6/12/24 - 2046: Contentment vs. Complacency
Jim: You've tuned into iWork4Him, the voice of collaboration for the faith and work movement.
Martha: And we are your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg, and our mission is to transform the workplace of every Christian into a mission field. What does that look like in your workplace? Let's find out right now.
Jim: They say that hindsight is 20 20. It is that backward looking perspective that gives you clarity on how to move forward. But what if you could get a high level overview? What if you could get a view from up above? A View from the Top? Would that help you know the landscape that you're playing on? Would it help you to know the direction you're heading? As a leader, you have a View from the Top, but is it clear or is it hazy?
Whatever it is, our view needs to be brought into alignment with our father's view for our lives, and Aaron Walker can help you get a clear View from the Top. View from the Top hails out of Hendersonville, Tennessee, and helps men get a, gain a clear perspective and define success and significance, great Halftime words there, in their personal, spiritual, relational, professional, and financial pursuits.
What does all this mean? I'll let Aaron " Big A" Walker explain. Aaron, welcome to iWork4Him.
Aaron Walker: Hey, Jim. Hey, Martha. Good to see y'all today. I'm so excited to be your guest. Thank you for having me.
Martha: It is our pleasure. And Aaron, one of the things we always love to do at the beginning of our show, especially with a new guest, is to find out what your Jesus story is.
Aaron Walker: Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you. I was raised in a Christian home. I don't have a, I was under the bridge story and God saved me miraculously. I was raised in a Christian environment. My mom really was the spiritual leader of our home and at nine years old, I accepted Christ and I was mentored and coached and taught all along the way.
Had great mentors in my life. And yeah, I was one of the fortunate few that had an experience like that, that wasn't a radical experience, but it was just the normal course of my life. And accepted Christ. And I'm grateful for that story. And yeah, that's my Jesus story.
Jim: It's fun to hear those incredible turnaround stories, but you don't have the collateral damage in your life. You don't have the baggage that you're carrying. So that's way better if you just come to be a Jesus follower and stay that way and not stray off the left or the right because those stories, yes, they're incredible. However, they also have lots of things you got to work through. Aaron, why does everybody call you Big A? You're a small guy. I don't know why they're calling you Big A.
Aaron Walker: Yeah, small, yeah, 6'4", 240. I'm pretty small. (laughter) But there was a guy named Herb Berry that I worked for when I was 13 years old and I started working just I was in junior high school and I walked in one day and he goes, I'm not going to call you Aaron. I'm going to call you Big A. And that just stuck. And now everybody. It's funny. My second to oldest grandson recently was asked what my name was. And he said Big A. And I said, No. Owen, what is my name? And he goes, I don't get it. He goes, It's Big A. And I said, No, my real name. He had to think, like he hasn't called me that his entire life. So he goes, Oh, it's Aaron, isn't it? And I said, Yes, it's Aaron. So everybody calls me Big A.
Martha: That's awesome. So those of you, especially watching on the video would not necessarily know that you were six foot four. And so that was pretty prophetic that you ended up being a good size there.
Jim: I'm just kidding with the fact that I got to call you Aaron, not Aaron, because I don't know if that's the Tennessee pronunciation. I know I'm not saying Tennessee the right way either. You got to say. Tennessee and Big Aaron. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. I'm going to work on that.
(laughter)
Aaron Walker: I go through this all the time and nobody messes up Big A, that way I don't have to go through this babble of Aaron or A-run. And someone said, why do you say it A-run? I said, because that's what my mom said. And whatever my mom says is the way we're going to pronounce it.
Martha: That's right. Mom is right. That's exactly right. So you have quite a lengthy business history. What does God have you doing?
Aaron Walker: Yeah. This is the irony and you not even aware of this, we're recording this on May the 28th, 2024. Today is my 45th anniversary of being a small business owner. I started my first business in 1979, May the 28th, and so today is the 45th year of my anniversary. The irony of that is this is the 46th anniversary of me meeting my wife, Robin, and it's the 10th anniversary of View from the Top, all May the 28th. And so today's a really special day.
Jim: It's a busy day! So talk to us about your business history.
Aaron Walker: Yeah. So I started my first business when I was 19 years old, started working at a local pawn shop when I was 13 years old. And when I was 19, I went out on my own. I found a couple of guys that had a lot of money. I didn't have any, so I needed a partner, and God really blessed that venture. When I was 27 years old, we were able to sell it to a fortune 500. And it allowed me to do some things that I otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to do. It was the catalyst to a number of businesses, and hopefully we'll make this part very short because I don't want to focus on myself.
I want to help teach other people how they can accomplish their dreams and goals as well. But 14 businesses in four and a half decades is what we've been privileged to steward over. And today, we're helping ordinary men become extraordinary in every area of their life. We've got just under 150 men in five different countries around the world that we train, teach, and coach in masterminds called Iron Sharpens Iron.
