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Contents
Chapter 1
YOU ARE A GENIUS
By Brian Tracy ................................................................................17
Chapter 2
The Maverick Way of Creating
Impact and Giving Back Forward
By Yanik Silver ................................................................................29
Chapter 3
LIFE IS ADAPTATION
By Dr. Steven Sperling ...................................................................39
Chapter 4
THE HARD ROAD PAYS
By Adam Koch ...............................................................................47

Chapter 5
A TALE OF POSITIVE PERSONAL
TRANSFORMATION — How Positive Inner
Growth Leads To Positive Outer Growth
By Bala G. Gopurala, MD ...............................................................55
Chapter 6
TRANSFORMATIONAL WORK:
Becoming Change Agents Through
Our Professional Lives
By Leigh Steinberg .........................................................................65
Chapter 7
GETING IN THE POCKET:
Launching Your Business’
Mobile AP and Website
By Damon Cockrel..........................................................................75
Chapter 8
YOU ARE ALL YOU NED:
The Power Of Authenticity
By Jasper Armstrong ......................................................................85
Chapter 9
11 THINGS YOU SHOULD THINK
ABOUT BEFORE SELLING A HOUSE
IN TODAY’S MARKET
By Jean-Philippe Loiselle ...............................................................93
Chapter 10
YOUR SUCCES STORY
By Dr. Jeff Rebarcak .......................................................................101

Chapter 11
THE 3 1/2 STEPS TO LIVING LIFE THE
WAY YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE
By John Dicks, Esq. .......................................................................109
Chapter 12
Hard Work and Persistence
are Change Agents that
drive Success
By Jose Lara ...................................................................................119
Chapter 13
DRIVE IT HOME: Digital Marketing
Designed To Deliver Your Business
To Your Customer
By Brett Sutherlin ...........................................................................127
Chapter 14
WORK-LIFE BALANCE IS
HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH
By Dr. Sereena Reep ......................................................................135
Chapter 15
MAGIC FUTURE: Becoming Your
Own Change Agent
By Stefan Wissenbach ...................................................................145
Chapter 16
BECOME A CHANGE AGENT WITH
STORYSELLING: How The Right Narrative
Can Transform Your Brand Into A Marvel
By Nick Nanton & JW Dicks ...........................................................155

Chapter 17
GOING TRADIGITAL
By Angela Johnson & Nadeem Damani .........................................165
Chapter 18
FOR QUALITY OF LIFE
By Bryan Kiser ................................................................................175
Chapter 19
THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF HIGHLY
SUCCESFUL REAL ESTATE AGENTS
By Carin Nguyen ............................................................................183
Chapter 20
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGHLY
Successful PEOPLE
By Dennis McGough ......................................................................193
Chapter 21
PICTURE THIS!
By David Lorms ..............................................................................201
Chapter 22
AMY’S CLEARINGHOUSE:
Never Underestimate The Power Of Clarity
By Amy Scott Grant, MBA ..............................................................209
Chapter 23
A NEW AND MORE PROFITABLE
MARKETING SYSTEM
By Benson Agbortogo ....................................................................217

Chapter 24
THE WINDOW INTO YOUR FUTURE -
An Unfair Advantage
By Con Antonio ..............................................................................227
Chapter 25
SURVIVING THE JOURNEY OF GRIEF
By David Rispoli, M.Div. .................................................................237
Chapter 26
MOVING BEYOND CHANGE
By Diana Todd-Banks .....................................................................245
Chapter 27
JUST LIKE SPORTS, YOUR
BUSINES IS ALL ABOUT
THE HALF-TIME ADJUSTMENTS
By Ed Cantu ...................................................................................255
Chapter 28
BUILD YOUR PLATFORM:
Launch Yourself With The
Power Of Digital Publishing
By Farhan Jamal .............................................................................265
Chapter 29
LIFE LESON: Pick Two From
Price, Quality And Service
By Fred Eck, DDS ...........................................................................273

Chapter 30
EARLY LESONS IN PERSISTENCE
AND DETERMINATION
By Dr. James Moss ........................................................................281
Chapter 31
CREATING THE DREAM –
From Cancer To Entrepreneur
By Elizabeth Potter .........................................................................289
Chapter 32
THE SATISFACTION OF SUCCES
BY GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
By Jay Olson ..................................................................................297
Chapter 33
THE GIRL CAN TAKE A PUNCH
By Karla Silver ................................................................................305
Chapter 34
THE 3 R’S:
Referrals – Real Estate – Relationships
By Mark Rafail ................................................................................313
Chapter 35
THE LAST REORGANIZATION – EVER!
By Matts Rehnstrom .......................................................................321

Chapter 36
THE ONE REASON WHY MOST
PEOPLE FAIL TO REACH THEIR
FULL PRODUCTIVITY POTENTIAL
By Marlene Scott ............................................................................331
Chapter 37
MAKING IT HAPPEN
By Raul Villacis ...............................................................................339
Chapter 38
SHOW UP FOR THE SHOWDOWN
By Roy Vale ....................................................................................349
Chapter 39
Functional Fitness and
Fitness Longevity™
By Sam Iannetta .............................................................................359
Chapter 40
HOW TO START AND GROW
A SUCCESFUL DENTAL
PRACTICE IN ANY ECONOMY
By Stephen Seidler, DDS ................................................................369

Chapter 41
HARNESING THE POWER OF
THE 100TH MONKEY
By Choy Wong and Yvonne Dayan ................................................377
Chapter 42
Not with that Attitude
By Dr. Thomas Mattern ..................................................................389
Chapter 43
HOW SUCCESFUL PEOPLE
DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY
By Njeru Nthigah ............................................................................399
Chapter 44
How To Be Lucky!
By Simon Atkinson .........................................................................409
Chapter 45
BROKEN ROADS CAN
LEAD TO SUCCES
By Michael Harper ..........................................................................419
Chapter 46
6 Steps to Securing
More Customers
By Neil Trickett, PT .........................................................................427
Chapter 47
THE SPIRIT OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
By Lesley Sullivan ...........................................................................437

Chapter 48
FOUR PILLARS: Foundation
For Success In Business And Life
By Kapil Sahni ................................................................................445
Chapter 49
YOU COULD BE EXERCISING,
RIGHT NOW!
By Dr. Julia Pewitt-Kinder ...............................................................457
Chapter 50
How to Get Out of Your
Own Way and Pursue
Your Ultimate Dreams
By AJ Roberts ................................................................................467
Chapter 51
Five Steps to Skyrocket
Your Productivity and
Enjoy Your Life
By TJ Oosterkamp .........................................................................475

YOU ARE A GENIUS
Chapter 1
YOU ARE A GENIUS
By Brian Tracy
Your ability to adapt quickly to change and challenge largely determines
your success in life and business. As Charles Darwin said, “Survival
goes not to the strongest or most intelligent creature, but to the one most
adaptable to change.”
The good news is that there is no problem you cannot solve, no obstacle
you cannot overcome, and no goal that you cannot achieve by unleash-ing
and harnessing the powers of your mind. Fully 95% of the popula-tion
has the capacity to function at exceptional, even genius levels, and
this means you.
Research at the Stanford Brain Institute indicates that the average per-son
uses not 10% of their mental abilities, as has long been thought, but
closer to 2%, and in many cases, only 1% of their ability to think.
In his book, Frames of Mind, Dr. Howard Garner of Harvard demon-strates
that you have seven different kinds of intelligence that you use
all the time. However, only two of these intelligences — verbal and
mathematical — are ever tested in school.
You Are a Natural Genius
Einstein said, “Every child is born a genius.” The fact is that you are
probably a genius, right now, and you don’t even know it. If you are like
most people, the very idea of having the ability to function at genius lev-els
is something you have probably never considered. Even if you have
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Change Agents
come up with some great ideas in the past, you have probably dismissed
them quickly as being lucky events, or flukes that don’t really disprove
the facts that you only have average intelligence.
Let’s do an experiment. When scientists come up with a bright idea, they
engage in an exercise called “Hypothesis Testing.” What this means is
that they create a statement that is opposite to their new idea, and then
attempt to prove that statement. If they are unable to prove that the op-posite
is true, it proves, by extension, that their original idea is correct.
For example, in the early days of research into subsonic and superson-ic
jet travel, the hypothesis was that no plane could travel faster than
the speed of sound without disintegrating in the air. So the engineers
and scientists went to work to disprove this hypothesis, which they did,
when Chuck Jaeger broke the sound barrier for the first time at a test site
in California.
Assume That You Are a Genius
For our purposes, let us assume that you are a genius. The hypothesis
you can test is that “You are not a genius.” In an attempt to disprove this
negative hypothesis, you will start thinking and acting like a genius.
And I promise you this; when you begin to talk, think and behave the
way that people of exceptional intelligence do, you will begin to get the
same results. You may even surprise yourself. At the very least, you will
unleash a flood of creative ideas that you can use to solve your prob-lems,
overcome your obstacles and achieve your goals.
The human brain has approximately 100 billion cells, each of these cells
connected and interconnected with as many as 20,000 other cells. The
possible combinations of thoughts and ideas in your brain are the number
“1” with eight pages of zeros after it. This means, according to brain expert
Tony Buzan, that your brain has more possible thought combinations than
the number of all the atoms in the known universe.
To all intents and purposes, your creative capacity is infinite. There are
no limits on what you can accomplish with your mind, except for those
limits you impose on yourself as the result of using ineffective methods
of thinking and analysis.
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YOU ARE A GENIUS
Unleash Your Imagination
Einstein also said that, “Imagination is more important than intelligence.”
You know that there is usually a very close association between
intelligence and creativity. However, intelligence is not simply a matter
of IQ. IQ only tests verbal and mathematical abilities. You also have
physical intelligence, emotional intelligence, interpersonal intelligence,
musical intelligence, intuitive intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and
visual-spatial intelligence, plus entrepreneurial intelligence, perhaps the
highest paid intelligence of all.
Intelligence is not simply a matter of IQ. Instead, it is a way of acting.
If you act intelligently, you are smart. If you act stupidly, you are stupid,
irrespective of your IQ or your grades in school.
If you agree with this, that a person who acts intelligently is intelligent,
then what, by definition, is an intelligent way of acting? The answer is
simple. You are acting intelligently when you are doing something that
is moving you toward a goal that is important to you. You are acting stu-pidly
when you are doing anything that is moving you away from one
19
of your own self-selected goals.
Move toward Your Goals
The only measure of an intelligent or creative act is whether or not it is
helping or hurting you, based on your own definition of what it is you
really want in life.
A person who wants to be healthy and fit, but eats junk foods and refuses
to exercise, is a person who is acting stupidly, even if he graduated from
Harvard or Yale. A person who has clear written goals and who works
on them every day, making progress bit by bit, is acting with the highest
intelligence, irrespective of his or her educational or social background.
The Law of Use says that, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Your creativity
is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. The less
you use it, on the other hand, the weaker it becomes. But the good news
is that it is always there, and you can begin building it up at any time by
flexing it and straining it and using it in a variety of different ways.

Change Agents
Creativity Defined
There are two definitions of creativity that I particularly like. The first is
by Mike Vance, who said that, “Creativity is the creation of the new and
the rearranging of the old in a new way.”
Whenever you find a new, better or different way of accomplishing a
task or goal, and you implement it, you are flexing your creative powers
and making them stronger.
Carl Albrecht says that, “Creativity is any new, novel or imaginative
way to improve some aspect of the human condition.”
Your ability to find new, better, faster, easier ways to accomplish tasks
for yourself and others, is the true measure of your creative capacity.
Ideas are the keys to the future. Every change in your life will begin
when your mind collides with a new idea of some kind. The more new
ideas your mind collides with, the more likely it is that you will come
across the right idea, at the right time, in the right situation, to achieve
the right result that may enable you to jump ahead five or ten years in
your life and career.
Bombard Your Mind With Ideas
Creative people are those who are always organizing and reorganizing
their lives so that they are continually bombarded by stimuli. They as-sociate
with intelligent people who have ideas and insights that are dif-ferent
from theirs. They ask a lot of questions and listen carefully to the
answers. They remain open, fluid, and flexible, recognizing that change
is accelerating at a greater rate than we have ever seen and almost ev-erything
we know is becoming obsolete faster than ever before. It is
only those with new ideas and insights that will be masters of the future,
rather than victims.
Creative people continually read different magazines, newsletters and
books. They are on a lifelong search for that idea or insight that they can
use at a particular moment in time to leap forward. They listen to audio
programs in their car and they watch educational videos. They attend
conferences and association meetings. They register for seminars, sit
down in front and take careful notes.
They ask questions of the instructors and they make a point of meet-
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YOU ARE A GENIUS
ing other intelligent, creative people who also attend these events. They
know that one good idea is all you need to start a fortune.
Many times, your life will be changed by a casual remark by a passing
stranger. He or she will tell you about a book, an article, an invention,
or a breakthrough that has occurred somewhere else. That piece of in-formation
may be all that you need to turn a situation to your advantage.
Winning a Nobel Prize
When the researchers at the IBM labs in Geneva were frustrated in their
search for the secrets to superconductivity, they decided to take a couple
of days off and change their mental spaces. One of them went home to
his family and then went out golfing. The other, an unmarried scientist,
went down to the library at the IBM labs and began leafing through re-cent
publications at random. He came across a publication of the French
Institute of Ceramic Science, which contained an article on a new form
of ceramic product that allowed items to pass across its surface without
creating friction. His mind almost exploded. He saw that this break-through
in ceramics was exactly what they had been looking for to solve
the puzzle of superconductivity.
He went back to the laboratory, called his friend, and together they
completed the superconductivity project. The very next year they were
jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for one of the most important
scientific breakthroughs in the world at that time.
There Is No Problem You Can’t Solve
You are a genius. Whenever you are confronted with a problem or dif-ficulty
of any kind, affirm to yourself, over and over, “I’m a genius! I’m
a genius! I’m a genius!”
When you pass this command from your conscious mind to your sub-conscious
mind, and you say it to yourself with enthusiasm, your sub-conscious
mind will accept these words as instructions, and go to work
to release creative ideas. These ideas will pop to the surface of your
conscious mind exactly when you need them.
In addition, when your subconscious mind is properly programmed and
activated with powerful commands, your superconscious mind will kick
into action as well. You will begin to attract into your life all kinds of
21

Change Agents
insights and ideas that will help you to solve your problems and achieve
your goals.
Three Spurs to Creative Thinking
The three main stimuli to creative thinking are: intensely desired goals,
clearly worded questions, and pressing problems.
The word imagination comes from the word “image.” When you have
a clear mental image or vision, or visualization, of your goal, of exactly
what it is you want to accomplish, and what it will look like when it is
achieved, you stimulate your creative mind to release a steady flow of
ideas to help you achieve that goal.
Most people who are unhappy in life have no goals. The very act of
sitting down and writing out a list of goals will change your perspective
completely. When you take your list of goals, organize it by priority
and then make written plans to achieve your most important goals, your
mind will start to sparkle with ideas that will help you. Your negativity
and pessimism will vanish. You will experience a surge of energy and
enthusiasm, and you will want to get up and get going immediately on
whatever it is you have written down.
When you ask precisely worded questions that stimulate thought, you
will find yourself coming up with great ideas and performing at higher
levels of creativity than you had imagined possible.
When you have pressing problems, clearly defined and articulated, you
will start to see all kinds of ways to solve those problems and remove
those obstacles that stand in your way.
Just as you build physical muscles by pumping iron in the gym, you
build mental muscles by pumping mental iron. Mental iron consists of
clear goals, pressing problems, and well-worded questions. The more of
them you have, the smarter and more creative you become.
Remember, all creativity is aimed at improvement. Creativity has very little
to do with writing prize-winning novels, painting pictures or producing
music. It is a simple, every day function of your mind that everyone has,
but which few people use.
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YOU ARE A GENIUS
Prove That You Are a Genius
We said earlier that we are going to be testing the hypothesis that you
are not a genius, so that we can prove that you really are a genius. Ge-niuses
throughout the ages have been found to possess three special
characteristics.
First, all geniuses seem to have developed the ability to concentrate sin-gle
mindedly on one question, problem or goal at a time, and to exclude
all other diversions or distractions. The more intensely you concentrate
your thoughts and attention, and the more intensely you are emotionally
involved with a problem or goal, the more likely it is that your mind
will respond with the kind of creative ideas that you need. And the good
news is that concentration comes from practicing the process of concen-trating
whenever you have something you want to accomplish.
One of the best ways to develop this habit of concentration is to define
your goal or problem clearly, in writing, at the top of a piece of paper.
Then, write down every single detail that you can think of that pertains
to that goal or problem. Write every fact, figure and piece of informa-tion
that you have. The more you write, the more likely it is that you
will come up with exactly the idea that you need to solve the problem or
difficulty that is currently holding you back.
Approach Problems Systematically
The second quality of geniuses is that they have developed a systematic
approach to solving problems. Usually, they write the problem clearly
on paper in advance. Accurate problem definition leads to a solution in
50% of cases. Most of the time, when you have a problem or series of
problems that is causing you worry or concern, it is because you have
not yet sat down and clearly defined exactly what the problem is.
One of the key parts of approaching your problems or goals systemati-cally
is validating the information that you have. As the humorist Josh
Billings once wrote, “The trouble with most folks isn’t their ignorance.
It’s knowin’ so many things that ain’t so.”
There are enormous numbers of things that you think you “know” about
your life and situation that are simply not true. One of the best ways
to manage your creativity is to carefully check and double-check your
facts and figures, to be sure that they are accurate.
23

Change Agents
Keep an Open Mind
The third characteristic of a genius is that they invariably have open
minds. They are curious, friendly, and even playful. They refuse to jump
to conclusions or to cut off any line of thinking or train of thought. They
continually ask questions, especially, “What if?”
“What if?” questioning is one of the hallmarks of developing and man-aging
your creativity. For example, what if everything that you are do-ing
in your current job or situation to achieve your goal or to solve your
major problem was completely wrong? What if there was a better way?
What if you were operating on the basis of false information or wrong
assumptions? What if what you were attempting to do was actually im-possible
and that is why you are having such problems with it?
Challenge Your Assumptions
I have known many people who have been in bad jobs. They were
constantly coming up with ideas to make their jobs more acceptable.
Finally, they realized that the boss was always going to be negative,
the company was always going to be bureaucratic and the marketplace
was always going to be ruthless. So instead of trying to find a solution
to their current job, they changed jobs and turned out later to be very
happy and much better paid. Could this apply to you?
Many companies try hard, hard, hard to bring a product to market and to
achieve a certain level of sales success. In many cases, it is an exercise in
futility because the market has changed, the competitor’s product is better
or cheaper, and the company lacks the resources or the abilities to achieve
a position of market dominance. Could this apply to your business?
The more you do of what you’re doing, the more you’ll get of what
you’ve got. Managing your creativity requires that you continually dig
deep into yourself and generate more, newer, better, faster, cheaper, dif-ferent
ideas that you can use to improve the important parts of your life.
Seven Qualities of the Creative Thinker
There are seven qualities of the creative thinker. When you practice one
or more of these qualities, you begin to prove to yourself that you are
truly a genius, and you simultaneously disprove the negative hypothesis.
The first quality is that creative thinkers are intensely curious. They are
24

YOU ARE A GENIUS
always asking questions. Very much like children do, they ask questions
like “Why?” frequently.
Then they ask: “Why not?”, “Why can’t we do it?”, “Even if it hasn’t
been done before, can it be done now?”
When Federal Express developed their initial business plan they were
told by countless experts that they would fail. They were told that if
there was a market for overnight mail delivery, there would already be
a service offering it. Since there was no service offering overnight mail
delivery, there could not possibly be a market. Today, Federal Express is
a multibillion-dollar company and all the initial founders are extremely
wealthy men. And it was all because they asked, “Why not?”
Practice Zero Based Thinking
The second quality of creative thinkers is that they practice “Zero-Based
Thinking” all the time. They continually ask themselves, “If I weren’t
doing what I’m doing today, knowing what I now know, would I do the
same thing?”
And if the answer is no, they cut their losses, discontinue what they
are doing, and start doing something else. It is absolutely amazing how
many people persist in doing something that they wouldn’t even get into
if they had the chance to do it over again. And they still wonder why
they are making so little progress.
Be Willing to Change
The third quality of creative thinkers is that they have a willingness to
change. They recognize that in a world such as ours, the unwillingness
or inability to change is fatal. They prefer to be in charge of their lives
rather than being caught up in the flash flood of change that is inevitable
and unavoidable.
The words of the truly flexible person, the person who is willing to
change, are simply, “I changed my mind.”
According to researchers, fully 70% of the decisions you make turn out to
be wrong in the long run. This means that you must be willing to change
your mind and try something else most of the time. Mental flexibility is the
most important quality that you will need for success in the 21st century.
25

Change Agents
Admit When You Are Wrong
The fourth quality of highly creative people is their willingness to ad-mit
when they are wrong. Fully 80% of people burn up most of their
mental and emotional energy refusing to admit that they made a wrong
decision. Don’t let this happen to you. Truly intelligent, highly creative
people are open minded, fluid, flexible and willing to both change their
mind, and admit that they are wrong when their earlier decisions turn
out to be incorrect.
Admit Your Ignorance
The fifth quality is that highly creative people can say, “I don’t know.”
They recognize that it is impossible for anyone to know everything
about anything, and it is very likely that almost everyone is wrong to
some extent, no matter what they are doing. So when someone asks
them a particular question that they don’t know the answer to, they ad-mit
it early and often. They simply say, “I don’t know.” And if necessary
they go about finding the answer.
Here’s an important point. No matter what problems you have there
is someone, somewhere, who has had the same problem, has already
solved the problem, and is using the solution today. One of the smartest
and most creative things you can do is to find someone else, somewhere,
who is already implementing the solution successfully and then copy
him or her.
The smartest person is not necessarily the person who comes up with
the idea. It may be just a lucky flash of insight. The smartest person is
the one who copies the idea first. And it is often the person to recognize
the value of a new idea that makes a fortune from the idea, while the
originator makes little or nothing.
Focus On Your Goals
The sixth quality of creative people is that they are intensely goal-oriented.
They know exactly what they want. They have it written down
very clearly. They visualize it on a regular basis. They imagine what their
goal would look like if it were a reality today. And the more they visualize
and imagine their goal as a reality, the more creative they become and the
faster they move toward achieving it.
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YOU ARE A GENIUS
Control Your Ego
The seventh quality of highly creative people is that they have less ego
involvement in being right. They are more concerned with what’s right
rather than who’s right. They are willing to accept ideas from any source
to achieve a goal, overcome an obstacle, or solve a problem.
Generate More Ideas
The most important part of managing your creativity is your ability to
generate ideas. And the greater the quantity of ideas that you generate,
the greater the quality your ideas will be. The more ideas you have, the
more likely you are to have the right idea at the right time.
But generating ideas is only 1% of the equation. As Thomas Edison
once wrote, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspira-tion.”
Your ability to come up with an idea, to test it and validate it, and
then to implement it and execute it in your life to achieve results, is the
true mark of genius.
Every single time you originate a new idea, write it down, make a plan for
its implementation, and then take action, you are behaving like a genius.
And the more you manage your creativity in this way, the smarter you will
become. And the smarter you become, the more you will achieve in every
area of your life. Your future will become unlimited.
27

Change Agents
About Brian
Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International,
a company specializing in the training and development of
individuals and organizations. Brian’s goal is to help people
achieve their personal and business goals faster and easier than
they ever imagined.
Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than
5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55
other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses
more than 250,000 people each year.
For more information on Brian Tracy programs, go to: www.briantracy.com
28

The Maverick Way of Creating Impact and Giving Back Forward
Chapter 2
The Maverick Way of
Creating Impact and
Giving Back Forward
By Yanik Silver
Ok I admit I was wrong…
I used to say “Give Back” was one of the key concepts of the Maverick
Entrepreneurs philosophy. (Hell, it says so right here on the cover of the
first version of my best-selling 34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs
book. “Make More Money, Have More Fun and Give More Back”).
I’ve now realized this isn’t quite right.
With my background as a copywriter, I’m pretty careful about most of
the words I choose. It’s your words (and even your internal dialogue)
that have a tremendous impact on how you think, feel and behave. By
saying the words ‘giving back’ this implies entrepreneurs, like us, have
taken something.
Let’s think about that for a second…
I assert that entrepreneurs and businesses can only succeed by pro-viding
and delivering value. Period. End of story. It’s simply a univer-sal
law. In fact, one of my core values in my very first journal said, “I
get rich by enriching others 10x – 100x what they pay me in return.”
There’s no other way that it could possibly occur because, in the long
run, the marketplace is always self-correcting.
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Change Agents
The notion of ‘giving back’ seems to echo an undeserving indebtedness
or even guilt for success. Should you begrudge entrepreneurs like Steve
Jobs, Richard Branson or Bill Gates for their wealth?
Absolutely not.
Each one of them created immense value exponentially in proportion to
what they’ve received. (And that’s not counting the thousands of jobs,
additional utility, new startups piggybacking on their success, etc.)
My friend and mega mansion builder/real estate artist/philanthropist,
Frank McKinney, sums it up with a saying he told our Maverick1000
group in Haiti, “We have to be careful not to weaken the strong in or-der
30
to strengthen the weak.”
At our core, entrepreneurs are simply growth-oriented innovators and
value creators. They almost can’t help themselves. Take Bill Gates for
instance. Aside from his impact on micro-computing, his greatest con-tribution
going forward will be around the Gates Foundation eradicating
disease and driving new educational initiatives.
And he’s not alone. Other billionaires are not content to just “give back”.
They’re giving forward by applying entrepreneurial talent, energy
and capital to solve some of the biggest issues facing the globe. But
you don’t have to be at the level of a Gates or Branson to make a differ-ence.
Today, a group of 21st century maverick entrepreneurs are lead-ing
the way to change the way business is played and even the rules by
which we keep score.
Who says it’s only about one measurement on your P&L?
Business can become one of the biggest
levers for good – while actually being
good for business.
Look at TOMS shoes. Yes, they’ve been the poster child for creative im-pact
with their “Buy One, Give One” initiatives but it’s for good reason.
They’ve created a powerful (and profitable) business model tied directly
into doing something that will have a significant impact. And the best
part is their customers, retail partners and vendors want to help spread
that story driving increased sales.

I love looking at businesses that are doing something that matters tied
in with the causes they support in a real, genuine and authentic way.
In many cases, you can create a way to automatically give and support
causes important to you – creating a win/win/win for everybody.
Your business can actually flourish because incoming research is prov-ing
customers are favorably disposed to doing business with you if
there’s an added bonus of philanthropy “baked” in. In fact, I’ve directly
seen results of split tests with one of our Maverick1000 members show-ing
a 10% increase in sales because $50 from every sale went to a char-ity
featured. Not only do they sell more products, but also the cause
involved gets additional support and exposure.
Nearly all the successful people I know give. There’s a special kind of
satisfaction that comes from helping and serving others. Entrepreneurs
are some of the most generous and giving individuals I’ve been fortu-nate
31
enough to associate with.
The Maverick Method of Giving
A lot of people talk about how they want to donate some huge sum
of money to a charity or their church, but then never get around to it
because they feel like they don’t have enough right now or it’s not the
right time. Frankly, I think it’s because it is not a systematic, regimented
giving plan. If you would have told me a few years ago – I’d regularly
be giving $10k, $15k, $20k+ checks to charities – I would have thought
you were crazy because I could use that extra money myself for some-thing.
But when it becomes just a way you operate it’s much easier to
start writing those checks with big zeros behind them. My dad thinks
I’m nuts when I told him how much I donate, but I’m more than pleased
with my decision.
Where I Found This
One of the first times I heard about this was from the late Foster Hib-bard,
who worked with Napoleon Hill. Foster talked about setting up a
“giving account” and a “wealth account.” The set-up was simple. You
would take a fixed percentage of all money that comes in to you (i.e.
5%, 10%, etc.) and put that amount into both accounts each time you
received it. I only do monthly – but this follows the “pay yourself first”
philosophy of getting rich also. So each month 5% gets paid off the top

Change Agents
no matter what to myself (for investments and buying assets not toys),
and 5% gets paid to a charity of my choice. (Dan Kennedy worked with
Foster Hibbard and has a great distillation of this and his own wealth
building philosophy in his book “No BS Wealth Attraction for Entrepre-neurs.”)
Fact is, I could see significant jumps in my own income once I started
this 5% charitable giving. Some of the wealthiest and most successful
people of all-time had discovered this secret. It’s been said that Rocke-feller
walked around everyday with a roll of dimes and gave them away.
Carnegie was one of the biggest philanthropists building public librar-ies.
Many people talk about the ‘filthy rich’ or how ‘greedy’ rich people
are – I’ve found just the opposite. Most of the truly wealthy and suc-cessful
individuals are some of the biggest & most generous contribu-tors
32
around.
I firmly believe you cannot
out-give the Universe.
If that statement is true than anything you give out comes back to you in
kind multiple times. Meaning from a pragmatic standpoint, you could
look at this really as a return on “charitable investment.” But that’s al-most
too logical. There’s an incredible feeling from knowing one check
you wrote sustained an entire village of entrepreneurial upstarts – like
when we donate to Village Enterprise (villageef.org). Or when you get
a handwritten note from one of the charities you support talking about
how surprised they were to get a $15,000 check out of the blue and what
that kind of help means to their program.
Personally, I do due diligence on the charity I’m going to support for
that particular month, and then I write the check without expectation of
what is going to happen with the money.
Time, Talent & Treasure
One of our Maverick members has a saying that I love and that’s, “You
can give time, talent or treasure.” So perhaps if you’re short on finances,
give some of your time or talent away. Quite frankly, for years now we
pretty much only donated money (treasure) since that’s what I had the
most abundance of. Today with the Young Entrepreneur sessions, we
run on Maverick trips and virtual mentorship where we have the oppor-

tunity to actively engage and give forward. Previously, I would donate
to a lot of different charitable organizations, but now I’m pretty much
focused on my passion around young entrepreneurship only.
Authentic Altruism or ‘Quick-dry’ Charity Make-Over?
(http://www.internetlifestyle.com/blog/philanthropy/authentic-altru-ism-
33
quickdry-charity-makeover/)
It’s been incredible to see so many new companies and products adding
charitable components to what they’re doing or even go all the way and
back that into their ‘DNA’ as a socially conscious but still capitalistic
company. I love it!
Sometimes though you wonder if companies might be doing this just
for the PR value and not really for authentic reasons that resonate with
their brand, their customers or the owners. For instance, I recently came
across a campaign for Kentucky Fried Chicken to donate 50 cents for
every pink bucket of chicken they sell.
Hmmm….
While I’m all for breast cancer research and help (my Mom died from
breast and ovarian cancer) but I don’t see the connection. And I’m not
the only one, I’ve seen some snarky blog posts about how KFC is trying
to use this do-good campaign to gloss over the fact fried chicken could
lead to obesity and heart disease. It just doesn’t fit the KFC brand and I
cannot see customers really getting behind this in a genuine way. Plus,
they are already seeing some negative backlash for their “good corpo-rate
deed”.
If you’re going to use your business to promote or
support a cause there should be a personal reason.
Case in point, a recent rose wine I just had produced
by former Olympian Peggy Fleming is called “Victo-ries.”
Peggy went through a fight with breast cancer
and now for every bottle purchased a significant por-tion
goes to breast cancer causes. I like the way this is authentic plus it
really ties into the product itself, a rose, since pink has become the color
for breast cancer awareness.

Change Agents
Here’s another interesting example that fits the prod-uct
personality - Elivse and Kreese make high-end
luxury goods out of discarded fire hose and other re-cycled
material. Yup, I said fire hose!
They’ve also used waste coffee sacks, scrap sail cloth, used air traffic
control flight strips, parachute silk and all sorts of other industrial waste.
They donate 50% of their profits back to Firehouse Brigade charities
and that fits perfectly with their brand and actual product. It’s a beautiful
congruent element that once again gets customers talking.
Personally, I’ve incorporated my adventurous person-ality
into many different fundraisers including one for
Virgin Unite. Me and my buddies, Mike Filsaime and
Rob Olic, joined up to do a “Fall-a-Thon” where our
goal was to raise $1 per every foot we fell out of the
sky. (Oh…did I mention it was from 30,000 feet – the cruising altitude of
a jet?)
So the big questions to ask yourself are:
• What causes matter to you and to your customers?
• What is the personality of my product, service or company?
• How does what we do help create zealots to spread our message?
Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of growth, adding value and solving
many of the problems we’re encountering on a local or global level.
This trend is exciting to me because it’s part of our Maverick philoso-phy
and I see more and more businesses getting involved in ventures
and projects that have ‘goodness’ tied to them. Look at Pepsi’s Refre-shEverything.
com campaign, where they give away millions of dollars
for ideas that have significant impact.
On the bigger corporate side, here’s a recent one from Canadian cred-it
union Servus. The campaign was called “Feel Good Ripple.” They
pledged $200,000 CDN in $10 increments for people to do good and
pass it along. FeelGoodRipple.ca
I have a shirt I wear that asks you to do “a random kindness” each time
you wear it. I like the notion of your clothing ‘reminding’ you about
giving values
34

Being Part of Something Bigger
Groups are mobilized around a common mission or feeling like they’re
part of something bigger than themselves. You can harness this for your
business and create brand zealots spreading your message.
One company that really does this well is FED. They started with a
simple concept – buy one bag = feeding 1 child for a year in a develop-ing
country. Boom! Simple idea combined with an outwardly physical
symbol (the bag) and you’ve got a winning combination.
Their idea was simple but profound. Create a fashionable bag that people
would want and that also feeds X amount of children per year – hence
the name FED Bag. The only problem was the UN is not an entrepre-neurial
venture. From small beginnings just a few years ago – they’ve
raised millions to feed tens of thousands of children.
Now the big lesson. Feed Bag is actually a for-profit enterprise with
a social conscious. I love the idea of creating something (that’s want-ed)
with a by-product for good, i.e., buy a fashionable bag and feed
“x” number of children. There is no guilt involved like many charities
play on, however, there is strong psychology at work. The bag is very
prominently printed with the words FED on it and it gives the user
a feel-good story to tell others. Plus anyone else who knows what the
bag stands for will recognize the person as having a social conscious.
Win-win.
Blake Mycoksie founder of TOMS shoes, has a similar model. You buy
one pair of shoes and one pair of shoes goes to a child in need. It’s
tangible and easy to understand. Once again a ‘wanted’ product with a
charitable by-product. I see this as one of the most innovative charity
models. We saw this a bit with the one laptop per child program, but I
don’t think that was that big of a hit because not too many people want-ed
the laptop for themselves or their children. The Feed Bag and TOMS
shoes are “cool” and that’s part of having switched-on fans – they have
to believe they are part of something cool!
Small Giving = Big Results
Taylor Conroy’s story of how he raised $10k in less than 3 hours to
build a school. (http://destroynormalblog.com/we-built-a-school-in-3-hours)
35

Change Agents
I love the concept he put out there – it was simply getting 33 people to
donate $3.33/day for 3 months to create that $10k donation. It really
makes you think about the impact a small group of committed individu-als
can have with small change found in their pocket. Check it out and
36
watch the video.
Why doing good is good for
your bottom line too
This is really exciting! I’ve got some more empirical proof that you
make more when you give more.
Check out this case study from Maverick1000 member, Brett Fogle.
Brett was launching a new Forex trading course and he had decided
to split test this certificate on his sales page, ForexMastery.com. They
tested with the certificate and without, and with it raised the conversion
10%. Now this was a $2,000 product they released and sold several
hundred copies. The 10% bump helped them write a $40,000.00 charity
check to a group that builds houses for the poorest of the poor in Haiti.
Very exciting because that 10% bump also represented tens of thousands
in additional sales that wouldn’t have happened without this certificate.
I’ve always believed one entrepreneur can change the world…now let’s
see what happens when we stand together to create a transformative
catalyst for what matters most.

About Yanik
Yanik Silver has successfully bootstrapped eight different product
and service ideas hitting the million-dollar sales mark from scratch
without funding, taking on debt or even having a real business plan.
His story and businesses have been featured in Fox Business News, TIME.com, USA
Today, SmartMoney.com, MSN Money, Conde Naste’s Portfolio.com, Entrepreneur.
com, WIRED Magazine, WORTH.com, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and
many others.
Yanik is the author of several best-selling entrepreneurial books and tools including
Instant Sales Letters®, 34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs and Maverick Startup.
He is the founder of the Underground Online Seminar®, 3% Forward and Maver-ick1000,
a private group of game-changing entrepreneurs, out to change the way
business is played.
He is passionate about catalyzing and connecting innovative 21st century entrepre-neurs
to co-create new business breakthroughs, enhance their happiness and pro-vide
greater meaning and impact through their ventures.
Yanik leads small groups of high impact entrepreneurs on re-energizing epic experi-ences
with business icons such as Jesse James, Tony Hsieh, Tony Hawk, Tim Ferriss
and John Paul DeJoria. Whether that’s blasting 80 mph through the Baja, experiencing
a Zero-gravity flight, flying MiG jets in Russia, going on an African Safari, scuba diving in
between tectonic plates in Iceland or helping create self-sustaining villages in Haiti and
private brainstorming sessions with Sir Richard Branson on his private island.
He calls Potomac, Maryland home with his wife, Missy, and 2 mini-Mavericks in the
making, Zack and Zoe.
37

LIFE IS ADAPTATION
Chapter 3
LIFE IS ADAPTATION
By Dr. Steven Sperling
Pain can be a powerful motivation for change. Frustration is too. One
of the most humbling experiences in life comes when you realize that
you don’t have all the answers and you have to ask for help. This help
can come in many forms: Guidance from a spiritual advisor, mentor or
trusted friend. Sometimes it comes in the form of inspiration seemingly
given in answer to thoughts put out into the universe. The practice of
meditation and quiet contemplation can make these inspirations occur
on a much more regular basis. Time spent in this way can yield many
flashes of insight into complex problems that otherwise seem unfathom-able.
We live in an ever-changing world and we need to be able to adapt as
change occurs. This process of adaptation can create pain and frustra-tion
but this often precedes change, and allows a person or organization
to function at a much higher level. A key part of this is being able to
guide or direct the change in a positive way. Part of this is being able
to control and guide our thoughts because our thoughts precede action
and action precedes behavior. Or as the following quote from William
Arthur Ward states, “our words reveal our thoughts; our manners mirror
our self-esteem; our actions reflect our character; our habits predict the
future.” If we think in the right way, we will behave in the right way.
How then do we go about thinking in the right way?
I have found after much wasted time and effort, that one of the most ef-ficient
ways to go about this is to ask for the help of a mentor or coach. I
39

Change Agents
am by nature stubborn and like to do things my own way. When the pain
and frustration of not getting the results I want becomes great enough
even I can become open to change. I have learned through trial and er-ror
what many people just seem to know by their own nature, that is,
that the experience and strength of the many is superior to the experi-ence
and strength of just me. I have been fortunate through the years
to be able to have access to many various experts and people I could
look up to. Many of my early athletic coaches were such people. They
would help me improve not only my athletic performance but also my
performance in life. They were good role models and I wanted to be like
them. I even went so far as to become a coach myself at an introductory
level. I thought maybe I could share some of my experience with young
people. In fact, I thought I had life pretty much figured out, and that they
would listen to me if they knew how fortunate they were to have some-one
who had read more than one coaching book. I share the following
story to illustrate just how wrong that attitude was.
Several years ago, my son’s youth soccer team needed a coach so I vol-unteered.
I had just completed reading two books, so of course I knew
what I was doing. I was eager to try some of the new ideas. Anyone
who has been around soccer knows about the tryouts. They give you a
sheet to grade each player on their talents (or lack of). There are differ-ent
columns for kicking, passing and probable position. Then there is a
draft where coaches choose their team members. As the draft progressed
I was running out of guys to pick. It was my last draft choice and there
were three kids left. I quickly checked my evaluation sheets. There was
one kid named Brian and two other boys with loud mouthed parents.
In the comments block beside Brian’s name I had written: lacks talent,
uncoordinated... I chose Brian.
We began our practices and I was feeling really good about myself for
trying many of the ideas I had read about. After a few practices it be-came
clear Brian had not read the same books; in fact it was clear he
had never played the game before. He didn’t know the positions and he
couldn’t run, pass or kick. Other than that he was just fine. I became
frustrated at how much extra time I had to spend with Brian on the sim-plest
of skills. I was impatient and not making any progress trying to
40
help him get any better.

LIFE IS ADAPTATION
I remember coming home and venting to my wife:
• In other towns these kids of been playing soccer since they were six
years old. What kind of parent sends their kid out to play soccer for
the first time at age 12?
• Don’t they know they are setting this kid up for failure?
• Why didn’t someone teach him at least to kick and pass a little before
they sent him out there?
• I’m going to have a chat with his parents as soon as I have the
opportunity.
When practice ended the next night all the players were picked up on
time ... except for Brian. We waited around for a long 20 minutes. I tried
to appear busy shuffling the roster. I tried to ask Brian about school
and his friends but he wasn’t into small talk. This kid was beginning to
make me feel uncomfortable. By the time Brian’s mom arrived, I was
pretty ticked off. As she walked toward the field, I thought, “Here is
my chance. I need to let her know my concerns.” But she immediately
launched into an apology about how she gotten tied up at work, caught
in traffic, etc... I was about to ask her why the boy’s father hadn’t prop-erly
prepared him when she abruptly stopped talking, sent Brian to the
car and said the following: “Coach, I need to tell you something. This
team has been the best thing to happen to Brian in a long time. See last
year Brian’s dad was killed by a drunk driver. He took it real hard and
has hardly spoken to anyone for the last several months. I was walking
by the park and rec a few weeks ago and saw the sign for registration. I
thought it would be good for him to get out of the house and make some
friends. Since joining your team he actually comes home from practice
happy. He talks to me at home about all the things you are teaching him.
I want to thank you for the impact you are having on my son. This team
is just what he needed.”
All of the sudden I didn’t feel very good. My stomach began to be a little
queasy and I felt all the blood rising to my face in embarrassment. The only
brilliant response I could come up with was mumbling: “It’s my pleasure.
He’s a good kid.” When my mind began to function again I came up with
one more thought. I am utterly ashamed of myself. Who was I to presume
to know anything about this boy’s situation? Who was I to pass judgment
on him or his family? I went home and thought long and hard about it.
41

Change Agents
At the next practice I increased my efforts to help Brian and spent extra
time after practice on the simple fundamentals... kicking and passing.
As the season progressed so did Brian’s talent and enthusiasm. We were
fortunate enough to make it into the playoffs and Brian made an incred-ible
effort to help us win the game. Brian won more than the game that
day. He won the respect and admiration of his teammates. More impor-tantly,
he increased his own self-respect and for probably the first time,
saw himself as the winner he truly was.
That experience with Brian and his mom taught me a lot. I decided then
to make a pledge to myself. I have used it with those I teach, with those
I coach, and with the people that I treat at my dental office:
1) I will not pass judgment on any person without knowing their
background.
2) I will meet every player/Person exactly where he is physically,
mentally, and emotionally and will do everything in my power to
help him improve himself as a player and a person.
3) I will give every patient/Player entrusted to my care my best effort
every day no matter how I feel at that time. They all deserve it.
In my dental office we try to do things the same way. We try to develop
good team players and instill values into them much as we do the play-ers
on any team. We like to surround ourselves with good people not
only because it creates a positive work environment, but it’s just fun to
be around positive people. We all spend so much precious time at our
place of work; why not make it as pleasant as possible by creating a
winning team.
The importance of creating a winning team cannot be emphasized
enough. I cannot accomplish as much as “we” can. “We” can do what
“I” cannot do. We can create a positive environment where all can flour-ish.
We can support each other through life’s inevitable difficulties. We
can feed off each other’s energy and enthusiasm.
Just like any team needs a good coach, in the business world any team
needs a good leader. The team will thrive when it has good leadership.
People need and want a leader. It is the vision of the leader and the val-ues
of the leader that determines the values of the team. We have a set of
core values in our group that affects every decision that we make. These
are values like loyalty, courtesy, respect, integrity, going the extra mile,
42

LIFE IS ADAPTATION
and putting the needs of the patient first. We use these values in things
as diverse as hiring the right people to choosing which vendors we will
be working with. These values define who we are and help us to stay on
course and headed in the right direction.
There have been times in the past however, when we have managed to
get off purpose. I remember one particularly trying time several years
ago when we were going through a rough spot. There were conflicts
everywhere we turned. We had personnel conflicts, time conflicts and
space conflicts. We were literally heading down a path that I wasn’t sure
we could ever recover from. My frustration level was extremely high
and I remember thinking that certainly one day I was going to be the
last one out the door to turn off the lights and that would be it, we would
be done. As it happened, that low point preceded great changes in our
office, which have continued to this day. Some difficult decisions had to
be made and actions taken, but since that time we have been able to add
multiple employees, space and equipment. We have expanded our circle
of influence dramatically. It was difficult at the time to see that, once
again, the pain and frustration preceded a change to a higher level. The
systems necessary to function at a higher level could not evolve until the
need arose. “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
At our meetings we talk about concepts that help us serve People. We
talk about things like, “if you do things in the right way, you will suc-ceed.”
The right way is to give someone greater value in service than
what they give you in money. We need to be clear with the value we
bring to the marketplace. If you know that what you do has value, then
what you are doing is really solving problems, it is changing lives, it is
making someone feel better.
Our job is to help people make decisions and then give them a compel-ling
reason to do it now. There are literally hundreds of people whose
lives I have helped change in a very positive way, who at the time I met
them, if I didn’t give them a reason to do it now, would’ve never done
it and they would’ve missed out on that opportunity. There should be
no back off on this if you understand the value you bring to the mar-ketplace.
If the people don’t make a decision and take action, then I
have not helped them. If I give a talk and the people do nothing, then it
was a waste of time. If I give a talk and they do something, then that is
productive. That is a good use of my time, I am kind of living up to my
43

Change Agents
potential and I am having an impact on the person’s life.
Earl Nightingale defined success as “a progressive realization of a wor-thy
ideal.” One of the ways to measure our progress toward success is to
periodically set new goals and review them on a regular basis. It is ex-tremely
important that these goals be written down and have a timeline
associated with them. I have been influenced in setting goals by some of
the most recognized people in the field of helping people reach their true
potential; people like Brian Tracy, Anthony Robbins and Wayne Dyer.
But just as important as it is to listen to these experts, it is also impor-tant
to listen to the influential people in one’s own life; People like your
spouse, your family or your clergy; People on a local level like Lorne
Grosso, our local high school hockey coach.
By the time this is printed, Lorne will have received the John Mariucci
Award in Naples, Florida. This national award is given by the American
Hockey Coaches Association to a secondary school coach who best ex-emplifies
the spirit, dedication and enthusiasm of legendary University
of Minnesota hockey coach John Mariucci. Lorne has coached for 47
seasons with 662 victories at the same high school. He knows a bit about
winning. His time coaching and teaching hundreds of young men on his
teams about life through sports is a passion for him. I never played for
Lorne, but was fortunate to have him as a teacher and his passion for
teaching kids about values for living was just as evident in the class-room.
He instilled in us enthusiasm for learning and concepts like doing
what you say you will do, personal integrity and going the extra mile.
He used humor to get his point across and he gave us the tools to grow
into responsible, productive adults. I credit him as much as the more
well known experts in the field of human potential for any small success
I have achieved so far.
If you want to “Win friends and influence people,” read Dale Carnegie.
If you want to become a better person and change lives, spend five min-utes
44
talking to Lorne.

LIFE IS ADAPTATION
About Dr. Steve
Steve Sperling DDS is a practicing Dentist in Rochester, Minnesota.
He is co-owner of a group practice with two locations and six den-tists.
In his free time, he enjoys tennis, skiing, biking and training for
the upcoming Tough Mudder obstacle course with his sons. He and
his wife have an interest in mission work, specifically using their talents in the dental
field, and have travelled to many countries with various groups for mission trips. He
recently returned from a mission trip in rural Tanzania, which ended with a successful
climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Other interests include diving, soaring, fishing and
finding balance in a life filled with competing opportunities.
His favorite quote is:
The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play,
his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation,
his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his
vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide if he is working
or playing. To him, he is always doing both.
~ Francoise Chateaubriand
45

THE HARD ROAD PAYS
Chapter 4
THE HARD ROAD PAYS
By Adam Koch
Necessity is the mother of invention; cliché, I know. Losing a job can
be just what you need to get you to the place you need to be. My wife
and I had just adopted our daughter and moved to a new city to start my
career as an apartment manager for a number of apartment communi-ties.
This was my first real job after graduating from Texas A&M the
previous year. I was doing a great job too! That is at least what I thought
until, as I like to proclaim, they “fired my rear.” The owners of the busi-ness
decided they could pay two people for what they had been paying
me. They graciously gave me 2 full weeks to depart the apartment they
furnished us to live. Now the questions began to circle around me. What
am I going to do? Where are we going to live? How am I going to pro-vide
for my new family? I learned that I have some very good friends
and family. With their help and definitely the grace of God, we made it
through the next many months.
I discovered something soon after about myself that changed my life
forever. While I was not sure what I would do next, one thing was crys-tal
clear—I knew that I would never work for someone else again; I
never wanted to be at the mercy of somebody’s subjective view of the
job I was doing. I was going to be the boss. Thankfully, I was able to
take some time to figure out what my next career move should be.
I investigated businesses that were low capital and easy entry, so I was
looking at financial markets when I happened upon an ad for insurance
agents. The ad made no pretense; you work hard and in a year or two,
47

Change Agents
you can actually afford a peanut butter and jelly sandwich twice a week.
You make it to three years, you can even add the crunchy peanut butter.
OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit…but not by much. This did not sound
like some sort of “get rich scheme” but exactly like what I was looking
for. My efforts would be rewarded; my failures would be my own. Soon
after, I was selling insurance with a national insurance company as an
agent. I learned quickly that I actually really like insurance. A topic
that would make my very patient wife’s eyes literally glaze over and
unprompted yawns to occur.
So, where are we now? To put it simply, we are commercial mavericks
in a personal lines world. Last year my office wrote more commercial
insurance policies in the state of Texas than the next 4 agencies com-bined
48
for Farmers Insurance.
We are not an insurance mill to just simply churn out polices with no
regard to quality. Our philosophy is to educate every client, to be sure
they know what protection insurance does and does not afford them
and their business. We have taken this concept, run with it and intend to
expand it even further. I have found that many of my competitors prefer
to write personal policies because they are the easy road with a quicker
close. Commercial insurance tends to take a great deal longer to close
from start to finish and require a great deal more industry knowledge.
Experience tells us that the hard road pays when you follow the signs.
#1. Educate Yourself
Become an expert in specific markets or businesses and realize that you
do not have to service them all. Once you learn one market, it is easy to
apply what you have learned to the next one. The more you have a mind
for it, the easier it becomes to see those gaps in coverages for each busi-ness
and each type of policy.
In any business, being the expert in your field differentiates you from
your competition. Instead of starting out “scattershot” and trying several
different fields, which I have done, it can be more beneficial to build
and develop one industry and gain credibility there before moving on to
the next. The scattershot approach requires a bigger learning curve than
concentration in a single area at a time. It can also be a huge drain on
marketing dollars.

THE HARD ROAD PAYS
Create a plan of attack. Where will you go? How will you meet your
customer’s needs? Each time I write a policy for a contractor, I know
that for his success he may need certificates of insurance from me on an
ongoing basis. Garnering business in that industry will necessitate that
an insurance office have the staff to accommodate the need for those
certificates, and the right systems in place to track the certificate holders
and policy endorsements. Therefore, make sure infrastructure is in place
to know how to do it and to meet the client needs effectively.
Certain industries require specific endorsements; an agent needs to know
what those endorsements mean and which carriers write them. Do your
homework and plan accordingly. In the beginning, before we invested in
software specific to the project, we had a team member who dedicated
more than 50% of her day processing certificates of insurance for cli-ents.
For some clients, it would literally take two and a half weeks each
year to print the certificates required at policy renewal time. Granted,
that was in the midst of her other duties, but still a huge waste of human
resources. Now that we have the right processes and infrastructure in
place, this same task takes 5 minutes or less. An educated agent will not
overlook their infrastructure.
We routinely deal with people who have brand new businesses or who
have never had insurance before. About 50% of our new business comes
from people who have no idea what they need when asking about insur-ance.
Therefore, after educating ourselves, our next job is to educate the
49
clients.
#2. Educate your Clients
Do not rely on commissions. Rely on the satisfaction of selling the right
policies for the right reasons. Take premium out of the discussion. As
has been said in many different ways by many different people, price
is the issue only when value is a mystery. In insurance, and other busi-nesses
to be sure, when you prove your value and help the client’s busi-ness
grow, your business will grow in turn.
When I approach a potential client, one of the first things I inquire about
is what they are looking for in an insurance policy. That can be a rather
loaded question, so be ready for a wide range of answers. The most
common answer is, “I’m looking for the cheapest premium” or “I just
want enough coverage for the contract I am trying to get.” Both of those

Change Agents
answers generally mean I will have to work awfully hard to show the
value of the policy. Some of these clients I can educate, many I cannot. I
do not spend a majority of my time with that type of client. Spend your
time on those that are receptive. The result is a book of business made
up of clients that actually want to have an insurance policy with you
instead of those that have it just because they are required to.
Educating your clients creates an opportunity to contact them more fre-quently
as well. A business, or an agent, that does not keep in close
contact with its clients might miss opportunities.
#3. Keep in Contact
Contact your clients. It’s that simple. Call them, email them, and send
them letters in the mail. Tell them what you do. Keep in constant con-tact
with your clients. As you grow, this can be a rather daunting task,
but it is worth putting systems in place to automate as much of this as
possible. Let me ask, how frustrating would it be to find out a long time
business client you are visiting for the first time in a year just started a
worker’s compensation policy, a $2,000,000 key man life policy and set
up their business 401(k) a week earlier. How more frustrating would it
be if they said, ”Well I would have come to you, but I didn’t know you
provided those services.” Yeah, it was pretty frustrating. Let them know
what you do and then tell them again and again and again. The constant
communication also instills a sense of familiarity and trust. It’s hard to
develop a relationship with anyone if you rarely talk to them.
#4. Be an Advisor, Not a Salesperson
One of the reasons that I love to work with new businesses is because
I get to be there to build their business with them from the ground up.
New business clients often do not know what they need, and frequently
do not understand the insurance industry at all. This presents the op-portunity
to be a teacher to the client and make that client an informed
purchaser.
Discuss a client’s goals for his business and his plans for growth. This
information is useful in advising the client about products that will grow
with the business or make that business more marketable. Sometimes,
the advisor talks a client through bouts of shortsightedness that might
adversely affect his business.
50

THE HARD ROAD PAYS
Devotion to becoming an advisor and not a salesperson sometimes
means losing a quick sale; it reflects quality not quantity. This can be a
hard road for some agents or businesses that are used to the faster-paced
world of: sign-the-contract-and-move-on-to –the-next-client. Doing it
right is not necessarily easy.
Often a client and I end up discussing everything BUT insurance. We
relate and develop a relationship, because I know and share some of
the pitfalls that befell our business when we first opened. I am not an
accountant, but I can share with my client what happens when you do
not have one. I can tell them about co-mingling funds and not knowing
you were doing it. I can tell them about the nightmares of preparing
your own business taxes, etc. The hard road to building our insurance
business is paved with lessons learned about doing things right and not
always doing it in the most cost- effective way.
I educate clients that insurance is not an evil thing. It protects your busi-ness,
not just for the one job that you are working on. I teach them
to look at their insurance as an opportunity cost, not an expense and
suggest to them that they can now leverage this policy to obtain more
business, most especially for contractors. Essentially, educate the cli-ent
to see their insurance as a marketing expense rather than a general
business expense. I educate the client that his job, as is mine, is to be
the Ambassador and CEO of his business and that he needs to think big-ger
than the average small business owner. Through this approach, the
salesperson becomes a trusted advisor and part of the inner circle for
life. It is incumbent upon the advisor to be ethical at all times in this pro-cess,
never knowingly advising a client to purchase or to do something
that will compromise his business or erase their trust in you.
#5. Be Ethical and Grow Strong
While growing up in a very modest singlewide mobile home with VERY
limited means, I learned the most important lesson of my life: take care
of what you have. Having “new” all the time was not a possibility, nor
was it necessary. Inherent in any business should be the value of people
and things. Seek quality and not quantity. Value your customers, instead
of mistakenly thinking you can easily replace them.
The most successful businesses embrace the hard and ethical road. If
you press the easy button, you do not learn the correct lessons from
51

Change Agents
the things around you. Determining the correct clients to pursue and
not faltering until earning their business requires hard work. The key to
transitioning lead generation—fliers, doors knocked on, business cards
handed out and Internet advertising—to clients is numbers. Developing
a large lead list then personally approaching every prospect is challeng-ing,
but the numbers speak for themselves. Harder still is turning down
business from customers who are not a good match for your company,
like the clients who base their decisions strictly on price. Have the in-tegrity
to leave those clients to your competition. Additionally, there is
a trickle of personal lines policies originating from business clients; do
not neglect them. Instead, hire the personnel to harvest the additional
business from your existing client base.
#6. Place the Right person in the Right job
Nothing kills the inner workings of your business faster than an employ-ee
who is not happy and successful in his job. This is the one bad apple
adage at work. Placing an emphasis on matching an employee’s per-sonality
with the position in which they work holds the biggest key to
their success and the success of your business. Placing a sales- minded
individual into a paper-pushing desk job creates a frustrated employee
who underperforms. Give that same employee the freedom to drum up
business creatively, and you have business spreading like wildfire.
Hiring a warm body to fill a seat can be very tempting when your busi-ness
is on an upswing and you are anxious to keep up momentum. Be-ware.
Spend the time to find the right personality for each job. When
hiring a salesperson, try to convince them not to take the job. If they
fight for the job and win you over, you will know they are naturally
sales-driven and are “hungry” enough to work for the business.
People can be weird about insurance. Potential clients will try to avoid
insurance agents because of the industry’s “bad name.” A prospect once
told me that she did not want to talk to me about changing her automo-bile
policy because she would then have to walk all the way to her car to
change out the insurance card in her vehicle! Sure, overcoming objections
is awful but so was being fired from the property management job I held.
Choosing to be a maverick in an already under-appreciated industry might
seem like masochism, but the hard road pays. In the words of Robert Frost,
“I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
52

THE HARD ROAD PAYS
About Adam
Adam Koch began his journey as an insurance agency owner with
Farmers Insurance in 2004. Since that time he has learned many
valuable lessons on how not to run an agency. Thankfully, for the
sake of his family, he also learned from those mistakes and figured
out a way to do it right. Adam has consistently proven that he has a fondness for
helping new and existing small businesses do it right as well, at least as far as insur-ance
is concerned. Among his peers he is considered an expert in the field of com-mercial
insurance for small businesses and has been recognized as a top-producing
agent many times by Farmers Insurance. More importantly, he is considered an ex-pert
among his clients as they put their trust in him to offer solutions to protect their
business and personal assets correctly.
Adam has assembled and leads a team of experienced professionals to provide prac-tical
solutions to small business owners that can help them safeguard their future.
With the wide array of options in their portfolio, he and his team work diligently with
each client to create a customized insurance program to help them achieve their ob-jectives.
Additionally, he will pursue every viable alternative to ensure he can present
the client with cost-effective, yet adequate coverage for their property, in the event of
significant losses due to unexpected occurrences.
Adam Koch earned his BS in Economics from Texas A&M and remains a passionate
Aggie football fan. He lives just north of Houston with his wife and two children and
two rather useless dogs. He is a worship leader at the church he attends.
If you would like to know more about Adam Koch, or his award winning agency, visit:
www.kochig.com or call: 866-491-3651.
53

A TALE OF POSITIVE PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION
Chapter 5
A TALE OF
POSITIVE PERSONAL
TRANSFORMATION
— How Positive Inner
Growth Leads To
Positive Outer Growth
By Bala G. Gopurala, MD
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
More people are going to have personal success and live longer than
ever before in history. Your question is how to be one of them. In the
pages ahead I’m going to show you how. Imagine you purchased a pow-erful
and an expensive computer. You paid about $6,500 with all the
bells and whistles of technology. It does not, however, have an operator
manual or any assistance with it. How could you have the best experi-ence
with it in such a situation? Of course you would at least need an op-erator
manual. Similarly, how would you like to have an operator manu-al
to your life, a manual of “conscious awareness” and a direction called
“vision for your life?” This is exactly what this chapter will address.
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Change Agents
Change and Growth
I came to understand through my life experiences and 20 years of medi-cal
practice, that many are walking around without proper knowledge
and awareness of optimal health and personal growth. As a result, we
are having a suboptimal experience with our mind, physical body and
environment. We constantly seek success outside ourselves. We tend to
seek a pill as an answer to most of our emotional, physical and social
issues. I myself was in the same automatic daily rut of routine life, and
then I read Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy, and a study by Jack
Canfield and Paul Scheele called Effortless Success. I also took a course
on 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This infor-mation
has certainly influenced me. I made a personal decision that I
wanted to be the “captain of my soul” and I wanted to consciously direct
my life where I wanted it to go. I was tired of complaining and looking
outside myself for success. I began to read, listen to, and associate with
people who are successful. I began to see through the lens of “life’s big
picture.” This change may not happen all of a sudden, as it certainly
didn’t in my case. It is a process. We need to learn to be patient with
ourselves.
Beginning
My life began in one of the world’s largest democracies, India. I am
the oldest of three siblings. I have a brother and sister. My parents were
in public service as educators and philanthropists. They both believed
deeply in democracy. My father was involved in Gandhi’s nonviolence
movement for Indian democracy. My parents operated three elementary
and middle schools which served underprivileged children. They pro-vided
shelter, food, and education. My parents and grandparents had a
tremendous influence on my life. My grandfather was a physician and
mayor of the city. He led the community by example.
From the very beginning of my life, I was exposed to the concept of
“be the change that you wish to see in the world.” I went to one of my
parents’ schools. My parents and grandparents were role models. My
mother was the headmistress of the school. I clearly remember how
she operated the weekly mentorship session. Children from different
religious backgrounds brought their Gita, Bible, and Koran. Everyone
would take a turn and read. She moderated discussions and synthesized
these teachings as bits of wisdom that connected us. On many occasions
56

she said to students, “If you have to choose between being right and be-ing
kind, always choose to be kind.”
The American Dream
Somewhere along my journey, I caught the American Dream. After
completing medical school and some additional training, I came to the
world’s most powerful democracy, America. I visited the University
of Alabama at Birmingham as a scientist-physician. By virtue of my
scholarly work I was invited to obtain permanent residency, and now
I am a US citizen. I completed the medical board exams, residency,
and fellowships in medicine, hematology and oncology. Because of my
experience in medicine and because of the problems we are facing in
the health industry, I have become deeply interested in optimal health,
human potential, and personal growth. The term “health industry” is a
misnomer. We could just as well refer to it as the “sickness industry,”
focusing on disease rather than proactively working on health.
Personal Transformation
As I continuously grow in my transformation, I also influence other
people along the way, first starting from my home. My seven-year-old
daughter recently observed on a family trip, “Dad, you be the example
and brother and I will follow you.” My eight-year-old agreed, “Yes,
Dad, we will follow you.” I also influence my wonderful and support-ive
wife. I can identify principles that have changed my life. These are
time-tested principles and many studies have proved their worth and
integrity. As my mother said, “Some principles are universal, they unify
humanity, and they work in every society.” They have worked in my
life, and they should work in yours. You have to study them and work
at them.
Personal vision
On one long-call night, I saw Mr. R, a 25 year-old male college student
in the ER because he used cocaine his friend gave him the night before
his final exam. He had a heart attack and left-sided stroke and was on
a ventilator for several weeks. Defying medical understanding, miracu-lously,
he recovered. This incident resulted in a setback of many years
of valuable time in his life. However, he has since changed and has
gotten a new vision for his life with encouragement from his family.
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Change Agents
Now he has completed business school and has a successful career. The
question I asked myself is, “Do I have to have a life catastrophe to get an
awareness of personal vision or can I be proactive with my life?” Hel-en
Keller said, “Having no vision is worse than not having eye sight.”
The following information lists my one-page vision statement that has
worked well for me and the people under my care.
Complete mental well-being
• Emotional
• Interests
• Spirituality
Complete physical well-being
• Optimal nutrition
• Optimal activity/exercise
Complete social well-being
• Relationships
• Spouse
• Children, grandchildren
• Friends
• Family
• Coworkers
• Area of work
• Finance
• Legacy
Optimal Health
Mr. D, a forty-six-year-old busy executive, was admitted into the hospi-tal
with chest pain, and he had a heart attack. He was the CEO of a small-company
of 50 employees and had high work-related stress. He was the
father of 3 children. He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, constantly
on the go, grabbing fast food. He said, “Doc, I have not had time to get
a physical in the last ten years.” Further testing showed he had a 70%
occlusion of a major heart blood supply, hypertension, increased lipids,
and diabetes mellitus, Type 2. Mr. D changed his lifestyle. In the next
58

six months, he lost 30 pounds and showed improvement in his health.
He realized he needed to be in a proactive meaningful action mode,
rather than a reactive response mode.
In 1946, the representatives from 61 countries at the World Health Or-ganization
defined ‘Health’ as a state of complete physical, mental, and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
After this definition entered into force on 7 April 1948, it has not been
amended. This means we look at health as a whole and not as one single
aspect of a person. Mr. D. clearly understood this and made a vision for
his life as described earlier. He took charge of what went into his mind
as well as into his mouth. Subsequent annual physical examinations and
tests were consistently excellent for his age.
Gratitude
I came to understand the attitude of gratitude is key to personal fulfill-ment.
I maintain a daily gratitude journal. First thing in the morning, I
write all the things I am grateful for in life. This puts me in a proactive
state for the day. Robert Emmons and his colleagues, in a series of stud-ies,
has demonstrated that people who maintain gratitude have fewer
health problems, get more sleep, feel more refreshed in the morning, are
more proactive, and even experience fewer heart attacks. Oprah Win-frey
says writing a gratitude journal is the single most important thing
she has done in her life for the last 16 years. Many of Deepak Chopra’s
teachings focus on cultivating gratitude. He explains we can become
more grateful by taking a walk in the neighborhood, around the office,
or in nature. He advises us to pay attention to the senses – including
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Being present in the
moment and acknowledging life’s blessings will improve our mood.
Daily Reading
I came with the mentality of reading only for the examinations. How-ever,
I started to realize the joy and personal growth that come with
reading after I committed myself to daily reading. By reading books, I
started to understand my emotions and myself. It made me think who
I really am and what makes life more meaningful. I understood I can
either obtain the knowledge and experience with my personal time and
energy, or I can learn from mistakes of wise people through the associa-tion
of books, teaching or mentorship. I learned about the Book-of-the-
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Change Agents
Month Club from Oprah Winfrey and how reading books has changed
her life. I voraciously read health and personal development books. I
clearly understood what kind of person I become is dependent upon
what kind of books I read, who I associate with, and how I internalize
and act on the positive life-changing experiences. Learning from the
mistakes of others is quite inexpensive and easy. Certainly reading leads
to personal transformation.
Personal Choice
Mrs. V. was a 45-year-old female with pelvic pain and was seen in the
ER, found to have infection and got treated. She also had an abnormal
Pap smear and was urged to follow-up with her regular doctor on three
different occasions. However, three years later she was brought back to
the ER by her family with symptoms of stage IV cervical cancer that
had spread to her lungs. She said she made the choice of ignoring the
prior advice with the hope that it was not a serious problem. Unfortu-nately,
her cancer did not respond to the therapy and three months later
she passed away. This was a heart-rending and frustrating moment in
practicing medicine. Cervical cancer is a very treatable and even cur-able
illness, provided one makes the right choice of prompt care. Psy-chologist
and Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman, in his work on the
way people make their decisions, describes ease with which we draw
the conclusions without much analysis. He calls this tendency ‘what
you see is all there is.’ Every choice we make has influence on our lives.
Even no choice is also a choice of no choice.
Family: After I came to the US, I was adopted into an American fam-ily.
I took care of Mama Sparks, an 80-year-old with Dementia. I truly
experienced how her children worked together and took care of her until
she passed away four years later. It was a graceful experience looking
back, but not at the time. I learned Mama Sparks, who was married for
65 years to her husband, lived a wonderful life. More than one-half
of my medical practice consists of people 65 or older. It is interest-ing
to find one half to two thirds of them have been in a committed
relationship for over 30 years. I am always interested to find out the
health effects in these long-term commitments. Then I read Robert G
Wood’s publication in 2007 from the Office of Assistant Secretary for
Planning and Evaluation, Office of Human Services Policy, US Depart-ment
of Health, that summarizes the effect of marital status on several
60

of the positive health outcomes of parents as well as their children in
the United States. These benefits include increased healthcare access
and use through retaining health insurance status from the other spouse
after a major life event. The report also describes decreased depression,
improved physical health, and longevity in the couples. There is an in-ter-
generational health effect in that the children of these parents have
better physical health in adulthood and increased longevity. Preserving
a family unit is an important element for personal success.
Faith
I learned that faith is a very important aspect of a person’s life. Faith is
an antidote for failure. Fear, doubt and worry rob our faith and keep us
from moving forward. A growing body of research shows people who
practice religious faith have positive health benefits, including preven-tion
of illness or better coping and recovery when they fall ill. Dr. Har-old
G. Koenig, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke
University Medical Center, has shown improvement of long lists of
these medical conditions including cancer to cardiac surgery in people
with religious faith. How do we develop faith? Faith is choice. One can
literally think and talk oneself into faith just as one can think and talk
oneself into fear, doubt and worry. Without faith a person is powerless.
Napoleon Hill said faith is the ‘eternal elixir’, which gives life’s power
and action to the impulse of thought. So faith is a glue that binds and
molds our lives.
Peace of mind
I learned through my personal study that peace of mind is the unifying
essential goal of a person’s life. It shook me when Brian Tracy exposed
me to the concept: “ You can only be successful as a person to the degree
to which you can achieve your own happiness, your own contentment,
your own sense of personal well being – in short, your own peace of
mind.” Initially it was difficult for me to understand that I am respon-sible
for my own peace of mind. As I internalized this very important
principle, I understood I could not give away what I do not have. Where
do I find peace of mind? What conditions will get me there? Or how do
I get there? I found out systematic elimination of or at least minimizing
negative emotions like, fear, anger, guilt, doubt, and resentment will
automatically result in peace of mind. This is worth thinking about.
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Change Agents
I have had several opportunities to interact with people who are at the
end of their life. I have developed close relationships in taking care of
them over a long period of time. I often asked the questions: Is there
anything you would have liked to see more of in your life? Is there any-thing
you wished you had done that you didn’t? Everyone of them said
they would have planned their life better. They would have spent more
time with family. They all said they would have made peace of mind a
priority.
Action Exercise
Ask yourself the same questions I asked my people. Also think about
what you would do differently if you had to start your life today. How
would you define your optimal health? Consider for the next twenty-four
hours, be aware of what goes into your mind as well as your mouth.
62

About Dr. BalaG
Bala G. Gopurala, MD, M.Sc., (DrBalaG) is a physician, American
Board of Internal Medicine, Double Board Certified Medical Oncolo-gist,
a Best-Selling Author and a Golden Quill Award Nominee from
the National Academy of Best-Selling Authors. He has combined 20
years of medical practice and has taken care of more than ten thousand patients. He
was a National Institute of Health Research Fellow. He was involved in HIV and Cancer
Research.
Dr. BalaG has received numerous awards including Research Scholar Award, Resi-dent
of the Year Award, Outstanding Young Investigator Award, Outstanding Physician
Award, and Outstanding Community Health Service Award. He served on numerous
committees including international mentor, interdisciplinary medical council, improv-ing
quality, care, education and service for the patients. He was also inducted into the
International Who’s Who of Professionals. He has been selected as one of America’s
top Oncologists. He is a lifelong learner. He has a fulfilling medical practice in Shelby
County, Alabama.
As an insider he is observing changes in the medical industry, and he clearly brings
into his daily practice the wisdom of the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure.” He approaches every person comprehensively, as a whole individual
in the context of presenting illness. This approach has truly helped patients alleviate
their suffering and regain true “Health” as defined by the World Health Organization.
He inspires and empowers people to the highest Awareness of Optimal Health. He
regularly gives lectures, conducts workshops and seminars on Optimal Health, Per-sonal
Development and Human Potential. He is happily married and has two children.
Dr. BalaG is a leadership consultant as well as executive health and wellness advi-sor.
He helps leaders to enjoy optimal health and embrace personal development. He
developed a skill-based training system to help individuals and corporations to im-prove
personal health thereby transforming healthcare from cost to investment. This
system has changed the equation of healthcare perceived as an asset rather than
a liability and this also increased productivity and employee morale. He is currently
involved in writing a book on Optimal Health and Personal Growth.
His teachings have a common sense health approaches to daily complex issues,
thereby helping people to think outside of the box. This helps the person as well
as the entire family, as he or she understands and takes responsibility for health
and personal growth. He has a unique and effective way of delivering information
and influencing people to take responsibility for life. He is easily approachable and
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Change Agents
gets along well with his clients and helps them see the big picture and at the same
time focus on the important details that are vital to life’s health decisions. Dr. BalaG
brings a unique set of medical training, research and a depth of understanding of the
importance of personal growth and transformation in helping his clients to succeed.
Outside of work, he spends time with his family. His interests include reading, swim-ming,
table tennis and nature exploration.
You can reach Dr. BalaG at: www.DrBalaG.com for further information or call: 1-866-
466-1244 for a consultation.
64

TRANSFORMATIONAL WORK: Becoming Change Agents Through Our Professional Lives
Chapter 6
TRANSFORMATIONAL WORK:
Becoming Change Agents
Through Our
Professional Lives
By Leigh Steinberg
Most of you reading this chapter regularly watch a favorite sport on TV.
Whether it’s baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer or another
collegiate or pro sport, you tune in to cheer for your favorite team - or
maybe just to witness the amazing feats of a superior player.
When you watch those games, you probably just see them as a pleasant
diversion that will take you away from your troubles for a few hours.
When I watch them, however, I see one of the most powerful platforms
available to affect needed progress in our society.
That’s because I’ve been lucky enough to combine two of my most
powerful passions – sports and creating positive change – into one in-credibly
gratifying career. As one of the country’s leading sports agents,
I not only advocated for the best deals for my player-clients, I also ad-vocated
to them to get involved and make a difference – however they
could.
That may surprise you. After all, the name of this book is Change Agents
– and few associate that concept with my profession. The only thing the
average person thinks a sports agent wants to change is the amount in
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Change Agents
his bank account – to make it higher and higher. We’re supposed to be
ruthless, cutthroat characters who have to “show the money” to our cli-ents.
Anyway, that’s the media stereotype of my profession.
Of course, I suppose I contributed my bit to that stereotype, as I served
as a consultant for the HBO original series, Arli$$, as well as the Tech-nical
Consultant for such sports-themed films as Any Given Sunday,
starring Al Pacino, For the Love of the Game, starring Kevin Costner
and, perhaps most famously, Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise.
That last film portrayed a sports agent that quantifies conscience – even
if it took him awhile to find it.
I’ve always had a conscience, especially when it came to creating positive
social change for the world – and, in that respect, I’ve always aspired to
be a “Change Agent.” Yes, sports – and any industry, for that matter – can
make a positive difference to our society – if the individuals involved
make a commitment to combining their work with a higher vision.
I actually view that as an obligation – and I would hope everyone does.
Becoming a Change Agent
Where did that feeling of obligation come from – and why have I always
carried it with me?
There’s a very simple answer to that question – my parents. When
you’re the son of a teacher and a librarian, you can’t help but feel some
responsibility to serve the public good. My father, more specifically, raised
me to retain two core values throughout my life. One was to treasure
relationships – especially family. And the second was that I should always
attempt to make a positive difference in the world and help those who
can’t help themselves. He used to say, “ There is no they, the they is you.”
There was a corollary to that second value that has also stayed with
me – and that was not blaming other people for your problems or a
sticky situation you may find yourself in. There’s no point in muttering
to yourself, “Well, they did this to me...” or “They need to fix this for
me...” The vast majority of times, there is no “they” to blame.
Because “they,” in fact, is you.
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It’s up to each and every one of us to step up and take care of our own lives
and deal with the consequences of our own actions. And also to do what
you can for those who truly need outside assistance in their own lives.
I’ve written elsewhere about how I sort of stumbled into becoming a
sports agent. I was a grad counselor in an undergrad dorm at UC Berke-ley,
working my way through law school, when the school moved the
freshman football team into my dorm. Steve Bartkowski was a star
member of that football team – and, in 1975, he was the very first player
picked in the very first round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons.
Just as I was choosing from various legal career options, Steve asked me
to represent him in contract negotiations.
That was the beginning for me - not just of my success as a sports agent,
but also to my dedication to becoming a true “Change Agent.” As I
mentioned, my thought, from the very start, was to motivate my athlete-clients
to create positive change and target problems in society through
their influential position in our American society.
The Thought Power of Sports
Why did I consider pro sports to be the right venue for tackling social
issues? Because sports occupies a unique high-profile position in this
country – and the position carries with it a certain responsibility.
There were weeks during the 2012-2013 NFL season where the top five
Nielsen-rated television shows were prime time football games. That’s
right – the top five, all football. Of course, you would think that twenty-two
guys on the gridiron could easily beat Two and a Half Men, not to
mention Two Broke Girls - but every other show as well? And occupy-ing
the top five slots? That’s an incredible achievement - and the cul-mination
of a trend that’s been snowballing over the past few decades.
When I began as a sports agent, it was also the beginning of a major
expansion of media; cable and satellite television, satellite radio, the
additional of literally hundreds of channels in both TV and radio, along
with the explosion of Internet sports sites, has given the average fan
thousands of choices and more sports content and analysis than ever
before in history.
Is it any wonder that the athletes with the highest profiles are trans-formed
into larger-than-life heroes?
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Change Agents
Many men and increasing numbers of women grow up loving sports,
playing sports and aspiring to be collegiate or pro athletes. Realistically,
only a tiny percentage will make that giant leap – and that leaves mil-lions
with an incredible passion for sports that can only be fulfilled by
following those who did make it to the pros.
I believe it’s useless to argue, as my friend Charles Barkley once did,
that only parents should be role models, not athletes. In an ideal world,
that would be true. But the reality of family life is that there are a high
percentage of single parent families that are specifically missing fathers.
Filling that void in many kids’ lives? The ubiquitous presences of ath-letes
on larger-than-life huge HD screens into every young person’s liv-ing
room.
Sports have a profound impact on millions in this country, young and
old, and there was never a moment I didn’t understand that and want to
use that impact for good.
Creating All-Star Initiatives
Beginning with my first signing, I made it clear to the athletes I worked
with that they had the capacity to trigger imitative behavior for young
people – and that was a power that needed to be directed correctly.
That’s why I asked them to retrace their roots to their high school and
collegiate communities, as well as their current professional ones, in
order to set up charities in these locales. That would give them the op-portunity
to be role models for great values, as well as give themselves
a sense of real self-respect and worthwhile achievement beyond what
they did on the field. By establishing a scholarship fund or helping a
church charity or even retrofitting the athletic equipment for a local high
school, they could make a statement that a community can pitch in to-gether
and solve whatever problems might be holding them back.
At the collegiate level, a number of my player-clients ended up creating
scholarship programs – programs funded by enough money to spawn an
amount of interest that alone would pay for actual awarded scholarships
for years to come.
For example, Edgerrin James, a running back for the Indianapolis Colts
at the time, donated $350,000 back to his alma mater, the University of
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Miami, for that kind of scholarship program. Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboy
quarterback, and Eric Karros, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman, both
endowed scholarships at UCLA. Kerry Collins, NY Giants quarterback
did the same for Penn State, and Drew Bledsoe, New England Patriots
quarterback, at Washington State University.
At the pro level, I challenged each of my athletes to find a cause they
felt strongly about supporting – or a negative condition they felt pas-sionate
about wanting to change. And so we established foundations in
cities across the country that had advisory boards containing the leading
area political, community and business leaders, as resources for those
charities. The star power of the athlete leading each of these foundations
gave them the kind of credibility and profile that attracted these kinds of
influential figures.
NFL great, Running Back Warrick Dunn set up a “Homes for the Holidays”
program, which assisted single mothers with ownership of the first homes
they would ever have. His foundation made the down payments to enable
these moms to make this big move – and also brought Home Depot on
board to help fix up those homes. This program dramatically changed
these women’s lives. Similarly, NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young funded
the Forever Young Foundation, which to this day helps children in the
San Francisco area facing significant physical, emotional, and financial
challenges.
In total, the athletes I worked with have been able to raise over 700
million dollars for these causes. That kind of financial support works
wonders, of course, but I still believe that the messaging these athletes
are capable of delivering is even more important than the money they
can contribute.
For example, my client Lennox Lewis, the last undisputed world heavy-weight-
boxing champ did a PSA (Public Service Announcement) in
which he said real men don’t hit women. That did more to impact young
rebellious adolescent attitudes towards domestic violence than dozens
of lectures from authority figures could ever have done.
Similarly, two other clients at the time, boxer Oscar De La Hoya and
Steve Young did a PSA that said, “Prejudice is Foul Play.” Again, young
people tune out messages from most adults. They may not listen to a
teacher or a parent – but a tough macho fighter or a top NFL quarterback
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Change Agents
can permeate the perceptual screen that kids create to tune out those
kinds of pro-social messages.
Battling the Bigger Issues
There are more systematic problems in our society that, of course, re-quire
much more than an athlete’s participation to solve.
In the wake of the tragic Oklahoma City bombing of a federal building
which claimed 168 lives, carried out by a domestic terrorist ring, I be-came
concerned that skinheads and hate groups were on the rise. I went
to the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith, headed by the amazing
Abe Foxman, and proposed that I fund a training program, which they
ended up calling the Steinberg Leadership Institute, in order to help
young leaders take on this fight against hate.
In America’s thirty largest cities, from New York to Miami, Chicago
to Houston, Seattle to San Diego, young doctors, lawyers and teachers
received a year of training on how to spot these kinds of hate groups and
use that information to help local law enforcement officials track them
down. They were also taught how to go to local school districts and pro-mote
ethnic tolerance. I’m proud to say we trained thousands of young
leaders with this program.
Here in Orange County, where I live and work, I created a program with
the Human Relations Commission that brought together middle school
and high school students from every ethnic background and put them
together for a week in a special summer camp, where they received
leadership training and learned to appreciate everyone else’s cultural
heritage, as opposed to being afraid of those who were different and
sticking to harmful stereotypes that promote divisiveness. Those stu-dents
were encouraged to stay in touch as they went on to college in
order to become a vanguard against hate.
Hate is a poison in our society that we may never be able to fully eliminate
– but there is another issue that I’m deeply concerned about that is a far
greater threat to us all: Climate change. The groundbreaking scientist
Galileo, in his time, spent his life under house arrest. His crime? Asserting
the world was round instead of flat and that the earth was, in fact, not
the center of the universe. Similarly, the easily-grasped truth of global
warming is routinely denied by many in pivotal political positions.
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Ice caps have melted, oceans have risen, and what once were aberra-tional
weather patterns are becoming commonplace. The world has not
reacted rapidly enough to something that could kill off our entire spe-cies,
which has a remarkable ability to ignore the plain-as-day peril that
grows with each passing day.
I don’t want to be one of the first generation in the history of this country
to hand down a degraded quality of life to our kids. That’s why we’ve
proposed the creation of a program called The Sporting Green Alliance,
in which we would aggregate sustainable technologies in wind, solar,
recycling, resurfacing and water to take to stadiums, arenas and practice
fields at the high school, collegiate and professional level.
The goal would be to drop carbon emissions as well as energy costs and
transform those venues into educational platforms - so that the hundreds
of millions of fans that attend games in this country can actually see
a waterless urinal, a solar panel or some other green technology they
might not otherwise be exposed to. That will help the people of this
country understand that these innovations are practical right now to in-corporate
into their own homes and businesses.
What this would do is put sports in the forefront of perhaps our most
important societal challenge - combatting climate change, saving the
planet and, ultimately, saving ourselves.
As you can see, I believe sports still has an awesome potential to be a
Change Agent for us all. My challenge to you is – how can you be a
Change Agent in your specific business?
When you make a difference in the world through your work, you gain
a passion that takes whatever your profession might be to a higher level
of satisfaction. It becomes more than your work – it becomes your life’s
work. And it also gives everyone around you a greater degree of motiva-tion
and fulfillment than they would experience by simply aspiring to
add more digits to their bank account balances.
When we can agree on what needs to be done to create a better world and
make concrete plans to get it done, that breeds results we can all feel good
about. More importantly, it empowers a quality future for generations to
come. When it comes to that goal, it’s been “game on” for me from the
beginning. And I sincerely hope it’s a team you’ll consider playing with.
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Change Agents
About Leigh
Leigh Steinberg, the world’s first “super agent,” founded his sports
law practice in 1975 when he negotiated a then-record contract for
the first overall pick in the NFL draft Steve Bartkowski. Since then,
Leigh has solidified his name as one of the premiere player repre-sentatives
in all of sports, and specifically the NFL where he represented a record eight
different number-one NFL draft picks, over 60 first round draft picks, and consistently
negotiated record-breaking contracts. His past clients include NFL stars and hall of
famers Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Warren Moon, Drew Bledsoe, Ben Roethlisberger,
Thurman Thomas, Eric Dickerson, Derrick Thomas, Edgerrin James, Jevon Kearse, and
Bruce Smith, boxing legends Lennox Lewis and Oscar De La Hoya, and a plethora of
NBA, MLB, and Olympic athletes. In all, Leigh has negotiated over a billion dollars in NFL
contracts, and over two billion dollars in athlete contract and endorsement deals.
Driven by the philosophy that professional athletes possess the cultural influence to
reach the masses and have a significant social impact, Leigh has helped his clients
to become valuable members of their communities and to be models for imitative
behavior. Specifically, Leigh has helped his clients develop over a hundred chari-table
foundations, which have raised over $700 million for innumerable causes. Leigh
challenges his players to find a cause which they feel passionate about and fight for
it. For example, Rolf Benirschke’s “Kicks for Critters” helped fund protection of en-dangered
species and Warrick Dunn’s “Homes for the Holidays” gives single parents
the opportunity to own a home for the first time in their lives.
Leigh created the Steinberg Leadership Program with the Human Relations Commis-sion
of Orange County to give leadership and tolerance training to high school and
middle school leaders in a series of one-week camps.
Leigh has been named Man of the Year over a dozen times by a diverse group of
organizations that include the March of Dimes, Cedars Sinai, the Southern California
Boy Scouts, the Orange County and Los Angeles Human Relations Commissions, the
Orange County and Los Angeles divisions of the Anti-Defamation League. Leigh has
been awarded the “Keys to the City” of four cities: San Francisco, CA, Memphis, TN,
Jacksonville, FL, Concord, CA and Indianapolis, IN.
An accomplished speaker, Steinberg has traveled the world addressing topics ranging
from sports and entertainment, to political and economic issues. In 1992, Steinberg
helped lead a successful campaign to prevent the San Francisco Giants baseball club
from relocating to Florida. For his efforts, then San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan
honored him by declaring “Leigh Steinberg Day” in the city of SF soon after.
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In 1994, then Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris utilized Steinberg as a consultant in his
successful bid to prevent the Oakland Athletics baseball club from relocating to Sac-ramento
73
or San Jose.
Steinberg has been active in pursuits to attract a new football franchise to locate in
Los Angeles.
Leigh wrote a best-selling book in 1998, Winning with Integrity, providing readers
insight on how to improve their life through non-confrontational negotiating. Leigh
also just finished writing his autobiography, which is scheduled to be published in
February 2014.

