Category Archives: Orrin Woodward Life Business

Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness, Following, Freedom, Friends, Fun, Orrin Woodward Life Business

Coming out of the Fog

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As many of you know, on March 5, 2014 my wife of almost 12 years passed away, from liver failure.  I cannot describe the amount of love and support that my family has received.  This has been, by far, the most traumatic event to ever happen in my life.  Only because of my faith, family and friends have we been able to make it through this difficult time.  My heart goes to anyone that has had to endure times like these without the support that I have been blessed with.  There are so many people to thank that I cannot possibly list them all.  Jackies family: Joe and Linda, Marc and Odette,  Brian and Sarah,  Josh and Eve, Matt and Bridgette, Trevin and Abby,  Anna and of course, Jackie’s parents, Chuck and Char.  Thank you for always making me and my family feel like we have always been a family.  I know I don’t tell you enough, but I absolutely love being a part of your crazy family.  My family with a special shout out to my mom and my cousin/brother Tim Grant.  If I called them and said I needed them they would drop whatever they were doing and immediately be there for me.   I also had a group of teammates that were willing to do anything we needed.  The Brady’s, Morgans, Spiewaks, Birtles, Marks, Allswedes.   Each one of the families provided something that we needed and I can never repay you for it.   I also had a group that went

Andria Mitchell – has been our babysitter for almost 12 years.  She has had her own life issues to deal with but basically took over as being a mom to my kids while I was in the fog.  I could not have survived without her effort and support.

Trevin and Abby Thorn – yes they are family but they have done so much more I can’t list it.  Trevin, thanks for letting your wife also be a surrogate mom to my kids and Abby thanks for helping our family survive.

Kevin Hargis – one of my best friends but we lost touch for almost 10 years but he didn’t hesitate to pick right back up from where we were before.  So many times he would just hangout with me and help distract my brain.

Keisha O’Mara and Cameron Hummel- both have gone through a similar situation and their thoughts and insights helped me at some of my lowest moments.  They have been a strength emotionally because I knew they understood what I was feeling.

Kevin and Sharrah Hacket – Jackie’s best friend I would say.  Sharrah was in the Bahamas when this happened, and before I knew it she had moved into my house to help support us.  Both of your friendships have meant so much to me, but what Sharrah did for Jackie I can’t quantify.  I always knew when Jackie was talking to Sharrah because that’s when she looked the most happy.  Kevin for letting his wife leave with no time frame on when to come home.

Mark and Anna Huber – besides being the reason I was introduced to Life Leadership which is where I meet Jackie.  They also moved into the house and helped me with everything including all of the funeral arrangements.  As quoted in a movie, “I’ am forever your man!”

Mike and Vi Gowen – our kids became close friends years ago and we have been doing things together ever since.  Mike and Jackie had a special brother sister connection and she could tell him things no one else would dare.  They have been more then friends over the years; they have become a part of our family.

Orrin and Laurie woodward – What can I say about a couple that are the reason that I have the life I have.  All of my F’s are great because of Gods grace and this couple.  I will never be able to  fully show my thanks for your dedication and belief.

To all the people I missed and all the people that have sent cards, books, notes, and flowers, your support has been overwhelming.  You  are the true definition of what a community is suppose to be.  I love you and will do everything I can to help you feel the same support. Life leadership truly is doing something special.  Don’t you ever surrender to the naysayers because they will never experience a true community of people.

I decided to start back with this blog because my two oldest boys just completed something that is the essence of what my beautiful wife stood for.  Perserverence, Determination, Strength, Never quit, Be the best you can be – I miss her so much words cannot describe.  I would do anything for one more day together to hold her and tell her how great she is.   Jacob and Eli, your mom would be so proud of your accomplishment and I hope you adopt her strength.  I love you forever Jack ( my nickname that Chris Brady came up with) and a huge piece of my heart has been ripped out and will never be replaced.  Can’t wait to meet you again in glory.  Here’s your two boys finishing their commitment to you and receiving their black belts.

 

Orrin Woodward Life Business

2013 June Major

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This weekends major was another smashing success!  We had huge numbers at the Nationwide arena and some of the best talks we have  ever had were given this weekend.  We also had some great recognition.  The Spiewaks  and Spolars were recognized for hitting a level called Policy Council and the Powers team won the Power Player top gun.  It’s so amazing to be able to watch people step up their game and get really focused on hitting a goal.  I know the Spiewaks and Powers very well and although they are great leaders they did not do something that others cannot do.  They both have strengths that you don’t have, but you also have strengths that they do not have.  These two couples have made the difficult decisions that success requires, and their lifestyles are  on the verge of becoming unexplainable to most people.  If you want to taste the sweetness of success you only have to do some very basic things.

1. Do the work

2. Grow yourself

3. Set a goal and attack it

4. Put a ten on your teammates forehead

5. Stay tough

If you consistently do these steps, maybe one day you will be on stage receiving your reward.