Jim: You're jumping way ahead, Aaron! We gotta establish just a little bit more before we get into the whole View from the Top ministry. Something incredible happened. Life changing event happened during your business career that really helps shape where you are today. What was it?
Aaron Walker: Yeah, good question. Yeah, that was August 1st, 2001. I go to my church every Wednesday morning and did for about 10 years, prayed with our pastor and for other businessmen, and we would just simply pray for the church. We would pray for our families and pray that we were better stewards over what God had entrusted us. And August 1st, 2001, my wife was on a missions trip with our two daughters. And I'd left the church at seven 30 in the morning, normal Wednesday morning, just like every Wednesday morning. And I got within a mile of my office and there was a gentleman crossing the street.
There was a four lane major highway called Gallatin Pike right outside of Nashville, and he was crossing to catch a bus, and I was driving a brand new Lincoln Navigator, 2001, Candy Apple Red. I was so enjoying the ride in that morning. It's hot in Nashville in August, so the windows are up, and I got the A. C. on, just enjoying my time, and he crossed the road in front of me and unfortunately didn't look my way. And I ran over him. His name was Enrique. He was 77 years old. He was from the Philippines.
And I couldn't believe what just happened. You're taking me on a journey this morning. So I couldn't believe, Jim, really what had just happened. I pulled over to the side of the road and I was scared to turn around. I was like... it was an out of body experience, quite honestly, it was very surreal. And I was like, that didn't just happen. And I was nervous and I finally turned around and there was an older gentleman laying face down in the street.
I picked up my cell phone and I tried to dial 9 1 1 and I couldn't, my hand was shaking so hard I couldn't even dial the phone. And finally cusped the phone between both hands and held my hand steady enough to dial 9 1 1 and within a minute there were ambulance, police cars, fire trucks. They were coming from everywhere. And I got out of the truck and I walked over and identified myself as the person that had struck this individual. And they took me back and put me in a police car. That was another surreal kind of experience. It was like, this is like really happening. And this is a major highway. There's probably 40, 000 cars a day go down this highway.
They stop traffic, they start getting this yellow tape out and they're marking it off like this crime scene. And I'm scared to death. And I, at this time, didn't know the severity of, the injuries. The policeman came back and he interviewed all the people that had seen it and he said, you're very fortunate. I've gotten testimonies from everybody that saw it and you're not at fault. Of course the court will determine that, but best I can determine he ran out in front of you and that's exactly what happened.
And I said, how severe are the injuries? And he said, um, his head had hit the front of my truck, spun around, hit my rear view mirror, spun around, hit my left corner panel, walked down the side of my truck. And he said, they're severe. So they put him in the ambulance and I said, could someone please call me and let me know how he's doing? Where are they going to take him? They said, we're taking him to Vanderbilt University. And so Saturday morning - there's a lot happened between Wednesday and Saturday. Obviously my wife came home, brought my daughters and guys from the church came over, my pastor came over and, needless to say, it was very upsetting.
And I, Saturday morning at 9 30, I get a phone call and it said Vanderbilt Hospital on my phone. So I knew that's who it was. And I picked it up and answered it and they said, are you Mr. Walker? And I said, yes. And they said they asked us to call you and let you know how the gentleman was. And I said, thank you for calling me. And they said, he didn't make it.
And I'm like, what? And they said he died this morning of head trauma. And so that really put me in the tank, needless to say. Obviously I own the business, so I didn't have to go in. For a few weeks I didn't go in. And I didn't really know how to deal with that. And this interview is not going to be long enough for me to work through everything that I had to go through, but a couple of weeks later, I was at the office and had a really bad experience where I erupted on a customer.
I just went off on a customer, and my partner walked by and he goes, Big A, he said, we need to talk. And so we went to dinner that night and I said, I can't handle the stress. I said, I've been chasing money my entire life. We built successful companies. I've got enough to take it easy. And so I sold him the business and over dinner that night, we worked out the terms and conditions and I sold him the business and I took the next five years off. I didn't do anything. I didn't start a company, traveled extensively, built a new home. I just had to stay busy.
And one day Robin walked in and I was getting in the bed in the middle of the day. And she said, Listen, you've gained 50 pounds. You're not doing anything that's beneficial or helpful for anybody. Our kids need you. I need you. This is not what I signed up for, and we've got to move forward. And so I did. I was able to work through that. To show you God's providence, a gentleman here, a local businessman, asked me to join his mastermind group right when that happened.
And I did, they walked me through that. There's another story around how they helped get me out of that ditch. And what I learned through that whole process was that I was a very poor kid when I was young. And I had made a little bit of money, and I had great financial success, but no significance. And that's what God really showed me through that process is that if you were to have died today, your legacy would have been poor kid from Nashville, Tennessee makes enough money to retire at age 27. And nobody cares.
