Aaron Walker
Appearances
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Yeah, yeah, and like I said, I don't know if you ever heard of Anthony DeMello.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I'm reading a lot of his stuff, man, and it's been helpful, you know, because when you start chasing the money, I mean, I'm always real with my business, and I say this in my comedy show, me chasing money because, I mean, it was a point where I didn't feel like comedy was working or it wasn't going as fast as I wanted it to go. And I remember still being successful on tour.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I think I was on tour with Desi. But it's just like my career is not moving like I want it to move. And it's taking too long to get to that financial place. So I remember I started trading stocks, man. And I ain't gonna lie, that first month, I did well. I was on this dude's Discord. And shout out to him. Dude named Errol Stoddard Investments. He does nothing against what he would do.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
They would give you calls. They'd teach you how to trade. I started doing my own thing. That first month, I made like $20,000, man. It was killing it. That second month and beyond...
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You got to create your own personal studio so my soundproof stuff is falling off and everything. I want a background like yours. I'm like, look at his background.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And I remember hearing clearly a voice of God saying, look, man, you know, because it was getting to a point where, and a lot of times this is what happens, we get discouraged in our gifts and we'll try to move to something else. Trying to still hold on to our gifts, but we put more attention to that something else. And that's what I was doing. I was giving that more attention.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I remember being on my phone, like doing like comedy shows or, you know, at the radio station where I should be focused. It's like when I should be focused in the gift, I'm giving it to stocks. And I remember losing, kept losing money. And God's like, hey, man. It ain't nothing wrong with stocks, but that's not what I called you to do. Your millions is in your gifts.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And every time you throw yourself in your gift and your talent, you make a lot of money. Man, look, I lost over $140,000. in trading stocks, you know, and I made more, like I made all that money with comedy, you know what I'm saying?
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And so I always encourage people like to stay focused and cause, because when you're not happy and you're not fulfilled, like you, like you was talking about, you will go, you will go to other things and man, you'll get lost in that thing. It was a dark moment, you know, even now, you know, trying to get out of it. You know, I'd be like, man, I don't know. I don't know how, but God is good.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You know, I'm, I'm, I'm able to eat. I ain't vote, but $140,000. That was a, that was an expensive lesson to say, Hey man, get back on your grind and on you focus on you and what God created you to do and everything is going to come. And every time I do it, Man, I killed. I made the most money in comedy. Okay. My biggest check has been comedy. Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You know, but like I said, it wasn't moving like I wanted it to move. And that's what happens when you lose focus and you go to something else. So, yeah, $140,000 lesson to say, Alton, get back to the grind of comedy.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Oh, I want my money back so bad, man. And I'm getting it back, but it is getting it back with comedy. I wanted to get it back the way I lost it. And that's why I kept on losing because I'm like, uh-uh, I'm going to get this back with the stocks.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And my girl had to say that, you know, hey, man, you slick gambler. I hate to say it like that, but yeah, I was. It became gambling, trying to get my money back. At first, it was wealth growing because I was sticking with the rules. Those who trade stocks and do it the right way, they are successful. It just ain't my thing. I ain't disciplined enough to do stocks. Not with that. I'm disciplined.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
That stock market, no, that ain't me.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
God, and that's what he said, and, and. I remember telling God, like, I'm like, well, until you do something else, I'm going to trade these stocks. And it wasn't him punishing. He wasn't punishing me. It was nothing. Nothing would punish me. He just know me. And he's like, I'm trying to keep you from losing more. That's just not. Put your focus back on the purpose.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And when you take your focus off a purpose, you're going to lose. I'm telling you. You're going to lose every time.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
So tell us the evolution of that. I would do these things called Sunday services. I would be preaching. I posted a few clips every once in a while. But every Sunday, me and my homegirl, she would be like my one member. in this Facebook Live, and I'd be preaching about whatever current event went down, and I would just say, and God ain't pleased, not even knowing I'm doing it.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And I just started seeing people in the comments saying, and somebody said, man, I need that T-shirt. And so... I'm like, okay. So I started doing my rants and just saying, God ain't pleased. Then I started stuttering, not knowing. I'm like, and, and, and. And I'm not even knowing I'm doing it.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Like, look. Read your comments. And I know some of your comments are, like, crazy and, you know, but some of them comments can make you some money. The R&B workout event came from a comment. I was putting those videos out in that viral video, and somebody said, ooh, I take this class. I was like, hmm. created a class, and I remember that first one, I put 50, I just put 50 tickets early bird.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
That junk sold out in like 10 minutes. You know, because it was like, man, your comment. So basically, God Ain't Please came from the audience saying, it came from me saying it, but me paying attention to the audience. Going back to comedy, on that stand-up, I'm just not just speaking, but I'm listening to responses. Okay, what are they getting? So
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I got to bring it back. So many people want me to bring it back. I just got to find the time to do it, man. But no, that RB workout was amazing.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Smack that thing on a T-shirt, and now it's a brand, you know?
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Not this week. And I just like to have fun, man. Like, you know, a lot of people, cause most y'all can be edgy, but it is what it is, man.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Now, some I do. I go straight at, but I like when people think I'm going to say, like, when they think I'm about to go at them, and I don't. You know, that's the thing. So, like, with the big girls. That was the one. I didn't want to say that. I love Melissa White, man, but plus size women, baby. Shout out to y'all.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And I do that because, you know, also, man, everything I do have purpose, man. It's a lot of plus size women that that are like, you know, because this world make you feel like you got to be a certain size. You got to be, you know, so, you know, I don't believe in body shaming. So it's to encourage them. And I get a lot of plus size women in my DM saying thank you.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
This and this and that like shout out to. And I do. I am attracted to plus size women, especially they got curves and this and this night. I don't discriminate. I do like plus size women because people are like, you don't really like them. Yes, I do.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
That was one of the best events I ever created in my life, man. Because we did a live event. So it was amazing. Sold out every time we did it, man.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Plus size women, hit me up, baby.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I wouldn't have a fun with comedy. You know, I wouldn't, I didn't feel like I would angle. I felt like I was getting overlooked on a few opportunities, you know, couldn't find nobody to help me on that. Like I was just in that space and I just was like, you know what? Let me figure this out. Let me get back to the fun of it. And soon I started building, getting back to the fun and the purpose.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Like we've been talking about, that was one of the first videos that I did. It was like, oh, we just going to have fun, man. It wasn't even, what, a week and it had over a million views? Well, it's crazy because I posted the first time. It moved, but it didn't move. Yeah. What happened was Kendrick Lamar did his concert in LA. I said, you know what?
