With the growth in Alberta soaring, as confirmed by Amway Canada’s Jeff Johnson, there is no doubt that we will double the numbers next year if not more and be in the Coral Centre.  While this is the first Major Function, outside of Dream Night, that we’ve been able to attract, we will attract our very own Free Enterprise Day event in 2013.  Some people who read this blog may rebuke the growth but it’s very apparent that World Wide Dreambuilders is growing, Direct Selling in Canada is growing, and Amway it’s self is growing month over month and year over year.

We’ve got a new spark and are looking at continuing our own growth and contributing towards what is an amazing Canadian movement.

Go and Grow!

Anyway Im looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say including our own leadership who are on the verge of going Diamond. A lot of explosive growth going on in Western Canada and Canada as a whole. Weather you care or not, things are moving in a great way!

If you are here, enjoy the weekend!

Greg Duncan with the traditional Calgary White Cowboy hat.

Spring Leadership is just that, a conference/seminar on Leadership.  And If your going to talk about Leadership then why not invite the world’s foremost speaker and writer on the subject, John Maxwell.  I have to say that’s the best part of the whole weekend, two keynote talks by John and for those who want to attend, a non-denominational service on Sunday led by him.  I don’t think a guy like John Maxwell would want to hurt his reputation by endorsing an organization that wasn’t full of integrity. 

I always find the biggest growth in our business happens coming out of Spring Leadership, it helps to draw a line in the sand and move forward from whatever was going on before.  While I will miss the road trips down to Spokane, I’m excited to continue to build up this Canadian market so that we can earn having our own Free Enterprise Day’s, which typically happens around October.  I have no doubt with hearing some of the growth numbers from Amway’s latest visit out this way, and that’s pretty exciting to hear.

The only way to really understand what Spring Leadership is like is to actually go to one.  Reading it from me or anywhere else on the internet just won’t do it justice, make up your own mind and come to your own conclusions.

I’ve been awhile for a few weeks, primarily focusing on packing our place up and building our business but felt the need to write an entry about what I read from a fellow friends tweet today.  It prompted me to dig a little deeper at lunch into what this was all about.

I’m talking about people complaining about a video game’s ending.  Yeah.  It went so far that someone with the alias “El_Spiko” complained to the Federal Trade Commission claiming fraud.  I’m sure the folks at the FTC had a laugh when they saw a complaint come in with that name.  I hope for his sake and dignity he used his real name when making that complaint.  Filing a complaint with any company using an alias won’t get you anywhere……

It’s quite sad to see just how much time and energy people put into things that have no real tangible effects on your life.  Is complaining about Mass Effect 3’s ending going to make any real change in your life? Probably not.  Could putting that energy into something like reading a success principal book and applying those principals to your life have a positive effect? There is a better chance of yes than no. If people could just harness half of the energy they put into things that don’t matter, it would be a heck of a different world out there.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with entertainment, games, and other things of that nature.  However they are significantly lower on the priority pole than things like spending time with my family or perhaps my health and being active.

I digress, now back to packing…

Distractions or as some may call it, life, can certainly throw some curve balls and distract you from your overall goal, whatever that may be.  For us we are moving and with that comes a ton of things you need to do in order to prepare and get setup in the new place. Utilities, moving vehicle, asking friends and family to help, purchasing things to fill voids in a new place or things that broke in the move, the list goes on and on and on.  For most it can easily be an excuse to not do the things that we originally have set out to do.  What I’ve learned in the last two years is really how to prioritize things in my life and really be a master of my schedule.  A great book I read on this even before I got involved with World Wide Dreambuilders and Amway, was a book called ‘Getting Things Done’ and it talks a lot about prioritization and organization.

Continuing with my example of moving, I could easily fall into the procrastination trap and wait until the last week or two and pack like crazy.  Studying success principals has taught me that maybe I should start earlier than later.  Yet some may say that just sounds like common sense, and it is, but I can’t tell you how many people I’ve moved in my lifetime that leave everything to the last minute.  Doing things earlier not only makes it easier but it gives me time to do other things and it reduces the stress in my life significantly. 

