Aikido and The Art of Selling

Aikido is a martial art that uses physical, mental, and spiritual techniques to defend against an attacker. It also has the ability to leave the aggressor disarmed and harmless. Now imagine being able to use this same technique in your everyday life. That's what Daryl Davis is known for having done with his sales tactics in his personal life and as a real estate agent. You can read more about how he did it here at AikidoandTheArtOfSelling .

Daryl Davis was born on July 3rd, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. He later moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he attended Clark Atlanta University on a full scholarship for two years. He was able to get a scholarship to The University of California at Berkeley but that too quickly ended due to financial issues and his drug-using habits. His heavy partying put him in jail numerous times, including spending time in solitary confinement. He eventually found God and started attending church regularly when he was 20-years old.

In 1979, Daryl married his wife Tammy Lynn and they had three children together. Both Daryl and Tammy divorced in 1986 after working together as business partners for ten years in real estate investing, the last five of which were successful enough to be labeled a "power couple".

In 1989, Daryl and his children were able to convince Tammy Lynn to give her husband another chance after Daryl ended a four-year "drug-binge" on Thanksgiving of 1987. He then began working as a real estate agent in order to gain his life back.

He quickly became one of the most successful real estate agents in Maryland and Virginia in only two years. In 1994, he received the highest award that a sales agent can recieve for selling over $1 million dollars in real estate. That same year, Tammy Lynn and Daryl were expecting their fourth child together. Sadly, their son died four days before he was born.

In 1995, Daryl became friends with blues musician Johnny "Guitar" Watson and even had the opportunity to meet his hero, B.B. King. In 1998, he was filmed in "The Blues Brothers 2000," starring John Goodman and Dan Aykroyd as well as many other blues musicians who were featured in the film.

In 1999, Daryl started donating his time to attend KKK rallies hoping to change their racist ways and prove that he can be a better person than they are. He began making friends with them by sharing stories of his life struggles, one of which being that he is a black man married to a white woman and raising biracial children together with her. Daryl was able to convince several members of the KKK to leave the group.

In 2001, Daryl Davis' book, Klan-destine Relationships was published and sold over 6,000 copies. It is about his lifelong quest of building friendships with racist white people and how he does it. To this day, he continues to make friends at KKK rallies that he attends and can be seen on A&E's "The Big Interview with Dan Rather," which you can watch here . Daryl is also featured in the documentary film Accidental Courtesy , which is currently being shown at the Tribeca Film Festival until April 30th.

From a multi-million dollar real estate agent to a man that has changed the hearts of many racist white people, Daryl Davis' ability to sell is second to none. He has used his talents of persuasion in order to go from a life of partying and being a gangbanger, to living in seclusion with his family and helping others. He's a prime example of how an individual can change their lives for the better if they believe in themselves and what they're doing, even if it appears impossible.

It is possible for you to take this same tactic into your everyday life as well. Daryl Davis is living proof that you can turn things around if you put your mind to it.

Sources:

1. Davis, Daryl (1995). Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan. Simon & Schuster (ISBN 0-684-80391-8).

2. Aikido and The Art of Selling by Daryl Davis [Online Article]

3. He Changed His Life by Changing the Lives of White Supremacists [Online Article]

4. Daryl Davis – Accidental Courtesy [Official Website]

5. Accidental Courtesy – Tribeca Film Festival [Official Website]

6. Daryl Davis on IMDb [IMDb Profile]

7. Daryl Davis and the Art of Selling Real Estate [Online Article]

8. Daryl Davis | Aikido and The Art of Selling [Online Article]

9. Daryl Davis – Wikipedia [Wikipedia Profile]

10. Daryl Davis | Aikido and The Art of Selling [Online Article]

[/ARTICLE END]

  10/18/2016   I just found out that the video embedded in this article no longer works... but I did add an alternate video of Daryl from the same guy that created the original that could be watched here . If you can't view it, head over to Daryl's official website using the link that's found in the first paragraph of this news article or to see video of Daryl's interview on The Big Interview with Dan Rather . Also, here is a link for Daryl Davis' documentary film, Accidental Courtesy .

11/1/2016   If you're having problems viewing the embedded video for Aikido and The Art of Selling , try this link instead.

11/4/2016   A newer version of the documentary film, Accidental Courtesy , by Ricky Schroeder and Miriam Nylander (who are not credited or mentioned anywhere on their website) was recently uploaded to Hulu.com . You can watch it here .

3/22/2017   A new documentary film, The Art of Selling , was recently released on Amazon.com. It's the story of Daryl Davis and how he used the art of selling to change his life and save his marriage. He also shares with how he uses the same tactic in order to change the mindsets of racists, all while trying to provide hope for others that they can, too, make a positive impact in their own lives by doing so. You can watch it here .

4/4/2017   The documentary film, Accidental Courtesy , is now available for download on iTunes. You can watch it here .

7/16/2017   The documentary film, Accidental Courtesy , by Ricky Schroeder and Miriam Nylander (who are not credited or mentioned anywhere on their website) was recently made available on Amazon Prime Video. You can watch it here .

7/23/2017   For a while now, I've read countless stories of Daryl Davis getting arrested at KKK rallies by police officers due to his presence at them. In fact, the earliest story I found was from May 28th of 1997: http://articles.latimes.

Conclusion

This has been Daryl Davis' career since he began his diligence in the art of selling real estate. I've only included a few of the articles that I could find.  To read more about the other successes that he has had throughout his life, you can visit his official website by clicking here or to see videos of him being interviewed during The Big Interview with Dan Rather , head over to Aikido and The Art of Selling here or you can watch Accidental Courtesy by Ricky Schroeder and Miriam Nylander here . If you're having problems viewing any of these videos using the embedded links, try clicking on the following link for them:

1. Aikido and The Art of Selling 2. Accidental Courtesy 3.