Orrin Woodward LIFE Leadership Team

Winner of the 2011 Independent Association of Business Top Leader Award; Orrin Woodward shares his leadership secrets.

Archive for December, 2011

American Politics – Right or Left Equals Lost Freedoms

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 29, 2011

In one corner we have the Right. They claim that America needs a huge military/industrial complex to protect our country. Strangely, in order to do so, it is claimed that it requires military personnel in a hundred plus countries and military bases in 63 of them! Isn’t this a costly endeavor when a nation is going broke? In addition, the military complex provides gun-boat diplomacy (open your markets or else) for large corporations to sell merchandise protected by the military paid for by the shrinking middle class.

In the other corner is the Left. They claim that America needs a bigger government to regulate those greedy capitalist who are exploiting the people. Although I agree with the assessment, the answer – more government power – only allows the greedy business people to buy the greedy government, thus the power to control their markets. Plus the bigger government requires even more tax dollars (similar to the Right and military complex), leaving the citizens reduced to mere serfs at the beck and call of numerous regulations.

What if both the Right and Left were a Hegelian maneuver of thesis, anti-thesis, leading to the inevitable synthesis of larger State power and control, regardless of which side wins an election? What if, in other words, the Right/Left dichotomy isn’t even the real battleground? America was founded on limited government bound by the Constitution to ensure the beast never escapes it clearly delineated powers. Oh how far we have traveled from this ideal.

Today, whether one votes Right or votes Left, what a person actually votes for is less freedom and more Government/Big Business/Banker control. Until the citizens change the framework of the debate for Right/Left to Freedom/Tyranny, nothing will change. Asking money-hungry Government (it takes money to get elected) to regulate money-hungry Big Business is like asking Al Capone to regulate prohibition. History has provided endless examples of the illicit partnering of Big Business and Big Government to feather their nest at the expense of the citizen’s freedoms and pocketbooks – Federal Reserve, Income Tax, Railroads, Savings & Loans, etc.

Let’s change the debate this electoral season. Let’s start asking our candidates how they intend to reduce Big Government. By reducing Big Government, it will automatically reduce the ability of Big Business to buy the power needed to set up monopolies, thus ensuring true free enterprise for the benefit of all citizens. Free enterprise is the only system where the consumer has the choice to vote with his money and support or withhold these if not happy.

Why give government this control when they have proven repeatedly they are incapable of withstanding the bribery of Big Business? Let’s put the power back in the citizens hands where it belongs. Idealist? Maybe, but what is the point of getting involved unless we have ideals to shoot for? Time is short, America cannot continue on its present path of fiscal insanity, power lust, and ethical wasteland forever.  What part will you play in the restoration of the American Dream?

As of today, I am officially no longer a Republican or a Democrat. I am now going under the long forgotten term called American. I refuse to allow our political pundits to divide us any longer. Americans must unite around freedom not fight around force. In my opinion, each citizen has a moral responsibility to stop dividing between the false dichotomy of Right/Left and start uniting around the true division of Freedom or Tyranny. I choose Freedom, how about you? Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted in Freedom/Liberty, Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , , | 37 Comments »

Take LIFE’s Leadership Challenge

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 27, 2011

The LIFE business has changed the rules. By lowering the barriers to entry for hungry leaders (and potential leaders), LIFE has provided an opportunity for people to listen, learn, and lead at an affordable price. Where else can you receive 4 leadership CD’s and a book from best selling authors, bloggers, and leadership gurus for $50?

With nearly 1200 bonafide customers, along with thousands of satisfied members, LIFE is giving average people the opportunity to achieve un-average results. In fact, with little downside risk (the worst thing that can happen is you receive world-class training at a world-class price), and major upside rewards, LIFE is drawing thousands of former networkers back into the fold.

These former networkers loved the community building and pay for performance aspects of networking, but struggled with the $300 to $500 of product purchases needed monthly. LIFE offers a way to start making income without stretching already stretched budgets. Indeed, a person can utilize the Three for Free program and literally receive his leadership materials for FREE.

