Adam Witty | The Importance of Cultivating Relationships and Partnerships, from Forbes to Dan Kennedy

Adam Witty is the Founder and CEO of Advantage|ForbesBooks. He has built the company into one of the largest business book publishers in America, serving over 1,500 members in all 50 US states and publishing in 67 other countries. The company was listed on the Inc. 5000 List of America’s most rapidly growing private companies.

In addition, Adam Witty is a sought after speaker, teacher, and consultant on marketing and business growth techniques. He has shared the stage with many luminaries like Steve Forbes, Gene Simmons of KISS, Peter Guber, and Bobby Bowden. He has been featured in many different media publications and he also owns Magnetic Marketing, formerly known as GKIC, a marketing company that was founded by the legendary marketer, Dan Kennedy. Adam holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Clemson University.

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Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:

  • Why Adam Witty decided to start a book publishing company
  • How Adam reached out to Pat Williams, founder of the Orlando Magic, and how Pat became his friend and mentor
  • Why Adam believes that salesmanship is the key to getting a good business going and how this helped him land his first customers for his publishing company
  • The people who inspired and guided Adam in his sales and marketing career
  • How Adam met Dan Kennedy, his eventual acquisition of Dan’s company, Magnetic Marketing and how this impacted Adam’s career
  • The power and importance of investing in relationships
  • How Adam’s publishing company started its partnership with Forbes
  • How Adam’s involvement in small business groups and peers has helped his business
  • The people who played a big role in Adam’s success story
  • Where to learn more about Adam Witty and his businesses
  • The upcoming Marketing and Money Making SuperConference by Dan Kennedy and Adam’s surprise for John’s listeners

Resources Mentioned:

Sponsor: Rise25

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Along with my business partner Dr. Jeremy Weisz, we have over 18 years of experience with B2B podcasting, which is one of the best things you can do for your business and you personally. 

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A podcast is the highest and best use of your time and will save you time by connecting you to higher caliber people to uplevel your network. 

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Episode Transcript

John Corcoran 00:40

All right. Welcome, everyone. John Corcoran. Here. I’m the host of the smart business revolution podcast where I talk with CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs of companies and organizations like YPO eo Activision Blizzard, which is the world’s largest video game company, lending tree, Open Table x software and many more. I’m also the co-founder of rise25, where we help connect b2b business owners to their ideal prospects and I’m really excited today because my guest today is Adam widi. And if you don’t know that name, first of all, my business partner has just raved about him for years and said, You got to talk to Adam, you got to talk to him. So this is a long time coming, but he’s the CEO and founder of advantage Forbes books, and has built the company into one of the largest business book publishers in America, serving over 1500 members in all 50 US, US states and 63 countries. advantaged, was listed on the Inc 5000 List of America’s most rapidly growing private companies seven over the past eight years.

And in addition to advantage for his books, he’s a sought after speaker, teacher and consultant on marketing and business growth techniques. He’s shared the stage with many luminaries like Steve Forbes, Gene Simmons of kiss Peter guber, and Bobby Bowden been featured in all kinds of different media publications, and is also the owner of magnetic marketing, I believe is the name of it now formerly known as gic, the marketing company that was founded by the legendary marketer, Dan Kennedy, but First, before we get into that interview, I just want to mention that this episode is brought to you by rice fortified media, which is a company I co-founded with my business partner, Dr. Jeremy Weiss. And our mission is to connect you with your ideal, best referral partners and customers. And we do that through a done for you podcast solution and content marketing solution. And we’re doing it right now. But I have been saying it for the 10 years I’ve been podcasting. It’s one of the best things you can do for yourself personally, and for your business. Hands down. It’s like the Swiss Army Knife of business tools, a tool that accomplishes so much and think about it because it allows you to talk to really smart people like I’m here today with Adam. And so if you want to learn more go to rise 25 media.com Alright, so Adam, I’m super excited to talk to you. Now. You know, it was about 15 years ago now that you set out and decided to start a publishing company and I’m sure you know, I don’t know if you envision that it would be one of the biggest publishers out there. But that was pretty visionary. That’s pretty early on, given the book landscape today. We know what caused you to think. Okay, I’m going to start a book publishing company at that point.