And it really struck me that nobody really did care that I had a nice home and nice cars and a little bit of money. But what I wanted was my legacy to be, Hey, Jim and Martha's life is better as a result of having known me. I've been an encourager. I've challenged them. I've helped them. I've connected them. I've given them resources. I've walked with them through this journey. I want my life to mean something rather than just having a little bit of money. I wanted a measure of success, and that was the catalyst that kind of started us on the journey that we're on today.
Jim: I really appreciate you sharing that. I know that dredged up some things, but I think it's so important for people to understand the paradigm shift that God took you through. We often talk on our show, Big A that God uses adversity in our lives to take us from who we are to who he can use more effectively. And that's essentially what God did in that moment in your life.
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Alright. Talk to us about your ministry that God placed in your hand. How are you helping men to live their fullest life and live out their faith all 24 hours?
Aaron Walker: Someone asked me when I started this View from the Top organization, they said, did you ever see what's materialized as a result of it? And I said, I not only didn't see it, but I didn't want it. And he said, what do you mean you didn't want it? I said, it takes a lot of effort, a lot of energy and a lot of work to really dive into somebody's life in every area of their life.
We're an organization that doesn't touch just the professionalism, but we deal personally, relationally, professionally, spiritually, financially, all five pillars of your life we are involved in. And it takes a lot of effort and a lot of energy in order to do that. The reason that we do that is because I almost lost my family as a result of pursuing just the financial gain. We had the big house. We had the vacation home. I had a place on the beach and fancy cars and things like that. And at the end of the day, it didn't scratch the itch like I thought it was going to. And I thought if I just reach this milestone financially, I'll be set. I'll be good and I'll be happy.
And none of those things were true because the elusiveness of it, the bar keeps moving. It's okay, now that made me this happy. If I make another X amount of revenue that could really set me up, it would be a sense of security. And I even coach people today all over the world that have businesses that are nine figure businesses and they don't have any more of a set of safety feeling that I have, or that you might have, because we can't place our confidence and trust in material possessions, the things that moths destroy and rust eats away is going to be gone. And we know as a result of COVID how we never saw that coming and how people that thought they were very secure and safe never anticipated COVID and it wiped them out.
That's the reason not to make this over spiritualized, but the truth is the only thing that we can place our confidence and trust in is Jesus. And that doesn't mean it's going to be easy, but when we start placing our confidence and trust in the wrong thing... so here's the thing. I really want men that are focused on doing well, scaling their businesses, but they have their priorities prioritized.
And that's with having Christ at the center first, then having their wife, and then having their children, and then having their business. And when you get it in the right order, things seem to go much better. And then you don't lose your family as a result of focusing primarily on the financial gain and do it at an expense that the relational capital that you're going to spend, you can't get back.
I can start more companies. I can make more money, but there's only one Robin. There's only Brooke and Holly and then my grandkids. And I just want people to focus on the right thing in the right order so that you can sustain your life and live it in a way that's pleasing to God.
Jim: Big A, you said something I want to go back to it. I'm interrupting Martha. Her question was going to be next, but you said that you thought that if you would just get to that next level it would scratch the itch that you had. Didn't you find that the more stuff you had, the stronger the itch became, and the burden that came with that itch? I know a lot of people that have a lot of stuff, and it just never seems to make them happy. They never seem to be content.
Aaron Walker: Yeah, the reason there's two, let's play on words there for a second, there's a big difference in contentment and complacency. I want to learn to be content in all circumstances, right? Just like we're taught in scripture, but I never want to be complacent because God's given me a talent and the skills and I don't want to hide it under the bushel, right? I want to use that. So I never want to be complacent, but I want to learn to be content in all situations. The thing, the reason is because it's such an elusive what word am I looking for? When you are striving for fame or riches it never ends. There's always somebody with more.
There's the comparison game you start playing then, and you start up leveling your game and challenging yourself even more. And the thing that you've got to recognize is these are talents and skills that God has given us. There's a reason that he's given us these. Now, I want to make it perfectly clear, and I do this on all interviews. I don't want to be the guy with a little bit of money and it says, oh, money's not important. That's just not true. Money is important. Money's very important. Go try to pay your mortgage or buy food without money.
Like I don't want to minimize it. I don't want to be that guy that says, ah, focus on godly things and forget. No, you can do both. You can focus and provide for your family, and you can do well. I like to have a nice boat, a nice house, and a nice car. I love those things, but they're not my God. God is my God, and I'm going to focus on them in the right perspective. And so I think as long as we get it in the right order, you can do both.
Martha: I love that we've established quite a few things about your own life, Big A, and the business history that God has allowed you to live through, the adversity that he's allowed you to live through, and the pursuit, the desire inside of you to help others to have those right priorities.
