Two traveling monks that were sworn to avoid contact with females reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed. 

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. “Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!” 

“Brother,” the second monk replied, “I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her.”

I love this story because it teaches a great principle of success, namely, one must not let his past hinder his future. So many people continue to replay a bad experience from their past which only ensures that their futures are as bleak as their pasts. What is the use in doing that? Most people simply do not understand what they are doing, but for anyone who has listened to LIFE Leadership materials, he/she cannot use that excuse. For them, it is simply a lack of mental discipline to feed a new empowering story to the subconscious mind that ultimately changes the outside to what is said repeatedly on the inside.  

Thankfully, Dan and Lisa Hawkins did not let their past predict their future. Through mental discipline, this couple changed the inside story from one of repeated failures due to overwhelming fear and lack of faith to one of the most inspiring entrepreneurial stories in America today. From a shy mechanic and a harried daycare provider to financially free LIFE Coaches leaders and Co-founders of LIFE Leadership! The Hawkins family legacy will never be the same.

I want to personally thank Dan and Lisa for their impressive vision, courage, and discipline to change. The reason Laurie and I refuse to slow down is because we know there are more couples like you who are looking for a way to let go of their past so they can seize their future by getting on The Leadership Train. 

What about you dear reader? Don’t you think it’s time to stop focusing on your hurts from the past so you start to create your victories in the future?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

One of the talks that I shared at the LIFE Leadership Fall Convention and also the MasterMind Event was on utilizing the Law of Averages to produce better results in one’s Compensated Community. Here is a short segment of the Bird-Dogging talk for your viewing pleasure. I call the concept bird-dogging and it applies the concepts of leverage that I shared in my recently released new book The Leadership Train. Anyone involved in Network Marketing will benefit from the new book as it teaches why this profession is not a life scam, pyramid scheme, or merely a door-to-door business. Network Marketing is going mainstream thanks to the efforts of its early pioneers like those reading this blog.

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

Here is a short segment from the LIFE Leadership Summer Convention. Cinderella Man is one of my favorite movies because it is based upon the true story of James J. Braddock. Don’t tell me the size of your obstacles, tell me the size of your dream! Chris Brady, Tim Marks, Claude Hamilton, Bill Lewis, Dan Hawkins, and George Guzzardo have dreams that power them past their obstacles. How about you?

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

My son (Jordan Woodward) continues to develop his creativity through working at the LIFE Leadership office. Recently, he sent me this hilarious video of George Guzzardo sharing how George and Jill began working with Laurie and me. This is funny today although it wasn’t so funny at the time. 🙂 But like they say – Tragedy plus time equals humor. 🙂 LIFE Leadership is having fun, making money, and making a difference!

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

LIFE Leadership Seminar weekend just wrapped up Saturday night. Across North America, communities gather to learn leadership, life principles, and strategies to move their life forward. Laurie and I had the honor to speak in Pennsylvania with Jerry and Polly Harteis. We packed, fully packed, the high school auditorium with over 1,000 people and had an amazing day. Recognition included several new Turbo 100s along with LIFE Leader and LIFE Coordinator levels. Jerry and Polly were fantastic, bringing their A-game with posture, wisdom, and humor mixed together in a relatable style.

The LIFE Major Convention will have several new PCs recognized and numerous new RT and LIFE pin levels. Momentum is hitting across the community and I want to personally congratulate all the leaders who have stepped up and are moving on by serving customers, serving communities, and leading from the front. We are creating a LeaderShift across North America that will soon spread across the world. What part is the reader intending to play?

If you attended on of the seminar locations, please share who spoke and what nuggets did you learn to propel your life forward? My personal favorite from Jerry was when he said love is blind, but marriage is an eye-opener. 🙂 He had the crowd rolling and learning all night!

Sincerely,

Orrin Woodward

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

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