Ralph: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski; I’m speaking with Troy White. Troy is the president and founder of “The Fresh Idea Company” and is an internationally known expert in turning your words into wealth. If you run your own business or are planning to, then the ability to market yourself and your business is critically important.
Ralph: From direct mail sales letters, postcard campaigns, press releases, cover letters, attention grabbing mail outs, new product promotional rollouts, classified adds, space ads, faxes, scripts, web pages, email marketing…anything you need to communicate to your clients Troy can do it for you with the right words.
Ralph: Troy works with people all over the world in creating marketing programs for them and is one of the best copywriters around. How are you doing today, Troy?
Troy White: I’m doing great. Thanks for having me on.
Ralph Zuranski: Well I appreciate it. You are definitely one of the wonderful people I’ve met going to the different seminars. I appreciate your offering to help with the heroes program.
Troy White: Oh, it’s a great cause and I’d love to help.
Ralph Zuranski: I really appreciated you including me in your Entrepreneurial Spirits book
Troy White: Thank you for your fantastic contribution as well.
Ralph Zuranski: Thank you. It’s always interesting to go back and read what people had to say.
Troy White: I’ve met a lot of people who have read what they said and say, “Did I say that?” But yeah, it’s always nice to get the first thoughts down on paper because usually when they go back and re-read it they usually edit it a little too much. But it’s from the heart.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s absolutely true. What is your definition of heroism?
Troy White: To me heroism really means that you put other people’s best interests first before your own. I think that the most important thing is that you put other people before yourself. Also, you need something to aim towards and aspire to.
Troy White: A lot of people go through life and they really don’t have a big picture that they go after. A real hero is someone, to me, who shows them how to find that big picture and how to bring that into their own life.
Ralph Zuranski: So do you think that it’s important for people to follow through on what they say where their actions speak as loud as their words?
Troy White: Yes, definitely. And that’s a big thing in this day and age. With the internet, it’s easy to say a lot, but what I have found, and I’m sure you have too, there are very few people out there who say one thing and deliver the same thing. It’s usually two very different things that you get.
Troy White: It’s quite unfortunate, but it’s true. The ones that do deliver what they promise are the ones, interesting enough, that are all in your “In Search of Heroes” program. They’re the ones that do deliver.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, I chose them very carefully and definitely was looking for people who had integrity. That’s what I think really shows the person’s integrity is what they do when you are at the lowest point in your life, whether they still follow through on what they said they would do. When was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life path to overcome all the obstacles?
Troy White: I think it probably hit me just over three years ago. I had spent eleven years in sales in the computer industry. I worked for some very large companies like Hewlett Packard. It was an industry that paid very well but I did not enjoy.
Troy White: Right now my twins are four, so three years ago they were one. I came home from work one day bummed out because I was not enjoying my day and not enjoying my life and the direction of my life. Every time I came home my kids seemed to be getting bigger and I wasn’t seeing any of it, and I think to me that was really when I hit rock bottom.
Troy White: I decided I was not going to live the rest of my life hating what I do for a living and missing out on everything that is so important to me. It was right then and there that I made a fairly quick decision. I talked with my wife, Kari, and we decided that it was time for me to go off on my own and start following the dream.
Troy White: I have always had businesses on the side but it was time to commit fully to one. So I kind of took my low point and I said, “Well, what do you really want to do? Who do you really want to be?” And I just started following that dream and never looked back. It’s been the best journey of my life.
Ralph Zuranski: So what is the dream and vision that sets the course of your life?
Troy White: I have what is called a “vision board”. I put pictures up at my work, right in front of my desk, visions or dreams of what I want to be and where I want to live.
Troy White: So I have a definite mission on using words to help other people build their businesses, to help people realize their dreams with strongly worded messages that get the point across and to help entrepreneurs do what they are really supposed to be doing which is helping other people.
Troy White: So my dream is to use the power of words to create an entire network of businesses that I’ve helped to improve their sales and help their customers.
