Category Archives: Orrin Woodward Life Business

Be Encouraging by Removing Your Layers

IT is quit amazing that one of the smallest parts of the body, the tongue, can have such a powerful impact on us and others.  The number of Proverbs and statements about the tongue are vast.

  • Death and life are in the power of the tongue  (Prov. 18:21)
  •  A soothing tongue is the tree of life  (Prov. 12:25)
  • The tongue is mightier then the sword ( ok I know its,pen, but the pen just writes what the tongue would have said )

Even though the tongue physically speaks the words it is the heart that creates the words before they are spoken.  Luke 6 :45  “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.   Since it is the heart that produces the words we use and the way we use them then we really need to solve the heart issues to become a true encourager to others.  You see what happens is we are living our life and words are spoken to us and about us.  Those words have a great effect on our view of ourselves.  We will start to build up protective layers around the fear in our heart that we are trying to protect.  As we speak, our words are affected by those layers.  When we build up enough layers we begin to speak from the layers instead off from our core self.  This can lead to creating blind spots.  These blind spots are areas that we don’t even recognize as causing issues in our life.

Let me give you a personal example of how layers affect your life.  My mom and dad were divorced when I was eight years old.  Not having a father figure produced some protective layers that I did not recognize until my 40’s.  Not having a father or any other male role model created a fear of  acceptance in me.  Now to protect that fear, I built up a layer of toughness and anger.  I was always noticing people that I thought were looking at me funny, reacting because of what I did ( lets use driving on the highway  🙂 or talking about me.  All of these were rooted in my fear of male acceptance.  I know this is true because one of my friends had the same issue and we were always looking for a fight.  One of my other friends didn’t have this fear ( layers )  and always thought me and my other friend were crazy.  By the way, he did have a great relationship with his father.  I think the layers we create are manifested based on our personality traits.  Choleric, melancholy, phlegmatic, sanguine.  The choleric’s layers become aggressive or angry; the melancholy becomes sarcastic or introverted; the phlegmatic becomes stubborn or recluse;  the sanguine becomes goofy or unaware of whats going on around them.  These are just some of the layers I have witnessed but there can be many more.  As these layers develop we start to hear everything filtered through those layers and speak from those layers.  Both situations will make it more difficult to build great relationships with people.  You have all experienced these conversations.  You say something to someone and there reply back to you has nothing to do with what you just said.  Now you have layers also and so you reply back with something that has nothing to do with what that person says.   Example, I was getting physical therapy and had to lay there and witness a half hour conversation about NOTHING! I thought I was going to go nuts.  Started off with ” My husband took me to that new restaurant” “Did you hear there is a food poison break out”  “My son was sick two weeks ago” “I think I’m going to train for a race.” “I just don’t like working out” both ladies were going back and forth and never acknowledged once what the other person said.  That was when I started praying that God would seal their lips shut.  God didn’t answer that prayer so I was forced to endure.  You see the problem with speaking from layers is that it means we aren’t really hearing the other person we are trying to achieve a desire of our own.

A desire may be defined as something wanted that cannot  be obtained without the cooperation of another person.  It is an objective for which a person can assume no responsibility, because it is beyond their control.  Reaching a desire must never become the motivating purpose behind behavior, because then a person is assuming responsibility for something he cannot fullfill on his own.  Encouragement by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan alexander

 

Think about it for a minute.  The person that is best to talk to is probably the person in your life that has the fewest fears that they are trying to protect.  The less fears they have the less layers they have.   They can hear what you are saying, without filtering it through layers, and when they speak they are speaking from their core, not their layers.  When people speak from their layers their words seem like they are coated with the film of the desire they are trying to fulfill.  Some speak trying to make you feel worse about yourself so they can feel better, some speak in a way that they are fishing for compliments,  others speak in tones that imply to leave them alone, some speak in a way to try to convince you they know what they are talking about.  The list goes on and on but when you hit that person that doesn’t have layers it is like a breath of fresh air.  So how do we fix this.

The real key to fixing this is to eliminate the fears.  Once you eliminate the fear the layers go with it.  A lot of people try to fix these layers with technique or skill.  They will read books on how to improve their people skills but the core fear is still there and so their protective layers just change to a different type of protective layer.  Reading and self analysis can work but very few people are skilled enough to identify their own fears and layers.  The best way to identify and change them is by mentoring with someone who can help you see what you cant see.  I have been very blessed to have two mentors  (Orrin woodward – Life founder and Chris Brady – Life founder) that have helped me eliminate some of mine.  Once you have done this process you are now able to help others identify their fears, grow, and become better.  I wish you the best of luck on this very important subject.