GETTING IN THE POCKET: Launching Your Business’ Mobile AP and Website
Chapter 7
GETING IN THE POCKET:
Launching Your Business’
Mobile App and Website
By Damon Cockrel
Apple introduced the iPhone in June of 2007 and the entire world
changed. Other data-capable phones had come before it, but with the
iPhone, the cellphone became the smartphone. Apple had created an
easy-to-use, handheld computer that put more processing power in your
pocket than there was in the computers aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft.
As ground-breaking as that was, more important than the technology,
was the affect it had on people. Apple showed us that the power of the
smartphone wasn’t in its specifications or capabilities, but in the rela-tionships
that people developed with it.
It’s That Personal?
75 percent of Americans bring their phones to the bathroom.
(Source: CBS News, 2012)
The smartphone is absolutely the most personal and intimate electronic
device a person owns. This pocket-sized unit directly reflects who we
are, our interests and our priorities. It’s an extension of our personality.
Visit any Apple store and you will quickly see that every iPhone is the
same when it comes out of the box, but within moments it becomes as
unique and individual as a fingerprint. After setting up email, adding a
few contacts, choosing ringtones and wallpaper, adding a designer case
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Change Agents
and other accessories, that phone becomes “mine.”
The “Why” of Mobile Strategy
It’s this intimacy that allows a smartphone to become the primary, per-sonal
computing and lifestyle device for most owners. People use them
to play games, access social networks, consume entertainment such as
music and movies, and manage email. Most importantly, they use their
smartphones to shop; making business owners around the world rejoice.
Mobile consumers make shopping lists, research product features, check
product availability and compare prices. They find store locations, look
for coupons, deals and make online purchases of goods and services.
In fact, the Monetate Ecommerce Quarterly (EQ4 2012) reports that
“Mobile” now drives 20% of e-commerce traffic. Are you getting your
share?
When speaking with business owners about mobile websites or apps,
it still amazes me to hear comments like; “An app would be a waste of
money for us. We’re a local, small business. We wouldn’t have any need
for that. Besides, our customers don’t really use apps and we’ve already
got a great website.” Look, the big boys have already figured out how
important it is to have a mobile strategy. Don’t believe me? Let’s play
a game.
Pick an industry, or better yet, take your own industry. Now, take out
your smartphone. Go to the iTunes App Store, Google Play or whatever
app marketplace your device has. Search for apps using the keywords a
customer would use to find information about the industry you’ve cho-sen.
Look at the results. It should come as no surprise that the major
players in that industry already have mobile apps in place. You should
too. They didn’t decide to do this arbitrarily. I’m telling you, you want
a piece of that action.
Getting in the Pocket: Your Mobile Website
There is a common path that mobile customers follow to choose a busi-ness
to patronize. It begins with a search –- usually on Google, who
completely dominates the mobile search space. They type keywords
into the search engine and receive a list of results. Since smartphones
contain GPS chips, local businesses actually have an advantage. Those
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that are closest to the mobile customer’s current location will generally
place higher in the search results.
Now, go back to your phone. Open your search engine and search
using the same keywords you used earlier when we were looking for
apps. Select a business from your search results and open that link.
More likely than not, you’ve now just entered something I call “zoom-and-
77
scroll hell.”
Most business have invested a great deal of time and money in the de-velopment
of wonderful websites. They are full of features, information
and images that truly showcase the firm, making it easy for customers
to find exactly what they need...from a desktop or laptop computer. That
same website, when viewed on a mobile device, can become an absolute
nightmare, especially on a smartphone. Text becomes illegibly small,
requiring users to zoom in just to make it readable. Once zoomed to a
viewable size, the user now has to scroll up, down, left and right in order
to read the page or navigate the site. It’s a nightmare that generally leads
to a bad user experience. Often, the user will abandon trying to navigate
that site, go back to the search results and choose another link in hopes
that the next site will be easier to use. By not having a mobile-friendly
website, that company just lost business.
Your mobile website is the first interaction a mobile customer will have
with your business. Control that experience. Recognize that the needs of
a mobile customer are different than those of a customer accessing the
Web from a desktop or laptop. Design with that in mind. Use larger but-tons.
Keep the navigation simple. You have to learn to think “mobile”
first. Ask yourself these three questions:
1. Why are they looking for my product or service?
The Spice Girls sang, “Tell me what you want, what you really, really
want!” Your mobile website must immediately give your customers
what they “really, really want.” People don’t buy products or services,
they buy solutions to problems. No one wants a drill, they want a hole.
The drill just makes that happen.
Think about what drives people to look for your business. What
problem do they have? What solution do you provide? Answer those
questions, then give the answers prominence on your mobile website.

Change Agents
2. What information would a mobile customer expect to find, once
they reach my site?
There are some obvious elements that a customer expects to find on
a mobile website. Since they are mobile, they are going to want your
business hours, address, and phone number. You need to make this
information available right up front and make it easily accessible
from anywhere else on the site. Most mobile web browsers enable
“click-to-call” and GPS directions by default, making it easy for mo-bile
customers who want to reach you to do so.
Your business solution needs to be central to the site, after all, that’s
why they visited in the first place. If you’re a restaurant, customers
want to see a menu, complete with images, descriptions and prices.
They want to see your specials, make reservations, and have the op-tion
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of placing an order.
For retailers, customers expect to see products again with images,
descriptions, prices and online ordering capabilities. They also want
to be able to browse by category and to search for specific items.
Mobile users searching for consultants, professionals or other service
providers expect to learn about your qualifications and the services
you provide. They want to see testimonials, references and, if appro-priate,
videos of you in action.
3. What might a mobile customer be doing when they decide to
look for my company, product or service?
What could they be thinking about that triggered the search? Maybe
they saw your ad or read an article that made them want to find more
information. Perhaps something came up in conversation or maybe
they were already surfing the Web on their phone. You may be able to
capitalize on the trigger with a related, immediate offer.
Next, where are they? …in the car? …walking? …or on public trans-portation?
Mobile situations are generally not as “calm” as desktop
or laptop Internet sessions. They are full of distractions and interrup-tions
resulting in search sessions of much shorter duration.
Consider all of this when laying out your website. Your mobile experi-ence
has to accommodate these constraints. The content must be easily

accessible. Keep the information that a customer wants only one or
two clicks away. Don’t make them dig for it. They just don’t have the
time to hunt around. The mobile website must also be engineered to ac-commodate
the slower data speeds often encountered with mobile con-nections.
Always be mindful when inserting images, video and other
elements that might slow the customer experience. Nothing will make
a potential customer abandon you faster than a slow site.
A well-executed, mobile web experience brings more customers and
additional revenue to your business. Mobile searches are more valu-able
and have increased conversion rates because mobile customers are
generally farther along in their buying process. Even if they are not
ready to purchase, do it right and they’ll bookmark your mobile site.
A bookmark eliminates your competition. That customer no longer has
to search when they are looking for the solution you provide. They just
pull out their phone, open the browser and go straight to you! Congratu-lations,
you just got in the pocket.
Staying in the Pocket: Your Mobile App
Now that you’re in there, you have to stay there. This is where having
an app for your business becomes an essential part of your mobile strat-egy.
What’s the difference? A mobile website is Internet-based content
which can be accessed using the web browser on any device. A mobile
app is a software application, designed and coded for a specific mobile
platform. It must be downloaded and installed onto the device.
An iPhone app will not run on an Android device and vice versa. When
you see a popular mobile app like the game Angry Birds being played on
an iPhone, an Android device, a BlackBerry or a Windows phone, know
that individual versions of the Angry Birds app were written for each
of those platforms. Although creating individual “native” apps makes
things a little more complicated, this specificity gives mobile apps some
distinct advantages over mobile websites.
When a customer downloads and installs your mobile app, it’s valida-tion
that they are more than just “interested” in your business. You have
become a trusted partner and resource. So much so, that they are willing
to give you prime, pocket real estate on the home screen of their smart-phone.
This means that your customer is always just one click away
from your business. By comparison, a bookmarked, mobile website
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Change Agents
holds a position three clicks from the home screen. The user has to open
the browser, open their bookmarks, and choose your link; three clicks.
This positioning difference alone increases customer engagement.
The development strategy for your mobile app will follow the same path
as your mobile website, but an app can provide a more captivating cus-tomer
experience. Graphic elements are downloaded and stored directly
into the phone when the app is installed. This means that components like
visual effects and animations can be made more elaborate and engaging.
Native apps also have access to hardware components within the phone.
The camera, accelerometer, microphone, GPS and more become avail-able
for use by the app. A GPS, check-in, loyalty program (think of it
as your company’s private Yelp!) is something you just can’t do with a
mobile website. But, the biggest advantage mobile apps have over mo-bile
websites is something called push notifications.
Push notifications allow businesses to use the app to send messages di-rectly
to their customers. Unlike email messages, push notifications have
an extremely high “open” rate. People actually read them! This one tool
allows businesses to share all kinds of information with their customers;
blog updates, RSS feeds, coupons, discounts and specials. But the real
power lies in the ability to use them to ask a question and get instant cus-tomer
feedback. Think about it. If you were deciding what new product or
service to offer your customers, wouldn’t it be great if you could just ask
them what they want? Your mobile app lets you have that conversation.
That’s very powerful, but abuse the power of push notifications and cus-tomers
will quickly delete your app. It’s a delicate balance. Give them
useful, timely, and relevant information and your app will deliver you
customers for life. Apps deepen your relationship with your customers
in a way mobile websites can’t. It lets you stay in the pocket.
Getting Started
Now that you know what you have to do, where do you begin? Like
any other essential business project, your mobile website and mobile
app strategy requires solid planning to execute and sustain it success-fully.
POCKET is a simple, six-step framework to guide the process
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and keep your efforts focused.

P - Prepare - Assemble your team. Most likely, this will be a combi-nation
of in-house and partner contributors. Get clear on how this
project will complement your existing marketing. Establish your
goals, designate a project manager and define the scope. Right here,
at the very beginning, it is crucial that you set clear expectations
and objectives for the customer experience. Get customer input, it’s
invaluable.
O - Organize - Identify and collect your assets. Gather any existing
materials that you can leverage, determine where you have gaps,
then fill them. Establish your timelines, key performance indicators
(KPIs) and success metrics. Create your content calendar and es-tablish
an update schedule. It is essential that you keep your mobile
app and website fresh. Give your customers a reason to keep using
them.
C - Create - Design your mobile website and app. Test every single ele-ment
and link. You want to find the errors here, before you introduce
it to the world. This is also the time to create your app’s promotional
strategy along with any associated marketing materials. Take the
time to identify any new processes, procedures and training your
staff might need. They must be able to assist customers with fea-tures
in the app or on the site. Be sure to thoroughly document ev-erything.
K - Kickoff - Launch the app and mobile website, implement your pro-motional
and content strategies. Measure everything you can at this
stage. Later, you can decide what data is important and what can be
tossed. Gather as much customer feedback as possible. Pay close
attention to their likes and dislikes. This is critical information.
E - Evaluate - Review the data. Evaluate the analytics; number of visi-tors,
number of downloads, click-through rates, etc. How are you
tracking against your KPIs. Are you on target? Most importantly,
track your ROI. After all, that’s where the proof lies.
T - Tweak – Make adjustments based on your results. Keep what works
and re-work what doesn’t. You probably won’t hit the mark with
your first attempt. Keep adjusting. Continue the cycle of evaluation
and tweaking. Failure is not an option. Commit to it until you get it
right. You’ll get there.
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Change Agents
The Bottom Line
No matter what your business, a mobile strategy is not an option; it’s
a requirement. If you haven’t already started building one, you need to
re-think that. I guarantee, you have competitors who are already there.
Start with a mobile website to reach more new customers. Then deepen
the relationship with a mobile app. Remember, your customers are mo-bile.
How mobile is your business? Take action today and start Getting
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in the Pocket.

About Damon
Damon Cockrel is a mobile strategist, entrepreneur, speaker and the
author of the forthcoming book, Getting in the Pocket: Mobile Strate-gies
for Business Success. He has counseled individuals, profes-sionals,
businesses, schools and government agencies on mobile
strategies for over twenty years.
Strategies for small businesses and educational institutions are the core focus of
Damon’s mobility practice.
“I’m an entrepreneur. Through the course of my career, I’ve made a lot of money
and I’ve been flat broke. Owning a business is hard. It took many small busi-nesses
way too long to take advantage of the Internet revolution. Now, we’re in
a Mobile revolution and I’m here to make sure that business owners stay ahead
of the game this time.
But it doesn’t stop there. Today’s students are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
We have a responsibility to give them the tools, training and strategy to be
competitive in a global economy. Mobile technology is critical to raising stu-dent
83
engagement and achievement.”
– Damon Cockrel
An exciting and dynamic speaker, Damon has a unique ability to convey complex
ideas in ways that educate, entertain and engage. As a teen, he was a local television
reporter and a scholarship-winning actor. After college, he toured as a bass guitarist
and lead vocalist. It should come as no surprise that Damon knows how to charm
an audience. Technical and creative, he often refers to himself as “a geek with a
personality.”
Damon and his wife Christina live in Central Ohio. He is an alumnus of The Ohio State
University and a member of the TBDBITL Alumni Club. A former competitive baton
twirler, he enjoys donating his teaching skills to the OSU Marching Band Drum Major
Training Program.
www.DamonCockrel.com

YOU ARE ALL YOU NEED: The Power Of Authenticity
Chapter 8
YOU ARE ALL YOU
NED: The Power
Of Authenticity
By Jasper Armstrong
As a teacher and a coach, I have worked with tens of thousands of people.
Many of them have been children and the amazing thing about children is
that they can spot a phony faster than anyone. As a result, in order to ef-fect
the most change in this arena, one must have the ability to know who
you are and effectively communicate that to all you come in contact with.
When your students find you out to be a fake, they lose all respect for you
and your message. So it is in life, we get caught up playing the game so
much that we forget what our true Self is bringing to the table. Living an
authentic life entails knowing your worth, believing in your God-given
power and living a lifestyle that is consistent with your purpose on earth.
You are fearfully and wonderfully made. All that is exists to see you
reach your fullest potential. The difference between those that do and
those who do not comes down to the choice you make to be your most
authentic self. Being true to yourself when the chips are down is a ma-jor
deciding factor between those who win and those that do not in the
game of life. Every life has a specific purpose. What is yours? Why are
you here now at this time, and what are you doing with the time that you
have? If you have found your purpose, are you living it to the max? If
not, why not? What is stopping you? Who gave you permission to mull
around in the doldrums of life?
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Change Agents
This is indeed the greatest time in history to be alive yet many of us are
merely existing and not thriving in life. Fear (False Expectations Ap-pearing
Real) is what is holding most of us back. The fear that somehow
if I am who I be, then the world will shun me or laugh at me or that I
won’t be sufficient. This is the greatest trick that is played on the mind
of the winner and nothing could be further from the truth. You are ex-actly
what the world needs right now. Being afraid to risk, reach out, fail
or succeed is no longer the order of the day. The world needs you. Not
the you that you have created from snippets of your three favorite TV
shows, but the you that exists in the still of the night and the you that
wakes up with you first thing in the morning before you put on the airs
and masks of the day. What if you are the one that the world needs to
create that tipping point in the battle of good versus evil? What if you
are the last piece of the dam that is holding back the rivers of cleansing
change? Nas, the great rapper and poet, poses a question in one of his
rhymes that states, “Whose world is this?” …and the response is, “The
World is yours!” However, this only becomes true when you step into
what is already yours. It’s a lot like the feeling you get on Christmas
morning. Your gift lies dormant under the tree waiting for you to pos-sess
the gift with your name on it. However, until you grab hold of it
and own it, it’s just a box under the tree. So it is with the gifts life has
for you, until you attack your life with the fervor of Christmas morning,
you merely exist.
In our quest to dominate our lives, it becomes increasingly important to
realize that we have all that we need to succeed. This is not to say that
we don’t need to develop what we have or should ever cease to learn and
grow. However, we are equipped to not only survive but also thrive in this
life. This is about using what we have and fulfilling our greatest potential.
I believe we have a God essence inside of us that is just waiting to explode
on the earth and make all of our dreams come true. This essence is of the
original matter of creation, and therefore was produced under extreme
heat and pressure. Much the same way the heat and pressure of our lives
serves as the catalyst to reveal our true selves to our self. It comes down to
us having the courage to succeed rather than the fear of failure. It further
comes down to us having the ability to stand in the face of life’s chal-lenges
and grow in the direction of our greatest dreams.
It was once said that winners have the same fears as the rest of us yet
they are not paralyzed by that fear. To dominate life requires action that
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is born of a fierce will to win in life and an iron drive that states, “I will
not lose.” The challenge then becomes how to unify the dream in your
mind, the will in your heart and your day-to-day activities to produce
maximum results. The actions we take or fail to take are in direct cor-relation
to our self-worth and self-concept. If we believe we are sup-posed
to win and are capable of winning, then we act in a manner and
according to our dominant thought. Conversely, if we feel inadequate
to the challenge, then our actions will reveal that as well. As a coach,
I have seen this scenario play out many times on the field. If a player
feels adequately prepared and expects to play well, he does. This said
player will continue to play well until a game situation or another player
puts doubt or fear in that player’s psyche. In contrast, a dominant player
will always seek to find his advantage and use it to find success. He
will draw upon his superior size, strength, athleticism or mental tough-ness
to overcome every challenge. It is through the lens of the dominant
player that we must attack the game of life. The thing we see with our
players and our teams is that the only way to keep doubt and fear at bay
is through superior preparation for the competition of life. The same
principal applies to our daily lives. We have to continue to strive for
superior preparation in regards to filling our cup with positive mental
pictures and a positive sound track (self-talk) to prepare us for all that
life will bring our way.
You are more magnificent then you know. When you were created the
mold was broken. There never has been and never will be another you.
You are a star. You have been created to manifest the glory of a perfect
creation. You are sufficient; you have enough brain, enough beauty,
enough strength, and enough stamina to get started. The question is:
Do you believe in your star power? Do you know that your star is wor-thy
of shinning? Are you willing to do what it takes to knock off the
crust that prevents the world from viewing your light? Nelson Man-dela
states, “It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”
Primarily, it is our doubt, disbelief, anger, frustration and shame from
our past that dims the light of our star. Your star is your gift; however,
your star power must be developed. It is developed by meeting every
challenge of your life as a victor instead of a victim. This is done when
you view your life as a part of a greater whole and see your actions
from the perspective that what you do now will affect the next four
generations of your family tree.
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Change Agents
Being in touch with your star power allows you to step into the future
of your bloodline today and make decisions intentionally that will reach
seven generations after you. When we look at our decision-making pro-cess
through that lens, it becomes clear to see that the development of
our perfect star power is not only a good idea, but also it is imperative
for the future success of our families. Are you leaving a legacy of star
power or stardust for your lineage to follow? Much of this is determined
by how we speak to ourselves and the actions we take in the present.
Star power is in complete alignment with the higher self; it knows what
the self wants and needs. Star power is clear, intentional, and focused,
and best of all it is purely original and can only come from you. When
you develop your star power as only you can, it is at that point that you
are experiencing the power of authenticity.
In our quest to live a life of authenticity and dominate our daily lives
there are a few principles that we must adhere to in order to possess all
that life has to offer us:
Be a man/woman of your word. The Bible teaches us that “In the
beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was
with God;” it goes on to say “and the word became flesh and dwelt
amongst us.” This gives us some insight into the power that our
words contain. Because of this, it is wise to choose our words care-fully
taking into consideration the effect they will not only have
on our life, but the whole world. Our words unleash currents and
laydown patterns for our lives. When we do what we say we will
do, we feel better about ourselves – causing us to know there is
nothing we cannot do, have or become. Conversely, when we fail
to do that which we say, it sends us into an eroding spiral of anger
depression and fear.
Because earth is a sphere and it encapsulates both physical and spiri-tual
energy everything happens in cycles. Hence the saying what goes
around comes around. The frequencies of sound govern all things, that’s
why everything was spoken into being in the creation (Let there be, and
it was). This laid down a pattern for divine speech that we should adhere
to. The rule is what comes out of your mouth will come to fruition. You
are such a powerful and magnetic being that the things of which you
speak will manifest themselves. Often times, we back ourselves into
patterns of behavior based on the words we speak. For example, I met
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a woman who swore that if a man ever hit her she would shoot him.
Many years later, being married with three children, her husband hit
her and you bet she shot him. By making such a statement and striving
to be a woman of her word, she was forced into a certain behavior by
what she said would happen if this situation arose. And when it did, as
it often times does, you are obligated to fulfill your word. This can be
a source of great difficulty in one’s life, especially if you are not in the
habit of speaking that which will cause you to behave in an excellent
manner. The things that come out of our mouths are a direct reflection
of what is on our mind and in our heart. It then becomes imperative to
check ourselves daily to ensure we are aligned with our Higher Self and
that we are thinking properly. Further, our mental diet and exercise are
paramount to our success. What are you putting into your spirit? And is
that consistent with what you say you want to have, do or become?
When you find yourself in a proper relationship with your Self, you find
that you have the ability to participate in the game of life in a way that
makes magic happen. Where does your magic come from? It comes from
the alignment or perfect peace you find when you are operating at your
fullest potential and most authentic Self. You will know when this change
has occurred in your life when your loved ones begin to compliment you.
When getting in touch with your desire to live an authentic life, it is
your primary duty to come from a place of personal conviction. What
is your stance? Where do you stand in difficult times? What do you be-lieve
in? To find answers to these questions is never easy and is often
forged through a lifetime of turmoil and strain. Yet, your spirit, your
true Self has always sent you whispers of this truth if you would only
take the time to listen and heed its call you would find the answers
have been with you all along. When you take a stance in life, you
activate the cosmic forces of good that will come and assist you on
your path of growth and development. Taking a stance in life requires
a great deal of maturity and courage because whenever you take a
stance, it will inevitably put you in direct conflict with some other way
of thinking, acting, or being. And since we are social beings and have
the innate need to be accepted by others, we strive to fit in. The prob-lem
arises when we suppress the truth that is exploding inside of us.
Or seek to hide the beam of light that emanates from the deepest part
of our soul for acceptance. This is the greatest obstacle to the human
spirit that exists. It is important to know that this war is intrapersonal.
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Change Agents
It is a battle fought between you and yourself and we all find out that
you are indeed a worthy opponent.
In all, living a life of authenticity is about ‘letting your little light shine.’
It is about realizing that you are sufficient and up to the task of being
all that you can be, and you don’t have to try to be someone else to be
it. Authenticity is about finding that respect for your own uniqueness
and embracing that. For when you are comfortable in your own skin
the world will treat you accordingly. It’s about becoming your best Self
through personal growth and development and striving to live at the
height of what you know is right. Authenticity is about getting in touch
with your higher Self and letting it guide you on your way. Authen-tic
living is about living in the authority that God has granted to men,
knowing the dominion you were created to express in the earth and be-ing
a good steward of your power. Authenticity is having the courage
to let your ‘ayes’ be ‘ayes’ and your ‘nays’ be ‘nays’ and finding the
peace that comes from having taken a stance, while having the wisdom
to see when you have been wrong and change immediately. Most of all
it is knowing that you are the complete package, ready to assemble and
dominate life to the fullest. You have everything you need in order to be
successful.
READY, SET, DOMINATE!
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About Jasper
Jasper B. Armstrong III is a native of Aurora, CO. He currently serves
as a licensed special education teacher at Overland High School in the
Cherry Creek School District where he has developed an intervention
program for African-American males focusing on self-advocacy, study
skills, problem solving and empowerment. Armstrong’s five years of instilling hope, self-confidence
and determination with his students, their parents, and other colleagues
has earned him a position of great respect with the school community. Mr. Armstrong
has also served as a board member for several organizations and has sponsored and
operated many student organizations, including the African-American Male Leadership,
Black Student Alliance, and Black Men of Today.
Community engagement and teaching are important principals to Mr. Armstrong. In
addition to his dedication to African-American males’ empowerment and achieve-ment
in school settings, Mr. Armstrong has also had an extensive ten-year coaching
career including positions held at UNC Greeley, Langston University, and Grandview
High School. During his tenure in these positions, he has served in roles including ed-ucational
coordinator where one of his main responsibilities was to mentor and coach
the struggling athletes. Mr. Armstrong has dedicated his professional and personal
career to uplifting and empowering his students and has served as an important role
model for these young people.
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11 THINGS YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT BEFORE SELLING A HOUSE IN TODAY’S MARKET
Chapter 9
11 THINGS YOU SHOULD
THINK ABOUT BEFORE
SELLING A HOUSE IN
TODAY’S MARKET
By Jean-Philippe Loiselle
The story begins with a youth. He had the “competition’’ inside him and
always wanted to do more. One thing that was important for him was to
set a higher and higher standard for himself. If you were supposed to do
one mile to accomplish a goal, he would do two miles. In fact, he had
a paper on his bedroom ceiling on which was written: Pain is in your
head, and by beating pain, you can achieve your biggest dream.
I started to read like never before about motivation, business success,
negotiation and how people think. What interested me the most was the
reason why some people had different result than others, and I got many
answers over the years. I was also interested in the psychology behind
the negotiation. I then studied business, but it was not enough for me to
work for someone else. My father, a notary (the notary in Canada per-forms
legal work for his clients), asked me why I wouldn't try real estate
sales. I looked at the kind of work it was, and immediately fell in love
with it. It is about giving one’s best everyday and making things happen
with good strategy.
The field of real estate is in the middle of many professions like notary,
land surveyor, appraiser, inspector, mortgage specialist and much more.
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Change Agents
Being close to people, and in love with psychology, he gives to others
the use of his superb negotiation skills. Actually, the real estate job has
a huge ripple effect on many lives at the same time. It was an amazing
opportunity to learn so many different things. After two years, he was
in the top 10% of all RE/MAX agents in the province of Quebec. He
is now known as one of the top-growing stars in the industry. He has
boundless energy and an innate business sense. His vast knowledge of
the market and his negotiation skills allow his client to maximize their
profit. His passion to help other people achieve their dreams is within
his soul. I am telling you this: ‘’His service for his clients is anything
but ordinary.’’
A couple of years ago, a client wanted to sell his property for over eight
months without any success. I decided to call her right after the contract
ended. The conversation was clear and simple with her; she wanted to
keep the same agent and she was going to lower the asking price. It was
really interesting why she wanted to keep the same agent. I told her, I
am sure he did everything in his power to sell your home, however, this
time you need a different approach to make sure it will be sold, so that
you can achieve your project. She finally decided to see me in order to
give her some advice regarding a couple of changes to maximize the
value and the time delay. She finally decided to go with me for the right
reason, I was able to help her in her situation. We kept the price the
same, changed the arrangement of the furniture, and adapted a specific
strategy. The property was sold in the first eight days. Actually, I am like
a doctor who has to give advice to a patient. For me, I say the right thing
on the first appointment, and there will not be any surprises.
Many sellers have the goal to sell quickly at the best price with the best
terms and conditions. However, many of them are disappointed because
they make several mistakes that could have been avoided at the outset.
The result of my study over several years show me that these errors of-ten
are very expensive.
Error #1 - Establishing a sale price without
having done a complete analysis
Firstly, I do believe your home is one or your biggest assets. This part
could be done by your real estate agent. You must insist on a profession-al
analysis with comparables sold and for sale. He will be able to make
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an analysis with comparable house sales normally from the last 6 to 12
months. He is a specialist with the price of things in your house. How-ever,
you must insist having an aggressive strategy to sell your home,
because it is the key to your success.
Error #2 - Over improving your home
compared to the sector
When you are renovating your home, consider the fact that what you
renovate is for you, and not for the new buyer. Furthermore, be careful
not to improve your property too much compared to the sector, because
the money you invest stays and it won’t be possible to get this money
back when you sell. Not because it is beautiful for you is it for some-body
else. Make sure your property price is based on what you offer
compared to the competition, and that you do not over-price because of
what you add to the property. Normally, a property that is way over the
normal price bracket of the sector will usually stay longer on the market
and eventually be harder to get a better price than the competition that
offers less to the buyer.
Error #3 - Omit TO ENSURE that the
property is well-positioned
Positioning the price of the property is one of the most important points.
It is the same thing as looking at a race horse. In reality, the position of
the house will determine the number of visits and how quickly you sell.
One of the important points to maximize your profit is based on being
well positioned at all times in the process compared to your competitor.
Setting too high a price can be as dangerous as setting too low a price.
The average buyer looks at between 15 and 20 properties at the same
time he sees yours. If your home or condo does not correspond to the
price range of homes or other comparable condos, you will not be taken
seriously by buyers and agents. Your property is likely to remain very
long on the market without moving and buyers end up thinking that
your property has flaws. Asking the right price from the beginning gives
you the chance to get the most visibility in the market. The visibility
generate visits, and then hopefully mutiple offers simultaneously.
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Change Agents
Error #4 - Choosing a real estate agent
for the wrong reason
Do not choose a particular real estate agent based on the price that he
evaluates your property. Choosing a great real estate agent is essen-tial
for selling your property for its maximum value. The real estate
agent must be able to give a professional analysis of the property based
on comparables sold in the sector. He has to be well-organised with a
shielded structure. It is essential to have confidence in the real estate
broker who represents you, to believe in his competence and experi-ence.
You want a broker who can easily explain the whole process of
marketing, who knows the market very well, which holds a database of
potential buyers and can give you valuable tips to increase your chances
of selling. In fact, the professional you choose must show you a crystal
clear strategic plan for the successful sale of your property.
Error #5 - Trusting marketing
tools from the 90’s
The majority of tools formely used by brokers to sell a home are actu-ally
not very effective. People tend to have less and less time to look for
homes. They will not take the time to drive to see the sign, they will go
on the Internet after work or will call their real estate agent. Make sure
your property is visible where it really counts. Over 75% of buyers have
seen pictures of the property on the web before they come to see your
home. The pictures have to be the best possible because great pictures
are worth more than a thousand words in the marketing of your prop-erty.
Make sure your description on the web is easy to understand and
complete for the buyer of 2013. You must make sure they get the feeling
when they read the description. If they receive the feeling by reading
your description, you get a call and/or a visit.
Error #6 - Neglect small details
that may enhance your home
Also, no houses are perfect. Because of this fact, you have to take the
time to look at your property and see what might be your obstacles.
When you find those, you have to plan at which part of the process you
will inform the buyer. Be prepared to face those obstacles and you can
calculate the value for them to see if it is worth the reparation. Take the
time to see if the problem can be fixed and at what price. It might be a
good idea to fix it and increase the price in consideration, or even more.
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Make sure you are ready to encounter the obstacles.
Error #7 - Failure to take the time
to plan every step in advance
Selling a property in 2013 is not an easy game. In a market that only
60% of properties are sold, you must make a strategic plan and know
each and every step in advance to be able to control the process. The
process is not just an add-on on the computer, it is about being a
master of each step of the process. You must be ready for any buyer
to come and ask you questions on the property. If you are not ready to
answer those questions, you might lose buyers. Make sure you know
all the expenses of selling your property. You might need to buy a new
certificate of localisation, pay a quittance for the mortgage, real estate
fees, servitudes or insurance on your building. Make sure to check that
your building conforms according to the certificate of localisation.
Error #8 - Not taking the time
to know your buyer
In order to control the negotiation, you must know your buyer. You have
to ask questions that will determine the motivation of the buyer. Does
the buyer need to move quickly? Does the buyer have the money to buy
your property? By knowing the motivation of the buyer, you will be
able to control the transaction and the amount of money you get in your
pocket. In fact each thousand dollars does not represent a lot for a buyer
in terms of monthly payment on a mortgage. By knowing your buyer,
you will be able to motivate him to reach your number.
Error #9 - Giving the buyer your
reasons for selling
Never tell any buyer your reason and motivation to sell because they
might want to use it at the negotiating table. If someone asks you, just
answer your housing requirements have changed.
Error #10 - Neglecting to properly
complete the contract
When coming to complete the contract to sell or with a buyer, there are
lots of emotions. Be sure to disclose all information about your prop-erty.
If the buyer is aware of problems, a court action may result later.
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Make sure not to look only at the price. Take the time to confirm all
terms, conditions, costs and responsibilities are clearly mentioned in the
offer to purchase. Resist the temptation to diverge from the contract. For
example, if the buyer asks you to move before the closing date, say no.
Make sure you stick to the contract. This is not the time to take chances
and risk aborting the transaction. Make sure to follow up with the notary
in between the completion of the offer to purchase and the time you go
to the notary. Also, with the economy of today, it would be wise to have
a short delay in between to make sure the situation of the buyer does not
change.
Error #11 - Moving before selling
My study shows that it is more difficult to sell a property that is vacant.
The first reason is because by moving, you indicate to buyers that you
have a new home and you’re probably in a hurry and therefore highly
motivated to sell quickly. This will give them an advantage in negotia-tions.
It almost gives the same impression to a buyer as if the property
is on the maket for a long time. They feel they have the control of the
transaction and can negotiate more. The second reason is that the house
being empty makes it not appealing. They also have a hard time to vi-zualise
the property and their furniture. They have a hard time seeing
if the size is too small or too big because they normally compare the
furniture in the property to their furniture. Even more, it could cost you
thousands of dollars.
The success of selling your home is not a question of improvisation. In
reality, selling your home needs much more than just a sign or Inter-net
advertisement. You must have a pro-active plan that is efficient for
your type of property. It is about having a crystal-clear plan to use for a
specific type of home. With these tools, you can maximize your profit,
maintain control of the transaction and reduce stress surrounding the
sale of your property. Good luck in your transaction!
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About Jean-Philippe
Jean-Philippe Loiselle, also known as “The Hungry Machine,” is
a best-selling author and a dominant real estate broker, who is
regularly sought out for his opinion on techniques that really work.
Jean-Philippe is known for asking the question, “Do you want to sell
your property or do you want to get the maximum value with wiser strategy?” Jean-
Philippe is at the top of his business for many years. He tracks the market everyday
and does minor adjustments every week to achieve his clients’ goals. Jean-Philippe
states that in every type of market, a strategy well adapted to today’s market always
allows him to get more for his clients. He identifies weaknesses with strategies and
brings to his clients the newest and best evolutionary strategy. To learn more about
Jean-Philippe Loiselle, “The Hungry Machine,” visit: www.venduparloiselle.com.
Jean-Philippe Loiselle
Courtier Immobilier RE/MAX
514-766-1000
99

YOUR SUCESS STORY
Chapter 10
YOUR SUCCES STORY
By Dr. Jeff Rebarcak
We all want to succeed. There’s not a person alive today who would
willfully choose failure if it was properly packaged and labeled as such.
Don’t you wish it was? But life isn’t that easy and choices don’t always
seem that clear. We are distracted, disheveled, and disappointed on a
regular basis, and for some of us, a moment of clarity would feel like a
cool glass of water in the middle of a long drought.
God has that glass of water for you, and the details of your success story
are definitely on His agenda.
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper
you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.
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~ Jeremiah 29:11
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to be guaranteed a blessed
and successful future? This verse is a promise to each of us from our
Creator. There is one small spoiler alert though. The details of our
success generally don’t unfold in a way that makes sense to us while
they’re occurring. Looking back at situations, crises and obstacles, there
are always a thousand lessons to be learned. Clarity is easy when we’re
connecting the dots backward and recognizing what we did right, what
we did wrong, and how it all related. It’s trusting the steps ahead when
we can’t see the way that frightens and threatens to overwhelm us. As
for clarity, it rarely arrives with the degree of regularity we would like.
Instead, it comes in small glimpses and ultimately, we have to learn to

Change Agents
trust the Hand that’s guiding us more than we trust what’s currently hap-pening
102
in our lives.
Which brings us to the word trust. Let’s talk about that for a minute.
Trust has to do with vulnerability. Vulnerability has to do with honesty.
Not the kind of honesty where you tell the cashier that she just gave you
an extra ten dollars too much in change and she thanks you and tells you
you’re an honest guy and you feel good about yourself. The honesty I’m
talking about is the kind that strips away everything you thought you
could rely on, questions everything you thought was true, and leaves
you standing bare, open, and exposed before God. It’s a helpless feeling.
It’s supposed to be.
If you haven’t reached your most honest moment yet, you will. We all do.
My Most Honest Moment
My moment started out with the thought that I was a pretty good guy.
I mean, that’s not too unusual or crazy, right? Most of us have learned
to capitalize on our strengths, practice positive affirmations and look
optimistically at the road ahead. I had no problem with any of that. Op-timism
was my middle name. Always very goal oriented, encouraging
to others, passionate, diligent, and kind of a serial-entrepreneur, it didn’t
take long before one of my ventures began to gain some real traction.
It was a diagnostic testing business my wife, Coni and I had founded
together. We put our all into it, hiring the top neurologists in the area and
working very closely with the business to ensure its success. They say
hard work pays off, and it quickly grew from one office into a nation-wide,
multi-million dollar neuro-diagnostic testing company.
Everything was perfect.
My family was healthy and happy, business was booming, and by most
standards life couldn’t be better. I had worked hard for this. I had been
faithful. It was my time.
When an offer came in to purchase the company for 10 million dollars
it seemed like icing on the cake of my life. Jeremiah 29:11 was really
true, I thought to myself. It’s God’s plan to prosper me. I was a blessed
man, indeed.
And then it happened.

YOUR SUCESS STORY
The cool glass of clarity didn’t come in the form of a certified check for
10 million. In fact, I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams the
downward spiral of events that was about to take place.
As it turned out, the final team of neurologists we staffed had false cre-dentials.
Yes, false credentials. They were a part of an underground op-eration
that I, still to this day, do not fully understand the scope of.
Sounds like a B-rated movie plot, right? I wish it were. The moment we
found out, we called each insurance company to report our findings and
we immediately stopped billing our clients. Bringing in a new medi-cal
team to review all test results originally assessed during the “false
credential period,” we found ourselves in full-blown damage control
mode. At that point things were happening too quickly for me to try to
make sense of. The only clarity I had was the fact that the rug had just
ripped out from under my life and my foundation was being rocked to
its very core.
The day I found out the FBI was interviewing my colleagues and gath-ering
information about us was almost surreal. We had done everything
right. We had worked hard. We walked in integrity. We were supposed
to be blessed. So, why was this happening?
For once in my life, I related to the disciples who were on the boat with
Jesus when the great storm was filling it up with water. Beaten by the
wind and waves, tired, alone and afraid, I had reached the same break-ing
point as the disciples who questioned the One who had looked at
each one of them individually, and invited them to follow Him. “Come
walk with me,” he said to each one. So personal, so assuring, and now
they were afraid for their very lives, pleading with Jesus and saying,
“Don’t you care that we perish?”
Don’t you care? Don’t you remember your promise?
How could everything that seemed so perfect just a few weeks ago, sud-denly
spin so completely out of control? An offer for 10 million dollars
and an opportunity to move into another chapter of our lives now had
us on the brink of bankruptcy, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars
in attorney fees.
I wasn’t sleeping. I was eating garbage. I was taking anxiety meds to get
me through the day and sleeping pills to get me through the night. I felt
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like some sort of war ravaged, walking zombie. I looked at my wife and
I felt utterly, completely helpless. I was supposed to be the provider. I
was supposed to give her and our children the security and stability they
deserved. It couldn’t get any worse.
The Stripping Away
“Jeff, I don’t know how to tell you this,” my attorney had known us for
years and this conversation wasn’t an easy one. “You’re facing jail time.
Maybe up to 20 years.”
I felt like someone slugged me in the gut.
“I am completely innocent. You know that.” I was so emotionally
drained that I felt disconnected from the words that were coming out of
my mouth.
“Innocent people go to jail all the time, Jeff. They’re turning the whole
story around now, and laying it all at your doorstep as if you organized
and knowingly hired this team of imposters posing as neurologists. It
doesn’t look good.”
Clarity
Like a cool drink of water, it came to me. Right there, in the middle of
the storm I had total clarity. I felt like the apostle Paul when the scales
fell away from his eyes and he could finally see.
A million thoughts raced through my spirit, and all at once I knew where
I was. I wasn’t the good, deserving guy I imagined I was. I was sick.
Spiritually sick, emotionally sick, and physically sick. In fact, I had
been more than sick, I had been dead, and if I was to truly live, it was
only because of Jesus.
Right in the middle of my storm, He walked in. Just like He did with the
disciples in the boat, and for the first time ever, I stood there at my most
vulnerable moment, completely stripped of anything I thought was true,
and I had peace.
I looked at Coni and instead of saying, “Where are you God?” like I had
a hundred times before, I said, “Let’s do this.”
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The Rebuilding Process
I decided if I was going to jail, so be it. I’d tell people about Jesus every
day. I’d help and encourage them. I got serious. I even got angry. I’d
come too far with God to back down now. I was His, without question.
He had looked at me just as He looked at the disciples and invited me
to come follow Him. That day, I pushed all my chips to the center of
the table, and I have to say, when you’ve got absolutely nothing to offer
but the tears in your eyes and you choose Jesus regardless of the conse-quences,
things get crazy. I didn’t know where to turn, but God told me
to get healthy.
“Get your mind healthy, your spirit healthy and your body healthy.”
Everything else about my future was out of my control, but I could do
this. I could get healthy. I started to walk every morning and listen to
powerful teachings while I exercised. I was absolutely flooding my mind
with God’s Word 24/7. It felt like boot camp. The more of the Word I
got in my spirit, the more I began to see things from God’s perspective.
Naturally, putting the Word in my mind led to speaking it out of my
mouth. This changed things for me, radically. The Bible tells us to speak
to our mountains and they will be removed, so I did. Regardless of what
things looked like, I spoke only words of life. I looked at myself in the
mirror every day and told myself that God has a plan and purpose for
me. I told myself that I’m more than a conqueror, that I’m filled with
wisdom, that goodness and mercy follow me, and I’m surrounded with
favor as with a shield. Not because my life looked like that, but because
the Word says those things are mine.
The exercise and health part literally fell into place effortlessly. Once I
got on the right path mentally and started to speak positive words that
gave life to my situation, I exercised and ate the right foods without
struggle.
That’s how it works when you walk with God and put Him first. The
Word tells us in: 3 John 1:2, “I wish above all things that you prosper
and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.”
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Freedom
Right in the middle of our storm, we had a meeting with a Federal Agent.
For over four hours Coni and I sat with her and laid out every detail of
our story. We left nothing out. We gave her all the details and when we
were finished, we just looked at her. For once I felt the assurance that
my life and future were not in anyone’s hands but God’s.
“I came here with every intent to take you into custody today, Dr. Rebar-cak.
But for some reason, I believe your story.” The cold drink of clarity
was now met with the refreshing showers of God’s unfailing love. They
even used our testimony in court to convict the imposters; we were set
free from all this mess. But the freedom didn’t stop there. We were now
free to be exactly who God created us to be, without fear of man, of cir-cumstances,
problems, obstacles, or anything that might come our way.
We had found peace in the midst of our storm.
It was there that God built the foundation I stand on today, and this is why
I’m completely passionate when I teach and mentor others on the steps
to success. They worked for me during the biggest crisis of my life. They
worked in my most honest moment, and they will work in yours.
Building Your Success Story
After experiencing your most honest moment, you’ll see exactly what
you have left. Anything that doesn’t completely rely on Him and on His
Word will be stripped away. For me, I had practically nothing left. I was
starting at square one. I didn’t even have the faith I thought I did. My rela-tionship
with God had a place when I had time. All that needed to change.
I felt overwhelmed and I found myself just looking for a place to start. I
needed something simple. God gave me three: He told me to…
Engage My Brain - It all starts with developing a vision and deciding
what you believe. Your belief system must be completely independent
from what’s happening in your life. What you put in is what you’ll get
out. That’s why when I mentor people who want to change their lives
and become healthy, we always start here. If your mindset isn’t right,
if you’re not meditating on God’s Word and allowing your mind to be
renewed, all the exercise and eating right in the world isn’t going to
change your situation.
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Engage My Tongue - Faith comes by hearing, and guess what? We can
only hear what we speak. The second step to success is having your
words line up with God’s Word. When your words and His words agree,
there is power there. Your words are constantly bringing life or death to
every situation in your life. They are either building up or tearing down.
Again, that’s why meditating on and speaking the Word come before
diet and exercise. You have to get your attitude right first.
Engage My Body - Food is fuel. We learn that in all of my workshops.
Little by little we build the foundation for a healthy lifestyle, which
includes plenty of physical activity and clean eating. This is not only
great for weight loss, but it will jump start your immune system, fight
and even reverse diseases, and provide you with the energy you need
to do God’s will for your life. If Noah were sitting on the couch all day
eating potato chips, he wouldn’t have been ready to fulfill his purpose.
When I was physically and mentally unable to think because of the place
I was in, God gave me simple. Simple works without thinking, and these
three steps lay a foundation that can be worked from regardless of what
you’re going through.
Your Most Honest Moment
Is that all it is? Three steps and I’ve got my foundation for success?
Now you should know better than that. God is pursuing you, right now.
Our stories are different, my story is personal. It is “my” story, but if
you read between the lines, you’ll recognize something very special. Al-though
the characters, the obstacles, and the settings may change from
person to person, the beginning and the ending are the same for us all.
God created you with a purpose and a destiny. You belong to Him and
He wants to reveal Himself in the story of your life.
Here’s hoping my story brought a cool glass of clarity to you today.
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About Dr. Jeff
“Your health is your first wealth!”
Dr. Jeff Rebarcak’s life mission has been to help others out of seem-ingly
impossible situations by pinpointing and eliminating weak-nesses
and mental strongholds, while purposefully building upon strengths, espe-cially
where their health is concerned.
Never afraid to go against the grain, Dr. Rebarcak has made tremendous gains in the
health and wellness community by getting back to the simple truths. Dr. Jeff takes
a fun, three-step, holistic approach to total health, starting with your mind and atti-tude,
and continuing through to your words and actions. “Most people do the process
backwards, starting with exercise and food choices, which is generally a recipe for
failure. Nothing works until your mindset is right. Once you get your mind and your
words to line up with God’s plan for you, the rest is easy!” His workshops and moti-vational
seminars have been held across the nation.
Continuously on the road of self-improvement, Dr. Jeff Rebarcak has spearheaded
numerous businesses while taking his education from the world-renowned Palmer
College of Chiropractic to post graduate work where he obtained certification in MedX
Spinal Rehabilitation from the University of Florida, a Certified Chiropractic Sports
Physician Certificate and Master Certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. His
education has served as constant fuel, purposefully adding to Jeff’s passion to equip
individuals to reach their full potential.
“Without your health, nothing else really matters. It’s my mission to help individuals
reclaim their health and experience their best life now!”
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THE 3 1/2 STEPS TO LIVING LIFE THE WAY YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE
Chapter 11
THE 3 1/2 STEPS TO LIVING
LIFE THE WAY YOU REALLY
WANT TO LIVE
By John Dicks, Esq.
What’s most important to you?
What makes you really smile...and makes you laugh so hard that you
feel like a kid again?
What do you really look forward to? What lets you drift off to sleep
with the contentment of knowing that you can’t wait to wake up in the
morning and get going.
Well then, as we say in the South, “Why ain’t you doing it?”!!
I mean, really...why aren’t you?
Granted, we’ve heard for years the often used lines of ...
• “you’ve only got one life to live”
• “life is short, make the most of it”
• “follow your dreams, not those of someone else”
There’s also the advertisers, like Nike, who use catchy lines made to
inspire (or motivate spending) by imploring us to “just do it.”
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And then, of course, there’s the music marathon and parade of hits
urging us like Tim McGraw when he croons to “live like you are dyin’,”
or my personal favorite, George Strait’s reminder that “I ain’t here for
long time...I’m here for a good time.”
It’s likely that I will get no real argument from anyone on this aspiration
for “living life to its fullest.” Most people generally acknowledge that
God has blessed us with the potential for doing so. The true question,
however, is how do we make it all possible?
Surprisingly, the secret to this success is not all that difficult. It takes
determination; and certainly commitment. A bit of sacrifice is required,
but the sacrifice makes the success all that much more sweeter.
Here then are the 3 1/2 steps to Living Life the way you really want to
Live.
Step #1 – Determine who you really are and
what delights and excites you.
Take a good long look in a full length mirror. Really ... do this. Take
your time, don’t make it a quick glance.
Mirrors reflect and that’s what you really want to do. Reflect on your life
thus far. Is that person staring at you in the mirror the one you really want
to be...or is it the reflection of someone who you thought you should be?
Are you proud of that person? Is it the reflection of someone that you
enjoy spending time with...someone who makes you smile and laugh
and truly happy?
People spend much of their life seeking their soulmate (and I’m a firm
believer in finding one), yet we forget that it is not the responsibility
nor even within the ability of our soulmate to fulfill our life nor make
us happy. Instead that responsibility frankly falls squarely upon the one
who is staring at you within the mirror. This is the only one who can
make it happen.
Success will never come our way when we shift the blame for our failures
to other people. Do not, however, confuse “Blame” with “Shame.” They
are not synonymous. To blame is to assign responsibility. Shame, however,
suggests dishonor, caused by doing something wrong or foolish.
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THE 3 1/2 STEPS TO LIVING LIFET TitHlEe WAY YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE
We all have experienced failure; and frankly, will continue to do so
throughout life. That’s what the “learning” in life helps us through. The
key to survive failure and learn from the experience, making it lead to
success, is to accept blame, and hence responsibility, but to recognize
that shame does not necessarily need to accompany it.
Thus it is fine to see blame (responsibility). It is shame that you must
avoid. That does not mean to merely refuse to acknowledge it. Instead,
recognize that shame is brought upon by doing something wrong when
we know it is wrong to do so. Shame is a behavior to avoid if we want
to accept and be happy with the one we see in the mirror.
While you are pondering that mirrored reflection and whether it’s
someone others would enjoy being with, consider, too, the physical
condition it is in.
If you plan to start Living Life the way you really want to Live, you’ve
got to be in shape to enjoy it.
I read somewhere not long ago the suggestion that nature makes us
prone to be fat and lazy so that we will avoid things that can hurt us,
keeping us safe to reproduce and replicate our species. What a bunch of
bunk that is!
God made us with two legs in order to move ... to walk and run and
swim and dance. And God gave us two arms with hands and opposable
thumbs to waive and write and catch and throw. We’re supposed to
move, stay strong, and use our body in living life.
Granted there are people born without such physical abilities and ones
who unfortunately suffer through accidents. My hope is that God will
grant them other gifts, allowing them to excel in ways that we otherwise
are incapable of. The renown physicist Stephen Hawking comes to mind;
a man who’s body is ravaged by ALS disease, yet his brilliant mind
works wonders and through his special devices for communication is
helping us unlock the secrets of the universe.
Still others are designed by God with unique and amazing physical
abilities. We all are amazed by Olympic athletes whose fast twitch
muscle fibers propel them effortlessly to speeds and heights which most
of us can only dream of.
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But these, of course, are the exceptions. What we must concern ourselves
with is the reality of who we face when we stare at our reflection in the
mirror. That is, in the context of what we each uniquely have; the body
containing our being, the vessel in which we’re sailing through space.
Are we really using it to its fullest as we were so divinely designed? Or
rather, are we sadly simply abusing our bodies and wasting away the
only one we’ll ever have?
Are we making the most of the situation? Or are we filling it with poisons
and fats and sugars and just plain stuff that we know is not healthy.
For perspective, consider my longtime friend who raises race horses. He
feeds them the best oats and hay he can afford. He told me recently that
to celebrate the Birthday of one of his horses he fed her some shelled
edamame. Never would he dream of rounding up table scraps to toss her
way. She’s a racehorse, after all. He’s got to take care of her!
Which begs the question, of course, of how well are we taking care of
that someone reflecting back to us in the mirror? My friend’s race horse
was quite expensive to buy and even more to raise, train and maintain.
I dare say, though, that you are much more valuable. Are you taking
as good care of the person staring at you in the mirror as he is of his
racehorse?
Living Life the way you really want to Live requires that you take care of
yourself. With any luck, you’ll only need some fine tuning.
Fortunately, with the gee-whiz technological gadgets and gizmos that we
have today, there’s really no excuse for us not to take care of ourselves.
A common complaint from those embarking on an exercise program
used to be boredom, but that’s hard to fathom today when you can listen
to thousands of songs carried in your pocket or catch up on the news
through free podcasts or get lost in an exciting audio book.
My own exercise routine includes that of swimming. Staring at the black
line of a pool over and over can get boring; and of course it’s impossible
to carry on conversations with swimming partners. But consider my
mornings with a waterproof iPod. Yep, they work quite well and I enjoy
the time in the water listening to podcasts on business, finance and travel.
Frankly staying in shape is easier today than ever before since there are
so many fine, and free, diet and exercise programs detailed all over the
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Internet. Fortunately, they can all be summed up in just four words...eat
less, exercise more!
It’s good for you and saves you money, which will help with the Step
#2.
Step #2 – Monetize a plan for Living Life the way
you really want to live.
How do you get your money? Do you earn it? Does it come to you
through investments? Or is the amount and source of your income the
problem to begin with?
We’ve all heard the old saw about how “money doesn’t buy happiness.”
It’s true, we must admit. But the simple fact is that it’s much easier with
money than without to enjoy Living Life the way you really want to Live.
Here then is the single best bit of financial advice that I have ever
received:
Develop multiple sources of income!
It simply means to never rely on just one thing.
As the saying goes, “Stuff happens!” And when (and not if) it does and
one source of income falters, you’ll have others left to rely upon.
It’s much like the advice you hear from financial advisors when they
emphasize diversification. It’s the old “don’t put all of your eggs in one
basket” approach.
I’ve been around long enough to see plenty of economic cycles. I’ve
had friends who lost fortunes in real estate and others who have had
it vaporize in the stock market. Some, too, have suffered while their
business drained them dry.
In developing these multiple sources of income, I’ve worn many hats in
my lifetime. Some I still do. In no particular order, I’ve been a lawyer
(still am), farmer (still am), real estate broker (still am), stock trader/
investor (still am), real estate investor (still am), financial advisor
(not now), rancher (not now), teacher (not now), author/writer (still
am) professional speaker (still am) and politician (not now ... but then
politicians never say never).
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Looking at that list, some might suggest (particularly my political
opponents) that I couldn’t hold a job! But the reality is that I always had
an abundance of curiosity and early on chose to follow that advice about
developing multiple sources of income.
The key to success in this endeavor is to choose to develop the sources
of income which are closely attuned to enabling your Living Life the
way you really want to Live.
For example, very important to me is traveling. I’ve been fortunate to
have worked (through public speaking) in all 50 states of America. I’ve
been paid too, to speak overseas, even in far away places such as South
Africa, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
Wherever I’ve been, I’ve taken extra time to visit with the locals and
take in the sights and sounds and smells of the area. It’s always made
me a better speaker for the occasion and location while at the same time
allowed me to pursue my passion for travel.
My wanderlust or pursuit of travel led also to writing, which became
and still is another of those sources of income. Early on, while we would
travel, I would write articles and submit them to magazines, being paid
for publication. It led to writing books and manuals which I still greatly
enjoy doing today.
The point here is to recognize that generating income versus work are
two distinctly different things. What you do in life is only work when
you don’t love what you do. Find the things that you love the most; the
things that energize and inspire you. Develop ways to generate sources
of income in those areas...even if it requires reinventing yourself. That
is, become the person reflected in the mirror rather than the one living
dreams that were created for you by someone else.
Step #3.5 – Living it!
Granted. It’s a bit silly to name this final step 3.5. But the point is that
for many people this last step is the most difficult of all.
It’s the one that requires you to get up and start living it!
That can be hard to do. After all, for better or worse, we all develop
habits. Some are good ones, like brushing our teeth before bedtime,
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while others are not, like smoking. Silly, but you get the point.
Bad habits, and even the not-so-good ones, are the toughest to break.
We get comfortable doing things over and over. They become part of
our routine. Breaking them requires doing something new. That creates
anxiety. It makes us nervous. Our nature is to avoid change.
Why is it that so many people remain miserable in unhappy marriages,
or toil onward in jobs that they hate, or continue to work for people they
despise? It’s simple, really ... people generally prefer the comfort of
familiarity and routine versus the unease of uncertainty.
Taking that first step is difficult when you are afraid that it might lead
to an abyss.
It is in such times that I am reminded of the important lesson I learned,
strangely enough, from my dog, Dicksee.
Dicksee is, as of this writing, a 14 year old Jack Russell Terrier. That
means she is a determined breed. But then, she is also blind.
However, when Dicksee is determined to do something, she moves
forward, relying upon her senses of hearing and most particularly that of
smell, which seemingly has become heightened by the loss of her vision
(much as we each have our own superior abilities while also possessing
inferior ones as compared to others so otherwise blessed).
Dicksee will bound ahead, sniffing, smelling, listening. And oftentimes
she will bump into things right on her snout. But she continues to move
forward, weaving and turning, never stopping to whine or cry out. She’s
my inspiration!
Like Dicksee, we are not perfect. We will surely falter. But focus will set
our course and determination will dictate our destiny.
Living Life the way you really want to Live is not something that just
happens. It is a lifetime journey that we commit to embark upon. It is
what makes living life an adventure!
PS...as in a PostScript.
In case, dear Reader, that you have made it thus far, I thank you for
hanging in there with me and reading these reflections on Living Life
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the way you really want to Live. I suspect that other than my editor, I
can count on at least two to actually have savored these words. Okay,
make it three, with thanks to my dear wife, for many things, including
and especially for producing our two sons, for whom this tome is really
written.
Thanks, sons, for making your Dad so proud. You both are already well
on your way to making your life an adventure and I am loving watching
you Living Life the way you really want to Live. Now get busy and pass
it on to the next generation. For as the Good Book (The Bible) says in
Genesis 1:28, “Be fruitful and multiply...”!
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About John
Mayor John Dicks has traveled the World in his pursuit of “Living
Life The Way They Really Want To Live.” Early on he developed a
plan to monetize his passions for travel and teaching others the
secrets for a prosperous, happy and healthy life that can accompany
financial independence.
Having lectured before audiences both large and small, John has shared financial
and investment strategies with well over 1,000,000 people throughout all 50 states
in America and several countries abroad, including Dubai, Saudi Arabia and South
Africa. His expertise has led to appearances on ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX affiliate TV and
Radio stations and he has shared the stage with such luminaries as Zig Ziglar and
Brian Tracy.
John is an Attorney, having graduated from Florida State University College of Law
after receiving his undergraduate degree in Public Relations from the University of
Florida. He also studied at Oxford University in Oxford, England. John is a Real Estate
Broker and was a Senior National Instructor for the National Association of Realtors.
While a Registered Investment Advisor, John was also a Senior National Instructor for
the Real Estate Securities and Syndication Institute.
John is the author of several books and texts, including The Bookshelf Lawyer, Business
Power Strategies and The Personal Financial Planner. He is an entrepreneur, having
founded Synergy Communications, a marketing and communications consulting firm.
With a firm faith in his family and commitment to his community and Church, John
focuses his energies on public service and helping others achieve their dreams. He
served his home town as Mayor for three terms and works on a variety of Boards and
Foundations.
Along with Sharon, his wife of 35 years (so far), John is most proud of and enjoys
spending time with their two sons. One is a successful attorney with an MBA while
the other is an F/A 18 Jet Fighter Pilot in the Marine Corps and John is quick to note
that they both are well on their way to “Living Life the way you really want to Live.”
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Hard Work and Persistence are Change Agents that drive Success
Chapter 12
Hard Work and
Persistence are
Change Agents that
drive Success
By Jose Lara
“The heart of your idea of success should always be one
without limitations.” ~ Joey Lara
Through the course of my life’s journey, I acquired my own definition
of success as being a never-ending staircase. I began measuring my
own personal degree of success by my ongoing capacity to always keep
climbing upward no matter what type of adversity I should encounter
along the way. I endured quite a few setbacks in my life, yet I appreciate
how every bit of hardship helped me develop a strong foundation and
a deeper understanding that if you follow your own destiny, you will
become no more or less yourself, just exactly what you were meant to
be, a success.
My first steps began in a small South Texas town of Victoria, TX with a
population of about 48,000 at the time. I grew up in a humble, yet very
happy home and was the second youngest of six children. Fortunately,
I had loving and encouraging parents who always did everything they
could to guide us towards the right paths. My childhood memories of my
father are filled with his continuous reminders to always be anticipating
the future and how he instilled the importance of doing something
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meaningful in our lives. My most favorite memory of my father was one
that had the greatest impact on my career life and completely changed
it for the better. It was a typical Saturday afternoon and I was visiting
my parents at their house while I was on Spring Break from college. My
Dad was reading the local hometown newspaper like he did on a regular
daily basis and came across an article about becoming an insurance
agent. I still remember to this day how he clipped the article out of the
newspaper and handed it to me with great confidence in his eyes saying,
“You should look into this.”
Needless to say, I am very happy that I took his advice. I held on to that
article, carrying it with me everywhere I went and I still have it as a
reminder of where my career journey began with a touch of my father’s
blessing. The childhood memories of my mother are full of her absolute
great faith and her constant willingness to give. My most favorite
memories of my mother were the Sunday morning services at church.
All five of my siblings and I would sit next to each other in a row and
take up half the whole pew at church. When the time came to tithe, I
remember my mother reaching into her purse and grabbing a handful of
pennies. She would give a few pennies to the child sitting next to her
and we would pass them along down the line until we each had a few
to place in the tithe basket. We may have not had much to give, but the
lesson learned was one that would continue to speak volumes in our
adult lives and our future generations.
All through grade school and high school I was a straight A student and
known in all my classes as the smart kid. Making good grades was never
an issue for me because I was constantly reminded by parents growing
up about the importance of education. After graduating Cum Laude from
high school, I attended the local junior college with the plan of acquiring
an Engineering degree to place a successful job after graduation and
make a lot of money. Much to my surprise, I made my first grade of a C
ever in my life as I struggled with these Engineering classes. I quickly
learned that when your main focus is making money and you disregard
your true interest you will struggle. I became discouraged seeing some
of my high school friends enjoying and excelling in their Engineering
studies.
From that point on, I switched my major many times in the hopes that
I would soon find what I was destined to do with my life. I moved on
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to the University of North Texas where I started in Health Promotion
studies, then changed to Nutrition, then Microbology, then Information
Systems. Then, circumstances would have it that I moved again to attend
the University of Houston and I started in the Computer Programming
field, then changed to Medical Technology, and then to Finance. I
believe I would have stayed with Finance, however, by this time I had
exhausted all my college funds. I took out a short-term semester loan
which needed to be paid back at the end of the semester, yet when I
was unable to pay it back I was not able to attend any longer. My last
semester of college ended with over 140 credit hours, a 3.5 GPA, and no
degree. Knowing now what I did not know then, the whole time I was
attending college I was not doing what I really felt I wanted to be doing
in my life, so college was the worst place I could have been.
At this point in my life, I felt stuck and would wake up in the morning
in my one bedroom apartment alone on my bed staring blankly at the
four walls surrounding me watching the sun peek through the blinds.
I remember thinking to myself, “Is this all there is for me?”; “Am I
ever going to get out of here?”; “Will I ever get married?”; “Will I ever
have children?”; “Will I ever find a rewarding career?” Being one of six
children, I watched as all of my siblings found their career paths in life,
get married, and all have children before me. My feeling at the time was
that I had to put my whole life on hold until I had a career. I was just
waiting for my moment.
I cannot tell you that the moment I decided to become an insurance
agent that I ever dreamed of being a successful business owner. As a
matter fact, I can honestly say that as a child growing up in a small
town that I was never even exposed to the thought of owning my own
business one day. Nevertheless, not knowing entirely what to expect,
this was the moment that I took my father’s advice and pursued my
career as an insurance agent, and with this decision came many feats
of struggle and ultimate sacrifices. Much to my surprise, becoming an
insurance agent required that I have minimum debt and a bit of capital,
which was definitely something I did not have at the time due to all my
previous college semester expenses. I soon realized that the only way
for me to pay down some of my debt and to establish some capital was
to get rid of my biggest expense, my rent.
I can tell you personally that once you ever make a drastic decision to
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give up the roof over your head and a place you can call home, that a
sense of fear and disappointment seem to haunt you as you constantly
worry and wonder if you will ever bounce back. I could have easily
moved back with my parents, but my stubborn pride and the will to
make a drastic change in my life outweighed any logical reasoning. So
coincidentally, my falling apart 2001 Ford Escort with 90,000 miles and
wrecked driver’s side door became my new home while I packed all
my basic necessities in my trunk. I soon discovered a handful of empty
parking lots where I could park nightly and get a restless night sleep.
Consequently, I almost forgot what a good night’s sleep was like while I
began to work 16 hours a day as a full-time pharmacy technician, a part-time
early morning stocker, and a hopeful insurance agent. It may have
been sad and a bit depressing to think, but even though I was working
countless hours to meet this required financial criteria, I appreciated the
times that I was actually at work because I at least had a roof over my
head.
My most challenging times of my life were ahead of me, yet I took
comfort in knowing that I was never a stranger to hard work and struggle.
It so happened that my full time and part time jobs were one hour driving
distance from the insurance agent training center I was attending. Often
times I would find myself falling asleep at the wheel while I was driving
between jobs with all the many hours I was working. In particular, I
take into account one time when I had fallen asleep while driving on
the freeway at 70mph and my car was drifting sideways into a concrete
barrier. Fortunately, I woke up in a life-saving second as my car hit the
barrier and I was able to regain control of my car. I hate to think what
would have happened if there had been any other vehicles around me
at the time. That day I arrived at the training center with a smile on
my face so thankful I was alive and remember my peers in the class
saying hello to me and asking how me I was doing in normal casual
conversation. I just smiled back and acknowledged that I was fine, yet
thinking to myself, “If you only knew.” Being practically homeless at
the time and going through all the sacrifices and struggles that came
with it, you would first think that I was at a big disadvantage. Yet, it was
exactly these hardships that equipped me with a never-give-up attitude
as I continuously excelled above all my peers in class week after week.
In the midst of my struggles came events and meetings that would one
day complete the very most important part of my life. As part of becoming
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a new insurance agent, I began attending business-networking events in
the hopes of developing business relationships with people in related
industries. In particular, I had just arrived at this one networking event
one evening and had introduced myself to a young professional woman
just to see where this encounter would take me. As it turns out, this
woman was at the event with a friend who came over and introduced
herself to me, her name was Angie. Angie and her friend were actually
on their way out the door but I made certain to ask for and hold onto
her business card. As a matter of fact, I found myself childishly and
periodically checking my pocket throughout the night after they had
left making sure I still had her business card and had not accidentally
misplaced it. As fate would have it, my mother reminded me on our
wedding day years later that when I was a young man still living at
home that I told her one day somewhere out there I was going to find an
angel and I was going to marry and spend the rest of my life with her.
Well, that day had arrived on this night and I had met my angel and her
name was Angie.
In getting to know Angie, I quickly discovered that not only was she
the perfect match for me, but she was definitely an angel because she
was my answered prayer. In just a few weeks of getting to know each
other, she offered to assist me in my business venture. She was a full-time
accountant and would leave her eight hour workday at 5pm and
join me at the insurance training center and would work side by side
next to me into the late hours of the night. Just having someone there
with me sharing my struggles made all the difference in the world
because I was not alone anymore. Needless to say, with each passing
day and Angie right by my side, my struggles slowly became less and
less enduring. I knew right away that fate had finally intervened while
everything in my life began making perfect sense with my new-found
relationship and new career. I was finally certain that this was exactly
who I was supposed to be with and exactly what I was supposed to
be doing in my life. As a matter of fact, when I provided my very
first client with an insurance policy, the sheer gratefulness I received
from her helped me develop an instantaneous passion for being an
insurance agent and building a successful insurance agency. I believe
this passion stemmed from my father’s childhood reminders to do
something meaningful with my life, and my mother’s lessons to be a
thoughtful giving person.
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In essence, I was finally doing something that I loved and was making a
difference in the world. As my passion for being an insurance agent grew,
I suddenly realized the possibility of creating the business of my dreams
and it was this realization that took me to the next level. I centered my
results on value and purpose that had an actual true impact on people’s
lives. I would now wake up in the morning everyday looking for a way
of how I could give back. In realizing my purpose, I pursued it with all
my heart and got rid of things that were holding me back. I went into
business knowing that if I just followed my purpose that everything else
would come together. I discovered that everything is a system and once
you understand the system, and begin to see where your business is and
where it can go by understanding the correct principles in the things that
you do, the sky is the limit.
I took into account that in every type of business in every single industry
in the world there will always exist some type of struggle and competition.
Many times in your own business you must know that your biggest
competition might be change itself. You must be willing to change and
always stay in front of the change. Always adapt and have your mind
open to new ideas and techniques. Accept struggle and challenge, yet
never defeat. Know and believe in your heart that where you stand today
will not be the same place you will be standing tomorrow.
Most importantly, become a Change Agent. Take a step back and look
at your life and look at your business. Ask yourself if you are where you
want to be and if you are happy where you are. If the answer is No, then
now is the time to act, now is the time to change. Only you have the
power to mentally make this decision and physically take action. Start
by changing your negative thoughts to positive ones and change the way
you look at yourself and your business. Change your attitude, change
your routine, change your disbeliefs, change your words, change your
actions, and change your goals and your purpose. Your staircase awaits
you, take one step forward, take one step forward….
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About Joey
Jose (Joey) Lara, also known as “The Quoting Genius,” is an insurance
expert and the CEO of Lara Agency which is a thriving insurance agency
comprised of a highly trained team of insurance professionals located in
Houston, TX. The Lara Agency has proudly helped thousands of families
all over Texas in providing comprehensive insurance packages that are specifically
designed for each client’s unique insurance need and financial situation. Among these
essential insurance coverages are: Auto insurance, Home and Renter’s insurance, Health
insurance, Business insurance, Umbrella coverage and Life insurance. During Joey’s first
year as an insurance agent, his agency was awarded the title of a Championship agency,
which is the top 1% of Farmers Insurance agencies in the country.
The Lara Agency’s track for success is clearly displayed in constantly being recognized
as the #1 Auto insurance agency in the District and the #1 insurance quoting agency in
the South Texas division for Farmers Insurance agents, averaging 800 to 1000 quotes
per month. In addition to these outstanding achievements, the Lara Agency team has
been recognized in Farmers Insurance’s most recent Year End numbers as being among
the Top 15 for Auto insurance production, the Top 20 for Home insurance production,
and the Top 30 for Life insurance policies issued throughout the South Texas division.
Joey attributes the Lara Agency’s success to its persistent focus on providing world-class
service and always striving to make an immeasurable difference in the community.
Joey is always known for saying, “Insurance is not our commodity. Insurance is our
business and service is our commodity.” In addition to providing excellent service to
its clients, the Lara Agency is also a big believer in giving back to the community. Joey
regularly visits low-income middle schools and high schools to speak to students about
their powerful inner potential to become business owners. Mr. Lara is committed to his
goal that every student should at least be exposed to the fact that the opportunity for
them to be business owners is definitely an attainable dream for each and every one of
them, if that is the path they should choose. As an advocate for student entrepreneurial
leadership, Joey takes pride in the positive difference and incredible impact he is able
to make in young people’s lives at a critical point in time when they start to think about
and plan their futures.
Joey Lara resides in Houston, TX with his beautiful wife, Angie, adorable son, Antonio,
and precious daughter, Toryana. He is a loving father who is passionate about being
fully engaged in his young children’s lives and ultimately cherishes every moment
with them.
125

