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What do want out
of life in ten words or less? I just want to make a difference in the lives
of families and kids and I want to be a great father and husband to my wife and family and
kids. Do you have a dream or vision that sets the
course of your life? Well, I think the dream or vision is my Christianity,
and to be a good faithful servant of the Lord, and currently in my life it is to build Children's
Educational Network to be the premier online network for kids.
How important is it to stay focused on your primary goal?
Well, it is absolutely important. If you want to accomplish anything in this world you have
got to stay focused and you have got to be one hundred percent committed, sold out for
what it is your doing and where it is you are going.
You have to have the attitude of "I'm never going to give up" and have the faith that
God gives me. We are just focused and believing in God that we are going to accomplish our
goals and at the end of the day millions and millions of children are going to be protected.
Do you follow your hunches and intuition? Oh, absolutely. You know some people call
them hunches and intuition and I call it the Holy Spirit, but I think that if you will
listen to your hunches and intuition or your Holy Spirit, typically those hunches and intuition
are your inter-being and depending on if you are a person of faith it is somebody trying
to give you direction and trying to keep you out of trouble and help you to go down the
right path. What specific philosophy or philosophies guide
your life and decisions? Well, the specific philosophy is Jesus Christ
was raised from the dead and provided everlasting life, so for us it is God first; family second
and the idea of the philosophy of loving one another, forgiveness and love are the two
main philosophies in my mind set that has come to mind that I live by, forgiving people
and loving people. What is your perspective on goodness, ethics
and moral behavior? Well again the Bible lays it all out for us
that we should be good people and "Do unto others as we want done unto ourselves" and
"Love thy neighbor". You know the one thing we can take to our grave is our reputation
and our ethics and our values, and I really believe that Americans, society and the whole
is over the last four, five, six decades, you have just seen a complete derogation in
the ethics and the morals of people. I believe we need to get back to that which
is why I have the whole focus of the Children's Educational Network is trying to instill values
and giving parents the tools to instill values in their children so we can all kind of live
in this world with the morals and the values that are meaningful and get kids to understand
why that is so important because it seems to have been lost in many parts of the country.
What place does the power of prayer have in your life?
Minute by minute, day by day, week by week, with the family members, without the family
members. I think the more time people can spend in prayer the better. It is a very powerful
tool and it works, absolutely works. What principles are you willing to sacrifice
your life for? There are so many answers. I would put my
life down for my family, my mother, father, family, kids my wife. I spent a lot of time
completely dedicated to my business which to me my business is a ministry and from that
stand point it is tied to my relationship with God and I am doing this to help and doing
what I believe is Gods work in my life. So from that stand point I am sacrificing a number
of things to do Gods work and to pursue the dream and vision that he has given me.
Are your goals consistent with your beliefs? Absolutely, I think they have to be, and if
there is no integrity in having goals and beliefs that are completely different and
offset and I think that is one of the driving things in this time of my life, having been
a past investment banker and spending fourteen years so to say on Wall Street working with
the dog eat dog world of investment banking, you know I am at a time in my life where I
want to do something that is meaningful. And I can wake up in the morning and be excited
about the changes I am making and I want to wake up when I am seventy and say "Look what
God had me do and look at the effect it has had on people." I absolutely have got a big
vision and it is a big dream that God has given me and I do not take the responsibility
lightly. Are your actions consistent with your beliefs?
Absolutely. Is it valuable to have highly charged emotions
about achieving your goals? I am not sure you can achieve very many goals
of significance without being highly emotionally charged. I think the emotion behind the passion
and the passion and the emotion tied together while seeking and going after goals gives
you the strength to continue because it is not easy out there to succeed, it is not easy
to accomplish things that you are seeking after, so you have got to have that emotion
and that drive to accomplish your goals I think absolutely.
Do you take a positive view of setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes?
