Terry Duperon discovered in third grade that he couldn’t read. Today we know this as dyslexia. But when Terry was a child, you were labelled as stupid. While most would hide in the corner, Terry decided to make his dyslexia work for him. Today he owns Duperon Corporation, a multi-million dollar company. And he also founded his own school.
Links Mentioned in the Show
Duperon Corporation
Duperon Education
One Degree
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Transcript
I think for a long time I hid that I was dyslexic, that I couldn't read and write. One day I decided that I had to quit doing that. Okay, this is what I am, this is what I'm gonna go through life in. And now I see it as a gift At first it was a detriment. So I think once I started to see my life, these things I have as a gift. not a penalty.
Cliff Duvernois:Hello everyone, and welcome to Total Michigan, where we interview ordinary Michiganders who are doing some pretty extraordinary things. I am your host Cliff DuVernois. Today's guest had everything stacked against him. After being ridiculed by his teachers and his fellow students. Because he couldn't read. He decided to drop out of high school. But come to find out, his quote unquote disability actually turned out to be his greatest asset. And now this high school dropped out, who has struggled to read, now owns a multimillion dollar corporation, has created hundreds of high paying jobs and has even started his own school. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show, the founder of Duperon Corporation and Duperon Education. That would be Terry Duperon. Terry, how are you?
Terry Duperon:I'm good so far.
Cliff Duvernois:Excellent. Why don't you tell us a little bit about where you're from and where you grew up?
Terry Duperon:I'm from Indian Town, which is in Saginaw County. I grew up on a farm and. I really didn't wanna be a farmer. I liked the mechanics of the farm. But I didn't like farming. So once I was 18, I left the farm and got a series of odd jobs. I finally got one where I cleaned parts for a machine builder and just steam cleaner. And then they, that turned into apprenticeship. I just, I started to understand mechanics much better. And then I went into drawing. I learned to read prints and bill machines, and then learned to draw 'em. And then eventually I got my first patent. It all begun there.
Cliff Duvernois:So as a child you were dyslexic.
Terry Duperon:Yeah, I, and most of my life I couldn't read and write. And I can read a little better in the last six years. I make myself read every day. So I'm getting a little better at it. But not great. And I can't write it. I don't write. And so I dictate that. What happened to me is in the third grade, my third grade teacher asked me to stand in front of the class and read a first grade book, Dick and Jane. And I could not read it. Then I knew there was something wrong with me. Cuz I couldn't do what everybody else is doing easily. And now I'm exposed to everybody in my world's in that room. And so it was the first time I ever felt inferior. I got sick to my stomach up. It was a changing moment in my life. I knew something was wrong with me. So that year we just, we studied the inventors, Eli Whitney, Edison, Henry Ford, and they become my heroes. I thought they only had to do one thing, and they were rich and famous. And now as time went on, I found out it was more than one thing, but I started to pursue that dream. My dream was clear to me I was gonna be an inventor and make my living off my inventions. I tore everything apart on the farm, couldn't get it back together. But I was learning slow, slowly, learning. At great odds with my dad cuz he needed that stuff. I eventually ended up, I think when I was 18 or 20 with a first patent. They had come in the mail. It's a US patent office, Terry Duperon Inventor. Put me right back into third grade. Oh, wow. So I, I remember committing to that dream. Now I'm saying, how does a third grade boy cause that future? Okay. How do you do that? And it, and I end up creating a class around that as well. I have Duperon Education. And it focuses on how creative people think. And it doesn't matter what you create. If you create a business, you're an entrepreneur. If you create a machine, you're an inventor, painting artist, book author. But it's the same thing. It's the same ability to bring some something in into the future doesn't exist now.
Cliff Duvernois:It's interesting that you, at that point in time in your life when you were the most vulnerable, That all, I don't know if it's fate, but you start studying inventors.
