hello my name is Gary Shotton and I’m sitting here in my machine shop and today we’re going to talk about influencing and being an influencer you know one of the definitions of leadership is someone that influences people and when you follow that definition a lot of times you go down a path that says hey I need to influence more and more people and if I can get a following of a thousand people or five thousand people and I have a large company where I’m employing a lot of people then I’m really influencing a lot of people in that and that’s true you might know people that are I have large churches and they have now make a church count make sure that their counts are up and how many people are we influencing through our leadership that is really true there’s no question but that’s not what I’m talking about I’m talking about your personal influence and how you are an influencer to everyone you’re around you see when those people are public and that public that’s as much a calling as anything else doesn’t mean they didn’t have to work at it but it means that they have to be really anointed I think by God to do that and not everybody should even aspire to do that I know I’m happy not being that those numbers being high I’m not saying that in a humble way I’m just saying that I have a different model to follow and I think you will follow what I understand what I’m saying here when I when I discuss this a little further you see to have influence one of the first things you’ve got to be consistent you see if one day you’re up one day you’re down one day I pay my bills well the next month I can’t pay my bills one day my banker is worried about me the next next next month they’re everything’s fine I mean my banker I’ve been with the same bankers by people they’ve changed their bank name several times but by people I’ve been with in 30 years and I have influence with them because I’m consistent I’m not perfect I’m not not that case at all I’m consistent they can check my my personal credit history I’m a consistent person with finances they like that so I have influence they want me to when I ask them for a loan or I deal with the situation that I have their ear at all times if it’s within my capabilities so you want to be a person of consistency and they also want to be a person that has high values I mean you know that there’s people that are influencing teenagers do bad things well they could be a consistently bad and have horrible values well that’s not who I want to hang around there are some people that even in the business world that I kind of know about some situations that happened and the word got out and I know how they dealt with something and and they might come into the room where I’m at and there might be a lot of people and I have no reason to try to go up there and just really be friends with them I’m not going to be rude I might even decide to kind of exit the building right then because I don’t want to be around those people yet there’s other people when they come into the room or I in their presence or I have an opportunity to hear them I’ll go out of my way out of my personal way to make an effort to hear what they have to say they have influence they have high values that’s who we want to be now let’s give some examples number one my dad was one of those people he never wanted to be a speaker he never ascribed to being a pastor and ever tried to have anything more than a very large farm and ranch a very large farm and ranch and he wasn’t proud of that he just worked hard and diligent he was consistent he was consistent to the point that and he had high value so he was able to function in our community in a way with great respect I remember some situations that that surfaced and and I knew my dad’s consistency by the way your family will know most on those two subjects not those people that are out away from you away and if you’re going to go work with somebody in that regard you want to look at their family and say hey how did things work with their family not every nerve every fence situation every family is perfect don’t get me wrong but those closest to you and people around you we’ll be the persons that really know who you are that’s what you want to get down to now what about Sam Walton I know he’s passed on maybe 15 20 years ago now but he still is a man he was when you read the books he was consistent he wasn’t one that tried to have his Walmarts in the early days in the biggest cities he didn’t try to compete he just worked away plucking away steady and he ready to go to work every day always putting his nose to the grindstone always improving his systems always working out systems to the point back in the 90s the rest of the stock market and people thought of him as a country bumpkin out in Arkansas they laughed about him but he didn’t care and as time went on he became the personal most wealthy man in the world at that time and I think now if you take his derivatives I don’t know all the details but some of his heirs are certainly in the top hundred right now let’s take Bill Gates okay Bill Gates I’ve never known him to try to be a public speaker yeah he speaks a few times he has influence though he has huge influence not just because he has money but because he’s been consistent he has high values he’s going to continue I happened to visit in satellite Seattle I’m sorry in Seattle and and watched his philanthropic efforts where we have a nice the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation they’re doing things people want to be associated with them not just because of the money they are quality people let’s talk about Dave green dave green is the owner the founder of Hobby Lobby and mardell’s Christian bookstore he’s never been one read the book more than a hobby he hardly wanted to speak to even his high school class in speech class his teacher gave a special exemption so that he was so timid in speaking he didn’t speak to the whole group he had to give a speech and he gets gave it to her so he can graduate he’s steady he’s got something going he’s ready to Blanc away at this those are my idols I don’t care I could care less with the person that has as following of people that that are doing good that’s great but they’re not my model my model are these people that I just mentioned let’s go to the Bible just a little bit Moses Moses was one of these guys that he was so timid had broken speech I don’t know what it was God had to give him a spokesman Aaron Aaron was Moses spokesman because Moses was not good at speaking publicly you get it now is not the prettiest girl in the high school senior class it’s not the guy with the best hot rod car it’s not even the guy person with the most intellect the most brains it’s a totally different deal you could have influenced and you’re making a mistake if you don’t identify it and then use it in the sense of being available to others be available to help people be available to help the young guy the young guy that’s that’s our gal that’s just getting started blend them some advice have be available answer their phone calls I have a core of people that are 10 years older than I am or 10 or 15 years older than I am and I’ve made a point to not bother them but I want to know their thoughts on certain issues as I face them because they went ahead of me they have experience in that area I have experience that I can share with others you should do the same hope this helps your business is your platform go for it