Yes. You have probably heard the Thomas Edison story over a hundred times, it is not that
he failed over 10,000 times when creating the light bulb it is that he found 10,000
ways not to create a light bulb. I think failure is a state of mind because
when people fear failure they don't even get and work on accomplishing something. To me
it doesn't bother me or phase me a bit. It is just a coarse correction; it is a part
of life. People are going to fail. You are going to have road blocks, you are going to
have problems and you have got to persevere and you have got to overcome and you have
got to use it as a learning experience and everyone who takes it with that attitude learns
and grows and is happier and becomes more accomplished by doing so.
Are you an optimist? I take optimism in a different light again
going back to my faith. To me faith, hope and optimism... you know when you have got
the biblical hope of eternal life in heaven with all of the relatives and all the family
members who have gone there before me and the faith in what the word says, that is my
ultimate optimism and with that faith and hope it gives me optimism and there for gives
me the ability to persevere through all of the trials and tribulations I deal with on
a daily basis and I can do it with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.
Do you maintain your sense of humor in the face of serious problems?
Absolutely. You have to have a sense of humor and you have to look at things and reframe
things to keep your own self motivated to keep going. If you didn't have a sense of
humor when trials and tribulations come your way it is going to make you get discouraged
and make you want to give up. It is all about an attitude change and again
going back to your question of philosophy I mean here is a philosophy for you, you have
got to take the philosophy that the only real important thing in my life is serving the
Lord and getting to everlasting eternal life and as long as I think of that is the ultimate
goal then everything here on Earth is nothing, simple, little.
Do you invest time into daydreaming about what your life will be like when you attain
your goals? Well I don't know if I would call it daydreaming
but I would definitely call it vision. Envisioning it as well as planning it, writing it down,
penciling it out and putting it on paper. I just really seem to have this great gift
that God has given me where I will wake up at three or four o'clock in the morning with
these great ideas, these visions of how the business should be ran, how it should go and
what my life should look like and you know the things I want for my kids. I actually
do a lot of that stuff, as matter of fact I change my title to a C.V.O., a visionary
officer. Do you feel it is important to make positive
statements about yourself, the type of person you are and your goals?
I think self-esteem, I know it is good to feel good about yourself and there again is
another Biblical principle; love yourself, love thy neighbor and love God.
Not actually in that order, we love God first but you cannot accomplish or be a servant
of God or to your family or anybody else or be meaningful to anybody I do not think unless
you do feel good about yourself. So I think whatever people have to do to feel
good about their self, make positive steps to having better self-esteem, not to the point
of where you are proud and boastful but just feeling good about yourself, your grounded
and just for me it comes easy because of my strong belief and my faith in the word of
God it is easy for me. Do you take time out of your day to feed your subconscious positive
thoughts about you, your goals and dreams? I really don't take time out of my day to
do that. To me I would change that, to me that is my prayer life, praying and seeking
guidance from God, that is my way of working on that stuff that you just said.
Do you have the courage to pursue new ideas? Absolutely, I am filled with ideas so trying
to chase the ideas; probably one of my biggest issues that I have to deal with is recognizing
that I cant do everything all at the same time, I have got to prioritize and work on
things in a certain sequence that is going to be beneficial to the overall plan.
Were you willing to experience discomfort in the pursuit of your dream?
Absolutely. I don't know that I want to state that I am willing to experience discomfort
but it is a fact. You are going to experience it so the fact that I know that it doesn't
bother me, I don't even think about it. I just think \"hey that is just another course
correction, just another bump in the road I have got to get over, lets get over it and
go on to the next one." Is it beneficial to make decisions quickly?
I am the kind of guy who makes decisions quickly and a lot of them were not the right ones
but when you are following your intuition and the Holy Spirit in making decisions, I
think that all entrepreneurs and all successful entrepreneurs that make quick decisions have
been successful people. I will tell you this I believe especially in this day in age, when
you are in the internet business, the information business working in that type of business
if you are not making quick decisions you can not achieve the growth and the things
that you want to achieve because things are moving too fast around you.
