I still felt that it was so important because it teaches the basics of financial freedom comes from when your income from your assets exceeds your monthly expenses. Yeah.

It didn't have to be millions of dollars. So I volunteered because of my background with the talking books, which also had electronic games. I knew all the connections to commercialize it. Right. How to fine tune it.

Took took his original idea and divided it into cash flow one zero one and cash flow two zero two to make it a little less complicated. Mhmm. And then, helped him commercialize that. And in the process so we're talking this is, '96. Yeah.

'96. And she, he told me he wanted to charge $200 for the board game. And I said, that's pretty pricey for a board game. Maybe you should write a brochure Mhmm. That explains the philosophy.

And that's when he asked me to become his partner, and I helped him. We wrote the brochure called Rich Dad Poor Dad. We never expected for it to take on a life of its own.

Steve: Really?

Sharon: We thought it was a marketing tool for the board game. Our company name was Cashflow Technologies. We were all about the board game. But the world said, oh, no. They wanted Rich Dad.

So Rich Dad just exploded around the world, and people wanted more. So, okay, we'll do a trilogy. Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cashflow Quadrant, Rich Dad's Guide to Investing. Done. Oh, no.

We were partners for ten years. I was the CEO of the company because my knowledge, my background, understanding how to build Irrelevant. How to build a business. Mhmm. And, we wrote 15 books together and did a multiple games and audio products and infomercials.

And so we we together built the largest personal finance brand in the world.

Steve: That's incredible. And it's funny with marketing. You know, you got these brilliant ideas. We're gonna do this. It's gonna crush.

It's gonna be amazing, and it just flops. And you got these other things like, well, you know, let's let's do this thing. And it's not it's not as intentional. Right? You don't go like, you didn't go to the publishers and, like, hey.

We're gonna write a book. It's gonna be amazing. It's like, let's throw this together, and maybe this will help. And then this is the one that changes everything.

Sharon: Yeah. And in fact, the publishers didn't like it, but because we we we were using it to sell the game. And so we we printed the first thousand books out of my company, the Tech Press, a publishing company my husband and I started.

Steve: And that's what this is?

Sharon: Yes. This is the original edition of the the book. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. So this is the the very first, one of the first couple of runs

Sharon: Yep.

Steve: Of of Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Sharon: See, my hair was red.

Steve: There it is.

Sharon: But, yeah. So it was really incredible movement because in the example of what you just said, our original business plan my business plan for building the cash flow company, which was around the game, was to have the 25 most powerful women in the world get behind us Mhmm. Because they had clout, and they would have passion for kids. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Sharon: It did not happen. That was absolutely not gonna happen. Yeah. So we had to find other ways. And so you just you never know.

You have to be open to the possibilities.

Steve: Yeah. Like, my own story. You know, I've done I got really good at digital marketing, relatively speaking, back in the day. I did blog for SEO. I wrote books.

We did direct mail and this and that. And then I was in an event, by, Dean Graziosi. Right? And Brandon Burchard is on stage. He says, hey.

You know, like, you should start a podcast. Right? He says, this is to the whole audience. Right? Like, he wasn't looking at me.

I said, well, I've already done the blog. He says, like, people want it you you should either write a book, start a blog, or do a podcast. And this is 2018. He's like, well, I already wrote the book that did nothing. I did a blog, which I thought for sure was gonna be amazing.

It wasn't. And I did a podcast. Like, well, let's just do 10 episodes and see what happens. And, like, the second episode blows up. So you just never know.

You just gotta put out enough feelers

Sharon: Mhmm.

Steve: And then the universe will let you know which what what it actually wants.

Sharon: Yeah. Because the market will find you. You just have to make sure you deliver where they wanna be delivered to. Yeah. It's amazing.

Yeah. So, I mean, we just we we were partners for ten years as CEO of the company. And, just incredible time. I mean, huge impact in the world. And it was because it was the right message at the right time because we became successful before the Internet, Steve.

Yeah. Before Amazon. I know it's hard to believe, but Amazon didn't exist back then. Wow. I literally, right here in Paradise Valley, would I found a way to get into all the bookstores because they sent out CDs.

Remember those CDs every single month to every bookstore in the in the country would would have new titles. So I got us into that, and I would wake up in the morning, and remember fax machines? I'd have my fax machine stack the single book orders that I would then have to package and send to bookstores around the country because people would hear us on the radio, and they would go to the bookstore and order the book. And that's how we shipped our first million books. It was crazy.

Steve: So So let's talk about that. Because, again, you know, we've get we've had I was looking at the metrics about 3.2, 3,300,000 downloads on the show. And between all that, literally, almost every person's been in the show that's more than 27 years old, I will say, started with the Riched effort. Everyone younger than 27 was Instagram.

Sharon: But That's that's nice to hear.

Steve: Right. So we've had and majority, right, are are are older than 27 that that have been on the show. So this has been a massive, massive game changer, really, for America. So you wanna talk about, like, what were you doing specifically to get it into those bookstores? I mean, we kinda, like, you you touched on it, but, like, what was the the business plan to get the brochure out there?

Sharon: Well, the the business plan was never what actually happened because we had to listen to the public and listen to what they wanted. Mhmm. But we we got into radio shows around the country, and that was that was what was the popular listening. And we were also if you read Rich Dad Poor Ed, you know, we we said some things that were controversial, like your house is not an asset. Your home is not an asset.

Mhmm. And that triggered a lot of media attention that we were able to then talk about and get attention. But then we also had one day, we just launched the book. We had we launched it in my home. We had our first print run was a thousand books.

Robert and I each wrote a $1,500 check. That's the only money either of us ever had to invest in the company. And we got thousand books printed at the day we launched it, 08/08/1997, and in April 8. And then in May, I get a phone call from this guy. He says, you know, I have this book.

And I'm going, you do? I have no idea. He had sent 10 books to this car wash, a friend that owned a car wash in Austin, Texas. Yeah. And this guy bought a book at the car wash.

And he said, how many do you have, you know, in your inventory? And I'm going, oh, probably about 950. You know? We we just give had the launch party with our family and friends, and he said, I'll take them all. And he was a a diamond in the Amway organization.

Steve: Okay.

Sharon: And he loved the book, and he sent the book.

Steve: Is like the highest?

Sharon: Yes. Yes. And he sent the book to to Dexter Yeager, who's one of the was one of the top people in Amway, and he loved it. And we never we never got in bed with Amway, but we they were a huge marketing tool for us. We talked to many at many other conventions, and that really helped us go global with the book.

The book just spread like wildfire. Again, through word-of-mouth

Steve: Mhmm.

Sharon: Because there was no Internet. So it was through faxes and through people finding it, and that got us we were able to license through over 50 different publishing houses around the world in different languages and helped us expand through leverage through licensing.

Steve: When did the brochure become a book? What was the vision for the brochure?

Sharon: Well, the book it was it was published like this. So it was published as a book, but the intent was that it was going to be a giveaway to get people to buy the game.

Steve: Right.

Sharon: So here's a giveaway that's gonna cost us a couple of bucks to print. Mhmm. So you'll buy a a $100 game. Mhmm. And that's you know, that was the whole thought process.

