What does taking shelter in a storm have to do with being a successful entrepreneur or running a Business? Think about it. What should you take shelter from in order to become as successful as you’d like to become? Let’s take a look at what an ant might have to avoid along his journey of searching for food and protecting the colony. Numero uno would be the bully that is lurking around the corner with a magnifying glass! Another would be a literal rain storm and another might be cold weather. The list could go on and on but how do these things relate?

Here is a list of things that I would avoid, watch out for, or plan to go around if I was looking to create all out success.

1. Avoid negative media! Here’s an amazing statistic: Walmart gets sued every hour! But why? Walmart is a great store! I’ll tell you why. It is because Walmart is a great store and when you are a great store, that means you are a successful company. When you are a successful company, you make lots of money. Now who doesn’t like money? So they sue! Plain and simple, if you are successful, and they are not, they hate you for it! That is the truth.
2. Don’t waste time with the Kings and the Jokers. You are looking for Aces to work with. There are a lot of other prospects, clients, customers, or business partners that will be and look enticing, but they’re not an Ace.
3. Prepare for the Cold Weather, or the down time in your business. This is considered the slow season, if there is any in your industry. This is no secret and you probably already know this, but I will tell you the secret to getting through a slow time in your business. This is it! Are you ready? “There is no slow time!” Did you miss that? It is all belief!
4. Avoid, like the plague, people that bring you down with beliefs of poverty and failure. This one is number one in my book. Take all the people you hang around with, add their income and divide it equally among you. The average is what your income will generally be. Hang out with like-minded and ambitious people.
5. Procrastination! Avoid it, avoid it, avoid it! That is all I have to say about that!

There you have it. The next philosophy of the ant. The best way to take shelter from the storms of business is to just make a ton of friggin’ money and have all out massive success so that when a storm does come along, it will take a heck of a lot of force to knock your mountain of prosperity over! That, my friend, is how it is done!

This was forwarded to me by a fellow associate. I post this to my blog in honor of Scam.com and all the other sites like it on the internet. This is a tribute to you:

Man, I’m mad.  I’m so mad I can’t see straight.  And I’m not just being emotional.  I’m an intelligent person and I’m speaking from experience.  Don’t make the mistake I did or you’ll regret it.

Gold’s Gym is a scam.  In fact, I think the whole fitness club industry is a scam.

I saw pictures of people who were fit and trim and beautiful.  And I wanted to be fit and trim and beautiful.  So, I paid the $30 fee to come every month.

Then, guess what!  No one told me that I had to pay extra for those power-bar snacks that were on the counter.  Or that my membership fee didn’t include the sports drinks.  Or that a personal trainer wasn’t included.

These things should have been my first red flags.

But, still I was excited that I might be able to lose some weight and start looking good.  So I ignored the warning signals and started working out.

Well, I did everything they told me to do.  I worked my legs a little.  I didn’t work out my arms because I hurt it one time in the past working out and I was afraid I’d get hurt again.  So I skipped the arms.  After all, you don’t want to get hurt again.  You’ve gotta be careful.

I worked out my back.  I worked my stomach a little bit but I decided I didn’t want to push myself too hard.  Plus, I was getting hungry after all this working out so I went and bought a powerbar.  SIX DOLLARS!  I kid you not.  If I hadn’t been so hungry, I wouldn’t have bought one.  But one of the guys who worked out there said he used them for daily snacks and he looked pretty good.  So I thought I’d “try” one.

Anyway.  That’s not what made me mad.  I’m coming to that part.

This all went on for a few days.  I even spent $100 on workout clothes.  It wasn’t required but other people in the gym had them so I thought I’d get some, too.

In fact, I spent another $100 on a pair of new workout shoes.  I picked a pair that I felt like I could still use even if I stopped working out.  You never know if things are going to pan out the way you want, you know?

Anyway…one day, I was talking to a guy in the locker room.  He was about 40 pounds overweight and he told me he’d been coming to the gym for SIX MONTHS.  I did the math in my head…”If this guy has been here for six months, why isn’t he thin and trim yet???”

