Uplift: Wendell helps small businesses overcome obstacles by tapping into their potential. The Steve Harvey Morning Show

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi there, This is Rushwan MacDonald, as you know, our
host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews
and information that this show provides are for everyone. It’s
time to stop reading other people’s success stories and start
living your own. This is a new year, a new
time to get your act together. As they say, I
know you’re out there making resolutions. But resolutions can be

(00:21):
made in July, can be made in October, can be
made in December. The most important thing is to follow
through on your dream. And as you follow through in
your droom, you gotta set goals. When you set those goals,
that means expectations are being set that.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
They have to be achieved.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
If you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click to
be a guest button to be a guest on my show,
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Now let’s get this show rolling.
My guest is a recent stroke survivor that’s right, stroke
survivor who is a dynamic entrepreneur, motivational speaker, seasoned coach

(01:01):
with a diverse background that spans over twenty years in
various fields including railroad research, construction and development. He leverages
his wealth of experience to guide clients to overcoming, you know,
obstacles and learning from failures, something that we tend to stop.
One failure can stop our dream. No, I’ve failed myself

(01:25):
many times, and I take those failures as moments of
inspiration and motivation. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass
Window Graham.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
How you doing, Windell?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
I am doing outstanding. How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Doctor, Well, I’m in Atlanta, Georgia or East Coast time.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Where are you calling from, my friend?

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, I’m calling from Tennessee and I’m on Central Standard Times.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Absolutely absolutely, Now I was looking at Jabayo. You’re originally
from Mobile, Alabama.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Huh, that’s right right there on the Gulf Coast, the
original home of Marty Crawl Lazy La bontem roul Let
the good Times Row.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yes, Now you worked at that tract. Forward twenty years,
fifteen years, fifteen years, and tell us about Amtrakt and
why did you start there and why did you leave it?
But also that amazing story you told me about that
really changed your life.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Okay, I’ll be glad to share this story. Uh, you
know I left home at the tender age of eighteen
with a stick over my shoulder tied to a handkerchief.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I wanted to watch.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
You don’t even believe that window You mean you didn’t
even stop the little corny stories on my show?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Come on, keep up.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
But I left home at eighteen, went to Washington, DC,
worked a couple of odd jobs, and I landed my
dream job working for the National Railroad Passages Association AMTRAK.
I was so excited. I eventually got a transfer down
to New Orleans, Louisiana, and in New Orleans, I took
a trip. My trip was from New Orleans, Louisiana. I
want you to get this, New Orleans, Louisiana to Miami,

(02:54):
Florida every Thursday. Never missed a trip. Wow, New Orleans, Louisiana, Miami, Florida.
I had the best of couldn’t even believe they paid
me to do this. I would have paid them well.
Every week I made my trip. This one particular day,
my sister Michelle called me and she asked me if
I wanted to go fishing. I said fishing. We had
been fishing in years, but I because since he needed
to talk, so we went down to the fishing hole

(03:16):
that we went to as kids, and to be honest
with you, the mosquitoes were biting more than a fish.
But we talked for a little while and I said,
Michelle is getting late. I gotta go. I gotta go
to work. So I called the cru Bay supervisor. He
told me the train was on time and I needed
to come in. I said, let’s wrap it up. So
I went home, took a shower. I called the crew
base supervisor back and he said, mister Graham, the train

(03:40):
is on time, but I’m looking at the lift here
there’s a trainee that’s going to go out in your place. Well,
I was upset. I had never missed a train a trip.
You know. I was young and single and ready to mingle.
I was ready to get down to Miami and have
a good time. I said, wait a minute, that’s my trip.
He said, mister Graham, you misunderstood. You’ll still get paid,
but you’ll stay home. I said, oh, why didn’t you

(04:02):
say so. Well, I finished up my evening, I went
to sleep, and while I’m asleep, two o’clock in the morning,
the phone lane, and it was my mother screaming hysterically
on the other line. Wake up, wake up, your train
is in the water. I said, what. I stood up
in the bed, looking down at my feet. What in
the world is she talking about? She said, Oh, my god, sir,

(04:24):
where are you? I said, mom, I’m home. She said,
turn on the TV. Turn on the TV. When I
turned on the TV, I couldn’t believe my eyes. As
I was pressing the remote control, it just had the
same thing, special report, Special reports Specially. I couldn’t wrap
my brain around what I was seeing. All I could
see was plumes of diesel, film and frame shooting up
into the air. And then at the bottom I could

