The Expect Success Blog

Welcome to The Success Blog

 Welcome to The Success Blog with Kevin Richardson.  It is my goal to encourage and to facilitate personal growth and leadership in your life.  I am not an expert on everything success, but I am confident I will achieve the goals I have set for myself.  I also know one of the best ways to learn is to teach others what you already know about the particular subject you are learning about.  I hope you will check back often and will gain an understanding of what success is and how you can achieve it for your life.  

Expect Success,

Kevin Richardson - The Success Blog

7 Lessons Every Young Entrepreneur Can Learn From ‘SharkTank’

When ABC’s SharkTank debuted three years ago, I was instantly hooked. But, of course, I wasn’t the only one. It quickly became a favorite among millions across the country and helped garner attention for entrepreneurs and business owners who are tasked with finding the funding to make their dreams a reality every day.

While the TV show SharkTank gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of five very successful (and often intimidating) investors, off camera many newbie treps are taking notes. And though dozens of entrepreneurs have landed an investment, even the misses offer a learning experience to young entrepreneurs who may one day pitch their big ideas to a room full of sharks.

Below are some of the lessons I believe every entrepreneur — young and old — can take away from SharkTank:

1. Be passionate. Whether you are pitching to investors, talking to customers or riding the elevator with some moneyed stranger, the passion for your company should be evident. To become successful you better love what you’re doing. Otherwise, it won’t keep you going when times get tough — and you can forget landing funding too.

2. Have hustle. A consistent characteristic in every entrepreneur is the ability to execute. Whether you’re building a product or going after new customers, prove that you can get things done. Don’t approach investors or enter any shark tank until you have shown a knack for creating value and the willingness to go the extra mile.

3. Create a strong team. I’m not saying that solo-founder companies can’t be successful, but I guarantee investors will always prefer a cohesive team consisting of hard-working individuals with complementary skills. If you simply can’t find the right co-founder, then surround yourself with mentors and create an advisory board of knowledgeable and reliable business professionals.

4. Know your pitch. No matter if you’re on SharkTank, at a cocktail party or sitting in the airport, you never know who you might run into and whether they might become an asset to your business. Always be able to explain what your company does in less than three minutes and confidently answer any questions. For an optimal and memorable pitch, explain the problems you want to solve, how you’re going to solve them, why your team is the best option for solving them and the value you’re bringing to the market.

5. Make your product a must have. If you think about the most successful companies, many of them created products and services that people “needed to have.” Every entrepreneur should aim for this. On SharkTank, it’s a frequent sticking point because unless you’re Apple, it’s extremely hard to build a big business based on something that’s only “nice to have.”

6. Have many plans. I’ve never been a huge advocate for creating massive business plans because once you get started, things will inevitably change — rendering your fancy 50-page business plan a useless stack of papers. However, I do recommend crafting an executive summary, business outline, market analysis, financial projections, investor presentation and a marketing plan. On SharkTank, I’ve never seen an entrepreneur whip out a business plan, but you can usually tell who came prepared.

7. Think big. One reason why internet companies have exploded in the last few years is, they have easier models to scale than other businesses. Leveraging the internet and mobile devices not only requires less capital, but also the ability to reach billions of potential customers in an instant. If you’re building a more traditional business, be mindful of the additional fixed and variable expenses, how your cost structure will manage scaling up and the ability to keep operating margins strong and profitable.

Written by Jonah Lupton

Jonah Lupton is a serial entrepreneur, advisor and investor. He is the founder of Cauzly.com, a new social fundraising and crowdfunding platform. Lupton is also the founder of NextGen Leaders Council, Inspired Futures Foundation, Parabolic Ventures and InterCapital Group.

The Shark Tank offers many lessons in business and is one of my favorite shows.  Check out Shark Tank on ABC and if you like this article by Johah Lupton then check out is website at Cauzly.com

Expect Success,

 Kevin Richardson

10 Lessons I Learned from Sara Blakely That You Won't Hear in Business School

  

 

        At last week’s inspiring National Association of Professional Women's  2nd annual Networking Conference, I had the opportunity to attend the keynote presentation of Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx.  In her one-hour talk, Sara highlighted her fascinating journey from launching a start-up with $5000 in savings to becoming the youngest self-made female billionaire in history. Anyone who’s heard Sara’s story knows it’s exhilarating and motivating, but to see her live brings a new dimension to her story.  She’s fresh, exuberant, funny and completely passionate about helping women feel and look their best, and about reforming all of the misguided trends that have kept in women in painful and ill-fitting undergarments over the last 50 years.

