Jolley, Willie 1956–

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Willie Jolley 1956–

Motivational speaker, singer

At a Glance…

Became Washington’s Leading Jingle Singer

Developed Minute-Long Motivation

Philosophy Echoed in Books and Music

Conducted Morale-Building Seminars

Selected Writings

Sources

In 1990 Willie Jolley was working as project coordinator for the “Positive Images” program, an arts and music initiative he developed with the Washington, D.C. Public Schools to offer inner-city youth a positive alternative to drugs and violence. In addition to galvanizing young people, teachers, and administrators in the Washington area, the award-winning program served as a launch pad for Jolley’s own professional career, convincing the former jazz and jingle singer with a master’s degree in theology that he could become a world-class motivational speaker.

In his best-selling book, It Only Takes A Minute To Change Your Life, Jolley described his decision to give up his steady job and paycheck as one of the defining moments of his life, and an enduring testament to the positive power of dreams. “My co-workers told me I had to be crazy, as they stood at the door and watched me walk those 100 long steps to my old broken-down car,” he wrote. “They laughed because they knew that the car was on its last legs and all that I had to my name was $200. They said, ‘You must be insane! You’re going to leave your good government job because you’ve got a dream? You want to do what? You want to be a speaker? You want to start your own company? You want to write books? You want to do radio and television? You want to Be Great? Stop Dreaming! Get Real!’”

Within a few years, Willie Jolley had proved his co-workers wrong. Now president of InspirTainment Plus, his own D.C.-based motivational company, author of two inspirational books, and host of a syndicated radio program, “The Magnificent Motivational Minute,” he has spoken to more than one million people at meetings and seminars throughout the United States and overseas, and in 1999 was named the Outstanding Motivational/Inspirational Speaker of the Year by Toastmasters International. Jolley’s meteoric rise and phenomenal success have not dampened his enthusiasm for helping young people, however. His lectures, speaking tours, radio and TV appearances, and inspirational albums are all part of an expanding and on-going effort to reach more troubled youngsters, and to inspire people of all ages, from all backgrounds, to reach for their dreams.

The son of a freelance newspaper reporter and a high school social studies teacher, Willie Jolley grew up in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Roosevelt High School. His talents both as a musician and an entrepreneur

At a Glance…

Born Willie Jolley, September 3, 1956, in Washington, D.C; married Dee Taylor; children: William, LaToya. Education: American University, B.A., 1978; Wesley Theological Seminary, M.A., 1983.

Career: Jingle singer and jazz vocalist, 1974-90; drug and violence prevention coordinator, Washington, D.C. Public Schools, 1990-91; full-time motivational speaker and president/CEO of Willie jolley Worldwide and InspirTainment Plus, 1991-.

Member; National Speakers Association, 1991-; president, National Capital Speakers Association, 1995-96.

Awards: Best Male Jazz Vocalist WAMMIE (Washington Area Music Association) award, 1986, 1989, 1990; Best Male Inspirational Vocalist WAMMIE award, 1991 and 1992; Outstanding Motivational/Inspirational Speaker of the Year, Toastmasters International, 1999.

Addresses: Willie Jolley Worldwide/lnspirTainment Plus, P.O. Box 55459, Washington, D.C. 20040; tel. (800) 487-8899 or (202) 723-8863.

revealed themselves at an early age. While working as a newspaper boy, he devised a clever distribution system which involved the cooperation of his friends and turned his route into one of the most profitable in the area. He began singing in church and at parties, and soon formed a singing group which became a local sensation. He was only 17 when he signed his first record deal.

Became Washington’s Leading Jingle Singer

Though the singing group broke up, Jolley continued as a solo vocalist, singing jingles for companies such as Pizza Hut, Oldsmobile, and Black Entertainment Television; and performing in area jazz clubs to help pay his way through college and graduate school. At one point he became the number one jingle singer in Washington, D.C, and now, more than 20 years later, his voice is still featured in national TV and radio jingles.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology at American University in 1978, Jolley went on to earn his master’s in theology from Wesley Theological Seminary. All the while, he continued to gain recognition as a talented performer, recording dozens of commercials and singing background vocals for national artists such as Jean Carne and Phyllis Hyman. He was under contract to both CBS and Mercury Records when he was asked by the Washington, D.C. Public Schools to serve as a full-time drug and violence prevention coordinator.