 

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Orrin Woodward Life Business

Don’t miss the launch of “LeaderShift”

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Just wanted to repost, from Orrin Woodwards blog, about this historic occasion.    Not only is the book a fun read and very captivating but the authors give a very detailed plan of how to repair what has gone wrong with our political system.  The plan is so simple you will think,”Why hasn’t someone come up with this before.”  Genius is taking the complicated and making it simple.  These two authors, in my opinion, are geniuses. This is a great opportunity to meet and hear from one of the authors,  Orrin Woodward.

The LeaderShift launch

We are four days away from the official launch of LeaderShift. The book signing tour has been announced, the book will be in all the bookstores across North America, and we have radio interviews scheduled across America. What exciting time to be alive with a dream. In this case, the dream is to restore hope and freedom for society at large.

An increase in government (beyond internal and external defense) leads to a decrease in society’s freedoms. Therefore, the only way to limit government is by limiting the funds fed to government and holding those responsible who are assigned to use funds wisely. Since no one is capable of watching over a government as large as Washington DC, we must break government down into bite-sized pieces where local leaders can lead and oversee its proper functioning.

My friend Oliver DeMille was a complete joy to work with in this project. He sees things from a different perspective on many issues; however, he also loves to think and reason. Consequently, even when we have disagreed, after reviewing the underlying principles, we have typically improved the book and proposal beyond anything it was to begin with. Oliver is a walking encyclopedia on the Founding generation, but isn’t dogmatic in his beliefs which makes him an amazing student of history and leadership. He has certainly made me better as a thinker, person, and leader. This is true synergy and what makes our LeaderShift partnership work so well.

In fact, we have already started the second LeaderShift book and it is coming together nicely. We are in earnest in our belief that a leadershift can and will be launched on April 16th. When Western Civilization was ailing and needed leaders who would speak truth with love and courage, never let is be said that there wasn’t enough courageous men and women to answer the call. I truly believe God is gathering a group of concerned citizens to restore freedom, dignity, and hop for all. Below is a preview of LeaderShift.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

“A lot of people are starting to realize something really important,” said the New York Times bestselling leadership author, Orrin Woodward. “They’re figuring out that Washington isn’t going to fix its problems anytime soon, that things are probably going to get worse in our politics and the economy until real leadership is found outside of government.”

Orrin Woodward and Oliver DeMille have written a new book that literally takes on the project of fixing America. The book is LeaderShift: A Call for Americans to Finally Stand Up and Lead. “Politicians just aren’t going to fix our problems,” DeMille said, “not in Washington, Ottawa, London, Sacramento, Albany or anywhere else. If things are going to get fixed, the leadership will almost certainly come from business. And network businesses are among the most important source of building leaders in our current society.”

According to their book, a LeaderShift is coming. But just what is a LeaderShift? As Woodward and DeMille put it, “Every once in a while in history, a LeaderShift occurs. It usually comes unexpectedly, and it transforms the world for at least a generation.” Past LeaderShifts include:

  • The historical switch from kings and chiefs as the top leaders to community fathers such as doctors, lawyers and town merchants
  • The 1880-1920’s transition from city fathers as the main leaders to titans of industry, like Carnegie, Morgan and Rockefeller
  • The 1940-1970’s shift from business tycoons as the top leaders to managers, spurred by the work of Edward Deming and innovators from Jack Welch to Sam Walton
  • The 1980-1990’s transition from managers to leaders, influenced by sages like Buckminster Fuller, Earl Nightingale and Stephen Covey

The authors argue that today we are in the early stages of another great transition, this time from political leaders as the top leaders to successful business leaders standing up and making their influence and leadership talents felt in leading society.

But this isn’t a partisan book. Woodward and DeMille say that political parties are at the center of the problem, that what is needed to really get our nations back on track is for business leaders to start making a bigger difference. “There is so much wisdom in our business books and business leaders,” Woodward said, “but most of it is ignored in Washington.”

The book hinges on Five Laws of Decline, each of which is currently chipping away at the strength of many institutions, including business organizations. Executives and entrepreneurs who don’t understand these Five Laws, and how they cause government to hurt business profitability and growth, won’t know how to overcome them. And until the business community learns and responds to the Five Laws of Decline, the authors say, the economy will continue to face overregulation, over-taxation and growth-killing uncertainty.

LeaderShift is written as a business fable, where the lead character is a successful business leader who realizes that politicians aren’t likely to fix our economy any time soon and sets out to find a solution to America’s decline. In the process, he applies the wisdom learned from years in business and from many of the greatest business books, puts together a team of business people to deal with our national problems, and creates a plan of how to really fix America.

When the team gets help from a surprising source, what happens next is a story you’ll want tell and retell. And the solutions in the book are a unique approach that really might work. Most importantly, every business leader—large or small—will want to understand the Five Laws of Decline and take action to deal with them effectively in your own business.