Sara delivers surprise after surprise in her tale of phenomenal entrepreneurial success.  As I love to be “contrarian” in my work, I’m very taken with her non-conventional lessons that fly in the face of all the best business school advice we received from the business pundits and gurus.

Here are the top 10 lessons I learned from Sara’s journey from fax machine saleswoman to entrepreneurial superstar:

1)      Fail Big – Sara’s beloved father followed Wayne Dyer’s guidance in teaching his children the power of failing big.  Each day, her father would ask – “So, what did you fail at today.” And if there were no failures, Dad would be disappointed.  Focusing on failing big allowed Sara to understand that failure is not an outcome, but involves a lack of trying — not stretching yourself far enough out of your comfort zone and attempting to be more than you were the day before.   Failing big was a good thing.

2)      Visualize it – Sara is a big fan of “visualizing” your big goal, in specific, concrete ways.  She saw herself clearly on the Oprah TV show 15 years before it happened.  She simply knew it would happen.  She’d see in her mind’s eye sitting on the couch with Oprah having an exciting conversation, and wondered, “What are we talking about?”  The rest was just “filling in the blanks” to get there.

3)      Don’t share your fragile idea with the world too soon.  Sara kept her idea of making a fabulous new undergarment for women under wraps for an entire year while working on developing the prototype.  Only after she was 100% committed to it and ready to launch, did she sit her friends down and explain her new direction.  Sara explains that ideas are vulnerable, fragile things.  Wait until you’re completely read to move forward before you share it with people. Meaning well, they’ll shoot it down, offering all the reasons why it won’t work.  But when they do,  you’ll be ready to deal with it.

4)      Don’t take no for an answer. Sara reached out to slews of manufacturers and lawyers to help her patent her idea and create a successful prototype.  In every conversation she had with potential manufacturers, she was asked three questions: 1) Who are you? 2) Who are you with? 3) and Who is backing you?  When the answers to these three questions remained, “Sara Blakely,” no one wanted to take a chance on her, until one manufacturer called her back and said “OK.”  Why? Because he had gone home and told his daughters about the idea, and they said, “It’s brilliant!”

5)      Hire people you like and trust (even if they don’t know a great deal about what you need them to do).  Sara hired a head of Product Development and a PR director who had been friends and supporters from the beginning.  Neither knew anything about the functional areas they were hired to oversee, but Sara trusted they’d be fabulous at their new roles, and they were.

6)      You don’t have to go in order. Sara’s passionate commitment to her new Spanx product was so fierce, she just tackled each task in the development and marketing journey as they came up, not necessarily in the best order for a smooth launch.  She landed a Neiman Marcus deal involving placement of the product in seven stores, before figuring out how to mass produce “crotches” for the product. The Oprah show called to do a feature on her in a staff meeting in her “offices” before she had an office or a staff.  She winged it, and it all went well.

7)      You CAN figure it out – you have the ability.  Sara knew absolutely nothing about women’s undergarments, patenting a new product, manufacturing, marketing, product development, website development, online commerce, and more.  But that didn’t stop her. She researched what she needed to, hired out what she couldn’t do, and marched forward with undying commitment and energy. Don’t stop yourself from pursuing an idea because you don’t think you have what it takes.

8)      You can build a billion dollar business starting with $5,000.  Sara had only $5,000 in savings on that fateful day when she cut the feet off of her stockings in order to wear them under her white pants for a more flattering look (and thus, realized the world needed a new undergarment product that would be comfortable yet flattering to the female form).  From that $5,000 she embarked on designing a prototype, securing a manufacturer, naming the product, legally protecting her product, and getting the word out to potential buyers.  You don’t have to be rich to move forward with your fabulous new idea.

9)      Don’t worry about the outer “stuff” until the time is right. Sara worked tirelessly from her apartment creating her product, avoiding investing in outside office space or other marketing and business tools until the product had taken off.  She didn’t have a formal website until she made it on the Oprah show and needed one.  Anything that wasn’t essential to building the product and getting the name out there simply wasn’t a priority.