God Bless

Bill Lewis

 

The Mental Fitness Challenge

I wanted to wait at least a week until I blogged about the new mental fitness challenge that   the -team.biz chairman, Orrin Woodward, and the rest of the policy counsel recently released.  The MFC, as we call it, is the latest improvement that has been made to the-life-business.com.    To say that this has created some excitement would be an understatement.  The results of the launch have been amazing, click on this link to get some of the statistics.

The challenge is a process of helping us to improve ourselves from the mental side of things.  Orrin has studied the lives of three historical, great, Americans, and each one of them had resolutions that they worked on implementing into their life.  Orrin and Chris Brady decided that they should put together a system that helps people systematically walk themselves through that same successful process.

The challenge is great because it provides one of the most important item of success.  It tells you were you are at.  As the saying goes if you don’t where you are starting, it’s going to be really hard to get your destination.   You could be heading down a path that you don’t need to be heading down, just because you lacked the information of what path you are already on.  The test gives you a pretty accurate assessment of the things you need to improve on and the correct paths to get you there.

The other benefit of the test is it helps you focus.  You can walk outside and enjoy the sunlight but you can also take that same sunlight and shine it through a magnifying glass and light things on fire.  The same is true with our personnel growth.  We can just enjoy the fact that we are alive or we can light ourselves on fire.  We tend to naturally work on the things that we are strong at and avoid the things we are weak at.  After you take the challenge you will have a clear understanding of the areas you need to grow in and therefore keep you focused on the next thing you need to do to become better.

The challenge then gives you another very important step.  It gives you a way to improve in those areas.  Many test or self assessment items I have seen before just tell you whats wrong or do not have a very detailed way to help you improve.  This challenge is a very regimented systematic way to help you grow.  You have accountability partners and reminders on what you are supposed to be doing.  Most humans will experience a moment of motivation but when the feeling goes away we start to slip backwards.  The challenge is set up to keep you from slipping backwards and continuing to move forward.

Overall I know if people attack this mental fitness challenge and use it the way it was intended there is no way that they will not grow and become better.  This is not just my opinion I have seen this process done by the two people who put it together.  Orrin WoodwardChris Brady exemplify what this challenge is all about and are a living examples of what you can do when you focus your efforts.  Hope you enjoy the mental fitness challenge video.

God Bless

Bill Lewis

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvZXoarOqjA]

Hungry Students

We just came back from Orrins house in Florida for a moving on promotion.  I would first like to thank the Woodward’s for opening their home up to a mob of people.  We had a great time showing everyone the property, the house, and especially the yacht, Dream Builder, and boy does it live up to that name. This trip was one of the best trips I have been on since I joined the Team business. For many people there, it was a taste of the life they always wanted to live.  This picture doesnt capture everyone around the pavilion but they are all paying attention to the speakers and trying to gather any nuggets that they can take home with them.

Orrins Florida Promotion picture

The thing I love about these promotion trips is it shows us what we can accomplish when we put our mind to it.  This promotion was a moving on promotion.  That means you had to hit the next level in your business to qualify for the trip.  To do that required setting the goal, making a game plan, and then attacking that game plan and probably adjusting the plan as you started to move forward.  It sounds so simple on the surface but as you start to dig deeper it does require more of you.

Set a goal – the simplest of all steps.  State the number you want to hit.  There are many reasons why we don’t do that and most of them are tied to some fear within us.  Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of change, fear of one of the steps.  It’s up to each of us to figure that out and push through it or go to your mentor for help.  I love what Orrin Woodward says, “If you don’t set a goal you will hit it with amazing accuracy.”

Make a game plan – this can definitely be a little tougher because there are many factors at play but if you talk to your mentor they can give you many insights.  I think one of the hardest steps is we worry too much about the original game plan and if it won’t happen.  We have to come up with the best plan we can for the current situation and then know that we will probably have to adjust it on the journey.

Adjust the plan – as we start to move forward toward our plan we need regular checks with our mentor to see if what adjustments we need to make.  I don’t think I have ever seen an original game plan work through out the entire process.  All game plans end up with some adjustments.  If you aren’t sitting with a mentor then your adjustments may be coming to late.

