Stephen Pierce In Search of Entrepreneur Heroes
Interview
Ralph Zuranski: Hi this is Ralph
Zuranski. I’m on the phone with Stephen Pierce, one of
the most successful Internet marketers on the Internet
today.
Ralph Zuranski: Stephen is a
classical rags-to-riches story. He used to be a gang
member and actually got shot. I think he still carries
around part of the bullet in his leg. It’s incredible
just how successful he has become.
Ralph Zuranski: He is actually a
consultant now for many of the big Fortune 500
Companies. He has his own creativity and innovation
facility where they actually train individuals. He’s
been a speaker at too many seminars to mention.
Ralph Zuranski: I first saw him at
the Big Seminar and was very impressed with his story.
How are you doing today, Stephen?
Stephen Pierce: Doing very well.
Thank you for having me. How are you?
Ralph Zuranski: I’m doing well. I
need to ask you a few questions. When was the lowest
point in your life and how did you change your life path
to one of victory over all obstacles?
Stephen Pierce: Lowest point? Wow! I
would probably say when I think about where I’ve come
from as far as the lowest point. I don’t have a college
education or a college degree, if you will. I don’t have
a high school diploma. I dropped out of high school,
more like I got kicked out of high school because I was
a big troublemaker.
Stephen Pierce: I ended up being
homeless for like three months. I filed bankruptcy
twice. They threw out the second bankruptcy because I
filed it too close to the first one and I didn’t know
about the rules that you can’t file them too close to
each other.
Stephen Pierce: Like you were
saying, I was running the streets. I used to be a drug
dealer and I ended up getting shot. It was a close call
because the gun was being held to my head, but as more
ruckus started to break out he turned and lowered the
gun, and as he was running he fired into my right leg
and that bullet is still lodged there today.
Stephen Pierce: I actually went to
the hospital. You know, you have this guy that’s off the
streets with no insurance cards or anything they were
like, “Well, it’s better to leave the bullet in where it
is right now. It would probably cause more trouble or
damage if we went in and tried to pull it out.”
Stephen Pierce: But that was pretty
much, “You don’t have insurance to pay for it and we’re
not going to do it.” I wasn’t paying them cash for it or
anything like that.
Stephen Pierce: I went through that.
Then there was this horrible thing in my life. I got to
the point where I felt this, “You know what? My life was
pretty much destined to be a part of that group that
never does anything good, that is always going to be
experiencing poverty. That is always going to be
experiencing trouble.”
Stephen Pierce: I was supposed to be
the opposite. I got to a point where I felt like, “I’m
supposed to be the guy that those who are successful
look at and then appreciate their lives much more.” It
didn’t have to be that way, I was feeling that way.
Stephen Pierce: I remember one time
I was in the house and somebody that was really dear to
me looked at me and said, “Everything you touch turns to
dust.”
Ralph Zuranski: Wow!
Stephen Pierce: That was devastating
to me.
Stephen Pierce: For me it was a huge
mental battle and an emotional battle because I tried to
find some kind of reference point that I could look at
and say, “You know what, that is not true because I did
this good. I did that good.”
Stephen Pierce: I’m sure there were
some little moments in my life up to that point where
that was so, but all these big things just hit me like a
hurricane.
Stephen Pierce: In my brain it was
almost like, “You know, you’re right. All these
different things that I did were complete failures. I’m
nothing but trouble.”
Stephen Pierce: I got our family
evicted when we were young because I was just causing
trouble in the neighborhood. You know it is pretty bad
when they say, “Listen you’re evicted, not because you
are not paying your rent, but we are tired of that
tyrant of a kid that you have. You guys gotta go!”
Stephen Pierce: It just got really,
really bad. I still remember that because it was more so
a violent thing because I ended up fighting a bunch of
the lifeguards that were on duty at a swimming pool.
They had the pool pass and that’s how they knew that I
was one of the people. Some of the other guys that were
equally involved they kind of got off and got away with
it.
Stephen Pierce: But I think all
these things come to kind of accumulated to a low point
being in my life. Being not just one specific moment,
but this extended moment where it wasn’t just a day or
days or weeks.
Stephen Pierce: It was more like
months where I was just going through this process of
trying to figure out what in the world am I going to do
with my life. I think one of the turning points was when
I really started to wake up was after I got shot.
Stephen Pierce: It was at the Moses
H. Cone Hospital out in Greensboro, North Carolina
because that’s where I ended up getting shot at. I was
sitting there thinking, “You know what? I could be dead
right now. I could be sitting over there and lying in
the morgue on a cold slab as opposed to up here in a
hospital about to get released in about a week or so.”
Stephen Pierce: After being
discharged from the hospital my dad, one of the
reverends from the church I was going to and my brother
drove down to get me. I had some time to reflect to try
to figure out, “What is it I want to do with my life?”
Stephen Pierce: I had some people
that were telling me, “You know what? You are brilliant
but you are using your brilliance for evil, if you will.
You are doing things that are hurting people. You are
doing things that are hurting yourself and people are
just wondering if you are wanting to live to see 19 or
20 years old.”
Stephen Pierce: I was living life
fast. I was running down the wrong streets and running
with the wrong crowds. I didn’t have a sense of
direction for myself and I was kind of following people
who obviously didn’t have a sense of direction for
themselves, because they were just following other
people and it all led to these negative things.
Stephen Pierce: I got into reading
the Bible and then I got into reading other books like
Think and Grow Rich,
Success through a Positive Mental Attitude and
those kinds of books. I started to think a little bit
differently about what is possible.
Stephen Pierce: When I was reading
Think and Grow Rich, I was looking at how all
these other people kind of had a great deal of failure
in their life before they experienced success.
Stephen Pierce: I started to think,
“You know what? Maybe everything that I’ve gone through
that is bad is not this huge signal or this huge sign
that is kind of like letting me know that you’re
destined to be a failure. But that it is something that
is normal and I just need to figure out what success
actually looks like.” Not just,” What do I ultimately
want to become, not just what do I ultimately want to
achieve?” which was important but in getting there,
“What is this going to actually look like?”