10)   Breaking the mold is a good thing.  When Sara began to research undergarments for women and how they’d been made for the last 50 years, she was astonished.  From the absurd sizing protocols (only one average waist measure was used on all the products, regardless of the size of the garment), to how products were tested (on manikins not real people), Sara saw that the undergarment industry needed a female perspective – insights from a real woman wearing these items to shape the product development direction so the products were useful, effective, and as comfortable as possible.  She broke the mold, and developed a completely new approach to developing women’s undergarments.

Sara’s most important tip:

“Believe in your idea, trust your instincts, and don’t be afraid to fail. It took me two years from the time I had the idea for Spanx until the time I had a product in hand ready to sell into stores. I must have heard the word “no” a thousand times. If you believe in your idea 100%, don’t let anyone stop you! Not being afraid to fail is a key part of the success of Spanx.”

In the end, Sara Blakely’s story shows us what’s possible when we believe, when we’re resourceful beyond measure, and when our passion and commitment to something outside ourselves brings us to a calling. 

What are you most afraid of failing at? Will you get in the cage with your fears and take a step toward your dream today?

 ***

This article was written by Kathy Caprino, Contributor for Forbes

Kathy Caprino: I'm a career and executive coach, professional trainer, speaker and writer dedicated to the advancement of women in business. My firm -- Ellia Communications -- offers career, executive, and leadership coaching and consulting, as well as training, seminars and resources designed to help women achieve greater professional success, reward, and recognition, and reach their highest potential. As a former publishing and direct marketing executive who experienced numerous crises in my professional life, I reinvented myself after 9/11, and trained as a therapist and career coach. As I began to speak widely to working women, I observed that thousands of women around the country were struggling with deep professional and work-life challenges with very little effective support. Hoping to bring new solutions to the table, I conducted a yearlong national research study on professional women's crises and how to overcome them, which culminated in my book Breakdown Breakthrough. My focus now is on helping professional and entrepreneurial women advance as well as supporting corporate America in creating more inclusive, diverse work cultures that work for all.

Always Expect Success,

Kevin Richardson

15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

   Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?”Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.
 

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels. Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

13. Give up the past. I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another,  attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves.  You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.

This was a great article I found from the Purpose Fairy. Check out the purpose fairy blog at www.thepurposefairy.com for more great life changing articles like this one.

Always expect success,

     Kevin Richardson

Beware the Boomerang!

 

How do you tell a good thinker from a poor thinker?  How do you evaluate and separate a good decision from a bad one.

The answer to these questions is often the difference between a good life and poor one.

It’s simple.  Consequences!  What’s likely to happen down the road if you do something today?

You know that there are two reasons for doing anything.  There is the reason that sounds good and then there is the real reason.

The real reason is almost always self-gratification, personal benefit, an immediate reward for the person doing it.  We call this “motivation.”  The reason that sounds good is almost always noble and aimed at benefiting others in some way.

Virtually every political plan to do something for the “people” is based on these two reasons.  The real reason, according to Nobel prize winning economist Dr. James Buchaner, is that the program or spending plan will most help the politician get re-elected.

But beware the boomerang!  The secondary consequences of a poor idea or decision can be far worse than if nothing were done at all.

All actions and inaction have consequences, and the superior person thinks about what they might be, carefully in advance of deciding.

Many things with happy short term consequences have very negative long term consequences.  Take eating for example.  Delicious food in excess can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, strokes and early death.

Lifelong learning is something with very positive long term consequences.  Continually upgrading your skills and renewing your mind can lead to a life of material prosperity and personal happiness.

Too much television, newspapers, radio, socializing and unfocused activity may be fun at the moment.  But these activities lead to underachievement, frustration and failure.

Beware the boomerang!  Make sure that what you’re doing, what you’re spending out, will come back to you with the things you really want in the future.

Written by Brian Tracy - www.BrianTracy.com 

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.  Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined.

Great article from one of the greatest trainers.  Remember, both inaction and action have consequences.

Expect Success,

Kevin Richardson

 

The Secrets to Peak Performance

The key to long term success is for you to dedicate yourself to continuous improvement. If you become one tenth of one percent more productive each day, that amounts to 1/1000th improvement per working day. Is that possible? Of course it is!

Improve A Little At A Time

If you become one tenth of one percent more productive each day, that amounts to one half of one percent more productive each week. One half of one percent more productive each week amounts to two percent more productive each month and 26% more productive each year.