Congrats to everyone that qualified for this promotion.  You have done the steps necessary to achieve any level of success that you want to achieve.

God Bless

Big time winners! LIFE / TEAM Convention

We have returned from Colombus, the site of the Life winter major convention.  I want to take some time and recognize the accomplishments of 2 great leaders.  The Spiewaks and the Hatchers.  The Spiewaks and their team completed the sweep of all the top guns.  The Hatchers and their team completed an amazing 23 month round table run.  Both leaders have many strengths that their team can learn from.

Holger and I used to work for the same manufacturing company.  Holger, who is originally from Germany, showed up at work with a 1970 something car that was as big as a boat.  After taking my trip to Europe,  I can see why he had such a fascination with big cars.  They don’t exist in Europe nor would they fit!  Even though that car was a little out of place (say this line like Thurston Howell from Gilligan’s Island) for corporate america darling,  Holger didn’t care and he was always willing to walk to the beat of his own drum.  Little did I know how much that trait would benifit him later on when I approached him with some crazy business idea.  Holger signed up with the Team and immediately he was 100% in and doing what it takes to make the business work.  At the time the only meetings were two and half hours from his house.  He never questioned it or complained about it.  He said “if this is what it takes to become great, then I will pay that price”.  I was just getting started myself so I didn’t realize that this kind of commitment was not normal.  I thought  everyone would be like that.    Holger’s loyalty to the TEAM and his team is legendary and is one of the key ingredients that makes his group of leaders such a dominate force.  Congrats to one of my best friends and a phenomenal leader.

 

 

Roy and I met in the normal process of building a community of leaders.  One of our team members contacted him and we went to show him the idea.  The lady that contacted them was worried because  they had tried everything and they probably wont be interested.  To me that meant the exact opposite.  They just hadn’t found the right tool.Yet!  As soon as I left their house I knew I had a potential rock star.  They came out of the gates running.  The next meeting we had lined up they already had someone there to see the business plan.  They came out of the gates running and continued running even when things weren’t going to plan.  The Hatchers are fanatical about game planning and understanding where they are at and what they need to do next.  They know everything about every spot in their business and therefore it is easy to P.D.C.A. with them.  They have great attitudes and are always willing to be counseled on the areas that they need to grow in.  Roy has been through many trials and tribulations and could easily use all of them as excuses to why he shouldn’t be a success.  He has chosen to use them as reasons why he should be successful.  This couple is doing what it takes to be a PC couple. Congrats on your first big victory.

I found a quote that is the opposite of both of these leaders.

Excuses are the nails which build the house of failure.  Don Wilder

What kind of house are you building?

 

 

 

Freedom Day

This is one of the best post I get to make.  In the month of December we have had 3 people who have built their own business, to a financial level,  that enables them to walk away from their jobs.  They are Carol Miller, Chad Baker, and Jason Tingley.  They are now time free and can pursue what they love to do.  They learned the skills, techniques and principles by being plugged into 2 sources.  The Team biz and The Life Business.  These organizations are led by Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady, Tim Marks, George Guzzardo, Claude Hamilton and Dan Hawkins.

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If you are looking to one day do what these champions did.  Let me give you a  tip to their success.  They all kept digging when others told them there was no gold in this business model.  There is a famous legend of a gold miner who dug into the side of a mountain range for 20 years.  He had dug many shafts all over the mountain range but he would only dig them a little ways and then get frustrated and start a new shaft  He told his friends every day that he was about to hit it big.  He eventually died of old age and penniless.  After his death the group that gained access to his mountain continued to dig into some of the tunnels he had started.  After a week they hit one of the biggest veins of gold in North America.  The sad part was that he was only 3 feet away!  You never get the reward for starting something.  The prize always goes to the one that finishes.  These 3 champs had many times were they could have stopped but the continued until they hit their vein of gold.

The other area that I have seen them push through is criticism.   It is amazing how you can totally be wasting your life away and no one will say a thing.  But if you start trying to excel and become great, watch out.  The critic’s come out of the woodwork.  They will tell you every reason why someone like you cant make it.  They don’t have another opportunity for you to pursue but you shouldn’t do this one.  I have never understood why a friend, family, co-worker wouldn’t want you to strive to become better.