But then all of a sudden, it was like, no. People wanted the book, the book, the book, the book. And then that just spurred us on to write additional books.

Steve: How did the sales go as far as the the board game?

Sharon: The board game did very, very well. Again, because groups of people were getting together to read Rich Dad Poor Dad, it was a perfect marketing opportunity for them to then buy the game Mhmm. And have cash flow clubs. So we have step we had a a network of cash flow clubs around the world Mhmm. Where people would get together every month to play cash flow.

Yeah. And so that helped us expand the the game as well.

Steve: Yeah. That's awesome. And like like I said, I picked it up, I wanna say, around 2004. And after picking it up, my friends picked it up. That's what got us to buy our first property in 2005.

So, oh, so what were the stats again for this book? You said '30 five

Sharon: We've sold 35,000,000 copies of of all my books. So probably 32,000,000 of Rich Dad because it was by far the number one.

Steve: 32,000,000. Yeah. So what would you say selling 32,000,000 copies has done for you of Rich Dad Poor Dad?

Sharon: Well, I was already financially independent when we launched The Rich Dad Company. But, obviously, it helped support, you know, make that even bigger, gave us more money to invest in real estate. But, it allowed me to fuel an inner passion. I was raised by a father that would ask me every night, Sharon, if you added value to someone's life today. And he's been gone for almost eighteen years, but I still ask myself that every night.

So with and with me through the Rich Dad organization, I was able to see that I could make a difference in people's lives Mhmm. By bringing money education to them. Because I'm still fighting with the State Board of Education in Arizona to get financial education in school systems. I will never stop that.

Steve: Well, I have this as an item to talk about in a moment.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna we can talk about that. But I'm still, you know, still knocking on the doors. There are now 25 states in the country that have a required financial literacy course for high school graduation.

They're not all implemented yet, but through 2028, they'll be 25. It needs to be 50. Mhmm. But that was you know, my passion was to truly make a difference. And when I left Rich Dad, I had that opportunity to go to that next level by serving to, you know, serving with the presidents.

Mhmm. So

Steve: So bringing up the Arizona legislature, are you familiar with JD Musnard? Mhmm.

Sharon: So he's

Steve: a good friend of mine. He's actually one of those four I'm talking about.

Sharon: Alright. Yes. Yes. I know J. D.

I am very close to his mother. I know his mom, Nora.

Steve: Yeah. I I am too because when we were knuckleheads in high school, we would go to Nora's house

Sharon: Yeah. I love Nora.

Steve: To to study and eat all the food in her house.

Sharon: Oh, six degrees of separation. Here we go.

Steve: Yeah. And so, he wrote a bill, and he put it on the floor about requiring

Sharon: Mhmm.

Steve: Everyone to graduate high school has to take one semester

Sharon: of financial literacy. Familiar with it. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. And when it got on the floor, it got killed by the Democrats. Mhmm. And the thing that upset JD the most was when the guy said the one of the leaders that killed it was financial literacy has nothing to do with creating wealth or something along those lines. And it's just unbelievable that there are people out there that believe that.

Sharon: Right. Well, I have a lot of inside knowledge about what happened to that bill. If he wants to call me, I can go through it with him. It's very important. You know, I've already I've done that route twice over the last ten years.

So we are currently working through the State Board of Education because of the work that I did seven or eight years ago. The State Board of Education in Arizona, I don't know if you wanna hear all this, but has the power to change that without going to the legislature. It took us a long time to get to that. So the State Board of Education can make that change, And we are striving striving to make them do that this year because not to get political, but I will for a moment. Katie Hobbs is going to probably replace some of those State Board of Education people with more liberal, which means we might not be able to get it after this session.

Mhmm. So we wanna try and get it through as much as we can.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. It's very, very sad. It's the second show in a row. She's never been the show mentioned before, and now she's been mentioned two shows in a row.

Yeah. I'm not too fond of of Katie. Okay. So then you, served. You got a chance to work with two different presidents.

I I That's that is amazing.

Sharon: And one Republican, one Democrat. Yeah. The what happened was ten years into our partnership, alright, in 2007, Robert wanted to go into franchising. It was a great model for us financially, but it wasn't a great model for franchisees. So I was not supportive of that.

So I made the decision to leave because we were no longer aligned. I was no longer in the position of my true personal mission. Mhmm. And, Your core values. Yeah.

So after ten years, we I I don't regret anything that we did together. We built a huge company that may made huge impact. But I made the decision to leave. It was amicable for a couple of months till the valuation of the company came in. Mhmm.

And then, you know, it was not a not an easy separation. We actually were in actually were in litigation for a year, but settled, all is well. So but during that process, I walked away not knowing what was in front of me. So I tell people sometimes you have to close the door for other doors to open. Yeah.

And about five months after I made the decision to leave and I was you know, we're in this legal battle, I got the phone call from president Bush asking me to be on the very first president's adviser counselor for financial literacy. I was in awe. And I said, you know, the guy upstairs knew I needed to do something else because I wouldn't have had that call had I still been at Rich Dad. Mhmm. And then March '8, we know what was happening to the economy Mhmm.

Is when I got the phone call from the Napoleon Hill Foundation asking me to step in and reinvigorate Napoleon Hill's teachings during the economic crisis. Really? Because many young people in my definition of young is getting older, 50, didn't even know who Napoleon Hill was and had never heard of Think and Grow Rich. And so I certainly would not have had that call had I still been at Rich Dad. So I tell everybody sometimes, you know, you you have to close the door.

And by making the decision to leave that environment, the rich I open the possibility to elevate and be on the president's advisory council for both Bush and Obama. And that was when we passed the Credit Card Act of 2009. The and it prevents credit card companies from being able to sell credit to promote credit cards on campus or within a thousand feet of campus activities. So after about 2012, any college students aren't gonna get solicited on campus. They're still gonna get mail solicitation, but not on campus.

And I feel very, very good about that. I can't take credit for the actual bill, but I was definitely a squeaky wheel on the council. So

Steve: Yeah. Well, it was a passion project.

Sharon: Yes. It was.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So, you go and work with presidential, a couple of different presidents, and then along the way, you're still you're still writing books.

Sharon: So

Steve: what other books have you been writing?

Sharon: Well, when Napoleon Hill Foundation called, the first book that I did was Three Feet from Gold, which is an incredible book about perseverance and getting through the tough times, which, of course, was very appropriate in 02/1989. And then the month I released through That was a

Steve: book that he wrote or that was a book that the foundation

Sharon: I wrote. I wrote I wrote it with with Greg Reed.

Steve: Okay.

Sharon: And so that was our book, and we interviewed a lot of people that had been that were unicorns that had created success but gotten through some really difficult times. And it was a great it's a great book, great message. And then, the second book, the month I released Three Feet from Gold, Don Green, the CEO of the foundation, called me and said, I have this manuscript. I don't know what to do with it. Napoleon Hill wrote it in 1938.

Mhmm. And it's been hidden away for, like, seventy five years. Mhmm. And I said, well, send it to me. I'm, like, in the middle of this litigation going, oh my god.

