October 23, 2016 - Shadow

I was at an amazing ACN event this weekend in Toronto. There was leadership from the US as well as Canada there helping us develop our businesses.

I got a lot from everything that was talked about but the one that struck me to the heart was an illustration about why building a huge business is the most important factor to financial success.

Microsoft has about 115,000 employees globally. For this example we are going to reduce that to 100,000. Let’s also assume that their employees work 40 hours a week. That means Bill Gates is capitalizing on 4 million hours of work EACH WEEK. Bill Gates earns from each hour worked in his company and that means he is making a portion of each of those hours worked.

How does that reflect on my ACN business? Well, because I make from ¼% to 8% of my team member’s sales, the more people I have making more sales, the better I will do. But the REAL joy of me ACN business is the more my team members make the more I will make. It behooves me to help my team make as much money as they possibly can. Bill Gates does not make more money if his people make more money, quite likely it is the opposite.

That light bulb kind of when bazinga on me this weekend. I knew it before but I really liked that illustration as it etched into my psyche WHY this ACN business is so powerful. We cannot make it big alone. Many people build a small business and are happy with it. And that is perfectly fine.

But,….

I want to dent the universe. I want to be able to look back on my life and say I am so grateful now that I have:

• Helped 10,000 people achieve their dreams.
• Retired my wife Linda to pursue her dreams and help her mom stay in her own home as long as she wants.
• Grew my personal relationships with Linda, Morgan and Ainsley to unfathomable depths.
• Become the single largest charitable donator to the Salvation Army.
• Contributed to my Alumni Association and LO’s education funds sending 25 kids to school each year
• Become a leader in my family hosting annual retreats at our cottage.
• Earned a passive residual income of more than 100,000 a month

But, but, but…

If it meant to be, it is up to me.

I have to grow to a point where I can earn everything I want. I am merely at the start of the journey that will take me to where I want to go. I need to grow into a giant compared to what I am now.

Amar Singh said yesterday, “Money is a SHADOW of the REAL THING”. My shadow is small right now. I need to grow in order to case a larger shadow. I’m in the right light, I just need to grow.

Chat later!

Be kind to yourself.

October 21, 2016 - My Why

It occurred to me you do not know the WHY of my work.

My wife, Linda, discovered a lump on her breast in 1998. It turned out to be a very nasty form of breast cancer, it ate estrogen. Our kids were 6 and 4 at the time and we decided to focus on Linda's physical health and the mental health of the kids.

I used holiday days to take Linda to clinic. Twice a month. I would get up in the middle of the night to be able to get to places like North Bay as the stores were opening - I was selling seeds and garden supplies and servicing seed racks. I would get home very late at night but was there every night in case I was needed.

In the middle of Linda's chemotherapy I was fired. My boss told me I was spending too much time at chemotherapy clinics and that all sorts of people get cancer. The was the Thursday of Easter Weekend. I have never really had a job since. The one "job" I had was such a mess I work to keep it out of my mind.

I have been teaching part-time since 1990. I had that going for me. I have had positive supportive people in my life. These allowed me to earn money while Linda was in treatment and help care for our kids.

Linda's treatment took about 12 years. She had surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, more surgery and 11 years of prophylactic chemotherapy. She is a rock. Never complained.

About 1 year or so into her treatment I was working on a landscape construction project. My business partner and I were working on environmental remediation projects; planting trees, building hibernacula, etc. It was cold out - October or November - and we were having date night. The kids were getting ready for bed. We were in the kitchen. I was leaning on the counter and Linda was seated. I then wrote a cheque to Linda. I cheque she has yet been able to cash. I told here that when we finished to project we were working on she would be able to stay home and care for the kids and heal.

That NEVER happened.

Sparse teaching contracts, recessions, etc. I can blame all sorts of outside influences but it was really me. 

Flash ahead to now. I am now an Independent Business Owner in ACN. I  am on the cusp of being able to let Linda cash that cheque. The kids are grown now and starting their careers. But I can now do something different but the same.

In 1960 Linda's parents made a decision and Linda's mom sacrificed her nursing career to stay home to raise her kids. Now Linda's mom is 79. Linda's mom loves where she is living but is faced with a decision on whether or not to move. I am working to do for Linda's mom what I was not able to do for our kids.

My WHY? I am working to allow Linda to give back to her mom what her mom gave her so many years ago. That is why I have planted my flag and am working to make life a better experience for my family.

October 20, 2016 - Happiness Advantage

Seth Godin says you must be able to tell people every day about your work and what is interesting about it. I know I have written about it before but thought I’d do that again here.