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I'm going to drop it again because at the time I posted it, it was like, they not like us kind of. it was kind of dying down a little bit. It was still around, but him doing that concert made it come back up. So I dropped it again, and that's when it took off. Did we ever give the character a name? I know we gave him a name. I ain't even gave him a name yet, man.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Because I did a few other videos with him that went well, you know, because he's just an old school rapper that rap about old people. Like, what old people should rap about? You know what I'm saying? That's the whole idea. With the snappers. Man, sometimes, like, and I learned, like, with social media, man, I recently just did it.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I pulled a video from 2020, a Christmas video, and reposted it, and it went viral. The first time I posted it, it was like 100,000 views. I posted it again. It got over a million views.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Yeah. I mean, and as learning, you know, from like, cause I do, I will say this going back. I do have a lot of, colleagues and peers that I, like I said, I really learned a lot with about, you know, I don't know if you ever heard of Shula King. Yeah. Shula King, man, I could call it. And he's a person that like, he the one that got me really doing God ain't pleased.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Like the way I do it, you know, cause I used to, um, A lot of times, people don't do a lot of content because it takes them a long time. But Shula was like, hey, man, stop editing your stuff. Stop redoing it 30 times. Because I'll be warned, it's so perfect. And I found out the internet, they hate perfection.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I'm looking at you right now. Content creators, if you're struggling, if you want to get in social media, stop. Stop pressuring yourself. Stop making it hard. Stop overthinking. That's the word I was looking for. Stop overthinking.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
My most viral videos come from me not overthinking. Like, just put it out there. Don't worry about if it get likes. Don't worry about the comments. Like, you have to start doing this for you, what makes me laugh, what I think is funny. Because like I said, you know it. It be the video you spend hours making. And you were like, oh, yeah, man, it's good. It look good. You post that back.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Oh, I mean, the first time I got actually paid to do stand-up, I used to, you know, always host. I was doing, you know, I've always been on stage since high school. You know, well, really before that. You know, I'm a church boy, so we always, we've been on stage all my life. Easter Sunday. Right.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You were like, oh, let me take you down and repost it. Post it again. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa. And then I said a video where you just talking and being real. Like, that's what I learned about the Internet. Like, they don't like they hate perfection. They love just authenticity. You know, I think I say that word right.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I'm hoping Kendrick let me open up for the Super Bowl because I know he heard the song. He had to hear that thing. Let's put it out there. These people got to be hearing something. Like, it ain't no way. That thing went too viral for him not to hear it. So hopefully he'll hit me up. Like, hey, man, yeah, just open up the Super Bowl. If he do that, man, I might lose my mind.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Well, I want to see you lose your mind.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I mean, again, man, what I really want people to do, especially for 2025, man, is to really own your greatness, man. That's what I'm on. I was raised a Christian, you know, church world. And a lot of time in the church world, we take being humble or humility to a whole nother level. We, we take that.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I mean, we, I mean, we take humble to let people just walk over you type stuff, you know, because we don't want to outshine people. So, you know, humble, humble and humility to us is stay low. Like, you know, be great, but don't, Talk about it. You know, when somebody say you good. Oh, man, you know, you know, and I'm at a place where I'm. I'm not dimming my light for anybody.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You know, I'm not dimming my light to make you feel comfortable around me or to make you feel better or feel, you know, I'm not doing that no more. And where I got it from is when Jesus, when they looked at Jesus and said, who are you? He said, I am. You know, like, say that to somebody now. If I came forward and you asked me, okay, Alton, who are you? Man, I ain't you.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
So, but in high school, I was in drama club, and I was always a comedic relief, but nobody told me about stand-up comedy. And I actually did my first stand-up set in 10th grade. but nobody told me about being a standup comedian. I didn't even know what that was.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You know, you'd be like, man, this dude is cocky. You know, he's – and that's what they did. They thought Jesus was like, man, they were like, who do you think you is to say that? But in reality, he wasn't lying. To the Christian world, he's the son of God. So he was telling the truth. I am. I am that I am. And so when I looked at that, I'm like, why are we not like that?