Terry Duperon:No, just mechanics. Cause I couldn't read the book. So I couldn't really study the inventor. We just, they talked about it in school and they become my heroes. So I just believe they could do that one thing. I didn't know what it would be. So I just started to have at it. And the dream is extremely powerful in our lives. So as I got studying that further, I'm thinking it's probably the most powerful thing in our lives is ability to dream that vague notion. You don't know how to get there. You don't know how to do it. But you believe it could happen. And I think it's, it's not magic. Once you have a dream, it puts you in the inquiry. You're always looking for the next clear step to get to your dream. And I think we talked earlier, it's if you buy a new red car, red cars everywhere. Yeah. Because now you're aware of red cars. Yeah. Recticular activation. Yep. Yeah. So it's human nature to do that. Well, when you have a dream, it's human nature to start seeking out the next clear step. And it, the how to always shows itself. The dream has taken me a long ways, much way beyond my expectations. And basically all I do now is I have two things. I don't know where, I don't know what I'm supposed to say in this, but I was an atheist for a long time. And eventually I yielded. I surrendered and asked God to come in my life. Nothing happened. So a year and a half later I realized, I have a sense of gratitude I hadn't had before. Six months after that, I seen it. From that night forward, from the night I surrender before that life was defeating me. I become less able, less competent to take care of things. And then from that day forward, nothing's ever defeated me. Makes me squirm. But it doesn't defeat me. So something happened to me that night. That's clear to me. I don't, cuz I had not read the book, but I bit bits and pieces. I hear what, when I finally surrendered and come to my creator, he never said shame on you. He just tilt your head and say, Look over here Terry, I have something more for you. I just do it. I just head for the dream. Take the next clear step. That's my act of faith. I don't need to know where the step's taken me. I just do it because it's clear. And then my trust of my of God is I don't ask for two steps. I don't go in the future. I have a really good imagination. I can scare the heck outta myself. So I don't go there. All of that got me where we are now. And to me, I, you never arrive. I'm still on this journey. I don't know where it'll take me next. But I'm open to go there.
Cliff Duvernois:So let's go back cuz you were talking before about when you were 18, 20 years old, you got that official package Yeah. from the US Patent Office. Yeah. That said, had your name on Air, Terry. Inventor. What did that feel like? So what was it like to actually hold that in your hand?
Terry Duperon:That was exciting and I got it. I got cuz it put me back to the third grade. I got that kid caused this and how would he do that? So when I was asked to teach senior engineers at the university, I was trying to figure out how that third grade boy did that. So I concluded it's in the way you think. That's the only difference. The people I was teaching at the university were smarter than me, way more educated than me, could read and write but the only difference could be is the way I think. I could get patents and I could start businesses. And they struggled with that. So I set out to find that difference.
Cliff Duvernois:So you've gotten a patent. You've gotten more patents. Yes. And you were talking about getting a patent and starting a business. So I know there's a couple different avenues that you could have taken. You very real, you could have gotten the patent and then licensed that out to somebody else, and then just collect a royalty check for the rest of your life, play golf or whatever it is. But you opted to take that probably the hardest journey of anything, and that is to start a business. So why did you decide to do that?
Terry Duperon:I make all my decisions based on who I am. I know who I am by the things I love and care about that matter to me, make a difference to me. Not all my faults. I don't look at those. I just look at the core. And I got to patent and I got choices, probably hundreds of choices that you could do with that. But I had the dream, which was the lifestyle of Henry Ford, I think. Okay. Which meant I had to start my own business.
Cliff Duvernois:Interesting. You pick Henry Ford, but Okay.
Terry Duperon:Go. Yeah, I was fascinated with Henry Ford. He had a lot of flaws, but he had some, And the thing on my wall right now, it says it was from Henry Ford. It says, I ask them what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. And so most people can see what exists now, Henry could see beyond that. Okay. Another way to do it. So most of us just deal with what's known, not what's unknown. He could do that. So I think that's what inventors do. They see beyond what's here now. And they bring something in the future doesn't exist now. He probably was the key figure as my hero.
