Microsoft Word Legacy Leadership E Book 1.1

© 2010 Randy E. King www.RANDYEKING.com

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RANDY E. KING


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Copyright © 2010 by Winner’s Legacy part of the CEG LLC companies

Published by Road Scholar Publishing, Scottsdale AZ. 85255

800-913-1359

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced.

Cover Design: Randy King

Book Design: Randy King

CEG is a registered trademark

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Edited by: Linda Reboh

www.randyeking.com


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CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111 Taking Advantage of Opportunity: How to Know and Recognize Opportunity

CChhaapptteerr 22 Waking Up, Getting Motivated, Going After it:

Re-Discover the American Dream

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 333 Success is not Easy:

Change your Attitude: Putting Your Ego in Your Back Pocket

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 444 Treat People Like People and not Money Machines

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 555 Taking Action: Having a Game Plan

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 666 Build Your Foundation First, Everything Else Will Fellow

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 777 Know How to Maximize Your Opportunity When You Have it

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 888 Staying Motivated: What it Takes

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 999 Set Your Goals in All Areas of Your Life

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111000 Leading the No Excuses Life

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111111 Invest in Yourself, Before all Else


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CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111222 Taking Care of the Little Things, Adds Up to Big Things

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111333 Leadership: What Makes a Leader?

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111444 Accept the Things You Cannot Change

and Change the Things You Can

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111555 Realizing What You have

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111666 The Seven Myths of Success: All not True

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111777 The Old Axiom: Look for Opportunity in Your Own Backyard

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FFFFFFFFrrrrrrrroooooooommmmmmmm mmmmmmmmeeeeeeee ttttttttoooooooo yyyyyyyyoooooooouuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!

Everything is possible in America! My goal with this book, is to hopefully

jump start your career and have a fulfilled life. It did not come easy for me

in the beginning, I was lazy, broke and I struggled. Finally I woke up and

got motivated to go after what this great nation has to offer. My desires, is

that after reading this book, one or two ideas will trigger the greatness

within you! After all, God does not make junk!

----Randy E. King

“Business Success through people Development”


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CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111 Taking Advantage of Opportunity: How to Know and Recognize Opportunity “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprise.”

Demosthenes

I want to thank you for sharing this time with me and downloading

and reading my book.

For the past 23 years I have been employed and self –employed and have had

a lot of leadership responsibility, which I believe has given me a lot of

valuable information on the subject of people development and

LEADERSHIP skills. Over the years I have dealt with thousands of

employees who have gone through the revolving door of opportunity several

times without being able to capitalize on a single opportunity. Now this is

has not been due to lack of great opportunities, but from the employee’s

inability to make the most of what is in front of them.

My success for being able to turn around the sales’ forces for many businesses

and organizations is purely based on getting people to maximize their current

business opportunity, rather than continuing to jump from job to job. My

goal in this session with the hour and a half that we spend together is to help

you implement what I refer to as ‘Legacy Leadership;’ so that you can accomplish the following things within your life. Let’s ‘wake up,’ ‘get

motivated,’ and ‘go after’ what life has to offer you!

The news media and experts tell us that the “baby boomers” used up the last

of the opportunities in this country, and that the so-called ‘Generation X’ will

be the first generation in this country that will be worse off than their

parents and they can only look forward to moving backwards. If this is true I

wonder why it is that people from around the world still come to the U. S.

when they’re coming to better themselves. How can we be operating in a 100

trillion dollar economy? Why do we have more millionaires in this country

than ever before? How can a man like, Bill Gates, become one of the richest

men in the world in the space of only 15 years? The answer is that the

American dream is not dead.


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We may have reached a sticking point in our quest for opportunity, but we

have another alternative besides turning back. We can look around and take

a step forward. This is what people like Bill Gates has done. They’re looking

for the American Dream and new directions. Opportunity is all around us, if

we are astute enough to recognize it. Often we are facing in the wrong

direction to see it clear enough; this is why the awareness process, folks, is so

important on the path to success in life. You’ve got to have, what I call, the

life acumen and size up the things that have the validity of moving your life

forward.

It can be a difficult talent to develop, but capitalizing on opportunity has

never been easy. But, that’s why the rewards are so tremendous in today’s

marketplace. Too often people confuse, however, the ease of opportunity with

the availability of opportunity. Now sometimes it’s more obvious than other

times, but then again, it’s never easy. But think about it, if building a

business like ‘Microsoft’ was easy, do you think that Bill Gates would be

worth billons? No, not at all!

To capitalize on your opportunity you must change your thinking. You must

start to think like a leader, even though you are not recognized as a leader

yet. You have started that process by reading this book today. To tweak

your awareness process into high gear, you must be careful what you think

about. Listening to the so-called ‘naysayers’ out there - the negative people -

can clog your creative mind just like fatty foods can clog up your arteries.

Now as far as changing the thought process, I want to help you dispel what I

call, the ‘seven myths of success.’

Myth 1:

People become successful overnight. They don’t have to work for it; we

believe this because we only see the results of the success, rarely the

process.

Myth 2:

Successful people were born with a talent that the rest of us just don’t

have.

Myth 3:

Successful people have successful parents who gave them a head-

start on being successful; teaching them how, and introducing them

to the right people.

.

Myth 4:

People succeed by back- stabbing and being unethical to other people.


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Myth 5:

You must sacrifice a good home life to succeed.

Myth 6:

Successful people are only chasing the dollars.

Myth 7:

Successful people have no problems.


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CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 222

Waking Up, Getting

Motivated, Going After it:

Re-Discover the American

Dream

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Now we’re going to touch on each and every one of these individual

myths later on in the book, so that we can take a better look at why these are

false. You start the success process by developing yourself. You maximize

your success process by also helping others into developing themselves as

well. I break this into three areas. It’s called: ‘WAKE UP!’ ‘GET

MOTIVATED!’ and ‘GO AFTER IT!’

Let’s take a look at each of them.

• ‘Wake up’ is developing the awareness process in yourself, so you can

take a viable personal inventory of your abilities and evaluate your

current opportunities.

• ‘Getting motivated’ - my favorite part - it concerns instituting your

self improvement and developing a sense of MMIISSSSIIOONN about your life’s

activities.

• ‘Going after it’ is what I consider the final step in maximizing

opportunity. Here, you elevate yourself by helping yourself by

implementing ‘Legacy Leadership.’

We’re going to cover these three areas in the session and my goal is that

when we’re finished, you’ll be prepared to do the following things:

1. EVALUATE and improve your success potential.

2. EVALUATE and maximize your current business opportunity, or if need be – it’s a tough decision, I know – find a new one.


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3. EVALUATE others and help them to develop their abilities and opportunities around them as well.

If I can just get a few of you to embrace the idea of Legacy Leadership, we can start a new American revolution and re-discover the American Dream.

To get started, let me share with you my own war story as to how I ended up

where I’m at today, and basically what I needed to do to ‘wake up,’ ‘get

motivated ‘and ’go after‘ things in life.

You know I love spending my life on the road and talking to winners, and I

want to thank you for picking up my book! Because there’s one thing that I

want to do, I want to give you something that you can take back with you and

apply it towards your life. It can possibly make a difference, because it made

a difference for me many, many years ago. Now I’ve titled my session: ‘wake

up;’ ‘get motivated;’ and ‘go after it,’ because several years ago I figured out

what I had to do if I was going to succeed. I didn’t know what I had to do,

and I figured out that just thinking about it was not enough I had to take

action. Let me start from the beginning, if you don’t mind.

You see I wasn’t born with the discipline and drive that I have today. At 19

years of age I met several men who, literally, changed my life. They said,

“Randy, you have got to get into sales.’ I said I hate sales,’ and they said,

‘Randy, you’ve got to get into a profession where you can control your own

destiny, control your income, and have job security - you have got to get into a

profession where your income depends entirely upon your efforts and your

level of competency.”

After I graduated from college I checked out opportunities from A to Z, just

like a lot of you out there. I always keep in mind what Tom Hopkins a top

sales leader told me, which was to find something I could believe in. About

that same time I had read a book by Norman Vincent Peale where he stated,

‘If you go to work on Monday morning you’ll lose. If you go on a mission

Monday morning, you will succeed.’

You know it’s funny, I thought about interviewing for sales positions at the

time; I owned one suit, two shirts, and one pair of shoes. I drove a 1972 Ford

Fiesta with a broken sun roof. I didn’t have much, but I did recognize that

working for this great company that I’m working for now was a real

opportunity, and I managed to get hired. Even though I had a good

opportunity to work with, I wasn’t making the most of it. It was tough for me

to get up in the morning. I loved to sleep in, and I still do. I can remember

when I first got started I’d begin my work day at 10:00 a.m., make two sales

calls, and then go workout in the gym. And then I was home by four o’clock

in the afternoon.


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Now in my business at the time, you had to do between 12 and 15 interviews

a day and literally knock on 50 to 60 doors to get the desired results per day.

With my current work schedule, I was making about $9,000.00 a year; not a

whole lot of money. Even so, my overhead wasn’t much. I really wasn’t that

motivated to get out of bed and go after it. Besides, remember, I loved to

sleep in. I was basically a lazy individual. I had reached a point in my life at

24 years of age where I was fearful that I was stuck, and that fear was

holding me down.

I don’t know about any of you out there, but it’s a scary thing. You see, fear

can do one of two things: it can keep you down, or it can move you up. I was

going down fast. I finally got to the point where I didn’t have enough money

to pay my roommate and of course, the rent was due at the time. He was not

very sympathetic to my situation, but he did accept this payment: my nice

leather jacket; my stereo; and my cordless phone - the only possessions I had.

Unfortunately though, I had to still move out.

I’m here to tell you that for two weeks I had to live out of my car and shower

in a health club while getting my act together. What was interesting at the

time was that I knew all the right stuff - I knew the motivators, I listened to

CD’s – but I wasn’t applying the principles. I looked good, smelled good, had

all the attributes of a winner, but again, I was not applying what I knew. I

was a walking, talking, and a POSITIVE, broke individual. I was eating

tuna fish and beans for four nights straight. I had to take a second job as a

security officer and work 12-hour shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to

make ends meet.

You know the crazy thing about all of this is that when I look back the top

sales rep working for the company at that time was making over a

$100,000.00 a year. Now his job description was the same as mine. It wasn’t

happening for me because folks I was lazy. Obviously, I had to change

something and it’s called ‘get out of bed,’ ‘get motivated,’ and ‘go after it.’

The first thing anyone will tell you is that if you want something and if you

desire it bad enough, the first thing that you have to do is get out of bed, take

a shower, shine your shoes, put on your suit, and go out there with a

POSITIVE attitude and make things happen.

That’s easier said then done, I realize sometimes. I was miserable. I was

beginning to think that sales weren’t for me. I had 15 to 20 success books full

of answers at my bedside, but I wasn’t doing anything with them. You see, if

you would have met me back then you would have thought I was a champion.

And the one thing that continually repeated it’s self in my mind that Tom

Hopkins had told me the sales leader was, ‘Hey, you fake it until you make


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it.’ Well, I guess I was half way down the road to success because I had the,

“fake it” part down.

