About

Dear Future Friend,

Welcome to The Personal Growth Channel! I'm Don, the founder of this community. What the heck is The Personal Growth Channel? Well, I'm glad you asked! The short answer is that we are a community of people interested in improving our lives and/or the lives of others. If that sounds like you, then you should join us!

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A Place To Improve Your Life

I've asked thousands of people "What would you change in your life right now if you could?", and here are the top 3 responses.

1. I would like to improve my financial situation so I can _____ (move, travel, not worry, have more freedom, retire, take care of my family,...)
2. I would like to improve my relationships.
3. I would like to improve my health (generally lose weight).

We've taken special care to address each of those common areas of growth. Join us to find help for each of those common personal development areas and many more.

A Place To Invest In Yourself

Warren Buffett, a guy that has been so successful in investing that he could throw ten million dollars out the window every day for the next 20 years and still have money, once said this about the best investment you can make.

Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents; nobody can tax it or take it away from you. They can run up huge deficits and the dollar can become worth far less. You can have all kinds of things happen. But if you’ve got talent yourself, and you’ve maximized your talent, you’ve got a tremendous asset that can return ten-fold. -Warren Buffett

Are you ready to invest in yourself? That's what this site and community are all about! Join us for access to over 60,000 courses and specific recommendations on how to take your life to the next level.

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A Place For Mentors and Those Looking For Help

TPGC consists of this site, which is where I share the life lessons I've learned over the past four decades, and communities of people sharing their own life lessons on top social media sites including Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook.

Our Community Mission is to Help Each Other Grow in Our Personal and Professional Lives.

Let's help each other!

By joining, you'll learn how to improve nearly every aspect of your life. Health, finances, communication skills, spiritual growth, business skills, parenting, and relationships skills are all covered on this site and our partner sites. Our network of personal growth and development partners has grown to the point that you'll benefit from hundreds of years of combined experience by following along. You'll also receive exclusive discounts from major retailers.

My wish is that you'll share some of your own life lessons with me and the community as well! There is always something that we can learn from each other. What areas of life would others consider you an expert in? Our community needs you to help others in those areas!

I could also use your help beyond simply contributing to the discussion and sharing articles. My long-term vision is to connect everyone who is interested in improving their lives and the lives of others. I firmly believe that education is the best way to make a difference in our own lives and the lives of our children, so I want this to become an educational resource and a significant source of revenue to help my own 5 children and others obtain world-class educations. That can't happen without your financial support. Will you consider sponsoring us? Visit our sponsorship page for more information.

Join us by clicking the button below, and I'll keep you in the loop with new developments. Also make sure to join in the conversations on social media as our community of people like you who believe that ongoing personal development is important is where the real magic happens.

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I hope to meet you one day soon. Until then, see you in the virtual world!

Don

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About Don

Don Smith is a life coach who specializes in helping people with their careers, personal finances, relationships, businesses, and health. He grew up in a rural community in Northwest Missouri, about an hour from Dale Carnegie's hometown. He grew up quickly as most farm kids tend to do, as there is never a shortage of work to do around the farm. When he was 13, his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and childhood was officially over.

By the age of 18, he was on his own and married. He was hit immediately with more than $30,000 in debt from unexpected medical issues with no insurance coverage. With no financial backing out of a combination of pride and coming from a family where you were expected to make it on your own, he buckled down to pay that back as well as pay for college. Pushing through that challenge, he worked his way through college and eventually landed a job as a technician with a multi-million dollar IT company in Illinois.

Over the next decade, he moved from technician to trainer to project manager to service manager and is now the general manager of Nelson Systems which is a leader in voice productivity and recording solutions for the healthcare, insurance, public safety, call center, and legal markets.

A combination of factors led to the breakdown of his first marriage and after 15 years of marriage and 3 kids, the marriage was over. Blindsided, he went through counseling, joined a support group, read every relationship book he could get his hands on, and developed many new relationship skills while coming to peace with his new life as a single father.

This phase of life as a single father was a period of substantial growth, finding joy in nature again, reconnecting with the church, reading, building new friendships, exploring romantic relationships, joining Toastmasters, and becoming more intentional about how he was spending time with his kids.

It was during this period that he realized that he had also let his health deteriorate, and was bordering on obesity. Buckling down, he tackled this challenge by obsessively researching what goes into a healthy lifestyle and applying those principles to his own life. Changing his lifestyle completely, he completed numerous 5k and 10k races, and 3 Tough Mudders, which are 12-mile long obstacle races billed as some of the toughest events on the planet. He also lost nearly 40lbs in the process.

Don enjoying a break during the Tough Mudder partner carry.

He eventually remarried and is now a happily married father of 5. He currently serves as General Manager at Nelson Systems, on the Board of Directors at the American Red Cross, as a Toastmasters club coach, and leads high school, couples, and leadership development groups at his church.

Don is an avid reader, and credits much of his success to having read thousands if not tens of thousands of books over his lifetime, reading several books nearly every week for more than 3 decades.

Recently, Don was awarded the Area Director of the Year for Toastmasters after his area experienced explosive growth during his term. Overall membership doubled across the five clubs he was responsible for. Two clubs were saved from closing down, one of which of which went from not meeting at all to a vibrant club with 40 members, and the area was given the distinguished area award for the first time in area history.

Don stated, "I pointed the officers in the right direction, shared my passion for communication and leadership development with the clubs, and believed in them. They did all the real work."

Toastmasters is an internationally recognized leadership and public speaking development organization with more than 345,000 members in 142 countries, so this distinction was quite an honor.

Don accepting the Area Director of the Year award for Toastmasters

Don has a passion for helping others after having many mentors speak into his own life over the years and has formed this community as a result of this passion.

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The Personal Growth Channel runs on generous support from our members like you and I who believe strongly in our mission of helping each other grow in our personal and professional lives.

If you are benefitting from our articles and community, one of the best ways you can help repay the favor is by contributing financially so that we can continue our mission and reach more people. Find out more about how you can help and the rewards that await by clicking here.

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