What I learned from Dave Ramsey on Twitter
As is my Friday afternoon routine, I was reading the Nashville Business Journal and noticed that the second most-read online story of the week was by Dave Ramsey. It was entitled “Dave Ramsey on dumb business decisions”. Though I think Dave makes a very valid point in his overall message of living a debt-free life, I’m not a big fan of him in general. He’s an egomaniac and leans very much to the right and is a bit too “holier than thou” for me.
I attended one of Dave’s seminars about 2 years ago and thought the information was good, though it’s basically common sense. Don’t live outside of your financial means. Got it. About halfway through, John Rich pops up endorsing Dave and I left. I got up and left.
If you live in Nashville, you know John Rich is a jerk. Yes, his “Save a horse, ride a cowboy” song is catchy as hell, but the guy is just a loudmouth nuisance. His house is lit up like a Christmas tree on crack and his neighbors complain about his incessant parties. He gets drunk, gets arrested and just keeps making himself look like an ass. I just don’t like him. So, when I saw the video endorsement from John Rich at the Dave Ramsey seminar, I lost respect for him. I correlate Dave Ramsey with John Rich.
After reading the article, I tweeted :
John Rich responds with this tweet:
Cool. He checks his tweets and sent a simple and non-jerky response. (An interesting note: the tweet is no longer in his feed). Then the Dave Ramsey fan club rolls in with their support of him, which is also totally acceptable and expected. We all have our opinions and obviously can share them freely via Twitter. Quite a few folks respond to me that both Dave Ramsey and John Rich are super successful. My response was “success doesn’t make you nice”. Dave validated my point with this tweet:
And with that, he made my point for me. And just in case that wasn’t enough, my friend Thomas made sure with this:
“Oops! Looks like Dave Ramsey forgot to follow his own advice!”
Another interesting thing to point out is that Dave Ramsey has his tweets protected and is only following 55 people. You have to request to follow him, which is not a great social media practice for a business owner in general.
This post isn’t about how my opinion is right and how everyone else who likes Dave Ramsey or John Rich is wrong. I am not a public figure with a verified Twitter account. I am a strong woman who stands up for what I believe in, and chooses to surround myself with positive, genuine and honest people. I make careful decisions about who I do business with and what causes I support. I don’t support either of these men because I don’t respect them and that is my choice.
Social media allows us to share our opinions, and also allows us the choice to respond to other people’s opinions of us. If you represent a brand, or heaven forbid, you ARE the brand, keep your tweets professional. Dave Ramsey acted like a jerk on Twitter, and in turn, that reflects on the people who work there and the people he aligns himself with. I wholeheartedly agree with Dave’s advice of “think before you tweet”. If only he took his own advice…
Update after my post went live:
Dave Ramsey’s posts are not protected from everyone. Just those he blocks:
Hmmm. . . I can’t imagine someone on Dave’s staff tweetted that back, but I can’t really envision him writing it either. “I don’t care what you think”. . . not even sure how you respond to that.
It wasn’t his staff, Dan. It was him. His social media guy started following me about 10 minutes afterwards. And this blog is my response.
“A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, Proverbs 1:5″
-Dave Ramsey’s latest tweet
Great post Courtenay. Practice what you preach Dave!
Preach it sister!
That. Is. Awesome. I can’t see his tweets since he blocked me. Another one of his great social strategies…
Kudos to you for writing this post! I happened to see the twitter episode unfold live on Friday and could not believe his response.
Not because it was so rude (which it was) but because it so proved your point!
You rock.
First, a couple suggested edits: “holier than thou” not “holier than though” and “I am a strong woman” not “I am strong woman.”
I’m a little curious what you anticipated Ramsey’s response would be when you implied he wasn’t a nice person. Do you normally get positive feedback from criticizing people’s character? In my experience, you are no greater moral authority on what it means to be nice than anyone else, and frankly your “nice police” routine isn’t the sort of rhetorical device that’s going to get you any more of a “fuck off” from any self-respecting person, much less someone who thinks as much of himself as Dave Ramsey. If you were simply telling him off, then congratulations, you succeeded. Ramsey’s response in that case was pretty reasonable, though. He doesn’t have a duty to eat your shit and smile just because he’s a minor celebrity. Ramsey isn’t a brown-noser, I’d say that’s actually part of his brand. Once you criticize a person’s character you’ve officially left the territory of nicety and can no longer expect the other party to play by the social rules you just violated.