The cumulative effect if becoming a tiny bit better at your field and more productive amounts to a tremendous increase in your value and your output over time.

How to Double Your Productivity

Twenty-six percent more productive each year, with compounding, amounts to doubling your overall productivity and performance every 2.7 years. If you become 26% more productive each year, with compounding, times 10 years, you will be 1004% more productive over the next decade. That is an increase of ten times over ten years.

The Reason For All Great Successes

This is called the Law of Accumulation, or the Principle of Incremental Improvement. It is the primary reason for all great success stories. By the yard, it’s hard. But inch by inch, anything’s a cinch!

Written by Brian Tracy - www.BrianTracy.com 

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.  Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined.

I hope you enjoyed this post by Brian Tracy, I know I did.  Everyday you must make the conscious decision to get better. If not you will gradually start moving backward and away from your goal.  Their is no staying the same. Each day you will either move closer or further from your goals.  

Expect Success,

Kevin Richardson

How to be Charming

The more important you make people feel in your presence, the more charming they will perceive you to be. Fortunately, we know how to make people feel wonderful about themselves. These key behaviors can be summarized in the five A’s: Acceptance, Appreciation, Approval, Admiration, and Attention.

1. Acceptance. The greatest gift that you can give other people is the attitude of “unconditional positive regard.” That is, you accept them in their entirety, without limitation. You never criticize or find a fault. You are totally accepting of everything about them, as if they were a miracle of nature. This is the starting point of being charming.

And how do you express complete acceptance? It is simple. You smile! When you smile with happiness at seeing people, their self-esteem jumps automatically. They feel happy about themselves. They feel important and valuable. And they like the person who is making them feel this way. They find you to be charming, even before you open your mouth.

2. Appreciation. Whenever you express appreciation to others for something they have done, small or large, their self-esteem increases. They feel more valuable and important. They feel more competent and capable. Their self-image improves and their self-respect soars.

And how do you trigger this wonderful feeling in others? It is simple. You say “thank you” on every occasion, for any large or small reason. You make a habit of thanking everyone in your world for everything they do. Thank your secretary for her work. Thank your spouse for his help. Thank your children for anything they do that you appreciate.

Here is a double payoff: Whenever you smile or say thank you to another person, not only does that person’s self-esteem and feeling of importance jump, but so does yours. You actually like yourself more every time you do or say anything that causes other people to like themselves more.

And the more you like yourself, the more you will genuinely like and care about others. The more you like yourself, the less concerned you will be about whether you are making a good impression, and the more naturally charming you will become.

3. Approval. It is said that “babies cry for it, men die for it.” Throughout life, all humans have a deep subconscious need for approval of their actions and accomplishments. No amount of approval ever satisfies for long. The need is ongoing, like the need for food or rest. People who continually seek opportunities to express approval are welcome wherever they go. F

Perhaps the best definition of approval is “praise.” This subject is so important that we will come back to it later. Just remember, whenever you praise other people for something they have done, their self-esteem is elevated. They feel wonderful about themselves. And they find you to be more interesting, perceptive, highly likable, and extremely charming.

4. Admiration. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Everybody likes a compliment.” When you give people a genuine, sincere compliment about a trait, possession, or accomplishment, they automatically feel better about themselves. They feel acknowledged and recognized. They feel valuable and important. They like themselves more, and they like you more.

Compliment a person on an article of clothing. Compliment someone on a trait, like punctuality or persistence. Compliment the person on having won an award or achieved a goal. Compliment for small things as well as large. Always be looking for something to compliment, and each time you find something, the other person will like you more and find you to be charming.

5. Attention. This is perhaps the most important quality of all, and will be the subject of several subsequent chapters. It is the most powerful behavior for building self-esteem and is the key to instant charm. When you pay close attention to other people, the more valuable and important they will feel they are, and the more they will like you.

These are the five most powerful self-esteem building tools ever discovered. As you master them through practice, you will become one of the most charming and influential people in your social and professional circle.

