Mentor Made Millionaire

Mentor

MADE

MILLIONAIRE

By

Dr. Chad Shannon

A Dr. Chad Shannon Publication.

Copyright © 2020 Dr. Chad Shannon.

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the author.

Acknowledgements

For all the leaders and mentors who dedicate their lives to serving others

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Turtle on a Fencepost

Chapter 2: Mentorship

Chapter 3: Don’t Ride Your Horses

Chapter 4: Return to Order

Chapter 5: The Chase

Chapter 6: Commitment

Chapter 7: Culture

Chapter 8: Perspective

Chapter 9: Being Coachable

Chapter 10: Scheduling

Chapter 11: You Will Have Enemies

Chapter 12: Focus

Chapter 13: Own It

Chapter 14: Healing

Chapter 15: Relationships

Chapter 16: Millionaire

Afterword

About the Author

CHAPTER 1

Turtle on a Fencepost

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From the day we are born until the day we die, our paths are determined by those people in our lives who deliberately guide us toward our future destinations. These unsung heroes are referred to in this book as mentors. Mentors are the people who give us the tools to help us reach our peak performance.

Self-made is a familiar term that is quite often over-utilized in modern-day society, mainly by people who have yet to comprehend the value others provide in their journey throughout life. The accomplishments we have made and the altitudes we have reached in our lives are not solely due to our own personal abilities; you either have great mentors or you don’t—it really is as simple as that. Your mentors help determine the level of future influence you will have.

We believe that those professionals who understand the value of connecting with others and allowing them to help develop their lives will achieve at a higher altitude than the ones who fail to build a network around them. We notice that, as leaders emerge at a young age, there are always people who fail to understand the value of the mentor-based model. Those who fail to see the value in having mentors will, out of envy and a lack of understanding, spend some of their personal time trying to slow the progress that their peers are making—professionally speaking. It seems as if they want to achieve the same level of success but fail to understand what their peers know—mentorship is the key to reaching peak performance. Those who state that they do not like dealing with people are the ones who fail to launch. People are resources; we all have something that we can gain from one another. So, if you tell me that you don’t like people, then I am going to assume that you don’t like resources and that you are genuinely self-made.

Don’t allow yourself to get distracted by the naysayers. Set your goals, align with a mentor, and launch into success! If you are reading this in your teens or twenties, then you have probably realized that there are people who want you to fail. The one thing that they lack is your attitude toward success. I am now in my thirties, and I watch how my peers interact with me; they will always want what you have, but they don’t want to have to do what you did to get where you are. I received my doctorate before I turned thirty, while serving sixty to eighty hours a week in the Marine Corps—if you want something bad enough, you will go after it with everything you have!

Let me encourage you in this book by honoring my mentors and discussing the adversity that I faced to get where I am today. With all that being said, I am not a finished product! We all should strive to grow each day—not just in knowledge, but in our network.

It was very early on in my childhood when I first recognized the importance of being mentored.

My grandpa, Noah Shannon, always took great pride in his wise teachings. He was a much-loved deacon at the church, and he also fixed lawnmowers for the price of the parts for everyone in Deerfield—a small community in southern middle Tennessee, where our roots run deep. Our family—and most of the church—called him Papaw because of his great love and admiration for the youth in his community; he was a grandfather figure for everyone who knew him. Papaw always told jokes that were truly corny, but we all laughed along with him anyways, because that’s just what you did when Papaw told his famous jokes—mostly because he usually cracked up so hard at his own jokes that you simply couldn’t help but laugh along.

Papaw also had a serious side to his personality; other than teaching us to pray and serve our community with a joyful spirit, he also was committed to breathing life into his family. Papaw did much of his work out of love—where most people’s currency in the modern age is money, Papaw understood the value of relationships and did most of his lawnmower repair work for free. I watched him in awe many times as he worked on those lawnmowers for his community, not even charging his customers for his time—he was a really good man.

My fondest memory of my papaw was a time when he took me down to the pond, when I was seven or eight years old. We were by ourselves, and Papaw asked me to ride with him to the back side of the farm to inspect a particular project he had going on. As always, I didn’t need to be asked twice; I jumped into his car with great excitement, and away we rode. On the way down the farm tracks, Papaw seemed different to me than normal. He was speaking in a tone that he’d never used before—on this particular trip, his words seemed more deep and well thought out than our regular happy banter. Where usually he would joke around and have fun, this time was different!

As we rode down the trail that had been cut out in the dirt by my older cousins practicing their driving and by our four wheelers and motorcycles, Papaw began talking about life in general, and just how important it is to build relationships with people. I remember it well, my beloved papaw telling me that I should always be careful and be sure to guard my tongue because you never know what someone may be going through in their life, and your words could negatively affect them in unintended ways. Back then, as a young kid, I really didn’t realize the full worth of the pure gold that Papaw was pouring into my soul; in fact, it’s safe to say that I really didn’t understand the true value of his wise words until much later on in life.

