The Truth About Dyslexia with Willie Blake

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County living presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. I love the time. 

You're not going to show up! You're not going to show up! I never went to the office. It's kind of a few seconds of hours of work. Just don't, it's kind of like five minutes. No, no, no, it's not. It is! 

Rich Bennett 0:27
What if the very thing you were told was holding you back was actually your greatest advantage? For millions of people, dyslexia is seen as a limitation. Something to make school harder, careers more challenging, and confidence harder to hold on to. But what if the problem isn't dyslexia itself? What if it's the way we've been taught to think about it? Today's guest grew up believing he was broken. Diagnosed with dyslexia in the first grade, he spent years trying to keep up, trying to hide his struggle, and trying to fit into a system that wasn't built for the way his brain worked. And like many people with dyslexia, he wrestled with self-doubt, perfectionism, and the constant feeling of being one step behind. But at some point, everything shifted. Instead of trying to outrun dyslexia, he decided to lead with it. Today, Willie Blake is a high-performance coach helping dyslexic professionals and entrepreneurs turn what they once saw as a weakness into a competitive advantage. Through coaching, speaking, and community, he helps people move from overwhelmed and overthinking the clarity, confidence, and momentum. His approach is built around what he calls the light philosophy. Love, inspiration, gratitude, hope, and time. A mindset framework designed to help people embrace who they are and build a life of purpose and success. He's also the creator of resources like the dyslexic achievers blueprint and breaking free, where he helps people identify the mental chains that keep them stuck and replace them with practical strategies for progress. And his message is simple, but powerful. You're not broken. You're wired differently. And that difference might just be your superpower. Wow. How's it going there, coach Willie? 

Willie Blake 2:33
I'll tell you guys a man, what an intro! Rich, I'm excited for today. 

Rich Bennett 2:39
Oh, I love raising awareness on different issues. And as we mentioned in the green, or I mentioned in the green room, we've talked about this like a few times and it never hurts to keep talking about it and talk about it more. But you spent years believing you were broken because of dyslexia, correct? 

Willie Blake 3:01
Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 3:01
Yeah. All right, so take us back to that moment in your life. When did you first start feeling like you had to hide it or try to keep up with everybody else? 

Willie Blake 3:12
Hmm. It was toward the end of elementary school, just like 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, because I was diagnosed in the first grade. 

Rich Bennett 3:21
Right. 

Willie Blake 3:22
Learned about it that it was the struggle and difficulty with reading, speaking, and writing. I'm like, cool. So we caught it early enough to where my parents intervened, and like for the last hour of each Friday, we'd go, or I would go out of class to go to a different classroom to hang out with other kids who were dyslexic. And we'd do like flashcards and games and all that fun stuff. Then throughout the school year and into 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, I started seeing my friends not really want to be around me anymore because they're like, who's this kid that all the sudden he's going to different classrooms? What's he doing there? And then when he realizes that he's with other special kids who struggle with whatever they struggle with, well, who wants to hang out with the struggling kid? 

So you could just imagine the impact that was as a kid. And I don't have to imagine it because I 

Rich Bennett 4:21
it. 

Willie Blake 4:21
lived 

Rich Bennett 4:21
Right. 

Willie Blake 4:22
And it's like that feeling of I was super curious and just this adventurous kid. But schooling society, just the kids who didn't know what they were doing because they were kids, it just kind of like started chipping away at that really adventurous willy. To then I became really shy. I always second-guessed everything, even if I had the right answer. And like, let's fast forward to high school, even if I had the right answer. And I knew it. It was on my paper. I did the math equation. Alright, I would wait 10 seconds and 15 seconds. And then someone else would raise their hand and say the answer, you know, and the teacher would be like, "Yeah, that's right!" And I'd be start beating myself up and saying, "Man, I had the right answer the whole time. Why didn't I just speak up?" But then the other part is, "Well, what if I spoke up and made the mistake?" 

Rich Bennett 5:17
Mm-hmm. 

Willie Blake 5:17
Well then everyone would be judging, everybody would be laughing at me. And so I decided, "Well, maybe I'll just stay behind." Maybe I just won't raise my voice. Any time I have to say something, I have to think about All 360 degrees each way before I do anything. 

Rich Bennett 5:38
it. 

Willie Blake 5:38
The 

Rich Bennett 5:38
Right. 

Willie Blake 5:39
filter felt like a break that I had to go through. And so that's what it was like. It was that kid who, you see, smiling in the street, just enjoying it, turned into this broken shell of a person who had to put up so many walls, just because of the things that happened to him. 

Rich Bennett 5:59
And you were diagnosed in first grade. 

Willie Blake 6:01
Yeah, first grade. 

Rich Bennett 6:03
What was it that, I guess it was your parents that, was it your parents or the teacher that said, "Something's not right. You have to take Willie to the doctor." 

Willie Blake 6:14
It was. So our school, I don't know what program they were doing. I just remember, we, all the kids stood up in class, teacher walked us down the hallway to a separate classroom, filtered us in one by one. And when we got up to the desk of the five desks that were there, they had us read a piece of paper, out loud. 

Rich Bennett 6:35
Okay. 

Willie Blake 6:35
And so it was that reading. And as I read, it took a long time to get through the big words. I had to sound them out. I was stuttering, took me, probably two or three times longer than everyone else. And so at the end of that, I think that was one of the indications of Willie might have dyslexia. And then I, and then I don't remember it, but I'm sure they 

Rich Bennett 6:56
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 6:56
did like a few other tests. And then they told my parents, yeah, we think that Willie has dyslexia. And so that's, tha around the time I was diagnosed. 

Rich Bennett 7:07
That, because I mean, I think first grade and I don't even know, I mean, guys, been a lot of times since I've been in elementary 

Willie Blake 7:16
school. 

Rich Bennett 7:16
I'm trying to think what my daughter was in first grade, but I'm trying to remember when they started reading. Was it actually in first grade or is it kindergarten? 

Willie Blake 7:24
It's kindergarten. So I have a six, I have a six year old, she's in kindergarten right now. And they're starting, they started the letters at the beginning of the year. And now my daughter can be able to read words. 

Rich Bennett 7:34
Okay, so she, she, I'm not the issue about that is dyslexia hereditary. Or do you know, 

Willie Blake 7:46
yes and no. 

Rich Bennett 7:47
Okay, 

Willie Blake 7:48
it has to deal with the way that the brains wired and the difference of that. But I do know it can't, it is genetic just because of the whole DNA, the way 

Rich Bennett 8:02
brain. 

Willie Blake 8:02
that the It's an everything, but also people there have been studies to where people who don't have parents or grandparents who are dyslexic, all of a sudden are dyslexic and are 

Rich Bennett 8:13
Right. 

Willie Blake 8:13
diagnosed. So it's really both. It can be genetic and it can also just come up later in life. 

Rich Bennett 8:20
Okay. Are you so back in elementary school when you were diagnosed with dyslexia and in first grade. I'm sure you didn't know what it was. But how was it? And you already said you had problems, you know, being part, you know, playing with the other kids and everything. But even as you got older and them seemed kids, when was it they finally understood and you what dyslexia actually is? 

