Steve A Klein shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Steve A, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I wake up at 4 am, review my goals, walk the dog for 40 minutes, clear my emails, exercise on the StairMaster for 30 minutes, get dressed, and start my work day at 6:30.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a business Consultant and keynote speaker who focuses on cultivating Relentless attitudes and results-driven action in organizations. With my background in radio and television, I draw on over 40 years of experience helping businesses of all sizes manage change and transform their cultures from the inside out.
Growing up in the Midwest, I began my professional career as a one-man news staff for a small radio station in the Midwest. I quickly learned that those who become successful do what everyone else doesn’t want to do. I then moved into a sales role, selling advertising for the radio station.
My sales work helped me land over 400 referrals a month and I reached the top 2% of salespeople nationwide, eventually writing my book, “Sell When You See the Whites of Their Eyes!”
I to Dallas, where I began giving keynote speeches to ambitious sales and leadership teams. This started a decades-long career of speaking to top salespeople, businesses, and organizations around the globe as I shared how to Develop Relentless Performance toward achieving, exceeding, and redefining their goals.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I had a poor self-image which started when I was in the 2nd grade. I was seven years old and my 2nd grade teacher asked me to portray Uncle Sam in costume for a President’s Day student performance in front of the entire school.
My job was to do nothing! I had to stand at the corner of the stage and not move for the entire performance. That didn’t work! The costume was uncomfortable, and I fidgeted the whole time. For months afterward, I was laughed at every time I walked through the corridors during breaks. My self-image took a nose-dive.
Growing up, I had great parents, but my mother was very structured and regularly gave my brother and I “honey-do” lists all year round. It was difficult enough not to be able to get out and be with friends, especially during summer break (this was way before computer games or the internet), but if we completed a task and it wasn’t done “her way,” we did it wrong. I was afraid of doing anything wrong; hence, my second reason for having a low self-image.
During high school, my self-image was so bad that in the hallway as we changed classes, I had to look at the floor. I couldn’t look anyone in the eye. But for some reason, I ran for Sophomore Class President. I can’t remember why I would do such a thing for the life of me!
There were eleven of us running for the office (I didn’t win…or come close). We were seated on the side of the stage, sitting in the order of giving our speech. I was second to last.
If you’re scared to death and have a low self-image, you don’t want to wait that long – you want to get it over with, especially with 800 fellow students and 1600 eyeballs on you.
As each candidate gave their talk, my heart continued to feel like it would pound out of my chest. Finally, my time arrived. I had hand-written a 2-page, double-spaced speech that I had rehearsed repeatedly. I walked up to the lectern and held on for dear life.
After the ordeal was over, I asked a couple of friends how I did. “We don’t know,” they said. “You were so nervous that you were banging the wooden lectern on the wooden stage floor so hard, no one could hear you!”
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
My primary wound was taking forever to learn anything. I had to fight to finish high school and college with a B- average.
I never realized I had a learning disability, partially because I had never heard that term before. I can remember as far back as grade school when the teacher presented new information, I could rarely comprehend it.
During high school, I participated in several extracurricular activities. I would get home around six in the evening, eat a quick dinner, and go to my room to study. Learning was so difficult that I spent almost four hours every evening attempting to internalize the material. However, I could only maintain a B- average with all that studying. I don’t remember watching any television during those years.
My healing began during college, which is where I began to recover and develop my “Relentless approach to any and everything I did. I worked odd jobs: pizza delivery, filming the football game for the football coach, bus driver, etc. I even put an ad in the school paper to “Streak for pay!”
I also worked two jobs, including a cameraman and floor director at a CBS affiliate 50 miles from school; 100 miles round trip, every day.
All of the courses I took were either journalism or English classes with typed papers due for each course. Every paper had to have two drafts and a final manuscript, all typed on a typewriter. This was way before “White Out,” and without a computer (years before the first personal computer).
But even with the extra classes, all the papers to be written, and my jobs, I held an A average – and I even had time to date!
During spring break of the second semester of my senior year, since I had no money to party over spring break, I decided to spend the week looking for a job at a radio or TV station.
I owned one suit and had $100 to last me one week. I took Greyhound buses to five cities and lived in YMCAs at $5 per day, and my only meals were from a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and jelly that I carried in my suitcase for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I interviewed with one or two stations in each city. I never received a job offer that week. But I did learn some important lessons: I had control of what I wanted to do, I didn’t need much money to do it, and doing the hard things was the path to success!
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
The belief I’m locked into and that I speak about in my Keynote Talk about Relentless Championship is to never give up! An example is beginning Taekwondo at the age of 54. I was one of the oldest students in the class, with everyone else in their 20s and 30s.
In our class, the first colored belt to achieve was a yellow at about three months into the training. I couldn’t get it. Ten-year-olds were achieving the first belt, but not me; I just couldn’t get it
I finally received my first belt nine months into the training while everyone else was well into their 2nd or 3rd belt. During this time, I kept hearing from most of the students who began at the same time I joined, that it’s too hard, I’m too sore, I don’t want to get hurt, I can’t learn this. Getting hurt is part of both life and studying martial arts. I broke six bones along the way.
But, I pursued – relentlessly! I doubled down and instead of going to class three days a week, I went every day. I received my black belt after two years.
After seven years of six days of week training, I received my 3rd-degree black belt and was teaching the class. There were only two students with a higher degree black belt and they’d been training for over ten years.
No matter what we do in life, It’s always mind over matter; setting a goal, relentlessly sticking to it, never giving up and making it happen.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I’m doing exactly what I was born to do!
I began my professional career selling radio advertising in small towns in Nebraska and Kansas. When I hit my financial ceiling, I decided to move to a larger market, so I moved south to Dallas.
I interviewed with several radio stations and was hired by the sales manager at the last one. I flew back home, quit my job, sold my house, and then drove 8 hours back to Dallas.
My first shock was that when I arrived, no one was expecting me. The sales manager had been fired, and management had no idea I’d been hired. Here I was standing in the lobby, having quit my job, sold my house, and now I was unemployed
I Ate Nails For Breakfast and was Relentless as I shook it off and stepped up to make my biggest sale ever. I had to sell myself! I made the sale and was re-hired, but at straight commission. No draw, no salary, no clients, knowing no one in a new city.
I cold-called potential advertisers. No one bought. I was used to making sales every day from my client list. I made no sales in my first month. I was Relentless and increased my sales activity every day. I made no sales in my second month. This was now two months without making a sale! Rather than eat Wheaties, I continued to Eat Nails For Breakfast.
I was consistent with my calls. I made no sales in my third month. Three months without making a sale and no income. What the hell wasn’t I doing? But the next Friday morning, I received calls from three advertising agencies. Those were my first sales, and I grossed over $20,000 in commission.
It took thirteen weeks, three months, and a quarter of a year without income. I made over one thousand phone calls, over three hundred sales presentations
Moral: When we’re doing what we were born to do, we never quit or give up. We go through the pain, have Relentless consistency, and stick to it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://SteveAKlein.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveaklein/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessSteve/videos
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