Adam Witty 03:11

Yeah, john. So thanks so much for having me What a great pleasure to be with you and your guests, who I’m sure fellow entrepreneurs. So I can tell you this with certainty. Not a single kid in America, or perhaps the world grows up wanting to be a book publisher. And I can assure you, I did not either. When I was in high school, my parents kind of put the proverbial gun to my head and said, Adam, you have got to get a job this summer. And, you know, not really having a better option in front of me. Our neighbor who lived across the street, worked at a rather large publishing company in Central Florida, where I grew up and he offered me a paid and those were the key words paid internship opportunity. tunity to work at this publishing house, I did for two straight summers, and candidly what I thought I would dislike, I ended up liking a great deal and found rather fascinating. I went off to college, I went to Clemson University in the state of South Carolina. And when I graduated, I was a starving entrepreneur in the sense that I had started a small business out of my dorm room in college. And this business was, you know, barely putting enough food on my plate, let alone food for anybody else. So most people would probably consider it a hobby, not a real business. And I decided that this entrepreneurial thing was fun. It was really interesting. I like the idea of being responsible for my own destiny. So I’m back home in Orlando Not long after I graduated from college, and I’m having lunch with a mentor of mine. The mentor has passed Williams, who is the founder of the Orlando Magic basketball team, and pat mentored me, because as a kid, I played basketball and, you know, thought that maybe someday I’d be able to play basketball for a living. That dream quickly was shattered. And I said, Well, if I can’t play basketball, wouldn’t it be fun to run a basketball team? And so literally, I wrote a letter to pat Williams befriended him. And ultimately that built a relationship that is now over 20 years old. True, a true mentorship.

John Corcoran 05:37

Now, let me pause right there because that’s such a hard thing to do to reach out to accomplish individual. Do you remember what you said or how you got his attention?

Adam Witty 05:47

Yeah, so so I read a book that he had written, and I wrote him a letter telling him how much I enjoyed the book. And I asked him a few clarifying questions that I had As a result of reading the book, and I’ll be honest with you, john, I really didn’t think or expect that I would get a reply. And much to my surprise, not only did I get a reply, but I also got like a box full of Orlando Magic paraphernalia. Oh, nice. So I, I write him a letter back to thank him and ask if I could take him to lunch. And yet, to my surprise again, he agreed to take. He agreed to let me take him to lunch.

John Corcoran 06:33

I love the initiative. Do you remember how old you were?

Adam Witty 06:36

Yeah, I was. At the time I was about 15. Wow. Because my mom had to drive you to lunch.

John Corcoran 06:45

Lunch

Adam Witty 06:46

is so cool. And so I had this mentor Pat Williams. And when I graduated from college, he and I were having lunch. This time, I was fortunately able to drive myself to lunch. And he, he knew that I had spent these two summers at a publishing company. And he looked at me with a completely straight face. And he said, Adam, you should start a publishing company for entrepreneurs and business owners. He said, every entrepreneur needs to be the author of a book, and you’re the guy that can help them make that happen. And I kid you not. I had really no experience in publishing, except for those two summers as an intern. And there’s an old quote, I think it’s most attributed to Henry Ford. Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right. And, you know, at the time, like, I really didn’t think that I could start a publishing company like Who am I? I’m only you know, at the time, like 21 years old. What do I really know? You know, I’m telling myself Have a story in my head that is just a bunch of negative self talk. And pat Williams says, Look at him. You spent two summers working for this company, you know more about publishing the 99.9% of all humanity, you are more than qualified to start a publishing company. And so literally john without a better option of what I was going to do with my life, I decided to give it a try and to listen to pat Williams words. And so on July 19, of 2005, I opened up the door for business to advantage, which of course now is advantage Forbes books. And I guess as they say, the rest is history.

John Corcoran 08:45

And how did you get your early customers? We know you’re a couple years out of college. Do you remember where they came from?

