Ralph Zuranski: What is your definition of heroism?
Carl Galletti: That is a good thing to take a look at. I think a hero is someone who inspires you to be better than you think you can be, and inspires greatness in you and makes you realize that there is something you can achieve in your life.
Ralph Zuranski: Did you ever create a secret hero in your mind that helped you deal with life’s difficulties?
Carl Galletti: I didn’t have an especially difficult life when I was younger although if you would have asked me when I was younger I probably would have had a different opinion. When I look back on it compared to the difficulties other people had I really didn’t have it all that bad.
Carl Galletti: My family didn’t have much money but we didn’t starve at any point and I had clothes on my back. I wasn’t able to do some luxurious things but I got by, but in my own mind there were a number of heroes through my lifetime and in my early days I usually adopted sports figures as heroes. For example, my heroes growing up as a kid were Rodger Maris and Mickey Mantel.
Carl Galletti: My dad took me to the New York Yankee baseball games and one time we even went back and waited for the players to come out and got their autographs and everything. I’ll tell you, one of my heroes is my dad although I don’t think I ever realized he was a hero before.
Carl Galletti: When we were out getting autographs and this is a cute story but Yogi Bear came out and I got an autograph from him, and then he walked to his car which was just right on the street there and he got in and he was trying to pull out into the traffic and the traffic was heavy and no one would let him in, so my dad went in the street and stopped the traffic and waved Yogi in.
Carl Galletti: There have always been a lot of heroes in my life. Thomas Edison was a hero in my life and the reason is, you know a lot of people you can take a look at and they are famous because of things they have done and they’ll evolve things that are not terribly helpful to people but they are political figures or whatever, but Thomas Edison invented things that really helped people and I thought he improved the world quite a bit.
Carl Galletti: He invented the phonograph the movie camera, things like that. I‘ve had other kind of mentor heroes in my life like Ben Franklin, Napoleon Hill. Then there are lesser known ones in the area of, my area of copy writing and marketing Robert Collier for one and Clyde Hopkins and a number of those people who are famous within my little world of copy writing and marketing and advertising.
Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics and moral behavior?
Carl Galletti: I think it is an imperative and the thing is that many people in business especially don’t realize is that your integrity can be a selling tool because it is rare now to have people that you deal with to have integrity that it’s a real unique advantage to whatever you are doing.
Carl Galletti: So, having integrity, it’s not just a selling tool, it also makes you feel so much better about yourself, and that is probably the most important part of it. How it makes you feel about yourself, for example, and everybody has had this situation; you go in to a store, you buy something, you get change and you get more money than you are suppose to, the clerk made a mistake.
Carl Galletti: It happens less often now, where the cash register tells you how much to give the customer but even then sometimes they make a mistake, and the question is “What do you do at that point?” Nobodies going to know that you’ve got a few extra cents or dollars or whatever you got out of it.
Carl Galletti: I found that whenever that happens I bring to the clerks attention and get it corrected and I feel so much better, it makes you feel so good that you’re doing that, and I am not so sure exactly why even, but it’s like one of those make you feel good type instances in your life, you know you can’t buy that feeling.
Ralph Zuranski: What principles are you willing to sacrifice your life for?
Carl Galletti: I think sacrificing your life off of a battlefield and out of an emergency situation to where you have to do it day in and day out requires a heck of a lot more courage and fortitude than doing it on a battlefield, not that doing it on a battlefield isn’t exemplarily or even in an emergency.
Carl Galletti: But in most cases your not even thinking your just doing and you’ll find people who are courageous because when it cuts right down to it, the split second they can’t think they can only act, and they act according to their principles, and their principles tell them “Go for it, do it, save this persons life and risk your life to do it, it is worth while.”
Carl Galletti: And all that contemplating happens in a fraction of a second. When you are doing something where you actually have to make a calculated decision and sacrifices that you have time to think about, I think it requires, I think it requires a lot more courage on an ongoing basis.
Ralph Zuranski: When was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life path to one of victory over all obstacles?