This book is a fun read, an enjoyable story, and it just might be the wake-up call our generation needs to finally stand up and lead. In short, if our politics and politicians aren’t going to lead, it might just be up to business leaders to turn things around.

This book will make you think, and you’ll want to pass it on to everyone you do business with. No business leader right now can afford to be without the knowledge of the Five Laws of Decline, and the book teaches a number of other important ideas that will help business people of all stripes be better leaders.

 

Bill Lewis

Freedom, Fun, Orrin Woodward Life Business

The Life Business – Freedom Day

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The Life Business has done it again!  BreAnne and Kevin Hafner are free!

Last week, myself and my wife had the privilege and honor to attend BreAnne’s last day of work.  There were around 50 people that made it out to, Chelsea Retirement Community,  to watch Bre walk out of that facility for the last time.  It was a chilly day but the excitement of watching someone get there time back was to enticing to miss.  The group had freedom signs, Life signs, and cameras as they gathered around the door that Bre would be walking out of.  At  3:05 she emerged from the building and the crowd erupted with applause.  Her husband Kevin was one of the first to great her as she made her way towards all her teammates.  Her support team was also there to help celebrate. The Hatchers, Tingley, Coon, Ewing, Powers all played a part in making this freedom day happen.  One of the memorable parts of the day was as Bre and Kevin were getting into the car, to drive away for the last time.  Someone pointed up.  As we looked up there was a huge picture frame window on the second floor that had about 25 faces smashed against the glass watching the event unfold.  Many of those faces were people that told Bre that this day would never happen or that she was crazy for thinking that SHE could accomplish something so great.  What they don’t know is that BreAnne and Kevin have guts! They are fighters and are willing to pay the price for freedom.  They also don’t know that Bre is backed by one of the greatest people development systems of all time.  You see when I first meet Bre I didn’t even know that I met her.  She was one of the shyest most quite people that I have met in 15 years of building The LIfe Business.  Now Kevin & Bre are turing themselves into world class leaders. Free from a job at 29 years old!   People of integrity expected to be believed and when they are not, they let time prove them right.

 

Everyone has it in them to earn their freedom.  The question is are you going to cultivate it?   Are you going to stay plugged into the entire process, like Bre & Kevin did?  Are you going to NOT be swayed by the opinions of others, who don’t have the results you want anyways?  Are you going to allow your teammates to help you?   Will you continue to take the next step even when you don’t feel like it?  When you get knocked down will you get back up?  Will you read, listen and associate?  Everyone can do that and we can’t wait to celebrate your day,  with YOU.

Go earn your freedom.

Bill Lewis

 

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Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness, Following, Freedom, Friends, Fun, Orrin Woodward Life Business, Orrin Woodward Team

The Life Business by Orrin Woodward

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Had to repost this article.  Orrin does a great job of giving you insight into The Life Business.  I know what he is saying is true because I have witnessed most of this journey.  If it wasn’t for Orrin and Laurie and what they have done, my family would not be able to live the life we always wanted.  I cannot thank them enough for what they have done except to continue to pay it forward.

Bill lewis

The Story of the LIFE Business

Posted by Orrin Woodward on March 17, 2013

LIFE Business Story

The LIFE Business is an ongoing story. Each person who joins the LIFE community chooses which part, whether large or small, he or she will play. What happens when a world-renowned best-selling author is introduced to LIFE and begins studying the history of this movement? The short answer is a compelling story of hopes, dreams, struggles, failures, perseverance, and finally victory. Thankfully, he has decided to write up the story of LIFE. In my opinion, it is great timing because never before has a LeaderShift been more needed than now. Indeed, this is exactly what the LIFE community intends to do – create a leadershift! Here is a portion of the introduction in his upcoming book about LIFE. What part will you play in the story?

Sincerely

Orrin Woodward

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LIFE Business Major Convention

 

LIFE Business Introduction

The fate of free enterprise is very much in doubt. By the first decade of the 21st Century, critics of free enterprise and modern democratic freedom had convinced many people that free enterprise is an outdated system, one that cares more about corporate profits than economic opportunity for everyone.

This problem was the result of a split between two approaches to free enterprise, the traditional type of freedom based on the cooperation of idealists and realists to share profits so everyone has the chance to succeed financially, versus a more cutthroat corporatist emphasis on what we might call “Skeptical Pragmatism,” or doing whatever is deemed most profitable regardless of who it hurts, and keeping most of the profits for a few elites.

In the midst of this growing divide, it was perhaps inevitable that new companies would arise to challenge the shift toward corporatism, and to once again champion traditional free enterprise. It is against this backdrop that the story of the LIFE business began.

It is a story set in a business world created by the likes of Jack Welch, Sam Walton, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. I will state my almost preposterous thesis here and now, as controversial as it may seem: Had history developed just slightly differently, the other names on this list would be those who created and expanded network marketing.