Stephen Pierce: I think many times
in our lives we set up, “I want to accomplish this. I
want to do this and I want to do that.”
Stephen Pierce: So we kind of have
this inner result in mind. We know where we want to go,
but we don’t get there because we don’t understand what
that road looks like. We don’t understand what it is
supposed to look like to get to where it is we
ultimately want to be.
Stephen Pierce: We don’t know what
the experience is going to be like. So when these winds
start coming and beating up against our houses and these
fires start to come into our lives, all this adversity,
people will look at it as an omen or a sign from God
that, “You’re not supposed to be doing this.”
Stephen Pierce: Or something that’s
saying, “You’re beating up the wrong tree,” or
something. In actuality, being that I haven’t graduated
from school, I haven’t taken that many tests, but I know
that for somebody to get a degree in anything there is a
large amount of tests that they have to take before they
can graduate.
Stephen Pierce: In life it is pretty
much the same thing. Before you can move vertically to
that next level in life, where you want to go and
ultimately reach those dreams and goals and that level
of fulfillment that you may define in material senses as
far as cars, houses, money and whatever.
Stephen Pierce: To get to those
points there are certain tests that you have to take. I
started to look at this. In my life I started to change
my perspective. I started to look at different
analogies.
Stephen Pierce: For example, the
purpose of fire to gold; fire is there to purify gold. I
started to look at that and look at the different things
that started to happen to me.
Stephen Pierce: I got on this path.
I said, “You know what? I’m going to try to start a
business.”
Stephen Pierce: I tried to start
some businesses but they just didn’t really work out.
Like 12 different businesses that I was looking to get
into completely failed. But it wasn’t that bad.
Stephen Pierce: In the beginning it
was horrible, because I just didn’t understand, “Well,
what in the world was going on?”
Stephen Pierce: Then I kind of got
it. I got it and I understood that nobody in life sets
out to go into business and says, “I want this thing to
be a complete failure.” But it’s going to happen
because that is just how life is.
Stephen Pierce: You are going to
have these things, but it just moves you closer to where
you ultimately want to go. From that experience you gain
certain wisdom, certain knowledge and certain
understanding that you are not going to be able gain
otherwise.
Stephen Pierce: You aren’t going to
get it from books. You aren’t going to be able to get it
from a coach. You aren’t going to be able to get it
through any other means except that hands on experience
which makes you sharper and prepares you for that next
level and that next venture that you are going to
pursue.
Stephen Pierce: I started to
understand that these different things that were beating
up against my life were more like the fire that was
there to purify the gold, or the pressure on the rocks
that bring forth the diamonds, or those strong winds
that beat against the trees that makes for the strongest
trees and the strongest lumber.
Stephen Pierce: I started to get
this better understanding of how to look at the
different things in my life that were pretty painful at
one point. It wasn’t like it was easy, it just got
easier to deal with.
Stephen Pierce: I developed a little
bit more enthusiasm because I understood what it was all
starting to come together and mean. That is a long
answer to your question. It was an extended period of
time, it wasn’t just this one moment.
Stephen Pierce: But I think it was
probably like two and a half, three years of being at an
extreme low, trying to figure out what to do, taking
stuff to a pawn shop. I was homeless for like three
months. I mean, it was pretty rough.
Ralph Zuranski: So you really think
that the people you hang around with have a big impact
on your life?
Stephen Pierce: Oh, absolutely. We
like to look at it like the third influence. If you look
at what you need to create water, you have two hydrogen
molecules right? If you add what to it you have water?
You add oxygen, right? You’ll have water, but if you add
sulfur you are going to have something completely
different.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s true.
Stephen: You are going to have what
is called a stinky gas. If you look at that and you look
at you and what you ultimately want to become, being
those two hydrogen molecules and I know that I’m
simplifying this. Those who are probably really good at
biology or science or whatever, they would probably be
able to give you more details on the whole process. I’m
just simplifying it.
Stephen Pierce: Look at you and
where you ultimately want to go with these two hydrogen
molecules. Let’s just say that what you ultimately want
to become in life is water. That means you cannot have
any wrong influences in the sense of anything other than
what is required for you to get to where you want to go.
Something other than oxygen is not going to get you to
become water, right?
Ralph Zuranski: Yes.
Stephen Pierce: So, yes. The people
that we allow in our lives and not just the people we
allow in our lives, but the other things we allow to
influence us. What we watch on TV, what we listen to by
the way of music and different things like that.
Stephen Pierce: I’m not trying to
say that music is an evil thing or television is an evil
thing, but those things impact us, how we think, what we
think about all the time.
Stephen Pierce: The things that we
have just flooding our minds throughout the day, the
things that we start to think about and daydream about,
they start to influence our actions and our judgments
and all these different things and our emotions.
Ultimately they impact our results.
Ralph Zuranski: You really had a
lot of setbacks in your early life. How important is it
to take a positive view of setbacks, misfortunes and
mistakes?
Stephen Pierce: I think it is really
important. I think one thing that’s kind of almost like
a handicap in learning and understanding life is that
when we are taught to learn traditionally, it is almost
like we are not permitted to make a mistake.
Stephen Pierce: Making a mistake is
wrong. You know, failure equals something that is wrong.
It really shouldn’t be that way. Failure equals
learning. Setbacks equal learning.
Stephen Pierce: I mean you are
supposed to learn from those. I think some of our
greatest wisdom comes from not when we win, not when we
do things right, but when we do things wrong.
Stephen Pierce: Even when you do
something wrong, you have to understand failure because
people say, “Well, you know, if you have a setback, you
have failure. You have to press, press, press, press,
press and be persistent.”
Stephen Pierce: That stuff’s true,
but that’s true to a certain extent. If you experience a
failure in your life, the thing you need to do is
understand why you failed. Understand why it didn’t
work. Understand why the outcome you have is the outcome
that you have so that you can extract the wisdom, the
knowledge, and the understanding from that to go on and
improve for the next time out.