Carl Galletti: Well, I am not sure I can connect well with a particular low point, there probably were several, but I think I can definitely say that what kind of kept me going were my heroes in my life, and their words, and the books that I read that basically laid out a philosophy of life.
Carl Galletti: People like Napoleon Hill and Ben Franklin and motivational speakers and things that I have read in books and things that I have listened to on tapes for motivation wise, it’s all about knowing that you have a purpose, and you have to also figure that you’ll have times in your life when your in a not so good situation and the thing is if you look at them as kind of tests and “I’m going to work my way out of this” and have hope for it and believe in yourself that you can do better.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have a dream or vision that sets the course of your life?
Carl Galletti: Well, I think in my own particular case, I want to be an academy award winning director. You know, I am probably in a practical sense, I am too old and I am not pursuing the career, although I have gone to film school, but it is just something that I set up, and what does internet marketing have to do with that, nothing seemingly on the surface, but there are actually a number of things that do have to do with it, on a creative level, having to do with similar kinds of things.
Carl Galletti: I am not sure I will ever get to that point but the way I look at it is whatever I am doing I try to do to a quality point of view to be capable of performing at that level.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you take a positive view of setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes?
Carl Galletti: I think you always have to have a positive view as much as you can and sometimes when you’re in the mist of it, it is much more difficult than when you are making some progress out of it, but one of the techniques that is very useful is, don’t think you have to solve it all at once. Just do a little piece of it at a time; just do something that is positive.
Carl Galletti: A lot of people do this when they are upset or depressed or something hasn’t gone their way, they go out and do something that they enjoy doing, like shopping or taking a hike.
Carl Galletti: For me it would probably listening to some music that I like. You know, listening to music is a very powerful force. You can listen to music and it kind of tunes you in to a wave length, a mental wavelength and you want to get obviously you want to try to get things that are positive but sometimes when you are not feeling so up on things some of the positive things are not so pleasing and comforting to you and sometimes it might just be a blues thing where somebody’s singing the blues about how tough things are for them and it kind of gives you comfort in the fact that you are not the only one, and you work your way up from that. Or else enjoy going to a movie and one of the best things you can do if you are down is watch comedy.
Ralph Zuranski: Are you an optimist?
Carl Galletti: Yes. I think there is no upside to having a negative view of life. In fact it is self defeating because a very negative view of life will tend to give you an even more negative situation than you are in. The important thing is when you are in a negative situation, or even in a positive situation, you always need to picture positive stuff and move toward positive stuff.
Carl Galletti: If you do that, and that is part of the imaging process and I know when I first came into contact with this whole imaging thing, I said, “Well geese does anybody really do this”, the thing I found is no, not everybody, only the successful people, and of course if that is the direction you want to go, that is basically what to do.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have the courage to pursue new ideas?
Carl Galletti: A have to have a tremendous amount of courage. There should be academy awards for people who have courage to do what they would like to do regardless of the opposition they get from the people around them.
Carl Galletti: Unfortunately very often it is the people that are closest to them, and even the community sometimes that holds them back, but you know, the thing you have got to realize is that when it comes down to it, there is no one that is accountable for your life other than you.
Carl Galletti: You need to be responsible for what it is you do and where you go, and if it means that you have got to maybe separate yourself from the people that you have been with for a long while who are holding you back and make some new friends than you need to take those steps to do that.
Carl Galletti: That is your responsibility, and when you are in better shape to be able to look upon those people as not having so much influence on you anymore then you can go back and meet them and still enjoy friendships with them and whatever, but it is very true that your income is determined by the average income of the six closest friends that you have. So, you need to get a better class of friends if your friends are holding you back.
Ralph Zuranski: Were you willing to experience discomfort in the pursuit of your dream?
Carl Galletti: I think it is how you frame it. I kind of look at it as an adventure and if you look at it as an adventure than what you are doing is you are going off looking for new things to happen. You are looking for new and good things to happen and if you do that than more of those are going to happen.
Carl Galletti: Now, if you really tune into the negative stuff you may go out looking for the good things and you may find that not everything you run in to is good. You need to recognize, “Ok, that is not so good; let me go on to something else.”
