Serve Don’t Sell: Interview with New York Times Bestselling Author Sharon Lechter
I recently went one on one with Sharon Lechter. Sharon is a New York Times bestselling author, successful entrepreneur, and philanthropist, and has enjoyed a 35 year career as a licensed CPA. Sharon co-authored the international bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad and 14 other books in the Rich Dad series. Sharon’s newest title, Exit Rich, is focused on helping entrepreneurs build value and scalability in their businesses.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Sharon: I grew up in a lower-middle-class but very entrepreneurial home. Our house was between my mother’s beauty salon and my father’s car repair shop. We owned rental properties that I had to help clean between tenants. I swore I would never be an entrepreneur…I wanted to become a sophisticated professional. That drove me to be the first generation in my family to go to college and I graduated with a degree in accounting. I was one of the first women to work in public accounting in Atlanta, Georgia.
At the ripe old age of 25, my parents started looking a lot smarter. I was working long hours…for someone else. One of my clients invited me to join him in a new company he was buying out of bankruptcy. I had a hard time deciding as I could argue both ways. But my mind took over and challenged me with the question, “Why Not?” Why not do something different? Why not take the path less traveled, why not solve a problem or serve a need?
Within a short time of joining him in this new business, I discovered Why Not! I found corruption in the company finances and knew I had to leave. One day, I came into the office and met a young attorney doing discovery for a lawsuit the company had been involved in. That was the first time I met my husband, Michael Lechter. It was love at first sight and we have been married for over 40 years. We tell people we met when he was going through my drawers.
Adam: How did Rich Dad Poor Dad come together? Why do you believe it became such a successful book?
Sharon: In 1992 our oldest son went to college and got into credit card debt. We didn’t even know he had credit cards. He came home at Christmas and asked us to bail him out. I was angry at him but even more angry at myself as I thought I had taught him about money. That was December 1992 when I dedicated the rest of my career to financial education and entrepreneurial education.
I started working with the school system (hence the white hair) and a few years later in 1996, my husband called me after Robert Kiyosaki has come to see him about patenting his idea for a game. My husband knew I would be interested. I participated in the first beta test for the game, and I was the only one who got out of the rat race that day. But I loved the message so much that I volunteered to help Robert fine-tune the game and get it commercialized. It aligned with my message of the importance of buying, building or creating income-producing assets.
During that process, Robert told me he wanted to charge almost $200 for the game so we discussed writing a brochure that explained the philosophy behind the game. That brochure was Rich Dad Poor Dad.
We thought our brand was CASHFLOW (the name of the game) but the world quickly told us our brand was Rich Dad.
Adam: Is Rich Dad a real person?
Sharon: Yes, Rich Dad was Robert’s best friend’s father in Hawaii.
Adam: What are your best lessons from building and leading Rich Dad Company alongside Robert Kiyosaki?
Sharon: Before Rich Dad, I helped the inventor of the first talking children’s book grow that company and brand around the world. In that process, I learned the power of association and the importance of business systems. This was in the late 80’s when technology was not prevalent. In order to have parents trust us and purchase the electronic books we aligned with companies like Disney, Warner Brothers, Marvel Comics and Sesame Street. We were able to grow the company very quickly with the power of those associations.
As Co-Founder and CEO of Rich Dad I was able to apply the knowledge and experience building the talking books industry to building the Rich Dad brand globally. We tapped into publishing systems for new authors that allowed local stores to find the books even if they were not in the stores and we connected with media partners to spread the word about Rich Dad Poor Dad. We aligned with Warner Books when demand became so high that we knew we needed a large publishing partner…but we redefined the publishing industry by creating a joint venture instead of entering into a traditional publishing deal. When we decided to do an infomercial, we partnered with TimeLife. We repeated this process with both coaching and regional seminars by finding successful top players in the field to partner and continued to grow. This helped us explode the Rich Dad message worldwide.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Sharon: If you truly want to own a business, not a job, it is imperative to build a strong foundation for your business. It starts with the legal foundation of your company and making sure you have strong agreements with the people and companies you associate with. The value of your business increases dramatically when you identify your intellectual property, protect it and then leverage it. This includes your competitive advantage. What makes you unique?
Then design business systems that are duplicatable. Your successful business cannot be sustainable or scalable without systems. It is much easier to manage systems than it is to manage personalities.
When you can leave your business for a few months and come back to find it stronger than when you left, you know you have built a sustainable and scalable business. I describe this process in my latest book Exit Rich published under the Inc Magazine imprint.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Sharon: Effective leaders can draw out the brilliance of the people they lead. They nurture, educate and challenge those they work with to discover new possibilities to place themselves in positions of greatest potential. They can be both cheerleaders and pit bosses but have the wisdom to know when they need to be either. They stand tall for criticism and duck for praise.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Sharon:
Know your definite purpose. What problem do you want to solve? What need do you want to serve?
Employ the Power of Association. Surround yourself with the right people. Have people on your team who are strong where you are weak. Have a mentor.
Celebrate the little wins. As type-A personalities we often drive ourselves too hard. Take time to celebrate each little win and it will keep you motivated to achieve your definite purpose.
Adam: What are your three best tips on the topic of financial literacy?
Sharon:
Seek to buy, build or create income-producing assets instead of chasing income where you exchange your time for money.
Understand the difference between good debt and bad debt…and get rid of your bad debt.
It is not what you do FOR your paycheck…it is what you do WITH your paycheck that determines your financial future.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding?
Sharon: Serve don’t sell. When you sell it is a one-time transaction. When you serve your customers, you create a relationship which will generate a lifetime of sales.
Be consistent in all your messaging. Make it about the benefits to the customer, rather than the features of your product or service.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Sharon: My father asked me every night growing up, “Sharon, have you added value to someone’s life today?” I still ask myself that every night.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Sharon: You are the CEO of your own life and you are where you are today because of the choices you made before today. If you want something different, simply start making different choices today.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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