Indeed, network marketing should have been as big as WalMart. It would have been, except too many people at the top asked themselves, “Why would we only take a 10% profit when we could take 30%?”

The story of the LIFE business is the exact opposite. The top leaders asked, “Why would we take 30% of the profit when we could earn 10% and pass the rest to others in the business?”

Why would anyone do this? Did they miss the memo? Did they skip the unofficial lessons of many prestigious business schools?

Did they misunderstand capitalism? Or were they just less experienced, ambitious or visionary than their competitors on Wall Street?

This is the story of a company that dared to do it differently, to apply Sam Walton-like thinking to network marketing. Moreover, instead of soap, health drinks or other typical network marketing products, this is the story of a company that chose to build its central product line around the most American of exports—leadership.

This is not a story of perfect men or women, or a feel-good tale of continual success without major difficulties. Far from it. This is a story of men and women, ordinary individuals who faced extraordinary challenges with hard work, resilience, and, above all, persistence.

It is a story of people who believed in an idea, and who refused to let it go—even when it almost cost them everything. It is a story of a few men and women who would not bend to the “normal” business trends that created elitism and corporatism in the modern economy. Some may say it is a story of courage, while others might argue that more “sophisticated” businessmen wouldn’t have so stubbornly held to their ideals and risked it all.

But whatever else it is, this is a story about families, friendships, and principles. In a way, it would more naturally fit into the storylines of past centuries, where leaders were expected to stand up, stand out, take on the establishment and blaze new trails based on firmly-held beliefs. In our modern world of political correctness, group therapy, management by committee, and the drive to “fit in” and pursue popularity at all costs, the concept of standing up against the system because “it’s the right thing to do” may seem amusingly archaic to some people.

Yet that is exactly how LIFE came about. This is the story of a leader, indeed of a team of leaders, who set out to build a widespread community of leaders. And while such a story may feel anachronistic in the 21st Century, it may just be the type of story that will redeem this generation.

Could it be that the “success bias” of our modern world is desperately in need of what Stephen Covey called “the character ethic?” Do we live in a world where the most important leadership principle is a desperately-needed acknowledgement that character counts? If so, the story of the LIFE business is a story for our times.

It is a story unfinished, however. The more time I spent interviewing the main characters, researching and studying the events, documents and details of this story, the more I felt that writing this story was like writing about Sam Walton in the 1960s, before WalMart was a worldwide phenomenon. While the future of LIFE remains to be seen, the unique beginning of this business is a story worth telling in its own right. To paraphrase Santayana, the future remains in the future, and the best we can do is learn (hopefully) from the past.

Whatever your business or career, your level of education or status in society, the story of the LIFE business is a case study of what can happen when an ancient set of leadership principles (based on idealism, frugality, hard work and integrity) are applied in a modern business environment dominated by pragmatism. Every modern leader struggles with this very challenge, and this story is therefore deeply relevant for today’s leaders in every sector and field.

Orrin Woodward – The Life Business

Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness, Following, Freedom, Friends, Fun, Orrin Woodward Life Business

The LIfe Business – Chris Brady

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Well this article is just to good to not post.  It is so good I wanted to repost the entire article.  Chris does a fantastic job of explaining what the Life business is and the mindset behind how it is set up.  Chris is more then qualified to explain this because he is the mastermind behind many of the ideas.  Chris is extremely talented but his most impressive talent is to think through decisions and come with a solution that is based on, what is the right thing to do.    I hope this gives you a better understanding of why Life is different.

What I Hate About Networking (And What We at the LIFE Business Sought to Fix)

LIFE

LIFE

The Impetus Behind the Life Business

There is something really right about a business that allows people to get started for a relatively small amount of money, work at their own pace, be their own boss, experience the responsibilities of business ownership in an actual business endeavor without huge downside risks, have the potential for high upsides, and get the tax advantages that come with business enterprise. These attributes (and others) are what originally attracted me to the profession of networking. However, as I experienced more and more of what goes on in certain parts of this industry, I quickly realized there were several things I hated about it!

I was not alone. Along with my friends Orrin Woodward, Tim Marks, Bill Lewis,George Guzzardo, Claude Hamilton, and Dan Hawkins, we founded the LIFEcompany in an attempt to build a business to not only be the model of what couldbe in this profession, but what should be, as well. In other words, we launchedLIFE to fix what we didn’t like about the industry while preserving the parts we felt were right about it.

What the Life Business is Doing 

Below is a list of my beefs with the industry, and what we are doing at LIFE to make it right.

1. No True Customer Focus – Our fix: at LIFE, we not only have a customer focus but a customer requirement. If a LIFE member does not develop at least 50PV in monthly customer flow after a brief apprenticeship period, he or she will not be paid any bonus on group volume. Also, we have the 3 for FREE customer acquisition program, in which any LIFE member, and even any customer, who gets three customers subscribing to the same or higher value package gets his/her products the next month for free! Also we have sales competitions with bonuses for the top finishers, as well as special bonus incentives on sales of particular products. We are also about to announce a sales bonus chart designed to give the smallest participants in the LIFE business a huge sales margin on products sold to help them begin earning more money sooner!