Adam Witty 08:53

Yeah. So you know what, when I talk to entrepreneurs, you know, I always say and I believe it with every fiber of my being that, you know, if there is only one skill that you must have to succeed as an entrepreneur, that that skill is sales salesmanship, or you know, saleswoman ship. because number one, no one will ever be able to sell your product, your service your company better than you, the founder. Secondly, until the cash register rings, and somebody is willing to give you their hard earned money for your product or your service. You don’t have a business. And until you have customers, you know, everything else is just playing a game of patty cake. So you’ve got to be able to sell you’ve got to be able to bring new customers into a company in order to have a real business. And so I remember like I had to go out and pound the pavement and start making phone calls. And luckily, you know, Pat Williams had some people, some friends of his that he wanted to refer to me. And literally, I would open up at the time, the Orlando Business Journal. I was living in Charleston at the time, but I had a lot of contacts in Orlando, the Charleston Business Journal, and I would literally call business owners that were featured in the newspaper. And I would say, Wow, you don’t know me. But I’m Adam. And you’ve got an incredible story. And I think that you need to tell that story in a book. And it just so happens that I can help you make that happen. Now, look, I got the phone slammed on me more than once and knock that was the common factor, not the exception. But from time to time, people would say, Oh, that’s interesting. Tell me more. And they invited me to share with them the story of the company I had founded, and tell them how I could help them write and publish a book. And ultimately use that book as a marketing tool to grow their business. So, you know, the first salesperson at advantage was was me. And once I had enough money to hire another salesperson, the first sales manager at the company was me. And you know, and even to this day, some 15 years later with almost 100 team members in our organization, you know, and a fully blown sales team you know, I still consider myself a salesman at heart and still spend a decent chunk of my time each and every week working with our sales organization to help them bring you know, new authors into our company.

John Corcoran 11:48

And you know, you studied at cleanse in marketing. What do you think? You How did you learn? Was it just repetition that got you better at saying Was there a you know, did you Was there anyone you grew up with that inspired you? You know, how do you think you got got good at sales?

Adam Witty 12:07

Yes. So So there are two people. First of all, you know, probably I was blessed and very, very lucky that I was kind of had a predisposition to sales like, you know, I’m an extrovert. I like talking to people. I was never afraid of having like, the phone slammed on me. Because, you know, like, so what? Right? If they slam the phone on you, and they they say to buzz off, they’re, they’re not saying that you’re a bad person. They’re just saying they’re not interested in what you have to offer, so I never took it personally. So I think I was lucky in that regard. But there were two people that made a huge difference in my life. When it comes to sales. The first is a guy named David sampler. Now David Sandler wasn’t alive when I first learned of him but a book He had written was, and the title of the book was you can’t teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar. It’s kind of an odd title, but but it was a book about sales and selling. And ultimately, I read the book and Sandler Training is is one of the larger sales training companies in the world. And I at the time, I kid you not john, I mean, my business was probably doing no more than $150,000 in sales. pretty small. Yeah. And I invested. I think it was $25,000 to join the Sandler Training president’s club. Now, you know, I was I was lucky because they let me like spread the payments over a year. So, you know, maybe I was paying $2,000 a month for, you know, 12 months, so I was able to kind of work it through my cash flow, but you know, I’m spending one second of my total sales on my own education. Because that’s how much I knew that, like if I could develop myself as a good salesperson, then there was a chance that maybe this business could go somewhere. The second person that that really kind of guided me and how I think about sales, and also how I think about marketing, and marketing and sales really are tied together. They’re different functions in a business, but they support each other, like a hand that slips into a glove. And that person is Dan Kennedy, who you mentioned at the very beginning of the show, I found Dan Kennedy through a friend. He had told me that he had just subscribed to the Dan Kennedy no BS magnetic marketing newsletter, and I was like, What? And so I’m flipping through the newsletter at his office and I’m like, wow, there’s actually a lot of really good ideas and and just kind of practical. It examples of how you can market yourself to, to generate sales for your business. And so in, in 2006, it was July of 2006, I signed up for a two month free trial to become a member of what was then Gk IC, which is now magnetic marketing. And over those past 14 years, Dan Kennedy, and the training of magnetic marketing has made a huge, huge impact on my life, not only in sales, but really how I think and how I am as an entrepreneur. And it’s crazy because had I not found Dan, I kind of, you know, wonder, you know, where my life would be today. I mean, between Dan Kennedy and Sandler Training, they’ve made a big, big impact on on my abilities, and also on what we’ve been able to accomplish over the last 15 years.

John Corcoran 15:59

Now. Unlike Dave, David Sandler, Dan Kennedy was alive when you discovered his work. I’m fascinated by people who, you know, learn from someone and then get to know that person as a mentor, and then have some kind of business partnership with them, or in your case acquire their business. That’s such a great trajectory. So tell me a little bit about if you can, what that trajectory was like when you first met him what it was, like, meeting him getting to know him, and then eventually, you know, getting to the point of acquiring the business.