Have you taken the LIFE Leadership Challenge yet? Anyone can sign up for the LIFE or Launching a Leadership Revolution (LLR) series materials at no risk. Listen to the materials for yourself and see the LIFE difference. If you are not satisfied with the materials, LIFE offers a 30 day “no questions asked” return policy.

How can LIFE do this? It can do this because we know that any hungry leader will be amazed at the materials received for the price paid. Besides, why would we want someone on the LIFE TEAM who wasn’t excited about the community and leadership materials anyway?

LIFE is real leadership for real people at reasonable prices and is on its way to 1 million people, leading them to truth in the 8F’s – Faith, Family, Finances, Freedom, Fun, Following, Friends, and Fitness. If you are ready to make some changes in your life, perhaps you should take the LIFE Challenge. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , | 13 Comments »

The Leadership Search

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 18, 2011

I searched for him half my life,
named with an uncommon sound.

I looked for him around the world,
but this person refused to be found.

Thankfully, I discovered him,
the good news is, you can too.

However, it won’t be easy,
as he reveals himself to just a few.

You can search our government assemblies,
and only hear legends from his past.

You can search our halls of learning,
reading quaint histories fading fast.

You can search our industrial complexes,
viewing his old portraits in the aisles.

You can search our sports arenas,
reading banners going out of style.

Everyone seems to know this person,
but most refuse his name.

I ceased my fruitless search,
hanging my head in shame.

In desperation, I searched within,
realizing his presence all along.

Since no one else will be him,
I can and will, to become strong.

I am now called responsible,
I am the man with the uncommon name.

My friend, you too have this choice,
for you can be called the same.

The search has ended.
The journey is done.

Who is responsible?
I am; You are; Everybody and everyone.

Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted in Freedom/Liberty, Leadership/Personal Development, Orrin Woodward | Tagged: , | 26 Comments »

Claude & Lana Hamilton – LIFE Founders

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 13, 2011

Today’s featured Life Founders are Claude and Lana Hamilton. The Hamilton’s home is one of the largest in their Canadian province, which isn’t shocking to me since they have one of the largest dreams in the province also. Neither Claude nor Lana come from wealth, so how did this young couple achieve so much with so little? Simply put, they joined a leadership community, learned principles that allowed them to rise to their potential, and acted upon it.

Both of them started in the Canadian military. Lana in the Navy and Claude in the Great White North’s equivalent to the Navy Seal program. With little money, no connections, and no plans, the Hamilton’s joined networking where they promptly struggled for years. In fact, the miracle of their first five years in business is that they didn’t quit. With little outward success to show for years of relentless effort, only huge dreamers like the Hamilton’s would have continued to hold out hope. This hope, however, was the key to their future success and was not held onto in vane.

After missing numerous leadership conventions, since they were convened on the other side of Canada and the Hamilton’s had no money, Claude did the unthinkable. With Lana serving at sea, Claude, hungry to learn the proper leadership mindset, hitchhiked across Canada, attending his first-ever conference. This may sound crazy to some, but the Hamilton’s lifestyle today is also crazy. Great achievements come with great sacrifice, period! Indeed, the higher the mountain, the harder the climb. Claude and Lana vowed to climb to the top.

I met Claude when his organization joined forces with TEAM in 2006. He had already accomplished great successes in community building before I met him. In fact, his huge dreams, drive, and determination were evident to me immediately. Later, I would also witness first-hand his character, courage, and convictions. As Claude is a voracious student, we quickly teamed up and his business began to surge ahead even further.

In late 2007, when legal disputes arose with our former supplier, Claude and Lana displayed their true valor. With many choosing to hide out, fearful of drawing attention to themselves and falling into litigation, the Hamilton’s charged to the front, leading their teams to fast growth. Even when the TEAM income and numbers dropped precipitously in 2008, the Hamilton’s never wavered on their core belief in the community’s right to freedom.