Let me tell you a little more about the car that I owned when I first got into

sales. Remember the 1972 Ford Fiesta with the missing sun roof? Now

picture me driving down the road to my next client - and it’s a rainy day –

and I have this piece of plywood that doesn’t exactly fit with the glass where

my sun roof used to be. To keep it in place, I had tacked a little piece of rope

in the middle of it and I had to try to hang on to the rope while steering and

shifting gears at the same time. Another “deluxe” feature was that I had to

open the car inside, out. Now there was no door handle on the outside of the

car, so I had to do this.

Arriving at an interview on a rainy day one day I rolled up the windows and

locked all the doors without thinking that after the presentation, there was

the prospect of watching me get into my Sherman tank. I had to take off the

plywood lid and crawl through my broken sunroof. I’ve been there, folks. I

understand. I really do.

Now we can sit back and laugh at all of this, and thank goodness. However,

the incident made me realize that I not only needed a better car, but a better

game plan.

So I bought a brand new car on three post-dated checks. I literally rolled my

’72 Ford Fiesta up to the show room and said, ‘Hey, I need a new car. I am

employed, can you help me?’ They laughed, but I got my new car. I was

destitute at the time and I even managed to get a roof over my head, literally,

and, I had a brand new automobile. You know I look back at the time and I

didn’t know how I was going to get paid, or how in the world I was going to

sell my product.

I will never forget one day, standing in a used-car lot waiting for the owner to

finish talking with a customer. I was now working for the U.S. Chamber of

Commerce as a salesperson. There was all these little pigeons running

around and of course, pigeon droppings were all over the pavement. Now

while I was politely waiting to speak to the car lot owner, a pigeon flew over

and made a nice deposit on the top of my head. Not only did the owner laugh,

but when I asked him if he felt a little sorry for me and would he please buy

my product or service, he said, ‘no.’ He basically escorted me out of the lot

and so did the pigeon - I thought - so I got double rejection that day.


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Success Is not Easy: Change your

Attitude: Putting Your Ego in Your Back

Pocket

“All things are difficult before they are easy.” John Norley

Now times have not been easy for me in the profession of sales and

they’re not going to be easy for you. But you’ve got to do some things to get

your attitude and things moving in a POSITIVE direction, so that you can

move your life forward. Back then the company didn’t have any type of

training. When they interviewed you for the job they shook your hand and

felt for a pulse. If you had one, you were hired. Now the sales training

manual can be summed up in one sentence: ‘Hang in there, you’ll do fine!’

That’s okay, because for some reason I was meant to be here, and believe me

at the time it was scary. I used to wait around on Monday morning to get my

pay check in the mail. One day my pay check showed up and there was

nothing in the envelope. I spoke to my girlfriend and she said, ‘Hey, give it

one more week. Let’s see what you can do if you give it 100%. And besides,

it’s easier to get a job if you’re employed.’ I gave it my all for the week, and lo

and behold, when I did exactly what I was told by my area manager, it

worked.

I did exactly what they asked me to do and I succeeded. Now I’m not the

smartest guy in the world, so I needed to quit trying to reinvent the wheel. I

quit trying to do it my own way and quit making excuses. That week I

figured out one of the main things that have taken me where I’m at today. If

someone has something to offer me, I’ll put my ego in my back pocket, and I

would learn and listen. If you want to succeed and develop to your full

potential, you can not afford to have an ego leading you around by the nose.

If you aren’t as successful as you want to be, first ask yourself, ‘where is my

ego?’

My initiation into management wasn’t much better either. I remember when

I interviewed for the District Manager’s position for the Los Angeles district.

The manager making the final decision to promote me told me to fly out to

Los Angeles and meet him that evening for dinner. He later called and told


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me that - and I guess the gist of the conversation was - ‘Go have dinner and

fend for yourself and send me the bill. By the way, I guess you’re hired.’

That was my first welcome to management. I had no help, but nothing to

lose, so I went for it. I had to ‘get up,’ ‘get motivated’ and ‘go after it,’ once

again. ‘Welcome to management!’ they told me. ‘The eight or nine district

managers in Los Angeles, by the way they informed me, have failed before

you have. And that “you” have got to be doomed to fail, as well.’ After all

how in the world can this 25-year-old guy from North Carolina possibly get

the job done in a major city like Los Angeles, California when eight district

managers prior to him, had failed?

I’m here to tell you friends that during my first hiring campaign, my first

recruit and assignment, I tried hard to find the champion sales force in Los

Angeles. In those days you would answer an ad in the newspaper and it

would tell you all about what we do. One of the things that I will say is that

you were like the Paul Revere of the 80’s. We sold the free enterprise system.

You’d have a presentation that had to be memorized word for word. One

person actually showed up dressed in a Paul Revere outfit with little pointed

shoes, a ponytail, and puffy shirt and said, ‘Hey! I’m here to apply for the

position with your company.’

I was desperate for reps in those days, and I only had one rep at the time and

he had been with the company for 25 years. He was nearly 65 years of age

and getting ready to retire. So there was not a lot of production that I could

expect from this gentleman. So I asked the guy in the puffy shirt, ‘Would you

mind cutting your ponytail? If you would, I’ll buy you a new suit and I might

hire you?’ Fortunately to my benefit he said, ‘no thank you,’ and moved on to

bigger and better things. The first rep that I did happen to hire, committed

suicide. It was not a great start, but I kept going. Later I was talking to one

of my managers and he said that after he heard the story about the suicide,

he knew that if I did not “pack it in” and head back to North Carolina, that I

was going to make it!

Now that gives you an idea where I’ve come from and why I’m here today. I

want to share these stories with you because if I can touch maybe three of

four of you out there today, I’ve done my job. And that’s what I live for!


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Treat People Like People and not Money

Machines

“Leadership; Your people – their family – the company & then you…maybe?” Me

I received a phone call from one of my top representatives many years

ago, basically thanking me for putting her first and production second. You

see she had an illness that she thought was going to be terminal. Thank God

the doctors found out that it wasn’t. This woman had in been in sales for 30

years. She was a veteran. She was a winner. She stood out because she was

among the top 25 representatives within the organization of nearly 450

representatives. She had fallen off course just a little bit, because of her

illness. But I think the thing that really touched my heart was that she took

the time to say, ‘Randy, I want to thank you for your support.’

What this story brings home is that you’ve got to treat people like people first

- whether it’s yourself, your boss, your employers, or your customers – dollars

have to come second, and employees first. The company comes third and it’s

got to come in that order. The company will benefit, tremendously but just as

long as these people are happy doing what they’re doing.

Now I’m here to tell you sales managers, you sales people – leaders in the

community as well as corporate America – that you’ve got to do several things

with your people, because I believe that your people are your most valuable

asset. You are only as good as your people are going to be. It is your job to

develop your people. They look up to you! And we will talk more about that

when I get into LEADERSHIP styles a little later in the program.

I have another story. A few years back, one of my reps had called me on the

phone on a Friday night and I had just gotten off the plane from Dallas, and I

was tired. I had just spent three days training some top sales reps out in

that area and this representative asked me, ‘Randy, how do you stay up and

motivated on a day-to-day basis?’ Well, you know, it was Friday night about

nine o’clock my time and quite frankly, I wasn’t too motivated. But I had to

reach into my bag of sincerity - not my bag of tricks, mind you - but the

things that came from my heart.

Now I’m here to tell you that when you feel as though the person saying,

‘Please help me! I believe in you as my leader. Give me some inspiration,


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give me some MOTIVATION, and please tell me what to do!’ and whether it’s

three o’clock in the morning, or twelve noon, you have got to reach down and

you have got to help this individual succeed, and pull them out of their

slump. I told this rep, ‘Listen! Getting in shape is not easy. Financial

success is not easy. A marriage is not easy. And neither is long-term

employment.’ Whether it’s sales, service, manufacturing - whatever the case

might be – you have got to find out what motivates you and you have got to

work at it on a day-to-day basis.

You see I believe that the opportunity does not lie within the job, it lies

within the individual. I’ll say that again, and write this down: ‘Opportunity

does not lie within the job, it lies within the individual!’ I mean think about

it, just because you and your spouse happen to get into an argument, you

don’t holler ‘divorce,’ although, 51% of today’s couples do, unfortunately. And

I hope that we can change that, just like in the employment situation we can

change. Lower employment, higher employment – just because times are

tough, too many people today holler, ‘I quit,’

There’s a book out, “Why America Won’t Go To Work:” pick it up if you’re a

leader; pick it up if you’re in sales; pick it up if you’re an employee; pick it up

it up if you’re unemployed. Find out what the masses are doing and do the

opposite, and you’ll do very well. As the title of my series say, ‘wake up,’ ‘get

motivated,’ and ‘go after it!’ we’re going to talk about this later on.


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Taking Action: Having a Game Plan

“Progress always involves risk; you can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.”

Fredrick Wilson

There are several rules that I live by, and one of them is: ‘positive

affirmation without discipline often leads to delusion.’ Now say it

again: ‘positive affirmation without discipline often leads to delusion.’

You see if you’re POSITIVE you’ll succeed at whatever it is that you

discipline yourself to do. Let me ask you a question out there: would you

recognize an opportunity if it was standing right in front of you? You see, I

had a great opportunity with the company that I’m employed with, but I

didn’t know it at the time. If you have an opportunity, never lose it for the

lack of hard work. And that’s one of my foundations.

I never want it said that I lost the opportunity for the lack of hard work.

Good positions are like stock. Your stock broker calls you up and says, ‘Hey, I

want you to invest in a particular stock.’ You still have to EVALUATE

whether or not it’s a good opportunity. Now that seems obvious, but so many

people only EVALUATE the opportunity in their job when they’re first hired.

You need to set your goals and then see if your current opportunity allows

you to meet what you set. That is what I call, ‘waking up.’

Many years ago one of my goals was to own a brand new sports car. I got it

and I worked hard for it. It was a beautiful candy-apple red. Now I’m not

bragging about it, but I just want you to know that you can go after the stuff

like I did. It’s out there for you. I mean it took me five years to get out of

high school. I’m no one special. I just show up and work hard. Now that

doesn’t take a lot of brains, does it?

Anyway, I probably had about 200 miles on the car and I decided to take this

thing for a drive down to Tucson, Arizona. So I got up at 6:00 a.m. in the

morning and went out to the front of the hotel where I left the car parked the

night before with the top off and the windows rolled up. And I noticed that

there was a stain on the side of my window. Now what happened is some

jealous individual had thrown a large coffee with cream inside my brand new

$75,000.00 sports car. A business owner at the time, who I had known, was

watching me trying to clean this mess up. And he said, ‘Randy, isn’t it

amazing how jealous some people can be?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Bill, you’re

right. But if this person would just work as hard as I do, and put the time


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and effort into whatever it is that they’re doing, he or she could probably

have a sports car like this as well.’

You see there are 24 hours in a day. And I recommend that you only work

half a day - whether it’s the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours - it’s

entirely up to you. But if I can get you to maximize your output, you’ll do

very well at whatever it is that you’re currently doing. You know I know that

I talk a lot about success, because that’s what we want, isn’t it? I mean,

whether it’s financial success, marital success, fitness success, or job success,

it’s out there for everyone if you just go out and get it.

So, why not you?

Why can’t you have the things that are out there to be had? You can, if you

just go after it. But you got to be able to recognize the opportunity in front of

you - just like the eagle does.

