Last Fall, I attended a ”Get Motivated Seminar“at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. At that time my husband had just got out of the Marine Corps and a good friend who received free tickets from his military job invited us. Luis and I are big on personal development and growth, so we thought it’d be great to go.
I had never attended one of these seminars and didn’t know the event was going to be as big as it was. When we arrived there were already over 5,000 people in their seats. My husband had to settle for seats way up top. Among the guest speakers were Zig Ziglar, Krish Dhanam, Colin Powell, Phil Town, Peter Lowe (hosting), Sugar Ray Leonard and Bill Bartmann.
So, yeah, there were some big motivational speakers and some you may not have heard of before. The last speaker was someone Luis and I really did not know. He was announced as “The Billionaire Nobody Knows.” His name was Bill Bartmann. During his speech he told the 5,000+ audience a story of a young troubled high school dropout who was surely destined to live a life of crime and poverty. This young boy was kicked out of his abusive home, homeless, was a gang member, and was involved in a bad accident that paralyzed him. This boy was Bill Bartmann.
Bartmann was told he would never walk again, but months later he managed to get out of his hospital bed and astonish his doctor and nurses. He was told that he’d never be good enough or amount to anything, but something happened. He decided no one would and could dictate his future. He would prove all those who told him he’d never be someone wrong. And he did.
From poverty and Welfare, he put himself through law school, began a business from his kitchen table on a $13,000 loan and became the 25th richest man in America. If that isn’t a business success story, I don’t know what is!
Bartmann began to change his perception of success and failure and its significance in our lives. When we ask how do we overcome failure, Bartmann frequently answers that he merely reframed failure as merely “experiences” that allow us to continue moving on the path towards success. In actuality, failure and success are subjective terms and we define and give them value. Success and failure are temporary. I recently heard someone mention, if you think about it, if someone were to take away our ability to fail, we wouldn’t know the meaning of success. Bill says they are different sides of the same coin.
My husband, Luis, and I took advantage of seeing Bill two additional times and got to meet him (we actually have a picture with a ”success/failure” coin Bill gave Luis and I at a subsequent seminar). He was the most down to Earth individual we met that day – there were about 200 in attendance at this event. He was dressed almost casually and held a meaningful conversation with us for some time. We really connected with him, and knew he was the right mentor for us.
There are so many other things we have learned from Bill Bartmann that we have put into action and have seen great results.
Throughout the next couple of days, I will look forward to sharing them with you.
Tags: Bill Barmann, business success story, Dali Burgado, get motivated seminar, motivational speakers, overcome failure, overcoming failure, Personal Development, serious money, squidoo, wealth building tips, Zig Ziglar