That’s when the warning bells went off again.  This whole thing might just be a scam to get people’s money.  I mean, this guy wasn’t mad or anything….in fact, he was excited that he’d lost some weight….BUT HE’S STILL OVERWEIGHT!  And he’s spending that money every month…and Gold’s Gym just keeps taking it!

Then I thought, “I should get on the Internet and look up Gold’s Gym!”.  I don’t know why I didn’t do that before!  So, I went to Google and typed in “Gold’s Gym scam” and you won’t believe what I found!

Seriously.

Did you know that 80% of the people who join Gold’s Gym cancel their membership within the first year?  That 95% of the people who join Gold’s Gym have never won a fitness contest?  Or gotten a job as a model?

I found one lady online who said she joined Gold’s Gym and the manager of the gym said she needed a personal trainer to help her create a “fitness plan” and to keep her on track.  Guess what?  She said it cost her an additional $200 a WEEK!  What a ripoff!  She DID say that she lost some weight while she was going but that — after she stopped going every day — the weight came back.  She fired the trainer and said it was all a scam, too.

I even found one story about a guy who said that they Gold’s Gym stole his money.  He was supposed to get a promotional price of $19 a month but when he got his credit card statement, he found out that they were charging him $30 a month.  That’s like $120 a year in stolen money if he hadn’t caught it.

Anyway….

As if that wasn’t enough, some friends and I were at McDonald’s the other day and I mentioned something about Gold’s Gym.  My friend Susan said that she’d tried Gold’s Gym a few years ago and got NO results at all.  She laughed that I’d fallen for it, too.  I was so mad I almost spilled my milkshake.

Anyway….after I read all the stuff on the Internet about Gold’s Gym and talked to some of my friends, I decided to quit.  I don’t deal with scam artists.  They’re just in it for the money.  They act like they’re interested in people’s health but I guarantee you that — if no one paid them — they’d close up shop.  So much for their “mission”, huh?

And I’m beginning to think that those fit, trim, beautiful people in the Gym are part of the scam, anyway.  Gold’s Gym probably pays them to come in there and work out so they can sell more memberships.

Am I saying that exercise doesn’t work?  No, I’m not saying that.  I’m sure it does.  I’m just saying that you have to be careful when you join these big fancy gyms with the full-color brochures and all the stories of how people are getting results.

Because the truth is that those people are probably coming in there EVERY day (not just sometimes)…..they’ve probably changed their eating habits (which no one mentioned to me)…and you can bet that they’re all buying a lot of extra stuff from the Gym that’s not part of their regular membership fee.  There’s a lot of stuff going on there that they don’t tell you about.

And I know they got me for several hundred dollars, too.  I think the whole experience cost me $500 at least.

So, take it from me:  Gold’s Gym is a rip-off.  I know.  I’ve been there.  The idea that you can come in and work out every day and start looking fit and trim SOUNDS good….but that’s just to get you in the door.  Then you find out that there’s more to it than that.

Remember what they say:  “If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is.”

Anyway, all this has taught me a lesson.  I’m not going to get suckered again.  Next time I see someone or something that can supposedly “improve my life”, I’ll think twice.

Whether it’s a diet…..a business idea…..a network marketing opportunity….or just an idea….I’ll go check it out on Google first.

After all, if it’s on the Internet it must be true, right?

One of the simplest aspects of becoming successful in any endeavor is a two word phrase, “Never Quit!” I can still remember back to the glory days of High School sports and one phrase still rings crystal clear in my mind. It came from my coach during the first few weeks of practice and it went something like this, “What part of never quit don’t you understand? The never or the quit! If you want to quit, you don’t deserve to be on this team!” What an effect that has had on me in everything I have pursued. It is as simple as it sounds! The “Quitter” never wins.