I don't know if I can deal with this. But my daughter's a minister, so I said, you need to pray over me, honey. And so I took it to the beach and I read it, and it just it it completely impacted me in a spiritual way. And it's called Outwitting the Devil. And Napoleon Hill, when he released Think and Grow Rich in 1937, he was frustrated because he said, here I'm giving you the doctoral thesis of success.

Follow these steps and you will get rich and people will not do it. Mhmm. And because of fear that holds us back. Yeah. And he actually added the last chapter, the six goes to fear in the actual book, Think and Grow Rich, but he was still frustrated.

And he was also frustrated at himself because he wasn't even following his own advice. Mhmm. And so in 1938, and most of you may already know that Think and Grow Rich was a twenty five year project for Napoleon Hill.

Steve: I didn't know it was twenty five years.

Sharon: Yes. Wow. Nineteen o nine is when he was charged with writing it by Andrew Carnegie. Came out in 1937. And so in 1938, he sat down in just a few short months and if the term existed back then he would have said download it.

Alright? Mhmm. He wrote this book, Outwitting the Devil. Yeah. And his wife worked for the Presbyterian College, and so she she forbid it to be published because she was afraid she was gonna get fired.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: And so it got locked away in the vault. And, he died 1970. She died in the nineties, and then her sister died in, like, you know, 2013, and that's when the or 2010, and that's when it was given to the foundation, and they didn't know what to do with it. And so I had the incredible honor of taking it and annotating it, which means I didn't change any of his content. But I did add sections that related from 1938 to now because our intent was to bring a younger audience to Napoleon Hill.

Mhmm. And so I was it was kind of like a juxtapose. And my my comments were different typeface and bold, so so people that were diehard Hill fans could read it without my comments. Mhmm. But it it's amazing the impact that book has had.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: And I tell people now, read Outwitting the Devil before you read Think and Grow Rich.

Steve: Really?

Sharon: Because Outwitting the Devil helps you understand the those blocks Mhmm. That keep us from elevating, from reaching the success we deserve.

Steve: Yeah. You said it had a major impact. What was the impact that it had?

Sharon: I lost a son in 2012. So I had outwitting the devil in '20 in, o nine. And it really helps me understand his struggles so much better about how we are our own worst enemy and how we have that negativity and the thought of drifting. Alright? Drifting people.

He talks about in the book, only 2% of people actually use their own minds. Right? 98% are drifters, which means they go with the flow. You know, they're the the sheep, the cattle. Right?

They don't make decisions on their own. They go, oh, whatever. You know, they don't say this is what I want. And what happens is when you continue doing that, that drifting becomes a habit. Mhmm.

And it's something called hypnotic rhythm. Well, in the book, he talks about how to take control of your life, how to have that definite purpose, how to learn from adversity, how to master yourself, how to control your environment, and control how you spend your time. Mhmm. I tell people, are you spending your time or investing your time? Mhmm.

And so the process of this book is incredible to get people to open their eyes to things that they can do to create a better tomorrow than today.

Steve: Yeah. And, yeah, I remember going through it, and the I went through the audio version, and they did a great job.

Sharon: I'll take credit for that. I made the publisher. I said, you gotta have two actors. Mhmm. And I want the I want the devil's voice to be low and gravelly.

Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. That's fantastic. So, yeah, that that's amazing that you that that they entrusted you to put that out there. Now you also I mean, we're talking about creating, generational wells.

Right? I mean, that's the the what we talked about in the show. And I think, you know, it was important to me because I was talking to Aaron. Right? We come up with the topics, the titles together.

But generally speaking, you know, when we talk to, people that wanna work with us, because we charge a fair amount of money to work with us, and we don't take everybody. You know? So one of the things that we talk about is, like, what's important to you? Why would you want to work with me? Why would why are you investing yourself?

What are your goals and so on? And there's a handful of, things that come out, you know, retire my parents, retire my spouse, put my kids, in the right neighborhood, this and that. And one that comes up quite a bit is I wanna create generational wealth. So talk to me about how can someone who is, you know, listening right now, who has a business, it's making money. How do they go from that point?

Because that's a majority of our audience. How do they go from the point where they're making money to creating generational wealth? There are two types of salespeople out there. They're the convincers, and they're the sales professionals. For the first nine years of my career, I was the convincer.

Convincers are always out there trying to convince people to meet with them and buy from them. Their strategy is to try to push hard and never take no for an answer. And by focusing on this strategy, I spent a lot of time on cold calling, the next marketing gimmick, features and benefits, how they and their company are the best, following up until the prospect buys or dies. All of this requires time and energy. The problem isn't the model itself.

It's that their approach pushes prospects away. And this is the same exact thing that happened to me before I figured out to close more sales formula. The solution? Sell customers exactly what they want to buy. That's right.

I said it. We sell customers exactly what they want to buy because I would rather get an easy sell with a happy customer instead of a difficult sell from a customer who felt sold. No. Thanks. I did that before, and it sucks.

So here's the deal. I explain everything in the closed more sales course. It's It's an 11 module course that shows you everything you need to know to close more sales. The best part, you can use this in any industry, not just real estate. So no matter what you're selling and to who you're selling to, this formula will lead to easier sales.

Go to closemoresales.com/salesmasterclass, one word, closemoresales.com/salesmasterclass.

Sharon: That's a great question, Steve. Good. Because most people who own a business really own a job. Mhmm. Because they haven't taken the time to create the systems around the business, and that's one of my superpowers.

I help people understand how to build a strong, powerful business. And it doesn't sound sexy at the beginning or going through it, but it's a whole lot sexier when it's done up and running and it's something that gives you your time back. Mhmm. So you have to you you talked about consistent, persistent effort. Right?

Well, that's what you do when you first start your business. Make sure you have the right legal foundation. Make sure you have business systems. Know, you've got clients that you saw you talk about that have 3,000, you know, single family homes. Mhmm.

Do they have a system that supports that, or are they pulling their hair out because they don't have a system? Understanding that you have to have the right powers of association, the right people around you. Do you have people on your team who are strong, where you are weak? Are you the one that's trying to do everything? Right?

Mhmm. You're not gonna have generational wealth when you build a business that's reliant on you being there. And so if you're familiar with the cash flow quadrant, our second book in the rich debt, we talk about the left side is employee self employed. That's you exchanging time for money on the left side, and that's not generational wealth. Very few people can generate generational wealth there.

On the right side of the quadrant, being a business owner and being an investor, your amount of income you can make is limitless. Mhmm. And the right side is where you find my sexy word, assets. Alright? Assets create generational wealth.

So if you own a business, you need to make sure your business is an asset and that you can walk away and it stays strong. Most people ask them, can you walk away from your business for six months and come back and have it stronger than when you left? Mhmm. Most people roll their eyes and kind of, like, go into a trance. I can't

Steve: can't even imagine it. Yeah.

Sharon: But that's, you know, that's what creates generational wealth. When you hear, you know, millionaires have multiple streams of income, that's because they've created the assets. Mhmm. They generate the revenue for them.