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Why are we not moving around like I am? And the reason why I put emphasis on that, because if Jesus doesn't know who he is, he can't do the miracles that he performs. So he missed out on all those opportunities to be God.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And I feel like when we move around and we don't know our greatness, we don't know that I am, we will miss out on opportunities, right? We won't see them because we don't understand how great we are because we don't think we good enough for it. Yeah. So I'm going around this world and like, hey, own your greatness. Be great and don't apologize for it. Don't dim your light for nobody.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Stop making people feel good. No. Listen, when they look at you and say who you are, I am. And own it. I've been looking at your stuff. It looks good. I don't know how much work you put in, how much study you put behind podcasts. But you know what you're doing, man. And never, ever again dim your light. And I know you're probably not doing it. But, man, own it. You're great at this.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
This is what you do, man. And it looks amazing, bro. And I'm proud of you. And I can't wait to see how you take over 225. I like that you said, hey, man, I got the number one podcast. That's what I'm talking about. Let's get it.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
God, dog, and I'm sick of this. People will try to be like you ain't who you are. I'm sick of it, man. I needed it today, Reverend. Let's get it, man. It's your time, and it's only your time. And sometimes we'll miss our time because, again, we forget how great we are. You're not great because you're great because God created you, but you're great because you put the time and effort in it.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
That's why you're great. That's why you're great. Yes, you're naturally talented. With me, yes, I'm naturally talented. LeBron is naturally talented. But what makes him great is the effort and time that he put in it. And that's why you say, I am great. Not because it's by accident. It's because I put the work in to get to this greatness. So that's what I want to leave people. Sick of this.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Bishop Gap, I needed that one, brother.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
So when I got around, like, you know, in college, I would host all the time and then, you know, got into radio and I was always host events, but didn't know about standup comedy. You know, I just thought, Hey, I just host. I'm funny. You know? And then somebody asked me, Hey, can you do like 15 minutes for $250 or something like that? I was like,
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Man, I appreciate you having me, man.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Oh, and so I got up there and talked for 15 minutes to do whatever, and it worked. It worked, man. So that's when I'm like, oh, this is how you do it. Okay. So that's really when I knew that you could make money in comedy, you know, and then, of course, you got to figure out the marketing and all that part.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
But, yeah, I mean, I just got paid for the first time, and I realized, oh, I can make this into a career, to be honest with you.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Yeah, man, I believe if you're going to do it, become a student of whatever you do. You know, I just, you know, and that was with everything. When I was, I originally wanted to be a drummer, you know, and I will play, I will play drums for hours and hours and hours, just trying to become great at playing drums. I wish I would do it for basketball, but. I probably would have been in the NBA.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I just didn't know. I didn't have that concept of what hard work can, you know, bring to you. But anyway, yeah, man, I believe you be a student and be consistent and work hard at anything you do, man. You're going to be successful. I really want to know the ins and outs of what comedy is and how to create comedy, what makes people laugh. I read books about it. I know formulas about it.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You know, I know the ins and outs, and I'm still learning, you know. So I believe you, you become a master of whatever you want to do or just don't do it at all. No half step. You know, that's how I am, man.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
It's a lot of social media comedians because they get on stage for the first time and they be like, oh, it ain't what I thought. And you still got some comedians that's just naturally funny. They don't quite know what they are doing, the terminologies. And they're just great at it. It's some better comedians that's just funny, but they don't know what they're really doing.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
They've just been doing it for a long time. They've been on stage. They know an audience, but... Me, I am a student of this thing. I could teach you how to create a joke now. I know the ins and outs. I know what makes people laugh. And that will kind of separate comedians. You know what I'm saying? You could tell a comedian that's just goofy, just silly on stage and this and that.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And then you could tell a well-professional student written comedian. You're like, oh, no, that took some thought. I'm one of those that like to, like, I'm going to take some thought into every joke. You know what I'm saying?
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Yeah, I mean, it's really a lot of stage time, man. Every comedian will tell you, man, like, I treat comedy like a sport. You know, I created a, like, two years ago, I created a thing called the Comedy Gym because I create, I teach, I treat it like a sport. Like, Steph Curry shoots thousands of shots a week, probably, like, He shoots a lot of shots a week.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
So as a comedian, you have to do these open mics. You have to do stages. So during the week, man, I'm on a stage. Whether it's two people in the audience, five people, I find it's a comedy world where there's open mics and there's different rooms where you can go and work out material. And shoot, to be honest with you, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, they still pop up.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
at these comedy clubs when you don't know and they'll pop up to work out material and so that's what I do like every set every joke I'm working it out I'm saying it over and over again saying it over and over again rearranging things okay I'm listening to an audience you know to see what they respond to and whether okay do I like that respond am I okay with that response or how do I respond to their response you know say how do I react to it
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
You know, comedy is a communication. A lot of comedians, they just want people to laugh. They just listen for laughs and that's it. But I listen for reaction. So, you know, it takes time. It takes shooting that shot. It takes keep shooting, keep working that joke. I'm going to go hit a stage tonight. Like I'm still working, still working.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And then you get into different audience because every audience ain't the same. So I've been in rooms where they were playing poker behind me, and the TVs are on. I'm talking about the NBA Finals is on, and they're playing poker, and we got people doing comedy in front of us. It's like you got to put yourself in different scenarios, white rooms, black rooms, Hispanic, like just –
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
to make sure your material is working and you dissect it and rearrange it. So that's how I can go from minute one to minute and 20 and keep your attention. And it ain't necessarily about being funny every second. You know, it's just, Dave Chappelle says it. It's not all about being funny, but being interesting. You know, if I can keep your attention... That's all that really matters. Yes, sir.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Well, I'll put it like this. I never had anybody to take me under their wing. Like nobody really. You know, you got those. When I look at mentors, I look at somebody you have a relationship that you talk to on on consistent basis, probably a couple of times a week. I till this day, I still don't have that. I never really had. Now, I've had people that poured into me, like Ricky Smiley, you know.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I could call him a mentor, but we're not. Like, I don't talk to him all the time, you know what I'm saying? So he's the person that poured into me, and he poured into me a lot every time I'm on the show. Ricky Smiley is giving me game. Marcus D. Wiley, Yolanda Adams' morning show. These are cats that I could call and just get answers to. You know what I'm saying?