So you have several different pieces of View from the Top that helped to establish that. What are those different things? Cause I'm that practical person. Tell me what are the different things that you offer to people within a View from the Top?
Aaron Walker: Yeah, thank you. We're a very focused program here. I created a program called Come as You Will Be. And what that means is aspirationally picking five audacious goals in five areas of your life and focusing on those because if you're an inch deep and a mile wide, the shiny objects syndrome is going to get you every time. So we need to be an inch wide and a mile deep and really focus on key areas of your life that you can accomplish the things that you want.
We do that through a very structured program called Come as You Will Be. We need updates and highlights from the other participants in the group. So we created the success and significance scorecard where at any moment, I can look at your life and tell if you're in balance or out of balance. We do an accountability digital worksheet every week. It's sent out to you on Thursday and you highlight areas that you need improvement places that you're focused. And so you present yourself accountable to your group each and every week.
We do man in the middle programs each week. So we're hyper focused on you and your challenges and what it is that you're trying to accomplish. And then we wash, rinse, and repeat that weekly. A lot of people meet with groups once a month, once every six months. I don't know about y'all, but a lot of life happens for me. I need people that have contact and what's going on in my life on a weekly basis to help me make a decision. So we get involved in every area of your life, with your relationships, with your business, your personal life, your finances, we know everything about someone so that when we do need to help you with situation, we have contextual information in every area of your life to help you make a decision. And so for us, it's doing a deep dive in every area of your life.
Jim: So everybody can find out information about View from the Top online at View from the Top dot com, View from the Top dot com. It'll talk about your iron sharpens iron masterminds groups. You've got individual business coaching. You got some events that you hold as well. What kind of events do you guys hold?
Aaron Walker: Yeah, twice a year. We do an event for the members and then once a year we do what's called the summit It's an invitation only There's an application and then we reach back and, we have eight guys that come together for a two and a half day event, but the events that we do twice a year or for the members, we also do open up about 20 spots for people to come that are not members as guests. And so those are in April and October every year here in Nashville.
Jim: But do I have to live in Tennessee in order to be able to participate?
Aaron Walker: Oh no. No, not at all. It doesn't matter. We have people from Australia, from Germany, from Canada, they fly in from all over to attend these events. And at the event, we'll do deep dives, we do TED talks, we do breakout sessions. We eat all of our meals together. For the members, I pay for everything. All you've got to do is get there. For the guests there's a nominal fee that you pay in order to participate. And yeah, the guests historically fall in love with the guys. They love the organization and many of them will join the organization and stay for years and years and continue to grow in every area of their life.
Martha: And again, you can learn more about that information at viewfromthetop. com.
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Jim: Aaron, where do you see View from the Top going over the next several years?
Aaron Walker: Yeah, we've already created the succession plan and we have new partners that are in place and we've built the systems and the processes now to scale this to hundreds, if not thousands more. We have facilitators that are paid in our organization. We have a staff of 8 people that work full time in developing the new systems and processes, the new curriculum. I see this being a household name in the next 5 years.
Martha: That's exciting and that you're thinking forward. And so are there any final thoughts of encouragement or challenge that you want our listeners to hear from you?
Aaron Walker: Yeah, used to people would say to me, you seem to be very adventuresome. You will go out and take a risk. And I just say, be more fearful of missing an opportunity than you fear failure and have a can do attitude. When I was a child, my mom would say, can't couldn't do it, but could did it all. And I've adopted that as my life mantra. And so everything that my core values stand for: relationships matter most. Make it amazing. Everything's figure outable. Truth before opinion. These are things that we live by each and every day. And I think the vast majority of it is mindset. And if you believe you can as well. So " fear missing an opportunity more than you fear failure" and "develop a can do attitude."
Jim: All right. Say mama saying one more time. Can't couldn't do it.
Aaron Walker: And could did it all.
Jim: Yeah.
Aaron Walker: Can't couldn't do it. And could did it all.
Jim: I love that, Aaron. I know we didn't get a chance to go through all of what you wanted to go through today, but sharing your story and how God just really used significant adversity in your life in order to shift your direction to focusing on helping men to not make the same, some of the same mistakes you were making, and to help thousands of men to be the leaders they were meant to be in their homes and their marriages and in their businesses. It's fantastic.
I encourage everybody listening to check out viewfromthetop. com and you could talk to Big A when you get out there. He's got a great staff that responds, but Big A, thanks. I keep wanting to say Aaron. I know you want me to call you A-rn and I will do that. Someday I'll get that down in my head, but Big A, thanks for being on iWork4Him today. Thanks for sharing a little bit of your story and thanks for introducing View from the Top to everybody listening on iWork4Him.
Aaron Walker: Yeah, it was fun. Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Martha. I appreciate it. iWork4Him. What a great organization. Thank you for having me as your guest.
Jim: You bet. You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers. Our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately, iWork4Him!