Steve: Yeah. So what are the things you're saying? Set the legal foundation, set the system. So what are some of the legal foundations they they need to have in place?

Sharon: Well, quite a few. In my book, Exit Rich, I go through all of this in much more detail with with Inc. Magazine, but from a legal perspective, you have the right entity. Are you protecting your other assets, particularly in rental properties? I mean, if you own them all in your own name, you're asking for trouble, right, having them.

And if you have all of them in one entity and they're not separated, you're asking for trouble because you have somebody trip on one, all of them are at risk. So understanding the legal protection for the real estate that you do own. Mhmm. Understanding the contracts that you have. Alright?

Do you have independent contractors? Well, if you bring somebody in to help you with your logo or your your studio setup, are they independent contractors? Does that so do you have work for hire agreements with them? And most people in today's world, younger business people in particularly, have a problem with this because they've hired, people from overseas to do things for them, and they don't have a work for hire agreement. And that means you don't really own it.

And when you're in a position of building a business ready to sell, one of the first things an acquirer, a buyer is gonna do is wanna come in and see all your legal agreements to make sure you truly own everything you're telling them you do. And then do you have employment agreements with the people that work for you to make sure that you understand what the what the restrictions are? If you have, contracts with other companies, licensing deals, Are they transferrable? This happens a lot. Somebody has, you know, like, for instance, if with our talking books, we had an, agreements with Disney, Warner Brothers, Sesame Street.

Well, when we sold that company, we had to make sure that those licenses were transferable to a new entity because a lot of times, licenses don't transfer when there's a change of ownership.

Steve: Really?

Sharon: So I happen to have the benefit of having a husband who's an intellectual property attorney, but he and I together make a pretty dynamic team to help people understand how to build that strength into their business. And it increases the value of your business. Because when you decide to sell, you've got people come in to do due diligence, and you're at let's say you're asking 20,000,000 for your company. They come in and they start looking at these contracts, and you don't have work for hire agreements. Okay?

So you've just knocked the 15,000,000. Then they go further and they say, well, your licenses don't transfer well. They walk out the door. They're no longer interested. So it's best to do it upfront Mhmm.

To, you know, put the put the lipstick on the pig. Right? Make make sure you've got the foundation of your business. So and and outline all your processes, your process, your business systems. That's intellectual property due.

The you know, in today's world, Steve, over 90%, probably 90 closer to 95% of the value of Fortune five hundred is intangible. Mhmm. Forty years ago, it was maybe 15%.

Steve: Really?

Sharon: Yeah. So it's the world of business has changed, which is a good thing because that means little guys can compete against the bigger guys because we don't have to have the bricks and mortar. But you have to protect it. You have to identify your intellectual property, protect it, and then you can leverage it.

Steve: That's all covered inside of Exit Rich.

Sharon: Uh-huh.

Steve: So because what I've seen at times is, you know, our friends is like, hey. I wanna sell my company. And, like, from the words, I wanna sell my company to the ability to actually execute it is I've seen well over a year. Because once it's time to talk about make making the company sellable, well, what's gonna pass due diligence? What's gonna pass due diligence?

Well, now you gotta make sure that everything all your ducks in a row to get that right.

Sharon: It's a whole lot better to get your ducks in the row before the due diligence starts. Absolutely. That's my message.

Steve: Absolutely.

Sharon: And if you want generational wealth, is you don't have to sell the company. But if you want to transfer the company Mhmm. So that it's a cash machine, It's operating. You want to make sure you've done all that too. So that whether you give it to the next generation or whether you sell it to the employees or whether you sell it to an outsider Yeah.

You've created the highest value possible for your business.

Steve: How much do you think someone needs as far as assets goes to create generational wealth?

Sharon: Oh, that that that is a moving target depending on what your lifestyle is. Alright? Obviously, in today's market, I've heard studies that you need 5,000,000 to serve to retire on. That's not gonna go very far for most a lot of us. So I think the issue is you have to look and see what how big is your family and how many generations are you looking at?

If you have a family that has you know, if you have six kids in your family, the numbers are a lot bit bigger than if you have a single child. Right? Yeah. And so the dynamics is to sit down with somebody who can help you take your particular situation and create a plan for you and look at where you're going.

Steve: And then, I can't remember which book I read. Right? But I think maybe it was tax free wealth, maybe? But it was one of them. They talk about, or, the Nestle Foundation, I believe.

Right? They created a way where the kids can't sell the company, but the company has to continue paying their kids. You know what I'm talking about?

Sharon: Right. Well, there's diff there's different factions. So whether they provide a certain revenue stream to the kids you know, I talk to parents all the time when we're looking at estate planning, and I go, you know, there's there's a way you can create it so your kids get taken care of, but they also have responsibility. So that you might have a a trust that goes from those kids to their kids. So it's a, you know, it's a it's a bloodline trust.

But then as part of it, they get a certain distribution from the trust based on what they earn independently. That's one of the things I like to recommend to people because then the kid really has to perform, and so you get the best of both worlds. Yeah. But there you can structure things so that you incentivize. Don't, you know, become a mentor, not an enabler.

Mhmm. Too many parents are enablers for their kids. Yeah. I

Steve: don't wanna trust my baby. I want I want a, a kid that I also I I want them to work for, but also I want it where they can't screw it up. And that's my understanding with the Nestle is they can't screw it up because they don't have a say in selling it. They can have a say in the day to day, but they can't have a say in

Sharon: A lot of the old established American families have you know, that's why they still have money because it was set up so that a generation can't destroy it.

Steve: Right. So what is that called? The the is there a special name for that? Or

Sharon: It's it's it's a dynasty planning tool, estate planning, setting it up so that there's certain restrictions on how the money is utilized.

Steve: Gotcha. And then what about family offices? Do you do you see that playing away, playing a part in creating

Sharon: Well, family offices are some of them are great, some of them are not. But, you know, the what I I'll there are a lot of family offices that I just so appreciate because not only do they maintain the integrity of the assets and they maintain the integrity of a of a philanthropic arm. So they usually have a a charity fund that is based on the family and the family. They have regular meetings with the family, so everybody participates in the decisions. And they have an education arm so that the next generation is taught about money, taught about financial responsibility.

And so the I that's an incredible gift to a family is for generational wealth.

Steve: Yeah. And then, I got you know? So I already talked about JD. Right? He was one of the four other one, and, is is is my friend, Pageman.

And so we were look we were traveling, right, visiting him in California. So we've known each other since seventh grade, and, you know, my accountability partners since 2011. Right? Like, I I went off my own in 2007. He went off on his own.

I want, let's say, o '5 or o '6. But in 2011, we're like, hey. Let's just meet every month to be accountability partners. And we've done it pretty, pretty well, missed only a handful of meetings. And so he sold his company for some absurd amount of money.

And, my youngest, she's seven years old, and she's like, who is uncle Pejeman? As and, I kinda shared a story when we're accountability partners and this and that. And, Amelia, my oldest, says, well, dad, like, why is he still meeting with you as an accountability partner? Because he already sold his company. I said, well, he's helping me put my company in a position to sell.