Troy White: Ultimately where I’m going is I want to create a foundation that helps young entrepreneurs with the marketing side of it and getting their businesses going quickly. Helping them get a business off the ground and getting money in the bank so they can continue to run the business. That’s my ultimate vision is to have a foundation that helps young entrepreneurs because there’s not a lot of good programs out there that do that and they need it.
Ralph Zuranski: That is one of visions for the “In Search of Heroes” program is to help them with just that same thing, so I really appreciate your help in the program itself. I know you had a fair amount of setbacks and misfortunes and made some mistakes. How important is it to have a positive view?
Troy White: I think it is a must. Right on top of my computer screen I have a little card that says, “Believe in yourself. If you think you can, you can.” To me, that’s kind of how I run my life. I believe in myself. I know where I am going.
Troy White: Right under that I have another little card that says, “Whatever it takes.” Those two things kind of drive my direction. They keep me up on the down times. The entrepreneurial journey is definitely not always positive. There are some negatives you run into, some down times. You’ve been through them, too.
Troy White: But the main thing is you just have to keep that belief strong. Whatever it takes to keep that belief there and empowering you, then you can get through anything in life. If the belief is there and the passion is there for what you want to accomplish then you can make it through anything.
Ralph Zuranski: How important was courage to pursue new ideas? When you were doing the job for the computer company, it could have been fairly frightening to make that big change and get into copywriting. How much courage does it take to pursue new ideas?
Troy White: It takes a lot. Back to that day when I decided to quit my job, my wife was not working and we had twin one year old girls at home, but the passion was there and the dream was there and I had the support and I just took the plunge.
Troy White: A lot of people will question you, too, when you do make that bold move. The majority of the people are going to question you and try to deter you because most people are scared of following a dream. They are scared of taking action.
Troy White: The way I look at it is that the top five percent of the people in the world, the most successful people in the world, have as one of their strongest traits the ability to take action despite what everyone else says, because usually you have to trust your gut instinct above anything else in the world. And when it says to go and go hard, then you are much better off following that than any other piece of advice you can get from people.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s true. Do you think that a lot of people don’t want to pursue their dream because it’s uncomfortable and that they experience a lot of pressure from people to not make that change?
Troy White: Yes. That comfort zone thing is one of our big problems in society. We get so caught up in being comfortable that we don’t strive for being more, for being better. I hate to say it but a lot of our schooling these days teaches us to be mediocre. It doesn’t teach you to strive for bigger things, better things, to visual yourself doing the ultimate dream. And most people are very scared of stepping outside the comfort zone.
Troy White: I don’t remember the exact percentages, but a prime example is public speaking. A large majority of the population in North America would rather be in a casket lying dead than up in front of a group of people because that is far out of their comfort zone.
Troy White: That amazes me that people would rather lay in a casket and have nothing else than to get up and push yourself a little bit just to get up in front of a crowd. Public speaking used to be a major fear for me. I enrolled myself in Dale Carnegie and did that as a student and as an assistant trainer for many, many years and it is the best thing I ever did. I still get nervous up there, but I have to push myself. That’s just part of life is that you have to push yourself.
Ralph Zuranski: How important is it to be able to believe in your dreams that they will actually become reality?
Troy White: I almost look at it that you don’t have to believe in them but you just have to know it. I really think you have to know that your dreams will come true, as long as you keep that dream there and in front of you at all times.
Troy White: That’s part of the reason why I use my vision board in front of me with homes and cars and boats. Whatever it is that you want in your dream you have to keep that in front of you. I just know that my dreams will become reality. Maybe not in two months and maybe it’s not even in two years.
Troy White: But as long as I keep that vision there, and anyone who keeps that vision there on what it is they want to do and what they want to be, it’s a given. It’s the way the universe works.
