cc
in Society. It is a course that's offered
through the University of Wisconsin School of Human
Ecology.
As we begin today, I'd like to I'm Jeanan Yasiri.
producing this course, the UW eOffice of Corporate Relations,n
the UW College of Engineering for their technical support,
and financial support that's
Kauffman Foundation, which is committed to advancing academic
education in entrepreneurship.
partners, Wisconsin Public Additionally, we thank our media
Place crew for taping today's Television alecture. University
I'm very pleased to introduce our special guest today,
Dave Anderson, founder
The barbecue franchise known and of Famous Dave's of America.
1994, when Dave opened up his Fafirst operation in Hayward, in
Wisconsin.
announced its initial public Within a year, Famous Dave's
A year later, National offering on NASDAQ.
organization as one of the Restaurant News recognized the
originality, innovation in menu, hottest concepts in America for
consumer approval. decor, service, and strong
NASDAQ, and "USA Today" Erecognized Dave in 1997 as
Minnesota and Dakota's emerging entrepreneur of the year.
As a Native American, Dave
difference in his community, devotes his life to making a
entrepreneur. He certainly pays attention
to the lives of others
Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network recognized Dave's leadership
development work with at-risk youth.
Dave has a master's degree from Harvard University, which I
trust he will tell us about.
Dave Anderson to share with us Please join me in welcoming
and Life: Lessons from an "How tEntrepreneur."ollege
[applause]
Good afternoon. >> Some of you sound asleep.
Now, whenever I go and share my story, I always start off with a
rousing cheer.
stand up. SAnd what's going to happen isto
I'm going to do this cheer
and then we'll all do it first, and then I'll repeat it,
The cheer goes like this. I feel happy!
I feel healthy! I feel terrific!
So, let me repeat that. It goes, I feel happy!
I feel healthy! I feel terrific!
On the count of three,
Here we go! we'll One, two, three!ther.
I feel happy! I feel healthy!
I feel terrific!
Absolutely lousy! There were some of you who were
kind of looking around and
do I really have to do this?" sayinNo, you don't.key,
There's a lot of things you don't have to do in life.
But I will tell you this. There's going to come a time
when you need to stand up for the things that you believe in.
There are times when you've got to share with the world your
hopes, your dreams, and your
And if you're aren't aspirations.
your skin now, in a comfortable surrounding now,
you will never make it in life. Entrepreneurship is not
a profession. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle.
Everyone of you has the seeds of greatest within you.
So don't worry about what the person next to you thinks.
I want every one of you just to let loose.
I know you have the energy. I know there's enthusiasm.
Let's just pretend we're at Wisconsin badger football game.
So, on the count of three,
One, two, three! here we go.
I feel healthy! I feel terrific!
All right, that was a whole lot better.
Now, I would say sit down.
I am a winner! So, repeat after me.
I am a superstar! >> I am a superstar!
I am a champion!
All right, I want you to >> I am a champion!
Look at somebody, either to your think about this.
thought. right or left, and think this
things in their life. They have done some incredible
things, just to even get
in this school. And you never know what kind of
story that person has that's
So, I want to look at the person right next you.
I want you to say, who's to your right or left, and
You are amazing. you are amazing.
I am in awe of you. >> You are going to do
amazing things in life. >> You are going to do amazing
things in life. >> But more than that...
But more than that. >> I think...
I think.
You are. >> You are...
Good looking. >> All right, now give
yourselves--
Now you can be seated. [clapping]
important it is to be I want tpassionate.h you how
And those of you who got here a little bit early, I asked a lot
of you to come down in front. I'm a big believer that if
you're going to succeed in life,
entrepreneur, and again entrepreneurship is not a
profession, it's a lifestyle. And every one of you has the
seeds of greatness within you.
and dreams. EJust one idea, if unleashed,s
could change the course of mankind.
And every one of you has that within you.
But if you're sitting in the
everybody up here. back rows, you know, I can see
If I were you, if you had I noa multimillionaire--tes.
If I had a multimillionaire standing in front,
somebody who started out
I would be scribbling furiously with nothing,away.has succeeded,
I would walk out with more notes
You know what? than anybody in this room.
rows, I can't see you. If you're sitting in the back
business, but I will never know who you are when you're sittingr
in the back rows. So I want to encourage all of
you, you may think that this
It is not. is just college.
that every day in college is no different than your first day on
the job.
when I get my job, then I'll A lot of times, people say look,
really work hard. I know some of you are working
hard now, but it's your actions and behaviors that you are doing
every day of your life that is
throughout your career. goI will tell you that I hiress
a lot of people.
a lot of young people, Throughout my career, I've hired
There's like this gap a lot oof graduates,duates.
that when they graduate,
There's this gap there. So, your actions and behaviors
that you do every day while you're in college, determines
how successful you will be when you actually do graduate and you
get your first job, or you start
So, one of things I like to encourage all of you, is that
every day when you're at class, don't think of it as college,
think of it as being
being an entrepreneur. in the workforce,
professors as either your Abosses, your supervisors,y
or a CEO of a major business. How would you act and behave?