In early 2009, the Hamilton’s defining moment arrived. The Hamilton’s were offered peace and an end to all litigation. However, they quickly refused the offer. Why do you ask? Because as part of the settlement offer, Claude and Lana would have to separate permanently from TEAM, choosing peace over their principles. This Faustian bargain was not even considered by the principle-centered couple. They knew that the best opportunity for their team to win involved staying with TEAM, even if it meant increased personal hardships and severed friendships. In other words, they kept themselves in harms way in order to ensure the best opportunity for their community. This type of sacrificial leadership is extremely rare today, making Claude and Lana Hamilton modern-day heroes and admired by all who know their story.

Thankfully, in late 2010, all legal disputes were settled and the TEAM finally was free to pursue its destiny. The Hamilton’s are Founders of LIFE because they are leaders of character who have proven their mettle on the front lines, not hiding out in the foxholes. Anyone can talk about character, but living it when it counts is what matters. Claude and Lana live their principles daily.

On another note, on top of leading one of the fastest growing teams with the TEAM, Claude also volunteered to be the PC leader over the TEAM events department. In this role, he has greatly improved the quality and profitability of the opens, seminars, and major functions. I cannot imagine the TEAM’s turnaround without the endless hours sacrificially invested by Claude for the benefit of us all.

Laurie and I want to personally thank our good friends and LIFE Founders Claude and Lana Hamilton. It’s because you are who you are that makes LIFE what it is and what it’s going to be. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted in Community/Friends, Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , , , , | 22 Comments »

Ben Franklin – Resolved to Develop Wisdom

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 11, 2011

Here is a segment from my new book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions For LIFE on Ben Franklin and his application of resolves into his life. The process described is simple, but certainly not easy, since it requires discipline. However, anyone can do it, and everyone should do it. What resolves are you applying into your life? If you aren’t applying any resolutions currently, perhaps as the new year approaches, you should sit down and write out your resolutions for life. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Ben Franklin, as a young man, didn’t always behave in a sensible manner.  In fact, he offended many of the leading citizens of Philadelphia with his self-assumed air of importance.  In Launching a Leadership Revolution, Chris Brady and I share a story on young Franklin, “A confidant took him aside one day and was both bold and kind enough to share the truth with Franklin that people didn’t like him. Although amazingly brilliant, nobody cared. They couldn’t stand to be around him. He was too argumentative and opinionated. His informer even told him that people would see Franklin approaching on the street and cross the road so as to avoid any contact with him. Franklin was devastated. But his reaction to the cold, hard truth was perhaps one of the most important components of his meteoric success.”  At twenty years of age, Franklin chose to move in a new direction, launching a self-improvement project he called “moral perfection.”  Initially, he started with four resolutions: “1. He resolved to become more frugal so that he could save enough money to repay what he owed to others. 2. He decided that he would be very honest and sincere ‘in every word and action.’ 3. He promised himself to be industrious ‘to whatever business I take in hand.’ 4. He vowed ‘to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a manner of truth’ and to ‘speak all the good I know of everybody.’”  From these four, Franklin created his world renown list of 13 virtues (see appendix for complete list), developing a plan to study one per week for the 52 weeks in a year. Here are two of his virtues:

2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling   conversation.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

Franklin’s methodical approach to character and wisdom development allowed each virtue to be studied four weeks per year, evaluating his performance weekly against the standard of moral perfection.  In Franklin’s autobiography, he discusses his plan to check his performance compared to the aspired virtues, writing, “I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. . . I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.” With time, Franklin’s personal improvement plan helped him become one of the most respected citizens in Philadelphia, routinely requested to serve various volunteer organizations. Walter Isaacson, in Time magazine, describes Franklin’s belief that increased personal virtue leads to increased public responsibilities, noting:

That led him to make the link between private virtue and civic virtue and to suspect, based on the meager evidence he could muster about God’s will, that these earthly virtues were linked to heavenly ones as well. As he put it in the motto for the library he founded: “To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine.” It is useful for us to engage anew with Franklin, for in doing so we are grappling with a fundamental issue: How does one live a life that is useful, virtuous, worthy, moral and spiritually meaningful?

