In Search Of Heroes Spreads Good News About Everyday, Real-Life Heroes Who Deserve Recognition For Their Good Works

Who are the heroes in your life?

Robert Channing: The heroes in my life, one that comes to my mind is Reverend Russell Little. He is a gentleman that taught me how to do magic and a little ESP and mind reading when I was a child. I used to walk to school in the morning and pass his house.

He used to use magic in his sermons to get attention, to make people pay attention to the Word of God. He used to make his thumb disappear. He would put sugar in his hand and make it disappear as I was on my way to school.

He’s the one that I had to write a report about, that my teacher gave me in third grade. What did I want to be when I grew up? I didn’t know. I want to be a magician. I went and I did some research, I went right to his house and said...

That’s the key, Ralph, anybody that wants to know what they are doing, don’t be afraid to ask for advice, because people will give it to you. Ask and you shall receive information that you are looking for. Remember to ask.

So that’s what happened, I asked, and he brought me up to this room upstairs, I remember to this day, I walked into his house, up the stairs, and this whole room filled with magic props, magic cool stuff, and my eyes, it was just unbelievable.

He was a mentor of mine. He was someone that I respected. He put a foot in the door when I was leaving his house. Robert, he said, “See my foot?” He opened his door and put his foot in the door and said, “What I just did for you, I put your foot in that door, now it’s your job to open it for yourself.”

From that point forward, I’ve been opening it for the rest of my life. It’s brought me to meet spectacular people. It has brought me all over the world to see different people and different cultures. To do what I wanted to do, perform, entertain, to make a great living performing, and have a great speaker’s bureau and entertainment agency.

The reason that I opened that was I had my second child; I was on the road a lot. I told my wife I need to make some more money not being on the road so I can spend some time eating popcorn with you at home and still make some money.

That’s what I did, I opened a bureau and I book people and at night, when I’m on the road and not at home, I’m still making a decent living and booking people that I respect and admire.

Ralph Zuranski: Who do you feel are the real heroes in society today that aren’t getting the recognition they deserve?

Robert Channing: The mothers, the teachers. You and I were speaking before that in a school, the teachers are phenomenal. They are teaching how to have a job, and to go in the world and work for somebody else.

But I think the Heroes program that you are working on now is going to bring a different dimension, a different philosophy to the schools and to kids that don’t work for somebody else.

Although it’s a great opportunity, try to work for yourself and try to grow yourself to rely on yourself. For example, you can rent a lifestyle, meaning you can have a job at IBM making $100,000 a year, have a beautiful home, a BMW, a car, two children and all of a sudden BMW lays you off, I mean, IBM lays you off.

Who are you working for? Now you are scraping, trying to find a job, minimum wage, a lot less than you made. But when you work for yourself, you have investments; you invest in yourself in your mind, and your opportunities.

Meaning real estate, your business meaning when you go out and work, you are being compensated for your own mind, not by working for somebody else to make them a millionaire. Work for yourself to make yourself get ahead in this life. Does that make sense?

Ralph Zuranski: Boy, that’s good advice, that’s what all the other heroes have said. It’s so important to become an entrepreneur and be the captain of your own ship and direct it to where you want to go. Just working for other people, you never will be able to attain the dreams that you have, maybe retiring down in Florida when you get to be 65.

And you forget all the things that you could have done that you wanted to do that you should have done. It’s the difference between having a dream and having a life.

Robert Channing: I agree. Robert Kiyosaki in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I learned this from him by reading his books. Books unlock the secrets of the universe, Ralph, and I know you know this. I teach my children this.

My daughter, I ask her all the time, “Gabrielle, tell your teacher what we talked about!” She says to the teacher all the time, “Books unlock the secrets to the universe.”

They really do, the books, they have studied different subjects. If I have an ailment, I’m not going to go to school to be a doctor to find out how to fix my own ailment. I’m going to go to the top surgeon or top doctor in the world and I’m going to get fixed.

Robert Kiyosaki has studied how to become a successful person by investing in real estate, and investing in yourself.

Here’s the point I wanted to bring across. Even if you have job and you are in the job right now, and you are sitting and working for somebody else, that’s okay. You can be wealthy, and have a comfortable lifestyle.

I think it’s a great lifestyle sometimes Ralph, because my friends are teachers and they make a comfortable living. They have summers off. But also what you want to do with your time off. When you go to work, that’s your time to work but that’s your living.

But when you come home, if you are going to work every day, that’s when you make your life. That’s why Robert Kiyosaki says, that’s when you go out and you find real estate, or you find your business that you can open. You can have the best of both worlds.

I’m not putting down going to work for somebody else because 95% of the people in this country do that. The top 10% of people, entrepreneurs, they are doing for themselves and providing these wonderful experiences and jobs for people.

But you can do both, that’s what I’m saying. I’m not putting them down, I’m giving the opportunity to open your mind that if you work for somebody else on your off time, when you go home instead of watching television or doing something not productive, go and look at a property. Invest in a property, invest in real estate. Study commodities; study how to be a marketing person for internet products. So that’s my point with that.
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Cameron Johnson: The heroes in my life now are people that are very close to me, and of course my dad is a hero to me, and my mom, and my family. But in the business world it is very similar to what I grew up with. Michael Dell and several people in the technology industry serve as my heroes.
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Ralph Zuranski: Well, you know there are a lot of Heroes in my life. There are so many Heroes, just the people that I have met on the Internet that I interviewed as Heroes, like yourself, who are making the world a better place.

I think that both my mom and dad are Heroes, struggling with the difficulties that they have right now with their poor health. I think probably one of the greatest Heroes is my dad, even though he’s pretty much paralyzed on one side.

He’s trapped in diapers, and trapped in a world where he has no control over his life. I’ve never heard him say a negative thing or complain, or get angry at anybody. How embarrassing it must be not to have any personal privacy and to be totally dependent upon others, and not just be upset at that, but be kind and compassionate and accept it. Being able to accept that situation and do it graciously, just having a positive word to say, and having a smile. That’s so incredible.

I truly believe that my wife is my other greatest Hero after my mom and dad, because she is here helping to take care of my parents. She’s changing the diapers, sacrificing her life being here helping my family when her family back in Dallas is going through their own trials and tribulations.

How hard it is for a mom to be away from her grandkids and from her family. Talk about sacrifice, that’s what I really believe sets Heroes apart, serving and protecting others. A lot of times sacrificing what they want to do in their lives for the benefit of others.
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Sharif Khan: My father was a hero. Jim Ross, who I dedicated my book, The Hero Soul, has been a hero to me because he was a teacher and a mentor, a messenger, a carrier of truth. I think the people out there making a difference in peoples’ lives, teachers, coaches, entrepreneurs; I think all those people who are serving people or helping solve problems and showing people how to overcome their own problems are the real heroes; and it’s unfortunate that the media doesn’t pay enough attention, which is why I really like your “In Search of Heroes Program” because it’s really unique.
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Debra Berg: The people I consider heroes today are those I’ve written about in The Power of One. I’m in awe of their sacrifices, generosity, persistence, lack of fear, and concern for others.
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