Troy White: When you visualize something and believe it as being true and know it is true and just trust that it will happen, it will happen. You have probably seen this happen many times, Ralph, and I have too. When you believe something, no matter how impossible it may seem, it can happen and it will happen as long as your belief is there.
Ralph Zuranski: One thing that fights against belief is doubts and fears and everybody has those on a daily basis. How do you deal with the doubts and fears that come into your life?
Troy White: I do a couple of things. Doubts and fears are always there, you can’t get rid of them. Things will just happen. You can’t turn on the television or open a newspaper without getting fearful about something. One of the ways is I eliminate as much of that as I can; I don’t read the newspaper every day. I don’t watch the news every day because very rarely is anything good in there.
Troy White: So one of the things I do to overcome my doubts and fears is I’ve become a real advocate of just taking action. When I have an inspiration to do something, no matter how scary it may seem, I just do it and try it and see what happens.
Troy White: This is another thing with schooling. I wish schools would teach kids that there is no such thing as failure, but yet schools pound that into their head. It’s all failure. You would think that after all these years they would have learned their lesson in the education system but they still continue to do it. But there is no such thing as failure in my eyes. You just have to try it and see if it works. If it doesn’t work you just look at it as a lesion.
Ralph Zuranski: So you believe that it’s just a learning experience of how things don’t work rather than being a failure. You’re only a failure if you just don’t get up and keep on working at it.
Troy White: Exactly. There are some prime examples of that. People like Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken. He went to 1001 restaurants before somebody finally said they would carry his recipe. And here’s somebody in his 70’s. If that’s not an inspiration on overcoming fears and doubts and just keeping at it, what is?
Troy White: Pounding on that 999th door, I’m sure he probably felt like that’s enough. But he kept at it and he finally got it. I think no matter what your situation in life as long as you keep after your dream it is going to happen. There is no other alternative. As long as you keep at it and don’t give up on it, it’s going to happen.
Ralph Zuranski: Who do you feel are the real heroes in our society today?
Troy White: The real heroes to me are a lot of entrepreneurs because they go through a lot to get to that stage where people look at them as successful. A lot of people call it overnight success, but it was never that case. So I look at them as heroes because they are willing to do whatever it takes to keep on going. They fuel our economy. They provide jobs for people. It’s amazing when you really look at what entrepreneurs do for the worldwide economy, how they are the fuel for it.
Troy White: The second are the parents and friends and family out there who help young people learn more about themselves and more about the universe and more about how to make things happen and more about beliefs and visions.
Troy White: I really think that there is so much opportunity out there now and the people who are working with others, be it children or adults, and showing them how important it is to keep that dream alive and to keep at it, to me those are the real true heroes.
Troy White: They are the ones who will fuel generations of creative thinkers and successful people and amazing success stories, too.
Ralph Zuranski: Why are heroes so important in the lives of young people?
Troy White: Everything in a young person’s life is big, and if somebody is not there to bring it back home, it doesn’t mean that it is insurmountable. Superheroes make it seem like anything is doable and achievable and that’s why I think it’s important because young people need to understand that anything is achievable and heroes can help them see that. They can help them learn that because kids and adults get frustrated and want to give up, but a true hero can say, “Try it again. Try it this way; try it that way.”
Troy White: I really think that the heroes are so important to kids for that reason: they can just teach them that so critical trait of keeping at it. To me one of the most important things you can have in life is tenacity. There are very few people who have a strong tenacious attitude to keep at it no matter what. But those are the people who succeed, the ones who develop that tenacious attitude, and it can be built at any time in life.
Ralph Zuranski: Are there any heroes today who are not getting the recognition that they deserve?
Troy White: There are a lot of them. And a lot of them are educators. We’ve all had one teacher in our lives, be it at school or a friend or a family friend of something. And it’s funny how all it can take is just one little thing that will stay with you for the rest of your life and drive you to achieve great things.