Stephen Pierce: If you don’t
understand why you failed, if you will, then you can
just keep pressing and doing the exact same thing that’s
just never going to work. So you’re just pressing
forward and forward and forward with this same pattern
of doing things that are not going to work.
Stephen Pierce: Failure sometimes
can mean you need to take a different path. Failure may
mean try a different approach. Failure may mean you need
some assistance. Failure may mean, “You know what? You
need to drop this all together.”
Stephen Pierce: I think it is up to
us to understand what the message is that is sending to
us and extract that wisdom from there and then go ahead
and press on. I wouldn’t recommend anybody press on with
failure if they don’t understand why something didn’t
work out.
Stephen Pierce: One of the best
things that can happen to us is to have things not work
out and then understand why they don’t work out. That’s
what helps us to go forward and kind of create and shape
the lives that we ultimately want to have.
Stephen Pierce: Everybody's going to
experience failure. I don’t care where you are in your
life, you are always going to have challenges. It
doesn’t matter how much money you make, what kind of
celebrity you have, or what kind of celebrity you are
aiming for you are going to always have these
challenges.
Stephen Pierce: So there’s no need
to be shocked and surprised if something goes wrong or
something doesn’t go as planned. That’s like par for the
course, that’s going to happen.
Stephen Pierce: Instead of being
surprised, you should always be prepared to learn from
every situation even if you do something right. If you
do something right, why did it work? If you did
something and it did not work, why didn’t it work?
Stephen Pierce: You should always
constantly be asking yourself those kinds of questions.
That way you can understand your strengths and your
weaknesses as far as yourself goes.
Stephen Pierce: What those strengths
are, you want to continue to build on those, and
whatever those weaknesses are, you want to minimize them
or you want to offset them with some kind of partnership
or somebody else in your life some kind of coach, or you
want to try to look to strengthen those things up.
Stephen Pierce: The only way you are
going to find out what your strengths are and what your
weaknesses are is if you take the time to ask the
questions based on your experience and these different
results you’re getting in your life, both good and bad
or even indifferent.
Stephen Pierce: Asking yourself the
kinds of questions that will allow you to take a closer
look at why things are turning out the way they are
turning out.
Ralph Zuranski: That is sort of
like a trial and error experience, isn’t it? How
important is it to be an optimist while you are going
through all the trial and error?
Stephen Pierce: I think you have to
be optimistic. You have to remain driven. You have to
get that momentum and then keep that momentum.
Stephen Pierce: We like to tell
people, “May the momentum be with you.”
Stephen Pierce: We say that because
when you get momentum in your life and you have things
going and you have things clicking, that is one of the
most important things you can have.
Stephen Pierce: I think part of
getting momentum is being optimistic because there is
going to be a lot of things that will come and jolt you
and take you by surprise. You just have to allow
yourself to be prepared with them and be like water.
Stephen Pierce: Be very fluid and be
very flexible and be willing to adapt, because change
happens so fast. You can’t go through life being rigid.
Stephen Pierce: I think one part of
being flexible and fluid is remaining optimistic and
focused, yet being flexible in how you want to
accomplish different things.
Stephen Pierce: I think one of the
things that traps us with optimism is that we will be
optimistic about the ends and the means. What I mean is
that you have this ultimate thing that you want to
achieve, whether it is material or otherwise. You’re
really optimistic. You know that you can accomplish this
so you are setting up to get it.
Stephen Pierce: You’re also
optimistic about this very specific method or path or
way that you are going to accomplish it. It can be a
business opportunity. It can be a very specific
relationship. It can be anything, but you are very
focused on that. You are optimistic about that one
thing.
Stephen Pierce: If anything happens
to that and that one thing and it doesn’t work, your
life just comes crumbling down. What needs to happen is,
remain optimistic and strategically focused on that end
result, where it is that you ultimately want to go.
Stephen Pierce: Understand that once
you know where it is that you want to head to, once you
understand the ends, there are multiple means of getting
to this, multiple ways to accomplish what it is that you
want to accomplish.
Stephen Pierce: Sure, when you find
a way or multiple ways that you are going to use to get
there, be fully committed to that. Get to it and get it
going.
Stephen Pierce: However, if one of
those things doesn’t work out, or if the feedback you
are getting is telling you to make some adjustments or
make some shifts and do something different, then
quickly go ahead and do that.
Stephen Pierce: Remain optimistic
about the big picture. You have to keep that optimism
and that has to come internally from within, that fire
that burns from within that keeps you driven and that
keeps you going on.
Stephen Pierce: Sometimes you are
not going to have those cheerleaders on the side that
are telling you that you can do it and that are rooting
you on.
Stephen Pierce: I think that if we
allow much of our identity and our tribe to be attached
to those people that are external, that are around us on
the outside and what they say, how they look at us, how
they feel about us, what they are saying about us behind
our backs, if that’s what we’re going to allow to
determine if we are going to be optimistic or
pessimistic, driven or not driven, motivated or
de-motivated or whatever, then you are going to be in
huge trouble.
Stephen Pierce: You cannot control
what people think about you. You cannot control what
people say about you. I mean, you can feel as if, “Well,
I can control what people think about you because if I
am a good person and I do these great things, then
people are going to think great things about me.” Not
really.
Stephen Pierce: People perceive the
world completely different. You can be a great person,
but if you are so annoying to some people, [Laughter]
they just think negatively of you and think badly of you
regardless of the good things you do.
Stephen Pierce: We have to make sure
that when we talk about being optimistic, you are not
being optimistic based on what people are thinking about
you. It is like, “Well, if I have the public approval or
if I have the unanimous approval or the majority
approval of my friends and peers, then I’m going to be
optimistic and I’m going to be motivated.”
Stephen Pierce: That’s not the way
to do it because now you are allowing yourself to be
emotionally driven by those people outside of you.
You’re giving your complete emotional control over to
other people and that is not the way to be successful in
life.
Stephen Pierce: Yeah, they impact
us, but understand that you can have complete control
over your emotions, complete control over your focus.
You should understand and continue to focus on the
center and the azimuths of your life that you can
control.
