Ralph Zuranski: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski. I’m on the phone with Frank Deardurff. He is one of the top internet web designers and also does a lot of work with Alex Mandossian.
Ralph Zuranski: In the ASK Campaign he was one of the programmers that spent thousands of hours creating that marvelous program that uses the Socratic method to find out what it is the customers actually want. Frank, perhaps you might be able to give us sort of an overview of what it is that you do.
Frank Deardurff: Well, Ralph, what I do is I design what they call direct response web sites and graphics and everything related to web site hook-up and shopping carts. We do customer programming here at Access Café Networks.
Frank Deardurff: I have been in the computer industry for over 20 years doing network consulting in various different computer programs such as AutoCAD, computer graphics, technical illustration, and recently in the past four or five years I have gotten involved in internet marketing.
Frank Deardurff: I have been able to work with people like Alex Mandossian in internet marketing to better incorporate those into my direct response web sites.
Ralph Zuranski: I’ve seen you a lot. In fact I first met you at one of the seminars that I went to. I think it was the Big Seminar in Dallas that was the first place that I met you.
Ralph Zuranski: I was always impressed with your quiet enthusiasm and just your ability to produce incredible web sites with high integrity and gorgeous designs. You worked a lot with Bret Ridgway, too, in the back of the room doing speaker fulfillment.
Ralph Zuranski: I always admired the people that were real servants at the seminars that were quietly working to make a difference in the world for not only the speakers but all the attendees that were there.
Frank Deardurff: Yes, Bret is a good friend of mine. We worked at a sister company at one time together. I go to these events to help him out as well as meet a lot of the people that go. As you know attending seminars such as those are priceless.
Ralph Zuranski: I was always curious what your definition of heroism is.
Frank Deardurff: A hero to me is somebody that you can look up to. It doesn’t need to be somebody like a Michael Jordan or anybody of that sort that is in the limelight.
Frank Deardurff: A hero could be someone you admire and want to be like just for certain qualities that they have or achievements they have done. Somebody you could consider a true role model.
Frank Deardurff: A hero could be somebody like your parents or a teacher who stood out for you at school, or somebody in your local community.
Ralph Zuranski: I had some difficulties when I was a child and it helped me overcome my difficulties. I created a secret hero in my mind that helped encourage me to deal with life’s difficulties. Did you ever create a secret hero like that?
Frank Deardurff: Not so much a secret hero but I also, being from a single-parent home I didn’t have a father role model so that I had to look at other people in my life.
Frank Deardurff: A lot of people just assume that your father, if you are a man, is your role model. My mother inspired me in many ways that I couldn’t even go into at the moment.
Frank Deardurff: But there are also other people that have made an impression in my life that I look to as not necessarily a single hero but some important factors that I learned from them.
Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics and moral behavior? In society today it seems that expediency is more important than following a strict code of ethics.
Ralph Zuranski: Everybody seems to be warring against absolutes as far as “this is right and this is wrong.” It seems that everybody is trying to justify their actions in the pursuit of their goals without any standards.
Frank Deardurff: I have always been brought up in a God-fearing home, not that you are afraid of God but just that you know that there is a price to pay for your actions.
Frank Deardurff: In the school corporations today that is not around, and when I was growing up that was. I think from what you are saying people need to be held accountable for what they do, whether it is good or bad.
Frank Deardurff: You have to take good criticism along with bad criticism and learn from those aspects. But you also have to have set certain standards that you can live by, something you aren’t going to be embarrassed or ashamed of saying, “Yes, I did that.”
Ralph Zuranski: You think that it’s important to have personal integrity?
Frank Deardurff: I think so, yes.
Ralph Zuranski: What are the principles you are willing to sacrifice your life for? I know there has been a question about running into a burning building to save the life of somebody. But there is more of another silent sacrifice of somebody who takes care of somebody in their family or just does a quiet good job on doing the things that they should.
Frank Deardurff: I think those are the most rewarding. I think some rewards are just maybe you are helping a small child or you see a person in need. If you don’t think, “What am I going to get out of this” before you do it I think that is actually truly a good deed. You aren’t looking to get some reward out of it.
Ralph Zuranski: What was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life path to one of victory over all obstacles?
