One disturbing realization that I had to deal with was the fact that no matter what other knowledge I might have brought to the table, ( I was a successful former Military officer, now civilian Pilot and Flight Instructor), I was, like most of my MLM peers, profoundly lacking in what I now consider the most important knowledge of all if one is to build one of those long lasting, large, and profitable Home Based Businesses that we all dream of.
I was brought up on the belief that the secret to success is hard work, so when I began to see so many of my fellow MLMers working hard without succeeding as I was doing and a small group succeeding without working so hard I very quickly became convinced that hard work was not the real secret even though in most cases it might be one of the requirements.
In early, 1979, after having earned only $10,000.00 in 1978 and missing my goal by some $90,000.00 (my goal was to make $100,000.00) I set out on a quest to discover something that I just knew must be better than what I was getting. I was fortunate to have learned a phrase and been asked a question that would prove very valuable to me. “If you keep doing what you are doing, will you keep getting what you are getting?” My answer would have to be “yes” and I did not like what I was getting. So began my trek that took me through biographies and autobiographies, all sorts of dissertations on success, books and tapes, studies of the lives of successful leaders until I realized that the secret I was trying to discover was NOT wrapped in what a person does, rather in what makes them do what they do.
Let me repeat what I said, because so many good people have missed the secret to success as being just work, busy work, and most of it without a great deal of substance and certainly without sufficient education in the type of business they are trying to be successful in. When the real secret to success does not lie in what we do, but what it is that makes us, or should I say, drives us to do things. THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS IN WHAT MAKES US DO SOMETHING.
In my search for the success secret I further realized that it must not only apply to every definition of success, but since it must apply to everyone to whom it is offered, it must also apply to each and every person who had been successful. So, in a few words, I was searching for the common denominator of success.
Here is something very important to understand. If you diligently look, you will find! And that is exactly what happened to me. I found exactly what I was looking for.
But, one thing that I realized is that this thing that drives success, this denominator that is common to all successful people, this common denominator of success is so large, so powerful, so vitally important to the future of your Home-Based Business career, that I’m going to just lay it on the line. I’ll give it to you in a simple sentence that you’ll be sure to understand and be able to pass on to your group, then I’ll go into more detail later.
The common element that you will find in EVERY successful person you meet, the secret to their success, no matter how great or small, the one common thing that propelled every person who has ever been successful – lies in the fact that THE SUCCESSFUL PERSON FORMED THE HABIT OF DOING THINGS THAT THE UNSUCCESSFUL DO NOT LIKE TO DO.
If you doubt me, look around. It’s as simple as it seems and as true as it sounds. You can acid test it, analyze it, kick it till it’s worn out, run it through your whiz-bang computer, but when you are all through with it, DOING WHAT THE UNSUCCESSFUL DON’T LIKE TO DO will still be the driving force behind every success. In other words there’s one common denominator, whether we like it or not.
Maybe that explains why some people come into our business with every apparent qualification for success and then turn out to give us some of our most disappointing failures, while others have come in and achieved some outstanding successes in spite of much less of the outward appearances of success ability and sometimes even with some obvious and discouraging handicaps.
And since the denominator for success will also explain your future, it might be a good idea for you to use it in determining just what sort of future you are willing to have in your Home Based Business.
So let’s take this big secret, this all-embracing secret and break it into pieces that will fit you as an individual.
Since we now know, as I found out back in 1979, that the secret to success is in forming the habit of doing that which the unsuccessful don’t like to do, we need to determine what those things are they do not like to do. Now please, before I go any further, it is important to understand that the things the unsuccessful don’t like to do are the very same things that you and I and every human being, including the successful ones, naturally don’t like to do. In other words, we’ve got to realize right from the start that success is something which is achieved by a small minority of people. It is, therefore, unnatural and will not be achieved if we follow our natural likes and dislikes nor will it be achieved if we allow ourselves to be guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.
At this point in our discussion, I suppose I could endeavor to make a list of things that the unsuccessful don’t like to do, but they are many and very obvious so we will not labor over them. However, for the sake of identity I shall make a small list.
The unsuccessful do not like to:
- Work more than a few hours.
- Turn the TV off
- Stay with a project until finished.
- Make a list of prospects.
- Follow-up.
- Educate themselves.
- Set up and attend meetings.
- Invest in a business.
- Keep on keeping on.
- Be part of a team, etc., etc.
The list goes on and on. But I do not need to expand it further since our success is to be achieved in the “sale” of our product or service and the “building of a strong group.” So let us move on to a discussion of the things that we as “business owners” don’t like to do. Here, as with the unsuccessful, the things we don’t like to do are many so I will not be specific in talking about them, suffice to say that they all come from one basic dislike common to every ‘sales” situation. We don’t like to talk to people we do not know, and who may not want to talk to us about something they know very little about. So, as you might imagine, any reluctance to follow a definite prospecting, sponsoring, follow-up, meeting and training program are all caused by this one dislike.