Adam Witty 16:31

Yeah, so So, so So Dan Kennedy is a marketing legend. And unfortunately, you know, he and I have known each other now for about 14 years. And unfortunately, he is still alive and so there’s an opportunity to continue to not only work with him, but learn from him too. So a couple of things. You know, when I first subscribed to the Dan Kennedy, no BS magnetic marketing letter. You know, I was a naive babe in the woods, if you will. And, you know, I was met one of many of 10s of thousands of fans that he has. And there was one thing that I did for him that at least put my name on his radar screen. So this is gonna sound really crazy. But in the newsletter that Dan Kennedy wrote, he said that he was wanting to buy a AMC Javelin. The Javelin is a car that was made in the 60s and 70s by a company called American Motors. Of course, that company doesn’t exist anymore. And you know, javelins would be considered antique automobiles. This was Dan Kennedy’s first car when he began his professional career. And so for nostalgic purposes, he wanted to find an AMC Javelin. Again, very, very odd and very, very random, but throughout mutual friend. I knew a guy that owned a large collection of AMC vehicles. And I sent Dan Kennedy a fax because that’s how Dan prefers to communicate. And I said, you know, you don’t know me from Adam. I just subscribed to your newsletter, but a gentleman that I know has a large collection of AMC javelins, and I think he is trying to sell some of them. And I thought that YouTube should meet. It just so happens that Dan Kennedy contacts this guy are from him and features it and features me in the newsletter a couple of months later. And, and in the facts I said to Dan Kennedy, if you end up buying a car, I don’t need anything in return. However, if I ever Come to Cleveland, it’d be great to have arrived, huh? Good idea. So, a year or two later, I’m actually in Cleveland, I find myself in Cleveland for a meeting. And I said, Dan Kennedy a fax and say, Hey, you know, again, you probably don’t remember me except for the fact that I helped you get this car of a member, and I’m gonna be in Cleveland, I’d love to, you know, meet you. And so he agrees to have lunch with me. And, and that’s really kind of the beginning of, of the true relationship. And, and I became a coaching member of the gkc organization at the time. And ultimately, I hired Dan Kennedy to do a private consulting day for by business, and Dan in 2013. He and I collaborated together and co authored a book, and, you know, for whatever reason, I think That, in many ways, I kind of paid it forward in the sense that that I did something for him with no expectation of anything in return. And you know, humans are humans. And so if somebody does that for you, you’re not only remember it, but you appreciate it. And I promise you, I didn’t do it because I was looking for something in return. I did it because genuinely, I wanted to help him. And I think that, that one act of service, for lack of a better word, paved the way for the relationship that he and I have had over the last 15 years, that ultimately kind of gave me the opportunity with his blessing. And with his enthusiastic support, to buy what is now magnetic marketing, which was the company that he founded some 25 years ago. And what

John Corcoran 20:56

was that like for you just in terms of a career mile marker to go from, you know, learning from him to acquiring the company. What was that? Like when that happened?

Adam Witty 21:07

Yeah, you know, I mean, it’s really neat, right? And it certainly shows me that, hey, you know, there is power, in investing in relationships, and, you know, seeing those relationships through for a long period of time. You know, when it comes to relationships, you can be strategic, or you can be transactional. And, and there’s a lot of people that are very transactional when it comes to how they treat relationships, like, you know, when I need something from you, I’ll call you and if I don’t need anything from you, you’ll probably not hear from me. And you know, we all have those friends where when the phone rings and we see their name, the first thing we say is, oh, they must need something. Yeah. Right. Because they’ve trained us that the only time they call us when they need something. Those are not the kind of relationships that you want to build. You don’t want to be the person where the folks on the other end of the phone, say, Oh, he or she must need something. That’s why they’re there calling. You want to build a relationship that not only stands the test of time, but is more than just a transaction. It’s really about how can I be of service to you? Perhaps there’s ways you can be of service to me, and how can we ultimately help each other have more success? And, and that’s kind of what I did many years ago with Dan Kennedy. And he appreciated it, he valued it. And he then kind of paid it forward by you know, agreeing to some projects with me, spending time with me that he otherwise would not have had to do. So it really neat just to see the investment in time and energy, you know, that I put in some 15 years earlier, you know, paid dividends some 15 years later.

