Orrin Woodward on LIFE & Leadership

Inc Magazine Top 20 Leader shares his personal, professional, and financial secrets.

  • Orrin Woodward

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    Former Guinness World Record Holder for largest book signing ever, Orrin Woodward is a NY Times bestselling author of And Justice For All along with RESOLVED & coauthor of LeaderShift and Launching a Leadership Revolution. His books have sold over one million copies in the financial, leadership and liberty fields. RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions For LIFE made the Top 100 All-Time Best Leadership Books and the 13 Resolutions are the framework for the top selling Mental Fitness Challenge personal development program.

    Orrin made the Top 20 Inc. Magazine Leadership list & has co-founded two multi-million dollar leadership companies. Currently, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of the LIFE. He has a B.S. degree from GMI-EMI (now Kettering University) in manufacturing systems engineering. He holds four U.S. patents, and won an exclusive National Technical Benchmarking Award.

    This blog is an Alltop selection and ranked in HR's Top 100 Blogs for Management & Leadership.

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HBRN’s Leadership Factory: Special Guest Wayne MacNamara

Posted by Orrin Woodward on February 1, 2013

Home Business Radio Network’s Leadership Factory has some of the best leaders in community building sharing their trade secrets with the world! Tony Cannuli and I host the show sponsored by HBRN and its co-founder Doug Firebaugh. This week’s guest is one of the fastest growing within the LIFE business. In fact, Wayne and Raylene recently went Policy Council level in LIFE. This is one of the highest echelons attainable within the community and is due to the tireless efforts, huge dreams, and massive resolve of this couple. Claude and Lana Hamilton joined our community back in late 2007, and that is when I first met Wayne at a men’s leadership meeting. He was barely a Turbo 10 (just over 20 people at events), but now he has over 1,000 people attending events—impressive, to say the least! Enjoy the interview and please share the key nuggets that you learn.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in Leadership/Personal Development | 36 Comments »

All Grace Outreach (AGO): 2012 Year in Review

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 31, 2013

All Grace Outreach

All Grace Outreach

I am happy to report a blessed banner year for All Grace Outreach (AGO) in 2012. While many charities are struggling, AGO nearly doubled it fundraising thanks to a growing LIFE Leadership business. Another amazing attribute of the AGO charity is the percent of funds that actually reach the charities, thanks to the volunteer efforts of the board and LIFE Leadership staff. AGO is a nondenominational Christian charity that focuses on spreading the gospel message and serving those in need. LIFE Leadership gives 100% of its AGO Series (a monthly book and audio subscription) corporate profits to help fund the charity. In addition, the LIFE Leadership community gives generously at conventions during the Sunday morning worship services.

Several years back, Tim Marks, Chris Brady, and I had numerous conversations on how to build the AGO charity properly. AGO is not a church; consequently, we developed several principles to operate by. For instance, although man may divide Christ’s church into denominations, we know that Christ unites all Christians on the Cross by His sacrifice. In other words, we will not go by our denominations in heaven, but merely as servants of the King. Hence, AGO gives to charities supported by Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists, and others. Accordingly, AGO’s goal is to support charities that advance Jesus Christ’s Kingdom by fulfilling the Great Commission. The entire AGO Board would like to offer our thanks for all of those who made 2012 such a blessed year.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Throughout 2012, All Grace Outreach continued its mission of impacting and improving the lives of children both locally and globally and funding Christian outreach efforts throughout the world. It was a phenomenal year for AGO. We feel humbled, honored, and blessed to have been able to touch the lives of so many struggling people as we spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

Our fundraising efforts for 2012 brought in $397,760 (a 95.5% increase over 2011). The operating expenses for the year totaled $6,110, of which $3,968 was used for booklets that are handed out for free, with the remaining for accounting, banking, and office items. Donations totaled $344,850, with the remaining $46,800 designated for donation to various charities in the 1st quarter of 2013. As a result, 98.5% of the funds were, or will soon be, distributed by AGO to organizations that focus on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and/or assisting women and children. Following is a list of some of the organizations that AGO supported in 2012. We pray that God will use all donations for His glory and renewed hope and a better quality of life for those in need.

