Jason interviews Patrick Snow author of the international bestseller, Creating Your Own Destiny.
PATRICK SNOW is an international best-selling author, professional keynote speaker, publishing, speaking and book marketing coach. He first discovered his gift for speaking at the age of 17 while giving the pre-game speeches to his high school football team. Since then, Patrick has electrified more than 3,000 audiences on four continents to create their individual and organizational destinies.
As a publishing coach, he has mentored more than 1,000 clients throughout the world to successfully publish their fiction, non-fiction, memoir, legacy, or children’s book.
Patrick’s “DESTINY” message has been recognized on TV, in magazines, and in major newspapers such as The New York Times. His book and family photo was also featured as a cover story in the December 5th, 2002, issue of USA TODAY. He was also recently featured in a Spanish edition of Forbes Magazine.
Patrick is author of the international bestseller, Creating Your Own Destiny, which has sold upwards of one million copies in five languages and 108 countries worldwide since its first printing in 2001. As a result, this book and his second book, The Affluent Entrepreneur, have both been purchased by John Wiley & Sons in NY and have been republished under the Wiley imprint. He is also a contributing author to numerous other books including Chicken Soup for the Soul: Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction. Patrick’s newest book, Boy Entrepreneur was published in September 2014. His next book, Providing Massive Value will be published in the months to come.
Originally from Michigan, Patrick graduated from the University of Montana in 1991. He lived in the Seattle area for more than 20 years until April 2013, when he and his fiancé, Nicole, have moved to Maui, Hawaii (where he continues to build his speaking, coaching and consulting business).
To learn more visit www.patricksnow.com
Below is the full transcript:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Announcer: Welcome back, America, to Sound Retirement Radio, where we bring you concepts, ideas, and strategies designed to help you achieve clarity, confidence, and freedom as you prepare for, and transition through, retirement, and now, here is your host, Jason Parker.
Jason: America, welcome back to another round of Sound Retirement Radio. I’m so glad to have you on the program with us. As you can probably tell through one of our long-time listeners, I’ve got a little bit of a hoarse voice this morning, so thank you for your patience there. I’ve got an excellent guest for Episode 100. Now, this isn’t really Episode 100, but when we started counting, and we’re at 100 … Now, 7 years later, we’ve done a lot more than 100 of these shows, but a really special guest for this program. I’m excited to bring him on the program, which we will do in just a minute, but … As you know, I like to start the morning out by renewing our mind, and I’ve got a verse, because I think that’s one of the best ways we can do that. This comes to us from Matthew 5:44: “But I tell you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Boy, I think that’s awesome.
Then, of course, we want to give you a joke, something to put a little smile on your face, if you’re going to go see the grandkids. We always like to have something you can share with them, so here it is. Why does a chicken coop have two doors? Because if it had four doors, it would be a chicken sedan. Oh, man, that’s great. Folks, Episode 100, you’re going to love this one. It’s How To Create Your Own Retirement Destiny. I’ve got international best-selling author Patrick Snow on the program. He’s a professional keynote speaker. His book, Creating Your Own Destiny, has sold upwards of 1 million copies, and we’ve had him on the program in the past, but Patrick Snow, welcome back to Sound Retirement Radio.
Patrick: Jason, I’m thrilled to be here. Always been a long-time fan of your show, so thank you very much for having me on again.
Jason: Well, I’m a fan of the work that you do, Patrick, because I believe you’re in the business of helping people achieve a greater sense of clarity in their life, and … Especially in times of transition, like retirement, it’s a big deal; and so the more we can get people clear about what’s important to them as they’re transitioning into retirement, I think the better that whole process goes. With that, I wanted to start out and ask you: What age do you think somebody should retire?
Patrick: I think someone should retire whenever they get their income-producing assets, or business, running on autopilot, when they no longer have to have it, and when they no longer have to have a job, I’m a big fan of retiring. In my situation, I’m 47 years old, and I’ve built my business to the point where I was able to quit my job at 35 years old, and I’ve been a full-time entrepreneur since then, but the cool thing is, I haven’t worked a day in my life. I think that retirement is when someone stops following their passions. Based on that, I firmly believe that we should build income-producing assets, develop multiple streams of income, and launch passions so that we can serve other people by not necessarily actually retire, but … My point of it is, go follow your passion and work out of choice towards that passion, instead of having to work out of need, so it’s a little bit different twist on that.
