If you’re a student of Jim Rohn you often heard him refer to two mentors. Earl Schoaff, the man who taught Jim so many profound lessons about success and life, and a man by the name of William Bailey, or Bill as Jim called him.
Bill Bailey is an amazing man and was a long-time friend of Jim’s. It was a few years after I started JRI that I finally met this bigger-than-life man. Bill had an amazing story himself. He grew up in the back hills of Kentucky. He never went college or had formal training, but that didn’t stop him from building a massively successful company and eventually winning the Horatio Alger award.
Bill is a story teller. In fact when Jim spoke of his friend that when he shared his stories, it was more interesting to hear him tell it than if you were actually there yourself, that was Bill Bailey. When Jim talked about his late night philosophical debates, often he was remembering special times with Mr. Bailey.
Not long after meeting Bill Bailey, I had the great fortune to start booking him to speak and eventually I published his book of poems, The Rhythms of Life.
Bill has so many profound sayings and pearls of wisdom, but my favorite by far, and the one I quote the most is, “You are going to end with the truth, you might as well begin there”.
And to that I said Amen!! Boy does that save time!
Another is, “I don’t mind the question if you don’t mind the answer”. I agree!
Bill had such a unique relationship with Jim that when I was working on the special tribute DVD for Jim before his passing, and we had over 50 incredible visits and special words from people such as Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Denis Waitley, Brian Tracy, Darren Hardy to name a few, I knew it was missing someone very important – William Bailey! Bill was not able to travel at the time, so as we were right up against our deadline, I knew what I needed to do. I called Bill and asked him if I could come to him and of course he said that would be wonderful.
So I flew from Dallas to Lexington, rented a car and then drove 90 miles to somewhere in the beautiful back hills of Kentucky, that I never knew existed. I spent a day with my friend and Jim’s mentor, and Bill shared, with me and the camera, story after story after story of Jim and his times together.
Yes, it was Priceless!
I learned so much from Bill! And for those of you who know me, you’ll hear me quote him often including when you hear me say:
“You are going to end with the truth, you might as well begin there”.
and
“I don’t mind the question if you don’t mind the answer”.
Thank you Bill! And thank you Jim for introducing me to the man who meant so much to you!
To Your Better Future,
Kyle Wilson
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Kyle Wilson is the founder of Jim Rohn International and YourSuccessStore, he also is the co-author of Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul. To learn more about Kyle go here.