For us those other things include continuing to build our business and sow into the people we are working with by showing the plan, doing counsel sessions, meet and greets in our own business and in our tap roots, and so on and so on.  We can’t use the excuse that we are moving to distract us from the people we’ve committed to help build their own organizations.  Other things like date night(s) which are very important to keeping our relationship on track and making sure we at minimum set some dates to reconnect.  You’d be surprised how little couples do this.  Things like family time and making sure W gets to see his Grandparents and other family members.  The list goes on but if we get distracted by things that really shouldn’t be a distraction and apply some success principals to our lives, we’d be much better off and get a lot more accomplished. 

Its easy to read some books and say you’ll put these types of principals in place, but if you don’t get around others that do the same, you could end up spinning your tires or be frustrated why you let distractions get the best of you.  Learn to control them and you’ll be that much more successful in whatever it is your doing.

I’m pumped at what the next 5 years will bring, more kids, continued success with our Amway business, even more savings, upgraded living situation next month, trips, a huge family reunion, weddings, moving to Kelowna, having the choice to step away from my job, and the list goes on. 

I’m very proud of my wife and what she’s accomplished over the last five years.  I’m more in love with her today than I was the day we were married.  She inspires me to become a better man, father and server of other men and for that I’m eternally grateful.  I look back at the last five years and I cannot think of anything I would take back and that includes going into what I’d call an almost bankrupt state.  We’ve become stronger and wiser for it and can use that to share our story with those we meet. 

Five years these days seems like a lot of time yet at the same time it’s not.  What’s sad is there is so much divorce these days where people potentially take the easy way out and don’t necessarily work through those problems.  I can’t say everything can be worked out but I do believe there is to high of a divorce rate and that needs to change.  People taking marriage more serious and actually living the commitment of marriage and being those examples in society is part of what will help change that I believe.  Crazy or not, I believe things like that can be changed.

I’ll end off with this bit of advice that has helped me through the last five years.  Don’t ever take your spouse for granted, tell them you love them every single day and at minimum before you go to bed, and always make sure to not sweat the small stuff.  Oh and read “The Five Love Languages”

The Big Interview: Questioning the Amway Way 2/29/2012 7:26:38 PM

Amway Chairman Steve Van Andel and president Doug DeVos sit down with the Journal’s Dennis K. Berman to discuss Amway’s sales growth, its expansion overseas and legal cases that continue to dog the company.

I’ve often said it’s important to make sure your relationship is number one and this is a prime example where my wife and I need to make sure our relationship is on track and that we take the time to properly celebrate our anniversary.  We could have gone somewhere warm if we wanted however we decided to take in the Banff and Lake Louise area because it’s a pretty special area for us.  It’s where I proposed to my wife over 5 years ago.  Not only that it is the mountains which are always magical no matter what season we come. 

When I look back over the last 5 years I have to say the biggest accomplishment outside of W, is giving my wife the choice and ability to be a stay at home wife.  That is bigger than most can imagine I think.  She’s able to give our son the care and attention he needs, not some daycare instilling their own values into him.  However I’ll digress a bit here as this post is about us taking some time to celebrate our anniversary.

It was important that we pay for our vacation in cash, and even though we are debt free and could virtually go anywhere with the savings we have, we decided to hit up Banff/Lake Louise for the reason mentioned above.  We’ve been on so many vacations in the past where we just easily swiped our credit card, even our 1st year anniversary in Lake Louise.  We just thought we deserved it and no matter what we were going to celebrate in style and really put ourselves further into debt.  This time feels so much better and freeing, no stress when we come back home to large bills and no worries that we are going backwards.

Well I should get back to enjoying my time here in Banff at our beautiful resort and more importantly my wife who’s the most amazing woman in the world.  She is primarily the reason why we are where we are in life and is determined to continue our success so that we can continue many more vacations like this.  Love you LB!

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What will 2012 look like? Who knows but I’m guessing the trend will continue…