Jason: Yeah, so when you talk about retirement, it’s not … I mean, you’re still giving professional keynote speeches around the country, right? You go out to companies and deliver an inspirational message to their company, but you just don’t consider it work. Is that basically what you’re saying?
Patrick: Absolutely correct, and I think, knowing your book and your message, you’re the same way. It was Marsha Sinetar who said, “Find something that you love to do, and you’ll never have to work another day of your life,” and so yes, I’m busy daily building my passion, building my business, building what I do, but of course, as I go out and speak and travel all over the world, it’s definitely not work. It’s definitely a passion of mine, and so that’s what I encourage other people to do. I recently lost my father, who retired, within a couple years after his retirement. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it due to fighting cancer; but I think what happens is, a lot of times people put in their entire lives, their entire nest egg, their entire fortune is that plan of the day of retirement, and then once they’re retired, they get bored. They don’t know what to do.
My belief is, is yeah, find yourself in a financial position by having somebody like you help them with their monies, but transition or transform that punching-the-time-clock work ethic, to punching your passion card of building whatever passion that you are. Then as a result, you’ll never get bored, and you’ll always love that, what you do.
Jason: Well, thank you for that. Patrick, your dad passed away. How old was he when he passed?
Patrick: Seventy four years old, pancreatic cancer, and I don’t know, there’s a big part of me that thinks that he worked his entire life, and at about 70 he stopped his work, and the work that he did. I think there’s a part of me that he just got bored, and I see that over and over and over again with my clients all over the world is: They work like crazy 24/7/365 for years and years and years, and then they go hit that retirement, and then they start their life all over again, and they’re bored. They don’t know what to do. I really think, in the working years, I think it’s so very important to soul-search for your innermost passions, and then transform one of those passions, there are a multitude of those passions, into a plan B or a plan C or a profession that you can dabble with, and then earn income out of choice. Earn income because it’s fun, not because it’s something that you need to do.
Jason: I want to talk about passion and how your passion fits into retirement, but before I do, one of the things I think is neat about you, because one of the reasons we met originally is, you were actually living not just right down the street from where I lived here in Washington, and you pursued this passion to the point where you decided that you wanted to live in Hawaii, and you picked up, and… That’s where you live now is, in Hawaii. You’re somebody that takes action on these different ideas, but Patrick, I’m curious to know, how does your passion fit into retirement?
Patrick: Well, Zig Ziglar taught me long ago that we can have everything in life that we want, as long as we’re willing to help enough other people get what they want, so as an author, professional speaker, and publishing coach, I really absolutely love serving other people: Helping them become speakers, helping them write published books, helping them turn their cause or their mission into a book. For me, I think I have 2 natural career highs in my life. One is when I speak and I get offstage knowing that I’ve impacted the audience. Another one is when my clients get their books sent to them, and they show up on the doorstep, and maybe it’s been a career lifelong goal for 10, 20, 30, 40 years, to write and publish a book. For me, that book, that tool, that resource that they’ve created, that becomes a passion from which they can use as a platform to kind of stand on for the rest of their lives; and then, really enjoy those retirement years by making an impact and serving others.
I think, really, when people retire, maybe for the first time in their lives, they have the ability to serve others, and I really think that’s what life is about: It’s about service, it’s not about self, so to speak.
Jason: I’ll let our listeners know, when the time came where I wanted to write a book, I had a friend who had written a book, and he told me about Patrick Snow, so I met Patrick, I said, “Patrick, I’m 90% done writing the content, but I don’t know how to publish it. I don’t know how to edit. I don’t know how to proofread it. I don’t know any of this stuff,” and it’s amazing how the right people are brought into your life at the right time. I had the opportunity to work with Patrick, and it was a really wonderful experience. Patrick, I want to ask you, as you think, because you’ve helped a lot of people on this lifelong goal of theirs to be able to publish their thoughts and ideas … I want to ask you 2 things. Number 1, why do you think that’s so important to people, and then number 2, can you think of a success story or somebody specifically that you had the opportunity to work with and maybe just their story and why they wanted to share it?