It was as an arts educator with the D.C. schools in 1990 that Jolley first found his talent as a motivational speaker. However, he was not prepared to give up his dreams of musical stardom until a year or so later, when a humiliating experience at a National Gospel Awards event in Nashville, Tennessee forced him to re-examine himself and his direction in life. “…I went [to the event] with the attitude that I was God’s gift to the music industry,” Jolley recalled in It Only Takes A Minute To Change Your Life. “I went with the mind-set that I would dazzle them with my showmanship and not worry about the actual singing. Well, it was a complete disaster! I was a complete flop, a complete dud!. I realized at that moment that the problem was not my talent but rather how I had chosen to use my talents. I had tried to simply impress and share nothing of any substance, when I should have tried to entertain to inspire and make others feel better.”

Rather than wallowing in defeat following his disastrous showcase performance in Nashville, Jolley vowed to use the experience as a springboard to action, a sentiment echoed in the title of his second book, A Setback Is A Setup For A Comeback.Building on his success as a motivational speaker among inner-city youth and administrators in the public school system, he began speaking to local companies, youth groups, and trade associations. Joining the National Speakers Association in 1991 allowed him to learn from some of the finest speakers in the world, and within a few years he was receiving requests for speaking engagements around the country. Out of this success grew the idea for his syndicated daily radio program, “The Magnificent Motivational Minute.”

Developed Minute-Long Motivation

According to Jolley, the concept of a minute-long message of inspiration was a natural offshoot of his work both as a jingle singer and a background vocalist with jazz artist Jean Carne. Each time she performed, she would devote a segment of her show to introducing the other musicians and allowing them to showcase their solo talents. But there was one catch. Because there were so many people in the band, each musician was asked to limit his or her solo to eight measures. Most of the band members were only warming up by the eight-measure mark, and others would take so long that the bandleader had to cut them off in midstream.

“I studied the other people and I made up my mind that I was going to create an entertaining and exciting eight-measure performance,” Jolley recalled in It Only Takes A Minute To Change Your Life. “So when it was my turn, I delivered a solo that had a beginning, a middle, and an ending. It involved the audience in a call and response, then a sing-song, where I sang a quick rap and rhyme, then closed with a big ending, all in eight measures. It was a big hit and immediately became a popular part of the show.” Jolley continued, “From that experience I learned it doesn’t take a long time to make a positive impression and to get your point across! It’s not important how much time you have, the key is what you do with the time you’ve been given.”

As Jolley moved into the realm of public speaking, the same talent for brevity and succinctness that served him so well as a stage performer and jingle singer came in handy again. His goal was to develop programs that were “informational, motivational, inspirational, and entertaining yet short and compact,” he wrote in It Only Takes a Minute To Change Your Life. “Time is very precious, and people are always rushing. They need motivation and often they need it in a hurry.”

The response of audiences was overwhelmingly positive, so he went on to launch his radio program, “The Magnificent Motivational Minute,” through a local station. The program was soon picked up by affiliate stations, and within a few years, he had received so many requests for scripts from radio listeners that he resolved to put them together in a book. The book, published in 1997, offers minute-long snippets of faith and philosophy, with headings ranging from “You’ve Got to Have a Dream” and “Breaking Down Mental Barriers” to “Attitude Is Everything” and “The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” interspersed with lyrics from inspirational song—both Jolley’s and those of other artists—and personal commentary from Jolley’s own life. Individuals seeking motivation over the telephone can dial Jolley’s “Motivational Minute” hotline, with its recorded message in Jolley’s own voice, updated weekly.