Are you slow to revise or reverse an important decision?
You just hit a hot button that is definitely one of my weaknesses that I am continually
working on. I have been known to when I make a quick decision to stick with it and keep
going and have a lot of faith in it and especially with human resources and people.
I did have one of my mentors tell me in the last year or so he said, "The first time you
feel in your gut that that person should be let go and they are not the right person you
need to pull the trigger and make the decision and that is something I have a hard decision
doing because I love people so much. How were you able to overcome your doubts
and fears? I just have a gift from God, fears don't bother
me, faith, confidence, it just all comes from the Lord. I spent a lot of time with the Bible
studies and at church reading the word. One of my partners is a pastor and the bottom
line is I don't have fear. I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.
Do you readily forgive those who upset, offend and oppose you?
Absolutely, without forgiveness you can not function and be happy and successful. To me
forgiveness is probably the number one problem in all relationships. I can honestly look
you straight in the eye when I say I do not have any grudges. Of course just like anyone
else I have situations where I get into a grudge match or something but it never ever
lasts more than forty-eight hours. Usually when I go to sleep, when I wake up the next
morning it is gone. I have forgiven them; I go on, no big deal.
People that don't do that, they are sick, they are having problems and there are a lot
of problems. To me everyone should be forgiven period. There is no "Well he did this or this
or that and I can't forgive him." No, it's one hundred percent forgiven, seven times
seventy. Every time always forgiven, but that doesn't mean you have to forget what they
did or excuse what they did, see. You can forgive them in your own mind and
release them, release it to God and now it is Gods problem not my problem, but that doesn't
mean I have to respect them, that doesn't mean I have to forget what they did, that
doesn't mean I have to trust them again and you have to take all of those things in to
consideration that "Hey yeah I am going to forgive them and get it off my chest and let
God take it but I'm still going to be prudent and use Gods wisdom in dealing with that person
and that situation in the future. Do you experience service to others as a source
of joy? Absolutely, my whole life is about serving
others. I don't know, when you are young maybe it doesn't work that way but when you get
older it's like you want to do something for people, or at least that is where I am in
my life. I want to serve people instead of serving my own personal desires.
When was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life path to one of
victory over all obstacles? I think we have all had a number of low times
in our life and a couple of them come to mind and one of them was I had some financial billionaires
steal my company from me and it was very, very difficult.
And I dealt with it by getting on my knees and praying to God, forgiving them and asking
God for guidance and believing in that God is going to cover me and in that particular
situation I believe that God was going to restore what was taken from me and two years
later I got back what was taken from me. Gods plans better than my plan. What I had
then and what I have now is ten times more valuable and I have much more control. It
is just incredible just how God works things out.
Who helped give you the willpower to change things in you life for the better?
My wife, she has been my rock and she has been my pillar. She has always been there
for me. She could have had a number of reasons to have left me and a number of reasons to
not have supported me but she stood by me and has always been there for me and without
her I would not be here today, I would be gone.
How important was it to believe your financial dreams would eventually become reality?
Well, I think if you don't believe you can achieve then you can't. If you can't visualize
what you are going to do and be specific in your goals and in your goal settings, I definitely
believe in that. As a matter of fact it is a Biblical principle,
going back to the visualization, it is like believing in those things that are not yet
seen that are tangible. So you have got to visualize financial success and you have got
to be specific with what you want to achieve. There is just something in the spirit realm
that takes over and helps you accomplish that. It is like having a map and mapping out where
you are going. Its like, "How am I going to get where I am going?" You can't really get
there if you don't know where you are going. Why is it valuable to know exactly how much
money you want to have in your bank account and when?
You have to be specific about your goals and be specific about the time frames and then
break it down in to more specific smaller steps. Everything in life from a financial
realm, from a business realm and from exceeding tasks and strategies and goals and break it
down step by step. Implement one thing at a time and before you know you are getting
to the end. What is your definition of heroism?