  • A New Beginning Pregnancy Center
  • Founders Ministries
  • GAP Ministries
  • Ligonier Ministries
  • PLNTD
  • Pregnancy Care Centre
  • Samaritan Center
  • Wisdom for the Heart
  • Zoie Sky Foundation

AGO does not employ any paid staff and runs completely on volunteer labor. Words cannot express how grateful we are to all those who have contributed their time, talent, and effort to advance our cause. We look forward to what God has in store for 2013. May His love and grace abound to all those who thirst and hunger for His love.

God Bless,

All Grace Outreach

Posted in Faith | 64 Comments »

Wayne & Raylene MacNamara: New LIFE PC Members

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 29, 2013

photoWayne and Raylene MacNamara were recognized as new LIFE PC members at the LIFE Business Leadership Conventions. These two were Turbo 10 when they joined the Team community in late 2007, and now six years later, have over a thousand people at events! Leadership matters, and Claude & Lana Hamilton are building a leadership community that loves and serves one another. In fact, the Hamilton’s business is nearly six times bigger today than the day they joined the Team community back in late 2007. The dream is alive and well within the LIFE community.

Laurie and I are so proud of the Hamiltons and MacNamaras for dreaming, struggling, persisting, and ultimately achieving this Olympic Gold level award. The MacNamaras were factory workers with no avenue to move up when they were introduced to Claude and Lana Hamilton. Despite lacking funds, opens, and seminars (the MacNamaras were a distance group and therefore had to build all of this), Wayne and Raylene refused to make excuses and built the system from scratch to not only go PC, but also help so many others accomplish their goals and dreams. The MacNamaras have a contagious enthusiasm for life that attracts so many winners to them. I LOVE spending time with this couple, and I believe this is just the beginning of the impact this couple will have in the world! Today they are debt free, job optional, and enjoying their freedom lifestyle in Ontario, Canada.

533572_524724174225430_1190994941_nThis is just the first of a wave of PC who will be breaking in the LIFE community, as the system and products are dialed in for growth. Numbers are up, belief is up, and the speed of growth is up! I love what I am seeing across North America. Thank you to all who attended the Leadership Conventions and celebrated the MacNamara’s victory. 2013 is the year of breakthroughs within LIFE. Is 2013 a breakthrough year in your life? Who was there live for this recognition? Please share how it impacted you.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

 

Posted in LIFE Leadership | 125 Comments »

The State by Franz Oppenheimer

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 28, 2013

One of the best books on the origin and growth of the nation-state is called The State by Franz Oppenheimer. Written in 1908, his thesis of the State’s origin is more relevant today than the day it was first conceived. Without checks, the State will consume the citizens’ freedoms in its ever increasing desire for power. Sadly, few realize this all-important fact of government and thus believe that by democratically electing the rulers, all is well. Nothing could be further from the truth. Remember, Hitler was elected democratically, but it didn’t stop him from usurping the power of the State. Franz Oppenheimer identifies the way the State is formed, its reason for existence, and the various ways it centralizes power.

In our soon-to-be-released book LeaderShift, Oliver DeMille and I have pinpointed methods to check the growing power of the State, allowing ordered-freedom to prosper again within society. Is anyone else tired of the same old rhetoric being discussed over and over again for decades? Real change demands that we shift the conversation away from the growing problems and towards viable solutions that check the centralizing tendencies of all governments. The LIFE business has a goal of educating Western Civilization on the greatest books and thoughts throughout history. Furthermore, we attached a compensation plan to the education to reward the influencers who help us in the much-needed mission.

In any case, since 1908, when Oppenheimer wrote his book, the issues have been clearly identified. Isn’t this enough time to start offering some solutions to the State’s challenges? Oliver and I think so, and this is why we wrote LeaderShift. In fact, The State was instrumental in helping me develop the Five Laws of Decline that are covered from a political perspective in our new book. Here is a summary of Franz Oppenhemier’s book from the Mises Institute.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

This is the 1908 book that started it all in the 20th century, the book that kicked off a century of anti-state, pro-property writing. This was the prototype for Nock’s writing, for Chodorov’s work, and even the theoretical edifice that later became Rothbardianism.

Indeed, Franz Oppenheimer wrote what remains one of the most bracing and stimulating volumes in the history of political philosophy. The author sought to overthrow centuries of fallacious thinking on the subject of the state’s origin, nature, and purpose, put its it place a view of the state that constitutes a foundational attack on the structure of modern society.

