Smonday

Over 23,000 people will die of a heart attack today and many already died at 9:00 a.m. Why? Stress. Why are they stressed so much on a Monday morning? That’s when they start their workweek. Why is their job stressful? They don’t enjoy it? Why don’t they enjoy it? It could be for a number of reasons… terrible boss, they don’t like their co-workers, it keeps them away from their family, but the #1 reason is because it’s not what they are supposed to be doing! They were meant for something else. God didn’t put you here on earth to be miserable ! He has you here for a purpose and when you are living out your purpose with passion you’re not going to be stressed! You’re going to be happy ; thus reducing the risk of a Monday morning heart attack! BEST NEWS of the day is that you have a choice!!!! You get to choose where you work and who you work with. No one is forcing you to work at your current job or business! You get to choose that. So if you’re not happy where you are at, change it!

To All My Network Marketing Friends…

The network marketing profession is one in which I have embraced for the past 5 years now. My intrigue 5 years ago turned into a love and complete embrace of it somewhere along the journey. There’s no doubt that for those that have an entrepreneurial bone in their bodies that it’s the greatest profession on earth and that’s why so many people decide to join a network marketing company. They see the possibility of their hopes and dreams being fulfilled and the realization and wake up call that their job will never fulfill them.

Because the profession is so attractive it draws so many types of people for so many types of reasons, which is both good and bad. You’ll have the people that see it as a way to earn a living while serving others’ needs and you’ll also have people who are just trying to make some quick money by any means necessary. The problem is that we all tend to get lumped in together. Someone may have a poor experience with one person or one company and then all of a sudden “all network marketing companies and network marketers are the same.” People who are genuinely in need of this are turned off because they think they have to do whatever the person who turned them off of it did. They think company ABC is the same as company XYZ just because both companies use the direct sales model to distribute their products, which is ridiculous because you don’t stop shopping at Target just because you had a bad experience at Wal-mart. You don’t assume that every retail store is the same because one of them has horrible customer service or their salesmen are like vultures… I digress.

That being said, I can understand where people are coming from with these notions. There are enough people out there going about this the wrong way for the wrong reasons that it surely can give the appearance that all network marketers are like that and what happens is that it hurts the profession as a whole. Let me be the first to admit, I made salesly social media posts and I’m sure sounded ridiculous when I first started talking with people. So, to my network marketing friends, I decided to give you some professional advice because I’m tired of face paling from seeing all the complaints about network marketers on my newsfeed and hearing stories from friends.

1. Stop asking people to buy something from you just so you can hit some new goal or advance in some rank. This is by far the most infuriating thing I’ve seen from people in this profession. If you’re asking them to do something so you can benefit, not them, then you’re in this for the wrong reason. If your means to your goal is to beg people to fit your product/service into their budget for the sole purpose of increasing yours, then you need to find a new profession. If you can’t show them the value in using your products or service and they don’t willingly purchase them then certainly don’t beg them to do it so you can make more money. Your job is to add value to the marketplace. Begging people to help you hit your goals isn’t doing that.

2. Ask people’s permission regarding private Facebook groups. Stop adding everyone on your friends list into groups that they didn’t ask to join. If you can’t show them the value of being added to some private Facebook group (and you’ll know if you did or not when you ask their permission) then you just don’t add them. It’s that simple.

3. Stop announcing on social media that “if anyone wants to buy something let me know.” Additionally, stop posting your link asking people to hop on your site and order from it. There’s nothing more “salesy” than that. It’s terrible. I mean really really terrible and unattractive. Sure, let people know what you’re doing. That’s a good thing. You want people to know you’re in business and what business you’re in, but don’t let them know just so you can ask them to buy something in the same sentence.

4. Best advice of all: Start trying to solve problems and stop trying to sell products/services. If you’re trying to sell someone something then you’re only worried about making a sale and not focused on helping someone else. Find out what problem your product/service would solve for someone and then provide the solution. If you do that and they don’t see how you can help them and they tell you they don’t want your product/service then the next step isn’t to try to find some product/any product that they’ll buy. The next step is to move on because there are numerous other people who need or want what you have. Have an abundance mindset, not a scarcity mindset. (Read more on this here: The Finite Pie)

5. Invite people to join you. If they don’t take the invitation then oh well. Seriously… them not joining you isn’t going to stop you from being successful. In most cases they’re missing out, but that’s their choice. Let them live with their choice and you move on with yours.