Stephen Pierce: Of course we want
people to liking us. It serves our ego and of course, it
helps with our identity and different things like that.
That’s fine and that’s natural. I’m not saying that it’s
not a part of who we are, but you can’t allow it to be a
huge part of your life to the point that it’s going to
determine how you feel at any given moment.
Stephen Pierce: That if people don’t
feel good about you or if they think negatively of you,
then you are no longer going to be optimistic, which
means that you are no longer going to be driven to get
done what it is that you ultimately want to do.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, it seems that
a person would have to have a tremendous amount of
courage to pursue ideas or choose their path in life
when everybody around them doesn’t want them to change.
What do you think about that?
Stephen Pierce: Say that again.
Ralph Zuranski: Does it take a
tremendous amount of courage to pursue new ideas or a
new path in life when all the people around you want you
to remain the same so that they don’t have to change?
Stephen Pierce: I think it takes
commitment. Commitment to where it is you ultimately
want to go and the belief that you can get there. Not
allowing your belief system to be attached to other
people and know that you are going to have people grind
up against you.
Stephen Pierce: Learn something from
that. Don’t allow it to discourage you, don’t allow it
to derail you from where it is that you ultimately want
to go.
Stephen Pierce: They are going to be
them. How they feel, what they think and what they do is
a reflection on them, it is not a reflection on you.
Although, I think at times we can learn a lot about
ourselves from the feedback that we get from people.
Stephen Pierce: But if people are
trying to keep you trapped into a person that you used
to be, maybe you used to be a bad person like I used to
be or you used to do things that were wrong and that’s
what people are accustomed to. So you’re trying to make
this change, they may sneer at you and they may think
negatively of you or they may say things that seem to
try to keep you trapped in the past.
Stephen Pierce: As you try to
progress and move forward, every reference they make to
you is always about something that you used to do, that
old person that you are moving away from. Or, they just
want to kind of keep you trapped into what they consider
to be the ideal person that best fits the relationship
they want to have with you.
Stephen Pierce: That is fine for
them. It is not okay for you. I say it is fine for them
because you have to resolve and understand that you
cannot control what people think, what people feel, and
what other people want from you.
Stephen Pierce: It is like, “Okay,
that’s fine for them.”
Stephen Pierce: Allow yourself to
just let that go and release any kind of tension or
frustration that you may have about what other people
think about you because you can’t control it. The worst
thing you can do is go through your life trying to
adjust yourself to please other people.
Stephen Pierce: There is a quote
from Bill Cosby. He said, “I don’t know the secret to
success, but I know the way to fail is to try to please
everybody.”
Stephen Pierce: The one thing that
you don’t want to do is to try to please everybody.
Again, understand what your values are. Understand what
your mission is in life. Know why you exist in life
beyond the fact that your mom and dad brought you into
this world.
Stephen Pierce: What is this greater
purpose for you in your life other than you want to make
money? That is a given. People want to make money. But
what is it that you are going to contribute by the way
of value to a group of people somewhere, that’s going to
allow you to extract this amount of wealth that you’re
looking to get?
Stephen Pierce: Allow yourself to be
driven and focused on that and know that if you do not
pursue that mission, if you do not adhere to the values
that you have in your life, there are going to be a lot
of people who are going to suffer because you didn’t
accomplish what it is you needed to accomplish so you
could touch and affect their lives.
Stephen Pierce: Stay focused and
know that life doesn’t roll out the red carpet for
anybody. The moment you set your eyes on something, the
moment that you decide that you’re going to be fully
committed to something, the tests are going to start to
roll in.
Stephen Pierce: So you might as well
just throw up your guard and play both defense and
offense, because that’s the way you’re going to need to
be to make it in life.
Stephen Pierce: Don’t think that
because you’re committed, because you’re a good person,
or because you’re a Christian, or because you read your
Bible, because you pray, or because you have discord
with people that love you, that life is going to just
feed you everything you want with a silver spoon.
Stephen Pierce: I think having the
right attitude and engaging in the right processes as
far as visualization, understanding what your beliefs
are, being congruent as far as what you believe with
your actions and everything else, I believe that can
help accelerate you getting there. But, you’re going to
still have tests.
Stephen Pierce: It’s interesting.
The tests become much easier to deal with and understand
the tests when you’re in the right frame of mind. I
think that right frame of mind can be stimulated by
being optimistic consistently and understanding that you
are here for a greater cause.
Stephen Pierce: Anybody who is
trying to prevent you from getting to where you
ultimately want to be, that’s going to help impact and
change other people’s lives, may have disqualified
themselves for a relationship.
Stephen Pierce: There is a quote
from one of my mentors, Mike Murdock that says, “People
are like currents. Relationships are like currents.
They’re taking you towards the pit or they’re taking you
towards the palace.”
Stephen Pierce:You have to kind of
evaluate your relationships and understand the
relationships that you have. Where are they moving you
towards? The people in your life, are they making
deposits or are they making withdrawals? Who are the
people who are just sucking the life out of you and not
contributing anything back?
Stephen Pierce: You have to make
some hard decisions at times to understand the
relationships you need to cut back or completely cut off
for the sake of the vision, for the sake of the mission,
and for the sake of the greater cause and the reason and
purpose that you’re here for and the things that you
ultimately want to achieve and contribute to life.
Ralph Zuranski: So how important is
it? Do you think people need to realize that they’re
going to experience discomfort in the pursuit of their
dream?
Stephen Pierce: I could barely hear
that question. Say that again.
Ralph Zuranski: How important do
you think it is for people to realize that they’re going
to experience a lot of discomfort in the pursuit of
their dreams?
Stephen Pierce: I think it’s
important that they understand that it’s kind of like
getting in shape. I don’t know too many people that
either became body builders or became superior athletes,
and they did it within their comfort zone.
Stephen Pierce: You have to get in
the gym, you have to sweat, you’ll have some aches and
pains, you’ll be tired. I’m not saying that being
successful is identical to that kind of workout, but the
things that they have that are similar, is that it
doesn’t happen sitting on the couch in the comfort zone.