Written by Brian Tracy 

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.  Visit www.BrianTracy.com for more information

Expect Success,

Kevin Richardson

www.TheSuccessBlog.org

Time is Your Greatest Friend - Procrastination is Your Greatest Enemy written by Zig Ziglar

Worrying about the results will not change them. I certainly recognize that a certain amount of worry is just part of being human. People have concerns about many things. There are legitimate concerns about money and financial security. There are legitimate concerns about health issues, and there are concerns about our personal and professional relationships. People want all of these things to go well in their lives, and a certain amount of worry and concern is normal. But there is another kind of worry that is not only dangerous to your health; it is dangerous to your success. The kind of worry I’m talking about is “imagined worry.” Imagined worry is when you spend a lot of time thinking about the future and what might happen in your life that could be terrible. My late friend Mary Crowley said, “Worry is a misuse of the imagination,” and she hit the nail on the head with that remark. 

Now you might be wondering why I’m so concerned about worrying and what it has to do with success and expecting to win, so I’ll tell you. Worry is the most significant factor that relates to the root of negative thinking. As a matter of fact, worry just might be the engine that starts negative thinking, and if you are involved in negative thinking, you will not expect to win. If you spend an excessive amount of time imagining all the bad things that can happen in your life, you will become a person who is problem-conscious, not solution-conscious. There is perhaps no greater example of how this can be so dangerous than when it involves worrying about health issues. I have known many people who receive bad medical reports, and when they hear the news, they begin to worry so much about it their life may as well have ended at that moment. We all know people who suffer this way and we suffer with them. There doesn’t seem to be a single thing we can do or say to encourage and lift them up. 

On the other hand, we all know people who suffer in the worst way and never make mention of their struggle. In fact, they seem embarrassed if we catch them grimacing in pain or taking a bad step. They don’t want attention focused on what they can’t do or how they hurt and suffer; they want to be “others” centered and get their mind off of their disability. These individuals have accepted their issue as a part of life and have decided to make the very best of their circumstances. They are an encouragement and example to everyone blessed enough to know them! Yes, they have bad days, but they choose to focus on the good days and what they can still do. They live in the moment and know full well that tomorrow will be what it is and they can deal with it when it arrives, not before. 

Zig Ziglar’s Born to Win: Find Your Success Code compresses four decades of life-changing tools and practices into an inspiring, concise and easy-to-use format for bottom-line people who want to grow and improve their lives “right now!” 

Reprinted with permission from Jim Rohn International © 2012. As a world-renowned author and success expert, Jim Rohn touched millions of lives during his 46-year career as a motivational speaker and messenger of positive life change. For more information on Jim and his popular personal achievement resources or to subscribe to the weekly Jim Rohn Newsletter, visit www.JimRohn.com. 

The Miracle of Personal Development written by Jim Rohn

One day my mentor Mr. Shoaff said, “Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”

Since that time I’ve been working on my own personal development. And I must admit that this has been the most challenging assignment of all. This business of personal development lasts a lifetime.

You see, what you become is far more important than what you get. The important question to ask on the job is not, “What am I getting?” Instead, you should ask, “What am I becoming?” Getting and becoming are like Siamese twins: What you become directly influences what you get. Think of it this way: Most of what you have today you have attracted by becoming the person you are today.

I’ve also found that income rarely exceeds personal development. Sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but unless you learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the amount you can handle.

If someone hands you a million dollars, you’d better hurry up and become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, “If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before.”

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development.

So here’s the great axiom of life:

To have more than you’ve got, become more than you are.

This is where you should focus most of your attention. Otherwise, you just might have to contend with the axiom of not changing, which is:

Unless you change how you are, you’ll always have what you’ve got.

Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher, reprinted with permission from Jim Rohn International © 2011. As a world-renowned author and success expert, Jim Rohn touched millions of lives during his 46-year career as a motivational speaker and messenger of positive life change. For more information on Jim and his popular personal achievement resources or to subscribe to the weekly Jim Rohn Newsletter, visitwww.JimRohn.com. 

Parents and Network Marketing, a Match Made In Heaven

    If there is a match made in heaven, it is parenting and network marketing.  Children may be priceless, but they are also expensive.  With diapers, food, clothing to education, sports, and vacations, there is no cheap way to raise a family.  It costs an average of $200,000 to raise a child to the age of eighteen.  And that is before college fees and weddings.

Too many think their choices are narrow - either go to work or be a stay-at-home mom or dad.  It doesn't have to be that way.  Network marketing is an ideal way to supplement the family income when it is not feasible for both parents to work outside the home.