To which she immediately said, oh, no. Like, I'm thinking over the business. Right? It's pretty bold here. So going back to Exit Rich, what advice would you give me as a father who wants to build a business that I'm obviously not gonna hand it to her, but what could I do set in place so that it is something that I could, if she earns it, be able to pass it on to her?

Sharon: Well, you create milestones, and you allow her to start getting involved, to learn things along the way and, and find out, you know, if she has the the desire and the consistent pursuit of perfection. But you tell her, you know, I'm building this so that it's it's a unit. It's an asset because it gives me more time to spend with you. If I've got a if I built a strong asset, then I have those options. And all options are open.

Okay? If this is something that you truly wanna do, you need to earn the opportunity to be able to do that. We're just not gonna hand it to you.

Steve: Right.

Sharon: And then but give her the, you know, various ways for her to continue her learning and be able to look at it and have her, you know, have her come in and analyze a property with her You start educating her. That's what happened with me at the age of 10. You know, I'd be looking at the financial statements, and I had no clue what they were. But my dad would walk them through me, and it's like, okay. Because the numbers tell a story, and the sooner she understands that, the greater benefits she'll have.

Steve: Yeah. I had her, one of her classmates I wanna say this is, like, first grade. One of her classmates' parents wanted to buy a house. So I said, oh, hey. You know, like, I'll show the parents.

You can play with your friend, right, while we look at houses. And we do, like, two showings, like, alright. That's out. You guys are too distracting. You're too loud.

Like, dad's actually working here. Yeah. Alright. So, now you got another book, How Money Works for Women. Talk about that.

Sharon: It's my most recent one, and I'm really excited about it because it's, there's no other book like it. I made it so it's not intimidating. Mhmm. You know, it's easy to read. It's like a cartoon book, and I've taken women from every decade of life from 19 to 86.

And there are nine characters, avatars in there, and you have the ability to find yourself in one of them. Like, the the 19 year old is going off to college thinking about college debt. The twenty year old is getting married and starting a business. The 30 year old is, you know, is having, realizing that her four year old has special needs, and so she has to redefine how she lives to take care of that child. And we talk about the resources that are available to help.

And then there's another one is escaping an abusive marriage with two children having to start over again. She happens to be a real estate agent. And then another one, a gal, she's been married twenty five years, looking forward to her golden year retirement, and her husband wants a divorce. And she's never had she has nothing in her own name. Mhmm.

And so overnight, she her standard of living is into poverty because she can't access credit. She can't access any of her own funds because her credit cards are cut off. Is it and it happens every single day. It just breaks my heart, which is one of the reasons why I'm pushing this book so much. Another one, happily married, thirty years, husband dies.

Same issue. Nothing was in her name. She can't access the funds. She can't even pay for the funeral. And so these are things that are so important for women to understand that you have a different credit score than your husband.

Mhmm. You have a responsibility. The world eighty percent of women see eighty percent of of men die single. Eighty percent of women no. Eighty percent of men die married.

Eighty percent of women die single.

Steve: How does

Sharon: that work? That's scary. Well, men typically have a shorter lifespan. Men women tend to, live seven years longer than their men. So that's a positive, I guess, but it's also a negative because they don't know anything about money.

And men get divorced, but then they get remarried. Mhmm. So they die married, women die 80% single, which means you are the sole responsible person for your financial life. And unless you take that responsibility and over we already women already control 60% of all wealth in America. Mhmm.

And so with that comes a responsibility. And over the next year, globally, women are gonna inherit $30,000,000,000,000. And so there's a responsibility for us to know how to receive it Mhmm. How to invest it, how to grow it, and how to create generational wealth with it.

Steve: Yeah. And it's so important. Like, I've had multiple interactions where, unfortunately right? Like, when they go to divorce, the only thing the woman gets is a house, and that's it. But that it means not a background, not a financial background.

Right? Doesn't know necessarily where to start. Or, someone where the husband passed and she doesn't know where to start. Right. Doesn't know where to begin.

Sharon: That's that's why I wrote this book because it's it's just a tragedy, and it doesn't need to be.

Steve: Yeah. So if someone wants to find that book, where would they go?

Sharon: I mean, if it was on Amazon or you can come to sharonlecture.com, my website, and I'll autograph it for you. So

Steve: Oh, there you

Sharon: go. Sharonlecture.com.

Steve: How money works for women.

Sharon: Yep.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. I think that I think that's so so important. And then, we're doing an event together.

Sharon: Yes. I'm so excited with my dear friend, John Burley. We've known each other for twenty five years. I met him at the very beginning of Rich Dad. Mhmm.

And, he's an amazing, amazing real estate brain.

Steve: Yeah. He's a whirlwind of energy. Yes. Yeah. He's he's been a he's mentored me as well.

You know, we've, done one event together, and I feel pretty good with my public speaking. You know? I haven't had any formal education on that side. It's mostly, you know, stuff I've read, picked up, learned on my own. And he pulled me aside later on.

I was like, hey. You got some challenges here? And here's the reason why. Right? And it's a mindset issue, and he snapped me out of it.

It was incredibly wonderful. Right? An amazing opportunity to have someone who's been on the stage with, you know, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar. Have you guys shared a stage together?

Sharon: Yes.

Steve: Yeah. So big stages. Right? Donald Trump. Like, he's talked about how he had to go after Donald Trump and how intimidating that was on the big stage.

But to have someone like that in my corner, just point out like, hey. Like, you're doing this wrong. Like, do this instead. And immediately, I could take action on that. So, what will you be talking about, at that event?

Sharon: Well, the whole day is about real estate. So I know you're gonna be talking about the wholesaling side of things, and and, John's gonna be talking about using real estate and cash flow basis. Right? Long term hold. I'm gonna be talking about using using real estate to create generational wealth.

So trying to bring it all together, talking about the importance of real estate. Yeah. Because with what's happening in the economy right now, Steven, you know, personal financial planners tell you to diversify, but they're talking about across paper assets, stocks, bonds, mutual funds. I teach diversification across asset categories.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: And one of the strongest one to help you get through inflation is real estate. Yeah. Cash flow producing real estate.

Steve: Yeah. So, and then I'll be talking about sales. And so, you know, what we're saying, what our conversation like looks like sounds like with homeowners. So, you know, definitely check it out. There's gonna be a link inside the show notes as well as a QR code for you guys to watch, and you can just take a picture of the on, take a picture of it on your on your phone.

So, let's talk about that real quick as well. Because, like, even though everyone is watching here has a business where they're, you know, spitting off cash, Other people, the reason why we got into it, you know, we get into real estate to buy real estate, but then we start doing activities involving real estate that's an active income, but not buying actually properties to hold. So can you spend a couple minutes talking about how to create generational wealth through real estate?

Sharon: Absolutely. Well, that's one of the my, a big motivation. My husband and I actually are part of eXp because that company helps real estate agents. Because one of my biggest frustration is I see so many real estate agents who have access incredible information, incredible opportunity, and they don't use it. They just they're they're just a transactional element waiting for that bad commission check, and then they don't know how to reinvest it.