By studying a different virtue weekly, over Franklin’s long life, he made great gains. Although he didn’t achieve perfection, Franklin’s growth in wisdom led to him becoming one of the most influential diplomats in history. Indeed, many historians believe Franklin (even more than Washington) was the indispensable man of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, tempering the rhetoric of both the Federalist and Anti-Federalist men. Historian William MacDonald writes, “Franklin’s voice was always in favor of the more generous provision, the ampler liberty; was always earnestly opposed to whatever might tend to make governmental oppression at some future time possible. . . Some of his finest utterances were in maintenance of that plea; and it is a symptom of the noble feeling with which Franklin was regarded by the noblest men, that Hamilton would give his support to Franklin’s recommendations, though they were essentially moral criticisms of the policy which he himself thought best for the country.”  Franklin’s principle centered diplomacy led to influence, not just of like-minded people, but even with his political opponents, a true testament to his character and honor.

Posted in Finances, Freedom/Liberty, Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

Dan & Lisa Hawkins – LIFE Founders

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 9, 2011

Today’s blog will spotlight LIFE Founders, Dan and Lisa Hawkins. Their story of overcoming ought to be shouted from the rooftops of every village, town, and city across the world. Typically, mechanics and daycare providers are pigeonholed into non-advancing careers, not speaking on stages of ten thousand plus people. However, Dan and Lisa are not your typical mechanic or daycare provider.

What’s the difference?

It isn’t talent, as everyone has the talent to develop into a leader. It isn’t connections, as Dan and Lisa didn’t have any. In fact, Dan may be the shyest person I have ever personally witnessed build the business to the PC level. (He attended four phone calling sessions without calling anyone!)

Then how did they do it?

Simply put, courage. Dan and Lisa had the courage of their convictions to go against the grain, refusing to listen to the naysayers of life; instead, they chose to pursue their dreams. They disciplined themselves to read, listen, and apply the leadership training, falling in love with the learning process. Because of their courage, because they confronted every goliath in their path, the Hawkins are now TEAM PC members and LIFE Founders.

However, their life certainly didn’t start out as a fairy tale. The Hawkins family struggled to pay their bills for years. In truth, Dan was the last person looking to get started in a people business. His quiet, shy, reserved nature was not a natural fit for community building, but his desire to win helped overcome all obstacles in his path.

Lisa, although not as shy, had to learn to complete her husband, not compete with him. Instead of criticizing her husband’s fears, she fed his faith, encouraging him on what life could look like on the other side of his fears. Isn’t that what a great marriage is about? Two people who bring different strengths to the table, learning how to complete one another? I know this is true for Laurie and me.

It took years for the Hawkins’ working chemistry to gel properly in the home and business.  Indeed, this quality is what makes them so special to the other Founders – the willingness to invest the time, effort, and love to finish what they started.

The Hawkins PC run became the Bannister effect for the entire TEAM, permitting many other couples to let go of the past and seize their victory. Congratulations to Dan and Lisa Hawkins for a job well done. You have taken two lives of “quiet desperation” and changed them forever, lighting a flame on the success path for others. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted in Finances, Freedom/Liberty, Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , , | 17 Comments »

Rob Hallstrand – LIFE Founder

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 5, 2011

Today, I would like to start a series on each of the LIFE Founders. The first on my list is the CEO of LIFE, Rob Hallstrand. His story is a beautiful example of learning through the dreams, struggles, and victories in life.

I have known Rob since 1995, when he joined Chris Brady in our first community building business. When the TEAM took off in 1999, it was only natural to look for someone with his skill sets – accounting, character, work ethic, etc – to lead the TEAM. Rob led the office through our first wave of stellar growth, taking TEAM from a home business to a national leadership organization.

