In today’s show, delve into conversations about remarkable life stories that defy societal norms. Jim Stovall shares his journey from sight loss to becoming an Olympic weightlifting champion. Explore the compelling narrative of a billionaire’s insights that eschew monetary focus for more profound, timeless wisdom. The episode reminds us that beyond the necessary means, happiness lies in how we uplift and connect with others.
welcome to the good news with angie austin now with the good news here’s angie hey it’s angie austin and jim stovall with the good news and today we are talking about the winner’s wisdom column titled billionaire bonus hey jim Hey, great to be with you. Hey, so I have to tell you, I was with my brother in Tucson and there was a cute little lady from England walking another little lady around and holding her elbow. And they’re both seniors and just adorable. And my brother has a two pound terrier that he puts on his shoulder. And so anyway, they walked over and she asked if her friend who couldn’t see, you know, could pet the dog. We’re like, of course of course and so we start chatting and then I told her about you I said you know I have a friend who listens to a book every day and uh and he I said you know he has been doing this for years he went blind when he was you know young and I said and he played it for me and it was like a foreign language and she laughed and she goes oh I have many friends who do that and she goes I don’t understand it either and I was telling her how you worked your way up to it you know so that You could listen to it that fast, you know, the book. And I’m like, I just said, when he played it for me, I could not understand a single word they said. But anyway, we had a great conversation and just talked about how you often do a cameo in your movies as a limo driver. And she thought that was hysterical.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, yeah, it’s, you know, my life is my life, so it seems normal, but when I explain it to other people, you know, I write books I can’t read that are turned into movies I can’t watch, and some of the things I do, you know, it seems normal, but everybody’s life is amazing. It’s just, it’s all a matter of perspective.
SPEAKER 05 :
Isn’t that true? You know, when I was with my old friends from NBC LA this weekend, and we were all recounting our stories, we learned like so much about each other. One of my friends said, you can see it’s really neat to be with each other, you know, 25 years later, because you see why we were friends, you know, in the first place, you see why we made these friendships, but just to hear more about their stories. And we, At the end of the weekend, we’re just recounting how everybody has a story and there’s so much more behind them than you’d ever even know. Learning things about them, I didn’t even know that 10 years I was friends with them. But it goes back to that Harvard happiness study you guys always talk. We always talk about you and I about how the biggest indicator of happiness or the best indicator of happiness is happiness. You bet. I mean, that’s what, you know, at the end of the day, at the end of the year, at the end of our lives, that’s what we look back on. It makes it all worthwhile. Well, we are talking about the billionaire bonus. So since I’m not a billionaire, I’d love to know more about the billionaire bonus. I would like this bonus someday. This would be very fun to have.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, this came about because I, you know, after losing my sight and started the Narrative Television Network, I which makes movies accessible for blind people, I was asked to do a lot of speaking at business events and conventions. Out of that, I started doing a tour with two great speakers, Dr. Dennis Whaley and Dr. Robert Shuler. And they encouraged me to write a book. So I wrote my story of losing my sight and giving up my football career and becoming an Olympic weightlifting champion and doing all the various things and then starting the Narrative Television Network. Well, they encouraged me to put that in a book. And after some reluctance on my part, I finally agreed to do it. And it was my first book, You Don’t Have to Be Blind to See, which at that time I thought was my only book. And then the publishers said, wow, it’s selling good. They wanted another and another and another. And after about six books, I had written everything I knew and a few things I only suspected. So when they wanted another book, I figured I better make up a story. So I wrote my first novel. I had no clue what I was going to do, but I wrote this novel. I wrote it in five days between my meetings and my phone calls here at the Narrative Television Network. And it was called The Ultimate Gift. And it’s a story of a grandfather who passes on his life’s wisdom to his grandson and And it comes to him in a video through his will, and he learns all about things. And in the last minute before I finished it, I thought, you know, it would be interesting to use this as an opportunity to dispel what I call the big lie. And the big lie tells us that if we just had enough money, everything in our life would be great. We wouldn’t have to worry about anything. And so I made the grandfather a billionaire. And, well, the book came out and became a bestseller and became a major motion picture and then a movie trilogy based on it. And because of that, I started getting asked to speak at a number of wealth conferences and to consult and speak with billionaire