The other day I was listening to a recorded training by Les Brown, the author and motivational speaker.  I had first seen Les Brown on a Public Broadcasting Station program over a decade ago, then had the opportunity to see him in person at a Zig Ziglar Success Seminar in Chicago.

More recently, I had seen Les speaking at a company convention in Salt Lake City and found him as inspiring as ever.

I found his message “It’s Not Over Until You Win” to be one of the best business motivational messages I’ve heard in a while.   You can download several of his messages from his website at LesBrown.com .

One of the best statements he makes in that message is the idea that if someone else has achieved a particular goal, then we know it is possible that we can do the same.  Achieving a dream or a goal starts with recognizing that it is possible that we can achieve it!

Reaching a goal, changing our life, living our dreams is not accomplished without hard work, and faith and action…..but it is possible!

As Les says, if anyone has achieved it, you can achieve it.  If they learned how to do it, you can learn how to do it.

From the perspective of an entrepreneur, that is a very important message.  If we see someone has already become successful in our field, we know it is possible that we , also, can be successful.

We may have to study harder, or work harder or it may even take longer, but it is possible.

 More importantly, it’s not over until we win!!

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Technology is amazing.  Okay, so that’s not the deepest thought I’ve had all day… but, it’s true!  Technology has allowed me to change myself and my future in ways I would never have dreamed ten years ago.

My laptop computer now allows me to build a business around the world, from anywhere in the world, at any time of day.  On Monday I can be working from my home office and on Wednesday I can be working from a hotel in Beijing.  The freedom that technology has brought to my life still amazes me in so many ways.

The opportunity for people around the world to develop financial independence is greater than ever, thanks to technology.  With computer access, the possibilities for generating income are endless for anyone willing to learn.

With my laptop and cell phone I’ve been able to work around the globe, in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.  South America is on the horizon and I’m looking forward to seeing if there is good cell phone reception in Antarctica just to know that I can indeed work from anywhere in the world.

Even without the computer or the cell phone I’m able to build a business globally as I meet new people.  I’ve met people in airports, people in coffee shops and people in hotels who all have similar interests.  My business card file grows each year with cards from some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.

I can’t put a price on the knowledge I’ve gained from all the people I’ve met around the world who have been gracious enough to share their information and time with me.  The more I travel, the more I learn and the more I earn, which then allows me to be able to travel even more.

Technology has given me the freedom to work where I want, when I want, with whom I want.  The world truly is my office, anywhere, anytime.

Even more importantly, it can be YOUR office, too.

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Brian Tracy often asks, “What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?”

 If money were no object, let’s assume you just won the $400 million lottery, and you knew whatever you chose to do could be accomplished, what would you do?  What could you do?

Aside from maybe changing your home or your car, or traveling around the world (the most common answers to that question), what would you do next?

How could you change the lives of the people around you?  What could you do for your children or your parents if you had unlimited funds?

Once your family was well cared for, what could you do in your community?

What’s the one great issue that pulls at your heart strings that you wish could be solved?  If money was no issue, how could you use it to make a difference?  Would you build housing for the homeless?  How about drilling wells for those with no water?

Would you fill the local food pantries so none would go hungry in your town?  Would you fund the building of an orphanage in another country, so children wouldn’t have to sleep on the street?

What one great thing would you do?

What will be different in the world because you were here?  Where will you leave your footprints?

Becoming a successful entrepreneur can help you realize not only your own financial independence, but can equip you with the life-changing income to do good in the world.

What will be YOUR one great thing?

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Part of my business includes talking to many people who have a desire to own their own business and work from home.  I often ask them what kind of an income they would like to create with their business.  I’m always surprised by how many people tell me “Oh, I don’t want to be rich.”

My first thought is always, “Why not?”

Why be satisfied with earning just enough to get by?  Why not push a little harder and create an income that could really DO something in the world?

When we don’t have all the money we need/want/would like to have, we have a tendency  to create a reason why we wouldn’t want it anyway;  We tell ourselves we wouldn’t want a butler, or a maid or a chauffeur or a gardener or a cook, as if that was all “rich people” did with their money.

We tell ourselves we wouldn’t be happy with a Bentley or a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce.  We wouldn’t need to live in a “mansion” with 24 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, and a private bowling alley.  Therefore, we have no need to be rich.

In reality, that’s how we explain to ourselves that we don’t think we are capable of being rich, of earning incredible income, or of being any more than we already are.  We’d like to just plod along, treading water and buying the weekly lottery tickets.  Oh, but if we don’t win, that’s okay, because we really don’t want to be rich anyway.

Well, indulge me here for just a minute, because I’d like to toss out a radical idea;  What if you had all the money you could dream about, and used it to do something good in the world?

Hey, you can still live meagerly if you like, in a small house, driving an older car that’s paid for, living as modestly as you choose, but you could take all your extra income and do something phenomenal for someone else!

Regardless of where you are economically right now, you can bet that someone in the world has much less than you.  Not everyone can get clean, cold water right from their refrigerator door.  Not everyone has a pillow-top king-sized mattress to sleep on tonight.  Not everyone has a well-stocked pantry.

What if your business could create so much income that you could take care of your needs, your family’s needs, and then go on to improve the lives of others?  What if you could make a real difference in the world?  Being rich can do that.

Instead of watching the evening news and telling ourselves “gosh, someone should do something about that,” we can be the person who makes it happen.

So, let’s stop telling ourselves we don’t want to be rich.  We can be anything we choose to be, so choose to become rich.

Then, go make a difference in the world.

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A while back, as I was going through some old file folders, I ran across a small yellow pamphlet.  It was entitled “The Common Denominator of Success” and was written by Albert E. N. Gray more than 50 years ago.

 Albert Gray was, among other things, a life insurance agent.  This little yellow pamphlet was written as an address to a convention of other life insurance agents, but the message applies to all of us today.  It’s as true today as it was five decades ago.

Gray said he realized that the secret of success was NOT hard work.  He had seen far too many hard-working people fail to become successful and far too many successful people who did not work hard.

Rather, he discovered the common denominator of successful people was that they simply formed the habit of doing the things that other people don’t like to do.

Interestingly enough, he did mention that successful people didn’t necessarily enjoy doing the things others didn’t like to do;  successful people just did those things anyway.

Now, depending upon a person’s goals and aspirations, what qualifies as something most people don’t like to do may be different.  However, the common denominator of success will remain the same.

In the field of life insurance, it related to disliking the need  to call on people who didn’t want to be called, and then talking to them about something they didn’t want to talk about.  Successful people would make a habit out of calling people anyway, while unsuccessful people would not.

Successful people are not necessarily successful because they love doing what others hate to do.  They simply do what others are not willing to do.  They make a deliberate decision to make it a habit to do the things most people dislike.   They don’t allow their moods to dissuade them, or their feelings du jour to dictate what they accomplish.  They make a plan and they stick to it.

Successful people simply are willing to do what unsuccessful people dislike doing.

 I once heard Brian Tracy talk about going the extra mile.  That extra mile, he said, has very little traffic. 

So, here’s to doing what others dislike doing, and I hope to meet you all on that extra mile!

Make it an incredible day!

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