Carl Galletti: And that is kind of easier for me to say, in the position that I am in, that when you are down and out it is very often not that clear that there is a clearer road ahead of you. You just need to have a strong feeling and belief that there is something there for you because there is something there for everybody. There is a way out for everyone and the way out is never not there.
Ralph Zuranski: Did you believe your dreams would eventually become reality?
Carl Galletti: Absolutely. In fact I don’t believe there is anything else you should believe in other than your dreams. Follow your passion is basically what your guiding light in you life should be. If your passion is model railroading and you just can’t figure out how to make a living out of it, don’t worry about it, be a model railroader and get in to it real deep.
Carl Galletti: You will figure out a way to make a living out of it. But follow your passion, whatever it is. I just pulled model railroading out of the sky here, I am not even a model railroader, although I did have trains when I was a kid, but it doesn’t matter what it is but just find your passion. I think a lot of people have given up on their passion and so you need to really ignite your dreams and one way to really do that is get a hold of some songs that are tuned into that dream.
Carl Galletti: Mariah Carey has a song called Hero, Debbie Boone, You light up my life, there are some things that Bette Midler and Judy Collins did that are real inspirational, but just things that inspire you that have a hopeful tune to them. Listen to that stuff; get inspired, what ever it is. Everybody has something different that inspires them and you need to find that and if you don’t have anything than you need to search for something to inspire you.
Ralph Zuranski: How were you able to overcome your doubts and fears?
Carl Galletti: I realized you don’t need to be afraid of it. There was this famous spiritual person and I forget who but I think I heard this from Wayne Dyer, but he said “Why worry, if you can do something about a situation why worry because you can do something about it.” Right? So just do something about it, and if you can’t do something about it, then why worry about it? You can’t do anything about it anyway.”
Carl Galletti: So, if you have that attitude… but know that you are going to fail, and failure is not something you need to fear. Failure is something that you need to do, get up, get over and get on with it, because it is going to happen. The most successful people probably in fact fail more than most other people because they know that failure is not the end of the road, failure is the beginning of the road.
Carl Galletti: This in one of my favorite things about Edison, and people quote this all the time, he was looking for the electric light and he had done 10,000 experiments that had failed and he was asked how it felt to fail 10,000 times and he says, “I haven’t failed 10,000 times, I found 10,000 ways that don’t work. That means I am closer to the solution, I know 10,000 ways that don’t work and I am running out of way to try.” And he eventually invented the electric light.
Ralph Zuranski: Who helped give you the willpower to change things in you life for the better?
Carl Galletti: I think a lot of people have. I don’t think there is any just one person personally; it’s more like people I have met through books because one of the wonderful things I have learned through books that, first of all you can meet a higher class of people. You can really commune with the great people of the world.
Carl Galletti: A library to me is like a sacred place, it is a place where you can go and truly rest on the shoulders of the giants. I think it was either Earl Nightingale or Joe Cosman or it may have been both who related that to me. Libraries used to be a little better about this but they kind of have just thrown away the new books and have just kept the new ones.
Carl Galletti: There are still libraries around that do have the old books, and also one of my favorite things is going to used book stores. The kind of used book stores that carry the older books because those…. There are some really great people that came before us, and studying them is like having a private mentor. They have the foresight to sit down and convey they’re knowledge through a book.
Carl Galletti: It probably took them thirty, forty or fifty years to acquire the knowledge, but they sit down and they summarize it all in to a book. Then you read that book and you can capitalize that, you can profit from it, learn from it, you can be inspired by it.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you readily forgive those who upset, offend and oppose you?
Carl Galletti: Yes it is, but it is real difficult to do for most people. It is easier to say you forgive someone than to actually do it. I think it more has to do with you forgiving yourself for what harsh feelings you have for the person. The best way to treat someone who has done something in the past you didn’t like is just to forget about them, you know.
Carl Galletti: You can do the forgive thing and say you forgive them but that doesn’t mean you want to be connected with them anymore and just put them out of your life. Because if you don’t do that and you get angry toward them or if you have thoughts of revenge toward them then you bring them closer to you.
