Nashville consumer advocate and money expert Dave Ramsey started a small financial advice business out of his apartment in the early 1990s after climbing out of bankruptcy. He wrote a book. He started a radio show.
Two decades later, he hosts motivation and financial seminars that have drawn 2 million people over the years. He's now on nearly 500 radio stations nationwide, heard by more than 8.5 million listeners a week, according to Talkers Magazine. Locally, he's on AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. weekdays.
In other words, Ramsey has become a successful brand.
Years ago, he created the phrase "EntreLeadership," which describes the responsibilities of a successful small business owner like himself. He has been teaching his tenets in seminars for years and has now turned it into a book by the same name.
"This is our playbook," Ramsey said in a recent phone interview. "It's how to create a culture internally.
"Our team is unified and jacked up. There are no gossips. How do you create that leadership mentality to do that? How do you grow and run a business? That's really what this whole thing is all about."
He said the current economic downturn is an opportunity for ambitious entrepreneurs. "You hear the drumbeat of negativity, how bad everything is. You need a Republican to fix this or the president to fix that. It's not up to them. It's up to you and me each day to get our daggone stuff done!"
"Someone out there is getting pushed out of the nest," he continued. "They could be the next Bill Gates, the next Steve Jobs, the next Truett Cathy [founder of Atlanta-based Chick-Fil-A].
"Take a downturn, and success stories come out of them. I think these are exciting times."
Ramsey said much of what he teaches is not strategies learned in business school. "How do you hire somebody right? How do you fire somebody right?
"I've gotten thank-you notes from people who I fired. That's weird! Sometimes people aren't right fits. It's not good for them to stay. Go do something better."
Businesses, Ramsey added, need to stop thinking of employees "as units of production, and customers as units of revenue. They have to treat people like they matter again.
"Everyone has a story, a grandmother in a nursing home, an uncle with cancer. Companies can still have a soul."
He's not worried that his new book might cannibalize his seminars. "It will probably draw people who want that personal touch. We thought the ‘Money Makeover' book would cannibalize the radio show. It didn't.
"One of our mantras internally is: ‘We just help people. Don't worry about the money.' "
Ramsey joined the WSB lineup earlier this year from 640/WGST-AM. Though the late-evening time slot is not as good, he said the bigger WSB signal at night means he has more listeners.
And, while he lost his TV gig on Fox Business Network last year, he continues to appear on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" every Wednesday morning, and Neil Cavuto's "Your World" on Tuesdays. He also shows up on the Piers Morgan and John King programs on CNN.
Book signing
Dave Ramsey signs "EntreLeadership"
6 p.m., Thursday. Free.
Books-a-Million, Discover Mills, 5900 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville
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