2. Gaudy Lifestyle Representations and Outrageous Income Claims – Our fix: in our business presentations we give only basic scenario-based income representations (as in, “if  you build a business that looks like this, the way the pay plan works, it would result in X amount of pay for that month”), with the largest scenario depicting approximately $9,000 per month in income. (See ourCompensation Plan brochure for this). We don’t show cheesy lifestyle pictures or videos, bikini-clad girls on yachts, or shiny bling to try and attract people to a false expectation. Our presentation focuses upon things such as obtaining more free time, better financial security, more focus upon family, travel, church and charity, etc. (We don’t go as far as talking about more time with in-laws, however!) Also, being a new company, we’ve just now completed our first full calendar year in business (year 2012), and therefore can now release an Income Disclosure Statement to inform prospective participants and properly manage their expectations (look for this in the coming weeks).

3. The Host Company Keeps Too Much of the Money – and as a result, the people in the field get to fight over the scraps. Our fix: our pay plan is currently putting approximately 70% of gross product volume (PV) into the field in the various forms of compensation. The company was not just founded by people who had come from the field, but from people who have determined to stay in the field.

4. High Sign Up Costs: We have heard of companies charging hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to join. Our fix: keep it low! Our recommended sign up cost, including sample products (three CDs, a hard cover book, a sticker, access to the LIFE business management website, and two tickets to a LIFE Live event) is just $89.99, in which the products are optional. Our goal is to keep it “less than the cost of a tank of gas!”

5. Poor Guarantees: some are confusing, very limited, or difficult to enact. Our fix: simple and straight forward, a 30 day no-questions-asked money back guarantee for all our products, including the sign up cost.

6. Trips for Top Performers: While there is nothing wrong with this, we wanted to do something a little different. Our fix: we put two very exciting trips into the compensation program for people with relatively early progress up the performance bonus chart. One is at the 6,000 pv per month level, the other is at the 15,000 pv per month level. Also, these are not business trips in disguise, but legitimate vacations. The recipient selects the trip of his/her choice from the list of available options, and takes the trip when he or she chooses. (See Incentive Trips for more information).

7. High Priced Products – our experience is that many networking companies charge super high prices for their products and then give some of this back to the field and claim that this is their “profit margin,” when in fact, the products are so overpriced no one could ever sell them for that price to begin with. Our fix: keep the prices low! For the type of informational products that LIFE specializes in producing, our competition is almost always 20 to 200% higher. For instance, our CDs sell for just $10, while most on the market in each of our “8F” categories (Faith, family, fitness, finances, friendship, freedom, following, and fun) can be found for sale from $12 to $67! Also, in our subscription packages that include books, we almost always sell the book in that month’s subscription for ten to twenty five percent below list price, as it is just rolled into a standard subscription price that doesn’t fluctuate based upon that months’ book price.

8. Inferior Products – what does this mean? It means that specific products that can easily be commoditized (produced by someone else at a cheaper price or better value, over time) stay in the company’s portfolio long after they are no longer competitive in the marketplace. This leaves those in the field leveraging their personal reputation to sell a product that is no longer the best on the market. Our fix: Informational products such as those LIFE produces cannot become commoditized because they are unique – meaning, by specific authors and speakers whose communication styles, delivery, humor, entertainment value, etc. are not duplicate-able. While the information can perhaps be mimicked by another, the brand cannot be copied.

9. Products that Don’t Matter: The other part about representing commodity products is that they really have no ability to make someone’s life better. Why spend your valuable time and energy working at something that doesn’t do any good? As my friend Tim Marks said, “I don’t want to waste my life selling tube socks and lawn chairs!” My favorite quote is attributed to D.L. Moody: “Our greatest fear should not be that we won’t succeed, but that we’ll succeed at something that doesn’t matter.” As for me, although it’s possible to make money selling commodities, I want what I do to count in the lives of people (and  yes, I understand that we all need commodities to survive, but you get what I’m saying).  I want to make a positive difference in the world.  So our fix: sharinginformation such as LIFE produces has helped people get out of debt, repair broken relationships, grow personally, break addictions, grow spiritually, and, as the tag line says, “live the life they’ve always wanted.”  To me, THAT’s something that matters.

BUT THE LIFE BUSINESS ISN’T PERFECT

Now don’t get me wrong. We don’t have the LIFE business perfected yet, as that would be impossible. But we are working daily to make it better and better, in an attempt to deliver exactly what people want and expect in an informational product company, and for a potential business enterprise for many. Also, while we believe that our products are for everybody, we DON’T think the business building aspect of LIFE is for everybody. It is only for those who are prepared to work hard, who are looking for something more in life than they can currently accomplish, who enjoy working with and helping other people, and who have a long-term vision and can stay the course.