DRIVE IT HOME: DIGITAL MARKETING DESIGNED TO DELIVER YOUR BUSINESS TO YOUR CUSTOMER
Chapter 13
DRIVE IT HOME:
Digital Marketing Designed
To Deliver Your Business To
Your Customer
By Brett Sutherlin
I grew up in the auto industry. My father owned over 30 new car
dealerships, across multiple states. He was an automotive mogul and
he strongly encouraged me to attend the highest reputable college with
an intense focus on the automotive industry. So I attended Northwood
University in Midland, MI, which specializes in automotive-related
degrees. In fact, the National Automobile Dealers Association (N.A.D.A.)
selected Northwood University as the college to develop the only
collegiate degree program in Automotive Marketing & Management.
In May 1995, I earned my Bachelor of Business Administration with a
degree in Automotive Marketing.
To follow in my father’s footsteps was an honor. He is a well-known,
highly respected, powerful businessman in the automotive industry. He is
admired, influential, honest, extremely hard working and philanthropic.
My father is a family man and a man of good character. My love and
admiration for my father continues to be the driving force behind my
success. From washing cars as a young teen at my father’s dealerships,
I listened in wonder as my father taught me the car business. I worked
in every department of the dealerships, learning every facet of the
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automotive industry.
My father always had impeccable timing for just about every business
decision he made. Over the years, he acquired an empire of dealerships
and brilliantly sold them with flawless timing. In 1997, he sold the
vast majority of his dealership empire to AutoNation, Inc., the largest
publicly owned automotive dealer group in the country. After fulfilling a
non-compete, he successfully re-entered the automotive industry.
After years of immersing myself in the retail automotive industry and
growing up with an entrepreneurial spirit, I knew I had to create my own
success. This internal passion propelled me to seek a new adventure.
My experience and education naturally led me to find a new avenue of
prosperity within the fold of the auto industry. I have since successfully
built my business in digital marketing to automobile dealerships.
Ten years ago, an auto dealership might have employed 25 commissioned
salespeople. Today that dealership has primarily “Product Specialists”
to answer questions for consumers who have already visited a dealer
website. Instead of a burgeoning sales force, many business’s—not
just auto dealers—largest focal point area is the business development
center. The BDC’s primary role is to enhance the efforts of the digital
marketing program.
A favorite quote of mine from J. Paul Getty, “Formula for success: rise
early, work hard, strike oil” might seem a bit tongue in cheek, however,
its message is true. “Striking oil” becomes easier when you know where
to drill, and for any business today, but especially for the automobile
industry, the place to drill is online. In the auto industry, 88% of buyers
begin their process online. Any dealership not drilling in that area will
miss striking oil—miss their sale. Knowing where to drill and knowing
how to drill are two very different things. In the past eighteen years, I
have perfected a digital marketing approach that enables companies to
tap into their market in the shortest amount of time and with the greatest
results.
For most industries, but certainly for the automobile industry, engaging
customers through digital marketing campaigns is paramount. No
intelligent business would ignore the well from which 88% of their
business springs forth. There are still businesses following antiquated
ideas such as closing on Sunday and ignoring the digital age. Those
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businesses are not realizing their full potential. The businesses that wish
to thrive and strike oil are obligated to rise early, work hard and most
essentially, maximize their presence in our ever-so-present evolving
digital world. One can think of digital marketing as the base model of
a vehicle. The add-ons that cause people to take notice amplify your
digital impact, just like the fins on a 1959 Cadillac, bigger can be better.
Before adding features, however, the base model—a successful business
website-- has to hit the road.
Website Basics
Make sure you show up for the party. A website, in and of itself, is only
useful if your potential customers can find it. The goal is a fully optimized
website that performs well for search engines. SEO - Search Engine
Optimization - is what brings your webpage to a top ranking within search
engines such as Google. Have you ever driven past a business that you
did not realize was even there until they put out a large “Going out of
Business” sign in the front? The same is true of a website. If the webpage
is not visible to the search engines, your customers will never see it. For
auto showrooms and any other sales-driven business, number one is the
only place you really want to rank with the search engines. Start by hiring
a company that knows SEO. Anyone can have a great looking website;
very few can have a great ranking website. Once the customer finds
the website, having a good experience and having a site that converts
well, meaning it will attract and engage the customer and produce leads,
determines the success of earning that customer’s business.
Online Relationships –
Converting clicks to customers
From the moment a customer clicks his/her way to a business’s webpage,
the goal is to convert them to a qualified lead before they leave the page.
In the case of an automobile dealership, the customer wants to know
the price of the vehicle, the trade- in value of their vehicle, and their
financing options. If a customer leaves a website after only 30 seconds,
he/she is going to a competitor. The website that can acquire that
customer’s contact information, email address, etc., will be ahead of the
game and likely will earn their business. A business needs to establish
an online relationship with their customers in a very short time.
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Change Agents
Retail websites need to have multiple facets of engagement. This will
increase the overall conversion rates to your website and produce many
more leads and sales for your business.
Common website engagement tools that can increase conversion:
• Credit applications or “Click here to Apply for Financing”
• Conversion tools for price, e.g., “Click here to get your
Best Price”
• Subscribe to our Monthly Savings or Monthly Newsletter
• Schedule an Appointment Now
Live Chat
One of the busiest times on the Internet is between 8 p.m. and midnight
when families have put their kids to bed, and adults can settle down and
concentrate. Of course, most businesses do not have a storefront open
at these times for questions. Therefore, it is imperative that the website
have a Live Chat feature to engage customers and meet them in their
homes, at the time when the customer is available.
Our business employs a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week call center of
fifty Live Chat agents to answer automobile customers’ questions for
the dealerships whose websites we service. Live Chat keeps customers
engaged on the website for a longer period; length of the customer stay
also aids in boosting a website’s ranking. An IP address tracking system
determines which customers show the most interest. For example, when
an automobile shopper visits a webpage looking at mid-sized sedans,
the system tracks that IP address and will acknowledge a return visit by
the same customer looking at similar cars again. At this point, a Live
Chat window would pop up and an agent might ask the client “I see you
looked at these vehicles here yesterday, would you like me to send you
an online brochure?” thus engaging the customer.
Coupling Live Chat with the Google Re-targeting Network generates
the most bang for the buck. Google Re-targeting is essentially a
cookies-based system that tracks where an IP address has been. It then
prompts advertising based on the data collected. When your potential
customer shops “down the road” at your competitor or even at another
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unrelated vendor, the system collects this information and offers the
customer a pop-up ad for your business, effectively re-routing your
competitor’s potential sale back to your domain. Re-targeting generates
about 150,000 impressions per month. These tools are wonderful, but
not every customer originates his search at Google.
YouTube
YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world next
to Google (Google owns YouTube) and more and more customers
are beginning their search for just about anything on YouTube. Once
reserved only for music and political speeches, now a YouTube video
presence is a must-have for businesses seeking to increase their target
audience exposure. Using the automobile analogy again, ten years ago
air bags were not standard on vehicles; now a car will not sell without
them.
One of the first things we do before we launch our website solutions to
a new digital marketing client, is schedule our video production crew
to shoot video at the dealership location. Our crew creates video of the
dealership and takes testimonials, which give the customers a general
idea of what it is like to do business at our client’s dealership... In the
same way as SEO, video gives the customer reasons why they would
like to do business with “Dealership A.”
Often times, YouTube advertising will generate a 30-35% increase in
traffic to the dealerships website. My business often considers this a
secret weapon, as many retail establishments don’t realize the power of
video search engines.
Social Media
Facebook, Google+ and Twitter offer great soft-sell approaches. Our
Social Media team will actually write the Facebook posts for clients,
tweet about new products, build the Facebook site for an auto dealer
and even embed inventory into the Facebook page so that customers can
search for new cars, used cars and even schedule service appointments.
These tools cross over effectively to many businesses. If you, for
example, post seven days a week, then maybe one day a week you
would post a “special” about a vehicle of the week. Do not be surprised
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Change Agents
if your business’s social media presence generates your next big sale,
but be ready to meet the customer’s online needs.
Online Financing
Online credit applications with automated approval for financing are
imperative now since, in some dealerships, nearly 65% of auto sales are
completed entirely online. The customer orders the car with the exact
features desired, establishes financing online and waits for the dealer
to deliver the vehicle to his/her home. Professionals with experience
safeguarding customer identity should design website elements such as
credit applications protecting sensitive customer information.
Inventory Management System
Searchable online inventory motivates online sales. We offer our clients
an inventory management system for their pre-owned vehicles that
makes adding and removing vehicles and their data more manageable
for a dealership. Most dealers take their own photos of pre-owned
vehicles, and our system allows them to upload easily 25-30 images
per car. Online shoppers can quickly browse the available cars and find
one they would like to see in person. If the customer wants a new car,
chances are he or she has a specific vehicle with specific features they
want. We designed our virtual inventory—that is exclusive to us—to
bring our clients 3-4 times more leads than their competitors.
VIRTUAL Inventory
Customers love choices. NADA reports that the average consumer visits
at least four dealership websites in order to find the exact car that they
desire. We created our Virtual Inventory program to allow customers to
specify every feature they would like on every different vehicle made
by that automaker. Therefore, if a customer wants a red Dodge pickup
truck and we show him/her every possible configuration of that vehicle
on our dealer’s website, it keeps the customer on our client’s webpage
and he/she will assume that this dealership has the exact car for which
she has been searching. The customer then at that point has no problem
with filling out a lead.
Furthermore, when a client is still shopping and comparing various
vehicles’ makes and models, we offer them a comparison shopping
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application on the dealer website to help strengthen the dealership’s
position.
Comparison Shopping
One of the chief benefits of shopping on the web is the ability for customers
to view many items in a short time, to comparison shop. To that end,
we have created a user-friendly interactive Comparison-Shopping tool
on our dealers’ websites that customers can use to compare cars from
various manufacturers. This program shows the vehicles of a particular
automaker to the best advantage for that dealership by highlighting the
best features to the customer
Lastly, the creation of even a stellar website is not enough to improve
Google ranking or drive the business home. My company consults with
car dealers to bring fresh ideas to the table and uses the latest advances in
web technology. We maximize Internet presence by reaching the largest
consumer audience to facilitate the greatest sales volume and increased
bottom line. If you are not in the auto industry, your company can still
use many of these tactics such as Social Media or Online Financing to
increase your traffic and revenue. Find qualified professionals with the
expertise and experience that your business requires.
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Change Agents
About Brett
Brett Sutherlin, CEO and Chairman fusionZONE automotive, Inc.
If you smell that “new car smell” wafting through the Internet and
into your living room while shopping for your next new vehicle, Brett
Sutherlin is likely the man responsible. Sutherlin shattered the antiquated idea of
driving dealership to dealership in search of the perfect vehicle by creating fusionZONE
automotive’s robust digital marketing system. Now, automobile shoppers can locate
the perfect vehicle from the comfort of their own home!
Sutherlin spent the majority of his formative years working in his family’s automotive
dealership empire. Prior to this, he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration
from the coveted Northwood University in Midland, MI where he studied all facets of
Automotive Business and Marketing. His foray into the family business was cut short
when an unprecedented opportunity came knocking and his family sold most of their
dealership empire to AutoNation, Inc. Sutherlin knew at this time he must follow his
entrepreneurial spirit. His mind never far from the auto industry, he recognized the
increasing need for Internet marketing customized exclusively for automotive dealers.
He leveraged his heritage, education and experience and launched fusionZONE
automotive–a company that drives the good-ole-boy automotive industry into the
digital marketing age.
fusionZONE automotive’s advanced products have revolutionized a stagnant
industry by merging cutting-edge digital technology with the heart of the automobile
shopper. Sutherlin’s digital marketing techniques are unparalleled in the industry,
and net significant results in increased lead generation and sales completion for his
dealership clients.
Sutherlin has grown fusionZONE automotive to be one of the largest automotive
digital marketing providers in the nation. In less than 10 years, Sutherlin has grown
fusionZONE automotive to over 700 dealer clients nationwide.
FusionZONE automotive is based in Los Angeles, CA where Sutherlin resides.
He is married and has two sons. Brett Sutherlin appeared recently on television in
“Americas Premier Experts” which aired on NBC, CBS and Fox.
www.fzautomotive.com
134

WORK-LIFE BALANCE IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH
Chapter 14
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
IS HAZARDOUS TO
YOUR HEALTH
BY DR. SERENA REP
As I sit down to write this chapter, I already envision a lot of resistance
from you, the reader, to the idea that the pursuit of work-life balance as
a goal is hazardous. After all, you have spent a lot of time and energy
invested in the idea that it is a good thing; and you have been told that
the more balance you have, the better off you are. Then, here I come to
tell you that everything you were told, and everything you believed in
up to now, is bad for you.
I understand. But, the greatest wisdom any of us has ever received came
as a surprise. They were words that shocked us into a new reality. The
conversation I hope to have with you here provides a fresh perspective
on how to process the realities of your everyday life a little differently.
After all, you are not an observer to the happenings in your life’s jour-ney.
You are the captain. You guide the ship. My goal is to provide you
the courage to embrace the things you know are right for your life, dis-card
erroneous concepts, and reshape that invaluable piece of art called
YOU!
My goal here is to show that you need a paradigm shift from the status
quo (i.e. work-life balance is good) so that you can truly lead a more
productive and rewarding life.
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Change Agents
Need for a Paradigm Shift
Let us first look at what is meant by the concept Work-Life Balance
in common every day parlance, before we look at what is wrong with
it and why you need a paradigm shift. Believe me, adjusting to new
realities takes hard work, but pays high wages.
Work-Life balance is generally defined as balancing work priorities and
home priorities by adjusting the time spent on each, so neither becomes
all-engulfing and crowds out the other areas of life.
Here are some common threads in most of the definitions of Work and
Life:
• WORK is what we do from 9 to 5, and what we do after 5
is LIFE.
• What we do for a paycheck is WORK, and what we do for fun
is LIFE.
• What someone else tells us to do, and judges us by how well
we do it, is WORK; what we choose to do and how we judge
ourselves by the outcome is LIFE.
Clearly, the assumptions behind these ideas are that:
• Work is not life, and, life is not work
• When you are doing one, you are not doing the other
• They are on two ends of the spectrum, and need to be in balance
in order for you to live a satisfying and rewarding life.
When you dichotomize work and life and see them as two ends of the
spectrum, it brings about what psychologists call “cognitive dissonance.”
You feel cognitive dissonance when you believe in one thing, but end
up doing the opposite. For example, your value system says your family
is the most important thing in your life, but you end up spending most
of your wakeful hours at work. So, when you devote too much time to
work, you feel guilty about neglecting the home and personal life; when
you are at home, or on vacation, you feel guilty about the unfinished
work.
But the greatest conflict is found in the work-a-holics on the one end,
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and the house wives and house husbands (and those forced out of gain-ful
employment) on the other; they feel the most cognitive dissonance
about the “lack-of-balance.”
Most of the writers in the area of work-life balance contribute to, and
even exacerbate, the problem. Why do I say that, you ask? The most
common “prescription” coming out of work-life balance writers and
bloggers is essentially the same: “Prioritize the different aspects of your
life and schedule an appropriate amount of time for each.”
Here is an example of such a recommendation from Laura Berman Fort-gang,
the author of “Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction.” She
137
suggests these five steps:
1. Figure out what really matters to you in life
2. Drop unnecessary activities
3. Protect your private time
4. Accept help to balance your life
5. Plan fun and relaxation
That sounds like reasonable advice, right? But, what happens if you
cannot segregate your life into neat little chunks of time capsules or fit
into a rigid schedule on your appointment book? Are the calendar and
the appointment book really the appropriate tools for solving the work-life
balance problem?
Problems arise when you don’t see life as an “integrated whole” but as a
“combination of pieces.” The consequences are guilt, overwhelm, inner
conflict, disappointment at not being the superwoman or superman and
magically accomplishing everything on your plate.
One of the immediate consequences that I see in my interviews with
people is the “blame game” –
1. You blame yourself for not having the “discipline” to balance the
various activities in your life, and for becoming overwhelmed
and frustrated;
2. You blame your work or your employer for de-humanizing you
by blackmailing you with a paycheck and making you a slave to
the desk, or the computer screen, or the clock.

Change Agents
Obviously, neither of these are productive responses to the resolution
of cognitive dissonance. So where do we go from here? Is Work-life
balance an exercise in futility? Why do efforts to sequester personal life
from professional life only lead to greater frustration and less satisfac-tion
while they are lauded by the experts as the panacea for a better
quality of life?
It is because when you try to “protect” personal life from work, you are
subscribing to an untenable dichotomy. When you place your time in
porous mental compartments, you will invariably be frustrated when
one bleeds over into the other. The overarching theme of such a di-chotomy
is the idea that happiness at home and at work can be achieved
by giving equal weight to each side and keeping them in balance on the
scale of life.
Does anyone really believe that life and work are of equal weights?
Let me start by saying that work-life balance is a myth. It is like a goal
post with wings. As soon as you get a little closer to it, it moves a few
inches away. Pursuing that myth and trying to balance work and life,
as if it were the 11th commandment of life, has serious negative conse-quences;
overwhelm, guilt and confusion over what one’s priorities are
in life. By getting busy balancing the things you do, you escape the need
to question what you do, and its relevance to who you are. To solve the
problem, you buy books and go to seminars seeking the holy grail of
work-life balance.
The work-life balance concept has many accomplices such as time man-agement
and stress management. This has become an industry all unto
itself. Motivational speakers and books claiming to reveal the secret of
success give us temporary highs that are rarely sustained.
While good time management and stress management are valid con-cepts,
they do not fully reflect the issues of balancing work life with per-sonal
life. For quite some time now, the work-life balance frustrations
have been addressed by looking at how to be more productive. As a so-ciety,
we have become committed to the concept of greater productivity.
But here is the critical point you miss. Being committed means nothing
if you are committed to the wrong path. The balance should really be
between what you do and who you are, what your purpose and passion
is in life. It’s not between you and your job or your appointment book.
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It is accomplished by balancing your daily activities with your true self.
It is the alignment with your core identity that makes you feel alive and
even thrive.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67% of American workers
are unhappy in their present work situation. Imagine the mental health
consequences of spending most of your wakeful hours in an unhappy
environment. If the best you can muster at work is the feeling of “I just
work here… it is not my life,” it contributes to the malaise. It discon-nects
you from being your best and doing your best. It is certainly not
conducive to tapping the best in yourself. And, when you are weighed
down by unhappiness, conflict, frustration and stress, the physical and
mental health consequences for the overall quality of life you lead, are
gigantic. Considering that you spend a large amount of your wakeful
hours at work, your unhappiness at work undoubtedly spills over into
unhappiness at home. That is a double whammy for your physical and
emotional health!
WHAT IF
• What if you could obliterate this dichotomy of work and life by
infusing both together into one?
• What if you could make life into work and work into life and
make them both fun?
• What if you could create a scenario where work and fun are not
opposites but complimentary?
• What if you could see them as two sides of the same coin?
• Will this change the happiness quotient? Would this improve
your quality of life?
Working for a “job” vs. working for an identity that is rewarding and life
sustaining—that makes all the difference in the world. Time and energy
spent on your life and giving it more meaning and joy will help put other
aspects of your life in proper context. And even though you must return
to the doldrums of corporate work, having the subtext of knowing why
you are there will change how you view what you do on a daily basis.
The same duties, the same phone calls, the same things that once got
under your skin will start to lose their fever.
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Change Agents
Look at it this way. How long could you dig a hole if you know $10 mil-lion
in gold nuggets waited for you a hundred feet deep? The answer is
you could dig as long as it took to get to it. When you find your heart,
your true identity, you’ll be able to dig without frustration because you
know what you’re digging for. Your identity represents those pieces of
gold.
The most balanced people I know have sharp distinctions between
making money and making meaning. They use money to fuel meaning,
not use money to create the meaning for their lives.
Here is a woman named Cheryl who had some insightful comments
to make in one of the Internet forums about how she arrived at her
personal sense of work-life balance. “I would say finding flexibility and/
or control over my work schedule is my number one work/life balance
issue. Although I am an empty-nester with the ability to work 100 hours
a week if I wanted to, I don’t want to! I am a dependable, dedicated,
passionate worker with varied skills but I want some flexibility in my
work schedule. I do not want to sit in an office M-F from 9-5…. I have
aging parents, new grandchildren, many friends and a retired husband.
We like to travel or have lunch together during the week.”
Anne-Marie Slaughter, the first woman director of policy planning at
the State Department recently left her “foreign-policy dream job” as she
described it, to care for her family and fulfill her parental responsibilities.
She felt the stress of her work identity playing a greater role in her life
than she felt was desirable. This was in spite of the fact that she had a
very supportive husband who picked up a lot of the slack when she left
for Washington.
On the opposite end of the spectrum of choices, the Daily Mail in UK
recently published an article by Isabella Dutton who says having children
was the biggest regret of her life, which raised a considerable storm of
controversy. Here too, we find that “balance” according to other peoples’
definition does not bring you happiness or personal satisfaction.
Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, “Lean-In” talks about the internal as well
as institutional roadblocks to achieving work-life balance in women and
how they can climb those walls. Interestingly enough, her book has also
received considerable support as well as criticism for not adequately
addressing the issues of balance for working mothers. One critique
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leveled against her is that most working mothers operate under extreme
social and economic impediments leading to guilt and conflict between
work life and family life, rather than because of a lack of lean-in self-confidence.
These feelings of guilt and conflict over life choices point to the mixed
messages from society to the professional women as to what is the right
balance between the priorities of work and life. The conflict of balance
also afflicts men but to a much less extent, since it is a more inner need
than societal dictates on how they “should” balance their lives.
These conflicts and cognitive dissonance are not limited to the high
profile cases such as the ones I described above. After playing the game
of climbing the corporate ladder for twenty or thirty years, many of us
look down this ladder only to find our healthiest, most vibrant days gone.
And sadly, we spent these days working on the dreams of others. This
is what men and women of all walks of life have been struggling with
for decades. The general sense of running without getting anywhere is
not because people are inadequate, but because our value system is. We
have to stop simply talking about the paradox of work-life balance and
the guilt of choosing between the professional life and the personal life.
It’s time to fix it.
How do we fix it? Start redefining your life around your purpose and
passion in life. Everything you do in your life needs to revolve around
that sense of identity and self-definition. Ask yourself the question:
“Who am I? Where am I going? What do I want out of my life? What
would make me feel at the end of my life that I have lived a purposeful,
meaningful and satisfying life?”
In this context, let me bring what I call the “Principle of 3Ms” and what
we can learn from it. The 3Ms I refer to are Mother Teresa, Mahatma
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. By most people’s definition, their life
was one-dimensional and very unbalanced – they had one purpose, one
goal and everything else was secondary to that purpose. My contention
is that indeed they were the most balanced; not the people who tout
balance as a jigsaw puzzle where you try and fit many disparate pieces
together. They had clarity, instead of confusion, about who they were
and what their life was about.
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You don’t need to be a carbon copy of Mahatma Gandhi or Mother
Teresa, to learn from them and benefit from their life’s lessons. They can
be valuable guideposts in redefining your own life that rejects the old,
outmoded concepts like work-life balance and replaces them with more
meaningful concepts that celebrate your own unique purpose in life.
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About Dr. Sereena
Dr. Serena Reep is the President of Transformational Communications.
She is an ex-College Professor, communication and relationship
management coach, corporate project management trainer,
author and motivational speaker. She considers herself a social-entrepreneur
and likes to promote social causes in all her ventures.
Serena Reep received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology. Her specialization is Social
Structure and Personality. She also holds an active PMP (Project Management
Professional) certification. She frequently speaks on best practices in communication
for successful project management as well as successful interpersonal relationship
management. She spent eight years as a Professor at Rutgers University, and has
been a consultant in the corporate world for almost two decades. She has worked as
a contractor/consultant for clients ranging from private corporations such as CA, NCS
and IBM to government agencies such as the DOE, CMS and FDIC.
Dr. Serena is the recipient of the National Association of Bestselling Authors award
in 2012 for her work in the book Success Secrets with Jack Canfield. She has been
seen on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox affiliates. She has been interviewed by Arielle Ford
on the “Meet the Experts” program. She is an Expert Blogger for the Fast Company
and the Huffington Post. Her book Work-Life Balance is DEAD! is a very thought
provoking and paradigm-shifting manifesto on living an authentic life, unfettered by
the weight of outmoded constructs about balancing work and life. She also sounds a
wake-up call to the corporations on the effectiveness of the work-life balance perks
they provide and offers a fresh perspective on increasing their ROI.
To learn more about her work or to contact Dr. Serena Reep for your speaking or
training needs, please visit: http://serenasez.com.
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MAGIC FUTURE: BECOMING YOUR OWN CHANGE AGENT
Chapter 15
MAGIC FUTURE:
Becoming Your Own
Change Agent
By Stefan Wissenbach
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Do you see your future as misery – or as magic?
Do you see the years ahead as a never-ending struggle that leaves you
exhausted and drained – or as a series of new and exciting opportunities
that will lead you to higher levels of achievement and satisfaction?
How you view what’s to come affects your “here and now” - in a profound
way. I personally believe in a future that’s filled with magic. But here’s
the real trick – that so-called “magic” is really what we ourselves create
through our own thoughts and actions!
Think of the many devices we all use on a day-to-day basis – and take
for granted. Your smartphone, your iPod, your iPad...all of those, in the
not-too-distant past, would have appeared to be “magic” to residents
of that time – when, in reality, they are merely gadgets rooted in a
technology that was painstakingly built step-by-step, piece-by-piece,
until they became modern-day “miracles.”
You can make yourself into a similar miracle – through the culmination
of a building process that results in what appears to be a magical
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transformation to those around you. That’s how you become the ultimate
“Change Agent” of your own life.
Since I was very young, I’ve always been about creating a more
powerful, positive future. It started with my own, and then it was my
clients with whom I concerned myself.
Now I’d like to help you with yours.
My “Magic” Tutorial
Money was a scarce commodity when I was being raised by a single
mom in the U.K. Perhaps that’s why I became obsessed with magicians
and wizards as a boy – they took me away to magical lands that were far
more fun than my everyday existence.
As I grew older and came to the realization that wizards weren’t going
to be showing up anytime soon at my doorstep to grant me any special
enchanted powers, I looked elsewhere for evidence of some kind of
magic existing in everyday life. And I saw it in the lives of the rich
and famous, who seemed to enjoy plentiful helpings of abundance and
excitement on a regular basis.
That kind of life journey truly did seem magical to me - the people in my
neighborhood certainly didn’t get to have that level of life experience.
Why not? Why were some blessed with miraculous success – while
others seemed resigned to trudge through their days, just scraping by?
I came to find out that those who, like me, came from humble beginnings
created those magical lives out of relentless self-improvement, with a
heavy emphasis on setting goals and achieving them; in other words,
that step-by-step process I mentioned earlier. As I studied their secrets
of success, I at last devised a powerful Magic Formula of my own -
based on what I saw were the five essential elements that went into their
accomplishments.
Let me spell out that Magic Formula for you:
• Motivation – We all must be motivated to achieve goals of a
higher order.
• Application – Successful people get things done. If we don’t
apply ourselves to needed action, we don’t achieve.
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• Growth – We must be open to doing what it takes to grow our
intellect, our physical health and our spirit, so we are able to
achieve more.
• Independence – Both personal and financial freedom enable us
to live the kinds of lives we want to live, unfettered by arbitrary
restrictions.
• Community – Networking with other successful people helps
you create a strong and supportive community that enables you
to do more than you could achieve on your own.
Yes, if you put them all together, you end up with MAGIC.
This Magic, however, is not based on mystery, but on mastery – mastery
of building a life that leads to an exceptional outcome. Fortunately, my
mother instilled in me a belief that anything was possible if I put my
mind to it. So...I did.
More importantly, this kind of “magic mindset” became an integral part
of my professional career. I founded The Wissenbach Group in 1994,
through which I have advised wealthy private investors on how to
achieve their personal and financial goals. After two decades of success,
I’m fortunate enough to enjoy a very different lifestyle than the one I
experienced as a child. I have a large country property—with staff—and
travel all over the world with my fabulous wife and three delightful
children. I’ve enjoyed staying in many fine hotels, experienced different
cultures, learned to snowboard, fly helicopters, and I’m able to drive any
car I want.
Again, these are very different circumstances than my childhood. And
I wouldn’t be enjoying them now if I didn’t believe I could attain it all
back then.
I had to believe in my own Magic Future. And, more importantly, make
it happen.
Bringing Your Magic Future to Life
The question is, do you believe in your own Magic Future?
Do you have a plan to get what you want? Do you want to get to a point
in your life where work is optional? Where you actually become one
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Change Agents
of the people I admired as a child, because you chose success over an
ordinary existence?
If so...what are you doing about it?
Perhaps you’ve placed all your chips on one element of your life. Many
of us do. We think, “What if I could just change this certain relationship?
Get this particular job? Move to this particular place? Have this cosmetic
surgery done?” And we believe these superficial things will make our
problems disappear.
That is the kind of magic I don’t believe in.
The only thing we can really control is ourselves, our attitudes and our
actions. I always find it interesting that people will take the time to make
a detailed will - so that they have a written plan of what is to happen
after they’re dead. And yet, they have no real plan for their actual life!
Then there are those who would love to make a life plan – but have
no idea how to go about it. In the past, we may have felt we could
rely on direction from the governments or the financial institutions that
formerly gave us a sense of stability. Trust in those traditional bodies
has been severely eroded, however, thanks to the 2008 economic crisis
and our political leaders’ uncertain responses to it. Many people have
been left paralyzed into inaction and don’t really know where to turn.
But that financial crisis is absolutely nothing, in my opinion, compared
to the crisis that is currently building in the background – which is
people who are not looking after themselves and not taking care of their
financial futures.
Because we cannot rely on these institutions any longer, it’s really up to
all of us to take responsibility and take control of our individual fates.
We all deserve a future that’s better than our past.
I want to help everyone get that future. That’s why I created Magic
Future®.
I’ve invested over three million dollars in this initiative, which you can
explore at MagicFuture.com, to help those who are in need of direction
and assistance in reaching their goals. Human beings, despite their
faults, are still wonderful things. When we move forward with passion,
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when we are engaged and we connect ourselves to a bigger and brighter
future, we begin to close the gap between where we are and where we
wish to be.
Those who have used the tools on our website have seen the magic work
for themselves. Because of how they have connected themselves to their
goals, they make different decisions – which they ordinarily wouldn’t
have in their day-to-day lives – because they are directed towards what
they want to achieve.
In other words, they are beginning with the end in mind.
Our Magic Toolkit
I believe it’s worth reviewing the “Magic Toolkit” we feature on the site
– because these individual facilitators are vital to creating real change in
anyone’s life. Even if you don’t become a user of our site, it’s important
that you understand the powerful concepts that inform these tools – and
shape our futures:
MagicGoals
Many people set goals, but never reach them. We’ve researched years
of human behavioral research to discover how to improve the chances
of goals being realized.
Here are a few empowering facts:
• Writing your goals down increases the likelihood of
accomplishing them by 42%
• Sharing goals with peers increases the likelihood of
accomplishing them by 50%
• Having a friend receive weekly progress reports increases
the likelihood of accomplishing them by 77%
A common thread to all of these statistics is this: Goals need to be
removed from our imaginations and brought out into the real world.
When we write them down or we share them with those around them,
the more “real” they become – and the more committed we become
to making them happen.
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Change Agents
With that in mind, our MagicGoals tool simply asks you to write
down your goals, construct a few simple short-term steps that are
easily completed to help you attain those goals, and share those steps
and objectives with your friends.
Yes, it sounds simple, but how many of us actually go through this
kind of process? How many of our goals, instead, end up left by the
wayside, simply because we didn’t take the few moments to facilitate
their completion with these easy steps?
MagicHabits
Negative patterns that we’ve developed can often prevent us from
getting what we want; we actually end up obstructing our own progress.
That’s why creating new and powerful habits may be necessary in
order to develop our own personal success stories.
For example, maybe you want to get in better physical shape. You can
create new habits to make that happen. Perhaps you commit to taking
the stairs at your workplace instead of the elevator – and you end up
becoming so accustomed to this new pattern that it feels strange to do
otherwise.
You should create new positive habits that correspond to your achieving
your MagicGoals, as we encourage on the Magic Future® website (and,
by the way, we recommend repeating a habit 21 days in a row - that will
usually cause it to become part of your normal behavior).
MagicVision
Seeing is believing – we’ve all heard that pearl of wisdom. That’s
why putting a “MagicVision” to work can be incredibly empowering
when trying to reach an intangible goal. Our MagicVision website
tools allows for the creation of customized “Vision Boards,” where
users can gather together images that represent their life dreams – and
give those dreams a physical manifestation.
If you know where you want to go, why not give yourself a sneak
peek before you get there? Pretend it’s the trailer to the movie of your
life – and picture it as having the happiest possible ending imaginable.
MagicNumber®
This last tool is, to me, the most important one in many ways. It was
the first “magic” tool I ever developed and I used it extensively to
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help my private clients formulate a real plan to attain the complete life
freedom they were after.
What is the MagicNumber®? Quite simply, it’s the amount of money
(or assets) you need to have in order to make work optional at an age
of your choosing. Our website allows you to determine that number in
less than ten minutes – and also permits you to see how much wealth
you need to accumulate, per day, month and year, to reach that number.
If that sounds complicated, it isn’t, thanks to our academically-verified
algorithm that simplifies what would seem to be a complex task and
helps you make smart choices to achieve what is most likely your
ultimate life goal.
My Magic Moment
Recently, I used my own Magic Toolkit to achieve a goal – and I ended
up experiencing a magic moment that might seem very trivial to you –
as it merely involved my tying a shoelace.
I know I’ve achieved my success because of my dedication to personal
development. But success can have its consequences as well – and, to
tell the truth, I neglected my health along the way. I didn’t exercise
enough, and I enjoyed the good life a little too much in many a restaurant.
Result? In my early forties, I found myself beset upon by the kind of
culprits one encounters when in my shoes – early onset diabetes and
high blood pressure.
This was a big wake-up call. After all, without good health, everything
else is rather pointless!
Well, there it was in front of me one morning, my Magic Future website
staring in my face. So I thought – why not use it to set a goal to eliminate
the diabetes and lower my blood pressure – and, in the process, get fit
and healthy?
So I used my Magic Toolkit to construct the goal, change bad habits and
be an agent of my own change in my waistline! As I believe strongly in
working with the right people, I took on a leading person in health and
nutrition – someone who advised the Olympic rugby squad – and shared
my goal with him. Every Monday morning, he received a progress report
from me through the Magic Future site.
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Change Agents
Well, as of this writing, I’ve lost over 30 pounds in weight and feel
better than I have in a long time. My blood pressure is down to safe
levels and just last week, my doctor confirmed I was no longer diabetic.
Magic or mastery? Now you know the answer...
One morning, as I was going through this process, I came downstairs
and, without thinking much of it, put my foot up on a kitchen barstool
and tied my shoelace. Yes, this was the magic moment I spoke of earlier.
What made it so magical?
My wife spotted me and said, “You wouldn’t have been able to do that
four months ago!”
And it was true – I wouldn’t have, and suddenly, in that moment, I was
incredibly happy, because I had seen, in that very small moment, the
achievement of a very real benchmark in my pursuit of a much larger
goal.
So it is with any objective you set your mind on. You experience long
periods of effort, punctuated by sudden bursts of ecstasy as you reach
a very real milestone. Of course, with every silver lining comes a dark
cloud – and, in this case, my new health regimen has left me with an
entire expensive wardrobe that no longer fits me!
And You?
So, then, what about you? Do you believe you can achieve the Magic
Future that will fulfill you? Are you willing to tackle yourself at a micro
level to achieve on a macro level?
You too can be a huge Change Agent of your own life. You too can make
small but powerful changes on an ongoing basis that will transform your
life beyond recognition.
Believe in magic. Believe in yourself. Believe you can do what’s
necessary to create the life you really want. And believe me – you will!
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About Stefan
Stefan Wissenbach is an entrepreneur, author and speaker. From
a humble but happy childhood, he has built and sold several
successful businesses and is an advisor to a number of leading
business figures.
In 1994, he founded The Wissenbach Group, providing strategic advice to wealthy
private individuals, helping them manage their affairs in harmony with their personal
goals. Whilst developing his unique process, he created the concept of MagicNumber®
– the amount of money or accumulated wealth needed to live your desired lifestyle
where work is optional.
Having spent many years helping wealthy people, Stefan’s mission is to now also
help a wider audience. He is passionate about providing education and inspiration
to enable others to fulfill their potential and bridge the gap between aspiration and
achievement. His unique approach is to simplify the complex and provide a framework
for people to take action, distilling a lifetime of learning into simple success strategies
that anyone can master.
In 2010, he formed and launched magicfuture.com to achieve this mission. His
revolutionary Magic Future corporate benefit programs have created thousands of
successful, engaged and happy employees delivering greater value in the workplace.
Stefan has a lifelong commitment to personal development and travels to Chicago four
times a year to meet with Dan Sullivan – one of the world’s leading entrepreneurial
coaches. Magicfuture.com takes the best practices from his lifetime of learning and
applies his proven strategies in an easy-to-use, fun, inspirational online platform
available to anyone with access to the web. Stefan’s personal success is behind
every feature of the tools.
His book, Slaying Dragons & Moving Mountains, A beginners guide to a happy fulfilled
life and his audio program, Your Magic Future™: A Proven Magic Formula for Making
Work Optional both teach practical and timeless skills, techniques and knowledge
that enable anyone to create greater levels of happiness and success. Stefan is
happily married with three children. He enjoys living life to the full, flying helicopters
and travelling to new places. He is also the Founder of The Magic Future Foundation.
To learn more about Stefan Wissenbach visit: stefanwissenbach.com.
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BECOME A CHANGE AGENT WITH STORYSELLING
Chapter 16
BECOME A CHANGE AGENT
WITH STORYSELLING:
How The Right Narrative
Can Transform Your Brand
Into A Marvel
By Nick Nanton & JW Dicks
Stanley Lieber, at the age of 17, had no idea what to do with his life.
Fortunately, however, he could at least earn a paycheck, thanks to the
time-honored practice of nepotism. His uncle owned a comic book
company and installed the young man in the offices as an assistant in
1939. Stanley saw it as just a temporary situation; he knew that one day
he would write the Great American Novel.
A couple of decades later, he was running the place – only there wasn’t
much left to run. A crackdown on bloody horror comics in the 1950’s
had caused many organizations and parents to ban them altogether – and
the ones that had survived were so heavily censored that they didn’t
generate many sales on their own. Stanley had supervised over twenty
people; now there were only three left, creating silly monster stories for
boys and harmless teen romances for girls.
But DC Comics, the perennial industry leader, had just had some
success with a new superhero group, The Justice League of America,
which brought together Batman, Superman and a bunch of other
costumed crusaders – so Stanley’s uncle suggested that he create one as
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well. Stanley wasn’t happy with the whole idea. He didn’t want to write
another copycat comic: he was convinced he needed a career change if
he was ever really going to make his creative mark.
So he went home and talked through his frustrations with his wife. She
was frustrated with those frustrations and finally told him, “Look, don’t
just quit. You’ve been going through the motions for years, doing what
everybody else was telling you to do. Do this one the way you want to
do it, put everything into this new comic and see what happens. You can
always quit later.”
Stanley thought about it and finally decided, why not? He didn’t have
anything to lose – he might as well go for it. So, using his pen name of
Stan Lee, he created The Fantastic Four with artist Jack Kirby - and was
as shocked as anybody when huge sales figures came in a few months
later. His uncle quickly ordered him to make more superhero comics, so
Stan did. In short order came an incredible creative burst that produced
Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The X-Men, Iron Man, The Mighty
Thor and The Avengers – it was like something inside Stanley had been
finally unleashed.
And that something began to find its way into every part of the business.
Stan rebranded the whole line, calling it “Marvel Comics,” and gave
every cover the same distinctive design. He pushed the boundaries of
traditional comics in every way; in-jokes abounded, and adventures were
continued from issue to issue for the first time, just like soap operas.
Stories were also more adult; they were an entirely new combination
of the boy-girl dramas Stan had concocted for his romance comics and
traditional superhero sagas. Also, for the first time, an irreverent humor
that permeated almost every page.
The world at large took notice of the big Marvel movement. Soon
respectable magazines like Esquire and Rolling Stone were publishing
serious profiles of Stan and Marvel. Their readership now didn’t stop
when kids turned twelve; college kids were reading his stuff and loving
it.
Stan “the Man” Lee suddenly found that he had become a comics legend
by creating an entirely new narrative for the industry. By the mid-70’s,
he had made his mark and, finally, was ready to move on.
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And he did – to Hollywood.
It took Stan Lee another couple of decades to find big success in
superhero movies, but The Avengers was crowned the box office
champion of 2012 – as the popularity of all the Marvel characters Stan
Lee created fifty years ago hit its all-time high, mostly because many of
the storytelling techniques Lee used in the comics were finally applied
to the film adaptations.
Stan Lee created a narrative for himself and Marvel that produced a hip,
fun and smart image that was personality-driven and fit perfectly with
the growing youth movement of the 60’s. More importantly, he applied
it to every aspect of the Marvel business – creating a money-making
mythology that culminated recently with the Disney Corporation
purchasing the company for four billion dollars.
The Super Power of StorySelling
StorySelling is all about using a personal or professional narrative to
make your brand more high-profile and more profitable – and what Stan
Lee did is one of the ultimate examples of how StorySelling can spark
an incredible level of ongoing success.
In this chapter, an excerpt from our book, StorySelling: Hollywood
Secrets Revealed, we’re going to analyze the “Marvelous Steps” that
Stan Lee took to implement StorySelling concepts – and show you how
those concepts can be applied in a practical way in a business, as well
as your Celebrity Brand.
Before we get into those Marvelous Steps, however, we want to point
out something: What’s really interesting about Stan’s story is that the
idea to create a new superhero comic wasn’t his, it was his boss’s. And
the idea to create a new kind of superhero comic wasn’t his, it was his
wife’s.
What was his idea? The StorySelling.
If we were to actually put down on paper the overall brand narrative he
had in his head, it would be this: “An upstart with no money and few
resources challenges the world’s biggest comic company on their own
turf. Through humor, intelligence and innovation, that upstart creates an
entirely new approach to comics that brings in a whole new audience.”
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The four most effective StorySelling plots are these:
1. “Overcoming the Monster”: defeating an overwhelming
adversary
2. “Rags to Riches”: achieving massive success from humble
beginnings
3. “The Quest”: Searching for a new solution to an old problem
4. “Rebirth”: Like the fabled phoenix, rising from the ashes to
live again
All FOUR are contained in Stan’s narrative. DC Comics (home of
Superman and Batman), was the “Monster” that had to be overcome,
Marvel quickly went from “Rags to Riches,” “The Quest” was Stan
Lee’s journey to find a new way of doing comic books that would give
him some career satisfaction, and “Rebirth”…well, Stan Lee and Marvel
both experienced that after both almost went out of business.
So, practically speaking, you can see how those four plotlines are
directly responsible for a great deal of Marvel’s successful StorySelling.
Now, we’re certainly not saying Stan ever consciously articulated any
of this – for him, it was a simple matter of doing things the way he
wanted to do things. But, being a natural-born storyteller and promoter
(the combination is crucial), he instinctively understood how to put
these principles into action, so he could stop blindly reacting to the
competition and create his own narrative – which is precisely what
StorySelling is all about.
And comic book readers dug that story; he and Marvel became authentic
in a way he had never been before and suddenly, next to Spider-Man
and Iron Man, Superman and Batman looked like the squarest dudes in
town.
And is that any different than what Apple did to Microsoft? Nope.
With that in mind, let’s examine a few steps Stan took to make his
StorySelling a vital part of the Marvel mythos from top to bottom - and
how you should think about doing the same for yourself.
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Marvelous Step #1: Start Subtle
Stan Lee never came out and said he was going to change the face of
comic books. Instead, he let the work itself do the talking and attract the
attention.
When you begin your StorySelling efforts, do the same. Concentrate
on bringing your narrative to life in your actual Celebrity Brand – or
your product or service - before you make claims you might not deliver
on. When you see something is starting to work, you can then exploit
that successful narrative. The Hall of Failures is littered with overhyped
products that fell with a thud heard around the world when they didn’t live
up to the expectations created by their parent company (The infamous
Ford Edsel, “New Coke,” Microsoft’s Zune line of media players, etc.)
– so don’t hype unless you’re sure you’ve got the back-up to prove it.
Implement this Step by Asking Yourself: What “proof” can I generate
of my own expertise or product/service superiority? Will it take the form
of outstanding performance, believable testimonials, branded books or
videos, or simply product popularity?
Marvelous Step #2: Be Bold When It’s Time
Stan didn’t know he had a hit on his hands until he was ready to go
to press with the third issue of The Fantastic Four. At that point, he
decided it was time to go full throttle – and he boldly put across the top
of the comic cover, “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine,” a claim
that continued to stay put for decades. Similarly, Steve Jobs, after Apple
had attracted a devoted group of customers, spent a record-breaking
amount of money on a commercial entitled 1984 that ran only one time
during the Super Bowl of that same year to make his own monster
StorySelling statement.
When you’ve got proof of your greatness, go with it. Until then, wait it
out until your StorySelling is recognized in one way or another.
Implement this Step by Asking Yourself: How can I best exploit my
proof? What’s the most memorable way to promote this fact that’s
consistent with my StorySelling narrative – and appropriate to my
audience?
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Marvelous Step #3: StorySell Everywhere
Just like a great cook can make dishes from virtually every part of an
animal, Stan Lee decided to look for StorySelling possibilities in every
inch of his comic books – even the features into which publishers rarely
put any thought or energy. Stan gave the letters pages hilarious names
(Iron Man’s was Sock It to Shellhead), he filled a page in each comic
with what he called Bullpen Bulletins, spotlighting and cross-promoting
other Marvel comics, and he started a wacky fan club, The Merry Marvel
Marching Society (or MMMS, for short), that was a huge success. He
took what other comic books saw as obligations and approached them
as opportunities – and stood out from the other publishers by creating
an awesome bond with its readers.
Implement this Step by Asking Yourself: What overlooked opportunities
are there in my industry that I can use for StorySelling purposes? How
can I insert my narrative into those areas in a creative and impactful
way?
Marvelous Step #4: Don’t Forget the Faces
There was something else Stan Lee did that was unprecedented in his
industry – he began to give the artists and other writers (and even the
guys who lettered the word balloons!) funny nicknames in the story
credits – in a business where nobody had even put credits on stories
before. Not only that, but he frequently talked about them in the Marvel
Bullpen Bulletins.
Result? The men and women behind Marvel Comics became almost as
important as the superheroes were to the readership, creating an even
stronger bond. Stan, of course, put himself the furthest out front, with his
own regular column in the Bullpen Bulletins and regularly commenting
on his own stories with goofy footnotes.
The lesson? Always make sure to have some kind of strong personality
involved with your StorySelling efforts, whether it’s you, someone who
works for you or even a hired spokesperson; people identify, of course,
with people and create the emotional involvement you want to create
with your narrative.
Implement this Step by Asking Yourself: Who will be the face (or faces)
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of my StorySelling? How does the chosen personality (or personalities)
fit into my narrative?
Marvelous Step #5: Always Engage
There’s one specific strong element to everything Stan Lee did – he
engaged comic book readers on a level than had never happened before.
Through his letters pages, Bullpen Bulletins, credits, story footnotes
and fan club, he was constantly talking directly to his readers in an
entertaining way. And he found unique ways to turn even negatives into
positives with this attitude. For instance, the Marvel Universe grew so
complicated that readers began writing in to complain when a story got
something wrong or contradicted an earlier story. This was a growing
problem – so Stan decided that every reader who correctly identified
a mistake would win a “No-Prize.” What was a No-Prize? Well, the
winner would receive an envelope in the mail with a big announcement
printed on it that their No-Prize was inside.
What was in the envelope? Nothing.
Implement this Step by Asking Yourself: What opportunities do I have
to engage in a new and unique way with my customers? How can I make
that engagement as memorable as possible?
Marvelous Step #6: Continue to Evolve
Stan Lee’s StorySelling evolved in a very organic way over time;
he kept spotting new things to do with the comic book format as his
StorySelling efforts continued to gain traction. He also deepened the
Marvel narrative as it progressed. As more and more readers regarded
Marvel as the cool “alternative” to DC, Stan made more and more fun
of DC in his editorial content to reinforce that positioning and to reflect
Marvel’s growing success.
That growth occurred in the actual comics’ content as well. In the late
‘60’s, Marvel became the first major comic book company to break the
Comics Code Authority’s long list of rules. The Code had it that you
couldn’t portray drug use in any comic story – but, as addiction was
becoming a serious problem with teens in the late 60’s, the only way Stan
Lee could take on the problem in Spider-Man was disregarding the Code
– so he did, and created a very memorable, talked-about series of issues.
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Implement this Step by Asking Yourself: Is my StorySelling keeping
pace with what’s happening with my business? Am I reflecting the
present – or only the past?
Stan Lee’s big mistake during his first twenty years in the comic book
business was seeing it as a job and not an opportunity. Most of you
have probably made that same mistake at one time or another – it’s the
difference between an employee and an entrepreneur. When he finally
saw that he had the power to make something completely new happen
with his comics, he used that power – and found out that it packed a lot
more punch than any that The Hulk ever threw.
When you develop a strong StorySelling narrative and implement it
correctly, as Stan did, it feeds on itself, it grows stronger and stronger,
and it opens up more and more layers of opportunity as you move
forward with it. There were very few businesses in 1961 sillier, more
inconsequential and perceived to have less of a future than comic books
– and yet Stanley Lieber took that business and transformed it in such a
dynamic way through StorySelling that, a half-century later, it’s paying
its biggest dividends ever – both for himself and the company.
And for that, we salute Stan with the one word he uses as a sign-off in
whatever he writes: “Excelsior!”
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About Nick
An Emmy-Award-Winning Director and Producer, Nick Nanton, Esq.
is known as the Top Agent to Celebrity Experts around the world
for his role in developing and marketing business and professional
experts through personal branding, media, marketing and PR. Nick
is recognized as the nation’s leading expert on personal branding as Fast Company
Magazine’s Expert Blogger on the subject and lectures regularly on the topic at major
universities around the world. His book Celebrity Branding You®, while an easy and
informative read, has also been used as a text book at the University level.
The CEO and Chief StoryTeller at The Dicks + Nanton Celebrity Branding Agency, an
international agency with more than 1800 clients in 33 countries, Nick is an award-winning
director, producer and songwriter who has worked on everything from large
scale events to television shows – with the likes of Steve Forbes, Brian Tracy, Jack Can-field
(The Secret, Creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series), Michael E. Gerber,
Tom Hopkins, Dan Kennedy and many more.
Nick is recognized as one of the top thought-leaders in the business world and has
co-authored 26 best-selling books alongside Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield, Dan Kennedy,
Dr. Ivan Misner (Founder of BNI), Jay Conrad Levinson (Author of the Guerilla Marketing
Series), Super Agent Leigh Steinberg and many others, including the breakthrough hit
Celebrity Branding You!®.
Nick has led the marketing and PR campaigns that have driven more than 1000 authors
to Best-Seller status. Nick has been seen in USA Today, The Wall St. Journal, Newsweek,
BusinessWeek, Inc. Magazine, The New York Times, Entrepreneur® Magazine, Forbes,
FastCompany.com. and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX television affiliates
around the country, as well as CNN, FOX News, CNBC, and MSNBC from coast to coast.
Nick is a member of the Florida Bar, holds a JD from the University Of Florida Levin Col-lege
Of Law, as well as a BSBA in Finance from the University of Florida’s Warrington
College of Business. Nick is a voting member of The National Academy of Recording
Arts & Sciences (NARAS, Home to The GRAMMYs), a member of The National Academy
of Television Arts & Sciences (Home to the Emmy Awards), co-founder of the National
Academy of Best-Selling Authors, a 16-time Telly Award winner, and spends his spare
time working with Young Life, Downtown Credo Orlando, Entrepreneurs International
and rooting for the Florida Gators with his wife Kristina, and their three children, Brock,
Bowen and Addison.
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About JW
JW Dicks, Esq. is America’s foremost authority on using per-sonal
branding for business development. He has created
some of the most successful brand and marketing cam-paigns
for business and professional clients to make them
the credible celebrity experts in their field and build multi-million dollar busi-nesses
164
using their recognized status.
JW Dicks has started, bought, built, and sold a large number of businesses
over his 39-year career and developed a loyal international following as a
business attorney, author, speaker, consultant, and business experts’ coach.
He not only practices what he preaches by using his strategies to build his
own businesses, he also applies those same concepts to help clients grow
their business or professional practice the ways he does.
JW has been extensively quoted in such national media as USA Today, The
Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Inc., Forbes.com, CNBC.com, and Fortune
Small Business. His television appearances include ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX
affiliate stations around the country. He is the resident branding expert for
Fast Company’s internationally syndicated blog and is the publisher of Ce-lebrity
Expert Insider, a monthly newsletter targeting business and brand
building strategies.
JW has written over 22 books, including numerous best-sellers, and has
been inducted into the National Academy of Best-Selling Authors®. JW is
married to Linda, his wife of 39 years, and they have two daughters, two
granddaughters and two Yorkies. JW is a 6th generation Floridian and splits
his time between his home in Orlando and beach house on the Florida west
coast.

GOING TRADIGITAL
Chapter 17
GOING TRADIGITAL
By Angela Johnson & Nadeem Damani
Do you recognize this?
You’ve acquired a list of prospects. You do what sales people have done
since the advent of the telephone:
“Hello, Mrs. Smith. I’m Angela Johnson with Farmers Insurance—” and
before you can say anything else, you hear that horrible, heart-sinking
click. Not to mention the restrictions of the Do Not Call list!
How many of you drive through a neighborhood and secretly wish that
you could just knock on all those doors and introduce yourself? Door-to-door
sales were tough, but what a great way to meet and get to know new
prospects—for that magical price all salesmen like, free. Unfortunately,
there aren’t many people home during the day anymore and restrictive
city ordinances have virtually ended this form of marketing.
Fortunately for us, there is an inherent lie in the idea that technology is
killing the traditional. Consumers still need to be able to communicate
with someone to find the best product for them.
It’s just that the way that’s done in the twenty-first century isn’t over the
phone or on someone’s front porch anymore. The end result is still the
same—connecting to potential and actual customers, but the way it’s
done is changing. Now, it can be done on-line via social media.
To give you an example of what we’re talking about in terms of using
social media for prospecting, let’s look at a very successful traditional
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prospecting technique and how you could easily take it online: the direct
mail campaign. Angela was able to grow her business fast and steady
through direct mail marketing. However, she also realized that direct
mail can get very expensive very fast.
Sometimes it can be shocking to stop and calculate the acquisition cost
of a new client, Angela knew how much she spent per month on all of
the costs associated with the mailings. But as the years went on and she
had gathered all of the low hanging fruit, a wise friend suggested she
calculate the current cost of acquiring a new client. Can you believe it
was $167?
Now, Angela still does direct mailing because mailing directly to her
community does generate leads. However, she’s also taken the idea
behind her direct mailer and has posted the same information online.
When she posts the information from the mailer online it gets results.
When she sends out the mailer it still gets results. The latter costs money,
the former costs time—but that’s what we have to spend to ensure our
businesses have a constantly filled prospect pipeline. And that’s what
makes Angela a successful tradigital business owner!
Likewise, Nadeem has successfully used social media to generate sales
as well as develop his personal brand. Through consistent social media
usage, Nadeem has branded himself as a life insurance expert.
In one Facebook post, Nadeem posted a YouTube video about life
insurance. A Facebook fan that saw the post contacted Nadeem, and
made an appointment for the very next morning. In salesease, that is
now a “hot prospect” And hot it was. That appointment resulted in seven
permanent life insurance policies, generating over $10K in commission!
This doesn’t happen every day, but it does happen. When a prospect is
ready to purchase but is unsure who to call, a status update from you can
spur them to action and land them squarely in your lap.
Our goal is to help your business Go Tradigital as easily as possible.
We’re the first to admit it. Figuring out how to harness the incredible
power social media offers isn’t always easy. We have made our share of
mistakes. We have accidentally found social media strategies that work.
We have done our due diligence and have slogged through the research.
Through it all, we have honed our social media skills.
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At one point, many years ago, many thought that social media would
never supplant traditional forms of marketing. They were wrong. Social
media allows us to do everything the traditional forms of marketing
once did—letting people know who we are, finding new prospects,
but because it personalizes the whole transaction on line, it gives us
something the traditional never could: more access and wider spheres
of influence.
Please allow us to show you what we have learned so you don’t have to
make the same mistakes we did. For our goal is to have you enjoying
the fruits of social media far quicker than we did. Here are six tips to get
you on your way!
1. Blend Traditional and Digital
More and more businesses are using social media to attract new clients,
to keep existing clients and build relationships with clients at a deeper
level. But many have shied away from using social media because
they’re scared of it or they don’t understand it, or they’ve used it and it
“didn’t work.”
We coined the word tradigital because we believe successful business
owners use both the traditional and the digital to be successful. Have
you ever heard the expression, “don’t throw the baby out with the
bathwater”? That’s exactly our motto with Going Tradigital. You don’t
have to stop using traditional marketing and servicing methods. You can
still do business in ways that you’re comfortable and that many of your
clients prefer too, which is face-to-face in the office or over the kitchen
table.
But you can also integrate all the Internet has to offer, both in your
marketing and in your daily interactions with your current clients
and prospects because there is now a large portion of consumers (and
growing daily) who are more comfortable connecting online.
2. Complete All Profiles
No matter which social media platform you use, thoroughly completing
your personal or business profile information is critical. A completed
profile will help others find you. We can’t stress enough how important
it is that you don’t leave your profiles unfinished. That would be the
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Change Agents
equivalent of mailing out an incomplete resume or telling potential
customers about only part of your expertise.
Furthermore, a partially completed profile could send the message that
you aren’t thorough or don’t follow through on tasks.
Having access to only partial information that was frequently outdated
was the demise of the phone book. Consumers today expect more. When
a person who prefers to conduct research online can’t find you, or finds
incorrect or incomplete information, they won’t take the time to search
for your phone number and call for more information. They will move
on to the next business that does have their information online.
Nadeem is a perfect example of this type of client. There is a bikram
yoga studio in his area that he has gone to several times, but always on
the weekend. One weekday recently he had time to take a class and went
to their Facebook page to find out the weekday schedule. However, they
didn’t have a Facebook page. Strike one. So he did a Google search
for the business and went to their web site, but it was no longer active.
Strike two.
We’re all accustomed to hearing “Three strikes, you’re out” but in
this case, Nadeem only allowed this business two strikes. He was (and
remains) unwilling to look up their phone number, call, leave a voicemail
and wait for a return call to find out their class schedule. Instead he is
now attending yoga at a studio with an online presence that even has an
iPhone app showing their daily class schedule.
This example isn’t the exception. It’s the rule with those who prefer to
do research online. Be sure those folks can find and interact with your
business online!
3. Grow Your Online Network
Once you have created your profile(s), connecting with people is the next
step. Your social media success depends on developing an engaged audi-ence
for your posts and getting people interested in you as you become
genuinely interested in them. That’s when the good connections (the ones
that can lead to new business) start to happen.
Just like building any network, online or off, you connect first with people
you know, and all the platforms have made it very easy to do just that.
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Your existing contacts are like a gold mine. These are your key contacts,
friends, clients, family members and current and former co-workers.
They know you well and will not hesitate to add you and may even feel
complimented that you invited them to join your networks.
This can be done quickly and easily. Simply download a list of contacts
into a workable Excel spreadsheet and then upload the contacts to the
respective platform.
We have found that once you’re connected to friends and clients on
social media, they will start introducing you to old friends and contacts
that you may have lost touch with. You will come across old college
buddies, high school friends or co-workers from previous jobs and have
the opportunity to connect with them.
If you are working in an office with staff, have your staff repeat this
exact same process. This is tapping into the networks of your immediate
network. This can generate great activity on an ongoing basis as staff and
close contacts start advocating your business and start getting involved
on your business page.
However you do it, by connecting with people you already know, you
are building your prospecting and referral database for the future.
4. Find Your Online Brand and Voice
Consumers are using social media to personally connect with friends
and family, so know that when consumers connect with your agency as
a small business, they expect a personal touch from you as well. For best
results, the business owner should take responsibility for developing the
digital brand and voice, then train and monitor the staff or social media
management company on proper usage of that voice and brand.
We see a lot of businesses pass on the responsibility of social media
management to low- level staff members. This is not a good idea, and
the results show it. The posts are usually unemotional, unengaging, and
inconsistent. If you must assign some social media responsibility to a
staff member, make it the marketing manager who already understands
the company brand you want to project.
If you decide to hire a company to manage your digital brand, be sure
that you purchase the largest package of options they have available.
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They will need to do more than just post content daily; they’ll have to
create and manage your business brand and voice, engage with fans,
keep all profiles current and updated, connect with referral sources and
lots more. It’s probably cost-prohibitive for most businesses to hire a
company that will create a truly personal touch, and in the end it’s not
something we recommend. Social media is about connecting personally,
but if you hire a company to do it, they’re not always going to have the
passion or the purpose that you do, and it will be evident to your fans.
5. Use Social Media To Increase Customer Service
Using social media marketing for business consists of creating new
business or servicing and retaining existing business. Moreover, take
out the “social media” part and that’s exactly what business owners
have been doing since marketing was invented.
We’ve talked about creating new business prospects through social
media. Now how do we use social media to service and retain existing
business?
As service levels in other industries rise as a result of social media, we
need to look into ways of increasing our service levels. There are a ton
of ways customer service can be handled thru traditional methods. More
and more companies are using social media to identify customer service
issues and resolving them on social media platforms. Connecting with
clients through social media puts your business in a position to just do
that.
For instance, one of Nadeem’s auto insurance clients was in Germany
and was in process of renting a vehicle. He had a quick question about
whether he should purchase the insurance coverage being offered by the
rental car company. Knowing how active Nadeem is on Facebook and
not having a way to easily call from Germany to Houston, the client sent
a Facebook message to Nadeem. He received it instantly in Houston at
10:30PM. Nadeem was able to answer the question without hesitation
and the client got an instant reply while at the rental car counter. This was
such a delightful experience for client that when he returned to Houston
he sent a thank you email praising the quick service he received.
Many customer service questions, no matter how small, are time
sensitive to clients. They expect an answer or response in minutes or
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hours, not days. We can also hear what some of you are saying. “I can’t
be constantly connected to my PC or smartphone. I can’t be constantly
checking all of my social media networks for questions.” The good
news is this is not necessary. Rest assured you can remain connected
and still have a life!
Most social media platforms have the options to set alerts and
notifications. To be sure questions are answered in a timely manner, just
simply make sure those alerts are set up to let you know when someone
has sent you a message or mentioned your name in a comment. By
doing this, you can make sure you don’t miss an interaction with a client
or prospect who is reaching out to you without having to constantly
monitor your networks.
6. “Begin With The End In Mind”
Stephen Covey’s famous quote is a good one to consider when
starting to develop (or retool) a social media presence. Whatever your
business social media goals, “the end” should always include a vision
of connecting with others in a sincere way. Whether you are currently
utilizing zero, two, or ten types of social media, it is really important to
bring a human connection to posts, tweets, and messages.
It is a common misconception that online friends are not real relationships.
It is very easy to quickly identify those who feel this way. When viewing
their Facebook page, it is a long series of posts broadcasting about what
they sell, with no user engagement. None of their fans or friends “share”
their status updates. No one comments on the posts. In short, no one
cares what they say because the business hasn’t done anything to show
that they recognize their fans as real human beings on the other side of
the screen.
Keeping this in mind, your primary goal for everything you do
using social media should be to build a genuine friendship with our
connections. It is only when this occurs that the true value of social
media will begin to show itself. If you’ve been unsure of what to post or
have been posting content that isn’t getting the results you desire, don’t
worry. It’s never too late to change! Changing this one little thing will
dramatically ramp up the amount of interest your pages receive, and
that’s the secret to successfully using social media.
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About Angela
Angela Johnson obtained a BA in Literature in 1996 and after working
in mid-level management with a major phone company, started her
career as a Farmers Insurance Agent. Angela started a scratch agency
in 2005 and currently has 3800 PIF. She has achieved Topper Club and
Championship multiple times and is a member of President’s Council. Angela has been
honored to address her fellow Agents at many events including Town Hall, Topper Club,
State Conferences and many social media seminars around the country. Although she
began using Social Media solely to keep tabs on her daughter, she quickly embraced
it as a way to build relationships with long lost friends and then as a way to make
new ones.
Angela and Nadeem are co-authors of Going Tradigital: Social Media Made Easy for
Insurance Agents and are in the process of expanding the book into a series for a
variety of industries. By focusing on five key areas, they teach business owners how
to use social media to Increase Prospecting and Sales, Increase Customer Service,
Improve Retention and Cross-Sales, Gain Referrals and Humanize Your Brand.
To learn more about Angela Johnson, Nadeem Damani or how you can Go Tradigital,
visit: www.goingtradigital.com or www.facebook.com/GoingTradigital.
www.GoingTradigital.com
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About Nadeem
Nadeem Damani graduated from UT in 1993 with a BBA in Marketing.
He has been an Insurance Agent with Farmers Insurance since 2002.
His agency is located in Stafford, Texas. His accomplishments and
awards include seven-time Championship designation, eleven-time
Topper Club attendee and one time Million Dollar Round Table qualification. In 2005,
Nadeem Damani was number one in the company out of 16,000 Agents in writing
term life policies. Damani has been actively using Social Media for the last four years
to build his insurance business. He speaks at various company events regarding
his Social Media strategy. He has over 40,000 connections in various Social Media
networks including Twitter, Facebook and G+.
Angela and Nadeem are co-authors of Going Tradigital: Social Media Made Easy for
Insurance Agents and are in the process of expanding the book into a series for a
variety of industries. By focusing on five key areas, they teach business owners how
to use social media to Increase Prospecting and Sales, Increase Customer Service,
Improve Retention and Cross-Sales, Gain Referrals and Humanize Your Brand.
To learn more about Angela Johnson, Nadeem Damani or how you can Go Tradigital,
visit: www.goingtradigital.com or www.facebook.com/GoingTradigital.
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FOR QUALITY OF LIFE
Chapter 18
FOR QUALITY OF LIFE
By Bryan Kiser
In 1991, when I was graduating High School, I signed my classmates
yearbooks as such: “In life find that perfect wave and surf the f*-- out
of it, living everyday like it’s your last, and loving every minute like it’s
your first.” As you might have guessed, I grew up in a coastal town and
I enjoyed the beach, the water, and of course, good surfing waves.
I am long out of High School now and look back on those days fondly.
I am now a Professional Gymnastics Coach, Personal Trainer, and
Business Developer having my own Gymnastics facility in Sugar Land,
TX, USA. Health and fitness has been and is a major part of my life
because of that I am often asked the question from friends, family,
students, and clients: “In such a busy world, with the economy so shifty,
how do I balance MY life so that I can find, and more importantly STICK
TO, a fitness plan without disrupting my career and family life?” The
answer I give is the same, but has different limits and parameters for
everyone, let me explain.
In finding a balance to life, and for our topic, one’s personal health,
fitness, and general well being “is all in the approach!” You must first
ask yourself a series of questions and may even have you concurring
with family and friends to derive your answers. These are the same
questions that you would ask if you were starting a new project at work,
a new business, or even a new relationship. First, decide where it is you
are going or would like to go, “What is the end result that I desire?”
The next questions relate closely to one another but the answers won’t
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Change Agents
be correct if you haven’t “laid in stone” the answer to the first. What is
the amount of time and money I am willing to spend? How does this
new goal affect MY life, MY family life, and MY professional career?
What parameters or limits should I set from the start so that I don’t go
overboard or let vanity run amuck? Is this something I could or am
willing to share with my friends and/or family or this time I need to
have to myself? Like I said, the answers are the same for everyone, but
maybe with different limits or parameters. The questions are the same
as you would ask in business or relationships however, the one MAJOR
thing that most of the time gets missed, skipped, and/or omitted in the
answer to ALL of these questions is the “ME” part.
“What is the end result that I desire?” In business, it maybe to make
a certain amount of profit or move up the ladder to a specific level of
recognition or position. In family life, it maybe to take the family on
a special vacation, move to a bigger better home, or save a specified
amount of money to retire at a desire age, but when looking at health and
fitness, YOU have to decide what YOU want YOUR end result to be...
the “REAL” answer is going to surprise you. Is the desired end result
to look like Mr. Olympia? To be capable of lifting a specific amount of
weight by a specified time? To run a mile? A marathon? A triathlon? or
maybe to just make it thru the CrossFit class down at the local CrossFit
studio. What is your vision for YOU? This is where that “all about ME”
part I spoke of earlier comes into play and when answering this question
you must be VERY selfish, this is YOUR health you are planning out!
Another thing that has to be part of this answer and part of the “ME”
within it, is that this plan actually should have NO END RESULT.
What? Why would I say that? The question was, what end result was
desired and now I am very clearly stating you shouldn’t have an end
result? Hmmmm.
As in life, business, and relationships, this starter question will be used
at the end and the beginning of each and every “perfect wave” you surf,
meaning that each “goal” you accomplish you will reflect on, take from,
adding the experiences and lessons learned, and then start over asking
the same question as YOU move to the next “wave” or chapter in YOUR
life... The “end result” being accomplished or pronounced is an “EPIC
FAIL” only when you die.
The next four questions that I outlined all relate to the answer of the
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first and CANNOT be answered until the first question is successfully
defined. To get whatever the desired result may be out of the first
question, you will have to spend a specified amount of money, which
in turn will affect your budget, which will alter your life, the life of
your family, and even your professional career. Setting the parameters
and limits on the desired result will also dictate who you are willing
to share this with or if this is needed time spent doing your own thing.
WOW! Bryan, you have just taken such a simple thing, “starting an
exercise program” and made it so complex and complicated, does it
really needed to be so?
The simple answer is YES! Why do you think so many people each
and every year set as a “New Years Resolution” to join a gym or get
in shape, and by mid-February have already QUIT? This is a LIFE
decision, not really a WORKOUT decision. Here in the next few
paragraphs the reasons for having “Integrity to Yourself” is probably
the most important set of words for you to use. Set for YOURSELF
those limits and parameters that will allow you to accomplish the TRUE
desired results. It will BALANCE your life and give you peace knowing
that YOU have set YOURSELF in a position to accomplish your health
and fitness goals in sync with your family, friends, and career. The peace
comes from knowing that YOU accomplished a rewarding balance in
your life that most people long for, but only a few will take the time to
do the due diligence to produce that balanced outcome.
Most people think “Integrity” (the adherence to moral and ethical
principles; soundness of moral character, HONESTY – as defined by
Dictionary.com) applies only toward beings outside YOU. So in essence,
you are honorable and honest to the outside WORLD all the while lying
and cheating YOURSELF. It is actually how most of us were raised, to
self-sacrifice, take the hard road, and help your fellow man...don’t get
me wrong, these are ALL good principles and ALL should apply in one’s
life, HOWEVER, YOU must also apply “Integrity to YOURSELF” in
YOUR life. YOU must learn to make decisions that are HONEST and
that do not cheat YOU; treating your health and fitness goals as you
would every other important part of your life is not only essential – IT
IS IMPERATIVE! Keep this quote in mind, “The best investment you
will ever make is the investment in YOU!” Without your health and
well-being you really have nothing...
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Change Agents
Balance, try Googling that word, oh the definitions you can find...no
wonder it is so hard to achieve! Dictionary.com has it is as: “a state
of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight or amount.”
The answer to the desired end result of your health and fitness program
is not actually bringing it to a conclusion, but finding BALANCE!
As I discussed earlier, YOU are not looking for an “end result” that is
final and you are done, YOU and many like YOU are looking to find a
program or regimen that YOU can enjoy and STICK TO that does not
overtake YOUR life but rather can be done long term in BALANCE
and HARMONY with YOUR life. Without approaching it like you
would any other part of your life, in a planned out, systematic, realistic
manner; this cannot be done! It is easy to rob Peter to pay Paul, but in
the end one of them winds up taking a hit... Just like it is easy to focus
on just ONE AREA of YOUR life, but in the end the other aspects,
ALL OF THEM, TAKE THE HIT. I would have to call that, “EPIC
FAILURE!” Why? …you may ask, simple, because what you desired to
achieve YOU allowed to ROB from other areas of YOUR life bringing
about shortfalls, pitfalls, and lack of effort all because YOU did not take
the time to be HONEST and TRUE to YOURSELF and that lack of
“Integrity to YOURSELF” breeds a lack of Integrity to the whole.
Don’t get me wrong, the path you may have chosen without taking the
time to answer the above questions may have made you the fittest or
richest person on the planet, but you neglected and/or lost your family,
you gave up your friends, you blew your career and NOW your level
of “Integrity” is not only questioned by all of those you let down, but
even by your inner self that by not taking the time for due diligence on
a plan, has brought you to ruin. This can happen in ANY and EVERY
area of your life! YOU may set parameters for success in business that
breed the same lack of “Integrity to YOURSELF” producing a YOU
that is overweight, on 20 or more toxic prescription medications, giving
you NO REAL quality of life and thought to the world around you.
YOU display the utmost “Integrity” however, because you have lacked
showing the same to YOURSELF and you get the same end result, EPIC
FAIL!
Who knew that the words I wrote in my classmates High School
yearbooks would be emblazoned in my mind all these years, and if you
ask people that know me well, I live each and every word of that to
the FULLEST! I have however, translated my “philosophical lines”
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and use them daily as a guide to stay within the parameters of balance
that gives ME “Integrity to MYSELF” and allows ME to show and
bring “Integrity” to my ENTIRE life. What the 18-year-old kid missed
in writing those lines is that in YOUR life, YOU are not riding “one
single wave,” but you are riding several waves SIMULTANEOUSLY,
it is each of our jobs to keep them in HARMONY and BALANCE so
that we TRULY can “live everyday as if it were our last and love every
minute like it was our first”; to me personally, the “surfing the f*-- out
of it” will ALWAYS apply, I just believe a person should always do each
and everything to it’s fullest and enjoy it!
As the Country and Western Superstar George Strait sings in his award-winning
song, Here for a Good Time, “When I’m gone put it in stone I
LEFT NOTHING BEHIND, I’m not here for a long time; I’m here for
a good time!” So to live up to “GO BIG OR GO HOME,” the focus
can NEVER be on “one wave” or “one area of life,” it MUST be on
the whole knowing that for each one of the “waves” or “areas of life”
being ridden, they all connect as a part of us to create what we all call
LIFE and now knowing, and understanding, even better that if YOU
allow one to falter, YOU lose that “Perfect” wave, that BALANCE OF
INTEGRITY TO LIFE AND SELF.
Oh I almost forgot, the workout programs!!! Ha-ha! I think you have
figured it out by now, the “program” or “activity” you choose to
participate in doesn’t really matter. There are hundreds if not thousands
of programs, regimens, routines, etc. The “program” or “activity” really
is not a problem or an issue. I will preface the previous statement that
due diligence must be done here as well, but that is mostly to find and
figure out what you like and dislike. In finding what you like, is it a
“lifetime activity or program”... this is important and this will have to be
reviewed as you age to determine factors of benefit. However, do what
you can as long as you can, do what you love as long as you love it!
Like I just suggested, be sure to find ones that you like and enjoy doing.
I suggest picking more than one and changing the activity, program,
routine, or regimen every 3 to 6 months.
Now, in taking a better look at this, you can clearly see it is not an
exercise activity that matters, and it is my desire that you take from this
chapter the knowledge of how to integrate a workout program, stay fit
and healthy, and give yourself TRUE QUALITY OF LIFE AS LONG
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AS YOU LIVE. The key to that process is NOT THE ACTIVITY, the
key is BALANCE and “Integrity to Yourself” don’t rob Peter to pay
Paul! Do yourself the honor of taking the time to do the due diligence
of your LIFE and put in place the proper parameters and limits that fit
YOU. After that is done, sky’s the limit! Not just in achieving your
fitness and health goals, but in achieving your life goals. The peace of
mind and quality of life that you create will be noted and envied by
those around you...tell them to read my chapter in this book I can help
them achieve it too!
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About Bryan
Bryan K. Kiser, BS, CSCS, CPT is a Professional Gymnastics Coach,
Personal Trainer, and Business Developer.
Bryan has been a Professional Men’s Gymnastics Coach since
age 15, where he started out as an Assistant to the Head Coach at the Corpus
Christi Athletic Club. At age 18, he moved to Stafford, Texas where he graduated
High School and coached for Bill Austin’s Gymnastics. After some successes at Bill
Austin’s, Bryan moved to Houston Gymnastics Club at the JCC of Houston, where he
worked under now long time friend and mentor, Tim Erwin. With the guidance and
influence of Tim, Bryan achieved many of his goals and assisted Tim in growing the
Houston National Invitational, which is now one of the largest Men’s, Women’s, and
Tumbling/Trampoline Competitions in the country. To date, Bryan still teams up with
Tim to assist in the fundraising, equipment layout/setup, and actual running to this
prestigious event.
Bryan just finished a “business turnaround” for Sugar Land Gymnastics, where
he took a run-down gymnastics facility with 120 total students and made it the
“Premier” Gymnastics Training Facility in the area boasting just shy of 1500 students!
In between all of this, Bryan has trained and worked with, since he is also a personal
trainer, competitive bodybuilder, and strength and conditioning specialist, some of
the top athletes in various sports. People of note would be: Light Weight World Champ
Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz, who Bryan worked with during his Golden Gloves career, and
Jennifer Becerra, IFBB Ms Fitness Pro.
Bryan has had numerous State, Regional, and National Champions now on the Men’s
and Women’s side of Gymnastics. Bryan and his partners, now known as “TEAM
OLYMPUS,” are currently in the final part of the process to open up OLYMPUS ELITE
GYMNASTICS in Sugar Land, Texas.
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THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF HIGHLY SUCESSFUL REAL ESTATE AGENTS
Chapter 19
THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF
HIGHLY SUCCESFUL REAL
ESTATE AGENTS
By Carin Nguyen
“People Don’t Care How Much You Know Until They Know How
Much You Care.” ~ John Maxwell
When I got my real estate license a decade ago, I expected to get some
direction on how to be a successful real estate agent. It took me a few
months to realize that was not going to happen, so I hired a coach. It
was the most strategic decision I made. It provided me with structure
and gave me a preview of success before the market tanked in 2006.
The switched flipped and I found myself surrounded by underwater
homeowners and what seemed like an overnight change in my business.
I quickly learned about BPOs (Broker Price Opinions) and REO/
foreclosure sales. I combined that knowledge and the skills learned
from coaching and built an REO empire. I started with only a part-time
assistant and rapidly grew to a team of 18 selling 896 homes in my
best year. Along the way, a culmination of events happened that would
lead me to open my own real estate brokerage. As the market worsened,
more and more agents fled from the business. I was perplexed by the
reduction of services provided to agents from both existing and start up
brokerages, so I decided to go the opposite direction and do all I could
to offer as much I could to the agents. The most valuable tool would
be coaching and we would not be a “virtual” office. I wanted to bring
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accountability into our industry and specifically into our brokerage.
Accountability became the cornerstone of our business model. I thrive
with change, and believe me, I know I am in the minority. Versatility
is a must as the market is constantly in a state of change. I expect that
my business will grow with every shift. Each time we have experienced
a severe swing or shift in the market, I have been forced to react and
think outside the box. The more I embrace the changes, the faster I grow
and the more successful I become. I am on a mission to teach others to
embrace change along with the other Principles of Success listed below.
Let’s dive in so you can experience success too!
Principle 1: The Learning Process
is Never Ending
The more you know, the more you can control. If you have the desire
to succeed at a very high level, you must be consumed by learning and
mastering your craft. You too must remain relevant. You must keep up.
The real estate industry is ever changing. No one will ever know all
there is to know because it changes fast. You have to learn to move with
it! For me, this is one of the most appealing aspects of the business.
While most of the obvious sources provide traditional industry
information and education, they generally lack creativity and relevance.
I’ve found the most valuable are real estate agents who are already
succeeding at a high level (within as well as outside your market), and
seminars outside of the real estate industry. Many of the most effective
ideas I have ever implemented in my business are a direct result of
masterminding with other top agents. Sadly, I did not discover that
goldmine earlier in my career. Looking back, I was probably too proud
and too intimidated to pick up the phone and ask a competitor. Now, I
get calls from agents across the country as well as in my market asking
me for help. Top producing agents are usually pretty giving of their
knowledge, so if you have not already, swallow your pride and ask for
help from someone that is doing more business than you.
The second goldmine is engaging outside the industry. If you have
been to even a handful of real estate seminars or workshops, you know
that most are repetitive. Other industries face similar challenges when
it comes to marketing, leadership or general business operations. It is
exciting to venture onto their turf to hear and learn about how other
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industries are addressing some of our same issues I encounter. Do
whatever it takes to gain as much knowledge as you can as fast as you
can, and never stop the thirst for knowledge.
Principle 2: Gain Experience
Many “How to Find the Best Agent” articles mention the importance
of experience. I agree that experience is by far the #1 trait to look for,
but be careful not to confuse experience with tenure. The value of an
agent comes from how many transactions they have completed and how
well they know the market, contract, addendums and overall process. As
with any trade or skill, you begin to master it after thousands of hours of
practice. You need repetition, not just time.
The dilemma is how to gain the experience if you have not closed a
large volume of business yet. It’s a ‘Catch 22.’ You need the experience
to gain the business and you need business to gain experience. The
way to gain experience quickly is to shadow a top-producing agent or
join an established real estate team. By shadowing an agent or joining
a team, you will be exposed to the entire process many times over.
They will already have a steady stream of business that you can begin
working with immediately. With this immediate volume of business,
you will gain experience at an exponentially faster rate than the average
agent. Eventually, you will reach a point that you can break away
from shadowing or working on the team and establish your own self-sustaining
business.
Principle 3: Be a Professional and
Always Keep Your Cool
This may sound like an obvious one, but I can tell you from experience
that emotions run high more often than not. Nothing good ever comes
from drama or high emotions and this behavior is not limited to one
particular group. It will come from your clients, lenders, escrow officers,
attorneys, cross sale agents and inspectors. If you are not an even-tempered
person by nature, you must quickly learn the skills of how to
keep your cool and remain professional. Your response will dictate the
outcome. Your calm and professional approach will be the Super Glue
that keeps the deal together. Everyone within the transaction has the
same end goal...to close the deal. Many times, we are viewed more as
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“opposing teams” since we may each represent a different side, but we
need to remember “the win” is the same for both sides. Keep your cool
while you keep your focus.
Here are some deal-saving tips to try when a problem or challenge arises:
a) Do not call your client and tell them about the problem. Now,
I am not saying to withhold important information from them.
What I am saying is that you want to problem solve on your
own first so that you can come to them with a solution. Avoid
the emotional roller coaster. They are already stressed enough
as it is. I have lost several deals because I was too quick to
involve my client. I inevitably found a solution on these deals,
but because they were mad or frustrated with one of the other
parties, they cancelled.
b) Exhaust all of the options. Brainstorm for a resolution and if you
are unable to come up with one, ask your broker and peers for
suggestions. Sometimes an unrelated party provides immediate
clarity.
c) If it is a lending challenge, call other lenders to see what options
might be possible.
Most objections and issues that occur can be resolved, but we throw
in the towel too soon or we create more drama. I am often told by my
clients that my job looks easy. This used to upset me, because I know the
job is far from easy. I took on the drama they never saw, so everything
appeared smooth and easy to them. I then realized they were paying me
a huge compliment. I made it look easy and that wasn’t a bad thing.
That was my job! Now I strive to hear them say I make this look easy!
It means that I have done my job well.
Principle 4: Understand and
Know the Numbers Intimately
All top producers look at the statistical data of their local market daily
and keep abreast of stats in their state and the country. Why is it so
important to know market stats? Besides the obvious reason to monitor
supply in order to gauge demand, you are looking for trends that will
affect your clients as well as your business. You must also know the
numbers within your own business. You need to track what works and
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what does not. Constantly look for changes in the trends so you can
immediately implement changes in your business. Being proactive
versus reactive will have an immediate, positive impact on your success.
Principle 5: Listen More Than You Speak
Listen intently with the intention to understand, not respond, debate
or defend. It is imperative to fully understand the end goal of the
homebuyer or seller. If we are not intentional in listening, we will miss
their true wants and needs. By nature, when we listen to someone speak,
we tend to only hear select words because we are busy formulating our
response. As a result we miss the entire message of what was said. This
“selective listening” can cause us to make false assumptions. Get out of
assumption and into understanding! Always ask questions. This is the
ultimate sign you care and are focused on the end result for your client.
There is no such thing as asking too many questions. Once the deal is
over, the questions should not stop. Don’t forget to ask for feedback.
One of the most powerful feedback questions is, “On a scale of 1-10,
please rate ... (the quality of service, etc.).” On anything less than a 10,
ask what it would take to make it a 10.
Principle 6: Fanatical Follow-up and
Outstanding Customer Service
By far, the #1 complaint about Real Estate Agents is lack of
communication and follow up on their part. The process of buying
or selling a home is usually not a familiar one for the buyer or seller,
and because of the amount of money at stake, they want and deserve
constant contact and information. Invest in a powerful CRM (Customer
Relationship Management) system to keep organized. For consistency,
automate any parts of the process that you can. But also be sure to
pick up the phone frequently. Do not assume the clients know you are
“working.” Communicate the activities you are doing on their behalf
and once they are under contract, increase your contact with frequent
updates. You can never update them too often. Even when there is
nothing to report, report that. By having a process and system in place
to constantly communicate with the client, you give them incredible
peace of mind. In exchange for the peace of mind you give, you have
now earned the trust and confidence of your client.
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Principle 7: Versatility
My mantra since I started in real estate has been, “get comfortable with
being uncomfortable”. We are faced with changes in the market, the
economy, our brokerages, with technology, our clients, contract terms,
etc. Change is inevitable and you decide how you will respond to it.
The harsh reality is the more you resist change, the faster you will fail.
That’s right, fail! I wonder where the agents that refused to use the
Internet are now. They are out of business since all listings are posted
to the MLS online. What about the agents who buried their heads in
the sand when the market shifted in ‘06? Do you think they survived
the last seven years? Probably not. Are you noticing a pattern? If you
can embrace change and become very versatile, you will be far more
likely to succeed. Technology is the area that seems to change most
often. Just as you learn one new system, the next best thing comes
along. Consumers have spoken and they want tech-savvy agents. Not to
mention, using technology makes your job easier. You should be able to
obtain electronic signatures, scan, resize and email documents. You also
need to have a smart phone and know how to send and receive email and
text messages on it.
Principle 8: Have a Business Plan and Set Goals
Who opens a business without a business plan and goals? Real estate
agents, that’s who! When you obtain a real estate license and “open” for
business, no one asks you for your business plan. The “goal” is usually
to pay this month’s bills. The Successful Real Estate Agent, however
operates like a business owner with a written plan and written goals and
they refer to them often. Your business plan should include the specific
tasks you need to accomplish to hit your goals. Your goals should be
written, very clear and specific, and broken into long-term and short-term
goals. Determine the annual goal and then work backwards. If you
want $X in profit, how many transactions will you need to close this
year, each quarter, each month? How many contracts will you have to
write, appointments will you need to go on, and how many calls will
you have to make, etc.?
Something very powerful happens when you write down your goals. A
study of Harvard graduates found that after two years, the 3% who had
written goals achieved more financially than the other 97% combined.
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Visuals also assist us in reaching our goals. They keep us excited and
motivated. Print out a photo of the new car you want, or the vacation
spot you want to visit once you hit your goal. Make several copies and
plaster them on your computer, refrigerator, bathroom mirror, television,
etc. You want the constant reminders so you can stay motivated. It will
inspire you to do what you do not like to do especially on the days you
do not want to do it!
Principle 9: Negotiation Skills
An agent who is highly skilled in negotiation can ‘net’ their clients
thousands more than the average agent. Conversely, it can cost them
thousands if the agent is not experienced. A good negotiator is always
poised and confident and has the ability to read people. In negotiation,
you can push too hard and lose the deal altogether. If you can accurately
assess your counterpart, you can come out ahead. The agent that yields
the most money for their client will always be better at asking questions.
You would be surprised what agents will say. Sometimes they answer
without any hesitation. Others will present more of a challenge, and you
will need to re-formulate the same questions in several different ways
before you can get the answers you are seeking. The bottom line is that
you never want to be the one to leave any money on the table. Also,
remember that you negotiate for other items and terms that are important
such as closing date, possession date, contingencies and earnest money.
Principle 10: Powerful Marketing Strategy
According to NARs 2012 Member Profile, more than half of real estate
agents gross less than $35,000/yr. Why is this an important statistic?
Marketing is expensive so if an agent is not closing a high volume of
business, they simply cannot afford to market their listings. Do not fall
into this category. Put aside 10% from every closing and apply it to
your marketing strategy. As you close more deals, you will have more
marketing dollars to invest in your growing business.
Principle 11: High Ethical Standards
You should always adhere to high ethical standards and morals. I could
write an entire book on the subject, but if you follow three simple
commandments, you will always maintain high ethical standards:
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1. You must always put your client’s needs over your own.
2. You shouldn’t do business with those that do not have equally
high ethical standards.
3. Make the commitment to always be honest, no matter what.
Sometimes this will be difficult because you do not want the
client to be upset with you, and you will have to tell them things
they do not want to hear, but they will respect you for being
honest.
Principle 12: Power in Numbers
Running a highly successful business is almost never a one-person
operation. We all start out that way, but as we apply the previous
principles listed, the success and growth will occur. As it does, take
note of your weaknesses and hire to compensate for those first. There
are other people that can perform those tasks better than you. Once you
can fill in your weak spots with competent people, you will find that you
will have more time to grow your business and a growing need to hire
more people.
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About Carin
Carin Nguyen takes the business of real estate very seriously and
she has the track record to prove it. She has been ranked the #1
REALTOR® in AZ multiple times and The Carin Nguyen team has
been ranked as high as #2 in the US, and featured in The Wall
Street Journal.
Carin has been in the real estate industry for over 10 years full time, having honed
her expertise during years in the finance and mortgage industries. She has sold
over $200 million in real estate and completed over 2200 transactions. She has
owned a real estate brokerage, coached and mentored top-producing agents and
knows what it takes to succeed in the real estate business. A rich resume built with
a tireless commitment to her clients and agents, undeniable proven past success
and an uncompromised vision for the future, create the recipe for continued success.
If you are interested in learning more about hiring Carin and her team to handle your
next real estate sale, please visit: www.SoldByCarin.com or: www.LuxSold.com
For coaching or public speaking information on Carin, please visit:
www.FireItUpNow.com
191