John Corcoran 22:54

Yeah. And even the coaching that you did for his business was that something that Yeah, I’m always interested because you know, you probably building this business was just sucking up a lot of your time and in and yet you go and you also become a coach for Gk I see at the time did you do that? Because it would allow you to deepen a relationship with the organization. Was that the motivation? Or was it were there other motivations?

Adam Witty 23:20

So I think the motivation was number one, and it’s actually a selfish motivation. The teacher always learns more than the students. So selfishly, I knew that if I was kind of a coach that I would learn a lot through the process. And, and one of the things that, that I believe wholeheartedly is that the teacher does learn more than the student. And so in that regard, I got really fortunate and that was very much the case for me. I think also, you know, going back to building long term relationships, you know, the more calories you put into relationship, you know, the more small things you do, Will those accumulate. And you know, if you make lots of small deposits in a bank account, over a long period of time, those small deposits can become a pretty significant amount of money. And so I think it was, you know, number one, educating myself. And then number two, you know, just doing more to serve and build a relationship that maybe, at some point would, would pay dividends.

John Corcoran 24:29

I love that. I love that. Now, in 2016, you’re the company you founded advantage, partnered with Forbes, which of course, one of the most recognizable iconic business media companies out there, which is really, in many ways reinvented itself and flourished in this new digital landscape that we’ve been in. How did that come about? That says there’s parallels in the sense to, you know, the path with Dan Kennedy’s company and nurturing that relationship or was it something that kind of came out of the blue and you didn’t even expect.

Adam Witty 25:02

Yeah, so it’s interesting. It is also very much a great lesson in story in, in the power of relationships. You know, so so Forbes has this incredible brand. And they know that right, that they’re smart, they know that they have a valuable asset. And, and as they were looking at ways to further leverage their brand, it became apparent to them that, you know, other forms of business media that they could attach themselves to and become a part of, could be not only lucrative, but also just make really smart business sense. And, and so as they were looking, and exploring the book publishing marketplace, they found us and what became attractive to them was the fact that our model of publishing is is quite different than, let’s call it a traditional New York publisher. So, you know, Random House and Simon and Schuster, and all the other New York publishers, their business model is, you know, I write a book, I hire an agent, my agent tries to pitch you, the publisher on how great my book is and how many copies it’s going to sell. And if my agent does a really good job, you the publisher might offer me a contract in advance on royalties that I might come to earn by you selling my book. Well, in the traditional publishing world, you know, about one out of every 10 books published actually make money. It’s a game of blockbusters. And so, you know, you’d be better off playing blackjack in Las Vegas, your odds would be better. And so Forbes said, you know, we don’t really like that model of playing Russian roulette. We’re a business company. We want to help business people. tell their story, and interesting business people that have interesting stories to tell that those stories will be of interest to our reader. And so what Forbes really was attracted to and gravitated to, was the idea that advantage is in the business of helping an entrepreneur write and publish a book, but more than just that, really leverage that book to grow their business and become an authority and become a thought leader in their space. And, and our business model is a little bit different, where in the author, that they actually pay us a fee, to help us accomplish all of those things. So, whereas traditional publishing might be profitable, one out of every 10 books that publishes our business is able to be profitable, you know, 10 out of 10 books that it publishes, and, and Steve Forbes and his executive team, they’re very savvy entrepreneurs. And, you know, they said, well, not only do we like those Odds are a lot better 10 out of 10 a lot better than one out of 10. But also our business model really resonates with with who their readers are. Because their readers are entrepreneurs and business owners.

John Corcoran 28:14

Yeah. And so but how did the opportunity to partner come about, like mechanically did? Did you get a phone call out of the blue? Was it someone made an introduction? Where did that come about?