Look around you.
The people that are sitting next Look around you right now.
They may be a client. They may be somebody who you
would want to hire, or maybe
Then ask yourself, what type of thimpression am I making.ou.
That's how important it is. As a successful entrepreneur,
I have the opportunity to travel
different meetings with ahigh-level CEOs of othery
businesses. One of things I always ask,
I say, what do you look for when you're looking for a young
person to come into your
Number one, they always say bpassion.
Passion and enthusiasm. So, being able to stand up,
stand out, get fired up.
back is so important. YoThen, where I come from, I'mng
living up in the Twin Cities, you have the Minnesota Vikings.
It's interesting, because you'll see young people sitting
in stands, painted purple,
helmets with horns. Then, originally, I grew up
in Chicago. That's where my entrepreneurial
story really gets started.
Then, we're all in Wisconsin. We We have the Packersars.
and cheeseheads.
held in Lambeau Field, but one I've watched some amazing games
always, is that it may be freezing weather, and there are
people sitting in the stands
body painted green, the haother side painted yellow.r
And what do they have on their
Cheese. Cheeseheads.
Then we've all seen some of these folks, doing some crazy,
interesting things, right?
enthusiastic, to cheer on Grown peopla team.ng excited,
Here's what I want to think about.
If you look at a professional team, and you look at the tens
and tens of thousands of fans that are standing and cheering
in the stands, think of this. How many of them will actually
ever get a chance to meet those professional football players?
Why is it that we don't show up every day of our life with that
same type of passion and that same type of enthusiasm?
I've been an entrepreneur all my
Starting out, I never thought I could succeed.
What you're looking at is actually my first restaurant.
This is my mom's Indian fry bread stand, where we
used to cook Indian fry bread and sell at an Indian pie house.
This is my humble beginnings. And really, this is that story
of entrepreneurship.
live in, it doesn't matter where In this great country that we
It doesn't matter what you've been through..
The one thing that matters, if
ambitions to make the world a better place, that in this great
country, anything is possible.
home, is that right now, you may If my story today ever reaches
going to get started. You may not know how successful
you will be.
reason why you're in this class, But every one of you, there's a
have dreams, and you have hopes beof doing something great.es
When I was growing up as a little kid,
growing up in the city
I could succeed. of Chicago, I never thought that
are Native Americans. My dad's a full-blood Choctaw
Indian from Idabel, Oklahoma. My mom is from the Lac Courte
Oreilles Tribe in Hayward,
A lot of people over the years, they've asked me, they say,
well Dave, Idabel, Oklahoma,
It's as far south in Oklahoma isas you can get.th.
How did your dad ever get to
in northern Wisconsin? meet some gal from way up north
Both of my parents, being Native Well, the story is this.
from their families and stuck in American, were actually taken
A lot of people think, well, Indian boarding schools.
happened in Abraham Lincoln's that's the tyday.f stuff that
No. This generation, my parents
taken from the families and stuck in boarding schools.
Now, fortunately for me, they met at Haskell Institute for
Indians in Lawrence, Kansas.
At that time, the only jobs that They got married.
cities, so the Bureau of Indian weAffairs shipped them offor
to Chicago. Now, fortunately for me,
this is where the love for food gets started, because my dad
being from the South, loved his southern home cooking.
He missed those southern meals. My dad used to drive my mom
down south almost every other weekend while she learned
how to cook southern. That's how important
great-tasting barbecue, great-tasting southern
home cooking was in my family.
on the west side of Chicago, But like I said, growing up
and dreams that maybe some of I never hadyou had. the hopes
I never probably have the family
or maybe some of you have struggled, and you're working
your butts off to succeed, and
make that dream come true. in your mind, you're going to
remember in the late 1950s, Buthow hot it would be.can
We used to have days on end,
the temperatures would be likeup over 100 degrees.here
I can remember looking out of our third floor apartment with
no air conditioning, and it was just so hot, and looking down on
the streets of Chicago, and see that heat rising off of the
cars, see the heat rising off of
My mom, to get out of that the asphalt and the concrete.
us on the C Line railroad, excruciating heat, would stick
Wisconsin up to Hayward, and we would travel through
It seemed like we'd stop at every stop along the way.
Once we got to Spooner, somebody
truck, and we would go down dusty gravel roads to get to my
grandmother's house, which was
shack with no running water, nothing more than a three-room
and an all-wood stove. no electricity,
was laying in my grandmother's What I remember most those days
northern sky. Being from the city, I never saw
a northern sky that was just so black, where the stars just
stood out so brightly.
reach up and grab one of those It was like you could almost
As a little kid, when I would look into that northern sky, and
I would see those billions and
stars that shone bright. billions of stars, I saw some
ever be like one of those stars And I wthat shone bright. would
Or if my life would be like one of those other billions of
stars, that just kind of faded
Every one of you has to think off intabout your future.space.
