Episode 403: Timeless Success Secrets from the Richest Man in History!
John D. Rockefeller, often touted as the richest man in history and a key figure in shaping the industrial era, offers timeless advice for entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Join business coach Adam Stott in this episode as he talks about the timeless success secrets of John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in history. With a focus on modernizing Rockefeller’s principles for today’s business landscape, Adam breaks down these wealth-building strategies, offering invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs eager to replicate such legendary success.
Discover how Rockefeller’s wisdom remains a powerful compass for navigating contemporary business challenges and opportunities.
Show Highlights:
- Focus on larger ambitions beyond just financial success to build a fulfilling and enduring business.
- Compelling leadership requires patience and courage to inspire and direct teams.
- Sustainable success demands fair dealings, balancing personal gain with equitable opportunities for others.
- Understanding and leveraging data is crucial for informed decision-making in business.
- Being aware of potential setbacks and planning for them is vital for long-term financial stability.
Links Mentioned:
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Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
[00:00:00] Adam Stott: Timeless success secrets from the richest man in history. Who are we talking about today? Of course, J. D. Rockefeller or John Rockefeller was known for being the richest man that has ever lived. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to break down some of his success secrets and we’re going to modernize them for you.
[00:00:23] As a business owner, to learn from, to adapt, to be able to use in your business.
[00:00:32] Narrator: During the height of his career, John D. Rockefeller’s wealth amounted to 1. 5 percent of the United States total economic output.
[00:00:45] Adam Stott: So J. D. Rockefeller, 1859 500 million dollars given away philanthropist oil baron used to be a bookkeeper started out as a bookkeeper and become the most successful person that essentially ever lived from a financial standpoint of course Success has different definitions, but what we’re going to be looking at today is what are his lessons.
[00:01:08] So the first lesson from the richest man in history is the man or woman who simply starts out with the idea and ambition of getting rich will not succeed. You need a larger ambition than just money to be successful. Hey everyone. Hope you’re enjoying the podcast. We’ve got a free training that I’m doing right now online from the comfort of your own home called stand out brand.
[00:01:39] What this does is it shows business owners how to get noticed on social media, stand out. Get more leads and get more sales. So if you want to make more money in your business, head over to Adam stop. com forward slash SOB. That’s Adam stop. com forward slash SOB and join us on the free three day workshop, stand out brand.
[00:02:03] Well, isn’t that ironic? This is the richest man in history and he’s telling you straight up. Not to focus just on the money, but focus on the larger ambition and I see this all the time. And why do I think because we train thousands of business owners and I see business owners that come to us all the time and if they have and they work on a project or an ambition just to how do I make money?
[00:02:30] How do I make money? How to make money? It goes against their passion. It goes against what they’re interested in, it goes against their skills and what they’re really trying to do is they’re trying to put themselves as a square peg into a round hole and it doesn’t quite fit, but when you as a round peg go into a round hole, It becomes very smooth and easy.
[00:02:54] And that means you’re leaning in to your strengths. You’re leaning into what you are good at, and you’re focusing first on what your talents are rather than focusing first on the money. But why does this matter? And this is my interpretation. This is JD Rockefeller’s rule, but my interpretation of this, which I think is really important is.
[00:03:13] There’s money in everything. There’s money in making boxes. There’s money in making shoes. There’s money in fashion. There’s money in recruitment. There’s money in everything. Furniture, microphones, everything you look at, there’s money in. The difference is, is there’s no money in In being poor or being average or not being great.
[00:03:37] And you’re only going to have the tenacity and the propensity to be great is if you do something that you love, you focus on, you’re good at, and you keep pursuing it with focus. And that’s why JD Rockefeller’s rule is. Get the larger ambition first rather than just the money. And if you become great, the money will surely follow.
[00:03:58] Okay. So JD Rockefeller’s next rule is it in order for you to be hugely successful, you need to be able to compel men or women to follow you. And in order to compel men or women to follow you, you must have patience, patience. So when we look at these qualities and we look at the message of this role, well, first of all, the message of the role is that, you know, we’re going to have to compel people to follow us.