(04:45):
see the writing and said Amtrak. Son said limited crash by.
You cannot And I started counting the train constants. And
what I was doing was counting the cars to see
where the dorm car was. And when I got to
the dorm car, I couldn’t find it. And the reason
why I couldn’t find it is because it was sitting
at the bottom of Bayou Cannot. That night, forty seven

(05:09):
people lost their lives that night. The person who took
my place lost his life. At that point I suffered
from survivor’s remorse. I didn’t make the trip. I almost
made the trip, had I made the trip, I would
have been in that predicament, but I survived, and a
lot of people were saying, Wendell Graham, you ought to

(05:29):
be happy you survived, but I wasn’t. But it was
at that point I made a vow. I made a
vow that I was not going to be irresponsible with
the time that I have left, that my life would
mean something, and I’m gonna do it for the forty
seven people who died that night. I wasn’t going to
be irresponsible. So I set out on a mission to

(05:49):
change as many lives that I could, even though I
wasn’t a public speaker, even though I wasn’t an entrepreneur,
even though I had no specialized training, pure will and
determination to not let my life be in vain, I
set out to change life. And that’s where I am today.
Brother Amost, almost thirty something years later, and I’m still

(06:11):
on this course.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
My man, You know, I appreciate you, appreciate you being
honest sharing this story about surviving PTSD. You know, survivor’s
remorse when you couldn’t. You had nothing to do with that,
but because you survived, it can guilt you. And in
believing that you’ve done something wrong that you should have
been on that train too, and somebody died because you
didn’t show up because somebody told you you’re gonna get

(06:33):
paid anyway. Something you shared with me when we spoke
about you being a stroke survivor. Tell us about that
story and how are you able to recover to the
point that you have in such an articulate interview with
me on this show today.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Well, I’ll be glad to share with you and all
of your listeners. And once again, I’m excited to be here.
It’s just an honor for me to be here. But
in twenty twenty four, it was a very interesting year
for me. I was just minding my own business, just
having a good day on a Saturday, and I had
my lunch and I was lying down in bed, and

(07:10):
all of a sudden, I broke out and highes. I
started itching and I just couldn’t stop, and I thought
it was something that if I just took a shower,
it would go away. But it didn’t go away, and
I knew I was in trouble because my airwaves began
to close and my lips began to swell, and I said,
you know what, I’m not from originally from Tennessee, but
I knew that the hospital was not far away. So

(07:32):
what I did was, I said, I have to make
a smart decision here. I don’t want to call the
EMT because that might take too long, so let me
try to drive. So I got in my vehicle and
I headed out to the hospital and I made it
to the parking lot of the emergency room. And when
I pulled into the emergency room, I saw a parking
spot and I said, yes, I’m safe because I could
hardly breathe. My vision was blurred. But when I got

(07:56):
out of the vehicle, I passed out and I hit
my head on the concrete. But on my way down,
I hit the panic button and the car along was
going off and I thought, surely somebody would come and
find me. But how I fell, I was wedged between
two vehicles and nobody could see me. But I came
to I heard my I heard a voice say get up,

(08:18):
get up, and I opened my eyes and I saw
a lady wheeling a person over to the heliport and
I said help, and they came out with a stretcher
and a wheelchair. They put me on the wheelchair in
the wheelchair and it wheels me into the hospital and
surely I thought I was okay. I didn’t know what
was going on. But I had what’s called anaphylectic shock. Yeah,

(08:39):
that’s right. I didn’t know what it was either, but
it was due to some type of allergic reaction. That
was the original problem. But then I heard the doctor
say as they were picking me up, putting me on
the table and cutting off my brand new shirt, I
heard him say, get the crash cart. Now I didn’t
know what the crash cart was. They kept asking me

(09:01):
my name, my date of birth, and UH and what
did I eat? And I kept repeating it. But at
that moment, I could feel myself flipped, just drifting away,
and I passed out several times. And when I came to, UH,
they told me that I that I had an anaphylectic
shock and that because of the due to the lack
of oxygen to my brain during that time, I had

(09:21):
suffered a mile stroke. And yes, and that was the
start of it. That was in May of twenty twenty four.
It would take me months and months to regain my
ability to speak, my ability to walk.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Okay, let’s go.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Down right quick, window So so you’re in the hospital
and friends and families come visit you, and when they
visited you, what state are you in physically and mentally?
When they I’m sure a lot of sadness because you
know you, I’m listening to you now, you’re pretty upby guy.
You got a lot of energy. And seeing you in
that state, where were you at physically?

Speaker 3 (09:59):
Physically? It was like being locked inside of your body.
I was in a canatonic state. I was unable to speak.
I know they were concerned. I was concerned, but I
wasn’t able to speak in that and it was just
a blank expression on my face. And as they were
trying to figure out what was going on because it

(10:20):
wouldn’t be diagnosed later to what actually took place, but
they were just concerned about how would I recover from this?
It was almost impossible in their mind. You know that
I would recover from this?

