Charlie Wills – Adam Albrecht Blog

Last week I was talking with my good friend Charlie Wills about business. Charlie and I met through The W-Club, the University of Wisconsin varsity athlete alumni group. Talking with Charlie is a pain in the neck. Literally. Because Charlie is really, really tall. He is a former University of Wisconsin standout basketball player, who played in the 2000 Final Four against the Flintstones. #IYKYK

Today, Charlie towers over the real estate world in Madison, Wisconsin where he has been putting people before profits for over 20 years. Not only is Charlie a close friend of mine, but he is also a client of The Weaponry, the advertising and ideas agency that I lead.

Charlie shared an interesting statistic with me about where his clients come from. He told me that 96% of his organization’s clients come from within their sphere. That includes current and past clients, recommendations, friends, family and acquaintances.

If you are good at math, you also realize that only 4% of opportunities came from outside their sphere. Which is a shockingly small number. In fact, if that number was 4 sizes smaller it would be nothing.

I love the fact that Charlie uses the term sphere instead of network or circle. It’s very basketbally of him. And it gives the group more dimension.

Charlie’s Rule: The vast majority of your opportunities in business and in life originate within your sphere.

This rule, while surprising, is also logical.

People in India whom you have never met and have no real connections to, are highly unlikely to come to you with a life-changing opportunity. (The same goes for the dude from the royal family in Nigeria.) But your past client, your cousin, and the person you know from that thing you do in your spare time are likely to think of you when they need a You-Like person to help solve the kind of problem you are great at solving.

Armed with the knowledge that we all benefit from some variation of Charlie’s Rule, what are you supposed to do about it?

1. Develop more relationships. Whenever you are dealing with success as a percentage game, and it always is, increase the base number. The more people you know the more opportunities will come your way. Because opportunities come to you through humans. Kinda like COVID-19 and invitations to Tupperware parties.

2. Maintain the relationships you have. Not all relationships are equal. The kid you knew from kindergarten who you haven’t spoken to since you stopped napping together in class is not very valuable. So stay in touch with your people. Reach out via phone, email, text, or social media to keep your relationship active. Write a newsletter, blog, or other way to share what’s happening in your life. Social media is great for maintaining relationships across a broad spectrum of familiarity. Use this amazing resource.

Key Takeaway

Your relationships are critical to your success. Remember, Charlie’s Rule says that the vast majority of your opportunities in business and in life originate within your sphere. So bring more people into your sphere. Keep the relationships in your sphere active by staying in touch through any appropriate means. As a result, more good opportunities will find their way to you. Just like Charlie said.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Wednesday was a big day for me. I didn’t win the lottery. I wasn’t named a Most Beautiful Person. And I wasn’t asked to replace Alex Trebek on Jeopardy. Heck, I wasn’t even asked to replace Alex Trebek in the Colonial Penn commercials. It was a big day simply because it was one of the normalest days I have had outside my home in 15 months.

Vaccination Nation

I got my second vaccine shot 2 weeks ago (I’m Team Pfizer, not Hufflepuff or Slytherin). I now feel that I am as protected from the COVID-19 virus as I am going to be. Better yet, I feel as protected as I need to be. So I have started doing regular life stuff again. And I am reminded how much I love regular life stuff.

Wednesday, Normal Wednesday

Wednesday I traveled from Milwaukee to Madison (which is about a 90-minute drive for those of you who are Wisconsin-illiterate). I went to college at The University of Wisconsin in Madison, and I feel as at home in Madtown as I do anywhere on Earth. I was there to see people that I hadn’t seen since before the planet went cuckoo for Covid Puffs.

The Breakfast Club

I started my day at a breakfast meetup with a group of former University of Wisconsin Badger athletes. The last time I saw any of these W Club members in person was March 4th of 2020. The Crew included:

Charlie Wills: The Owner of the Charlie Wills Team -Real Estate Partners (basketball)
Scott Silvestri: VP and General Manager of Learfield’s Badger Sports Properties (swimming)
Derek Steinbach: Director of Development for Wisconsin Athletics (track & field)
Nicholas ‘Papa’ Pasquarello: Executive Director of the W Club and Strategic Partnerships – Wisconsin Athletics (soccer)
Andy Crooks: Managing Broker at T.R. McKenzie (football)
Adam Albrecht: Founder and CEO of The Weaponry and Dude Who Writes This Blog (track & field)
Kalvin Barrett: Dane County Sheriff (football (but he will tell you he was a swimmer))

Nick, Me, Derek, Sheriff Barrett, Charlie and Scott at the Original Pancake House in Madison. I’m always amazed at how many of those restaurants there are. Which makes me think most of them are lying.

It felt like a reunion. We were hugging and shaking hands and seeing each other’s naked faces. We were sharing stories, smiling, and laughing. And not once did anyone say, ‘You’re on mute.’

This was a group of ballers, that included All-Americans, Final Four participants, school record holders, Big 10 Champions, and Team Captains. But the rockstar of the group was Sheriff Barrett. Other people in the restaurant were asking to take pictures with him and to asked him to stop to talk. It was fun to see.

I asked Kalvin if he no longer likes the Bob Marley song, “I shot the sheriff.” He said that he loves that song and plays it in the office. Which reminded me of Shaq in the Grown Ups 2 clip below.

Brunch

After breakfast, I visited Dave Astrauskas, the rockstar throwing coach of the University of Wisconsin track and field team. Dave has coached 4 NCAA Champions, 1 NCAA Collegiate Record Holder, 41 NCAA Division I All-Americans, 4 Big Ten Records Holder, 11 Big Ten Champions and Olympic discus thrower Kelsey Card.

Coach Dave Astrauskas He can teach you how to throw anything but a hissy fit.

Dave has forgotten more about throwing than I will ever know. And of all the people I know Dave is the most likely to set off a spellcheck alarm. #astrauskas

I spent time with Dave for 3 reasons:

Because he is a good human.
To learn from someone who is at the top of their field.
To foster a strong bond between the UW Track & Field program and alumni.

Spending time with Dave was enlightening. He offered me a number of new ways to think about throwing, human performance, coaching, problem solving, the Big Ten Conference, athletic facilities and competition. My time with Dave was a great reminder of how much we can all learn if we ask good questions of experts, listen, and maintain a beginner’s mind.

Lunch

My lunch meeting was pure joy. I met with my friend-client-superstar, Anne Norman, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer of UW Credit Union. Anne has been a favorite human of mine since we first met for lunch at Hi-Way Harry’s in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin in 2018. We have been working together weekly ever since. But we have only seen each other in-person once since February of 2020, at our TV commercial shoot with Jonathan Taylor, running back for the Indianapolis Colts.

The 3 greatest exports of Kenosha, Wisconsin are Orson Welles, my high school teacher Mr. Bill, and Anne Norman.

Anne is a burst of sunshine on any day. Even on the phone or on Zoom. Especially if she is wearing her banana costume. But to be with her in person provides a full week’s worth of Vitamin C in one sitting.

We talked business and branding and teams. We talked about upcoming marketing initiatives. But we could have talked about hang nails, paper cuts and the DMV and I would have enjoyed it. Because spending time with Anne is even more valuable to me now than it was in 2019.