How are you going to stand up and stand out against all of the
other millions and millions of
type of courses you are taking? This is why it's so important
that every day of your life you're not standing around with
your hands in your pockets, arms
people are going to think. folded, and wondering what other
You've got to be passionate. You've got to be enthusiastic.
school, when are you going to do If you can't do it here in
Because if you're taking it in the work place?
your driving desire to be in entrepreneurship, or whatever
You have to be passionate about life, or wit.ever it is.
You have to be enthusiastic about it, because that's one of
the rules of success.
You'll hear a lot of people talk
If you're going to be successful, you've got to think
about your passion. You've got to think about it
all the time. You've got to eat, drink and
sleep whatever turns your crank,
The first time I heard this, whatever turns you on.
This is what I thought. I[laughter].
You mean, I'm going to turn into
[laughter] a blonde?
the other lesson, is that life Well, one of the things,
You cannot achieve your greatest is about change.
right now. dream being the person you are
There's a lot of people that go through life, and a lot of you
know these type of people.
complain, wondering how come You hear them whine and
in life. they never achieved anything
same thing day in and day out. It's because they keep doing the
I'm going to talk about today. There's three lessons
I'm going to talk about I am golifelong learning.change.
Then I'm going to share with you
to be the secret to all success whain life.eve
But one of the things that you
is that life is about change, reathat there's things thatof
you don't like doing now. You've got to overcome
those fears.
thing. And for me, learning was a tough
class that made the top half I was in the bottom half of the
I had like a 2.0 grade average possible.
I was the person everybody all through high school.
And a lot of times when I'm going around and I'm sharing my
entrepreneurship story, kids
or when I'm in a community, grown people will come up to me,
and they'll say, Dave, that's very easy for you to do, because
you can stand up there, you can get all excited, and gosh,
I could never do that.
I just can't put myself out there like that.
And then I surprise them when I tell them, well, would you ever
believe that I was the shyest kid in class?
I was so shy I couldn't lead a
[laughs] group in silent prayer.
but that was my story. Go ahead and laugh, you know,
learning could free me up. But then I realized that
studying hard now, you have no And if you guys think you're
Because today, I still study idea.
And what you're looking at is my three hours a day.
These are all the books that are garage.
I read on average three books a day, or three books a week
I read about four newspapers a
I read about 50 to 60 magazines week, or foua month.pers a day.
I'm not reading those magazines to see what Tiger Woods or
Britney Spears is up to.
at trends, to see what people are eating, to see what people
are wearing.
profession you already want to How many of you know what
for? go after, what you're striving
How many of you have subscribed Canto the industry magazines?s?
Can I see you raise your hands? Good for you.
Those of you who have you can find some amazing things.
You will find the companies that
You will read about the newest are making it happen.
You will read about the people innovations in technology.
And if you were smart, I'd be writing those people and saying,
congratulations.
taking these courses, and I Iadmire what you're doing.'m
They will remember you, and you'll never know when that'll
come in handy when you're out sending your resumes out there.
There's a lot you can learn from
I read every single one of them. your industry magazines.
industry conferences? Can I see you raise your hands?
That's probably the number one--
That's probably one of the congratulations.
be doing right now is finding numout where these industrycan
conferences are, because you
in your industry attending those will find the movers and shakers
And what you're looking at is a passion to learn and a passion
to succeed. Once I found out that I wasn't
just the dumbest kid in class,
I never answered a teacher's and seriously I thought I was.
seater, because I didn't have qthe confidence to sit up inow
front.
of being called on by the I was afraidteacher.g called on,
But then I realized that my life
things about change is that people always think that change
happens out there.
things would change. If we had a different president,
Well, that's what Obama ran on We'd have a better economy.
Change? And it really hasn't changed.
Now I have some thoughts on that, because actually I served
as an assistant secretary in the
I have a presidential appointment that required a full
Senate confirmation.
in those type of situations, and I understand what it takes to be
But if your life is going to change is very difficult.
were born on the right side of change, it isn't because you
It isn't because you were born the tracks.
Change really doesn't happen out in a family that had means.
And all of your life you're going to be in situations where
you wish things would change. And if you're an entrepreneur,
guess what? Change has to happen in your own
backyard. And it doesn't happen out in the
marketplace.
Gandhi said it best when he Isaid, "Become the change thata
you want to see in the world."
"want to see in the world."
It was years later that I found out I had Attention Deficit
Disorder, which explained a lot of things.
Because when I was sitting in class, and I was daydreaming,
the teachers would get mad at me, and they would say,
Anderson, quit looking out the
Quit daydreaming. And one of the things I want to
share with you--
always turn your adversities and write this down--
Turn your challenges into your into your greatest strengths.
Turn your toughest problems into greatest opportunities.
And so today, I've learned that my daydreaming is now called
visioning.