Willie Blake 8:53
To be compared, like totally transparent, I still don't think like they totally know what dyslexia 

Rich Bennett 9:02
is. Okay. 

Willie Blake 9:04
Because we he so many people hear the word dyslexia. And usually when I bring it up in like networking events or that,they're  like, oh, so you read backwards. I'm 

Rich Bennett 9:14
Huh? 

Willie Blake 9:14
like, that's one part of it. That's one part of it of where sometimes it, the dyslexics like switch the words 

Rich Bennett 9:22
Right. 

Willie Blake 9:22
or a B looks like a D. And that's the common thing that happens. But that's just one part. Other parts are it comes down to the way in which we process information. 

Rich Bennett 9:32
Right 

Willie Blake 9:33
from going in that's how we interpret it and then how we communicate it outward. And so so many people and that's why I love talking about it because we're starting to actually bring awareness to what it is 

Rich Bennett 9:46
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 9:46
is that. 

Is dyslexia is so many different things depending on the person. It just goes into the meaning of this being difficult and then Lexia being reading. 

But my friends, I don't think they totally understand, unless we had a conversation about it. What it's 

Rich Bennett 10:08
right. Alright, so with dyslexia, there's not different types because I for some reason, I might be thinking of something else, but I thought like math could play into a role with some of some people with dyslexia. 

Willie Blake 10:25
Yeah, 100%. No, you're you're you're right. Yeah, so just the it's like if you were to go into like autism, there's different spectrums and different ways with it. You got dyslexia, which deals with reading. Then you got like 

Rich Bennett 10:41
right, 

Willie Blake 10:42
graphia, which deals with writing, and you got dyscalculia, which deals with math, difficulty, 

Rich Bennett 10:47
ah, 

Willie Blake 10:48
math. So there's like different versions, but usually all go under this umbrella called dyslexia. 

Rich Bennett 10:55
Okay, I thought there was something with math and I could remember which one it was, you know, I just know I suck at math period. I mean, I don't what can I say that's that's just me. Um, so and I don't know if you can remember this, but when your parents found out, do you, or he first grade, I'm sure you didn't know what the reaction was, but as you get older, did you ask him that? What was the reaction once they found out? 

Willie Blake 11:27
You know funny enough, I'd never ask them 

Rich Bennett 11:31
that. Really? 

Willie Blake 11:31
Like they're, they're initial reaction, but by golly out like I'm after this, I'm going to jump on the phone with my mom and ask her about that. That's so interesting, I can't believe I never thought about that before. So no, I don't know, but maybe, like when this episode comes out, wherever it is, I'll find a way to like put a comment on it to say what my mom, what that reaction 

Rich Bennett 11:54
was. You know what? 

Willie Blake 11:56
Interested 

Rich Bennett 11:57
now, now you got me, now you got me thinking it's like, hmm, well, maybe we need to get your mom on another episode too and talk about that. Because I mean, a lot of parents would get scared. 

Willie Blake 12:11
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 12:11
And they wouldn't know what to do. Um, I'll be honest if you got it. Of course, my daughter's older in my son's older, but if they did, I don't know what I would do. You know, if anything, whether, whether it be dyslexia, autism, 80, well, actually, I think we all have ADHD and some, 

Willie Blake 12:34
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 12:35
not very obvious with you. I know I probably have it. Who knows? And I think my daughter does too. But, you know, I see elementary school, you're at a elementary school. And I want to jump past middle school. And now you're in high 

school. And I'm sure even once you got the high school, it was even harder. Correct? 

Willie Blake 12:57
Yeah. Because now you're not just like, it's not just like one teacher with a bunch of subjects. It's multiple teachers, multiple subjects, different ways of teaching and learning. 

Rich Bennett 13:08
All right. So did it in the fear because in high school, you know, they always say such career path or whatever, but it did it in a fear of what you wanted to do as a career. Not what you really wanted to do. Not what you 

Willie Blake 13:23
Yeah. Not not really because I wanted 

Rich Bennett 13:27
good. 

Willie Blake 13:28
to be a vet. I just loved working with animals. 

Rich Bennett 13:33
Oh, that kind of that. I was going to say, so you want to go into the military? No, I'm just messing 

Willie Blake 13:36
with you. Yeah, I know. Veterinarian. Yeah. I love 

Rich Bennett 13:41
which is a lot of study. 

Willie Blake 13:43
Yeah, absolutely. And schooling is definitely needed for that. But the funny enough, the thing that dissuaded me wasn't even the studying part. It was in 11th grade. There was this side college campus thing in which high schoolers can like go off campus to get college credit. And one of the programs they had were for veterinarians. And so I went over there to look at you. What the program was like if I wanted to do it, my senior year. And I remember walking into the room or at least one of the side rooms and they had a bunch of cages. And they had rats and they had snakes and other rodents and reptiles. And I walked out of there saying I do not want to be a veterinarian anymore. Because I am so transparency. I am scared of snakes. So so 

Rich Bennett 14:35
I 

Willie Blake 14:35
bad. 

Rich Bennett 14:37
don't like. 

Willie Blake 14:38
Yeah. I can handle spiders more than snakes, but like, man, snakes, even the garden snakes, because so at one time, we're going off on this right now. 10th grade in high school, I was just waking up in my room for a normal day of But standing there by my dresser, all of a sudden I feel something moved by my foot. I'm like, oh, it was probably just me like kicking some of my clothes. 

Rich Bennett 15:00
school. 

Willie Blake 15:01
Because, you know, 10th grade or rooms messy. 

Rich Bennett 15:03
Clothes everywhere. Right. 

Willie Blake 15:04
Yeah. Clothes everywhere. But then I felt then a minute went by and I felt another movement. I looked down and there was a snake coiled up. And so I jumped onto my bed, yelled for my dad, eh, can you imagine, eh, 15, 16-year-old yelling for his dad, so my dad comes down the stairs and we see the snake go under my dresser, and then, that was just like, eh, that was a moment for me. Later that week, when finally I had the courage to go back into my bedroom, I started picking up, but I had one of those like, granny grabbers. 

Rich Bennett 15:36
Yeah, it's the grabbers, 

Willie Blake 15:37
yup. Yeah, I would pick up everything. Cleaned up the room, didn't see it, I thought it was great. And there was this one last pile of those drawstring kind of backpacks. 

Rich Bennett 15:48
Uh-huh. 

Willie Blake 15:48
Picked it up, walked to the closet, and as I opened the door to the closet, the snake dropped out, and- 

Rich Bennett 15:54
No way. 

Willie Blake 15:55
My voice doesn't go that high. Tell you what. I probably hit that like-you 

Rich Bennett 16:01
You-you 

Willie Blake 16:02
know? 

Rich Bennett 16:02
poured a Michael Jackson? 