Let me talk about the eagle a second: the eagle soars high above things; he

has sharp eyes; he has the ability to look down; he sees the food, the meal,

the feast; he swoops down with great speed; he dives into the water; he grabs

his feast; he takes it with him; he recognizes opportunity. He’s not sitting in

the nest having a pity party because things didn’t go his way that day. The

weather may be bad and his feathers may be ruffled, but he has to make

things happen.

It is called ‘survival.’

We have to become more like the eagle and not the parrot. You see the parrot

sits on his cage: ‘Feed me! Feed me!’ All he can do is to say, ‘Feed me,’ and

maybe he’ll say a few words. Don’t be like the parrot, be like the eagle. This

country was founded with that spirit, and it’s the symbol of this great nation.

Be part of it, will you? After all, how many of you want more out of life, but

don’t know where to go and get it?

If I pointed you in the right direction and I gave you the right opportunity,

how many of you would lose it though lack of effort or hard work? When I’m

talking to sales managers I often ask them this question, “‘Would you go to

work for you?’ In other words, are you your best friend, or your worst enemy?

What is your mind constantly telling you on a daily basis? What are you

filling your mind with? What are you filling your body with? I hope good

things. After this cassette program, you’re going to! Promise me. Say ‘yes!’


20

For those of you that want more, are you willing to pay the price; put up with

the pain, and do whatever needs to be done to succeed? You know Colonel

Sanders the founder of KFC, he literally knocked on a thousand doors before

someone said, ‘Yes, I’ll buy your chicken recipe.’ How many of you would

have quit, possibly after the five hundredth door? Possibly, I would have too.

I don’t know.

You see, you never know what you’re made of, until you actually push

yourself. And that’s why I ask these sales managers and leaders of the

community, ‘Would you go to work for yourself?’ because if the answer is ‘yes,’

then you’re in the right position. If the answer is ‘no,’ chances are you can’t

lead people and you’re in the wrong position, and your employees are not

going to be effective.

How many times have you said to yourself, ‘If only I had done what I needed

to do, when I needed to do it?’ I’d be much better off today - we all have,

because regrets of life are something that we all run across on a day-to-day

basis. Now what I’m trying to do and why I am excited and so intense about

this, and why I spend so much time on the road, is to get people to recognize

the opportunity in front of them; to have them ’wake up’ ‘get motivated,’

and have them ‘go after it,’ because if you don’t, somebody else will.

It’s that simple.

You have to be careful that you do not surround yourself with people who do

give you, what I call, ‘false hope;’ those who give you the delusions about who

you really are, because critiquing in life is so critical. You see sometimes

we’re too hard or too soft on ourselves. How many people who are truly

attractive think they’re attractive? Very few people do. How many of us are

self-conscious about a certain thing about our body, yet people are constantly

saying, ‘Hey, you’re crazy!’ Or, how about the woman whose 110 lbs. and

thinks that she’s overweight, and her friends are telling her, ‘You are not

overweight! You’re okay!’ But still that nagging little person inside her mind

is saying, ‘You’re overweight. You’re ugly. You’re not up to speed. You can’t

do it.’

You have to get counseling from somebody whom you respect and trust;

someone that will help you recognize opportunity, and help you develop your

own personal talent. We all have the tendency to get advice from people who

are more messed up than we are.


21


Build Your Foundation First Everything

Else Will Fellow

“There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer that ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.”

Robert Half

You know sometimes during casual dinner conversation, friends of mine who are not quite doing so well will attempt to give me advice about

something. I don’t listen to them. I’m polite, but I just don’t listen. It

absolutely amazes me. Let me share with you a story about this. I had a rep

that had left who didn’t do very well, and although she said that she liked

sales and wanted to succeed, she couldn’t cold call and do our particular

profession and succeed at it. But what was amazing to me is that she had

called me six months later and said, ‘Randy, I have a wonderful opportunity

and I wanted to share it with you.’ I could believe it! This woman could not

succeed in my sales organization, yet she was trying to give me advice on

selling another program. Now I’m not putting down other programs, but

basically you have got to have a solid FOUNDATION to you move on, and

we’ll talk about this.

Someone had deluded her into believing that she could succeed without

changing that FOUNDATION. Well, back to my story; this woman wanted

me to enter into a business partnership with her and her husband, so they

came over to the house and I listened. They had a used BMW; they had the

Rolex that they were probably paying on with installments; they lived in an

area that could be considered upscale; they were an attractive couple.

They were definitely ‘faking it, until they made it.”

But her FOUNDATION was no different when she failed with my

organization. Now I felt that I needed to give this couple some advice, and I

saw very clearly where they were going wrong. I said, ‘Listen, you’re a

wonderful couple, but let me give you something that you can take back with

you that can hopefully change your life; because I can tell the two of you want

to succeed and you’ve got to do something first, and you’ve got to develop a

stronger FOUNDATION than what you already have.’


22

‘You see, you’re coming to me, because you think that I can make you a lot of

money.’ I asked the husband, ‘What kind of car did you drive up here in?’ He

said, ‘Well, a 10-year-old used BMW.’ I said, ‘Hey, and the house?’ I

commented, ‘Is your house and the car you drove up in more expensive than

my house and car that I have?’ He said, ‘Well no, not at all.’ And I said,

‘Then why in the world should I listen to you? What do you have to offer me?’

He said, ‘A wonderful opportunity.’ When I had asked him if they had

succeeded at the opportunity that they are involved with, yet, he said, ‘Well

no, they’re just getting started.’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to bust your

bubble, you’re excited and I can tell. And that’s okay, but chances are - and I

hope that I’m wrong – but a year from now from now you won’t be in the

program.’

Well, lo and behold, a year later, guess what? They’re not in the program,

why? Because it just didn’t work out for them. Why didn’t it work out?

Because they’re not who they said they were. You see, if you’re really solid

and you’ve got a really solid FOUNDATION, you’re going to make it. If you

change your job before you change your FOUNDATION, it’s not going to

work. It’s that simple. Now this couple had not changed their work ethic, so

they were destined to fail regardless of the opportunity.

There are many aspects to a solid FOUNDATION: spiritual; family; physical;

and career. When I used to interview sales people for positions throughout

the country, I often ask them, “What do they want to make’ in terms of

income for the year.” Their comment was usually between ‘$70,000.00 to

$100,000.00 a year’. I was not familiar with their FOUNDATION, or their

ability at that time, so I would ask them, ‘Why do you feel that you want to

make that, and why do you feel you’re worth that type of income”. When I

would know the year before they had an averaged only $30,000.00. Most

didn’t have a good answer.

Now there’s an old rule of thumb: ‘if you want to earn more, you have got to

become more.’ It’s that’s simple. If you want to increase your income, you

have got to develop a value to the market place, which will enable you to

make a good income. It’s not simply a matter of wanting it, showing up, or

setting goals for it. You have got to educate yourself. You have got to

become more in order to earn more.

Here’s a great question, and I get real excited about this: “Are you an asset,

or a liability to your current company?” Think about this. Now I come to this

from a different angle than most trainers do. I take a long hard look at


23

different opportunities and different companies. I get motivated and I

motivate my people, and hopefully, I can motivate you.

I ask you to check your FOUNDATION that we’ve talked about. Are you who

you say you are? Are you an asset, or are you a liability to your current

employer? If you think about this do you need your company more than they

need you? If the answer is yes, you’re in trouble. And I’ll say that again, if

the answer is yes, if you need your company more than they need you, folks,

you’re in trouble. It’s because you have not developed any type of network

that that company would want to invest in, other than having you fill in a

vacancy, a territory, a seat, or an open spot. It’s that simple.

You have to ask yourself, ‘What is my value?’ What is my net worth from an

employer’s standpoint, or a customer’s standpoint? You see, if you weighed

190 lbs. would you be seen as a 190 lbs of in-shape muscle, able to pull your

load, and able to carry your weight and be productive? Now, a 190 lbs. of fat

is just taking up space. Do what you have to do to make yourself a valuable

asset to your company. And that’s the bottom line,

You see folks, you can’t beat the system. The system is going to beat you.

You know down deep inside whether or not you worked hard enough to

validate your current situation. It’s as simple as that. If you’re not

maximizing your efforts, if you’re not doing everything that you can do to

maintain your job security, ‘shame on you!’ because you’ll be unemployed.

And let me tell you my friends, if you think that being unemployed is easy,

and that you’re going to roll into another great opportunity, you got another

thing coming.

Now they’re out there, believe me, but you must realize that statistics show

for every position paying between $35,000.00 and $50,000.00 a year in

income, there are 375 applicants with your ability standing there in line

waiting to fill that employment opportunity.

For those of you who are trying to find a six-figure income, it’s going to take

from two to three years to land an opportunity. It’s unbelievable! Seventy-

four percent of Americans said that they would have a difficult time finding

another job. That’s ¾ of America. Yet, we don’t hang on to what we

currently have. It’s amazing to me. So, if you’ve got a good deal, if you’ve got

a good opportunity, and you’re happy there, make it work. Don’t lose it

though lack of hard work. Promise me! You have to ask yourself if what

you’re currently doing is moving you toward or away from the goals that you

want to obtain. You have to look at several areas in your life: spiritual;

family; success, your career, as well as your health. That’s very, very

important.


24

Within your current opportunity, are you able to maximize what you want

out of life? If the answer is ‘no,’ you might need to move on, and that’s okay.

But remember, the opportunity does not lie within the company, it lies within

yourself. Look at that couple I mentioned earlier where the woman got into

the multi-level program. Someone promised her the ‘pie in the sky,’ and

because she was looking for the easy way out, she fell into the trap of

changing the job, rather than changing the FOUNDATION and her work

ethic.


25


Know How to Maximize Your Opportunity

When You Have it

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence,

regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

Vincent T. Lombardi

A while back I attended an opportunity seminar; there were about 60

people in the room, and the speaker was making about 150,000 to

$200,000.00 a year. He was showing a wonderful business opportunity to the

audience. After it was over the speaker said, ‘hey, are there any questions

that we can answer about the opportunity?’ And of course I stood up and

said, “Yes, I have a question.”

The question that I asked the audience, as well as the person showing the

plan was, ‘How many of you in this room are currently maximizing your

opportunity?’ Now they wondered what I was talking about. When I asked a

particular person to elaborate on his current situation, employment-wise, he

said that he was in sales and that the top income earner in the company was

making about $200,000.00 a year. I then asked him if he was even near this,

and he said that he wasn’t even close to that, and that’s why he was

attending this meeting. I said, ‘Young man, even though this may be a good

opportunity, it’s not going to work for you, because you have to build your

FOUNDATION of success before you can move on to something else.’

The things that you need to do to succeed in a new opportunity are the same

things that you would need to do where you are currently employed if you

wanted to make $250,000.00 a year. Keep in mind that the opportunity is not

within the job, it’s within the individual. So, take a look at what you’re

currently doing. If you’re not getting all that is out there to get from your

current situation, you have to go back and build a solid FOUNDATION.

Have you ever heard the story of ‘Acres and Diamonds?’ And this brings my

point close to home. You see there was this farmer in South Africa who sold

his farm to travel the world in search of diamonds. To make a long story

short, today, that farm that he sold is the site of the largest diamond mine in

the world. So, sometimes the acres of opportunity are right under your feet.


