Nothing just happens

There is a great book titled The Lone Survivor....it is a true story about Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Seal. Marcus and his brother decided they wanted to become Navy Seals when they were in their teens.   The quote from Marcus is very profound.

"Deep down I knew there was something more required to make it into the world's top combat teams.  And that was a level of fitness and strength that could only be attained by those who actively sought it, nothing just happens.  You always have to strive."

We have a great company, awesome products and a compensation plan that is really quite incredible.  But as Marcus says in the above statement, nothing just happens. You always have to strive.  What might strive mean?  try for...strain for....seek to....aim to....make a stab at....dare to....struggle for....fight for....I think you get the point.  Nothing just happens! Just because we have the company, products and comp plan we have doesn't mean that success is going to happen. Not a chance.

If you really want to know what it takes just read again the words that might describe "strive."

Here's what I know: we experience the struggle, dare to approach some people, seek to understand just what does it take to make this really work at the level at which we want to be, try different things and then settle for the basics time after time, aim to maintain an attitude that would keep us on a good path. It's worth it. It's worth every challenge, every struggle, every ounce of effort it takes to build. You will never regret putting in the time and effort working at this business.  The things people usually regret the most are the things they didn't do, not what they have done.

Are you striving to change your future?

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Choice + change = exciting future

There are many personal reasons that drive people to build a Shaklee business.  My reason was/is very simple: I was 31 and didn't feel I had a future. I had a good job but in my view that was it. For some reason I started to think about having a future and wondered what it should or could be. Once I saw the opportunity I decided to find out if what this guy showed me was "for real."  

I had to shift some things around to attend the meetings but I was excited.  It took me about 3 to 4 months of never missing a meeting of any kind to get to the point that the opportunity was real. I heard stories about the products, we used lots of products ourselves, heard many testimonies about peoples' earnings, and I met people who were the same as me in the sense they found something and wanted a better future.   My belief got to the point where I was all in. 

Here is my point: I heard an idea and got kind of excited. I had a somewhat busy life but I knew I had to make some changes. The more meetings I attended, the more people I met in the business who were doing well, the more my thinking changed. It was future-directed not job-directed. It was the opportunity that captured my thinking and it was and still is very exciting. I wanted to be successful with this company.

Does your thinking need an adjustment?   I believe that every person reading this right now can be as successful at this business as you want to be. All of us are where we are today because of previous choices we made. In this business it's not that everyone can't be successful, it's just that many choose not to adjust their course or adjust their thinking. Does your course need adjustments?  What might you have to change in order to devote more time to building an incredible future? Think about it. Make the choice that will take you to higher levels. You'll never regret making positive changes.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Simplicity attracts

Today I'm going to start with a quote from Mark Twain:

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret for getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and starting on the first one."

It doesn't take a 4 week or 8 week class to learn what to do in order to get yourself started. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot to learn; there is. But you don't have to know everything before you get started. It's the principle that says you learn as you go, not before you go.  I have seen many people who want to know everything first and that day never seems to arrive. 

What do you have planned for today?

Who are you going to talk to? 

What are you going to show and tell? 

Are you attending the meetings in your area?  

Do you do in-home events? 

Do you understand the compensation plan?

Are you working from a list of people you're going to contact?  

As I've said before, I learned the following many years ago and have never forgotten it and follow it to this day: simplicity attracts and complexity impresses.  My job is not to impress people as much as it is to learn how to attract people to the great idea of Shaklee. Simplicity works. 

Think about it.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

This is a simple business

As I've said, this business is very simple.  Simple doesn't mean easy. I have seen many people analyze this opportunity and "give it a try" to check it out to see if it works. Of course, with that approach the chances of experiencing growth aren't very good. The reason I say that is because I know what everyone faces once they get started and that is failure or it's slower than they expected. There is a learning curve in everything and unfortunately many people aren't willing to work their way through that curve.

The bottom line is that there aren't any secrets to what it takes to become successful in this business, but a person will only get out of it what they put into it.  The fundamentals are very clear and you don't have to do 4000 things to make it work, but you do have to do 4 or 5 things 4000 times over a period of time. That's right - there are just a few things to commit to learning to the point where you become skilled in those areas. This isn't a talent business, but it is about developing skills.

Here is my suggestion: don't be intimidated by failure or success. When you hear that someone is growing, use that example as a model. If you ask some questions, you will find that individual or couple are working hard at the basics of this business. Be inspired by their success. They are getting out of it exactly what they are putting into it. If you know someone who feels it is their responsibility to be negative and they are saying how difficult it is and they just can't seem to get it to work, ask them if they really put in the effort learning to do things they don't know how to do.