Willie Blake 16:04
Yeah, basically, and I jumped right back on the bed and had to have my little brother who is seven years younger than me, 

Rich Bennett 16:11
Oh 

Willie Blake 16:12
come- 

Rich Bennett 16:12
wow. 

Willie Blake 16:12
Friend, to be able to get the snake and take it back, and it was just a garden snake. And just from that moment, it's kind of like Indiana Jones type thing. 

Rich Bennett 16:22
Uh-huh. 

Willie Blake 16:22
Just no snakes for me. 

Rich Bennett 16:24
Hey, don't- there's nothing wrong with that. I'm the same way with spiders, especially when you've been bitten, and it lit up in the hospital. You have a- To be- 

Willie Blake 16:34
Oh damn. 

Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:45
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 16:46
So after that happens, then I wanted to be a chef. And so that was going to be it. But then-but then I looked at like how much they made during the year, and it wasn't-it was like 19,000 at the time, and I'm like, you know, that's But it takes so many years just to-just to get up to a professional level. So then I'm like, okay, maybe I want to go into like computer tech. That's really cool. I love playing video games, computer techs great. My mom one day said, hey, you're really good at monopoly. Why don't you like do strategy stuff or business? So I'm like, 

Rich Bennett 17:21
More. 

Willie Blake 17:21
yeah, sure. And so I went into accounting because I was really good at math. And so for the first year and a half of college, I was with an accounting degree, 

Rich Bennett 17:31
okay. 

Willie Blake 17:32
I can tell about that time a year and a half into it, where I'm like, you know, I can do the numbers and the math, but I really like talking to people. I don't want to sit behind 

Rich Bennett 17:41
Right, 

Willie Blake 17:41
a desk all day, so I switched it to then business management. And then that continued trajectory to where I'm at today. So it just like say didn't really affect my career choice, 

Rich Bennett 17:52
right. 

Willie Blake 17:53
but I definitely, I'm sure that as I went into the programs, it would affect it. 

Rich Bennett 17:59
I'm surprised if you like to talk, you know I'm surprised you didn't go into communications. 

Willie Blake 18:04
You got so the person you're talking. Here's the thing, the person you're talking to today is not the person who I was five years ago. 

Rich Bennett 18:11
Shy. 

Willie Blake 18:12
Because I, yeah, I was, I was shy. I wouldn't initiate a conversation. Heck, I wouldn't talk longer than a minute or two, or be able to really do anything, 

Rich Bennett 18:21
Right. 

Willie Blake 18:21
but it was from the transformation and learn and starting to read more books and learning what this thing called entrepreneurship and business was that just continue that trajectory into now I can actually be willy again, not that shy one who was 

Rich Bennett 18:40
I love it, 

Willie Blake 18:40
broken and by the world, but I was able to find myself again and actually love the person on the other side of the mirror. 

Rich Bennett 18:50
Yeah. Good. Now back in school, 

Willie Blake 18:52
I'm 

Rich Bennett 18:54
going back before the snake. 

Willie Blake 18:59
Yeah, snake, great conversation, awesome, awesome story for everybody. Let's go back. 

Rich Bennett 19:05
But the reason I was asking a bit with high school and in college, that was just you, but even from elementary school on up how were the teachers with you and your dyslexia because, and I asked this because you hear stories, especially if people have ADHD, how they said a lot of teachers didn't they had no patients and you know with you, you're reading level, I guess is behind students in your class. So how were the teachers with all this throughout the years? 

Willie Blake 19:42
The last two years of high school are probably the best, because we got, I believe it's, it's how he's confused the numbers, either 504 or 529, once financial one has to do with learning, But one of those plans, where will the set it up to where? 

All the teachers, literally before school started, all the teachers got into a room with me. We went over that Willie needs extra, extra time to take tests, all the notes and presentations they give. They allowed me to have copies of it. I sat in the front of the room so it eliminated visual distractions and just some other things that were set up. So like the last two years were great. But like middle school and that first year in high school, patients would be the word to use. 

Rich Bennett 20:31
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 20:32
Because you think about it. They're not just like in elementary school one teacher is teaching 30 kids. In middle school one teacher is teaching one subject and over 100 kids. Because there's like seven or eight periods that they're going through. 

Rich Bennett 20:47
And 

Willie Blake 20:48
so yeah having one student have to get extra attention. They have to put in the extra effort puts a lot of stress on those teachers and there are moments where they are just not as patient with you. So they're just like why can't you just write faster? Can you please instead of passing it to the next person. Can you please just read a paragraph And those moments affect you. But I don't I don't put I don't put any judgment on the teachers for that because okay when I when I was there I did but now I can look 

Rich Bennett 21:24
right? 

Willie Blake 21:24
back and be like you know they were going through a lot and I can see that. I just wish they handled it a little bit differently. 

Rich Bennett 21:33
Do you think the educational system needs to be changed in a way? And where I mean perhaps there needs to be more than one teacher in a room to help you know to help out with that have different needs whether be the selects your ADHD or whatever. Do you 

Willie Blake 21:50
think that's 

Rich Bennett 21:51
that needs to change in the educational system? 

Willie Blake 21:54
I think that'd be a great solution to it. That way like one 

Rich Bennett 21:56
Yeah 

Willie Blake 21:57
teacher can teach the the main curriculum and then one or two others can be able to go to the students who are a little 

Rich Bennett 22:03
right. 

Willie Blake 22:03
bit behind. I think that'd be a great solution. But with like you think about the school system they have their textbook this is the curriculum that we have to teach 

Rich Bennett 22:14
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 22:14
and then usually because there's just one curriculum there's only one way to go about teaching it and it really is open to interpretation if the teachers want to go a different route in helping other students learn which most teachers just because of how much is on their plate don't don't want to be flexible and adaptable in that way. 

Rich Bennett 22:37
Right. 

Willie Blake 22:37
I would think I would think that if I were to be a teacher that and like in a traditional school system I would see as the curriculum as like the end goal that has to get done and solidify that but the journey the path in which I go there is a lot different depending on the student. 

Rich Bennett 23:01
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 23:01
How I'd be able to do that to minimize time would be have something that's just like a textbook that the kids who love to read they can be able to read it understand it great. I would have a visual up for the 

Rich Bennett 23:14
yes 

Willie Blake 23:14
ones who are visually learning to be able to understand it and then I would do kind of like a role play thing for the hands-on experience 

Rich Bennett 23:22
one. Perfect. 

Willie Blake 23:23
Of just like if you think of like George Washington going across the river and winning the battle like it would be like a five minute simulation of people have one person's George Washington half the class is on the other side sleeping the other 

Rich Bennett 23:36
yeah 

Willie Blake 23:37
crossing the river and just like the hands-on experience so that you're hitting all different learning levels and that all the students are able to understand rather than here's a textbook and a PowerPoint that I have good luck. 

Rich Bennett 23:51
That's a great idea. I love that I think you need to lobby for 

Willie Blake 24:00
that. You think so? 

Rich Bennett 24:01
Yeah why not. 

Willie Blake 24:02
That's true. Why 

Rich Bennett 24:03
I 

Willie Blake 24:03
not? 