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Right now, I'm on tour with Kev on stage. Yep. And although he's only one year older than me, man, I'm learning so much from this guy. So with me, I... I get my inspiration and my information like that. Now, I would love to have a person to really, really mentor me, but hey, it just never happened for me. I don't know. Have you ever had a mentor? I never had one.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Yeah, I just never had. And I always wanted somebody to, you know, look out and take me. And like I said, no, get me wrong. I have people that I can call and get advice from. But. When I think of mentorship, I think of really having that person that's close, that checking on you, making sure you're good. I just never had that. That accountability part. That accountability.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And speaking of, like I said, you don't – obviously, I guess I didn't need one, but I do – like I said, you can have – I guess you could call that mentorship. I guess. I just look at mentorship as really, really somebody you can really, like – it's a relationship.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Man, that's a question I have to, like, I have to re-ask myself and remind myself all the time. It's becoming every day. Like, I know I'm here to, I mean, laughter is medicine. God gave me the gift of laughter. And it's healing, you know. And I know I'm here to use my gifts and talent to what we call bring glory to him or It ain't even... It is a... It really is a God thing.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
I'm not gonna... Yeah. It's to bring glory to him. It's to heal people from their... People are troubled, man. And so... I'm really now in my groove of what I'm doing. So if you come to my show, you'll get maybe like 50-something minutes of laughter. And in that last 10 minutes, man, it's inspiring, encouraging words and this and this and that.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And when I'm coming to find out, man, people forget about my whole 50 minutes and they – Remember the last, like right now I'm on tour with F.O. Stage. People will remember my last two minutes, two or three minutes of inspiring words than the 20-something minutes that I did of laughter. So I'm really like in my groove of why I'm here, man. I'm here to heal people, man.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
you know through a message man to make you laugh but at the end of the day make you let you know it's gonna you're gonna be all right this is what you know everything's good you know but for a minute you know you you you you want to do it for the money i'd still do comedy for money but it's all for money it can it can really um turn You go down the wrong road when all you're doing is for money.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
Man, what's going on, man? What's happening, bro? I'm just trying to be in your world, man. Man, thank you for letting me be in your world. For real, man, I appreciate it. Hey, y'all excuse my background, man. I got stuff falling off and everything on my wall.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
And it's discouraging. I recently realized, man, that, man, in this world, nothing can make you happy, man. Nothing, no person, nothing completely can make you happy in this world. And so that's why I kept asking the question, so why am I doing this? You know, if you think about it, everything you accomplish, you get it, you do it, and then it's something else you want.
Mick Unplugged
I Went from ZERO to VIRAL with Alton Walker's Tips!
which is like, it's a never ending of happiness because you can't get happiness from things or even a person. So you have to find what you just talked about, the because. Because if you don't, man, you gonna always look for happiness and things in a person and you're never gonna be complete, ever.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Well, here's the thing, Mick. We're all leaving a legacy. It's just, what is it? We can either do it intentional or we can do it unintentional, but we're all leaving a legacy. I want mine to be, I helped people over and above a level of success.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Whatever facet it is that you're currently dealing in, you can get unbiased perspective from nine other people because there's 10 people in a group. I gain wisdom through prayer, first of all, through solitude and hearing from the Lord, and then through the counsel of the multitudes.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
When you have other successful people join together and collectively they say, I think as a group we would suggest you go this way. The success statistics are fantastic. far over and above your single mindset of how you should do things. And so it just allows you to move a lot faster. It gives you courage. It gives you other people that can hold your arms up when you're tired.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
It can give you resources. It can give you networking. There's people that can come along you and hold you accountable for the things that you want to accomplish. There's so many networking opportunities and introductions within our community that just expedites your success because you don't have to learn the experiences on your own.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
So you can go faster alone, but you can't go near as far because there's other perspectives. And so that's just a little glimmer, a little insight. The live events are amazing. We get together twice a year that you can break bread, pray, do breakout sessions, TED Talks. I mean, it goes on and on.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
So it just really expedites the things that you're wanting to accomplish in a meaningful way with trusted advisors.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Yeah, in April of 2025, if it's after that you're listening to it, we're going to have another one in October. It's going to be here in Nashville at the Sonesta Hotel. We've already got a pretty extensive lineup. A lot of people have signed up. I think we've got 80 plus people that are going to be attending that. And then in October, we'll have another one.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Yeah, the easiest thing to do is to go to isibrotherhood.com. That stands for Iron Sharpens Iron, brotherhood.com.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Well, first and foremost is the one that I always promote, and that's God's Word, the Bible. So I would keep that at the top of the list. How to Win Friends and Influence People. It should be required reading for anyone and everyone to learn how to treat other people. There are so many books. I'll tell you what, I'll even go better than answering your question.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
If your audience will reach out to me... at Aaron, A-A-R-O-N, at viewfromthetop.com. I've got a reading list that I've kept over the years, and I'll give you an entire reading list. How's that, Mick? Will that work?
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Yeah, just reach out to me. I'd love to give you that list, and it's books that we read with Dave Ramsey and Dan Miller in The Eagles, and then it's a list of books that we've read over the past 10 years in the ISI Mastermind. It is a treasure trove of books that will put you on the right path. So reach out, Aaron, at viewfromthetop.com.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
You know, I've had two really strong mentors in my life, David Landreth and Bob Warren. I didn't really understand what mentorship was about until I was around 39, 40 years old. It was a new concept to me because I was kind of the lone wolf. You know, it was like, hey, I got it figured out. I can do this. I'm my own man. I don't need other people in my life. I want to create my own trail.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Yeah, there's so many out there that are amazing people. Scott Beebe owns a company called My Business on Purpose. You can find him at mybusinessonpurpose.com. He is an amazing guy that can help you with systems and processes and core values and mission statements and values. An amazing, amazing guy. I would certainly reach out and follow him. Again, same thing.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
We have a list of people that we can give you that would probably be good within our mastermind, and just ask for that list as well, and we'll be happy to give it to you.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Yeah, we deal with a lot of people that deal with fear a lot. And I did for a number of years when I was a young entrepreneur. And the Lord really gave me this years ago. And I say fear missing an opportunity more than you fear failure. A lot of people go out there today and they're afraid that they're going to fail. A sure way of failing is not trying.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And so I want you to fear missing an opportunity more than you fear failure. Be very consistent on your daily activities and you can have a level of success and significance like you've never experienced.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