families. And I became a part of some of these groups. And Crystal and I have been very, very blessed. My next book is called Millionaire Answers. I’m very pleased to be In that category, I am not, I hasten to say, a billionaire, but I am in several groups of them. And recently, one of them put out a list for his grandchildren of things this billionaire thought his grandkids ought to know. And I was really fascinated with it because I thought, well, it’s going to be about money and investing and giving and stewardship and all. It has nothing to do with money. It’s no different than anybody else would pass on to their kids. And that’s what made it interesting. And I published it in this week’s column. And obviously, this billionaire is a fan of Miguel Ruiz, who wrote The Four Agreements. And if any of your listeners are looking for a great book, if you’re not going to read any of mine, go read Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements. Because in that, he gets into, you know, always be impeccable with your word. Don’t take anything personally. uh take full responsibility for everything and do your best and they seem simple they seem easy they are not they are amazing challenges so this billionaire kind of adds these four and then puts in a few more of his own as to what it takes to have a great life but it really has nothing to do with being a billionaire and i i think that’s kind of the point here that um As you and I know from the happiness study you just talked about, beyond a fairly modest amount of money that is required for food, clothing, and shelter, beyond that, more money doesn’t make you happy. It really doesn’t. Wealth doesn’t make you happy. Now, having been poor and being rich, I would hasten to say poverty doesn’t make you happy either. And given a choice between… prosperity and poverty always take the prosperity, but it does come with extra challenges and some extra responsibilities.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it’s interesting that you bring this particular one up because, you know, it’s a strange for my dad for like 35 years, but he this is one of the books he really enjoyed and liked. And after he quit drinking, he was, you know, a different person when I met him when after all my kids had been born, I was married. So we had a relationship that last, I don’t know, maybe eight years of his life, I would say. So that was one that he talked about a lot with me and the kids about being impeccable with your word and don’t take anything personally. That’s one that really I’ve had to learn because I… oftentimes would do that, take things personally and realize it had nothing to do with me and I was wasting a lot of time guessing what I had done and don’t make assumptions, which I guess would roll right into that one, and always do your best. And I talked recently about this janitor that works at Trinity High School. In Texas, and he has mentored hundreds of children. It says the most important person at Trinity High School, you’d think it’d be the principal or one of the teachers, but it’s the janitor because he’s had so much influence on everybody. But he in some of his interviews, I was lucky enough to interview him as well. said, if you ever sit on one of the toilets I’ve cleaned, it’s the cleanest toilet you’ll ever sit your butt on, because his father taught him to always do his best, and he only thought he’d keep that job a few months, and now decades and decades later, he has more awards than he could fit in his walls, and more calls on Father’s Day than he can even answer, and always do your best has become, that’s what his life’s all about, and it’s just amazing you can take a job like that, and turn it into something so influential on so many lives that so many of these boys, he really kept out of prison because he gave them love that they never had at home.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And, you know, and it goes back to, you know, people with the kind of jobs that sometimes we overlook or respect as much as we should. But in reality, it goes back to that admonition that the way you do anything is the way you do everything. And, you know, and it’s really true. And I, I used that in my first movie where this young rich kid, the grandson of the billionaire, he has to go out and build a fence on a ranch, dig post holes, hard, hard work. And at the end, here’s this long, straight, beautiful fence. And this old rancher tells him, don’t ever forget, a man that can build a good fence can do anything. And it’s true. I remember being a weightlifting champion, and you would think, That has very little to do with the rest of your life. I mean, it just doesn’t come up that often that you need to utilize those skills. But the last meeting I had with my coach after we won the championship, he said, look, I don’t know what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. And we knew I was going blind. And he said, I know that’ll be a challenge. But don’t ever forget, someone that can do what you just did and walk out with a gold medal can go do anything. You can do anything because you will change. look over the edge, feel the fear, do it anyway. And most people don’t know they’ll do that. And, you know, it’s really a powerful thing to have in your mind and something you put in your back pocket. So, you know, hey, if you can clean a toilet and do it well or mow the grass or whatever it is you do, if you do it with pride, you do it with excellence, you do it with a good attitude, it makes all the difference.