Patrick: Okay, so the, I think the people … I think the challenges that so oftentimes people in life, in their early parts of their life, they find themselves in a career, and maybe that’s what they know, and that’s what they become good at, and so they spend the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years of their life pursuing that career, and maybe that career is what they do to earn a living, but it’s not what they really want to do to make a life, and so … A lot of times, in people’s later years, they have accumulated knowledge and wisdom and experiences that they freely want to share with other people, and I firmly believe one of the best ways to do that is to write and publish your book. It was Abraham Lincoln who once said, “The only way the dead can teach the yet unborn is through the written page.”
Based on that, if that’s true, then I strongly encourage people to write their book, allow that book to become their legacy, allow that book to be a tool for children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren all over the world, and maybe for the first time in their lives, the book becomes the resource in which they can serve others, and inspire others, and give hope to others; and I think in this crazy, competitive, uncertain world that we live in, hope is what we need. I think one success story that we have is a young man, actually he lived in Kitsap County. His name is Tyler McNamer. Tyler is 21 years old, and he was born with, or later contracted, autism, and he’s on the right end of the autism spectrum, but he wasn’t able to speak to write or talk until he was about 12 years old.
Then when he was 18 years old, his senior year in high school, we started working together. His father came to me and said, “My son wants to write a book, and we need a coach,” and so we went ahead and we helped him over the next 18 to 24 months write and publish a book titled Population One: Autism and the Will to Succeed. Autism, Adversity, and the Will to Succeed. Now he’s 22 years old, and he’s out there, he’s sold … The guy sold like almost 100,000 books. He’s making $100,000 a year as a 21-year-old kid. In fact, he should be one of your clients to invest his money, but the thing is, his mother and father were so concerned about what is this child going to do …
He was told that he’d never be able to have a job, he’d totally never be able to drive a car that [he’d 00:10:52] be able to function, and now he has his own car, he’s driving his car, he’s speaking at high schools on bullying and anti-bullying, and he sells 30 to 50 books a day on the internet. There are people all over the world that are now being served by his message of hope, to help their families out. I think it all comes down to, the sooner that we can serve others and inspire hope in others, the quicker that we can find that piece of mind that we’re searching for.
Jason: Boy, that’s awesome. Patrick, could you think about your own purpose, your own legacy? How would you articulate that to our listeners?
Patrick: Well, I think most … First and foremost, my 2 boys are my most important thing, and they’re now 25 years old and 21 years old. Actually, one’s a stock broker in New York City, following in your footsteps, and the other one’s halfway through school in Honolulu, and I think first and foremost, my legacy is: I hope that my boys look back one day and say, “You know what? Everything I needed to learn about life with regards to morals, values, and ethics, and to succeed following my passions, I learned from my father.” First and foremost, I would hope to be able to hope that that statement becomes true at some point, but more than anything else, I just want to help other people. I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 34 years old.
I started selling Detroit Free Press subscriptions … I’m sorry, for the last 34 years, at 13 years old, I started selling Detroit Free Press subscriptions door to door; so really, I just want to serve others, help others, and if I can light a candle to lighten the way to help others have less pain, adversities, struggles that I’ve had, then I think I’ve done my job, and that’s my goal to do.
Jason: Awesome. As somebody that specializes in retirement planning, one of the things we’re always talking about here is that retirement is all about cash flow. It’s your income that will determine your lifestyle on retirement. You talk about developing extra streams of income during retirement. What are some additional streams of income that people could be thinking about, or if they want to retire from maybe their career, but they’re still looking to bring some revenue in the door to help offset some of the expenses in retirement?
Patrick: Well, and I probably sound like a broken record, and I know that you preach this, but one of the challenges that we have is our healthcare is better than it’s ever been. People are living longer than they’ve ever lived, and unfortunately, if they don’t work with somebody like yourself, their cash flow is going to run out before their life does, and then they end up being cash flow poor in their later years. I’m a big advocate of finding a way in life as early as we can. In our 30s, 40s, 50s, or maybe even our 60s, find a way to identify what those passions are that we have. Then, once we’ve soul searched for those passions, then, the next challenge that we need to do is take an inventory of those passions, and determine which of those passions are marketable, which of those passions are just hobbies, and which are something that we do for fun. Then once we determine what those marketable passions are, then we need to transform those passions into our profession. It might be investing in real estate. It might be getting involved in the direct selling industry.