His leadership victory helped many people. However, what I am going to share next, is the reason Rob is one of the LIFE Founders.

It’s less in your victories that character is revealed and more in your failures. In 2004, the organization grew faster than Rob’s ability to lead it effectively. One of the most painful days of my life was having to sit down with Rob and explain that I was moving another leader in as CEO of TEAM, bumping him back to CFO – Chief Financial Officer.

In truth, few people would have handled a transition like this with the honor, dignity, and class Rob did. For not only did he do a first class job on the accounting side, but he also worked admirably with the new group of leaders running the TEAM office. Rob’s personal growth in this period was amazing. He started a personal development program through reading books, listening to CDs, and confronting areas of weakness in order to improve his leadership skills. He revolutionized his leadership capacity and the entire TEAM went through another growth surge, thanks to all the leaders of TEAM, both in the office and field.

With the TEAM’s continued growth, many other leaders within our old networking company requested to join TEAM. In retrospect, I should have gone slower in adding groups because I have learned how valuable the culture is to a company. Nonetheless, the TEAM plowed ahead, merging several organizations into TEAM which maxed leadership lids for many at the TEAM office.

Disaster struck in late 2007. I have studied the data from the years 2006-2009 extensively, seeking to learn the invaluable leadership lessons that failure teaches. In other words, don’t run from failures; learn from them. And boy, did I ever learn a ton.

There are probably only a handful of leaders in the country that could have handled the ridiculous leadership challenge (lawsuits, leaving our former company, etc) that hit the TEAM late 2007 through 2009, so I am thankful for everyone’s efforts to handle the task. However, when in 2009 the office cost-per-field-revenue was five times higher than previous benchmarks, I realized I needed to act fast or the TEAM would capsize. Many of our field leaders had lost 2/3’s of their income and as the leader of TEAM, both the office and the field, it was ultimately my responsibility to fix it.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I sat down with the Policy Council (PC) leaders and asked for each of them to pick an area at the office to help transform. I tapped Rob Hallstrand on the shoulder and asked him to take over the TEAM office as COO – Chief Operating Officer. I knew this was a “bet the company” move. Either the TEAM turned around its cost-to-revenue margins or the company would bankrupt itself.

The first thing Rob did was take the TEAM staff from 40 employees down to 20. I am sure this brought hardship to many former employees, but when the ship is sinking, dropping off 20 passengers to shore as quickly as possible was the only humane choice. Without drastic reductions, everyone in the TEAM office and field would have been out of business.

I am happy to report that our “bet the company” move was a success. In fact, this year the TEAM hit its all-time best monthly operating margin. This placed us in a position to launch LIFE. The TEAM has more than doubled its profits without increasing office expenses – a nearly impossible feat! Rob Hallstrand worked tirelessly with all the PC in each area at the office to streamline systems and cost. Someday I hope to write the book on this amazing leadership turnaround engineered by Rob Hallstrand and the PC. I am very proud of them all.

Along with surpassing every major benchmark in 2011, Rob also took the lead in launching LIFE. How he accomplished this task with only one additional employee is a true testament to Rob’s new leadership capacity. LIFE is going to be life-changing for so many, and it all goes back to the day when Rob Hallstrand confronted a temporary failure in his life. Instead of getting bitter, Rob chose to get better, thus growing into the leader necessary to run the LIFE business as its new CEO.

Congratulations Rob for a job well done and here is to a great future together! Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted in Freedom/Liberty, Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , , | 29 Comments »

Jonathan Edwards – Resolved to Serve with Humility

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 4, 2011

Here is the section from my new book on Jonathan Edwards. Here is another great American who utilized the power of resolutions in his life. Have you implemented RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE into your life? Let’s start a resolution revolution together. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Jonathan Edwards was a preacher, theologian, a missionary to Native Americans, and shortly before his death, accepted the Presidency of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University).  Edwards “is widely acknowledged to be America’s most important and original philosophical theologian.” Furthermore, Author George Marsden, writes, “Edwards was extraordinary. By many estimates, he was the most acute early American philosopher and the most brilliant of all American theologians. At least three of his many works – Religious Affections, Freedom of the Will, and The Nature of True Virtue – stand as masterpieces in the larger history of Christian literature.”