Frank Deardurff: I try to live very optimistically. To say that I had a low point it’s hard to pick out a low point. My mother has always envisioned in us or passed onto us that you always look for the good things in life no matter what it be.
Frank Deardurff: Coming from a single-parent childhood where there were four kids, my mother never allowed us to think that we were poor or did without. We always had food on the table. We never stopped to think that it wasn’t steak and baked potatoes.
Frank Deardurff: Trying to look for a low point I don’t know if that is possible.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have a dream or vision that sets a course for your life?
Frank Deardurff: A dream or a vision that I have always had, coming from the home that I did, I’ve always had the vision to be able to support myself without having to ask how much something is as well as being able to tell my mom to retire and to say, “Thanks for taking care of me, Mom. Now it’s my turn for you.”
Ralph Zuranski: That’s great. Do you think that it’s important to take a positive view of any set backs, misfortunes or mistakes that we make?
Frank Deardurff: Well, I love quotes. Benjamin Franklin said that a mistake is truly a mistake if you learn nothing from it. I live my life by that as well as trying to be as positive as possible and always trying to look for the good things no matter what the situation is.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think that it takes courage to pursue new ideas?
Frank Deardurff: Oh yeah. Starting a business on my own or with a partner, leaving a guaranteed paycheck to do something I love and enjoy, trying to help other people. That took a lot of courage for me, having a family that I am trying to support. I think it takes a lot of courage no matter what you do.
Ralph Zuranski: It takes sometimes that courage to make changes in your life. One of the consequences of that is experiencing discomfort or just realizing how hard it is sometimes to make your dream come true. Do you think that it’s important to be willing to experience discomfort?
Frank Deardurff: Yes, sometimes you have to. Sometimes you have to do without to get ahead.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you believe that your dreams will eventually become reality?
Frank Deardurff: I know they will.
Ralph Zuranski: So you feel that it’s important to have faith in your belief that your dreams will become reality?
Frank Deardurff: Several of the books that we have read growing up or in the past, and I’m thinking of Think and Grow Rich, The Millionaire Mindset and stuff like that. I think you have to envision it. I think you have to believe it to achieve it.
Ralph Zuranski: Everybody has doubts and fears in their lives. How do you overcome your doubts and fears?
Frank Deardurff: Faith. Talking with my loved ones and my peers or my mentors.
Ralph Zuranski: Is there anybody who gives you will power to change things in your life for better other than just the members of your family?
Frank Deardurff: Other than the members of my family? That would be my mentors, my business partners, the people who are in some of the masterminds that I am involved in.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think that it’s important to forgive those that upset, offend and oppose you?
Frank Deardurff: I think you have to. I think, not to get Biblical on you, but I think before you can be forgiven you have to forgive those that have done things against you.
Ralph Zuranski: I believe that is true. Do you experience service to others as a source of joy?
Frank Deardurff: Yes.
Ralph Zuranski: What place does the power of prayer have in your life?
Frank Deardurff: Daily, regularly, both in trouble and not in trouble.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you feel that it’s important to maintain a sense of humor in the face of serious problems?
Frank Deardurff: Yes. I think it can be overdone but I think happiness keeps us healthy. Laughter keeps us healthy.
Ralph Zuranski: Who are the heroes in your life?
Frank Deardurff: I have a couple of sports heroes. How they carried themselves on the field as well as off the field. People like Walter Payton and Mike Singletary. They had a strong faith and believed in what they did on the field.
Frank Deardurff: But I also looked up to people around me, people that I worked with. There are countless. Of course my biggest hero would be my mother.
Ralph Zuranski: Yes. Why do you think heroes are important in young people’s lives?
Frank Deardurff: I think it gives them somebody to look up to and somebody they try to image themselves after.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think there are any heroes in our society today that aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve?
Frank Deardurff: Daily. There are many unsung heroes, too numerous to count I would imagine, such as people who work at the Salvation Army or the food stores for the needy.
Frank Deardurff: They go to those day in and day out without worrying about recognition. I think those people are unsung heroes.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you have any good solutions to the problems facing society today, especially racism, child and spouse abuse, and violence among young people?