Rich Bennett 24:04
mean seriously you think about it because you're seeing more and more kids today are being homeschooled they're being pulled out of public school and I think you know honestly I think the public's education is hurting because of because teachers hands are tied let's be honest 

Willie Blake 24:27
that 

Rich Bennett 24:27
I 

Willie Blake 24:27
yeah 

Rich Bennett 24:27
mean there's a lot of things they want to do that they can't do it is hard to focus on you know just individual people as well but and you have teachers aids but a teacher a teacher's aid isn't 

taught how to educate like the teachers does that make sense? 

Willie Blake 24:48
Yeah yeah yeah I'm 

Rich Bennett 24:48
excited 

Willie Blake 24:49
because the aid is for somebody who comes in to help the teacher out and the teacher 

Rich Bennett 24:53
right 

Willie Blake 24:53
is the one that has to tell him what to do but in a weird strange way it's like well now it's just one more person that I have to teach and delegate to 

Rich Bennett 25:03
yeah 

Willie Blake 25:03
then like a trained teacher who's in there helping. 

Rich Bennett 25:07
I want to um because you 

Do you treat this like a superpower, which I love? So, what was the moment that you finally decided? Is like, I am done trying to hide this. I'm going to lead with it. 

Willie Blake 25:26
Yes. Yes. That moment came... 

So, I, there is a time through that year and a half into college, to where I came across the statistic. It said that 95% of CEOs read 50 or more books a year. And that's when I was starting to be like, "Maybe I want to go into business." So I thought, "It'd be really cool. Really cool to be a CEO or a business owner." So I need to, I guess, read 50 books a year. That's just like, one in one just connected. I'm like, "Okay." 

Rich Bennett 25:59
Right. 

Willie Blake 26:00
What it is. So I literally got a little note card, wrote one through 12 on it because I knew 50 books was just way out there. That was impossible. Especially for a dyslexic who read, 

Rich Bennett 26:11
Yes. 

Willie Blake 26:11
"Maybe one book." But 12 a book a month didn't seem like as impossible. So, it wrote one through 12, went to a bookshelf, grabbed the smallest purple book I could called "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiosau. 

Rich Bennett 26:25
Oh, yeah. 

Willie Blake 26:26
And started reading chapter one. And that helped to like the way that my mind was set in certain thoughts and ideas, started growing that picture. So then the mindset, which is where it comes from, my mindset started to shift. And it was about 

it was probably toward the end of college, to where my wife and I were about to have our first girl. And she was pregnant. We're moving up from, we're at Utah at the time, moving up to Idaho to be closer with my wife's family. And it was about that time to where I started looking into what dyslexia was. And not just dyslexia, like what other beliefs that I had were, and these things that these set preconceived ideas, like are they that set in stone, 

Rich Bennett 27:27
Right. 

Willie Blake 27:27
from politics to religion to literally everything? Because if anybody goes into like self-development, probably the most sure thing is that there's not just black and white. It is vast gray everywhere. And so I started to grow that perspective on things. And so dyslexia was one of them. Looked it up. I'm like, what are some good things with dyslexia? And this article came up. It was like nine things that are great advantages because you have dyslexia. And I looked at it, and I was really amazed because we are great with creativity. We're great with problem solving. We think outside of the box. When it comes to patterns, we recognize patterns a lot more than 

Rich Bennett 28:12
person. 

Willie Blake 28:12
average And then empathy and sympathy, we're great with that. Excuse me, because we've had to deal with so much. We know what it's like going through a challenge. So when other people go through it, we can sit down with them as a friend and just be like, I'm here to listen to you. I know that, even though I don't know your specific pain, I got you. I'm here to sit. And just the list kept going. And then I started to research more. And I realized that you had the bad side, which society tends to push, which is difficulty with reading, writing, looking at words backwards, struggling with math, whatever you want to put there. But then you have this other side, which isn't talked about that much, which are advantages to it because people think I need to get their stones going from their house to Walmart, from point A to point B, they think of one direction, but that direction for us dyslexics is full of traffic and construction. So we got a we got to take an alternate route around and because we're so used to being able to figure out thing, the go different routes, we find different solutions and different ways to look at things and because of that man, what a great advantage? What a great advantage of being able to see so many different solutions and then coming up with the best one rather than just thinking this is the one. And so that's when it started to just evolve, it just evolved and now it goes back to Henry Ford's quote, whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right, you can believe in the negative side and your mind is going to think about that or you can focus on the good stuff and then your mind's going to help you with that. And for me, I chose the focus on the good side. 

Rich Bennett 29:55
You just mentioned Henry Ford and you know, he because he didn't know how to build cars, he aligned himself with the people that do, which any person that you know any person that, especially business owners, you align yourself with the brain, people that are the brains that know what they're doing and everything. with you because you're making thislexia your superpower. 

How many other business owners have you met that actually have this lexia? And this is actually a two-part question, that have this lexia? And have you started? You know how you have networking groups and mastermind groups? 

I want to say, like, a networking or a mastermind group. Because, like, you said, you're creative, and that's when it all comes out. 

Willie Blake 31:04
Yeah. So the first part to that, yes. I see quite a few business owners, entrepreneurs out there who are doing it. Because cool enough, fun facts, statistically, dyslexia out of all the entrepreneurs, 30% of them have some form of dyslexia. 

Rich Bennett 31:26
Right. 

Willie Blake 31:27
Because one of the major things you need as an entrepreneur is you got to be creative, you got to be innovative, and you got to figure out different ways to solve problems that other people haven't solved before. So of course, like, as some of those are the advantages for dyslexia, of course you're going to see them out there. And so as I go to networking groups, I can tell you every time I go there, there is at least one or two people that are just that I say, hey, that they're just like, hey, what do you And I'm like, oh, I help adult dyslexics. And they're like, oh, my goodness. And they get like real close. And they're like, 

Rich Bennett 32:00
right, 

Willie Blake 32:01
I'm dyslexic, too. I think that's really cool. And you have a good conversation. Literally, every time I always find somebody, and the other people I talk with, they're like, oh, my daughter is dyslexic. Or, oh, my brother, he's dyslexic. They always have this connection with it. So it's like, it's really cool to see this, like instant 

Rich Bennett 32:23
connection. Right. 

Willie Blake 32:24
Something that is really a taboo topic. It's not you know if your best friend is dyslexic, unless it's just some reason throughout the years you're together, you brought it up. It's just something you talk about. 

Rich Bennett 32:38
Right. 

Willie Blake 32:39
So there's always that like instant connection with for the second part of the question, answer is yes. So I've created this community for professionals and entrepreneurs who are dyslexic. 

Rich Bennett 32:52
Nice. 

Willie Blake 32:53
And it's called, it's called next level dyslexics. And it's on the school platform, people who are listening who want to join, go to my website. There's a link literally at the top. And you can click on it. So that'll lead you there. But it's I just wanted to bring people together who are dyslexic. And then also with the clients that I have, we do every week day. So five days a week, every morning at seven a. m. We jump on a daily accountability call. And I've partnered with one of my good friends. His name's Alton. He works a lot with people with ADHD. So we both partnered together. And so we have this daily group that we meet in the morning every week day who are dyslexic and who have ADHD. And we're just all working on the goals that we're working for. So yeah, those are the two things. 

