Thanks to former guest Andrea Waltz, we were introduced to one of the most charismatic speakers I’ve ever met. Today’s guest brought so much life to the conversation it’s hard to believe that 21 years ago he was found dead at the scene where his car was totaled by a drunk driver in a head-on collision. Hal Elrod talked about the mindset strategy that saved his life over and over again. First when he defied death. Again when he left his successful job as a top salesman to live his dream of speaking around the world to inspire and empower others to overcome their limitations and achieve anything in their lives.
Watch the show (uncensored & unedited)
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Share Some Shut Up Love –> You have to believe in the belief others have in you until your belief catches up with theirs. – @HalElrod #shutupshow (click to tweet)
Fun Facts:
- Hal Elrod is a #1 bestselling author, international Keynote Speaker, hall of fame business achiever, one of America’s top Success Coaches, national champion Sales Manager, and record-breaking Sales Rep.
- Hal is an ultra-marathon runner, grateful husband and proud father.
- He has been featured in The Education of Millionaires, the all-time bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Cutting Edge Sales, The 800-Pound Gorilla of Sales, Releasing the Chains, Living College Life In the Front Row, and The Author’s Guide To Building An Online Platform.
- Hal has been known as “Yo Pal Hal” since hosting his first radio show at age 15.
Defining Shut Up Moment:
ON BECOMING YO PAL HAL: When I was 15 years old, my dream was to be a radio disc jockey. I got the interview. Got the job in the local radio station. Before I left, the station manager told me to think of a cool DJ name by next week. I went home and told my mom I got the job but had to come up with a DJ name. My mom suggested “Yo Pal Hal” and I told her I’m never going to use that dorky name. The radio station loved it and , as you can see, it stuck to this day.
ON DEFYING DEATH AND PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE: So fast forward four years later, I’m DJing in college. Got a job selling Cutco knives. Never considered myself a sales person. Within the first 10 days, I broke the all-time sales record selling $15,000 worth of Cutco knives. A year and a half into my sales career, I was asked to give speeches. On December 3rd, 1999, I was 20-years old. Driving back home from one of my speeches. I had the cruise control set at 70 mph in my brand new, white Ford Mustang when a drunk driver also traveling at 70 mph heading in the wrong direction hit me head on. It set me in the wrong direction and I got hit by oncoming traffic. I instantly broke 11 bones on the left side of my body. I was clinically dead for six minutes and in a coma for six days. I had permanent brain damage. When I came out of a coma, they said I’d never walk again. I told everyone I would never take my doctors’ diagnosis and I said, “If I never walk again, I will be the happiest person in a wheelchair.” Three weeks later, I took my first step and went back to work against the doctors’ orders.
ON LEAPING FROM TOP SALESMAN TO MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: I live by the five-minute rule, which says it’s okay to be negative sometimes but not more than five minutes. That was the strategy I used to get better and return to the sales competition. Then I realized selling knives wasn’t my destiny. I wanted to inspire and empower people to overcome the imposed limitations that hold us back from achieving anything in our lives. My mentor from Cutco taught me to live by the five-minute rule. Had I not been selling for Cutco, I would not have been equipped with that strategy. But if I wasn’t selling for Cutco, I wouldn’t have gotten in the car accident that night. Doctors thought I was in denial because I was so positive. I reminded my dad about the five-minute rule and told him I always dreamed to be a motivational speaker but I never had anything to talk about until now.
Shut Up Tips:
We all suffer from rear view mirror syndrome. We check it constantly to see how we’ve done in the past. All successful people, at some point, see themselves as not what happened but what could be if everything worked out. – Hal Elrod
I was mediocre my whole life. I had nothing in my past that said I could break sales records like I wanted to. After my manager told me the sales record holder was from Bakersfield, California, one of the most important beliefs I adopted was if another human being can do this thing I want to do then I can do this thing, too. – Hal Elrod
I am just as deserving, worthy, capable and committed as any other person on earth. – Hal Elrod
You have to believe in the belief others have in you until your belief catches up with theirs. – Hal Elrod
I believe The Miracle Morning is my greatest gift to the world. Nothing I ever taught has ever had such profound feedback on changing people’s lives. I’ve got to keep this mission going. – Hal Elrod
I have a fear of marketing to people. I am a top sales person, you would think that’s not a fear. – Hal Elrod
Hal Recommends:
Get TWO FREE CHAPTERS of Miracle Morning along with FREE video and audio training.
Buy Hals’s #1 bestselling book Miracle Morning on Amazon
Find Hal:
Yo Pal Hal’s Web Site: HalElrod.com
VIP Success Coaching with Hal Elrod