There are so many more tips that I could offer, but these are the main complaints I’ve seen or heard about. We are already fighting an uphill battle because people don’t understand what we do because it’s different. So let’s not make it a steeper hill for ourselves by continuing the aforementioned actions.

Your Broke Uncle Joe…

There’s a theme that I’ve heard in many talks and have read in many books that has presented itself in real life to me time and time again. It’s the theme of Broke Uncle Joe. We all have a Broke Uncle Joe. You may call him by another name, but you have one for sure. So who is Broke Uncle Joe?

None of us are perfect. Subconsciously knowing that we aren’t perfect we tend to seek advice from family, friends, co-workers, and others. We do it before making small decisions and even more frequently in larger ones. Some people may even do it because they care what people think of them. Here’s the problem in seeking advice from certain people… you have to be cautious not to take poor advice from people who have good intentions.

Your family members aren’t intentionally going to give you poor advice. They’re going to tell you what they think is best for you even if they have no clue about the subject matter that is involved in the decision. As well-intentioned as their advice may be, if they don’t have knowledge of the subject matter then it may just be poor advice.

So here is where Broke Uncle Joe comes into play…

Let’s say you are thinking about starting a new business. You go tell your Broke Uncle Joe what you’re thinking and he tells you not to do it. In fact, he warns you not to do it. He tells you that it’s a bad idea and that you’d be better off saving your money or spending it on something else. Here’s the thing about Uncle Joe though, he broke. He’s been an employee his entire life and knows nothing about starting a business. He’s resolved to the mindset of work til retirement instead of working for it. He lives paycheck to paycheck and depends on his employer to put food on his table.

So, why should you go to your Broke Uncle Joe and ask him his opinion? You shouldn’t, yet people do it ALL THE TIME except it’s not their uncle. It’s their friends. It’s their co-workers. It’s some of their family members. That’s their Uncle Joe.

Let’s say you are having marital problems. Would you think it’s wise to seek marital advice from a friend who is single or has been divorced multiple times? It doesn’t matter how many people you talk to who are similarly situated. Thomas Carlyle said it perfectly, “I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”

Wouldn’t it make much more sense to seek advice from someone who has what you want? If you’re having marital issues, wouldn’t it be wise to seek counsel from someone who has a thriving marriage? If you want to be a millionaire, wouldn’t it make sense to ask millionaires how they became so wealthy instead of asking your Broke Uncle Joe who isn’t?

So keep this all in mind when you seek advice from well-intentioned people.

Quote of the Day – “What Goes In Is What Will Come Out.” (#4)

“Your thoughts become your words; your words become your actions; your actions determine your outcome.”

If your thoughts determine your outcome then it would reason that to control your outcome you first must control how you generate your thoughts. What goes in is always what will come out. Our thoughts are generated by what we fill our mind with day to day.

Ever hear the concept that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with? Jim Rohn said it and it’ll be just as true when he said it as it will be long after you’re gone. It relates to the law of averages, which is the theory that the result of any given situation will be the average of all outcomes. This doesn’t just apply to the average of your friends, but to EVERYTHING you choose to surround yourself with.

If you hang around negative unsuccessful people then you too will become negative and unsuccessful. Your income will be the average of their income. So wouldn’t it make sense that if you start hanging out with successful people and millionaires that you too will become successful and have a better chance of becoming a millionaire?

This works the same way with other areas of your life. If you engage in negativity through social media (very easy to do with political or media outlets) then you’ll have a negative mindset. If you “follow” negative pages and filth then that’s what will come out of your mouth and what will consume your thoughts. Your thoughts will become the average of the things you surround yourself and allow in your mind.

“What we tolerate we give permission to exist.”

Just as you fuel your body with food, fuel your mind with positive thoughts. Turn off the news. Unfollow negative and media Facebook and Twitter accounts. Instead follow positive Facebook accounts, listen to motivating podcasts, read books on success and personal growth, and surround yourself with people more successful than you. Iron sharpens iron.

If you have already begun applying some of those actions, I would love your podcast and book suggestions. I’m always looking to grow my repertoire.

Quote of the Day – “Whatever It Takes” Is Not The Same As “Never Quit” (# 3)

“Whatever it takes is not the same as never quit.”