Rich Bennett 33:51
That is awesome. You're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. I've been talking about them for years and I will keep talking about them. It's a company that I trust for my home exterior needs, Tar Hill construction group. When he came time to replace my roof. I didn't hesitate. I call Joe Eller at Tar Hill Construction Group. They were professional, timely, and most importantly, they did an incredible job. The new roof looks amazing. And I know it'll last for years to come. Their quality and attention to detail are unmatched. But here's the thing. I'm not stopping there. I'm already planning to use them again for my siding and gutters. Why? Because I trust them. Tar Hill Construction Group has earned my loyalty by delivering exactly what they promised. High quality work, excellent communication and a commitment to customer satisfaction. If you're thinking about tackling any exterior home improvement project, whether it's roofing, siding, or gutters, or even solar, give Tar Hill Construction Group a call. I've used them and I'll keep recommending them and use them again in the future. Check them out at Tar Hill Construction Group dot com or call them today at 410-638-7021. And actually, what made you decide to become a coach? I have a funny feeling. I know everybody listening probably knows his answer. But what made you decide to actually become a coach? And how? 

Willie Blake 35:30
Yeah. Great questions. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted two things. I wanted to be an author and I wanted to be a teacher. I didn't know, like I knew I didn't want to do like the traditional teacher route that I saw 

Rich Bennett 35:46
Okay. 

Willie Blake 35:47
growing up, but some form of just teaching because I loved sharing stories and sharing lessons I've learned. And so as I was in college learning about business and reading these books, I was like, this is really cool. I'm going to create this mastermind of just every week I rent out or reserve, I guess you should say, the library at uh at UVU, the college that I went to, and every Wednesday at six o'clock I would be there and it would start at 6.30. It would be an hour long and people who just wanted to be successful can come and do it. And that was literally the only the, just like that was it. If you want to be successful at all, you can come. First meeting, zero people came, but I still hit record and still taught what I, 

Rich Bennett 36:42
good 

Willie Blake 36:43
wanted to do. Next meeting, still zero people. Next one, we got one, which was a friend who helped me with the idea. And then next meeting, zero. But then eventually one person did come as I was putting it out on Instagram and stuff. And then that started to build it while I was at college. And so that was kind of just like I really like this format of facilitating and 

Rich Bennett 37:05
right. 

Willie Blake 37:05
teaching Speaking. So I'm like maybe I want to be, maybe I want to be a public speaker. So I started practicing and speaking on stages, learning how to communicate and take out the ums, the uhs, the so's, keeping in this box of arms, you know, everything you learn in like business presentation class. And kept going from to then being, Oh, well, there's this thing called coaching that I heard from a friend. And it's literally you just work one on one with somebody. And that was the extent of what I knew. I thought, cool. That sounds great. And so I literally my very first client was my cousin, who he's just like, I love what you're doing. I want to work with you. And I'm like, cool. 

We can work for a year and it's $500 for the whole year. And he's like, cool. 

Rich Bennett 37:58
he 

Willie Blake 37:58
And so and like that was. And then from there, we just built it and it's like, I like, this is really cool. But it started from it was that the level of like, I'm just this success coach. And I'm 

Rich Bennett 38:09
yeah. 

Willie Blake 38:10
I year into it when you are talking about just success and speaking to everybody, nobody's listening. So then I want it to be the 

Rich Bennett 38:19
you didn't 

Willie Blake 38:20
empowerment, 

Rich Bennett 38:20
give 

Willie Blake 38:21
up. No, it didn't give up kept going. So then I niche down a little bit and said, I want to be an empowerment coach like that. It's pretty cool. And then this is where like the whole dyslexic thing came in. I was talking with one of my good friends, Ian. And we were, it was after a mastermind that we were both at. And we were standing there. It was raining outside. And we talked for like an hour and a half just after the meeting. And he said, after I asked him, like, how do I find more people? I feel like I only have people who like are super close to me, but I'm not giving anybody else. He said, well, who's your ideal client? Not yet. I couldn't answer. I went off the whim of just so many. Like, oh, there are people who want to be successful in the people who just like want to believe in themselves. I'm feeling inspired. He says, that's cool. That's great. Every coach does that though. It's like who are you actually helping? And we're able to niche down. He's like, you know, you've lived with dyslexia your entire life. So why not just start there. And on the car ride home, I thought about it and said, that sounds really really, really easy. Easy was the word because I've lived through it, and I don't have to really learn anything super out there before I started because I've 

Rich Bennett 39:43
right 

Willie Blake 39:43
lived with it my entire life. So then I was the dyslexic coach. And then as I was doing that, I'm like, well, I want to not just focus on people who are dyslexic, but I want to focus on the achievement side that if you do, like if you're diagnosed, now what? Now what are we doing? Like what do you want to do? What let your passion? So then it was the dyslexic achievement coach. And then kept going to now, I'm like, I want to specialize and focus on adult dyslexics. Not kids or teens. There's a lot of resources out there for them 

Rich Bennett 40:16
Right. 

Willie Blake 40:16
and I'm more than happy. I love going to elementary schools and being able to speak at assemblies and colleges for young adults. But I want to give a resource to the adult dyslexics where they don't get that many. I want to help them actually achieve what they want. And that most of the time about 85% is in their careers or starting a business. So then I knew I had to up my game in order to help more people out. And so then I started working on high performance and habits and everything. To which then I started helping people with their careers and their resumes and then starting businesses. And from there, just like from that success coach at the beginning, start kept niching down. And this is over a span of six years. Let me mind you, six years. Just kept niching down to now I help dyslexic entrepreneurs and professionals to be able to gain clarity. Just stop guessing second to stop second guessing themselves. And to build the confidence to make more income with their dyslexic edge. So that's the that's the, that's the whole thing of why it was niched down to where it is today. 

Rich Bennett 41:31
Are you created the light philosophy? 

Willie Blake 41:35
Yeah. 

Yeah. Yeah. If any of you who are listening know who Evan Carmichael is. This dude was my very first mentor. 

Rich Bennett 41:45
Okay. 

Willie Blake 41:46
And not in person mentor. Just first person I saw because he can't, he I was watching a YouTube video. And it was first off it was Grant Cardone's five ways to make a million dollars. 

Rich Bennett 42:02
Yes. 

Willie Blake 42:02
30 minutes long. Still one of my favorite videos by the after that one of the suggested videos was Grant Cardone's top 10 rules for success. And that was made by Evan Carmichael. And as I clicked on it, I learned that Evan didn't just do videos about Grant Cardone, but like Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins like these people who are out there and are doing things. 