Remember, you will get out of this business exactly what you put into it.   It's that simple.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Success is not an event

I came across this statement yesterday as I was going over some notes in preparation for a meeting. I know I have addressed this before, but it's been a while and it never hurts to repeat interesting ideas. Here it is....Success is not an event. Very simple. Very accurate.

 

In the first couple years, when I was really trying to learn and act on what I was learning, the following words would be in my mind occasionally: "I wonder if this business will ever work for us like it does those people I listen to at these meeting?" I'm just like everyone: there are good days and then there are those days - that at times turn into weeks -where I would have doubt. Doubt has a way of taking away a person's energy and focus. I learned that it was my responsibility to fight doubt every step of the way.

What I learned about fighting doubt was simple: positive activity that produces small successes is what overcomes that doubt. If you want to stay positive and active, it's a matter of working at the fundamentals; when you do so, you set the stage for those small successes to come your way. Success is not an event, but that success you want for yourself is right around the corner as long as you keep yourself active, doing the right things for building this business.

The only way doubt can win is through inactivity. There are people in every town and city that want and need what we have to offer in terms of the products and the earning possibilities. Be active.  Positive activity will eventually produce positive results. Think about it.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

 

 

Are you sitting on a nail?

 

I have a little book titled Mentored by the King. In this case, the king is Arnold Palmer the guy who literally changed professional golf. The following short story came from this little book and it got my attention.   Enjoy and think.

 

Polls and studies routinely show that most people are conservative by nature.  We loathe change and run towards the predictable even if it's not comfortable.  In doing so, I wonder how often we're missing out on a great adventure.

 

I once heard a story about a man who stopped in a country store in Georgia, one of those great old buildings with high ceilings and wooden floors.  In the middle of the floor was an aging Labrador retriever that kept moaning and groaning, but neither the owner nor the customers paid any attention to him.

    Finally, the traveler asked the shopkeeper, "Is there something wrong with your dog?"

    "Nah," he relied, "that's Buster.  He's just sitting on a nail."

    "Why doesn't he move?" the man inquired.

    "I guess it hurts him enough to moan but not enough to move."

I some times think the same could be said of us.  We gripe and groan, but rarely do we do anything to change the source of our complaint.  We're not thrilled with our lot, but for some reason, we're satisfied with the status quo.  Just as in the game of golf, there's a tendency in life to play it safe, fearing we might overshoot the green or lose our best ball in the lake.

 

"Are you stuck in a rut?  Are you caught up in a frustrating cycle?  It takes guts to get out of ruts.  Imagination is often more important than knowledge.  Maybe it's time to let yourself think new thoughts and dream new dreams."

 

Gary's comment:  This story caught my attention because challenge means potential change - and that's what we need in this business to grow. Some of us are sitting on a nail, and it's easier to sit there instead of making a move to new challenges. I've sat on that nail a few times so I can relate to the story.  Bottom line it's about picking ourselves up and going for the dream.

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Mentors are valuable

I read something yesterday that talked about about having a mentor and I thought that might be a good subject for a message. There are a few words that might describe a mentor: advisor, teacher, expert, confidante, guru, and perhaps more. But in our business, I view a  mentor as someone who has already learned many lessons as they built their business.   Any person who has succeeded has certainly failed many, many times; that is part of the process for succeeding.

 

I learned a principle years ago that has served me well. It is: there isn't anyone I can't learn something from. That could mean hundreds or thousands of people in all walks of life. I can learn something from everyone, but I can't follow every person I learn from. If I want to succeed, I have to be choosy about whom to follow. To follow many people would eventually get confusing; confusion turns into doubt and people who are doubtful don't do much of anything.

 

I chose a mentor early in the game because he was growing consistently. He was excellent at prospecting and building people into what we call Directors today. He lived out of Minnesota but I met him at a meeting in my first few months in the business. I was really struggling at one point so I asked for his phone number and I called him and asked if I could make an appointment to ask some questions. He said of course so I did exactly that a number of times my first two or three years. We became very good friends over time, and he helped me in so many ways but the most important was I was taught things so my learning curve was shortened. He saved me time. Of course I still experienced many, many failures. 

 

When I called I asked specific questions and always took notes as we talked. Ask questions!  The other thing a good mentor does is be a balcony person, meaning he/she is on a balcony cheering for the pupil to succeed. So give encouragement. My mentor never criticized me. So don't so that if you're a mentor.

 

To keep this somewhat short, do you have a mentor? No?  Why not? You might want two or three mentors - maybe a mentor for prospecting, or a mentor for building high volume, or maybe how to build a large business of sales leaders. Think about it. It will save you time and help you make progress.

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Choices, challenges, change

The choices we make are what eventually take us in a certain direction. In what direction are you currently headed? Do you have new people coming into your organization every month? Is your monthly volume increasing or is it the same as it was last year? Do you have 2 or more people in your personal group who are working to get to Director?   