He utterly demolishes the social-contract view of the state as it had been advanced by most thinkers since the Enlightenment. He seeks to replace that view with a realistic assessment of the state, one that can only make anyone with statist leanings squirm: he sees the state as composed of a victorious group of bandits who rule over the defeated group with the purpose of domination and exploitation. It achieves its status through a form of conquest, secures its power through relentless aggression, and sees its main function is to secure its status and power.

Consider that when this book was written such views were a scandal, especially in Germany. Oppenheimer, who was a medical doctor who became a professor of sociology, suffered terribly for his libertarian views. Then this book appeared, which stunned even his most vociferous critics with its analytical rigor, historical sweep, and steely resolve. The book has since appeared in more than a dozen languages. In a world that cared about ideas, this would be required reading in political philosophy.

From an economic point view, his analysis holds up even where his language about capitalism and socialism can be somewhat confused. In fact, it was Rothbard’s own work that took Oppenheimer’s theory and fit it into a free-market framework. But to fully understand the state theory behind modern Austro-libertarian thinking, this work is indispensable.

Of this still under-appreciated classic, Murray Rothbard writes:

“The great German sociologist Franz Oppenheimer (1864-1943), who wrote this magnificent little book called The State, put the case brilliantly.”

In essence, he said, there are only two ways for men to acquire wealth. The first method is by producing a good or a service and voluntarily exchanging that good for the product of somebody else. This is the method of exchange, the method of the free market; it’s creative and expands production; it is not a zero-sum game because production expands and both parties to the exchange benefit. Oppenheimer called this method the “economic means” for the acquisition of wealth.

The second method is seizing another person’s property without his consent, i.e., by robbery, exploitation, looting. When you seize someone’s prop­erty without his consent, then you are benefiting at his expense, at the expense of the producer; here is truly a zero-sum “game”–not much of a “game,” by the way, from the point of view of the victim. Instead of expanding production, this method of robbery clearly hobbles and restricts production. So in addition to being immoral while peaceful exchange is moral, the method of robbery hobbles production because it is parasitic upon the effort of the producers.

With brilliant astuteness, Oppenheimer called this method of obtaining wealth “the political means.” And then he went on to define the state, or government, as “the organization of the political means,” i.e., the regularization, legiti­mation, and permanent establishment of the political means for the acquisition of wealth.

In other words, the state is organized theft, organized robbery, organized exploitation. And this essential nature of the state is high­lighted by the fact that the state ever rests upon the crucial instrument of taxation.

This book is classic, with an introduction by George H. Smith. It is on the must-read list of every libertarian in every generation.

Posted in Freedom/Liberty | 40 Comments »

Personal Responsibility: The Key to Leadership

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 24, 2013

Dan Hawkins has mastered personal responsibility. In fact, he is in the process of mastering the teaching of personal responsibility to others. In this video, Dan shares how he applied the PDCA process to his life with specific intent. Life doesn’t get better until a person develops a plan to get better. Dan started as a mechanic and now has a nationally recognized blog, financial and relationship success, and a bright future. This is what happens when a couple like Dan and Lisa Hawkins develops personal responsibility. On the other hand, when a person blames others for his or her life, life gets worse. Think about it. Name one winner you know that goes around blaming others for his or her situation. Nada, zip, zero! Why? Because winners refuse to make others responsible for their personal change. The LIFE business PC leaders are a group of men and women who hold themselves responsible to grow and change, not shrink and blame. Imagine a community of winners who create a LeaderShift within our culture, and you have the purpose of LIFE. Each reader must choose which path to take in life. Here is Dan describing the steps of real change.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

 

Posted in All News, Leadership/Personal Development | 40 Comments »

The MLM Life: Pyramids & Purpose

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 23, 2013

Hachette, the number two book publisher in the world, will release, under the Business Plus imprint, Oliver DeMille‘s and my new book LeaderShift on April 16 of this year. In LeaderShift, we wrote about the difference between Credentialists and Creators. The Credentialist career plan follows the traditional path of getting the right degrees, building the proper résumé, and following the approved formula for “success.” Creators, in contrast, take an unconventional approach to success and build their own trails to their dreams. Although we hadn’t coined the terminology yet, when I left the #2 MBA program in the USA (University of Michigan) in 1994, I exited the Credentialist path and launched my Creator destiny.

