We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jim Cathcart. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jim below.

Jim, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

At age 26 I was newly married, broke, earning $525 a month as a government clerk. No college degree, no connections or mentors, overweight, out of shape and expecting a very ordinary life. Then one day I heard Earl Nightingale on the radio (“The Dean of Personal Motivation”). He was on 900 radio stations worldwide at that time. He said that day, “If you will spend one extra hour each day studying your chosen field, you can become a national expert in that field in five years or less.”
That statement rearranged my entire belief system about success! I had several “extra” hours each day. Heck, I was a government clerk.
So, I did the math: 1 hour a day x 5 days a week x 50 weeks a year for 5 years = 1,250 hours. That would work for even me!
That gave me a new problem: what did I want to become an expert at?
A few weeks later I realized that I wanted to do what Earl Nightingale was doing. I wanted to help other people succeed. But the problem was, I hadn’t yet succeeded. So I became a fanatical student of personal development. Truly fanatical. I spent every spare minute for 5 years studying applied behavioral science, practical psychology. That led to me getting a job leading other people’s training programs and then ultimately going into that business for myself.

Jim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I help people succeed. My “brand” is Mentor and I have written 23 books, translated into multiple languages worldwide. I’ve delivered more than 3,300 paid speeches and seminars for millions of people all around the world and I have received every major award presented to professional speakers. Every major award in the world in my field. I was president of the National Speakers Association, inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame and the Sales & Marketing Hall of Fame in London. Received The Cavett Award, The Golden Gavel Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, had an award named after me, and my TEDx video is in the Top 1% in the world with over 2.5 million views.
I toured mainland China, 19 tours and 23 cities, from 2015 through 2019 and spoke to hundreds of thousands of people there.
I teach other professional speakers how to grow and sustain their practice as a speaker and author.

How’d you meet your business partner?

As a professional speaker I was speaking for Century 21 convention in San Diego and met a fellow speaker, a college professor of marketing, Dr. Tony Alessandra. Our friendship was automatic and permanent. When he learned how much money there was in professional speaking he decided to leave education and become my partner. I soon moved from Oklahoma to San Diego and we merged operations into one business. Today Tony owns a multi-million dollar business supplying online personality assessments and skills tests to consultants and coaches. He and I were partners for 5 years and continue to collaborate and coauthor even today 40+ years later.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I was a stockholder and board member for a technology company that had a CEO who was afraid to succeed. Literally, it was a psychological disorder. Every deal I brought him somehow unwound and died shortly after. We had a great product, an amazing talent team and we were making sales daily, but he was planting seeds of doubt and killing business. I don’t think he was even aware of his pattern. But one day, after months of frustration and constant tension and anxiety, I told the board and him, “Either he leaves his post or I leave the board.” He decided to stay, so I left. Shortly thereafter, the entire business went under. Sad and unnecessary. But my personal world got better overnight! I lost the stress and was re-energized. My own business thrived again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Cathcart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimcathcart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jim.cathcart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathcartinstitute/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/jimcathcart
• Other: https://www.guitarmusiclive.com

Image Credits
Jim Cathcart