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGHLY SUCESSFUL PEOPLE
Chapter 20
CHARACTERISTICS
OF HIGHLY
SUCcESFUL PEOPLE
By Dennis McGOUGH
How is it that some people rise to high levels of success while others do
not? The reality is there are many characteristics that successful people
tend to have in common. In this chapter we will touch on three of them:
a desire for financial security, self-awareness and a desire to be coached.
A DESIRE TO BECOME FINANCIALLY SECURE
One of the biggest questions that I get asked when discussing the topic
of success is, “How is it that some individuals are more successful than
others?” In my early twenties I asked myself the same thing. See, I
didn’t come from financial security, nor did I believe I would ever have
it. I thought that if I just worked hard I could make enough money to
get by. Where I came from, success was solely defined by your ability
to put God, family and others first with no regard given to creating
financial security. To this day, I still believe financial security alone will
never make you happy. Lucky for me, I was blessed to have a few great
mentors and coaches in my life who taught me that if you follow your
passions, happiness as well as financial security will follow. The key to
success is to discover your passions and follow them wherever they may
take you, without losing focus on a work-life balance that fits you and
your family.
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Let’s not confuse financial security with being rich. The concept of being
rich is a subjective concept in itself. What one person deems rich or
wealthy, others may not. We might define “how rich” someone is by the
cars they drive, the house they live in, the vacations they take, or how
big their toys are. On the other hand, we might define how “financially
secure” someone is by their ability to not worry about current income
to maintain their lifestyle for many years to come. Let’s say you live in
a moderate home, drive used cars, take one vacation a year, and have
enough money in the bank to maintain this lifestyle for the next twenty
years. You may not be considered rich, yet you are financially secure. On
the other hand you may have a $10 million home, drive luxury cars and
travel the world, but without the money to maintain this lifestyle for the
next twenty years I would hesitate to call you financially secure.
Highly successful people have a strong desire to be financially secure.
They aspire to have enough money in the bank or in financial investments
to maintain their lifestyle for the next twenty years. This is very difficult
to do when working at a job. It is not impossible, but most people are
not willing to or do not have the ability to put away 20 – 30% of their
income each month. Maybe it’s because people will live at or above
their financial means. Studies have shown that in today’s economy, most
people actually live at about 110% of their financial means. This practice
in itself locks people into their current jobs and positions, which they
may not be passionate about.
A very successful business coach once told me the word “JOB” was an
acronym that meant, “just over broke.” Somehow this always seems to
hold true. This is why you’ll find highly successful people looking for
opportunities outside of the employment arena to help create financial
security for their future.
There are a lot of myths out there about how to create wealth or how to
become financially secure. In fact, the widest spread myths in today’s
economy would have you believe that most wealthy people inherited
their wealth or that they made millions in the stock market. This could
not be further from the truth. The reality is that the majority of wealth
in todays economy is first generation wealth and it was not generated
in the stock market. In fact, statistics show that 80% of the “financial
market experts” lose their own money in the markets, so if the “experts”
in the financial markets cannot make money in the long run, the chance
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of you or me doing it is very slim, and not a chance I want to take.
Here are a few facts to consider. We live in the wealthiest country on
earth with 50% of our wealth being created in the last 25 years. There
were 5,000 millionaires in the early 1900’s and there are now over
9.8 million millionaires in America (most of them were self-made
millionaires). 80% of the millionaires in today’s economy made their
wealth by starting a business. This makes sense when you consider
the average income in the United States is $42,000 a year. While it is
possible to put away 20 – 30% of your income each month and become
financially secure in the long run, the fastest way to financial security is
not in the stock markets. Highly successful people have found a way to
create value or add value by starting their own business.
There are over 35 million businesses in the United States, which means
1 out of every 9 people in the United States own a business. Starting a
business in the US is easier than in any other place in the world. More
people will become financially secure in the next few years than ever
before. My belief is that you should become one of them. This is a
choice that I made many years ago for myself.
I came from a very humble background. Money for college was just not
available. I knew early on that if I wanted to go to college, I would need
to get a good job. My parents worked very hard to provide for three
boys, but at the end of the day there just wasn’t much left over. I took a
job at a local department store when I was 16. This was a locally-owned
department store where I soon realized I would have no advancement
opportunities. At 17, I had the opportunity to go to work for Sam’s Club,
which I knew was run by the Wal-Mart Corporation. This was a concept
store and the first of its kind. It could fail, but if there were a chance it
would be as successful as Wal-Mart I just knew I had to give it a shot.
I had to start out pushing carts in 104 degree heat to get on board, but
shortly after I turned 18 I was able to move inside and start working my
way up. I did what I needed to do; I worked hard during the day, went
to school in the evenings and worked every weekend. I aggressively
attached myself to mentors that could coach me to the next level. By age
23 I found myself in management and by age 26 was running a Sam’s
Club location. We were growing rapidly and learning a lot. Mentoring
and training in a very fast paced environment was just a part of the job.
After a few years of setting up and opening new locations, working long
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hours, every weekend and every holiday, moving and relocating, I had
just had enough.
For the next three years I worked diligently to finish college. I worked a
full schedule in my management position and full-time hours in college.
I can’t say that I ever really had a plan, I just knew there had to be a better
way. Money was tight. Trying to pay for college and living expenses
was overwhelming. My wife was working two jobs and trying to take
care of everything at home. Between work, school and the commute I
was gone 100 hours a week. Somehow we did it. I graduated with an
honors degree in finance, insurance, real estate, law and accounting. But
with no plan, I stayed in my current job for several more years.
My wife and I had to make some hard decisions. Our quality of life
was terrible and we knew we needed to make a change. The only way
we were going to find the financial security we were looking for was
to start a business. So after 17 years in a “job,” I made the leap of faith
and decided to become self-employed in the insurance industry. It was
risky and scary, but I knew that if I worked hard and had good mentors,
I could find success. I had to give it a shot.
In the past 12 years of being self-employed I have started several
businesses. I have had some great success and am well on my way to
the financial security that I set out to find. That’s not to say that there
weren’t struggles along the way.
A POSITIVE ATITUDE AND SELF-AWARENES
It was never easy. It has always been hard work. It has always been
challenging. Through those challenges, the security of my family as well
as the pride of ownership has made it all worth it. You must maintain
a positive attitude at all times, through the good times and through the
tough times.
So how do successful people maintain such a positive attitude? How
do they stay in a constant state of self-awareness and learning? Why
does it seem so easy for them to start businesses? What do self-made
millionaires think about?
The biggest breakthrough for me was the concept of self-awareness and
attitude. I learned that the way you see yourself on the inside will dictate
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how you act on the outside. You become what you think about most of
the time.
Successful people think about results and not excuses. They understand
you can have results or you can have excuses, but you can’t have both.
They accept that there is a chance of failure or rejection. They internalize
the fact that it is this fear of failure and rejection that prevents people
from starting their own business and finding financial security for them
and their family.
They practice frugality during their early earning years so they can
enjoy long-term rewards.
They possess a “long-term way of thinking,” meaning that they are
willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gains. They do so by
getting out of debt, and attempting to no longer be dependent on their
current income.
Ultimately, they believe in themselves and surround themselves with
like-minded people that can mentor and support them. They purposely
disconnect themselves from people with a sense of entitlement and
negative attitudes. They accept where they are today as a starting
point. They accept their past as the past, understanding that their past
shortcomings or failures will not dictate their future successes or failures.
In fact, they embrace what they learned from their past and use it to help
others succeed. I’ve never met a successful person that was not willing
to share their past failures and what they learned from those failures in
order to help others succeed.
A DESIRE TO BE COACHED
Highly successful people become experts at sharing their vision,
inspiring others to act and take incremental steps towards their goals. I
have also discovered that successful people have mentors and coaches
that help them learn to do this. I define this characteristic as “being
coachable.” By that, I mean, highly successful people are in a constant
state of learning. They do not rely solely on their own abilities or
knowledge. In fact, I discovered in my early twenties that behind every
successful businessman, athlete or thought leader you will find a mentor
or coach that helped them develop a written vision, clearly defined
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goals, and the incremental steps they would need to take to achieve these
goals. Successful people realize that relying on themselves is a limiting
behavior in itself. They allow someone to hold them accountable to their
own vision of success and goals.
The underlying, learnable characteristic behind “being coachable”
is simply to keep your mind in a constant state of learning. There are
many ways of doing this. You might decide to get a personal coach or
professional mentor or even become a member of a mastermind group.
However you choose to “be coachable” and “held accountable” is up to
you. I personally choose to do all of the above.
In addition to attaining personal and business coaches I joined a group
of Agency/Business Owners to create a mastermind group called
Ambassadors for Change. This is a group that is committed to helping
each other “embrace change” and build our businesses together. Not
only do we assist each other, but we are committed to mentoring and
coaching others with this “vision of change.” Below you will find our
written, signed and published commitment to each other. While this
commitment may not apply directly to your business, it may serve as
a template that you can use to create your own mastermind group. The
concept of mastermind groups comes from Napoleon Hill, one of the
great writers on success, and is one of the most powerful mentoring and
learning tools you can apply to any goal you would like to achieve. The
concept is simple; find a group of individuals that share a common goal
and commit to holding each other accountable and to meet regularly to
share ideas, successes and struggles.
As one of a select group of Ambassadors for Change, I am
committed to:
Sharing the Vision of “Unthinkable, Unimaginable, Unreasonable
Heights through Change”
Sharing the Vision of “No Agency Left Behind”, “Team Excellence”
Desiring to see 90% of District 30 Agents make Achievement Clubs
Desiring to see the District and their Agents achieve
President’s Council
Carrying the torch and sharing this Vision of Change
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Adopting at least one agency to inspire, motivate and share this
Vision for Change
Publicly sharing this Vision for Change in
District/Division/State Meetings
Meeting monthly with the Ambassadors for Change Group
Monthly coaching sessions at the District office
Monthly CSR coaching and the CSR Training Program at the
District office
Building larger Agencies defined by number of licensed Sales Agents
and CSRs
Balanced Agencies defined by balanced production across
product lines
Successful Agencies defined by progress toward my written vision
A Business Owner, not Sales Agent mindset
A Happy and Balanced Lifestyle defined by quality family, health,
business, community, personal time
Picking up any agent that stumbles in any of the previously
mentioned commitments
One of my mentors told me many years ago, “A person that desires to do
more and know more will find success.” Having realized that it was the
things that they do and the things that they know that made the difference,
I have spent my working career doing just that; trying to do more and to
know more everyday. For me, working with personal and professional
coaches as well as masterminding with like-minded individuals has
played a huge role in my personal and professional success.
So, decide today to do what successful people do. Take control of what
you do with your time. Make a decision to get out of debt and stop
living beyond your means. Work towards becoming financially secure
by starting a business, even if it is a part-time business on the side.
Accept where you are today with a positive attitude and set some goals
for where you are going to be by a specific time in the future. Create a
plan and write it down. Take action every day toward that plan. Get a
mentor or coach or join a mastermind group that can help you stay on
course with those goals and plans. If you adopt these characteristics of
successful people you’ll be well on your way.
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About Dennis
Houston, TX–February, 2013 – Dennis McGough, business coach
and mentor, was recently seen in Forbes with other leading
professionals as part of a feature called “America’s PremierExperts®
Presents: Forecasts & Strategies For the New Year & Beyond.” In the
Forbes feature, Dennis McGough and other leading experts from various industries
were asked for their “top tips on health, wealth and success to help you thrive in
the New Year and beyond.” Mr. McGough remarked, “Be coachable. Success comes
from accountability through coaching. Coaches empower you to develop and define a
personal and professional vision of success, usually greater than that which you are
capable of developing yourself. However, you cannot personally be accountable to
your own vision. If you want to succeed quickly, allow a coach to hold you accountable
to your defined vision.”
Dennis McGough was also recently seen on ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS affiliates across
the country as an expert guest on The Brian Tracy Show.
Before joining Farmers Insurance, Dennis was a Competitive Market Business
Development Manager for Sam’s Club, where he recruited, managed, trained and
developed thousands of employees and managers. Being mentored by Sam Walton
and his team for 17 years has given Dennis a strong sense of vision, passion and
purpose.
In addition, Dennis worked on a variety of projects including agency training and
recruiting. Dennis brings a track record of success to his district operations and looks
forward to helping current and future agents reach their highest potential. In 2010,
2011 and 2012 Dennis was honored at both Championship and Toppers Achievement
Clubs and is currently ranked in the Top 1% of District Managers/Business Coaches
in the Nation. He is looking forward to the growth of an even greater award winning
team in the Houston market.
Learn more about Dennis McGough at http://www.farmersdistrict30.com/
or contact him at 281-408-2500
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PICTURE THIS!
Chapter 21
PICTURE THIS!
By David Lorms
Growing up in a small town had some advantages. I grew up in Lake
Jackson, TX with a population of about 10,000 where everyone knew
everyone. Well, for me it was true since my Dad taught High School,
owned a Roofing Company on the side, and he and I share the same
name. So, someone in the town always knew a David Lorms, if not both
of us.
When I was young and wanted a new bike, I got into sales. My parents
always encouraged me to earn my own money. For example, when I was
7, I sold flower and garden seeds door to door making pretty good money.
I would also go door to door using my Dad’s business cards asking folks if
they wanted a free quote to replace their roof upon which my Dad would
give me $100 for every roofing job I referred to him. Later in High School,
I sold Cameras at J C Penny and was the “go to” person in the mall if
someone wanted to know how to use their camera. So, I guess sales and
promoting me as my brand has always been in my blood.
In college, I majored in Marketing and took two aptitude tests, which
both said I should be in Insurance Sales. No wonder I am in Insurance
Sales today and I love what I am doing now as a Farmers Agent. And,
from my sales experience over the years and being an Insurance Agent,
I have learned a few tricks to Market my brand, ME!
Everyone knows Farmers Insurance, so I don’t need to advertise them.
However, I do need to promote myself. How do I do that? Well, the
first thing I do is put my picture on everything. From my website, my
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email, my business cards, mail outs, note pads, fax cover sheet and
advertisements. Anything I can put my picture on get’s one. Not that
I think I am that good looking, but my face is my brand so I splatter it
everywhere.
One thing I do is always carry my business cards with me everywhere I
go. You never know when you will meet a prospect. And, when I do, I not
only give only give them my card, but write their contact information on
another card so I can follow up with them. I also place my card on public
post boards that I may see in places like restaurants or where businesses
allow you to place your card. I have several businesses where I am a
client and who allow me to place my card/brochure in a stand at their
place of business. I use about three dry cleaners and each one allows me
to put out my cards, even my Dentist has my cards out in his waiting
room. As it turns out, my Dentist and one of the Dry Cleaners are now
customers.
Another thing I do is to wear Agency/Company branded shirts. I don’t
even need to talk to people about insurance because they will always
ask about what I do for Farmers. When I tell them I am an agent, many
people inquire about something I can help (sell) them with. Either at the
grocery store, the gas station or a party, insurance is always brought up
by someone else because of my shirts. I also wear Agency/Company
made T-Shirts for when I work out at the gym, advertising my business.
I met a prospect through jogging at the local jogging trail from my
T-Shirt.
For every quote my office makes and every sale, we write a handwritten
thank you note. If a quote is not taken, I send a thank you note with a
packet of “Forget-Me-Not” seeds and my business card. A gimmick I
learned from my days of selling seeds as a kid and people to this day
will say to me “Hey, you used to sell us seeds.” I also send handwritten
notes to friends or customers if we hear of, or see on Facebook, about an
event in someone’s life such as a birth, wedding, illness or death. I have
a staff member who also sends out written Birthday cards to clients. I
sometimes get calls from the customer saying it was the only card they
got that year.
Once I make a sale, I send postcards to their neighbors, with my picture,
with the address of the new client, stating what kind of insurance they
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PICTURE THIS!
bought, and asking them to contact me if they see an emergency at my
new insured’s address. I don’t put the name of the client to maintain
some type of privacy for them.
Another thing I do is to keep a “Real Estate” and “Attorney” email address
list that I collect from local publications, where I may email information
about homeowner’s policies, flood insurance changes, or so that we can
get their client an SR22 on the same day requested. Many Real Estate
Agents appreciate this information to share with their clients. In fact, I
visit many Real Estate Offices to get to know the Real Estate Agents so
they will hopefully refer business to me. I usually take a bag of candy, and
stop at each desk with my card, my agency branded pen and some candy,
making small talk. I don’t take donuts or cookies to offices because it
doesn’t give me a reason to visit each person individually. However, with
a bag of candy I have a reason to drop a handful at each desk. I also offer
to run flood zone reports for free, on addresses where they may want to
know if they are located in a flood zone. This really helps me get to know
the Agents on a personal basis, and build my reputation and brand. I also
leave my cards scattered all over the office too.
Getting involved in the community is very important to my success
as well. I partner with several elementary schools in providing them
money, usually $500, to sponsor a “Perfect Attendance Award” program
for students. This is well received as the schools don’t have money in
their budget to fund such a program and are paid by the state based upon
attendance. The more students they have in school per day, the more
money the school gets from the state. Plus, it encourages the student
to have perfect attendance so they can win prizes at the end of the
semester. In exchange, I get my name on the School Marquee thanking
me; I am linked to the school website as a partner, and I am included
in the school flyer that goes out to the families, along with my picture.
In addition, I get to take a photo with the Principal when the check is
given to the school, and photos with the award winners. These photos
go on Facebook, my website, and other social media. I also write a small
article along with the photos and submit it all to the local newspaper.
Sponsoring the Elementary Schools also gets my foot in the door for
Parents Night, Festivals and Fairs, where I set up a booth and hand
out safety information kits to parents. These safety information kits are
provided by Farmers for free, and I usually include some type of agency
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branded trinket and have candy on the table to attract the kids (and
also the parents) to my booth. Thus, more opportunity to post photos
on Facebook, my website and other social media. I also hang a banner
above my booth with my picture on it.
For the same reason, I sponsor the local Intermediate and High School.
For the Intermediate School, I donate to various school programs and
participate in the “Real Men Read” program, reading once a month to
students. And for the High School, I donate to “Project Graduation,”
which funds an alcohol-free party for the seniors. The High School
also invites me to visit their senior classes to speak about how “real
world business” operates outside of school. And, all of these events are
documented by photos and placed in social media and the local paper, if
possible. In addition, all schools have invited me to participate on their
“Parent’s Board” as well. Sponsoring schools has given me access to
the teachers as well as the parents at each school, building my brand,
resulting in more clients. Some of the teachers have even become clients.
Getting involved in your neighborhood association is another way to get
to know my neighbors, as well as to let them know I am a local Insurance
Agent. Many times, people want to use a local agent even though they
may never visit my office. I also advertise in their newsletter.
Becoming a member of a Church also helps. I volunteer as an Usher, so
I am seen by the whole congregation on Sundays, and I also advertise
in the bulletin. Many times I see people looking at the bulletin, and
then my picture in the bulletin advertisement, which makes me smile.
Some people like doing business with other Church members. One of
the Pastors has ended up referring prospects to me.
Advertising should be done as well. I advertise in the local newspaper
(helping me get articles submitted into the paper), the local news
magazine and by billboard at the local kids baseball league. Folks see
that I am supporting the league by seeing my billboard (with my picture)
at their field. Subsequently, I insure the league as well and the news
magazine sales person. My picture is in each advertisement.
Participating in March for Babies, the AIDS Walk and the Avon Walk for
Breast Cancer with my Agency/Company T-shirt also helps advertise,
and lets people know that my Agency gives back to the community. Of
course, photos are taken and posted on Social Media and my website.
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I also send a “Reasons to hire David Lorms” flyer with every quote. This
flyer lists 10 reasons why the customer should select me as their agent or
my agency over any competitor. Some people won’t usually know about
the great things I do in the community so letting them know up front can
make them feel better about buying from me.
Creating a blog may help drive traffic to my website. I will post
articles and pictures that show I am staying current with insurance,
knowledgeable about the products, and offering advice for free. I have
had clients tell me that after reading my website and blog, they feel
more comfortable using me as their agent.
I mentioned Social Media earlier, which is a free way to promote
your business and keep my name out in front of my friends, family
and customers. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google are just a few
that come to mind. I post photos of events, vacations, events, awards,
accomplishments, donations, community involvement, safety tips and
humorous items (non offensive). I stay away from political or religious
postings or responses that might offend anyone, as hard as it might be
to refrain.
I also use phone apps, such as Foursquare, that people use to “check
in” wherever they are located. Each time I “check in” my name pops up
where I am located. I also “check in” on Facebook, and submit photos
of what I am are doing, keeping my name out there.
Another Social Media that I use is Linked In. I have a detailed profile,
with my picture, and allow anyone to view my profile. I have solicited
customers for recommendations which I have copied to my website and
blog. Prospects appreciate reading recommendations and while they
may not buy from me, they may refer someone else to me.
As funny as it may seem, I also use car magnets, advertising my agency,
with my picture. Sure, I may get teased about them now and then, but
people remember me for that reason. I have had people waive at me,
write down my number from the magnet at a red light, and then call me
later. Of course, you better drive safely and not cut anyone off, as they
could get your phone number and call you up!
Regarding email, I have my picture in the email, as well as a tag line,
that includes several “local office” numbers for other cities in Texas. I
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use “Vonage” that allows me to set up “local” phone numbers in any
zip code, which then roll to my office number. So, when I buy leads in
other cities, the customer will think I am local due to my phone number
and may be more likely to do business with me. These office numbers
in my email tag line also give the impression that my organization may
be bigger than it is and people like to do business with businesses that
are successful.
Naming my Agency was another creative way to get noticed. I call my
Agency “Farmers Insurance by David Lorms” – so that when I am listed
in the phone book, there will be a name associated with the Agency
vs. simply “Farmers.” I continued using this name when creating free
profiles on search engines on the Internet. It also helps to sign up
with “Yelp,” a free website for user reviews and recommendations on
shopping and dining.
I also have a personal laptop computer that I use, and on the lid, I have
a laminated advertisement, with my picture, advertising my agency. So,
when I visit places such as Starbucks and work on my computer, people
see that I am an Agent and will come over to me to ask about insurance.
Belonging to business organizations or networking groups is another way
to promote your brand. I belonged to a Business Network International
(BNI) group for over 5 years and almost every member is a client, as
well as the clients that were referred to me by the members. You may
also consider Chambers of Commerce, the Rotary, and other business
organizations for referrals.
My office is located at the entrance of our building, with windows for
walls. Although we are not allowed to put signage on the windows or
outside, I park my car out front with the magnets on the side, and hang
a huge banner, with my picture, in my office which can be seen through
the windows. Often, we will celebrate a holiday, like Veterans Day, and
hand out flags, with my card on them, and donuts to building employees
and visitors. This helps remind building tenants that we are here and are
friendly. We also keep our door open so that people can walk by and feel
more comfortable to pop in with a question, to say “hi”, or get a glass
of the Ozarka water we have in the office. We now have many building
tenants that are customers now.
So, if you haven’t realized by now, my brand is ME! I even answer my
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phone “Farmers Insurance by David Lorms” to reinforce the brand. I am
always looking for new ways to promote my brand and image and the
ideas are limitless. Creativity is the key.
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About David
David Lorms is a Top Farmer’s Insurance Agent, a Best-Selling
Author, and a Blue Vase and Toppers Club Award recipient for his
achievements in the Insurance Industry.
David spent several years in the business handling insurance claims, which gives
him a unique background as an Insurance Agent. He sees the process of getting
insured from all sides, but most importantly, from the human side. He prides himself
on providing the right product for the right person – which is why he is so highly
regarded in his community of Houston, TX.
In addition to his business, David is heavily involved in his community as a member
of his Home Owners Association, an Usher at his Church, and donating time and
money to several local Elementary, Middle and High Schools. Seeing the importance
of school attendance, David founded a perfect attendance program which awards
high achievers with bikes, medals or other items deemed appropriate by the schools.
David is also involved in the March of Dimes, AIDS Walk, and Cell Phones for Soldiers,
a program that collects old cell phones to exchange for minutes for soldiers to use to
call their families.
In his off time, David enjoys traveling, photography, and tennis. He also enjoys
spending time with his God Kids, Niece and Nephew.
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AMY’S CLEARINGHOUSE: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF CLARITY
Chapter 22
AMY’S CLEARINGHOUSE:
Never Underestimate
The Power Of Clarity
By Amy Scott Grant, MBA
When I was a kid, I knew things, but I couldn’t explain how or why I
knew them. I don’t mean I was a smart-ass (although I kind of was. Still
am, actually.) I often knew unusual or important or secret things, which
surprised the adults in my life. I remember going to my first Chinese
restaurant at the age of five or six. My family was floored to watch me
use chopsticks with ease, and when my mother asked me, “Where did
you learn how to use chopsticks?” I casually replied, “I don’t know, I
just picked it up somewhere.” The whole table burst out laughing, but I
had no idea why.
Eventually, I noticed the adults’ sideways glances and nervous laughter
every time I joined “grown-up” conversations, and I could see I was
different. I soon realized that other people were not as comfortable
with my insights as I was, so I tried to blame it on my imaginary
friend, Chookel. (My brothers teased me incessantly about the name,
pronounced “chew-kull,” but what could I do? Sure, I would have liked
“Jennifer” just fine, but when she first showed up, she said “Hi, I’m
Chookel” and that was that.) But news of an imaginary friend who told
secrets and taught me interesting things wasn’t well-received. Then,
one day, after receiving particularly disturbing feedback on one of my
“knowings,” I shut down my intuition completely.
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A funny thing happens when we deny our true nature. We suddenly feel
lost, confused, and uncertain. By age 13, I had made multiple suicide
attempts, convinced that I did not belong in this world. The idea of living
life without being truly known or understood by another human being
felt like too much for me to bear. I needed answers, and desperately fast.
Have you ever heard someone say, “And then I had a moment of clarity,”
after which everything shifted?
My moment happened when a book fell into my life. I won’t mention its
name here, because some people absolutely love it and others positively
hate it, and I’m not in the mood to spark a rousing controversy right
now. (Maybe later, though. Check back with me on that.) Let’s just say
it was a 1950s book about an age-old concept: changing your thoughts
in order to change your life. That book was exactly what I needed at that
moment in my life. In fact, you could say it saved my life.
Changing my thoughts got me over the hump, but positive thinking
couldn’t sustain me for long. I quickly saw (in another moment of
clarity) that it takes a tremendous amount of vigilance and willpower
to police those pesky negative thoughts – especially when times are
toughest.
It was hard, because I don’t have a lot of willpower. (See? You and I
have a lot in common.) Which is why – in another moment of clarity – I
realized it makes more sense to shift our beliefs. After all, isn’t it fair
to say our most repetitive thoughts stem from our deep-seated beliefs?
Unfortunately, most “new thought” teachers will try to convince you
that the way to change your beliefs is with affirmations, which requires
writing out a new thought statement, and repeating it ad nauseam. Yawn.
While this method does work – eventually – it is both redundant and
exhausting. In search of a better way, I returned to my natural intuition
and my own process of “knowing.” It was through this process that I
learned to swiftly and permanently shift beliefs, and sure enough, the
corresponding thoughts followed naturally.
Hot damn! Clearing your limiting beliefs is highly satisfying, bordering
on addictive. The resulting clarity brings a sense of freedom that cannot
be compared to anything else. I immediately fell in love with the process,
and the results. Imagine your biggest stumbling block – the one that
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keeps you up at night, consumes your waking thoughts, and prevents
you from achieving what you desire. Now, imagine this block was gone
forever. How would that feel? What could you do if you no longer had
that block? What would now be possible for you?
That’s right – anything would be possible. Doors that were once closed
would bust wide open, and opportunities would abound.
I was so exhilarated by my own results, it felt like a natural transition to
help other people do the same. I quickly realized I had a knack for this,
and I turned clearing into my profession. Over the years, I have cleared
millions of limiting beliefs for thousands of individuals, subsequently
allowing them to become far more successful in life, in love, and in
business.
I use my true nature – my intuition – to go to the root and figure out
why you created the beliefs in the first place, and what we need to do
to shift it. This shift, or complete release of the old belief, is what I call
“clearing,” because we clear the underlying cause of your stagnation/
self-sabotage/lack of results. In a clearing, we get rid of the beliefs
that don’t serve you, and sometimes we replace them with new beliefs,
designed to support achievement of your goals. This is when you feel
“clear,” and anything is possible.
Releasing limiting beliefs is a fast and powerful process, because as soon
as the limiting beliefs are gone, your thoughts will naturally change.
And when your thoughts change, your results change. And when your
results change, this is when you can see the transformation – this is
success! The process all begins with clarity. You’ll be happy to know
that you don’t have to wait for a moment of clarity to randomly strike
like lightning. You can invoke clarity. The clearing process acts like a
lightning rod, drawing clarity to you and helping you to create that oh-so-
211
yummy pivotal shift.
The first thing I do when I’m working with someone is teach a scientific
technique (like muscle testing or dowsing) so the person can check for
truth and accuracy. By the way, if you think dowsing is just for the
new-age “crunchy” circuit, you might be surprised to learn that water
utility companies still use dowsing rods to find water when maps and
technology fail.

Change Agents
I teach the technique for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a handy tool
because it helps you make sound decisions and choices, and figure out
whether someone is telling you the truth. The other reason is because
you shouldn’t have to take my word for anything. I’m a huge advocate
for independent thinking, and if you have a reliable truth testing method,
then you can check objectively any time your B.S.-meter suddenly goes
haywire.
For example, let’s say you and I are working together, and I tell you that
your fear of exposure is keeping you from achieving the level of success
that you desire. If you think, "What? That makes no sense," you could
use your preferred truth testing method to ask, "Is what Amy said true
and accurate?" Then you’ll know for sure, instead of just believing me
because you’ve paid me quite a lot of money to tell you such things.
Additionally, you can use these “truth testing” methods to figure out
what needs to be cleared, how best to clear it, and whether or not the
clearing worked. I offer a Truth Testing e-course at: InfoyesNo.com.
But before you go on a wild clearing spree, there are a few caveats.
1. You are an onion. But not so smelly.
First, consider that you are a complex individual, and any long-standing
challenges you’ve had are multi-layered and multi-faceted.
In other words, don’t expect to do one or two clearings and suddenly
find yourself holding the winning Powerball ticket. While it’s true that
clearings occur swiftly and dynamically, and rapid results occur more
often than not, it’s also true that the deeper the issue, the more clearing
that’s required to produce a dramatic result. Think of your internal belief
network as an onion, comprised of layers upon layers upon layers. If
you’ve got a longstanding issue with confidence, we may first need to
clear your body issues or your financial issues or your childhood issues
before we can get to that bam-pow! instant confidence you seek.
After all, you didn’t become fearful or wimpy or broke overnight –
your current condition is the cumulative result of countless choices
and decisions and beliefs, accumulated over time. We clear in layers,
and you can’t get to the inner depths (your deepest issues) until you’ve
removed some of the outer layers. The good news is that you feel better,
stronger and more powerful with every layer that’s cleared, and most
people begin to see results immediately.
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2. Practice makes better. (Forget perfect!)
I believe anyone with desire and a willing spirit can do what I do, but
it takes practice to get good and fast at clearing. When I first started,
clearings took me hours and sometimes days to complete, but now it
takes mere minutes and in some cases, it’s instantaneous. Like any other
skill, practice brings proficiency, speed and accuracy. Luckily, we’re all
far from perfect, so there’s no shortage of practice opportunities. The
upshot is that every clearing brings you greater peace, joy, freedom,
and potential for success. I recommend that you celebrate every win,
because life’s too short to stress about how much you haven’t done. If
you can look back on the past few months and think, “man, I used to be
a real tool,” then celebrate that win! It means you’ve shifted and now
you’re that much closer to being the person you want to be.
3. Resist much?
As you embark on clearing work, you’ll want to watch out for a
little mental gremlin known as “resistance.” The simple definition of
resistance is a refusal to accept something, and the sticky wicket to
watch out for is how well it can be camouflaged.
For example, I’ve been on the phone with clients and just as we strike
gold, their phone dies, their doorbell rings, their baby wakes up, their
dog starts barking wildly, their pipes burst, or their kids suddenly need
immediate attention. I just smile, because I know it’s that sneaky little
resistance trying to interfere with our clearing.
No one is immune to resistance. When I’m resistant, I get angry
or irritable, and my husband will tell you – I’m no picnic when this
happens! It’s simply a sign that there’s something for us to see, which
we don’t want to see right now. But, like ripping off a bandage, it’s best
to just “nut up” and muscle through it. On the other side of it, you’ll find
freedom, joy and peace, plus a huge sense of relief, which will have you
asking, “Why was I being such a baby about that in the first place?”
Resistance can rear its ugly head in many forms. It can stymie your
progress and make you want to give up, even on the verge of your
biggest breakthrough. Knowing how to deal with resistance is elemental
in managing effective clearings for yourself and others.
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Change Agents
4. That guy/girl needs fixing.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to “fix” people in our lives. The
trouble is twofold – one, they’re not really broken, and two, people don’t
often appreciate unsolicited advice. I have mentored many individuals
who wanted to “fix” their spouse or business partner and I’m not talking
about the kind of “fixing” a veterinarian does (though some clients have
that issue, too).
It’s no secret that the people in your life often mirror yourself back
to you, including your underlying fears, doubts, blocks and limiting
beliefs. But perhaps the most fascinating phenomenon is the way we
can change something in ourselves, and suddenly, other people begin to
act differently.
I once helped a hairdresser change her perspective on her mother-in-law,
who was overly opinionated about how she was raising her young
daughter. The hairdresser was very resistant to my recommendation
at first, but was open enough to try something new, and during a
conversation with me, she changed just a single perspective. She called
me the very next day, demanding to know what I had done to her
mother-in-law. She could hardly believe that her own clarity could have
such a massive impact on her interactions with another person. She was
convinced that I had “done something” to her mother-in-law, because
she had never before seen the woman act so kindly, so graciously, so
un-meddlesome-ly. (Yes, I do make up words from time to time. If the
precise word for what I mean doesn’t exist, I invent it. Chookel says you
should humor me.)
The hairdresser finally accepted the fact that changing her own belief
was enough to immediately improve such a volatile situation. I spoke
with her recently, and their family dynamic is better than ever, all
because she shifted one simple belief. When you change yourself, your
whole world — including the people in it will shift, too.
When you begin to understand that we have chosen all of our beliefs
because each one serves us in some way, then you may see why some
people choose to hang onto their hang-ups, when in fact, they could
easily release them. You cannot clear anything that a person is unwilling
to clear. Your best bet is to focus on getting yourself clear, and let the
rest take care of itself.
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5. We’re all mad here.
While your best results will come from your own clarity, be mindful
not to get lost down the rabbit hole. Considering how many experiences
you’ve had, how many beliefs you’ve accumulated, and how much
clearing work could potentially be done, you might be tempted to fall
into a bit of navel-gazing. I, myself, have gone through periods of intense
self-improvement, where an obsessive need to transform my life drove
me to fill my days and nights with endless clearing work. I can tell you
from experience, it pays to work with someone who can keep you on
track and ensure that you’re exercising balance in your clearing work.
A skilled mentor such as myself can provide you with an objective
perspective, and the clarity necessary to help you break through to the
next level of success. My goal for every client is to place them in a
position of self-sufficiency by the end of our time together, so that they
are free and clear from their greatest obstacles and self-sabotage, and
can also be empowered to tackle their own clearings as future issues
arise. It might not be my smartest sales strategy, but it’s the best win-win
scenario I know.
You have greatness inside of you. But when the waters are muddy, it’s
difficult to see the true you under all those smelly layers. Clarity is what
helps you see your true potential. When you get clear, you get results.
And isn’t it your quest for results that led you to read this in the first
place?
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Change Agents
About Amy
Without apology, Amy Scott Grant, MBA will call you on your stuff.
Known as the Spiritual Ass Kicker, Amy’s dedication to her own
joyous freedom from self-imposed limits carries her commitment
to helping anyone else who wants the same. Her raw boldness,
unbridled enthusiasm, wicked sense of humor, kick-ass style and huge heart make
her an amazingly effective catalyst for change.
Since the tender age of thirteen, Amy has captivated audiences of all ages
and demographics with her razor-sharp wit, contagious enthusiasm and bold
authenticity. Blessed with a gift for reaching people at their core, Amy has grown
and cultivated this talent to pursue what she is most passionate about: assisting
people in transforming their lives from “ordinary” to extraordinary.
Always passionate, occasionally brash, but never mainstream, Amy calls it like she
sees it in every situation. She has coached and mentored thousands of individuals
to create rapid breakthrough results by permanently clearing millions of blocks,
doubts, fears and limiting beliefs, at the deepest core level.
Amy has also created a number of successful courses and digital products,
including HIY (Heal It Yourself): Higher Power Tools and MindTime™ meditations
for kids at KidCentered.com.
You can find Amy’s writing all over the Internet, as well as in the Best-Selling
book Inspired Marketing by Dr. Joe Vitale and Craig Perrine; Chicken Soup for the
Soul: Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction; and the young adult novels
known as the Annabel Series. Amy’s blog is a massive resource of original articles,
resources and unique perspectives: http://AmyScottGrant.com
You can get more information at: http://AskAmyAnything.com
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A NEW AND MORE PROFITABLE MARKETING SYSTEM
Chapter 23
A NEW AND MORE
PROFITABLE
MARKETING SYSTEM
By Benson Agbortogo
The huge problem we have in the market place today is the avalanche
of advertisements forced down our throats from TV, radio, newspapers
and the Internet. Every week I receive hundreds of marketing emails in
my inbox from people and companies trying desperately to me sell their
products and services. Most of those emails end up in my trash folder. I
skip ads when watching my recorded TV programs, and the snail mail I
receive from companies that I do not recognize also end up in the trash.
Maybe you do the same. Why am I, and perhaps you and many others
ignoring these well-intended messages? For me, I ignore them because
I do not have a relationship with these marketers. I see them as “takers.”
Some of these marketers are driven by greed and they are partly respon-sible
for the economic crisis we are experiencing today. They are still
marketing using the old approach of sell, sell, and sell without deliver-ing
217
enough value in return.
The good news is that the economy is changing. A new breed of market-ers
is rising and using a new marketing system where they give first and
are focused on adding value to their clients. This new breed of marketers
are Change Agents. They love their clients and they are “givers.” The
ancient and proven writings tell us: “it is better to give than to receive.”

Change Agents
I used to hate marketing and sales, because I was of the opinion that sell-ing
was nothing more than manipulating people to buy stuff. I had been
conditioned to think that way due to my experience with marketers who
were driven by greed, so that their primary focus was to “take” from
their clients. When I started my coaching and management consulting
business, it was a challenge for me to sell my services because I did not
want to be a “taker.” I did not want to be pushy or manipulative.
However, when I discovered the new system I will be sharing with you
in this book, my perspective about marketing and sales changed and my
annual revenue increased by 31%. With this change in perspective, I be-gan
to see marketing and sales in a new light. I began to understand that
marketing and sales are simply a process of finding people who have a
problem, need or want and persuading them with love to buy solutions
that solve their problems or meet their needs.
I had to go through the painful process of undoing that old mindset of
“taking” and develop a new mindset of “giving.” I had to learn how
to focus on my client’s problems and be determined to find solutions
for them. If you have an excellent product or service, and you are not
persuading people to purchase from you, it is like having the cure for
cancer and hiding the cure from people who are suffering from cancer.
If you have the cure for cancer, and you know that people are dying
from cancer and you love them, wouldn’t you persuade them to use your
product or service to receive healing?
Now when you begin to see marketing and sales as offering quality so-lutions
to people who have problems, needs and wants, it takes away the
feeling of manipulation. In fact, it makes it a moral obligation for you
to get the word out about your product or service. If you have a solution
for an existing problem, and you don’t present it to the people who have
the problem, you are being selfish. Selfishness is the old system of mar-keting.
Change Agents are selfless. They are givers. They are problem
solvers.
If I could change my perspective about marketing and sales and increase
my revenue by 31%, you too can do it and I will show you how.
There was a time in my business, especially in my first and second year,
that I operated as a “taker.” At that time, I went to meetings thinking,
“What can I take or get from the meeting?” instead of, “What value can
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I give when I attend that meeting?” I was doing things backwards, and
because of that, my business continued to struggle until I discovered
this new marketing system.
When you change your approach about marketing and sales from “tak-ing”
219
to “giving,” you will:
• Increase your revenue.
• Reduce your expenses.
• Increase your profits.
This new approach is going to multiply your business because giving
is multiplication, not subtraction as some people think. When a farmer
plants (gives) seed, the law of sowing and reaping kicks in and the seed
is multiplied.
• In this chapter, you are going to learn about this new marketing sys-tem.
You will learn how to:
• Discover what your clients want.
• Offer your clients what they want without manipulating or pushing
them to buy.
• Help your clients get better results.
• Identify what is working and what is not working in your business.
The Current State
According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), more than 66%
of businesses fail within the first 10 years. Why are so many businesses
struggling and failing with all the advancement in technology? This
failure rate can be attributed to the fact that most of these struggling
businesses are still using the old “taker” marketing system. The rate of
failure clearly shows that the “taker” system is not working. We need
a new system to enable us to market and sell our products and services
effectively. The people who are going to win using this new system are
businesses that are going to be “givers.” They are businesses that are
going to care for their clients consistently. The businesses that are going
to lose are those that will only try to sell, sell and sell without adding
adequate value. Businesses that are not willing to build relationships
will fail.

Change Agents
How I Overcame Marketing and Sales Prejudice
After struggling with the “taker” approach for several years, I knew
there was a better way to market and sell products and services, so I be-gan
to dig. I read every bestselling book I could find. Two of the many
books I read were very impactful.
• The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The common thread in both books is love. People who love are “givers.”
In this book, Mandino mentions love as the greatest secret of success
in all ventures.1 Hill also points out that love is the most powerful emo-tion.
2 Armed with this understanding, I decided to make love my greatest
weapon as Mandino recommends.3 I also discovered that asking people
questions shows that you care and it is easy to make recommendations
thereafter. From these discoveries, I developed and began to use a new
marketing and sales system called, A.R.I.S.E. This system has trans-formed
my business and it is simple and easy to implement.
THE A.R.I.S.E SYSTEM
Let’s look at the system that will enable you rise to the occasion and
sell your products and services effectively. When the opportunity to sell
arises, A.R.I.S.E
Each letter in the acronym stands for a word that will enable you to help
your prospects and clients get results.
A. Ask wise questions.
R. Relate and make recommendations.
I. Implement the recommendations.
S. Sing their praises.
E. Evaluate the results.
1 Mandino, Og (2011-01-05). The Greatest Salesman in the World (p. 59). Bantam. Kindle Edition.
2 Hill, Napoleon. “Faith.” Think and Grow Rich. Electronic Facsimile Edition ed. Meriden: Ralston
Society, 2000. 52. Print.
220
3 Ibid

I. ASK
Always ask wise questions and listen. What are wise questions? These
are questions that will enable you to gather enough information about
your prospects or clients to help them achieve their goals. Here are four
typical questions I ask prospects or clients in regards to profits:
1. What is your current annual profit?
2. Where do you want your profit to be in the next 12 months?
3. How will you achieve your goal?
4. What obstacles are you currently facing or anticipate encountering?
Those questions help me to understand where my clients are now (de-parture),
where they are going (destination), the strategies they plan
to use to move from departure to destination and the obstacles (road
blocks) they need to overcome.
What questions do you typically ask your prospects or clients? Why
do you ask such questions? If you do not yet have typical questions,
this is a good time to pause and ask yourself, “What do I need to know
about my prospects or clients to help them accomplish their goals?” The
answer(s) to that question will help you formulate some typical ques-tions
for your prospects and clients.
Based on the answers you receive from your prospects or clients, you
can relate with them and make some recommendations.
II. RELATE AND RECOMMEND
Questions are powerful. They are conversation starters. They give you an
ability to start or foster a relationship. Remember that as a Change Agent,
your focus is to build great relationships. How do you use the information
you receive from your prospects or clients to relate with them?
Ask more questions such as: What have you done to tackle your ob-stacles?
What was your experience? The answer to these questions will
enable you determine the kind of product or service to recommend.
Most of the prospects I meet know where they are now and where they
want to be, but do not usually have a clear strategy to move from depar-ture
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to destination.

Change Agents
For example, recently I started talking to one of my clients about his
goals. After asking him some questions, I could relate to his goals and
the obstacles he was encountering. I could easily relate with him be-cause
when I started my business, I knew where I was and what I want-ed
to accomplish, but I did not have a systematic approach at that time
to move me from departure to destination until I discovered the simple
system that changed my business. Relating with my client made it easy
for me to recommend the table I have been using as a guide to reach my
revenue and profit goals. This table covers five major factors that impact
your revenue and profit.
Let us assume a starting point as shown in the table below. 20% in-creases
in the five key factors (shaded) in this example will more than
222
double your profit.
Starting point – Departure Destination Goals (20% Increase)
Leads 1,667 Leads 2,000
Conversion Rate 10% Conversion Rate 12%
Clients 167 Clients 240
Transactions 1.3 Transactions 1.5
Average Price $1,000 Average Price $1,200
Revenue $216,710 Revenue $419,412
Profit Margin 20% Profit Margin 24%
Profit $43,342 Profit $100,659
III. IMPLEMENT
Implementation is the key to getting results. When you make products
or services recommendations to your clients, help them to implement
the changes so they can get results. Here are some ways you can help
them implement:
Provide clear instructions for them to follow.
Follow-up with emails, follow-up with direct mail, follow-up with
phone calls and follow-up with face-to-face meetings if possible. I know
it sounds like a lot of work. Remember you are building long-term re-lationships
with your clients who will buy from you year-after-year or
multiple times during the year. The investment of time is worth it. This
single action will set you apart from your competitors.

Provide tools, templates, and checklists to make it easy for your clients
to implement the recommended solution(s).
When I recommend the table above to my clients, I encourage them to
print it and place it somewhere they can see regularly. The table is a
guide showing them at a quick glance the numbers they need to pay at-tention
to – in order to accomplish their goals.
I give them strategies to use to get more leads, increase their conversion
rates, increase the number of transactions per client and increase their
profit margins. I also provide them with tools and templates to imple-ment
223
the strategies.
IV. SING THEIR PRAISES
When you ask clients wise questions, relate with them, make recom-mendations
and provide encouragement, tools, templates and checklists
to enable them implement the recommended product or service, …they
will get results. They will succeed. The results they get will change their
lives and businesses. You see how you can become a Change Agent
simply by following the A.R.I.S.E system? Immediately your clients
get results, join them to sing their praises. Celebrate with them. Con-gratulate
them and make them feel special for getting results. This will
encourage them to implement more and get more results, and the cycle
continues on and on. You see the picture? Cool! I know you are smart.
When my clients get results, I get on the phone and tell them I am proud
of them and then I share their praise with others to make them feel spe-cial
because my clients are truly special business owners.
V. EVALUATE THE RESULTS
Finally, help your clients evaluate their results. Success is progressive.
After singing their praise, help them improve their results. There is al-ways
room for improvement. Select key performance indicators (KPI)
beforehand to evaluate the results. The best way to evaluate is to ask
questions then relate, and then make recommendations and help them
implement the changes, then the cycle repeats.
Evaluation enables you to determine strategies you need to abandon
and strategies you need to improve in order to get better results. My
favourite performance indicators in evaluation are conversion rates and
profit margins.

Change Agents
Conclusion
You now know how to use the new marketing system to make more
profit for your business. The old “taker” system does not work any-more.
You are a “giver.” You are a Change Agent. Continue to use the
A.R.I.S.E system. Ask questions, relate and recommend, help them
implement, sing their praise and evaluate their results. The A.R.I.S.E
system enables you to show your clients that you care. It is easier and
better to make recommendations than to just “sell.”
What Should You Do Immediately?
Develop or refine the typical questions you ask prospects or clients.
These questions should enable you get the information you need to help
them achieve their goals.
1. Ask those questions consistently.
2. Make recommendations consistently and watch your revenue and
profit soar like an Eagle.
My Client’s Story
When I met one of my clients several years ago, she was contemplating
selling her business. She was tired and stressed with the daily rigors of
running her business for more than 20 years. I simply asked her some
questions and made some recommendations. I helped her implement
the recommended solutions and in less than 24 months she doubled her
revenue and became a millionaire.
Now Is Your Time!
Now is your time to arise and shine. ARISE and join the growing army
of Change Agents. Let us change lives, let us change businesses, let us
change communities, let us change the economy and make the world a
better place. You can make a difference because you are different.
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About Benson
Benson Agbortogo, MBA is a marketing systems expert and the
author of the book, The Business System That Never Fails. He is
also an International speaker who has gone to three continents and
spoken more than 1000 times to live audiences, online and on radio
and television.
He founded the A.R.I.S.E Marketing System, a company that provides clients with
a new, simple and easy way to implement a system to market their products and
services. The A.R.I.S.E Marketing System focuses on five key factors that impact
your bottom line: leads, conversion rates, number of transactions, prices and profit
margins.
Benson specializes in moving small to midsize business owners from where they are
now (departure), to where they want to be (destination). He does this strategically
and systematically, making it simple to overcome obstacles (road blocks) along the
journey.
Benson holds a B.S. in Business Management from The King’s College, New York and
an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management, DeVry University, Milwaukee.
He and his wife Zilpha have two children, and they currently live in Fort Worth, Texas,
USA.
To learn more about Benson Agbortogo, visit: www.arisemarketingsystem.com
225

THE WINDOW INTO YOUR FUTURE - An Unfair Advantage
Chapter 24
THE WINDOW INTO
YOUR FUTURE —
An Unfair Advantage
By Con Antonio
I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can
say is they must change if they are to get better.
~ Georg C. Lichtenberg
The world is in a constant state of change and the only constant is change
itself.
Look around you, change is everywhere, humans grow old, trees grow
tall, buildings deteriorate over a period of time and technology is for-ever
227
improving.
At first, this may seem alarming: however, there is a certain calmness
in this reality as we begin to understand what is actually happening and
accept that this cycle is a universal law, and we no longer become eerie
when change occurs.
Learning to accept that in a natural cycle everything has a beginning
and everything has an end will bring you much greater peace and ac-ceptance.
The journey could be far smoother when a change agent paves
the way for change.

Change Agents
Change is life in motion; when it stops we fade away.
~ Con Antonio
What’s a Change Agent?
A change agent could be a natural event, institution, technological or
medical advancement, or a person that initiates change. In this chapter
we will discuss mostly the person who acts as a promoter of change.
Hi! My name is Con Antonio, and I will share with you my first encoun-ter
with a change agent. As I wasn’t excelling at school, most of my
teachers believed that I should leave and get a job. I also believed this
to be the case until an incident occurred that changed my path forever.
It was one day on a morning break at high school that a senior teacher
approached me, and during our conversation showed me “through a
window into my future,” what could be possible for me to achieve if I
was prepared to change. He explained that in order to change, one must
first understand himself, he continued on to say that the answer to most
of our prayers is in our mind, the most powerful instrument. Once we
learn how to use our minds we can exert control over ourselves and our
environment. I took on the challenge and never looked back. Today I
own and manage a successful multi-disciplinary accounting firm and
devote most of my time to assist my family, team and clients in achiev-ing
their personal and business goals. This is a pursuit that makes my
professional and personal life a meaningful venture.
Life for most people is static, the vast majority of people perform a
useful service to their communities and organizations, but they cannot
make themselves go, and have to be pushed or pulled by someone else.
Only a few people have the discipline and drive to not only move them-selves,
but also countless others; without them we would have no prog-ress
and no inspiration. My high school teacher was my change agent.
I believe each human being has the potential to change, to transform
one’s own attitude, no matter how difficult the situation. We just need to
develop the courage to take the first step towards change.
Levels of Change
Processes of change have become major milestones in many organiza-tions’
life cycle. As organizations face relentless changes in their envi-
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ronment, the need for individuals who are capable of turning strategy
into reality has created a new legitimacy for the change agent role.
In order to deal effectively with change, we will need to examine the
three fundamental levels of change, namely:
• The motive of change
• The process of change
• The role of the change agent
In this chapter we will discuss briefly the first two levels and expand on
the role of the change agent.
I. The motive of change
This refers to the why in regards to the subject of change. Understand-ing
the motive for change is one step towards intentional accomplish-ment.
Assisting individuals to develop a common motive for change
will ensure greater acceptance of the vision. The subject of change is
indicated in the proposal (e.g., through a logical framework), resulting
from a thorough analysis of the organization and its context. During the
planning process, the motive of the change is indicated as well as the
overall objective of the change, together with the results that need to be
achieved and the activities that will be undertaken.
II. The process of change
This refers to the how. Clear understanding of the process of change
helps to address major issues and minimise resistance. When we imple-ment
change, we need to consider how we are going to carry out the
activities indicated in the logical framework – resulting in the motive
of the change. We have to consider the consequences of these activities,
the effect on the people involved, the hindrances we might encounter
along the way, the people who will carry out these activities, the order
and time schedule of these activities and so on. We have to organise the
process of the change so we can develop a strategy towards the imple-mentation
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of change.

Change Agents
III. The role of the change agent
“We cannot change our past, but our actions can shape our future - we
must change in order to survive.”
~ Con Antonio
A change agent is a person who indirectly or directly causes change.
A change agent lives in the future, not the present. Regardless of what
is going on today, a change agent has a vision of what could or should
be and uses that as the governing sense of action. For example, a change
agent may work within an organization to lead or cause the change that
affects how the business is conducted. They may be assigned the role or
may assume the role naturally.
To a certain extent, a change agent is dissatisfied with what they see
around them, in favour of a much better vision of the future. Without
this future drive, the change agent can lose their way.
A change agent possesses a strong ability to self-motivate and is fuelled
by passion. They also have a strong understanding of people, and in
doing so inspire passion in others. In some cases this may be misunder-stood
and underappreciated as the realisation of the vision may be too
far in the future to be conceptualised.
As a result there is no ‘ideal’ change agent. It is about the motive and
process as perceived by the person that will define the definition.
Seven Characteristics of an Effective Change Agent
Below are the seven most significant characteristics a change agent can
possess to successfully implement organizational change:
• A person with a clear vision
• A person who is an effective coach
• A person who is an excellent architect
• A person that is tolerant yet persistent
• A person that asks tough questions
• A person who leads by example
• A person who builds lasting relationships
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231
1. Clear Vision
Vision plays an important part for all individuals in leadership roles.
In organizations where people have a clear vision of where they are
going, they understand that this vision is vital to their success. A vi-sion
is necessary to bind the organization and give people direction.
People tend to feel frustrated if they sense that the direction of this
vision is blurred. Without clear vision, a business is like a ship with-out
a rudder and is in danger of drifting aimlessly. As a change agent,
your vision should be concise and give purpose to the organization,
you are capable of motivating yourself and others by helping to link
action to the business strategic goals from a clear understanding of
the values they will create. If a vision is not clearly communicated
it will not be remembered, it will not be transparent and therefore
will be open to misinterpretation and create hidden agendas that will
dilute the benefits of change.
With a clearly communicated vision, an organization will facilitate
buy-in from its team and create a sense of shared vision that will en-able
the organization to realize the benefits associated with a strong
sense of vision.
2. Effective Coach
It is essential for a change agent to create a mutual trust among all
interested parties by supporting, guiding and teaching others the pro-cess
of change. Only then can individuals be honest enough to bring
their fears and concerns to the surface quickly so they can be re-solved.
By facilitating the exploration of needs, motivations, desires,
skills and thought processes, this will assist individuals in an organi-zation
in making real, lasting change.
A change agent understands the process of convincing others about
the necessity of change and the applicability of the vision to this
change. One of the first elements in a change process is to create a
basic awareness of the key factors in the organization that need to be
improved. A change agent will establish a sense of urgency to take
action and at the same time also create a belief that it is possible to
reach the state of change necessary. This in turn will encourage the
organization to develop the skills and abilities needed, enhance com-mitment,
as well as instil a willingness to take risks towards achiev-ing
a common vision.

Change Agents
A change agent must also have sufficient personal skills to influence
the human behavioural side of change by encouraging participation,
sharing information and seeking and rewarding early adopters who
will serve as advocates of this change.
3. Excellent Architect
A change agent plays a key part in shaping and fostering continuous
improvement and business transformation initiatives. As they live in
the future, not the present, they are responsible for creating a design
concept that meets today’s evolving business world. This driving
force is needed in order to create the ability to change quickly and to
make this ability a core competency in the organization. Creating this
ability to change quickly and effectively is critical. To survive, orga-nizations
must be flexible and be able to quickly implement strategy
and improvement processes. I believe that any organization that does
not create this “change-based” culture will not survive, no matter
how big they are or how successful they have been in the past.
Change agents must not only see the big picture when looking across
multiple process and improvement initiatives, they must also have
business strategy knowledge, a wide range of process discipline skills
and methodologies in technological expertise. It is this rare combina-tion
of business domain knowledge and a winning personality that
helps with communication and business change management.
All change agents must embrace this visionary role, focusing on how
the solution delivers real value to the users, and how the system’s
structure meets the needs of all interested parties.
4. Tolerant Yet Persistent
A tolerant behaviour is vital for a change agent, they must be able
to show respect for the rights and opinions of others. Change does
not happen overnight, it’s moulded by people who don’t give up and
most people know that. To have sustainable change that is meaning-ful
to people, it is something that they will have to embrace and see
as an important factor. Most people need to experience something
before they can really understand it and this is especially true in or-ganizations.
With that being said, many can get frustrated that change
does not happen fast enough and they tend to push people further
away from the vision instead of getting closer. Persistence becomes
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present when you take on opportunities to help people who are ready
to embrace change and get a step closer to this goal without giving up
if they fail the first time. Organizations have to move people towards
their vision with the understanding that individuals do not respond
to change at the same rate. Every step forward is a step closer to the
vision. People will also not change if they are given unrealistic goals;
every time a person fails to change their behaviour, they become less
capable of future change. Change agents just help to make sure that
people are moving ahead with minimum stress.
5. Ask Tough Questions
Asking questions is a valuable tool for understanding the other per-son
and determining his or her perspective. However, when you truly
want to find out more about the other person’s motivations and feel-ings,
you have to ask tough questions that will help you formulate
better advice and ideas about how you can help them to move closer
to the process of change. When people feel an emotional connection
to the proposed change, this is when they will truly progress towards
the vision. When asking questions, it is focusing on what is best for
all parties and helping people come to their own conclusions based
on their experience, this is when you will see people displaying own-ership
in what they are doing. Keep asking questions to help people
think, don’t alleviate that by telling them what to do.
That doesn’t mean that they aren’t willing to have tough conversa-tions.
Trust is also built when you know someone who will deal with
situations even if it is uncomfortable. Trust is also built when you
choose to do what is right for your community or organization, as
long as it is always done in a respectful way.
6. Leads By Example
As a change agent, you must lead by example. You have to not only
be able to articulate the vision, you must also show them the way by
doing it yourself. It will demonstrate your dedication to the organiza-tion
and your team and help to develop inspiration and trust.
We at HID Group practice “what we preach,” otherwise, how can our
clients trust the process that we recommend for them to follow.
How can you really know how something works if you have never
experienced it?
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Change Agents
234
7. Building lasting relationships
For relationships to be lasting, you must create “goodwill” that you
consider as an asset in your respective business. This goodwill is
achieved mainly through business relationships and the reputation
you carry as a business and as an individual too. There are many
methods that can be used to build lasting relationships, however, all
of the above means nothing if you do not have solid relationships
with the people that you serve. People will not want to grow if they
do not trust the person that is pushing the change. The change agents
I have seen are extremely approachable and reliable, usually they
will go out of their way to connect with you.
There are many methods that can be used to build lasting relationships,
among them is networking, being accessible and visible, showing you
care and solving problems immediately.
It is very crucial that as a change agent you preserve these relationships.
Co-existing is the key to success and survival. Lasting relationships will
assist in retaining good talent and this is one of the most important as-pects
of any business survival.
For change to be of any value, it must be shared by all relevant par-ties.
It would be easy for someone to come in and tell you how things
should be, but again that is someone else’s solution. When that solution
is someone else’s, there is no accountability to see it through.

ABOUT CON
Con Antonio is the CEO of HID Group, a trusted business leader and
coach.
HID Group is also dedicated to reviving the small and medium busi-ness
community by providing business coaching to business owners. Con uses his 30
years of expertise in accounting and business knowledge to create efficient systems
– which create profit, but he also works in-depth with the personal development of
the business owners. Con realized years ago in working with various companies,
from the medical industry to the car industry, that for a business to have lasting suc-cess
– it is not simply about changing systems – it’s about changing the mindset and
habits of the business owners running the company.
He graduated from Victoria University with honours in Tax Law and Organizational
Behaviour, and prior to completing his accounting degree, at the age of 19 he was
granted a Tax Agent’s licence and that provided him with the opportunity to prepare
tax returns for individuals and small businesses - that was Con’s first taste of busi-ness,
and the self-satisfaction of helping individuals and businesses to manage their
tax affairs.
After several years working for small companies, he joined AMCOR Pty. Ltd, one of the
largest packaging companies in Australia and overseas. For the following 13 years,
Con dedicated most of his waking hours to learning and developing his knowledge.
He was promoted to different levels of management, working together with some of
the most disciplined and toughest professionals of the group, who taught him all he
knows today about business and the discipline and commitment that is required to
become successful.
Although Con enjoyed achieving success in the accounting profession, he also knew
that his passion was to inspire and empower people to achieve their personal and
business dreams. So, at the height of his career, he decided to resign and went on
to join the HID Group. For the past 13 years he has successfully coached a number
of small and medium-sized businesses that, over a period of time, have more than
tripled their bottom line.
To learn more about Con Antonio, please visit: www.hidgroup.com.au
235

Chapter 25
SURVIVING THE JOURNEY
OF GRIEF
By David Rispoli, M.Div.
Ed and Shelly lived the storybook life. They met on a blind date in High
School. Shorty after graduation, Ed enlisted into the United States Ma-rine
Corps and Shelly went to nursing school. Ed was a veteran of World
War II. After the war the couple married. They were best friends and
soul mates. They faced and overcame every struggle life offered and
seemed to always come out on top, together. After the kids were raised,
they sold the family home, retired from their jobs and intended to travel
the world. Life had been grand. Their world came to a crashing halt
when Ed suffered a massive heart attack. He fought hard, but eventually
died. Shelly was devastated. Ed’s death changed everything for Shelly.
Other than the two years that Ed was overseas, this was the first time
in fifty years that the two of them were not together. Now, six months
later Shelly came into my office. She was feeling depressed, lonely and
scared about her future. She started the conversation by saying these
words, “David, I think I am going crazy!”
I have been hearing the same story from people coming into my office
for the past twenty years. These are people of all different ages, from all
different walks of life and from all over the world. While their journeys
are all unique, they all have two things in common. First, every one of
them has lost someone that they loved very deeply. Secondly, every one
of them feels as if they are going crazy. These people come to my office
for help. They have been told by others that they should be over it by
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Change Agents
now. They have been told that they should be feeling better. Sometimes
they state how long it has been since the loved one has died and will
say, “Well, it’s been six months” or “It’s been two years,” as if the allot-ted
time to grieve has clearly expired. The end result is that the people
coming to see me frequently feel worse. They feel guilty, they are still
in pain, and they feel like they are going crazy.
Usually, I am the first person to proclaim a message of hope. It is the same
message that I shared with Shelly. The message is, “You are not crazy,
you are grieving.” As my grieving friends begin to share the story of their
loss, they find that their grief journey is more similar to others than they
had originally imagined. They also begin to realize that the feelings and
thoughts they have been experiencing are not signs that they are weak or
nuts, but signs that they loved deeply and now they hurt deeply. This real-ization
is the beginning of a journey to hope and life again.
For the past twenty years, I have worked as a Hospice Chaplain and
Bereavement Coordinator. I have also worked as a grief coach, a grief
counselor for a local funeral home, and am the founder of Grief Journey
Coaching. During this time I have had the opportunity to walk with
thousands of families and individuals on their grief journey. The grief
journey is the most painful journey this life offers. It is a journey that
no one volunteers to take, but every one of us will eventually experi-ence.
Grief is not a medical condition that comes upon people who are
sick; it is the human condition of losing someone that was loved. To this
end, grief is not a condition that you get over; it is a journey that you go
through. The only way to get to the other side of grief is to go through it.
My goal in working with people on their grief journey is to help them
honor their loved ones, survive the journey and begin to live again. In
my grief work, I have learned that people who successfully survive the
journey of grief have left clues as to how to survive the journey. I call
them the six keys to surviving the journey of grief. These six keys have
helped hundreds of people honor their loved ones, survive the journey
and begin to embrace life again. I know they can help you as well.
Understand the Enormity of the Loss
Tom came into my office, thinking that he was going crazy. He said, “I
don’t know what is wrong with me. My Mom was old and I knew that
she was going to die. But I just feel so sad all the time. It has been seven
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months and I really don’t feel any better. Am I crazy?” I asked Tom to
tell me about his Mom. He shared some wonderful stories about this
woman who seemed to always be there for him. One particular story
he shared was from his high school days when his Mom showed up at
an event and screamed louder for Tom then any of the other parents. It
seemed that his Mom had always been his biggest supporter.
I shared with Tom that he was not crazy, he was grieving. The reason
Tom felt so bad, was that he loved his Mom so much. He had expected
to be over it, as if he had lost a round of golf or a poker game. The truth
is he lost his Mom and his biggest supporter in life. People who have
survived the journey of grief come to the point in the journey where they
understand the enormity of the loss.
Our challenge is that we live in a world that tends to deny and minimize
death. This causes many people to react like the black knight in the
movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. There is a scene in the movie
where King Arthur is trying to cross over a bridge that is being guarded
by the black knight. After a short battle King Arthur slices off one of the
arms of the black knight. There is the assumption that the battle is over
but the black knight announces “tis but a scratch” and continues to fight.
King Arthur then slices off the Black Knights other arm. The Black
Knight then announces “Its just a flesh wound” and starts to kick at
King Arthur. It is a ridiculous scene of a knight minimizing his pain and
injuries. No one survives the journey of grief by minimizing the loss.
The reason you hurt so much is that you have suffered an enormous loss.
Experience and Embrace the Emotions of Grief
John and his son Bob attended one of my grief groups. They had lost
a wife and mom to a long bout with cancer three months earlier. As
we went around the group the first night and shared introductions, Bob
shared that he was not grieving. He said that he was there to support his
Dad, but that he was fine. He was a great young man who clearly loved
his Mother and Father very much. In the weeks that followed, Bob be-gan
to open up to the group. He admitted that he was grieving and that
he had felt like he needed to be strong for his Dad. He confessed that he
often felt like crying but was embarrassed. Bob is surviving the journey
of grief today, because he learned how to experience and embrace these
emotions of grief.
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Change Agents
The truth is grief is the inward response to a significant loss. It is like
a capsule that opens up and spills on your insides. The loss triggers the
cracking of the capsule and there is nothing that you can do to stop the
grief liquid from leaking on your insides. This liquid produces certain
feelings and emotions. One of the keys to surviving the journey and
honoring your loved one is to embrace the feelings. Lean into them like
you would lean into a wave at the ocean. Give yourself permission to
experience all of the emotions.
Some of the common grief emotions include sadness, helplessness,
worry, anxiety, fear, anger, guilt, emptiness, and loneliness. The natural
thing might be to run from these feelings. Many people try to stuff these
emotions and pretend that they don’t exist. The problem with this is that
the unexpressed emotions end up coming out in unhealthy ways. Fre-quently,
grieving people will deal with their emotions by eating, drink-ing,
shopping or other forms of self-medicating. The end result is that
they get stuck in the journey. Lean into these feelings and give yourself
permission to experience them. You feel this way, because you loved so
deeply. The way to survive the journey is to give honor to all of these
feelings and in time these feelings will change.
Practice Extreme Self-Care
A common phenomenon that we experience in hospice is when a hus-band
or wife loses their spouse of many years, they end up landing in
the hospital themselves shortly after their loss. One of the most common
reasons for the hospitalization is dehydration. When you are grieving,
it is sometime very difficult to focus on self-care. Many of my clients
have expressed that they don’t feel like eating or drinking and have a
hard time getting motivated to do anything. Others have shared that they
have made themselves so busy, so as not to have to deal with the grief,
that they don’t have time for self-care. People who successfully survive
the journey practice extreme self-care. Give yourself permission to be
selfish during this journey.
One of the things that you might consider doing on your grief journey
is keeping a grief journal. In this journal you can write about feelings
that you are experiencing and other issues related to your grief. You can
write about memories or specific times that you felt your loved ones
presence. Many people keep a journal in the form of a long letter to their
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loved one. In this grief journal include self-care items as they relate to
diet, sleep and exercise. Be certain that you are taking care of yourself.
Be your own grief expert
When you are grieving you will have friends, family and well-meaning
individuals come up to you and say, “I know exactly what you need…”
When you hear these words run. Give yourself permission to be your
own grief expert. If you want to be alone, be alone. If you want to be
around people, get around people. If you want to celebrate Christmas
by putting up a Christmas tree, put the tree up, but if you don’t feel like
it that is OK as well. People who survive the journey of grief learn that
they must be their own grief experts. No one knows exactly what you
need but you. No one fully understands your grief, because everyone’s
grief journey is unique. People who survive the grief journey learn to
listen to their heart.
Begin to reorient your life to this
new reality and Give yourself permission
to survive the Journey
On December 28, 2007, David and Leslie woke up to a breaking story
on the news. It was a story that would change their life forever. There
had been an accident on Hwy 70 in St. Louis closing the highway to
both east and westbound traffic. It was an accident with fatalities. Ap-parently
a Walgreens truck had run into another smaller truck. There
were prescription drugs all over the highway and the highway would re-main
closed for hours. All of St. Louis was in a traffic stand still. When
David and Leslie looked at the TV, they were horrified by what they
saw. From the Channel Five helicopter camera, they recognized their
son’s truck. They would later learn that there was only one fatality that
day, their 27 year-old son.
That same day, I had been presiding at a funeral at Stygar Funeral Home
and had just finished the service when David and Leslie came in. I had
no idea who they were or what their story was, but I knew I had never
seen so much pain on a couples face. They shared what had happened
with me and we cried together. The next day they called and asked me
if I would preside over Joshua’s funeral. The funeral was on New Year’s
Eve. The song right before my message was Leonard Skynard’s Simple
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Change Agents
Man. It was one of the most difficult funerals that I had ever attended.
In the mist of the tragedy, that New Year’s Eve I proclaimed a message
of hope with tears in my eyes.
One year later, David and Leslie began attending one of my grief groups.
We became good friends and through the years we have done life to-gether.
I have been able to observe them on their grief journey and they
have taught me much about loss, life, change and surviving the journey.
There were many days on their journey where they did not think they
were going to make it. They would both share that there were many days
where it would be easier for them to die. At some point they began to
reorient their life to this new reality. It was not a new normal, for them
nothing has been normal since December 28, 2007, but it was and is
their reality.
Several weeks ago we celebrated their fiftieth birthday party. We gath-ered
with all of their friends and family at a rented hall. Many of the
people I had not seen since Josh’s funeral five years earlier. David and
Leslie have survived the journey. They still miss Josh and they still cry.
We are always amazed how we will be out and hear the song “Simple
Man.” Now when we hear the song, we remember and honor Josh. They
are good memories. They say the pain is still there, but they also ex-perience
a profound sense of Joy. Their friends, their faith, and having
leaned into their grief gave them the ability to take each day as it came.
One day I asked David, “What do you think Josh would say to you
today?” David replied by saying Josh would say “I am OK, be happy.”
The truth is, Josh is ok and David and Leslie have reached a point where
they experience happiness. They have survived the journey of grief.
If you have lost a loved one, you know how maddening the journey of
grief can be. I hope that the stories and suggestions in this chapter can
help you continue to honor your loved one, survive the journey of grief,
and begin to live again. I have a hunch, that if you were to ask your loved
one who has passed away what they would say to you today, they would
respond much the way Josh did to his parents, “I am ok, be happy.”
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About David
David Rispoli, M.Div., has been assisting people on their grief jour-ney
for the past twenty years. In the last two decades he has helped
hundreds of individuals and families during the most difficult days of
their life. He is the president and founder of Grief Journey Coaching.
Grief Journey Coaching is an international coaching firm based out of St. Louis, Mis-souri.
The mission of Grief Journey Coaching is to help people continue to honor their
loved ones, survive the journey of grief and begin to experience life again. David has
worked in the hospice industry as a Chaplain and Bereavement Coordinator for the
past twenty years. He also serves as the Continued Care Coordinator for Stygar Fu-neral
Home in the St. Louis area, and is the Senior Pastor at Joy Community Church.
David is the host of the monthly “Grief Call” a free teleconference where people who
are experiencing the pain of losing a loved one learn the six keys to surviving the
journey of grief. He is the host of a monthly radio talk show called “The Grief Show”.
He does public and corporate speaking, hosts grief groups, and does one-on-one
grief coaching.
David has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Slippery Rock University and com-pleted
his graduate work earning a Master’s of Divinity from Gettysburg. He is cur-rently
working towards his PhD. He is an excellent communicator whose passion is
helping people survive the journey of grief.
To learn more about David Rispoli, visit: www.griefjourneycoaching.com
or call Toll Free: 1-800-877-3470.
www.griefjourneycoaching.com
243

Chapter 26
MOVING BEYOND
CHANGE
By Diana Todd-Banks
Change is not a mental battleground, but we’re conditioned to believe
it is.
I was.
The mere thought of the word change terrified me as it did and still does
many people today, because it instantly appears to mean a time of major
upheaval, even trauma.
Now having experienced change in many forms throughout my life, I know
that moving beyond change can bring joy and a positive new beginning.
Having packed up possessions of others after 5 deaths, had 19 different
occupations, with 8 different companies, in 3 different countries, 2 ½
husbands, and had a major health setback lasting 3 years represents a
lot of changes. But those experiences created 50 physical moves packed
into 48 years in business and more years of life. I do now know about
change and moving beyond that status quo.
But when I first heard the phrase “for things to change, ‘you’ need to
change” four decades ago, I found that hard to comprehend because
there was always a clear reason why ‘things’ didn’t work out. It never
occurred to me, to look at me for the reason things didn’t work out. I
knew why; it was always the same one reason. I was scared, because I
was just not good enough.
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Change Agents
How that came to be is a very sad story. Some readers may have similar
stories.
On the way home from kindergarten my mother said she had a big sur-prise
for me laying on my bed. When we arrived home, of course I
rushed into the bedroom and there on my bed lay two sets of clothes,
two sets of boy’s clothes. One was brown and white, the other navy blue
and white, shorts and shirts with ‘proper collars.’
My Mother proudly said to me, ‘these are for you I thought you’d like
them. We wanted a boy - you were supposed to be a boy. You can keep
them!’ Even as a tiny little child, I was crushed! I can still see my stom-ach
crunching up into a tight knot. Right there I knew I was a failure, I
knew I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t that little boy they wanted.
That feeling of being a failure and not good enough stayed with me and
anytime I tried something new and it didn’t work, I knew why. Affecting
me all through my school life, as soon as I could, I left, got a job at a
newspaper and soon after was raped. Getting on with life, I later realised
leaving home was the only positive solution and the best way to leave
was to find a good kind man who would marry me. And I did.
Six months later, my conscience took hold. I sought help, but no one
would help me. Where I found this wisdom I just don’t know, but I knew
I had to take responsibility for my actions and the outcomes. That deci-sion
taught me a major but painful life lesson.
Of the two solutions, desertion was the best option, so I left and disap-peared
overseas. It was a very traumatic time, yet ultimately, I came back
to Australia, met a chap, married, then we moved to the US, sailing on a
meat cargo ship which later got stuck in the ice in the Great Lakes. Fortu-nately,
we had left the ship early to get to Chicago for the University year.
But, with our luggage stuck in the Great Lakes, we had no cooking equip-ment
and no winter clothes. On top of that we only had one dollar a day
to live on, 33 cents a meal, 15 cents for each of us, and neither of us was
allowed to work. Add to that University housing was in a ghetto area.
It was an utterly terrifying, seemingly hopeless situation compounded
by the cold winter with the wind chill 30 degrees below freezing. How
could we possibly exist? I had to find a solution so we could eat well and
survive the bitter winter.
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In doing that, not only did I learn about nutrition from library books,
but I also found a way to feed my mind, because that also needed to be
richly nourished. I had to find a way to do that other than reading.
Where there’s a will there’s a way, and studying classical guitar filled
me, and my mind with such joy, pleasure and peace that the harshness
of our poor life wasn’t foremost in my mind.
When my husband graduated we moved to southern Indiana, and before
moving there, I started out doing what became a foray into my own first
small business. Teaching classical guitar to young adults. But how can
you get clients in a new area where you know nobody?
Using some bold creative thinking to find a way, two weeks later 40 pri-vate
students were pounding the pavement to my door each week. But
life stepped in again and unexpectedly another major change occurred.
I found myself suddenly back in the windy city of Chicago. I moved
back there alone, but with no income, no family, few friends and a ton
of fears. My husband thought I was having an affair, how wrong he was.
Well maybe I was with my classical guitar.
A Chicago University awarded me three scholarships, and I graduated
a few years later with a Music degree majoring in Classical Guitar. All
through those life change experiences, there were two underlying major
issues I had to somehow overcome. It was that feeling of failure and
not being good enough - both kept providing fuel for my fears and my
constant negative internal chatter.
I knew without dealing with those issues, I could not successfully move
forward in any new direction, a direction where I felt strong about my
self where I could hold my head high.
That decision forty years ago was the start of my foray into the world of
self-improvement and further development of myself, which continues
to this day and that won’t change. That decision and the ensuing knowl-edge
I gained has enabled me to now help others through their periods
of change and transition.
Later when I moved to California I did experience more changes, and also
achieve some remarkable unexpected highs, from being Australia’s first fe-male
wine importer in the US, to having a small US company listed on the
New York Stock Exchange. But those and other stories are for another time.
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Sure I took risks, sometimes I fell down badly and very low too, but I
got up and moved forward, again. Friends have said, ‘Di you’ve had
some big knocks and many changes why aren’t you jaundiced about
life, how come you always pick yourself up, get going, move on and are
still positive about life? What’s your secret to all that?
My reply is quite simple:
“I won’t let worries about my tomorrow destroy my today! We’re all in
this physical world once, and for me, I don’t want to miss any new op-portunity
of an unlocked interesting door that comes into my life.”
Learning how to move beyond those changes, beyond those seemingly
hopeless situations to one of strength, is one of the most powerful les-sons
I have learned, and in doing so, my personal and professional life
helping others has flourished. That makes me very happy and I know
I’ve found my mission in life.
Reflecting on my life change experiences, the most powerful tools I
learned are ones I used to deal with, and ultimately overcome, in these
two significant areas: ‘identifying what’s holding me back’ and ‘internal
negative chatter.’
While each of the tools did benefit me, ultimately they also had a posi-tive
impact on the success of my business. Had I not consciously dealt
with those issues within me and taken 100% responsibility for me, I
would not be where I am today.
Now, it’s time to be brutally honest with yourself!
1. Just as I needed to do with all my life changes, take a cold, hard, hon-est
look inside you, and ask, ‘what is one issue that has continually
and negatively interfered with my life?’ Could it be, you are holding
yourself back? If so, how? If an answer does not emerge immediately,
it will later.
Generally two issues emerge, and each is within you, one being
there’s something holding the person back but they don’t what that
‘something’ is (there are some simple ways to unearth the reason).
The second area is your internal chatter, that inner critic and what it’s
saying.
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2. If you find yourself facing a major change in your life, be it due to di-vorce,
death of a loved one, job loss, financial loss, moving, business
loss or your business is not going as you had planned, then there’s
a good chance the stress and anxiety of the situation can cause your
internal inner critic to become profoundly more vocal and negative.
For most people that inner negative chatter becomes such a normal part
of their daily life they are not even aware the negative conversation is
happening and undermining them. It can severely affect one’s ability to
think clearly, function logically and in turn move forward with a good
sense of direction, unless you learn how to manage, deal with, tame and
turn around that negative inner voice.
While the left side of the brain does have a protective role, the negative
chatter can quickly get out of control, and for most people that is what
happens – affecting their entire personal and professional life.
Don’t let that negative chatter run rampart like a spoilt, uncontrolled,
adolescent teenager. Deal with it immediately. While the process is
more involved than the steps listed here, these will be of significant
help. So please keep an open mind.
• The first step to managing your change experience is accept, it need
not be a mental battleground.
• Be aware negative internal chatter or the inner critic is just that … a
critic!
We’ve all encountered the naysayers, negative people in life, but thank-fully
there are also the positive encouraging creative people. Now imag-ine
two people are having a conversation: one represents your left brain,
the other your right brain.
Each time you become aware the critical voice has emerged, right away
adopt these six steps to address taming it:
Your ultimate goal is to turn your inner critic, that negative naysayer,
into your inner cheerleader.
Step 1: Be aware - Notice it.
Step 2: Acknowledge It.
Step 3: Determine Its Purpose.
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Change Agents
Step 4: The Power Of Choosing A New Thought.
Step 5: Detach From It.
Step 6: Slow Down, Breathe.
Step 1 - Learn to become aware when the Inner Critic pops into your
mind. Don’t try to push it out of your mind it won’t permanent-ly
go away. Start to notice when it occurs: when you’re tired,
hungry, stressed, alone or lonely or facing a challenge.
Step 2 - Acknowledge It – Remember it’s a critic, so thank it, for it’s
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opinion.
Step 3 - Determine Its Purpose – Is it a protective voice coming from
truth or caring, or is it critical and negative, coming from fear?
Whatever it says does not mean that’s the truth. Begin to look
at the chatter from an objective viewpoint if it’s a thought try-ing
to stop you from doing something. Then challenge it.
Step 4 - The Power Of Choosing A New Thought – You have a choice
of what you think. Consciously replace the critical voice with
an empowering positive opposite voice. Say it confidently,
aloud if possible if not then silently. Even if you don’t believe
it, say it aloud firmly. It will quieten the critical voice. This is
extremely powerful.
Step 5 - Detach From It – Let go of the thoughts that are not support-ing
you.
This will begin to occur the more you immediately, positively
respond.
Step 6 - Slow Down And Breathe – The best way to slow down the rate
at which you think, is with meditation. Meditation creates dis-tance
between you and your thoughts. You are able to observe
them like clouds drifting across the screen of your mind. Medi-tation
can simply be sitting and focusing on your breathing,
walking in nature, sitting on the beach at dawn or dusk alone,
or listening to guided meditations or meditation music.
Stop thinking a negative thought, when you do that it will eventually
disappear. Your thoughts only continue to replay in your mind because
you support their existence by thinking them, just like letting that spoilt,
uncontrolled, adolescent teenager run rampart when it wants to.