 

We are where we are today because of past choices, and one of the most exciting things to me is the idea that by making new choices we can literally change our life as well as our business. We can change anything by changing our mind! That's a very powerful principle. By changing our mind, our future can be different. It is an awesome challenge to know we can literally make desired changes by changing our mind.

 

So what is it you would like to change about yourself, your business, and your future?  It is and will always be about the choices we make and whether or not we accept the challenges it takes to make things happen. Think about it over the weekend. Then write out the changes you want on a piece of paper and create your plan for your new you, your new business and of course your new future.

 

Change is challenging but it can also be very exciting. Accept the challenge. It's something to think about.

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Reflection time

Yesterday in the Minneapolis newspaper the following comment was made by the head coach of the Minnesota Wild NHL hockey team, Mike Yeo.  

 

"A big part of me for getting better is I take time for reflection and evaluating myself."

 

This article really made me think so I took some time to reflect on a few things. This isn't entirely new to me because it seems like I'm always hearing things or reading things that make me think. I reflected on this thought......what did we do to be so fortunate to have the kind of business we have? 

 

Faye and I aren't any different than you or anyone else. I was 31 and Faye was 25 when we got started and in my mind we both had jobs but there wasn't much of a future in either job. I heard an idea, checked it out for 4 months and made a decision. This might be the only difference between me and some people who don't have the lifestyle of their dreams. I made a decision that I wanted what Shaklee offered so I committed to that idea and for the past 44 years have stuck to that commitment.

 

Has it been easy? No! Has there been disappointments? Lots of them. Did we grow fast like many others did? No! Did I experience any failures? Yes - and this is probably the major reason we succeeded. We were willing to fail but yet not make the big failure of quitting just because things didn't always go the way we wanted them to. As has been said by many people...we failed our way to success.

 

I think what we did was make a simple commitment about doing whatever it would take to work hard at building this business regardless of what might happen. Failures are lessons and I learned that very early in the game. I had lots of lessons to learn.

 

Are you committed to this idea of building yourself a future that is absolutely amazing? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen? If you are all I know is you will never regret working hard at this business. Reflect on this thought today and see what you come up with.

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Does "no" faze you?

This message is worth reading several times - maybe weekly.

Our Confession: Does No Phase [sic] Us?
by Andrea Waltz & Richard Fenton

People frequently ask us, "Do the NO's phase you anymore?"

The truth is, nope. They really don't. After 15+ years of helping other people reprogram the way they think about failure and rejection, telling people to get off the 'emotional roller coaster' and not to take things personally... we reprogrammed our minds along the way.

Keep in mind, when we first wrote Go for No!, we didn't do it because we were fearless: we wrote it because we desperately needed the message as much as anyone. But these days no's really don't phase us whatsoever. It's one of the reasons why we continue to have a passion for the message - there is a freedom that you can have with your feelings around 'no.'

Having said that here's the other truth: Do we get upset with our progress, have down days, want to stay in bed and pout, feeling like all the hard work isn't paying off as qucikly as we want? Absolutely! Do we fail? Absolutely - pretty often actually. And we still get plenty of NO's.

Now we're working on a project that when we announce it, will seem to some people like we've completely lost our minds. But, we believe in our message - we believe in failing our way to success. And that requires doing stuff often times that other people are going to think is crazy!

As Steve Jobs said, "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Credit: http://archive.aweber.com/goforno/KlKIj/h/_Your_Monthly_Dose_of_NOtivation.htm

Enthusiastically,
Gary Burke

The "intangibles"

This business is such an “attitude” business. It never fails that when I talk with someone who is working hard and experiencing growth, it becomes clear as I listen to them that it is all about their current attitude. The major difference between people who are moving forward and those who are doubtful is the attitude.

 

It’s really about the intangibles:

ü  Integrity
ü  Honesty
ü  Attitude
ü  Commitment
ü  Effort
ü  Quality decisions
ü  Determination
ü  Diligence
ü  Optimism
ü  Persistence
ü  Belief
ü  Encouragement
ü  Consistency
ü  Confidence

It's about what and who we are becoming as individuals. So as you look at the above list why don't you print this out and circle the words that you feel describe you. Then underline the words that you feel you can improve on. It's all about what we are becoming.

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

How to have a sustained business

Faye and I have been having a discussion for the past week or two about growing this business. We asked ourselves a question: What did we do to build this business that has helped it to endure and be strengthened over these 40 plus years? It's really been very easy to maintain because people love the products. We have people who order from us on a very regular basis and they have for well over 40 years. Why is that, you might ask? People love the nutrition products as well as the non-toxic cleaners. We kept promoting the products that we knew people could use for the rest of their lives. Vita Lea and Protein as well as other supplements. Some people use only the cleaners or personal care items but the point is they have used these products for decades.