When Jolley became president of the National Capitol Speakers Association—the Washington, D.C. chapter of the National Speakers Association—in 1995, he was compelled to actually put into practice the leadership skills he had been speaking to audiences about. Through the use of a carefully developed 12-point plan which involved selling his vision for the organization to the board of directors, creating a team, and overcoming a variety of obstacles, in the space of one year he succeeded in doubling the organization’s membership, attendance, and revenues, as well as initiating a handful of new programs and improving the organization’s overall image. “One of the first steps to leadership is to realize that it takes a team to win and everybody on the team must benefit from the success and learn from the failures,” he wrote in It Only Takes A Minute To Change Your Life. “Most of all I learned that leadership is not a position.Jt is an action!” In July of 1998 Jolley became the first African-American to be elected to the board of directors of the National Speakers Association.

Philosophy Echoed in Books and Music

In 1999 Jolley released a CD and cassette with the same title, It Only Takes A Minute To Change Your Life, on his own label, 2WWARM (Winning With a Renewed Mind) Records, designed to, according to an article in Black Enterprise,“help you make it and take it to another level.” Jolley’s music, the reviewer continued,” may be different from what you expect to hear on the radio. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a more rousing way to get inspired to stay on course, you might want to consider this musical endeavor.” That same year Jolley published his second book, A Setback Is a Setup For A Comeback: Turn Your Moments of Doubt and Fear into Times of Triumph.“With sound suggestions for personal growth, [Jolley’s] book exudes positivity,” wrote a reviewer for Publisher’s Weekly.“Acknowledging that struggle is actually a vital stage in development, Jolley asserts that the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is that successful people possess a higher AQ (Adversity Quotient), which he believes is a predictor for success along with IQ and EQ (Emotional Quotient).”

In addition to delivering motivational speeches to corporate and professional organizations, Jolley spends much of his time addressing groups of young people both in Washington, D.C. and around the nation. In 1995 he visited 40 schools in South Carolina under the sponsorship of Royal Mistic beverages, encouraging students to pursue their dreams and stay away from “dream-busters” such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, violence, and negative people. “I was in the same shoes as these youngsters 20 years ago,” he told a reporter from the Charleston Metro Herald. “If I can offer today’s youth the right recipe for a bright future, I will consider it one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.”

Conducted Morale-Building Seminars

In recent years, Jolley has taken his motivational message to groups of disenfranchised government employees in and around Washington, D.C. In January and February of 1998 he delivered six morale-building sessions to federal workers discouraged by cutbacks, criticism, and a lack of recognition for their efforts. The idea grew out of an encounter Jolley had with the mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who shook her head in dismay when Jolley informed her that he was from the nation’s capital. She went on to tell him that she had met several government workers who had spoken disparagingly of the city. When Jolley returned to Washington, he convinced Mayor Marion Barry to let him conduct a motivational program to fire up city employees and thereby help to change the District’s image.

Two years later, while Jolley was vacationing in Florida, a radio interviewer made derogatory remarks about District youth following the widely publicized shootings at the National Zoo. Jolley immediately canceled his holiday plans and raced back to Washington to begin touring the city with his motivational seminar, “A Life Worth Living is a Life Worth Saving.” While speaking to students at Ballou High School he said he was, according to The Washington Times, “…tired of people talking about D.C.,” Jolley added, “a setback isn’t nothing but a setup for a comeback, and we’re on our way back and we’re coming back better than ever.” Jolley challenged the students to look for the positive, to see setbacks as catapults to action, and to take responsibility for their own choices. After the hour-long speech, sophomore Devon Porteus affirmed the value of Jolley’s presentation and the difference it made in his attitude and those of his fellow students. “He lets us know that we have a place in the world, and it doesn’t have to be on the corner,” Porteus said in an interview with The Washington Times.The speech “made me feel better, and everybody is happy and will have a better day in class.” While urging students to stay in school and avoid “dream-busters” at all costs, Jolley, according to The Washington Times, maintained, “…you can’t control the weather, you can’t control the time, you can’t control what others say and do but you can control you and you can make a different choice.”