Boy that is a tough one because there are so many different heroes out there that you
can point to. I think those are people that love people, that forgive people, that are
active in chasing their dream and doing
something that is meaningful in life. I guess that would be my definition that sounds pretty
good. Did you ever create a secret hero in your
mind that helped you deal with life's difficulties? No I never really did. I never really thought
of Jesus as a hero but if I ever did that is probably who I would have thought of.
Who are the HEROES in your life now? My wife, she is my hero. My oldest son, all
my children but from time to time they do things where you just go "Man he is my hero,
he is just making me so proud" but I think right now the biggest heroes that I would
reflect upon is our military. I got to say for the first time in my life
I am ashamed for the first twenty years of my adulthood I didn't really get the political
scene, I didn't really get the military scene, didn't understand it, didn't pay attention
to it and now it's like "Wow, I was lost. Man these kids are out there risking their
life for freedom and doing what they can to protect us." So everybody in the military
and everybody who is out there fighting for our country is definitely a hero of mine.
How important is it to have trusted friends or a master mind group to bounce your ideas
off? Well, bottom line is if you want to get to
where you are going faster and eliminate some mistakes, you have got to have mentors, you
have got to have friends and you have got to have a mastermind group.
It is not to say you can't get to where you are going on your own but if you want to get
there faster, if you want to get there more efficient, you want to get there on a better
time frame and you want to eliminate mistakes, heartache, pain and loss of resources, do
it on your own but otherwise get mentors, get mastermind groups, get involved with people
that are doing it and you will see an extremely large jump in your efficiency and your growth
rate. How do they make a positive difference in
your life? Well, they do what I just said. They save
me time, they save me money, they save me headaches, they save me mistakes and every
time one of the mentor that I look up to and that I work with save me money and time I
can thank them for my vacation I am taking. I can thank them for my ski trips I am taking,
I can thank them for getting my kids in different schools and different things. It is all relative
when you start to see the traces of how you got to where you are going, you can track
it down to the knowledge that you had and what caused you to implement a particular
idea. Who do you think are the HEROES today that
are not getting the recognition they deserve? Well, I think there are probably some political
people out there trying to serve our country and do what they think is best. They get slammed
everyday in the press and in the media, they get run through the mud.
Then you have got people out there who are taking their valuable time out of their day
to educate people, i.e. our teachers. They are under paid, they are over worked and for
the most part they are good people. There are always a few of them I feel should be
booted off. The teachers and the people who are trying
to run society for us, I can't imagine, President Bush, I can't imagine the pressure and the
power, what he has to go through on a daily basis, it is just unbelievable to me, and
these poor teachers out there, boy it is tough to think these teachers are getting paid what
they get and you've got C.E.Os of companies making 600,000,000 a year and you have got
a teacher making 40,000 a year, it is just not right.
Why are HEROES so important in the lives of young people?
I think it gives them motivation and drive and especially for the kids who are not grounded
in the word and brought up in a Biblical household. By having heroes and mentors and people they
look up to it gives them drive, it gives them motivation, it gives them something to look
for, it gives them the ability to dream, they in vision that "Hey if he did I can do it.
I can be a basketball star, an athlete, a teacher, a guy that goes to the moon." So
they are extremely important as role models in society. It is just sad when some of these
role models cross over the line and do things that hurt the whole process or the whole concept
of having a role model. What are the things parents can do that will
help their children realize they too can be HEROES and make a positive impact on the lives
of others? There are three things that immediately come
to mind. One is spend more time with your kids. Parents are not spending time with their
kids, they are not getting actively involved in their school, in their sports, in their
daily activities. Two is you have got to love them more and
tell them you love them, always. Continually show them that you are there for them that
you love them and they are the most important things in the world and number three is don't
say no, say yes more, no less. Figure out ways to say yes.