Cliff Duvernois:And with that, we're gonna take a quick break to thank our sponsors. When we come back, Terry is gonna share some of his early struggles in this business and how he finally came out on top. See you after the break. Are you enjoying these amazing stories? Michigan is full of people doing some pretty extraordinary things. If you want these amazing stories sent directly to your inbox, head over to total michigan.com/join. What are you gonna get? I'm glad you asked. First, you're gonna join our awesome Michigan community. Second, you'll get an email with the top five interviews from the show sent directly to your inbox. This is going to include not only the powerful lessons that we've learned, but the amazing stories that these people have to share. Third, you'll get exclusive behind the scenes information about the show. There's a lot of things that are happening to grow this movement beyond the confines of just a radio show and a podcast. To get these goodies, head over to total michigan.com/join. Enter your email and join our awesome community. Welcome back to Total Michigan. I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois. Today we're speaking with Terry Duperon. Now, Terry, before the break, you were sharing with us that you finally got your business off the ground. You were starting to make some money. But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. There were some times that you really struggled.
Terry Duperon:Oh, constantly. Yes. Yeah. The first three years I carried a pup tent in my trunk because I would make a sales call and I couldn't afford a hotel and gas. The thing is, once, once you have a dream, there's no work in it. There was, It did not. I love my life. I don't think I've worked in 50 years. But you, when you're in a pursuit of a dream, it's not a straight road, okay? It's a series of fails, failures and successes. You pretty much build on the failures. So that I see failure as a benefit, not anything else. A failure says, Don't go that way. Go this way. So that's all it was. So it didn't have the impact of a failure. I, and I can't say I didn't feel it. I feel failure. I feel emotional impact to that. I think it's, nobody's comfortable likes it. But I accept it as a benefit. In the early days, there's a lot of things I come up with that didn't sell. And so I quit doing that and I got patents that didn't sell. So I, your pursuit of the journey is greater than the failure of the things you try. So once you have, you keep your eye on the dream. But as long as that dream's alive, you'll start seeing ways to get there. It's not a straight line. Oh yes, that's true. See, I think every my, family likes messy. Business is messy. Life is messy. And I don't have an expectation that it would be different than that. I think for a long time I hid that I was dyslexic, that I couldn't read and write. One day I decided that I had to quit doing that. Okay, this is what I am, this is what I'm gonna go through life in. And now I see it as a gift At first it was a detriment. So I think once I started to see my life, these things I have as a gift. not a penalty. To give you an example, in school I have, I, I question everything and I analyze everything. So the, I would be asked a question and they'd say, Well, he probably was, and I'm thinking that he's probably dead. I'm analyzing the whole question. Well, By the time I get ready to answer it, they are three questions down. So it really hindered me in school. But when it comes to inventing, uh, solving a problem, it was an asset. So the very thing that haunted me become my biggest asset. So I'm grateful for it now. But I wasn't most of my life. I
Cliff Duvernois:Would you give up the life that you have now?
Terry Duperon:Oh, I love my life. No.
Cliff Duvernois:So then if we could go back in time, right When, Yeah. Terry's being formed. Yep. And if we took away this gift of dyslexia, would you have the same life?
Terry Duperon:No. No. I'd probably have a job someplace. So I love the lifestyle. I love the challenge. You full, fully alive in this game. Yes, you are. So it, it doesn't have to go smooth. You don't expect it to go smooth. Now, I was asked by, I was working on a first book called A Different Ability with a Professor, a Low Plager, and he had, he was a principal of schools that teach handicap people. So I worked with him on that. And the first question he asked me is most kids that have what you have crawl in the corner. They never do anything with their lives. What made you think you could do anything? So I took me a month to answer that. And my father and I didn't get along very well. He's a hotheaded French one and he swears a lot and he mad at me a lot.
Cliff Duvernois:I wouldn't know anything about that
Terry Duperon:So it, I would avoid him because he was scary to me. But he did never let me off the hook. He always put me back on the tractor. No matter what I screwed up, this is how you do it. You're gonna do this. Even though it was harsh, the message sent was, You can do this. So every time I mess up, never got me off the hook. He would just holler and swear at me and say, This is how you do it. Do it. And if you take a parent that says, say you asked Johnny to take out the trash and one parent was, he spills it all over to the kitchen floor. You say, I know you can do this, Johnny, but I'll take the trash out from now on. Message sent, you can't even take out the trash. Where my father would start screaming at me and say, You grab the basket like this. You pick up this mess and you do this every day. Okay, So you never let me off the hook. Message sent is, You can do this. That was the gift. And I didn't realize it for a long time that my father give me that gift. So that's where it came from, the belief that I could do something.
