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A Wayne Dyer Lesson

Over Memorial Day weekend, Rex Hoover sent me this email and I thought the message was powerful. Even more powerful to me was the comment in the message that only 2 people out of the 50 people in the story embraced the winning ideas and the rest made excuses.

This is a Wayne Dyer lesson. He really inspires us to look at life differently, and with a sense of humor, he's very easy to listen to.

DUCKS QUACK, EAGLES SOAR
No one can make you serve customers well.....that's because great service is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.. It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment...

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice... 'Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always.. In fact, it's only been in the last two years.. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd..'

'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting..

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about us? Smile, and the whole world smiles with you... The ball is in our hands! Let us do good to all people.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.

Paradigm Shift

There comes a point with most of us where we have a paradigm shift in our thinking as a result of some circumstance in our lives. A shift that tells us that it is time to change the way we are doing things in order to change the less than satisfying results that we are having. In other words, to get what we want, we have to change the way we think about the pursuit of same.

A paradigm shift has recently happened to me and many of the leaders at HBW. Thanks in large part to HBW Head of Operations, Joe Bonanno, we now have the ability to run our multi-level compensation system, multi-carrier /company enterprise, as well as our multi-business model, free from the control or influence of any carrier or company. It has occurred to us that we now have everything in place necessary to build the world class company we desire. With an infrastructure capable of supporting massive growth and volume, the paradigm shift is that it is now time to focus on the next element that we need in order to accomplish our long-term goals and that element is massive, qualified recruiting. Bringing in large numbers of qualified people to help us build the corporate work of art that our business model justifies.

There are no more excuses, no more reasons why it can’t be done. Now is the time, particularly in this economic environment where people are now more than ever, open to the idea of new opportunities, being in business for themselves but not by themselves, with people committed to building something great and with the products and services that really allow us to do what is right for our clients every time.

To this end, HBW has recently retained Richard Burnett as a consulting Vice President of Sales to lead our charge in creating a recruiting surge. Richard has 39 plus years experience in building hierarchies and companies, as well as being V.P. of Corporate Sales for the late, great Jim Rohn’s company.

Let me close with this notion, middle-America needs and deserves great products instead of the mediocre products so often thrust upon them by most firms working in that arena. We have the great, competitive products they need and the only way we will be able to compete in that arena on a large scale is to recruit people into our system on an equally large scale. Now is the time and everything necessary is in place for spectacular results. Let’s do something great together.

Commitment and Emotional Drive

Your level of commitment will most likely determine your level of success. The greater your emotional involvement, the easier it is to remain committed. This is true for anything in life including marriage, family, business, faith, etc. It is this level of commitment fueled by your emotional desire that sustains you through tough, challenging times, times of despair; the stuff of life that can sometimes rock even the most committed of us.

This level of commitment which is fueled by that strong emotional drive must be enhanced and nurtured every day. Some days it is so easy to love your spouse, your job, your religious faith, etc., while sometimes it takes great effort. A great example can be raising teenagers. There is a time when the children are little and they are so much fun; however, for many, if not for most of us, when the kids enter into their teen years, it can be very difficult at best to deal with the emotional issues they are going through. It is during these times that they need our love the most and our commitment is also tested the most. Usually, there is a great payoff when your children become their own person and are accomplishing their goals and dreams, and they become a definite source of pleasure.

It is exactly the same in business where we are all tested at times, and only our level of commitment, supported by the strong emotion we must have for what we do that carries us through difficult times. Yet the payoff, again, is so worth it as you see your business and personal success rise to unprecedented levels after overcoming great adversity. As the president of the first company I was with used to say, “The first step to greatness is total commitment”. I would add that the first step to total commitment is total emotional involvement, call it absolute passion for whatever you are doing. Develop that passion, that emotional involvement and you will likely experience a level of success and freedom that may have been heretofore missing from every aspect of your life.

The Power of a Supportive Partner

While I know this is my blog, my wife, Bonnie, wrote this and I thought it valuable enough to pass along. Enjoy.

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I got to thinking about the above title recently. I had an email from someone at HBW about how you can look at ALL the leaders at HBW with a supportive spouse and see how successful they are because they pull together. Then Barney’s last blog spoke about the emotional involvement a person needs to really become successful in our business. This being true, the importance of partner support becomes even more apparent. How can a person become and stay emotionally involved in their endeavor without a supportive partner – they simply cannot. Everyone involved in our business knows that it is through continual efforts with inherent successes and failures that we build a dynamic ongoing business. How is it possible to stay focused and positive if you don’t have the support of your partner? Your partner needs you to be there for them in times of trouble and challenge in their business lives as well as their personal lives.

As you may know, Barney loves the game of golf, and consequently we have learned all about Phil Mickelson, recent Masters champion's, life. There may be many reasons for his success, but the fantastic support of his parents seems to be the most compelling reason behind his success. His parents nurtured him and did whatever was needed to help him develop into the awesome player he became.

Have you ever thought about the power of Two over the power of One? I recently helped my daughter moved from one home to another. Of course movers moved the large items such as furniture, etc, but you know how much stuff most of us have. With another person the job was challenging but not insurmountable, whereas attempting it alone would have been almost impossible. Like minded people can accomplish almost anything; our whole civilization was founded on these principles but it’s not something you think about.

