The Interview
Damien Senn: Topher, you have trained tens of thousands of people around the world including a number of Olympic athletes to reach their peak potential. What motivates you to do the work that you do?
Dr Topher Morrison: This really is the only life I know. At age 21 I purchased a personal development franchise in the Seattle, Washington and I’ve been working in the field of excellence ever since. But I think it started even earlier in my life…when I was 13. My youth pastor, Ken Thayer gave me a book called “See You at the Top” by Zig Ziglar and it was the first time where I found that there was someone else who felt the same way about life as I did. I’ve always admired Ken for doing that. So much so, that even though we don’t keep in touch, I still remember him and will always be grateful for the contribution he played in my life. It was probably back then that ‘contribution’ became my highest value. I get so much joy out of knowing I’ve made a positive impact on someone’s life. To do anything else in life for a career that didn’t give that contribution, to me would just seem foreign.
Damien Senn: Now it hasn't always been smooth sailing for you in your business life. What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in getting to where you are today?
Dr Topher Morrison: It would have definitely been when I owned the personal development franchise in Seattle. I was 21 years old, and had absolutely no right to own it. In fact, the franchisor’s told me I couldn’t purchase the franchise nine different times. But I was such stubborn punk at the time, I wouldn’t take no for an answer. They finally buckled, sold me the franchise, and within 9 months I was over $85,000 in debt. I was eating every 3rd day and my life sucked. But even worse than my financial status was my emotional status… emotionally I was bankrupt. I was what everyone in this world hates to be… a hypocrite. I was trying to teach people how to have an excellent life, but I couldn’t rub two dimes together. It was just a joke. My lowest point was when my high school crush, and her husband showed up at my door for the holidays with bags of food for me to eat. Let me tell you, getting a handout from someone is very humbling… but when you get a handout from a girl you used to have a crush on? That’s a whole new level of humility! And you know what? I wouldn’t trade it for all the money in the world… well, hell that’s a lie… I’d be happy to trade it for all the money in the world!!! But the point I’m trying to make is I don’t regret it one bit and it was worth much more than the cost of a college degree… that’s for sure.
Damien Senn: What made it worth so much? What did you walk away with from that?
Topher Morrison: Authenticity. It wasn’t just that event, but that was the big kicker. As I continued through my evolution of personal development I had the opportunity of working next to some of the best minds of our time in personal development… and you know what? I saw that same hypocrisy that I had when I was Seattle in these people too! I’d see them talk a big game on stage, get off stage and then become the exact opposite. It was amazing, and so valuable. It made me really contemplate how I wanted to show up in this world, and especially when I’m on stage inspiring others. My fundamental belief as a trainer is that my words mean nothing if I don’t live them the best I can… and I make sure to tell my audiences that I don’t live them all the time. The last thing I want is for someone to come to my events and think that I actually live the message I teach 24 hours a day… I’m only human, I slip up, and I want my audience to know that. Because if they don’t know that, then when they go to implement a way of thinking from my programmes, but then as humans do.. slip up, they’ll feel like they failed… that’s just nonsense. That’s the whole inspiration being the title of my new book, “Stop Chasing Perfection & Settle for Excellence.” I don’t try to be perfect, but I’m perfectly okay settling for being excellence… and that’s pretty easy in our society because so many people have accepted mediocrity as an acceptable means of living.
Damien Senn: You pride yourself on running anything but a mediocre training and in the process you have created a world class training organisation. What is it that sets your company apart from others?
Dr Topher Morrison: I love that question! It amazes me to see how many motivational speakers spend so much time trying to convince their readers or listeners that they are different than all other motivational speakers. Some of them even hate that title and deny that in fact, that is what they are. So I guess in the spirit of convincing people how I’m different here it is…. I’m the only one who admits openly that I’m no different from any other motivational speaker! The fact is there’s been nothing new presented in the field of personal development since the writing of the Bible, the Koran, the Bagdiva Gita, or any of the other ancient writings for that matter. Ever since then, its just been a rehash of the original teachings… but each speaker has their own way of delivering it. It’s the students responsibility to keep searching until they find a teacher or teachers that respond to them and deliver the message they need to hear in the way they need to hear it. My style of delivery is very down to earth. I don’t like to pump people up with false expectations, I like them to develop grounded, real-life strategies that work and make their lives more effective. Now I’ve deviated a bit from your original question, so let me go back to that briefly… I think what separates my company from other companies is this: We strive to be the Ritz Carlton of the seminar industry. Topher Morrison Inc really does go way above and beyond the call of duty for their seminars. Just ask our customers, you’ll hear all sorts of stories of how our company went above and beyond… we have to… my highest value is contribution. In fact, my ultimate goal is to one day have the Ritz Carlton say they want to become the Topher Morrison Inc of the hotel industry!