Rich Bennett 42:26
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 42:26
creates these top 10 rules of success. And it's basically from all the speeches that they give and all the conferences that they're at. Compile, compile together the most common, common themes to it into these top 10 rules. And so I started to get into his community and learning more about him. And one of the books that he wrote was called your one word. Why? Well, I got his book is your one word, but it's your one word. Why? It's your why. The reason you do everything smoosh down into a single word. 

So through all the exercises that he lays out in his book, as well as what I did, my one word why was light, l i g h t. And that was just the opposite of darkness. 

Rich Bennett 43:17
Oh damn. 

Willie Blake 43:19
Because darkness was what I felt like my entire life. It was the obstacles, the challenges that I faced. It was what I perceived as the traumas. It was me sitting there in the dark feeling like I didn't have anybody else. And so it was that it was that hero villain moment. And I'm glad that I chose to be the hero. Because now when other people are there, I want to be that friend who opens that the door shares light into the room. And when they look up at me, I hold my hand out and I know what you've been through. And there's something better on this other side. So come with me, let's walk it together. 

Rich Bennett 44:02
Wow. How long did it take you to come off that the acronym for it? 

Willie Blake 44:08
Literally like last year or the year before. 

Rich Bennett 44:12
Yeah, 

Willie Blake 44:13
so that was the light was five at least five years ago. At least. 

Rich Bennett 44:20
Okay. 

Willie Blake 44:20
No, it was it was 2019. So even more than that. And so it was just like in 24 or 25 where the acronym came up where I'm like, I have light, but whenever I describe it to people, it feels like I have to share so many things 

Rich Bennett 44:36
right 

Willie Blake 44:37
to it. So what can I do? Well, acronyms are just really cool. 

Rich Bennett 44:41
Yeah, they are 

Willie Blake 44:42
breakdowns so easy. They're really cool. So I said, what are some things that work well with it? And then it came to Alice for love love yourself as well as love other people. Eyes for inspiration continually do things each day to inspire you as well as we are built to serve. So let's inspire other people gratitude. If you want to change your attitude, change your gratitude. I started learning what it means to be grateful. And that stress can't live with a truly grateful person. I guess not stress. Anxiety can't live in the same realm as gratitude. 

Rich Bennett 45:21
Okay. 

Willie Blake 45:22
And so being grateful, there's just this power to it that a lot of people don't know. Hope. Hope has been everything since the beginning of the past is the past. The future is the future. Let's focus on the future more and start living today. Let's see what we can do. And then the last one, it was probably the hardest. I'm like, what is a good word for tea? It's like tenacity. Tenacity is good but doesn't really fit. What are some other good words? And finally, I thought about everything that I did. I'm like, it's time. 

Rich Bennett 45:56
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 45:57
Because time is truly all that we have. We can't get it back. 

Rich Bennett 46:03
No, 

Willie Blake 46:05
no. And so that's that's that's what acronym came from. 

Rich Bennett 46:08
All right, so I mean, you're speaking, you're the coach, and you said there was something else you wanted to do. So when's the book coming out? 

Willie Blake 46:17
Yeah. So books out. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 46:20
So why? 

Willie Blake 46:22
Yeah, so I've co authored books with, 

Rich Bennett 46:25
so okay. 

Willie Blake 46:26
And so I've 11 time Amazon bestselling author books there. If you're if people can see me on video, they're right behind me, but there's 11 books that I've contributed with chapters there, which is awesome. And then I also have a book in the works that has to do with light it up. And it's about the different stories and different things I'm learning with my 2% rule, one minute one thing, my GPS method, my lead acronym, just everything that I've been doing. So that's in the work. And I've written about 45,000 words so far with it. 

Rich Bennett 47:03
Nice. And 

Willie Blake 47:05
so we're just it's it's in the works. And it's coming. The personal one. That's the next thing when it comes to authorship is now I have books out there who are co authored with other people. 

Rich Bennett 47:15
Right. 

Willie Blake 47:16
Man, I want my own. It would be really cool. I just have my name on it. 

Rich Bennett 47:20
I had no idea that you'd already written that that blows my mind. That is awesome, man. 

Willie Blake 47:28
Yeah. And it's it's here's thing. It was I think 2021 after the major like a year into the pandemic. Christmas season. I really wanted to just finish what I just I already written 23,000. Took me a year and a half to do. I just wanted to get done by the end of the year, but I only have 13 days. And so I told myself I can either push it off as a new new years resolution for next year and maybe it'll get done or I can see if I can finish it in those 13 And if anybody has ever had family around her in the Christmas season, and during the end of the year. 

Rich Bennett 48:06
days. 

Willie Blake 48:07
Yes, yes schedules busy, and 

Rich Bennett 48:09
Yes. 

Willie Blake 48:09
people are always wanting your attention. So literally no matter when I fell asleep, I had I chose to set an alarm for 4am every morning to get up before everybody else. That way I could spend a couple hours being able to write in the right paragraphs and words in the book. And over those 13 days, I was then able to get to that to more than that 45,000 words, so I was able to double it. Double what I did for a year and a half in 13 days. And I 

Rich Bennett 48:43
That's 

Willie Blake 48:43
got to say. 

Rich Bennett 48:44
amazing. 

Willie Blake 48:45
Can I share the most important lesson I learned from it? 

Rich Bennett 48:48
Absolutely not. Of course you can, man. 

Willie Blake 48:53
Is that anybody can do something for 13 days. 13 days won't kill you, but it just might be the start you need. 

Rich Bennett 49:08
That could be a title for next book too. 

Willie Blake 49:12
And then to that 

Rich Bennett 49:13
Actually, 

Willie Blake 49:13
for sure. 

Rich Bennett 49:14
I'm saying, okay, so you're writing and everything your speaker, how come you haven't started a podcast? 

Willie Blake 49:21
I do have a podcast actually. 

Rich Bennett 49:24
What? 

Willie Blake 49:24
on. 

Rich Bennett 49:24
Oh, 

Willie Blake 49:25
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:25
come 

Willie Blake 49:26
Yeah. It's called lights beyond limits. 

Rich Bennett 49:29
How long have you been doing 

Willie Blake 49:31
that February of 24? 

Rich Bennett 49:35
Are you serious? 

Willie Blake 49:36
Yeah. So we're we're at episode. I believe we're at episode 158 right now. 

Rich Bennett 49:43
How in the hell did I not wait a minute? Is it? Is it on your website? 

Willie Blake 49:48
Yeah. It should be on my website. You can also find on Spotify and your favorite your favorite podcasting platform. It should be there for some reason. All the app like Apple, we're working on the Apple podcasts and everything. Cause for some reason with I use Spotify for podcasters, something happened in their tour. Now you have to put in the RSS feed. 

Rich Bennett 50:07
Mm 

Willie Blake 50:07
Lank and set up an account anyways. So if it's not on Apple podcasts, it will be soon. But yeah, we're 

Rich Bennett 50:14
hmm. 

Willie Blake 50:14
episode 

Rich Bennett 50:14
All 

Willie Blake 50:14
158. 

Rich Bennett 50:14
right. Now unless you have a different website, I'm looking on coachWillieBlake.com. And I'm not seeing the podcast there. 