I believe the underlying reason so many people quit at so many things is because it is easy. When the road gets a little rough, the wind picks up a little, the waves toss you to and fro, just throw up your hands and quit. Than you don’t have to think about it anymore. It’s over. Move on! You have all probably heard the common phrase, “Great things come with great sacrifice!” That is a principle. Never expect to get something for nothing, but expect the something. Never expect to get the free ride, but expect the ride. Life is all about the journey, and success is achieved by going through that journey. Success is truly not yours unless you create it yourself. Never expect others to make it happen for you.

If you have ever studied an ant or tortured ants like I did as a boy, then you know this simple principle of “Never Quit!” What does an ant do when you place your foot right in front of its path? Does it stop short of your foot, sigh a little then turn around and go home? No! That ant will go around, under, over or through, if necessary, and if you really tick it off, it will bite you and make you move! That is determination and that is the never quit mentality that successful people possess.

So what separates those who succeed from those who do not? What is the big difference there? Let me illustrate a few examples. One couple, when starting a Home Based Business with a large initial investment, ran into issues with finding the funding. Instead of quitting right then and there, when things looked hopeless, they found a way. They came up with the funds. They simply make a decision to never quit and they are now making more every month than they initially invested. Another couple, with zero computer experience, was having issues with advertising their business properly on the internet. Instead of letting frustration set in from the fear of the unknown, they figured it out. They were solution focused and plowed right through their obstacle and now have more inquiries than they can handle.

When it call comes down to it, the reason people become successful is because they start to finish. They don’t start to quit! The only way to fail is to quit! Quit, and you deserve to fail. Never quit, and you deserve all the wealth, prosperity and abundance that is truly yours.

What are 10 two letter words that make up one of the most powerful lessons one can learn in this lifetime? It goes along with the saying, “If you want something done right, do it yourself!” The 10 two letter words are: If it is to be, it is up to me! What a simple but profound concept one can learn from such simple words.

If it is to be, it is up to me.

If it is to be….if what is to be? That is the great part, you can fill in the blank here. If _____ is to be then you have chosen for it to be and will then bring it into existence. The blank, the “it” is the part of this statement which allows you to become a creator. It allows you to bring into existence, or in your life, that which has not been there before. This is where you dreams become realities and your goals become achievable. If becoming a millionaire is to be, it is up to me. If having the best Christmas ever is to be, it is up to me. If success is to be, it is up to me!

I always speak of a 97% and a 3%. The 97% of the worlds population believe in a different saying than this one. Even though most may agree with this 10 two letter word phrase, they don’t really believe it or apply it. The 97% really believe in a phrase that goes something like this: If it is to be, who is going to give it to me…or….If it is to be, the government will provide it for me….or….If it is to be, it is free! I could go on and on.

Now the other 3% know the true meaning to this phrase and apply it. If there is anything that happens in their lives, it is because they made it happen. They thought it up, they set some goals, and they took consistent action in making sure that it happened. Do they quit when the road gets a little rough? No! Do they listen to the nay-sayers and the wanna-be’s? No! Are they deterred by the masses opinions or the bandwagoners? No!

There is a simple theme common among most people who have achieved great success. One of the best times to achieve the greatest success, is in the midst of trial and hardship and when everyone else says not to do it, most likely, that is when you should do it. We know where most people in this world stand financially. So what most people say, is not what should be followed. Leaders know this and apply it well.

I suppose, for purposes of this last paragraph, I will change it to a 9 two letter word phrase with one three letter word. “If it is to be, it is up to YOU!”

At times I get asked if we are a member of the Direct Sales Association.  I’m sure there are good reasons
for some companies to join….and some companies NOT to join. A colleague of mine sent this to me in an email.

But, right now, I’m glad we’re not a member.

Check out this quote from CNN/Money.com:

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Amazing.

CNN/Money decides to do a feature on the direct sales industry and the
best they can say is that this industry is designed to help people fix their
appliances?

Sheesh.  How embarrassing.  It’s the best evidence that the DSA is completely
disconnected from what people are looking for from a home business.

Because, I don’t know about you guys….but most of my prospects want $100k+.
They’re not looking for $200 a month to “fix their refrigerator”.