Troy White: I had a teacher in university that taught me the power of preparation and visualization and it was because of her that I got a job at Hewlett Packard. I was up against 500 people in the first round and I made it to the final two and got hired. It was because of what she taught me on how to be prepared and then how to visualize that final agreement when they hired me.
Troy White: It’s people like that who are the true heroes in our lives and it doesn’t take a lot for them to inspire and lead you and take with you the rest of your life. I wish there was some way to get more credit to those people because there’s lots of them out there who have done amazing things for kids.
Ralph Zuranski: Hopefully through this program they will get the recognition they deserve for helping so many young people in their lives. There are some people who just help tons of kids and change the universe just because of their consideration and strong leadership and integrity which I think is so important in these days and times. Do you think that is what it takes to become a hero: having integrity and following through and thinking about others?
Troy White: Yes. I think first it’s getting the big picture. What is your dream? Who do you really want to be? If you had nothing holding you back, unlimited powers, who do you really want to be?
Troy White: Then, having the will power to just keep going, having a tenacious attitude and following through when you promise things to people, too, and making sure you deliver what you promise. To me those are some of the most important skills anybody can develop, and which I would consider a necessity to being a hero.
Troy White: One other thing I think that a hero always has is they know their legacy. They know that there is some kind of a legacy that they want to leave to people. It’s a conversation that a lot of people don’t like to talk about. But I’ve thought about this for a long time: what do I want to leave to my kids?
Troy White: I think if you can think what you want to leave as a legacy to the world, that that is a true hero, because all true heroes have something they want to leave. And your “In Search of Heroes” program is a true legacy that will live on forever.
Ralph Zuranski: Let’s hope that it does in the hearts and minds of all the people that help and are helped through the program itself.
Troy White: Oh, it will. I know that. Definitely.
Ralph Zuranski: If you had three wishes for your life and the world that would instantly come true what would they be?
Troy White: Probably number one would be that everyone in the world could realize that no matter the situation they are in right now that if they put their mind to it and used their inner powers as they can, that they can achieve anything. A lot of people don’t know that because they’ve never been taught that.
Troy White: I would love to somehow get the word out there to everybody and show them how to do it. That would be number one because if everyone in the world knew how much power they really have with their mind it would not be in the state of affairs it is. I think that would be number one.
Troy White: Another wish would be for my life and the people I know and work with, I wish they all could understand the power of pigheaded determination.
Troy White: It’s something that very, very few people have and I really wish I could give what I’ve got to the people I know. A lot of people can’t figure Troy out because Troy is like that Energizer bunny that just keeps going. That ability to just implant that determination to keep going, keep after it.
Troy White: Lastly, on a world scale, it would be to eliminate all the garbage that is going on all over the place. And it happens no matter where you live. I’m in Canada and we have some amazing garbage going on in our politics right now.
Troy White: It doesn’t matter where you are, if we could just eliminate that and people would finally clue in that it’s very unnecessary and that to create a good, solid, advancing society you don’t need that.
Ralph Zuranski: I totally agree. Sometimes you think the politicians are a part of the problem rather than a part of any solution.
Troy White: I think they cause a lot more problems than solve any problems.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s absolutely the truth, isn’t it? So what do you think about the “In Search of Heroes” program and it’s impact on youth, parents, and business people?
Troy White: I think it’s an absolutely wonderful thing you are doing, Ralph, and I look forward to helping spread the word because this is what the world needs. Kids especially need more heroes, and not the video game heroes but real life heroes who having something to teach kids and to share with kids and to leave with kids. It’s an amazing program you’ve got here. It’s going to change a lot of lives.
Troy White: For those listening, there are some amazing people in this program. Listen to their interviews and listen to their stories and most importantly put into action some of the ideas that they give you.
Troy White: One thing I do is right next to my vision board in my office I have a sheet with a thousand squares on it. It is my goal to become one of the best writers in the world, so every hour I spend writing I mark an “X” off on that sheet. It’s a painful process to start with a blank piece of paper, but does it ever feel good when you fill up that 1,000th square.