Last night we had an ACN team meeting in Burlington. We had no guests so we spent time talking and learning about products. It was OK but the better thing that happened was a connection with two younger team members. They are struggling in their lives and have decided to make ACN the focus of their financial lives. The will go far!

I love that interaction. Helping people is why I am doing what I am doing.

Today I am headed to a high school in Burlington to teach horticulture. I look forward to this class as I can help some people head on their way to their area of study they want. I am supposed to be “pushing” Humber College but really what I want the students to do is pursue their interests.

While I am writing this I am listening to Shawn Achor talking about happiness and how important it is to your general success in life. What he is saying ties in to what I am thinking about teaching perfectly. I want my students to find their major purpose in life and follow that with a passion.

So these SHSM students I am teaching the Dual Credit to…. Most are bring pressured into the “Formula for Failure” in today’s and tomorrow’s economy. The formula is this, Get Good Grades + Go to University and get a Degree = Get a Good Job. Unfortunately there are no “good” jobs. Not many anyway that need a degree.

That is why I push people to follow their heart. There is one kid in today’s class that wants to get into business accounting and really wants to do that. Awesome. If I can meet him in 20 years he will be having a career he wants to. There is another kid in that class who is on the same path but because his parents are pushing him there. HE won’t be so happy.

I teach stuff that is not on the “curriculum” but will help ignite a spark of interest in my students. Today we are talking about seed germination.  And puffballs!

This Puffball was found in Burlington Ontario October 17 2016. It is about 14" across!

I am blessed in that when I was 14 I saw something I wanted to explore and work on. I fought my mom and made it to the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture. I have had a great career from a personal fulfillment standpoint. Not so much financially.

Recently I have started building my ACN business. I am facing some of the same resistance I found when I was staring horticulture. I need to build my ACN business in order to find the financial success my family needs.

You see I love my life. I really do. Some people may look at me and think, Hmmmmmmmm. But I see my future and am soooo looking forward to it!

And tonight, I am headed to an ACN business building meeting in Toronto. Going to see James Adlam and Mathieu Ambrose. I am so looking forward to the personal development I will be subjected to over the weekend.

Have a wonderful day!

October 16, 2016 - 5 Major Life Questions

I was listening to an interview with Darren Hardy. I honestly cannot remember who he was interviewing but I am grateful I heard it. The guy Darren was interviewing wrote a book. In his research he discovered that all of the wildly successful people in the world had answered the Five Major Life Questions. I’ve distilled them here:

The 5 Major Life Questions

1. What is your purpose?

Why are you here. What is your purpose for doing what you are doing. If you cannot answer this question well you are just wallowing. You need to have a focus, a passion, a drive that gets you going and keeps you going through thick and thin. Mother Teresa knew her purpose and lived that purpose every day.

2. What do you value?

Are you merely working for money or are you building a legacy for your family? For the world at large? Are you trying to dent the Universe? Most entrepreneurs see something wrong with the way things are and are trying to fix it. Most entrepreneurs head out to make a change and as a consequence make money. Is what you are doing in alignment with your values?

3. What are your talents?

This is a hard question to answer. BUT if you figure out what your talents are and use them every day toward you major purpose in life, your success will unfold in front of you. Do more of what you are good at and less of what you are not so good at.

4. How will the world experience you? Today? In 5 years? In 10 years?

Look forward. With your goals in mind think of how the world will experience you in 5 years and in 10 years? What are you doing to impact others? Make your impact positive!

5. Who would you be if you were already there?

In order to have more in life you must become more. In order to change your circumstance you must change yourself. So picture you at the pinnacle of your own success and figure out what kind of person is there. Then start right in, right now to become that person.

People, all people, suffer from four major addictions. These are not the usual addictions that people think about when they hear the word addiction but they are equally as destructive.

The 4 Major Addictions

The Past

I know so many people that peaked in high school. Their best days are behind them and they tell me every time I encounter them. People dwell on stuff that happened even yesterday. It is important to learn from past experiences but feel the experience, and then let it go.

Worry

Worry is the negative use of the imagination. Most everything we worry about doesn’t happen. If it does happen it is so less debilitating that what we were expecting. Worry is simply a waste of time and it fills your body with negative emotion.

Drama

We all have those people in our lives that have “the most terrible thing happened to me on my way to work, school, church, temple, whatever….” Everything is a huge issue. Get over it. Nobody cares and it is in the past. Live your life calmly.

Opinion of other people

Most people you know won’t go to your funeral. Why would anyone care about what someone else thinks ESPECIALLY if it means it distracts you from you major purpose in life. Most people are not even paying attention to you. Live your life. 

