Tag Archives: Success

Having a Support System

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I’ve contemplated how to write this post for a few weeks now because of how some people view the value of a support system in a business like ours.  I thought the best way to do this was to check into what other types of support systems, support materials and events were out there for entrepreneurs or even in corporate cultures.

There are a lot of things out there and really where do you start?  I figured I’d start with people and names I know and then fan out from there and see what is available locally as well as on a larger scale.  So I started with John Maxwell, I’ve mentioned him before and read a lot of his books.  If you do a quick search for leadership guru’s you’ll notice he’s at the top and rightfully so.  World Wide Dreambuilders is very fortunate to have a great partnership with him as he speaks at the Spring Leadership conferences every year as well as Taste of Diamond weekend and always has a huge impact.  I wanted to see what resources he had for the general public and potentially any conference or seminar style of teachings.

John offers what he calls the Maximum Impact Club which can be found here (http://www.johnmaxwell.com/development-training/maximum-impact-club/) and entitles you to his monthly CD along with notes.  Total cost per year is $179 for the online only version and $259 a year for Online + CD in US/Canada.  I’m also going to assume his company is making a profit off of that, which would make sense and is normal.

I went on to find that John offers a 2 1/2 day event called “Exchange” found here (http://www.exchangegathering.com/) and the cost of that event is $8,000 per person and does not include your accommodations.  That’s quite an event however if you wanted to attend a smaller workshop you can do that as well located here (http://www.johnmaxwell.com/speaking-events/public-workshops/) for $299 per person.  So that’s a quick and dirty of what I found for John Maxwell.  Glad we may nowhere near those prices to see John at our Spring Leadership event or for his CD’s.

I thought to take a different approach on someone I’ve heard of for many years and I’m sure all of you have as well.  Tony Robbins.  He’s more of a life coach, mentorship, power within you type of person and he has lots of books and CD’s and what I found was his “Power Within You” event which has MANY different ranges in prices. (http://www.tonyrobbins.com/holiday/power-within.html) Starting with the basic package of $995 going right up to $2,595 for a 4 day event. He’s also got CD’s like John Maxwell however I won’t bother posting that as it’s pretty much the same.

So with those two people you could be looking at some pretty hefty investments if you’re looking into personal growth and leadership material.  All well respected people who’ve helped a lot of people gain success.

I started looking at some local support structures and seeing what Edmonton had to offer it’s Entrepreneur community and found a MeetUp group called The Edmonton Entrepreneur Meetup.  My wife and I have been to these a few times now and there are people from all different walks of life and business’s.  It’s a great networking event getting around like minded individuals looking to do something more and work for themselves instead of working for someone else.  I’ve talked many times about association and who you get around, it’s important.  Why else would Entrepreneur’s gather together, so they could bounce ideas off each other or get around other successful people and ask them what they did to get where they are at.  Sounds familiar to me.  Cost for these events are typically free or the cost of your favorite coffee beverage.

Corporately, I know a lot of business’s subscribe to this Harvard ManageMentor program (http://corporatelearning.hbsp.org/corporate/products-and-services/reference.html) that has teachings on everything from time management, leadership, finances, to goal setting and everything inbetween.  The cost for something like this in a corporate environment is not cheap.  I was able to find for 51+ users it works out to $99 per license.  Each employee needs to have a license so for a company of just 500, that’s $49,500 a year.  A rather large investment for something that’s typically not mandatory but strongly suggested by your employer.  I’m guessing Harvard is getting some kind of kickback from those prices.

Books books and more books, holy crap there are a ton of books you can find in the Health and Well-Being section at your local bookstore.  You can literally find a book on any part of your life that you’re looking for help in. Marriage, Finances, Leadership, the list goes on.  The well known saying goes “Leaders are readers”.  Ask any successful person to see their library and they will show you a ton of books they’ve read.  Ask them for their favorite most impactful book and read it!

I could go on but the fact is Support Systems are out there for a reason, its to support those involved in whatever it is they are doing.  Be it the World Wide Dreambuilders support system, the Harvard’s ManageMentor program, or John Maxwell’s Workshops, you’ll only get out of it what you put in.  The best thing about all of these types of systems, they are all optional, nobody says you have to take them or follow them.  However without partaking in these systems you won’t get the benefits of what’s offered through them.

