Aaron Walker: View from the Top

Aaron Walker is a native Nashvillian who started his first business almost 40 years ago. He began at age 13 in a retail position and fell in love with the work. After graduating from high school early, Aaron and 2 financial partners opened their own retail space. At age 27, a Fortune 500 company bought that business and Aaron found himself retired before the age of 30. Listen in to his fascinating story and advice for entrepreneurs.

Retirement at age 27 proved to be problematic for Aaron, and after 18 months boredom was taking over his life, and depression was lurking nearby. So he went back to the company he had worked for at age 13, purchased half of the business, and proceeded to grow it to 4 times the size it was when he got involved.

If you’re working to quit, STOP. I promise you, it’s not going to serve you well. ~Aaron Walker

When Life Takes a Sharp Left Turn

We can’t predict what is going to happen in our lives, and that fact became all too clear to Aaron when a man named Enrique crossed the street into the path of Aaron’s car and was killed. In the wake of this tragedy, Aaron and his wife decided to close the business and retire again.

He spent those 5 years coming to terms with what had happened and evaluating what was important in his life. They traveled and they wrestled with the truth of their situation. And eventually, the people that they had surrounded themselves with encouraged Aaron to jump back into life and business.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”t6e6H” via=”no” ]The enemy of excellence is isolation. ~Aaron Walker[/ctt]

View from the Top

Aaron’s new book (<<aff link) was a book he didn’t want to write. He was intimidated by the success of others in his close-knit friend group, some of whom had sold tens of millions of books. Who was he, he thought, to write a book?

But the encouragement of those very friends showed Aaron that if his message reached just one person and changed their life, then he needed to do it. People needed to hear his story of tragedy and see how he was able to move on with his life and business. (Get the book! Get the book!)

Success is…

For a man who has started and sold more than half a dozen businesses, who retired at the age of 27, who has been married for over 30 years, who has close friends like Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Ken Davis, and Ken Abraham…you would think that Aaron would see success through those things, right? But Aaron says…

“I love having the freedom of choosing my own schedule and financial freedom.”

Add to that having a close-knit family, working with his daughters in his business, and being able to leave a legacy of wisdom and you have Aaron’s definition of success. (Be sure you listen to the full episode to hear how Aaron and his wife are building their family and pouring into them.)

Finding Your Tribe

Not everyone is going to be in a mastermind with Dave Ramsey, but we all need like minded people around us to spur us on. The fact is, when Aaron got into the mastermind with these men 22 years ago, they were all just beginning too. Dave Ramsey was on one radio station when they started meeting together. Don’t judge your peers based on what they’re doing NOW. You'll grow together when you commit to building those relationships.

Links From Today’s Show

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Connect with Aaron:

Mentions:

Big Leap Experience
Fully Alive with Ken Davis
Dave Ramsey
EOFire and John Lee Dumas
Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn

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