26

My goal is to help you implement what I refer to as ‘Legacy Leadership,’ so that you can accomplish the following 4 things:

1. Get the most from your current employment opportunity. That’s very, very important.

2. Develop a better game plan and achieve greatness throughout your life.

3. Help you perform to your full potential.

4. Go after whatever it is that you want to go after.

When I became a manager I had no training. I had a lot of negative sales

talk and a lot of negative feedback. I had no choice at the time. I had $800 in

my pocket. I took off in my Grand-Am from North Carolina to drive to Los

Angeles for the ‘golden opportunity.’ At that time I didn’t know what I

couldn’t do, I went out and basically had to make things happen, also at the

time I knew I had six months to make it or break it. As you can imagine the

turnover rate in that managerial position was quite high.

I looked up at the person who hired me and I took copious notes about what I

needed to do to succeed. I put my ego in my back pocket and I knew it was up

to me to get the job done. Basically, they threw me out to the wolves and I

didn’t walk away. I kept going for several reasons: I wanted to better myself

and saw the opportunity to do so. I recognized that if this was the

opportunity for me and someone else was doing well- why not me? I was not

going to lose this great opportunity through lack of hard work. I broke down

the opportunity into its components and decided that, ‘yes,’ there was

something worth going after and something that I was going to have. I was

going to work hard enough to get it and make it happen for me.

As I mentioned earlier, when you’re looking to develop for success, you need

to first ‘wake up’ and take a personal inventory of who you are. Next, you

need to ‘get motivated,’ change your thinking and develop a reason to

succeed.

Let’s talk about getting motivated. MOTIVATION is something that can be

difficult. MOTIVATION is like working out. Everyone wants the perfect

body. Everyone wants to be motivated all the time. But how many of us are

willing to take the time, the effort and discipline to get up and get the perfect

body that we want? When bathing suit time comes, we wish we had.

MOTIVATION must come from inside you. External MOTIVATION will only

work short term. You can get inspiration from external sources, but lasting

MOTIVATION is internal.


27

To stay motivated takes work and time. Many people claim that they have

no extra time, because of the things that they already do. But how much

time do you spend watching television? People in this country, folks, have

been fed on TV and fast food. You know ladies and gentlemen, I did not own

a TV until five years ago when we built our house. There was a big blank

space on one wall that needed something - what I felt - a nice big screen color

television would fit just fine. Now I only use it to watch DVD’s, because

commercial television is one of the most negative things out there. I have no

disrespect for good educational stations, I’m just not a television fan. I also

love DVD’s, but TV. is a waste of time; in my opinion. It’s negative, because

negativity is easier to sell than POSITIVE information.

Rather than spending time watching someone else’s negative program, you

should be spending time developing your own POSITIVE program. Talking

about television, I’m reminded of what Groucho Marx had to say on the

subject. He said, and I quote, ‘I must say I find television very educational.

The minute someone turns it on, I go to the library and read a great book.’ I

love that quote by Groucho; make it a part of your life. Spend more time

developing yourself than watching TV.

Many years ago I had an opportunity that I didn’t recognize, and at the time I

didn’t know how to take advantage of it. Would you know an opportunity if it

ran across your forehead, or possibly stood right in front of you? Now that’s

the first mile to the road to success. The second mile is MOTIVATION. At

first I did not succeed because I was unable to get internally motivated. I

didn’t know what I wanted. I didn’t know how to get out of bed and go after

those things that I wanted.

I’m going to share with you some thoughts and ideas that will ‘wake you up,’

‘get you motivated,’ and get you ‘going after’ your dreams day after day,

week after week, and year after year. As I mentioned, you have got to get out

of bed to get motivated. It seems like I have several sales representatives

that have difficulty getting out of bed every single morning. When I talk to

them, they’re always crying poor mouth. They’re broke. They can’t pay their

bills. Now they want more out of life, but there are many times that they

have called their manager and said, ‘Hey, do me a favor; give me a wake up

call, would you?’

This is unbelievable! These people are between 35 and 50 years of age, and

they still need a wake up call. Wake up America! There’s something wrong with this picture. If what it takes to get you out of bed is someone

holding your hand, you’re in trouble. You’re in the wrong system. To get out

of bed, though, you have got to have a purpose. I talk to a lot of people


28

around the country and it consistently amazes me how so many people lose

an opportunity because they have a reluctance to act. I’m here to tell you

today that if this is the case, I want you to change. It’s a fact that in this

world you either deal or get dealt.

It’s that simple.


29

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 888 Staying Motivated: What it Takes

“The worst bankrupt in the world is the person who has lost his enthusiasm.”

H.W. Arnold

This great country was founded on freedom, hard work, and a

determination to “go for it!” It’s called the free enterprise system and it

creates the wealth this great country has to offer you and me. I didn’t have a

purpose, either, many years ago. It was very difficult for me to get out of bed

and get going when there was nothing to look forward to except the first cup

of coffee in the morning, the long drive to the office, or that rejection by that

negative client you have to deal with on a daily basis.

You have got to put things into a POSITIVE framework. It takes more

energy to be POSITIVE than it does to be negative, because you have got to

make the decision to be POSITIVE. If not, the negatives will creep in by

themselves. You make a lot more money, you have nicer friends, and you’ll

have better relationships. You’ll be healthier and you’ll have better kids if

you decide to have a POSITIVE attitude. If you don’t, people will not want to

be around you, and chances are you’re employment situation is not going to

last either.

Another way to stay motivated is to develop pride of ownership within your

company. Your employer’s going to notice, your productivity will increase,

and guess what? You’ll start making more money. So take pride in what you

do and develop your MOTIVATION, internally. Maybe you don’t feel like

being motivated right now, well I have news for you: ‘fake it, until you make

it!’ Have a zip in your walk, have a smile on your face. Your employer’s

going to notice and you’ll be a more valuable asset to your company.

By reading this you have already done something that most people won’t do.

Basically you’re reading this because you want more out of life. You want to

grab one or two ideas from this book to take with you so that you can increase

your enjoyment of life, increase your net worth, and increase your happiness.

I hope that I can help you do that; it’s what I live for.

Another part of MOTIVATION is activity. Activity and effort generate

results. It’s interesting though, one of my sales representatives who has been

with me for a long time is consistently home between the hours of two and

three o’clock in the afternoon. Now, his activity stops too soon and holds him

back. I believe that if you put at least 80% of your effort into your work,

you’re going to do tremendous things. A. L. Williams writes in his book, ‘All


30

You Can Do Is All You Can Do.’ He states, ‘You beat 50% of America by

working hard. You beat another 40% of the people in America by being a

person of integrity and standing for something.’ The last 10% ‘is a dogfight

for the free enterprise system.’

Many people feel that just showing up, and working hard is enough. If this is

our attitude, we’re in trouble as a nation. We have to get over this. It takes

more than showing up in this country. Just showing up is not good enough.

When I read A. O. Williams’ book many years ago, I thought, ‘Hey, if I show

up, work hard, and have integrity, I’ll have 90% of what this company and

country has to offer….hey, count me in, I’m going for it.’

Since then I have developed a love for what I do - and let me say this - if you

have a passion for what you do, you will be unstoppable. As I mentioned, this

country was founded on hard work, discipline, dedication, and going for it.

Now I sell patriotism on a day-to-day basis, because I love it. I believe in this

country and that’s what keeps me going. I will never let it be said that I lost

an opportunity through lack of hard work. Don’t lose the body you deserve

through lack of hard work either, and do not lose your opportunity through

the lack of hard work, as well. If it’s out there, grab it! I look at it this way,

‘why can’t I have everything out there if this guy has it…..why can’t I have

it?’ I know that I can, if I just work hard enough.

For example, I used to always look at people driving nicer cars than mine.

My wife and I used to drive down the streets and see someone in a nice car

and we’d always wonder what this person did for a living. Have you ever

done that? In other words, would you drive by a nice neighborhood and

think, ‘Wow, what do these people do for a living?’ I know I used to many

years ago. I can tell you what they’re not doing, and I can tell you what they

are doing. First of all they don’t sleep in until ten or eleven o’clock in the

morning and hey don’t stay out until one or two o’clock that evening,

drinking, destroying their bodies with bad things that cannot move you

forward in your career and your in life.

Remember, discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons. It’s an

important point: ‘discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons.’

Think about this for a second - going back to the disciplinary statement that I

mentioned. Could you imagine when your child was first born - if you put

$20.00 a month or $100.00 a month into a conservative mutual fund program

- where would your child stand, financially, 20 years later? The child would

be very well off, but it takes discipline. Discipline is the key to

MOTIVATION. If success takes hard work, discipline and integrity, you can

count me in!


31

I hope that we can count you in, as well.

Show up and work hard. Hey, is that not the premise of life? Yet five million

sales people are out there today and less than one million of them make a

decent income. Now, according to Charles Gibbons in his book, ‘Wealth

without Risk,’ 96% of those people who retire, retire with less than

$13,000.00 a year in income and, with less than $40,000.00 socked away in

investments.

Jim Rohn is a very successful business man, speaker, and author - and

teaches children in the eighth grade, how to be wealthy by the time they

reach 40 years of age. Now I believe Jim, because you’ve got to start today.

You can certainly have it when you really want it, if you just start today.

How many of you would love to retire right now? Let me see your hands.

Well, I know I would. Two hundred nights a year on the road is tough. But

you know, I have a passion for what I do and I love it. And let me talk about

passion for a second, because it is another key to MOTIVATION.

If you truly enjoy what you do, you’re going to be motivated to get it done

and do very well at it. Therefore, your income is going to rise. Believing in

your job is a form of integrity which, in turn, is a form of passion.

Now, another part of MOTIVATION and success is helping others to succeed.

As Zig Ziglar puts it, ‘If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get

what you want.’ Because, essentially, you’re putting them first and yourself

second. If you start putting yourself in front of people and treating them as

secondary individuals, it’s not going to work for you. In other words, if you

chase the dollar, I truly believe you’re going to lose. You have got to chase

the MISSION and purpose.

Put people first.


32


Set Your Goals in All Areas of Your Life

“It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very

often get it.”

Somerset Maugham

Let me say this about MISSION. If your company currently has a

MISSION statement, find out what it is. Define it! Own it! Personalize it

and run with it! And you’ll be top in that company. If it doesn’t, then you’ll

have to develop your own MISSION statement. MISSION statements are

important in today’s society. It’s easy to succeed out there. All it takes is

hard effort, yet we have so many people in the welfare system, so many

people with their hands out; we have so many people blaming the school

systems; blaming our communities; blaming others for their failures.

Stop it!

I have a system in our hiring process that I put together many years ago to

teach sales companies how to attract the best and brightest. It kind of goes

like this:

1. I show the applicants the presentation of the company. We feel that the

orientations are very important to this company, because if most people

understood what they’re getting into, there would be less employee

turnover.

2. I ask this question: how many of you got into an opportunity, or know of someone who has gotten into an opportunity and then three or four

weeks later, they go ‘Whoops! This is not what I’m looking for!’

So they went on to something else. I have seen resumes that show a person

having five or six jobs in the last five years. I understand that some of this is

beyond your control. But if it is within your control, you should not have that

many jobs over the four of five years that we’ve talked about.