Stephen Pierce: You don’t get in
shape, you don’t become a superior athlete sitting on
your couch channel surfing. You have to get in the gym.
You have to get out there and practice and that may
cause some discomfort. It may cause some physical
discomfort. It may cause some mental discomfort. It may
cause some discomfort just within the realm of time.
Stephen Pierce: You prefer to be
doing something else that’s more comfortable and
mindless. Like maybe watching TV or something like that,
as opposed to doing something that may be more mentally
taxing and physically taxing. Like some kind of physical
exercise or some kind of mental work that’s required to
progress your business, or whatever it is you’re doing
towards the objectives that you have. But there are some
trade-offs.
Stephen Pierce: What are you willing
to trade off to get to where it is you want to go? You
just can’t have it both ways. If you want to sit back
and relax and kick back with your umbrella martinis, or
whatever, on the beach but you don’t have any money,
what sense does that make? If you want to be able to
kick back, go fishing all day, okay, fine.
Stephen Pierce: But push yourself to
the point where you will not only appreciate that, but
you deserve that because of the value that you provided
to a lot of people. To do that, it’s going to take some
time and it’s going to be uncomfortable, but that’s
okay.
Stephen Pierce: I kind of see it
like if you’re doing something that seems to be way too
easy maybe you’re doing something wrong. If you’re doing
something and you start to come up against some
difficulties, it’s not the rule but I’d be willing to
say maybe you’re doing something right.
Stephen Pierce: I don’t always want
to be right when I’m doing something. I don’t want
things to always be easy. I don’t feel as if I’ve
learned. Now I’m not saying like bring on the heat.
Nobody likes it because it makes you feel uncomfortable.
Stephen Pierce: But you accept the
fact that you’re going to have discomfort to get where
it is you want to go. It’s not that you like it but that
you accept that this is part of the process.
Stephen Pierce: Again, like we were
talking about earlier, knowing where you want to
ultimately go is only part of the equation. What does
the road look like to get there? You have to understand
what it looks like to get there so when you start to run
up against these different things, it’s not this strange
occurrence or experience.
Stephen Pierce: But it’s like, “You
know what? I was expecting that to happen so bam let’s
do it.”
Stephen Pierce: It’s like if you’re
a quarterback in a football game. Yeah, you know who the
mark is, you know who the receiver is, you’re going to
throw to him, but you know what? If somebody picks off
that ball, you knew that that was a possibility so you
instantly have the player there. You know what you do?
You shift the defense immediately.
Stephen Pierce: You shift the
defense immediately and then you run your defensive
plays to get back on offense. But if you were just
sitting there and had absolutely no idea that that was
possible, the whole team is just sitting there in shock,
just stunned or paralyzed. Nobody’s moving.
Stephen Pierce: The guy that caught
the interception has run it back for a touchdown. You
don’t want that to happen in your life, you know what I
mean? So understand what the road looks like to getting
there.
Stephen Pierce: What all these other
options are, what the other alternatives are, and what
are the possibilities on the plus side and on the minus
side? Look at everything.
Stephen Pierce: It’s like I was
talking about earlier. Look at your strengths and
weaknesses and also look at the opportunities and the
threats. Everything that you can possibly see in your
spiritual or your physical peripheral vision. See
everything, anticipate, predict and design your future
and understand that all these different things are
possible to happen.
Stephen Pierce: I’m not going to
focus on the negative. But if something happens it’s not
going to take me by surprise and I’m just going to roll
with it, because I know what the path looks like to get
to where I want to go.
Ralph Zuranski: How important is it
to believe your dreams will become reality?
Stephen Pierce: If you don’t believe
in your dreams then you’re not going to be driven. I
think your belief system is kind of like the motor in
the car. It’s one of the things that are going to drive
you to getting to where it is you want to go, because if
you don’t have the beliefs to support the fact that you
can transfer this dream that you have into reality, then
why put in the work? Why put in the time? Why put in the
effort? Why put in the tears? Why put in the sweat?
Stephen Pierce: If you don’t really
fully believe that this is going to happen, that there’s
going to be an ultimate payoff, not just for you, but
it’s going to be a payoff for the people that are going
to benefit from this value that you’re going to bring,
then why even go forward and do anything?
Stephen Pierce: So I think belief is
an absolute given. I think one thing you can do to
intensify your belief, is to take some time to sit back
and visualize with a great deal of intensity, view
experiencing what it is you want to achieve in the here
and now. Not in the later sense of, “Well it’s going to
happen some day.”
Stephen Pierce: But allow yourself
to experience it today because the mind can’t
distinguish something that was actually experienced with
something that was virtually experienced.
Stephen Pierce: I think it’s a great
idea to take that time to experience it in your body
right now, and your emotions. Just enjoy the moment.
There’s something that’s really compelling about doing
that.
Stephen Pierce: I don’t know all the
science behind it, the spiritual laws behind it or
anything like that. What I’m saying is it’s something
that’s been proven to work and it’s something that makes
you feel absolutely amazing after you’ve done it just
once.
Stephen Pierce: Then it just
compounds and it compacts as you start to do it over and
over and over and over again. The way it just stacks up
and the intensity that you feel as far as the belief
that you can actually do it.
Stephen Pierce: You start to get to
the point where you’re living your life as if you’ve
already achieved it. It doesn’t make it easier but it
seems like you accelerate yourself towards where it is
you want to go. Some of the things that would have
probably been difficult to deal with along the way,
become a little bit easier to deal with.
Ralph Zuranski: How are you able to
overcome your doubts and fears?
Stephen Pierce: I pretty much
accept the fears and I accept the doubts. I forgot
somebody that said it but they said that you can’t stop
a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it
from it from building a nest on it.
Stephen Pierce: What that means is,
regardless of how confident you are, regardless of how
driven you are and how deeply ingrained the beliefs are
that you can accomplish something, you’re going to still
have your moments of doubt and you’re going to still
have your fears.
Stephen Pierce: That’s because it’s
natural and you’re natural and you’re human. I think
that’s an organic part of our emotional system. You can
have every reason in the world to be 100% confident and
not have a single doubt. But you’re going to have your
points in time where you’re going to have these doubts
that come. You’re going to have these fears that come.