Thanks for reading!

Chris Brady

Orrin Woodward Life Business

The Life Business: First Year Results – Life Leadership

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In November of 2012, Life Leadership  completed its first year of operation. I wanted to wait a few months to post because I knew additional feedback would come in. To say we got off to a good start would be an understatement. We had a fantastic first year! Just like anything else in life, there were many challenges and changes along the path of the first year, but we have an amazing group of founders that are leading the charge. What’s unique about the LIFE business is the founders are also the leaders in the field. They are actually teaching what they know from first-hand experience.

 

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First Year Results:

1. The LIFE business surpassed a 100% increase in subscriptions of the LIFE and LLR Series in under one year of business.

2. The LIFE business launched the Mental Fitness Challenge and sold thousands of 90-day challenges throughout North America.

3. The LIFE business paid out over $1,800,000 in end-of-year bonuses and free trips its first year.

4. The LIFE business paid out over 70% bonuses on its product volume points in its first year of business.

5. Rob Hallstrand, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of TEAM and a LIFE founder, coordinated operations for both companies, and combined sales blew past $50,000,000 (with LIFE leading the charge) from the Flint, Michigan, based office.

6. Team training produced its best operating margins ever (of which 100% of profits flowed back to field trainers) as Mr. Hallstrand continued his dramatic turnaround of Team operations. In fact, employee cost-per-profit-dollar has decreased over six times in his three years as COO, leading to increased bonuses for field trainers and office staff—a truly stunning performance.

7. Customers composed nearly 20% of total LIFE business subscriptions in the first year. Considering new members have six months to learn how to develop customers, this number will only grow as members complete training. What other community building business hits 20% customer subscriptions in its first year?

8. The LIFE business launched the Edge Series for youth and has added thousands of satisfied families in LIFE’s first year.

9. The AGO Series donates 100% of its profits to charities.

10. We added the 3 for Free Program to help develop a strong customer base.

11. The One-Time Cash Awards were increased.

 

The Life Business / Life Leadership: What Is It?

All people will be called upon to lead at some point (and usually at several points) in their lives. The only question is: Will they be ready?

The life business launched with the purpose of providing world-class leadership materials to business executives, entrepreneurs, corporate climbers, pastors, church leaders, administrators, community service leaders, public servants, teachers, parents, and all those who will find themselves in the position to lead. When it gets right down to it, leadership is for everyone. Nobody will be able to make it through life without needing to draw upon the toolbox of leadership skills. Sadly, many people lack these tools and therefore get to live with the consequences of being ill-equipped. These consequences include missed opportunities, unfulfilled career aspirations, financial woes, and broken relationships.

LIFE is for those who earnestly seek a better life, are interested in the strenuous process of personal growth, are driven to succeed in significant ways, and are committed to a life of excellence for a higher purpose.

Our Point of View: You can live the life you’ve always wanted. We believe it requires correct information applied with discipline, consistency, and purpose over time and the support and encouragement of a community of people aligned in a common purpose.

Our Purpose: LIFE seeks to provide the information, encouragement, opportunity, and community necessary to individuals who are hungry to live a life that counts!

We don’t know what we don’t know, and we’ve forgotten some of what we did know. But we know what we didn’t used to know, and we’ll help you learn it, too!

 The Life Business / Life Leadership: What Are Others Saying?

To me, the best way to learn about something is to talk to the people that are involved. Please click the link I have attached below to hear personal testimonies from people who have used the LIFE materials.

The Life Business testimonials : Life Leadership

Bill Lewis

 

Following, Orrin Woodward Life Business

Dreams and Goals: Are You Moving Toward Them or Away?

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Goals: That one simple word holds so much power. Yet very few people really use it, truly understand it, or harness the power of it. It is amazing how my life transformed after I was exposed to the power of goals. When I joined the LIFE business, my eyes were opened to how goals could help me pursue my dreams. If dreams are the destination, then goals are the path to get you to your dreams. If you only have a dream, it may take you a very long time to get to your dream, or worse, you may never get there at all. Goals are what keep you focused, moving forward, and out of the ditches of lost dreams. Let’s take a look at what The Magic of Thinking Big teaches about goals:

A goal is an objective, a purpose. A goal is more than a dream; it’s a dream being acted upon. A goal is more than a hazy “Oh, I wish I could.” A goal is a clear “This is what I’m working toward.” Nothing happens, no forward steps are taken until a goal is established. Without goals individuals just wander through life. They stumble along, never knowing where they are going, so they never get anywhere.

Let’s start with the big picture first and then work backwards. How do you picture your future? What does your family look like? How do you act ? What does your relationship with your spouse look like? How is your faith? What business do you own? What kind of house are you living in? Do you have multiple houses? What kind of cars do you drive? What do you look like physically? Are you funding any charities? When you do this part, you should write it out and keep the paper somewhere visible. This will serve as your overall life template.