And then when I couldn't stay focused, and the teachers would
say, Anderson, stay focused.
this one thing. Today I've learned that's called
multitasking. Now, I've been successful
because I've been able to surround myself with very highly
organized people, and I've
not organized doesn't mean I learned that just because I'm
I think it was Mark Twain who said something like, it's
unfortunate that we may think a fish is stupid, because he can't
climb a tree.
And that really hit home for me,
can't do, and I'll never be able because there's some things I
I can do are the things that I'm to do them, but the things that
And here's a picture just to passionate about.
undergraduate degree with a 2.0 grade point average
in high school, in 1986, I got
University, and today, another my master's degree from Harvard
degree for my life's work. school gave me a doctorate
some school would say, Anderson, Who would have ever known that
Here's a doctorate. So again, it just goes to prove.
that in this great country that we live in that anything is
possible. Now everybody will tell you
about following your passion, and yet there's a lot of young
people that have no idea yet
your passion is all about or really what profession or what
What are you going to devote the what it's going to be in life.
How many of you really know, rest of your life to?
you're going to do for the rest without of your life?know what
A few.
rest of you, when somebody asks you, what do you study, you tell
them this.
how to be successful and how to I'm going toachieve.I'm studying
That's your answer. Don't give an answer, well, I'm
going to UW and I'm kind of playing out my options.
You know, once I get through, once I get done with the stuff I
have to take, then hopefully
You don't want to ever, ever I'll figure it out by then.
know what you're doing. So you're number one answer is,
I'm going to UW, and I'm
and I'm starting a life of studying how to be successful,
And that's probably the best achievement.
Now for me, I love barbecue. answer that you can give.
I love barbecue. There is no doubt about it.
time I ever tasted a barbecue And I can rerib.er the first
I was coming home from school.
And the moment I walked into the I was just a little kid.
outside, I could smell the whole family's living room from the
It just had just a wonderful house smelled like hickory wood.
I went running into the kitchen, tasty smell.
these whole spare ribs that had andbeen smoked, and they wereng
wrapped up in newspaper.
because today you could never Yget away with doing that.o,
But nobody ever died from that, and it's amazing what we get
allergic to today.
of the best tasting barbecue as But I hada little kid.taste some
And right then and there I made up my mind I was going to be the
best rib cook in America. I was going to learn how to cook
the best ribs.
journey before I ever opened up my first barbecue joint in 1994.
I had spent 25 years traveling
best barbecue, working on my the country, discovering the
restaurants and taking pictures, barbecue recipes, going into
[laughter] and doing R&D, rob and deceive.
but I would steal the menus. Now I don't admit this always,
collections of menus, and if I've got one of the biggest
it's probably because Saint Peter was at the pearly gates,
and he said, Anderson, I've got to talk to you about all those
menus that you absconded with.
the National Restaurant Now Association, so all thery at
restaurateurs know to check my
But I love barbecue. coat when I leave.
love. TThis is the first restaurant
that I built in Hayward,
And when I was building my first Wisconsin.
by, and they would say, Dave, restawhat are you doing? drive
And I would tell them that I am building the world's best rib
restaurant. I'm going to have the best
barbecue in the world.
barbecue in America. I'm going to have the best
tasting ribs in America. I'm going to have the best
tasting barbecue sauce, the best I'm going to have the best
chicken, and the best honey buttered cornbread, the best
tasty creamy coleslaw, the best barbecued baked beans, the best
fall-off-the-bone tender Texas
have the best smoky pork butts beef brisket, and I'm going to
best homemade bread pudding. and pork sandwiches, and the
barbecue in the world! I'm going to have the best
It's okay to clap. [laughter]
There's a reason why I wanted [syou to do that.se]
Any time you have somebody that comes and shares with you, don't
do this.
Give them a rousing applause. Show your appreciation.
I didn't need to be here today. I'm not being paid to do this,
but somebody came into my life, they gave me some ideas that
changed my life forever.
changes your life, I don't think And if I share one idea that
And wouldn't it be amazing that every class that we were in,
that every professor, that when they share with you amazing
things that you guys recognize
standing ovation? How would you feel if you went
out on a date, and somebody asked the person you went out on
the date with, and they said, how was your date?
And they said, oh, it was okay. Or the person said, oh my god, I
had the most amazing date.
right? That's what you really want,
It's showing people that you Again, it's all about passion.
when I said that I had the best barbecue, it was because I care.
I don't want to give people good
And you cannot succeed in today's economic environment,
which is now global, with good
Every one of you has to have the enough.
Now I'm going to share with you something you'll never hear
anywhere else, and I want you to
It's called creating my best of wthe best list..
There's a lot of people that
how to be successful in life, and they will talk to you about
having goals and dreams, and how
your goals. iBut how many has ever shared
with you that you need to create
So when I started Famous Dave's, your best of the best list?
have the best ribs, the best I decided that I was going to
training program, the best barbecue sauce, the best
the best menu, the best music. decor, the best takeout menu,
every single thing-- what I call Now to give you an idea how
customers remember. moMoments of truth, how youour
connect.
with all five senses with whatever you do-- and at Famous
Dave's we connect with all five senses, from the smell, the
taste, the feel, the hearing, the touch.
