The Story of Abraham Lincoln

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln had two business ventures fail, lost 8 different elections and had a complete nervous breakdown before becoming president in 1816? His story is a great inspirational confidence story in that he shows how if you just keep moving towards your dream, you will eventually make it.
Abraham Lincoln overcame great setbacks and obstacles on his journey. Take a look at the synopsis of his life and see whether you would have had the courage to continue on?

1809 Born February 12
1816 Abraham Lincoln's family was forced out of their home and he needed to work to support his family.
1818 His mother passed away
1828 His sister dies
1831 A business venture failed
1832 He ran for the State Legislature. He lost.
1832 In the same year, he also lost his job. He decided he wanted to go to law school but couldn't get in.
1833 He borrowed money from a friend to start a business. By the end of the year, he was bankrupt.
1834 He ran for the State Legislature again. This time he won.
1835 The year was looking better as he was engaged to be married. Unfortunately, his fiancee died and he was grief stricken.
1836 This was the year he had a total nervous breakdown and for 6 months was bedridden.
1836 He sought to become Speaker of the State Legislature. He was defeated.
1840 He sought to become Elector. He was defeated.
1842 Marries Mary Todd. They have 4 boys but only one would live to maturity.
1843 He ran for Congress. He lost.
1846 He ran for Congress again. He won and moved to Washington.
1848 He ran for re-election to Congress. He lost.
1849 He sought the job of Land Officer in his home state. He didn't get the job.
1850 His son, Edward, dies.
1854 He ran for the Senate of the United states. He lost.
1856 He sought the Vice Presidential nomination at a national convention. He got less than 100 votes.
1858 He ran for the Senate again. He lost again.
1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States
1862 His son, Willie, dies at age 12.
1865 On April 14, Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.

Never quit....keep driving forward!

Developing your "Why"

In every business I've been a part of it became essential to my development and success to learn my "why" in doing the business. In essence, what drives you? What motivates you? What gets you out of the bed in the morning and starts your day? What makes you want to put in those extra hours, and extra phone calls to spell success? In short, WHY DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS BUSINESS?

It became absolutely vital to my personal business success that I develop and write out my why statement. After I wrote my "why statement" I printed it out and put it somewhere where I could see it every day.

And here is what happened.............

Tuesday, at 6:25 p.m. my little nephew Jack was born into the world. He was born weigh 7 Lbs 11 ounces.

If that wasn't enough.................

We learned later that Jack nearly died in childbirth. My sister-in-law had a hard time pushing and Jack wasn't coming out. He was delivering face up and his heart rate was dropping fast. The Dr's scrambled fast and inserted a vacuum device into the womb and literally sucked baby Jack out. Jack and his mother are both alive and well.

The moral of the whole story............

Life is short. One day we are here, the next we are gone. Everyday we take precious time for granted. Having control over my financial destiny is important to me. However, no amount of $$ will EVER take the place of my two boys and wife. I am blessed to have a family around me. I am equally blessed to have an amazing team working with me. I don't know what your "why" is....but I hope that is has something to do with having the freedom to create more time for yourself...so that you can spend it with the most precious commodity we have on this Earth........"People". Especially the ones we love. I encourage you to develop and write out your "why statement". Print it out and keep it visible where you can read it every single day.

The Law of Attraction

Have you ever wanted to know why one person seems to "get lucky" and the other guy seems to always run into problem after problem with his life, relationship's and finances?

There isn't a real cookie cutter answer to that question. However, I do believe that we constantly attract things into our lives, either positive or negative. This is what has become known as, The Law of Attraction. Sometimes you may even hear me call it "The Attractor Factor"

There is numerous books on this subject matter from Abraham-Hicks book, "The Law of Attraction", to the more famous version currently, "The Secret".

So, what is the secret? It's simple (according to the book) we hold the key to our own success in our brain. Whatever we are thinking on a daily basis is ultimately what we draw into our lives.

Bob Doyle (author and law of attraction specialist) claims that 'like attracts like'. So, as you think a thought, you are also attracting "like" thoughts to you.

John Assaraf (entrepreneur and moneymaking expert) claims that the law of attraction "becomes what you think about most, but you also attract what you think about most".

Dr. Joe Vitale (metaphysician, marketing specialist, and author) says, "You want to become more aware of your thoughts and choose your thoughts carefully and you want to have fun with this, because you are the master piece of your own life. You are the Michael Angelo of your own life. The David you are sculpting is YOU."

This really makes a lot of sense in both your life and your career. Think about the times you have stayed up half the night worrying about something. Nine times out of ten the very thing you were worried about HAPPENS. According to the 'Law of Attraction' it's because you drew it into your life.

Spend your time thinking positive about your business. Sharpen your tools, get stronger, get better! As you do this...your business will naturally grow because you will be attracting success.

