Recently Ed Stafford completed the unimaginable trek along the Amazon river from source to sea. He started April 2nd, 2008 and completed a few weeks ago on August 9th, 2010. The distance? Oh just a few miles, try 4,000 to be exact (That’s 6,437 KM’s) To put that into perspective that’s the same distance as walking from Vancouver to Halifax which if you change the directions on Google maps from driving to walking is about 45 days. Ed’s trip was 859 days through dense forest where he encountered biting insects, snakes, bogs (not blogs), jaguars, pit vipers, deadly electric eels and tribes thinking he was some gringo looking to prospect land for oil.
This is on determined man because his partner who was supposed to do the whole thing with him left after 3 months. He was later joined by another man from Peru who said he would guide him for 5 days however ended up taking him all the way to the end. The sheer will to complete something of this task, to be away from friends and family for over two years to complete this ultimate journey is just astonishing. However it was his determination and whether that determination was fuelled by his egotistical desire to be in the record books or his goal of raising awareness and money for Cancer Research, the ME Association and Rainforest charities, it doesn’t matter. He had a goal large enough that no matter what stood in the way, anaconda’s, tribe members that wanted to hill him, he did the near impossible and completed his journey.
I guess I can equate in some ways to Lindsay and I building our side business. Yes the odds are stacked heavily against us and seem somewhat near impossible however we have a goal and a dream that’s larger than any obstacle and that is fuelling our desire for more out of life. We have one life to live and we plan to live it to the fullest and that does not mean living in debt (house, car, loc, credit card, student loans, etc…) or earning enough to just get by every single week and not being able to bless our parents who have given us so much. To me that’s not living, maybe to some but not us.
The one biggest thing we have in our corner that Ed did not in his near impossible dream is that we have people backed by people backed by more people in succession without failure that have accomplished the things we want to accomplish and knock down. It’s not some person somewhere that sorta was successful, it’s people we get coaching and mentoring from each day. Ed did not have people he could go to and say hey how did you make it through this part or that part. What did you do here or there? Yes, Ed made it without guidance or help but he did end up making a lot of mistakes along the way and in some instances it almost cost him his life, ended up getting off track, and almost starving to death. I take comfort in the fact that we can avoid those kinds of mistakes because the people who’ve gone before us can teach us not to make those same mistakes and help us become more successful and in turn any mistakes that we make we can pass the knowledge on and make sure our team are successful.
I am pretty pumped to read whatever book Ed puts out of his journey’s because the videos I’ve seen so far are pretty flippen amazing. I’m pretty inspired by Ed and what he’s accomplished. Why? Because he was determined and he beat the odds and did what people said he couldn’t do or thought he was crazy for trying. He turned around and proved them all wrong. We will prove people wrong and beat the odds, statistics and naysayers because our goals are worth every single ounce of energy and time we put into them and helping others do the same is an amazing accomplishment.
What’s the other option? Say those goals and dreams are not worth it? Quite? Give up?
Check out Ed’s Blog here – http://www.walkingtheamazon.com
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Please check out these other determined bloggers in the 2010 Summer Blogging Challenge. Cliff – Peer Pressure Works, Chad – The Grind, Kelly – ‘Round the Bend, Kim – In Desperate Need of Entertainment, Kyle – Teacher, Tinkerer, Farmer, Geek, Liam – In the Now, Brad – Kick Me Out Soon, Tammy – Tam I am, Erron – From The Inside Looking In, James – Feelings of White, Vlad – Analog Coast, Janine - Because
I see what you are saying. I agree, you and Lindsay have control over yourselves, but really, that’s it.
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I agree my experience was 15 years ago, however, in following your blog there are far more similarities than differences.
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I’m afraid that it’s not really a people business, it’s a product based business and if you disagree, I would submit you check with Amway to see what their thoughts are.
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I did have a bad experience, and it wasn’t a bad experience until I discovered the truth about what was going on. Everyone was a really nice person, and I never viewed them as evil, nor do I think that today. There were just a number of half truths, inconsistent messages, and general information control which contributed to the bad taste in my mouth afterwards.
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I also was party to people buying their parents wonderful things, but what I didn’t know at the time is that the money which was used to encourage me to succeed did not come from the movement of Amway products.
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Anyway, I don’t want to get into a whole thing with you here, but your enthusiasm and belief that a better life is on the way is all too familiar with anyone who has been involved.