As we continued down the dirt path near the pond, Papaw suddenly stopped the car and asked me if there was anything I noticed. I looked around for what seemed like ages and really couldn’t figure out what kind of I Spy game Papaw was playing with me. As I scanned the area, I saw the pond—nature—and I distinctly remember seeing an old tin bucket and a small pile of wood over by the pond. But still...I couldn’t figure out what it was that Papaw wanted me to see. As I made my guesses, he shot them all down, one by one.

Finally, Papaw opened his door, climbed out of the car, and began to walk toward the pond. Keen to copy his every move, I followed suit, following him down toward that pond. Papaw walked me toward a little-used path that was filled with briars and an old, rusted-out fence—it was where my family used to raise cattle several years before, but had since been left to fallow. The barbwire was all rusted up, a flaky, dull red color, the fence partially pulled down...and I will never forget what I saw next.

The fencepost was what I remember to be an old railroad tie. It had been split in half and used as a corner post. It was as thick as you would imagine, but somewhat worn away by many, many years of relentless erosion by the elements. I was small, of course, but not too small to not be able to see the top of that post as we approached. As we walked closer, I realized that there was a turtle on top of the fencepost.

Remember, I was very young at the time, so upon seeing that cute little guy, all my young mind could think was, Papaw, can I keep him? I remember Papaw asking me what I thought of the turtle, and I told him, I love him. Can I keep him, Papaw?

Looking back now, I can’t help but wonder if Papaw had wished that I had better understood what he was trying to do in that moment, that I had been mature enough to grasp the important lesson he was attempting to impart. I often wonder if he knew that one day, I would understand, and I would think of him whenever I recalled this story and see that his intention was to have me realize that you don’t get anywhere in life without those people who help/mentor you—that turtle certainly hadn’t made it to the top of that old fencepost all by himself!

***

Much later on in my life, I was honored to become a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. There, I was tasked with serving as the adjutant for a colonel who was retiring. During the ceremony, I led the company by calling their orders.

As the adjutant in the ceremony, one is privileged to be close enough to the retiring Marine to closely witness the retirement and to see every small detail that takes place during the ceremony. By calling the orders to the Marines in the battalion, the adjutant is directly responsible for ensuring the ceremony runs smoothly. Once the ceremony concludes, the retiring Officer or enlisted serviceperson always takes the opportunity to address both his Marines and the visitors in attendance, often times thanking those in attendance for their specific role in their career.

It was a beautiful day when we all stood outside of the division headquarters on Camp Lejeune, NC. The Marines lined up, marched out, and conducted a perfect ceremony. As the ceremony concluded, the retiring colonel addressed the battalion and all the personnel in attendance.

As the colonel spoke, I found myself hanging onto his every word. As part of his speech, he gave full and sincere credit to all of the mentors throughout his career who had helped develop him into the outstanding leader he’d become over his thirty years’ service as a Marine. As he gave credit to each individual who he felt had shaped his career, the colonel suddenly stopped and changed direction in his speech. It was such an abrupt change of tone, that it caught the attention of every Marine in the formation—which was interesting because, during such ceremonies, we have to stand at attention or parade rest until the speeches are over and the ceremony concludes. Often times, it is normal for us to be standing in one position without moving for over an hour, so the ability to pay attention to anything other than not passing out is sometimes difficult.

He certainly caught my attention, especially, because his words seemed to be so familiar, and because he related to the story I had been told as a small child—the one my papaw had most likely wanted me to figure out on my own so that it would stick better in my mind.

The Colonel said, "My career has most closely aligned with the analogy of the turtle on a fencepost. To understand this parallel, you must understand how the world works; the basic premise is that turtles obviously do not climb to the top of a fencepost without the help from others. They are not able to fly, climb, or jump—so we must agree that they are assisted by something in order to be atop that fencepost. This is the same for our lives. We are only as good as the people who assist us in reaching our full potential. I am only here because of the many mentors who took their valuable time to mentor and develop me into the leader—and man—I am today. There have been so many men and women who have poured so much into me.

"Turtles weren’t designed by our Creator to be able to reach that point all by themselves. They cannot fly. They do not climb all that well, and they cannot jump up and land on top of that fencepost. As you can see, it’s quite a difficult predicament that these turtles are in; climbing to the top of the fencepost is unattainable on their own. But—and it’s a big but, I can’t lie—there is one way for turtles to reach places that they would not be able to go without help from others; they must be aware and willing to accept the help.

"Do you see? I am but a turtle on a fencepost—we all are. We all have certain talents that can take us only so far in life, but in the end, we must be helped along by others in order to achieve our peak performance."

The colonel’s sage words hit me all the way down to my very soul. As I stood in front of the battalion, leading the closing of the ceremony, I began to think about all the success I’d enjoyed up to that point in my life—success that I had claimed as my own—and I began to realize just how self-centered we all are as a culture.

A large majority of my success up to that point had so much to do with those who had taken the time to mentor me. I thought about my mentors—there are so many to list, but the main ones were those who had the most to do with where I was at the pivotal moments in my life. This book is about them! This book was created to help us take a moment to understand how we arrived at where we are today—how we all tend to feel as if our success is owned and created by our own selves when, in truth, success is only borrowed and generated by those who allow us to lead. There is also a huge responsibility that comes along with this, and we should take this with a high regard—we must give back what they gave us. Someone