But Edwards began his ministry with little advanced billing. His first pastoral position in 1722, at 19 years of age, was far away from his Connecticut hometown, in New York City, then a thriving metropolis of 10,000 people.  Dr. Stephen Nichols, author of The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, writes of the young pastor, “Amidst all of this uncertainty and flux, this young man, Jonathan Edwards, needed both a place to stand and a compass for some direction. So he took to writing. He kept a diary and he penned some guidelines, which he came to call his ‘Resolutions.’ These resolutions would supply both that place for him to stand and a compass to guide him as he made his way.”  A.C. McGiffert described Edward’s method of resolutions, “Deliberately he set about to temper his character into steel.”  Tempering is a process to “toughen” the metals, just as written resolutions “toughen” the internal person through study and course corrections.  The tempering process takes time, but the internal fortitude and self-mastery gained living one’s convictions, not one’s preferences, is worth any price.

Jonathan Edwards dutifully wrote out 70 Resolutions (see appendix) between 1722 and 1723. Edwards committed to read the 70 Resolutions once per week for the rest of his life, and fulfilled that commitment, reading the resolutions more than 1,800 times over the next 35 years. Here are two of his resolutions.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this resolution.

Edwards would have many occasions to apply his resolutions. After his pastoral service in New York, on February 15, 1727, Edwards joined his father-in-law, Solomon Stoddard’s congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts.  In 1729, Stoddard died, leaving Edwards the sole minister in charge of one of the largest, wealthiest and proudest congregations in the colony.  Stoddard, in his later years, had introduced several doctrinal changes not founded upon scriptures. Edwards, being new, continued the innovations when he assumed pastoral leadership.  But, in 1749, after years of successful ministry and intensive biblical study, Edward’s conscience balked at the doctrinal errors, precipitating an angry response from church members. The controversy concluded with Edward’s dismissal by the margin of one vote. Many would have railed against the injustice, but Edwards, dignified as always, preached his farewell sermon with the truth, love and grace, exiting Northampton without rancor or bitterness.

Edwards was, as Randall Stewart wrote, “Not only the greatest of all American theologians and philosophers but the greatest of our pre-19th century writers as well,” making his gracious humble spirit even more impressive.  He didn’t fight for his rights; instead he merely accepted the ruling as God’s Will, taking a position as missionary to the frontier Indians. Edwards consistently displayed a grace-filled spirit of forgiveness to his many detractors, some who, years later apologized for their involvement in the misinformation spread. Can one imagine the infamy of being associated with the congregation that dismissed one of the best theologians and philosophers in American history? But Edwards, in his final years, never missed a beat, writing several classics of Christian literature, leaving an enduring testament to the power of character-based resolutions to transform a person from the inside out. Edwards faithfully lived his principles externally because that is who he had become internally. Specifically, he didn’t just give lip service to his resolutions, he truly lived them.

Posted in Faith, Family, Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , , , | 7 Comments »

The LIFE TEAM Business Results

Posted by Orrin Woodward on December 2, 2011

One of the points that I love about free enterprise is the ability to serve customers and produce results. Businesses thrive when the customers needs are satisfied.  All the rhetoric for a business is worthless if the customers are not being served. Similarly, all the rhetoric against a business is worthless if the customers are being served.

The LIFE TEAM is passing the customer’s test. In fact, based upon the first month’s data, LIFE has received a huge validation of its business plan. From the customer’s perspective, there is finally a company that provides world-class monthly leadership materials at a price that anyone can afford, especially with its three for free program.