SPEAKER 05 :
I actually told this lady that I ran into that was being helped around the neighborhood. I know you have attractive young girls travel with you, but she didn’t use the stick, which I don’t think I admire anyone more than someone that cannot see a thing around them and is navigating themselves around the world with the cane. Do they call it anything in particular? No.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, the white cane usually. You know, I have one. It folds up and goes in my briefcase, and I almost never use it because I’m very blessed to always have people with me. But, yeah, I’m with you. I just talked to a man. He flew from California to see me at an event in Oklahoma City, and he wanted to meet me. He’s totally blind. And he read one of my books and was encouraged last year, and he went to Cambodia. And with a tour group of fully normal sighted people. And he said, I did everything. I climbed to the top of the waterfall. I took the cave tour. I did. I mean, Angie, this is stuff I wouldn’t do if you paid me.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
He wanted to do it. And he just he said, you encouraged me to go do what I want to do. And I said, yeah, I mean. But you don’t have to prove anything to anybody. You just do what you want to do. And I was just immensely pleased that he came all the way, halfway across the country just to meet me. And it was an honor just to see what different people do.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, I was going to say, I told that woman you were my mentor, but you’ve had a lot of really great mentors in your lifetime, haven’t you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, yeah. I mean, Steve Forbes is, to this day, Coach John Wooden. We talked every week for the last five years of his life, and that changed a lot of things for me. I mean, back when I was very young, a A man who had a third grade education and made $10 million during the Great Depression, a man named Lee Braxton, taught me how to be an entrepreneur. And that opened up everything for me. I’ve never had a job other than working for myself. So I’m very, very grateful to have had those people to learn from.
SPEAKER 05 :
And so are we up above 60 books now that you’ve written?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we are. I wrote six last year that I had a goal to write to, and I ended up writing six. It got out of control there near the end, and three or four of them will be coming out later this year we’ll be talking about, I’m sure.
SPEAKER 05 :
Excellent. All right, if you want to find Jim, you can probably call him, too, because he puts his phone number and his address and everything in his books, but jimstovall.com, jimstovall.com. Thank you, friend. Always a pleasure. Be well. We’ll talk next time. You, too.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s that time of year to start cleaning out your closets, basement, and garage by donating to ARC Thrift. With 34 thrift stores and 15 donation centers across the Front Range, you have almost 50 different locations to donate your gently used clothing and items you don’t need anymore or are taking up space in your home. ARC will also take large furniture off your hands by scheduling a pickup through the ARC website. Any soft goods you choose to donate, you can just put in bags, while hard goods need to go into boxes. This helps ARC turn their 5,000 weekly donations per store into resellable items immediately. With spring around the corner, donate the spring and Easter clothing that is too small or just sitting in a closet to help out another family. And while you’re there, get your Easter decorations and clothing. To schedule your large furniture pickup or to find the nearest ARC Thrift Donation Center or store location near you, go to arcthrift.com.
SPEAKER 06 :
Rocky Ford is tuned to the mighty 670 KLT.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello there. If you’re just joining us, this is Angie Austin with The Good News along with Grace Fox talking about her book Fresh Hope for today. And today we are focusing on the chapter about burden bearing and the title is Burden Bearer. That’s our devotion for the day. Hey there, Grace. Hey, good to talk to you again. Good to talk to you. All right. So what is Burden Bearer about? I just like saying it.
SPEAKER 06 :
This happened to me on a Mother’s Day. I was traveling to another province up here in Canada to speak at a women’s event, and it was going to happen Monday. So I’m on the plane all by myself, Sunday, Mother’s Day, which was bad enough all by myself that day. But what made it worse was when I went to put my suitcase in the overhead bin, You know, I reached up, pushed it up there, and something just ripped in my left shoulder. I just felt it. An instant, this crippling pain. So I had to do this flight and a layover in between. And people I didn’t know picked me up at the airport and took me home to their house. place to stay for the night. And I kid you not, here I am with strangers in excruciating pain out in the middle of the country. It’s not even like we’re in a city where I can go to an ER and get help or anything. But I remember during that night, not being able to sleep. So there I am propping myself up with pillows, trying to find a position. I couldn’t lay down. I like trying to sit up in bed and trying to get some sleep. It was the worst night ever. And having to get up in the morning and try to take a shower, couldn’t lift my hand over my head, you know, to wash my hair. Oh, my word. Anyways, that’s how I had to go and speak at the event that night. And, of course, people go to hug me, and I can’t move my arm hardly. I should have had it in a sling, really. But that injury crippled me for months. But I couldn’t cancel upcoming speaking engagements. And so every time I went on a plane, I would just say, God, you’ve got to look after me. And either the flight attendant at the gate there, you know, where you check your stuff.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Just to board the plane. She would say, oh, would you like me to check that for free of charge? And then I wouldn’t have to lift it, you know. Or if that didn’t happen, there would always be some young woman who would see me coming. And I guess he thought, oh, that poor lady, you know, I’ll give her a hand. Anyways, would stand up and say, may I help you with your bag? And every single flight, one of those two things would happen. It was like God said, I’ve got this. I will look after you. And I just thought of how so many times we try to carry weights that we’re not meant to carry. But, you know, just to be able to say to God, I can’t do this. I give it to you. I’m not carrying this burden anymore. I can’t do it. I give them to you. And, yeah, that pain was a good reminder from then on in of just give your burdens to the Lord. Don’t carry that weight that you’re not meant to carry.