Damien Senn: You are a master trainer in NLP and also have a doctorate in clinical hypnotherapy. How have these skillsets enabled you to transform your own life?
Dr Topher Morrison: That’s the one area where I really feel like I excel. I walk my talk on this one big time. I regularly do self hypnosis 2 times daily, for 20 minutes each session. I do this for two reasons. Number one, is that I function much better if I do this. It makes sense right? I mean if you think about the relationship of your conscious mind and your unconscious mind like a team or an employment… the conscious mind is like the boss, the unconscious mind is like the employee. So if you had to work for a boss that had you work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and that employer never thanked you, or spoke with you in a supportive voice, would you develop a bit of an attitude against that employer?
Damien Senn: Absolutely...
Topher Morrison: Exactly! So if I want my unconscious mind to support me in achieving my goals, it seems only logical to want to take care of my employee… to talk with him regularly and lovingly so he is more willing to support me in my outcomes. The second reason is because of one of my codes of conduct in life: I never ask a human being to do something I’m unwilling to do myself. And in almost every one of my seminars, a message you will hear almost every time is the importance of strengthening your relationship with your unconscious mind.
Damien Senn: One of your great passions is the environment. You have presented seminars to schools and other organisations on the importance of preserving the earth's natural resources on a voluntary basis. What are some simple things that we can all do to help preserve the environment for future generations?
Dr Topher Morrison: You know if you would have asked me that question 2 weeks ago I would have given you a list of several things, but I just recently saw the most amazing film called, “An Inconvenient Truth” It’s hosted by our former Vice President of the U.S. Al Gore. I know that may immediately conjur images of a very stale movie, but he did an amazing job, and as such a clear message. My belief now is this: Every human owes it to themselves, their children, and this planet to watch this movie… it is life changing. In fact, if I were to give it a comparison I would say that the movie, “An Inconvienient Truth” will do for the environment what the movie, “What the Bleep Do We Know?” did for the human mind. Go see this movie, it’s amazing.
Damien Senn: One of the areas I see people really struggle with is their relationship with money. Why do you think that is the case?
Dr Topher Morrison: Because money is the most tangible way to measure success and failure. The second would be our physical weight. You can deny a failing relationship, you can even deny an unhealthy body a lot of the times, but you can’t deny a bounced check or a denied credit card charge when you are having dinner with friends. Those things are so absolute. Now if you want to know why so many people struggle with money, I think it’s because people fundamentally do not fully comprehend the universal laws of abundance. Think about it. Everyone knows someone who, no matter how much money they make, are always broke, and everyone knows someone who, no matter how little they make, they always seem to find a way to pay their bills, and even save a bit on the side. What’s the difference? It’s clearly not the income! It’s the relationship they have with money, prosperity, and abundance. And that’s something so few people have actually comprehended. They’re too focused on strategies to make money instead of first working with how they relate to money. If you have a bad relationship with money, and then you get a lot of money, you’ll have a really big, bad relationship with money!
Damien Senn: You are running a workshop in London on February 3-4th of February called 'The Mental Game of Money'. What practical tools can people expect to walk away with from this seminar?
Dr Topher Morrison: I’ve used the tools of Neuro Linguistic Programming to model the most successful experts on wealth. And ALL of them, without exception or fail share 5 things in common. They may not say it directly, but if you read deeper into their words, if you really study them and understand them, you’ll discover 5 governing rules that they all follow. This seminar focuses on those 5 rules to the mental game of money. It’s not a get rich quick seminar! It’s a down to earth, grounded approach to changing the way you relate to wealth so that when you start to generate more wealth, you don’t screw it up, but in fact, you make that money go further than you ever have before…. It really is an amazing program. I think it’s the seminar I’m most proud of because so much of the information is original… and by original I mean I’ve reworded in my own personal way what every other person says too!