Countless motivational posters, videos, and speeches preach to people to “never quit.” You should “never quit” on your dreams. You should “never quit” on your goals. You should “never quit” on anything you want in life. Although it is important that you never quit, it doesn’t ensure that you’ll have monumental success and achieve greatness. It also doesn’t guarantee that you’ll achieve your goals and dreams. You can coast through life and never quit on your goals by doing the bare-minimum to achieve them and you just may possibly reach them especially if your goals are small.

Think about this example: Let’s say you are a door-to-door salesman selling vacuum cleaners (yes, people did that back in the day). You have a dream of being a millionaire because you want to be able to give more money to worthy causes, have no debt, own your house and cars out-right, have time and financial freedom, etc. Let’s also say that you have a resolution to “never quit.” You could “never quit” selling vacuums by going to one new house each month, knock on the door, and tell someone about your vacuum and technically you haven’t quit. You could do that once a year and still technically you wouldn’t have quit. So do you think you’d ever be a millionaire and achieve great success with just a “never quit” attitude? Probably not.

If you would like to reach your goals fast, achieve great success – more success than you could ever dream of achieving, then it’ll take more than a never quit mentality. It’ll take a “whatever it takes” mentality. When you have that mentality the light switch is flipped and then all of a sudden you go into overdrive. The goals you have are surpassed faster than you could’ve imaged and you’re now being forced to set new goals that you never dreamed of having. Your entire life changes.

Do WHATEVER IT TAKES. Having a never quit mentality isn’t enough.

Quote of the Day – Comparison Is The Thief of Joy (# 2)

“Average people compare themselves to others; successful people compare themselves to their potential.”

Something I’ve noticed over the last several years is that so many people count themselves out of something or tell themselves they can’t do something because they compare themselves to somebody else. People give up on their dreams because of it, which is a pretty depressing thought. I know people who know what they want and know how to get it, but they will tell themselves they can’t do it because they look at the success of some other person and will say something like, “I can’t be successful like them because I’m not as talented as they are” or any number of reasons. They compare themselves to someone else and count themselves out because they don’t believe they’ll be as good at what they want to do as someone else is. They rid themselves of joy and the success they could have in life.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Here’s a perfect example from a personal experience. At the time I was introduced to AdvoCare I was about as lean as I had ever been and didn’t really have any weight to lose. I saw a lot of people having success in AdvoCare and I noticed that nearly all of them lost a considerable amount of weight. So I told myself, “I’ll never be successful in this business because I don’t have a great weight loss story.” I began to count myself out before I even started. I compared myself to others and chalked their success up to some incredible weight loss story. Luckily I broke out of that mindset and decided not to allow comparison to steal my joy. I did what I wanted to do and now I have been able to retire from the practice of law at the age of 35, both my wife and I are work from home parents, we have eliminated six figures of debt, and we have complete time freedom to do what we want and when we want.

So if you want something in life, put your blinders on. Don’t look to your left or right. Focus on the end goal and achieve it. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing.

Don’t Leave Buttprints

I know this sounds pretty gloomy, but your life is ending. That’s one thing we all know for sure. Death is inescapable. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately… not necessarily death, but rather the time we have here on earth between conception and the day we breath our last breath. So I’ve been thinking about life actually and the limited time we spend living it. Time is precious, no doubt, and we never know when ours is going to end. We get one chance at life to do whatever we are going to do and with every passing moment we will never get that time back again. Unless you’re Dr. Strange or Superman, you can’t rewind time and have a do-over.

Knowing that my time is limited, I started thinking about how I’ve spent my 35 years on earth so far. I also asked myself, “If I die today, would I be able to look back at my life and be truly satisfied with how I spent my years here?” Right now the answer would be “no” and it may always be no, but that’s what will keep me striving for greatness.

I would love for everyone to be able to answer these questions for themselves:

If I die today, would I be able to look back at my life and be truly satisfied with how I spent my years here?

If the answer to the above question is “yes,” then WHY is it “yes?”
If the answer to the above question is “no,” then what can you do to live a life that you’d be satisfied with?

What kind of legacy to you want to leave?

Do you want to be remembered as a world-class spouse who became an example to other married couples, which strengthen the Sacrament of Marriage?

Do you want to be remembered as a world-class parent who sets the bar for other parents strive to hit?

Tell me if this doesn’t sober you up: Do you want your mark on this earth to be gravestone and some cloudy memories of you, which will die with the people you experienced those memories with?

“You can‘t leave footprints in the sands of time if you‘re sitting on your butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?”