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Right? And where were the symptoms that you were recovering from.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
I was recovering from the inability to speak, Wow, the
memory fog. I couldn’t remember anything. I would start a
sentence and I know you hear me talking right now,
and he’s like that, God, that’s impossible. But I couldn’t
complete a sentence. I couldn’t remember the last thing I said.
I would start over. And those who loved me and
those who cared about me, they were so patient. I

(11:00):
want to thank my family. They were so patient because
I could not complete a full sentence. And this has
been me my whole life. The person that you hear
right now, and I thought it was over.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, m you’re you’re a motivational speaker, seasoned cod motivation, Yes,
who can’t speak? You’re right, you’re motivating people and you
can’t even get out of bed.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Absolutely, that’s that’s like the worst nightmare.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
So where was your faith at that point of the
conversation that we’re having right now?

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Your faith? Where was it at?

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Take you? Taking you back to that day? My faith?
I have to be honest with you, because sometimes we
tell the story, and we tell them with all the
great and glamor. We tell it as if nothing happened.
We say, one day I was sleeping in my cart,
next day I was a millionaire. Well what about the
middle story. I just want to keep it real. I
just want to be real with you and tell you

(11:53):
that at that time I was discouraged. At that time,
I would, I would be honest with you, and I
was like, why me? At that time, I didn’t know
what the outcome would be. I thought this was a
permanent state for where I was at that time. But
I knew deep down inside that what I had been
studying all those years would have to be applied to me.

(12:17):
No longer would I be able to speak it out
to somebody else. I had to speak those very things
that I had been speaking to people for Jeniors. I
had to silently speak it to myself.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Now, though it is a story about survival, your stories
about overcoming the odds.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
How do you use that?

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Because you’ve already had your business out there slight edge
consultant prior to the stroke, and then you have this
struke and you’re the entrepreneur, so you don’t have a
regular check coming in. So as they say, you work
on what enables you to put on your table, what
enables you to put gas in your car, what enables
you to pay the rent? So how do you leverage

(12:57):
the comeback story into twenty twenty five as opportunities for
you personally but also to motivate people to overcome the odds?

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Tell us what I’m so glad you asked that question,
because we want to talk about money making conversations, and see,
money is only the byproduct of something. In the words,
the only way you can get too money is that
you have to have an action that precedes that. And
so a lot of times what we think about is that,
you know, we want to get to the money. But

(13:26):
there’s something that’s called intellectual property. There’s something that you
have acquired over the years. While I was in that state,
I had to rely on what I knew and what
I knew how to do. At that time, I couldn’t
do anything. I had to recover from that situation. But
I had acquired knowledge, I had acquired wisdom and understanding
over the years that I would have to apply in

(13:48):
that situation in order for me to move forward. So
I didn’t lose anything. I just lost the ability to talk.
I just lost the ability to remember, and I had
to work on myself. This is what I want to emphasize.
I want to emphasize that we have to be patient
with ourselves in any process. It may have been a
stroke for me, but someone may be dealing with the
loss of a loved one, the loss of a job.

(14:10):
You know, so we have to learn to be patient
with ourselves through any recovery process. I didn’t just jump
up and jump back out into it. I had to
dip my toe into the water, and then I had
to gradually ease on back into it, and then eventually
I had to subvert myself back into this business, back
into this world, because this, like you said, is my
brand and butter, this is what I depend on.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
Please don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
I’m speaking of Window Graham.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
He’s re the story I had to ask him to
tell because sometimes when you talk about these ups and
downs and how you overcome the odds, people on the head,
like you said, the success story, the wild ie portion
of the conversation, and we all have. You know, I
have a hospital store where where I actually drove my
Your story sounds so similar because I actually drove myself

(15:10):
to the hospital too, where a crash long my lung
had collapsed neumo thoroacs, and so it sounded very familiar
because I didn’t call it, you know, EMT either, and
so I know what you’re going through. And fortunately I
didn’t fall out in the parking lot. I was able
to walk myself into the emergency room. And when I
walked inside the emergency room, they immediately asked me for

(15:31):
my medical card because I think, I look here, what
I what type of what type of health issues I
was having?

Speaker 2 (15:39):
They wanted to make sure I can pay? Okay, what
do you have car?

Speaker 1 (15:42):
And I was fortunate to have medical insurance and they uh,
and we moved forward and the rest is history. But
as as Slight Edge Consulting, what exactly is that?