You're a good man. You're a good man. Thank you, Mick. I sure appreciate it, buddy. I enjoyed being here today. Thank you. It was an honor.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And I found out that trail led to a dead stop. And I was like, man, I was at the juncture of making a terrible decision or a worse decision. And I really needed God to intervene in my life and to expose me to something that was going to put me on a different trajectory. And he introduced me to a guy named Bob Warren, lived in Hardin, Kentucky.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Bob mentored me for about 20 years after that on a weekly basis. And it changed my life. David Landereth was another one that did that spiritually for me and helped me understand what being a real man was all about. And so it's not about being the lone wolf.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
It's about getting inspiration, encouragement, getting unbiased, trusted advisors in your life that can breathe into you, that can help take you on a path that you haven't been before, help you navigate those landmines that are out there that none of us want to step on. And these two guys really enabled me to do that.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
So I get the distinct privilege now of being other people's mentor, their coach, facilitator in Iron Sharpens Iron. We're the founder of that mastermind, and we get to help people all over the world do that today.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
I appreciate that. I'm humbled that you would say that. Bob Warren used to teach me, don't put your confidence and faith in me. Look to the source that gives me that power, and that's the Lord. And I'll let you down. I'm a man. I'm going to disappoint you. I'm a man. I'm going to make mistakes. I'm a man.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
But with God's instruction, God's help, our dependency on Christ, hopefully we can overlook some of those travesties within our life and our flaws and our shortcomings and maybe do this journey together. So thank you for sharing that with me.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
You know, Mick, none of us want to wait. We're all impatient. And we don't want to wait for the delayed gratification. We want instantaneous. And we live in a world today that delivers. If they take longer than 15 seconds to bring our hamburger to the window at McDonald's, we're like, where have y'all been? Are you on break? What's going on? And we can flip channels.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And I've got a 22-year-old granddaughter, and she made a really profound comment recently. We were talking, and they called me Big A as well. And she said, Big A, you can't impress my generation. And that really was profound. And I said, well, Abby, elaborate on that. She said, well, everything is at our fingertips now. We can see any and everything we want online.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
We can experience anything we want virtually. And so, therefore, nothing impresses us currently with my generation. And I think it's the same way. We're used to getting things instantaneously, regardless of what it is, because of this fast-paced society that we live in. Well, our time and God's time don't necessarily coincide.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
The thing that we've got to learn is to have our ultimate confidence and trust in his plan. Now, that doesn't align most of the time with how expedient I want an answer, but I've got to learn that it's not just the destination, but it's the journey, and it's the process that we go through with Christ in getting to the answer, getting to the outcome.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Oftentimes, I have found over the course of my 46-year entrepreneurial journey, if I had gotten what I asked for, it could have been detrimental. And I wasn't ready oftentimes for the answer or the outcome. In many things in my life over the course of my career, I'm grateful for the time that it took in order for me to get it because my appreciation level is far greater.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
The way I take care of things are far greater. My endurance abilities are far greater. my resilience is far greater as a result of it. And I've faced some turbulent winds over the course of my career. And if I didn't have that stability, that endurance, that grit, that determination, I wouldn't be able to combat those winds. When I say winds, W-I-N-D-S, winds, the winds that come.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And so I think that if we relax, we'll enjoy the journey far greater than being impatient, waiting and demanding an answer immediately. And anything worth having is worth working for. And anything really good has taken an extended period of time in order to achieve or accomplish.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And so I would just simply say put your trust and confidence in the time and learn the lesson so you don't have to repeat the class.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Wow. That's very humbling. Yes, sir. Thank you for sharing that and show my appreciation to your son for his kind comments.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
It's just what is it? We can either do it intentional or we can do it unintentional. But we're all leaving a legacy. I want mine to be I helped people over and above a level of success. I want to instill significance in the lives of others as well. I want people to say my life was better as a result of having known him. I felt a sense of encouragement in his presence.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
It's not that I had a certain amount of money or tangible possessions. It was that my presence made a difference in their life because the only thing people remember is how you make them feel. That's it. They don't care about your possessions. They don't care anything about anything other than how you've made them feel. Important, unimportant, overlooked, heard, unheard.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Your legacy is something that's going to carry on when you're gone, right? And so I can make an impact while I'm here, but the systems, the processes, the people I touch will give a ripple effect to generations. And we've all got to ask ourselves, what are we doing that my influence is going to have an impact to the second or third generation far removed?
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And so I think that's where we've got to start looking at legacy. Don't hear me wrong. I enjoy making money. I can't stand it when people with money go, money is not important. I want to go, well, that's not true. Money is very important. Right. We needed to live the life that God has allowed us to live. We have expenses. We like to eat. We like to take trips, buy nice cars.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
There's nothing wrong with that. But the thing is, is you've got to keep it in perspective in that you use money as a tool because that's what it is. And most of the time, though, money owns people. They don't own the money. And so money is just a resource that God has given us. Some of it is permissible to enjoy. Other parts of it is to give our tithe to the church.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Other parts of it are to change the lives of others or encourage them or help them. Part of it is for investment for the future. So we're stewards over the resources that God has given us. And God says, you know, much is given to those that can manage it on a small scale. And little is given to those that can't manage it or squander it, you know, in the onset.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Come on, Mick. I don't know if I can align myself with such an introduction, but hopefully your team won't be too disappointed, nor your audience. So, man, good to see you today.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And so legacy encapsulates every area of our life, whether it's in our stewardship and resources, through our relationships. So I think we need to really pay attention to what the legacy is going to be after you're gone. When they lay you parallel in and they put you six feet under, what are the people going to say? I remember when my dad passed away in 2006.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
I stood at his casket for six and a half hours. It was an hour and a half wait to get through the line. My dad was a man of little means. He never made over $15,000 a year in his life. But the day we buried him, there was standing room only. They had to open up other rooms inside of the funeral home because my dad made an impact on the lives of people. He helped them. He cared for them.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
He heard them. He encouraged them. It wasn't about his boat. It wasn't about his house. Not a person mentioned a tangible possession through that line. All they said was, let me tell you what your dad did for me in my life. Every single person for six and a half hours. See, I want people to be able to say that about me. I want them to say, hey, because of Big A, my life is different in this way.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
And that's the legacy that I hope to leave.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