It might be becoming an artist, a painter, a writer, a speaker. It might be, I can’t tell you how many people that I know that buy and sell cars on Craigslist, or they buy and sell furniture on Craigslist, or they get free stuff on Craigslist, and they later resell. There are all kinds of options out there, whether it be bartering or real estate, or speaking, or being an artist. Whatever it is, but I think that’s our challenge. The sooner in life that we can transform our most marketable passion into our profession, then we finally have an ability to supplement our income and to build multiple streams of income.
If I were to win a lottery today and I came to you tomorrow and said, “You know what? I’ve got $10 million I want invest,” you’re going to say, “We need you to diversify. We need stocks, and bonds, and mutual funds, and this, and real estate,” whatever else, but the problem is, in life, too many people rely solely on their income from their day job, and hence I think that … As you know, sometimes that might not be enough, and so hence the reason to diversify.
Jason: Well, the world is changing dramatically, and the way that people can generate revenue these days is fascinating to me. It really is fascinating. Being a speaker, writing a book. I mean, these are obviously routes, things that people could consider. Patrick, I want to ask you more about this idea on clarity. Because it’s something that we speak to a lot when trying to help people get ready to retire, and you talk … You used the word “passion.” Do you have any exercises, any tips, on how people can really uncover or discover the things that are truly most important in their life, as they’re trying to envision what this next phase of their life could look like?
Patrick: Well, absolutely. I think the best thing to do is ask themselves, “Look, when you go on vacation, where do you like to go? What do you like to do? What do you do on the evenings and weekends? What activities do you do, that nurture your soul?” For me, I’ve recently learned that I love buying old cars, collectible cars, and restoring those cars, and fixing them up. I don’t do the mechanical work, but I kind of hire that out; but for me, I could do that for hours and hours and hours, and because it nurtures my soul. What I think we need to do, as human beings, is we need to take an inventory of our hobbies, of our loves, of our joy. What nurtures our soul, what brings harmony to our heart? Then we write a list of those hobbies and joys, and then, based on that, we identify them.
You know what, this is either something that we enjoy doing because maybe we enjoy watching TV, but maybe TV is a short-term joy, but it doesn’t actually nourish the soul long-term. The goal is to take a list of these hobbies that we have, and then of these hobbies, which of these hobbies nourish our soul, which of these hobbies make us stay up at night with excitement? Which of these hobbies are we willing to do 24/7, whether we’re getting paid or not? When we find out which those hobbies are, that’s when our soul can burn on fire with passion to help and serve other people.
Jason: Yeah, awesome. I read a quote recently, and it said, “If even one breathed a little easier because you had lived, than that is to have succeeded.” I recently was in a position where one of my good friends and mentors passed away. As we were sitting at his funeral, Patrick, the aha moment that I had there, [again 00:17:40], and you hit on this when I asked you about your legacy and your destiny, the very first thing that you said was about your boys. It was about that relationship. The thing I realized sitting at that funeral of my good friend, was that … I used to ask the question, “How will you be remembered? What have you contributed,” but I think the better question is, “Who did you love, and how did they know they were loved?”
It’s not just about the things you do, but who are you doing them with, and who are you doing them for, that I really think, when people get clear about that, boy, it’s just … We can unleash a whole generation of people into a new realm of service which, like you say, in a world that can sometimes seem dark, it’s going to be pretty exciting, as all of these baby boomers that have shaped the world up to this point, we’re going to be releasing all of that light into the world, and that’s an exciting thing. Any thoughts on that?
Patrick: Well, I think it’s so true, and as you talk about our family, and as I talk about our desire to leave that legacy for our kids, one of the challenges, as parents, is, we constantly want to give our kids more opportunities. We want to provide and make it easier for our kids, in the way that we had it, and I think one of the challenges I’ve seen time and time again, and you probably see it all the time in the financial services industry, that … I firmly believe that. I once heard that if you grow up rich, you die poor, and if you grow up poor, you die rich. Part of the reason is, is if we grow up rich and we have everything given to us, we’re never able to develop that work ethic. We’re never able to learn how to fish for ourselves, and so…
I think one of the challenges that we, as parents, have, is, we want to provide [by 00:19:26] provide, but at some point, we have to maybe let our kids learn some tough lessons, and it’s so hard to do, because we want to protect them, but ultimately, I think, as we leave our legacy, it becomes the time that we spend with our children. The lessons, and the morals, and the ethics, and the values that we pass on to them, that’s more important than any amount of money or monetary gifts that we can provide for them. It’s a very challenging thing, as a parent, and I think what you said is true, “Who did you love, and how did you share that with them?” One of the things I always do is, my kids, every time I’m done on a phone call, I tell them, “I love you. I’m proud of you. I believe in you,” and I text them, “I love you, I’m proud of you, I believe in you.”