Cliff Duvernois:What I would like to do is we talked briefly about the struggles that you had with your corporation, and you kept going, you kept plugging. And then at some point you decided to hire a CEO to come in and run the company.
Terry Duperon:I'm a really lousy manager. Okay. I can invent. I can create companies. But I can't manage 'em. So I brought in Tammy, who's my partner, who's just the opposite of me, my oldest daughter. We are total opposite. She's a terrific manager. And once we come together, this whole company really started to grow.
Cliff Duvernois:Yes, it did. 25%
Terry Duperon:year over year. Yeah. And it's a lot. Of the combination between the two of us. She's really good at this management, not so good at the creative stuff's. Good at creative management, but not create machines and businesses. But once she starts working only in her strengths and me only in my strength, it just expanded. It become very, very dynamic. And we built this business up to where it is, where now we have a president runs it. And he's really good at what he does. I, everything I do, I have to find a manager. Right now, I am, I'm a silent partner for a lot of young entrepreneurs to start business. I got 10 different businesses. But I couldn't, man, once I got a group of, I couldn't manage the group, so I hired Andrea to manage. I created TLD Holdings. And all these companies are part of TLD Holdings. And she manages it. And she does a marketing sales for. So it's good to know what you're not.
Cliff Duvernois:And it's interesting because my follow up question to that is, is a lot of the times ego becomes part of the equation. And so you know, you're struggling with your business. You really want it to go. I know a lot of people out there that would just keep doing the same thing over and over again. But you had the presence of mind to think, You know what, maybe this isn't my strength. Maybe I should get somebody else in here to do this. And that's when Tammy comes board.
Terry Duperon:Yeah. I'm a slow learner. Because at that time I lost everything I had plus a million bucks I didn't have. Wow. Okay. Now you start to decide why. And so I drew a graft. And I said, I started here and then I did. I making some money. Got a good job. I knew idea and I spent too much money too fast and pretty soon I'm in trouble again. Then I'm back up again. I'm doing $5 million projects. Then I'm back down again. And then as on my way down again, I seen it. Every one of those things were bad management, bad choices of not manage money very well. So once I seen it, then I could say, Yep, Terry, you'll be doing this the rest of your life without her. And that line just straightened out and we started growing. You gotta fill in the blanks. You gotta fill in what you're not. And it the expectation that you have to know everything. You really don't. You only have to know a few of the right things that you can hang on.
Cliff Duvernois:Now you're being able to live your dream and be able to really impact and influence a lot of people because you know who to go to get the answers like you talked about before. Fill in the blanks.
Terry Duperon:So now I'm trying to do a club called One Degree. I Meet You, You'll Change My Life at least one degree. Met my wife, Change 180 degrees, but so so. But we will affect each other's lives. I wanna start a club where we have a lot of people who are up to something. I love to be around people up to something. You're one of them. So we support each other. So instead of having a speaker and a little wine and cheese, we mostly wine and cheese. We mostly, let's get to know everybody. Let's get a culture.
Cliff Duvernois:So you've got an opportunity now to teach. You know the kid that didn't graduate high school Yeah. That struggled with reading and writing their entire life. You're now being invited to the university to be able to teach.
Terry Duperon:My whole focus was how'd that third grade boy cause that future? So I'm in the class. I'm not, I have two things that get me through. Two thoughts. One is never be the one that limits you. I would rather fail than not try. Yes. And the other one was, success has nothing to do with what you're not. Run with what you got. I could probably fill this building with volumes all I'm not. Why would I go there? So when I was asked to teach the class, I've never been to university before. I didn't really know what they did there. I had an image in didn't turn out like I thought. But it was, I remember never be the one that limits you. My chances of failure was really high. But first day was awful. I put everybody in a coma in about 10 minutes. And then I talked to a real teacher and she told me what's important so you know where the students are at. So when I drew that on the board. And then little by little, the class started to show itself and I taught there for three years. Then I thought if you're gonna, if you're gonna teach entrepreneurship, you ought to be able to start your own school So I've had about 3000 people go through that and professor in university I've taken it and, I talk about these things and I have no explanation as to the why of it. So it's just there. and I think that I was willing to fail. I'm not gonna throw me out without trying before they throw me out. Not throw me out first. So I, and I think because of the dyslexic problems, I've learned to feel the pain of failure, but not control me.