We touch all five senses. And so when I was putting
together the music for Famous Dave's, I actually hand picked
every single song that's played at a Famous Dave's restaurant.
There's four songs to a set.
beats per minute. The fourth song's about 115 to
125 beats per minute. You'll never hear two
instrumentals back to back. There's two sets to a rotation.
Every second set I'll put in a
But that's how important Cajun Zydeco song.
That's how important that every single thing that you do in your
business is taken to the next level, that you're striving to
always get to the next level, that good enough is no longer
good enough.
global marketplace being good You cannot enough. in today's
You have to get up every day and
that you come to school, that you're striving to be excellent
in what you're doing. You want to have that passion to
have the best grades, to have your teacher know who you are.
You know that past one, two,
I cannot really see anybody in three, four, past the fifth row,
And there's going to come a time the back.
come to a teacher and you're when you're going to want to
goinga job recommendation?ite me
So you may have a lot of reasons
but I will tell you that you why you want to sit in the back,
always sitting in front. should have a strategy for
Don't be afraid to learn how to And alwaysell.marketing.
How many of you have ever taken a course called sales, any type
of sales course?
I will tell you that whether you Congratulations.
political major, or whatever are a teacher, an artist, a
life, business, whatever it is, you need to be selling yourself.
You'll always be selling
stakeholders, to your fellow yourself either to your
you need to have believe in your employees, to the people that
Learn how to sell. dreams or your ambition.
course taken in this university. It should be the number one
Toastmasters? HoWhen I tell people that Iof
couldn't lead a group in silent prayer, I'm dead serious.
In fact, the first speech I ever
I was speaking to a group of 300 gave was a complete disaster.
and the people who asked me, I at the University of Illinois,
because I got up there, and I thnever once looked at myd,
audience. I was sweating so profusely that
my notes were just dissolving in
The suit coat that I was wearing front of me.
and I was really a sad sight. wAnd my 45 minute speech lasted,
all of 10 minutes, and I ran out
myself that I would never ever that side door, and I swore to
the rest of my life. get up in front of another group
was going to be an entrepreneur that I had to be able to tell
the world about my product, about who I am.
I needed to be able to share my dreams.
And, by the way, I have been
millions of dollars on Wall able to rStreet.ndreds of
I've helped take three companies
I wrote the first check to get public.
I literally have created over 20,000 jobs in my career.
And I would never have been able
to speak in front of a group. toProbably one of the greatestow
things that you could do for
debate, or join the local Toastmasters group, because you
will need to sell yourself. You will need to be able to get
people passionate about the things that you believe in.
And let me tell you something else, it's all about the
numbers.
teach financial literacy in our And it's unschools.e we don't
And somebody will say, well,
We have financial management. We have accounting.
That's not financial literacy.
By the way, you never become
Wealth only comes from the size of your investment portfolio.
In America's free enterprise
people's ability to save and system, capitalism is based upon
So when I was building my first restaurant up in Minneapolis--
or my first restaurant in Hayward, Wisconsin--
this is what the first
This is me in front of my pork, and it is today probably one of
the most photographed restaurants in all of Wisconsin.
Every governor since we opened
We've even had visiting hgovernors come and eat there..
And I believe that one of the keys to my success is that I've
learned long ago that it's not
Your success is not about your about me.
your ability to go out and ability to go out and get, or
But your success in life is really about creating value into
the lives of other people.
education system is archaic, And I really think that our
were growing up, and your parents told you, you've got to
study hard. Why did they tell you to study
hard? Anybody?
And why did you need to get to
Come on. college?
To get a job. >> ToRight. job.
And I believe that is why most
America-- struggles their entire of America-- probably 95% of
paycheck, because all their life lifetime living paycheck to
education was about getting a job and not creating value.
You could change your whole career this day, this week, by
thinking about everything that
job. you study is not about getting a
studying is all about your But everything that you are
life of somebody else. ability to create value into the
education system? WouThink about that. our
Everything that you were
of being able to create a better studying is for the sole purpose
just to get a job. life for somebody else and not
there's one thing that you learn Because I will tell you, if
about what you get. aboIt's about what you give. not
And at Famous Dave's, we strive to give not only the best ribs,
but also the best opportunity for young people to come into
our restaurants and be able to
themselves to making people lhappy once they come into oure
restaurants.
determined by your obsessive Your success in life will be
somebody else better, and I devowould write that down.e of
Your success in life-- whatever your profession is, your success
in life will come from your obsessive devotion to creating
value into the life of somebody else, making their lives better.
You know, when people talk about
entrepreneurship, sometimes people think that profit is a
dirty word. And especially today, we've got
people protesting about profit. And what they don't understand
is that profit is nothing more
Profit is the difference between than creating added value.
value. the expenses and the added
an ambition that every day of your life that you create addede
value, that you're not living in
the negacoasting along. just not
How are we doing? I've got a lot to go.