I think they kind of laugh it off right now, but I think at one point in their life, hopefully they’ll look back and say, “You know what? There’s no doubt about it. My dad loved me, he was proud of me, and he believed in me,” and I think those 3 things are some of the greatest gifts that we can give a child.
Jason: Yeah, that’s awesome, man. You used 2 quotes that speak to publishing and art. What are those 2 quotes, and how do they apply to people in the retirement years?
Patrick: Well, it’s been said that there’s only 2 things that we can leave behind on this earth. One is our children, and the other is our art. Obviously, at the retirement age, you’ve done pretty much everything you can for those children, to get them to where they want to be, so that leaves us our art, and some of us have the painting skills, and the sculpturing skills, and watercolor and whatever else; but like, me, I don’t. Based on that, as I talked about before, the written page is the only way the dead can teach the yet unborn, so I look at a book as a piece of art, as a masterpiece, as a way that your legacy can be passed on from generation to generation to generation; so to me, it’s your children and your book. Once you have that book, and you share all of the lessons that you have in your life, then 2 and 3 and 5 generations later that come down the road, they’re never going to have any questions as to what grandpa or grandma stood for.
Jason: You bring up grandma and grandpa. Just a short story there. Right before I was about to get married, I was living up in Alaska, and we were having a really small wedding, and I called both of my grandparents before the wedding, and my wife is off getting ready, and I was by myself, as a young man getting ready to be married. It’s been almost 20 years now, I’m proud to say, Patrick, but I called my … Once I-
Patrick: Congratulations.
Jason: Yeah, thank you. My grandma, she said to me, I said, “Do you have any words of wisdom for me before I get married?” My grandma and grandpa, they said, “Jason, never go to bed mad.” Then I called my other grandma, and I said, “Hey, grandma, do you have any suggestions, tips, wisdom for me before I get married?” She said, “A family that prays together stays together.” I’m so grateful that I made those calls and I asked those questions, because those 2 bits of wisdom have come in very helpful for me, but I wish I would have asked him more questions, and so I think I missed the boat a little bit. Patrick, I know you do a lot of work helping people publish a book, and we only have about a minute left, but can you share some tips on if somebody wants to write a book, maybe the best starting place to do that?
Patrick: Yeah, I would be honored and thrilled to offer any of your listeners a complimentary, no-obligation 30 to 60-minute publishing consultation by phone or by Skype. Best way for them to reach me is, they can visit me on the website thepublishingdoctor.com, or thepublishingdoctor.com, and then text me with their name and their time zone at 206-310-1200. Again, 206-310-1200. I would be honored to spend 30 to 60 minutes with any of your listeners, helping them create that legacy book, or help them further develop that passion in the form of a book and serve and help others.
Jason: Wow. That’s awesome. Thank you for that offer. Folks, if you’re just tuning in, you’ve been listening to episode 100. My name’s Jason Parker. Remember, you can find all of these programs archived online at soundretirementplanning.com. In the show notes, we will include a link to Patrick’s website, so if you’re interested in taking him up on that offer to learn how to become a published author and to write your first book, that’s a pretty special offer. Patrick, thank you so much for being a guest on the program today.
Patrick: Jason, I love what you do. Thank you for your time, and your clients are very blessed to have you in their lives.
Jason: Thank you, sir. Take care.
Announcer: Information and opinions expressed here are believed to be accurate and complete for general information only, and should not construed as specific tax, legal, or financial advice for any individual, and does not constitute a solicitation for any securities or insurance products. Please consult with your financial professional before taking action on anything discussed in this program. Parker Financial, its representatives, or its affiliates have no liability for investment decisions or other actions taken or made by you based on the information provided in this program. All insurance-related discussions are subject to the claims-paying ability of the company. Investing involves risk. Jason Parker is the President of Parker Financial, an independent fee-based wealth management firm located at 9057 Washington Avenue Northwest, Silverdale, Washington. For additional information, call 1-800-514-5046, or visit us online at soundretirementplanning.com.
