Monday, December 18, 2006

Travelling For Education

This past Saturday I had an exciting opportunity: one of the leaders on our business team from the East Coast was travelling to the Midwest to speak. One of the things I love about my business is that there is a mentorship system in place that is very well put together. There is no guesswork, there is no "maybe, possibly." It's a very assured and successful system. I've been taught since day one to chase thought process over chasing money and it seemed like an obvious idea. I felt that one thing I understood very well from the beginning is that if you get around successful people, you'll learn how to have their success. I also understand that the little keys that move you forward are not always obvious. It's very possible that in a two hour teaching session, there may be one piece of information that moves you forward, but it moves you light years forward. The same thing sometimes happens in a 5 minute conversation with a hot shot, or a big dog on your way to the car also. That's why the concept of attending everything I can for my business just made sense. Even when it isn't comfortable. Of course, getting a bunch of new guys to understand that doesn't always play well, but that's part of the growth process.

So we were looking at a 10 hour round trip for probably 3 hours and change worth of information. However, if you understand my previous statments in regard to the time not equaling the value as much as the content, you'll understand that this was no big deal. It's another feather in my cap, another badge of honor. And the people we were going to speak are always entertaining, engaging and motivational, so the value is there. The road trip alone gave me an opportunity to further bond with some of my guys; to find out a little more about who they are and to let them know who I am and who they're in business with. Relationships are the most important part to any business, but especially one built on individual networking. I love seeing "rough around the edges" guys open up a little bit and really say what's on their heart, because they feel it's okay to share. I was a guy like that at one point.

Back to the seminar. The place we were in sat over 2500 people and nearly ever seat was full. Later I would hear that just five years ago they couldn't have filled that room with 25 people. I think that's good business growth, I don't care what kind of business it is. The current local success stories got to speak, and one of my mentors was one of them. The recurring theme, not from their lips, but from their persona, is that they are just regular people that were willing to do a little extra. It feels good, because I'm doing the extra right now and things are happening.

My wife and my sister arrived shortly after the event started. They rode in with a couple of ladies who had some circumstances slowing their start time. I'm so excited about working with more couples because my wife is such a willing servant. She could have jumped in the car with me, as could my sister, but they had an opportunity to hang back and travel with some newer people on the team.

I think the biggest point of the night was just learning to overcome. Overcoming mediocrity. Learning to deal with things like, your friends, that don't have anything you want, trying to talk you out of doing what you feel is best in your life. Learning who to listen to. Having faith in your own talents and abilities and then maximizing your potential. There was a guy there who was a police officer. He's been in business for a little while but he hasn't succeeded to the highest statuses in the business, but he still had a $92,000 bonus last month. If that guy can do it, why can't anyone.

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