Have you heard of Art Williams? If you have been in business for yourself any length of time, you have heard of him and his legacy to Christian entrepreneurs.

Here are his accomplishments – “A.L. Williams became one of the fastest-growing companies in modern business history. After six years in the industry, it was the largest term life insurance company. In ten years, it was a billion-dollar company. By 1990, the company had a sales force of 225,000 people and ranked as the largest seller of individual life insurance in the United States, selling $93.5 billion in face value of individual life insurance. In just 12 years, the company became the first in the entire industry to have more than $300 billion of life insurance in force, a milestone no other company has reached yet. Several years under Art’s leadership, the company sold more face value individual life insurance than New York Life and Prudential combined, the number two and three ranked companies.” from http://www.cbn.com/…Art Williams

So how does someone from a little town in Georgia, with no business background, and a former high school football coaching background, become such a big champion to so many people?

He had the heart and the determination to “just do it” ~ as he says in the video below (from 1987 – remembered as one of his best motivational speeches ever) – and he was spurred on by personal experience – In 1963, his father died unexpectedly of a heart attack, leaving his family with no will and very little life insurance. He learned about term life insurance, and how that could have made a difference for his family, and here are the lessons he taught us here -

1) You have to treat people “good”. You can’t manage people from afar, and be afraid to get to know them, you have to get to know them and make them feel special – that motivates them to work harder because you care about them.

2) You have to be committed. You can’t go into business saying “I’ll try this” and “dip your toe in the water” – you have to be 100% committed through good times and bad – in life, marriage and business!

3) You can be “tough” and “good” at the same time – you have to stand for something and be a leader – then people will want to follow you and your example.

4) You have to establish priorities. You can’t let your personal life fall by the wayside while you are building your business. You need to treat them both with care, because you will see them fall apart if you don’t. Art saw this many times in “heros” that he came to know later on that were divorced 3-4 times because they focused on their business too much.

5) Make a difference. It doesn’t matter your background, education, or skill – what matters is your heart and your action – he’s very dramatic at the end. “But Art, what if I can’t….” “Just do it”. “But Art, what if my …” “Just do it”. At the end of the day, winners “did it” and losers have excuses. Which one are you?