Stephen Pierce: And because to get
through this these quick emotional impulses and
responses to different things, whether you feel them
emotionally or they drop into your mind mentally like
some kind of doubts just start to seep into your mind or
some kind of emotional tension that you may feel from a
fear that just appeared, that’s fine.
Stephen Pierce: I don’t really
believe in fighting that. I just believe in just you
know what? It is what it is but you do not have to allow
yourself to grip that and embrace it and then make it a
part of you.
Stephen Pierce: When that thought of
doubt comes you don’t have to capture that thought and
then sit there and let it become a seed planted in your
mind that uproots into your heart and your emotions and
your nervous system, where ultimately that one quick
thought of doubt which you could have just let go, you
allow to build a nest in your life.
Stephen Pierce: Now it’s holding you
back from becoming what you ultimately want to become.
It’s the same thing with your fears. Understand that
yes, you’re going to be afraid of certain things and
fear has its role.
Stephen Pierce: I don’t think too
many people, because of fear, are going to run across a
highway of speeding traffic in fear of getting slammed
by a car and ultimately possibly dying. So fear has its
role. Fear protects us at times but fear can also hold
us back from becoming what it is we want to become.
Stephen Pierce: So understand
there’s going to be fears that you know you have but do
it anyway. That’s the whole thing. I think courage is
not about controlling the fear. It’s about understanding
the fear and doing what it is you need to do anyway. I
don’t think courage is ultimately about being fearless.
Stephen Pierce: I think fearless
itself doesn’t mean the person is without fear. I think
fearless is that the person understands the fear and
they press through it anyway because they know that this
is something they absolutely must do to accomplish what
it is they want to accomplish.
Ralph Zuranski: You’ve been through
a lot in your life. Who helped give you the willpower to
change your life for the better?
Stephen Pierce: I read my Bible a
lot. I’m very spiritually connected. I understand
there’s a greater purpose for my life. There’s a greater
mission for my life. I love to have fun but I also love
to make sure that I’m making a contribution to people
and understand what that contribution is.
Stephen Pierce: So I remain entirely
driven by my relationship with the Lord. I remain driven
by understanding that I’m here for a reason to help
contribute to other people and make other people’s lives
better. When I see that happen, I become incredibly
driven.
Stephen Pierce: Some people give us
testimonials and they call and they give us feedback.
They benefit from dealing with us, doing business with
us. There’s nothing greater than that.
Stephen Pierce: Getting paid for
different things is amazing. To be able to be in the
position that we’re in, the end result. Because I don’t
really believe in being paid for something that the
value is not delivered in. People don’t feel as if they
got whatever it is they paid for.
Stephen Pierce: I believe that if
you’re going to be paid for something, exceed what the
expectations are. Define what the expectations are. Then
completely exceed them so they become overwhelmed with
the amount of value that you gave them that was far
above and beyond what it was they expected.
Stephen Pierce: I believe that’s the
way to live and that’s one of the things that constantly
keeps me driven. Then there’s my wife, you know, family
and all those things together, it’s like life is
wonderful. You understand what it is you’re here to do
and you get locked into that.
Ralph Zuranski: How important is it
to forgive the people that upset, offend and oppose you?
Stephen Pierce: How important is it
to?
Ralph Zuranski: For forgiveness.
Stephen Pierce: Lack of forgiveness
only hurts you. I believe that when you hold
un-forgiveness in your heart you may feel as if you’re
hurting them but ultimately two things. One, you’re
hurting yourself. Two, they’re having emotional control
over you. I don’t believe too many people want to walk
around feeling bottled up and feeling the pain of
harboring un-forgiveness.
Stephen Pierce: But we do it because
we feel as if we have to hold onto this, because what
they did to us was just so wrong that you just cannot
forgive them. Well you know what? We can have this huge
amount of emotional intensity about something somebody
did. But get over it.
Stephen Pierce: Don’t allow that one
moment in time to destroy, distract and derail your life
as you continue to hold and harbor this un-forgiveness.
Just let it go, and allow yourself to be clear and let
every channel within your life to just flow with love
and forgiveness. When we do something wrong, don’t we
want people to forgive us?
Ralph Zuranski: Sure.
Stephen Pierce: Well of course. With
the same justice that we want to given to us it’s the
same justice that we should give to somebody else.
Whether they did it deliberately, intentionally or they
did it accidentally. Understand that people make
mistakes.
Stephen Pierce: Some mistakes are
bigger than others. Some mistakes can impact us more so
than others, but it’s still a mistake. Or maybe it was
done deliberately because they don’t like you. In either
case do not allow that incident in life to become an
emotional chokehold on you that it prevents you from
functioning to your maximum capacity and optimum levels
because you’re harboring this un-forgiveness.
Stephen Pierce: It’s best to just
let it go. Plus, un-forgiveness is really spiritually
and physically unhealthy. People actually get sick from
harboring too much un-forgiveness. So it’s best to just
let it go.
Stephen Pierce: Otherwise regardless
of how many days you move forward into your future,
you’re going to always be trapped to a part of your past
because you’re bringing this un-forgiveness with you.
Stephen Pierce: When you allow
yourself to forgive people, bam, that instant that you
just clear yourself of it and you allow yourself to be
forgiven you don’t have to carry that moment with you
into your future. You can just let it go.
Stephen Pierce: Now I’m not saying
some people can just instantly let it go mentally or
emotionally. Some things are much harder to forgive
people of, like somebody killing a loved one or
something like that.
Stephen Pierce: You have some people
that can forgive those kinds of people instantly. Then
there are some people, they feel as if they need to hold
onto that un-forgiveness as a way of justice for the
person that they’ve lost.
Stephen Pierce: Well you know what?
It’s still something that you have to get over because
you’ve lost a loved one and that’s painful enough.
There’s no need to continue to allow that pain to move
forward and allow your own life to be damaged and
derailed, because now you’re allowing yourself to be
trapped and making one mess become a bigger mess.