[00:04:30] Well, why does that matter? Because if you want to create more success in your life and you want to create something great, first thing to understand is that you can’t really do anything on your own. You need a team. Team and the bigger your team, the bolder your team, the more successful your team, the more successful you will surely be.
[00:04:51] And in order to get great performance from a team, you have to be able to compel them to follow you. So this clearly is something that JD Rockefeller put a lot of time and effort into. And I love the fact that he’s identified two areas. Both courage and patience as key qualities to achieving that success.
[00:05:13] Now I’ll give you my interpretation on that. Well, the courage is the courage to have difficult conversations, the courage to be able to stand up for what you believe in. The courage to be able to set the direction the courage to be able to take people to uncharted territories that they’ve not been to before and also the patience the patience to do with people to listen to people i train business since two thousand sixteen i built multiple eight figure companies myself and i know what it’s like to have lots of stuff you know i’ve had hundreds of staff that have worked for me In, in my employment, sometimes, as you will know, if you’re watching this and you’re human is that people sometimes can be frustrating.
[00:05:57] Right. And clearly you have to have patience to be able to compel people and help people to follow your ideas and your principles. So really look at that. If you’re an island in business, you will not achieve much, but if you’re going to achieve massive success, and in the words of the richest man in history, compelling people to follow you becomes a very important part.
[00:06:21] And those two elements are crucial to making that happen. So the next one is one that I absolutely love and feel really passionate about. He says that there is no mystery. In business and no long term success can ever be achieved without fair dealings so i love those two elements was like two rules in one what do i love well first of all the mystery part many people are trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to building their businesses where the reality is if you’ve got good principles and good strategies.
[00:06:56] Good foundations towards building your business and good strategies. You will succeed. It’s not about there being a mystery or actually being secrets. It’s more about principles and work ethics and following those principles and work ethic towards your success. And the other one that I love as well, which is coupled with this is that there could be no longterm success without fair dealings.
[00:07:19] Well, there certainly can be short term success. With unfair dealings, i. e. what is a fair dealing? You doing business with someone and you get the better end of the deal over everybody else. Now, this can also be described as a win lose situation. So you win and somebody else loses in that deal. And what J.
[00:07:42] D. Rockefeller is saying is that that is not a long term recipe for success. If you’re constantly winning and other people are losing, well, then you’re going to Break his other principle, which means that people are not going to stay with you. You’re not going to build your team. You’re not going to compel people to follow you.
[00:07:57] And in fact, you’re going to create a house of cards effect within your business. So you have to really prioritize the principle of actually starting create fair dealings, which means you win and somebody else wins. This means being fair, being fair with people. And that’s what will create the long term success of your business.
[00:08:17] So really consider that because a lot of the time greed can get in the way of fair dealings. A lot of the time inpatients can get in the way of fair dealings. But if you make sure that you win and your clients win, you will surely win together and get that longterm success that you crave. So the next rule from the richest man in history is that as he started as a bookkeeper, before he became the richest man in history, he had a great respect for facts, figures, and numbers.
[00:08:49] And if you want more success in your business, you also need to have a great respect for the facts, the figures, and the numbers. Now, having trained many, many, many, Thousands of businesses over a long period of time, I understand because I’ve heard it many times before. Some people say, I’m just not good at the numbers.
[00:09:08] Um, yeah, I don’t like the figures. And some people rely on their accountant or their finance controller, their finance director to tell them what the numbers are, and they avoid it. And they really don’t lean into it. But successful business is. People make their decisions based on the numbers, successful business people realize that they have to understand the numbers.
[00:09:31] And it’s interesting that the most successful person essentially financially of all time being JD Rockefeller knew this fact, remember success leaves clues. If you’re currently overlooking the facts, the numbers, or the figures, this could be a big mistake in your business and something that you should focus on to secure your longterm success.