Carl Galletti: You are making them part of your experience. So the only way to make them not part of your experience is to say “Look, I forgive you, it is in the past, I can’t do anything more about it, I don’t want to be involved with you anymore so just go on about your way and I will go on about my way and we can just part company.”
Ralph Zuranski: Do you experience service to others as a source of joy?
Carl Galletti: Absolutely, it is one of the greatest sources of joy to help others and in fact one of the secrets of true success. I think Zig Ziggler said it best, he said, and I am paraphrasing but it was something like “If you want to be successful at what you are doing help other people be successful at what they are doing.
Ralph Zuranski: What place does the power of prayer have in your life?
Carl Galletti: I think everybody has their own version of what prayer is. I know when I was growing up prayer was one thing for me and now it is something less like what I consider it was for me when I was a kid which was of course being brought up as Catholic and sitting there reciting the Lords prayer or other prayers which by the way is still a very good thing to do, the Lords prayer is an excellent thing.
Carl Galletti: My favorite one though is the 23rd song. I have taken to memorizing that thing and it is one of the most beautiful pros of poetry even that you can imagine. It is very inspirational to me but you know prayer is something that goes beyond what is standardly considered to be prayers; it goes in to things that were written by other people that are inspiring.
Carl Galletti: Meditation is very close to prayer as well, and for me prayer is less like “Oh please God give me a million dollars” and more like being at peace and at one with the higher power.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you maintain your sense of humor in the face of serious problems?
Carl Galletti: Humor is absolutely essential if you can maintain it and sometimes that is difficult, but humor is just so important, like I said doing something like watching comedy is so therapeutic for anything, like if you are sick. Norman Cousins used to prescribe that in his book, if you are having some health issues to just watch some comedy. He said people that did that their health improved.
Ralph Zuranski: Who are the HEROES in your life?
Carl Galletti: You know I am inspired by most people I come in contact with. I am inspired by the people I do business with like my colleges and part of that is because I have kind of acclimated to the kind of people I enjoy being around who have a common interest that I have and they are just the kind of people I enjoy being with.
Carl Galletti: It’s amazing I run in to so many different people who are inspiring in so many different ways that I guess you can say there are a lot of those people and it is interesting because I think one of the things that has happened is my store of heroes has multiplies remarkably from a few far away sports heroes to everyone around me.
Carl Galletti: My grandmother was an inspiration to me as well when I was growing up; she was a real hero for me. I didn’t realize it at the time but when ever I needed something or wanted to go to the store and get ice cream or candy or something I would go to her and ask her for money and she would give me a quarter or whatever and I didn’t realize how difficult that must have been for her at the time but she was a widow on a pension.
Carl Galletti: So, later on in life I realized just how significant it was for her to give me that little bit of money, although in those days it was worth a lot more than it is today but never the less it was on a widows pension. She didn’t get very much money. She to me was probably the closest I ever came to meeting a saint. She always did good things for other people and she wouldn’t talk about doing things for other people she just did things.
Carl Galletti: She didn’t buy nice clothes for herself, she didn’t have the money to and she didn’t really care to. I realized this later on in life because when I was starting to be successful and having some money I realized what she had done for me when I was a kid and I thought I would give her some money because here she is, she doesn’t ever spend any money on herself, so I tried to give her some money and she wouldn’t take it.
Carl Galletti: So I ended up taking a twenty dollar bill or something and I would hide it to where she would find it eventually but she wouldn’t know how or when it got there.
Ralph Zuranski: Who do you think are the HEROES today that are not getting the recognition they deserve?
Carl Galletti: Lots of them and most of them are everyday people. The biggest people in the world are the people who do not get recognized for what they do, because it takes a lot more courage to do things for other people when you are not recognized and rewarded for it in a public fashion.
Carl Galletti: You know it is a lot easier to be a baseball player who is looked up to as a hero from thousands or even millions of kids then it is to be a father who grows up and is a hero to just his own children.
Ralph Zuranski: Why are HEROES so important in the lives of young people?