Troy White: And that can apply to anybody no matter what it is you are trying to do. In 1,000 hours you can become very proficient in something. It’s that simple. Just mark off an “X” every time you spend an hour in whatever it is you are passionate about.
Troy White: And when your 1,000 squares are filled up, start a new sheet because I guarantee that your second sheet will fill up quicker because now you know how good it feels. So that would be something I would like to leave that has made an amazing difference in my life.
Ralph Zuranski: What are the things that parents can do that will help their children realize that they too can be heroes and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
Troy White: As parents it is our responsibility to help our kids understand this; it’s not the school’s responsibility, it’s your responsibility. They don’t have to be difficult things, but simple things such as having your kids take money out of their piggy bank and buying toys for underprivileged kids and then being the ones that deliver the toys to those kids and seeing the look on the faces.
Troy White: When they see it firsthand you can see the light bulbs going off in your own kids. It’s an amazing thing when it clicks that that little bit of good that they just did brought that other child tears of joy.
Troy White: Simple things like helping people or helping animals, or helping them understand things like what we’ve been talking about like keeping at it and keep trying. I teach my girls to keep trying. They get frustrated and give up so I show them different angles or different ways to try it just so they get that in their head that there is no failure. They learn that if that way didn’t work, try a different way.
Ralph Zuranski: If they learn that, that would be one of the most valuable things that kids could learn.
Troy White: It’s one of those things I wish they taught more of school, too, so they would have it at home and have it at school. By the time they got out of high school they would be unstoppable.
Ralph Zuranski: Well, Troy, I really appreciate you taking your time to answer some of these questions because it’s always interesting to hear insights of people that I’ve met on the internet that I recognize as heroes for the good things that they are doing. I just really appreciate you taking your time and wonder if you have one parting shot that you wanted to share with us?
Troy White: First, I just want to say thank you, Ralph. This is a wonderful thing you are doing here for the millions of people across the world who will be impacted one way or another through this.
Ralph Zuranski: Thank you, Troy, for being a part of it.
Troy White: One thing I will leave is a quote that I just found but I think it sums it all up for me. It says, “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly which is essentially invisible to the eye.” It’s by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
Troy White: Basically what it says is that you have to trust your heart. That will lead you in the right directions. What you see out there is not the way to go. You have to follow what your heart feels. If you follow your heart and your intuition and your gut feelings you will go far in life.
Troy White: But if all you do is follow what you see in the papers and what you see your friends doing and your family doing and everyone else doing, you are heading in the wrong direction. You have to follow yourself, your true inner feelings. If you follow where those are taking you, you will go far.
Ralph Zuranski: That’s great.
Troy White: Thank you, Ralph. Thank you again. This is fantastic.
Ralph Zuranski: Thanks again, and I really appreciate your time.
Troy White is an internationally recognized marketing coach, expert and copywriter, whose focus is on helping entrepreneurs maximize their lead generation and marketing efforts.
Working with entrepreneurs and small business owners from all over the world gives Troy a unique insight into the challenges entrepreneurs are faced with, and the strategies that build their businesses faster.
Measurable marketing specialist. Focusing in on building marketing campaigns that have measurable results. From online websites and email marketing campaigns, to offline direct mail media and lead generation. Specializing in the copy (the words in your marketing materials).
Outsourced marketing. For small to mid sized firms that want to grow faster than their in-house team can support. From complete outsourcing services, to a project-by-project schedule. Complete with creative concepts, project management, copy creation, graphic design, website creation, newsletters, implementation, split testing and tracking of campaign results.
CEO
Responsive Direct Marketing Implementation Experts
March 2001 — Present (12 years 5 months)
Creating direct marketing campaigns, strategy and execution. From copywriting, pr, usp creation, marketing plans, implementation assistance or complete outsourcing, direct mail, email campaigns, sales letters… and anything else to do with measurable marketing results.