[00:09:52] Okay, so the next rule is one that is closely related to the numbers and figures, and I’m going to read it out for you study diligently your capital requirements and fortify yourself to cover against possible setbacks because you can absolutely count on it. On meeting setbacks, be sure that you’re not deceiving yourself at any time about your actual true conditions.
[00:10:20] So I’m going to interpret this in an easy way to understand, which is look at your capital, how much money you need. Do not deceive yourself. Don’t look at it like you’re doing better than you think you are. Actually really look at it as a, how am I doing? Have I got the money I need? Where am I at from a financial standpoint?
[00:10:39] Never deceive yourself and really get deep into the figures. You want to keep your finger on the puzzle. Pulse of the numbers of your business. And that is critically important in order to create your success. It’s something that JD Rockefeller knew and he studied, he studied his capital requirements is something that you should do too.
[00:10:58] So look at your business. If you’re going to go, where are you going over the next year? The next two years, the next three years, have you got the capital to make the moves that you want to make? You’ve accounted for setbacks. One thing I’ve noticed, uh, with business owners and yourself, you might be the same is that when you have an amazing month, you suddenly think you set the standard of the new month and every month after that’s going to be the same.
[00:11:24] Hey, look, you know, I just had this big month and now I’ll do this next month and this, the month after and this month after that, and this is asking to be. And then what you realize is actually. That’s not the case at all. And it starts going the other way. And you didn’t account for it because you got carried away.
[00:11:40] So look at the trends over longer periods of time, account for setbacks and make sure that you’re safe for the longterm of your business, not just the short term. So this is a really, really interesting one. Uh, which is definitely something that you should really, really be aware of because sometimes when we have competitors, we don’t understand what they’re doing in the marketplace, why they’re doing it, but let’s listen to this one and take it in and I’m going to explain it because I think it’s very important.
[00:12:07] It is to be remembered that often the most difficult competition you have comes from not the strong, intelligent, conservative competitor, but from the man or woman who is holding on by their eyelids, ignorant of their costs. And anyway, that person has to keep running or go bust. What does this mean? It means if somebody comes into your market and they’re making crazy offers and stealing your market share, be careful as to how you respond, because that person may well be a short term player, not a longterm player.
[00:12:46] Often you can look at other people and say, what am I doing wrong? Well, I’m not able to do this business or this deal. And they’re coming in and they’re taking the business and it’s taking the market share and your panic. And you start to make decisions based off what your competitors do, where often they don’t have the longevity in the first place.
[00:13:05] So you’ve got to make sure that you make the correct decisions. You monitor your capital, you monitor your finances in order to create your true success. Now, the final one. Which is a really important lesson is after any spirited conversation with an ally or an enemy rockefeller would repeat himself over and over again the important points that were made by that ally or by that enemy he said it was more important to be a great listener.
[00:13:39] Then to be a great talker. So you have to sharpen your listening skills to understand your allies, intention, your enemies intentions, and make sure that you motivate your business into the right areas. So look, there’s some huge lessons there in success from the richest man that’s ever lived. Hopefully you enjoyed.
[00:14:02] This video and you’ve been watching along and you enjoyed this chat that we’ve had today. Tell me in the comments, what are the big moments for you? Did something really strike a chord with you there? And did you go, okay, that was an aha moment. And I’m going to give you one bonus one, which is also very important.
[00:14:18] He also said that common sense is one of the rarest commodities. And I actually think that when you look at these lessons, some of them are common sense, but as he says, Common sense is a rare commodity. It’s not that common. So how can you apply some of these common sense rules to your business in order to maximize your success?
[00:14:39] Now, I hope you’ve enjoyed today. Please do make sure to subscribe if you’re watching on YouTube, if you’re listening along on the podcast and you’ve enjoyed it, go and share this with somebody that could get some massive value or give us a lovely review. That would be truly appreciated as that’s how this grows.
[00:14:55] And I, of course, look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Hi everybody, Adam here, and I hope you loved today’s episode. Hope you thought it was fabulous. And if you did, I’d like to ask you a small favor. Could you jump over and go and give the podcast a review? Of course, I’ll be super grateful if that is a five star review.
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