So, why not choose your thoughts deliberately?
Turning around your inner critic, so it works for you and becomes a pos-itive
voice, is a vital skill that can benefit you for any aspect of your life.
A Final Few Words About Moving Beyond Change
• To many people, Change means loss of some kind, rather than what
will or is being gained by the Change.
• Even if a situation seems totally hopeless, there is always a solution,
but ‘beyond the box’ thinking needs to be implemented.
• Any life Change, whether planned or unexpected, involves a range of
different emotions, similar to those experienced with loss of a loved
one, or loss of any kind – whether a pet, a job or a business. The com-mon
denominator with each experience is grief, which is a natural re-sponse
to loss of any kind as are the related emotions.
• Any life Change is a very personal experience and cannot be hurried.
• If the Change experience is viewed as a loss, then address what is
being lost, why it is perceived as a loss, and what ‘new’ things, or
experiences will replace that loss with a view to looking positively to
the future.
• Change your view about Change – Change is not frightening, nor a
mental battleground, it represents an exciting new opportunity. Why?
The world is rapidly changing every few years. A new world presents
new challenges ... and new opportunities for people of all ages.
It makes sense, if you don’t want your life to be the same in 5 years time
as it is now, it is necessary for you to adopt new strategies in your think-ing,
attitude and actions for your wealth, health, happiness and overall
wellbeing, and doing so will involve a lot of change. Only you can do
that by taking 100% responsibility for your actions and outcomes, and
in doing so, your business will also benefit.
Don’t let worries about your tomorrow destroy your today! Get used to
Change, learn to love it, because Change will always happen. You can
never tell what’s around the corner.
Be bold, take a step into the unknown, it can change your life.
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Change Agents
About Diana
DIANA TODD-BANKS is a Speaker, Coach and Award-winning Best-
Selling Author. As a leading authority on Life Change, Diana Todd-
Banks shares her considerable business and life experiences via
seminars, speaking engagements, and private coaching.
A very down-to-earth woman, Diana Todd-Banks has received extensive print and
electronic media coverage in the US appearing in most major dailies: USA Today,
Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Orange County Regis-ter,
and many more including major Australian TV, radio and print media. For twenty
years she lived, worked and owned businesses in the US.
Diana is a woman who has had an incredibly varied life, has conquered very high
hurdles to make things happen, and overcome many deep lows. Picking herself up,
dusting herself off from these lows, she has moved forward with a positive outlook on
life which ultimately has opened up many new doors and opportunities.
Combining her vast wealth of experiences and insight with practical strategies, Diana
works with clients to help them achieve a new beginning following the loss of a loved
one, or a job, business or financial loss, divorce, retirement, health or relocation setback.
As well, she works with clients who have other specific goals they want to achieve.
She was a US wine and food importer, and an international marketing consultant for
Australian businesses seeking new niche opportunities in the US. Prior to that, she
gained a degree in Classic Guitar in Chicago.
In 2012 Diana was a co-author alongside several top world inspirational speakers
and best-selling authors. In The Success Secret, The World’s Leading Experts Reveal
Their Secrets for Success and Life Diana co-authored with best-selling author Jack
Canfield, named by Time magazine as the “Publishing Phenomenon of the Decade.”
In another book, entitled Cracking The Success Code, released in 2012, Di was a
co-author with the legendary best-selling self-development author Brian Tracy. In
The Spirit of Success is another book also released in early 2012, and Di wrote with
Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Esther & Jerry Hicks, Mark Victor Hansen, Neale
Donald Walsch & Sandy Forster.
In Australia, her groundbreaking book drew significant media attention, since it was
a world first on the subject: Wrapping It Up - Packing Up Possessions & Other End of
Life Matters. This was followed by Estate Organizer – The Ultimate Guide to Record-ing
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Your Life Matters.

To learn more about Diana, visit: http://dianatoddbanks.com/
Or email diana@dianatoddbanks.com
Also visit, www.wrappingitup.com.au to learn more about the book ‘Nobody wants
but everyone needs. Read it before you need it.’
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JUST LIKE SPORTS, YOUR BUSINESS IS ALL ABOUT THE HALF-TIME ADJUSTMENTS
Chapter 27
JUST LIKE SPORTS, YOUR
BUSINES IS ALL ABOUT THE
HALF-TIME ADJUSTMENTS
By Ed Cantu
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution applies to the survival of each
species and it also applies to sports and your business. “It is not the
strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that sur-vives.
It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” This chapter
was written to help you adapt and even embrace change.
I am a 28-year-veteran in my industry and am considered by most of
my colleagues to be an expert in my field. Since being an expert alone
is not a guarantee for continued success, in this Chapter I will share my
personal story with you so that you will learn from my mistakes. You
will gain the knowledge necessary to avoid common pitfalls that can
ruin your business.
You may be asking yourself, what business am I in and how can this Chap-ter
help you? Well, like you, I am in the people business. I just happen to
help clients build and protect their assets. And maybe like you, there were
times as a business owner that I searched for help. I wondered if I was
alone and was searching for ways to get my business back on track.
It was November of 2002 and after ten straight years of great success
and massive growth, the political environment of my State was about
to derail my business after seventeen years of hard work. It happened
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quickly and unexpectedly! Within three months, my annual revenue was
slashed by 53 percent and my income decreased by $105,000. I didn’t
know what to do or where to turn, but I knew the way we ran our busi-ness
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would have to change.
By following processes and procedures that we developed, my office
had been in the top five percent (out of fifteen hundred sales offices) in
Texas for five years in a row. Now those processes were worthless. The
way I saw it, we had three options: We could continue to do the same
things and hope we would get better results, we could sell my business
for pennies on the dollar amongst all the uncertainty or we could change
and adapt to our new environment and develop new processes and pro-cedures.
So, like Darwin envisaged, I chose to adapt in order to survive
and eventually thrive.
We tried our own changes at first and floundered like a fish out of water
for a few months, until I came across a “business coach” who thought
and operated outside of the box. It seemed too different at first, espe-cially
for a conservative person like me from a conservative Industry,
but I was willing to try just about anything new since what we were do-ing
was not working and we still hadn’t figured things out on our own.
Up to that time, I operated as a technician within my office. I worked
in my business and my new Coach showed me how to work on my
business and how to delegate less important activities to my staff. He
showed me how my business could Make More Money, Gain More
Control and how I could Take More Time Off to spend with my family.
After all, aren’t those the main reasons we started our businesses?
I then took a deep breath and did some soul searching to discover my busi-ness’
strengths and weaknesses. We needed to capitalize on our strengths
and make changes to overcome our weaknesses. I learned to better un-derstand
my clients and how to discover the inner-conversation already
going on in their mind, so that my staff and I can better meet and exceed
their needs and expectations. I also learned how to discover my “inner
gift,” what I enjoy and do best, and the “inner gift” of my team, so that our
efforts would deliver a Wow experience to our clients every day.
Here are the Top Seven Changes we made that saved my business and
will improve and save yours. These are easy-to-copy ideas that will help
you grow and make this year your Best Year Ever…

You must set goals and these goals must be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific,
Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Bound). You must look at
your goals every day. You must review your goals every quarter and
adjust if needed. And of course, you and your gifted-team must believe
you will achieve your goals.
1. Challenge your Team and give incentives. I challenged my team
and developed a Team contest with a special bonus they could earn.
We would share profits. Their share of the profits could easily add an
additional 10 percent to their paycheck at the end of the year. That
was their long-term incentive but I knew I needed to reward them
throughout the contest period so that there was constant positive rein-forcement
for their accomplishments.
They got cash for each activity they performed that I knew would
eventually turn into opportunities for us. Getting them to change their
habits became easier each week when they saw results and earned
more frequent rewards.
In addition to the individual goals and activities that were assigned,
we made sure that there were team incentives too. All or none incen-tives
so that each team member would benefit only when the entire
team accomplished things. The goal was for each team member to
encourage each other to do better and do the activities that would turn
into opportunities. These rewards motivated team members to act as
a team and to keep each member accountable to each other and the
team.
Results: My team talked to an extra 126 people about our services
during a 73-day time period – an increase of 200% over the same
time the prior year. This resulted in 31 new appointments that led
to 27 new sales. We not only earned our bonus for that quarter, we
continued to earn our bonus each of the following 3 quarters because
they loved the rewards and because they proved to themselves that
when they developed good habits, more opportunities would come.
The opportunities they provided allowed for new sales that would
protect our clients better.
My Return on Investment (ROI) was 4.38 to 1… for every $1 we
paid to a team member in incentives, our Business made $4.38.
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Change Agents
Paid Staff: $9,552 for Incentive
Office earned: $41,849 Total Bonuses
2. Added a Fun Referral Program. Referrals are the lifeblood of your
business. In fact, the only thing better than a referral from a satis-fied
customer is a new sale to a repeat customer. Why not give one
reward and make two sales? How, you ask… It’s easy; you reward
your customer for telling their friends and family to do business with
you. Send your customers a personal thank you note and small gift of
appreciation when the person they referred contacts you.
When you send a thank you note and gift for each referral they send
you, the odds they will send more referrals will increase. The “Law
of Reciprocity” assures they will continue to send you referrals when
you meet your client’s expectations. We established our referral pro-gram
eleven years ago and the ROI is still 4 to 1. The positive rein-forcement
of each referral assures they continue to tell their friends
and family to do business with you as long as you take care of them
and the people they refer. Check that gifts are legal in your State.
3. Re-contact your Customers. We wrote 130 new items in a 90-day
period by reminding our clients that they need protection. We com-piled
a list of clients that had gaps. We contacted them and then up-dated
our list each week and followed up regularly. 130 items X $253
(average price) = $32,855 new sales.
4. Improve your repeat sales and prevent buyer’s remorse. Sending
a Welcome Kit to new customers to remind them why they chose
to do business with you will reinforce that they made a wise choice
to select you. They will buy again from you sooner and give you
referrals and testimonials when you ask them shortly after their first
purchase.
5. Use Testimonials. People are more likely to believe what someone
else says about you than what you or your team says about you.
6. Control Your Business with better processes. You must automate
your systems so that you work smarter and spend more time on your
business rather than in your business. I completely rebuilt my team
within the past twelve months and will continue to make improve-ments
as time goes on because like it or not, things change. Only my
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office manager has been with me throughout the rebuilding process.
I added a part-time assistant recently who spends her time assisting
my sales team with clerical duties, so that they can spend more time
helping our new customers and visiting with our current clients to
help them avoid dangerous protection gaps.
7. Review your year-to-date results with your team each week. We
choose Tuesday morning to track our goals and to keep each of us ac-countable.
“What gets measured gets done.”
More helpful tools you should use to achieve your goals and to make
sure you have your Best Year Ever:
Delegate more… when possible; give the things less likely to earn you
money to the team member that costs you the least wage.
Chart Your Game Plan... Make yearly goals and then update them
each quarter. Assign the required duties to each employee.
Chart a Team Game Plan... Make sure each team member knows the
importance of their duties and how they help reach the team goals. Give
them a copy of your plan.
Unleash Your Skill... Do the tasks that you enjoy and are good at so that
you will enjoy your day and get important things done. If you are not
good at a specific task, delegate it to someone else.
Unleash each Team Member’s Skill... Determine what they are best at
and assign tasks to them that will help you reach your goals. As the CEO,
you are the Coach, it’s up to you to maximize your team’s strengths and
minimize their weaknesses. After all, a good football coach wouldn’t
send their 300-pound lineman out for a deep pass, would they? Of
course not, that is not his strength, so you would be setting him up for
failure and it would prevent you from reaching your goal.
Nurture your customers… Stay in contact with them to make sure you
are at the top of their mind the next time they buy your product or ser-vice.
A monthly newsletter or mailing, regular mail or e-mail, is a good
way to stay in contact. Let your clients get to know you and keep them
informed on how things in your business affect their daily lives.
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Join or create a Mastermind Group of other Business owners...
There are things that only another business owner will understand and
be able to help you improve. Ask them to keep you Accountable for
your goals.
My business has seen a complete turn around since I first found help
eleven years ago. The growth did not happen overnight, but the growth
has been consistent and our revenues are back where they need to be.
We accomplished all of this because my team and I adapted and em-braced
necessary changes. Not just once but several times by using the
tools in this chapter. You see, we learned how to anticipate necessary
changes, how to keep up with technology and how to better serve our
clients. I’ve also learned the importance of having a coach or mentor
and reading more business success books.
My first business coach and mentor was Michael Jans with a company
called Quantum Club. He coaches Insurance Agents, but his teachings
are universal. He taught me how to implement each of the tools I’ve
described in this chapter, so I suggest that you find a mentor or coach to
help you. If you can’t afford a business coach right know, then continue
to read success stories. Learn as much as you can from other success-ful
businessmen and businesswomen by watching what they do and by
reading what they write. They don’t have to be in the same business
that you are in. In fact, sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from
outside your industry because they are new and will set you apart from
your competition.
Here are some of my favorite Coaches and books you should check out:
“The E-Myth” by Michael E. Gerber... This book is a must read for all
Entrepreneurs and for everyone who wants become an Entrepreneur.
Michael Gerber explains the difference between someone who is a good
technician but has a failing business because he works in his business
unlike the successful entrepreneur who works on his business.
“Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Dr. Robert Cialdini…
How to help people choose the best option so that it will mutually ben-efit
them and you. According to Dr. Cialdini, influencing others isn’t a
trick or magic- it’s science. His book uses proven principals of influ-ence:
260

1. Reciprocation- You give, then I give.
2. Social Proof- Gather and use testimonials.
3. Commitment and Consistency- People like routines and hate
change.
4. Liking- People do business with people they like and with people that
like them.
5. Authority- People follow authority. Knowledge, Credentials.
6. Scarcity- Fundamentals of economics relate to supply and demand.
Dr. Cialdini’s book is a classic you can find at bookstores and on the
Internet.
“Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy... 21 great ways to stop procrastinating
and to get things done faster. It’s a best seller that has sold over three
million copies. “You cannot save time; you can only spend your time
differently.” I first meet Mr. Tracy in 2010 and I highly recommend you
contact and follow him at: www.briantracy.com
Finally, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill... The hidden secret
in “Think and Grow Rich” can help you tap into the Millionaire Mindset
you need to gain financial freedom.
In summary, today is your half time and regardless of the score, the only
thing you can count on in the second half is change. You must adjust if
you want to win the game because your competitors are going to make
adjustments, and from know on, change will happen faster. Be prepared
to adapt to your customers as their habits change.
Follow and implement my tools for your success and remember this.
More money, more control and more time is great but what good is it if
you don’t do good things with your time and money. I am grateful for
what I have and I know that none of it would be possible without the
love and support from my God, Family and Country. Owning a success-ful
business isn’t as satisfying if you don’t help others become success-ful
too. I enjoy helping others and that is why I decided to contribute to
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Change Agents
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and hope you put it to good use.
For more information, contact me at: www.facebook.com/edcantuinsur-ance
and watch for my new and upcoming website at www.edcantu.com.
One last thing… Don’t try to do everything at once. Start by choosing
just one or two of the tools. Choose the one that gives you the greatest
ROI. Implement and gradually add more. Remember you sometimes
have to go backward just a little in order to go forward a lot. After all,
you can’t jump very high without first crouching down and you can’t
throw a ball very far without rearing your arm back first.
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About Ed
Ed Cantu is a top performing veteran agency owner of 28 years with
numerous achievement awards who represents some of the larg-est
insurance companies in North America. Ed’s Agency is highly
recommended by his clients and his peers because he and his staff
members are knowledgeable agents with excellent customer service skills who know
how to treat their customers’ right.
He is one of the great insurance minds in the field and is constantly learning the new-est
information to pass along to his customers to help protect them better.
Ed received his BBA from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 1981 and is a native
Corpus Christian who understands the ever-changing Texas Insurance market.
He and He and Pam, his wife of 20 years, are active in their community with Church
and organizations like March of Dimes and The Coastal Bend Emmaus Community. Ed
is an Alumnus of Leadership Corpus Christi and serves on the boards of the Greater
Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce and the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Athletic Foundation. He is also an active member of the Corpus Christi Association of
Realtors, Builders Association Corpus Christi Area, The Greater Corpus Christi Hos-pitality
Association, and helps raise funds for March of Dimes through his Agency’s
referral program and MOD’s annual golf tournament.
263

BUILD YOUR PLATFORM: Launch Yourself With The Power Of Digital Publishing
Chapter 28
BUILD YOUR PLATFORM:
Launch Yourself With The
Power Of Digital Publishing
By Farhan Jamal
The magical world of publishing is now in the palm of your hand. Books
with promise no longer hide out in sock drawers. Instead, you are likely
to find them frolicking around within the e-reader on your nightstand.
The publishing industry is rapidly changing and where there is change,
there is opportunity. Authors today have many options available to them.
Aside from traditional routes, they now have eBooks, the clever plat-forms
that go along with them and social media. Digital editions may
not have the bulk and weight of their printed cousins but their lack of
physical presence certainly hasn’t stopped them from making a splash!
You may be looking to build a platform with a non-fiction book or per-haps
you’ve always wanted to write fiction – whatever your situation
may be, eBooks are a great way to get started. The complexities that
once existed with traditional self-publishing are starting to disappear
and authors who are succeeding in the digital world are getting picked
up by agents and publishers more frequently these days. The opportu-nity
to self-publish online is most certainly ripe and ready for the taking.
However, the big question is where do you begin? After all, the Internet
is vast and there are so many ways in which to approach this strategy.
Indeed, digital publishing is much simpler than traditional self-publish-ing,
but releasing a book online is the easy part. Making it a success is
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Change Agents
another story. Many authors are starting to realize that they must see
themselves as online entrepreneurs in order to succeed. The good news
is that the necessary skills can be acquired with a little determination.
Readers today are enjoying a massive selection of titles that are available
to them on demand and their hunger for quality content seems to be in-creasing
with each passing day. Even if you plan to publish traditionally,
including a digital edition in your publishing strategy is a wise option.
IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE A WRITER
A new chapter in publishing has begun and this is precisely why it is a
great time to have an eBook out there. Once you’ve launched yourself
online, publishers and agents may approach you, but most importantly –
and this is the ultimate prize – you will start to attract readers, cultivate
an audience and build your platform.
• Why not go digital while you break into traditional publishing?
• Your contribution is valuable and your message should be out there.
I was watching Oprah’s Life Class the other day and Joel Osteen was
on the show. At one point during his discussion he said, “As long as you
have breath somebody needs what you have.” His words immediately
resonated with me. Everybody has something unique to bring to the
table. Think about your writing and what you want to say, whether it is
through fiction or non-fiction, and realize that your unique perspective
on life ought to be shared. You just have to find an audience that ‘needs
what you have.’ The medium in which you share your message is not as
important as getting your message out there. The audience you desire
may very well be waiting for you, at this very moment, on millions of
e-readers around the world.
TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING
Breaking into traditional publishing can be a challenge and it’s a shame
to see authors give up too soon. Once upon a time, I was one of those
authors.
I discovered my joy for writing when I was sixteen and in high school.
I caught the bug one day during English class. My imagination began
to bloom in ways that I had not experienced before; writing was like
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meditation. By the time I graduated from high school, my first novel
was complete. The plan was to continue onwards to university and get a
bachelor’s degree, but I was seduced with the idea of becoming a pub-lished
author so I did both. I queried a handful of literary agents and it
took about eight weeks to hear back from them. For the first few days
after that eight-week period, I ventured down to the mailbox in earnest,
fully expecting to find good news waiting for me. I was so excited that
I even had several copies of my manuscript prepared and ready to go.
Sadly, those first few letters all contained rejections – a simple form let-ter
with a scribble at the bottom. I was crushed. The remaining letters
were the same. All the advice that I’d received up to that point, from
agents and authors alike, was to not give up and to keep writing, but I
took a step back. I wanted to know where I had gone wrong so I spent
some time learning more about the publishing industry.
The fact was that I hadn’t really done anything wrong… It was just a
tough business to crack into and I hadn’t prepared myself for that real-ity.
Publishers typically only looked at agented materials and agents
were swamped with submissions and queries, making it a challenge for
them to consume everything that came their way. My readers were out
there, but the only way to reach them was if I had an agent. The name of
the game was to get an agent and land a contract with a major publish-ing
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house.
Publishing is a subjective business and agents have their own personal
tastes. It takes time to find the right person who believes in your work.
Once you do find an agent, they have to get on with the business of sell-ing
your book. If and when it sells, you will then be waiting at least a
year before your book is released. In consideration of today’s publishing
environment, you may not wish to invest this time, at least not at the
early stages of your writing career.
DIGITAL PUBLISHING
Today, things are much different. Authors can follow an alternative
path... While attempting to break in traditionally, authors can self-pub-lish
online with relative ease. Quite literally, they can start to build an
audience of readers within days and if a book has promise, agents and
publishers will eventually find them.
Everybody wins.

Change Agents
The simple truth is that agents and publishers want to find good books,
but having to vet through the bulk of materials they receive is time con-suming,
which ultimately slows down the process. Digital publishing,
on the other hand, allows authors to demonstrate the market viability of
their book in real-time as soon as they’re ready to publish. This is truly
the beauty of digital publishing.
By releasing an eBook, authors can accomplish several objectives all at
once. They can:
• build an audience
• generate royalties almost immediately
• possibly attract agents/publishers
• establish a platform
These days, most publishers look to their authors to get significantly
involved in the marketing process anyway, particularly with online pro-motion.
In light of this, why not flip the model around somewhat and
start out with digital editions, especially since an eBook has the power
to launch an author in today’s environment?
Your work may turn out to be a goldmine, but the only way to find out
is if you take a leap of faith and get it out there.
THE PATH TO SUCCES
The path to success is not always clear.
Despite how attractive digital publishing looks, many authors are still
confused about the direction they should take. My advice is to follow
your intuition. The path to success might not always be straight forward,
but intuitively, you will always know what your next step is. When
something is meant to be, it will always fizzle up to the surface.
Take my story for instance. Even though my initial brush with rejec-tion
motivated me to stop writing, the need to write never evaded me. I
just found a way to ignore it. My attempts to brush it off proved futile,
because shortly after stopping I was writing again. Intuitively, I just
couldn’t give it up. Instead of starting a new project, I dug my manu-script
out of the closet, took a serious look at it and changed a few things
around. Once I was good and ready, I mustered up the courage to query
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a few more agents. I sent out the letters and endured, with great trepida-tion,
the eight weeks that followed.
And then the unthinkable happened... I got an agent!
I was beyond ecstatic when I was offered a contract for representation.
At last, I had broken into the inner circle and my dream was alive and
well, once again. I immediately signed with the agent, but in retrospect,
I should have hit the brakes. During our first (and only) month together,
after two phone calls and a few brief emails, he concluded that I needed
more attention than he was willing to give. Of course, that was com-pletely
ridiculous. I called and emailed him because I wanted to get to
know him better, become familiar with his process, learn more about
his plan to market my book, etc. After all, we had a long distance rela-tionship
and email/phone contact was the only way to get to know one
another. While I was attempting to build a good working relationship,
he thought I needed my hands held. His abrupt decision to move on was
a slap in the face that I never saw coming, but I moved on pretty quickly.
I had simply experienced a case of mixing with the wrong agent. I was
still drawn to traditional publishing however arduous a path it was, but
I was young and restless and there were plenty of other exciting oppor-tunities
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on the horizon.
I decided to move on.
Fortunately, my intuition was as strong as ever and it guided me towards
the next step. During my second hiatus from writing I forged a new
path. My thirst for change led me to web development. The Internet
was becoming commerce-friendly and tech startups and IPO’s were the
latest rage. I was drawn to this exciting new field so I started a web de-velopment
company. It was a wise move: I learned a lot about Internet
marketing, skills that serve me very well today. Once I got my bach-elor’s
degree, the plan was to carry on to dental school, but my business
was already doing very well. Intuitively, I felt compelled to carry on
with web development so I gave up on dentistry and carried on with the
business. As it grew, so did my experience. I didn’t know it back then,
but everything that I was learning was helping to prepare me for a future
career in digital publishing.
My break from the traditional model of publishing ushered me into a
whole new career, which I’m grateful for. Perhaps I should thank my

Change Agents
former agent! In any case, I have come full circle, having found my way
back into publishing, and the path that led me here was the right one.
There is a purpose for everything. Had I not gone into web development
and Internet marketing, I wouldn’t have acquired all the skills and ex-perience
that has made for a seamless transition into digital publishing.
What path do you find yourself on?
The success you desire may not necessarily be showing up for you right
now. That’s okay. Let your intuition guide you – get to the next step. If
you feel drawn to digital publishing, honor the urge and take the plunge.
The rest will fall into place.
BE A REBEL AND TAKE THE PLUNGE
I don’t think print books will ever go out of style. I for one love the
feel of a real book, but eBooks are definitely in style! Not only are they
convenient, they’re a game changer. Looking back now, if this sort of
publishing environment was available to me when I was getting started,
I would have jumped on it.
Digital publishing has proven to be so lucrative that some authors are
now turning down offers from publishers. Writer’s Digest magazine re-cently
featured an article on fiction author Hugh Howey. He is amongst
a group of authors who have found great success with digital publishing.
In the article, Howey talks about why he was willing to walk away from
six and seven-figure offers from publishers. The publishers presenting
offers wanted his digital rights, however if he sold them he would have
been forced to put an end to his staggering monthly income. Howey was
only interested in selling his print rights, but the publishers wanted it all,
both digital and print. With the help of his agent (one of the many agents
who had approached him after his self-published books took off) Howey
finally got what he wanted: a lucrative print-only contract. The key to
his success was that he didn’t wait... he got started right away and then
traditional publishing found him.
Once again, this is a scenario in which everybody wins.
Be a rebel. Get your book out there... Start building your own platform
and dare to see what your writing can do!
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THE BALL’S IN YOUR COURT
Your opportunity is here at last.
If you choose to publish digitally, success can be yours but know that
this new mode of publishing, first and foremost, must be seen as a busi-ness
opportunity. The complexities associated with self-publishing may
have changed but the fundamentals still remain the same: you have to
know how to create, market and distribute a good product.
Readers expect quality.
Traditional publishing has always been a provider of this. When readers
visit the bookstore, they expect to find a professional product, complete
with well-written and professionally edited text, a good cover design
and interesting copy on the back cover.
Publishers are in the business of selling books and they can only profit
if they produce quality products as well as the sort of titles that readers
want. If you tailor your approach in the same way, everybody stands to
gain. As long as the digital content being put out is of the highest qual-ity,
eBook platforms will continue to thrive for years to come.
To learn more about the author and launching your own eBook and turn-ing
it into a success, please visit: www.bookanchor.com/changeagents/
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Change Agents
About Farhan
Farhan Jamal has a BSc. Degree in Kinesiology. He is a bestselling
author, web developer and digital publishing expert. He has been in-volved
with publishing and Internet marketing for over fifteen years
and has helped many business owners develop a web presence.
With his new venture, Book Anchor, Farhan is now helping authors launch their ca-reers.
To learn more about Book Anchor and the digital publishing programs available,
visit: www.bookanchor.com.
Farhan is also the founder of Upstart Success, the popular personal success site and
publishing company. For more information, visit: www.upstartsuccess.com.
www.BookAnchor.com
www.UpstartSuccess.com
272

LIFE LESSON: Pick Two From Price, Quality And Service
Chapter 29
LIFE LESON:
Pick Two From Price,
Quality And Service
By Fred Eck, DDS
I was a junior in high school when I decided I wanted to become a den-tist.
I was absolutely certain that dentistry was the career for me. At that
young age, as excited as I was to have chosen my path, I was unaware
that I had my work cut out for me. For the next several years, I was told
that I would need to have money in order to go to dental school. How
discouraging and worrisome this was because I knew my family did
not have any money. Hard work and borrowing money were the only
way I was going to get through school. After I graduated from college,
I learned that my mother was severely behind on bills because she had
been giving me money every month for my rent. So, after ten years of
school I was excited to be done and able to finally get above the moun-tain
of school bills. I think I was as excited about being able to help my
mom as I was about helping myself get ahead.
Following graduation from dental school, I was glad it was over, but
still had a hunger to learn more. I wanted to learn as much as I could
and knew that educating myself was going to play a large part in reach-ing
my goals. So one day I was looking at a trade magazine and saw
a continuing education course titled, “How to put your practice in the
top 10%.” I figured putting myself in the top 10% meant top 10% of
income. Being fresh out of school, this was a very appealing idea, be-
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cause I was constantly thinking and worrying about school loans, prac-tice
overhead and practice loans. Finding a way to position myself in
the top 10% of dental offices would ensure that finances would not be a
problem anymore.
On the first day of this course, it was proposed you could be in the top
10% of dental practices if you simply “did the right thing” for the pa-tients.
It was stated that if you did that little thing then the money would
just come. This did not seem to be earth-shattering information. In fact,
I was a little surprised that I paid money to learn what I thought was
common sense. At the time I remember thinking, “who doesn’t do the
right thing for their patients?” I would not discover until several years
later how important doing the right thing for the patient was. You see,
during this course, we learned how to treat complete complex cases that
many doctors were not learning to do. We were learning that doing the
highest level of dentistry was beneficial to the patient and they would
appreciate and pay for it. My next several years of education would be
focused on learning everything I could about providing superior clinical
results. The doctor I bought my first practice from would even routinely
stop by just to see how different his old practice was becoming. He was
fascinated with some of the dentistry we were providing.
In late 2007, the economy started to change and the real estate market
bubble burst. Our patient’s did not have the disposable income levels
that they had enjoyed in the past. In Southwest Florida, where I prac-tice,
it was obvious that we had to change the way we were practicing
dentistry. Our area was one of the hardest hit in the country and it was
becoming increasingly worse as time passed. Our community is a re-tirement
haven with a large portion of the residents whether full time
or part time “Snowbirds” being originally from the Midwest. Many of
these people had worked their whole lives in the manufacturing and au-tomotive
industry. They retired to Florida with great benefits, fantastic
pensions and healthy stock portfolios. When the bottom dropped out
the majority of our patients lost much of their insurance benefits, pen-sions,
homes, investments and more. As it worsened, we realized that
we were in a major national economic crisis. This of course was having
an impact on our dental practice. More than 50% of the patients coming
in for treatment were not able to afford that treatment. Not only were we
slowing down, but also I was becoming very concerned about all the pa-tients
delaying treatment. I knew that money was the reason why these
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patients put off their treatment, but I also knew that it would lead to ever
more costly treatment and make their financial concerns even worse.
Once I completed that first course following dental school, I changed
dental laboratories and materials I used in order to provide the absolute
best, most esthetic treatment available anywhere. We had to raise our
fees to use these labs and materials, but it did not seem to matter. In fact,
high-end dentistry became very popular and it seemed to be what people
wanted. One day I had a patient come into the office who, like many
other individuals, could not afford treatment. I really wanted her to get
the treatment that she needed so I came up with an idea. I could use
one of the old labs that I used before taking all this advanced training.
Although I explained to her that there were a lot of advantages to the
higher end work, in the end she was primarily concerned about the cost.
After completing that case it hit me. I could create a menu or range of
options so every patient could be treated. We could offer basic service,
moderate service or high-end service depending on the patient’s desires
and budget. Often times now I will use automobile brands as examples.
We offer the ability and choice to purchase a Hyundai, Honda, Lexus,
Mercedes, etc. It’s like we offer all these on one lot. Most patients, and
I would argue most dentists, do not understand and are not aware of the
cost differences available in dentistry. I myself had no idea until I took
the course to learn high-end dentistry. We also learned that the high-end
services we could now provide to our patients needed to be matched
with a dental laboratory that possessed that same set of skills. In other
words the average dental lab could not perform at that high level.
We have cultivated relationships with many different types of dental
laboratories. We offer multiple options for almost every service in our
practices. We are able to offer almost endless crown or cap options, sev-eral
types of dentures, six dental implant options, etc. I would like to go
into this aspect a little further and shatter some of the myths that exist
with regard to dental treatment. I’m going to use a dental crown, or in
layman’s terms, a cap as my example, but the same rule applies to im-plants,
bridges, dentures and partials and virtually every other aspect of
dental treatment. Most people think that a crown is a crown is a crown.
They are under the false impression that the quality is universally the
same and the only difference is the price. They believe if they “price
shop” for the best price they will be getting superior quality for a lower
cost. This is most certainly NOT the case. In reality, it is quite the op-
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posite. Let’s say you want to go out for a nice steak but you don’t want
to pay a lot of money. They serve steak at Golden Corral so you could
go there or you could go to Ruth’s Chris. What you are not going to get
is the Ruth’s Chris steak at Golden Corral prices.
Patients were exceedingly happy with the availability of these new op-tions.
For those that have finances and budget as their primary decision-making
factor, we could help them find an option that would work for
them. We were now able to help almost any patient that came in to the
practice. We began evaluating other areas in the practice that we could
improve to make us a truly patient-centered practice. We want all of our
decisions to be made based on what is best for the patient, more so than
looking at what was best for the practice. All of the choices made for
the benefit of the patient were to become so popular that we began to
see rapid growth.
So it came full circle, do what’s best for the patients considering the times
and the business did thrive. Doing what was right for the patient now
meant make something affordable. Giving up a little of the profits resulted
in such volume, it was beneficial to us and especially to the patients.
I must say that there is one funny side effect of practicing this way. Of-fering
anything from bare bones services to high-end services, some
patients actually get offended once they learn there are multiple op-tions
available with multiple price points. The people that get upset are
those that come in with only the cheapest thing in mind and are caught
off guard or shocked that there are differences between one crown and
another or one implant and another. Everyone knows and understands
that there is a difference between a $50.00 DVD player and a $300.00
DVD player. Is a $700.00 55 inch flat screen TV the same as a $2,600.00
55 inch flat screen TV? Of course not, and that is not to say you need
or want the $2,600.00 model. However, you have to acknowledge they
are not the same thing. That same group of patients also doesn’t want
to take into account the fact that there is a vast difference in the training
and clinical skill level amongst dentists. This group, for some reason,
thinks the services and products we provide are all the same but that we
all just have different prices. In fact, most dentists are taught to estab-lish
prices the same way. It’s all based on industry norms, lab bills and
material used. We used to hear a lot of our seasonal patients that live in
Florida say, “I can get this done much cheaper up north.” The reality is
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it doesn’t matter what state you are in, there are dentists that do high-end
work, dentists that do low end work and dentists that are somewhere in
between. You the patient must decide what level of care you want be-cause
a $1,200 crown in Florida is a $1,200 crown in Ohio. The same
can be said for a $700 crown.
Over the years there have been many articles written on the topic of price,
quality and service. You can pick two out of the three. You can never have
all three. I have illustrated this point with the following examples:
Quality and service: Companies like Mercedes Benz and Nordstrom
base their business on quality and service. They are not trying to be
low price leaders. It’s not that their prices aren’t fair, but what you are
getting is not going to be cheap compared to other brands. A Rolex is a
Rolex and a Timex is a Timex. You can get a fair price on your Rolex
but you cannot buy a Rolex for the price of the Timex.
Price and quality: Costco and Home Depot come to mind when thinking
of companies that base their business model after price and quality. Both
offer quality name brand products for a lower cost. However, service is
not a focus of their business. Costco does not hire or invest in a staff that
can actually give you enough information to determine what flat screen
TV best fits your needs. They will only read off the product card next
to the price or read off the side of the box. Their product knowledge is
typically no better than yours.
Price and service: as I mentioned earlier with the 55 inch flat screen
TV example, just because the cost of something is low doesn’t always
mean that the quality is horrible. One must keep in mind however that
there is a difference and you must accept and live with the difference be-fore
making a buying decision. The example that comes to mind when
thinking of price and service as the leading factor in a business model
is printing on hats instead of embroidering. We buy shirts and hats all
the time with our logo on them. I really like the hats and shirts with our
logo embroidered but if we are doing a big give away and trying to keep
costs down we have the logo printed instead of embroidered. Obviously,
embroidering is far superior in quality and longevity compared to print-ing
so we are giving up the quality for price.
For those of you that have dental insurance, this is very important for
you to understand. Insurance plans are sold under the premise you are
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getting huge discounts. After reading this, do you realize you’re not get-ting
a discount? You are simply getting what you pay for based on the
fee structure of your plan.
We take great pride in being able and willing to provide our patients
with enough information for them to make an informed decision about
what type of dental treatment they want. By altering some of the ways
we do business and by widening the product/service selections that are
available, we have allowed many people who otherwise would not be
able to afford their dental treatment to get what they need at a price that
works with their financial capabilities. For the last few years, we have
provided and will continue to provide free dental service for retired and
active duty veterans as well as those with no means to pay for treatment
at our Dentistry from the Heart and Salute to the Troops annual events.
This is just one of the many ways in which we are able to give back to
the community that has been so kind and supportive and allows us to
keep our charity local.
We feel that we are unique in that most offices do not operate with the
same business model that we have established. Other offices usually
only have a single fee structure.
In the end the consumer has to pick between price, quality, and service.
Most consumers know which one of the three that is most important to
them. So when selecting a dentist, choose one with that most impor-tant
attribute in mind. Then pick which of the other two is more impor-tant.
In our office we have tried for several years to provide all three. I
thought I would be the guy that cracked the code. I found that trying to
provide the same quality at a reduced price to help those affected by the
economy was resulting in not being able to provide the same service.
I find things like adequate staffing, running on time (no waiting in the
reception area), time to stop and have a conversation with a patient are
critical for providing great service. We have actually separated our prac-tice
into two separate practices in order to treat everyone depending on
which two are most important to them.
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About Dr. Fred Eck
Dr. Fred Eck, DDS owns and manages some of the most premier
dental and facial pain offices in the country. His philosophy is to
employ and train doctors to be the most educated in the industry.
Patients come to southwest Florida from all over the United States.
In fact, many of their patients travel from other countries to be diagnosed and treated.
Dr. Eck is regularly involved in educating the public by contributing to newspaper
columns, blogs, and patient education seminars. Dr. Eck’s seminars were developed
to educate the public so they can make an informed decision.
Dr. Eck devotes some of his time to educating and training dental professionals as
well as other doctors offices, so this level of treatment and patient education can be
more widespread in the dental industry.
To learn more about Dr. Fred, visit: drfredeck.com or call: 1-239-992-8555.
www.drfredeck.com
279

EARLY LESSONS IN PERSISTENCE AND DETERMINATION
Chapter 30
EARLY LESONS
IN PERSISTENCE AND
DETERMINATION
BY DR. JAMES MOSS
Looking back over the years, I can’t help but think how my determination
and persistence has kept me from quitting when faced with difficult life
challenges. Just like many young boys, while growing up, I had aspira-tions
of becoming an astronaut, a doctor or a policeman. I liked to watch
Westerns and Saturday morning cartoons on television. I went to Sunday
School every Sunday. I felt I was a regular kid. I was a Cub Scout and I
did chores before my homework each day. I kept very busy. When I had
time alone, I would dream of my future as a business man. I also dreamed
of doing more important things, like finding new food sources under the
depths of the ocean. Science Fiction stirred my attention. I enjoyed watch-ing
“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and “Sea Hunt.” I liked to watch
animated cartoons such as “Danger Man”, and TV shows such as “The
Prisoner” and “Gun Smoke.” Two of my favorite actors were Lee Marvin
and James Arness.
I grew up with asthma and my mother sheltered me by not allowing me
to play with other boys in the neighborhood. Sometimes I’d watch them
play sports, like sandlot football or wrestling. A spectator was all I could
be. Skateboarding was a popular activity in our neighborhood. We built
our own skateboards using wood and an old pair of skates. My parents
were poor and we had to move frequently because they could not afford
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the rent. I was often in a world of my own because my interests were very
different from those of my brothers. I developed an interest in amateur ra-dio,
chess and science at a young age. As I became older I took an interest
in Martial Arts. I felt this could strengthen my mind and body. I became
less interested in the world and more interested in the things I liked to
do. Soon, I overcame my physical shortcomings and learned many things
which made me different from my brothers. I was always determined to
be the best I could be at whatever I tried to do. I think that is why I liked
gymnastics. My persistence grew as I did, and any Challenge I’d en-counter
I’d find a way to overcome.
My mother worked at restaurant jobs and helped me to get a job at a
hotel where she had worked previously in the kitchen. I learned how to
wash dishes and bus tables. It paid $1.25 an hour and I could eat free. So
it was great for me. Since it was in the downtown area of Jacksonville,
I had to catch the bus to get home. I continued to work it as I finished
high school. I had to get up early to get to school because I walked about
three miles daily to get there. I kept a wide-eyed enthusiasm about ev-erything
I was experiencing in my youth and tended to always look on
the bright side of things most of the time.
I was raised by my grandmother and my godmother, who we called
“Big Mama.” They were very strict about disciplining me! I had a tight
schedule, which taught me how to complete my daily tasks and plan for
the following days, weeks and months. Big Mama worked as a maid
for a private family and was a great role model for me while my mother
worked. My three younger brothers always seemed distant, but we all
loved each other as a family. I tried to be a good example as the oldest
sibling and was the first to go to college and achieve my goals.
The discipline I received as a child played a big role in helping me to
develop while growing up in the community. I was raised in a neighbor-hood
where the parents cared and took the time to discipline their chil-dren
by teaching them right from wrong and taught lessons in morality.
I didn’t know it at the time, but later I would come to value these times.
I focused much of my time on learning amateur radio because it allowed
me to meet people and play chess. I spent lots of time listening to others
speak about their communities and discovered we had many things in
common. I was interested in Taekwondo and learned to focus my energy
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through meditation. Soon I was taking classes at a dojo in the downtown
Jacksonville area. Later I formed a class of my own.
I seemed to learn best through repetition and was determined to under-stand
things. Obstacles seemed to appear when I lost focus. This was an
important part of my early learning years and I felt that I could accom-plish
283
anything I tried to learn.
Later, near high school graduation, I had a desire to help people and
spoke with the Urban League who served our community. I had been
a boy scout and was active in the church and the community. The Ur-ban
League was involved in a Law enforcement outreach and had a
program called Jacksonville youth patrol sponsored by JSO. There I
learned about the various areas of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and
was exposed to several areas of the police department and the county
jail. I later took the tests to apply for a job with the city and passed. Then
I attended the police academy and was very excited that I would become
a police officer and help protect and serve the community. Near my
graduation, I was offered a chance to work in the Vice unit headed by
Lt. Joe Kicklighter. I didn’t wear a uniform but had a new opportunity
to become a detective with the squad, so I worked hard and focused on
being the best at whatever tasks I was assigned. I’d completed a number
of cases and worked in an undercover capacity learning more about the
interaction with State and even Federal agencies like FDLE and DEA.
At one point I was working with Broward county Sheriff’s office under
the direction of Chief Nick Navarro, well known for drug intervention
with Miami Vice. I gained experience on several large drug cases.
I married and had hoped to live a normal life but the relationship did not
last and we were divorced. I ran into trouble at work too when my cover
was blown, and I was nearly killed, so I made the decision to change
careers. During a drug bust and raid, I was shot and later had to testify in
the case. My life and my family had been threatened and I did not want
to risk getting my family involved, so I resigned.
After leaving the sheriff’s office, I sought to join the Air Force where
I served in Okinawa, Japan and upon returning home to the US, I got
married for the second time and we were happy for a while but the
relationship ended. I went back to Florida where I wanted to complete
my education and get into the medical field, so I worked toward com-

Change Agents
pleting school and also worked jobs to support my goals and myself. I
studied at a few schools and worked in the medical field for a few years
before deciding that I really wanted to learn to operate a business. So I
started a part time vending machine company “Pablo Beach Vending,”
and started working in the fast food industry. I worked toward owner-ship
of a franchise and learned a great deal about operating a restaurant
and managing people. I enjoyed it so much that I took on large projects
and multiple unit locations, eventually in a few southern states, which
occupied most of my time.
I wanted to live in a major city and I had heard that the Olympic Games
were coming to Atlanta, Ga. This was a perfect opportunity to start a
new business venture and live in a progressive town. I’d heard many
good things about Atlanta and the opportunities it could provide for a
business, so I moved.
I drove to Atlanta and got lost. I took a a wrong turn and got on I-285,
which circles the city, but I didn’t know that at the time and after nearly
two trips in a circle I got off to ask directions and get gas. I spoke with
someone in Decatur who pointed me in the right direction finally and I
arrived in downtown Atlanta (5 points area), parked, and went to the un-derground
area to get directions to a local apartment complex in midtown.
When I returned to the area where I parked my car I could not find it and
moments later that sinking feeling of disbelief was creeping in. Someone
stole my car. I had left money in it too, locked away in the glove box with
my wallet. This was the start of my being homeless for about 13 months.
A few years prior to the Olympics and in a city I didn’t know, I felt over-whelmed
but not defeated. I carried myself as I had always been taught
with pride and dignity as I searched for help and resources.
I lived on the street for a few weeks before meeting someone who was
sincere about helping me, Carl Booker. He could tell that I was in trouble
too. I had not eaten for some time and grew dizzy when I stood for long
periods. The first thing he told me about was the homeless shelter, which
had free meals at noon daily. We stood in line and I was able to eat a few
bites of a sandwich and some soup (it felt great to eat again). I met a few
people who listened and helped me to get into a church outreach program
“Cathedral of Faith” in South Atlanta where I lived, and got clothes and
shelter for a few months while I wrote back to Florida to request a copy
of my birth certificate to obtain an ID card again. I could not get work or
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temp labor without ID. Sister Jackson led the Outreach ministry and Dr.
Jonathan Greer was pastor of the church.
A short while later I was working again and had started to regain my foot-ing
largely due to a few people who reached out to help me, and my new
friend Carl and his family, who helped me to learn more about the city.
Being ambitious, I worked hard to leave the Church mission and get
my own place to live. I worked odd jobs at Manpower (Temp labor)
until I found work at Mayflower movers then I worked at WQXI, a lo-cal
radio station selling advertising and doing some voiceover work. I
had worked a part time job in radio previously and had some experi-ence.
Radio sales eventually allowed me to become an independent
Marketing consultant and work on a contract basis with media adver-tising
agencies, print and billboards.
It led to my growing my business to the point that I had to hire people
to help me manage the company, and it seemed that my life was heading
in a new direction. Within a few short years I’d gone from being home-less
to running a multimillion dollar company again. I had struggled for
some time to get things going, but now it seemed that good things were
coming my way. I met a woman who seemed to like me and shortly
afterward we got married but it ended only a few years later due to prob-lems
I could not help her to solve or overcome.
Even during the worst season of my life, when I was indicted by the
Federal Government and accused of wrong-doing because I was doing
marketing for a client that turned out to be a criminal, I wouldn’t quit.
That client and his associates were found guilty of criminal acts and
fraud in real estate deals. Eventually, persistence and patience paid off
and I was acquitted of all charges. After the stress of this four-year or-deal,
I suffered a heart attack. I am alright now and much more health
conscious. I am thankful for my mother and for Big Mama who raised
me and for all of their prayers of support and protection. Most of all, I’m
eternally grateful to close friends and loved ones who believed in me
during these bleak situations.
I moved on to gain an even larger client base, and worked more than I’d
ever been tasked to do before. I went back to school to learn and relearn,
because technology was changing and many of the things I’d always
hoped to do in marketing were now available for me to explore. I felt I
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had an advantage as a returning student, because I was mature in several
ways and had learned to solve problems benefiting from the gifts they
offered – often disguised as adversity.
In this chapter I’d like to provide a mental bridge to aid others who may
encounter similar rough patches in life and let them know that anything
is possible if you have faith and believe in yourself; you can overcome
difficulties in time if you don’t quit. I am involved in building an intern-ship
program to help Sales and Marketing career-oriented students and
those who have good graphic arts skills online design mobile and digital
ads for companies. As the concept gains popularity, I am developing a
reality show format for students to compete for a space in the program
on a national level. In addition, an accredited Business Marketing sci-ences
program (Equivalent to an MBA) to provide basic understanding
in Neuromarketing science and sales skills on an applied level with the
students actually working with businesses and in the community. This
will help small to medium sized businesses and help more entrepreneurs
to get started now that the Internet can be used to level the playing field
of business, and helps provide a digital platform for commerce.
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About James
Dr. James Moss has been described as “a visionary thinker with a
rare intellect.” James coaches leaders of organizations on market-ing
strategies that result in more sales and higher profitability. His
company uses applied Psychology and research (Neuromarketing)
to New Media Marketing and Mobile Advertising solutions that produce sales through
ads and promotions. Our digital/ mobile media and video content marketing solution
uses a sophisticated yet simple strategy of Interrupt, Engage, Educate and Offer that
has proven to be the most effective in converting suspects to prospects and winning
sales.
James has been consulting with small to medium-sized businesses on marketing
and business growth since 1988. James founded and developed a New Media digital
Marketing/Mobile promotion system that is based on neuromarketing. James has
built a vast network of marketing professionals and service providers throughout the
United States, Canada, Mexico and parts of Europe and South America that he col-laborates
with in order to bring his clients best-of-breed solutions. AI SmartNet cloud
solutions provide digital content and advertising to display devices (Billboards, placed
based displays and mobile) over the Internet.
James is the Former Chairman of the US Global Marketing Alliance and he continues
to speak and create outreach programs to help municipal business growth and youth
development programs helping like-minded people to become successful in their
own lives giving a hand-up instead of handouts.
James formerly worked for George S. May as a marketing consultant and business
growth expert. His time with the May company gave him valuable insights into
marketing and strategy that he still employs today.
James holds a Doctorate in Advanced Information Technology and Business Manage-ment
from Robert Kennedy College. He is currently teaching marketing courses and
providing career-oriented training for college and high school students.
James is an avid learner holding many degrees from various universities such as
Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Mercer University,
Florida State University, Baylor University, Florida College of Medicine, and the US Air
Force. His vast education and expertise in the medical field allows James to under-stand
how the mind works and how it will react to stimuli. His company then uses this
information to produce the most effective marketing pieces possible.
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One of the key things that separates James from other people in his field is that
James has an extensive background in software application development. This al-lows
James to blend his knowledge of how the brain works with marketing, strategy,
and software in order to create the ultimate marketing solution for his clients. His
clients rave about his customer service, follow though, and the value they receive
from James.
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CREATING THE DREAM – From Cancer To Entrepreneur
Chapter 31
CREATING THE DREAM –
From Cancer To Entrepreneur
By Elizabeth Potter
Ever wonder ….what if? Ever had an event in your life that changed you
forever? Good or bad, change is imminent. It seems the older we get, the
harder it is to accept change. Sometimes if we do not embrace change it
is forced upon us.
I was living my life raising my children like most do until one day I had
one of the most heart wrenching experiences of my life …change was
forced upon me!
Everything changed in a blink of an eye it seemed. Your health is the
most important thing cause if you don’t have that, you cannot enjoy all
that life has to offer to the fullest. After the fog lifted from my chemo
brain I was in a place of now what? I can’t go back, I can only go for-ward…
but to where? Nothing was the same. Everything was different. I
was different too. I was searching for some kind of familiarity. I blasted
myself back to the past remembering when I was a child. Remembering
when I would use the words “I Want”. I remembered using them often.
Did you? I also remembered the word “NO.” “That was Then and this
is Now!” I reminded myself. In my moment of perturbation I did after
all promise the universe that I would do something really big and make
a difference if I was allowed to live.
Due to my past experience my outlook on life had shifted dramatically.
I dared to ask myself the question …What if I became an Entrepreneur?
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What would that look like? Who would I be? How could I make it hap-pen?
The first and most difficult question I had to find the answer to was,
“What do I really want?” Being a single mom, the only two things I
knew for sure were...
(i). I wanted to be able to provide for my children
(ii). I wanted to be available for anything that they may need me for
I too was like a child …as I embarked on this new journey.
I began to do my research and read book after book. I purchased seminar
after seminar. It almost became a rat race as the more I learned the more
I needed to learn. People were calling me crazy and a seminar junkie.
It did not bother me as I met many amazing people along the way that I
had things in common with. Just like anything in life…. if you have no
experience, you get to experience it all!
Being exposed to all the new ideas that I’d never heard before and lis-tening
to various speakers, influenced me to take action and spend on a
continuous basis. Navigating the waters of the personal growth world
can at times be very chaotic with information overload. The good news
was that I gained clarity on what I didn’t want. The biggest joke amongst
my fellow seminar junkies was to create a seminar on how not to buy
another one. But you don’t know what you don’t know and its all part of
the learning experience. Everything is included!
According to statistics, the number one fear is public speaking. I am so
thankful to all those who have the courage to talk on stage and share
their knowledge. It’s because of them I am where I am.
I had to keep reminding myself that just because something is for sale
does not mean I have to buy it. There has to be a return on the investment.
As an Entrepreneur, learning how to manage your money can at times be
very challenging. Never refuse a lender that wants to give you credit be-cause
when you need it most is when you can’t get it. I remember when
the bank wanted to give me a large Line of Credit. The amount scared
me and I thought why on earth would I need that much? So I refused.
Well little did I know that a year later I did indeed require that amount,
but by then the lending boom had subsided and it was not available.
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Ouch!!! When there is more month than money you have a problem!
One of the biggest failures in business is underestimating the amount of
capital required.
I remember worrying if I would have enough money to keep funding
my education. There was still so much that I didn’t understand or know.
Amazing things can happen if you ask yourself the question “How can
I?” I continued to keep growing myself and the result was my organiz-ing
business began to grow too. One of my mentors once told me, “If
you want to earn more money, help more people!”
Sometimes it is not what you do but more in how you do it. I began to
really listen to my client’s concerns and I either provided the answers
for them or found someone who could help them. By sharing ideas with
my clients it became apparent that my investment was providing value
not only to me, but also to them. Years later we are all still learning and
growing together.
As time went on, something kept tugging at me. I realized that I was
not fulfilling my earlier promise to the universe. I like my organizing
business and working with business owners, but there was something
missing – I just didn’t know what.
Finally one day I found the answer. When I heard the concept it was one
of those moments where a light bulb goes off. The ignition of an idea.
The moment of inner knowing. The chance to be a part of something
big in a community of like-minded individuals for the betterment of all.
Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream!” speech was ringing loud and
clear in my heart and my mind.
With the economy heading into the downturn, I saw the opportunity to
do something really big and make a difference. It was the opportunity
to help many people thru’ their adversities and come out the other side
making it a win-win. It was the answer to my question of how can I
make a big difference? Clarity and passion is the power to move you
to action. Once you have a clear map of what you want, you become
unstoppable regardless of the obstacles that arise along the way. As long
as you never give up and keep on growing yourself to be bigger than the
problem … anything is possible!
There are millions of people with credit issues and I understand how
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things can go sideways in a blink of an eye. When your world stops and
everything keeps going on without you. When we are in the ditch, we
know we are there and it doesn’t help when people keep reminding us
and demanding we get ourselves out without offering solutions.
I believe that most people are genuine and when things happen all they
need is a helping hand just like when a child falls. We, as parents are
there to pick them up, give them a hug and say its OK. They smile at us
and continue on with renewed vigor.
One of my favorite quotes by Buckminister Fuller …
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
When I opened my credit buying company, it was not to be like the oth-ers,
but to be different and be dedicated to treating people with dignity
and respect.
As I started this new journey with excitement, I knew it would be a
huge project and the main question I asked myself was, “Who do I have
to become to make it all happen?” The answer was very daunting as I
would have to become someone I was not at that moment. I would have
to keep growing myself and really challenge myself to act in spite of
fear. To live outside my comfort zone for a very long time. The road is
scary when you travel alone. The first thing I thought of was to acquire
a partner so I was not.
The word partner by definition “the state or condition of being a part-ner;
participation; association; joint interest.” To me, it meant that if
we work together, it would make things a little easier and a little more
enjoyable to have someone to share the experience with. Unfortunately
a couple years in; that partnership was dissolved. The decision was ex-tremely
difficult to make for me. One more time pushing the boundaries
of my comfort zone! It’s that “Oh Crap!” moment that happens when
doubt and fear tries to overtake your mind.
Once again I found myself in a place of now what? I was looking for
people to tell me what to do. This was a bad habit to have as it caused
me more grief than good most times. It took me several times to fall into
this place of “now what” before I realized that was the wrong question
to be asking. The right question is always “HOW CAN I?” Until I asked
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myself that question I was stuck in a ditch spinning my wheels going
nowhere.
Because of my promise, the internal driver would never allow me to
give up no matter how scary it is! The one thing I did know was that
based on my past, I have the ability …. just like everyone else …. to
always find or create a way.
The next thing I did was to seek out mentors specializing in whatever
area I needed assistance in. One of my mentors once told me, “Don’t do
a word I say!” it took me several years to figure that one out.
The one thing I always remember is that I am thankful that I have choice.
I can choose if I want to be a victim of my choices or be the hero of my
choices. It has been my experience that if I learn to control myself it is
more empowering. It’s my mind and my life and how I choose to live it
is up to me. The mind is very powerful and it will take you where you
want to go as long as you know how to drive it!
Next I hired a business coach with an outside unbiased opinion that I
could discuss ideas, doubts, and fears with. A coach can be a valuable
asset as they are the best people to talk to because they are trained to
hook your mind to find solutions. Just make sure you hire the right one
for whatever obstacle you need assistance with. Most times I found that
the answers lie within providing I have enough information to make
a decision. Other times I ask for advice and consider the advice with
relevant data.
The one thing I struggle with on occasion is to pay myself first in time
and money. I always make sure everyone is taken care of first. I am not
sure if it’s how I am wired or if it’s because I am a mom. Either way, it is
a part of who I am and what I stand for, so I have learned to accept it and
enjoy all that life has to offer. To me the greatest gifts are my children
and one of the greatest inventions is the video game. It has taken many
years of training to trust myself and at times when I am in the ditch, I
just recall the Mario Cart game I play with my kids …Whooo hooo!
What a ride!
My commitment to continuously grow myself and to helping others
along the way is a passion and purpose that makes life worth living.
Things just keep getting better and better everyday!
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In closing I’d like to share one more quote I read from Oprah Winfrey….
“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s
as unique as a fingerprint--and that the best way to succeed is to
discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in
the form of service, working hard, and also allowing.”
Life Lessons Learned
• Everything is a choice. You can choose your life or let life happen
to you.
• The best way out of your problem is asking yourself
“HOW CAN I?”
• Change is imminent. Embrace it.
• Never underestimate the amount of capital required.
• Creating the right team is an essential to take you where you
want to go.
• Find your passion and purpose and you become unstoppable.
• Trust yourself. Only you know what’s right for you.
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About Elizabeth
Elizabeth brings over 25 years of experience with logistics, produc-tion,
customer service and financing. She opened her first business
in 2006 offering book-keeping services. In 2008 she expanded as
a Professional Organizer specializing in small business. Feedback
from clients and realizing a niche for other services, Elizabeth formed a new company
Systemized For Play Ltd in July 2010. (www.systemizedforplay.com)
She has a special talent that helps business owners work through their chaos and
create simple systems unique to them. She has built a reputation as a reliable, effec-tive,
and proactive consultant. Elizabeth has worked with many small business own-ers
by creating systems that help them understand and achieve greater efficiency,
profitability and more free time.
Her largest project and passion was formed in 2009. LP Credit Resolution, LLC a
credit buying company that specializes in credit card accounts. The company
is committed to helping at least 10,000 people re-build their lives by treating
them with dignity and respect, utilizing the resources of CFS2 an outside the
norm financial recovery agency who in 2013 won the “Friends of the Consumer
Award.” (www.lpcreditresolution.com and http://www.cfstwo.com/)
In July of 2012, she co-authored Cracking The Success Code which made it to #2
Best Seller on Amazon. Elizabeth is a 2012 “Quilly Award” winner and was a guest
on the Brian Tracy Show aired on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox Affiliate stations. She was
also in USA Today. In addition, she also appeared in the February 2013 issue of Forbes
Magazine. Elizabeth Potter has also been a keynote speaker in New York with Steve
Forbes.
Elizabeth has trained in the areas of computer science, economics, accounting soft-ware,
business management, sales and marketing. She is a proud member of the
Professional Organizers of Canada, CEO Space, as well as a member of the Progres-sive
Group For Independent Business (PGIB).
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THE SATISFACTION OF SUCESS BY GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
Chapter 32
THE SATISFACTION OF
SUCCES BY GOING
AGAINST THE GRAIN
By JAY OLSON
When I grew up I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. In middle school
and high school, I had a baseball card business where I worked with
people all over the country buying and selling over 500,000 cards and
just loved it.
For one, I like baseball, so that really helped. But the analysis of it, it
was just a miniature stock market for me. It was the buy and sell; it was
a thrill and I loved it.
At about the same time, I also had a lawn mowing business with another
friend for a few years. We went door-to-door earning the business of 15
or so clients around various neighborhoods in Southwest Houston and
maintained their yards until I had to leave for college.
Additionally, I was very good at math as an 18-year-old, and maybe
just a slight bit arrogant about it. One of my teachers told me, “If you
think you’re so good at math, you should be an actuary. That’s the best
thing you can do with math.” So, of course, despite not having any
idea what that was, I took the challenge and replied, “Fine! I’m going
to go and do that!”
When I got to the University of Texas, I sought out the Actuarial Pro-gram,
figured out what it actually was and did really well with it. I was
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at the top of my class and had the typical 21-year-old aspirations. I was
going to be a millionaire by age 30, retire when I got to 40; all your typi-cal
youthful blustery dreams: “Fast cars, big houses….”
Luckily though, because I took care of my studies during the school
year, it afforded me the opportunity to travel during my summers in col-lege.
The first summer, a friend and I drove up to New York to be camp
counselors in the Catskills.
The next year I ratcheted it up a bit and spent the summer in Europe
working half the time and backpacking all over the continent for the
other half. I was fortunate to have paid for the entire trip from the pro-ceeds
of selling the baseball card business when I got to college.
The Europe trip really gave me the travel bug, so as soon as I returned I
started planning the next one. The following summer I bought a one-way
ticket to Australia, having no idea when I was coming back or how. I
would just figure it out as I went. Theoretically, I did study abroad there,
but there was no actual studying going on (I only needed a couple of elec-tive
courses by this point). I made many friends and learned a lot about the
culture and the people, but little of it was in the classroom.
After finishing study abroad, I traveled around Australia and New Zealand
for a few months, then through Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, the Middle
East and just kept going West until eventually I made it back home. And
then it was time to start in the “real” world.
My travels changed who I was as a person and altered my priorities. I
had seen the world and saw what my place was in it. I was more inter-ested
in really helping people, affecting change - the ‘save the world’
mentality. But it was time for a little bit of reality, so I went forward
with the actuarial career as I had been trained to do. With my back-ground,
it was easy to find a job, so I was an actuary for an insurance
company for a few years in Houston. As it turns out, being an actuary
wasn’t that interesting, at least not compared to what I had seen in my
travels.
I was good at the job and it paid well. I moved up the ranks, but it just
wasn’t my passion. Whenever someone asked me, “What do you do?”
I would quickly change the subject to travel, photography, sports - any-thing
other than my job. In the end, it seemed that the main purpose
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of the job was earning a paycheck to afford to travel any chance I got,
which was what I really wanted to do.
I looked into other careers, thinking maybe I should do something I’m
more interested in. However, anytime I put my resume out there, several
head hunters would call with offers of actuarial jobs all over the country.
Eventually, I figured that I’ve always wanted to see what it was like to
live somewhere else (which in a way is like traveling all the time), so I
decided to try continuing as an actuary in a different part of the country.
I made a short list of cities I was interested in and told the headhunters, “If
you can find me something in one of those cities I’ll go.” This resulted in
a dozen or so interviews all over the country, which was fun and exciting,
but also exhausting. As it turned out, a job in Boston worked out best,
so I ended up in “The Hub.” I lived up there for 11 years, met my wife
Rebecca as well as many other friends, raised our son through age 3, and
really enjoyed my time there. But still the same issue persisted with the
actuarial career. It still was just a job. It was okay and it paid well, it just
wasn’t that interesting.
Finally in my last job as an actuary, I was able to position my role a little
bit more to do the things I enjoyed doing. I found that, as opposed to
staying in a cubicle and crunching numbers, that I really liked mentoring
and training other employees, setting up the social events; all the things
that were not your true actuarial duties. They were more pulling towards
the other side of the personality spectrum of introverted analyst versus
outgoing networking-type person.
Late in my actuarial career, my son Matthew was born and my paren-tal
instincts kicked in. Anyone who is a parent understands the feeling
when you have a kid of taking stock of your life and thinking deeply
about it. You wonder: is he going to be proud to say, “Yeah, my dad sits
in a cube somewhere and pushes numbers from one side of the page
to the other, and some millionaire makes a few more dollars based on
what he did.” Or do yearn to have him able to say “My dad really helps
people and is a positive influence in their lives”?
So I said to myself, “That’s enough. I’ve done this for 13 years; it’s run
its course. Now I’m going to go do what I want.” I asked myself what
was going to make me feel fulfilled and talked it through with my family
and friends to get their thoughts. They all agreed that I needed to go
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after what I really felt was my calling – to help people and truly affect
change. Soon after, I officially retired from the actuarial game, throwing a
retirement party complete with champagne, friends, laughs and the whole
production. The 21-year-old me was a little disappointed that I wasn’t a
millionaire at age 30 (although I didn’t actually care at this point), but by
age 38, I had retired. Hitting 50% on the lofty goals of a 21 year old isn’t
bad, right?
My father-in-law Harvey and his business partner David are financial
planners, and I was always intrigued by what they did. The first thing
I tried in the search for career fulfillment was working with them. I as-sisted
in running their seminars and went along on their client visits,
providing in-depth analysis to aid their discussions and found that I re-ally
enjoyed it. I loved working individually with people; teaching and
showing them how they can help themselves and ways we could help
and add value. The less enjoyable part for me was attracting the clients
via seminars, as it seemed like too much of a sales role for me.
Nonetheless, I prepared to run my own seminars and was ready to do
my first one when we decided to move back to Houston. The move
meant starting from scratch no matter what I chose to do for work, so I
had a decision to make:
• Should I set up my own financial planning business in Houston?
• Would I be best served going back into the corporate world?
• Do I start some other kind of business and do what I always
wanted to do?
I decided to go for it and take that chance. I looked at several franchise
opportunities and then it just kind of hit me – start an insurance agency.
I met my District Manager / Business Coach Dennis, who presented me
the opportunity to run an insurance agency for Farmers Insurance under
his coaching model. The standard insurance agent is a great salesperson
first, and they may or may not know much about insurance. I had no
interest in being a salesman, but knew that my in-depth knowledge of
insurance and interest in teaching and truly helping people would make
me a great fit. More than anything though, I wanted to run a business
and with the coaching model Dennis was running, it was a perfect fit to
my skills and interests and I could be very successful with it.
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It is fortuitous that I met Dennis when I did. Frankly, had I met another
District Manager who just said, “I’m going to teach you how to sell.
You’re going to be awesome.” I would not have been interested and
instead would have opted for something else. The key concept was to
build a business and to build it big. So I didn’t open an agency to be a
salesperson; I got into this to be a business owner and to help people.
It’s easy to wonder why I didn’t think of running an insurance agency
earlier. As an actuary, I had seen insurance agents before and thought
that their roles looked much more interesting than what I was doing at
the time. So, this was my opportunity to start a business in something I
already knew very well.
My goal from the start was to truly help people. It was a huge advantage
starting out that I could really sit down with clients and say, “This is the
big picture. You’re asking me about these little details over there. We’ll
talk about that, but THIS key piece is what you need to look at. THIS
is the important thing.” I was not just trying to sell them something; I
really was trying to provide solutions. And, thus “The solutions guys”
moniker was created.
The key premise in building the agency is treating everyone on the staff
like an owner, and putting people in the right positions based on their
personalities. If somebody is an analyst and they want to crunch num-bers
and work on processes, fine. There’s that role in the agency. If
somebody wants to do sales and they don’t want to do paperwork, then
we put them in that position. We also place a strong emphasis on bal-ance
in our lives, and I have had the fortune to spend great quality time
with my family, including coaching Matthew’s Little League team.
Coming from an analytical background, my personality type does not
lead to the direct sales role. However, I love working with people, and
have found I am really good at networking and branding the agency. In
my mind, it is just being friendly. Additionally, I enjoy discussing with
other business owners how we can help each other’s businesses thrive and
am pleased to be able to offer some excellent solutions that benefit us all.
Frankly, my product (insurance) is a commodity that can be purchased
from over 1,000 agents in my city. It is our philosophy of collaboration
with the client and providing them solutions that really adds value and
differentiates us from other agencies down the road. I believe in this
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concept so much that our brand states – “We are the solutions guys.”
This philosophy has worked well and the agency has grown at a fantastic
pace. In our first six months, we earned the Toppers Club achievement,
representing the top 10% of all of Famers Insurance agencies country-wide.
Within the first year, we received the Championship designation,
which is actually the top 1% of Farmers agencies. There are 14,000
Farmers agents in the U.S., and we are the top 1% of that. That is: the
third largest insurance company and we are considered the top 1% - in
the first year!
Perhaps the neatest though was that I won a production contest for the
entire Houston area and as a reward got to throw out the opening pitch at
a Houston Astros game. For this lifelong fan, it was a dream come true.
And, despite being a little nervous and having my friends warn me not
to bounce the pitch and end up on ESPN blooper reels, I threw a perfect
strike!
Obviously, we are very proud of these achievements, but I know that we
are just scratching the surface. Our agency is going to go way past that.
We have so many cool things that we are in the process of setting up,
and it will take the agency to much higher levels.
In addition to growing the agency and earning fantastic accolades, I take
great pride in the fact that we are providing excellent solutions for both
individuals and businesses and helping them prosper with our solutions.
Also, we have found some great people for the agency; folks who, like
me, were miscast in their previous roles but are thriving now that they
have been put into places that fit their personality strengths.
The excitement of where we are going is evident. As an actuary, when
someone asked me what I did for work I replied with “Well, um, ah…
let’s talk about something else,” and quickly tried to change the subject.
Now, I actually love to talk about what I do. I’m affecting change, not
just for our clients, but also for the people within the agency. And I’m
growing a successful business from scratch. It’s a very exhilarating and
fulfilling. I can’t wait to see what we will do next.
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About Jay
Jay Olson was born and raised in Houston, Texas and received his
Bachelors degree in Finance with concentrations in Actuarial Stud-ies,
Risk Management, and Insurance from the University of Texas at
Austin. He was at the top of his class, earning multiple scholarships,
getting published in a national insurance publication, and twice being awarded the
role of paid assistant to the head of the actuarial program.
He worked for 13 years as an actuary for companies in Houston and Boston, before
returning home to be closer to family and start his own insurance agency with Farm-ers
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Insurance.
His hobbies include UT football, Astros baseball, skiing, fantasy baseball (his statisti-cal
background has helped him win several championships), biking and playing with
his son, and coaching his son’s T-ball team. An avid traveler, Jay has traveled to
nearly 50 countries on six continents, including a year long “round the world” trip in
college. Locally, he has visited 47 of the United States and is always planning the next
trip in the back of his mind.
Since joining Farmers, Jay has achieved the prestigious Toppers Club and Cham-pionship
distinction (representing the top 1% of all Farmers agents) in every year
eligible and was the first agent ever in his district to achieve both in his first year
in the business.
Perhaps his proudest moment was winning a city-wide Farmers production contest
in the summer of 2012, where the prize was getting to throw out the opening pitch at
a Houston Astros game. He is happy to say that despite being a little nervous and the
taunting by friends to not bounce the pitch, he threw a perfect strike.
The Olson Insurance Group is located in West Houston and continues to grow at a
rapid pace while remaining an excellent place for everyone to work.
Jay is very close with his family; his parents Art and Dixie, brother Kyle, as well as
mother-in-law Andi, all live nearby and spend lots of fun time with Jay, his wife Re-becca,
and their 5-year-old son Matthew.