The MLM life intrigued me after I opened my mind to truly comprehend the opportunity. Over time, I realized I could rise as high as my leadership took me, no longer blocked by limited experience, age, or political prowess. Indeed, the Creator’s path rejects Credentialist opinions and moves up by serving customers, not kissing the boss’s behind. 🙂 Hating politics and loving numbers (remember, I am an engineer :)), I realized a person’s pay raise becomes effective as soon as he does. This is huge for a Creator since he can focus on serving customers, not bosses. Essentially, this is the difference between the two career paths. Creators like to challenge themselves in the marketplace to determine whether their ideas are viable. Credentialists, by contrast, like to stay behind the lines, hoping to advance up the hierarchy through impressive résumés rather than creative ability.

Many of my friends and family thought I was crazy and said I was giving up a great career as an engineer, in which, incidentally, I had already received four patents and won a National Technical Benchmarking Award by the age of 25. Furthermore, I was promoted to 7th level senior engineer at the unheard of age of 25 with a 19% raise for the year. Nevertheless, I knew the Credentialist path was too risky. Why? Because it placed my ability to advance into a boss’s hands, leaving me chained by his opinions rather than the customer’s satisfaction. Interestingly, the 12,000 people who worked at AC Rochester in Flint are now no longer working at the facility since the buildings have been torn down and it’s literally miles of cement surrounded by a fence. This is a very sad and sobering reminder of what happens when a person places his destiny in the hands of Credentialists.

Despite getting started in a poor compensation plan, I knew that any Creator path was better than the best Credentialist path for me. However, this isn’t true for everyone. Network Marketing/MLM, in other words, isn’t the ticket for everyone, which is why I stopped trying to get everyone into Network Marketing years ago. I learned that Creators are a different breed than Credentialists and are drawn to the LIFE business on their own when they understand it for what it is—a free-enterprise system that rewards performance. Creators love that they will be compensated based upon results, not politics. Credentialists hate it for the same reason. This, in essence, is the problem with America—the Credentialists who flocked to government in order to hide from their personal scoreboard are now using government power to destroy the Creators who created the American dream. Government control within the economic sphere destroys the efforts and rewards of the Creators, thus destroying the American Dream as we know it.

Network Marketing is one of the last bastions of free enterprise left in Western Civilization. It allowed Laurie and me the time (over five years) to refine our skills and develop ourselves for success. Many would say that’s too long to invest in a Creator path. On the contrary, we understood that a five-year investment to develop the Creator mindset is a small price to pay. For instance, look especially at how many people invest over five years to get degrees that are practically worthless upon graduation. That is too big a price to pay! Please don’t misunderstand me; I love education, but education and a college degree are not one and the same. What I love about compensated communities is the scoreboard constantly communicates whether true education is occurring or not. Leadership simply cannot be faked. If people are following a person, then he is a leader; if not, then he’s not, regardless of what his credentials might say.

Corporate Pyramid

Corporate Pyramid

Let me close with one of the greatest misconceptions in the MLM field. People will say to me, “But, Orrin, isn’t the MLM profession a pyramid?” Although I don’t get this objection as much as I used to since MLM is becoming more common, I still think it’s worth analyzing. There are several factors to consider. First, review where one works currently. Is it a corporate job or small business? Draw out the corporate hierarchy. Did anyone notice as he was drawing it out that the person at the top has several direct reports, who have direct reports, who have several direct reports until the bottom is reached? Indeed, this structure is the quintessential hierarchical pyramid because the guy at the top always makes more than the guy below him right down to the bottom guy or gal who makes the least. Moreover, moving up the chain isn’t based upon performance alone.  Network Marketing, in contrast, doesn’t pay based upon where you fall within the hierarchy or how long a person has been with the company. Rather, it compensates based upon how many groups a person is willing to serve every month. For example, when Laurie and I started in MLM, we had tons to learn and made many mistakes. Still, within 12 months, we had passed hundreds of thousands of people who had started before us. In fact, within a decade, we had passed over a million people and were in the top handful of income earners within the company. Pyramid? On the contrary, MLM is the best method yet designed for Creators to rise out of the corporate quagmire. Where one starts in networking is irrelevant; what one does with his spot is everything.