Creating added value is a good
You can make the world a better place through your influence,
your creativity, your innovation, your hard work, by
making other people's lives blessed.
Creating added value. Think of this.
If you have $100 and you spend
Anybody. $10, what do you think about?
told. If you have $100 and you spend
$10, what's the first thought that comes into your mind?
You have $90 left.
and you want to go from lack to That is caabundance.thinking,
And so how to never ever live in
thinking abundantly and thinking lack the rest of your life is by
So here's how I think. about creating value.
the thing that goes through my If I have $100 and I spend $10,
something worth $30. mind is I now have to create
$10? How am I going to replace that
the first thing that goes in my mind is that I have to create
$30 more. And there's a reason.
Some of it is expenses, some is labor, and then what's left is
profit.
Could you imagine where your
of always thinking, well, I've finances would be, that instead
immediate thoughts are, I have got this much left, that your
to replace thvalue.creating more
That's the secret to success. Not the real secret, because I'm
not going to give that yet.
Here I am on Wall Street. Actually, Times Square, because
the NASDAQ building-- this was
NASDAQ said, Dave, we've got to have Famous Dave's come and
light up our building and ring
March of '09 our stock the bell.
And we were faced with one of the worst economic meltdowns,
and our companies still face, just like any other business
today, dealing with the economic
But we realized that if things meltdowns.
that we had to transform our were going to turn around was
Everything from starting at the top, we retrained everybody in
our business. And that's another thing that I
want to share with you. We used to think that education
was a one time learning thing.
college that that education would last you the rest of your
life. It doesn't.
And that's why I study every day
I'm always learning. of my life.
everybody in our company. SAnd one of the key things thatn
we did was we realized our
getting beat up. people in our restaurants are
or watched on TV would say the Everything that they listened to
go out of business. The economy has caused people to
lose their jobs.
go soft. The economy has caused sales to
things that was out there. And again, it was one of those
change, this is a great You knowdefinition.lk about
If you always did what you
to get what you always got. aOr the definition of insanity.
How many have heard the definition of insanity?
And what is it? >> Insanity is doing the same
thing over and over and expect
Exactly. different results.
the same thing day in and day Aout and expecting differentng
results.
not approach the marketplace in And at Fthe same way. we could
And the number one thing that we
calling it the economy. We're going to start calling it
my economy. And guess what?
When you start saying, my economy, you've got to jump up
and take responsibility for what's happening in your own
backyard. So that's key.
Those of you that want to be
economy. entrepreneurs, it's never the
should write that down. Because if you're going to be an
entrepreneur, you are also going
to be able to get people to buy into that philosophy that yout
can't blame the economy.
there, because every time you point a finger, you've got three
more fingers pointing right back
You make the difference with at yourself.
country. what's going to happen in this
going to happen in this world economy that we are living in.
So by training everybody, by
and, by the way, the number one cothing that makes peoplee--
successful in life is their attitude.
And by addressing the attitude
are going to hug up and love up everybody that comes into oure
restaurant-- March of '09 our stock was at $2.
By December, our stock
And we've taken our company and three of the worst years of this
nation's economy in recent
and now I think it's still right history, took our stock from $2,
It's been as high as $12. Because we took a position that
we weren't going to let the economy and whatever is
happening out there control our destiny.
And one of the things as an entrepreneur-- like I said
before, entrepreneurship is not a profession.
It's a lifestyle. And when it's a lifestyle, it's
that you are taking control of
You are the architect of your destiny and not the victim of
the marketplace.
This is me just giving back.
at-risk kids. And by the way, I have someh
books with me.
the movers and shakers in I share your community.meet all
How many of you want to get hired when you get out of
school, find a job? How many have heard about
students that still haven't found a job that graduated years
ago and have sent out thousands of resumes?
In this book I share street smart strategies, how to meet
the movers and shakers in your
happen. coAnd now this book is full ofgs
tips like this, and I'm going to
How many of you would like to meet the movers and shakers that
do the hiring in your community?
Or even if you're starting a Let me see a raise of hands.
the movers and shakers in your business, and you want to meet
is. cGet involved with your local
chamber of commerce, because
find the owners of businesses tthat are making it happen.o
But more than that, also
it happen. community groups that are making
was my first loan, when I Astarted my first business, was
on my signature alone for $10,000 in 1973.
And those of you who are finance
money today, right? majors A lot of money. lot of
And I met this banker at a
Not the loan officers, and chamber of commerce meeting.
chamber meetings. The loan officers don't go to
chamber meetings. Only presidents of banks do.
Now here's the key. You go to the chamber of
commerce, and you volunteer to
whenever the meetings are. help set up every day, or
out the name tags and greet Andpeople when they come in.ass
And if you're bright, cheerful, and you've got the biggest
smile, you're going to meet the movers and shakers.
And then you tell them, I'm going to UW and I'm in
Entrepreneurship or whatever
They will remember you. And then you meet them after the
meeting and shake hands with
This book is full of strategies like this.