Damien Senn: What kind of results have previous participants of this seminar enjoyed?
Dr Topher Morrison: Ironically, some of the most amazing stories of improvement aren’t even about money! They are about how their lives have improved. One girl specifically comes to mind. A 15 year old girl who came to my first program 1 year ago. She was dropping out of school, self harming herself, she had an eating disorder and her parents were doubting if their girl would survive. Her mom & dad came to the seminar and brought her along. They were expecting to learn how to improve their relationship with money and their daughter ended up turning her life around 180 degrees. In fact, come to my seminar Feb 3 & 4, I’ll bet she’ll be there, and you’ll see what I mean. She absolutely glows with life.
Other stories of success about money have been from the well grounded to the amazing. For example, I had an email the other day from a student who said that before the seminar she was horribly in debt and less than one year later she’s paid off all her debt and managed to put £11,000 in her savings account… now that’s not a million pound story, but that’s a great starting point, and if you ask her if it was worth her time and money, she’d give a resounding yes. I also had an email from a person who attended the program and the next week ended up getting £40,000 from a person she was fighting with legally for several years. She did a process during the seminar where you release negative energy toward someone who’s wronged you financially. She completely forgave the person during the seminar for what they did to her. That following week, the person called her, settled out of court and gave her more than she was expecting.
Damien Senn: What memorable mistakes, if any, have you made in business? What did you learn from them and how can they be avoided?
Dr Topher Morrison: One of my biggest mistakes was not treating my business like a business…. It’s one of the hardest things I have to face as a motivational speaker. People approach me during the breaks, they give me heart breaking stories, my heart goes out to them and I make exceptions for them with pricing plans or I take it easy on them so they can get to my program. And in nearly every single situation, that person has ended up not paying me in the long run. I’ve even had promoters who owe me over $100,000 just not pay me because I was ‘too nice’ and didn’t defend my boundaries. What I’ve realizes is that by me making special exceptions for someone because I feel sorry for their story, it sends a message to the universe that actually disables that persons instead of inspires them. So now I’m much more strict on policy. I treat everyone the same regardless of their situation, and it makes it much better, because that’s really what their unconscious minds want anyway… to be treated equal and held to a higher standard than they have for themselves.
Damien Senn: What are the best and worst things about being an entrepreneur?
Dr Topher Morrison: The best thing is that you are totally responsible for your destiny… and I think the worst part is that you are totally responsible for your destiny!
Damien Senn: Are there any other thoughts, insights, or advice that you would like to offer would be entrepreneurs thinking about setting up their own business?
Dr Topher Morrison: Treat it like a business. Do it for the right reasons, and know what you are worth… know what your time is worth too. Most entrepreneurs piss away 90% of their day not doing things that ultimately make their company money. And if you aren’t doing something that makes your company money, then you are actually costing your company money. I’ll share you a great story on what I mean, an it’s the fundamental element that has made my company the success it has become most recently. About 20 months ago, I had a conversation with one of my mentors in life. His name is John… that’s actually his name by the way, I haven’t changed it to protect his privacy! John has a net worth over 30 million dollars and he’s only 25 years old. When I asked him what he did that made his company such a success he gave me a great strategy. He said he made a list of the things that he is uniquely qualified to do in his company. There were only 7 things. And he vowed to only do those 7 things during work hours, and all other items of the business he would delegate. He had me make a list of my uniquely qualified duties for my job. I did, and he told me to hire staff to do EVERYTHING else. I immediately countered with common sense. I told him that hiring people to do everything else is easy for him to say, he has a net worth of 30 million dollars. I don’t have that kind of money and it’s not as easy for me to just go out and hire enough people to do all those other business duties. He paused for a moment and replied… “Yep, and its attitudes like that, that will keep you from ever being worth 30 million dollars. When I started my company, I couldn’t afford to hire all the people I did, but I did it anyway, and that’s why I have 30 million and you never will until you change your attitude.” That was the best spanking I ever received! So know what your time is worth!
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