Maybe you have wondered what is behind this seeming lack of welcome on the part of some of your would-be prospects. Could it be due many times to a misconception, or a previous failure or just the fact that they are human too? And isn’t it true that the average human being is willing to live with their dissatisfaction and meager income while being reluctant to add to their already “busy” schedule and not willing to do more even for the sake of tremendous added financial reward? Also, whether you know it or not, most people are not big enough to just go out and search for a business that could alleviate their dreary financial condition so they are prone to try to initially escape our efforts to make them bigger or persuade them to do something they do not want to do by striking at the most important weakness we possess; namely our desire to be appreciated and understood.
You may have been discouraged a time or two by a feeling that you were born subject to certain dislikes peculiar to you, with which the successful ones around are not afflicted. Maybe you have wondered why it is that our “heavy hitters” seem to relish in doing the things that you don’t like to do.
They Don’t! However they have developed the habit of doing those things and you see where it has gotten them. Therefore, I think this is one of the most encouraging statements I can offer you. “Success is not a person, it’s an event. Just as failure is not a person, it too is an event.”
Successful people are driven by their passion and influenced by the desire for pleasing results. The unsuccessful are not driven, but are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods, immediate gratification, and the desire to have “things” now instead of later. Therefore, the unsuccessful are inclined to be satisfied with such results as can be obtained by doing only those things they like to do.
Why are the successful ones able to do things they don’t like to do while the unsuccessful are not? Because of the passion that drives them and a purpose strong enough to cause them to form the habit of doing things they don’t like to do in order to reach their goal of financial independence.
It’s not uncommon for even the best “producers” to get into a slump now and then. But it is very important to realize that it simply means this person (you) may very well have reached a point at which, for the time being, the things the person (you) doesn’t like to do have become more important than the reason for doing them. And may I suggest to you as a leader that when one of your good, hard working builders finds themself in a slump and you notice it, the less time you spend talking about sponsoring, bonus checks, meetings, etc., and the more you talk about this persons purpose, the sooner you will see them rise out of the slump.
When discussing the COMMON DENOMINATOR OF SUCCESS I’ve heard many people say things like, “but I just work harder,” or “I’m sure I can build a business big enough to get a new car,” or “I’m just trying to earn some extra money. Isn’t that enough of a purpose?”
No, it is not! It isn’t a sufficiently strong enough purpose to make you form the habit of doing the things you don’t like to do for the very simple reason that it is easier to accept and then adjust our thinking to small bonus checks than it is to adjust ourselves to the “hardships” that come with making a much bigger one. If you doubt this statement, just think of all the things you are willing to go without in order to avoid the things you don’t like to do. All of which would seem to prove that the strength which holds you to your purpose is not your own strength but the strength of the purpose itself.
Next, let’s look at the importance of habit in this
COMMON DENOMINATOR OF SUCCESS.
We (all of us humans) are creatures of habit. Likewise machines are creatures of momentum, because habit is nothing more than momentum translated from the concrete into the abstract. What an odd world this would be without momentum. Nothing could be moved except at the speed at which it could be broken away from a standstill. Airplanes could not be made to fly, elevators could not be made to rise, and our automobiles would simply be an ornament in the driveway. We would have to call a mechanical engineer every time we wanted to go anywhere, yet it would be impossible for even that brilliant mind to produce results. With that in mind who are you and I to think that we can do with our own human nature, what the finest engineers in the world could not do with the finest machinery that was every built.
Each and every qualification for success is acquired through habit. We form habits and the habits we form dictate our future. And if you do not consciously from good habits, you will unconsciously form bad ones. You are who you are, the kind of person you are because you formed the habit of being that kind of person, and the only way you can change is by changing habits.
The success habits in a Home-Based Business are really divided into four groups:
- Prospecting habits.
- Follow-up habits.
- Teaching habits.
- Working habits.
Any person with a successful Home-Based Business will tell you that it is easier to talk with people (PROSPECTS) who don’t know about our business and/or people who do not think they want to be part of it than it is to find people who have “tried” it and failed, those being the ones who do not want it So if you have not deliberately formed the habit of prospecting for needs, regardless of the wants, then you have unconsciously formed the habit of limiting your prospecting to people who have “tried” and therein lies your reason for lack of prospects.
As to FOLLOW-UP habits, unless you have deliberately formed the habit of calling on people who are able to afford your product/service and are willing to listen, then unconsciously you have formed the habit of calling on people who are willing to listen but unable to buy.
When it comes to TEACHING habits, unless you have deliberately formed the habit of making sure your down line is adequately and properly trained in how to build and manage a Network Marketing (Home-Based) business, they you have unconsciously formed the habit of allowing people to come into your business and give you reasons why training is not necessary for survival.
As to WORKING habits, if you will take care of the other three groups, the working habits will generally take care of themselves because under working habits are included training and preparation, organization of time and effort, planning, goal setting, etc. Most likely you are not going to go to the trouble to learn how to build and manage a successful Home-Based Business unless you’re going to diligently work the business. You’re not going to plan your day’s work when you know in your heart that you’re not going to follow the plan. So let’s not worry much about the habit of working, because, again, if you are accomplishing the first three groups, most of the working habits will take care of themselves and you’ll be able to afford an assistant to help you with the rest.