Laurie and I followed an unconventional path to success and are proud we did. If you are a Credentialist, then either be willing to change or don’t join the LIFE business. LIFE offers nothing for the radical Credentialist because no part of his pay is based upon his past. Bonuses are based only upon a person’s ability to serve others. However, if you are a Creator or desire to be and have been frustrated by the Credentialist system blocking your path, then you will LOVE the LIFE business. The MLM life isn’t for everyone, but it sure has satisfied millions of Creators around the world. The choice is yours, and consequently, so too are the results.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

 

Posted in LIFE Leadership | 74 Comments »

The Drift to Totalitarianism

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 22, 2013

LeaderShift by Orrin Woodward & Oliver DeMille

Earlier today, while writing on my corporate HR Toolbox blog, I read an extended quote from Gustav Cassel. His thoughts on the drift towards totalitarianism that every country experiences with the initiation of economic controls aligned perfectly with the Five Laws of Decline (FLD), which I first disclosed in my book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE. Indeed, every single human society has ultimately failed due to the unchecked effects of the FLD. The question of the century is: Will America follow in their footsteps by not addressing the debilitating effects of the FLD at work?  LeaderShift, soon to be released by Hachette’s Business Plus division, is a business fable co-written with Oliver DeMille that teaches how to check the Five Laws of Decline by limiting government power and centralization. Any concerned citizen ought to study and learn how to check the FLD since they have been responsible for the decline in all human civilizations. This is what the LIFE business is: a community of concerned citizens. Here are several dictums of government from LeaderShift followed by Cassel’s extended quote.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

1. Government power must be checked by other powers, i.e., federal powers are checked by states, which are checked by localities.

2. Government taxation must be limited, or limited government is illusory.

3. Local leadership should solve local issues since local leaders are “boots on the ground” and have the most knowledge of the challenges and potential solutions.

4. Political leaders must learn how to balance budgets, or they are not leaders at all.

The most powerful brief statement of this interaction with which I am acquainted occurs in a lecture delivered by the eminent Swedish economist, the late Gustav Cassel. This was published in a pamphlet with the descriptive but rather cumbersome title: From Protectionism Through Planned Economy to Dictatorship.[1] I take the liberty of quoting an extensive passage from it:

The leadership of the state in economic affairs which advocates of Planned Economy want to establish is, as we have seen, necessarily connected with a bewildering mass of governmental interferences of a steadily cumulative nature. The arbitrariness, the mistakes and the inevitable contradictions of such policy will, as daily experience shows, only strengthen the demand for a more rational coordination of the different measures and, therefore, for unified leadership. For this reason Planned Economy will always tend to develop into Dictatorship.…

The existence of some sort of parliament is no guarantee against planned economy being developed into dictatorship. On the contrary, experience has shown that representative bodies are unable to fulfill all the multitudinous functions connected with economic leadership without becoming more and more involved in the struggle between competing interests, with the consequence of a moral decay ending in party — if not individual — corruption. Examples of such a degrading development are indeed in many countries accumulating at such a speed as must fill every honorable citizen with the gravest apprehensions as to the future of the representative system. But apart from that, this system cannot possibly be preserved, if parliaments are constantly over-worked by having to consider an infinite mass of the most intricate questions relating to private economy. The parliamentary system can be saved only by wise and deliberate restriction of the functions of parliaments.…

Economic dictatorship is much more dangerous than people believe. Once authoritative control has been established it will not always be possible to limit it to the economic domain. If we allow economic freedom and self-reliance to be destroyed, the powers standing for Liberty will have lost so much in strength that they will not be able to offer any effective resistance against a progressive extension of such destruction to constitutional and public life generally. And if this resistance is gradually given up—perhaps without people ever realizing what is actually going on—such fundamental values as personal liberty, freedom of thought and speech and independence of science are exposed to imminent danger. What stands to be lost is nothing less than the whole of that civilization that we have inherited from generations which once fought hard to lay its foundations and even gave their life for it.