I want to cover control and work ethics for a second, because if all of us would

get up and work at just 80% of our capacity, I believe that most companies

would be “light years’ ahead of their time to where they currently are now.

Now there’s no reason that we should not put forth the effort. Before the

owners of any company decide to manufacture their product or sell their

service, they think of the idea long and hard before they decide to invest their

hard earned dollars into the project. They’re offering the good opportunity.


33

And if the good opportunity is good enough for them to invest their hard

earned dollars in, shouldn’t we take advantage of the opportunity as well;

especially if all we have to do is invest in our effort, and hard work and time.

Let me share a story with you – and I love stories – one of my sales reps, at

the time, gave me a call. This guy had a lot of potential. He called me on the

phone and said, ‘Randy, I want to apologize to you. The reason that I’m not

succeeding is because I can’t keep focused.’ Now, folks, this was a 45-year-old

man telling me that he couldn’t keep focused. I said, ‘Robert, let me give you

a little example of not keeping focused.’ You have two lovely children, and

let’s say they go to college – a very, very expensive college down the

road……let’s say ‘Harvard.’ You invest money in them and they’ve invested

time, and one day they call you and they say, ‘Dad, I’m flunking out.’ Your

first question is going to be ‘why are they flunking out?’ And they say it’s

because they can’t keep focused. How many kids in this country would love

to go to ‘Harvard?’ And yours “blew it,” because they can’t keep focused.

What are you going to say? Who’s to blame, the opportunity, or the

individual?

His comment, of course, was not pleasant. Reality checks are not always

pleasant. Then I said, ‘Let me talk to your wife.’ He said, ‘No way, Randy!’

He knew better and he understood the point. If all it takes is focus, then I’ll

buy you the eyeglasses, the binoculars……whatever it takes. It’s up to you to

get focused. Now, hopefully, this taped series is going to help you. And I

thank you for being here, because, as I mentioned, you’re already doing

something that most people won’t do.

How many of you look forward to going on vacation every year? Let me see

the hands! You look forward to getting up, getting out there, and going on

vacation spending two weeks with your family. I have a planning session

twice a year with my managers, and the first thing that I ask them to do is

plan their vacations; spend two weeks, go somewhere with your families,

because you’re going to work hard the rest of the year. But, we’re going to

plan the vacation and get it out of the way. Then we’ll plan our work year

the same way.’

Now, most people spend more time planning their vacation then they do the

rest of their lives. What a sad situation. I want you to plan your work with

the same passion that you plan your vacation. How many of us look forward

to getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m., getting on the freeway, and going to work

every morning? And then we have to face the boss and sometimes at very low

pay. Now very few of us look forward to doing that. You see, many years ago


34

I didn’t look forward to it either. I had to create something exciting in my

life.

Remember the story about the guy who wanted to get someone to give him a

wake-up call and get him out of bed and get him going? What if someone

doesn’t show up? Now this guy’s in trouble. Remember, the inability to get

up in the morning is not an excuse. Now a lot of us need to get a different

type of alarm clock; it’s called a “reality check” clock.

You see, I believe that “God doesn’t make junk!” So, don’t give me the excuse

that someone else is better than you, because I don’t buy the story. If that’s

the case, then you go out there and you become better than they are. You’ve

got to get the books, get the tapes, and go to the seminars…..get the fitness

programs! Go to the professionals who understand how to dress you and how

to cut your hair. Now I’m a tyrant when it comes to my people, because I

want them to succeed. I live for their success…..they succeed, I succeed. It’s

a win-win situation.

It’s that simple.


35


Leading the No Excuses Life

“The price of greatness is responsibility.”

Winston Churchill

Now excuses are something that I don’t buy in my organization and I

don’t want you to buy them either. I don’t want you to listen to excuses

anymore and I don’t want you to come up with them! Look at yourself in the

mirror and ask yourself, ‘Am I doing everything that I can possibly do to

maximize my efforts today?’ If the answer is ‘no,’ then change; if the answer

is ‘yes,’ and you’re still not getting what you want out of life ,change the

opportunity. I’m telling you that that’s okay.

There are a lot of great companies out there and there are a lot of great

individual, entrepreneurial people out there starting their own endeavors.

This country was founded on the concept of free enterprise. There’s no reason

that you can’t have it; it’s out there! If your current opportunity is not good

enough, you can always create your own. Small business creates 42% of the

gross national product – ‘GNP’ – in this country. Eighty-seven percent (87%)

of the work force is working for small ‘Mom and Pop” businesses. Get into a

business that can get you where you need to be, but don’t make the excuses.

“No excuse management” is what I tell my managers. Just like the new

cadets at ‘West Point,’ we should only answer questions in one of four ways:

‘Yes, sir!’ ‘No, sir!’ ‘No excuse, sir!’ or, ‘I don’t understand, sir!’ It’s called “no

excuse living.’

If I can get people to work at 80% of their capacity, then guess what; they’re

going to succeed. Accepting responsibility is something that I drill into their

minds on a day-to-day basis. After all, we are not paid by the quality or the

quantity of our excuses, but by the “bottom line.” It’s called “results.”

Remember, ‘discipline weighs ounces, regret weights tons.’ Do it now!

Make it happen!

There’s a rule and I want to change it. And I want you to help me to change

it, but it’s going to take a long time. And if I can change it, then I’ve done my

job. It’s going to take your help as well. It’s called the ‘80-20 rule.’ It’s

called, ‘some will, some won’t, so what?’ I speak to a lot of winners and I

talk to a lot of people about the ’80-20’ rule. Some are in ‘101’ and some in

groups like this.


36

About a month ago a woman came up to me and said, ‘Randy, hey, great

seminar, but the challenge is, in my organization ‘some will, some won’t, so

what?’ And I said, ‘we have got to change that, because if you’re part of the

‘some won’t’ and the “so what?” category, you’re in trouble.’

There are very few “some wills,” and we’ve got to change that. I want to add

something to your life today. I want to give you the information that will

inspire you to become part of the “some wills;” because 80% of the results are

being brought in by 20% of the work force in your company. Think about

this! It’s as old as I am. It’s as old as you are. It’s a fact folks, that 80% of all

results are generated by 20% of the people in your company. 80% of the

wealth in this country is generated by 20% of the population.

That’s okay if you’re part of the 20%, but it’s not if you’re part of the 80%. I

want you to try to shoot over to the 20%-ers to have 80% of the goodies.

Ninety-seven percent of the actors in the ‘Screen Actors’ Guild,’ make less

than $10,000.00 a year. Now don’t ask me why; it’s just one of those things.

Here’s another figure: 97% of those people who retire, retire on less than

$13,000.00 a year in income. Remember the 5 million sales people…..less

than 1% make a living folks, and we’ve got to change this ’80-20 rule.’ Will

you help me? I know you will.

You know, we all to succeed and we all want the “wealth of life,” but we’re not

always willing to work for it. We’re always looking for shortcuts. If the

lottery in Arizona hit $50,000,000.00 and only one outlet sold tickets, and it

opened up at 4:00 a.m., and the news media made the comment that tickets

would be sold out by 9:00 a.m., I guarantee you that the majority of you

would be out there at 4:00 a.m. trying to buy those lottery tickets.

Do you know why? Because I see you out there; I’m standing right behind

you in line – no, I’m just kidding. You see, guys like me don’t win the lottery.

I’m an optimist, but I’m not looking for shortcuts to success. First, it’s

because the odds are against it from happening. And second, if there is an

easy way out, the chances are I’m not going to hang onto it. I’ll squander it

away, and I mean that. So, I don’t blame you if you can’t get out of bed if

you’re not looking forward to your day. But change. Don’t let people control

what you do. You control it.

If someone had a bad day, tell them, ‘hey, I don’t want to be part of it. I’m

going off to bigger and better things.’ Now, most people don’t like winners. I

teach my new sale’s reps that there are two groups out there that basically

want you to succeed: Your company; your family; yourself, and that’s it. How

many of you, when you have a bad day, you have a bad week, or you possibly


37

get into a slump, and you look at your manager and you say, ‘hey, I need

help.’

You see, again, your ego can trip you up, but you’ve got to put your ego in

your back pocket. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Figure it this way, if

you’re failing and you don’t seek help, who is to blame? The only time that I

hear from my average sales people is when they have a great day. But the

ones who are champions, the ones who are winners - when they have a bad

day or a bad week - guess what they do? They call me. They call the so-

called support group within the company.

I’m in tune with people. I’m in one of the two groups that want them to

succeed. You leaders, if you’re not in tune with your staff, you’re going to lose

them. And I believe that I’m like a professional basketball, football, or

baseball team owner in that the happier that I can make them, the longer

they’re going to stay with me. And maybe they’ll be a little less likely to be

looking for a bigger and better opportunity.

Let me see the hands of those of you who have looked in the newspaper or the

internet during the last six months, looking to see what else is out there,

because times are tough. I often laugh, because when times get tough people

start looking for other employment. This is wrong. If you’re looking for

employment, look on a high note. Remember before you move on make sure

that you have maximized your current opportunity. Remember?

Opportunity lies within the individual and not the position.


38


Invest in Yourself, Before all Else

“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Probably my favorite group to talk to is sales people, because I’m in the

profession. I understand that it takes training to do well, but what’s

interesting to me is that we have a lot of people who want to try sales. They

feel that they can just step in and “wing it” until they can get the hang of it.

Can you imagine approaching most professions that way? It’s like a person

wanting to try brain surgery. That individual might be motivated as all “get

out,” but without him investing the time to become properly trained, I doubt

that you would volunteer to become his first patient.

To be paid well and to be competent, a doctor must invest in educating

himself correctly in order to succeed. He doesn’t just open an office and

operate on a few people for a few weeks and hope to get the hang of it. Even

if he could, he’d probably quit after a few weeks of frustration, after not

succeeding on a few patients.

What’s the highest paid profession in the world? Yours and mine. Yet the

vast majority (of people) fail, because they fail to invest time in training

themselves. I truly believe that if you mastered your techniques, if you hone

your skills, if you understand human nature, you’ll become a winner in your

industry. I promise you! But a lot of people try sales and they go at it with

the approach of the “want to be’ surgeon. They’re nervous, they’re

scared…..join the crowd. I was, too, many years ago.

You know, I got sick of starving and I was sick of living in my car. I had to

make a change. I began getting up at a reasonable hour and I started doing

the things that I was supposed to be doing. It’s called, ‘building that

FOUNDATION.’ Would you not agree with me that if you do as your trainer

asks you to do - in the company’s training program – that you’re going to

succeed? Do they hire you to fail? Is it not to their advantage that you

succeed? Absolutely! But it’s amazing to me that sales people will come into

the company and do the opposite of what they were trained to do. And then

they blame the company for their failure. Now, what I tell my sales reps

after they do this is to say, ‘Harry, I’m sorry that it didn’t work out for you,

and I know that you tried to do it your own way…..and by the way, I want to


39

thank you, because you helped us with your ‘research and development’

program at your own expense.

A lot of these people that fail, claim that they don’t have the time to study

after work hours to improve their skills. They’re the same people who don’t

have time to workout and stay in shape either. But I’ll bet you that if you

monitor their home activity, you’ll find out that they do have time to watch a

couple of hours of television every single night. Remember, you make other

people money by watching television and you make nothing for yourself. One

of the most non-productive things that you can do is to sit around and watch

television when you can be doing something to advance your career. Do you

want to soar with the eagles, or do you want sit in your cage like the parrot?