Adam Witty 28:25

Yeah. So so the opportunity came about through a, through a mutual contact. And so there was a mutual contact that was working with Forbes. He had a relationship with Forbes. He and I had a great relationship. He in Forbes had a great relationship. And he knew that Forbes had an interest in the publishing business. And ultimately, he made an introduction, though it was then up to me to sink or swim. Yeah. So I remember I flew up to New York. To meet with the executive team at Forbes, on three different occasions, to get this partnership cemented and formed, all in all, it took almost a year and a half. Now, and I share that story only to say that like, you’ve got to be patient. And if you are working on transformative relationships, because we really did feel that partnering with Forbes could be a transformative relationship for our company. We know that those things take time and you can’t rush it and you have to be patient. And so that has been a great lesson for me that there was a book written many years ago. It’s called whale hunting. And is a book for you know, people in sales about how to go out and find Big Whale type opportunities and customers for your business. And you can’t have a transactional mindset you have to have a long term relationship. mindset. And, and that’s not only the mindset I’ve had, but I’ve also invested a lot of calories, for lack of a better word, a lot of time, a lot of energy into this relationship with Forbes. And so, you know, I go to New York and visit them multiple times a year, they come down to Charleston and visit us. So they equally invest in the relationship as well. And, you know, Steve Forbes and I know each other on a first name basis, and he’s been to Charleston a couple of times to speak and help support our business. And, you know, we send each other Christmas gifts and, and all those kinds of things. And I say that to make the point, that when you have transformative relationships, in your life and in your business, you have to keep investing in them. You can’t take them for granted. And, and that’s what we’ve done. And I think that now you know, we’re at Entering the fourth year of our partnership, and it’s exceeding, you know, expectations on both sides. I think, really, because of the amount of time and energy both sides have invested into making it a success.

John Corcoran 31:15

I want to do more questions. But the last question I was asked, but before I get to that I want to ask you about, you’ve been involved in a lot of different small business groups like eo YPO. Obviously, you know, Gk I see, you know, where you surround yourself with other entrepreneurs. And of course, the format for eo and YPO is, is a regular forum where you meet with basically peers on a regular basis. And I’m, I’m fascinated by that process, and especially as I’ve been involved with eo here in San Francisco, and what does that done for you just the ability to have that kind of regular check in with a group of peers who are giving you feedback? What does that mean for your business?

Adam Witty 32:00

Yeah, so today I lead a coaching group at magnetic marketing, which is a small mastermind group with about 12 people in it. I co lead a larger coaching group at magnetic marketing with about 40 members 40 entrepreneurs in it. I am in a YPO forum. I am a member of E o but not in a forum because I already have been through YPO and I am in a mastermind group with seven great friends of mine. We’ve been meeting twice a year since 2012. We’re all about the same age. We’ve watched each other’s businesses grow. And then I am in one other mastermind group with 14 entrepreneurs All of us who met originally through Dan Kennedy, and through gkc. And we get together three times a year really to talk in depth about marketing. If I were to count the number of days on my calendar, that I am in a group or leading a group, I’m going to just do a rough estimate and say total number of days on my calendar is probably 20 to 25. So that’s four to five weeks a year that I am out of the office for a mastermind or coaching group. And the initial reaction john, most people have is I could never have I could never afford to do that. I could never do that. I don’t have that kind of time. And what I will tell you is those 20 to 25 days that I’m out of the office, make the other hundred and seven Five days or however many it is that I’m in the office that much more productive probably by a factor of two. So by being a part of a peer group, by being a part of a coaching and a mastermind group, not only do you get to have an in depth look at other people’s businesses, but you also get to have people help you with the challenges and problems that you’re facing. And outsider see your problems in different ways that you and I see our own problems. You know, there’s truth, you can’t see the forest through the trees when you’re stuck in the middle of the trees. But somebody else that hasn’t had that same view can come in and offer you a totally new perspective that can literally blow your mind and can help you fix and solve your problems like lickety split. So, man, I just can’t speak enough whether it’s email or YPO, or you know, a coaching group like that. offered by magnetic marketing.

John Corcoran 35:02

The biggest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is invest in yourself. And these coaching groups are a phenomenal way to do it. These peer groups couldn’t agree more. And for listeners to go check out past episodes with Vern harness the founder of eo check out my recent interview with Sean McGinnis, the President and CEO of YPO, both amazing interviews, both incredibly intelligent individuals. And that was wonderful. Thank you, Adam. For that I want to wrap things up with the question I always ask, which is let’s pretend we’re at an awards banquet, much like the Oscars or the Emmys. you’re receiving an award for lifetime achievement for everything you’ve done up until this point. And we what we all want to know is who do you think in addition to family and friends who are the mentors or the peers? The Dan Kennedy is the world who the people that you would acknowledges acknowledge in your remarks?