Carl Galletti: Well because they inspire them. You know all young people have a basic thing they need to get through, that every young person had to get through and that is a lack of confidence in themselves. When you are growing up you’re a kid, you are managed by your parents, your teachers, your clergy, all sorts of authority figures. You’re the low person on the poll and it tends to instill a lack of confidence.
Carl Galletti: It is made up for by the fact that young people are kind of resilient to that factor anyway but at that point there needs to be this transition there is some point where the child needs to become an adult.
Carl Galletti: Going from that place where people tell you how to act you need to become that person who knows how to act and tells other people how to act and how are you going to do that if you don’t have people in your life to show you that example.
Ralph Zuranski: How does it feel to be recognized as an Internet HERO?
Carl Galletti: I am quite honored actually. I don’t think of myself as a hero, I think I probably think more of myself as someone who would like to be a hero and would certainly like to live up to that.
Ralph Zuranski: Why do you think you were selected for this unique honor?
Carl Galletti: Well, you probably saw something in me that you liked that you thought was probably hero quality and I appreciate that.
Ralph Zuranski: How are you making the world a better place?
Carl Galletti: I am teaching people how to be successful in their own businesses as entrepreneurs on the internet and my secret aspirations in the movie business where I would like to actually make movies that inspire people.
Carl Galletti: My favorite movie of all time and this is very telling is It’s a Wonderful Life and by the way if you are really feeling down about something and are needed to be uplifted comedies will certainly work but watch It’s a Wonderful Life, and don’t just watch it once, make a habit of it.
Carl Galletti: To me and especially around Christmas time I watch it several times and I will tell you, every time I watch the movie I get something more out of it. It is something that touches your heart. The point in the movie at the end is that no man is a failure that has friends. George Daley is probably my number one hero and he isn’t even a real figure. He was made up by the writers but that scene at the end where he finds out just how important he was to the people around him that is my hero.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have any good solutions to the problems facing society, especially racism, child and spousal abuse and violence among young people?
Carl Galletti: I think you need to think globally and act locally, I think is the phrase. In other words you need to consider all the ways people can get along with each other and respect each other and be an example of that in your own life.
Ralph Zuranski: If you had three wishes for your life and the world, that would instantly come true, what would they be?
Carl Galletti: Peace on Earth, the end of all suffering and if we had all that it would Utopia. That would almost be sufficient. Let’s see if I can pick a third one…. Oh, peace on earth, the end of all suffering and an academy award for being the best director.
Ralph Zuranski: What do you think about the “In Search Of Heroes” Program and its impact on youth, parents and business people?
Carl Galletti: I think this is a greatly needed program and it has been a long time coming. It needs to be spread out there to people who need it and want it. I think it is an integral part in bringing people who are not normally known as heroes and put them in contact with people who need heroes and can be greatly inspired by them.
Ralph Zuranski: What are the things parents can do that will help their children realize they too can be HEROES and make a positive impact on the lives of others?
Carl Galletti: I think they need to have their own heroes too because one of the things you are doing here is you are asking the people who are involved in your In Search of Heroes Program who their heroes are, so parents need to have their heroes who inspire them to be good parents in a good parenting way and not just in a good parenting way but just good people, and to cure the wounds that they had when they were growing up because we all have those and that ok, we need to just not pass them along as much as we can. You know I am speaking realistically here because when it really comes down to it…
Carl Galletti: If you are not perfect, if you haven’t been doing it perfect that is ok too, just do better. That is the point, no one expects you to be perfect they just expect you to do better. So work on some of those things, be better, be a better person, be a better example for your children.
Carl Galletti: Let them also be their own person. I raised three kids and I am sure I did not do a perfect job but one of the things I did do is I allowed them to be their own person, to let them chose what it is they wanted to be without me pushing them in any direction.
Carl Galletti: I helped them as much as I could but I did not pick anything for them to do. I wanted them not to be hindered by me putting pressure and control on them to do something that I wanted them to do because what I wanted them to do is what ever they wanted to do that inspires them.
Check out his web sites:
http://www.CarlGalletti.com
http://www.AdSecrets.com
http://www.CopyCoach.com