If something is truly important, you’ll find the time and energy to move

forward and complete the project.

Absolutely!

Now the challenge is that there are a lot of things that are very, very

important that we should be doing, but we feel that we don’t have to do these

things for various reasons. If some things are important, you have to make

the time. Make productive things your priority.

People who talk one way and spend time doing something else are not being

true to themselves, or anyone else. You have to be who you say you are

because if you’re not, people are going to see through you. It has to do with

that internal MOTIVATION that I mentioned earlier. Have you ever been

around someone who says, ‘hey, have a great day,’ or do you have a boss who

possibly has false MOTIVATIONS and tells you to keep fired up, but isn’t

fired up himself? You can see through false MOTIVATION. Internal

MOTIVATION can not be faked.

Now when I first started with the company that I’m with, I had some

discipline. I was in the gym every morning and I understood work ethics,

somewhat. But I didn’t take the same work ethic with me to work and that’s

why I wasn’t successful as I needed to be or, that I wanted to be. My point is

that I had to strengthen my FOUNDATION in all areas of my life and

internalize my MOTIVATION. I did not know it at the time, but I can look

back now and see how important the FOUNDATION was for business

success.

And I am internally motivated, not externally motivated…..I have to be! I

have no choice, because I am paid for my attitude. If I rely on outside

circumstances to pump me up, I will be on an emotional roller-coaster and my

performance will be up and down as well. You did not come here to see me


40

and pay me good money for me to stand up here and say, ‘hey, I’m not going

to perform for you 100% today, because, quite frankly, I’m a little tired. I got

in late last night and I’m dealing with a two-hour time change – which also

caused me to miss my workout.’

I wouldn’t be offering you much, would I? Would you possibly walk out, or

tune me out? Who knows? I possibly would. So realize that we are basically

paid according to our attitude, and that is something that we can control.


41


Taking Care of the Little Things, Adds Up

to Big Things

“Do it now! You will be glad you did later.”

Me

Let’s talk about the little things that keep you motivated for a second.

How did you feel when you brought that new car? How did you feel when you

brought that new suit? How did you feel when you got into that new

relationship? You felt wonderful, didn’t you? Now ask yourself this question:

does that car still look brand new today? And one thing that I preach to all

my reps is to clean your car on a daily or weekly basis. Keep it looking brand

new.

Have you ever seen a car that looks brand new and someone says, ‘hey, it’s

about four-years-old……’ don’t you find that a little impressive? Keep the

things around you in good shape and it will keep your attitude in good shape

as well. So clean that automobile. It’s going to make you feel great every

single morning when you hit the freeway and you go to work. You’ll feel good

when you take the client out. You’ve got to look the part, you’ve got to act the

part……. be the classy individual you are. I know that you want to be that

way.

Also, take care of that new suit. Now, when you take care of that suit, you

don’t throw it in the closet. No! You hang it up, neatly. You brush it off,

because that’s what people see you in all the time. Your clothes, your house,

your kids and your family, they are no different: keep them clean; keep them

healthy; keep them organized.

Now I’m a bit of a fanatic about this subject and I drive my wife crazy, so you

might not want to pattern yourself after me. But when I come home from a

business trip, I don’t want to come home to a mess that makes me feel

disorganized, and I get grumpy. So before I leave, I vacuum. People come

into my house and ask if anyone lives there because the carpet looks brand

new all the time. I take care of my things. When I come home after a long

trip, my mind feels good. So, clean things up before you leave. That way,

they’ll look brand new all the time.

This goes for your sales kits and your presentation material as well.


42

I often look at a person’s shoes. It’s funny, because shoes can tell a lot about

an individual. I make sure that my sales reps shoes are polished every time

that we’re together. About 10 years ago I called on a client that turned out to

be one of our larger accounts. I came in and introduced myself, cold, and I

told him that I needed a few minutes to discuss my product and services. I

asked him if his office was available, or if we could talk here. He looked me

up and down and then said, ‘You have five minutes. I like your shoes.’

I said, ‘Excuse me?!’ I was 26 years of age at the time - you know, a young

guy – and he said, ‘Young man, come in here. I want to tell you something. I

can see that you take care of your shoes. It tells me a lot about how you take

care of your customers.’ I walked out with a $2,000.00 check, made payable

to the services that I was selling.

I’ll never forget Harvey McKay’s book, ‘Swim With The Sharks Without

Getting Eaten Alive.’ Mr. McKay said that ‘little things don’t mean a lot, they

mean everything.’ Here’s how much a “stickler” that I am about the little

things: I used to check out the anchor man on national television to make

sure that their tie was straight. It amazes me that a person making two to

three million dollars a year will appear on national television – sometimes

worldwide – with a crooked tie, or the tie that’s not quite up to the button

where it’s supposed to be. I’ll say this folks, and I hate saying this, but you

only have one time to make a first impression; you have 30 seconds with that

person across from you to determine whether or not they like you, or trust

you.

Now that’s wrong and I know it, but that’s just human nature. If it’s not

what you believe, then you need to change your thought process on this

subject. When you walk into someone’s office to interview with someone, or

meet for the first time, they size you up in 30 seconds. It may be 10 minutes

later that they get to know you, and that’s okay. But if you can’t get that first

impression off to a good start, they’re not going to give you the 10 minutes get

to know you.

And it’s that simple.

The first impression is everything. Maintain the neatness in your car, the

neatness in your shoes, and the neatness in the way you look. The complete

package must be there. Let’s put it this way, can you imagine if the great

company that you’re currently employed with basically had shoddy products,

or shoddy business cards? Maybe the logo is crooked or you name is off

centered, or your presentation material possibly wasn’t as professional as it

needed to be. Let me ask you a question: ‘Is your company in business to


43

make a profit, yes, or no?’ Yes! Are you in business to make a profit, yes, or

no?

Remember, you have to develop what I call ‘pride of ownership.’ So I tell

my staff they’re going to be sharp. It’s part of their FOUNDATION and part

of developing their internal MOTIVATION.

If you are not big on little things now, change your thinking. You have to

change your thoughts to better your life. We all want something out there

and you’re listening to me for a reason; probably because you’re looking for a

better way to better your life. Watch all the little things in your life: financial;

physical; and spiritual. They all go in balance, but you have to change your

thoughts to improve your life.

You know, real estate, financial investments, and the insurance industry are

- in my opinion - some of the best money-making opportunities out there. But

so often though, if it doesn’t work out for somebody in two or three months,

they think, ‘Whoops, this is not what I’m looking for; it’s not happening for

me.’ And off they go chasing the opportunity of the week. Remember, work

ethic is part of a solid FOUNDATION. You cannot expect results to change

if you have bad habits. Find a way to change your habits.

And let me give you another personal example.

Earlier I told you that I’m a person who likes to sleep in. I could sleep in

until eight or nine o’clock in the morning, but how do I get up and get going?

Here’s what I did to motivate myself. When I built my house, I made sure

that the architect understood that my bedroom was to be very bright and

cheerful, and a lot of sunlight should pour into the room very early in the

morning. It’s hard for me to sleep in a sunny room, as it is I’m sure for a lot

of you. Another thing that I do to get rolling in the morning - and it makes

my wife laugh - is that we have a mirror at the bedside and when I wake up

in the morning I look at myself in the mirror and say, “It’s going to be a great

day,’ even if only one eyeball is barely open.

You and I both know that if we have a bad day, a bad week, and possibly a

bad month…..the bank, the car note, the mortgage…..no one cares. You have

to make it happen. You know yourself better than anyone, so find something

that you can you use to make yourself correct your bad habits. I did for

getting up early in the morning. As the old saying goes, ‘work harder on

yourself than you do on your job, and you’ll succeed.’ Now it’s not as

easy as I mentioned, but I stay in shape – physically - and I have not missed

a workout in 33 years. Now it’s difficult, yes, but it does take discipline, but


44

the outcome is endurance, the outcome is higher income, the outcome is being

a better person. It’s a solid FOUNDATION in the making.

Speaking of fitness, I recommend that you take care of your body, because the

body and mind go hand-in-hand. If you had a million dollar racehorse, would

you keep the racehorse out until four o’clock in the morning; pounding down

the alcohol, or whatever else you do to that racehorse? Scientists have said

that it would take nearly a billion dollars to build one of us. How are you

treating your billion dollar asset? I hope very well. So take stock of your bad

habits and develop your personal game plan to get rid of them. No one can do

it for you. It’s all up to you.

How exciting!

Motivation is a personal thing. What motivates you does not necessarily

motivate me, and visa-versa. MOTIVATION – and it concerns money – as I

said earlier; if you are going to chase the dollar rather than the MISSION,

you’re going to lose. If you make a good income, and you are able to help other

people, do it!


45


Leadership: What Makes a Leader?

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a

trail.”

This is the final step in maximizing your own opportunity and

basically passing this on to someone else. At this point when you are really

going after success, you are implementing what I call Legacy Leadership. So making money is good, as long as you do it legally, and as long as you do it

ethically and morally. My philosophy is: Use money to make people, don’t

use people to make money.

I want to cover LEADERSHIP, and it applies to you if you are currently in

top management, or want to be. It is the final step in maximizing your own

opportunity. I feel at this point it’s your obligation to help others to develop

their own FOUNDATION and to pass on the Winners Legacy. For you who are not quite leaders yet, let me explain. I use the term ‘leadership,’

because in my opinion the word management is no longer viable. The

management tactics used in the ‘90’s and today, need to be taken a step

further and possibly redefined.

Most of us have heard about ‘TQM,’ or ‘Total Quality Management.’ I loved

‘TQM,’ when I got into management at 26 years of age and started to build

the championship districts that served me well throughout my career.

However, ‘TQM,’ in my opinion, is not focused on pulling people up to better

their careers, but mainly getting them to perform better at their current level

of responsibilities

Typically a manager thinks in terms of people doing a better job in where

they are, and not in terms of moving them up. Legacy Leadership says, yes, get your people to do better at their current job, but then train them to

be your replacement. Now keep this in mind as a leader; you cannot be

promoted if there’s no one to fill your shoes. In other words, duplicate

yourself. This country needs great leaders that can develop a legacy for

success. We’re losing great leaders, in my opinion. We need to develop this

Legacy Leadership to move people into leadership positions.

Let me go a little further with my definition of Legacy Leadership: It’s the ability to move people under you toward the goal - or goals - that you have


46

established as a team that are beneficial to them, their family, and then you.

And they must be in that order. If you look at individuals as nothing but

producers, they’re going to fight you. You have to look at them as individuals

first, care for them, and then production will follow.

It’s a win-win situation for everybody!

Imagine this. I happen to be your leader and I call you up on the phone one

night, and every single conversation goes like this: “Well John, how did you

do today? What was your bottom line?” After 5 or 6 of the same

conversations, this is going to get old; would you not agree? A person feels

like saying, ‘Hey Randy, I’m here, I’m an individual, I have other challenges,

and I would like to share them with you. Will you listen? Will you be open

enough, and be sensitive enough to hear other things besides asking me what

my bottom line is?’