Cliff Duvernois:You bring up a good point when you say learn from experience because say it when it comes to failure, I think that there's a real stigma when it comes to it. I know for me personally, it took me a long time before I could actually sit down and say to myself, You know what? I would rather try and fail then not do anything. And that means that how you look at failure, the entire dynamic of it changes. And then being able to sit there and say, Okay, so I failed. What's the lesson to be learned from this that I can take forward? So next time if I fail, I'll fail better.
Terry Duperon:That one thought frees you. Yes. Okay. the, I think most of us do not wanna live where it's familiar and no one. And once you step out of that, once you do what you just said you're gonna do open the failure. Now you're on this blank sheet of paper. Where there, there's the, all the unknown ones are there, right? It's intangible, all the things there. And it's uncertain. And so once you start that direction where you're not just trying to be ordinary you end up in this other world, which is very rich and rewarding. But it has pain. That's right. It's messy. But then I think you could set on your couch the rest of your life. The pain of being human will find you. Okay. So why not play the game? You know that way.
Cliff Duvernois:Exactly. All out. Yes. In addition to teaching, your gift of dyslexia, you publish books and you've got a new one coming out, The Misfit Millionaire. Yeah. So talk to us a little bit about being an author.
Terry Duperon:I, I hired a writer to write it and then I, he wrote legacy books and I thought I, I didn't really want a legacy book. I would like to have a book for my great grandfather or grandmother. The Life in Times a book. And I thought I would really value that. So I thought I'll do that for my grandkids. So I started the book. And then I started with as far back as I could remember. So the Misfit Millionaire, the thing that bothers me about that title, the author did some studies, is that's what we should call it. And I'm sorry, is it Money has never been my motivator. I'm not motivated to this day by money. Money comes and goes. My attitude towards money is the same as it is and everything, anything you hold too tight owns you. Even your health. If you're all about your health, it owns you. So the books I wanted, I always had a purpose in mind for the books. One is about the class. Then the fourth book is being worked on, almost done, and it's called Glimpses of God. And I had a, I did a talk, it released rain. I didn't know what was expecting me. So I thought I would just talk about those little events in your life that shifted you. And I called it Glimpses of God. It sounds like I'd seen them. It was just awarenesses. As I look back, I can see the hand of God even when I didn't recognize him. I think. So the book is around those things that happened that shifted your life. And losing everything was a big shift. And what happened there is I got really depressed, couldn't get outta bed, didn't have any idea how to get outta this hole I was in. And as before Tammy come. And I'm laying in bed saying, I got nothing. I don't have another idea. I just lay here. Don't know what to do if I got up. And I get this one very clear thought and it was do only what's clear. Cause I thought pretty clear to get outta bed. you're right. Pretty clear to take a shower bed in a while. Pretty clear to go to the office. Three years later, I didn't even have a car payment. I did not mastermind my way out of that. I just, one clear thought at a time. And I've been living that way ever since. I, Beautiful. I didn't look for a clear thought. So this is where it's taking me. I don't really care where it takes me now. I, it's a fun journey, I'm really, I love the lifestyle. So that book is about those changes in your life. And there was several of 'em that shifted. So I don't know a lot. I'm talking about God and Christ. I don't know a lot. Just that it's not a philosophy. Something happened to me. Okay. It changed. Nothing defeated me. I didn't do that. I can't talk about that. because I don't know a lot about it. I just know how it affected me.
Cliff Duvernois:Terry, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I've really enjoyed our time together. Thank you. Thank you. And for our audience, if you wanna learn more about Terry and check out Duperon Education, which I highly recommend that you do, then you can head over to Total Michigan.com. Click on Terry's interview and find the links there. We'll see you next week with another inspiring story.