Yeah, thank you for giving me that opportunity. Masterminds also, 25 years ago, was a new concept for me. I didn't know what it was. I'd never heard of it. A guy here in Nashville introduced me to it, and it's changed the trajectory of my life for this reason. We weren't designed to be in isolation. We were designed to be in community. We don't know everything.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
We haven't lived all the life experiences, and the most valuable asset of being in a mastermind is other person's perspective. Because when I present something to you, you can give me a different angle, a different perspective, a different insight. You can give me a different level of encouragement. You can tell me life experiences. And I don't have to experience it myself.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
I say I'd rather learn on your dime than mine. And oftentimes, you can help me navigate those landmines that I don't have to experience in order to be successful. So inside the mastermind weekly on the calls, they're virtual. You can be anywhere in the world, and we have people all over the world that participate.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker: Navigating Life's Journey Through Faith and Mentorship
You're able to come and say, I'm thinking about doing this business opportunity or whatever. I'm having this trial in my marriage or my children are misbehaving or we're looking at private school over public school or we're looking at homeschooling or I've got a son that's wayward or a daughter that's promiscuous or I'm wanting to scale my business.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I've had accountability partners now for 30 years. 30 years. And I've adamantly been with them for 20 years. Monday morning, every Monday morning, 630, we meet. And I've got to have accountability in my life or I'll do a stupid boneheaded thing and fall back into these old habits. I need people around me to hold me accountable.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And I was in a mastermind group with Dave Ramsey and Dan Miller and Ken Abraham and Ron Doyle, some of those guys local here in Nashville. Dave and I have been friends for about 30 years now. I was one of his sponsors of his show for about 20 years, and he invited me to join his mastermind group. And, Vic, it changed my life, radically changed my life, because I had a veil up.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
You know, Mick, you're going to laugh at this too, buddy, but I'm just straight up forward with people. I was sitting in Dave Ramsey's conference room. Ken Abraham sat with me on my left. He's the most prolific ghost author on the planet, written over 100 biographies for some of the most prominent people in the world.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Dan Miller sat across the table from me, 48 Days to the Work You Love, authored about 15 books. And Dave Ramsey sat at the end of the table to my right for a dozen years, and he's written two dozen books. And one of the guys, Ken Davis, had said to me, he said, Don't you want to write a book? And I said, who is going to read Big A's book?
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Who's going to read my book with all these authors that I'm friends with? And he said, no, but nobody can tell your story. Yeah. And it really resonated with me. And he said, if it changes one person's life, will it not be worth it? And I said, you're damn right it'll be worth it. It took me 18 months to write View from the Top.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
But I want to tell you, the lives that it's changed, the inspiration that it's given has all been worth it. And I can't tell you the opportunities that it has afforded me for writing the book I'm very vulnerable in the story. I even tell about a story where I was out west where I was so upset at a guy that had done me wrong that ended up on the same hunting trip with me. I was going to kill him.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I literally was going to kill him. I had the rifle in my hand. We were antelope hunting, and God really intervened and softened my heart. And I didn't, but it tells about in the book what I was thinking and what I was up against. See, we're carnal beings, and we have anger. We have all range of emotions. And that's why we need people around us to help us. And isolation is the enemy of excellence.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
If we want best, we've got to be around people. God designed us to be in community to help us overcome these obstacles in our life. That's what I offer up in the book is just telling the value of being in community.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Like, I didn't want people to know – that I was having problems with cashflow or I didn't want people to know I was having trouble raising my teenage daughters. And I didn't want people to know that Robin and I fought sometimes. And it was like the reality of transparency and vulnerability in a mastermind group allows you to take that veil down and says, hey, I'm struggling.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Well, here's what happened is two years prior to that hunting trip, I was in a business engagement with a gentleman here in Nashville, very prominent businessman here. And I sold him a piece of property for a substantial amount of money. And we were at the closing table and there was a paragraph at the bottom of the contract that I had missed. And it cost me a substantial amount of money.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And it was at a time I needed the money. I could use the money. And he laughed at me in front of attorneys and bankers and pointed his finger in my face and said, I got you. I got you. And I became enraged and I became vindictive in my spirit. And I sold him the property. I lost the money. And two years after that, I was invited to go on a hunting trip with other businessmen.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And when I got there, this gentleman was also invited by a different person. We were on the same trip for 10 days together and never spoke again. I was trying to be cordial in front of all the other guests that were there. And we get out west. We're hunting in Buffalo, Wyoming on Johnny Z's property. He's got 67,000 acres out there. And I'm sitting on top of a hill. And I saw this.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I didn't know who it was. I saw somebody walking. And I looked to it, my binoculars, and it was this guy. We'll call him John for the story. And I'm a very good shot. I was raised hunting, and I've shot my entire life, and I'm a very good shot. He was about 400 yards away. And the thought went through my mind, I can kill him right here. He's not with anybody. I'll take him out.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And I had the gun in my hand, and I started shaking, and I was thinking –
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
i'm a elder in my church on the deacon body i'm you know a sunday school teacher i'm a prominent businessman i've got a family what am i doing and the holy spirit just touched me and said put it down and i put it down i obviously didn't and on the way home this is part of the story you may not have to read the book after i tell you this but on the way home
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
His truck broke down on the side of the interstate 60 miles from Nashville. And I don't know why, but I got out of the truck and I went up to his truck and we hadn't spoke the whole time. And I said, John, I've got a K5 Blazer sitting at home. And if you'll get somebody, one of these other trucks to carry me home, you can borrow my truck until you get yours fixed. And he looked at me.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
He's like, what? And I said, yeah. So we got in the car, went to my house, got my blazer. And he goes, I'm going to pay you that money back. And I said, no, I don't want the money. I didn't do that for the money. He goes, why are you doing it? I said, I've got to let myself out of bondage. I've got to allow you to do what you've got to do. And I've got to forgive you because I'm commanded to.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And I forgave him on the side of I-40 Interstate right outside of Nashville for myself, not for him. Because, see, when we're harboring bitterness, that's a filter, and it taints our life. Those that are listening to me right now, you've got somebody you need to forgive. They probably don't even deserve it. But yourself is in bondage when you don't forgive somebody else.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
We're commanded to forgive. And so I want to encourage you right now, if you don't get anything out of this interview other than forgive the person that you're holding in bondage right now because you're the one being held captive. And when you do that, the freedom that you'll have is indescribable.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Like I've got this place in my life that it's not up to par. I've got other areas in my life that I'm crushing it, but there are some areas that I've just not experienced before. And it allowed you to share openly with unbiased, trusted advisors, people that could walk alongside you and go, hey, have you considered doing this? And what if you change this? Yeah. What if you didn't say it that way?