Adam Witty 35:50

Yeah, so the first people that I would think would be my parents. I was really lucky in the fact that when I grew up as a kid, not Did I have both parents for my childhood and I’m blessed today to still have both my parents alive. But I grew up in a family where my parents led me to believe that I could be the president of the united states if I wanted to be. And the reason I say that as if you’re a kid, and you grew up in an environment of possibilities, it probably makes a bigger difference on your life than anything else. I grew up with a glass half full mentality. And I truly grew up as a kid believing that I could do anything that I put my mind to. So my parents are crucial. I would certainly also say, my wife, we’ve only been married for 90 days. We’ve been together for about three years, but my wife Aaron is my biggest supporter, and my biggest cheerleader. Like, you know, you would think that entrepreneurs don’t need a cheerleader, but the truth is that You know, not every day is a bag of roses. There’s a lot of challenging situations that we have to work through regularly. And, and she’s always positive and upbeat and is always cheering me on. Outside of that, you know, there’s three mentors that have made a huge impact on my life. One of those mentors is Pat Williams, who I mentioned at the very beginning of this call. The second is Dan Kennedy, who we talked about later on in the podcast. And then the final mentor that I haven’t mentioned, but over the last few years has made a significant impact on my life. And I met him by reading his book and writing him a letter. So there’s obviously something to this that maybe works. But Alan Mulally was kind of a legendary CEO he, he saved Boeing after 911. He was the CEO of Ford Motor Company from 2006 To 2014 probably most of the listeners remember that Ford was the only automaker not to ask for a bailout. And ultimately, the success of Ford, you know, probably saved the entire American automobile industry from collapsing on itself and, and probably saved the American economy from collapsing on itself to and an Alan is one of the most incredible leaders I’ve ever met. He is a outward mindset leader where he is always worrying about other people’s needs and not his own. And by bringing that outward facing mindset at Boeing, and later at Ford, you know, he was able to save and lead to incredible American icons. He’s made a huge difference. A huge difference in my life as a leader, the final person, I would think, and it’s not a person but people at this point, john, this is when they start playing the music right good. Get off the stage. But But our team, you know, we have close to 100 team members that are part of the advantage family, and they do incredible work each and every day. A lot of people give me the credit for the work that they do. I really don’t deserve it. They do. And being able to serve our customers alongside of them is a real joy and a real privilege.

John Corcoran 39:25

That’s great. Adam, I know you have the super conference, which is coming up April 23 to 25th in Dallas, Texas of 2020 of course and people can also check out your books on Amazon other places and advantage family calm is one of the websites where else can people go to learn more about you?

Adam Witty 39:45

Yeah, so Adam with ease, calm is a great place to go. Advantage family calm, magnetic marketing calm. You mentioned the super conference. It’s Dan Kennedy’s marketing and money making super calm It’s now in its 21st year. It’s a conference for entrepreneurs and business owners, where we get together for about two and a half days and really chalk talk, marketing and how to improve your marketing to grow your business. It’s in Dallas April 23 through 25th. It’s super conference twenty.com and if anybody listening to this podcast registers for the event, here’s what we’re going to do. I got a little bonus for you know, any of your listeners that want to come to the super conference and register for the event. I am going to give you my email address. It is a woody at advantage. W w.com a witty at advantage wwe.com if you register, email me, and we will cop up to two nights of your rooms. at the conference hotel. Wow. So I think that’s worth like 300 bucks.

John Corcoran 41:05

Wow, that’s awesome.

Adam Witty 41:06

So a little bonus for any of your listeners, john, because number one, I love connecting with other great entrepreneurs. And number two, I went to my first Super conference in 2007. It rocked my world. And, you know, marketing is really what it’s all about. If, if you as an entrepreneur can figure out the marketing puzzle to get a steady stream of new customers walking into your business, then then you are going to have a successful, thriving, growing business that puts more money in your pocket. If you can’t figure the marketing puzzle out, then you’re going to struggle and be frustrated. And you know, probably not get very far. So you know, I invest so much of my time in education and marketing. Because at the end of the day, that’s that’s the the key to being able to have a growing, viable, exciting business.

John Corcoran 41:58

Well, that’s excellent, very generous. Adam, thanks so much, and we’ll talk again soon. Thanks, everyone.

Outro 42:04

Thanks, john.

Outro 42:04

Thank you for listening to the smart business revolution podcast with john Corcoran. Find out more at smart business revolution COMM And while you’re there, sign up for our email list and join the revolution, revolution, Revolution Revolution. And be listening for the next episode of the smart business revolution podcast.