In the 21st Century the term management is totally out in my opinion. Even

the word ‘LEADERSHIP’ is somewhat outdated. That’s why I refer to

Legacy Leadership, and there is a fine line between the two. In a professional selling situation, the prospect doesn’t feel that he or she is being

sold. They feel like they are buying. If the sales person is a champion and

has developed his techniques, and understands his product, understands his

clients, he has what I call, his PHD. in selling skills.

The same can be applied to leading people. They must not feel that they are

being managed but instead, are looking to you for LEADERSHIP. Controls

must be there to maximize results, but your people should see them as tools

to help them build their FOUNDATION for success. There’s a fine line here,

as well. I talk a lot about Legacy Leadership, because I don’t want any decisions unless my management team under me - and the reps under them -

understand all that needs to be done, and they are in agreement with the

MISSION that needs to be accomplished. It’s a balance of control and

participation.

If you’re going to make a decision, and there is no one in favor of what you’re

going to do, you’re going to get lousy results. You have to have the

congruency on all levels, so that everyone understands what needs to be done

and we can get the job done as a team. Keep in mind as I mentioned earlier,

that you need to foster pride of ownership. When you get your employees and

the people that you lead involved in what I call, pride of ownership, the

company will have fewer challenges down the road and you will see increased

profits.


47

I believe this ladies and gentleman, because there are companies out there

that are doing just great and I see them all the time. I also see companies

that are doing lousy. Now the difference is the balance of control and

participation. Ask yourself, as a company, does your company have a

MISSION statement? You as a sales person, you as a leader, if you don’t

have a MISSION statement then you’re in trouble. I want to share my

MISSION statement with you.

‘I will do everything I can do to help people achieve the level of

success they are looking for, professionally and personally.’ What a

powerful MISSION statement! I am in the business to help people grow and

develop their full potential.

What I ask you to do after listening to me is to sit down and establish your

personal MISSION statement. It’s going to take time, but you need to do it

because it is going to be the “rudder of your ship” to steer your team, to steer

you to great treasures and increased profits. There’s also something else to

keep in mind; as current and future leaders we cannot sit still. To move

people forward we must continue to have new things to offer them. We must

develop our own program of betterment classes, and self improvement.

Here’s a funny story - and let me share it with you - and I have fun with

this…..because it brings a point across on what we’re talking about. Would

you go to a doctor if you were aware that he or she had not taken, what we

call, a betterment class in two or three months? Chances are you wouldn’t.

Imagine - God forbid - that your spouse or child is injured. And when you

take them to the emergency room, your doctor sits back and folds his arms

and says ‘Gee, I know that there’s a great new procedure that would fix your

child’s injuries, but I’m not really up to perform that, and I slept in during

that part of my medical class training many years ago. I’ll be happy to give it

a try, though.’ If he said that, I’m pretty certain you wouldn’t return to that

particular doctor and you’d probably grab your child and leave the emergency

room as soon as possible.

Most of you are aware that sales people make more money than any other

profession in the world; it’s true! The highest paid profession today is

competent sales people. But if they’re not competent, chances are that

they’re not going to succeed just like the doctor that I just mentioned. If I

looked in your car right now would I find a “betterment” tape? Would I find

something other than junk that’s on the radio which does not fill your mind

and help you to earn a good living?

Remember, you are in the people business. When you understand people, you

rule the world and your destiny for success. So get yourself on what I call a


48

‘continuing betterment program.’ Also be careful that you don’t get

wrapped up in all work and no play.

Does anyone here golf? Myself, I shoot in the 70’s. If it gets any colder, I go

inside. But seriously folks, I’m not a very good golfer, I’m a hacker. I try to

play the game. It’s my escape. My workouts are my escape, as well. Let me

make a point to all of you; find yourself an escape; find your outlet. The

company doesn’t need you to burn out, because it needs you for the long haul.

Without you, the company is going nowhere.

Let me change gears for a moment….and I believe in you. You’ve taken the

time to read what I have to say. And that’s one big step in adopting a

LEADERSHIP attitude. Another big step is finding yourself a mentor to help

you along the way to LEADERSHIP success. As I mentioned earlier I’m no-

one special. I’ve just worked hard and developed my skills.

I put my ego in my back pocket and I listened to a lot of people that I felt

could move me in the right direction. I’ve been led by great leaders – it’s

amazing – I can go right down the list and remember them all. And that’s

the key. I have surrounded myself with people that had all the answers and

they steered me in the right direction that would benefit me, my family, and

my company. They passed on their LEADERSHIP skills.

Where have you heard that before?

However, surrounding yourself with the right people isn’t the whole answer.

It’s one part of the betterment program; you have to surround yourself with

the books, the tapes, and the tools that you need to develop your skills. You

see, you have to want it. You have to have that burning desire, deep down

inside, to build a solid FOUNDATION to build your LEADERSHIP skills.

The challenge of top performers is that all of a sudden we become managers

with no training, and they throw us out there and they say, ‘Go for it.’ Here

we are managing with very little preparation, a lot of responsibility, and a lot

of headaches……and sometimes, less income in the beginning. Be careful

now that you do not get into LEADERSHIP because of your ego. If you are

where you are today, because of ego, you’re eventually going to lose and not

do as well as you need to do. You might as well step back down. Ego and

LEADERSHIP has no place, whatsoever. You’re there to serve your people;

don’t you forget that. They are your customers. Never, never forget that

your people - those that work for you - are your most valuable assets.


49

Let me share a story with you - and I love stories, because, hopefully, you can

identify with me…..one of my top reps called me several days ago and she

apologized for being down in the dumps. She had been having what I call a

‘pity party’ for three or four weeks. I hired this representative on her ability

to do the job. I saw the possibilities in her that I could pull out down the

road. A good leader brings the best out of his or her people. This individual

had 30 years of sales experience, but she was still willing to learn. She said,

“Randy, I want to thank you for supporting me and treating me like an

individual first and your representative second.”

I live for that particular saying, because if I care about you first and as a

producer second I will win and so will the company.

Let’s talk about endorphins for a second. I’m sure that you’ve heard of them;

they are the chemicals in your brain that give you a great feeling.

Endorphins are what cause feelings you get when you close a big sale, you hit

a homerun, or whatever does it for you. Exercise also creates a lot of

endorphins in the brain. I know that this is going to sound funny, but you as

a leader, must have an endless supply of endorphins. You have got to be

motivated 24 hours a day. If you’re home and you’re in a bad mood and not

motivated and that phone rings, and it’s one of your people, do me a favor as

a leader - don’t pick it up. If you don’t have something POSITIVE to say, or if

you’re not in a good attitude, hold the phone. They’ll call you back, or you can

call them when you’re in a better mood.

Let’s talk about those endless supplies of endorphins for a second. You have

to give them to your people as well. They need them. They depend on you.

How do you get these endorphins? You as a leader have to stay in shape. It’s

as simple as that. How in the world can you lead people if you look like a

slob? They’re going to fight you, trust me. They’re going to talk behind your

back. I don’t care what kind of performance you have, or how nice of a person

you are, they’re going to talk about you behind your back. Get into a fitness

program. Get into shape. Trust me! You’re going to feel great, you’re going

to look great, and your performance will go up tremendously and with it the

respect of your team.

Let me tell you something that I get real excited about…..first of all, I don’t

smoke or drink except an occasional glass of wine. I watch my diet: no junk

food. I’m in the gym at 5:00am every single morning. Please keep in mind

that my days do not end until midnight when I’m on the road, because I’m on

the road talking to my staff, handling challenges. I have to do most it and it

has to be handled by me. The thing that I find interesting is the reaction that


50

my reps have when they try to call me at six a.m. to give me that so-called

‘wake-up call.’ Well, guess what? I’m gone. And they go, ‘hey, where were

you?’ Well, I was in the gym. It’s funny, because about seven of my reps

have now joined the fitness club, two of them have quit smoking, and I’m sure

that every time I sit down to a meal, they’re tired of me nagging them about

their diet. Remember, fitness, like success, takes discipline. If you want

discipline, go after it. Be the role model no one will listen if you do not do

as you say.

Leaders-. join that fitness club. Work out. You have got to be the example.

Be the person that people look up to. Be the leader, and you go after it.

You’ve got to make it happen. You have to be the living example for your

people to follow. That’s what a it means to be a LEADER.

It’s that simple.

If you are able to succeed as a leader, you are judged not only on how well you

do, but also on how easily your people can be promoted. I truly believe that

you as a leader need to have three or four people under you that can do your

job. If you’re secure where you are because you are a ‘Legacy Leader,’ don’t worry about the company getting rid of you and hiring these individuals

doing your job; on the contrary. You are very capable of being promoted

yourself. If that company does not think that much of your abilities, then you

don’t need to be there. And there are companies out there today that would

die for your expertise. You always want to pull your people up.

Another key to helping your people succeed is sharing your failures with

them. They cannot relate to you if you have not overcome the problems that

they’re facing as well. Share your difficulties with your people. I believe that

if you have not failed as a sales person, or you have not failed on the job, how

in the world can you lead others to success? That’s the biggest challenge

most leaders have today; they don’t do well in leadership because they do not

know the how to lead their people. Just because you’re a top sales performer,

does not mean that you’re going to succeed as a top leader. Now that’s the

challenge we have. Sometimes we forget where we came from. The nice

thing about losing and then winning is that you can show people what not to

do and hopefully, they’ll avoid what you did and they’ll succeed.

You know I just finished listening to probably one of the greatest basketball

coaches out there – John Thompson past coach of Georgetown University.

They spent, what I thought, was 15 minutes introducing this great man of

basketball, listing all of his accomplishments. Smiling as he got up to

address the audience of about 2,000, he thanked the host for the great

introduction. He went on to say, however, that while it took about 15


51

minutes to list his accomplishments, it would take them two or three days to

list all of his failures he had suffered as a basketball coach through his

career.

I believe that the principles of life and the principles of success are the same.

If you work hard at life and you work hard at the things that get you what

you want, you’re going to keep them.

Also be prepared when you become a successful leader, your problems won’t

disappear. Part of a leaders’ job is to successfully deal with problems, and

that’s why I’m thankful for turnover. That may sound strange, but you

leaders, if you don’t have turnover, we wouldn’t need you, would we? I used

to spend time wondering why people leave. I don’t know; I stopped wasting

time trying to figure it out a long time ago. No matter how well you lead,

turnover is going to occur. It’s not a negative, unless you directly cause it by

poor LEADERSHIP.

Leaders, be thankful for the difficulty level. That’s the reason the

compensation level is higher in LEADERSHIP. If the compensation level is

low, then the degree of difficulty is going to be low as well. If the

compensation is high, if there is a lot of possible financial gain, then the

difficulty level is going to be high as well. Now there are degrees of difficulty

throughout life as well. If there is no degree of difficulty involved at what

you’re currently doing, I promise you the rewards are going to be minimal.

It’s amazing to me that there are companies that pay as much as a 40%

commission. We have very little competition as to what we do, and it’s also

amazing to me how many people do not want to prepare to go out and meet

the world, meet the prospects and do what they need to do to succeed. They

want to make the commission, but they don’t want to put forth the effort. It

doesn’t work that way.


52


Accept the Things You Cannot Change

and Change the Things You Can

“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.”