Having determined that a supportive partner/spouse is important and crucial, I think it is a good idea to take a closer look at what a supportive spouse means and what they can accomplish. There are many aspects and manners of providing support as a spouse/partner, and therefore there is no one exact right way to be. For some HBW partners, this involves becoming licensed and actually assisting in those activities in which a license is required. There are considerations concerning this, as there are costs involved with acquiring and maintaining any license in financial services. It is not essential that the partner get licensed, but is an option if they are interested in being involved to that extent.

It all depends on what your partner needs. A supportive partner must be willing to do what is needed, period. When at first thought a response might be, “why should I have to do that”, upon more introspection you realize that doing whatever is needed is the only way to operate. We all have different talents, and analyzing where your strengths lie and utilizing them can be the difference between real success and otherwise. Most likely it will become necessary to do things you may not be comfortable with, such as speaking to strangers or in front of a group of people. Many people have trouble with this, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to have a thriving organization. I can tell you from personal experience that overcoming a weakness in your efforts to do what is needed can be exhilarating. The possibilities start to unfold and you may find you are capable of so much more than you ever realized in the past. On the other hand, some times it’s things like running errands, making coffee and cleaning up that are required which may invoke the “why should I have to do that” thought. You have to do that stuff too because that is what is required at that time, period.

My recommendation is to explore the possibilities with the amount and type of support you are involved in. As with everything in life, things change, and what might work or be needed at one time can be quite different at another time. Being involved in your partner’s/spouse’s business can add so much to your own life and add really interesting layers to your relationship.

I would like to offer this theory: HBW has become the great organization it is in part because of the great partners we have!

Becoming Emotionally Involved

When thinking about our success, we need to consider the fuel required to propel ourselves to where we want to go. What is the difference maker for those people accomplishing their goals from those others who always seem to be barely scratching out a living? Above anything else, I think the difference is how we feel about what we do. Truly successful, happy people love what they do and are enthralled by almost every aspect of their chosen endeavor. They can’t wait to start every morning, and even the frustrating challenges can be exciting to overcome.

It is about understanding the importance of what we do and being emotionally involved; as if we are doing something that we were meant to do, as if it were imbued in our very DNA. That is when we can begin to be truly successful and accomplish our goals. As with many of us in the financial services industry, when we “fall in love” with what we do, it may be something we had never even thought of or considered prior to becoming involved.

This emotional attachment gives us the energy, enthusiasm and excitement to keep moving forward, even in the face of seemingly overwhelming adversity. This is true in every aspect of our lives. You will fight very hard for something you love, where it is easy to walk away from something for which you may have little regard. Some people do not let themselves truly love or commit to anything or anybody for fear of being hurt or disappointed, which is sad. This leaves them living empty, dull lives filled with constant disappointments.

Truly committed, motivated people live lives of excitement and fulfillment which some other people cannot relate to. I remember the president of the first company I was with used to say that “The first step to greatness is total commitment”. I think I now finally realize why this is true. It is true because when we finally become totally committed to those things that are really important to us: our faith, our families, our businesses, our friends, we are finally free to be totally fulfilled in these aspects of our lives. That is where the greatness lies.

At HBW we genuinely change people’s lives in a significant and positive way that is sometimes difficult to measure. We offer among the very most competitive products in a range of financial services that make a huge difference, particularly in the middle markets where folks have often received among the worst products. When somebody grasps the significance of what they can do for people and becomes emotionally involved and totally committed to what they do, they will finally be free to become the person they dream of and live the life they have always imagined.

I challenge you to “fall in love” with what you are doing today!

Are YOU World Class?

I just finished reading a book called, “177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class” by Steve Siebold. This book was referred to me by AVP, Joel Johnson, from Michigan and is an absolute game changer. The author breaks down the thinking and attitudes of people from the various classes of performance and living standards, poverty level to working class, to middle class, upper class and finally world class in a simple, concise, easy to read book. This book points out the attributes of each level and allows you to see where you are presently and how you can change to become the world class performer you may desire to be.

The book describes how the difference between middle and world class is often just a tweak of an attitude. I think of the Ron Dortch’s, Chuck Reinhold’s, Miguel Romero’s, et al, who read everything they can get their hands on, attend every meeting possible and simply find every way they can to get better. The World Class represents only about 5% of the population and attribute 41 in the book is one worth mentioning; “Champions dedicate their lives to Greatness.” “The top 1% of world class performers invests thousands of dollars every year on self-development books, DVD’s, CD’s, seminars, workshops and retreats. Most amateur performers haven’t read a book since high school and wouldn’t attend a self help seminar if you paid them. Amateurs tend to believe that education ends with high school or college graduation. The world class believes real education begins after school lets out. Dedication to getting what they want from life is the driving force behind champions. While the masses seek perpetual pleasure, the great ones focus on achievement. The irony is that professional performers tend to experience greater pleasure as a result of their achievements. Such feelings of accomplishment and achievement are an additional benefit only the great ones enjoy.”

I think about all the local training sessions we hold around the country, as well as our annual conference in Las Vegas. In almost every case, at every event, the most successful people are in attendance, eager to improve in every way. At the same time, because we care about people being successful, we always miss those people who choose not to attend, those who already “know” everything and feel that they don’t need to attend. Inevitably, these are the people who absolutely need it the most and are constantly frustrated. The book represents that 85% of people are in the middle class or below, living the life that Henry David Thoreau described as one of “quiet desperation”.

There will never be a better time than right now to make a decision to lead a life of world class, effort, commitment and achievement and become the person you are truly meant to be. Interestingly, the ones who are already on that path will buy this book, attend every seminar, etc, while the people who need it the most will simply ignore this message because they already know everything and don’t need to waste their time.

My question is which are you?