Students who want to be successful in life will not achieve their goals until they decide to take action, Frank Peck told a group of BYU-Hawaii students recently. Peck, CEO of American Money Group, sponsor of the Asia-Pacific Basketball Classic, visited campus and spoke to members of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE).
Peck's business success didn't follow him throughout his life, however. When he was seven years old, he and his family moved from Spanish Fork, Utah, to New Mexico, where his father worked in the uranium mines. After the mines were shut down, the family relocated to California were they lived in a car. "I remember…we'd sleep on the beach at night. I remember that was the most miserable thing…the humidity was so uncomfortable and then the sand-cleaning machines…As children, you don't think a lot about it, you just accept it. We weren't homeless, we had a car," Peck recalled.
Eventually Peck and the family members made their way through these challenging times, but the trials didn't stop there. At the age of 47, his mother died of cancer. Peck's stepfather died from a major heart attack at age 48. His 17-year-old brother died of leukemia. Another brother was murdered. Another brother died in a car accident. This left Peck with one brother and four sisters.
"You might think, 'That's a terrible story.' Well, it is. But on the great side of it… I can say the best thing my parents ever did was not the 'poor me' type of a thing. It was always, 'You can be what you want to be, no matter what the conditions are.' That's just life. Bad things happen to you, that's just life. That has nothing to do with whether you'll be successful or not," he said.
Peck's life experiences likely guided his attitude in the work place. After working as a vice president of a company for some time, he decided to start his own business. This step became today's California-based American Money Group. "We decided to create this for reasons: one, we could do better things for the consumer. We knew we could. [Two,] I knew I would be successful, I knew my kids would be successful," he stated.
Peck explained that his professional focus centers on his family and faith, rather than on material "things" only. "It's amazing how many marriages are destroyed because of something that really isn't important—and that's usually money…. I don't care if my kids are wealthy, but I do care who they are. I do care that they have integrity," he said.
Students can want to accomplish goals in their lives, but will never realize those goals until they decide to do it, Peck stated. "You never get anything until you decide to get what you want. Think about it—'I want to be faithful.' 'I'm going to be faithful.' 'I am faithful.' See the difference?" He also urged students to function above a commodity level in order to stay ahead of the competition.
For members of SIFE, the message seemed to be timely. The group invites what it calls a "high profile" guest speaker twice a semester. "Frank is a very dynamic person who had some great advice and instruction to share. His thoughts on balancing the concept of success and wealth in your own mind was particularly interesting for me, as that is a question seldom addressed," said Al Doan, president of SIFE and a senior majoring in information systems. "We are excited to implement the ideas and strategies Frank outlined in our own lives, and in turn be able to provide even more benefit to those we serve," he said.
Peck wrapped up his presentation by urging listeners to implement a three-part action plan: decide, figure out why, and then go and do it. 'That's as simple as it gets," he said.
"The only thing that stands between you and what you want is merely the will to try."