So when they say "I want to have some ice cream" you can say "Yes we can have some ice
cream next week" as oppose to "No you can't have any ice cream." The goal is to say yes
because our kids hear no so often that it just gets drilled in their brain and they
don't think they can accomplish anything when it is time for them to go out on their own.
How do people become heroes? They become heroes by doing something good
for mankind. Whether that is teaching somebody, patting someone on the back, giving someone
a hug, helping them learn something, protecting our country, there are millions of different
ways but if you try to boil it down they become a hero to somebody by expressing love and
doing something that is beneficial for an individual or mankind or society in general.
How does it feel to be recognized as an Internet HERO?
Well I think it feels wonderful and I just hope that this interview and this whole process
of what we are doing could bless some people and bring some people closer to their dreams
and realities and that it would help motivate some people to think "I can do good and I
want to get up off my you know what and get out there and make something happen that is
going to be better for me, for my family and for everybody around me.
Why do you think you were selected for this unique honor?
Well I think it is because of the success that I have achieved and the fact that we
are doing something significant for families and kids. I think it is very very cool to
be associated with what we are doing. Everybody in my whole organization has joined the organization
because of the mission that we stand for and the vision that we have, to protect and educate
kids. So I think that is why. How will being recognized as an Internet HERO
change your life? I don't know. Hopefully it will give me some
exposure. Hopefully it will give more children some exposure to what we are doing and hopefully
give parents exposure to what we are doing and I hope at the end of the day it will help
effect families in a positive manner and everyone that hears this it will bless them, that is
what I hope, I hope that happens. In fact I will just believe that is going to happen.
How are you making the world a better place? I think it is just walking the walk and not
just talking the talk, and being an example for the people around me, being an example
to my kids. They see my work ethics, they see my value, they see the morals, they see
them in my lifestyle and I think that is another big mistake that parents make is they may
try to talk one walk but when their kids see them they are not walking the talk and it
is confusing to kids. So I think that is another way that I am a
blessing to people, they see me as a man of faith and I am very transparent about it,
I am not ashamed about it and if it offends somebody I am sorry about that but I am a
transparent leader. That is what I am and it is a gift from God that I am thankful for.
Do you have any good solutions to the problems facing society, especially racism, child and
spousal abuse and violence among young people? Get the word, get a relationship with God.
Understand what the Bible says and teaches and all of the answers are there for everybody.
The bottom line is you have got to love one another and you have got to love thy neighbor.
You have got to have a relationship with God and it will fix all of those issues.
If you had three wishes for your life and the world, that would instantly come true,
what would they be? Wow, I have never thought of this before.
I think I would wish that I would have the proper funding to accelerate the growth of
my company to where I could go from five million kids to fifty million kids, to where I could
literally give our software to every single kid in the United States and then give it
to every kid in the world, and get every single kid automatically involved in a safe closed
educational internet for kids. I am thinking if I had that one wish it would
give me the ability to do anything and everything else I wanted to do, and I think the other
wish would just be to have perfect health for my whole family, for every single person
in my whole family that they would have perfect health and we wouldn't have to fight with
any health issues and I would pray that same wish on everybody that I know that comes in
contact with me, to have perfect health. What do you think about the "In Search Of
Heroes" Program and its impact on youth, parents and business people?
I am excited about this and I think that getting these stories and these things in front of
the youth today is going to be inspiring and motivating and going to be very beneficial
to kids and I am supportive of it and I am very excited to be able to say whether it
is five years from now, ten years from now, two years from now; "I remember when, I remember
when, I remember when Ralph had that dream, he had that vision, we helped implement it
and look what it did." Seeing the testimonies of the lives that it
touches and the lives it changes by this whole program so I want to commend you. I pray right
now in Jesus' name that this all be accomplished through his perfect will and his guidance
and that million of kids and millions of youth and millions of people are blessed with what
you are doing.