Willie Blake 50:23
Hmm. Well, I don't like 

Rich Bennett 50:30
But but 

Willie Blake 50:31
that. I'm 

Rich Bennett 50:31
a good 

Willie Blake 50:31
gonna have 

Rich Bennett 50:31
thing. 

Willie Blake 50:31
to 

Rich Bennett 50:31
I 

Willie Blake 50:31
check 

Rich Bennett 50:31
just 

Willie Blake 50:31
that out. 

Rich Bennett 50:32
I just told everybody the website where they can find out more information about you. So that's business. 

Willie Blake 50:38
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:38
Yeah. I'm not. 

Willie Blake 50:39
And by and now that I know by the time that this comes out, it's going to be there. 

Rich Bennett 50:44
Yeah. And as a man. 

Willie Blake 50:45
Scroll down. I know for sure that it's usually with my social So if you scroll down all the way to the bottom, where there has like a YouTube Instagram. There 

Rich Bennett 50:54
the YouTube link. 

Willie Blake 50:56
Okay. Well, it should be a Spotify link there. 

Rich Bennett 51:00
No. 

Willie Blake 51:01
No. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 51:02
Instagram link did Facebook and TikTok. 

Willie Blake 51:05
Well, you learned something over there. That's a great thing with business. You're just like you hear it from other people and you're like, all right. Here's some things we need to fix. 

Rich Bennett 51:12
Well, and here's the reason I didn't know you had a podcast was because you on pod match. Usually it'll list if you have a podcast as well, and on your profile, I'm not seeing anything about a podcast. 

Willie Blake 51:26
Yes. So yeah, so my podcast is not on pod. It's specifically, uh, my podcast first started so that I could work on my speaking skill. 

Rich Bennett 51:40
Okay. That's, 

Willie Blake 51:41
And so when 

Rich Bennett 51:41
that's 

Willie Blake 51:41
I started. 

Rich Bennett 51:42
a good idea. 

Willie Blake 51:43
Yeah. So it literally started with just me grabbing my phone recording for 10 to 12. Minutes. Because that just was a good seemed like a good time. And 

Rich Bennett 51:53
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 51:55
started to work on communication. And then after that, I started to bring people on, because the whole premise of the podcast is with light beyond limits. We talk about the breakthroughs and stories that people have had with their limitations and the lessons they learn from it. And so I just didn't want me. I wanted some other people. So I started reaching out to the people who I thought would be good on the podcast. And right now, even though we're at episode 158. still like, I want, I'm going to choose which people to be on the podcast. But 

Rich Bennett 52:27
It's 

Willie Blake 52:27
it's not like a huge main focus. And that's why it's not out there. It's like the people who pop on are the ones who we connect with. And I'm like, let's get you on my podcast. 

Rich Bennett 52:37
Right. 

Willie Blake 52:38
But as, you know, like, as my other priorities start to get more into automation and that, then we'll start working on. The podcast and getting that out there more and such. 

Rich Bennett 52:51
Those of you listening, we'll really mention something here and I've never brought this up. And it's a great idea. He mentioned how he was doing it first to get comfortable speaking and everything. And there's a lot of people that want to start a podcast, but they're nervous about it. There are hosting platforms out there where you can do a private podcast. You don't have to make it public. And it will give you a link. And if you want to share it with people and get their opinion, you can do that as well. So yeah, if they were, I'm glad you brought that up, Willie, because a lot of people don't know about that. And that's, that's a great idea. That's a great idea. I have to ask you this because this is, I've been wanting to ask you this since the beginning. This. Actually, I wanted this to be my first question. But I figured now I'll wait towards the end because I really, because otherwise we wouldn't be talking about the selects. Yeah, we'll be talking about something else. 

Willie Blake 53:50
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 53:51
How's the baby? 

Willie Blake 53:52
Mm. Ridge, thank you for asking. Babies doing great. Baby is doing well. So for those who don't know right now, we had our fourth baby girl. 

Rich Bennett 54:03
Fourth. 

Willie Blake 54:04
Yeah, I'm a girl 

Rich Bennett 54:05
Wow. 

Willie Blake 54:05
that. So fourth baby girl had her beginning of January and babies doing well, mom's doing well. We had something crazy happened, which was around the beginning of February. Well, we did, we did a C section. And so as my wife was healing, she had this like sharp pain on her right side next to the incision, but it wasn't on the incision. So as she called up to the doctor's office, they said, yeah, just because we want to be careful of what's going on and infection. 

Rich Bennett 54:36
Right. 

Willie Blake 54:37
And stuff. Go ahead and head to their emergency room. I said, okay. So we headed there and lo and behold, she had appendicitis. 

Rich Bennett 54:46
And 

Willie Blake 54:48
we were lucky because it wasn't to the point to where it bursted or anything. It was just like the beginning stages of it. Though 

Rich Bennett 54:55
Wow. 

Willie Blake 54:56
literally that evening, I dropped her off with at the hospital with the baby. And she called me at six o'clock and said, Hey, I got appendicitis. Can you call our neighbors come watch the kids so you can rush over here to be with me and then also take care of the baby? Of course, the nurse is, we all know the nurses, they would love to have the baby, but because of the 

Rich Bennett 55:17
right 

Willie Blake 55:17
reasons right, they can't do that. And so I was able to call the neighbor, love the neighbors that we have that came over, watched the kids are rest of the hospital. She had the surgery took about an hour and we're out of that hospital by 10 30 that night to go 

Rich Bennett 55:31
Wow. 

Willie Blake 55:31
back. And so she's recovered from having a kid is recovered from having the surgery. And, uh, yeah, baby's baby, baby and mom are doing good. 

Rich Bennett 55:43
All right. Now, okay, this, this one baffles me four girls. 

Willie Blake 55:49
Yes, four girls. 

Rich Bennett 55:51
How is it you have all your hair? 

Willie Blake 55:54
You know, I don't know. 

Rich Bennett 55:57
The holy, I don't want son of one girl, but my son doesn't live here, but I'm home with two hours redheads and there ain't nothing left on the top of my head. Holy cat and my best friend for girls and there's nothing left up 

Willie Blake 56:14
Yeah, a lot, a lot of prayers. A lot of you got 

Rich Bennett 56:17
there. 

Willie Blake 56:17
to know how to communicate with your wife about 

Rich Bennett 56:21
that. Good. 

Willie Blake 56:22
they're just they're just they're really good. And even we had like they're those moments like my oldest daughter she literally cut her hair a few years back all the way down to like a bowl cut shape. And so now it's just getting long enough to wear um the where we enjoy it. But when she did that it's just like you put your hands up and it's like but then there's this weird and I think only parents can 

Rich Bennett 56:50
this. 

Willie Blake 56:50
understand Which is something happened to such a degree that your emotions turn off. And you're just like alright let's just figure out what the solution is. 