Posted in Freedom/Liberty | 68 Comments »

LIFE Business Winter Leadership Conventions

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 21, 2013

Claude and Lana Hamilton

The LIFE Business Winter Leadership Conventions kicked off last weekend in Louisville and will continue in Ottawa and California (total attendees have grown nearly 1,000 in three months!) next weekend. Three leadership conventions over two weekends for the fastest growing leadership communities is a must! Here were my highlights from the weekend. First, the crowd had a level of belief that I haven’t seen in years. So many people were recognized for new achievements, and goals were set for 2013.  Starting with the Thursday night RT meeting, every speaker brought his or her A-game. Second, the groups were having fun, an essential part of any winning team. The LIFE business focuses on having fun, making money, and making a difference—in that order. We know that when groups have fun, they make more money and ultimately make a bigger difference. Third, the new PowerPlayer Top Guns Felmar and Sandra Montenegro were fantastic! They had just missed winning several times, but this cycle, they broke through to win! GREAT JOB!

Last, but certainly not least, the New PC Recognition of Wayne and Raylene MacNamara topped my highest expectations! Seeing the love, passion, and belief they poured into the crowd was the highlight of my weekend. In addition, the genuine love and respect they have for Claude and Lana Hamilton brought tears to my eyes. LIFE is so much fuller when enjoyed with true friends who love and serve one another. The Hamilton’s and MacNamara’s relationship displays all of this. I will wait until after the Ottawa Leadership Convention to show pictures of the McNamaras on stage, but I will show this picture of Claude and Lana listening intently to their new PC couple. Interestingly, the McNamaras were Turbo 10 when they joined the Team Training System after nearly three years in the profession, and now, just over five years later, they are PCs!! LIFE has kicked it into high gear in 2013. What did the Leadership Conventions do for you? What were your highlights?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

 

Posted in LIFE Leadership | 80 Comments »

Business Is Relationships; Great Business Is Great Relationships

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 17, 2013

I have taught the principle of going slow in order to go fast for years. This doesn’t mean build your business slow, but it does mean take the time to truly get to know your community. You can still go fast by having more people that you are cultivating relationships with and getting them around a community of winners. Sadly, however, many people rush through dealing with others, not understanding that all business is relationships and the best businesses have the best relationships. In fact, all of the LIFE business founders have a huge business because they are huge builders of deep relationships with their leaders. Below is a segment from a talk I did last year on the importance of relationships. If you want 2013 to be your best year yet, then start with building the best relationships today by applying the principles from the Top Five books and from the friendship chapter of my book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE. Enjoy the video.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Posted in LIFE Leadership, Life Training | 31 Comments »

Larry & Stacey Allswede: Testimonies over Titles

Posted by Orrin Woodward on January 14, 2013

The Allswede Family

The LIFE business continues to change lives and impact communities across America. What is so special about LIFE is that whether someone makes hundreds of thousands of dollars from the LIFE Business Compensation Plan or makes just a few bucks, it still changes lives for the better. Only a materialistic person would define success in just dollars. What about better relationships between spouses or between parents and their children? What about improved mobility at one’s profession due to increased leadership and people skills?

Simply stated, I believe the LIFE business is the best educational system for success in the marketplace at less than 1/10th of the cost of conventional educational systems. In Oliver DeMille’s and my new book LeaderShift, to be released in April by Business Plus, we teach the difference between credentialists and creators. Credentialists focus on titles while creators focus on leadership. Leaders are leaders because people trust them and follow them, not because of titles. In other words, testimonies trump titles every time! It was in 1994, when I quit my MBA from the University of Michigan, that I made my personal decision to stop focusing on titles and build a life of testimony. This fork in the road was highly significant for Laurie’s and my future.

In the same way, Larry Allswede and his wonderful wife Stacey reached a fork in the road. Larry had started working at the Team office, but quickly realized he was better suited in the field as an entrepreneur. Today, the Allswedes are achieving success in all 8F’s of LIFE (Faith, Family, Finance, Fitness, Freedom, Fun, Friends, and Following) and living as creators, not credentialists. Their story is one of many I receive. In fact, not a week goes by without receiving several emails like this confirming the huge impact LIFE is having upon lives. Thank you Larry and Stacey for having the courage to grow, change, and lead. Larry reached 1 million in sales revenue for his company in 18 months! Your story inspires others to step up, step out, and move on! It won’t be long before employers sort resumes based upon applicants’ LIFE business education.