I also list five of the most
should leave school with, and none of them are your diploma.
I was up at University of Minnesota Duluth campus, and our
CFO had just won a very prestigious award in the
financial community.
this, and one of the And we had another group like
grades to somebody getting hired students asked, how important is
And she said, they're important, in your company?
What we look at is that person's but it's not what we look at.
team member and help build our ability to be a contributing
I'm not saying you guys shouldn't strive for grades,
because what it does it shows your hard work, it shows your
ambition, it shows you're not wanting to be living a life of
mediocrity but a life of
But I list the 19 character traits that every company is
looking for.
I have another one called I Recipes For Success, all the.
street smart strategies that
entrepreneur, creating jobs, I've learned being an
Typically, I sell these for $15 createach.alue.
You can have both of them.
$20. They're $10 today or two for
Write that down. Always be marketing.
selling. Whatever you're doing always be
This is getting out there. This is entrepreneurship.
got the dollars, I'd borrow it, because these books are wortht
it. And if not, I'll buy it back
from you. That's a guarantee.
But seriously, I would not bring
didn't think Report Cards to these books here today if I
Strategies for Succeeding in Paychecks, Get Fired Up
For Success, Get Fired Up, College and Life, and my Recipes
Competition weren't books that Be Famous, and Smoke the
and how you approach could really change your life
succeeding in life. That's me receiving my award
from Oprah Winfrey. And now I want to get to the
last thing which is really--
real secret to succeeding in how many of you want to hear the
Let me see you raise your hands. life in anything you do?
Here it is. It's called problems!
Now isn't that amazing? And you're thinking, I came here
to listen to this guy talk, and he wants to tell me that the
secret to all success in life is
I want to share with you what we problems?
We take away the problems of the do as entrepreneurs.
We make the lives of other world.
We delight them beyond people happy.
You see, when you are going up expectation.
not going up that ladder of success because you are working
harder, or you are working
If you are already working 60, smarter.
to ask you to work 80 more hours 80 hours a week, it's not fair
And then people will say, well, you've got to work smarter.
Well, that's not true, because
impossible. But yet I have succeeded.t
You see, when you go up that
up that ladder of success laddbecause you have made agoing
conscious decision that this day
shoulder your share of the you are going to stand up and
problems. And there's a lot of people that
live frustrated lives, because
running away, and they've been all their lives they've been
Go talk to him. saying, Or this one...roblem.
They ain't paying me enough to
How many of you have heard that have thoone?roblems.
How many have used that one?
that problems are my greatest I know I hopportunity.understood
Adversity is your problem.
wanted to get up the next day, But how many of you have never
because you thought your whole and you want to just lay in bed
Even at your young age that wyou've had some adversity.
some challenge, some gut
tearing you apart. wrenching problems that are just
Let me see you raise your hands. Have you been there?
really should be a course that Don't be bashful, because this
How many of you have ever taken ya course called Success 101?
Let me see you raise your hands.
university? How come we don't have a course
called Success 101? Because I will tell you the
things that you would learn in
that you're learning at school Success 101 are not the things
Sure, your courses are today.
The ability to think and have logical thinking is important.
But the success skills--
one of the success skills. I'm going to give you
today, because every day in my I believe that I am where I'm at
listening to a book on CD. life when I get in my car I'm
when I was growing up. It used to be on cassette tapes
Never look at your car as Andtransportation.ng.
Always look at your car as your university on wheels.
And I really believe that because every day in my life,
when I get in my car, I'm listening to something that is
edifying. I'm putting the pure, the clean,
the powerful into my mind, that I'm readying myself for success.
And you can go to any Barnes &
section, and you'll see all Nkinds of great stuff that youk
can be playing in your car. Now granted, after I get done
with that, I turn on the tunes. But look at your car as a
university of success.
these books, so that's why I And all this kind of stuff is in
But problems, life's adversity, that's where your challenge is
and your ability to turn the
into your opportunities get weaknesses forged. adversities
And today, I believe that you cannot be a leader unless you
have gone through the depths of adversity, because that's where
character gets forged.
quit when we're dealing with And so many of us, we want to
Lord is looking down at you, but these adversities, and the good
almighty God, and you're saying, yet you're praying to the
that blessings and abundance are Lord, in your good book it says
been getting is adversity. mine, but it seems like all I've
Lord? And the good Lord is looking
down, and he says, don't you get
You wanted opportunity. It's in the adversity, because
when you don't give up, and you get to the other side, you are
going to become wiser.
And people in your community are You're going to become stronger.
they're going to say, we've got gto support this young person.nd
They're dealing with adversity, but look at how optimistic they
are.
the hope that they have. Look at their forward looking,
and complain. InsteAnd, you know what?whine
When you're whining and complaining, the people with the
ideas, the people with the
come near you. financing, they don't want to
who are making it happen in the They throes of adversity.ople
They want to support those type of people.