Teddy Roosevelt said it best, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. “

Team Orrin Woodward – Life Risk, ups and downs

Hey gang.  I know I haven’t written a new article but why when Orrin keeps putting out great ones.  This is a great article to evaluate the up side –  down side of  the team biz.  My decision was a little easier then Orrin Woodward’s or Chris Brady’s because I didn’t have a great career going i was just getting by.  Hope you enjoy and I will posting new very soon.  Bill Lewis

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When I worked at Delphi division of GM, I completed half the classes for a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan. Although I received good grades and enjoyed the classes, I stopped pursuing my MBA in order to build my own business.

Many thought I was crazy to quit my MBA, but I just had a feeling that it was time for me to build my own business rather than continue to learn about business. In truth, I was ready to implement some of the principles that I had learned along with continuing my education in “the school of hard knocks”. :)

One of the best principles that I learned through my MBA program was to study business by asking two questions when studying any business:

1. What is the downside risk?
2. What is the upside reward?Team Orrin Woodward picture

Simply put, if the downside risk was too great, then don’t do it, because it could capsize the entire ship. However, if the a person could handle the worst case downside risk, and the upside reward was big enough, then perhaps it was a business venture worth committing to.

It was these two questions asked and answered that led me out of school and into my own business venture. What is ironic today, as I look back on Laurie and my business ventures is the level of risk taken in our former business model compared to the risk today for someone joining LIFE. Remember, Laurie and I were dead broke even as an engineer and an accountant. In fact, we were beyond broke, having consumer debt amounting to over $30,000 when we started our networking careers!

With monthly expenditures to buy 100 points of volume in my old networking company requiring Laurie and I to spend $300 dollars or more, we barely endured. This was quite a blow to an already stretched budget. Along with the product purchases, the investment in CDs, books, and seminars (all of which I loved) totaled another $200 plus dollars per month. In other words, on top of a stretched budget, Laurie and I had to budget for another $500 dollars per month minimum! The downside investment nearly killed us for the first several years. Thankfully, Laurie and I are both long-term thinkers and kept the vision in front of us. However, many of the people we started with us did not have the same endurance, dropping out along the journey to success.

What kept Laurie and I focused was the upside reward, we figured we could make an extra $25,000 after expenses in a couple of years. It’s laughable now how much work we did in a model whose highest rewards topped out at 25% volume discount on total group volumes of $20-30k per month. I know, I know, this is sounding like one of those stories: we walked uphill both ways to school through heavy snow. :)   Even so, these are the facts we were dealing with.

I am not knocking networking. In fact, I am thankful that someone had created any opportunity for us to apply our sweat equity towards freedom. We had to make many changes, both personally and professionally to get the business rolling, but eventually, we made it happen. To this day, many people around the world utilize the TEAM system of building, called team approach to grow their businesses. I take this as a compliment for our years of effort in improving the upside reward compared to the downside risk for our entire industry.

Today with the LIFE business, the downside risk versus the upside reward is nothing short of revolutionary. A person can sign up for the LIFE and LLR subscriptions, and generate 100 points for $100.  This, in my opinion, is much better than some networking companies, where you buy commodity products at inflated prices, especially if a person can buy comparable products at Walmart and Target for significantly less. In LIFE, a person can purchase the lowest cost leadership materials on the market from the only company that has two leaders on the Top 30 Leadership Guru list.

How can we offer our material at the best price and yet have a compensation plan that pays 50% on just the first type of bonus? The simple answer is the founders desire to influence the world is greater than the desire to pad their pocketbooks. Imagine if we took world-class leadership materials and provided it at the lowest prices. Then, imagine taking 70% of all the revenue points generated and flowing it back to the people who helped LIFE launch the leadership revolution. Remember, in LIFE, your pay raise becomes effective as soon as you do. :)

So what is the downside risk in this model? Hmm, let me think. . . The downside risk is that you might not enjoy the leadership training from two best selling leadership authors and business partners. If at any time you do not see the value in the leadership materials, you have a 30 day “no questions asked” return policy. Certainly within 30 days, you could discover whether the leadership materials is helping you or not, right?

The downside risk is negligible. But what about the upside reward? With a compensation plan that pays out 70% revenue points to anyone who achieves a minimum of 150 points of business, the networking game is changed forever. For example, Laurie and I personally started a new leg on November 4th. It has already achieved the 20% bracket and is easily going to hit the 25% bracket later this week. It took me two years to hit the 25% bracket in my first company!