This is the time to really try and stretch your dreams. One of my mentors Chris Brady says, “Most people way overestimate what they can do in one year and drastically underestimate what they can accomplish in ten years.” Another way of putting it is that you should almost laugh at what you put down because it seems so improbable at this moment in time. Won’t it be fun to go back to this list and discover that you accomplished everything on it? You will think to yourself, “I should have dreamed bigger!” Once you have the dreams written out, you can start to set goals to help accomplish the tasks. You may not even know what goals to write down yet, but that may lead to your first goal: find a mentor that can guide you to these dreams. One thing I have learned about successful people is that they are dying to help others accomplish their goals. The people who will give you the hardest time about achieving your dreams are the ones that have achieved the fewest themselves. Any successful person you talk to will give you all the advice he can because he has already achieved that goal himself.

For the next step, you need to realize that your brain wont just say, “It’s a great day; we are going to accomplish something.”  No, your brain will immediately begin to tell you all the reasons why you can’t make these dreams and goals happen.  Here are six success stealers that you must figure out a way to eliminate:

  1. Self-depreciation: I can’t do it. I’m not good with people. I don’t have enough money. I don’t have enough time. I’m not that kind of person.
  2. Security-itis: Things aren’t that bad. Our relationship is okay. I really don’t need that house. I don’t want to risk my security.
  3. Competition: That field is already overcrowded.
  4. Family pressure: I should listen to what family members think is safe for me.
  5. Family responsibility: I should have done this a couple of years ago, but now I have too much family responsibility.
  6. Dream stealers: These are the people that haven’t accomplished their dreams and want you to be safe instead of pursuing yours.

 So how do you set goals? You just established the big picture of what you want. You know what the end destination looks like. Now you have to start mapping out how you are going to get there. There will be road blocks, accidents, and flat tires along the way, but that doesn’t change the end destination; it just changes how you are going to get there. You can’t set a ridiculous goal that you know you won’t put in the work to accomplish, but you also don’t want it to be so small that it requires no effort.

With all that said, I would venture to say that most people are not in the habit of setting goals, so start with this: In whatever area you are looking at, determine what you could for sure do. Examples: Read a page a day, listen to one CD per day, eat 100 fewer calories per day, run for five minutes every day, etc. Once you have that established, add a little bit to it: Read two pages per day, listen to two CDs each day, eat 150 fewer calories per day, run for eight minutes every day, etc. Another factor that affects your goals is how fast you want to accomplish them.  Bestselling author and leader Tim Marks says you need to know: “What and by when?”

This is what The Magic of Thinking Big says about why goals are so important:

 Successful people have their eyes focused on a goal and this provides energy. The point is this: energy increases, multiplies, when you set a desired goal and resolve to work toward that goal.…The most amazing thing about a deeply entrenched goal is that it keeps you on course to reach your target. This isn’t double talk. What happens is this. When you surrender to your goal, the goal works itself into your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is always in balance. Your conscious mind is not, unless it is in tune with what your subconscious mind is thinking. Without full cooperation from the subconscious mind, a person is hesitant, confused, indecisive.

WOW!  I know I have felt hesitant, confused, and indecisive a bunch of times, and it was because I wasn’t sure what I was chasing after. The overall concept is that it is much better to have some goal than to have no goal at all. If you have a goal, at least you are moving toward something, and that is much better than moving toward nothing. My mentor Orrin Woodward often says,” If you don’t set a goal, you will hit it with amazing accuracy.”

Bill Lewis

 

Following, Orrin Woodward Life Business

Are You a COI or a COA Person?

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I just found some material that ties into a previous post that I did on layers.  Are you a center of influence person, or are you a center of attention person? Don’t answer too quickly; wait until I explain and then think through your answer. In the previous post on layers, I spoke about people’s fears and how they start to build up protective layers because of those fears. Then they build up layers on top of those layers to keep anyone from even getting close to those fears. These layers determine the way people respond and act under different circumstances. This new information provides a great example of how to identify if you have built up layers and maybe don’t know it. It also helps show you how you will think when you minimize the number of fears you have, which in turn, will eliminate layers.

A center of influence person is aware that every thought, emotion, word, and behavior he expresses has an effect. If you are a center of influence person, you understand that you set the tone for your relationships. You take responsibility for how you interact with others and how they treat you. You cannot control what other people think or how they behave,  yet your beliefs and behavior serve to teach others how they should treat you. If you are in a difficult situation with someone, you ask yourself, “What effect did my communication have on that person and that situation?” As a center of influence person, you see others in terms of their needs, not yours. And you acknowledge the way you feel and recognize that you are the cause.