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, it’s odd because you normally, you know, I’m not very tall. I’m like 5’1″, and so it is a little bit difficult sometimes for me to put those bags up above. And so as I was loading on my way to Tucson to go visit some of my friends from my NBC Los Angeles days and to pick up my mom to bring her back, I just returned actually. And there weren’t any spots in the bin in the front. And if you’re in the very front row of this particular plane, you can’t have anything with you at all. Your purse has to go up everything because there’s nothing in front of you to put your bag underneath because that’s the wall of the plane or whatever. So anyway, this girl, if he rolls back, because I couldn’t put the bag by me, she goes, don’t you worry. I got you, girl. I’ll get your bag for you. So the minute we landed, she got it for me. And so weird, we’re coming back, and there’s a man in a sling, and he needed some help. So I helped him, because he was in the same seat I’d been in, and I was in that row, three rows back. And I start talking to some of the gals around me, because we all have this flight pass that… You’re allowed to fly for a year basically for free. You just pay taxes. So there were four of us actually in the row. And the one just across the aisle from me goes, well, don’t you remember me? I’m the one that put your bag up. So we start laughing and talking. Come to find out she is best friends with my best friend from high school because we decided like, oh, we’re going to friend each other on Facebook. And I’m like, are you kidding me? You’re friends with Karen? She was, yeah, she’s my best friend. I’m like, that’s my best friend from high school. We’ve been planning our family or our class reunion. It was just one of those things where like you help others and this magical like gift comes out of it. You know what I mean? Like, cause I even wrote about her on this Facebook page for the, for the airline for frontier. I wrote this really sweet, tall lady, you know, help me with my bag. Cause I was talking, we were talking about that front row or whatever in our, you know, in our airplane group or whatever, our flight group. But anyway, I just love that that little gift came out of all of that.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s for sure. That really happens. And when it is a gift to us that Jesus in his word says, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest for my yoke is easy to bear. And the burden I give you is light. And that is like the best invitation, isn’t it? Come to me, all of you who are weary. Let me carry your burden for you. But how often do we just insist, no, I’ve got it, I’ve got it, no thanks. I mean, you could have said that to the lady, the tall lady, trying to give you a hand, right? You could have said, no thanks, I’ve got it, and struggle and struggle and struggle. And she could be sitting there looking at you and shaking her head and thinking, what’s wrong? Why didn’t you just let me do it? I’m available, right? And I wonder how often Jesus kind of looks at us and shakes his head and says, oh, child.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I just get such a kick out of having you on the show. We’re going to change gears now. But if you want to find Grace, GraceFox.com. Thank you for always joining us weekly. I get such a kick out of our interviews. Well, if you’re just joining us, this is Angie Austin with the good news. And March is National Ladder Safety Month, which was designed to raise awareness of ladder safety. and to decrease thousands of injuries that occur each year from ladder misuse. Joining us today is Mike VanBrie, president of the nonprofit American Ladder Institute and director of product safety and engineering at Louisville Ladder. Welcome back, Mike VanBrie. I talked about this last year, and I think this is a very important topic that people are like, oh, poo-poo it. No, this is a big deal.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s a very big deal, and thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about it. You hit the highlights on why ladder safety is so important. I really appreciate that, and that’s why National Ladder Safety Month exists, to help people learn the right way to use their ladders. As you were talking about, we don’t want that overlooked. And reading and following the instructions is critical, and I know you like good news. And what we’ve learned is since we’ve started this campaign with National Ladder Safety Month over the last five years, we’ve seen a little over 20% drop in the reported accidents. So we hope and believe that this is making a difference.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I definitely agree. We can all go on the internet, and we’ve talked about this before on the air, and Google ladder mishaps, but some of the ridiculous things like putting a table in the middle of the floor, and then putting a Home Depot orange bucket upside down, and then putting a ladder on top of that. And I I just get anxiety watching it. And I have a six-foot-six husband who is constantly doing DIY projects with my son. We have three teenagers. They’re all tall like him. I’m like five feet tall, so I need like six ladders. But… It’s a weird house. So I need even help with a light bulb. So I’ll see him do things sometimes. I’m like, absolutely not. No, we’re not. No, no, we’re not doing that. We’re going to rent a bigger ladder. No, this isn’t happening in our house. Like, I literally have to like, I have to be the ladder referee.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s great. Well, it is important to be focused on safety, and it sounds like you understand some of those important steps when you’re talking about putting ladders on top of unstable objects, for example. Those are definitely an accident waiting to happen. We certainly want people to focus on the key steps, and I guess just to highlight those, the four key things that I would suggest, and that is think about selecting the right ladder, and you talked about that. Making sure it’s tall enough is one of those selection criteria. You want to inspect that ladder before you use it. A lot of times there’s a tendency to just put that ladder up and go to work.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, good point.