Mhmm. You know, it's not what you do for your paycheck that determines your financial future. It's what you do with your paycheck.

Steve: Right.

Sharon: And so I have a mission in life to help real estate agents start building personal wealth. Mhmm. And, you know, part of that issue is understanding that, you know, you have the passive or active income. Mhmm. And a lot of people get into it and they get into flipping or they get into whole you know, then that's great, but that is an active business.

So you're being taxed at the highest rate. I want people to see the benefits of getting into passive income real estate investing, and you can do both. Use one as an an entree to the other. Mhmm. But passive income is what allows you to sit back and that's you know, I've I've been invested in every kind of real estate there is throughout my life from 10 years old to now.

And as I look at changing my estate plan, I'm now entirely passive. I'm involved in major syndications, major apartment complexes because I don't have to do the work. Mhmm. And that income is coming to me every single month and is passive income. That's so that we have the ability to pass our estate to our children without having it be a huge burden.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: And so you make those decisions that are right for you. But if you're constantly running, doing flips and wholesaling and not investing in long term strategies, you're not helping yourself.

Steve: Yeah. I got a good friend of mine, Paul Pastore, and he he he basically, rants about this. I wanted to say every other time I see him because we're in a different real estate mastermind together. I haven't gone as much recently, but he rants about it. And he's like, you guys have access to all the deals to all the deals.

You guys do nothing with it. Right? And so have you figured out why realtors don't buy properties? The The ones that don't. Like, because it's like it's like 98% of them don't buy properties.

Sharon: They still have the employee mentality. Even though they're on a commission based income, they still have this get the transaction. They're still transactional minded. And they don't they don't put money aside. They're not saving money, and so they are scraping by.

They're on this, you know, roller coaster of a good month and a bad month, and they don't take from the good month to preserve for the bad month. And, it it just breaks my heart because they do have access for it.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: You know, living on commission is something that, you know, you can do very well if you learn how to live on commission.

Steve: Yeah. So is it do you think is it a financial acumen or a business acumen?

Sharon: Both. Both? Both. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. So what would you say to someone that's listening right now? Because we have some real estate agents that listen to this. A lot of more wholesalers, and I think this, information applies here as well. So what would you say to someone that has a business acumen acumen that's not supporting them with buying properties?

Sharon: Then you need to figure out why you're not taking advantage of that. So that's I mean, one of the reasons we like eXp is that you have the ability to not only make money from the transaction, but you have the ability to build stock within the organization. So you're getting that passive income stream from the stock, and that's the only company out there that's doing that. Mhmm. But in the in the interim, a lot of people are afraid to do things on their own.

So I recommend somebody that's on that precipice that has the access and has the ability to find a partner. Mhmm. You know, there's a there your audience, I mean, as I was looking through your other I'm going, you guys need my friends. I mean, you guys have you're doing all of all the work. Mhmm.

We don't wanna do that, but there's a lot of people out there that's got money sitting on the sideline that's not making them any money right now. Mhmm. And so start looking for putting deals together where you pair the money and the deal, and you get a percentage of the deal so you don't have to put the money up, but you doing all the work. Mhmm. That's, you know, happening every single day.

I mean, I I did a years ago, I did a a major flip in Phoenix with my best friend, and she's a designer. She did all the hard work. I was just the money. And we, you know, we made $500,000 on a flip because we had the talent of both of us coming together. And so find those people that have those skills that you don't Mhmm.

And it makes it fun and lucrative.

Steve: Compliment each other. The name of your company is Pay Your Family First. What does that mean? Like, beyond the obvious part.

Sharon: Yeah. Well, Napoleon Hill came up with the coin pay yourself first. Right? That phrase. And, of course, banks use it all the time and financial planners.

But, you know, I want people to invest for their generational wealth, to pay your family first, invest for the future.

Steve: Mhmm.

Sharon: And with every decision you make, take a little bit of the money that comes in and put it aside for long term financial stability.

Steve: Is there a recommended amount or it just depends on the season in your

Sharon: Again, it depends on your own individual circumstances. You know, there's the fifty thirty thirty rule, and there's a 50 you know, all of those things are based on who you are and what you what what age you are, how many kids you have, that kind of thing. So

Steve: If someone wanted to find out more about how to do that, how would they how would they do that?

Sharon: I have a money mastery program that we go into into getting the how to get out of debt and how to establish a savings and investing plan, and it's available through my website.

Steve: Yeah. Sharonlector.com. Mhmm. Gotcha. And, again, guys, we're doing event together.

If you guys wanna check it out, you guys can comment below, scan the QR code, on this video, or, we'll put the, the the link in the show notes as well. So we talked about Rich Dad Poor Dad, but you wrote a bunch whole bunch of other books. So just the stat line. Right? I should I should have led with this.

I'm sorry. So 28 books, five New York Times bestsellers, 35,000,000 sold in a 110 countries in over 50 languages. That's absolutely incredible. I don't know as me. Are there a 100 people on the planet that have done this?

Sharon: Probably not.

Steve: Yeah. So it's just absolutely staggering. I mean, was there ever a time where you thought this was gonna happen?

Sharon: Oh, we had no idea. No. We had no idea what was what the impact we're gonna have. And this and I tell people all the time, you know, people all the time. And you didn't say it today, so I wanna acknowledge you for it.

But people come up and say, Rich Dad Poor Dad changed my life. And I you know, thank you very much. I love hearing that. But do you know how many millions of people read it and didn't do anything? So I say, I want you to own your power.

And instead of saying Rich Dad Poor Dad changed your life, say Rich Dad Poor Dad inspired me to change my life. Mhmm. Because you wouldn't be where you are if you didn't take the action and and apply it. And I know you say that to people too in in what you're teaching them from a standpoint of authentic sales. The same thing, you gotta take the action.

Mhmm. And so that's my message to everybody. If Rich Dad Poor Dad has had impact in your life, I'm so grateful. I'm so appreciative. But know that your success is due to your actions and your application of the rich dad principles, and it makes me very happy to see it.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you guys wrote an incredible book. So, you you know, one of the things that's interesting, what do you think it is about Rich Dad Poor Dad that connected better? Right?

Because this is not the first financial freedom book. It's not the first like, I read, somewhere along the lines along the lines well is, like, seven streams of income, right, by Robert Allen. Like, there's a lot of books out there.

Sharon: Mhmm.

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Sharon: up. Because it's a story, it's not intimidating. Just like my new book, how money works for women Mhmm. I wrote it to connect with your heart Mhmm. Not just your head.

That's how you change people when when they see, oh, I could do that. And in Rich Dad Poor Dad, we talk about, you know, seven, eight year old boys and things that they learned and things that you can do that people can they're not intimidated by it. Mhmm. Most information about money is intimidating. Yeah.

And you have to make it so that people can ease into it and understand it. Rich Dad Poor Dad was written on the fifth grade level so that people are not intimidated. The language of money can be intimidating.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: Yeah. You know, you need to learn the language of money. But by understanding, you know, working for money, working for assets, one step at a time. All of a sudden, knowledge you know, I hate the term, but knowledge is power. You the more you learn because what happens is, you know, high emotion is low intelligence.