The TEAM community has been serving leadership communities in network marketing since 1999. As part of our training, we created a CD of the week program, which quickly established us as the top community building organization in the US market. By 2000, we were routinely hosting major functions with thousands of people in attendance. Indeed, many of the top leaders within network marketing have benchmarked our processes and systems to improve the leadership culture within their own communities.

However, even with this solid foundation, nothing could have prepared me for LIFE’s launch. In its first 30 days, LIFE added over 4,000 new leadership subscribers! I’m not talking about sign-ups here, I am referring to people who signed up for our monthly subscription program. Let me explain the magnitude of these numbers. The LIFE business, in other words, has added more new CD and book subscribers in its first month than the TEAM community has ever added in its best year!

Remember the saying, “In God we trust, all others must have data?” The above data confirms something the LIFE founders believed in their hearts – that high-quality, low priced, monthly leadership information is a huge customer need in this intensely competitive marketplace.

However, don’t take my word for it. Try the products for yourself. Over 800 customers, people not involved in building the LIFE business, are enjoying the leadership information. Most of these customers sold themselves by listening to the leadership materials, enjoying the product and eventually requested a monthly subscription. That is the beauty of the model, members do not have to convince customers against their wills. Instead, members only have to provide the customers an opportunity to hear the life-changing information for themselves.

I want to congratulate all of the new pin winners for the month. There are so many amazing stories of growth and depth happening across the LIFE TEAM communities. With so much growth, there are more people receiving checks and progressing towards their dreams this month than ever before in the history of the TEAM’s community building endeavors. This can only happen when opportunity and preparedness meet.

One success story that I have witnessed first hand is my yacht captain, Bill Howard. He has been part of the TEAM community since 2005. In that time, he read and listened, changing himself from the inside out. Many laughed at him, thinking he was crazy to believe that he could develop into a leader of a community. However, Bill understood that private achievements precede public ones and even though he wasn’t making big money, he was making big changes. In other words, Bill got himself right; the LIFE TEAM business got the opportunity right; and success was the result. Bill powered over the 50% level in his first month of LIFE, which means his bonus check will be nearly ten times higher than any check he has received in his network marketing career. Oh, and by the way, he did this completely without my day to day involvement. In fact, I didn’t show a single plan for him, as he was fully capable of  building his own business thanks to the leadership training. All I can say is congratulations to a job well done!

In life, people are either part of the solution or part of the problem. The LIFE Founders have vowed to be part of the solution. Although governments think they can solve people’s problems by offering handouts, God utilizes a different method. God allows us to get in over our heads, so that He can teach us how to swim by faith. Unfortunately, many times this process is interrupted by well-intentioned people who throw life-jackets in the middle of God’s swimming lessons. I refused to throw Captain Bill Howard a life-jacket, for I knew that God was in the process of developing another champion swimmer. Captain Bill’s leadership community never threw him a lifejacket, for he was capable of swimming, but they did provide him with the encouragement, CDs, and books that changed his thinking, and subsequently, his life.

Don’t misread me, I am all for saving a drowning person. However, more often than not, we save a person who is fully capable of swimming with the right training. When we do this, we not only do not help, but are actually taking away a person’s dignity and respect, communicating to them that they are not capable of swimming without us. How can a person become a producer in society when he hasn’t developed the ability to swim on his own? LIFE is teaching the leadership skills needed to let go of the life-jackets and start to swim. Western Civilization needs men and women who will swim against the currents of despair currently sinking our society. LIFE is our opportunity to restore our great countries, offering a hand-up, not a handout.

The LIFE business has a goal to change the world one person at a time. We understand that no change is possible until a person is ready. Our goal then, is to have all the life-changing information ready when he or she is ready. Are you ready to confront the issues in your life and grow into the leader you deserve to be? If so, then perhaps the LIFE TEAM is worth checking out. Listen to the CDs and read the books for yourself. This may be the opportunity you have been praying for. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted in Faith, Finances, Leadership/Personal Development | Tagged: , , , , | 23 Comments »

 
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