How about the readers? Are you living a life of testimonies or titles? Only a few times in a person’s life is he given an opportunity to rewrite his script. LIFE is one of the few opportunities left for people to change their life script!  Here is Larry’s email to me with the rest of the story. I LOVE it!

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

As you might already know, I have been a part of Holger and Lindsey Spiewak’s team since 2006. I went to my first seminar in the fall of 2005 to see Jim and Dolores Martin and ever since then I was hooked! I wasn’t quite sure about the business, but I was certain that I wanted to be associated with Holger and that group of people! There since began my leadership journey! Since then, I can remember being completely addicted to the Audio CD’s mainly because I was so angry for never being taught ANY of the principles I was learning!

Let’s fast forward 5 1/2 years later. In the Spring of 2011, I caught wind of a job opening for a virtual school. I applied. The problem? The applicants were required to have a MINIMUM of a BS Degree, “Preferred” to have a Masters Degree, year of Student teaching, a year of community service, and a whole laundry list of other qualifications that I did NOT have. I only have SOME college, but I did not finish. I do not even have an associates degree, let alone a MASTERS degree. The only thing that I had off their requirement list were the objective things like “Team work…commitment…energetic (I’m part sanguine, of COURSE I’m energetic!)” etc. Needless to say, my resume was looking pretty unimpressive…until I added “Other Education” where I entered “Liber/Leadership Education – 10,000 Hours” (When adding up all the Audios over a 5 1/2 year period, all the Opens, Seminars, Majors, Mentor sessions with Holger Spiewak and Bill Lewis, Those hours put my right around 10,000. Not to mention roughly 100 personal development books)

Somehow I landed an interview. In the interview, there were 2 people and myself; the president of the company, and a consultant who was brought in to help the president hire in the right people) The consultant (Kim) took one look at my resume with a confused look and asked “What is a ‘Liber’ Education?” To which I replied “That is a great question!! Liber really means “tree bark” because it is what the ancients used to write on tablets when engaging in contract, communicating, etc. But it is also the root word for LIBERty and LIBERary…which those two words were closely connected in history. Those who were free knew HOW to think for themselves and could engage in contract. It’s a self directed, leadership education that teaches one how to think.” (Basically, I took the definition almost directly from Oliver DeMille’s 4 Lost American Ideals CD in the Freedom Pack) But their mouth’s about hit the table! Kim quickly said “Well, 10,000 hours of leadership training…that’s a lot of training… What was it all for?” To which I replied “well, I never felt like I fit within the boundaries of a formal education setting, where the methodology is curriculum and professors and experts. My heart sang when I was working in the classics with mentors who had a life that I aspired to have. So I chose the route to have a self directed leadership education, rather than a formal education.”

There were a whole host of other questions that were asked, and I don’t really remember what else I said, but I had a REALLY good feeling that they were impressed! After the interview, I was told that I would receive a phone call within a couple weeks to know if I got the job or not. By 8:30am the NEXT morning I got a call : “Good Morning, Larry! We are excited to call you and offer you a position at Clintondale Virtual School!” WOW!!!

Here’s the kicker… There were 12 (TWELVE) other applicants who interviewed. They ALL had Bachelors degrees, and 6 (SIX) of them had Masters Degrees!!! I was the ONLY ONE who did NOT have a degree, but rather had a leadership education from the  LIFE/Team community and I’m the one who got the job making a mid-range teachers salary. WOW!

LIFE is not only good to help people live the lives that they have always wanted, but it is also the best resume builder that I have seen so far! Talk about reinventing yourself and standing out from the crowd at the same time!

Since then, Kim and eventually her husband Ron have taken me under their wing here at the company with the virtual school and has helped mentor me to be excellent on the job. By this fall, 2013, I will have brought in over 1 million plus dollars of revenue to the company since starting with the company in March 2011.

I apologize for the length of this email. Thank you for taking the time to read it. You have changed my life in more ways than you possibly could have imagined! Thank you for your service! A Million times (people) Thank you!

Larry Allswede

Posted in LIFE Leadership, Life Training | 78 Comments »

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