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As to what the success being proven over and over is, I would seriously question why Eagle and Double Eagle is so touted, yet is absolutely no indicator of profitability. In business, success is profit. The feel good atmosphere could be considered a ploy to draw attention away from the fact that moving products is so darned difficult!
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I implore you to think about the messages you have received from your upline, examine what the motivation for them to counsel you is, and most importantly, to watch where your disposable income goes.
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I cannot stress this enough, I say this all with loads of respect. I certainly appreciate the excellent candor you blog about your business to share with others. It is your strength, and I respect it. Sincerely.
Thanks Rocket,
I guess I could use this video to check what the Amway Global business is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Y6RbDNEv0) , but I don’t need a video to tell me what I personally already know with how we are building this business here in Alberta. I cannot stress that enough that what we are doing in Alberta is something Amway Global hasn’t seen before and that comes directly from them. So if they’ve never seen that how can you judge what we are doing? Just know that we will build with integrity, honesty and never screw anyone or lie to anyone and with that you’ll see in the next couple of years how Canada explodes.
“It’s people helping people help themselves. That is the heart of the Amway business” – Rich DeVos. Because it’s people that’s where the negative can come from, we choose to help people and stay true to that.
“…Amway gets people into a new life of excitement, promise, profit, and hope.” – Jay Van Andel. I choose to believe that we are doing that with sincerity and not sugar coating what we do or how we do it.
I appreciate your comments Rocket, I just know no matter how well we do in what we are doing we will never change your mind or anyone’s mind for that matter, and that’s okay. We know what are doing and where we are doing and how we are going to get there.
That was a pretty intense hike!
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I guess what strikes me about the comparison to Stafford and what you & your wife are doing is that they are very, very different.
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Stafford depended on himself, and all he had to worry about was putting one foot in front of another. Period.
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On the other hand, you & Lindsay are attempting to create an incredible lifestyle through multilevel marketing, and you have a whole lot more that isn’t under your control. n The prices of the products, your downline, your upline, and reputation of the company you are associated with.
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One of the key points that my friend who was in platinum qualification discovered was that he really had no control over his own business, and he had no control over what his upline, downline, or the Amway corporation did.
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So it isn’t a matter of having determination. To be wealthy in Amway, you need a very rare blend of luck, association, and determination. Unfortunately, it isn’t all in your control. Very little is in your control.
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Look at the people on Dragon’s Den. People know they are wealthy and can do whatever they want. That’s just a small sampling of Canadian success stories. How many Canadian Amway diamonds share that type of wealth, lifestyle, and influence? The answer is zero.
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I would submit that every single success story about fortitude & determination doesn’t prove that anyone can become wealthy and successful in Amway. In my experience, I’ve found that the uplines use those stories to their advantage to demonstrate that anything is possible, even if it’s not likely.
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With respect, I don’t think it’s something you can compare your struggle to. If Stafford was leading an expedition of a bunch of people, that would be closer to a comparison. I also don’t believe Stafford was encouraged by the idea of having a bunch of money at the end of his journey.
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It’s a great post, and I get that you are talking about beating the odds. I think you would have better luck beating the odds in your very own business without an upline encouraging where you should be spending your now higher amount of disposable income.
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Just my thoughts, and again with respect.
Hey Rocket,
Thanks for the comments. I do want to point out that I clearly said:
I fully understand that hiking the Amazon and building an Amway Global business are two very different things.
I think we have more control then what you or your friend may think. Yes there are certain things we have no control over and this is very much a people business yet we have control over our efforts and what we put into our business. We also have control over how we carry ourselves and how we treat others. We have control over the integrity and the way we actually build this business. It’s those key things that will make you successful I feel and I’ve seen. It’s also seeing people in direct up-line IN SUCCESSION that prove success over and over.
I will never ever compare my lifestyle to anyone else. So i’ll shut down that comparison right there. Canadian Diamonds all I’ll say is it’s coming.
What you’ve known about the Amway Global Business and how you built it 15+ years ago is nothing how we build it here and the platinum ship that your friend created is nothing compares to the platinum ships that are being built in Western Canada. While I respect that you were in the business and you may have had a bad experience, things can change. People can change and the way things were done can be changed and we’ve done that.
Again I respect where your opinions came from, however don’t paint everyone in the Amway Global business with the same brush.