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.

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”

http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/amway/49574/

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

A quick side note, this year, 2012, marks 50 years that Amway has been in Canada. That is pretty cool. http://www.facebook.com/AmwayCanada

Very interesting position for someone like Doug DeVos however I’m not surprised due to the huge success and wealth of experience he has.  What’s even cooler is the quote by the National Constitution Centre President and CEO David Eisner; “Amway exemplifies good corporate citizenship, and the company’s core values of freedom and opportunity are strongly aligned with the Center’s mission of illuminating constitutional ideals and inspiring civic engagement."

I don’t know many companies that truly live by that statement.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/02/learn_which_devos_now_heads_th.html

The article talks about a few different rules that have been passed down by the generation before us.  The older generation that used to think the following:

1. Finish school, get a job, get married, have children, and buy a house as quickly as possible. Delay saving for retirement until your 50s.

2. Buy the biggest house you can afford. Have a big family and pay of your mortgage fast.

3. Find a steady job with a good pension and don’t worry about investing for retirement. Stay there for 35 years and retire with a guaranteed monthly income.

I love all of these because I see so many people doing exactly that.  While some people are starting to save earlier, most are spending it and their credit like they are drunken sailors.  The second one is so especially true because it also ties in with status and buying that huge house, although nobody is paying it off fast. They get the largest mortgage they can with the lowest payments, only to find themselves in deep doo doo when they renew and the interest rates have gone up. Say bye bye house.  Lastly the third one, there is no such thing as a steady job, job security is dead.  I’ve seen it first hand where I work and if anyone actually pays attention to the news or where they work they’d understand that as well.  Gone are the days where people work 20-30-40 years at one job.

So what are the new rules according to this news article?

1. Recognize that life unfolds differently now. If you have no home or family and spend your way through your 20s, saving for retirement will take longer.

2. Consider whether – and  when – home ownership makes financial sense. Think about buying a smaller house or renting until you have a big down-payment.

3. Recognize that you are in the driver’s seat. If you don’t have a job with a secure pension, you have to make sure you plan and save for your retirement.

A lot of these make simple sense yet sometimes people cannot wrap their heads around it or they are counselling with their parents on the old style rules which is only causing people to fail in life.  Now this doesn’t apply to everyone however if you’ve been keeping up with the news you’ll see that debt to income ratio is at an all time high of 153%.  One positive note is credit debt is finally slowing down, but its taken a very long time for that to happen. 

The key to this story is right here “recognize you are in the driver’s seat”. That is why so many people are looking for other opportunities outside of their full time job.  That is why so many people are looking at an opportunity like Amway or other Network Marketing Opportunities.  That’s why when I talk to some people they are already involved in something else part time outside of their job be it another job, Network Marketing, Home Business, or starting their own traditional business.  Amway North America and Network Marketing is growing and that trend isn’t stopping despite what you may read elsewhere.  It’s growing so much they are actually teaching it in College now.

So get in the drivers seat and take control of your finances, stop relying on the government or your job to take care of you because they won’t.

Todd Woodward recently joined Amway as Vice President, Global Amway Brand and Public Relations and has some pretty high credentials from past employers.  University of Notre Dame, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, Harley Davidson and the National Milk Processor Board.  I’m glad to see someone like Todd take over this position as I’m sure he will take Amway’s reputation and only increase it as it already is. 

Just doing some searching on Amway or even World Wide Dreambuilders has changed since I first started.  There are many companies that help repair reputations and remove old or negative publicity and it seems like Amway is making strides there.  I don’t blame them as people that hide behind anonymous or alias’s really don’t lend much credibility to be honest.  Why hide?  If you believe 100% in what you talk about then you should be able to use a real name, at least that’s my opinion.

Today’s blog post on the Amway Insider was a good one that talked about online reputation management and some thoughts from Todd about Direct Selling Companies and Amway.  This comment really resonated with me because I really do believe this to be true at least with our business. “Direct selling is the most human of businesses. . . we believe that helping humans – not companies – to be successful is a world-changing approach. Translating that online is critical to improving our reputation”. While some may think it’s crazy to think a business like ours helps “humans”, it’s the people who are crazy enough to think that that actually make it happen.  We help others become successful before we become successful and that’s very fulfilling.  If you can serve others before you serve yourself you will become successful. Don’t believe me? Ask people like Warren Buffet, John Maxwell, or anyone that is very successful, they got there because they served others first and that’s exactly what we do.

