A New Flavor of Crazy: More Dirt on Clay Collins (With Oh-So-Revealing Pictures)

[Note: This is a guest post by Tracy. God help me.]

I’m here to once again dish up a little more dirt on Clay. While I want to tell you about:

• How a working relationship can cause massive personal growth and spiritual development if both people are committed to it
• What it’s like building “yellow boxes” for Clay–you can’t even imagine it
• What I learned about Clay’s innermost being by watching him eat
• Clay’s relationship to his hair (yes, you read that correctly)…

…all of that will have to wait. While I want to tell you all of those things, I simply have to tell you one thing.

A few months ago I wrote a post about Clay. One of the comments I heard repeatedly after that was:

“You haven’t even met him in person, so how can you really know him?”

I knew there was only one way to silence that objection. I’ve travelled so much that I now try to travel as little as possible, but I decided to head out to Minneapolis.

Now that I’ve met Clay in person, eaten meals with him, and met his girlfriend—plus the fact that I’ve known him for several more months, speaking nearly daily with him on the phone—I can give you even more of an inside scoop. And, as before, I’ve told Clay he can publish all of this or none of it, but he’s not allowed to edit out the parts that embarrass him.*

First we’ll start with the fun stuff (I will show NO mercy!) and then move on to the intense stuff I’ve uncovered that has surprised me.

I’ve mentioned before how Clay greatly prefers to not follow the dictates of time. It’s not that he can’t—because he can and does very well when he needs to—it’s just that it doesn’t come naturally to him. His VA and I recently had a Skype conversation when we were trying to figure out how to get Clay to do something at the same time every week:

Knowing about Clay’s issues with time, it was no surprise to me that he was a few minutes late in picking me up at the airport. As we were chatting on our cells trying to find each other in the airport I asked Clay where he was and what he was wearing so that I could easily spot him and he said: “I’m wearing sort of a Western shirt.”

We eventually found each other. He gave me a great tour of some of the gorgeous lakes of Minneapolis, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to his place.

Walking in revealed two things to me:

He clearly is a man because he failed to tell me something that any woman would have told another woman within the first week of meeting her:

The architectural detail of his place is beautiful. For example: There are no square corners where the ceilings meet the walls in the living room. There are round “corners” where you normally only see 90-degree angles. Gorgeous art deco style. Hallways with such rich, deep detail—made of stone, I think. But did Clay ever once mention this to me? No, of course not, being a typical dude when it comes to stuff like this. I doubt he ever even noticed these things.

But that is nothing compared to what was sitting there just inside his front door. Let me set the story up for you.

Several weeks prior to my visit Clay had mentioned that he owned a pair of cowboy boots. Not a big deal, right? But then he went on to be sure to tell me that he didn’t wear all the Western clothes or anything like that, he just liked that one pair of boots. I didn’t give it a second thought, though I should have.

Back to his place: Right inside his front door is not just one pair of cowboy boots, but TWO pairs. Oh, he had soooo neglected to tell me he owned more than one pair—and to discover this while he was wearing a Western shirt was simply too much for me.

I’m thinking, “I’m sitting here drinking wine with an urban cowboy wannabe. (Though I think he’d be more like a young Clint Eastwood than John Travolta due to his maverick renegade approach, but I digress.) I am soooo gonna’ rag on him for this.”

His girlfriend was coming over that evening so I didn’t get to spend enough time picking on him (which is why I’m doing it here).

Anyway, you know those exceptionally rare women who are fiercely intelligent, highly educated, absolutely gorgeous, and are compassionate? She’s one of them—really amazing. Oh, and when she smiles, the whole room lights up.

The conversation with her was engrossing enough that I forgot all about the whole Western thing…

…until the next morning when I first see Clay and he’s wearing…(really, I wouldn’t make this stuff up)…a Western belt. No western shirt, no cowboy boots, but definitely a big-ass silver belt buckle. Something like this one:

And then it all clicked into place in my brain and I understood. So, for all of you who said that I couldn’t really know Clay until I’d met him in person I humbly bow to your wisdom: You were right. Because only now do I know the real scoop:

Clay Collins is a Wannabe Cowboy!

Without your feedback I might never have discovered this and would have missed out on dozens of opportunities to torment him. I am forever grateful to everyone who said, “You don’t know Clay . . . you haven’t even met him yet.”