 

My favorite product is the compensation plan. That's right, I view the compensation plan as a product, because what we saw early in the business was lots of possibilities if we would build, not just sell. That was exciting then and it still is exciting to tell others about the possibilities and how this business can change their lives. I enjoy talking about this business and to be honest, the reason I got involved is because of how my sponsor talked about the advantages of owning our own business and what that meant.

 

To Faye and me, growth is not about programs. We've seen a lot of programs over the years but we kept our focus on doing what we enjoyed doing. It's about doing the things you enjoy doing. Some enjoy learning about nutrition, some love the skin care and others the non-toxic cleaners. We all have our way of doing what we love about this business. I love talking about the business side of Shaklee and we have stuck with that because that is what I enjoy doing.

 

So what got you into this business and what do you enjoy doing? Are you doing what you truly enjoy doing? If "Yes" good for you because I think you are enjoying how you choose to work at Shaklee and my guess is you're also growing. The best way to insure you will have success in Shaklee is to find your niche - in other words find a way to build that is based on what you like to do in Shaklee. Then stick with it.

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

It's never too late.

Yesterday, as we were walking down the fairway at the golf course, I asked some friends if they had heard or seen the story about the woman who swam from Cuba to the USA - 110 miles from shore to shore. Her name is Diana Nyad, and she set a goal when she was a young girl to swim from Cuba to the USA. She is now 64 years old, and this was her fifth attempt.

 

Ms. Nyad's first attempt was in 1978 - 35 years ago. Time went by, and she had unsuccessful attempts twice in 2011 and again in 2012, but that goal was still in her mind, so she started training again to get in shape for this incredible feat at age 64. After months of training she was ready and last week she made it - the first person ever to do so without a shark cage or fins!  It's an amazing example to me of what can happen when a person is serious about a major goal.

 

One of the guys said the following, "I'm always so impressed when someone actually does what they say they want to do regardless of the difficulty." He went on to comment about how people seem to want something but then for whatever reason they stop trying. I made the comment, "This lady is one mentally tough lady because what she did isn't only about swimming, it's about mental toughness." I saw her on TV as she walked out of the water. It was amazing that she was able to make it to shore.  

 

I also am always very impressed when I see or hear of someone who set a goal, had all kinds of challenges, never lost that goal, and no matter how difficult it was they achieved that goal. Of course this brings me to building a future in this business. It's not always easy. The easiest thing to do is to just stop. The difficult part is being mentally tough and continuing to put in the effort because the end of the rainbow is very compelling.  

 

Think about it. Do you have a dream/goal? Is it still alive in your mind? Are you still in pursuit of that dream? Don't let it die. Keep it alive. Be willing to do whatever it takes and when you finally arrive at the end of your rainbow, you will never, ever regret doing what it took to be that person who inspired others by having a story of how you made it happen. GO FOR IT!

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

Priorities

There could be a long list of things to do on a daily basis when building a future for yourself, but I think in order to really make a difference a person has to make a decision on what are the one or two top things that have potential to make a difference. What is it that drives the business? What activities build PV? These simple questions could affect you and your business in a big way.

 

My point today is don't try to do everything. Make a list of priorities. Then look at your calendar to see if it reflects the activities you've done or have plans to be doing. Do you have some fresh goals to accomplish over the next 4 months, which will take us into 2014? As Jim Rohn said, "Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There's no telling what will happen when you act upon them."

 

We've discussed prioritizing before but it's one of those things that bears repeating time and time again. What a person should do is decide what they want and then stay focused on the things they can control - like appointments, presentations, follow up, sponsoring, building personal PV, working with those in one's personal group who want to promote to Director, etc. Those are all building activities. If you're doing these activities on a regular basis you and your business are already growing.

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke

A fresh start.

For many, this is a day when kids start a new school year, which is always fun and exciting. This is also the start of a new month for all of us who are building this business. I just read the following in my daily devotional: "A refreshed, revitalized mind is able to sort out what is important and what is not."

 

Do you feel refreshed? Revitalized? Is it important to you to make September a "statement" month for yourself? Start your day off by setting some guidelines for doing whatever it takes to have a great month. How many appointments will you set today for the remaining week and into the month? How much of a PV increase do you want to have in September? Write it down. Then write what it is you know has to be done to make it happen, i.e., your plans for taking action.

 

Don't allow anything to get in the way of your great start. It's never to late to start over. It's always a good idea to set that new goal, then write out the process for your activity. Once you have a process to work and you follow it, the results will come for you. Guaranteed!

 

Have a fun day growing yourself and your business.

 

Enthusiastically,

Gary Burke