The question is, what are you going to do with the time you’re given and with the rest of the sand in the hour glass. This is the BEST video that I have found which stresses this point. Take 5 minutes out of your day to watch it:

 

Quote of the Day – Greatness Is A Choice (# 1)

“You have greatness within you. You are designed for greatness, but you are not predestined for greatness. That’s a choice.”

Everyone has greatness within them, but they have to choose to realize it. It’s easy to get caught up in the way of the world and to go with the flow. Being comfortable in your daily routine is easy. Most of us don’t love it, but it’s hard to break out of that comfort zone most of the time, but out of the comfort zone is where you’ll realize your greatness and find success. Becoming great doesn’t just happen. It’s a choice. One of the most influential quotes on greatness I’ve ever heard was by Pope Benedict XVI:

“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”

How profound is that!? Don’t conform to the ways of the world just to be comfortable only to draw near to the end of your life and realize your potential. Start today! Drink a Spark, break out of your comfort zone, and own this day! “You don’t have to be great to start; but you have to start to be great!”

Monday Motivational Shorts… “Make Time”

When I share an incredible opportunity with people the most common objection I hear is, “I don’t have time.” I said the same thing when someone introduced the same opportunity to me 3 1/2 years ago. At that point in my life I was working 18 hours a day (4:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.). I “didn’t have time” for anything else. The truth is, you’ll never “find” time to do anything, but you can always “make” time for things that matter. People make time to watch their favorite t.v. shows, they make time to go out with friends, they make time to go get a few drinks, they make time to fool around on social media for hours throughout the day, etc. There are 24 hours in the day. You’re sleeping only 6-8 of them. Make the time to do things that matter. If I didn’t make time to do things that mattered 3 1/2 years ago then our family would be burdened with daycare costs, hardly ever get to see our child, we would have an unreal amount of debt, and be living with financial stress month after month. I know that life sounds familiar to the majority of Americans and may even be considered “normal” by today’s standards. Instead, my wife has the opportunity to raise our child, we’ve eliminated over $170,000 of debt, and we don’t stress when the bills come around every month or when we have a “surprise cost” when something breaks. Our goal is to make the “normal” type of life a rarity or non-existent for as many people as possible. ‪#‎thankyouadvocare‬ ‪#‎whowantstobenormal‬ ‪#‎maketime‬

If Nothing Changes…

Have you ever noticed people (family, friends, co-workers) complain about their circumstances, but they keep living the same old routine day after day? They don’t change anything. They wake up, go to work, come home, eat, watch T.V., go to bed, etc. in hopes that someday and somehow their life will just get better. I have news for those people… it won’t. The hard truth is… if nothing changes then nothing changes.

Are you one of those people stuck in the hamster wheel of life? The never ending rut where you find yourself constantly saying “next month we’ll be doing better” and then something else comes up?

Ask yourself this question… are you okay if nothing changes?

Are you okay if nothing changes?

If you answered “yes” to that question then ask yourself the following…

If you lost your job, would you still be okay? If not, wouldn’t you think it would be wise to have a “Plan B” income even to give you peace of mind?

Is your marriage the best it can be? Are you the best spouse you can be? If not, why don’t you look into ways to improve your marriage? (Marriage conferences, read books on marriage – “The 5 Love Languages” would be a good start, or hang out with couples who’s marriage you would like to emulate)

Are you the best parent you can be for your children? Children spell “love” T-I-M-E. Do you give them enough of it or just what’s left over at the end of the day?

For things to change, you must change. Nothing is going to change by you “going through the motions” day in and day out. I know because I lived that life. At 32 years of age I was working 18 hours a day trading hours for dollars because there was always too much month at the end of the money. My student loan payments were crippling. Instead of hoping that the government would come to my rescue and bail me out by forgiving my loans, I took personal responsibility for making the choice to borrow the money in the first place, which meant I had to work a second job. Then I lived that 18 hour a day life for years until my friend introduced me to AdvoCare. In the past 3 1/2 years, AdvoCare has helped us eliminate a personal loan, three student loans, and five nearly maxed out credit cards. It’s given us the option to allow my wife to stay home and raise our children. It allows us to have more money to give to causes dear to our heart. It gives us peace of mind that we never even dreamed of until we were surrounded by the culture and the people involved with AdvoCare.

If you don’t have a plan to give you more time with your family, eliminate your debt, or a Plan B income to take care of your family if you lose your job then it’s time to make some changes. If not AdvoCare then what’s your plan? If not AdvoCare then that’s okay… just do SOMETHING to better your situation.