Mhmm. And most people have high emotion when it comes to money because we grew up in without getting any education about money. We grew up in homes where we said money doesn't grow on trees, count your pennies, save for a rainy day. Mhmm. So as a young person, is money negative, money negative, money negative?

I was gift gifted in a home that didn't have that. But money negative, money negative. No wonder we end up with a scarcity mindset. We're afraid we're never gonna have enough money. High emotion, low intelligence.

Right? Mhmm. And if you can start dealing with the emotion, you can start making better, more wisdom based decisions as it relates to money because we have to replace replace that scarcity mindset with an abundance mindset that there's more than enough for everybody. The most successful businesses solve a problem and serve a need, and we have a few problems and a few needs. Right?

And so this is an opportunity for you to it's never been better or easier to start a business because of the tools that are now available to you online. So you have the opportunity. The issue is if you still have that scarcity thinking Mhmm. Even when you become successful, you end up having success guilt. You end up afraid you're gonna lose it, and so that high emotion is still creating a a roadblock for you to create the success you deserve.

So realize money is just an object. You have the opportunity. The more benefit you give to the world, the more you solve a problem, serve a need, the more money that will flow to you.

Steve: Yeah. Absolutely. So what does your life look like today with everything you got going on? What does your life look like today?

Sharon: Well, I love my life. I have a beautiful family, beautiful grandchildren, children. We, we have a ranch in Yonge, Arizona called cherrycreeklodge.com.

Steve: Where's Yonge, Arizona?

Sharon: It's absolutely incredible piece of heaven. It's in the middle of the Tonto National Forest, totally off the grid.

Steve: Okay.

Sharon: Our own solar power. At one time, we were the largest personal solar field. So and then we have, our own water. We have we have a beautiful lake stocked with fish. It's, about 300 acres and 40,000 acres of grazing rights.

So it's a cattle ranch. Wow. Black Angus cattle. And so the ranch itself is in my teaching. Alright?

So we created an asset out of the ranch. So I show on my talks pictures of the ranch and the cattle. I go, you guys see cows. I see assets because those mamas give me babies every year. Mhmm.

And they have a beautiful lodge that you can rent a room or you can take a retreat or a family reunion at the lodge. So that's something that we're focusing on. In fact, next weekend, Arizona Highways TV is coming out to do an updated special on us. And so that's a lot of we do a lot around that. We live here in Scottsdale.

I'm I have one last book I think I'm writing that I'm in the process of doing. And then my greatest joy is the mentoring. I do a high high level mentoring for clients that are ready to go to the next level.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: And so I love that. And then, of course, I my speaking is a large part of my life.

Steve: Who's that avatar for your, for working with you?

Sharon: Somebody that understands that they have something successful, and they don't know how to get to the next level to scale it. They don't understand how to build the intellectual property around what they're doing, so how we can create that platform. Because most people have an element of success, but they're stuck. They don't know how to go to the next level. And so we teach the power of association.

If you go to, yoursuccessequation.com, I have your success equation that is your passion and your talent, which is all about you, and that's all about school. And most people stop there thinking they have to do everything on their own, but I my formula is passion plus talent times a, power of association. I'm delighted to have you as a new association. People that help you expand your vision, expand your success through their networks. People who are strong where you're weak, the right mentors, the right legal advisers, and then times a, taking action.

How many of us know what we're supposed to do? We just don't do it. Right? And then all of it wrapped with a plus f, and that's faith. Faith in yourself, faith in what you're doing, faith that is needed and necessary, and faith that you will succeed.

And most times, almost every time when I have new clients, it's usually the power of association they need help with Mhmm. And their confidence. Yeah. And they go hand in hand. When you have the right people around you and you have a bad day, they're not gonna let you stay there.

Steve: No. They won't.

Sharon: So that's you know, so to describe my mentoring, I take that personal success equation. Your passion, your talent, what skills do you still need, who do you need on your team, what actions do you need to take, let's create an action plan when a we have a a retreat business retreat in November at our ranch. And through that, we go laser focus into your business and create a ninety day action plan to get into action, and then having that confidence that you're doing the right thing. Because entrepreneurship can be lonely when you don't have a mentor.

Steve: Yeah. To be lonely, it can be it can feel, like, the weight of the world is on you. It's a a a giant boulder you're pushing uphill. So today, what is your epic life goal? What is what is, like, the next big thing that you are looking to conquer?

Is there something else you're looking to conquer?

Sharon: Well, there are a couple of actually one is we're really focusing right now today. So it's in my brain. I'm sure I'm not today. I just ordered some tiny homes for our ranch, so we're putting a good push into taking our ranch to the next level. So that's really a huge huge thing right now that's occupying a lot of my brain.

And then also, I'm very honored. I just I'm I'm in August, I'm going to 10 x ladies. The Cardone companies are giving me a lifetime achievement award.

Steve: Oh, wow.

Sharon: That's awesome. First time they've done that. So I love Elaine and and Elena and and Grant. And Yeah. Brandon Dawson has been a a client of mine for twenty five years.

Really? So yeah.

Steve: Wow. He's done amazing things.

Sharon: He's incredible. Wonderful man.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. I had a chance to meet him when they opened up that office in Scottsdale.

Sharon: He just sent me in fact, while I was in your room, he sent me a video testimonial he did for me, that, you know, that in tomorrow, I know this I'm hosting an International Woman's Summit. So

Steve: Wow. That's very cool. What what do you struggle? What's your biggest struggle today?

Sharon: Focus on what to do next because I have so many things I wanna get done Mhmm. That, I tend to have that shiny object syndrome thing that you talked about earlier. And I have a great partner who makes sure I stay on the straight and narrow, but it's really what do I want my future to look like. So I'm going through a process right now. So if you it's not really a struggle of my my biggest need right now is for me to focus on what I really want my next couple of years to look like.

Steve: You're saying it doesn't get easier?

Sharon: It does not. Well, I'm 70. And so people and it's kinda getting a little annoying, quite frankly, Steve. So I appreciate you having asked me this question. People say, well, how long are you gonna keep working?

And it's like I'm getting a complex about it. I don't consider it work because I love what I do. And if I stopped, I think I would kind of, like, fade away. So I don't I don't have any intention of stopping. I just have to figure out what it's gonna look like.

And you and I spoke earlier off off camera about, you know, I was traveling every single week for years, and I've made that decision not to travel, to only only travel once a month if I can. So that's the first that's a big step for me because I was always I had a hard time saying no. Right? But, trying to focus on what's best for my family and for my health for the future.

Steve: So Yeah. My wife and I resigned to the fact that I'm never quitting. I'll I might do something different. It might look completely different than what it looks like today, but the idea of stopping, she knows. We were in Hawaii.

This is back in '21, And it was, like, you know, like, the big trip. Myself, my wife, my kids, my wife's parents, my parents. Six days, I think, in Hawaii. Right? Like, there should be, like, you know, one of the most memorable

Sharon: Mai tais and sunscreen.