Anyway, I’ll know he’s gone full-blown cowboy the day he adds spurs to his boots. I wonder if he already has a cowboy hat or two hidden away? If I’d had more time I definitely would have snooped around the place to take a look.  He probably takes the hat out when no one else is around and wears it just for fun:

I could even handle the hat, but the day he shows up in chaps like these I’ll have to hold an intervention and I trust you’ll all help me:

Okay, enough of my profound insights into Clay’s psychology.

Because so many of you always ask me what Clay is really like, I’m going to put all teasing aside for just a few minutes and tell you just a few more tidbits. Here are three other things I’ve come to know about Clay since I wrote my previous post:

• He is an incredibly kind and compassionate person. He is so moved by peoples’ stories and plights. When I first knew him I experienced his kindness toward me, but I have since seen it repeatedly demonstrated toward others. This is a guy who feels deeply and wants to help people change the trajectory of their paths if they decide they want to change the world or amp up their businesses to new levels.

• He has a deep humility that you don’t often see among highly successful business people. While he has a vast amount of knowledge and is willing to share it, he’s never puffed up and arrogant about it. He also knows where his weaknesses are and he’s smart enough to acknowledge them and surround himself with people who complement his skills. His humility manifests in another beautiful way: He is so quick to apologize if he thinks he’s screwed up or hurt your feelings in any way. I’ve worked with some amazing people in my life, but it’s rare I’ve seen this degree of humility. He’s always willing to own his mistakes immediately and say he’s sorry.

• Finally, if I had to pick the #1 thing I’ve discovered (that REALLY surprised me), it’s this: His business acumen. It continually blows me away. Don’t let my cowboy nonsense fool you. Underneath that imaginary 10-gallon hat is a brain filled with business smarts. Anyone can read a ton of books and know “facts” about the best way to start, build, expand and run businesses, but to also have keen insight, discernment, and wisdom about those businesses is rare. And the few times I’ve seen that deep level of insight in others it has always taken them decades to acquire it. I’ve worked closely with seasoned business owners and entrepreneurs that were twice Clay’s age (and they ran multi-million dollar companies that they had founded decades earlier) and they have nothing on him at all. When I first started to work with Clay I knew that he’d be great at Internet marketing, evaluating the numbers, analyzing markets, and driving up sales. I fully expected that.

  What I didn’t expect was to find out that he helps people grow and develop all sorts of businesses, even those with physical products and those not looking strictly for Internet marketing advice and instruction. I am astounded week after week not only at how much he knows, but at the wisdom he displays in his understanding of how to use that information. (I suspect he learned much of this from his grandfather who is quite the businessman.) Clay’s ability to know, in advance, if a business will be profitable is almost scary—crazy voodoo-magic-like scary. His foresight is so accurate I swear he must use a crystal ball, though he denies it. The same can be said about his ability to help businesses double and triple their sales.

So, while it’s true…

…that Clint Clay is a wannabe cowboy

…and it’s true that time has no meaning for him (until he’s short of it and I need to talk him down off of the edge of a cliff)

…and it’s true he has a dozen other quirks and flaws (we’re out of space or I’d spill my guts!—so much more to tell—maybe in person one day?) that make work “interesting” many a day…

…ultimately I still have to stand by my original assessment of Clay: He’s one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever had the opportunity to get to know. If you get the chance to hang out with Clay or to work with him in any capacity, take it: He’ll shift your worldview and you’ll walk away a better person for having known him, not to mention what he will do for your business.

Between Clay’s odd quirks and his huge heart, this is one ride that’s way too much fun to miss—even if it means I do have to haul myself up onto a horse to get in on the ride. I can only hope he’ll never make me wear the whole cowgirl outfit, ‘cause I’m thinking that’s probably a dealbreaker (though I do like the red boots).

Well, that’s the end of another post giving you the inside scoop on Clay. I’d love your feedback on this: Do you think Clay could pull off the full-blown cowboy look? Or has he taken it as far as he should? Leave me a comment with your thoughts, please! He might just listen to us…

P.S. Clay’s has a “milestone” birthday coming this year (in September). Maybe we should have a giant bash at my log cabin in Vermont during beautiful fall foliage season. We could all pitch in and buy him a cowboy hat. Then we’d ply him with enough tequila until he’d actually wear it.

*Correction: Clay insisted on taking out one picture. He wouldn’t let me publish this with it in here. (If you ever get to see the picture you will totally understand why.) The compromise I reached is that I will email this picture to the person whose comment amuses me the most. Trust me, you will laugh you a** off— you gotta’ love Photoshop–but you’ll have to give me your word you won’t share it with anyone!

~Tracy