Part 2: Transcript of Jeff Dedrick's In Search Of Heroes Interview" by Ralph Zuranski
Ralph Zuranski: Do you follow your hunches and intuition?
Jeff Dedrick: Yeah, I almost always do. So far it has always paid off for me. There were a couple of stocks, that’s when the Internet bubble burst that I have to say were not very conscientious, but usually I do follow those. Maybe it’s something that you can’t learn or teach or maybe some people just don’t listen to it.
A perfect example is when right out of college, I was 22 and my buddy and I were looking at places in the United States to open our first Little Caesar’s restaurant. We are sitting here in Wisconsin doing whatever research we can at the library at the time, looking at demographics and towns and all of the things that we thought were important. Well, at that point, I said, "Here is where we are going. Here is where we are going to end up at." I pointed at the map.
Then we ended up going in real life. We went out and on our own we traveled up and down the East Coast. We got into towns and did research getting there. We talked to business owners. We did the same thing on the West Coast and we did all of that stuff.
Well, we ended up right in the place that I pointed, Corvallis, Oregon. It was almost like a hunch, but I was using some common sense to back up the hunch. But, yeah, that ability to act on a hunch has paid off many times throughout my life.
Ralph Zuranski: What specific philosophy or philosophies guide your life and decisions?
Jeff Dedrick: I think it all relates back to being the best dad that I can. Then I’m not focused on myself. Some people, if all they are worrying about is their next car or how to look good for other people, if you are focused on yourself or sometimes in a selfish way a lot of times good things don’t happen.
If you are focused on, like how I’m focused on my daughters, everything just kind of falls into place then.
Ralph Zuranski: Mmhm. What is your perspective on goodness, ethics and moral behavior?
Jeff Dedrick: I would say that for me that is one of the most important things. I just hate people that are two-faced or negative or do little underhanded stuff. I just can’t stand those people. Maybe I deal with them, but I don’t want to be associated with them.
If I find out that someone has pulled some stuff like that I definitely won’t ever do business with them again. I definitely won’t want to be friends with them either.
Ralph Zuranski: What place does the power of prayer have in your life?
Jeff Dedrick: I’ve heard you ask this from other people before. I guess here is my philosophy on that. A lot of people can pray and sometimes it doesn’t mean a thing. There are a lot of different religions and that, a lot of times, doesn’t matter.
It’s how you lead your life. Prisons are full of people that are God fearing men and supposedly pray, but they don’t lead their life like they should be. There are a lot of preachers on TV, and sorry to say this, but some of those guys are the biggest scum bags in the world taking money from people that can’t least afford it. I guess I would lead by example, the good moral things in the Bible or that different religions teach, that’s how I like to live my life, that way.
Ralph Zuranski: What are the principles that you are willing to sacrifice your life for?
Jeff Dedrick: Boy, that is a tough question. I know that the love of my family, if that involved putting myself in harms way so that they can be safe or to save them, I would do that without thinking. If you expand on that, to the love of country if called upon, I guess if there was a good cause, of I felt that the country was doing the correct thing then I would have no problem with putting myself in harms way for my country also.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, are your goals consistent with your beliefs?
Jeff Dedrick: Definitely. As I stated, everything that I’m doing now is set up in a way to make my family and myself comfortable in life. What I’m doing now is always reflecting on how I talk and what I say. I’m always aware of how it affects my girls.
I’m always trying to teach them how to be strong women when they grow up so that they are not dependent on other people or learning bad things. Certain people learn things early in life. They never break out of that. They are forever repeating bad choices or learning bad things. That would be the case where I look back later in life and say I wish that I had done things differently.
Ralph Zuranski: Are your actions consistent with your beliefs?
Jeff Dedrick: 100%. Anything I’ve ever done or said I have no problem telling my kids about it. Maybe I don’t want to tell them how much I partied on college. Maybe tone that down a little bit so that they are studying a little more than I did. Everything I have ever done I have no problem telling my parents or any of my friends of family or my daughters.
Ralph Zuranski: Was it valuable to have highly charged emotions about achieving your goals?
Jeff Dedrick: You said emotions?
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, is it important to have highly charged emotions about achieving your goals?
Jeff Dedrick: Yes and no. People have to be passionate and driven to achieve their goals. Sometimes emotions can really mess with you. They can really actually cause problems if you get too emotional about business.
Often, for example at seminars, people get really emotional because the speakers really work them up and cause them to have certain emotions and then they cause these decisions, financial decisions on the spot that maybe aren’t the best for them. Those highly charged emotions really give you an advantage.
You’ve got to be emotional and passionate, but to me, business is almost a game plan. You are going to do step A and step B and step C and so on. Emotions have their part and you want to keep your focus and be emotional and passionate, but yeah, you don’t want your emotions to run away and have you make stupid mistakes.
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"Jeff Dedrick Is an Amazing Person Who Has Been Successful In Most Of His Business Adventures Thanks To His Own Hard Work and the Self-Confidence Instilled In Him While Growing Up By Dedicated Parents Who Created A Nurturing Family Environment Based On Honesty, Integrity, Trust and the Belief That Actions Must Be Consistent With Your Words"
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Click Here to visit Jeff's In Search Of Heroes webpage
Less than a year later Jeff has a successful and growing online business and has quickly made his mark on the internet scene. The launch of his first site at http://www.SecretArticleConverter.com was an instant success. We actually reached my one month goals in the first 6 hours, Jeff stated.