Just today I had two different counsel sessions with different members of our team.  They had various questions, some business related some non-business related and I didn’t get paid for those two hours.  I could have used that time to do something else however  I served on them because they needed me, they needed to talk to me about whatever was on their mind or heart.  That’s just one way of how you serve others and do exactly what Todd was talking about, “helping humans”.  I love that quote.

Click the link above to read the blog entry to see some other quotes from Todd on what is going to be hugely impactful for Amway in the coming future.

No it’s not, it’s called growth and I have a confession to make, I attended or will be attending two Dream Nights this week.  Yup, it’s true.  Out of our own free will without any cohesion, guilt, pressure, etc… we attended last night and will be attending tonight.  Both nights, different venue’s and different speakers, in fact because of growth they’ve had to move one of the nights to the Shaw Conference Centre.  If there wasn’t growth in this area that would seem like overkill or a waste of money to put it up there don’t you think?  To be honest I don’t know how many people are attending each event as I’m not function hosting and who’s going to more than one, quite frankly I don’t care.  I care about my wife and our business only.

(Just incase you didn’t understand the first paragraph that was some sarcasm for some of my most devoted loyal readers )

Tonight will be quite the night as Ron and Georgia Lee Puryear will be one of the speakers and as far as I know this is their first visit to Edmonton.  I have no doubt they want to see the growth and excitement going on in the Edmonton area and the hard work the leaders in this organization have done over the last few years.  We are excited as we have a few guests coming out to check out what Dream Night is all about but more importantly my wife’s parents are coming out.  They want to see a bit more of what it is that we do, the excitement, the association and everything that World Wide Dreambuilders is about. 

I’ll leave you with this as you start your new year; don’t gauge your future potential based on your past disappointments.

I smell fitness in the air!  Yup, it’s that time of year where the gyms are singing people up at lighting speed and where people are looking to get into shape.  People tie this losing weight into their New Year’s Resolution and sad fact is 78%-88% fail to obtain those goals.  I’ve had a gym membership for a year now and I’ve used it maybe 50%. I had a really good streak going from March for 5 months where I had a personal trainer.  It was the birth of my son that helped derail me and while that’s somewhat of a valid excuse for awhile, it’s not an excuse almost 6 months later.

I’ve been inspired again not only by the new year but by one of my friends and his challenges with getting into shape.  He posted yesterday here on Bisonweb.ca his transparency with the battle as well as his new workout called Insanity.  He’s back on track and I wish him huge success this year.

So what’s up for me then?  Getting back to the gym and being consistent.  I’m no longer intimidated about the gym as I was before going earlier this year.  Having used the personal trainer I paid for has instilled a lot of knowledge in ensuring I use proper form and doing the exercises properly instead of going to “bang out a few reps”.  I’ve also been able to figure out a time that works best for me which may not be the ideal time any more since that time is the only time I get with W during the week.  When I get home from work I see W between 5:30 and 7pm which is my time with him.  On a side note, that’s quite sad out of the whole day that’s all I get to see him? If I work late or work OT, I won’t see him at all. 

With that I’ll be working out either during his naps on the weekend or in the evenings after dinner or when we are not out showing the plan or meeting new people.  I will get to my goal of under 200 lbs. with a reduction of 10% body fat.  I’ll increase my muscle mass as well (not sure how much yet) and I’ll feel a 100x’s better with more energy.  That’s something I felt right away last time I worked out, a huge energy uplift.  I’ll also eat more healthy as W is now on a pretty decent schedule that will allow us to make better meals with proper prep time. 

Regardless of what your goals are this year if you follow these few steps in creating your goals you’ll be 10x’s more likely to reach them then if you don’t.  Its basic success principals you’ll read anywhere and not specific to just our business.

1. Make your goal specific
2. Make your goal realistic
3. Make your goal known – (Like what Liam did on his blog, letting people know!)
4. Make your goal measurable by time
5. Make your goal fun and rewarding

The last point is probably the best one of all.  We are creatures that require reward for our accomplishments.  Make sure you do this step otherwise if you never reward yourself you’ll end up falling off track and probably miss your goal all together.

Success brings more success, so what are you waiting for?