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And so I want to encourage you now, whoever you are, forgive that person so you can go on and be the person that God called you to be in your life.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And we're the ones held captive, right? Right. It's like, what is that old saying? It's like drinking poison, hoping they die. And that ain't going to happen. And so you've got to be set free. You've got to be let go. Right.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Let's do it. Let's go ahead and book it and let's do part two. I would love that. I'd love to hang out with you more because 30 minutes is not enough.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Oh, man, I appreciate that. Thank you for giving me that opportunity. I'd love to connect with some of you guys that are out there that are small business owners or your decision makers. and you want to experience having trusted advisors in your life to help you go further, you can reach me at isibrotherhood.com. That's iron sharpens iron, isibrotherhood.com.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
All of our social media links are there. Just come and follow me, hang out, and let's get to know each other. So I would love that.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I'm ready for it. Big Mick. We'll see you, buddy.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Love you, brother. Love you. We'll see you.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
What if you said it? I was like, I didn't even know that was a thing. I didn't even know. You know what I'm saying? You don't know what you don't know. And over about a dozen years, these guys refined me to a point that I was able to be vulnerable and honest and transparent because we all are knuckleheads sometimes.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And we need people to kind of rattle us up and say, hey, you can't do it that way or you need to do it this way. Or they give you these resources or this introduction or whatever. You're involved in networking, and they introduce you to people that can help you. And so when I retired, Dave Ramsey and Dan Miller encouraged me to start coaching.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
So I did, and I coached a bunch of people all around the country and really enjoyed it. Started doing a few podcasts, and more people called me to coach them than I could handle. I couldn't handle that many people. So I went to Robin, and I said, hey, I'm going to start a mastermind group. And she goes, why do you want to do that? I said, well, I don't want to turn these people away.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I want to help them. I want to encourage them to have a life of success and significance. And I don't want to just turn them away. So I started a group. Well, I kept doing the podcast interviews and more people would call me and say, hey, I want you to coach me. And I'm like, I can't, but you know what? I'll start another group. So I went to Robin and I said, I'm going to start two more groups.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And she goes, uh-oh. I see where this is going. I started laughing. I said, well, I don't really want to do it, but I don't really want to turn them away. So you fast forward, Mick, you know, a dozen years and here we are, you know, 15 mastermind groups. We're in all portions of the world serving people.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Christian entrepreneurs, business owners, decision makers, helping them have that life of success and significance. And so I just get the distinct pleasure of being able to share with people like you what we're doing, what we're trying to accomplish.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
But the transformation that has happened in the lives of hundreds of men over the years has been absolutely worth every minute of this energy that we put in it.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Yeah, we got two guys that live in Dayton, Ohio that joined their brothers. One was 31, one was 34 when they joined. And one of them was a state trooper and the other one worked at a HVAC company and they said they wanted to learn to buy property.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And their groups started teaching them how to raise capital and how to scale their business and how to delegate responsibilities and started teaching them methods to acquire property. And one thing led to another. Well, they've been in about five years now, so 60 months they've been in the group. One of them is now, what is that, 40 years old? The other one's 35 or 36 years old.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And they just bought their 500th piece of property. Wow. As a result of being in the group. Now, that's an exception to the rule, obviously. But my point is, one of them had a $40,000 a year job being a highway patrolman, and the other one worked at an HVAC company in their finance department.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
How's it going, buddy? Man, it is so good to be here with you today.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And so these guys got together with their 10 unbiased, trusted advisors, kind of their board of directors, and they listened. They did what they said. They showed up consistently. And today, you know, they have a little over $60 million in property that they've been able to acquire and rent out. And they're changing the face of one of the cities there in Ohio.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
They're helping refurbish an area that was distraught. And so they both say that they never dreamed in a million years that they would be able to do something like that. It's not because... they were inept, it was because they didn't know what they didn't know. And they were able to get around other people that could help them scale. There's many, many, many guys. Here's what happened to me.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I'll tell a little bit of my backstory. When I was 40 years old, I was headed to the office. It was August 1st, 2001. Mick, I was headed to the office and unfortunately I ran over and killed a pedestrian on my way to the office. And my life come to a screeching halt at that point. It was like, what in the world? I had a successful company, had a beautiful wife.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Robin and I now have been married 45 years. I've got two beautiful daughters, five grandchildren. My life was amazing. But what dawned on me is that the brevity of life, like I could have been killed that day just as easily as the gentleman that I run over.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And what I learned through that experience was that I had a great amount of success financially early in my life, but I didn't have any significance, zero. I hadn't touched the lives of other people. And I told God, if you give me another opportunity, I'll face outward instead of inward. And I'll try to help other people accomplish their goals and their dreams, but simultaneously be significant.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And see, I came home at 40 years old with a pocket full of money to a house full of strangers. Wow. And my wife came up to me and she said, thank you for our second home, our beautiful home, our automobiles, our lavish vacations that we're able to take. Thank you for all that. But I feel like a single mom. And it broke my heart.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And I was like, I'm so focused on accomplishing financial goals that I did it at the expense of my family. So there was a lot of relationship capital that went into those decisions. So what I'm trying to teach men today to do is to be very successful. Don't lower your aspirations, but don't do it at the expense of your family. And so we focus on five principles.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