Chapter 33
THE GIRL CAN
TAKE A PUNCH
By Karla Silver
It’s August 2001. It’s 3:00 a.m. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night.
Again.
It feels like it’s the millionth night in a row where I wake up in the
middle of the night, totally burned out from my job, and I’m miserable.
I hate it. The technology sector is almost in ruins and my life feels the
same way.
The Internet/Technology sectors have been one of the best places in the
world to work. I’d been part of the team in charge of creating the whole
Internet business model at a company called Excite.com, and I’m enjoy-ing
the perks of stock options, stock splits, shareholder euphoria and a
job that can’t be beat with the pay to match.
And yet something doesn’t feel right. Deep down something is bother-ing
me but I just can’t put my finger on it. I start to think about my life as
a whole. Isn’t this job and this career the dream career I always wanted?
And suddenly it dawns on me. My life is so out of balance that I actually
don’t have a life at all. I am living and breathing my career. That’s when
everything began to change for me.
I jumped out of bed and started making a list of things that would make
up my dream life. I had never thought of that before… what I really
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wanted. Not what was best for my next career step, the next big deal or
promotion, etc., but what I really wanted my life to look like. I began to
define what I wanted.
I’d have my own business, a beach body, speak French, live somewhere
beautiful and travel the world. The list went on and on. You know…
that list of things you’ve always wished for and wanted, even fantasized
about? The list you have, but for some reason keeps getting pushed
to the back of the to-do list over and over again. I was tired of that – I
wanted to take action now. I wanted to live a life of my own design. I
wanted everything on my list. I wanted my life back.
The next day I took a leave of absence. I was half relieved and half
terrified. I was taking a huge leap of faith. I didn’t have a plan, just a
general notion and a feeling that a better life was possible. I didn’t have
the blueprint or the solution yet, but I was officially on the hunt to piece
together how I was going to make this happen – in all areas of my life.
At that moment, I was so hopeful, so optimistic. But life has a funny
way of giving you a reality check. It turns out optimism doesn’t neces-sarily
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make anything easier.
Fast forward two months later, and I’m completely lost. I still have no
direction. I’m listless and drifting. What should I do? Then my husband
decided that he would leave me. See, he had felt so ignored in my pursuit
of the next job/promotion/deal, etc., that he had had enough and wanted to
find someone else that would actually BE in a real relationship with him.
That was the deepest pit of despair that I have ever been in. I crawled
into bed for a month (or two or three) and just ignored the world. Those
months were some of the loneliest months I have ever had. How could I
have left my job at Excite only to end up questioning everything? More
importantly, what the hell was I going to do now?
I couldn’t help but wonder – had I made the right choices? Was I crazy
for leaving Excite and thinking that I could ever build a business around
the lifestyle I wanted to live? At the time, all I wanted to do was move
forward… somehow. I had lost track of my quest to design my life, and
just wanted to go a day or two without crying.
Finally I got out of bed. I travelled to visit a friend in Paris (about six
times!), went to school in the UK at Oxford University, went on safaris

in Kenya and Tanzania, travelled to Australia, and moved to San Fran-cisco.
It was fun, but it wasn’t making a living or a life. I was really just
avoiding life.
I looked at franchises, and considered buying an established business.
I even thought at one point that I would open a spa, but all of those op-tions
felt like I was just buying myself a job. All of those options would
put me right back where I was before, and look what that cost me.
I woke up every morning feeling emotionally drained. I can’t remember
another time in my life where I’ve ever felt so drained. So devoid of
energy, I just felt lifeless... If you’ve ever been in this kind of circum-stance,
you know what I mean. It wasn’t just the break up that had me
down, it was finding myself embarking on yet another new path, more
alone than ever and feeling very uncertain about my future. I was scared
out of my mind.
Despite all the good things, and positive progress around me, I’m hu-man
and therefore susceptible to nature’s “flight-or-fight” syndrome
whenever I feel fear. And I do feel fear. I’m no different than you. We
all do at some time.
You need to know you’re not alone in feeling these feelings. I hear you
- I’ve talked with literally thousands of you that experienced incredible
lows...and I want to tell you, you’re not alone. But it’s these fears that
may keep you stuck. And I was stuck.
But I could feel it - there was still something deep down inside me
- gears churning, not as quickly as before, but enough so that I felt un-comfortable
doing nothing. Slowly but surely I got up. If you want to
succeed you need to override your natural desire to flee and stay and
fight. Fight on for another day. Truly successful people make the choice
to feel the fear and move forward anyway.
That day, despite my overwhelming desire to flee, I made the conscious
decision to fight. As you can imagine - 99% of me didn’t want to get up.
Getting back into bed and sleeping for a year sounded much more ap-pealing.
But I got up... slowly and surely I forced myself to get up. And
that was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Looking back at it now I’ve realized getting up is 90% of the battle.
Life is going to knock you down and your ability to get back up is what
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makes all the difference in the world. And thank God I did get back up.
Shortly after, I met the man of my dreams and began building a life with
him. And just a few short months after that, I answered an ad online
which led me to meet a group of crazy-fun and successful Internet mar-keters,
some of whom have become my best friends.
I began to feel slightly more recharged. The fire inside me was glowing
a little brighter and I felt that all may not be lost after all. The universe
was giving me a sign. Over the course of the next few years, things
started to slowly change for me. I’m not saying this was the only chal-lenge
I ran into...far from it. In fact I’d need a whole book to write down
all the struggles I’ve overcome on my path to success. But I continued
to persist, and this persistence has led me to one single realization that
changed everything for me.
I’m going warn you - initially you may not think its revolutionary, and
when you read it, you may think to yourself “That’s it?” But those of
you who “get it,” you know that it’s BIG.
It was the simple realization that if someone had accomplished it
before I had, that not only was it possible for me too, but the rocky
road ahead was now literally paved in gold.
Read it again.
There’s something amazing about our ability to observe others - to
ask questions - and to find the missing puzzle pieces in our own lives
based on the experiences of others. Even though I was satisfied with
how my business was going, I couldn’t help but think about that list I
had made years ago, just before I left Excite. Even though my business
was going well, and my personal life was fantastic, if I had to grade my
progress on all of my other goals it would be a streak of D’s. Yikes.
It was honestly a little overwhelming thinking about all the things I
hadn’t gotten to do yet (sound familiar?) but were very much a part
of my list - that list that I had made detailing that version of myself that
exists in my wildest dreams. Even worse is that it wasn’t until later that
I had my second “a-ha” moment - when I finally asked myself:
Why don’t I look to other people who have paved the way?
There are many people out there who have automated their businesses
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at the million (or billion) dollar level, more than I have, who live and
work all over the world, who have learned to speak a second language,
to dance, to surf, to rock a beach body, to play the guitar - you name it.
That road has been paved hundreds and thousands of times for me, or
anyone.
What’s stopping me from applying the exact same process I used to
build my business and apply it to grow my business bigger and better as
well as in all the other areas of my life I want to improve? The answer
is…nothing!
You’re probably thinking ...how is this even possible? Listen, I’m not
that out of my mind, I’m just dead set determined never to live a life
of mediocrity in any area of my life. As far as I know, we have one life
to live and it’s ours to decide what to do with it. It’s never too late to
change the trajectory we’re on.
It’s not always going to be easy, but we don’t need easy... we just
need possible. It was time to DESIGN MY LIFE.
So… I went back to that list and added to it. I read a ton of books and
blogs about other people who were living their best lives. I studied what
other people had done. I consumed information like a beast.
I had met the man of my dreams. I was earning an income online with-out
selling my soul to corporate America. Now it was time to step out
on a limb and do what I had always wanted to do.
I wanted to live, love, work and travel all at once - to actually design
my life!
So here is what I did:
1. I specifically defined what I wanted to do. I mean everything.
What my perfect day looked like. What my perfect relationship
felt like. What I felt and looked like. Everything. AND I wrote it
all down – every last detail.
2. I found a business that didn’t require me to be in any one place.
That meant being able to work remotely, online from anywhere
in the world. This way I could pay for my lifestyle as I lived my
lifestyle.
3. I decided to take action. Making a move today is always better
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than tomorrow, because as you and I know, tomorrow never actu-ally
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comes.
On September 28, 2008, all of our stuff went into storage, and since
then, my husband and I have lived all over the world.
We’ve walked the ancient streets of Rome, got married in Tuscany,
learned wine-making secrets in Portugal, studied with personal devel-opment
gurus in Hawaii, made tortillas in Mexico, lazed on the beach
in Spain, and so much more. The memories and experiences and friends
that we’ve created together beat anything I could have achieved while
working a job, or simply accepting what came my way in the world.
Most importantly to us, we weren’t travelling the world on a shoestring.
No youth hostels, budget hotels, or rail passes. No third-rate villas, no
teeny cars, mass transit or bad restaurants. That kind of travel is fine, but
it isn’t for us. We are “luxury vagabonds,” not couchsurfers. If we were
going to travel, we were going to travel in comfort, have someone else
take care of our luggage, and go and do and see and eat what we wanted,
when we wanted.
It hasn’t all been easy. We’ve had enormous financial ups and downs,
made incredibly bad decisions, and started in businesses that ultimately
failed. But all these ups and downs have been on our terms, and each
one has played an important part in our wonderful journey.
Part of me knows that I could be doing more. I’m still looking for new
and better ways to automate my income, make more, save more and be
more. There are areas of my life with room for improvement. I definitely
don’t have that beach body yet, I can’t speak French or Spanish yet,
there are many relationships in my life I could improve, I can’t surf,
dance, sing or play the guitar. But I’m excited to continue working on
my to-do list and designing my future, even better than I ever imagined.
Are you ready to live a life of your own design? I’ve helped many peo-ple
live the life of their dreams. When you are ready, I can help you. Just
go to: www.KarlaSilver.com, or www.luxuryvagabonds.com.
I’ve designed my life. And you can too.
So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!

About Karla
Meet the “Luxury Vagabond” known as Karla Silver – an accom-plished
entrepreneur, best-selling author, and passionate advocate
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for Lifestyle Design.
Karla was born on the East Coast of the US, but calls the world her home. Living a
non-traditional life, Karla and her husband elected to put all of their “stuff” in storage
back in 2008 and have lived all over the globe since. As “luxury vagabonds,” they
have lived in California, Spain, Hawaii, Acapulco, Portugal, Italy, France, Bahamas,
Mexico, and most recently Palm Springs, California.
Karla is a powerhouse entrepreneur, speaker and Internet marketer. Purely for fun,
she dabbles in writing, art, cooking, and golf.
Karla Silver has a solid background in Business Development, Management and In-ternet
marketing as well as Direct Sales. Karla’s track record of success spans 30+
years, including working with various startups such as MTV: Music Television and
Excite.com. She has built successful sales teams worldwide while creating innova-tive
solutions for many of the top brands in the world.
In the last few years, Karla has:
• Launched a bestselling book
• Co-founded a company that provides online marketing solutions
to local businesses in North America
• Helped thousands of entrepreneurs succeed online
• Co-created the Super Saturday Spirit Sale
Contact Information
Karla Silver
949 313 7968
karla@karlasilver.com
http://karlasilver.com/
www.luxuryvagabonds.com
www.linkedin.com/in/karlasilver/
http://www.facebook.com/karlakeysersilver

THE 3R’S: REFERRALS - REAL ESTATE - RELATIONSHIPS
Chapter 34
THE 3 R’S:
Referrals – Real Estate
– Relationships
By Mark Rafail
It was the 80’s in Egypt and the persecution of Christians in the country
was reaching a boiling point. This was no place to raise children, my
parents thought. So Steven and Louris Rafail decided to migrate to a safe
place to have a family. So my parents moved to Houston where my broth-er
Ben, and I were both born. Funny how oblivious you can be as a child,
but I can’t even imagine what my parents must have gone through. Two
immigrants who knew no special trades and having to learn English at the
same time. Needless to say, my parents took work where they could get
it, which means their opportunities were limited. My father worked in the
fast food industry for 20 years and my mother worked in retail her whole
life, just so my brother and I could have an opportunity to go to college
and have a better life. Our family has always had a strong faith in Christ,
and I thank Him everyday for my parents.
In 2001, I graduated High School and had no idea what I was going to
do. Luckily one of my best friends suggested we apply to a Junior Col-lege,
which was an educational path that led to Texas A&M University
if you worked hard and got the grades. So I did what was necessary and
I persisted. I ended up getting the grades I needed while working to
support myself. It was at that time I would start to look around at all the
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students who didn’t have to pay for things on their own and how they
took it for granted. It made me think of my parents. That motivated me
to work even harder and I graduated from Texas A&M University.
So now it was time to get a job, right? Little did I know that the economy
was not that great and the only job a Bachelor of Arts in History could get
was a sales job. So I took that job while living with my parents. I walked
out every morning in a suit because I knew my parents were so proud I
had graduated and gotten this great job. Little did they know I had to walk
into 50 businesses a day DOOR-TO-DOOR and there was nothing great
about it, at least that’s what I thought. But as most struggles in life are...this
job was a blessing in disguise. I ended up growing up as a person, and in
business learning how to communicate with business owners and clients,
and more importantly, I began to learn how to build solid relationships.
I sold business telcom to businesses from 3-50 employees and began to
understand the struggles and successes of small business owners. A year
and half later, I began to receive top sales accolades and was offered a
job in the insurance industry by my sales manager in telcom. His father
owned an insurance agency and I was told if I can sell telcom I could sell
anything! So I quit my job with my first mortgage and car note weighing
on my back and thought, I can do this.
After several months, it turns out I was the worst insurance salesman
ever! $600 paychecks and $20,000 in debt on credit cards as a 25 year old
was a little much to grasp. So I started working multiple jobs just to get
by. A good friend of mine from Junior High, Bryant Black, saw me strug-gling
and was able to get me an interview with the oil and gas company
he worked for. Thankfully I got the job! I was happy to have colleagues
again, a name badge on my hip with normal hours and health insurance! I
thought this was it, I will be a normal guy with a normal job.
A few months went by and America falls into a recession. A massive
lay-off occurs, and I am the newest person there, so it was fair to say I
was one of the first to get laid off. So here we go again was my thought,
but that’s when I met my lovely wife to be, when I was at my worst. She
could never figure out what the heck I did. Was it insurance, answering
phones at a flooring store, helping at a friend’s restaurant? So she met
me at the worst time and just happened to ask me if I needed part-time
work doing health screenings for her company? I was so excited and
played it cool as if I did not needed the money, but boy was she a bless-
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ing. I can truly say that meeting Sylvia, who is now my wife, was an
amazing catalyst to the successes to come. Sylvia and I were acquain-tances
through our parents who were friends and had been going to the
same church our whole life. We went to rival universities with her going
to the University of Texas. It is sort of ironic that she became my boss
then months later she would blindly be my business partner and a year
later my fiancée. Unbelievable!
So even though I got some part time work with Sylvia, I still needed to do
something, and for some crazy reason I felt I was getting pulled back to
insurance. It killed me to fail at something so bad. I wanted to try it again.
It had taken me down once, but I felt it was God’s calling to try again. So
in early 2008 I dove right back in to insurance and worked under a broker.
The agent told me I would have to start completely over from scratch and
the pay would be cut. I didn’t care. With that said, their approach was dial-ing
as many people as you can and “the sales will come,” “it’s a numbers
game.” Something about that didn’t sit right with me. Well, I learned fast
that I was not connecting with any of my potential clients at all because it
was all over the phone from the Internet.
So I picked up the phone and called my Local Farmers Insurance contact
Dennis McGough. Dennis would come to be my business coach, mentor
and friend over the years. He listened to my struggles and said, “Why
don’t you start your own agency?” My ears perked up, me owning a
business so young seemed far fetched. Dennis mentioned that I would
be able to get a loan for the first two years. In mid-2009, with not many
options, as the economy was at its weakest I decided I would open my
own insurance Agency. I wanted to prove to myself and my family that
I could be as successful as those business owners I was pitching telcom
to. Although my family was pessimistic about the idea since I failed the
first time; however, they realized I was going to do what I wanted. I then
asked Sylvia and she asked what I would do differently than in the past?
I answered that I would meet as many of my clients, realtors, apartment
leasing agents and mortgage professionals as possible. I wanted to tailor
my office to these centers of influence that always speak to clients need-ing
insurance. So this is exactly what we did.
I handed Sylvia my cell phone to answer while I hit the streets like I
was used to doing in the past with telcom. I was passionate about never
providing bad insurance just to get the deal; instead I wanted to educate
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everyone on the importance of having the right coverage. I started by
networking, going to apartment leasing offices, real-estate functions and
getting involved in my community (when most people did not). People
then saw my face over and over, so they gained TRUST in us.
That trust then turned in to REFERALS, and boy was it much easier to
discuss insurance with a client that called our agency. I knew in my first
year that I had to be spending half my time out of the office to continue
being the face of the business. Sylvia then took faith by answering my
cell phone while I visited people. Then that turned into her getting li-censed
soon after, ditching the cell phone, and having eight phone lines
three years later with a staff of seven. Sylvia has been the backbone of
not only our business but to me as a person. Before we were even en-gaged,
she knew I was struggling and lent me her savings to help start
our agency. She knew nothing about insurance, but tried to help me suc-ceed.
She pushed me not to fail and I promised her one day things would
get better and guess what…she believed in me. If it was not for Sylvia,
I would not be in insurance today. So if you have a loved one that sup-ports
you in whatever you do, you are ahead of the game.
The next step was finding a “Gifted Team” as Coach Dennis would say.
We all respect each other equally and truly see the big picture and where
we are going. Nancy Flanary is the mother of the office and our Cus-tomer
Service Manager. She has been such an asset to our operation and
practices amazing customer service and knowledge of insurance day-in
and day-out. Her hard work is out of passion to help others, and she can
make someone that is crying from an accident laugh at the end, because
she promises to hold our clients’ hand. Matthew Wadyka was able to
see our vision and left teaching to become an agent and now he runs our
personal lines department. We were also able to recruit a telcom sales
rep who learned the same values and determination that I learned to run
our commercial department. George Abdelmessih already knew how to
deal with business owners, which made it a perfect fit. Nancy and Matt
actually car-pool in from the suburbs of Houston to our office close to
downtown Houston. This has of course strengthened their relationship
and helps pass the time in that awful traffic!
Finding a “Gifted Team” is a struggle so once you find the perfect fit,
hire them and pay above the market to keep the staff! We have slowly
added more staff to our operation and each member has specific duties
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based on their personalities. (People work better when they enjoy what
they are doing!)
Having a gifted team has lead to a number of accolades from being
in the top 1% of Farmers agencies, to being the only agency to have
achieved top home/condo/renters production in our districts for 36
months straight!!! Apparently no agency has ever been even close to
achieving this. This is based on our REAL ESTATE marketing, relation-ships
we gained with people in the real estate industry, and the referrals
that came from them.
We have been award the top-producing agency in our Houston district
for the past two years and the largest agency in our district. Mind you -
we are the youngest agency and have been in business the shortest time.
The best part for me is I was able to change the way we market and build
relationships with all our clients and find success in the industry I once
failed in.
Those that saw us come up knew that we were something special, be-cause
we had a RELATIONSHIP with everyone - from our clients to
all those in the real estate industry that continue to refer. Currently, we
get 99% of business from referrals (with the occasional call-in from
the web). Our relationships have built trust in those who know and do
business with us. Price is not the first subject to discuss but the last.
We really pride ourselves in providing a true insurance plan to protect
our client’s assets and families. Our passion can be seen even when we
quote on someone’s small 650 square foot apartment all the way up to
multi-million dollar properties.
Competition – The word that scares us all. The truth is our agency be-lieves
in knowing our competition. In fact, we look at it more like an
affiliate partner. We come across clients we may not be able to assist,
therefore we would rather refer it to a friend in the industry than not be
able to help the client. This goes both ways, if they cannot assist a client
they will send them our way! It can be a beautiful relationship for many
years and most people don’t realize this.
We are on track to grow to 25 employees and give back more than we
ever thought to our community, local charities and churches one day. It
is four years later, we live across the street from our office and walk to
work most days. I take my dog Chloe, which I have had since she was
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a pup and is basically our mascot. We look forward to being change
agents and making this industry one that can be the center of their com-munity
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with God’s grace.

About Mark
Mark Rafail is a Best Selling Author, Top Producing Insurance Agent,
and CEO of Rafail Insurance Group. His Agency is one of the top pro-ducing
agencies in the Houston district and has been named “TOP
1% of Farmer’s Agencies” in the country.
Mark is a specialist in the home, condo, life insurance and renters insurance niche
and his agency has led production in this space every month for the last three years.
Coming from humble beginnings, Mark’s work ethic and persistence have allowed
him to become one of the fastest rising entrepreneurs in the Insurance market. He
attributes his success to a continual focus on the person, not the profits. Making sure
his clients get the right policy is number one and building lasting relationships is the
foundation of his business. Mark is involved with his Texas A&M Alumni Association
and his church community.
Whether Mark is insuring a 650 square foot apartment or a multi-million dollar prop-erty,
his passion for providing great service and a secure policy never wavers. He is
proud to have his wife Sylvia as his business partner as well as having a staff he truly
considers family.
For more information visit: www.RafailInsurance.com
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Chapter 35
THE LAST REORGANIZATION
– EVER!
By Matts Rehnstrom
I shut my eyes and breathe slowly, …deep and calm breaths. I can hear
them around me. There are three, maybe four, of them. Their goals are
to make me fall to the ground and to defeat me. It is a moment of con-centration
that seems like forever, as I know what will come. I hear a
command and then all hell breaks loose. I move in the ways that I have
been taught and I perform the techniques as well as I possibly can to de-fend
myself. I have to change my balance, and my position, and as there
are so many of them I also have to change the way that I usually respond
to a situation like this. I need to stay calm and focused, otherwise I will
lose concentration. My concentration is vital to handling the situation in
the way that I have trained so hard for, and to make it possible to adapt
to new attacks. All the years of training and experience pay off, as I
am able to defend myself and control the opponents. After a couple of
sweaty minutes, the command jame1 reaches all of us.
As a practitioner of Ju-Jutsu for more than 30 years, I have studied the
philosophies and techniques because they fascinate me. I have also
studied other styles like Karate, Judo and Eskrima. When an opponent
attacks you, the general technique is to use the opponent’s force to your
advantage. You also need to know the techniques very well. They need
to be instinctive. You need to have good balance at the same time as you
make your opponent lose his or her balance. You need to move around
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1 Means “End” in Japanese

Change Agents
with full control of your body and mind, to be able to perform the tech-niques
successfully. Your mind needs to be calm and focused on the
challenge for you to be able to perform at your best.
The philosophy of Budo has also been a foundation for my work with
enhancing organizations and making them more efficient. An organiza-tion
must also be able to meet any challenges with full control and with
well-known techniques. It needs to have balance to be able to be in-novative
and agile. As the organization is built on the people involved,
they also need to have the calm mind, the focus, the balance, and the
techniques to perform in the best way possible.
A CHALLENGING FAST-PACED WORLD
We live in a fast-paced world that changes rapidly. The speed of change
is increasing every year. Our organizations stand before the custom-ers
increased demands for quality and speed of delivery. At the same
time, demographics, globalization, and the fast-paced development of
technology impacts our organizations’ way of doing business. Also the
number of organizations involved in delivering value to the customer
increases as we move from a chain-of-delivery to a network-of-delivery.
You and your business have to be more skilled, focused and agile to not
only survive in the future, but to thrive and to grow. If you are not im-proving,
as the world around you is moving ahead, you will lose out to
your competitors as they become better. If you do not want to go out of
business you need to improve yourself and your business.
FROM CHANGE TO IMPROVEMENT
We talk about the need for change, but I believe that it is more important
to talk about improvement. The world is changing and we need to im-prove
ourselves to be able to cope with the changes. We cannot merely
change. If I jump off a cliff, that would certainly be a change, but not
necessarily an improvement. So you need to focus on improvement.
To improve is to do something in a better way than you did yesterday: to
deliver better value to your customers than you did yesterday, to deliver
higher quality than you did yesterday, and to have more fun and feel
more satisfied with your accomplishments than you did yesterday.
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To be able to improve, you need to know where you are and where you
are heading, and you need to be able to measure your steps of improve-ment.
If you do not know where you are, then you do not know what
your surroundings look like or what your relationship is to them. If you
do not know where you are heading, it does not matter where you are,
as the Chinese proverb says.
Do not only change – improve!
NED FOR ORGANIZATIONAL IMPROVEMENT
To be able to create the required improvement in your organization, you
need to create an environment that supports agility. People need to focus
on the right thing in their daily work, and they have got to take the time
to think strategic thoughts and truly be a learning organization.
Agility
Agility in an organization is to be able to act in different ways based on
the different demands of the customer. The agility is there to always act
in the best interest of the customer; even if it is not according to the set
plan. Agility is to adapt so that the customer finds the value you create
outstanding. In that way they will be back for more service and they will
point others in your direction.
Agility is also to be able to improve the work that you do as an organi-zation.
You need to adapt the processes according to the changes in the
world around you.
Focus
To be able to deliver the outstanding value that both you and your cus-tomers
want, you need to focus on those things that bring that value to the
customer. If you do, then you can get rid of other things that do not create
any value. There are three sorts of work: direct customer-value-creating
work, indirect customer-value-creating work, and non customer-value-creating
work. You need to get rid of the last one, as that is only waste.
You need to be careful about the second one, as it must be as slim as pos-sible.
And you need to focus on the first one, as that is where the customer
will experience your commitment to them.
Strategic thinking and learning organization
To be able to have an adaptable organization with focus, you need to
have a structure that constantly allows for learning and for thinking the
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Change Agents
“BIG” thoughts. These thoughts are the ones that will improve your
business in the future. It is strategic and tactical thinking that puts the
operational work in relation to the surroundings and where the organiza-tion
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is aiming to be in the future.
As a basis for those thoughts you need to have a culture and an envi-ronment
where people may express themselves, and where their work
is evaluated. That culture and environment does not blame people for
doing something wrong, instead it raises issues and inspires the organi-zation
to learn from them.
A learning organization drives itself up the spiral of improvement, to
constantly strive to be better tomorrow than today.
HOW TO THINK
How do you then create an organization that provides the aforemen-tioned
important components?
The 250-year-old remnant
The first step is to change, or improve, the way that you think about your
current form of organization. You cannot be agile if you have an orga-nization
that is as stiff as a refrigerator. Most organizations out there
are based on the more than 250-year-old linear organization. That form
of organization is built on the basis of mass-producing goods that there
is a high demand for, with employees that have a low, or non-existent,
level of education, and that do not know how to read or write. There was
also a way of thinking regarding the employees, that they were lazy and
uninterested in doing a good job.
That is not the way the contemporary situation is. Today we have a
very tough competitive situation where you have to earn the trust of the
customer to sell your goods or services. The people that you have as em-ployees
are well educated, often with 12 to 16 years of education before
they begin their career. They have all the information that they need by
accessing the Internet, and they are more than skilled in finding it. Many
of the employees also have the option of changing their place of work if
they want to, so now they have something to compete for.
Trying to keep up
Organizations, both public and private, have reorganized themselves many
times to cope with the changes. They do change but they do not improve

much. The changes made are done in a way as if the linear organization,
as a concept, is a constant that has to be there, and is only being altered in
different ways on the same foundation.
To be able to meet the increasing demands in an even more challenging
world you need to get rid of the linear organization. The linear organiza-tion
is a stiff form that cannot be as agile as needed. You need to find an-other
form of focusing on the creation of value for your customers and
to make sure that your highly educated and committed personnel is giv-ing
their all for the customer and not wasting time on irrelevant work.
The new form of organization
You need to change the way that you think about the organization. You
need to understand that there is a need to divide the organization into
three structures. These three structures work tightly together with the
focus of giving the customers an outstanding experience. Three struc-tures
that work together and that are agile enough to meet all the de-mands
and changes that come in the future.
The three structures are:
1. The Process Structure
2. The Project Structure
3. The Competence Structure
To describe a layout of these structures in relation to each other, you could
imagine them as two blocks: the left block and the right block. The left
block contains the Process Structure and the Project Structure, while the
right block contains the Competence Structure. The Process Structure
and the Project Structure both deliver value to the customer, while the
Competence Structure gives the processes and projects the right resources
needed to perform well.
The Process Structure
A Process is series of repetitive activities that deliver value to the cus-tomers.
A Process is not bound to one linear organization, but starts
wherever the customer begins to have the need, and ends when that need
is fulfilled. The Process Structure focuses on giving that value in a way
that is cost-effective for the businesses involved.
As the process quite often is larger than just one organization, you have
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Change Agents
to see and understand the whole flow of the process. And your organi-zation
together with the others involved are partners in satisfying the
customers’ needs.
The Process Structure contains activities, and these activities require
skills in order to be executed correctly. The activities are executed by
roles, which have the required skills. Each role is then played by a per-son,
who has the knowledge corresponding to the required skills.
Processes are constantly improved to be even better each time they are
used – this is called Kaizen in Japanese.
The Project Structure
A Project is a group of people momentarily put together, to work to-gether
one time, to achieve a goal with a set and limited amount of
resources. Projects are, today, a very common way of conducting work
that is not suitable to be handled in the linear organization. Projects of-ten
consist of resources from several linear organizations, inside or out-side
the legal organization structure, e.g., a company or public authority.
To be managed in an effective way, a project must be guided by a proj-ect
model. Unfortunately there are a lot of projects out there that do not
have any model to support them, and if you look into the set-up of them,
you will find that they are not actually projects at all.
Projects and processes work tightly together. A flow-through process
that creates value to the customer can be seen as a project, sometimes
large and sometimes small. A project on the other hand, that is run with
the support of a project model, has processes within it, as the project
model contains set activities in order to make the project efficient. These
two structures never collide with each other, as they both work with the
linear organization structure. They complement each other.
The Competence Structure
Competence is a resource to create and deliver value to your customers.
Competence is the most important resource because it is packaged in us –
humans. The human perspective, of course, differs from other resources
like machines and computers. We, as humans, are more complex and
autonomous than any machine today. That is why we need to take care
of this resource in a special way. As mentioned, the people of today
and tomorrow are quite different from people 200 years ago. We are
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not more intelligent, but we are more educated and know more, and we
have a different conceptual view of the world.
The Competence Structure’s only focus is to have knowledgeable people
according to the competence strategy so that the Process Structure and
Project Structures may conduct their business. The Competence Structure
contains all personnel, and, together with these personnel, it is responsible
for the development of knowledge. The personnel are divided into
resource pools within the Competence Structure. These pools may be
organized in different ways depending on where and how the business is
run. The common method is to have different pools for different areas of
knowledge, e.g. service, advance medical, IT, teachers and technicians.
One pool can contain several sub-pools to refine the competence of the
main pool. Pools may also float into each other, as there are multiple-knowledge
crossovers that are important for some resources.
Within the Competence Structure there are resource managers that man-age
all resources regarding well-being, competence development and
assignments in other structures.
Harmony and focus
The three structures work tightly together and each of them has an im-portant
role to play in the overall purpose of delivering value to the
customers. As none of them interferes with each other, there is an even
stronger force to create the desired value. All today’s struggle between
the linear organization on one hand and the projects and processes on
the other is gone. And it is gone forever!
Forerunners
There are businesses out there that have already performed this
transformation and some of them never had the old linear organization
structure in the first place. Others are in the midst of their transformation.
Most of these businesses are doing very well. They have satisfied
customers, proud employees and happy owners, since the financial results
are excellent. Take the time to have a closer look at some of these examples:
Google, W.L. Gore, Wholefoods Marketplace, IKEA, and Scania.
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Change Agents
HOW TO ACT
What you need to do is to understand the above description of the new
form of organization that must be formed. If you and your organization
do not understand the foundation, it is very hard to make the necessary
improvements. The first action is, therefore, to create an understanding
within the management team of the organization that you want to im-prove.
If the management team in today’s linear organization does not
support the improvements to be made, there is no way that you will ever
succeed.
When the understanding and support is there, you have to start to model
and design the business according to the above-mentioned structures.
That work is described in detail in one of my other books. It is important
to note that you need to have a project, supported by a project model,
managed by a knowledgeable project manager, and with involvement
from the employees, and, most importantly, the support and trust of the
leadership of the organization.
This is the most important project you will ever have – you are creating
a new bright future for you and your business!
Good Luck!
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About Matts
Matts is appreciated for his skills and methods, with more than 20
years of experience of organizational development and leadership.
He has held leading positions in several businesses and large proj-ects.
Matts has helped many organizations within manufacturing,
service, and the public sector, to excel. Today Matts is working as an author, speaker,
trainer and coach with assignments all over the world. He has helped his clients’
businesses provide their customers with more value, while reducing costs and in-creasing
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revenues.
To read more about how Matts can help you achieve the same benefits, please visit:
www.mattsrehnstrom.com.
References:
”Matts is a very competent and experienced operations developer. Based on his
career and experiences, his leadership has influences from Sweden, the U.S.
and Japan with Kaizen as the heart and soul. He is a structured person who
supports and drives the customer forward, creates good results and is very
appreciated by his co-workers.”
- Patrik Samin, Luleå University of Technology
"Matts is genuinely dedicated to understanding how to make organizations
more efficient. He unites his abilities and perspectives on both IT and opera-tions
in a unique way. This, combined with his strong social skills, enables him
to handle the most difficult problems and to achieve ground-breaking results."
- Berne Landgren, Gaia Leadership

THE ONE REASON WHY MOST PEOPLE FAIL TO REACH THEIR FULL PRODUCTIVITY POTENTIAL
Chapter 36
THE ONE REASON WHY
MOST PEOPLE FAIL
TO REACH THEIR FULL
PRODUCTIVITY POTENTIAL
By Marlene Scott
Often when I meet a new client, they will introduce themselves and tell
me their job title: “I’m an entrepreneur and own a software company,”
or “I’m a manager at a University.” In their mind, they have introduced
themselves properly. To me, this is only the beginning. Why do I say
this? Mainly because I work with clients to figure out how they can
work more productively by understanding their personality. But, also,
because most of them don’t really know themselves.
And here is my confession—once upon a time, neither did I understand
myself. When I was twenty-five years old, I thought I understood my-self
pretty well. After all, I had almost finished my studies that were
encouraging me to reflect upon myself and my past. I had spent hours
and hours talking and thinking about my upbringing, stories, and expe-riences.
I thought I knew everything there was to know about myself.
Then I met a new friend. During one of our conversations, I explained
to him that I am the type of person who really likes to know in advance
what is going to happen each day. I have a longing for predictability, or
so I told him. At first, he tried to be polite, but finally he couldn’t help
himself from laughing. I was shocked. Why did he not believe me?
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Change Agents
When he later asked me to do a certain personality test and I saw the
results of that test—confirmed by all kinds of experiences—I began to
realize that I had made a big mistake. I had allowed expectations from
people around me to take over my sense of who I was, and I had become
“the girl who loved security.” But, actually, I’m not that girl! When left
to myself, I enjoy taking risks, traveling, and reading about all kind of
new ideas. Also, I’m easily bored. It turned out I was a whole different
person from what I thought I was. And I’m not the only one this has
happened to. Now that I work with entrepreneurs and managers, I see
the same problem happening over and over again to all kinds of people.
Do you really know who you are?
Let’s be honest—it might sometimes be a painful process to get to the
bottom of the truth about yourself. But in the end, it will bring you a
lot of freedom and relief, even if you figure out that you are indeed the
person that does crave security. Life becomes so much easier, as does
working productively.
Together with that same friend and now business partner, TJ, I coach
entrepreneurs and managers to become extremely productive. The first
step in our program is always to get to know who you are—the real you.
And I love encouraging people in that process.
Alex and Jeff are two business partners who were in our program.1 They
had worked together for over 10 years. We had been helping them find
out where their respective strengths lied. Alex really liked having all the
facts. He was sure to have all the information before he started a project,
but could be slow in making decisions and spent way too much time do-ing
the necessary research. Jeff, on the other hand, was like me, always
wanting to take risks and wanting to get work started ASAP. He became
bored if there were too many details in a presentation, and he ran the risk
of starting new projects without a decent plan.
Can you imagine how you would work together with somebody who is
your polar opposite? Consequently, it certainly did not look like they
were too happy during our first meeting. But throughout the year, they
started to discover their respective strengths and made some fundamen-tal
changes to their way of interacting. This allowed each of them to
bring their best to the table, and, not only did this improve their working
1. I changed the names of our clients for their privacy’s sake, but their experiences are real.
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relationship, it also brought a new synergy to the business, which made
them much more productive and able to provide more value to their
customers.
How You Naturally Take Action,
Even if You Don’t Realize It
Do you often drive home from work feeling tired and in a bad mood?
Yet, you love being in business for yourself and would never want to go
back to a regular job, but at the same time, there are many things that
you don’t actually enjoy.
You’re not the only one. Many entrepreneurs love their work, but still
feel drained at the end of each day. After a while, you even start thinking
that this is how it is supposed to be. Many business owners end up stuck
in their offices doing all kinds of admin, managing employees, writing
up detailed proposals, and generally doing all kinds of things they never
anticipated when they started their business.
Work becomes much more fun and satisfying when you can spend your
time on projects that really fit your personality. Things nobody but you
can do. What if someone else took care of all the administrative stuff?
What would you do? What would your day look like? Could you use the
time to think about the big picture, new products, and the future? How
useful might that be?
So, exactly, how did you end up sitting there late at night collecting re-ceipts
333
for the bookkeeper?
One of the ways people work against themselves is by ignoring their co-native
profile. Conation means “natural tendency, impulse, or striving.”
It is the way you tend to do things, and some people call it “instinct.” So
your conative profile is the way you take action naturally.
You’ve probably never heard of your conative profile. Nobody ever
learns this stuff in school. Everybody knows about IQ, most have heard
about EQ, but somehow we have lost sight of “conation.” The Greek
philosophers talked about the three sides of the mind: intelligence, emo-tions,
and conation. But, in the last couple of centuries, we have been so
focused on the intellect that we have ignored instinct. Too bad, because
“conation” is what it’s all about when you want to get things done.

Change Agents
Fortunately, Kathy Kolbe has spent decades of her life researching cona-tion
and publishing her findings. She describes the four modes in which
people prefer to take action:
• Fact Finder
• Follow Thru
• Quick Start
• Implementor
Kathy designed a test, called the Kolbe-A test, to measure which mode
you naturally prefer. None of these modes is better or worse than the
others—no one has a good or a bad conative profile. But if you score
a high number on Fact Finder, like Alex, you’ll probably have a whole
different approach to life than when you score a high number on Quick
Start, like Jeff.
Scoring high on Fact Finder means you need to have specific informa-tion
and lots of detail to solve creative problems. And you run the risk
of analysis paralysis.
Scoring high on Follow Thru, indicates you generally enjoy knowing
what the rules are. Creating and following systems and procedures helps
you do a good job. We actually do not encounter a lot of entrepreneurs
among these people.
People who excel on Quick Start, like me, have a high-risk tolerance.
We enjoy challenges, new adventures, and crave a certain amount of
variety to spice up our lives. The stereotypical adventurous entrepreneur
and “crazy maker,” probably score high on Quick Start.
Scoring high on Implementor signifies that you enjoy working with tan-gible
stuff—you like to work not just with your brains, but also get your
hands involved.
One of the problems for Quick Start entrepreneurs is when they create
something brand new, then they have to maintain it for a long period
to see it succeed. Many of our clients are in that situation and we are
glad that we can help them figure out better ways to work from their
strengths.
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Working with People Who Are
Totally Different than You
Are you frustrated working with your team? Your employees seem to
drain more energy than they give back. They misunderstand you; you’re
often not satisfied with the quality of their work, and somehow they
always find time to argue. You, frequently, fantasize about life without
employees.
When you can rely on your team, work becomes much easier. What you
want is for your employees to properly appreciate your role in the busi-ness.
Your job is not just looking after them. They actually are a kind of
supplier to your business—selling their time to you. So if your natural
role is to be the visionary, you should be free to come up with new ideas.
And your team should finish what you start.
A lot of entrepreneurs we meet have chosen a role in their company that
didn’t match their personality. For example, when you are an entrepre-neur,
it seems natural to be the leader. Your team members expect you
to take that role. Society, in general, expects you to. But what if this role
doesn’t fit your personality? Do you like managing people? Or would
you prefer research or developing ideas?
And maybe your own working experience has colored your expecta-tions.
We worked with a guy who learned to be a good leader from his
uncles who ran the company before him. They taught him that a good
leader is empathic to his employees. This style didn’t fit his direct per-sonality
at all, so he has constantly struggled to adapt himself to their
model. Imagine how much energy this has cost him!
The British professor, Meredith Belbin, did some interesting research
on team roles, working with teams in management games. He identi-fied
nine roles that people fulfill while working on a team. Everybody
prefers two or three of these roles.
Take, for instance, “The Generator.” Generators are full of ideas, and
they always come up with creative ways to solve problems.
“The Shaper” is another one of these roles. Shapers have strong wills,
strong opinions, and take the lead in shaping the world around them. They
are visionaries and will challenge others to break with the status quo.
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Change Agents
Belbin discovered that teams that were the most balanced in the amount
of roles got the best results. Generators, for instance, are extremely
helpful to any team, but only if
there is one generator around. As soon as Generator Number Two shows
up, problems are guaranteed to show up as well.
For extreme productivity, you have to make sure you know exactly
which team role fits best with your personality. Are you a Shaper or a
Chairman? Each will make for a whole different approach to leadership.
Once you know your role, make sure you surround yourself with people
who are not like you. You want your employees to excel in other roles.
If your secretary is as creative as you, you’ll have a great time bouncing
ideas off of each other, but in the end, not much work will get done.
How to Communicate Effectively
from Your Core
Do you feel an abnormal amount of internal resistance when having
to call a potential customer? Does your stomach churn every time you
have to pitch to investors? Do you keep postponing writing an article for
the company’s newsletter, because you don’t know how to start? As you
would expect, communicating has a strong link to personality.
When you start communicating in a way that follows your own prefer-ence
and style, it suddenly becomes much more fun. If you listen to the
“experts,” you’ll hear them say that there is one right way to communi-cate
and convince people – though each expert teaches you a different
way! A couple of years ago networking was the name of the game for
filling up your prospect list; but if casual conversation is not natural for
you, no amount of skill building will change that. Even if you become
reasonably good at it, you have expended energy on something you’ll
never be really comfortable with, while ignoring other modes of com-munication
that fit your profile much better! Not really productive, is it?
So we encourage our clients to do the free Marketing DNA test, which
can be found at web address: http://www.marketingdnatest.com. This
test measures how you naturally communicate and persuade. One of
the things it will tell you is whether you prefer words or images. Chris,
another one of our clients, found out that he had a strong preference for
images. And this was a big eye-opener for him. It made him realize how
336

resistant he was to words and gave him the freedom to let other people
do all the writing, so he could focus on images himself.
What to Do Now?
Knowledge by itself doesn’t improve your productivity. You have to
take action on what you learn about yourself and allow yourself to go
with the flow of who you are.
Tests can help you discover more about your personality. But knowing
yourself is only a starting point from where you can take giant strides
forward. In another chapter in this book, TJ will tell you more about
how to dramatically improve your productivity, based on your own per-sonality.
For now, here are some things you can do:
• Write “The Rules for Being Me.” Create five rules for yourself in
which you describe what things you should do, and what things
you should avoid to be really productive. For example, “I like
starting projects, but I don’t like keeping them going. Therefore, I
must get people to work with me right from the beginning, so they
can continue what I start.”
• Run through your calendar for the past three months and cross off
everything you should not have been doing. Find ways to delegate
those tasks to other people.
• Explain to your team what you have discovered about yourself,
and how you want things to change. Ask them to take the tests,
and discuss how you’re going to help them become more produc-tive,
based on their personalities.
In the end, knowing who you really are and adapting your work so that
you can use your strengths is much more effective than trying to force
yourself into a box that you don’t naturally fit into. If you can focus on
doing those things you like to do the most, it will give you a much high-er
level of energy, supplied by a motivation from deep within yourself.
So figure out who you are, and how you can use that to create a business
model in which you add the most value to your customers. And if that
turns out to be a difficult process, give me a call—encouraging entrepre-neurs
like you is what I love to do.
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Change Agents
About Marlene
Did you start your business years ago and now have moments
where you wonder whether that was, in fact, a good idea? Maybe
you are disappointed about the kind of work you have to do day-in-
day-out. You are focusing on financial numbers, solving conflicts
between your employees, making decisions about all kinds of minor things, and writ-ing
detailed proposals. This was not what you had in mind when you dreamt of being
your own boss.
Marlene Scott loves to help entrepreneurs find joy in their entrepreneurship again.
She helps them to transform their company into something that fits their personal-ity
instead of them being the slave of their business. Her clients feel relief because
they don’t have to push themselves forward anymore. Like one of her clients said, “It
starts to become so much fun it scares me.”
A lot of entrepreneurs forget to look at their own personality when they start a busi-ness.
They have a passion for their product, but never thought about what kind of
work they actually like or dislike. And when their business grows, a lot of things they
do “just have to be done.” But when your work is 80 percent “must do,” it’s no fun
anymore—it drains you.
As a best-selling author and productivity expert, Marlene loves to help entrepreneurs
find more time for the things they love to do. Together with her friend and colleague, TJ,
she developed a proven system to help business owners get to know themselves and
use that information to free up two hours every day for strategy, innovation, and growth.
As a productivity expert, she has inspired and trained professionals in businesses of all
sizes, from small companies to multi-billion dollar enterprises like AkzoNobel, Vodafone,
BDO, Boston Scientific, Damen Shipyards, Hennes & Mauritz, Heinz, ING Bank, KLM Air
France, Toyota, Nestle, Pepsi Co, Philips, Reed Elsevier, Toshiba, and Unilever.
Marlene finds that she likes her work most when she can coach and train entre-preneurs
who have the drive to change and the ability to take action. She loves to
help and encourage them to create a business in which they can fully utilize their
strengths.
If that’s you, please surf to: www.FridaysOff.net
www.FridaysOff.net
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MAKING IT HAPEN
Chapter 37
MAKING IT HAPPEN
By Raul Villacis
Change is inevitable, progress is optional.
~ Tony Robbins
If you are like me, you get excited with the new flavor-of-the-month
strategy. You see someone on the Internet promoting a webinar about a
product and you automatically want to do it. Next week you see some-one
else doing something different and you want to do that too, but you
didn’t finish implementing what you learned last week. I used to attend
the latest seminar, download the newest program and found myself full
of great ideas and intentions, but never following through and imple-menting
what I just learned. I wonder why is it that I learned something
that I’m excited about but I never follow through. One of the most im-portant
discoveries I have made in my life is the formula to implement
immediate massive action. In this current economy, it is not enough to
have the knowledge but you must implement immediately, because if
you don’t your competition will. That is why I love this quote “Change
is inevitable, progress is optional.” I want to share with you the five step
formula that made my company not only survive but thrive in this new
economy. This is not brain surgery, this is a simple formula that if
you apply even some of the steps you will create the drive that you
need to implement massive action to follow through.
I come from a Real Estate background, and as you can imagine, the re-cession
hit my business pretty hard. I went from having millions in Real
Estate assets to seeing my equity vanish daily as the property values
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Change Agents
dropped. I was just like everyone else waiting for things to get better,
but as time went on, things got worse. I had sales people that worked
for me that couldn’t make any sales. I had investors and sellers that
couldn’t sell their properties. I was stuck with some properties myself
because buyers couldn’t get financing. It felt like I was in a scene from
the twilight zone. Banks were going out of business, the stock market
was crashing, people were not looking at Real Estate as a secure invest-ment
any more, foreclosures were at an all time high. It seemed that it
was doomsday for anyone that was in the Real Estate business. My big
competitors were going out of business, so I knew if I didn’t change,
that was going to be my future. I don’t know if you call it luck but I call
it grace, I got a call from a sales rep for a seminar called “Unleash the
power within.”
I don’t know how she got my information since I never attended any
self-development program before. At that time, I said I don’t need a
motivational seminar, I need banks that will lend money so my clients
can move their properties. She said that the person that was presenting
was not a motivational speaker but a strategist, and she believed that
if I attended the seminar it would help me find the right strategy to get
my business back on track. I asked who was presenting the seminar
and she said, I’m sure you heard of Tony Robbins. To that I answered
“Tony who?” I’m a business person I told her, I’m not involved in the
self-development world. My model of the world back then was if I
wanted to achieve, I needed to focus on business strategies not in my
personal belief system. I wasn’t depressed nor had issues with my fam-ily
I said. I just want a good business strategy to get my business back
on track. Well she finally convinced me to go, and to make a long story
short, that weekend Tony had us walking on fire and the breakthroughs
that came out of that seminar not only helped me survive the crisis, but
I was able to positioning myself to build one of the top Real Estate sales
organizations in the Nation according the Wall Street Journal.
I learned to condition my psychology to be able to see the opportunities
available in any circumstance as opposed to sitting and complaining
why things are not as good as the good old days. That is how I came to
create this 5-step formula based on my needs to take massive action.
Now that didn’t happen overnight, that seminar was just the beginning
of my journey in finding that the chokehold of any business is the psy-chology
or the skill of the leader. I learned that business is 80% psy-
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MAKING IT HAPEN
chology and 20% skill. My skill took me as far as I could go until the
economy meltdown happened, but I needed to have the right psychol-ogy
in order to change my approach and see the opportunities that were
in front of me. The first thing I did was I made a conscious decision
that I was not going to look at my situation worse than it was.
So many of us do that when things go wrong. We automatically look at
the situation as worse than it really is. In my industry, the problem was
that we couldn’t move any of our real estate inventory or take the equity
out because the properties were losing value faster than banks could
write a loan for the buyer. So I just accepted that fact, and moved on to
the next step. See where the opportunity in your current situation
lies. In my case, I saw the opportunity in working with financial institu-tions
that got stuck with the bad assets from the mortgage crisis, and
needed help in analyzing their portfolio and eventually needed someone
to manage their properties and sell them. I became the ‘go to’ guy in my
market for over 20 financial institutions including the US government.
The only way I was able to do this is by taking massive action on what
I just learned. I followed the 5 steps that I’m going to lay out for you. I
have taught this to several CEO’s in different industries, and they found
that it gave them the clarity and leverage they needed to apply from
what they learned. I call it the Formula to take Massive Action.
1- Figure out why is this important to you?
You need to decide first if what you want to implement is really impor-tant
and relevant to your vision. I learned that if I wanted to succeed I
had to say no to what was not relevant to my vision. What is the ultimate
vision for yourself or for your company? Notice I said vision, not your
goal. Goals are set to fulfill a vision. If you don’t have a vision I suggest
you start there before you decide to take on a new strategy or make a
change in your company. I have an entire process just to create the “ulti-mate
vision.” That is not what his chapter is about, but if you want help
on this just go to: www.raulvillacis.com. Every time I learn something
that I want to implement in my life or my business, the first thing I ask
is why is this important to me? And is this going to help me get closer to
where I want to go? Once I have that answer I go to step two.
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Change Agents
2- Make an emotional decision
to make this happen.
I have learned that pleasure and pain are the two driving forces that
makes a person take action on their decisions. That is why you need to
make sure you have enough pleasure in what you want to accomplish
and enough pain associated if you don’t do it. To do this, simply write
down what are the benefits in implementing the change in your life or
taking massive action? What would you gain by doing this? Once you
answer these two questions, answer what would you lose if you don’t
make the change or take massive action? What is the pain that you can
associate with it if you don’t take action? The key here is to decide and
internalize your commitment by making an emotional decision.
Decision comes from the Latin word, decisio, which means – to cut
off. Once you know the pleasure you will get by taking action on your
decision and the pain it will bring if you don’t, you will cut off all un-certainty
that this will not happen. If you have enough leverage, this will
become a must for you. The reason that so many people fail to take ac-tion
is not because they don’t want to take action, but it is because they
haven’t internalized it as yet. It’s not enough to want to do it or to have a
plan that you want to execute; you have to internalize it in your nervous
system. A basketball player doesn’t go to the NBA by just wanting to be
a professional player or by knowing that all he has to do is shoot the ball
through the hoop. He had to make an emotional decision that gave him
the drive to take massive action and train daily to accomplish his vision.
One of the ways I internalize my decisions is that I magnify the emotion
of pain and pleasure. When you answer the questions in step one, what
emotions were you feeling when you were thinking about the reason
this is important to you? What if you magnify the outcome and create
an emotion that will trigger even more the need to take action. I do the
same with the question of what would I lose if I don’t take action. I am-plify
that emotion to exaggerate the pain it will bring if I don’t follow
through and take massive action. This is what I call the glue to taking
action. If you are like me, you made a lot of decisions before in your
life, but you never follow through. You have endless projects, ideas and
aspirations but never had the time to complete them and you feel over-whelmed
with knowledge, but never seem to organize yourself to take
action in any of them. You may do them half way, then jump to the next
new project thinking this time I’m really going to finish. Once I learned
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MAKING IT HAPEN
this technique of internalizing my decisions with pleasure and pain, I
have been able to use it to accomplish more in one year than I did in the
last five. The growth is exponential. I can’t emphasize how important
this process is, this is the glue that holds all the power in taking action
on your decision.
3- Tell people about your decision
and action plan.
Most people don’t share their plans because they are afraid of what
people may think if they don’t accomplish it. Or perhaps we think that
people may look at us differently because we are trying something new
or want to change something about ourselves. We tend to look for vali-dation
from those around us and we play at the same level field as our
peer group. We undervalue our success and exaggerate our failures just
to fit in. But the truth is that by telling people what your action plan is,
you are going to get two types of responses. One response is going to
come from those that support you and believe in your decision, and this
will help you feel more certain that you are in the right track. The sec-ond
response is going to be from people that doubt you and think you
don’t have what it takes. Depending of your personality this may be the
response you need. Some people hate to be told they can’t do something
and will do it just to prove that person wrong. I am living proof of that.
I built one of my businesses to be the number one sales organization
in my market due to one of my competitors telling me that I could
never accomplish it. She told me that I don’t have what it takes and
I will always be an outsider looking in. I used that as fuel to create a
driving force to take massive action.
There is something inside every one of us that knows that we are capable
of so much more than what we think we are. I find that the more people
I tell about my vision and what I want to accomplish, the more it’s rein-forced
and conditioned in me. My brain goes, ‘there is no way you are not
going to make it happen after you told so many people about it.’ You will
build massive leverage by having people holding you accountable.
4- Believe that you are guided.
No matter what your religious background is, I think we can all agree
that there is an external force in the universe that is bigger than us. So
why do we rely only in our own ability to accomplish what we want
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Change Agents
in our lives. If I was to believe that everything I have accomplished in
my life has been because of my own effort, I would be fooling myself.
I truly believe that every human being has a purpose in this world, but
it is up to us to find it or to expand on it. Every major event in my life,
whether it was picking up a corporate client account, making the right
connection or even the fact that you are reading this book right now, is
for a reason. If you believe that there is a force bigger than you guiding
you towards your vision, then the pressure of relying on your own abil-ity
is off. I know that in my life, once I got myself out of my own way
and allowed God to guide me, everything came into place. Some people
call it luck, I call it grace. I learned that life doesn’t happen to you, it
happens for you.
5- Create a daily success ritual.
Remember what I said in step one. Figure out why your decision is im-portant
to your vision. Goals create the vision, but rituals make it real.
Nothing happens overnight. But nothing creates faster growth than cre-ating
successful daily rituals. Ever heard the quote by Gandhi that says,
“Habits create your destiny.” I believe that habits are reinforced by daily
rituals. When I discovered this, it was a game changer for me. If you fol-low
the steps that I will give you to create a successful ritual, I guarantee
you it will be like putting steroids in your drive to take massive action
towards what you want to accomplish on a daily basis. I actually came
UP with this formula out of desperation. A couple of years ago, while
having one of the most successful years and growth in my company, I
started to have sharp pains in my stomach. Every day that I would go
to the office I felt great, our sales team was doing awesome, our clients
where happy, but at night when I went to bed, I had a horrible pain that
will be so intense that I would not be able to sleep. Every night it came
in around midnight like clockwork. The doctors ran their tests but they
couldn’t find anything physically wrong with me. As I traveled to dif-ferent
seminars and learned how to re-condition myself I found that
in certain environments and events I had no pain. The pain went away
when I was doing fun or creative activities, and I found a direct correla-tion
between my emotional state and physical pain. It wasn’t that I was
depressed or that I was overwhelmed with work, it was that my daily
routine was causing stress in my health because I didn’t have a begin-ning
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MAKING IT HAPEN
I was such an achiever that I was focused on my goals 24/7. I didn’t
have an ultimate vision at the time either; all I concentrated on was
immediate results. I remember learning that if you want to take control
of your emotions you have to change the state of mind you are in. So I
started to apply the teachings of changing my state and I created a pro-cess
that has evolved in what I call my daily success ritual. I have been
constantly improving it through time, and I am happy to tell you that
once I got it down to a science, my pain went away immediately, and
I’ve had more energy and more clarity every day since I’ve been doing
it. I will share this step by step process with you so you can create your
own version of my morning ritual. If you need a visual you can watch
my video in www.raulvillacis.com
Morning Ritual
I do this every morning as soon as I get our of bed and brush my teeth. I
find that the benefit of doing this first thing in the morning enhances the
conditioning process.
Here are the instructions: In order to change your state here are the 3
main factors that impact the way you feel.
1. Your physiology - which is the way you move you body, if you are
depressed you tend to slouch your shoulders and put your head down.
When you fell happy or strong, you tend to have your shoulder back
and your head up high.
2. Your words - What you say to yourself is probably the most impor-tant
thing you do. We tend not to pay attentions to the words we are
using when we talk to ourselves. For example, when we say I’m al-ways
late for every meeting. Usually your brain says you are right
and therefore you struggle to make the next meeting on time. Or you
would say I can never save any money. Your brain says right, and you
always spend all your money and you never save it. It becomes a self-fulfilling
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prophecy.
3. Your Focus - What you are constantly focusing your thinking on
is what triggers how you feel. If you focus on why you are always
spending money and how you can’t save any money, that usually will
trigger a bad emotion. Or if you focus on why you are always late,
you create an emotion of stress and pressure. So whatever you focus
on determines how you are feeling.

Change Agents
These three factors are what create our emotional estate. So knowing
this, I created my morning ritual around these factors so I can change
my emotional state and feel great at any moment just by triggering my
physiology, words and focus. Here is what I do.
Step 1 – I spend about 5 to 10 minutes focusing on what is working
on my life. I take a deep breath and stretch my body out and I
focus on all the great things that are happening in my life. We
usually don’t make the time to really appreciate and look at
all the things that we could be grateful for: family, business,
and health. For this moment focus on everything that you
are thankful for. I use music in the background so I can trig-ger
the emotion even faster. I have the Gladiator Soundtrack
playing in the back while I’m doing this.
Step 2 – I start with an affirmation that I have customize to my ac-tion
plan. For example, I will say: “I am focused and deter-mined.
Everything I do brings me profits. I am blessed with
abundance and I have all the time that I need. Every day I’m
getting stronger and stronger, and my body knows exactly
what to do to heal itself.” I don’t just say this, but I say it
with emotion and intensity. I have about 20 different affir-mations
that are meaningful to me and apply to what I want
to accomplish that particular day. I do this for about 7 to 10
minutes. I usually will play a song in the background so I do
it for the duration of two songs. What I like to do is use the
first song to get me in the state of “getting things done,” like
the song “I’m not afraid” by Eminem, and the last song will
be an energetic song that will get in a “powerful state” like
Teen Spirit by Nirvana. The key here is to use your body at
the beat of the song to make power moves and use your tone
of voice and words to anchor the conditioning of what you
are saying. This is what is called incantation. I learned this
from Tony Robbins and he says. “An incantation is an active
belief structure. When you are saying it, you engage your
entire nervous system with the full force of your focus.”
a- the power of an incantation far surpasses any other belief
you once had before.
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MAKING IT HAPEN
b- empowering incantations have unmatched power to
create the certainty and emotional intensity that you
desire to create an extraordinary life.
c- by creating a new incantation, you guarantee that you
have created a new cause-and-effect direction and des-tination
347
for your life.”
There Are 3 Types Of People:
• PEOPLE THAT MAKE IT HAPPEN
• PEOPLE THAT WATCH IT HAPPEN
• PEOPLE THAT SAY “WHAT HAPPENED?”
You choose who you want to be.
For information on this ritual, go to: www.raulvillacis.com