Now before you make up your mind to adopt these success habits, I’d like to alert you of the importance of habit forming to your decision. I’m sure that you, like I, have attended a motivational seminar, company convention, and/or opportunity meetings during the past months. I often wonder why, in spite of the fact that there is such a great deal of good in them, that so many people seem to get very little lasting value out of their attendance.
I’ll bet you’ve attended the meetings I mentioned and come away determined to do everything you heard and learned that would make you successful only to find that your determination along with the decision you made wanes at just the time when it should be put into action.
Well, I believe this is the answer!
Any decision or resolution you make is nothing more than a promise, which is worth about as much as a plug nickel, until you decide to form the habit of making and keeping it!
And here’s one of those Keys To The Vault Filled With Gold that I often talk about; You will not form the habit of making and keeping a resolution or promise to yourself unless right from the beginning you link it with a definite purpose that will be accomplished by fulfilling it. In other words, any resolution or decision you make has to be made again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next and the next and so on for at least 21 days. (That from Ziz Ziglar). And please understand, it not only has to be made EVERY DAY, because if you miss one day in either making or keeping your decision or resolution, you have to go back and start all over again. Now for the good news. If you continue the process of making and keeping your decision or resolution each day, one day you will wake up a different person in a different world, and you will wonder what happened to you and that “unsuccessful” world you used to live in.
Are you wondering what really happened? Your resolution or decision is now habit and you no longer have to deal with it. And the reason for your seeming like a different person living in a different world lies in the fact that you have become the master over your likes and dislikes by surrendering to your purpose.
That’s why behind every success there must first be a purpose! That is also why having a purpose is critical to your future growth. In the last analysis your future is not going to depend on economic conditions or outside influences or circumstances over which you have little or no control. Your future will certainly depend on your purpose in life. So as we wrap up this discussion, let’s talk for a minute about PURPOSE.
First, your purpose must be practical and not visionary. Many times we hear Home-Based Business owners talk of how they want to help people with their “problems” more than they want to make money. Some people even get into business believing that if they solve enough other people’s problems they will make a great deal of money. But when we analyze these feelings, what these people really want is an easy way out because it is easier to give someone some product or pay their way into business than it is to “ask for the order” and “close the sale” then collect their money which will, in the long run, make the “seller” a good living, instead of just the good things that go along with all the appreciation and feeling of importance that one gets when only the visionary method is used.
But in making your purpose practical, be careful not to make it logical. Make it a purpose of the sentimental or emotional type. Remember needs are logical while wants and desires are sentimental and emotional. Your needs will push you just so far, but when your needs are satisfied, they will stop pushing you. If, however, your purpose is in terms of wants or desires, then your wants or desires will keep pushing you long after your needs are satisfied and until your wants and desires are fulfilled.
Not long ago I was talking with a new Network Marketer who had discovered the “common denominator of success” without realizing what he had discovered. He had a definite purpose in life and it was definitely a sentimental or emotional purpose. He wanted his Home-Based Business to put his son through college without the son having to work his way as he himself had been forced to do. He wanted his “business” to give his little daughter the things that his sister had not had as a youngster. And he wanted to give his wife the comforts and luxuries, and even necessities, which had been denied his own mother. And he was willing to form the habit of doing things he didn’t like to do in order to accomplish this purpose. Not to discourage him, but rather to have him encourage me, I said to him; “Aren’t you going a little too far with this thing? There’s no logical reason why your son shouldn’t be willing and able to work his way through college just as his father did. Of course he’ll miss many of the things that you missed in your college life and he’ll probably have heartaches and disappointments. But if he’s any good, he’ll come through in the end just as you did. And there’s no logical reason why you should have to work as hard as it will take so that your daughter will not have to go through what your sister did, or that your wife can enjoy comforts and luxuries she wasn’t used to before she married you.”
He looked a me with a rather pitying look and said, “But there’s no inspiration in logic. There’s no courage in logic. There’s not even happiness in logic. There’s only satisfaction. The only place logic has in my life is in the realization that the more I am willing to do for my wife and children, the more I shall be able to do for myself.”
Conclusion: I sincerely hope this story helped you, and you won’t have to be told how to find your purpose or how to identify it or how to surrender to it.
“If it is a big purpose, you will be big in it’s accomplishment. If it’s an unselfish purpose, you will be unselfish in accomplishing it. And if it’s an honest purpose, you will be honest and honorable in the accomplishment of it.”
Don Curtis
“As long as you live, don’t ever forget that while you may succeed beyond your fondest hopes and your greatest expectations, you will never succeed beyond the purpose to which you are willing to surrender. Furthermore, your surrender will not be complete until you have formed the habit of doing the things that the unsuccessful don’t like and are unwilling to do.” Albert F.N. Gray