In the book, Think and Grow Rich, by Napolian Hill, the author goes into great detail on how he attracted wealth into his life. He would spend the first five minutes of the morning and the last five minutes before he went to bed....thinking and meditating about wealth. He didn't worry about "How" that was going to take place, but he put his brain into motion and he recognized later that his thought patterns literally attracted wealth into his life.

Last, but not least, think about the people and things around you. Who or what are you attracting into your life? Remember....."like attracts like". Become what you want to attract and you will attract it.

Can you really motivate others to succeed?

I remember when I was a director with another MLM company that I had several people on my team frustrated because it was difficult to motivate others. So, the questions remains: Can you motivate others to be successful in network marketing?

To answer this question I relied on network marketing industry expert Aaron Rashkin.

Aaron is an MLM Expert whose 14 years experience being self employed in Free Enterprise has allowed him to earn a high multiple six figure yearly income since 2004 and currently his team reaches almost 10,000 people in 14 countries doing millions of dollars in business every year. Read what he has to say about motivating others.

"I get asked dozens of times every month by ambitious network marketers (even in my own organization) from all over the world, "How can I motivate others to become more successful?" Now as great as it might sound to be able to motivate someone else, the answer is, you cannot successfully motivate others. You may inspire them, but motivation for them must come from within.
Anything less than internal motivation is like spray paint on rust. Eventually, when the motivation from an event or pep talk wears off, its a person's commitment that is left over. You cannot motivate others to want to succeed any more than you can push a rope uphill.
Truth is, a person must first want it for themselves before they will ever become successful. If you want it more for someone else than they want it for themself, this can become very unhealthy. (for both parties) The key then to having motivated people on your team, is to be motivated yourself. Being self motivated is the only surefire way to reach long term success.
Being self motivated means that you don't require someone else to remind you of the opportunity you have in front of you. Being self motivated means that you wake up every morning raring and ready to take on the day, create new relationships, market your business and show people how to get started. Being self motivated means that you attend local events, regionals, conventions or trainings without having to be reminded that these events are taking place. Being self motivated means that you invest in your education by reading good books, listening to audios and modeling successful people.
Being self motivated means that you take all out massive action, regardless of who believes in you, supports you or joins you. Being self motivated means that you are inspired by your future and what is possible. Being self motivated means being self determined. Being self motivated requires that you are self functional. This means that you must learn the system, how to do business and produce.
So what do you do if your prospects are unmotivated to get started and your team unmotivated to take action? FIRE THEM and find new people. New people who are hungry for success, will stop at nothing to get it and are determined to develop themselves into a leader that others are looking to follow." -- Aaron Rashkin

Jim Rohn says it best, "You can't change people. It's like herding cats! People have to want to change themselves!"

With that said....I'm off to read more and sharpen my own skills! Go team!

Lesson #2

In the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki points out a very important rule.

RULE #1

You must know the difference between an asset and a liability, and buy assets. If you want to be rich, this is all you need to know. It is rule no. 1. It is the ONLY rule.

The poor and middle class acquire liabilities, but they think they are assets.

The key is to learn how to read the numbers. And if you cannot read the numbers, you cannot tell an asset from a hole in the ground.

An asset leads to income.....and a liability only leads to an expense......

I recommend to anyone on the team to go and invest in the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad,.....its a new school of thought but we are from a new generation where our financial literacy is increasing. School's don't teach wealth 101 or 102....you can find those classes in some high quality books and Cd's at your local bookstore.

Your Actions Define You

I once heard a famous speaker proclaim these words, "Your actions define who you are". I believe those words as the truth. You've heard it said before..."actions speak louder than words", "It's not what you say, it's what you do", "Talk is Cheap", "Walk the walk, don't talk the talk"....etc.

Well, there is a lot of truth to all of this. At any point of our life you could probably pin point a time when you said this, or you said that....and didn't follow it up with action (I know that I have). Words without action is just lip service...and to coin the Seinfeld expression.."yadda yadda yadda"

Anthony Robbins in his book, 'Awaken the Giant Within', goes into detail about what it means to have action in what you do.

"The most powerful way to shape our lives is to get ourselves to take action. The difference in the results that people produce comes down to what they've done differently from others in the same situations. Different actions produce different results. Why? Because any action is a cause set in motion, and its effect builds on past effects to move us in a definite direction. Every direction leads to an ultimate destination: our destiny."

And here is the key to what Anthony Robbins is getting at....

"In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently"

I received wise counsel from a leader in another direct marketing company. Her advice for success in business was simple. In fact, it was only two words.

"Consistency, and Persistency"

We all must be consistent in what we are doing in order to achieve true success. Don't quit...stay in the race. Think of it as a marathon and not a sprint. You need to stay consistent and build upon that consistency. Start forming positive habits, work your business EVERY DAY. Build the courage the talk to at least ONE person every day about your business.