And when you're about ready to
down at you, and he's saying, don't give up on that adversity.
I made this one just for you, and I worked a long time on hat
one, and it's a doozy.
Hopefully, you will never look
that tear you up, ever again as aproblems that hold you back.s
In fact, write this down. Never let your problems become
your excuses. Never let your problems become
your excuses. Now my time is coming up and I
want to leave you with one
It's a poem called thought.
I saw a gang of men from my hometown, a gang of men
tearing a building down.
and a yes, yes yell, With a heave and a ho
and a sidewalk fell. they swung a beam
I said, Foreman, are these men And I went up to the foreman.
you had to build? skAnd he looked at me, and he if
laughed, and he said, no, no
He said, common labor is all indeed.
in a day what it's taken I need for I can destroy
And I asked myself as I went my way, which one of these roles am
I playing?
tearing things down as I Am I one who is constantly
Or am I one whose community will carelessly make my way around?
because I was there? be a little bit better just
as you leave today, or when you leave this school that some dayt
your family or your community will come back to you and say,
thank you for never ever giving up on your dreams.
Thank you for staying in there
adversities. when you were faced with
you touched my life, but you Because of you, not only have
and you have made this community have touched my family's life,
And that's what we need today, stronger.
We need every one of you to be students.
what's on your heart. And don't ever forget this.
Every one of you has the seeds
Thank you and God bless. of greatness within you.
I know the students join me in thanking join me in thanking
you, Dave.
in the event that students have And I kquestions for you.minutes
Are you willing to take some
Absolutely. >> All right.
So the students just raise their
wants to ask first. hYou know, I hear from students
all the time who are finding
that they're here and trying to figure out what it is that they
can be passionate about.
Actually, I have 18 questions Whatin here on how yound?
figure that out.
one quick thing. But let me just share with you
tests you, and if you're going I believe that the universe
you get up you have to give every day over 100% every single
thing you do. You see, if you go about life
casually, you're only going to
And so when you are passionate get casualness back.
though it may not be the one about everything you do, even
rest your life, at some point, thing that you want to do the
you're giving everything you've got every single day of your
life, the universe will reveal
be doing in life. And the universe may be saying,d
hey, you're just going through
There's no purpose to really life casually.
You're untested. give you that gift.
finding out what your passion I don't should be.deserve
Hi, Dave, I'm Perry.
You said that you traveled for I was wondering.
across the country or whatever. Where did you get the funding to
travel, if you weren't working
It came out of my own pocket. duYou know what??
I've never worked for a paycheck.
I've always worked to create
And once you do that, you'll value.
coming your way. never have to worry about money
And believe me, I've been broke. Seriously.
go to my wife and ask her for Ithe jewelry she's wearing so I
could take it to a pawnshop,
in the house. beI've been so broke I've duglse
through seat cushions to find change so I could go and buy
milk for my kids. I know how embarrassing it is to
see the repo guy come and haul
But even more embarrassing to watch all the window shades up
and down the block go up, because everybody's watching
your car being hauled away. I should have been dead three
times.
give up. My story is, though, never ever
was always investing in myself. ANever be afraid to invest inI
yourself.
A lot of what I do today I'm
stuff I'm learning. s>> Dave, we have a questione
over here.
Hi, my name is Abby, and >> Yes.
And your uptown location has I'm from south Minneapolis.
music, and I was just wondering how this idea came to mind, andd
how it has impacted your
We have one of business?
the best kept secret in America, the nation's best, it's like
barbecue and blues clubs but we have one of the hottest
I had hired the movie set people in Minneapolis.
actually made me a street frin Chicago complete with--y
It looks like a warehouse where the band plays.
So if you ever get up to
it out. MBut we were noticing that whenk
we hired a salsa band, a lot of people didn't know how to dance
it, and the ones that did, I
and they were really spinning mean, they raround.ot out there,
And we could see that people
So we decided that-- wanted to do the same thing.
like swing dance, salsa-- we would bring instructors in,
and it really has kept us busy seven days a week.
You mentioned some
business over the course of the last several years when my
economy seemed to be faltering. What do you attribute to that
growth? Why?
We retrained everybody. We recommitted ourselves to be
more passionate in our
not about us, but people that rwere coming into Famous Dave's
restaurants wanted to be
And so we got everybody to hug appreciated.
them know that we were happy to them upsee them there. and let
And sometimes just that makes a whole lot of difference.
When people are spending their
feel like they're being hard earneappreciated.y want to
I have one final question for you, because it was such
a main theme of what you had
giving back. to share with us, which is
at-risk youth. You have a very defined focus on
Well, primarily because IsI was an at-risk youth.t?
I'm sober today.
changed my life, and I will tell I'm very open that God has
of worship or spiritualness in you, if you don't have some type
you are an entrepreneur that you your life, there are times when
make it through the next day, and you don't get million-dollar
answers to ten-cent prayers,
Well, I know the students join me in thanking you very
much, Dave Anderson.
[applause]