As far as it being bad marketing, sure okay. Dave Ramsey is doing alright even with all his alleged social media sins, and I doubt Ramsey will feel much of a prick from it no matter how great you think your influence must be. Anyone who reads that exchange can see you picked a fight when you really didn’t have to, and Ramsey responded in kind. That makes him look strong and you look judgmental and petty. Not everyone loathes John Rich as much as you do. In fact, it would appear his partnership is a pretty successful one. I’m not saying you were wrong to do it, if it made you feel better bully for you, just that you shouldn’t toss fire and expect not to get burned.
Thank you for writing about this Courtenay. I am a fan of the underlying philosophy of living simply, within your means, and that it is both a duty to ourselves, our families, and our communities. A living witness of our personal faith, even. Dave’s business has reminded me of Jesus in the temple–I don’t just think we aren’t to be literally selling things in church, but I look askance at selling things in the name of religion, period. I’m not saying it’s always a no-no, just that it’s risky business, and now I think he’s just a reminder of the danger of selling in the name of faith can quickly become selling in the name of a megalomaniac who is just as flawed, and obviously just as human as the rest of us.
Thanks for paying such close attention to my blog, Amber.
Thanks for your insight, Lora. As always, you are spot on. This is about practicing what you preach.
I’m so angry about this that I am about to max out my credit cards on Big and Rich albums.
But seriously folks. Be nice.
Oh Dave, I can always count on you for a good laugh! Thanks for reading
This is in response to Amber.
Courtenay’s original tweet was with regard to the article in the Business Journal, in which Dave Ramsey gave business advice including “hire with great scrutiny”. I believe her point was that he may not have followed his own advice when he used a locally controversial celebrity to endorse his brand. In my reading of it, her original point was about business, not character.
Do any of us really know these people well enough to judge their character anyway? Do you know Courtenay well enough to judge hers? I do.
She is a proud, brassy woman who sometimes acts on impulse. Occasionally that means a Twitter battle with celebrities, but far more often it means she’ll show up at a friend’s house with a homemade casserole just because.
Before I say anything, I will say that I do like Courtenay. I don’t know her well, and I definitely don’t agree with her political stances, but from all I have ever seen she is a good mother, she is independent, and she sticks to her guns, right or wrong. If I knew nothing else about her, the fact she cares for that precious little angel of hers more than anything else in this world would be more than enough. But I also know she has loyal friends who would give her the shirt off their back, and who would do anything for her. That too speaks volumes. Yes, she has said things on several occasions I have just had to shake my head at, but so have we all. That said:
Courtenay, I kinda agree with Amber on this one (I can’t believe I just said that, especially of someone I vehemently dislike). Your post was kinda baiting and I think you got the reaction, it seems from appearances, that you were soliciting. I know you probably weren’t soliciting a response, but to an outside who doesn’t know you or your twitter or Facebook post track record… It looks like you were bashing for the sake of bashing.
Dave is no saint. He can be a jerk, and he’ll be the first to tell you that. I myself have called him a jackass. But that conversation led to a more lengthy conversation that turned into a mutual respect. I don’t always agree with what he says, but I can tell you this… Dave is one of those guys who is a lot more than he seems. He’s arrogant at times, but he can also be very humble, and he really tries to live in the spirit of Christ daily. He is one of those people who will admit when he’s wrong and isn’t above reproach. He genuinely feels bad when people think he’s being over-the-top or has been uncouth. But understand he also gets that a lot on Twitter and elsewhere in public. I can assure you however if you ever had the opportunity to actually sit down and talk to him, you’ll find a man who is genuinely out to help others and has made that his ministry in life. Yes, he makes good money doing what he does, but if you look at how many lives he has helped change by teaching good common sense, you realize that despite his faults, he’s a good guy. Dave, like you, has loyal friends and employees who would do anything for him, because they know he would do the same for them. And like you, he’s an amazing parent who raised his children well.
As to Dave using John Rich as a spokesman… Dave and John were friends well before any of that arrangement got started, and John is right, he doesn’t speak for Dave. The two of them are friends and respect each other, and both of them give props to each other as such.
Just my two cents, and if I have offended you with my candor it was not my intent.
Hm.. He blocked you? I suppose that’s one way to preserve one’s sense of correctness. I guess you didn’t miss the part where he cares what you think.
Wow I thought Dave Ramsey was a dick…then I read that response from Amber Adams whoever she is…what a b****
Courtney – what a strange strange thing – this Twitter-ma-jig. I just donated $5 to the TN Democratic Party with my credit card….in your name.
Long live the first amendment. Carry on and on.
I am so proud of you, friend. Someday, Dave Ramsey will crap his pants when he realizes that he tried to mess with Courtenay Rogers.
Knight,
Thank you for actually reading the original tweet and article I was referring to, and for staying on topic. And I love being called brassy! That’s my new favorite adjective