There are five pillars that we've identified. There's personal, professional, relational, spiritual, and financial. And if any of those are off at any time, right? It's like a three-legged stool with two legs. It's going to wobble. And that's what happened to me. I put so much energy and effort into making a living that I forgot about the relationships to my family.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
My number one core value now is relationships matter most. And I think that we can always aspire to do better, but we don't have to do it at the expense of our family. And so that's what we've been able to accomplish in Iron Sharpens Iron Mastermind. is helping people like these two brothers that I mentioned earlier make a fortune, but they're not doing it at the expense of their family.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
As a matter of fact, honestly, they have more free time now than ever because we've taught them to delegate. And so, yeah, marriage is something that's really, really vital. We need accountability. I've only been a husband once. Uh, to a lady close to 50 years, but I've never been a husband to a lady for 50 years. Like I I'm learning every day. My point is, is right. And we're all on that journey.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Yeah. Whether you just been married five years or 10 years, it's the first time you've only been married five years or 10 years. Yeah. And we need other people around us to help instruct us. Same way with kids. You know, I told my daughters, I said, listen, I've never had a 16 year old. And I'm going to make some mistakes.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And I would go to other guys that had 25-year-old kids and I'd go, what did you do when your kids were 16? Or when I bought my first business, it's like, I've never owned two businesses. Like, what would you do in this case? So they would give you insight. They would give you advice and help and encouragement because they didn't have a dog in the hunt. So they could be honest with you.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
The other thing, Mick, that I think is vital is that we go out every single day. I'll tell you a quick little story. I invited a guy to have coffee with me not long ago at Starbucks. And we went up there and my granddaughter went to West Palm Beach School in West Palm Beach, Florida. And I went down there and I said, hey, I want to buy a condo in Palm Beach. What do you think?
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And he said, yeah, big A. He said, I followed you for years. I've watched you. I see what you do. I think you should buy it. And I said, why do you think I should buy it? I was setting him up, Mick. I was setting him up bigger than Dallas.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And he said, well, he said, you said your granddaughter's down there and you don't like cold weather in the winter and West Palm Beach is warm and I'm sure you can afford it and you should go buy it. And I said, well, it's a million dollars, this little two bedroom condo on the beach. He said, well, you've owned all these businesses over the course of 45 years. I'm sure you can afford it.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And I said, well, we'll call him Bill. I said, Bill. I said, you don't know my blind spots. You don't know my aspirations. You don't know my kryptonite. You don't know my superpowers. You've never met Robin. You don't know my grandkids and you sure don't know anything about my finances.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
He said, no, I don't. I said, you really can't help me. Can you, but Mick, we do that every single day with people. We go out and we try to enlist people's advice and they have no context. Well, you may give them good advice, but for them specifically, it may not be any good at all. That's right. So in a mastermind, you're able to lay out everything. We know your family. We know your finances.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
We know your history, your aspirations. We hold you accountable weekly. And these guys that have gotten in are accomplishing their goals so much faster because we have that level of context. Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
But, see, we've got to have people that are the real deal, that really want to aspire to do the right thing and be vulnerable and be transparent and go, you know what, I've got a responsibility as a husband, as a father, and I want to do my very best. And when you get those kind of guys in the room, you can rock their world.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Yeah, I appreciate that. You know, pre-recorded and we were talking a little bit about our backgrounds and what we did and didn't want to do. And I didn't want to do a mastermind. I wasn't set out to do a mastermind. Matter of fact, I retired 14 years ago for the third and final time. My wife said I've retired more than the law allows, but I've retired when I turned 50, 14 years ago.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Well, here's the truth, Mick. I don't want to sit up here and say I'm that guy that's got it all figured out.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Even after 46 years of small business ownership, I still learn every single day. And I'll be honest with you. I love to work. And it's a challenge for me even today. Yeah. I have to consciously turn out the lights, turn out the computer, leave my phone and go sit with my wife to be present because I love to work. I love to talk to people like you and other guys in the mastermind.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And I'm always like, hey, I can help Mick. I can help Billy. I can help these guys. And I just a little more time. I could just it's like, you know what? God called me first to my wife. Right. He called me first to my family. You know, and I better be guarding that time. See, I didn't do that the first 20 years. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I didn't do that. Right.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I needed something like that accident to wake me up to go, hey, big A, you better pay attention. You better sit up and take note because the brevity of life can switch in a nanosecond. One phone call away, one doctor's visit away from our whole life changing. A year and a half ago, we got noticed that my daughter had cirrhosis of the liver, 38 years old.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And the doctor said, you got a very limited time to live. And when in Vanderbilt Hospital, we spent two and a half months there, couldn't get a donor. And the doctor said, in 90 days, you're going to be dead if you don't get a donor. And so we had to leave, go to Memphis University in Memphis and praise God, they got her a liver in about three weeks. And that was a year and a half ago.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
And today she's healthy. But here's my point. That all changed with one phone call, right? No amount of money that I've got, no amount of prestige that I've got. No amount of influence that I've got could change that situation. And our total focus went to our daughter for 18 months to help her get a liver. We were willing to do whatever we had to do to help get her a liver.
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
Well, see, I was present as you can be in that 18 months, right? But we're smart enough, Mick, not to have to have an automobile accident that kills a pedestrian or a daughter that's about facing a life-threatening disease to get our attention. We need to be smart enough to go, you know what?
Mick Unplugged
Aaron Walker's SHOCKING Journey to Building a Life of Significance
I'm cutting the light off at 5 o'clock in my office, and I'm not going to take any other distractions, and I'm going to pitch baseball with my little boy. I'm going to go to my granddaughter's recital. I'm going to sit here on the couch and watch football with my wife. Whatever you do. And I'm going to be present. And it's a challenge that we have to stay on top of every single day.