Stephen Pierce: Now you become an
even bigger casualty as a result. Un-forgiveness, I
think it’s a deadly thing. To me, spiritually and
emotionally, it’s pretty much just as deadly as
procrastination as far as I’m concerned.
Ralph Zuranski: Wow. Well, do you
experience service to others as a source of joy?
Stephen Pierce: Do I experience
service to others as?
Ralph Zuranski: A source of joy.
Stephen Pierce: Oh absolutely.
Absolutely. The fact that this world is filled with
people that have needs that want to be filled and the
way to allow your personal wealth to be increased, is to
find those needs and then to fill those needs.
Stephen Pierce: Then the joy that
people get, it’s almost like some people try to start
these businesses and stuff, and then they don’t want to
do the required work to deliver on the product or
services.
Stephen Pierce: They’re like, “Do I
have to do this? Do I have to do that?” And different
things like that. You know, not really. If you think
about it there are a lot of people that would love to be
in your position. If you have wealth, they would love to
be in that position.
Stephen Pierce: If you are
positioned to even have the opportunity to create
wealth, there’s a ton of people in the world that would
love to be in that position. So no, you don’t have to,
you get to do it. It’s an opportunity to do that.
Stephen Pierce: The opportunity to
be able to give service to somebody whether it’s some
kind of service where you’re trading hours for dollars,
or some kind of package service that’s some kind of
physical product or whatever the case may be. It may be
a service of recommendation.
Stephen Pierce: The fact that you’re
able to do that and be compensated for it, it’s an
opportunity that many people would kill for that
opportunity. So as far as I’m concerned yes, it’s an
honor to be able to service people and then to have them
feel enough respect and trust to be willing to
compensate us for that, it’s a huge opportunity and we
love it.
Ralph Zuranski: What place does
prayer have in your life?
Stephen Pierce: I pray all the time.
To me prayer becomes like a beacon. In the darkest hours
when you can see nothing but you can see a beacon
blinking, that’s what you’re going to start to move
towards because for you it may be a signal of help. It
may be a signal of salvation, restoration or salvation
or whatever the case may be.
Stephen Pierce: For me, prayer is
like driving on a road that has no streetlights. It’s at
night, and it’s absolutely pitch black. Prayer to me is
not like turning on the headlights to the car, it’s like
bringing out the sun in the middle of the darkest night
where you can clearly see.
Stephen Pierce: Even if you can’t
see, you know that you’re being guided and you’re being
led and you’re being directed. So to me prayer is the
chief cornerstone of everything there is that I do.
Ralph Zuranski: Who are the Heroes
in your life?
Stephen Pierce: Well there are a lot
of Heroes. There are a lot of people that I would say
that I look up to that I look to model my life after.
Who I would like to understand like Mike Murdock.
Anthony Robbins would be one, Joel Osteen would another.
Stephen Pierce: People like that.
Those are the more modern day people. Of course there
are people from long ago like Einstein and who is it?
Was it Leonardo?
Ralph Zuranski: Leonardo Da’Vinci?
Stephen Pierce: Da’Vinci. Socrates.
There are a lot of different people that were great
thinkers of old that were absolute geniuses. I love to
study and understand the way that they think because
their genius was not in their book smart academics but
their genius was found in the way that they think.
Stephen Pierce: I think some of the
modern day geniuses are Anthony Robbins, are Joel
Osteen. It is Mike Murdock. They’re completely different
realms but if you look at them and you understand what
it is they do and the way they impact people’s lives and
how they do it, I think they’re geniuses.
Stephen Pierce: What you do is you
look at those people and you can put them up there as
Heroes. I do things like borrow genius where I’ll
envision conversations. Then myself taking on different
things that I consider to be really good strong points
about them.
Stephen Pierce: Then looking at how
those can be adapted to my life. Then bringing that
together with who I am without allowing it to alter my
own personality and what it is I’m ultimately to become.
Stephen Pierce: So those are just
some of my Heroes. But there are many people because I
read so many books. There are people who’ve written
books that I wouldn’t be able to recall their name but
their book has impacted me in a certain way.
Stephen Pierce: So while there may
be a certain group of people specifically, I leave
myself open to wisdom, regardless of where it comes
from, because wisdom is wisdom.
Stephen Pierce: If it’s something
that’s going to be able to lead and guide and direct
your path, and help you to move closer to where it is
you ultimately want to be, and provide even greater
value to those that you’re providing value to, you might
as well pay attention to it.
Ralph Zuranski: Why are Heroes so
important in the lives of young people?
Stephen Pierce: Well because young
people are highly impressionable. Young people are
always looking for somebody that’s going to lead them.
Because many of them have not found out who they are,
what they ultimately want to be. They haven’t really
gotten in touch with their own identity.
Stephen Pierce: Their identity
becomes highly impacted by the people that they surround
themselves with. By the people they hold up as idols if
you will or that they hold up as Heroes. I think that
having the right Heroes can make a huge difference on
where ultimately many young people go.
Stephen Pierce: I think it’s really,
really important. For those that have the ability to
influence young people, they should make sure that they
have access to information and videos and audios from
some of the greatest thinkers of old and of today,
because that will help to influence their mind and could
ultimately redirect them from what could have been a
path of negativity and destruction, to a path of
positivity and fulfillment as a positive thing.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think there
is a group of Heroes or many Heroes in our society that
aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve?
Stephen Pierce: Sure and I probably
couldn’t give them recognition right now because I
probably don’t even know who they are. Most of the time
people recognize those who reach some kind of public
status. They did something that was worthy of being put
into the public’s eye.
Stephen Pierce: But if you count how
many people are tracked by the media as “celebrities,”
it pales in comparison to the number of people that
aren’t tracked. So you would have to think that the
number of people who’s lives are impacting other
people’s lives, far out number the number of people who
maybe are making some kind of impact, maybe on
television or in print or something like that.
Stephen Pierce: So I would think
that,, yeah there’s a ton. I would probably say for
every one person that you know about there’s probably
100 that we don’t.