As a  center of attention person, you emanate fear and see other people according to what they have done to you or what they should be doing for you. Emotionally, you believe others should change to meet your needs and wants—that others should fit your ideas and beliefs in order for you to feel complete. The world must conform to your expectations. When it does conform to your expectations, you say that things are going well. When it doesn’t, you are unhappy. When your well-being comes from outside of you, there is always a fear that you won’t get what you need or want. You see the world as having caused you to feel hurt or angry.

If you are a center of influence person, then you operate with very few layers. If you are a center of attention person, then you still have many layers that need to be worked on and removed. It is easy to look at specific situations in our lives and say, “I get along great with people” or “I do think of others.” We think of people we like or situations that are in our favor, and we can easily convince ourselves that we don’t have many layers. But the way to analyze this is to think of people we don’t get along with, people that have different opinions than ours, and situations that are not in our favor. Does your opinion of those people change, or do you try to understand why they think the way they do? Do you blame the situation for why you didn’t do what you were supposed to do? Another way to analyze this is to look at your long-term relationships. Do you keep many, or do you lose most of them? People with few layers keep many long-term relationships because their happiness and self-assurance are not affected by other people. They can easily be around people that have different opinions and beliefs because they are secure with themselves and who they are. They don’t feel the need to defend themselves, so in turn, they don’t violate the relationship.

So how do we remove the layers we have? There are four steps that help accomplish this goal.  1) Start reading  self-development books and gain an understanding of human nature. 2) Work at something and build your self-esteem. 3) Find a mentor that can help you identify your layers or blind spots. 4) After interactions with others, analyze why you reacted the way that you did. The purpose of these four steps is not to learn some new technique, but rather to give you a different perspective. People skills alone will not change you from a center of attention person to a center of influence person. Somewhere in you, there is a layer ( pre-supposition) that is affecting how you behave, and the goal is to root it out. Only gaining a new perspective and being secure with who you are will allow you to be confident in your interactions with others.   

Bill Lewis

 

 

 

Following, Leadership, Orrin Woodward Life Business

How Do You Handle Setbacks?

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As many of you that read my blog know, I have a lot of contact with people that are on the journey of success. This gives me a great window to view how people react to failures. What has become very evident is that the way a person views his failures will ultimately determine his overall success. I have seen it both ways. I have seen the person who gets knocked down again and again but continues to get back up and fight for his victory. And I have also seen the person who doesn’t get knocked down but gives in to failure anyway because it looks like he is going to get knocked down. If you can take a hard look at how you view failures and get back up every time, then success is yours. As I talk about this, do not take this as me looking down on people who have failed. I know that the majority of people have never been taught the principles of success. I failed for 28 years of my life until I was exposed to the LIFE business and my mentor Orrin Woodward. That is why we need to talk about it, so we can learn to view it through the correct lens.

If a study was done of homeless people, I can assure you that we could find a person that endured the same circumstances and succeeded. Some had their spouse leave them, some lost their jobs, others made bad investments, and some fell into addictions. (The interesting part of my life is that I have personally seen all of these within my own family.) Instead of adjusting a behavior, making sacrifices, or fighting back, they just gave up. The successful person makes the necessary adjustments and moves forward. Hopefully, you have seen the movie Cinderella Man. It is one of the best examples of what I just explained. A down-and-out boxer goes through the Depression and loses everything. While many people around him gave up, he continued to fight for his family and eventually became the heavy-weight champion of the world.

When you take a shot, how do you react? Do you fall down in self misery, do you get back up but are scared to take another shot, or do you do what success requires? Get back up and move forward with even more conviction. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean you just bounce back up like a weeble-wobble and don’t feel the effects of the blow. I mean you gather yourself, look at what just happened, figure out what adjustments need to be made, and then move forward again. The FAA is in charge of studying airline crashes to determine what adjustments need to happen within the airline industry. Imagine if they reacted like most of us do when crashes occur. “Sorry, we just don’t know what to do. We are giving up.” Air travel would be non-existent because the safety of flying would have never improved. I know someone is reading this and saying, “Well, of course, they have to do that; it’s important.” What I would say to you is: “Aren’t your life and the lives of your family members more important?”

So what do we do? When we hit the TAR (things are rough), we need to be ready mentally. First, remember that just like with a plane crash, you can salvage something from every crash that will help you improve. Determine what caused the failure, put in a system to fix it, and move forward. Your plan might not be the total answer, but it will move you forward enough to determine the next piece of the puzzle. Albert Hubbard says, “A failure is a man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience.” Second, be persistent. Most people don’t ever get to the lesson they need to learn because they are not persistent or willing to fail enough to get to the heart of the issue. Remember what the famous poet Rocky Balboa said: “It’s not how hard you can hit; it’s how hard can you GET HIT, get back up, and keep moving forward.” Third, recognize that you get what you picture. When you get knocked down and all you see is the negative, then that is what you will get from that lesson. If you take a second, give your head a shake, and continue to look at victory, then that is what you will get.

 Bill Lewis