Steve: Yeah. Right? And, like, after three days, like, I'm so bored here. I just like, can I can we go home? I can't I can't relax.

So she knows that about me already.

Sharon: Yeah. Well, I'm the same way. I mean, I just if I don't have something that I'm pushing and going forward, I just, like I I I don't I'm not one to sit and watch TV, so I gotta I gotta keep busy.

Steve: Yeah. And even more so, keeping the mind occupied. Because, like, again, like, if you're not using it, what's happening to it?

Sharon: That's right. You're either going forward or back. There's nothing in between.

Steve: What is your superpower?

Sharon: My superpower, a couple of years ago, my team gave me this, like, branded sign that says my legacy a legacy of creating legacies. My superpower is I can see what other people can't see. I can step into your business and see opportunities for you, the right kind of associations, and so that I really can and and and it brings me tremendous joy to step in and take somebody and help them get to the next level. And it's not about me, it's about them creating their legacies.

Steve: Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. What is your biggest regret?

Sharon: Well, my biggest regret is that twelve years ago, I lost a child. And so you're not supposed to outlive your children, and that's something that really threw me into a tailspin for several years. And I almost thought about retiring back then and got a lot of pushback from family and friends. And I think I heard him in my ear saying, mom, there's more for you to do. And that's actually when I launched my podcast, my launched my Play Big Movement private Facebook group.

Because when I made the decision to play big again, because it was like, you're still here for a reason, there's more for you to do, I wanted to share that message with other people, and particularly with COVID, all the things that happened. You know, if you're watching and listening to this, no matter what's happened to you, whether it's a death and, like, it was in my case, an illness, a financial setback, a bankruptcy, a divorce. You're still here, and you're still here for a reason, and there's more for you to do. And I I teach people to turn their mess into their message. Mhmm.

Right? And that message can become your mission, and your mission can become someone else's miracle. Yeah. You know, life happens sometimes for us, not to us. Mhmm.

And we have to figure out what's the lesson and how can I take what I've survived and what's happened to me and help other people going through the same thing?

Steve: Yeah. You've done a lot. So and we've talked about some of the amazing accomplishments, things that people can only dream of. Which failure in your journey in business did you learn the most from?

Sharon: That's a great question because I've had a lot of failures. After my talking children's book company, we moved here to Arizona. I became involved in another talking book company. I was a president and an investor, and it had it was where the ink was inside the pages, so you can actually talk the it was very exciting. But the the chairman, who was the inventor, brought in somebody with money that challenged me from an integrity perspective.

And I made the decision to walk away from the company. As I told him, I said I walked into this company with integrity. I'm not I'm gonna walk out with my integrity. Mhmm. And because he had the added investing dollars, he was in a position of control and power and wanted me to lie to vendors.

It's not that's not happening. Yeah. And so, it was it was hard for me because I had a lot of vision and a lot of expectation of great success. But the greatest lesson was and I and, really, the same thing happened when I made the decision to leave Rich Dad. I left because I had integrity, I knew what my personal mission was, and it was not a good environment at that time, even though we were making a hugely successful impact in the world, it was not a good environment for me.

And so the lesson I learned in both cases to stand in your integrity, to stand in your own power, and don't let anything pull you to make decisions that are not consistent with your own ethics.

Steve: Yeah. Don't compromise your your your belief system, your integrity.

Sharon: That's right.

Steve: So this might be a ridiculous question. You know, I ask this of every guest though is, which book have you gifted more than any other?

Sharon: Well, obviously, it used to have been Rich Dad Poor Dad, but I will tell you, I'm out winning the devil and give away a lot to people because it's such an important tool to help people get over their fear, to get get through their blocks, to realize they're not alone. That's the biggest thing today and we're in today's world. People think they have an issue or a problem. They think they're the only ones that have it, and they're not. Don't don't hesitate to ask for help.

Steve: Yeah. So let me ask this, and this might be a completely dumb question. It's been, like, like I said, maybe ten years since I, listened to Outwitting the Devil. I can't remember in it. Was it was the idea that this was an actual conversation in his head, or was it something that he made up entirely?

Sharon: So at the beginning of the book, Steven, and I'm glad you asked that question because people get a little crazy with the title. He says, you can believe I was talking to the real devil Mhmm. Or the devil in our brains. It's up to you to decide. Mhmm.

But will you derive benefit from what I share?

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: And so in the book, however Mhmm. I always get into goosebumps when I talk about this because this happened to me as I was reading the original man manuscript that was on a typed on a manual typewriter, and it had handwritten notes in the margins for Napoleon Hill. So I felt like I was having a conversation with him. Mhmm. And he said in the book, the devil says, I'm gonna prevent you from publishing this manuscript.

It's in the written document, and it was hidden away for seventy five years.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: So it just gave me goosebumps when I read that. And, because if you think about things that happened to you, right, there is a negativity in the world. And are you going to allow that negativity to permeate your brain? And I will tell you, I had a couple of Christian groups tell me they weren't gonna read the book because they felt that it was not Christian. But I had many, many more churches who used the book and believed in the book and understood the impact of the book from a standpoint of will this message help you get rid of the negativity in your life?

Yeah. And, so I'm And, so I'm very, very proud of the book. I'm very proud. It has brought tons of younger readers into the Napoleon Hill trust Really? Of information.

Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Again, I think that's probably the reason why I asked that question because I remember it was inconclusive, when I went through before. So thank you.

Thank you for sharing that with me. So I want you to think about the last thoughts I wanna leave all the listeners with. Everyone, if you guys got value out of this, please, again, like, share, comment. Help us tell YouTube that this is valuable content. If you guys want to attend the event, again, we're gonna put the QR code on the screen, the link in the show notes, or you can comment barely below.

Or if you wanna look at some of, how money, works for women, check out sharonlector.com. What message would you would you like to leave all the listeners with?

Sharon: Well, thank you for that, Steve. I think, you know, my message is you are the CEO of your life. And so you can listen to these these podcasts. You can go to events, but you have to take action. I mean, I when I'm speaking at events, sometimes it's the same event year after year, and the same people are in the same seats, and they've done nothing.

They haven't changed, but they're rah rah at the event. So I challenge you to be the CEO of your life. Make the decisions that are right for you. Focus on your own wallet. So many times we can't change what's happening in the global economy.

We can't change what's happening in our state economy, but you have you're in control of your wallet. With every dollar that comes your way, are you an investor or a consumer?

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: So when it comes to money, you're either in control of your money or your money is in control of you. And so make the decisions, control your thoughts, your words, your actions, and start today. Because if you start today, you'll get to where you wanna go sooner.

Steve: Yeah. And I'm not the one like, I love the idea of massive action. Massive action isn't for everybody. But at bare minimum, take a few steps.

Sharon: Mhmm.

Steve: Take a few steps and take a few more steps. Take a

Sharon: look at about little wins.

Steve: Yeah.

Sharon: Little wins give you the motivation to make a bigger win.

Steve: Yep. Absolutely. Thank you so much. It's an absolute honor for me. Thank you guys for watching, and we'll see you guys next.

Shout out to Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. Disrupt us.