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Flight Edge Consulting is a small business development firm. At
at in our website is slight Edgeconsulting dot com. You
can learn a ton of information about us and what
we do. But what we do is we work with
people on an individual basis. We understand that you have
a unique gift, unique talents and abilities. I firmly believe,
out of all of my experience that most, if not all,

(16:15):
but most people have eighty five percent of what they
need in order to be successful. It’s only that fifteen
percent that’s holding them back. I work with the fifteen percent.
You see, I can’t I don’t have your talent. I
don’t know what you know how to do that. You
came with that to the planning. But that fifteen percent
may be limited self belief, limited thinking, thinking thinking. You

(16:37):
may may not have access to the resources, may not
have access to the ability to relay your information, may
not have the sales experience or the knowledge on how
to do that. That’s that small fifteen percent. So what
happens is that we live a life of quiet desperation.
We are a public success and a private failure, or
a public a private public success and a private sailer.

(17:02):
That’s that eighty five fifteen. So what I do is
I tap into the fifteen percent and find out what
you need, and then we tailor a package based upon
the needs of the client, and then we deliver.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
So so basically via a phone call is via zoom
how you meet individuals or not? Because you’re based in
central time zone Tennessee. Okay, And I got people on
the West coast. I got people of North and Chicago,
people on the East coast as far as New York
and Philadelphia and Florida. How does that manifest itself? If
somebody is listening to us on the show today saying, man,

(17:38):
I’m motivated by what Window said. He overcame the arts
and stroke. He’s articulates, he’s energetic. He may be the
one that can, you know, help me get over the hump.
That’s what this call is about. I’m having with you.
It’s a by getting over the hump.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Window.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Absolutely, so many people just stand there and let that
hump grow. It just get bigger as long as you
stand up there not making a timp. I’m just don’t
tell everybody that hop on is gonna get bigger. So
but if you start making an effort, you start realizing
it’s not that big at all. But that’s what you do.
That’s what you bring to the table. Window tell us
all about it.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
That’s right, Okay, doctor Shawan, you almost made me throw
my phone. Let me calm down because you hit the
nail on the head. It’s the hump we get in
our own way. So one of the things that I
asked that a potential client, if you just want to
learn more about what we do, go to the website.
Still a lot of information for them. We do free consultations.
We’re gonna sit down and we’re gonna talk to you.

(18:33):
We know that you’re on all different full corners of
the globe, and so we’re gonna match your times on
We’re gonna match wherever you are. Carve out some time
to talk to you. It’s not going to cost you
anything but attention. Just pay attention. That’s all you have
to do. Because there are two interviews that take place
in any conversation. You’re interviewing me to see if I’m
the right person for you, and I’m interviewing you because

(18:54):
I want to make sure that you’re the client for me.
Sometimes they just don’t match where you’re going. I might
be able to take you. You might want to be a
millionaire tomorrow. So what I so, I might not be
able to take you there tomorrow. So what I do
is I set up these free consultation at slight ass
dot com. Go to the information package and and figure
out fill out the information for them, send it up,

(19:17):
and one of our representatives will meet with you and
have a conversation. And what happens is is that it’s
a collaborative effort. It’s a collaborative you know. One of
the things that I noticed that most people struggle with
public speaking. We have a ton of public speaker trainers.
An another area sales. Another is a tech So we
have a team of people that’s ready to help all

(19:38):
individuals and help them elevate their business, elevate their game.
But one of the main things is that you have
to get out of your way.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Absolutely, to get out of your way.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Wendell he owns a company, Slight Edge Consulting. Before we
get to that story sales, you know, just because I
can talk, don’t mean I can sell. Don’t mean I
am That’s right, it’s not my DNA. You know, I’ve
managed people. I just I you know, I’m not a
guy that goes out there. I can knock on the

(20:09):
door and even though people tell me I do have
the ability to convince people to do different things. That
just doesn’t feel like that’s part of my DNA. But
as your company, what are some of the key tips
you share in your sales training that really helps small
businesses boost their sales?

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Can you share some of that with us?

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Absolutely? Absolutely. Influencers defined as a confident ability to change
another person starts the lease and or actions influence the
confident ability to change another person’s starts, beliefs, and or actions,
And we’re all influential to a certain degree. But sales
there is nothing more than transferring feelings. If I can
convince you, if I can make you feel about a

(20:50):
product or service how I feel about that product or service,
you will buy every single time, provided you have the resources,
the money, and the needs. We sell people are not
to buy. We sell them that we are not the
client or we’re not to buy from us because we
don’t have the enthusiasm about what it is that we’re selling.