Change Agents
About Raul
Raul Villacis is one of the top Real Estate Sales Coaches in the coun-try,
as well as a Best Selling Author and CEO of Advantage Real
Estate Group Advisors. Raul’s work in re-strategizing the real estate
portfolio of big financial institutions such top banks and also work-ing
with the US Government earned him the designation of “One of the Nation’s Top
Real Estate Firms” according to The Wall Street Journal and Real Trends Inc. With
the creation of his “Next Level Real Estate” brand, Raul’s focus is teaching innovative
Real Estate strategies to top Real Estate professionals around the world, helping them
get predictable results in all Real Estate environments.
There are three types of people....people that make it happen, people that watch it
happen, and people that say “What Happened?” Although he didn’t know it at the
time, that is a mantra Raul has been living out since he was a young boy. His mother
once had to tell him that she could not afford getting him a haircut every week even
though little Raul insisted his hair had to be perfect at all times. After all, presentation
is everything, right? Well that didn’t stop Raul from achieving his goal. He simply went
to his local barber and asked to be taught how to cut his own hair! Sure enough he
learned, and hasn’t had a hair out of place since. He MADE IT HAPPEN.
It is that same attitude he carries into his Real Estate Coaching; tenacity, repetition,
and a hunger to learn. Raul is the creator of the “Successful Daily Ritual Formula” and
the “Formula to take Massive Action” which have become a foundation for helping
his coaching clients reach the next level in their Real Estate career. In addition to his
coaching Raul has consistently bought and sold over $100 million a year in Invest-ment
Property. His knowledge of the industry from all angles, and his commitment
to being mentally prepared for success, make him a unique asset to all Real Estate
professionals.
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Chapter 38
SHOW UP FOR THE
SHOWDOWN
By Roy Vale
Just remember: don’t change you, just the TEA!
It all started the night my wife and I were getting ready to go out for her
birthday! We were at a nice place, no kids around, (we have four), and
the night was young. We are getting all decked out, excited and ready
for the “show”. And then, out of know where, the real SHOW is upon us.
The bomb goes off! Figuratively! I will explain in more detail shortly.
Because I wasn’t ready to show up for the show down event in my life,
I felt compelled to help others attempt to prepare for their own show-down.
It will come, and in some cases, the show has already begun! You
thought this message was about change? NO! Yes! Maybe! However,
what if we don’t change a thing about us, not our personalities, not our
political philosophies, our religion, not even our hair, homes or career
associates… yet, through some applied historical human science, we are
now able to improve every outcome, remove one fear at a time, expand
our careers as well as ignite our personal relationships! First, we must
learn to examine the real “SHOW”, because your bomb will go off! In
the next 44 days, we will all start to get familiar with “Show up for the
Showdown!”
When we hear the phrase “show up for the show down”, we might pre-sume
it means things like, ‘Show me your stuff’, ‘Put up or shut up’, yada,
yada! What exactly does that mean, “Show up for the Showdown?” Could
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Change Agents
it be who has more charisma, talents? It certainly doesn’t mean ‘act boldly’
or ‘no pain no gain’ philosophy either. It does remind me of a comment
I heard from a church lady on the radio simply talking about her teenage
kids, and how they wanted a jeep with the biggest winch they could afford
mounted on it. For some of us city folks, we do the same thing, don’t we?
We place big old brush guards on our trucks and jeeps and feel bravo! We
really believe that we are going to show up for the showdown, right? What
exactly does “show up for the show down” mean?
DON’T CHANGE YOU!
That’s right! In many organizations, you might hear the slogan, “Did
you drink the “ Kool-aid ” today?” In your new “show down” journey,
you simply take in some new TEA! TEA ? Allow me to share with you
what got me started on this TEA thought and my new 44-day journey.
As you recall, on that night that I was to celebrate my wife’s birthday, I
lay on the floor crying and desperately seeking rescue. I had a horrible
back pain, cramping of the muscles, the joints were not working, and the
body was reacting in a way I still can’t explain. And there I laid, on the
floor, not able to move! I started wondering about the rest of the night,
tomorrow and possibly my entire future. I started searching and seeking.
Outside help, no – just inside my own heart and soul. Why me? When
will this go away? Will it? What if my back gets worse?
Being human and scared, I opened my “old book” and asked for a spe-cial
message from “above”…you know?, or maybe not, but sometimes
we even play games with HIM. Remember, I am just like you, trying to
improve and grow rich in all areas of my life as well. I am just as weak
as you are too! So, I said, “Come on Lord, show me something right
now to inspire me! Give me that one last shot of healing!” Uh, oh!! This
next moment will never be forgotten, and this is why I am telling you
about it right now! I closed my eyes, flipped the pages back and forth,
then I said… “Now God, show me something now!” “I need your mes-sage.
Guide me!” Wow ! As I open my eyes while still holding my finger
on this one page, this particular verse is at the edge of my finger:
“Seek the Lord while you still can, call upon him while he is near.”
WOW - While I still can? What exactly did that mean? Call upon Him
while He is near? Did He just touch my back with pain? Or did he warn
me, with the “real show”? He ‘showed up’ for the ‘showdown’, and I
wasn’t ready!
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About 2:30 a.m., (pain/show started at about 6:20 p.m.), I was lying on
the floor crying and my wife asked, “Does your back hurt that much?”
I was too proud and ashamed to admit the real reason I was crying, so I
lied to my wife. My wife thought I was crying because of my back pain.
I wasn’t. Later, about 5:30 a.m. that morning, (still awake with pain
and wonder) I had to share with her all my real pains. You see, I wasn’t
ready for showing up to the real showdown! The pain of the heart and
soul had gotten larger than the pain of the back. This moment in my
life prompted me to start the new show now! I too, am searching for a
critical balance. I also know I had to make a specific time frame and I
had to write things down. I believe that if you commit to the knowledge,
coaching and insight you are reading today, and you make a commit-ment
to act on it for 44 days, you truly will show up for the showdown.
I needed some new TEA more than anybody else. A distinct target, en-vironment
and approach to the new me! I hope to someday not be an
amateur on the journey of the real “show” as well as the much-needed
TEA we all seek. If you simply take your new TEA, FOR THE NEXT
44 DAYS, you too, will start to show up for the showdown!
A friend of mine once told me, six hours before he died, “Roy, thank
you for showing me a few paths to take, and a few TEA’s to sip on, but
I want you to know I met God and the Devil in a dream last night…and
guess who scared me the most?…Now that, is powerful. He said, “You
see Roy, the devil, the demons, the bad folks can only take your body,
material things and such, but God wants your heart and soul, He wants
all of you!
I could get tougher, but I just seem to be getting softer and more at peace
with my new TEA. There are a lot of people that can confirm, that I
am far from maturing for the showdown and the proper TEA! My wife
Monica and maybe even some people reading this, could easily confirm
that I have many chapters to go in my show up journey. However, even
Jesus got hacked off and had to make some serious decisions and take
aggressive actions to pursue His own TEA and Show.
Mark 11: v.15 – When they arrived back to Jerusalem he went to the
Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers,
and knocked over the tables of the moneychangers and the stalls of
those selling doves and stopped everyone from bringing in loads of
merchandise.
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Change Agents
Timid? I don’t think so. Are you ready to drive out the demons and nay-sayers,
knock over the hurdles in your way of your new show! For us, it
just takes 44 days to start the journey.
Teddy Roosevelt was once quoted for saying something that ended like
this:
… “If he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his
place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know
neither victory nor defeat.”
‘I should have done this or that?’ ‘I should have not quit.’ ‘I should have
given it my best.’ ‘If only I had done it this way!’ ARE YOU WAITING
FOR THE NEXT MEMO? Don’t look back five years from now and
say the same things. Whether you like Teddy or not, experience great
failure while daring greatly! It’s okay. Today, you have to find a way, to
show up for your showdown. Don’t CHANGE You, change the TEA!
Simply try this new TEA for 44 days now. Five in each area makes it 15
different TEA’s.
Write down today’s date here: ______________________________
Write down your new TEA:
1. Adjust Target/s
2. Improve Environment/s
3. Create different Approach/s
Please start today and please write them down!
Have at least 5 in each area !
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
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A poem with the theme, Show up for the Showdown:
THE “SHOW”
Yes, yes; the best show
not stumble, nor grumble- the Time a fumble.
Where the wind not blow, best quickly… row
no heartfelt goal? none the show
The purpose of bold drives ye passion of gold,
Imagine the spirit, without the know
Release the soul, to start the show
The why be reached, w’ love unleashed.
Yes, yes; the best show
Not fear, not cower- real purpose, power.
Boundless, soul to goal
O’ purpose! the show a glow
With your new TEA, Discovering ye purpose, the show a glow !
My father was one of those guys who would never admit to pain, los-ing,
giving up, disadvantages, none of those kind of things. I recall an
incident which I will share with you with the hopes of adding value and
support to my conviction of “Show up for the Showdown” mentality. As
I recall, I came walking home from school crying because I had just had
three school bullies beat on me. This was somewhat typical in the neigh-borhoods
many of you grew up in as well, I’m sure. So, when I walked
in the living room, my father heard me crying. This was the second bad
thing to happen to me by now. Normally, my dad was out working, driv-ing
cabs. However, as things would happen, this time, he was home. I
was scared to SHOW him my tears and weakness.
As you would guess, my father asked- “Why are you crying, son?” I
thought for what seemed eternity and said….. “Dad, normally I never
cry when I get into a fight but this time dad, there were three of them.”
I stopped and waited for his response. He quickly responded to me and
said, “Do not lie son, I know for a fact that you are telling a lie”. “Dad, I
am not lying!” I replied. He says: “Son, You know why I know you are
lying? Because of all the kids in school that I have seen, I cannot count
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in my hands any three kids, that if they all got together and tried to take
you down on the playground, with the real you showing up, it simply
wouldn’t happen! They simply don’t have the talent, speed, toughness
and tenacity like you do. So, son, you say there was only three?” My
dad always had this attitude that we cannot fail, we can win at anything
and he did empower me and give me a sense of tremendous confidence
to fight for the top, the best, the most.
So, my dad asked me to get in the car. We go and pick up the other three
kids and head out to the playground for a second round. Needless to say,
I was “driven” to victory. There was no way I would lose or be fright-ened
in front of my dad. While this might not be the best way to teach a
kid toughness and a no-quit attitude, it did teach me boldness and tenac-ity,
and to not flirt with the other guys girlfriends. I had no choice, but to
show up for the showdown.
My dad had a way of inspiring us that may not always work with others,
but at the time, for me - it was the inner strength that I needed fed into
my mind. The TEA I had to intake for Showing up for the showdown—
my dad was part of the group that started that evolution. His constant
philosophy was: Never back down, never quit, you fake it till you make
it! In a twisted, weird sort of way, my dad did inspire me to bigger goals
and visions. I still love him to this day for giving me such confidence.
A few years back, on a cool, beautiful Saturday afternoon, I sat there
and watched four young boys, YOUNG MEN if you will, preparing for
a track meet. They were part of a high school varsity track relay team,
forming a circle. They start holding hands right before a huge crowd in
the middle of the field. These four boys were getting ready to be in one
of the biggest state track events of their high school life. They had been
stretching for some time now. They had gone over the routine of hand-offs,
steps, counts, etc. They were one of the fastest relay teams in their
region. These four individuals also had four distinctly different faiths.
I knew them well. Then all of a sudden, they bowed their heads and
appeared to be praying. After about 30 seconds a coach from another
school walks over to them and from what I could see , it appeared as if
the coach was quite upset with them and reprimanding them. I wasn’t
sure, but I could see some frustration on the boys as well as the coach.
After the race, I went down to talk to my son and congratulated them on
their victory and the fastest time of the meet. Then I said, as best as I can
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recall, “Son, who was that coach that came over right before your race
who appeared to be upset about your praying, or were you not praying?”
My son said, “Dad, yes, we were praying. We didn’t ask for a victory,
we asked for no injuries and a good day on the track!”
Then this coach that we don’t even know said, “Boys, you didn’t come
out here to pray for yourselves, you came out here to run. Stop this non-sense
and go show the fans that you can run, you can always do your
thing later!”
My son, to the best of my recollection, said something like this. “Dad,
just because he was a coach and I didn’t want to disqualify my team, I
didn’t say anything, we just “showed” him everything. But one of these
days, I know I will run into that man, and I will have my chance to show
him his nonsense.” I never asked my son what he meant by that, but I
just hope he doesn’t run into that coach. Sometimes, showing up for the
showdown, is simply getting a real EKG of the heart. The next 44 days,
start the new journey. Remember, don’t change you – take in some new
TEA: Target, Environment, Approach!
For ideas on your new TEA, email me at rlvale@yahoo.com.
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About Roy
Roy Vale is a family man living in San Antonio, TX with his wife and
inspiration, Monica. Roy also has four children and four grandchil-dren.
He is a fan of sports, outdoor adventures and admits his fair
talent of golf. Roy has also completed a few half marathons and
marathons. In his younger years in athletics, Roy broke his neck playing football, as
well as having four other major injuries. These injuries, and growing up in the gov-ernment
projects way down south near the border of Mexico as a child, were part of
the mold that have created a person who simply won’t let up when the wind won’t
blow! In the business world, Roy is also known as the Marketing Guru in some of
his circles, as well as Big Dawg and the Godfather of Sales. The Godfather of Sales
says, “Winning is not a slogan, it’s a way of life!” This past year, he received the
highest honor, Presidents Council Member, from his company, The Farmers Insur-ance
Group of Companies. Roy has been in sales for 15 years, and business coach-ing
and performance management for the last 16.
On a personal mission to help himself, his family and friends, Roy has also started
a personal speaking seminar/tour of his own: Critical Balance. Roy tries to share
inspirational, calculated and proven systems from the old book as well as guid-ance
from popular people who have succeeded and failed, but learned well in their
efforts to balance their lives in areas of relationships, money, health, careers and
faith!
As a Sales Manager, he inspires, guides and coaches 40 agents and 80 reps. In
2012, Big Daddy completed an event called “Tough Mudder” in the Austin, TX area.
His wife Monica and his son Ryan, as well as other friends and peers were there to
witness the 3 hours and 31 minutes. Roy completed this grueling event (12 miles,
26 obstacles) while not being in the best of shape. When asked by his friends, “How
in the world did you finish?” the Marketing Guru replied, “My son called me two
days before the event and told me he remembered one of my favorite sayings.” So
I asked, “Which one is that?” He replied, “In life, when you can’t reach your goals,
you sometimes lack the tenacity or desire, so Dad, are you going to finish the Tough
Mudder, or did you want to answer your own question?” Yes, Roy Vale is known for
never giving up and finding ways to win! Roy Vale was also asked by a colleague
as to why he had so many nicknames. He believes that as you journey through the
days and years, we must change, adopt, create and react to different “curves” that
come our way. He has been blessed to help others while maintaining some decent
“nicknames” and yet, enjoy the benefits of the career he has and able to share his
blessings with others!
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To contact Roy or share your thoughts on this Show up for the Showdown chapter,
visit: AgentCareers.com
Or: rlvale@yahoo.com
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Functional Fitness and Fitness Longevity™
Chapter 39
Functional Fitness and
Fitness Longevity™
By Sam Iannetta
My system and concepts have helped clients make great changes for
the better. Regardless of how “fit” they were to begin with, be they
sedentary to extreme athlete, infant to senior and every type in between,
Fitness Longevity™ can help everyone. At Functional Fitness, we are
experts in analysis and creating exercise programs for real life fitness.
Fitness that changes the way your body adapts to the challenges of life,
while paying attention to the positions and movements that can destroy
your body long term.
In 1992, I started using the term Functional Fitness to describe my
system of using analysis to decipher poor movement patterns that lead
to pain, poor digestion, loss of energy, depression, and weight gain, not
to mention excess physical wear and tear. In many cases, clients also saw
significantly diminished symptoms of disease, illness and aging. After
the initial analysis, we discuss and demonstrate the problems that we see
and then create a corrective exercise and nutritional plan to change these
poor patterns. Only after proving my techniques by solving complex
mechanical and structural issues with hundreds of clients did I decide to
open Sam Iannetta’s Functional Fitness and Wellness Center in 2002. To
date there is no other exercise facility using our analysis and techniques.
Let me introduce you to the world of Fitness Longevity™.
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Six Elements of Fitness Longevity™ Paradigm
1. Alignment
2. NORMAL Joint Range of Motion
3. Gait
4. Functional Muscular Strength
5. Structural Stability
6. Eating and Food
Many of us go through life figuring that our body is what we were given at
birth but this is not completely true. Each one of us is being built, rebuilt
and repaired every second of every day of our lives. What I hear often is
“this is just how I have always been.” It is a common statement with my
new clients and when I ask if they had tried to change it, in general they
reply, “No, I didn’t know I could.” If we were to look at a professional
bodybuilder, no one would say, “Well, that’s how they were born.”
Everyone knows they work hard for the build they want to achieve. You
have to work a bit harder to achieve quality changes in your body and
work a lot smarter too. Learning about these six elements: your body’s
alignment, range of motion, strength, gait, stability and generally how/
what to eat to make change is crucial to everyone who wants a body that
lasts a lifetime. I am not saying that you need to become a professional,
but you should know as much as possible about the body you were born
to live in©. Okay, so understand that each category below has hundreds
if not thousands of books written about them so this is purely an outline
of the most important features and how to attack them. The human body
is much more complex than an automobile, but still, getting to know it
starts with a single key – so allow me to throw you the keys to Fitness
Longevity™ Paradigm.
Alignment systems in our body are always changing, but learning
to change things for the better is critical for long lasting fitness. Start
by taking a good look in the mirror beginning with foot alignment,
knee alignment, hip and back alignment, upper back and shoulder
alignment and lastly head alignment. You need to recognize where your
discrepancies in alignment are and take action to remedy the situation.
Odds are good that most pain-based issues in your own body are joint,
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alignment and posture related. Start by creating an awareness of how
you are aligned and how you can move to correct it. See a professional
if you cannot make a change on your own.
Joint Range of Motion is another factor in fitness longevity and I want
to make something clear right off the bat. If you want your body to feel
good and last a long time, you will be searching for NORMAL range
of motion. Normal range of motion is not a set number of degrees but a
range of degrees +/-. Unless you happen to be an engineer or an architect,
you may not be familiar with this concept of “plus or minus.” Simply
put, if you are a few degrees off you can function normally whether it
be relatively tight or loose. This said, if your joint is hyper mobile or
immobile, it will not do what it is supposed to do and consequently,
another joint up or down the chain will be affected negatively and
become injured, painful, or have increased wear and tear.
Functional Muscular Strength sounds complex, but it really isn’t
as it relates to ninety percent of us. It is simply the strength that we
need and will definitely use on a given day, week or month of our lives.
Strong enough to lift a car is not really necessary as they make jacks
for that. Strong enough to sit down and stand up effortlessly is pretty
important yet most people plop into chairs as if the mechanics of their
body are unimportant. The poor positioning of sitting and standing is
as dangerous as a heavy squat! It might take a much longer time to see
a resultant injury, but is no less disabling when that injury eventually
occurs. Functional muscular strength incorporates strength, structural
stability and movement technique. Only when these 3 areas are working
properly can a person power through their myriad activities in any given
day. As an example, consider simple tasks such as walking a flight of
stairs which incorporates placing more than your body weight on one
leg and performing a squat-like movement. Most people who have
problems climbing a flight of stairs have a strength, stability, and power
issue, and not a flexibility or balance issue.
Gait, or how you walk, is one of the most critical factors in being and
staying in one piece for a lifetime. Not to mention crucial to maintaining
the ability to stay independent and in your own home, for as you
age, this can become the basis for whether or not you can get around
independently. The problem with gait is that no one wants to think about
it until it is a major problem. There are many opinions when it comes
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to how humans should walk but in all my research and teaching over
the years I have found a simple formula. You heel strike, with toes up
and slowly lower your foot to the ground as you roll from heel to big
toe and gently push off the ball of your foot and big toe. Improved gait
increases muscle recruitment all the way up to your hip. It stretches
and strengthens calf and ankle, decreases risk of tripping, and helps to
keep circulation in your feet. During a walking gait, our body functions
like a pile of pendulums©. As such, your hips should rotate; shoulder
blades should glide side to side, your arms should move forward and
backwards, all in a clean and rhythmic pattern. This amazing gait is the
reason humans can walk farther on two feet than any other animal on
the planet.
Structural Stability is a bit of a strange concept but let me explain it
simply. Structural stability is a way of looking at the body as a structure
that is being pulled, pushed, twisted and rotated by movement every
moment of every day. Even when sitting in your chair reading this book,
gravity is pulling down on you not just as a whole but also as individual
parts. It is trying to bring your head forward to the ground, it is trying to
make you fall sideways and if you were to fall asleep right this second
you would end up in a different shape as your body relaxed and sleep
took you, changing your position.
Now let’s look at other parts of your life. According to the laws of physics,
when you pull on a door, car door or any type of door, it is pulling back
on you with an equal amount of force. If you are structurally unstable,
the car door will pull you off balance or pull you into a different position.
This is especially noticeable in people who are slight of build. However,
if the force is large or unexpected enough, your size and strength matter
less. For example, even a really big guy walking down the street can be
thrown off balance by a huge gust of wind. A 40 mph gust can pull that
big strong guy off balance making him as unstable as a ninety-year-old
nonna. Whether you are picking up a glass of water, a laundry basket
or a feisty toddler, the passive applied forces may be small, a 10 ounce
glass of water to a 10 pound stack of clothes in that basket or a 25 pound
2 year old, but the forces being created in your body can be extreme and
if your structure is unstable, instantaneous injuries can occur.
A client came to me after suffering a bulged disc in her back. She
assumed she had injured herself lifting something. I did a few minor
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tests which revealed her structural instability. She was amazed by just
how unstable her body really was. The lifting incident that she felt
caused the injury was really just the straw that broke this client’s back.
Many fitness professionals refer to this as core strength but I tend to
believe that core begins at your feet and ends with your fingertips. In
short, your entire body is your core and anything injured affects your
movement patterns causing weakness and high injury risk. When all of
the forces of your body can stabilize you properly, your core is stable
and strong as well.
3 Q’s of Eating and Food
Eating and Food is not nearly as difficult as most so-called experts
would have you believe. I have a few Q’s for you that should fix it
right up.
Quantity is generally the biggest problem (no pun intended) and is
also the single thing concretely linked to longevity as there are several
studies that show that reasonable restrictive intake of food increases life
expectancy. That being said, going through life hungry will probably
lead to poor relationships, anger management problems and increased
conflict. In my experience, when we are hungry we are not very happy,
yet when we are over-full, we are totally lethargic and relatively useless.
Quantity is the easiest of the Q’s to control, yet most people show
no control when it comes to food. If you are heavier than you would
like to be…eat less by leaving a portion of your plate clean or getting
away from the table. Social gorging is just a mess, so come up with a
better hobby and have some physical fun with your friends, family and
coworkers. Distracted eating is the worst quantity control practice, and
relates to the second and third Q as well.
Quality is the next factor to look at and is as simple as saying logically,
“what is the quality of the food I am eating and could I do better right
now?” If we are eating junk food, we are not only consuming useless,
nutritionally void and potentially harmful junk (by the very name),
but you are likely replacing an opportunity to consume something of
quality for which your body may make great use. When I say “great
use,” remember the part above where I spoke of you being built and
rebuilt and repaired every second of every day? Well, this is what quality
food does best. Think about the amount of processing and coloring and
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chemical garbage that goes into what passes for food, something that
has no nutritional value besides calories. Eat far less of that and more
real healthy organic human food of the highest quality you can obtain.
I conducted an oral quiz with a large group of firefighters at a local
Volunteer fire station and it was not amazing when everyone was able
to tell me what foods are good for us. When asked the logical follow up
question about how many of them actually actively sought to incorporate
these better dietary choices into their meals, the majority admitted they
did not. The same responses came from my daughter’s third grade class
a few years ago when I gave a talk on health and fitness. You know what
foods are good for you so why are you making poor choices when your
health depends on it. A quick reminder about our first Q however, quantity
prevails, as too much of a good thing is still too much. Overindulgence
in high quality food will affect us poorly.
The third and final Q of food is Quiet. Now I am not suggesting that we
should create a sound proof room or join a monastery to have our meals,
but rather that we should take the time to chew and eat our meals in a
way that lets you relax, smile and enjoy our time nourishing our body.
Remember it is the body we were born to live in©. For many of us,
meals have become yet another burden to rush through, to multi-task or
skip altogether. The peace and mindfulness one gains by employing this
third Q each day reaps countless rewards in terms of stress reduction,
far better benefit from our meals and overall inner calm. Most people
spend their lives nowadays running from place to place “getting things
done,” but what they may not realize is that 15-30 minutes of this type
of relaxation can reap huge rewards by giving us hours of refocused
energy and quality thought, not to mention greatly improved digestion.
Get out of our busy life and spend time focused on eating foods that
help us heal from life’s fast pace and thoughtless nature. When we do,
we will surely feel the world open up with greatly increased energy and
improved personal quality in our lives.
What can my company and I do to help you, your family or your
company, school, school system or organization improve and enter
the Fitness Longevity Paradigm? Seminars, workshops, and coaching
for your company, one-on-one personal analysis and or coaching for
individuals, in our location or yours, are all available. We offer fitness
longevity professional training, certification and continuing education
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as well as goal oriented and injury prevention for individual athletes
and sports team assessments and training programs. Analysis of your
family, group or organization can be scheduled at our location or yours.
Information is available upon request.
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About Sam
Sam Iannetta grew up an exceptionally skinny yet perpetually
hungry kid. Fortunately, having parents who emigrated from Italy
meant there was never a lack of food in his house. At the age of
10, he got fascinated with weightlifting and exercise. He took little
jobs for neighbors and a local store and purchased his first weights. A year later, a
Police Athletic League opened three blocks from his home. He started working out
with police officers twice to three times his size. There was a great passion in them
because they needed that high level of fitness, their lives depended on it. Inspired
by the people around him, he worked out hard and started gaining serious strength.
Many officers had injuries, aches and pains. He had a deep desire to help them. He
started researching rehabilitation, injury prevention, and biomechanics. He became
the “go-to-kid” for problems with their bodies. He had no idea it would become his
life’s work. Currently with over 44,000 hours of one-on-one personal training and
over 3,000 hours of group instruction of children to seniors, he is considered by some
to be one of the most experienced personal trainers in the United States.
In 1992, Sam started creating a system of analysis of human movement that
incorporated his years of knowledge and experience, but he added one more crucial
element, Common Sense. He found out some time later it was not so common. In
2002, he opened a fitness center in Boulder, Colorado called Sam Iannetta’s Functional
Fitness and Wellness Center and trained others in his system. The trainers stated, “It
was like having a new set of eyes.” They could see problems in clients’ movement
long before an injury occurred. They train 700 to 1000+ sessions a month in a 2,800
square foot facility. Denver, Colorado is always among the top 10 fittest cities in the
U.S. and Boulder makes Denver look lazy. In 2008, Sam Iannetta founded the concept
of Fitness Longevity™ which is his system of fitness based not on how fit someone
can be, but…how long they want to stay fit.
Here Sam was in what people called an incredibly fit city, yet clients came in with
injuries, pain and premature wear and tear. In 1995, Sam created the concept
of the S.P.O.R.T. Paradigm© standing for Specific Performance of Repetitive
Trauma. This is the paradigm that he grew up in learning Sports Education in our
Physical Education system. P.E. wasn’t physical education; it was S.E. or sports
education – teaching little or nothing about your physical body. His clients realized
that in committing to playing any sport or sport-like activity, they were signing an
unwritten contract, “I am willing to sacrifice my body for my sport.” He coined
the concept of the Fitness Longevity Paradigm© as a replacement for the current
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SPORT Paradigm©. Let him help install the idea that maintaining fitness should be
for life. This is Fitness Longevity™.
Find out more at: www.functionalfitnessusa.com, www.livingfunctional.com
or email: functionalfitnessusa@gmail.com
Or call: 303-440-1440.
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HOW TO START AND GROW A SUCESSFUL DENTAL PRACTICE IN ANY ECONOMY
Chapter 40
HOW TO START AND GROW
A SUCCESFUL DENTAL
PRACTICE IN ANY ECONOMY
By Stephen Seidler, DDS
Growing a dental practice or any successful business for that matter
is no secret. If you decide to put in a lot of hard work, dedication
and become committed to mastering your craft, anyone can grow the
practice or business of their dreams. In my case, starting from scratch
with no patients whatsoever, I grew a practice to the top 1% of all dental
practices in the United States, sold it, then opened a new practice with
no patients and did it all over again.
What makes me qualified to be viewed as a successful dentist? My name
is Steve Seidler and I have spent over 32 years as a practicing dentist:
• Attending over 2000 hours in continuing dental education
courses.
• Have performed all phases of dentistry on tens of thousands of
satisfied patients. These procedures include cosmetics, veneers,
whitening, root canals, crowns, bridges, surgery, implants, mini-implants,
adult orthodontics, sleep apnea treatment and sedation
(sleep dentistry).
• Have given numerous courses and taught my techniques to many
other dentists.
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• Top 10 provider of Mini Dental Implants in the eastern United
States
• Have created a dental assistant school where I have helped
hundreds of students with no previous dental experience how to
become expanded duty dental assistants.
• Named to America’s Best Dentists, Leading Physicians of the
World and America’s Premier Dentists as featured in USA Today.
• I am a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry, and a member
of the American Dental Association, Florida Dental Association,
Dental Society of Greater Orlando and the American Dental
Society of Anesthesiologists.
My story begins after graduating from Georgetown Dental School in
1979. Having no experience and not much more self confidence, I decided
to join the United States Navy. This would become the beginning of
my never-ending quest to get as much continuing education in dentistry
as I possibly could. In addition to gaining much needed experience by
performing dentistry on naval personnel, I was able to learn from senior
naval dentists who represented dental specialties from every field.
During my time in the navy, I realized that dental school doesn’t really
teach you how to become a good dentist; it just gives you a license to
begin the learning process.
After getting my dental ‘sea legs’ in the navy, I decided to open a
brand new three chair dental practice in 1981 after serving my military
commitment. I began with one employee, then quickly had the demand
to hire a second and third, based primarily on a successful direct mail
marketing campaign. Fast forward five years, the practice grew to eight
chairs where I employed two dental hygienists, an associate dentist and
five auxiliary personnel. During this growth process, I took as many
continuing education courses as possible with an emphasis on sedation
because I quickly realized two things about dental patients:
1. Rarely if ever does a patient want to be referred out for specialty
services and
2. Most dental patients range from slightly apprehensive to
absolutely petrified to undergo dental treatment.
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During this five year period I successfully obtained my Fellowship in the
Academy of General Dentistry, an honor only 2% of dentists nationwide
achieve. It requires the passing of an examination and completion of
over 1000 hours in continuing education. In addition, I completed a
100-hour internship at the University of Alabama in conscious sedation.
In 1998, I thought I might want to try something new, and a dental
management company offered to buy my dental practice, do all of the
administrative chores and allow me to just do dentistry. Sounded great,
but I only agreed to sell because the company promised to allow me to
operate the practice as I always had, with the same patient-comes-first
systems. For the first 10 years or so, they kept their promise and pretty
much kept a hands-off approach. The name on the door stayed the same
and most patients were not aware of the change in ownership. When
the economy was in the midst of its downturn in 2009, things began to
change to where due to cost cutting measures, I was not able to deliver
the type of patient care that I was accustomed to. As a result, in 2011 I
finally resigned from the company and left the practice that I had started
some 30 years before.
I felt too young to retire, so at age 58 I started the process all over again.
Not many people are given the opportunity of a do over, but that’s exactly
what I got! I again started a new practice with no existing patients in an
uncertain economy, with the belief that if I did it once, I could do it
again. Utilizing the systems that I developed the first time around and
by being totally committed to exemplary service to our patients, the
practice has quickly grown to maximum capacity in less than one year.
So what’s the secret of my success? The answer is simple; the very best
customer service possible with a great staff and the development and
the utilization of great systems. Four of the most important systems that
will quickly grow a successful dental practice are:
• Having a clear Mission Statement with a Great Staff to support it
• The use of a Treatment Coordinator
• Being able to do Conscious Sedation Dentistry and
• The ability to provide Full Service Dentistry
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Mission Statement Supported by a Great Staff
Creating a mission statement is a highly individualized process that not
only encompasses the dentist’s vision of what the ideal practice should
be, but also must be fully supported by the staff. As an example, our
mission statement is:
With advanced technology, state of the art equipment and extensive
experience in a comfortable environment, we will always strive
to provide the optimal level of affordable dental care and never
compromise our treatment in any way.
We will provide a compassionate, pampered, courteous and caring
environment so that we can greatly exceed each of our patient’s
expectations.
We will support, encourage, respect and inspire each other; we will
have fun and communicate openly so that we can obtain all of our
goals both personally and professionally.
This mission statement is fully supported by our staff and in practice
translates to exceptional customer service. Getting a great team in place
takes time and patience. What I’ve learned is that most skills needed
by a team in a dental practice can be trained except for the values and
personality traits needed to achieve the customer service-based practice.
As long as the doctor is clear that this is the type of practice desired, the
task is simply finding like-minded individuals to fill out the staff.
Using a Treatment Coordinator
In today’s competitive post-great recession environment, having great
customer service is absolutely essential to having a successful practice.
The key is treating people like you yourself would like to be treated and
always trying to deliver more than you promise. The very best way to
achieve this is by utilizing a treatment coordinator and providing what
we call “The New Patient Experience.”
The idea of having a treatment coordinator can be applied to any
medical or dental practice. “The New Patient Experience” begins by
having our treatment coordinator greet the patient and get to know the
patient by asking a series of questions to find out specifically what the
patient is seeking. She then takes all needed records including x-rays,
digital photos and intra-oral photos. As she is taking the records the
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treatment coordinator points out dental problems and potential solutions
to these problems to the patient. All of this is done before the doctor ever
examines the patient. Following the doctors examination and treatment
plan formulation, the treatment coordinator then goes over the treatment
recommendations of the doctor and offers the patient affordable financial
options in order to have the treatment accomplished.
By using a treatment coordinator for each new patient, it allows us to
establish a relationship of trust and to give each patient an experience
that’s unlike any they have had in any other medical or dental office. We
do this by making the patient feel special, listened to, and treated as a
unique individual. Think about it …don’t you tend to feel better when
you go to a place where you are recognized and fussed over?
Additionally, the treatment coordinator is able to form a bond with
each patient. In order to do this, each new patient is scheduled for 2
hours although it may take less time than this. This gives the patient
ample opportunity to ask questions and have all of their dental problems
and potential solutions explained. Having a treatment coordinator and
creating a “New Patient Experience” truly is a win-win situation. By
having our patients truly understand their dental problems and having
us know their concerns, it gives them the ability to accept any level of
treatment they desire. It also creates the opportunity for the dentist to
help many patients with their dental problems.
Once patients recognize the need to have dental treatment done, the fear
of having the procedures done will often delay or even cause the patient
to postpone treatment. That brings us to the next essential system for a
great dental practice; Conscious Sedation Dentistry.
Conscious Sedation Dentistry
There are many reasons to incorporate conscious sedation dentistry into
a dental practice. Conscious sedation is very useful when patients have:
• High anxiety and fear of dental procedures
• A severe gag reflex
• A need or desire to have all of their dentistry done in one to
two visits
• Chronic or acute jaw soreness when getting dentistry done
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• Difficulty getting numb
• A desire to have dentistry done comfortably while fully relaxed
Conscious sedation consists of a combination of oral and/or IV
medications. A single pill is given to the patient to take one hour prior
to their dental appointment. This will produce a sense of calm and
relaxation by the time the patient is ready for their dental appointment.
For some patients, oral sedation is all that is needed. However for many
patients that are more nervous or who have had a bad dental experience,
an IV line is obtained and medication is given so that the patients is able
to snooze through their appointment. It’s important to note that this is not
general anesthesia. The patient is always able to respond to the doctor
when asked. Most patients though have very little if any recollection of
the appointment so that a 3 hour appointment may feel like 15 minutes.
In addition, due to the muscles relaxing from the sedation, there is no
gag reflex and a greatly-reduced incidence of a sore jaw.
Patients will often ask if this procedure is safe.
 During sedation, we constantly monitor the patient’s blood
pressure, oxygen level, and heart rate.
 Since the patient is relaxed while sedated, there is much less
chance of stress induced complications such as increased blood
pressure, angina or hyperventilation.
 In 30 years of practice, I have never had a health complication
as a result of sedation.
So, is it safe? In a word, yes!
Most dentists that advertise sedation are only able to deliver a single pill
to provide the sedation. This has severe limitations for highly anxious
patients. In order to provide true conscious sedation, I attended a 100
hour residency at the University of Alabama to have the necessary
training to provide this valuable service. In addition, doing conscious
sedation requires taking courses in advanced cardio-pulmonary life
saving (ACLS).
This brings us to the third absolutely essential item in having a highly
successful and rewarding dental practice; being able to provide full
service dentistry.
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Full Service Dentistry
What do I mean by full service dentistry? My definition of full service
dentistry is “the ability to provide any and all dental services needed
by each patient at least equal to the level of a dental specialist.” Why
is this necessary? Mainly, the reason is that most patients do not like to
be referred out of your practice. They already know and trust you. By
referring out a patient, you are asking them to go to a new doctor who they
don’t know and who probably will charge a significant fee just to examine
the patient and make the same diagnosis you have already made.
Do I ever have the need to refer out a patient? Of course. The referral
of a patient to a specialist is occasionally needed. There may be an
unusual problem that requires another opinion. Or there may be a
procedure such as impacted wisdom teeth removal where the patient
would be better served by an oral surgeon because this is one procedure
where due to the vast numbers of this procedure done by oral surgeons,
this is something they can do quicker and thus more comfortably for
the patient. The goal though is to be able to treat the vast majority of
patients in your own office.
So how does a dentist become a full service dentist? There are no
shortcuts. It takes considerable continuing education along with
experience in doing the various procedures. I believe that when you
become a dentist, you assume the responsibility to never stop learning.
Your patients are owed nothing less.
Growing a highly successful practice obviously involves more than the
factors mentioned above. Using these keys however is a great start to
create the practice of your dreams during any economic conditions.
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Change Agents
About Dr. Stephen
Dr. Seidler utilizes his extensive training and experience to
treat even the most challenging dental situations. He has been
delivering cosmetic, implant, and functional solutions to patients
for over 32 years. His commitment to “doing it right” and ability
to “handle just about anything” has won him the admiration of patients and other
doctors. A big bonus is that Dr. Seidler uses his expertise to prevent big problems
from ever happening.
Dr. Seidler graduated from The University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science
degree in 1975 and graduated with special distinction from Georgetown University
School of Dentistry in 1979. He then served in the United States Naval Dental
Corps for 2 years. Since 1981, Dr. Seidler has been in private practice in Orange
City, Florida for 30 years and the last 2 years in Sanford, Florida. Over those 32
years of practice, he has accumulated over 2000 hours in dental continuing
education including a 100 hour course in advanced dental sedation techniques at
the University of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Seidler has won numerous awards and received much recognition in his 32
years of dental practice. These are highlighted by being named to Top Dentists
in Florida by the International Association of Dentists, America’s Best Dentists by
The National Consumer Advisory Board and America’s Premier Dentists as featured
in USA Today. He is a member of the American Dental Association, Florida Dental
Association, Dental Society of Greater Orlando, Florida Dental Association of
Anesthesiology and is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry.
The fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry recognizes the broad range of
dentistry that Dr. Seidler’s post-graduate education provides for patient benefit. He
also operates a dental assistant school that teaches students the art and science
of dental assisting and provides them with career opportunities to do his part in
helping improve the job market. In addition, Dr. Seidler has provided lectures to
other dentists on his practice techniques.
Dr. Seidler performs all phases of general dentistry with a special emphasis on
implant and sedation dentistry. He is able to provide all dental services including oral
surgery, implants, mini-implants, fixed and removable prosthodontics, cosmetics,
conscious sedation, adult orthodontics, root canal therapy, operative dentistry and
sleep apnea treatment. Dr. Seidler enjoys teaching what he has learned about
dentistry to others. He also enjoys spending time with his 3 children aged 28, 26
and 16.
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HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE 100TH MONKEY
Chapter 41
HARNESING THE POWER
OF THE 100TH MONKEY
By Choy Wong and Yvonne Dayan
In the 1950’s, as the legend goes (as per Lyall Watson’s foreword to
Lawrence’s Blair’s Rhythms of Vision, 1975), there were monkeys on
the Japanese island of Koshima who loved sweet potatoes. However,
they would not eat those fallen in the sand since they disliked the taste
of dirt. One day, it occurred to a young adventurous monkey to wash
the dirty potatoes in the river, which could now be enjoyed. All others
followed suit. This started a different reality, a new future.
What’s even stranger is that, at a certain moment in time, all monkeys
on neighboring islands who had never been in contact with each other,
simultaneously possessed the same knowledge and were doing the same
thing, much like the instant assimilation and omniscience of the DNAs
in our physical body.
This phenomena, known as The Hundredth Monkey effect, theorizes
that there is an undetermined level of critical mass for every occurrence
that, when reached, instantly transcends global consciousness and
everyone’s life instantly becomes endowed with the selfsame level of
knowledge, emotion, ability and behavior.
In the same way, global change among humans starts with just one
mind, one person, such as you or I. Change is the natural progression of
life whether in nature, society or the world. There are many who resist
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Change Agents
change, but resisting change is futile since it is inevitable and will occur
from moment to moment.
Sometimes, even when we know change is necessary, either personally
or professionally, we still resist it, nevertheless.
We must distinguish between these two kinds of “change”:
(1) change that occurs by force of nature and
(2) change that can be initiated by human will or desire. This is the kind
of change that can eclipse the forces of nature, transcend human
destiny and enrich human evolution.
The first monkey washed her potato, because of her own desire to
satisfy her taste. By exercising her own will she transformed the group
consciousness of all monkeys, thus empowering the free will of everyone
to do the same.
Change brought about by exertion of human will can likewise advance
the evolution of human consciousness through these seven meaningful
steps: awareness, possibility, desire, evaluation, decision-making,
activation/empowerment and commitment.
Seven Steps to becoming a Powerful
Change Agent:
1. AWARENES
Awareness is the agent that allows us to become conscious and discover
the purpose of our lives. When people are not aware of who they are,
and can’t recognize their role in the world, they miss out on the power
they wield to effect change.
Knowing that You are a change agent is the first step toward creating
change. Recognizing that you’re the one who can make the difference,
and acknowledging that you hold the future of your life and of human
destiny itself in your hands, makes it possible for you to remove any
barriers and effect meaningful change.
You are the most important change-maker in your life and in the lives of
those around you. To become an active participant in change, embrace
the reality that you are the active part of that change. Too often, people
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wait for things around them to change because they’re not aware that
they can play a definitive part in determining the kind of change that
occurs. You can definitely exert your power and influence over your
own future. Thus, with awareness comes possibility.
2. POSIBILITY
The world is filled with possibility and wonder. By becoming aware
of your own power, possibility opens up. You can thereby activate the
possibility within you to accomplish any significant change you desire.
Remember that every possibility, every change on the planet started
from just one, single change agent.
What changes are possible?
And which would contribute the most to your life?
The possibility of success?
The possibility of wealth?
The possibility of health?
The possibility of love?
The possibility of relationships?
The possibility of peace?
The possibility of happiness?
The possibility of contribution to humanity
The possibility of serving the world?
The possibility of higher consciousness?
Whichever possibilities align with your personal power will actually
represent the changes you can manifest for yourself and for others. To
do so, it is essential that you develop a strong will or desire to begin the
conscious process of change.
3. DESIRE
As change agents, the strength and passion of your desire will make it
possible for you to partner up with life and effect the changes as per your
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Change Agents
desired outcome. If your desire is not strong enough, then any change
that happens will more likely be in accordance with the force of nature.
To create powerful, positive, change, make your desire stronger than
your fear of failing.
Either you determine the circumstances of your life or others will. Thus,
you are the conscious evaluator and primary influence in the evolution
of your destiny.
4. EVALUATION
Before effecting any desired change, proactively evaluate your possi-bilities,
as not all changes end up good or positive.
As you evaluate, avoid reacting impulsively. There’s lots of spam
around and it’s never life’s purpose for you to take on every random
circumstance or occurrence that comes your way. Analyze all available
options. Focus on achieving your purpose.
• Which are your best options for the positive changes you want to
make in your life?
• What are the action steps you would need to make to achieve the
destiny you desire?
Rather than having life’s random events determine and shape your life,
decide which to let pass and which happen to be opportunities that fit
harmoniously into your own life’s plans and goals, and thus, yours to
engage.
Discerning which changes are the right ones for you is not always easy
and may require much pondering and deep reflection, since the truth can
only come from within yourself. When you connect to that place of trust
within, and get to listen to your own inner wisdom, you will intuitively
know what to do.
5. DECISION-MAKING
Every new decision you bring forth transforms your future and the lives
of those around you. The future of the world converges at the juncture
of every one of your decision-making processes.
As you make choices that honor who you are and also accept the right of
others to make their own life’s choices, whether you agree with them or
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not, you truly start growing, and becoming more expansive.
You start elevating your own energy, and vibrating at higher frequency,
whereby your mere presence becomes a catalyst for change. Your
whole energy field becomes a source for empowerment, creativity and
leadership. You walk into a room, and suddenly you stand out like a
brightly-lit chandelier. You have probably personally experienced at
least one such magnetic personality who dynamically draws others to
their light. At this level, you become this powerful pillar of attraction.
This is the energy field that all true change agents generate around
themselves.
At a quantum level, each change changes everything else on the planet.
No one ever contemplated the fall of the Berlin wall as a possibility.
However, as human will transformed global consciousness, there was
no stopping the people from tearing down the Berlin wall. What had
started decades ago in the mind of one thinker finally reached critical
mass. A new directive became activated in global consciousness and
people became part of that one global mindset and moved with one force
to remove the wall, which was a metaphor for human imprisonment and
limitation.
6. ACTIVATION/EMPOWERMENT
As the Chinese proverb says, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a
single step. So it is with our lives; all journeys, even those of a thousand
miles or more must necessarily start with empowering oneself to take
the first step. Follow your sound, conscious choices that come from the
highest place within you. Empower yourself to take the most effective
action and commit yourself to its accomplishment and realization.
Business owners or managers who wish to effect change in their
businesses, recognize the need for change and try to take the steps to
change, but often, they do not realize that their staff is not yet onboard.
Managers then, become frustrated and give up before the staff has had
the opportunity to assimilate the proposed changes, thus resulting in
failure. So, it becomes vital for any team leader to first achieve the
effective enlistment and participation of their staff.
7. COMMITMENT
Be totally committed to any change you take on and sustain this
commitment until your purpose has been achieved. Some changes
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Change Agents
happen quickly, but most of them take time to set in, some may even
take years.
Change is not only a result that is achieved. Change is also a process that
takes a certain amount of time and often, effort and sacrifice. Patience
is a virtue.
Those who expect change to happen quickly are often disappointed
and are missing part of the equation. In the business world, most new
enterprises fail within the first two to three years. Frequently, this is due
to the need for better planning and marketing or because people gave up
too soon. Positive change requires lots of faith, strength and a sustained
commitment until your goal is achieved. For change agents who wish
to create an ideal world, the next step is to take on the following tasks
and functions.
THE PROCES FOR bettering YOUR WORLD:
a). ENROLLMENT
Destiny is the secret recruiter of all change agents on the planet. It enrolls
us, often through adversity, failure and setbacks. Some of us necessarily
go through crisis in life in order to grow and develop our strength and
character for this purpose. Often we do not understand what is going
on at the time, and cannot make any sense of it, but in hindsight we
recognize these mishaps as the unique process destiny uses to mold us
into the most formidable change agents.
Those who are aware of the flow of life become the most successful in
creating change. They learn not to resist the changes that life throws at
them, and instead partner up with and utilize change in new creative ways.
With some practice, you too, can learn to say: Yes! Always welcome
change that comes your way, and trust that the changes happening in
your life are for your greatest good. Instead of resisting, this new attitude
towards life provides possibility for great opportunities for growth and
contribution. Apply this old adage: “When life gives you lemons, make
lemonade.”
b). GROWTH
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”
~ JF Kennedy
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Personal growth is a necessary part of evolution, as it betters our
personality and character. It calls for active leadership, continued
learning, and taking action, while pursuing breakthroughs that push
us to our max. These actions are the opposite of apathy, conformity
and resistance. When we choose to resist, life will have us go through
excruciating circumstances that help us understand we need to move
on, until we catch on. As we let go, we grow and develop higher values.
c). DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER VALUES
Development of our higher values such as compassion, understanding
and acceptance for our fellow human beings impassions our quest
to improve the world around us. As we enact these noble works of
service, we ourselves become totally inundated by the overflow of the
creative force that calls us forth to accomplish the mission we are finally
privileged to own up to.
d). DESIRE TO IMPACT THE LIVES OF OTHERS
Developing higher values defines the quality and impact we can have
in our business as well as our personal relationships. We have all been
witness to the amazing power of the human spirit when another’s life is
impacted. It ignites our innate desire to contribute to others.
e). INTEGRITY
Integrity is the compass that determines that our impact on others will
be one that fosters a constructive change that builds and unites. Integrity
requires that you act from your authentic self. When aligned from your
true self, you become the vessel and force for positive energy in the
world, which can only manifest as success, prosperity, love, peace,
happiness and higher consciousness. You start drawing to you the best
opportunities and the most rewarding relationships. As we learn to live
selflessly and give of ourselves, we can’t help but become the 100th
monkey for a whole new way of living on planet earth.
f). PASIONATE INTENTION
Passionate intention is the mover and shaker of change. It requires the
discipline to be constant and undistracted and to persevere and persist
and not give up, even when things get difficult and seem impossible to
achieve. And passionate intention keeps you committed to your mission.
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Change Agents
g). MISION
A mission’s purpose is to concentrate your power. Therefore, allow your
mission to keep you focused throughout your journey of exercising your
“true” calling as a powerful and effective change agent.
Carrying out your mission channels your energy and power into the
universe, contributing to a still young humanity in much need of
leadership and guidance…
h). CREATING YOUR OWN TEAM
Reach out and create your own team of change agents. You can create
change in your life by yourself, but to change the world requires that
you form a dedicated team of change agents.
Recruiting your team and embarking on your mission as change agents
must start out by first bettering our character, enabling our people skills,
opening our hearts to unconditional loving and caring, committing to
our values and principles without compromise, and dedicating ourselves
to fulfilling our destiny through service and contribution.
As part of their mission, business owners and executives take on the
world of commerce and industry by :
(1) Empowering management’s and employees’ character and
professional capability (initiative, leadership, emotional
intelligence, creativity, productivity, effectiveness).
(2) Improving management’s and employees’ lifestyle, prosperity
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and well-being.
(3) Creating better products and services that over-deliver true
value since we are dedicated to truly serving our world.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BECOMING
A CHANGE AGENT
o You get the opportunity to achieve self-realization, which
means to know yourself – which is the greatest treasure in life.
o You get to fulfill your destiny. Fulfillment is the only
accomplishment that leads to true happiness. And when you’re
happy, you’ve become the 100th change agent for happiness on
the planet.

o You achieve the state of higher consciousness, which raises your
vibrational frequency, endowing you with a cosmic force that
allows you to become the master of your own destiny.
o You start exerting instant influence over happenings around you.
Ultimately, you become imbued with power that seems magical
and your desires achieve instant 100th Monkey Effect.
For more information on the power of a change agent or details about
embarking on your own experiential journey of self-discovery, self-mastery
and self-enlightenment, visit: www.imastery.net
May the multitudes be touched by your example of giving and service,
and use you as their role model to likewise become enrolled as
conscious change agents as a force for good on the planet.
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© Copyright 2013 Choy Wong & Yvonne Dayan

Change Agents
About Choy
CHOY WONG, entrepreneur, corporate trainer, life coach, and
author, is regarded as a top specialist in leadership and business
management, emotional intelligence, personal growth and self-mastery.
Having achieved his own financial independence at the
age of 26, he has helped hundreds of thousands internationally to achieve their
life’s dreams and goals by empowering his students with the same disciplines and
systems he himself had to master.
Choy has devoted his life to teaching his unique technology on success, wealth and
happiness. He possesses a unique insight into human nature and the mechanics
of life. His programs have helped entrepreneurs, executives and professionals
become more effective and accomplished, prosperous, loving and fulfilled, in
both their professional and personal lives. He has taught his programs at several
universities, lectured widely for the past 30 years, and appears regularly on
radio and TV in the U.S. and abroad. He’s just developed the latest cutting-edge
technology on powerfully overcoming our modern challenges and succeeding in
the new economy.
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About Yvonne
YVONNE DAYAN – Entrepreneur, gifted author, and corporate trainer,
is a pioneer in the field of human potential. Her expertise in life and
success coaching has helped thousands achieve breakthroughs in
their personal growth, emotional excellence, and wealth creation.
As an accomplished entrepreneur with various degrees in psychology and
counseling, Yvonne is often sought by the media as an expert and spokesperson
in the fields of success and social behavior. She has appeared internationally
on numerous TV and radio programs, in magazines and newspapers and was
featured in the documentary movie: ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY: ORDINARY PEOPLE
EXTRAORDINARY LIVES.
In 2005, Yvonne produced the acclaimed DVD Series “Creating Your Own Fountain
of Youth,” “Bringing Down the Light” and “Restoring Your Soul to Wholeness” that
created a paradigm shift in the way we can use our mind-body connection to
impassion and heal our lives. She has also appeared with Harrison Ford and Kristin
Scott Thomas in the movie “Random Hearts.”
Driven by principle and passion Yvonne has dedicated her life to empowering
others to reach their highest purpose. She specializes in coaching today’s modern
women in leading extraordinary lives.
Yvonne has been designing transformational programs for over 20 years,
incorporating unique life-changing techniques she herself has mastered, and
actively teaches her innovative seminars to both students and trainers in major
cities throughout the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.
The Team
THE WONG-DAYAN TEAM brings together a rich and combined experience of more
than 50 years in the fields of corporate and consciousness training, from which
their students and members will benefit in any of their programs.
They are the best-selling authors of their “24 hours to Master Your Life” Book
Series. The iMastery Group International, Imastery Seminars, Seminarios Imastery
and Seminarios Caminos boast more than 350,000 graduates, and hold seminar
events every week in more than 65 markets in the United States, South & Central
America, the Caribbean and Europe. Their various teaching organizations, some
established since 1980, hold over 1000 training seminars yearly, led by their team
of 300 seminar trainers, and 1200 personal coaches, both in English and Spanish.
Contact information: www.IMASTERY.net and Tel. 1-800-756-1064
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Chapter 42
By Dr. Thomas Mattern
Did you know that your teeth continue to tell a story about you long
after your death? The shape of teeth indicates ancestry, while the
conditions of the teeth tell a story of their use. For example, we know
that certain ancient tribes used rocks to grind their flour because when
they consumed the rock-flour mix over a lifetime it completely wore
down their molars. Similarly, day-to-day use of toothpicks will leave
characteristic markings on teeth as well. Taking care of your teeth is
not only good for your oral health and saves you money, but it will also
leave a record for future generations of your oral health habits!
Fear is a major factor in people’s avoidance of the dentist. Every year
that a person avoids seeing the dentist adds about $1000 per year to
their lifetime dental treatment costs. Therefore, if a person has not been
to the dentist in 15-20 years, that person will likely need approximately
$15,000-$20,000 of dental work to repair the damage caused by neglect.
There are as many reasons why people neglect their dental health as
there are people; however, the biggest barriers are often the easiest for a
dental practice to address. Even celebrity chef Paula Deen commented,
“I’m so glad I’m not a dentist. How many times does someone say, ‘Oh,
Doc, it felt so good when you were drilling my teeth’? Never. But when
you give someone a wonderful cookie, you put a little of yourself in
it, and you see someone’s face light up – that’s immediate approval.”
Many businesses face the same image issues that a dentist does. Rarely
do people get excited about having to call a plumber, pay for routine
maintenance on their cars or purchase life insurance. These businesses
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are perceived by the consumer as an inconvenience or a nuisance.
Combatting the perception of one’s business as a “nuisance” is a hefty
order, but by focusing on the customer and minimizing their fears, with
a fun and informative visit, a dentist can change not only the patient’s
perception, but their life. Changing the focus of the business even
slightly can remove impediments that might otherwise keep customers,
patients and clients from reaching a business.
The single biggest factor in developing my ability to focus my business
was my decision to run my business in the same manner that I ran my
life. My children can attest that whenever I hear someone utter the
words, “ I can’t do that,” my immediate response is, “Not with that
attitude!” I knew that my staff and I had to approach a patient’s fears
with a completely positive and supportive attitude. We had to create an
amazing experience for them so that their perception of a dental visit
went from fear to comfort. Changing the way we think has encouraged
us to focus on delivering more than is expected every day.
Deliver More than is Expected
Our patients expect us to examine their teeth; they do not expect our con-cern
for their overall health. While our patients might not brag about the
great time they had getting a tooth drilled and filled, they will likely tell
their friends about the service they received but did not expect. For ex-ample,
we check every patient’s vital signs (blood pressure, pulse) before
we examine their teeth. Many patients do not understand the correlation
between oral health and overall health. We once detected dangerously
high blood pressure in a patient of 199/121. We immediately sent him off
to the hospital for follow-up. He later called to thank us because he had
none of the symptoms, like headaches, commonly associated with heart
disease and could have died if the condition went unchecked. Whenever
we notice something that might compromise a patient’s overall health, we
encourage them to follow up with their doctor. For example, a patient with
greater than a 17 inch neck has a significantly higher probability of having
sleep apnea. We offer dental appliances for mild to moderate sleep apnea,
again, to improve a patient’s overall health. We make patients aware, and
we share our own experiences to improve their lives.
We know that dental emergencies such as a broken tooth do not always
happen at convenient times or during normal business hours. Our
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emergency line is always available to our patients in need. Convenience
for the patients, our customers, is a major part of a customer-driven
business. Our multiple locations make us more accessible than our
competition.
Offer Multiple Locations
Today’s busy work schedules and family life can run a person ragged,
and we do not want to add to the stress with a long commute to the
dentist. In a large city like Phoenix, a single location means your business
is only accessible to a small cross-section of the population. We choose
to meet our patients where they are. By offering five offices, we provide
our services near their work and their homes. We even opened an office
in a town where a number of Phoenix residents spend their summers.
With multiple locations, we ensure a wonderful patient experience at
each location by investing the time and energy into our staff. Repetition
of our core office values at our morning huddle meetings keeps everyone
focused in the same direction. Giving our staff the authority to fix patient
issues while they are small is a key factor to our success.
Create a Strong Business Model
I learned an important lesson when I was growing up and had my own
lawn care service that later evolved into part of our business model.
I mowed lawns all summer long, and generally took exemplary care
of my customers. One year, however, I was more focused on getting
back to school than taking care of my customers. I did not arrange for
continued lawn care in my absence and unfortunately lost customers as
a result. I learned that summer that it is far easier to meet a customer’s
needs than it is to find a new customer. We strive daily to meet every
client’s needs.
I carried that lesson into my dental business. We adopted the “Ritz
Carlton” approach to customer service. We strive to deliver more than
the patient expects and make the experience as smooth and as quick as
possible. In these days when it is hard for people to get off work to come
in, if we find something in an exam we try to do that work at the same
time so the patient does not have to make an additional appointment.
Providing same day treatment is a service that our patients truly
appreciate. For those patients that need us immediately, we promise our
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customers that if they call before 10:00am for an appointment, we will
get them on the schedule the same day. We are there for them.
As a dentist and business owner it is imperative to give your customers
more than they expect. With that concept in mind I have spent a large
part of my career attending high quality courses to add to and improve
the services that I can offer to our patients. I travel between the offices
to perform the more difficult oral surgeries, root canals or implants that
patients require. This allows the patient the convenience of getting all
their work done at one office. My focus on continuing education has
been matched by my associates who also strive to add to their skill set.
In addition, we have added specialists such as pediatric and periodontal
dentists to our staff to add to the expertise that is available at one location.
Having all of this expertise available in one office requires good
organization. The key to a smooth operation is our morning meetings. It
provides the doctors with an opportunity to address the team, discuss any
challenging procedures for the day, review patient medical requirements
and identify openings in the schedule that can be used for same day
treatment. Huddles are completed by reminding the team that our focus
is always to make our patient’s day. With the team all focused in the
same direction, the work is more enjoyable. Being focused and aware
of the schedule allows our assistants to know when they can offer same-day
treatment and still maintain a smooth workflow. This provides an
optimal experience for patients, doctors and staff. Getting started right
allows us to work better. When we satisfy our patients, the practice
thrives.
Our staffing method is another unique aspect of our business. We test
and hire people not only for their technical skills, but their customer
service skills as well. Staff must have the ability to perform their duties,
educate the patients and reduce their anxiety. In order to create an
amazing experience we understand we must have an amazing staff. We
also empower our staff to fix, on the spot, any issues that arise with a
patient. For example, if our staff is running late and an appointment
gets pushed back when it is not our patient’s fault, our staff will offer
that patient a gift card to a store such as Starbucks or Target with a note
thanking them for “being our patient and for being patient.” Maintaining
clients is not optional, it is imperative. Once we have created positive,
memorable experiences for our patients, we ask them for referrals. The
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best new patients often come to us because another satisfied customer
recommended our services. We want every relationship to be win-win;
to that end, we also offer dental warranties on our work.
Dental Warranty
A warranty says, “I stand behind my work.” We offer our patients
up to a five-year warranty on our work as long as they practice the
general maintenance necessary like cleanings and exams at least every
six months. No questions and no exceptions, if they hold up their end
we hold up ours. For an expensive dental procedure such as a crown,
the likelihood of the porcelain crown chipping is about 1 in 100. The
possibility of having to re-treat free of charge is a small expense for
keeping the customer happy. The caveat that the patient must maintain
their teeth, both at home and with regular office exams, encourages our
patients to stay on track with their oral healthcare. Long term, these
dental warranties save time, pain and money for both our office and the
patient. A dental warranty is a moot point if the patient cannot afford
dental care to begin with, so we offer a Dental Assistance Plan to our
patients as well.
Dental Assistance Savings Plan
Our office has created a special dental savings plan just for our patients.
Patients with insurance tend to keep up with regular cleanings every
six months, however, when insurance is no longer available or is too
expensive they forgo this general maintenance. Cleanings are to the
mouth what regular oil changes are to an automobile. The lack of them
can cause catastrophic damage down the road. We developed pre-pay
plans for our patients that include exams, x-rays and two cleanings per
year plus a 20% discount on our normal fees for treatments such as
fillings. Additionally, we are currently establishing relationships with
specialists to enhance the care and services we offer to our patients.
While maintaining and building stronger relationships with our current
clients, we of course want to reach new patients everyday, and we have
found that online services bring us many types of new clients.
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Offer Online Services
Technology today requires that your business is available online.
Utilizing your website and social media to offer online specials to make
appointments, to review the dentist’s credentials and to complete patient
forms at home is not only a gamechanger, but a time saver. Online
services allow our practice to offer specials that reach different types of
patients and demographics. Our free exam and x-ray special or our free
second opinion offer gets people in the door and begins the relationship-building
process. After visiting our web page, the free visit allows the
patient to decide if they like you and your practice. Discounted cleanings
encourage current patients to come in more frequently for routine dental
maintenance. Implant specials are a great tool to bring older or more
mature patients into the office. Mouthguard specials remind the moms
to bring in their young athletes. Specials on products such as Invisalign
for straightening or teeth whitening treatments entices everyone. Being
proactive with the search engines brings your company out on top
with our technology savy customers. Our clients appreciate our online
services, but they also appreciate our involvement in the community.
Active Community Involvement
Volunteering in the community gives the doctors and staff a higher
purpose. I did not create Desert Dentistry to be just a job. My associates
and staff are passionate about giving back to the community. Our office
has always assisted with organizations like Give Kids a Smile that
provides free dental treatment to children and Saint Vincent DePaul’s
dental clinic. We also volunteer with St. Vincent’s program for battered
women. When working with women that are trying to change their lives,
we always get more out of it than we give. We encourage staff members
to volunteer and support them in their charity of choice. From cancer
walks, to dog shelters, Kiwanis Club to Feed My Starving Children, we
have enjoyed watching our staff grow and get further involved. Last
April, we even won an award for our volunteer work with Give Kids a
Smile, but the award is secondary to the reward we receive by having
done something needed.
We also collaborate with the organization Latin World Ministries
(latinworldministries.com) to go several times annually to Atoyac,
Mexico, a town about two hours north of Acapulco. Latin World
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Ministries has created a full service medical, dental and optical clinic
for the disadvantaged. The clinic has completely transformed lives with
their cleft lip and palate surgeries as well as improved the medical,
optical and dental health of the population. They have also drilled
and continue to maintain over 200 water wells to provide clean, safe
drinking water to the people. Donations are always appreciated. When in
Mexico, we see about 100 patients a day for about 5 days. We generally
take dental students with us on that trip so that the students also learn to
give back. Although our mission trips in Mexico do not garner patients
at our Phoenix offices—actually only one in many years—the change in
perspective has altered the way in which we do business. Community
involvement breathes new life into a business by creating a sense of
purpose larger than bringing new clients or making more money does.
Pass it On
At the center of the practice, before all of the other elements fall into
place, are our employees. The company is dedicated to improving the
lives of my associates and staff.
Treating your staff like family goes a long way to keeping morale high
in the office. If your employees are happy they will automatically pass
on that happiness. Sometimes simple assistance to an employee, such as
an interest free, short-term loan is enough to relieve stress in their lives
and free them to focus on the patients. We take time to set personal goals
with our employees and share them with the rest of the staff. This has
caused staff members to shed pounds, go back to school, get degrees
and achieve things they never thought possible with the support of their
coworkers. Special opportunities that enrich an employee’s life build
a work family. During my annual missionary trips to Mexico, I offer
employees the opportunity to go with me. A trip like that changes the
employee’s life and broadens their appreciation for the services we
provide.
Don’t think you can take a business that people frequently associate
with pain and suffering or expense and inconvenience and change the
way your customers perceive the experience? Not with that attitude, you
can’t! If you are willing to change the approach you use, to do things
differently and focus your business on improving the ease with which
your customers can do business with you, then you will succeed. Our
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patients might not ever brag to their friends about how great they felt
when Dr. Mattern drilled their teeth, but they will likely tell their friends
that they never had a dental experience as great as Desert Dentistry. I
never tire of hearing patients say that our staff and doctors gave them the
best dental visit they ever had. We want our patients to remember us for
the excellent care they received and for future generations to be able to
look at those teeth and see that our patients cared about their oral health.
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About Dr. Thomas
Thomas M. Mattern, DDS graduated from Creighton University
School of Dentistry in 1988 (the same day his daughter was born).
He has been a member of the American Dental Association and
The Academy of General Dentists for 25 years. Dr. Mattern is
an alumnus of the Las Vegas Institute of Cosmetology program. He obtained his
fellowship in the International Congress of Oral Implantologists in 2007.
Giving back to the community has always been a priority for Dr. Mattern. He has
offered his office every year since 2003 to the ADA Give Kids a Smile program,
providing care to hundreds of disadvantaged children. His monthly visits to Saint
Vincent DePaul’s dental clinic in downtown Phoenix and his on-going trips to the
dental clinic in Atoyac, Mexico have been rewarding for both Dr. Mattern and the
patients he serves.
Dr. Mattern enjoys all aspects of dentistry and due to his many hours of continuing
education is able to provide all forms of treatment including implants, complete
smile makeovers, root canals, dentures, orthodontics and all restorative work. Not
only does Dr. Mattern treat patients but he also manages Desert Dentistry’s five
practices. His offices are recognized for the level of customer service they provide.
Outside of work, his passion is golf and spending time with his wife and four children.
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HOW SUCESSFUL PEOPLE DO THINGS DIFERENTLY
Chapter 43
HOW SUCCESFUL PEOPLE
DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY
By Njeru Nthigah
“When we are foolish, we want to conquer the world.
When we are wise, we want to conquer ourselves!”
~ John C Maxwell.
What would your life look like if you were living to your fullest potential?
That has always been a persistent question in my life! In the next few
pages, I will be sharing with you a simple, practical and powerful four
steps to creating your success blueprint so that you can live out your
potential.
Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself. I was born in Kenya
to a young single mother but I was brought up by my grandmother. She
took me at the very tender age of three weeks and became my provider
in every way. She was a simple, wonderful woman filled with love and
great wisdom. I grew up in the city of Nairobi and as I jokingly say –
we were upper poor! Truth is that there were poorer families and my
grandmother who was a seamstress worked hard to provide me with the
best that she could.
I had the good fortune to be influenced and nurtured by three very powerful
women. My grandmother, my biological mother and my aunt. In spite of
the financial challenges, I never lacked in love. They always reminded me
that every situation was temporary and I had within me the ability to craft
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a future that was different from my environment. Unfortunately I lost my
biological mother at the age of 18, my aunt at 19 and my grandmother at
the 22. I lost everyone I loved and my life changed forever.
I became an entrepreneur out of the need to survive. I tried numerous
businesses, growing through failure in most and eventually succeeding in
one. I became a millionaire at age of 24 and I was living life on the fast
lane. I had achieved “success” so I thought! I was travelling the world,
belonged to the Golf and Country Club, dressed in expensive clothes and
was busy partying my life away! I had the disease called SOS – Shiny
Object Syndrome! I was driven by the acquisition of temporary material
stuff. The more I got, the more I wanted and the less I experienced
satisfaction. I was chasing all these things in the hope to validate myself,
yet not realizing that I was engaged in self-sabotaging my potential.
At the age of 27 I got an amazing opportunity to represent Kenya’s
national airline in Southern Africa. It was a great experience. Even with
the new-found success, I still struggled with the true purpose of my life.
I had realized that the quest for material possessions was never going to
offer true happiness. Two years into my assignment, I decide it was time
for a major change in my life and I resigned. I wanted a fresh start and I
was determined to find my true purpose and to grow myself. I also had
a very compelling reason, as I was a father now. My daughter was four
at the time and I knew that I had to get it together if I was going to be a
great father to her.
I decided to come to America and even though I did not know a single
person or where I was going, I was determined to make something out
of my life at whatever cost. I was willing to pay the price. I walked
into America with two suitcases, seven hundred dollars and a DREAM.
The last ten years have been a journey of growth and I can say with
confidence and clarity that I have found my passion and my purpose.
Today the thing that gives me the greatest joy in my life is helping
people discover their passions and realize their potential, so that they
can live life fully and powerfully. I empower people to create a future
filled with possibility for themselves and their loved ones, while having
a positive impact in the world.
I like what Les Brown says: “Too many of us are not living our dreams
because we are living our fears.” Seize the opportunity to create a great
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life. This is your finest hour. My goal in sharing my journey was in no
way to try and impress you, but to impress upon you the urgency and
value of creating a success blueprint for your life.
“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced
every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment,
repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines
and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.”
~ Jim Rohn
I am constantly studying successful people and have realized that they
produce results by taking certain specific actions. If we become aware
of what they do and mirror these specific actions, then we have the
opportunity to produce equal or better results in our lives. In order to
produce the kind of results and success we desire, here are my top three
foundational pillars to build upon:
1. Responsibility
When it comes to your life, your purpose, your dreams and your impact
in this world – it boils down to simply a “You-and-You-only deal.” This
is about personal responsibility. Nothing will change in your life until
you decide to change. You must first take responsibility for where you
are now, and secondly, clearly define where you want to go. You start by
determining who you want to be by raising your level of awareness of
who you are. In that awareness, you develop the values that will guide
you in what you need to do so that you can have impact and the lasting
success you desire.
2. Personal Leadership
In his book As a Man Thinketh, James Allen says: “Men are anxious to
improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves;
they therefore remain bound.” Personal leadership is simply the process
by which you embrace, develop and engage in an intentional personal
growth plan. Before we can lead others, we must learn how to lead
ourselves first. In order to realize and maximize your potential, you
must make your daily growth a priority.
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3. Good Thinking
In his book How Successful People Think, my friend and mentor John
C Maxwell teaches that good thinking creates the foundation for good
results. He further says that:
 Unsuccessful people focus their thinking on survival.
 Average people focus their thinking on maintenance.
 Successful people focus their thinking on progress.
I like what Meng-Tzu says; “Those who labor with their minds govern
others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others.”
Therefore in order to achieve our desired results, we must learn to
harness the value of good thinking.
CREATING YOUR SUCCES BLUEPRINT
Success is waking up in the morning, whoever you are,
wherever you are, however old or young, and bounding out
of bed because there’s something out there that you love to do,
that you believe in, that you are good at – something bigger
than you are and you can hardly wait to get at it again today.
~ Whit Hobbs, Columnist
I want to share with you four simple, practical and transformative
A.C.T.S. to creating your success blueprint. I teach and have successfully
used this model in my life. I want to emphasize that it is not THE only
model but just A model.
1. A — Articulate your WHY
“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.”
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
It is said that there are two great days in life - the day you are born and
the day you discover why. The inquiry of your WHY ultimately leads
to the discovery of your passion. The discovery of your passion leads to
your life’s purpose.
People who know their WHY, develop the strength to overcome
challenges and temporary setbacks. Achievement is all about the pursuit
of WHAT (your goals) but success is all about the pursuit of your
WHY. Successful people understand that success is a journey and not a
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destination. The greater reward from the pursuit of our goals is not their
attainment, but who we become in the process.
Here are a few questions to help you articulate your WHY?
 What will my life count for?
 What gives me the greatest joy and excitement?
 What gives me the greatest reward?
 What gives me the greatest return?
 What do I really care about?
 What would I die for?
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2. C — Create a PLAN
“The man who is prepared has his battle half fought.”
~ Miguel De Cervantes
As simple as this may sound, never start a journey without a road map.
This is all about creating a pathway for your dreams. It all starts with goal
setting. Intelligent planning is essential for success and the fulfillment
of your passion starts with the very important process of writing down
your goals. Written down goals allow you to leverage opportunity,
develop focus, promote creativity, foster good thinking and prepares
you for the expected challenges while in the pursuit of your goals.
Creating a plan is about making the decision to bet on yourself. Every
decision we make ultimately determines who we become and what
we get. Quality decisions are the foundation for a quality life. Lasting
success is not a result of quantum leaps but it is the outcome of small
intentional daily action steps. Plan to win, or fail by default, the choice
is always yours.
Important steps in setting your goals:
 Decide what you want and write it down.
 Make it clear and compelling. This creates direction, focus,
discipline and excitement.
 Create impact-driven goals. How will the fulfillment of your
dream benefit others? This is all about significance.