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9PmuAFsQOM

October 15, 2016 - Motivation

“The best motivation comes from within” – Michael Johnson

It may seem weird to some people thinking I am using Michael Johnson as a thought provoker today. He is a MMA athlete and I am against MMA. But even so, I look anywhere for the thoughts I need to work with to change my life for the better. Just because I do not agree with MMA (obviously) doesn’t mean Michael Johnson has to.

I like the quote because it comes from two main areas; “motivation” and “within”.

Motivation is what keeps you going. What does it mean though? The root word is MOTIVE. Motive is why you do a certain act, why you act a certain way; incentive. In other words what is your WHY? What I am struggling with is keeping my WHY front and centre during my day.

I’m on something like day 5 of a 30 day exercise Brian Tracy suggested to do to change my life. Each morning I write down the top 10 goals I have without looking at the previous day. So each morning I write 10 things I am grateful for, I list 3 people I do not like but want to send love to and then I write the list of the top 10 goals.

The goal writing is important because what it is helping me do is distill exactly WHAT my WHY is. I have my why written down in rough draft and that is to retire my wife. But I am still working on my deeper why. The why that will keep me eating healthy, focused on short term goals to achieve higher meaning.

I truly believe that when there is a white hot burning desire to achieve something, results will occur. I have a burning desire to become Team Coordinator in my ACN business. That desire is achievable sooner than later.  BUT but but but but. I need to distill my why into a short mantra in order to achieve my goals.

Within? That is easy. My soul has to be aligned with my goals. I believe that everyone has a soul. I am not talking from a religious sense but I believe there are people who want to feed their souls and have a belief in their own abilities to achieve things. People who have a poor sense of themselves seem to have no motive.

The Greeks call a sense of self EGO. (They confuse EGO with ARROGANCE) I get disturbed when people criticize someone for having a big ego. A sense of self is the most important thing a person can develop. I believe that ego and soul are very closely aligned or even the same thing.

So how can I summarize? I truly believe that when a person has a strong and “pure” motive and they can align that with their soul they will have motivation. That is why I am working so hard to develop a more pure WHY.

I want to be able to subconsciously filter EVERY decision I have to make through a filter which you can call my motive. Once I can get that filter fine tuned I won’t have to consciously think about any decision I need to make.

One last thought and I am sure I have written about this before. That is a breakdown of the word ENTHUSIASM. Please forgive me if my Greek isn’t up to par.

The word EN THUS IASM comes from the Greek En Theos. God within. Soul? Ego? Meaning the god within is what pushes us and guides us and helps us with our day to day decision making. The suffix IASM stands for I Am Self Motivated. Think about it……

Have an awesome day.

My motivation, Linda, took this photo of the rest of my motivation. L to R Bosley (dog), Robert Herbus, Ainsley Robertson, Samantha White, Morgan Robertson. At Port Burwell Provincial Park October 9, 2016

October 14, 2016

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it." - Lou Holtz

For those of you who don't know, Lou Holtz was a US football coach. He was known to be able to inspire players to incredible heights.

But isn't that true though? Most of the stuff we go through isn't what happens but how we reacted?

Reminds me of a comedian I heard once of people who do not evacuate during hurricanes. They say the wind is only 80 miles per hour. This guys says, "It isn't THAT the wind is blowing 80 miles per hour, it is WHAT the wind is blowing 80 miles per hour!"

So it isn't THAT something "bad" happened, it is HOW we react that really affects not only us but the people around us. 

That is one of my challenges. Actually I think that right now it is the largest obstacle I need to overcome. I all too often let the circumstance dictate my mood. I am great in the morning when my energy is highest but as the day progresses into evening my energy and focus decreases and I tend to re-act instead of act.

So! I am working on training myself to be more deliberate in my actions all of the time but especially when my energy decreases and I am more tired and hungry.

Last night my up line and the rest of the team were 30 minutes late for training and then they ate their supper so we didn’t even get started until almost 60 minutes late. I let that get to me. I was snappy to people. I was not a good person. I was not in a “good mood”!

I reacted. I should have just acted. Instead of being an ass I ought to have just moved on with what I needed to do (present) and let everything else slide. I couldn’t have changed the circumstances if I had tried.

As Jim Rohn says, “The same wind blows on us all. The difference in destination is not the wind but the set of the sail.”

So here I am, very tired from the late night and early morning. My conscious brain is hard at work making sure or at least trying to make sure my reactions are not reactions but action. Thoughtful, deliberate actions about what happens to me today.

Happy Friday!