I encourage you to do your research on whatever support system you’re looking at getting involved in.  If that’s World Wide Dreambuilders make sure whoever is taking you through the process explains everything in detail.  Make sure you actually read through everything in the information system that was given to you as it contains a lot of answers to your questions.  If there are questions, ASK them.  I can only speak of what we do and that’s full disclosure of those we are looking at going into business with and are going through a qualification process.  Nothing bothers me more than people who hide and twist the truth, its not a great way to start out a partnership that’s for sure.

Again Happy New Year and Much Success!

Happy New Year!

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HappyNewYear20122012 was definitely brought in with a different flavour this year.  Our son is now 5 1/2 months old and that changes everything.  We rang in the new year at home watching some movies and just having some quality time with my family.  When I think back to all the things I’ve done for New Year’s, I have no regrets and enjoyed those days, but I would never trade that in for what I have now.  Having children elevates these kinds of experiences and its such a great feeling.

I love the first day of the New Year because its really a hard tangible “line in the sand” to start over.  While success principals will teach us that we should be able to draw a line in the sand at any point in the year, the New Year is that pretty obvious line that anyone can get behind and I love that.  Besides it’s a great way to kick the post-Christmas blue’s that I typically get.

In looking ahead you need to take a quick look back and reflect on the year that was.  The things you did, the things you accomplished, and the things you set out to accomplish but didn’t.  There is nothing wrong with nanakorobiyaokinot accomplishing things because that’s where you grow and learn and reset your goal for the next year.  People who don’t understand success principals will look at you and say well you didn’t do that like you said you would.  So?  At least you get up and try again. A Chinese / Japanese proverb comes to mind – “Fall down 7 times, get up 8”  It doesn’t say fall down 7 times and stay down, it says GET UP.  That’s where successful people succeed and those not willing to “get up” fail.  It’s proven many times but those who are successful in any type of industry.

So this year we will reset some of our goals that were missed and look forward to the new goals that we want to achieve.  Our focus as always is to build a great life for our growing family and all decisions we make will be towards that focus.  I’m excited for a lot of things but the largest is being debt free with cash in the bank so that we avoid the next downturn in the economy that is being predicted by credible sources.  If anything has taught us over the last two years that’s to get as liquid as possible.

I hope that all of you out there reflect on the things that went on in 2011 and that you look forward to 2012 with anticipation that it will be the best year of your life.  Whatever it is that you have set out, write it down, keep it in the forefront, put it on your fridge, whatever.  You’ll be more likely to achieve them if you do so.  All the best to you and yours in 2012!

2012 New Year Target

GoPro–Great Perspective on Life

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I’ve got a real affinity for the GoPro HD camera’s.  I’m hoping to get one for Christmas this year because there is nothing like it out there that compares.  The ability to capture moments like skiing down some fine powder in first person is such an amazing thing.  Regular people are now able to do this with a very inexpensive camera and traditionally in the past was done via movie equipment.  I highly recommend you check them out if your the adventure type.

Why am I talking about this camera and posting this video?  This video came across my inbox as I think I subscribed to something around these cameras so I get weekly videos.  Jeb Corliss and Roberta Mancino are well known in the base jumping and wingsuit flying community and they share some pretty awesome perspective on life.

What really fascinates me on this video is after the scene you see below it starts off with dreams.  I love how Jeb describes his nightmare as “sitting at an office working on a computer, that’s a nightmare, I cannot even imagine something more horrifying”, then Roberta says “or any other job”. (Amen to that!)  Jeb goes on to say that “every individual person has their dream, and every individual person has a right to live their dream”. Lastly he says that his dream is no better or worse than anyone else’s, but it is his.  Well said.  Basically to sum it up, as I’ve mentioned before, it means don’t steal someone else’s dream no matter what it is or what they do to obtain it.

 

GoPro HD: Awesome footage!

 

Jed quotes this perfect quote he heard when he was a kid. “The key to happiness is having dreams, the key to success is fulfilling those dreams.” – Anonymous

Lastly Jed ends off by saying, “There really are no limits, the only limits are the ones you place on yourself.” Well said, well said.  Whatever it is your out there trying to achieve don’t let anyone stand in your way, don’t take it from me, watch the video and be inspired!