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, I think that’s
probably true. What are your solutions for some of the
problems that are facing society today like racism,
child and spousal abuse, violence among young people?
Since you were there and you experienced it first
hand? What do you think are some good solutions for
those problems?
Stephen Pierce: Well change happens
one person at a time. I know people want to change
companies. They want to change racial groups. They want
to change different things like that, in groups.
Stephen Pierce: But change happens
one person at a time, so each person has to be reached
where they are. Maybe through some kind of means of mass
customization where we understand where each person is
individually. Then on a massive level, deliver to them
some kind of customized solution that helps them to deal
with where it is they are.
Stephen Pierce: Now, for some people
that are maybe filled with hate that want it, that love
the hate, maybe there’s not much that can be done for
them, because people have to want to change.
Stephen Pierce: Now, for those
people that are in despair, that are maybe trapped in
anger and rage and maybe they beat their spouse or
something like that and they know they’re doing it. They
know that it’s wrong but they feel as if they’re out of
control emotionally.
Stephen Pierce: Maybe there’s some
help that could be given to them. But that kind of stuff
happens one person at a time. There are a whole lot of
issues that we deal with, not just as a U.S. society,
but in the world at large from wars and division,
economies. It’s just so much.
Stephen Pierce: I think that if
you’d break it down to the smallest level and understand
that all these parts make for the whole, and that for
the whole to change there’s a requirement for the parts
to change.
Stephen Pierce: I think if we all
take on the responsibility for dealing with ourselves,
because some people are so busy trying to change others,
that they themselves are still in cahoots and out of
control. They’re not changing the one person they have
absolute control over to change, and that’s themselves.
Stephen Pierce: I think one solution
is everybody taking a look at themselves. Yeah, a lot
easier said than done. But it’s true. Change happens one
person at a time. The way to change ten people in the
group is to have each individual change. Not try to get
ten people in the group and get them all to change as a
ten.
Stephen Pierce: Even when you do
that, and if change happens in the room, it’s because on
an individual basis they decided that they must change,
that they want to change and that change is going to
happen. They say understand that something must change.
You can change it and you will change it.
Stephen Pierce: Maybe in this group
setting they see that something must change. They
understand that they can change it. They have the power
to change it and they make that decision that they will
change it. They follow-up that decision with action and
they actually create change.
Stephen Pierce: Even still it can be
a group, but it happens on an individual level.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah. What are the
things parents can do that would help their children
realize that they too can be Heroes and make a positive
impact on the lives of others?
Stephen Pierce: I’d say one thing
is, well two things, live a life of positivity. I don’t
mean disguise the negative, but always, always, always
feed positive things into their lives. Give them
positive things to see, positive things to hear. Build a
relationship with them and don’t allow them to be
brought up by the television and brought up by the
streets.
Stephen Pierce: Allow them to
respect you more and love you and honor you more than
they love and honor and respect their friends and their
peers on the street. The only way that’s going to happen
is through a relationship.
Stephen Pierce: The reason many kids
will go out there and respect somebody that’s maybe a
year older than them on the street more than they
respect their own parents, is because of the
relationship and bond that they develop while they’re on
the streets with them.
Stephen Pierce: So understand that
kids are going to be kids. There are certain things that
they want. Build a relationship with them. Ebb and flow
with it. Build a relationship and allow them to
understand that you know and understand and respect
them, but have a close enough relationship where you can
influence them and give some kind of input that can
create an impact.
Stephen Pierce: You cannot control
them. There’s no way you can control them. The only way
there seems like there can be parental control is when
the child decides to be obedient.
Stephen Pierce: When a child is
obedient, big children are obedient out of respect. Some
are obedient out of fear. They feel as if, “You know
what? I don’t respect you but I’m going to be obedient
because I don’t want to live on the streets.”
Stephen Pierce: I would prefer that
a child be obedient out of love and respect more so than
fear of not being put out on the street. That can be
seen in some kids, because when they have an alternate
place to go, then the ultimate disrespect shows because
now they’re like, “Screw you and kick me out I don’t
care,” because they’re going to go live with some friend
or whatever.
Stephen Pierce: So I would say build
the relationship. Do some activities together. Read some
kind of books together. Books that you want them to
read, read that book yourself. It’s interesting.
Stephen Pierce: It’s like parents
say, “Well, I want you to read this book because it’s
going to have an impact on you.”
Stephen Pierce: “Well, did you read
the book yourself?” If you want them to read the book,
how about you read the book, too, so you can hold some
kind of dialogue with them.
Stephen Pierce: It’s almost like,
“Well, I don’t want your life to be like mine.”
Stephen Pierce: It’s interesting
because your life isn’t over. It doesn’t have to suck
forever if you feel as if it sucks. It can improve and
if you have a book that you feel is going to help them,
read it yourself as well.
Stephen Pierce: Don’t say, “Listen,
you need to go read this book,” and then you go flip on
the television. You’re telling them to do one thing but
they’re looking at what you’re doing, and what you’re
doing looks like much more fun so they want to do that,
too.
Ralph Zuranski: Yeah.
Stephen Pierce: So I would say
develop some kind of system to create impact and change
in a relationship with your kids, more so than just kind
of like shoving them in a box and saying, “Do what I say
but don’t do as I do.”
Stephen Pierce: It’s like, “Well I
want you to read this book. This is a great book.”
Stephen Pierce: It’s like saying,
“Let’s read the book together and then we’re going to
dialogue about it.”
Stephen Pierce: I think in doing it
that way the parents will grow as well.
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, I think you’re
probably right. Well Stephen I really appreciate your
time. I know how busy you are. I just was really
impressed with your life story and just how successful
you’ve become. What a great example you are for kids of
all ages.
I just really appreciate your time in doing this
interview.
Stephen Pierce: Thank you Ralph. I
appreciate you for having us and if you want to have us
again, just let us know. Thanks a lot.
Ralph Zuranski: Okay. Thanks a lot.
Stephen Pierce: Alright, take care,
Ralph, thank you.
Ralph Zuranski: Bye.
Stephen Pierce: Bye.