Why the huge difference? Because we have a digital age business, a compensation plan that rewards people at the low end, and founders who desire the wealth to flow to people who build the network, not found the company.  Another factor is the demand for quality leadership materials at an affordable price point. LIFE has already signed up hundreds of customers doing tens of thousands of points, making volume accumulation easier than ever before in my networking experience.

I have taken my share of criticism for not going along with the herd in networking. I have refused repeatedly to sell out my character for conveniences. This has cost me money, time, and relationships over the years, since, in my opinion, some of my former heroes chose to sell out rather than fight for what is right.  Anytime someone desires to change the rules of the future, he will be attacked by the protectors of the past. I have received, and will continue receiving personal attacks for changing the rules. However, although they can attack my reputation, they cannot touch my character. Better they criticize me than I be them. The only people calling LIFE a scam are fearful competitors. :) Make no mistake, I will never surrender my principles for peace. I believe it’s better to create the new, rather than criticize the old.

If you have ever tried networking and didn’t make it work, then welcome to the club. Millions of Americans and Canadians have tried networking and failed in their attempt. This doesn’t make you a failure unless you blamed someone else. LIFE has changed the risk versus reward ratio to such an extent that many are achieving success who previously only struggled.

For example, my yacht captain, Bill Howard, is already at the 40% bracket and just a sliver away from the 45% bracket. We were quickly calculating his bonus for this month at around $800. Remember, Captain Bill has been in networking since 2005 and has averaged $50 or less per month with his highest one month check around $250!  Like I said, LIFE is a game-changer.

Alright, it’s time for me to get back to work. I have promises to keep. It’s time to reach one million people with leadership truth in the 8F’s of LIFE.  A rising tide lifts all the ships on the water. Don’t you think it’s time to get your ship on the water? Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Orin Woodward Team – Thoughts on Life circle

Orrin of the-team.biz has come up with another great illustration to describe the 8F growth process.  I have seen a simliar diagram used to visually show improvement in a persons golf game.  These kind of diagram are great because they give an immediate feedback on how you are doing.  bill lewis

Chris Brady and I flew up to Atlanta for a 6 hour mastermind session on Tuesday. Here is one of many concepts that were generated from brainstorming together. Generating ideas with Chris Brady is like drinking water from a firehose – fast and furious! :) I love our 17 year business partnership! LIFE is something special and I have never felt as good about community building as I do today. Laurie and I started a new leg 10 days ago and it is now over 10 levels in depth! The LIFE Business is good because it helps people become good in their Circle of LIFE. Here is Brady’s article explaining what our products do in a person’s life. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

I had a very engaging conversation with my friend and co-author Orrin Woodward today.  As usual, we kicked around a ton of stimulating ideas and pieced together something that, in our estimation, will immediately convey greater understanding as to the purpose of the LIFE business.  (See the inset diagram).

The Circle of Life picture

In each of the 8 F categories of Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness, Following, Freedom, Friendship, and Fun, one can imagine a certain grade based upon how one is doing in that category. In the diagram the center represents horrible, as in, you are totally “stinking up the joint” (as my kids say) in a certain category. Working your way out from the center to the outer ring in any of the categories represents a stronger grade.  So someone with a dot near the outer ring is doing well in that category.  By connecting the dots on your subjective personal estimation of your life at this moment in each of the categories you can come up with a shape that roughly represents your life right now in each of the 8Fs.

Quite simply, the LIFE business supplies life-changing information to help you increase your score in each of the 8Fs.  The goal is to take someone from the not-so-good black shape represented toward the center of the diagram to the much improved (and happier, we would think) life represented by the red outline toward the outer ring of the circle.

Who doesn’t have at least a category or two, or three, or eight, in which he or she would like to have a better score? Who wouldn’t want to transform his or her life from the tiny blob (and who among us hasn’t felt like a tiny blob from time to time?) in the center to the big wheel (and who hasn’t wanted to be a big wheel at least once in his or her life?) toward the outer ring?

That’s it.  From little blob to big wheel.

But all kidding aside.  This CIRCLE of LIFE is the snap-shot diagram to which people can easily relate when it comes to understand the goal of LIFE and the life-changing information we offer.  We will help people learn and apply truth in each category and thereby improve their shape.

LIFE: Because leadership is for everyone!