SPEAKER 07 :
You really need to take time to inspect the ladder and make sure that you don’t have damage or missing parts, that sort of thing. You want to set it up properly, not on those buckets or tables or that sort of thing, and then use it appropriately. Don’t get yourself into a situation where you’re overreaching or that sort of thing. I guess just a couple of things to highlight. When we talk about the selection… We do want to talk about whether it’s a step or an extension. We want to make sure that the material is considered, you know, fiberglass, non-conductive fiberglass if you’re working around electricity. And then the things that we’ve kind of already touched on, making sure it’s the right height. And finally, that the load capacity is appropriate. Ladders have various duty ratings, and you want to make sure you’ve got one that’s heavy duty enough for the work that you’re doing, the person, and the equipment that’s being used.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, that’s it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Those are key selection criteria.
SPEAKER 05 :
I didn’t think of a couple of those, you know, inspecting it and then the weight, the weight bearing. And my feeling is too, like, you know, a lot of times I’m cooking, right? And I don’t want to go to the store and get, like, butter, okay? Because it’s a hassle. But you have to do it. OK, so you’re using a ladder and you don’t want the five minute hassle of like getting in the car and then driving. We’re five minutes from Home Depot driving five minutes. Oh, you want to save the fifty dollars or whatever to get the other ladder? No, we’re talking death and really high medical bills. You know what I mean? So take that. 20 minutes out of your day, back and forth to Home Depot and checking out and blah, blah, blah. Rent the ladder if you need something different or purchase it. And it is a hassle, but you know people are dying all the time, especially putting up those Christmas lights. My husband is worth more than 50 bucks rental for a decent ladder if we don’t have the right one.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it’s critical to have that focus on the proper ladder. And it is a little bit of a hassle sometimes, you might think, to take and go find the right tool, that sort of thing. But it’s like anything else. You don’t want to use your… your wrenches as hammers, and you certainly don’t want to use the wrong ladder because of the injuries like you’re pointing out very, very well. That’s an unfortunate part of my job is investigating and understanding why accidents occur. And it’s, like I say, it’s more often than not the misuse of the product, not the product itself.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, all the producers know I love to ask people how they got into their area of expertise. So, of course, I have to ask you how you got into this, you know, helping, you know, save lives, basically. But how did you get into this area of expertise?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s very interesting. So I am an engineer, a mechanical engineer, and I started… designing products and along the way I came to work for Louisville Ladder designing portable climbing equipment and from designing products I segued into the product safety aspect of it. I spent many years actually doing consulting on accident investigations and failure analysis, that sort of work. So pretty focused background on climbing and safe climbing and falls. And I used to say I consult on gravity. And gravity never takes a rest. And that’s what we want to always be careful of.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s true. My husband and gravity never take a rest. I like that. All right. I want to make sure people know where to go if they want to get additional information.
SPEAKER 07 :
Certainly. So just a couple of websites that I’d like to highlight is LadderSafetyTraining.org is a great resource. We’ve got all kinds of flyers and videos and articles, Ladder Safety Training. There’s actually LadderSafetyMonth.com is another one. So those are a couple, LadderSafetyTraining.org, LadderSafetyMonth.com. Those are excellent places for you to go take a look and take advantage of those resources. Lots of things out there from the many years of National Ladder Safety Month.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I sure do appreciate you joining us on The Good News. It’s always a great reminder for our household, and I know many others. And thanks for all you do to help others. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, thank you very much for this opportunity to talk and raise awareness.
SPEAKER 05 :
You betcha. Talk to you next year.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