Change Agents
 Set a deadline. This allows you to prioritize your time and focus
your efforts. Set a realistic time frame that creates urgency for
the fulfillment of your goals. It is said that there are no unrealistic
goals; only unrealistic deadlines.
3. T — Take daily intentional ACTION
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep
moving. They make mistakes but they don’t quit.” ~ Conrad Hilton
This is where the rubber meets the road! Every dream, every passion is
personal and has a price that must be paid. Written-down goals have no
power if they are not backed by intentional action.
Goal attainment is all about taking actions. This is the process by which
you make the invisible into visible. I love what my co-author Brian
Tracy says: “All successful people, men and women, are big dreamers.
They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then
they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.”
Develop the daily discipline of taking action towards the fulfillment of
your goals. Embrace failure because it is a necessity on your way to
success. Failure is a great teacher and it only becomes final with your
permission.
Four ways to taking intentional action:
 Create your top 5 things to-do list for your top three must-dos.
This helps you stay focused and moves you closer to the
fulfillment of your goals.
 Create a “Do Not Do List” – this helps you to know your
distractions.
 Manage your life by scheduling your day, week and month.
 Reflect and adjust daily. Keep what is working and drop what is
not. Never confuse activity with accomplishment.
4. S — Seek and develop empowering RELATIONSHIPS
“It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize
that other people can help you do a better job than you can do alone.”
~ Andrew Carnegie
I am a strong believer in MENTORSHIP. If you are going to achieve
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great results in your life, then you need to surround yourself with people
who have been where you want to go. Mentors help you to adjust your
limiting beliefs, encourage you, push you and hold you accountable.
Mentors open doors for you, lend you their credibility and influence
until you can develop your own.
I make it a habit to seek mentors in every area that I am determined to
grow and achieve results. One such relationship I have is with my friend
and mentor John C Maxwell. Through him and his international teaching
team, I have been able to pursue my passion to inspire people so that
they can live lives that inspire them. This relationship has opened doors
for me to learn, speak and teach in places I would never have believed
possible. As a founding member of the JOHN C MAXWELL TEAM - I
am highly trained and resourced to teach transformational leadership
globally. This is the value of seeking and developing empowering
relationships.
Four Ways to Finding a Mentor:
 Do a self-assessment: - Know what you want to accomplish.
Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Identify your barriers.
 Know your purpose: What are you seeking from the relationship?
Are you seeking advice, insight or to learn a specific skill.
 Identify a mentor: Determine who is best to help you. They
don’t have to necessarily belong to your industry but they have
a proven record for achieving results. Identify if they would be
best suited to mentor you at your current level of awareness.
For example, if you are a manager you may not be best suited
to be mentored by the chairman at this moment, but best suited
for someone who is 2 to 3 levels above you.
 Seek to connect: - When getting into a mentoring relationship, it
is your responsibility to make the choice as easy and flexible for
your mentor as possible. Be upfront; share your goals and express
your gratitude for their willingness to invest in you.
So there you have the Four (4) A.C.T.S. to creating your blueprint for
success. My goal was to share with you a simple, practical and actionable
model that you can start working with today. Opportunity is all around
you. Now is the time to bet on yourself, decide what you want, create a
plan and put the plan into action.
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With profound gratitude, I want to say thank you for your time and the
opportunity to share my passion with you. Thank you very much.
TO YOUR CONTINUED SUCCESS, MY FRIEND!
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About Njeru
Njeru Nthigah is President of THE LEADERS UNIVERSITY, a company
that specializes in transformational leadership development,
personal leadership training, communication and professional
coaching.
He works with organizations to improve their top and bottom line results through
customized leadership development workshops, seminars, lunch-n-learns and
masterminds.
Njeru is a dedicated student of success, human potential and personal leadership.
His learning journey has exposed him to countless leadership training conferences
with the world’s finest and brightest experts. He is a Founder Member, Speaker,
Coach and Trainer of THE JOHN C MAXWELL TEAM, where he also serves on the
President’s Advisory Council.
Njeru is passionate about empowering people to find their passion and purpose in
life. He helps individuals to set clear and compelling goals that empower them to
take immediate decisive action, so that they can maximize their potential and achieve
greater personal and professional success.
For more information and a deeper dive exploring the Four (4) A.C.T.S., please visit:
www.njerunthigah.com/changeagents.
To connect with Njeru:
Website: www.njerunthigah.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/njerunthigah
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/njerunthigahspeaker
Twitter: www.twitter.com/njerunthigah
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/njerunthigah
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How To Be Lucky!
Chapter 44
How To Be Lucky!
By Simon Atkinson
“It’s hard to detect good luck – it looks so much like something
you’ve earned” ~ Frank A Clarke
September 15th 2008, ...the day the world stood still. You might not
remember this exact date, but I do. This day was long in the making.
Years of corruption and greed at the highest levels had been leading
us to this very moment, and like me, most Americans and Europeans
simply weren’t paying attention. Well we were awake now.
Lehman Brothers, the 4th largest investment bank in the US filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaving in its wake the largest bankruptcy filing
in U.S. history, holding over $600 billion in assets. Banks around the
world froze. The financial meltdown was underway, the Government
was in turmoil and focusing on damage control. And all I knew was that
mass unemployment was inevitable.
The shockwaves immediately hit Houston. Home to petrochemical
giants and engineering companies alike. Projects were instantly put on
hold, and designers, engineers, surveyors and construction crews laid
off by the thousand.
Limping along, my coworkers and I kept our heads down with an “Out
of Sight, Out of Mind” philosophy and trying desperately to be invisible.
The game lasted until November 27th 2008, when we received “The
Call” to head up to the department manager’s office for a “Meeting.”
We expected and received the usual routine. “…We’re sorry. Times are
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hard. We’ll hire you back when things pick up….etc, etc.” My whole
department was axed.
As usual and like many layoffs, it happened just after Thanksgiving
and just before Christmas. Just the time when people are winding
down, hiring is at a standstill, and Frosty has more chance selling ice
in Antarctica, than the average Joe has in finding a job before February,
and that’s the rule in a good economy. The outlook was bleak. The
festive season was upon us and my son was eager to write his letter to
Santa. The pressure was on!
Now people say I’ve been lucky. I’ve heard it all my life from good
friends, overhearing neighbors talking between themselves, and from
coworkers with envious remarks disguised as a joke. The answer is:
Yes! I’ll agree I’ve been very fortunate. But as any successful business
owner / entrepreneur will tell you. It’s not luck as you know it.
Now I wish I could claim the following line, but the honor goes to
Randy Pausch (1960 – 2008), a Computer Science Professor at Carnegie
Mellon University, who in 2007 delivered “The Last Lecture: Really
Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” – which went on to be a New York
Times Best Seller. In this lecture he delivered one of my favorite quotes:
“Luck is where Preparation meets Opportunity”
It’s as simple as that. The more you prepare, the more opportunities
present themselves, the more in tune you become at identifying
opportunities, and therefore the more chances you have for success.
Christmas 2008, this was the time I needed Lady Luck on my side. I
contacted everyone I knew and after just 4 weeks of mass emails and
cold calls, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Not just one job
offer, but potentially three. The choices soon narrowed to one firm offer.
Wow. Mass unemployment, a pending depression, and I had a good job
offer.
So why didn’t I feel happy, something just didn’t feel right. Yeh!
The contract I was sent did have a non-compete clause, but isn’t that
standard? After a while I realized the problem I was having. I’d worked
in my circle for 15 years. It was my industry, and I wasn’t prepared to
give it away. The other problem I had was I was fed up with the Cubicle
World…Dilbert had it pegged. So I turned the job down.
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In January 2009, I decided to work for myself. My wife first planted the
seed by asking if I could do small jobs on the side, and encouraged me
to think BIG. Everyone else said it was reckless, and the worst possible
time to go it alone. But with my wife’s encouragement and support,
that was the positive push I needed. I made the decision and I’ve never
looked back. Having a strong person behind you is a huge benefit. Not
having someone second guess your abilities and decisions will allow
clarity of thought and focus. Basically, surround yourself with people
who make you stronger. In my case, my wife is my strength.
If you’ve ever thought about starting a business or working for yourself,
it never seems the right time. Always the wrong time of year, the
economy, bills to pay, competition too strong, etc., the list of excuses is
endless. So why did I decide to brave the elements under these daunting
conditions? The simple answer is: I was prepared. And unbeknown to
me, I’d actually been preparing all my life.
The following is a breakdown of my life preparations, most of which I
was unaware of at the time, only able to identify the pivotal points, by
looking back and connecting the dots. I hope by identifying the elements
that helped me, you can see and follow a similar path.
STEP 1: LIVE A LIFE OF INTEGRITY AND RELIABILITY
Born in Huddersfield in 1965, I was raised by my mother and two
sisters. My father had passed away when I was 5, so the 4 of us soldiered
on alone. My mother was a strong woman who instilled in me the
importance of INTEGRITY. And this has been the foundation for my
success. Don’t lie. Don’t cheat. Don’t Steal. You’re only as good as
your word. Don’t be Wishy-Washy. And if you say you’re going to do
something, DO IT! Don’t stab anyone in the back. Don’t burn bridges.
Don’t hold grudges. Always be nice to people on your way up, as you’ll
surely meet them on your way down. Lead by example. And don’t be
tight with cash. “There’s nothing worse than having deep pockets and
short fingers (aka: Don’t be a skinflint).
These were the principles my mother instilled in me as a child, and they
have stuck with me to this day. Following the same moral code is the
first step in preparation to spot and chase life’s opportunities. People
genuinely want to work, and do business with people they Know, Like
and Trust. Exhibiting these attributes throughout every aspect of your
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life builds a strong reputation, which is essential for long-term success. To
quote Will Rogers “It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you
can lose it in a minute”…What needs to be added to that is, “…it’s more
precious than gold, so don’t give anyone a chance to take it from you.”
STEP 2: ADOPT A FINANCIAL PLAN TO LIVE
WITHIN YOUR MEANS
Prior to the meltdown most people lived well beyond their means, and
some still do. If you can resist the temptation to keep up with your
Facebook friends (who are making most of their Crazy Life up anyway)
then that’s great. Keep up the good work. For me, being able to reject
that precious job offer was not as difficult as it could have been for
many. Yes it would have paid the bills and paid for Christmas. But that
would have been a short-term gain and long-term misery.
In 2000, we had moved into a modest house, valued at less than half
of what the bank was offering to loan me. I also got rid of the flashy
car, which had a flashy payment. Having no car note and a reasonable
mortgage is a great stress reliever. To complete the process of becoming
debt-free, we decided to follow the Dave Ramsey program. The plan
worked and I’d highly recommend it. So by December 2008, when I
turned the job down, I knew I had 6 months of bills covered in my
savings, and was free to follow my dreams (well, for the next 6 months
anyway). I’ve since learned that if you’re struggling with debt, a good
place to seek guidance is: www.wssic.com. Commercial Redemption: I
really wish I’d known this knowledge sooner.
Step 3: DEVELOP A SOLID NETWORK OF
BUSINES FRIENDS
I guess Facebook and LinkedIn, etc. help with this to some extent. But
the network I would recommend is a personal one. A network where
you actually keep in touch, talk and meet people. If possible, go to trade
conferences and focus groups in your chosen industry. Yes! These can
be expensive, but my philosophy is “if you don’t ask you don’t get.” So
ask if there’s a reduced rate for “job hunters.” And if you’re a STEP# 1
person, people will want to help. Don’t let pride get in your way. This
isn’t charity, because you are the sort of person who will pay it forward
x2 and people will know that.
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How To Be Lucky!
I always have to force myself to go to the pre and post-conference
parties. But afterwards I’m always glad I did. Building a solid network
is essential. I’ve made so many good friends through business, all of
whom are rock solid Step #1 people. To such an extent that all my
current key business agreements are sealed with nothing more than a
handshake. That’s the power of Know, Like and Trust.
Now I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t have a written contract in
place for the most important of plans; especially where potentially Big
Money is involved. Big Money is relative, and that’s when a person’s
true character is exposed, and that’s when a solid contract is required.
This is not only to protect your business agreement, but it also protects
your friendship. Without one, avarice can creep in, and when it does, be
prepared for the House of Cards to tumble.
So always start with STEP#1 and cover yourself with STEP #2.
Step 4: EDUCATE YOURSELF
By this I don’t mean head to University and get yourself into debt with
student loans. I mean pick up a book and dive in. “As a Man Thinketh”
by James Allen is free on the Internet and inspired me greatly. “Outliers”
by Malcom Gladwell is fascinating and “How Rich People Think” by
Steve Siebold is spot-on accurate.
Also question what you see, hear and read. Don’t believe everything
you hear on the news. Most of what the networks tell you are cherry-picked
sound bites intended to shock and scare. So don’t waste your
time. Investigate on the Internet while it’s still free and unregulated.
There is a wealth of information if you’re willing to look. A good place
to start, especially if you’re struggling with debt, are the lectures by
Winston Shrout at: www.wssic.com.
Now the term “Conspiracy Theory” has been hijacked by the politicians
and media who have redefined it as: “This is a Fairy Story! And if you
believe it, we’ll make sure everyone will laugh at you, …etc., …etc.” My
Philosophy is to listen to both sides and then search for the truth. If you find
100’s or 1000’s of experts, scientists and professionals saying one thing;
and the politicians and media with some cherry-picked “professionals”
saying another… Guess what? I’m going with the facts that don’t defy the
laws of physics / nature. I then try and find out why the other side is lying,
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Change Agents
and what the implications are.
I know at the time of writing this that the information is time sensitive.
I just hope this information is still out there when you go and look for
it. Search YouTube or similar for “20 Lies Every American Should
Know!” the clip invites viewers to research for themselves topics you
won’t see on mainstream news. Including the following which have
been thoroughly investigated and chronicled by scientists and industry
professionals:
“Chemtrails vs. Contrail”, “Fluoride in Water”, “Strawman Illusion”,
“Architects and Engineers Truth” and interviews with Dr. Steven Greer,
Randy Kelton, Guy Taylor and Bill Thornton.
Also, try not to be too distracted by FOX, NBC, CBN, ESPN and
24/7 NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL … It’s a dumbing-down technique that’s
getting worse. The Romans used this tactic 2000 years ago, by using the
Coliseum and Gladiators to distract and entertain the angry mobs, while
the senate increased taxes to seal crooked deals. Don’t fall for it.
“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.”
~ Isaac Asimov
Step 5: BE PROACTIVE – CARPE DIEM
Go out and take chances. Look for holes in the market you can fill.
Focus on a niche / specialized market if possible.
Example: 2008, I saw a hole in the market. My previous clients were
now left without a service provider. My previous company had panicked
and laid off the whole department over the Christmas period expecting
there to be no work. They were wrong. I contacted my old clients
independently and they were pleased I was still available. I contacted
friends in the industry who lent me equipment, and software. I used my
expertise on a number of small jobs and minimized my financial risk
exposure to travel expenses only. I took on one project at a time, and
the rest is history. My Company Texas Surveys is now a world leader
in laser scanning industrial power station turbines and the building of
engineering quality as-is 3D models. The process is quick, accurate and
extremely valuable to the customer. The focus of Texas Surveys has
always been to Exceed Expectation on Quality, Accuracy and Customer
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How To Be Lucky!
Service. Our Clients know that we will exceed to succeed to deliver
what they need.
So go for it. What’s stopping you?
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can
alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind…. If you change your
mind, you can change your life.” ~ William James 1842 – 1910
In Conclusion
I’m guessing what’s stopping you are the two biggest excuses I always
hear:
“It’s not the right time.” And it never will be if you choose to think so.
I made a decision to change my life in the worst economic meltdown in
recent global history. The reason I could was because I was prepared.
“What if I fail?” The truth is you will fail… That sounds really bad
but bear with me. The more you prepare the less likely you are to fail
big. Yes! You’ll make mistakes and trip now and again, because you’re
human. But sensible planning and following the previous 4 Steps will
help you get back on track quickly. The most valuable lessons you learn
are from your own mistakes. Just don’t make the same mistake twice,
and don’t set yourself up to fail big. Always plan to have a safety net to
break your fall. Fine tune your backup plan(s). And always have an exit
strategy ready to go.
PREPARATION IS THE KEY!!!
“If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must
expect to employ methods never before attempted.”
~ Sir Francis Bacon 1561 - 1626
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Change Agents
About Simon
Simon Atkinson’s career in surveying, “as-is” data collection and
3D modeling started in 1994. Still active in fieldwork operations
and new procedures development, Simon is one of the most
experienced Laser Scanning Professionals in the world.
Born in Huddersfield, England, Simon graduated from Anglia Ruskin University with
a B.Sc. in Construction Management in addition to a Post Grad. Diploma in Building
Studies.
In Jan 1994, Simon joined Kvaerner Surveys in Warrington, UK as part of a pilot
project to build a specialized photogrammetry survey team targeted at offshore
engineering. Tasked with capturing “as is” or “as built” data safely, quickly and
efficiently, by using a combination of traditional survey with HD stereo photography,
to build highly detailed and accurate 3D digital models.
1996 Simon Transferred to Fluor Daniel as Houston Office Manager for the Applied
Computer Solutions group. The group was tasked with co-developing procedures
with Fluor Daniel California, to combine photogrammetry with a new technology
called Laser Scanning. So successful were the results, that these same procedures
are widely used throughout the industry to the present day.
In 1998 Simon joined Cyra Technology (now Leica Geosystems), to assist in
developing software and procedures for the developing Cyrax 2400 & 2500 Laser
Scanning units before moving to INOVx Solutions.
1999 - Simon was asked to help setup and launch a startup company called INOVx
Solutions. As one of the original 8 members from Fluor Daniel, Simon headed the
Houston Office to promote laser scanning services in the Mexican Gulf region.
In 2005, Simon was asked to develop a new “Business Vertical” for CDI Houston. The
new discipline introduced was HDDS (High Definition Digital Surveying). Working
closely with the Piping Dept., new procedures were developed and exceptional
results were achieved. Based on these developments, he introduced the same
concept and procedures to General Electric and their Energy Services Division.
The economic crash of 2008 caused mass unemployment throughout the
engineering spectrum across Houston and the engineering world globally. Like
every company at the time, CDI needed to downsize immediately to weather the
pending storm. The HDDS department was put on hold and all personnel laid off.
In this harsh economic environment, Simon moved forward and founded Texas
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How To Be Lucky!
Surveys, developing a trusted network of colleagues and associates around the
world. Texas Surveys focused on supporting companies left without the trusted
laser scanning services of CDI. Working closely with General Electric and Axiem
International, Texas Surveys has become the world leader in the scanning and
surveying of large industrial turbine power systems. With over 100 turbines
scanned globally since Jan 2009, G.E. has been able to significantly reduce rework
and develop new and improved shutdown schedules, in addition to offering their
clients additional enhanced services. Laser Scanning is now a standard operation
for all G.E. turbine upgrades.
To find out more about Laser Scanning please visit: www.Texas-Surveys.com
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BROKEN ROADS CAN LEAD TO SUCESS
Chapter 45
BROKEN ROADS CAN LEAD
TO SUCCES
By Michael Harper
Life isn’t for the faint of heart! From your own life experiences and the
accompanying wounds and battle scars, I’m sure you are well aware
of how difficult life circumstances can become. It takes a great deal of
patience, courage and tenacity to fight your way back to the top when
you feel like the proverbial rug has been pulled out from under you.
I’m sure many of us could tell our share of horror stories that may rattle
the emotional fiber of some that have not experienced such tragedy.
However, whether your life circumstances have been outrageously
heartbreaking or subtly benign, each of us has the opportunity to learn
from them, and often they have a place in changing the course of our
entire existence.
My wife and I have declared “our song” to be “Bless the Broken
Road” by Rascal Flatts. The words to the song play out a scenario of
two individuals that started out on one road only to have it “broken”
by untold circumstances. Yet, the broken roads each of us wandered
were on a trajectory that eventually led to each other. Interestingly, if it
weren’t for the broken roads we would never have met.
Without exception, all of us have experienced broken roads to some
extent. Some have experienced more brokenness than others. But, none
of us are exempt. I am convinced that the broken roads in our lives
can lead us to places of prosperity if we respond to life’s twists and
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Change Agents
turns in a positive way. We cannot afford to allow our circumstances to
defeat us. Never did I imagine my life would turn out the way it has, but
I’m extremely thankful for my life today. I can honestly say the broken
roads of my life have been blessed. Today I want to be able to encourage
others that may be going through difficult times in their life or business.
I want them to know that their current circumstances are temporary and
they have the opportunity to use these interruptions as stepping stones
to much better things.
I am part of a small group of agents that have dedicated ourselves
to bring about change and to help others experience change in their
business as well as in their personal lives. We refer to ourselves as the
Ambassadors of Change. We are committed to making changes which
result in business growth, and to show others how they can do the same.
Our motto is “No Agent Left Behind.” Today, my goal is to help others
become successful and avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered.
The “Broken Road” of My Life
There have been numerous things that have taken place within my life
that have been pivotal points for me. I am a deeply-rooted family man
with a loving wife, five of the greatest kids you could ever imagine, eight
beautiful grandchildren and a strong faith in God. Without hesitation I
can say, “Life is great!” But, it hasn’t been an easy road to be able to
get to this place. Allow me to give you a brief synopsis of the “Broken
Road” of my life that will serve to demonstrate some principles that I
would like to share with you.
I was married two weeks out of high school at the age of 18. Never
being afraid of hard work and long hours, I worked for my in-laws who
owned a glass company during my senior year of high school and at
the beginning of college. I was in class from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and then
worked in the glass shop after classes. Study time came after my work
schedule was completed.
Shortly after starting college, a local bank was looking for a night
operator for their computer systems. Because of my work ethic and
dedication, my college instructor recommended me for the position.
I continued with my daytime college classes and worked at the bank,
usually until 10 or 11 p.m. After a year, the bank then offered me a
position in computer programming which was an 8-5 position. I dropped
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out of college and began my career in computer programming.
After a couple of years I was offered a job as a Computer Programmer at
First City National Bank in Midland, Texas. There I continued to excel
and wrote the software for the first ATM’s the bank used in that area.
At the age of 25, I was the head of the Data Processing Department and
became the youngest Vice President in the bank.
An oil company located in the bank building offered me a position with
their company, which I accepted. I was responsible for researching and
purchasing computer equipment, software, revising software and writing
new software. The atmosphere at the oil company was very laid-back
and they paid me very well. I had a country club membership and all the
perks a young man of 30 could desire, but I was bored to death. I began
contemplating a strategy that would lead to something more challenging
and entertained the thought of going back to college to finish my degree
in Computer Science.
About this same time, another opportunity came my way. My uncle was
a district manager with Allstate Insurance in Houston and suggested I
consider Allstate as a career path. Sales were a very foreign area to me
and I couldn’t imagine myself getting in front of people and talking to
them. I had a horrible stutter in my younger years and although it had
gotten better as I got older, I was still very uncomfortable talking in front
of people. However, I was unable to talk myself out of the opportunity,
so in 1987 I began working with Allstate Insurance. In the first year I
qualified for all sales incentives, won trips and various other awards.
In the late 80’s I went through a marriage separation, which culminated
in divorce in 1992. This took a toll on me in many ways, including
financially. I started with Farmers Insurance on April 1, 1992, April
Fool’s Day. I wondered if anything good could come out of an April
Fool’s Day beginning. I was a life insurance specialist with Farmers
Insurance and was paid solely on commission. Divorce is never easy, but
add to it the financial turmoil divorce can cause and a new commission-only
job, and you have a recipe for hardship.
By July of 1992, my family was homeless; after being evicted from our
apartment my children were staying with family out of town. Being very
stubborn, prideful and not wanting others to know my situation, I found
myself sleeping at night in the back seat of my 1989 Toyota Corolla.
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Change Agents
Fortunately, I still had a gym membership so I would go to the gym
early in the morning to work out and shower, change clothes, and then
go to the office. I would then work until 8 or 9 o’clock at night because
the office was much cooler than the hot Texas summer. My daily meal
consisted of going through the Taco Bell drive-thru and feasting on the
five-pack of tacos for $1.99. I had an ice chest in my trunk and I would
stop by a motel that had an ice machine out back and I would fill my
ice chest. I lived off water, soft drinks and fast food for several weeks. I
did find a house to lease, but had to wait to make enough money for the
down payment and the first month’s rent.
Every night I tried to find a street where I could park my car to sleep and
go unnoticed by the police or anyone else. As soon as I earned enough
commissions, I was able to lease a house and was rejoined with my
children. That experience taught me that there probably wasn’t much
that was going to keep me down. Somehow, no matter the circumstances,
I would find my way through and survive.
Lying in the back seat of that Corolla in the July Houston heat, living
on fast food and soft drinks was a far cry from the great pay I was used
to, not to mention the membership at a country club and a house with a
swimming pool that was just a fleeting memory by that time.
After a short period of time with Farmers, I began to see significant
success. Fortunately, my homeless situation only lasted about one
month, and I have been the number 1 or 2 life insurance producer in my
district for the past 21 years.
A Life Enhancing Event
I refer to this as a life-enhancing event because, while I already had a deep
appreciation for my family, my business, and life in general, this recent
incident enhanced my gratitude for these things. One day in October of
2010 I was driving back to Houston from Dallas where I was visiting
my Mom in the hospital. I was driving a brand new Toyota Sequoia, a
seven-passenger SUV. I grew up in West Texas where tornados were
common but had never personally seen one until that day. Not only did I
see this tornado, but also I was right in its path and there was absolutely
nowhere for me to go. I felt things slamming against my SUV, and then I
felt a huge crash and finally felt the tornado go overhead. After it passed
I looked around and saw that every seat in my seven-passenger SUV
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was crushed except for the driver’s seat. I climbed out the driver’s door
window and initially thought there were two vehicles on top of my SUV.
I then realized it was an 18-wheeler with an 87,000-pound Caterpillar
dump truck on the bed of the trailer that the tornado had picked up and
dropped on top of my SUV. I miraculously escaped from that incident
with only a small cut on one finger on my left hand from the broken
glass. I honestly believe it was divine intervention that spared me that
day; God’s plan for my life was not complete. I believe God still had
work for me to do; it was now my job to determine what that was to
be. That’s one reason I have such a passion for helping others. Things
like this make you stop and assess how precious life really is, and how
quickly one’s life can possibly be taken or severely altered.
You Really Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
In my business I’ve tried hiring people in the past to help on the sales
side, but it never seemed to work out. It was always easier for me to just
do it myself. However, what I didn’t realize was that I was stifling my
own business growth and development. In 2012 I sat at a conference
listening to an agent who had been in the business about the same
length of time. He related the story about the changes in his business.
In 2007 he had 4 office people and about 2,500 policies. That same
year someone recommended he attend the Staffing for Success class
at the University of Farmers. He commented, “I didn’t think there was
anything new Farmers could teach me, but I went ahead and scheduled
to attend.” After attending the class, he went back to his office and began
to implement the principles he learned. By the end of 2011, he had 12
office staff and over 8,000 policies and has recently opened up a 9,000
square foot office building that is state of the art. He finished his speech
that day by saying, “You can stay where you are, doing the same thing
day after day, and in a couple of years I’ll own your agencies. Or, you
can go to the Staffing for Success class, get on the right track and build
your agencies.”
Knowing I needed to experience that type of change in my own business,
I enrolled in the Staffing for Success class and attended in April of 2012.
I came back to my office and immediately started implementing what I
learned. I interviewed countless people, hired a couple but they didn’t
work out. Still determined but frustrated, in December of 2012 I put
an ad on Craig’s list and had someone respond who was licensed and
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Change Agents
experienced. I hired that person and they referred another person with
the same qualifications, I hired the second person as well. I then hired
a third person on April 1st and then a fourth. I now have 4 associates
working with me and everyone is complementing and supporting each
other. Last year at this time I had 1,500 accounts and now I have over
2,500. It’s a team effort. I used to work “in the business” instead of “on
the business.” Now I work on the business instead of in the business.
I constantly remind my staff that this is “our” agency, not just mine;
they take great pride in that fact. I now have agents from other offices
coming to my office to spend the day with me and my staff to see what
we are doing to experience such growth. I take great pleasure in helping
others achieve the same success.
Eight Principles to Improve Your Life
and Business
Hopefully the overview I have shared with you about my life and
business will serve as an inspiration so you know that you can make it
through the tough times and that broken roads can have positive results.
Life has a way of teaching us things. Below are the principles I have
found to be very true. I hope they are helpful to you as you journey
through life and business.
1. It is highly probable that Plan A will not work out as you
intended. That means that you have to be prepared for, and
sometimes even plan for, a Plan B. Often, life also requires a
Plan C, D, and E.
2. Don’t let circumstances define you or destroy you, instead use
them as learning experiences to improve your life and develop
wisdom.
3. Don’t live in stagnation. If what you are doing is not giving you
the results you desire, search until you find out what you can do
differently that will give you the results you desire.
4. Always listen to those wiser than you; surround yourself with
successful people.
5. Don’t resist change, but become an agent of change. Change is
inevitable and must be embraced.
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6. Don’t work in your business, work on your business. You will
find this to be transforming.
7. Be exceedingly grateful and appreciative for each day you have
and for the people in your life.
8. Broken Roads can be blessed. It all depends on how we respond
to the various twists and turns of those roads.
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About Michael
Michael G Harper is a Property & Casualty and Life Insurance agent
who has served the Greater Houston, TX area for over 27 years.
Twenty-one of those years have been with Farmers Insurance
Group of Companies. Farmers Insurance Group of Companies
is a leading U.S. insurer of automobiles, homes and small businesses and also
provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers
Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with more than 20
million individual policies across all 50 states through the efforts of over 50,000
exclusive and independent agents and nearly 24,000 employees.
Michael is among the best of the best at Farmers who have achieved a high
sales volume for auto, home, life and business policies, while maintaining a high
client retention and profitability. Through his agency’s excellent customer service,
Farmers continues to be his customers’ first choice for their insurance needs.
Michael has been a 12-time “Toppers Club” and 4-time “Championship” qualifying
agent, which represents the top 1% of over 15,000 exclusive Farmers agents. Year
after year he is consistently among the top agents with Farmers Insurance. For the
past 21 years with Farmers, he has been among the top Life Insurance agents in
his district, which proves his dedication to insure that his clients’ family’s futures
are protected. His customer loyalty and dedication to excellent customer service is
second to none.
Michael is a married father of five, grandfather of eight, and is very devoted to his
family; he also has an unwavering faith in God to whom he attributes his success
in life and business.
To learn more about Michael Harper
please visit: www.farmersagent.com/mharper
and: www.facebook.com/michael.g.harper.farmers.insurance
or contact his agency at: 1-888-240-3139.
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6 Steps to Securing More Customers
Chapter 46
6 Steps to Securing
More Customers
By Neil Trickett, PT
As a physical therapist, I thought that when I opened the doors of my
physical therapy practice, just putting my name on the door would
drive a flood of new customers through it. Oh boy, was I wrong! After
struggling for a few years and doing such crazy things as having my
amazing wife (who was my physical therapy partner) put flyers on
doors of local houses, I finally smartened up. I realized that I needed
to learn more about one of the most critical subjects in business,
MARKETING! In the following years, I committed to studying many
different marketing systems, trying what worked and what didn’t in my
business. From this simple action of learning more about marketing,
the results for my business were awesome! I finally had control of the
volume of customers and much more stability in my business.
You see, without good marketing your business will choke, sputter
along and eventually close. One of the positive aspects of marketing
is that the more you learn, the better your business will do. However,
realize that marketing is a dynamic and changing subject that you have
to stay on top of.
With the right marketing your business will have a never-ending supply
of customers to build on and will allow you to dream even bigger
dreams. I know, four years later, I quadrupled my business, had 20
employees, took long vacations and worked less than 40 hours a week.
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I then decided to play a bigger game and help many others learn the
basics of marketing to apply in their business and be wildly successful.
I’m now sharing my top 6 steps to having ‘way’ more customers than
you can handle!
Step 1 – Standing out From The Crowd
Do you know that the average person has at least 3000 marketing
messages a day smashed in their faces? Whether you market to other
businesses or directly to consumers, realize that people are drowning in
a sea of marketing. Therefore, what are you doing to make your business
stand out from your competitors?
How do you stand out from the crowd? How do you leverage your
past customers to spread word of mouth and come back in for repeat
business? If you understand these two basic principles, you will have a
fighting chance of getting your business well-known and liked:
(i). Marketing is simply the techniques by which you create want, and
get someone to think newly or differently about what you do.
(ii). The biggest barrier to getting more customers is an understanding
of what you do to solve their problems!
Whether you are a small or large business, the goal is to differentiate
yourself from your competitors. First you have to identify who your
competitors are, and I’m not just talking about the business down the
street. Your real competitors are all the other companies trying to attract
the eyeballs of your customers.
A good portion of the way you communicate to other professionals,
potential customers and past customers is with your marketing
promotions. If they are sloppy, look boring and don’t push the right
buttons, you are not only throwing your money down the drain, but you
are hurting your company image, your brand. If you don’t send out a
multitude of marketing promotions, then how are you expecting to get
more business in your door? Remember that:
Low Quality or No Promotion = Poor Perception of Your Business.
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Step 2 – Make Your Marketing Money
Work For You
We all know that we have to market to get more business and more
customers. However, if you don’t spend enough on marketing, you
strangle the endless possibilities of your business. The question is on
what do you spend your precious money, so that it will generate you
much more business in return? The key is to understand what marketing
is. Marketing is getting your customers, referral sources and the public
to think about your products and services first when they need help for
their problem. That’s it.
Is marketing an expense?
You have to look at your marketing like an investment, because that
is what it really is. You are investing in your business so that you can
get much more income out of it than you put in. Marketing is really
an investment. You are investing money into your business with the
expectation that you will make more money out of it.
When you invest in the stock market you just don’t throw your money
at a stock and hope it will make you a lot of money. That is a ‘sure fire’
way to lose a lot of your hard earned money. You research and seek the
help of a financial professional, like Christopher Music and Econologics
Financial Advisors.
Look at your marketing the same way. Survey your customers, referral
sources and different people you want to target. Then, invest wisely
and use marketing professionals so that you will get the most return on
your investment. Most business owners are hesitant to spend money on
marketing because they see it as an expense and not for what it really is,
an investment in their business.
You should expect a good return on your marketing dollar. It should be
producing you 3, 5, even 10 times your investment into it. If it is not,
ditch it! How do you get these kinds of returns you ask? You track the
number of new customers you are getting and where they are coming
from of course! You track when your marketing hits, and correlate that
to the number of customers you are seeing. You track, you track, you
track!!!
How much should you be spending on your marketing?
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Change Agents
This really depends on the time you have already spent marketing,
whether you are new or have been established for awhile. Many expert
business owners know a good rule of thumb is to be spending between
10-15% of your gross income on marketing. However, this may be more,
or even as much as 25% if you are just jump-starting your business. This
may sound like a lot, but what if you were making 5 times the amount of
money that you were putting into your marketing? That is a pretty sweet
investment. No stock market can give you those returns.
Step 3 – Getting The Most
Professional Referrals
Why should a professional such as an attorney, doctor or industry leader
refer others to your business? It is a valid question and one that you
should be able to answer quite easily. However, wouldn’t it be nice to
walk into the potential referring person’s office and have them say to
you, “yes, I know who you are and I have heard the great things that
you do, what’s the best way to refer to you?” It’s not science fiction, it
can be done.
The secret lies in how you are promoting yourself and generating a
“buzz” in the community. Here are a few things you can do to make
yourself better known and get more “buzz”:
• Make sure that you are always asking your customers for
testimonials. Promote them frequently to different referral
sources, your current and past customers, online and more.
• Train your staff to ask the customer when they may be returning
to the person who referred them or using their product or service
again. They should then remind the customer to let the referring
person know how happy they are and to thank the referring
person for sending them to you.
• Make sure the referring person is constantly receiving interesting
promotional information from you, like a newsletter. Realize
that most referral sources have little understanding of what you
truly offer and when to send a referral your way. Don’t assume
that they know this. Most customers who need you will never be
referred to you, simply by lack of know-how.
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• Help the different people of the referral source know what are
the best types of problems your services or products solve with
good promotional handouts. Don’t kill them with trying to say
everything at once. Make yourself known for what you are best
at and how you can help solve common problems their customers
have. Then focus on one topic per month and get them to be
interested in the types of problems and solutions you provide for
them.
• Make sure you have good-looking promotional materials for
your office. A good brochure, newsletter, handouts, stationary
and other materials make your business look professional and
a trustworthy place to refer to. Remember, the person who is
referring the customer to you is sticking his / her neck out on the
line by referring their customer to you, so you better look and act
like a place that is truly professional.
• Practice good manners. Make sure the referring person is thanked
for their referral even if it is just a handwritten note.
Poor promotion of your business with little or poorly designed brochures,
flyers, websites, newsletters, etc. can drag your business image down
and kill your buzz. In fact, it can downright sink you. However, with the
right kind of marketing and amazing looking promotion, you will get
many more referrals and a lot more customers in your door
Step 4 – Having past customers come back for
services and products
If you are like most businesses, you have seen quite a few customers
over the years. In most businesses, you should be able to see 40% or
more of your past customers back each year. How much would that
increase your income? Now there’s your gold mine! How often are
you keeping in contact with all of your past customers? You should be
reaching out to your past customers at least every month!
There are so many variables as to what is going on with your customer’s
lives and when they could potentially use your products or services
again, you can’t possibly imagine. However, if you are not on the mind
of your customers, your business will easily be forgotten, unless you
keep in constant communication with them. What your patients receive
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from you makes or breaks your relationship with them. You want them
to continually perceive you as the expert to go to for their problems. You
build this with informative and educational marketing promotion that
stimulates their interest. Then you need to provide them with offers to
entice them to use your business again or refer a friend.
Send out frequent emails, online and print promotions, interact on social
media and much more, to help your past customers understand how
your products or services help solve their problems. Make sure that your
staff call, email and send out personal letters to follow up with your
customers.
If you are a service professional, promote to your customers a free
seminar or webinar on common issues they encounter. Give to get,
so give free information and get referrals. If you keep in constant
communication with your past customers, you will see a large increase
in your business volume.
Step 5 – Getting customers to refer others
You worked hard with your customers to make them happy and get
them the results they wanted. It took a lot of coaxing, customer service
and perseverance. Your customer is very thankful for you helping them
and is very happy with your product or service, but that doesn’t mean
they are going to send anyone to you.
You have to ask the customer to spread the good word of your business,
product or service. Word of mouth advertising does take work and the
best way to do it is with a high level of communication with the customer
and something to give to them.
Get your customers to help you spread the word about your business
with word of mouth. Give them the tools they need to tell others about
you. This takes a little bit of training with your staff and customers. Train
your staff on how to ask for referrals. “Who do you know that needs our
help, product or service?” is a great way to get the conversation rolling.
Let the customer know that you want to help more people and this
depends on them telling others about your service or product. Ask them
to tell a friend or family member, and talk to any local associations, etc.,
that they belong to. In fact, ask if you can give a referral card with the
persons name right on it, so they can hand deliver it to that potential
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customer. Make it a game and give rewards to customers for their
referrals.
Give your customers the ammunition they need!
Customers sometimes feel shy approaching friends or family with a
problem, who could use your help. If they have a brochure, referral
business card, or some other promotion they can give to a friend, it
makes the conversation much easier to get started for the customer. Do
you have different brochures on your services or products that you can
give to your customers, not only for educational purposes, but also for
distribution to friends and family?
Do you have a referral business card, which customers can give to their
friends and family? This is a great tool to offer a free consultation or
other offer to get someone to call your office or visit your website.
Can you imagine if every customer replaced themselves with another
person? It sure would be a lot easier to get new customers. Supercharge
your customer referral system with professional referral materials and
watch your business take off!
Step 6 – Online Marketing Strategies
What is the first thing you do when you are interested in a certain product,
service or business? You Google, Bing or Yahoo them! Your customers
do the exact thing for your business, so you better have a stellar website
that captivates customers, generates leads and gets customers taking
that next step to contact you or buy directly online.
Key online strategies you need to get more patients:
• Interactive website with email / name capture for lead generation
with free give away
• Email newsletters
• Google adwords
• Google places
• Writing articles for e-zines and generating outside links to
your website
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• Facebook / Twitter/ LinkedIn, Yelp, blogs and more
Marketing is an integrated approach and needs to use all kinds of media
to get the results you want. When you combine print marketing, social
media, online marketing and word of mouth, you have a powerful
combination to draw the most customers into your business. Use
your print media to funnel patients to your website to sign up for free
downloads and useful information, which shows you as the expert to go
to. You also get to capture the identities that are most interested in your
products and services. Then you have a warm list to go after and bring
them to the point of a sale.
Use online advertising services to get people interested to go to your
website for a free download and ask for their email or address on a web
form. Offer them free education with an e-newsletter, social media posts
and print materials. Do realize that it takes 7 – 8 times of contacting
someone for them to actually do something. The more you market to
an individual or business, the more chances are that the person you are
contacting will get interested enough to contact you.
More and more people use the web to research whatever problem they
have and who to go to. Your website should contain a lot of useful
information that your potential customers can download and review to
learn more about their condition. Don’t just have a website that focuses
on your business and how great it is. Keep your focus on educating
your customer and ease of contacting your office. There are also great
ways to integrate online shopping of your products, appointments
online, automatic texting and so much more to remind customers of
how important your products or services are to them.
By applying these simple, yet powerful 6 steps you will be guaranteed
to ramp up your customer base and expand your business. Remember to
always invest in your own learning about marketing; test and don’t be
afraid to go big.
Dream big dreams, develop big goals and execute big plans.
Here’s to your success!
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About Neil
Neil Trickett, PT is a healthcare marketing expert and also a
physical therapist. Having had a successful physical therapy
practice with his wife for eight years, he is now helping healthcare
practices across the world grow their businesses with sound
marketing principles that work.
His company Practice Promotions has skyrocketed to become a leading expert
in healthcare marketing, highly sought after by the rehabilitation industry. In just
two years, his company is now producing over 2.5 million customized marketing
promotions a year for private practices internationally.
To learn more about Neil Trickett, visit: www.practice-promotions.com
Or call Toll-Free 800-594-7656.
www.practice-promotions.com
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Chapter 47
THE SPIRIT OF
AN ENTREPRENEUR
Lesley Sullivan
“You can have it if you really want it!“
Those words are first words I remember hearing the most when I first
came to America. My name is Lesley Sullivan and I am The Pawkeeper.
I never heard those words when I was growing up in England. As a
young lady, I was not given many choices and being an entrepreneur
certainly wasn’t on the list presented to me. The choices I was given
were, I could be a wife, a hairdresser or a telephone operator. Those
three choices gave me the shivers they didn’t fit in with what I planned
on doing with my life I wanted to be like James Herriot, the author of
All Creatures Great and Small. I would drive around in an old car and
visit dogs and dog people. I wanted to be a writer, an artist. My own
individual person! Be very careful what you wish for because it can
come true.
“Young ladies do not attract attention to themselves”.
“Women are not supposed to be leaders!”
“No one likes a bossy woman”.
These negative statements would constantly be ringing in my ears. We,
as female entrepreneurs, have so few role models. I will always have
a tremendous gratitude for the incredibly strong women that has given
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Change Agents
so much to lead the way. Margaret Thatcher, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen
DeGeneres, Anita Hill, Louise Hay, and Princess Dianna have all paid
the price of helping carve our futures.
I do believe that you can have what you really want but you have got
to really want it. There will be many obstacles and tests to find out if
you really truly have a heart’s desire to be something that makes you so
proud and happy that it doesn’t really feel like working.
I say that I am a product of the UK, but I was made in America. I smile
at the past and see my growth and hope that some of these words will
help a young entrepreneur, or a female entrepreneur, or somebody who
just really wants something different in their life and needs to see a way
to get there. It is time for women to become leaders and entrepreneurs.
It is our duty to encourage others, to know that it is OK to be strong and
making your own money is a good thing.
Seventeen years ago, I had the most devastating news that turned out
to be the most wonderful experience in my life. I have been told in the
past that I couldn’t have children and when I turned forty, I got this
amazing surprise that I was pregnant. Waiting for my husband to come
home I was so excited. As he walked through the door looking pale and
distraught, he said that he been downsized and lost his job. I told him I
was pregnant.
We lost our health insurance and a good salary. Things got worse from
that point on. My husband couldn’t get another job and we ended up
being evicted from our townhouse. We managed to get an apartment
in a not-too-comfortable area, but nonetheless, there were a lot of
professionals going to work each day. Every morning they would catch
the shuttle bus and arrive home very late at night. I knew some of them
had dogs and I wondered if those dogs would have to wait all day for the
owner to come home. I knew I could make a difference in the lives of
the dogs and their owners. I began walking one dog at a time, one step
at a time, with a little baby in a stroller.
There were many huge obstacles. My husband, prior to our marriage
had a small business as a graphic artist and textile printer. He couldn’t
pay his sales tax. He had incurred a lot of credit card debt. Somehow, I
needed to resolve these problems and start over. No income, no vehicle
and a ton of debt are a daunting task for a mother with a newborn.
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The secret was to focus on the solution
and not the problem.
After my son was born, I decided I was not going to put him into
daycare, he was a beautiful miracle that needed his Mum. I wanted to
spend every moment I could with him. He was my son and the thought
of putting him day care was not an option.
I put up a little flyer in each apartment building advertising that I would
walk dogs at lunchtime. I had decided that $25 a day would make
a major difference in my life. I put each notice in the buildings and
business cards under the door and went to schmooze the office staff and
told them that I was a dog walker and would be available to assist the
maintenance crew with any of my clients should they need to do repairs
in the apartments. The rental office was overjoyed as this solved a huge
problem for them. My husband said nobody is going to want to let you
walk their dogs! That was enough encouragement for me to make him
eat his words.
Focusing on the solution became
my daily mantra.
I was charging the huge sum of five dollars a dog walk and life began to
change very quickly. My confidence started to improve and pretty soon I
was making $50 a day. I raised my goals and my creative entrepreneurial
juices started to roll. I was going against everything that I had been
taught as a child.
The questions that I got us the most by my clients was,
• “Where can I take my dog when I have to go away on business,
vacations, and family emergencies?”
• “Where do you recommend boarding my dog?”
Listen to your clients and
focus on a solution!
We were living in a two-bedroom apartment and sometimes I was taking
their dogs to stay with me. My clients were thrilled and the dogs were
so happy. I went to look at the boarding kennels and veterinarians in
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our area. I was shocked at the poor conditions. …Crates stacked one
on top of another with small dogs at the top and the large dogs in the
bottom crate. …Concrete runs with no raised beds. There were sad-looking
confused dogs that had no idea what they had done to be away
from their homes.
I started to formulate The Pawkeepers, a Bed and Biscuit Inn for dogs.
I did not have a computer or Google or YouTube to guide me through
this venture; and as I type these words, I hope you the reader will
understand that words do not teach. It is your life experiences that give
you knowledge. Your time, effort and mistakes make you the expert in
your chosen field.
Network, listen and research
are the foundations of
a successful startup.
The solution was for me to have a house to turn into a Bed and Biscuit
Inn. With poor credit history, no capitol to invest, I knew it was going to
a long, hard, road. I refused to focus on the problem.
Enter another client in my life. They owned four houses and she was
getting divorced from her husband. They divided the properties and she
approached me on renting-to-own one of her properties.
I told her I needed a property and a landlady that would allow me to
invite furry guests to the house. She laughed and said,
“As long as there’s always a permanent reservation for my dogs, then
we have a deal!”
Listen to the client. Focus
on the solution!
From a two-bedroom apartment in a horrible neighborhood to a beautiful
four-bedroom house with a fenced yard, my income started to rise to
$200 a day. Sometimes it was up to $400 a day, depending on public
holidays and I started to build a reputation on Yahoo and Google.
I began working on the debt problem. I started to pay off one credit card
at a time. Filing Chapter 7 for the sales tax, a payment plan was in effect
to eliminate this debt.
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I was trying to make the next major move and buy a house of my own.
The house we were renting was wonderful but not my dream home.
I found a wonderful Cape Cod, with a half-acre of land in a cul-de-sac
and knew that this was The Pawkeepers Inn. In our County, the law is
only four dogs per house. This is a great law, because if you have 12
or 16 dogs in your house, there is no peace. To be constantly cleaning
carpets – it’s hard work with little joy.
I was turning away many wonderful dogs and owners.
There will always be growth. With new
growth there will be new problems,
with new solutions.
I turned to a church community and spoke to the congregation. I asked if
anybody would want to learn how to be a Pawkeeper. I would train them
and evaluate which dogs would be happiest in their home. I created jobs
for others and developed many wonderful caregivers. For example, a
little Bichon or Yorkshire Terrier has different needs than a Labrador or
German Shepherd.
The smaller breeds are lapdogs that want to sit and be loved, watch
TV, to be adored and petted. I really didn’t have time to give them that
special attention. A few active seniors stepped forward; they loved dogs
but could not afford the vet and grooming bills. Who better to just love
and care for these bundles of joy? They did such wonderful work and it
also bought joy to their lives. It was a joy for me to visit them and it was
a joy to see their happiness. To have a dog in their life for short periods
also helped a lot with the medication and daily living expenses. When I
would show up with a furry bundle of joy, it became a win for everyone.
I also have some stay-at-home moms with children. Some dogs are used
to children, and missed them. I have some houses with cats. Yes, cats
and dogs can get along! I had the houses that have no dogs for the older
dogs that cannot run around the garden. Their needs are for peace and
naptime, not play and noise.
My position had changed with growth of The Pawkeepers. I evaluate the
personality and the character of the dog, and then I choose the caregiver
appropriate for the booking.
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In the years that I have been working with dogs and running a Bed and
Biscuit Inn, the dogs have taught me so much about life I would like to
share some of those lessons with you. These are guidelines on how to
survive as an entrepreneur.
NUMBER ONE - Recognize who is top dog! This means you!
You are the top dog. You call the shots; you choose clients, your
rules. You are the leader of your pack. Do not blame others.
NUMBER TWO - Must play well with others! What you
choose to achieve has nothing to do with what other people
think of you.
NUMBER THRE - There will always be another race to run.
You will not take first place every time, you are not supposed
too! You can position yourself to be the lead dog!
NUMBER FOUR - Work for joy and treats not money!
NUMBER FIVE - If you are feeling too much negativity, go to
the bathroom. Flush, wash your paws and move on!
NUMBER SIX - It does not matter if you are a mutt or a
purebred. Age, size or breed is never a factor and every dog
gets its day!
NUMBER SEVEN - You will not catch every ball. Sometimes
the curve balls can cause you to turn in another direction. Who
knows where that direction will lead?
NUMBER EIGHT - Step out of your crate! Staying in your
comfort zone will make you stagnant and grouchy.
NUMBER NINE - Go to the groomers regularly. A bit of spit
and polish will work wonders for your spirit.
NUMBER TEN - When you’re in the race there is to be NO butt
sniffing, comparing or pouting. Your goal is to move forward at
a pace that helps you grow and win your personal race.
When I started, there wasn’t Facebook, webinars, coaches and mentors.
Now the playing field has become so much larger. There is always help
and advice. With these many business tools, the life of an entrepreneur
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has just opened up for everyone to start a business with just a computer
you can do amazing marketing on Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and so
many other places.
At the tender age of 58, I am just starting to branch out into different
areas although I have noticed some physical limitations as I grow into
my prime. The mind and the spirit are still as strong. My next goal is to
start The Pawkeepers Academy. This will be an online training course to
teach other people how to run a Bed of Biscuit Inn from their home and
how to work with dogs and make a great living.
I look at my past journey and marvel that it had nothing to do with
money. There was no money! It had everything to do with an attitude
and a mindset. We are all creators and we all are capable of developing
a mindset. Remember what I said at the beginning; be careful what you
wish for!
Today I am driving around in my old car, visiting dogs and dog people.
I am a wonderful Mum, The Pawkeeper, a writer and an artist with so
much more to accomplish!
Life is not about finding you; life is about building and creating yourself!
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About Lesley
To say that Lesley Sullivan is a dog-enthusiast is an understatement.
Her passion, knowledge and love for dogs started at a very early
age. Her goal in life was to always be in the company of dogs.
Born in Bedfordshire, England, Lesley is no stranger to dog behavior, having spent
many years as a kennel maid for racing greyhounds, service dog trainer, shelter
assistant and veterinarian technician.
Her passion for advising and helping people and to encourage a healthy lifestyle
for dogs and owners has developed into a thriving business for Lesley Sullivan.
She has decades of experience working with dogs and studying dog behavior,
and is now focused on socialization of dogs. Lesley lectures nationally sharing
her knowledge and passion on the art of dog social behavior with an emphasis on
successful social situations and pack integration.
Prior to starting her pet-sitting business, Lesley Sullivan followed her passion for
art. She attended the Hammersmith School of Arts and then travelled to America to
attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
A wonderful job opportunity with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra allowed
Lesley to enjoy her love for classical music, giving her time to reflect on her future.
On a trip to Virginia, Lesley met her husband and decided to settle down and raise
their son.
Since 1998, Lesley has become a national leader in the pet-sitting industry,
combining her love of dogs with running a Bed and Biscuit Inn, teaching group
classes for pet owners and writing books about dog behavior.
Lesley Sullivan’s high-spirited, outgoing personality and knowledge of dogs now
looks to explore online classes for those who wish to own and operate their own
in-home boarding facility. Her mission is to teach the importance of cage free
boarding for the health and wellbeing of all dogs, allowing the owners stress-free
travels for when they cannot be with their dogs.
If you wish to be notified of upcoming online courses on how to run your own Bed
& Biscuit Inn, please email: thepawkeepersacademy@yahoo.com
For information on booking The Pawkeepers for speaking engagements and
consultations please email: www.thepawkeepers.com
Become a fan and join the fun pack on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/thepawkeepers
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FOUR PILLARS: Foundation For Success In Business and life
Chapter 48
FOUR PILLARS:
Foundation For Success
In Business And Life
By Kapil Sahni
Each individual has infinite potential to succeed, but more often than
not majority of people report that they struggle in life; they achieve
some level of success, but seldom use their entire potential, and hence
aren’t able to manifest great levels of success. Why? The answer is
simply: people are seldom aware or have ever been formally taught
about laws and core principles that serve as a foundation for success in
any endeavor, be it business, relationships or life.
Having studied some of the most successful business and thought leaders
around the world, a ton of already available self development books
on the subject and my own experience using some of the indisputable
universals laws of success - I’ve personally distilled four key ingredients
that serve as the core foundation for success in business and life. I call
these the Four Pillars of Success. Each of these individual pillars are
absolutely critical to build a strong foundation for success.
I’m so glad you picked up this book since the content I’ll share in the
next few sections can truly change your life if you apply it diligently. If
you stay engaged through the end of this chapter, I promise you’ll walk
away with a blueprint to succeed and attain the levels of success that
you truly deserve in every aspect of your life.
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1. DEVELOP A COMPELLING VISION
“I can teach anybody how to get what they want
out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody
who can tell me what they want.”
~ Mark Twain
The foremost requirement to any achievement in life is to get crystal clear
about what it is that you desire and why you desire it. Everything else
is secondary. It’s often noticed that when an individual takes inventory
of his core values and aligns them with their vision, something magical
happens. An individual experiences a deep sense of resonance with their
core being and their vision seems to come to life.
When developing a vision, it’s always best to start with the aspect of life
that matters to you most, and the one which would contribute most to
the quality of your life. I’d recommend you block some time frequently
to diligently craft your vision. This is not a one-time activity; it needs to
be worked on continually for both your short-term and long-term goals.
One of the most reputed and highly respected authors, Steven Covey,
describes one of the core habits most effective people have is of “begin-ning
with the end in mind.” You may consider developing a compel-ling
vision in the same light such that you’re thinking and projecting an
ideal outcome in the future. By doing so, you’ll get in touch with your
thoughts, desires, emotions, your core values, and bring to life all your
active as well as your dormant faculties, such as creativity, imagination,
etc. The clearer you are about your destination, the easier it is to plan the
next set of steps to get there.
A vision serves as a guideline to ensure all choices and decisions you’re
making going through life are in alignment with your vision, so that you
stay the course and don’t drift away. Nonetheless, if you do drift away, it
assists in course-correction, reminding you that you’ve gone astray and
need to make changes in your life that align with your vision.
Let’s talk briefly about something very specific about a vision. You may
have noticed the first pillar of success is to not just develop a vision but a
compelling vision. It’s not a mere hope or wish, it’s an irresistible, over-powering
desire that moves you. It’s something that you can sense and
very often brings forth a lot of strong emotions. More often than not, it’s
something that’s on your mind constantly.
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Is this something you can perhaps relate to in your life? If not, I dare you
to find yourself a compelling vision of something extremely important
to you - something that you wish to accomplish in your life (long-term
or short-term). It could be anything from losing a few pounds, to
regaining your lost self confidence, to solving a problem in society that
makes your heart cry, to winning the Ms. Universe pageant, to being a
special needs teacher, to qualifying for the Olympics, to being a CEO
of the company you currently work for, to being an absolute role model
to your kids or perhaps getting out of your comfort zone and finally
starting your own company. Once you’ve developed your compelling
vision, whatever it may be – you need to commit to achieving it by a
non-negotiable date.
The next most important thing you need to do is: develop a detailed plan
of how you’re going to get there and get to work.
When you have a definite goal with an associated deadline and you
commit to it with all your being, you miraculously summon incredible
amounts of energy, enthusiasm, integrity, will power, and motivation.
You make monumental progress and little by little, you begin to conquer
the milestones you’ve set for yourself. It’s as if the goal has this almost
unbelievable magnetic effect of drawing you towards it with a pull that
grows in magnitude with each passing day. It’s extremely exhilarating and
very frequently it’s observed that you develop a great amount of endurance
within yourself, and in turn develop hidden creativity and resourcefulness
to overcome any obstacle that comes in your path towards your goal.
When you lack vision for your life, you’re simply reacting to the
circumstances of life rather than having the reigns in your hand and
marching confidently towards your vision, regardless of the obstacles
on your path which you recognize as temporary set backs, and don’t let
them overpower you.
One of the most widely-read Bible verses, Proverbs 29:18 states,
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
This is as true for any organization as it is for your personal life. A
separate distinct vision must be developed for each aspect of your life.
When you lack vision for each important aspect of your life, namely your
career, health, relationships etc., you’ll fail to achieve your desired level
of success in your career, your health will be far from ideal and your
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relationships will be strained. As a result, you’ll be resigned and lack
meaning in your life. You’ll go through the motions of life uninspired
and demotivated and have a rather disappointing experience of life.
Visions have a profound affect on every aspect of our lives and the
sooner you understand the gravity of this key ingredient for success and
put it to use as recommended, you’ll well be on your way to creating an
extraordinary life for yourself and manifesting any level of success you
desire.
2. MASTER YOUR PSYCHOLOGY
“Success is 80% Psychology and 20% Mechanics.”
~ Tony Robbins
Let’s consider a quick example. When it comes to having good health,
majority of people already know the basic steps to follow, such as:
1. Eat a balanced diet daily with a good mix of greens, fruits and
vegetables.
2. Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.
3. Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep daily.
4. Exercise at least for 30 minutes 4 to 6 times a week.
In the example above, as you can see, the know-how, i.e., mechanics,
is no rocket science; it’s a set of four simple steps accounting for 20%
of your success, but the psychology one needs to stay disciplined and
consistent is the hard part and accounts for 80% of your final results.
Knowing and implementing the mechanics amounts to only 20% of what
contributes to anyone’s success regardless of the endeavor. The bulk of
what dictates an individual’s success in life is one’s psychology. This is
an undisputed fact. Psychology of a person encompasses many attributes
– some of the most prominent ones are one’s mindset, thoughts, inner
dialogue or self talk, core beliefs, perception, attitude, self-confidence,
self-esteem, will power, motivation and ability to be self-disciplined
and self-reliant.
Have you ever had the experience of doing everything in your capacity
to accomplish your goals, but you just don’t seem to be able to make
it happen? There could be many different reasons for not being able to
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manifest what you desire most in life despite all your efforts, but one
of the most common causes that often goes unnoticed is an unresolved
inner conflict. Inner conflicts are best described as opposing intentions
or beliefs. You may desire a better, a high paying job, but internally you
may have a strong core belief that you’re not good enough and lack
adequate skills to get such a job. In this example, the latter is an inner
conflict and unless that inner conflict is resolved, you will struggle with
manifesting your desired job into reality. Inner conflicts by nature are
difficult to identify on your own and hence often go unnoticed.
I’d like to take a moment and share with you briefly how I personally
coach my clients around inner conflicts. While working with clients, I’ll
often ask them thought-provoking direct questions that encourage them
to explore their fixed considerations about a situation or circumstance.
This approach often brings to light their underlying assumptions and
core-beliefs which do not serve them, instead work entirely against
them. I shed more light on such things to help them fully understand
for themselves how certain fixed considerations, assumptions and core
beliefs they have are holding them back and directly impeding their
forward movement to accomplish their goals. Identifying such inner
conflicts is only half the story; then I work with them closely and
encourage them to try on a new consideration - sometimes involving a
paradigm shift in the way they think and perceive a situation and their
capabilities. Doing so helps them understand how to resolve their inner
conflict and change their psychology which accounts for 80% of their
success and this in turn leads them to have incredible breakthroughs in
their lives.
The sooner you develop more self-awareness about your true psychology
and get a deeper understanding of why you think the way you think,
why you feel the way you feel and why you do what you do and map
that way of being to the outcomes you’re getting in life – you’ll begin to
unravel the mystery of how your psychology is shaping all your reality.
Once you comprehend and understand the true power of this insight,
you can literally hardwire your brain and subconscious mind with a new
set of programs, thoughts and way of doing things which will lead to a
different set of results.
I absolutely love the following quote by T. Harv Eker, which further drills
down the significance of mastering your psychology and programing
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Change Agents
your subconscious mind:
“It all comes down to this: If your subconscious ‘financial blueprint’
is not set for success, nothing you learn, nothing you do will make
much of a difference.”
Our subconscious mind can be best described as a storehouse of
everything we experience going through our daily lives right from our
birth. It doesn’t have an ability to filter between real or unreal, good or
bad; its job is simply to record everything we see, hear, feel, interpret,
(i.e., attach a meaning, etc.) and it does this seamlessly without our
conscious knowing. The information it records is commonly referred
to as programs similar to computer programs that are downloaded in
our subconscious minds. Substantial research has been done in this area
and it’s been proven that our overall psychology is invariably a sum-total
of the programs that have been downloaded in our subconscious
minds over the years based on the conversations we’ve had, repetitive
ideas we’ve been exposed to from our childhood to adulthood, and our
personal life experiences to date.
The key is to understand how our subconscious mind works and learn
ways and means to program our subconscious mind deliberately towards
the ends we desire. I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is to master
this aspect of your psychology and the role it plays in your success.
3. TAKE PERSISTENT ACTION
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education
will not; the world is full of education derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved
and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
~ Calvin Coolidge
The quote above, emphasizing the importance of persistence has been one
of the cornerstones that has contributed significantly to all the successes
in my life. This is undoubtedly a non-negotiable ingredient that dictates
whether or not you’ll be successful in life, be it your career/business,
relationships or health, regardless of any external circumstance.
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There are umpteen examples of movers and shakers in business as well
as political leaders across the world such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin
Luther King and Nelson Mandela who’ve brought about everlasting
change and changed the fate of an entire country by stepping up to the
plate and demonstrating the power of perseverance when faced with
continuous defeat or obstacles. It’s easy to be motivated and really
excited at the beginning when pursuing any goal; but it’s the ability to
persevere and take persistent action by being resourceful and creative
when faced with obstacles or defeat that leads one to success.
It’s unfortunate, but most people tend to throw in the towel at the first
sign of defeat or loss, as opposed to staying inside the ring long enough
to enjoy the benefits of their labor. Your desire to succeed is directly
proportional to your achievements in business and life. The stronger
your desire and will power, the greater your motivation to overcome any
obstacle in your path towards achieving your goals. A burning desire,
combined with a positive mental attitude and persistent action, always
results in success.
Lack of persistence is one of the major causes of failure in business and
life. Nobody is born with persistence per se. It’s a habit and like any
other habit, it can be developed over time. It is truly one of the core
foundations for success in business and life.
4. DEVELOP A MASTERMIND ALLIANCE
Napoleon Hill, author of ‘Think and Grow Rich’ defines mastermind
as a “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony,
between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”
An alliance in the context of our discussion can be simply defined as a
partnership, an agreement based on some form of kinship or a formal/
informal relationship (coaching, mentorship etc.) between two or more
people who have a vested interest in your success.
Do you want to know one of the best-kept secrets that can literally
impact your results in business and life by over 10x? It’s the ability to
tap into the shared, infinite knowledge base, experience, intelligence,
skills and resources of a mastermind group as if it were your own.
Success often leaves clues. Think about this phrase for a moment. This
is a very powerful concept and it emphasizes the idea of duplicating
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Change Agents
success. It encourages you to learn the steps used by someone else to
succeed and then modeling it. Its always good to be creative and have
your own unique way of doing things, but often if you’re not mindful –
it can come with a great cost of time, money and resources. Instead of
re-inventing the wheel, if you simply become a student and develop a
mastermind alliance with someone you admire, respect and would like
to model – you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
“You are the average of the five people you spend most time with.”
~ Jim Rohn
I find the above quote by Jim Rohn extremely thought provoking. I
want to extend the invitation to you right now to do some introspection.
Think of five people you spend most time with and keep the following
questions in mind:
• Are they always excited, on top of their game and thriving in
their respective businesses and careers or are they demotivated
and going through life resigned, focused on just punching the
clock and paying their bills?
• Are they dreamers who take action and make things happen or
are they nay sayers who’re always pessimistic and blaming the
economy or perhaps have an excuse ready for why things can’t
be done?
• Are they health conscious and make time for working out despite
their busy lives or do they have poor eating habits and are least
concerned about their health?
• Are they enjoying passionate and loving relationships or are
their relationships constantly strained with a lot of pain and
hurt?
Your environment, the people you interact with and the kind of
conversations you have on a daily basis directly influence your thoughts,
and as a result influence your potential to earn, your outlook on life,
your daily habits, your overall well-being and your relationships.
Chose the people you spend most time with well; it will alter your life
entirely for the good. It’s absolutely vital that you associate regularly
with people with common goals, dreams and aspirations who may have
either already achieved the levels of success you desire or are in pursuit
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of the same. When you do so, your vision inevitably expands; you get
multiple perspectives on the possible options that lie ahead of you, and
last but not the least, you learn new actionable strategies and tools to
overcome any obstacle that may be impeding your progress.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reviewing the content above. My objective was to
share the “Four Pillars of Success” with you in an easily understandable
manner so that you can very quickly make them your own personal
mantra for success. Now that you know the mechanics for manifesting
success in business, relationships and life, the million-dollar question is
whether you’ll take action by putting what you’ve learnt into practice or
simply let life pass by. I urge you to take action – it’s the only way you’ll
be able to achieve your goals.
I wish you all the very best and hope that you live an extraordinary life
that inspires and motivates you to be your very best. If you have any major
goals related to any aspect of your life, that you’re currently struggling
with or haven’t been able to make much progress, please contact me via
my website: www.kapilsahni.com. I’d love the opportunity to work with
you and empower you to accomplish all your goals.
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Change Agents
About Kapil
Kapil Sahni has an outstanding decade-long software quality
management background in the high tech industry. He has held
multiple positions as a Senior Consultant with top Fortune 500
companies in Silicon Valley, California such as Microsoft, Google,
Apple, etc. and supported multiple global launches during his career. His expertise
also includes leadership, strategic planning and tactical execution, process
improvement, business analysis, project management and web analytics. He
has been mentoring and coaching his team in all his leadership roles. He has a
Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pune University, India and has
attended San Diego State University, California for a Masters Program in Computer
Science. He is also a globally-certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
He has lived briefly in New York in the past, but has been based out of California
since 2002. He made San Jose his home since he was smitten by California’s
picturesque landscape and incredible weather. He loves the rich and diverse
community that Silicon Valley offers which keeps him both grounded and inspired
being in touch with visionaries who are constantly working on ideas to change the
world. He’s an avid reader, deep intellectual thinker who’s very compassionate
and genuinely cares for people. He has a high zest for life, is fascinated by the
capabilities of the human mind and is a personal development enthusiast. He
supports many humanitarian causes and volunteers at community events.
He’s currently training to be an Internationally Certified Success Coach through the
Certified Coaches Alliance. He has an innate ability to lead, motivate and inspire,
and is passionate about peak performance, leadership, coaching and training
and development. He is also actively working on developing programs to impart
life skills to children and youth in their formative years, helping adults find more
meaningful and fulfilling careers that they absolutely love, and elevating human
consciousness.
Besides his corporate career, Kapil coaches people from all walks of life on myriad
different aspects that contribute to their quality of life. He assists people in getting
un-blocked and making positive changes in their lives. He’s committed to people
winning in all areas of their life (personal, professional, relationships, health, and
spiritual) and living a life that they absolutely love. He helps people get crystal-clear
about their goals and what’s holding them back to live the best version of their
lives yet. Using his unique coaching style, he then assists them unravel solutions to
overcome each obstacle and map out a step-by-step plan to manifest their dreams
into reality.
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His message to the world is:
DREAM BIG. BE YOURSELF. LIVE PASSIONATELY.
To learn more about Kapil Sahni and the services he offers, kindly visit:
www.kapilsahni.com
Kapil Sahni
City: San Jose, CA, USA

“YOU COULD BE EXERCISING, RIGHT NOW!”
Chapter 49
“YOU COULD BE
EXERCISING, RIGHT NOW!”
By Dr. Julia Pewitt-Kinder
I don’t have time to exercise. Between working full-time and taking
care of my three children and a home (plus a cocker-spaniel puppy), I
barely have time to catch my breath. Why would I want to spend my
precious time on a treadmill, making myself completely out of breath?
If I have a spare moment, I would rather read or play a game with my
kids. Besides, by the end of the day, I am too tired to exercise.
But eight years ago, I found out the hard way I would have to find the
time and energy to exercise – that exercise is vital to health. Without
health, a successful and happy life is not possible. I had just finished
my medical residency, stepped into a new career, and delivered my first
child - a child with special needs. Besides being a doctor, wife, and
mother, I had to become a teacher and therapist to help my daughter
thrive. With so much to accomplish each day, I reduced my sleep and
increased my caffeine. I often forgot to eat, or did so hurriedly while
driving or folding laundry. I was running on fumes, with stress driving
me forward regardless of how exhausted I was. I never exercised; there
wasn’t time. Even though as a doctor I knew the importance of taking
care of myself, I didn’t. I thought I was invincible, that sheer willpower
would get me through each day.
One evening, after the simple movement of opening a window, I developed
severe shoulder, neck, and back pain. I was unable to turn my head, lift
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Change Agents
my arm, or even lie down. An MRI revealed torn muscle fibers that had
become thin and weak because of my lack of physical strengthening.
I honestly wasn’t concerned; it was only a few torn muscles, which I
expected would quickly heal. It wasn’t as if I broke a bone or herniated
a disk. I would simply get the proper treatment and move on. But over
the next year, I tried numerous conventional and alternative treatments.
Anti-inflammatories, muscle-relaxers, physical therapy, massage, steroid
injections, and reflexology all failed to quickly relieve my pain. The years
I had allowed my muscles to wither away from lack of exercise meant my
recovery would be slow and difficult.
Pain is a thief, stealing energy and endurance and robbing us of time,
money, and sleep. Pain makes our bodies work harder than normal. My
pain kept me from sleeping, so I became chronically tired. Regardless
of my exhaustion, I had no choice but to drag myself out of bed each
morning and face the day; work, kids, cooking, and home-care couldn’t
be neglected. Each activity was made difficult by my arm weakness. I
became irritable and downright grumpy from a combination of fatigue,
pain, and lack of energy to do anything fun. I was furious that this injury
was slowing me down. I knew I had only myself to blame because I hadn’t
cared for my health.
I vowed that once I got “caught up” I would start strength training to
overcome this injury and prevent future ones. I ignored a developing
sore throat, blaming my hoarseness on over-using my voice at work.
But in fact, I was a sitting target for infection because I was completely
run-down from a vicious cycle of pain, lack of sleep, excess work and
stress, over-caffeinating, and under-hydrating. Awakening one night
with a high fever and chills, I ended up in the hospital for an emergent
tonsillectomy. I now had no choice but to slow down and recover.
Forced to rest in a hospital bed while watching reruns of “Little House
on the Prairie,” I had time for reflecting upon my life. Something was
wrong. Even though I had a great family and career, I painfully admitted
to myself I wasn’t happy. I didn’t have any fun because by the time I
got through work and daily responsibilities, I was frazzled and wanted
to just sit down rather than engage in any activity. When had I last taken
Ella on a stroller ride? Or gone for a bike ride? Or simply been awake
enough to stay up late to watch a movie? Because I was so tired all the
time, I moved at a snail’s pace through daily chores, which left no extra
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time or energy to do things I loved. What about bigger goals I once had,
like canoeing the entire Current River? Because of my lack of strength,
that dream wasn’t even a possibility. My health – or rather my lack of –
was getting in the way of living my life. Aches, pains, injuries, illness,
and fatigue were barriers to being happy each day, placing limits on
what I could accomplish.
I now understood that if I had my health as a foundation to stand upon
– if I had strength, energy, endurance, and mental clarity – I could then
build the life I wanted. If I felt great I could tackle tasks in less time,
with free time and energy left over for dreams and goals I had forgotten.
I had to find time to exercise.
After recovering from surgery and back home, I paced in my office,
staring at my complicated weekly schedule. Where could I pencil in
“exercise?” Back and forth I paced for 20 minutes, until tired, I sat to
rest. Wondering briefly why I was tired, I realized that whenever I am
deep in thought, I briskly walk around my office. Out of habit, I alternate
walking on my tiptoes. My tired calf muscles confirmed I had been
exercising while I was working. And it was easy; I didn’t even know
I was working-out. Excited at the concept of getting in shape while I
worked, I plopped down on the floor and did sit-ups with my calendar at
my side. I was “Exercising, Right Now.”
I hadn’t exercised routinely in the past because I didn’t have time, I
was too tired, I wanted to do something else, or I forgot. I now had the
solution for all my excuses to not exercise. I could fit in bits of exercise
while I worked and during other routine activities. No extra time would
be needed! I didn’t have to find huge blocks of time for exercise. Small
bursts of exercise would give me more energy, rather than wearing me
out. If I exercised during the workday, I could spend my free time doing
something fun. And by pairing exercise with habits like brewing my tea, I
would never forget to exercise.
With my training as a fitness instructor, I immediately thought of exercises
that could be done anywhere, anytime, and without any equipment. I
developed exercises to do while watching TV, folding clothes, or even
driving. I knew my concept of “Exercise, Right Now” would be effective
because it was backed by science: Exercise is cumulative - every little
bit counts. Huge blocks of time to exercise aren’t needed.
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Within days of starting my Exercise, Right Now program, I experienced
improvement in my energy level. I quickly developed toned and defined
muscles and slept better, my chronic fatigue vanishing. My pain also
went away. Each day, I was able to accomplish more in less time
because I had eliminated the barriers of poor health. Those closest to
me noticed my improved mood and appearance, asking how I juggled
career, family, exercise, and time for me.
My friends, family, and patients began sharing with me similar
experiences. They, too, had experienced fatigue that prevented them from
pursuing favorite pastimes. Many had tried unsuccessfully to lose weight.
All complained of not having enough time or being too tired to exercise.
I shared the exercises I had developed, which could be done by anyone
of any age or fitness level. Everyone loved that the program was easy to
learn and didn’t take extra time. Plus, they didn’t have to spend money on
expensive gym memberships, equipment, and diet programs. The results
were exciting: weight loss, decreased blood pressure and cholesterol,
fewer illnesses, and increased stamina were all commonly experienced.
Along with physical health came a more important benefit – happiness.
I believe we all seek to improve our lives, wanting to make changes
which lead to our daily satisfaction and sense of well-being. We wish to
be happier and to look and feel great each day. Some want more time with
family. Others strive for financial security. Whatever it is that you desire,
you are responsible for achieving it. You are your own Change Agent. But
you must stand on a foundation of health to reach your goals. You must
exercise every day if you want to eliminate barriers to your success.
Take a moment to think about what it is you most value in your life.
What are your dreams and goals - have you taken the time lately to
remember? What would you enjoy doing every day if given the energy?
How much more productive could you be with crystal-clear mental
clarity and creativity? Would you like to improve the way you look? Are
you ready to get rid of aches and pains? Are you tired of being tired?
Exercise is the solution to feeling great so you can enjoy each day. Why
not get started, Right Now?
To help you begin building a foundation of health, strength, and energy,
I have compiled my favorite Top 7 Times to Exercise and the Top 7
Exercises to target those Top 7 Body Parts!
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There are only three rules:
1. Don’t count the number of repetitions.
Exercise until you are tired or out of time. The number of repetitions
isn’t important. It is important to tire the muscle and to exercise as often
as possible during each day. Exercise Right Now is designed to make
exercise easy and fun. If I count repetitions, I worry about keeping track
of numbers in logs or notes, which is extra and unnecessary work. With-out
focusing on counting, your mind is free to wander or simply relax.
2. Maintain proper posture during each exercise.
Each exercise, standing or sitting, starts with the same Set Position (see
instructions below). This Set Position is maintained throughout the ex-ercise.
Simply holding this Set Position will burn calories because mus-cles
are engaged.
3. Focus on the working muscle.
Mentally focus on the muscle you are exercising, holding other muscles
still. Isolating a muscle gets quicker results.
Begin all exercises in Set Position:
1. Stand/Sit up tall, straightening and lengthening spine.
2. Lift chest and chin.
3. Roll shoulders forward, up, and back, which will further push
your chest forward.
4. Pull abdominal muscles in hard towards spine.
5. Relax arms, bending slightly at the elbow.
6. If standing, squeeze bottom and thigh muscles, with knees
softly bent.
Start Exercising, Right Now!
1. Brush your teeth: Lift and tone your backside.
Do you brush your teeth every day? If so, you could be exercising every
day. An added bonus is fewer trips to the dentist!
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• While brushing teeth with right hand, place left hand lightly on
vanity for stability.
• Face vanity straight-on.
• Straighten right leg behind you, with toes pointed and resting
lightly on floor.
• Slowly raise leg as high as possible, tightening all muscles.
• Hold until muscles tire.
• Repeat other leg.
2. Stand in a line: Sculpt your calves.
Irritated while waiting at the bank, post-office, or grocery store? Don’t
waste time; get fit! Exercise can be done discreetly, without anyone
knowing.
• Place feet hips-width apart, toes pointing forward, knees slightly
bent.
• Raise heels slightly off floor; hover.
• Raise higher, pretending to look over the person in front of you.
• Lower without allowing heels to touch floor.
• Continue to slowly lift and lower your body in a controlled
manner.
• Squeeze your rear for added benefit.
• Feeling wobbly as you try to balance? The wobble is good, as it
indicates you are exercising your abdominal and back muscles,
too.
3. Drive the car: Get six-pack abs.
• Crank up your favorite upbeat music.
• Pull abs in tight toward your spine, release, and repeat, while
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keeping beat with the music.

4. Microwave leftovers: Build your biceps.
How long do you stand in front of the microwave waiting for leftovers
to warm? One minute? Why not complete 60 bicep curls! Store hand
weights in your kitchen or office break room. These are affordable and
come in many sizes.
• Place a weight in each hand.
• Bending your arm at the elbow, lift the weight towards your
shoulder. Weights can be lifted at the same time, or by alternating
hands.
5. Clean the house and your arteries: Cardio-Cleaning.
Every moment is precious. Yes, we have to clean, but why waste an hour
when you could get the job done in half the time AND complete your
cardio workout?
• Blast some high-energy music.
• Jog in place as you vacuum.
• RUN from room to room as you put away toys or laundry.
• Dust fast and furiously: Your arms will notice the burn.
• Pretend your mother is coming to visit in an hour for extra
motivation to finish chores quickly.
6. Sit at a desk: Get sexy legs.
• Extend right leg straight out in front of you, toes pointed.
• R aise leg as high as you can, hold until tired, lower slightly
without touching ground, then lift leg again.
• Repeat until tired.
• Switch legs.
7. Gas up the car: Define and tone triceps.
Keep a set of hand weights in your car.
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• Hold weight with both hands, right in front of your chest.
• Lift weight above head.
• Bending arms at the elbow, lower weight behind your head.
• Lift weight back up over your head.
• Repeat until your tank is full.
Here’s a Bonus Exercise for sculpting legs and buttocks. Try this
Right Now!
1. Stand in Set Position with feet hips-width apart and toes pointing
forward.
2. Place hands on hips.
3. Pull abs in tight and hold during entire exercise.
4. Bend knees slightly.
5. HOLD this posture while you begin to gently and slowly jump up and
down in place.
• Land softly, rolling through your feet with toes touching first and
heels last.
• Keep knees soft – always slightly bent.
• Jump higher each time. Point your toes as you jump into the air.
*Note: Even those with knee or back problems can do this carefully and
gently.
In the past few minutes, you have burned calories, increased energy, and
strengthened muscles: You are more fit than before you read this chapter.
Congratulations! You have started Exercising, Right Now, moving for-ward
to the change you desire in your life!
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About Dr. Julia
Dr. Julia Pewitt-Kinder is a practicing physician, national speaker,
fitness consultant, best-selling author, and busy mom of three.
Dr. Kinder is Board Certified in Family Practice and maintains a
private practice in Jackson, Missouri, with her brother. For over 10
years, she has counseled thousands of patients, helping them find time during their
day to exercise and showing them easy ways to improve their health.
As a nationally-recognized speaker since 2007, Dr. Kinder is an established
authority on health and fitness. She has shared her life-changing techniques with
audiences that include corporations, local community groups, universities, national
organizations, the media, and various conferences. Leading keynote presentations
and workshops, her high-energy and down-to-earth presence inspires participants
to begin making change during her presentation by showing them how to exercise
while listening to the lecture. Combining her medical background and passion for
making fitness easy, she gives participants the tools to establish a foundation of
health by incorporating nutrition, exercise, and soul-nurturing activities into their
daily routine. Dr. Kinder encourages the audience to achieve their life’s goals by
giving them the tools to implement change Right Now.
Continuing on her mission to simplify getting fit, Dr. Kinder also offers personal
consultations and has developed a line of effective and affordable fitness products.
By working one-on-one with clients, she tailors exercise and eating-healthy
programs that fit any schedule and fitness level. Her clients range in age from
teenagers to over 80; anyone who desires more energy, less brain-fog, improved
mood, and weight loss will immediately achieve results.
Dr. Kinder understands from personal experience the importance of maintaining
her health so she has the energy to care for her family. Ella, age eight, may have
Down syndrome, but she is otherwise a healthy and typical child who loves reading
and swimming. Twins Dexter and Paxton are lively three-year-old boys. Paxton has
Crohn’s Disease and requires a restricted diet. With Dr. Kinder leading by example,
all of her children also exercise daily.
If you’d like to learn more about how Dr. Kinder manages to look and feel great and
also make time for herself - all while juggling her career and family, contact her
today! She can show you how to incorporate fitness into your normal, daily routine
without spending extra hours at the gym. Here are easy ways for you to get started,
Right Now!
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Change Agents
Website: www.juliakinder.com
Golden Rules to Fitness: www.juliakinder.com/ExerciseRightNow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExerciseRightNow
Twitter: twitter.com/juliakinder
For Speaking Engagements or Personal Consultations, email Dr. Kinder:
julia@juliakinder.com
Shop the Right Now store for affordable products to get you in shape, fast! http://
store.juliakinder.com/exercise-right-now-fitness-program-products/
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How to Get Out of Your Own Way and Pursue Your Ultimate Dreams
Chapter 50
How to Get Out of Your
Own Way and Pursue
Your Ultimate Dreams
By AJ Roberts
The biggest thing in your life that you can control is what goes on
between your ears. We can have all these tactics, we can have all
these tools, we can have secrets, and tricks and strategies, but none of
that matters unless we can control our own brain. You see the biggest
challenge you’re going to face is Resistance. Resistance against your
true calling, your higher power, the very thing you’ve been put on this
earth to do.
Just a few years back, I was literally the strongest man in the world
and held the All-Time World Record total in powerlifting. This was
after ten years of training my heart out every single day, pushing
through boundaries and barriers, going beyond what anyone else
would do in order to achieve, what I thought, was the ultimate
success. However, along this journey I knew I was heading in the wrong
direction but never did anything to correct this, and one day woke up
and had had enough. My health was diabolical, I hated my job and I was
in an unhappy marriage and I just couldn’t take it anymore.
But I had lived feeling this way for years, why?
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I was…
• scared of losing my identity.
• scared of being broke.
• scared of being alone.
• scared of what others would say about me.
• scared I’d have to go back to working fourteen plus hours a day
and give up the five bedroom house with two master bathrooms,
swimming pool, pool house, huge basement bar, and the luxury
life I was living.
• scared I’d fail and embarrass myself. What if I got things wrong
and wanted to go back to my previous life?
• scared I was simply being selfish and that I’d be letting my
family, my friends and my business associates down.
So I just stayed where I was for years. Letting resistance win time and
time again.
But, I was not living the life I was supposed to be living, and it was
slowly eating away at me. The voices in my head got louder and louder.
I tried a few times to address the thing, but then I started to think, what
if I actually do succeed?
What if my vision is possible? What would that mean? What new
responsibilities would I have?
And I’d become terrified of the potential of success. How will I handle
it? I’m sure you may have similar fears.
I started to get angrier at myself and asked why I was so scared and
so terrified to step into my true calling? …The thing that was eating
away at me, the thing that I dream about. Why was I procrastinating?
Why was I waiting around? Why wasn’t I taking action? Why was I
continually putting food into my body that I knew was not good for me?
Why was I continually avoiding opportunities I had that would push me
in the direction I wanted to go?
And then I discovered I wasn’t alone and that the reason I was living
this way was because any time we have a higher purpose, any time our

true calling is there, resistance creeps in and wants to prevent us from
reaching our destiny.
“Resistance is a bitch. And it does not like us.”
~ AJ Roberts
The more you begin to understand what your higher purpose is, the
more you begin to tune into what it is you were meant to do, the bigger
the resistance and the bigger the barriers you’ll put in place. As I began
to move closer to what I felt called to do, and as I began to I deconstruct
my life and move away from those things that I had been clinging to, I
was constantly attacked by Resistance and would question what I was
doing – doubting whether or not I was making the right choices, or
doing the right thing.
What’s crazy is the universe supports you in these decisions in such a
magnetic way that if you can fight through all this, unbelievable things
will begin to happen. But this doesn’t come without a struggle and it
seems the closer you get to where you’re supposed to be, the harder
Resistance attacks.
The thing is, Resistance isn’t always so obvious to spot. It’s covert. You
can’t see it as it’s internal, it’s centralized inside each of us and hidden
from the world. It’s cunningly clever. It’ll sneak up on you when you
least expect it. It’s cruel. It wants to hurt you and take you down. It’s
cold-blooded. It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter how much
success you have, it’s coming to get you.
Every single person at some point will face this. You may have already
faced this and guess what, you will continue to face this as Resistance
never quits. There is no escaping the Resistance that we face. There is
no running away from it. It doesn’t care if you’re a beginner, if you’re
intermediate or if you’re advanced. It doesn’t care if you’re just starting
out or if you’ve already living a successful life. It has no remorse.
It’s consistent. It comes back time and time and time again, and when
you think you’ve got it under control, guess what: there it is again.
Lastly, it can be crucifying. It’s out to kill you. It’s out to destroy your
entire world. You have to be prepared to go to war again and again with it.
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Change Agents
So how do you prepare?
Step 1 is to be consciously aware of Resistance.
Be aware that no matter what, Resistance is going to rear its ugly head at
some point. We need to be aware that it is a cosmic force we are going to
be battling against, and the only way you will get through it is if you’ve
prepared for battle.
You are going to be battling your utmost inner demons that are telling
you to do something else. They are going to be screaming at you to not
face Resistance and to run the other way. So, you have to be aware of
it. Once we’re aware, when it creeps up on you, you’ll be ready for the
way. You’ll be ready to stand your ground and you’ll be ready to do
whatever it takes to win.
Step 2 is to know your why.
Why are you doing this?
I grew up in a family that literally had no money. To get to school, which
was over two miles away, I used to walk every day regardless of the
weather. And if you’ve ever visited England, then you know we’re not
famous for good weather.
It was 20 pence to catch the bus. I’d ask my mother for the money and
she’d always tell me that she didn’t have any to give. I remember going
into my mother’s purse to look thinking that she was lying to me, and it
was completely empty – no cash, no change, nothing!
My friends would go to movies, I couldn’t go. I remember as a kid not
having the nice clothes, not having the nice things, and I remember
thinking to myself - I’m going to do whatever it takes when I grow up
so I never have to go without again.
Once I figured that out, I decided I wanted to teach others the same
thing, as I never wanted them to have to tell their kids what my mother
told me. That’s why I choose to be a leader. That’s why I choose to try
to inspire, to help build others build successful businesses.
So, know your why.
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Step 3 is to understand that D x V x FS > R
D is the dissatisfaction. Most of us are in this state, dissatisfied with
where we currently are. Unhappy with what we’ve achieved. We haven’t
reached where we want to get to. If you’re truly completely happy with
where you are and living your dream life, then I congratulate you. But I
believe most of you are somewhat dissatisfied with where you are.
V is for vision. You’ve got to know what your vision is. If you haven’t
figured this out yet then my advice is to sit in silence and listen to
yourself. Allow your head to bounce off the walls. Understand your
thoughts may get a little crazy, but if you wait, and you listen, and you
wait some more, everything begins to come clear.
And then we have to take D x V and we multiply that with FS.
FS is for those First Steps. You have to take those first steps if you ever
want to reach your destination.
Think about Michael Jordan. MJ didn’t make the cut his first try, and
instead of giving up, he took the first step to move forward: he practiced.
He didn’t know he was going to end up playing in the NBA for the
Chicago Bulls, winning six Championships and becoming arguably the
best basketball player to ever live. He didn’t know that. He may have
wanted to be that, but he didn’t know that’s how things would end up.
He just never waited to find out. He started going to work. You have to
go to work. Do that, and you’ll beat Resistance.
Step 4 is to have clear and complete focus.
In marketing, they call it shiny object syndrome, but in real life,
everything’s a shiny object. A new relationship, a new car, a new house,
the Facebook message from a long lost friend, or that hilarious tweet
from your buddy, and the list goes on and on. All of these things can
distract us, but if you’re completely focused day in and day out on the
tasks that will take you where you want to go and don’t allow yourself
to be distracted, you’ll get there.
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Change Agents
Step 5 is to simply remove distractions.
Use tools that help you stay on task and block out any websites that
simply waste your time. Put your phone in the other room while you
sleep, so that when you get up in the morning, you don’t lie in bed for
an hour checking social media sites and your email when you should be
getting ready for the day.
Step 6 is to find that specific time when you’re
most productive.
Make these hours sacred. Protect them with all your might. Don’t let
anyone or anything take this from you. You’ll find you get 10x the
amount of work done that you do any other time. Time is the most
precious thing you own, and once it’s gone, there’s no getting it back.
Step 7 is jump in.
You have to jump. Take those first steps. Most people will do these first
six things, but then they’ll never jump in. They’ll continue to plan and
look for the best strategy or the best technique, but it’s amazing how
very few actually dive in.
That’s where it’s going to come together, and that’s when things are
going to start to move forward fast. People are going to show up,
opportunities are going to show up that you never thought possible.
It won’t be easy at first and this brings me to step 8.
Step 8 is to practice daily.
It takes three weeks of daily practice for something to become a habit,
and once it’s a habit, it’s hard to break. If you haven’t read the book
Power of Habits - Why we do what we do by Charles Duhigg, buy it
and read it. You’ll understand your habits a lot better and you’ll start
to identify all the bad habits. Once you’re aware of them, you can begin
to replace them with good habits, and quickly we can get to where we
want to go.
Step 9 - Hire a Mentor.
People say you have to fail and you have to fail fast. I don’t believe in
that. I believe in finding successful people who have had the monumental
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failures, then learning from them and not making those same mistakes,
but instead modeling their success.
But there’s another reason to hire a mentor and it’s something that
has changed my life. You see, when you doubt yourself, when you’re
questioning everything you are doing, a mentor will remind you of the
greatness within and then push you in the right direction. They will not
allow you to give in to Resistance. Often times, when we are buried in
our own crap we’ve surrounded ourselves with, we can’t really see what
it is we’re meant to do, to really see our true calling, or to see the beauty
that we possess inside.
The reason I say hire a mentor is not to simply find a mentor, because
unless you have some skin in the game, you’re not going to respect or
listen to the person who is talking to you. If you have a partner, a wife
or a husband, then I’m sure you’ve had the experience where you told
them something and yet they didn’t listen. Then someone else comes
along and tells them the exact same thing and without question they
follow that advice. You’re left standing there thinking to yourself, what
the heck is going on?
It happens all the time, because the closer you are to someone, the less
you’ll listen to them. When they challenge you and tell you to step your
game up, you don’t listen to them because you see it as an attack. But
when you hire someone and you’ve paid that person to get you results,
you’ll listen to them because you believe they’re there to support your
success. That’s why you hired them.
It’s time to stop living in fear. Follow these steps, put on your armor
every day and start living the life you were destined to lead.
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Change Agents
About AJ
Marketing Expert, Best Selling Author and Seminar Leader - AJ
Roberts is widely considered one of the ‘go to’ guys for all things
digital marketing. His unique ability to understand what consumers
are thinking better than most of them understand themselves, has
allowed him to master the process of turning online prospects into paying customers.
AJ manages some of the marketing industry’s top brands and events - drawing
hundreds of attendees from all around the world, paying thousands of dollars to hear
his message and that of his clients. Roberts has shared the stage with Yanik Silver,
Brendon Burchard, Cameron Herold, Rohit Bhargava, Catherine Cook, Noah Kagan,
Lewis Howes and many more.
To learn more about how you can work with AJ, visit: www.AJRoberts.com
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Five Steps to Skyrocket Your Productivity and Enjoy Your Life
Chapter 51
Five Steps to Skyrocket
Your Productivity and
Enjoy Your Life
By TJ Oosterkamp
You’re riding on a dirt road through the Colorado Rocky Mountains at
100 mph. You don’t even have your hands on the steering wheel as you
are lying on top of the car, frantically struggling to keep your grip on the
roof. Does this describe how you feel at work sometimes?
Many entrepreneurs that I meet, train, and coach feel oppressed by
all the urgent demands being made on their time. No wonder they’re
tired. (Though I mainly work with entrepreneurs, you can substitute
“manager,” “doctor,” or “teacher,” and many of the same principles
apply.)
There was a time when I, too, worked long hours without seeing many
results. All my efforts didn’t bring me closer to the things I really wanted
from life—growth, change, and the feeling of satisfaction.
To fast forward a couple of years, I’m sitting on the beach sipping white
wine and writing this chapter, while my team is running the company.
The year before last, I enjoyed a nine-month sabbatical, and we’re
still growing 20 percent year-on-year even in this depressed economic
climate.
What changed?
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Change Agents
How can an ordinary business owner like me figure out a better way
to live and work? How can I claim that if you follow my suggestions,
you’ll free up two hours every single day for strategy, innovation, and
growth?
I call it “Extreme Productivity.” And it will probably be different than
anything you’ve previously read about or heard. Most books on the
subject promise that if you do what the author has done, you will get the
exact same results.
I believe life is much more complex, more interesting, more exhilarating
than that—and just copy-pasting someone else’s approach isn’t the
answer. The only way to become extremely productive is to start with—
yourself.
I. Spend Your Time on the Most Valuable
Activities You Can Think of
Productivity is essentially a boring concept. It conjures up images of
drudgery, working long hours, and tracking how often you go to the
bathroom. Creative people like entrepreneurs loathe the idea of too
much structure in their spontaneous lives.
And let’s be honest, just improving your typing speed 20 times is not
going to do the job (though I’ll reveal that secret later in this chapter).
The secret to becoming extremely productive is much more profound
than that.
So, what is it? Productive people make things happen with a minimum
of effort. They don’t try to outwork the world—they outsmart it. And
extreme productivity is even better: adding much more value in the
absolute minimal amount of time.
There are many reasons why entrepreneurs find it hard to work more
productively: their team isn’t functioning well; they have no thought-out
strategy (even though they think they have), and most importantly,
they have no clear idea of where they personally add the most value to
their business.
Extreme productivity means that you put way too much into the things
you do, and you need to cut back. There are five ways to do this:
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1. Stop doing it
2. Lower the frequency
3. Delegate it
4. Outsource it
5. Optimize it
Once you apply the Pareto principle to everything you do, you’ll save
loads of time. The principle says that you can change just 20 percent of
what you do and get 80 percent of the improvement! So the main work
of an entrepreneur is not, in fact, the work itself, but rather thinking
about the work. For instance: What are the best tasks for you to just stop
doing? And which tasks will you do less frequently in the future—by
delegating or outsourcing?
Any activity that has low-added value and can easily be done by
somebody else is a no-brainer. So why are you still doing it? Fixing that
can easily save you many hours a week.
II. You Yourself Are At The Core Of
Your Productivity
You should feel energized when you are working. If you are not inspired
by most of your daily activities, you could be headed towards serious
long-term problems. How clear are you on the criteria for deciding what
you should or shouldn’t be doing?
How would your life be if you knew exactly the people to surround
yourself with? Would you enjoy asking a premium rate for your services
and having customers line up to pay that price?
If you are clear about who you are as a person, it is much easier to get
all of these things done, allowing you to build a business model that fits
you like a glove and is more profitable at the same time.
It all starts with knowledge.
It amazes me that business owners spend weeks or months researching
their next office building or car but spend zero time researching their
most important asset: themselves. And nobody else will do it for you.

Change Agents
There is no way around it—if you want to become extremely productive,
you have to study your own personality, your experiences, and your
natural talents and gifts.
In another chapter in this book my colleague, Marlene Scott, describes
how to do this in the right way. I won’t duplicate it, but I do want to
stress that you are probably the biggest influence on the success of your
company. Investing time, money, and energy on figuring yourself out is
a great way to leverage everything you are and have.
A client of ours realized that he shouldn’t teach and train himself, but
should spend his time figuring out better ways to market his training
courses, and then hire others to do the actual delivery. Can you imagine
how much bigger his business can get? And he will have a lot more fun
and job satisfaction, because figuring out stuff is more interesting for
him than delivering training courses. Leverage!
III. Does What You Are Doing Make Any Sense to
You?
“Results don’t determine the worth of people; people determine the
worth of results.” ~ P.J. Eby
Some days are just boring. You often experience no sense of
accomplishment and don’t know if you did anything worthwhile. It was
just stuff that had to be done. Too many of these days in a row and you’ll
start suffering from a critical lack of meaning. If anything kills your
productivity in the short and long term, this is it.
Life is much more fun if you work on the things that are the most
important to you. When you feel that your future is going to be bigger,
better, and more beautiful than your past because of the work you did
today, life becomes enjoyable.
For that to happen, you need to know exactly what you are trying to
achieve in the long term. This is where working hard and working
productively can be two very different things. If you are not absolutely
clear about those goals, it makes no sense at all to study productivity.
What made you decide to become an entrepreneur? Was it your desire
for freedom? And if so, do you now have the freedom you were looking
for? Or did you want to make more money? If so—why? Is it purely the
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number on the screen when you look at your bank account? Or is money
a means to something more important for you? If so, does your current
business help you achieve that deeper goal?
Instead of focusing on a single goal, in my experience it is a much
more interesting creative challenge to figure out everything you want
from your business, then create a strategy that satisfies all these goals
simultaneously. In the end, it will probably be more lucrative too!
But, at a minimum, you have to decide what those goals are before you
can become more productive.
IV. What Bottlenecks Are You Conquering?
“Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
Do you feel you have to work harder than other people to reach your
goals? Are your projects struggling? I always enjoy work more when
I know I have picked a strategy that has a decent chance of actually
working. It’s a great way to get you into a winning frame of mind.
If you use the right method to think about a project before you start
working on it, that can greatly increase your chances of success. And it
makes it much easier to explain or defend your thoughts to your business
partner, bank—or spouse.
According to Professor Rummelt, the best way to start building a
strategy is to first figure out which obstacles are in the way of reaching
your goals. And then find a way to remove them.
We have found that, with our clients, the easiest way to identify these
obstacles is to build a special cause-effect diagram to get to the root of
the problems. This analysis, based on the Theory of Constraints by Eli
Goldratt, helps to focus your thinking and share it with others so they
can contribute too.
I will never forget one meeting where we were helping a client analyze
why their new company that they had been building for three years was
failing. The tree helped them pinpoint one surprising, but very clear
bottleneck.
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Change Agents
Once you know what the bottlenecks are, I’d advise you to draw up
three to ten completely different scenarios to solve these problems. That
forces you and your brain to come up with creative approaches.
You can then combine the best aspects from these scenarios into one
winning strategy.
V. Two Fairly Extreme Tips To Make The Most Of
Your Team (and Your Time).
I could write a separate book about selecting the right people and
delegating to them effectively. But there are two measures that I have
implemented with a great deal of success to free up my own time. First, I
required my team to send only “yes or no” emails. Instead of describing a
problem and waiting for my decision, they were to send emails in which
they were already suggesting a specific course of action. If I agreed, I
would just reply “yes.” This has saved me hours and hours of valuable
time, and, simultaneously, made my team accept a much higher level of
responsibility.
Then I told them that they could not email me any more at all. This
scared them initially, but has worked out great! I now schedule weekly
meetings where I meet with each one, who directly reports to me for 20
minutes. I put a kitchen timer on my desk, and they bring a list of the
items they want to discuss, sorted on priority and urgency. But they still
have to propose solutions. Now, all the practical stuff is taken care of in
a single Monday afternoon. This frees up so much of my time for more
valuable tasks that hardly anyone would believe my schedule now.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs never delegate enough because they
struggle with perfectionism. This eventually becomes a curse, because
you are doomed to do everything perfectly for the rest of your life. The
best way to beat this problem is to focus your quest for perfection on the
creation of a perfect team that can do all their jobs well.
How to Type 20 Times Faster –
With No Extra Training
Even when you have a great team, optimizing tasks can bring a huge
increase in your own productivity, mainly because cutting down on
administrative trivia allows you to focus more and improve your flow.
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For instance, in my book Outsmart Outlook, I explain how to set up
Microsoft Outlook® for maximum productivity. It turns out that by
making a couple of small changes, you can clear your inbox in half the
time. That by itself could save you an hour per day!
Also, tools like Fingertips or Typinator enable you to create acronyms
for some often-used phrases. You’ll never have to type the 62 characters
of the phrase “Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for
you” again. Instead, you just enter the three characters “lmk,” hit the
spacebar, and, magically, the acronym is replaced by the full phrase.
This saves you 59 keystrokes! And the slower your current typing speed,
the more time you save.
But it is not just technical tips and tricks that may benefit you. Name one
action or project that you know you’ve got to do, but keep procrastinating
on, and I’ll show you how your emotions are a much bigger driver of
productivity than most people realize. Building emotional intelligence
and skills may help improve your productivity even more.
Welcome to Ho’okipa Beach
Life goes by in a blur when you are not productive enough and yet
still putting everything into your business. No time to spend with
your children, family, or friends. Too much stress in your body and
no way to know when it will end.
Personally, I enjoy sitting in the sun, sipping a cafe solo, knowing that
everything is running smoothly at the office.
Wouldn’t it be great for you to have the luxury to freely discuss new
business opportunities with friends? Or just to hang out and enjoy a
day of surfing on Maui’s Ho’okipa Beach? Or to be able to ponder new
challenges like figuring ways to add some more value as entrepreneurs
to places where people now live in extreme poverty?
If there were ever reasons to disregard play and relaxation, being
extremely productive is definitely not one of them. Your business needs
you to have time off, where your subconscious mind can experience
some distance to generate new ideas, solve problems, and gain a new
perspective on everything.
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Change Agents
So force yourself to take a break at least one day each week. No
computer, no business books, no strategizing—no excuses.
Be Who You Are
Becoming an extremely productive entrepreneur or manager is not a
task for the faint of heart. It requires a fair amount of soul-searching,
thinking, discussions, and experimentation. Anyone who tells you
differently is not worth listening to.
You are a unique individual, and there is no way to prescribe from
the outside what you should be doing to add the most value to your
world in the least amount of time. In the end, you’ll need to base your
approach on becoming who you already are, instead of trying to imitate
the success of others.
This, certainly, is much more fun than just following a textbook approach.
And it’s worth the investment of your time, money, and energy. After
all, being on top of your world certainly beats lying on top of your
speeding car!
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About TJ
Are you an entrepreneur and do you feel that you are working way
too hard? Are the results you see not in line with all the time and
effort that you put into your business? Did you envision success in
a totally different way than how your work and life have turned out
to be right now?
TJ’s clients, one after another, have found that in working with him it is possible to
work less, have serious fun, and make a lot more money. It all comes down to working
based on who you are, instead of working according to somebody else’s ideas.
Most business owners start their company with a great deal of enthusiasm, based on
an idea, an ability to solve problems for their customers, and a lot of energy to make
it all happen.
But as the business grows, it becomes much harder to spend time on important and
enjoyable work, such as creativity, strategy, innovation, and growth. Instead, your
business starts to feel like a job in which you spend most of your time on stuff that
needs to be done, but drains your energy levels. Things like selecting, hiring, and
firing employees. Or, having to put up with a lot of red tape and just plain boring
administrative stuff. At the end of the day, you drag yourself home, ready for another
night of overtime work. And worst of all, there seems to be no way out!
As a long-time entrepreneur, best-selling author, and productivity expert, TJ Oosterkamp
loves to help entrepreneurs to optimize their productivity. Together with his friend and
colleague, Marlene Scott, he developed a proven system to help business owners free
up two hours every day for strategy, innovation, and growth.
It all started when TJ wrote a book about how to process your email in half the time.
Together with his team, he inspired and trained professionals in businesses of all sizes,
from small companies to multi-billion dollar enterprises like AkzoNobel, Vodafone,
BDO, Boston Scientific, Damen Shipyards, Hennes & Mauritz, Heinz, ING Bank, KLM Air
France, Toyota, Nestle, Pepsi Co, Philips, Reed Elsevier, Ricoh, and Unilever.
But TJ finds that he enjoys his work most when he trains and coaches business owners
who know that they themselves are the bottleneck in the growth and transformation
of their business. They are men and women who want to beat the system and figure
out better strategies to do things from their own personality. They want to learn better
ways to work with employees, freelancers, and suppliers—loving simple tricks to get
the most out of everything. They are business owners who don’t want to just improve
their email, but also want to improve anything that moves!
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If that’s you,
please surf to: www.FridaysOff.net
www.FridaysOff.net

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