(21:11):
And I’m not saying that if you sell seven forty
seven yet that you have to go out and buy one,
but at least you should be able to talk about
it with enough enthusiasm, have the knowledge about it that
you can convey that over to your potential client, that
you have the knowledge and the information in order to
sell them that product. So selling is nothing more than
transferring feeling. If I can make you feel about window

(21:32):
Gram like I already feel about Windo Graham, you’ll buy
every single time.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Well, it’s important because it’s about convincing people to do
things that they may be uncomfortable to do. Now, can
you share a story about a challenge you face in
your career and what you are learned from that challenge
because I get them all the time. I will tell
people sometimes waking up is a challenge to a lot
of people. You know, sometimes a relationship is a challenge.
So challenges all have different color, different descriptions. So I

(22:02):
can’t label you saying you’re going to go through this challenge.
But the most important challenge is not trying. A lot
of people will not try to overcome those difficult moments,
and that’s a big challenge for a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
And fear.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
But can you share a story about a challenge you
faced in your career and what you learn from it?

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Wendell And this.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
Is a very good point to segue, because I want
to say this, give yourself permission to be great. Oftentimes
we’re waiting for other people to come and to endorse us,
to give us a stamp of approval that now is
your time. Oftentimes we’re the people that push people and
encourage people and motivate people and they go on to

(22:45):
success while we’re standing back cheering in the background. But
client like we’re cutting millions. We’re happy for them, but
we’re that for ourselves. But sometimes you have to realize
that the cavalry is not coming, and that you have
to give yourself permission to be great, Give yourself permission
to be great, look in the mirror and say, now
was my time. The calvalry is not coming. It’s time

(23:06):
now or never. I gotta go for it. I gotta
go for it. You know.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
It’s really interesting that because I remember when I left IBM.
You know, everybody felt that that was a job, you know,
a career job, and it is, it is, but that
wasn’t for me.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
But fear.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Crept into my mind when I started making that decision
to leave, and I had to push beyond that because
I realized that my dream wasn’t that IBM. It was
something else. It was it was outside of that box.
And I want to just tell everybody, is that a
lot of times you’ve been told all your life, this
is what you should do, this is what you this

(23:47):
is how you will be successful. And people were kind
of stereotyped, even though they love you, they will stereotype
you to say this is.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
The only way you’re going to win in life. Correct.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Absolutely, you’re absolutely right, Because sometimes we have people around us,
not all, not at all, but most they’re afraid of
your success. They’re afraid that if you become successful, then
you’ll change and it’ll leave them behind. And oftentimes people
give you the advice on what you shouldn’t do based
upon their own fears, not based upon your ability to

(24:22):
achieve said goals, but based upon their own fears. So
one of the things that I always say, the Bible
teaches us to seek godly counsel, and I share this
with everybody. Get the right counsel. Don’t ask your mechanic
for legal advice. Don’t don’t. Don’t go and ask your
mechanic what should I do in the court of law.
He might just tell you the wrong thing. I don’t know.

(24:43):
You know, he might have a law degree, but.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Hell, he’s a mechanic. Go window. I’m just gonna let
you know. He may have that legal degree, but odds
have you working on your car here?

Speaker 3 (24:54):
A mechanic, right, Yeah, he’s a mechanic. Let’s put him
in his right category. You know. So sometimes we go
to the wrong people asking for the right advice. Make
sure you’re seeking and going after the right advice on
the right people.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Will you pay you well?

Speaker 3 (25:08):
You will?

Speaker 2 (25:09):
You serving us now?

Speaker 1 (25:11):
And I want to thank you for coming on money
making Conversation Masterclass Window Graham and we’re going to talk soon,
my friend, and I know you’re not going to change
your entergy as we go out. Tell everybody how we
can get in touch with you.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
All right, I want you to go to Slight Edgeconsulting
dot com. Go on, fill out the information form, leave
a comment, send me some information, read the story, look
at the pictures. You’ll see my rich history of things
that I’ve accomplished over the years with the help of
God and my team of people that’s working with me,
Slight Edge Consulting. I’m all on all social media platforms,
but go to slight Edgeconsulting dot com. That’s my website

(25:46):
and fill out of information form and tell me what
you think about the show, and give me some information
about yourself and we’ll be in touch with you.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
You stay strong on, my friend. We’ll talk soon.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Okay, Thank you very much. You have a good one.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
This has been another edition of Money Making Comments Masterclass
hosted by me Rushawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you for listening to audience.
Now if you want to listen to any episode, I
want to be a guest on the show, Visit Moneymakingconversations
dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with

(26:19):
your gifts.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Keep winning.