Rich Bennett 57:03
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 57:04
There's like the haircut or I know her member another time to where my kid's gotten to my wife's makeup and woke up in the bathroom. They were just makeup everywhere. I was like alright let's just get the paper towels and do this. Like you shut off your emotions. And I feel like you only understand that as a parent but like but 

Rich Bennett 57:23
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 57:23
you just you just take it and strides you just live every day 

Rich Bennett 57:27
it. 

Willie Blake 57:27
and It tends to work out. I'm not dead. So it 

Rich Bennett 57:30
work 

Willie Blake 57:30
tends to 

Rich Bennett 57:30
out. 

And when you get older I'll never forget with my son um his mother called me one day. This is back in the time when you had VCRs. And she called me because he decided to take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and put it inside the PC. 

Willie Blake 57:51
Oh yeah. Heck 

Rich Bennett 57:52
I 

Willie Blake 57:52
you. 

Rich Bennett 57:53
mean what else need. I mean trying to flush stuff down the toilet. I should not go down the toilet. I think he flushed keys down there. 

Willie Blake 58:02
Oh dang. 

Rich Bennett 58:02
At one time. Oh yeah. Not good. But the we did we did crazy things as kids too that are parents. And one thing that I learned because I always did it. never tell a kid not to do something because if you tell them not to do something they're gonna do it. 

Willie Blake 58:22
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 58:23
And my 

Willie Blake 58:23
Every 

Rich Bennett 58:23
mother did that me. Yes. My mother used to do that me all the time. She told me not to do something that low in the hole. I would do it. Get my head stuck between railings. Get my thumb stuck in a suit again. All kinds of crazy stuff. Oh good. I'm glad to hear that they're doing well then man. That is. And for those of you listening to Willie and I were supposed to require I think it was back in January. 

Willie Blake 58:47
had 

Rich Bennett 58:47
And we 

Willie Blake 58:47
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 58:48
Scheduled because you were headed to the hospital 

Willie Blake 58:51
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 58:51
because yeah. 

Willie Blake 58:52
Yeah. I was right at that pregnancy and we rescheduled this. 

Rich Bennett 58:55
Good. Glad to hear that. All right. So if you could go back and talk to that first grade version of yourself who thought he was broken, what would you tell him today? 

Willie Blake 59:14
I would tell him keep smiling, keep playing. And then no matter what anyone else says. And no matter how hard life gets, he's a pretty awesome dude. 

Rich Bennett 59:28
I love that. I love that. Is there anything you would like to add before you pick the last question? 

Willie Blake 59:35
Yeah. The last thing I would add is for you who are listening, you know, we talked a lot about dyslexia today and we talked we had a lot of fun, a lot of jokes around. It was great. But when it comes to actually wanting to get something done, you could use the words achieving a goal, reaching for a dream, getting that more specifically like a promotion or a relationship going, it truly is that simple of pick one thing you want and do one thing today. Just one thing. Your to-do list and everything is there and it feels so stressful. But just pick one thing because if you do one thing each day, it's going to compile. And it might not feel like it in the moment, a week or a month in, it might just be like, man, I still don't feel the traction. But it will come as a result and it will happen. That's how I got from that one book to now I actually read 60 plus books a year. That's how I went from those that writing from one word, one paragraph to now having 45,000 words. All that started by reading one page by typing one paragraph. Now for the ones who's listening, it's just by picking one thing to go forward with. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:00
You must have been reading my mind because I was going to ask you how many books you were reading now. 

Willie Blake 1:01:05
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:06
And here's... Here's 

Willie Blake 1:01:08
a cool thing with it. Is that I say reading, but it's not just reading. It's also listening too. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:14
Yeah. 

Willie Blake 1:01:15
It's books gone through because like what's the real, when it comes down to it, what's the real reason why we read books? Well, if it's not fiction, usually it's like self development, personal growth, history, biographies, it's to learn something that we can apply to our life. So understanding that, now on my head I'm thinking, okay, so it's not just reading because I read slow. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:40
Right. 

Willie Blake 1:01:40
But I can also listen to the books. and I can listen a lot faster than I can read. So, if I combine those together, well, then I can get through more books. And that's how I went from that 12 to then 40 to then 50 and now 60 books. 

But it's just like I also add some time for the stuff that helps me in the beginning. Because I want to keep that. It wasn't just I did 50 books and now I'm done. No, it's become a part of me. So 

Rich Bennett 1:02:30
I missed that car classroom, because when I was in sales, I was always listening to books on tape or CD or whatever. And now when I'm, you know, now that I'm just working in my office from home all the time, I will either listen to a podcast or put on a book, well, aud now. So different things you can do now. But yeah, I told her and I got until argument about that. You guys, Dave, you're listening to a book. You're not reading. I was like, yes, you are. She goes, no, you're not. I said, yes, you are. You're still syncing it in. Excuse no, it's not reading. So an author tells me it's reading, it's reading. So you lose this argument. Forget it. You're not making more hair fall out. 

Willie Blake 1:03:14
if Because there's so much there, right? 

Rich Bennett 1:03:17
Yeah, I really pick a number between one and five. 

Willie Blake 1:03:23
One. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:24
One. All right. Now pick a number between one and 

Willie Blake 1:03:27
20. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:29
Oh, 20. 20. All right. Oh, okay. What is the question you often ask yourself? 

Willie Blake 1:03:41
What if I could do more? 

Rich Bennett 1:03:45
How do you answer that? 

Willie Blake 1:03:50
Answer is always yes, but give myself grace. If I can't do it right now. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:56
Willie, I want to thank you so much, man. It's been an honor. The door is open anytime you want to come back, because I know there's, there's a lot more we could have talked about. And 

Willie Blake 1:04:06
Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:07
when you're talking with, you know, talking about this Lexia, you can't cover everything in an hour. So, it may not have to do another round table. 

Willie Blake 1:04:18
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:19
Again. 

Willie Blake 1:04:19
Part two. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:20
Fun. Yeah. I like it. Thanks a lot, Willie. 

Willie Blake 1:04:24
My pleasure. Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:25
ya know, we're really stuck with me from this conversation. Is this idea that maybe, just maybe, the thing you've been trying to fix about yourself, isn't something that needs fixing at all. Willy spent years thinking he was broken. Holding back, second guessing, trying to keep up with everyone else. And I guarantee there are people listening right now, who know exactly what that feels like, even if it has nothing to do with dyslexia. But what he showed us today is that sometimes the shift isn't about changing who you are. It's about changing how you see who you are. Because once he stopped trying to hide it and started leading with it, everything changed. Confidence, direction, purpose. And I love what he said toward the end. Don't overcomplicated. Just pick one thing. One thing you want to move forward on and take one step today. That's it. Because those small steps, they got up. Willy, I want to thank you, man. Not just for sharing your story, but for the work you're doing. Because there are a lot of people out there who need to hear this message. And for everyone listening, if this episode made you think, if it made you reflect, or if you know someone who needs to hear this, share it with them. And I love to hear from you. What's one thing about yourself. You've struggled to accept that might actually be your strength. Let me know, leave a comment or reach after me directly. And as always, let's keep the conversation going.