Children thrive with parents at home.  The first years shape the rest of a child's life.  School age children who come home each day to a mom or dad are happier and more secure.  It is also important to be around when children hit the challenging teen years.

Believe me when I say it's impossible to leave children in day care while you work outside the home and not feel guilty.  There are no second chances when it comes to parenting.  The precious years when children are young and can never be relived.  You have a lot to offer parents.  Outside of network marketing, few jobs offer the flexibility that allows parents to juggle work and family.  Network marketing parenting parents can give children their full attention without sacrificing extra income.  "Family First" is the creed of a network marketing business.

If you are looking for a great network marketing company, you need to look at Zeek Rewards.  Zeek Rewards is a profit sharing company that will pay you to drive traffic to their website by placing a free daily ad.  For more information visit www.JoinTeamSynergy.com or watch a short video at www.ZeekOpportunity.com

Expect Success,

Kevin Richardson

5 Tricks to Overcome Fear - by Inc. Magazine

How to Overcome Fear: 5 Tricks

Fear is the main obstacle to success in business--in business as well as elsewhere. Don't let it rule your life.

 

Most people aren't as successful as they might be, simply because their fear is keeping them from taking action.

Maybe it's a fear of rejection, or maybe it's fear of failure. Maybe it's fear of doing the wrong thing, or fear of the boss, or a customer. The end result is the same: You don't take the risks necessary to make yourself successful.

This is not to say that being completely fearless is a good idea. Fearless people do stupid things; as the saying goes, they "rush in where angels fear to tread."  When it comes to fears, the trick is to understand them, know why they're there–and then overcome them when it's necessary to take action in order to achieve your goals.

There are five basic ways to do this:

1. Increase Your Familiarity

The more you do something that scares you, the easier it becomes.  Take, for example, the most common fear for people who are selling: fear of closing.  Treating a sales cycle as a series of small closes makes closing the deal easier when it's finally time to ask for the business.

2. Rehearse Courage Mentally

When it comes to emotions, including fear, your brain can't differentiate between what it imagines and what's actually happened in the real world. If you repeatedly rehearse something in your mind, while at the same time visualizing yourself as being calm, confident and collected, your behavior in the real world will imitate your imagination.

3. Reframe the Fear

Create a comparison in your mind that makes your fear seem trivial. For example: There are millions of people in this world who have to worry about whether they're going to eat today. Against that perspective, what have you got to be afraid of?  I mean, really?

4. Reassociate the Fear

Ever been to a Six Flags amusement park? If so, you probably paid a fair amount of money ... for the privilege of being frightened out of your wits. Taking risks in business is, in fact, a lot like getting on a roller coaster — except that you get to do some steering, so you're actually a bit more in control. It turns out that fear you're feeling isn't really fear after all. It's excitement!

5. Make the Fear Useful

Far from being a debilitating emotion, fear–when viewed from the right perspective–is actually just a signal that you need to do something. If you're afraid to ask for the business, for example, it's just your subconscious mind telling you that it's getting close to the point where you need to ask for the business.  It may sound trite, but it's true: "Feel the fear, then do it anyway."

Put the above techniques in your mental bag of tricks, and your fears—no matter what they are—will stop holding you back.

On extra hint: These techniques are best applied in combination.  For example, here's the specific routine that works for me:

• I notice that I'm putting something off because of a fear that it won't happen.
• I reconfirm that the goal is worth pursuing.
• I "remember" that the fear is just a signal that this is a desirable goal.
• I feel grateful that I have the opportunity to achieve that goal.
• I briefly think about all the things that I don't have to be afraid about.
• I recall all the times that I've overcome similar fears.
• I imagine myself taking the action that I've been putting off because of fear.
• I repeat the above step five times, visualizing a successful outcome.
• Finally, I use the momentum of all of the above to push me forward.

The above formula has allowed me, a relatively quiet and introverted guy, to pursue some goals and have some experiences that otherwise would have been completely impossible for me.

Geoffrey James is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of articles on sales and marketing, and has helped thousands of sales professionals communicate more effectively with customers. James' latest book is How to Say It: Business to Business Selling. @Sales_Source

----------------------------

A great article by Inc. Magazine.  Do not let fear keep you from living out your potential.

Expect Success,

    Kevin Richardson

    Join Team Synergy