Also, it's important to stay persistent in what you are doing. You are going to get rejected. It's a fact of life. What do you do with the people who "aren't interested"? My old sales manager from Wisconsin would always say, "No doesn't mean no. It just means NOT YET". In this business the key to persistency is "Polite Persistent". Don't chase people. When a person asks for information don't unleash the fire hose and blow them away with so much technical stuff that you literally blow them away!" However, follow up with people. Keep a "drip list" of people who initially said "I'm not interested" and follow up quarterly.

Consistency and persistency are both actions that will define you. Go out and make it happen!

The Love Connection

Do you love what you do? Why or Why Not? Everyday we face the possibility of what are attitude is like. Your thought process is the ONE thing you can control. Think about this....your brain is sooooo powerful that you can literally control what goes in and what goes out. Therefore, you can literally shape and develop your attitude. We can ALSO shape and develop our LOVE for people.....which is the most powerful emotions we have!

So, if we know that Love is one of the most powerful emotions we have...we can literally harness the energy from this emotion through our brain to do A LOT of GOOD. Why? Because we can control what goes in and what goes out!! We're in control!!! God made us beings of thought and will...he did not make us robots!

The Master Himself (Jesus Christ) taught this information and summed everything up into TWO BASIC LAWS.

#1 Love God with all your heart, mind and soul

#2 Love your neighbor as yourself.

The key word in both these commandments was to LOVE.

The key to harnessing this powerful emotion? Get your mind OFF yourself and onto others. Start caring for the will being of people. Start asking more questions. Start listening more and talking less. Start affirming others instead of criticizing. Start being part of the solution instead of the problem....simply put... love until it hurts, and when the day is through, love again!

The Burning Heart

They say if you can take a thought, and mix it with a burning heart and desire to do something, that you can accomplish anything.

You can't teach a burning heart. You either have it or you don't. But....you certainly can develop a burning heart. The burning desire to succeed is in us all....but if the seed is flooded out by the negative thoughts of society, if it is blown away by the sweeping winds of change, if it is swallowed hole by the birds of in opportunity....you stand the chance of having that fire extinguished.

May I offer a suggestion? For once in your life quit listening to the negative voices and tune your ear to the positive air waves. Why take criticism and advice from losers? If you are receiving advice from someone...consider this....ask yourself: Is this a person whom I want to be like? Do they earn the income I want to make? Are they at a place in their life that I want to be at? If not...why take advice or criticism from them?

Simply walk away.....because you cannot put your burning heart at jeopardy.

In the days of the Vikings, they would pull their ships to shore and burn them. The Generals would than pronounce to the warriors, "The ships are gone. There is only one way to get back home and that is to win this battle or war!" "There is no going back....only forward!"

It's the sink or swim mentality. All or nothing, win or lose. The only option for survival is to WIN!

The burning ships translated themselves onto the hearts of the Viking warriors and turned into a massive burning fire within their hearts! I wish the same onto you!

In closing, a famous track star won the gold medal in high jump. It totally amazed the reporters and spectators because this track champion only had ONE LEG. How was it possible that a one legged man could win the gold medal in the high jump? So the reporters asked him. He replied, "I threw my heart over the bar....and my body followed"

You can do anything in life and in business if you give it enough heart! Don't stop, Don't whine, Don't quit....keep driving on with a burning desire to win...and you will!

Failing Forward

In business and in life we strive for perfection. We excel in knowing that we 'got it right...the first time'. We measure success with victory and live to tell the story of Super Bowl Champs and paste giant "Loser" signs on Super Bowl losers. Lets face it...nobody remembers who finishes 2nd place in our society. They only remember the winners.

In order to get ahead...you need to throw out that philosophy. Not only is it impractical, its not realistic and its certainly NOT healthy. You don't win from winning. You win from losing. When you lose and when you stumble you LEARN. Its in life's lessons that we get stronger. It's in the little failures and big failures where we get better. No child learned to ride a bike without scraped up knees. Its the nicks, bruises and burns along the way that make us who we are.

John Maxwell in his book, "Failing Forward" hits the nail on the head.

"One of the greatest problems people have with failure is that they are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them as failures. Instead, they need to keep the bigger picture in mind. Someone like Tony Gwynn doesn't look at an out that he makes and think of failure. He sees it within the context of the bigger picture. His perspective leads to perseverance. His perseverance brings longevity. And his longevity gives him opportunities for success."

No matter where you are currently in life....come to realize that mistakes and failures build you into success.

Thomas Edison discovered the phonograph while trying to invent something different. Kellog's Corn Flakes resulted when boiled wheat was left in a baking pan over night. Ivory Soap floats because a batch was left in the mixer too long and a large volume of air whipped into it. Scott Towels were launched because a toilet paper machine put too many layers together.

Fail....Fail often, Fail early and Fail Forward!!