St. Francis De Sales

If we can accept and embrace the things that we cannot change and

instead, work on changing ourselves and capitalize on our situation, we can

change our lives. We can determine to be part of the good stuff that life has

to offer. It doesn’t mean you’re bad, or you’re no good because you’re not

getting things out of life right now; no, not at all. But if you want better

things - which obviously you do, because you’re listening to me - you have got

to go after it. You have got to spend the energy. Change yourself, and not

the world. You have to read the books, you have to talk to the people who can

move you, and help you and get you where you need to be.

I made a statement to one of my reps many years ago and I said, ‘hey,

ego……you can’t have an ego in the journey of success.’ He asked what I

meant by that, but of course, this gentleman had an ego so big that he

couldn’t fit in the room. He was the one who didn’t study when he was

supposed to, and he was the one who blamed others when he didn’t succeed.

He couldn’t understand, ego philosophy.

The ego philosophy is very, very straight forward. It goes something like

this: put your ego in your back pocket when it comes to the journey of success.

Later you can take a little ego out and put it in front of you, because you need

a little ego to carry you forward, but not all of it. Be careful. Just enough -

because we can never know too much, we can always learn more, can’t we?

So learn more in order to earn more.

You know one of my favorite stories - and I hope you’ll laugh as much as I did

many years ago –When I started making decent money, I went out and

bought myself a car phone. This was many years ago years ago when they

fist came out. At the time I thought it made me look pretty important to have

a phone in my car. One day I’m sitting in my car on the freeway in Los

Angeles and a good looking lady in a fancy convertible pulls up next to me.

Well, I wanted to impress her and look sharp. So, what did I do? I picked up


53

my phone and pretended to be on an important phone call - so far, so good.

She looked at me and started smiling. Right then my phone rang while I’m

holding the phone right up to my ear.

So much for my ego.

Do you think top leaders are done learning; no, not at all. Do you think

because you have two hundred grand in the bank that you want to stop there

and not earn any more? No! But it’s funny about success; there’s an old

saying: ‘success is a journey and not a destination.’ And it’s very true.

Success will put you in touch with who you are. It will put you in places that

you can’t see right now, but when you get there you will realize that the

process of getting there is more important than arriving. That’s why

successful people keep striving; it keeps them growing.

It’s that simple.


54

CCChhhaaapppttteeerrr 111555 Realizing What You have

“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try

to help another without helping himself.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let’s review what I want you to take with you in the time we have

spent together. We are essentially talking about capitalizing on the

American opportunity and jump starting your own success process. We

talked about three key areas in developing your success process. Remember:

‘waking up;’ ‘getting motivated;’ and ‘going after it.’

‘Waking up’ is developing the awareness process in yourself,

so that you can take a viable, personal inventory of your

abilities and evaluate your current opportunity.

HHeerree aarree tthhee kkeeyy ppooiinnttss::

• If you want to develop to your full potential, put your ego in

your back pocket.

• Put opportunity first, dollars second.

• Opportunity does not lie within the job, it lies within the

individual.

• Positive affirmation without discipline leads to disillusion.

• Recognize and evaluate the opportunity in front of you.

Determine if your current opportunity will allow you to meet

your current goals.

• Never lose an opportunity due to lack of hard work.

• If you want more out of life, you must be willing to do whatever

needs to be done to succeed?

• You need a solid foundation and work ethic to succeed. If you

aren’t as successful as you want to be, don’t change jobs;

change your foundation.


55

• Don’t take advice from someone who is more messed up than

you are.

• Learn more to earn more.

• Ask yourself, ‘am I an asset or a liability to my current

employer?’

• Is what you are currently doing moving you toward or away

from your goal?

• Evaluate your foundation in all areas in your life.

• Are you maximizing your current opportunity?

Now getting motivated, means instituting your self-

improvement and developing a sense of MISSION about

your life’s activities.

HHeerree aarree tthhee kkeeyy ppooiinnttss::

• Motivation is internal and it takes work and time.

• Deal, or get dealt. Activity plus effort equals results.

• You must decide to be POSITIVE about life.

• Develop pride of ownership.

• Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.

• Develop passion and purpose for your work

• Adopt your company’s MISSION statement.

• Adopt no excuse living.

• Don’t look for shortcuts for success.

• Ask for help, find a mentor.

• Hone your skills and improve your self-esteem.


56

• Make productive things your priority.

• Polish those shoes.

• Develop a personal game plan to stop bad habits.

‘Going after it’ is what I consider the final step in

maximizing opportunity. Here you elevate yourself by

helping others and implementing ‘Legacy Leadership.’

HHeerree tthheeyy aarree::

• Start thinking like a leader.

• Develop ‘Legacy Leadership’ and duplicate yourself.

• Develop a personal mission statement.

• Develop a personal betterment program.

• Balance - find yourself an escape.

• As a leader, serve people.

• Pass on endorphins to your people.

• Become a living success example for your people to follow.

• Train your replacement to get promoted.

• Share overcoming failures to lead other people.

• Successful leadership involves solving problems.

• Be thankful for the difficulty level in leadership.

• Change yourself, and not the world.


57


The Seven Myths of Success: All not

True

“Success is simple a matter of luck. Ask any failure.”

Earl

Now, we’ve reviewed the game plan, so let’s debunk the seven myths of

success that I talked about earlier.

1. People become successful overnight.

Folks, if this happens, chances are that they’re not going to hang on to it. I

believe that you have to sweat and lose a little to succeed, and to hang on to it.

2. Successful people were born with the talent that the rest of us just don’t have.

No one has been born with success, unless it was through an inheritance. You

have to develop your skills and develop that FOUNDATION that we

mentioned earlier. Remember, if you want more, you have to become more.

The journey is more important that the destination.

3. Successful people have successful parents who gave them a

head start on being successful.

If this is true, then most of them are going to throw it away; it’s that basic. If

someone gives you something, you don’t appreciate it as much as if you have

earned it.

4. People succeed by back stabbing and being unethical.

Short-term, maybe……but it’s not going to last. The old rule of thumb is,

‘what goes around comes around.’

5. You must sacrifice a good home life to succeed.

Now I would circle number five……You see if you’re balanced and your

FOUNDATION is solid, that’s not going to happen. A good home life will only


58

accelerate your success. You have to be careful here, because ‘balance’ is the

key word, and you must be paying attention to all areas of your life.

6. Successful people are only chasing the dollar.

Remember, if you chase the dollar, you eventually lose. People can see through

money-hungry individuals. Follow your MISSION statement and help others,

and the dollars will come.

7. Successful people have no problems.

Successful people have the ability to deal with problems better than most.

Remember, if their success is true, they most likely failed at first. Also, they

know how important it is to surround themselves with the right people to help

them deal with the problems. You’ll have more problems as a leader, but

you’ll have a stronger FOUNDATION which will enable you to handle them a

lot better.


59


The Old Axiom: Look for Opportunity in

Your Own Backyard “Hey, how long have you been standing next to me?”

Me

I know that what we’ve talked about sounds like a lot of hard work. It is! The key question though…….’is it worth it?’ Will it make a difference?

Yes!

It’s like the old story about the man who came upon a second man at the sea

shore. Littering the beaches were countless starfish. The second man was

busy throwing the starfish back into the sea, and upon reaching the second

man the first man asked him, ‘Why are you bothering to throw the starfish

back into the sea? There are so many that you possibly can’t make a

difference.’ To which the second man replied as he tossed another starfish

back into the sea, ‘It made a difference to that one.’

Now, I have one final thought before I leave you, because if we don’t pay

attention, our FOUNDATION, our three steps in the awareness process won’t

work. As Langston Hughes said, ‘WWee mmuusstt lleett AAmmeerriiccaa bbee AAmmeerriiccaa aaggaaiinn..’’

Let it be the dream that it used to be. Let’s not lose our future through lack

of performance, and let’s have the courage, optimism, strength and integrity

to continue the American LEGACY greatness.

Only you can make that difference; it must start now, and it must start with

you!

GGGoooddd bbbllleeessssss ttthhhiiisss gggrrreeeaaattt cccooouuunnntttrrryyy!!! GGGooo ooouuuttt aaannnddd gggrrraaabbb wwwhhhaaattt llliiifffeee aaannnddd AAAmmmeeerrriiicccaaa

hhhaaasss tttooo oooffffffeeerrr!!!


60

About the Author RRaannddyy bbeelliieevveess tthhaatt ““AAmmeerriiccaa’’ss ssuucccceessss ccoommeess ffrroomm CChhaammbbeerrss,, PPeeooppllee aanndd SSmmaallll BBuussiinneessss

DDeevveellooppmmeenntt””..

Randy King, for 14 years was the top sales leader, and division/national manager with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce: the largest business federation in the world. He moved up the chambers ladder 7 times in his 14 years with the U. S. Chamber He took 7 districts, 1 region and 1 division from $1.5 million in combined revenues to over $86 million in 12 years. With 135 sales representatives, 6 Regional Managers, 12 District Managers, 8 Area Managers and 15 trainers who King was responsible for; his sales force covered 1/3 of the country, and made up 35% of the U.S. Chamber’s sales force. Randy was part of the National Training Council with the U. S. Chamber that was set up to train other sales managers throughout the country. After leaving the Chamber, Randy founded his own consulting companies: Winner’s Legacy International, Inc/MindWalk software. He developed an entire sale force campaign for a $100 million a year division of a $17 billion energy company, UtiliCorp United. His training turned around their losing sales business units by 600% in 16 months, while increasing productivity and greatly decreasing turnover. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) one of the nations most powerful small business advocacy group, asked Randy to look at their retention and development process of their 400 plus outside membership sales force. Adjustments were made and results were soon on there way! Randy has throughout his career been the keynote speaker for many Fortune 500 companies on selection, retention, and productivity. And it asked frequently to speak at many chamber events and board retreats. Randy has been on hundreds of talk radio shows nationwide. Randy is an international author of 5 business books: his 5th book; GGrrooww YYoouurr CCoommppaannyy GGrrooww YYoouurrsseellff aanndd TTooggeetthheerr DDoommiinnaattee tthhee MMaarrkkeettppllaaccee 22nndd eeddiittiioonn has just been released. Also, he has 4 audio Educational Seminar Series that is out to the Chamber and business Community nationwide! His latest CD releases: AAMMEERRIICCAANN PPRRIIDDEE, It’s our Country it’s out choice (volume II) & AAMMEERRIICCAANN PPRRIIDDEE, By and for our young Americans (volume III) He is the founder, President/CEO of the CChhaammbbeerr EEnnhhaanncceemmeenntt GGrroouupp. A company that Enhances Chambers & Associations thru staff & dues and non-dues best practices Development. “Our chambers & Associations are the faces of the business community. We are dedicated to helping them achieve member growth and retention as well as an increase level of professionalism through our enhancement systems”. Randy lives in Arizona with his wife Linda and their dog Miso. (YES, Just like the soup!)


61

Linda, my wife and best friend, I will love you forever! Thank you for all that you are to me. This book is dedicated to my father who passed away several years ago. I wish we would have had that father - son chat!


62

AAAlllsssooo AAAvvvaaaiiilllaaabbbllleee FFFrrrooommm RRRaaannndddyyy KKKiiinnnggg

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