Frank Deardurff: Education needs to be done. I don’t think people understand how bad some of the things are with spousal abuse. I know there are different agencies that help. And I say spousal abuse goes both ways.
Frank Deardurff: There are many kids in the countries I have worked with. Some volunteer agencies for youth groups where we see kids that get locked out of their homes and can’t come home until after dark.
Frank Deardurff: They are left to defend for themselves for food. So they have to go to food shelters or do without. I think people need to be educated better about what is out there so that more people can help.
Ralph Zuranski: If you had three wishes for your life and the world that would instantly come true what would they be?
Frank Deardurff: Three wishes for my life would be that I could be a better role model for my kids. There are things I wish I had done differently in the past. You always try to be the best that you can be and you hope that you have. The goal that I had of being financially sound so that I could help more people. And maybe educate other people so they can do the same.
Ralph Zuranski: What do you think about the In Search of Heroes program and its impact on the youth, parents and business people? You were one of the first people to offer to help with logos and web creation and I really appreciate your help on that. What do you think about the program in general?
Frank Deardurff: I think it is a great program and I’m surprised how many people have put forth an effort to try to help you out.
Ralph Zuranski: Yea, that’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Frank Deardurff: People that you know are very, very busy and that have taken the time to step aside and take a few minutes to help you out or give of their abilities.
Frank Deardurff: Of course all the time and effort that you are putting into it, the countless hours and the interviews and the preparations and the mind-mapping and everything that you have got into it I think is overwhelming.
Ralph Zuranski: It’s really a lot of work. That is for sure. But making the world a better place is something that God has put on my heart to do and no matter what I am going to do it.
Ralph Zuranski: What do you think are the things parents can do that will help their children realize that they too can be heroes and make a positive impact on the lives on others?
Frank Deardurff: Communicate. I think if they communicate that sometimes the goodness that they do is the only goodness that some people see and that you need to live your life like somebody is watching you.
Frank Deardurff: Not regardless of just flat out fly by the seat of your pants and don’t care what happens. What more parents need to communicate with their kids on a daily basis just to find out what they are going through.
Frank Deardurff: Schools are different than what they were when we were growing up and sometimes kids are afraid or embarrassed to even speak about that with their parents. But I think as parents we need to communicate and ask questions, not just be told.
Ralph Zuranski: Yes, I agree. Well, Frank, I know how busy you are and I really appreciate you taking your time to do this interview. Is there any parting thought you want to share with the young people?
Frank Deardurff: I just wanted to thank you for allowing me to be a part of this and I hope that any of the children that listen to this, no matter the age, from two to 20 or whatever, or even the adults that listen, there are still kids in each of us, I hope that they take the time to ask when they need help.
Ralph Zuranski: I really appreciate your sound advice and just look at you as a person that produces excellence in a quiet and unassuming way. To me you are sort of the epitome of what heroism is all about.
Frank Deardurff: I appreciate that, Ralph.
Ralph Zuranski: Thanks again, Frank.
Frank Deardurff: Thank you, Ralph.
Frank E. Deardurff III — ThatOneWebGuy.com CoFounder of AskDatabase.com and MasterMindInABox.com and CEO of Orange Pixel, Inc. & President of That One Corporation which are a network consulting and web applications design firm located in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Projects you may have seen include Campaigns for Alex Mandossian’s AccessToLeaders.com, where we have built sites for Les Brown (AskLesBrown.com), Brian Tracy (JustAskBrian.com) and Stephen Covey (AskStephenCovey.com).
Additional Web clients have been Armand Morin, Mark Victor Hansen, Lorrie Morgan Ferrero (Red-Hot-Copy.com) just to name a few as well as putting out fires for many of the top online marketers.
Frank has a back-ground covering more than 25 years in graphic design and technical illustration, and has been a Microsoft Certified Professional since 1999 and Certified Novell Administrator since 1996.
Frank has been in partnerships with Willie Crawford (Change-Web-Hosts.com), Armand Morin (CBClicks.com), Joshua Mitchell (MastermindInABox.com, WPAffiliateToolbox, etc.) and Alex Mandossian (ASKDatabase.com The worlds first and still only search engine for survey data.)
Frank Also leads a couple of mastermind sessions during the week and has spoken at a several events, hosted many teleseminar’s webinar’s training.