This is a true story about a three-year ordeal with a schoolyard bully known around the schoolyard as Bulldog Hopkins.

Over the years I have told this story in most of my speeches to simply make a point about the necessity of facing one’s obstacles and adversities, and otherwise taking responsibility for ones own affairs and life. It has had such an impact that people who heard me speak before would request that I tell it if they were again in my audience.

These requests were a great lesson to me, in that I thought the story was so elementary that it would be offensive to my audiences. Never in my wildest imagination would I have expected the impact it has had on people’s lives.

As I was making a point to a group of managers one day, the memory of the incident came to mind as a great way to make a point about the issue being discussed. When it came to me I almost refused telling it.

Although I knew that when ideas come to me while working with a group they almost always are the correct examples to use, I still hesitated to use it. I reluctantly used it and it was just right and from that day to the present I have told it and received remarkable and unexpected responses

Since telling it that first time I have seen people in malls, airports, and at meetings who remembered me more for this story than for practically anything else I have ever done. There were numerous times when someone would see me and call out: “You’re Bulldog Hopkins! Others would get the name wrong and refer to me as Bullfrog Hopkins. The amazing thing is, they remembered. If I am remembered for nothing else this message has had a profound impact on the lives of so many people, most of whom I thought would require a great deal more eloquence and polish.

The most gratifying part of it all were the reports I received as to how so many have used the lessons in the story in their own lives and have brought about important changes as a result. Significant changes that I would never have thought the story would elicit.

There were stories about correcting issues in marriages; others spoke of actions they had taken to improve conditions at work. Others told of developing the courage to take actions they had previously feared taking which they knew were preventing them from competing for promotion or moving on with their lives. They told of how they used the Bulldog Hopkins story to help them develop meaningful relations that had been hurting for years.

One gentleman spoke of his strong desire to operate his own business but he thought he lacked what it took to be a successful entrepreneur. His great fear was that if he launched out as an entrepreneur and did not get a regular paycheck, he would lose everything for which he had worked so hard.

He also said that he perceived traits in successful business people that he thought he didn’t have. Although he had an excellent idea, he really didn’t think he had what it took to convert that idea into a successful business.

He told me that after hearing the story twice he thought of alternative ways to develop his business idea without taking a bold, “blind leap.” What he told me afterwards was very humbling.

This gentleman had heard me tell the Bulldog Hopkins story at a meeting of businessmen in Akron, Ohio. The story started him thinking and comparing his situation to my personal encounter with Bulldog Hopkins.

The next time he heard me speak was at a convention in Cleveland, Ohio. It was there that his breakthrough came. He said he saw his answer clearly and he was beside himself all the way back to his home in Akron.

This gentleman was a systems engineer with a leading computer firm at the time, but he had some very creative ideas as to how to do systems engineering and some related services that would be out of the ordinary. He knew they would be beneficial to a lot of businesses but he was afraid of the thought of starting.

He thought it was very audacious for a black man from a very humble beginning to consider himself a successful entrepreneur. At the time he told me this story in an airport, he nearly broke my hand, squeezing it and thanking me.

He worked long hours setting up his business, getting everything he needed in place and letting people know he had a great service. This went on for eighteen months until he saw the demands for his services grow.

After twenty months of working his day job with his company and growing his own business at night, he decided that it was unprofitable for him to continue in this way. Still frightened, he gave his employer notice that he was resigning.

Even though the orders were coming in and the revenues were increasing each month, he still had a sinking feeling when he wrote that letter of resignation.

When I next saw him five years had passed. At that time, he had twelve employees and he and his wife were struggling to keep up with the requests for his services.

Great story, inspired by a childhood schoolyard experience. This, however, is only one story. There are many more, some of which I will tell as you read on. Some are very dramatic with life and death implications. Others are less dramatic but significantly beneficial to those who told them.

It is our hope that you will read on and use my Bulldog Hopkins experience to adjust or otherwise reorder your life to achieve whatever you are longing for or mastering whatever you may be agonizing over.

I point out early that even though Bulldog Hopkins is presented here as an adversary, for a number years, later in high school he became a great friend. I will always be indebted to him for being the cornerstone of my wisdom and a part of the foundation on which I made so many important decisions.

I did not see him again after high school and I understanding he died at an early age. May he rest in peace with the knowledge that he has had an impact on many lives.

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