As I was driving to work, I thought about the hundreds of other cars sharing the road with me. I’m certain that a majority of them were driving to work, a place where they do not want to be. See I’m one of the few people who actually enjoys their work and loves the company that they work for. Yes there are other things I would love to be doing instead, such as going to Safeco Field and watching the Seattle Mariners, but I have not placed myself in the opportunity to do so right now. I am still a part of the Rat Race, though I am taking steps forward to get out.

Now 97% of the population follows a formula. My mentor Jerry “dRhino” Clark calls it the “Formula to Success” and I am more than positive everyone has heard of this formula before. In order to be success, simply follow these basic steps, and you too can retire rich and travel al over the world. Ready for the formula:

1. Go to College
2. Study Hard
3. Get a job
4. Work Hard
5. Become Middle Management
6. And retire at the age of 65

That sounds simple and we have all be taught that growing up, but why aren’t there more people who are living the dream? The answer is simple, it doesn’t work!

Now I want to be financially independent, and in order to get there, I am going to have to leave the Rat Race. And the number 1 way of doing that, do the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what everyone else is doing. When you hear the word “Risk”, what goes through your mind, heart, etc. I asked a few people working at a local retail store and these were the answers that I got back:

The thought of risk can only be based on assessing the situation and the gravity of the consequences.

I don’t take risks because you always gamble on loosing something. If I take a risk and it doesn’t work, I just lost.

The thought of taking a risk makes me nervous. Why risk losing something if I don’t have to.

I then asked a millionaire friend of mine who enjoys a 3-million dollar a year income the same question.

To live your life in abundance, you HAVE to take risks because that is the only way you are going to get ahead of everyone else. If everyone takes one step at a time, they move forward. Well what if instead of taking a step forward, I jump forward 2 spots? Anything can happen, I can fall down, I can lose my way. But I can also be ahead of everyone else. It’s by taking risks that got me and my wife out of the “Rat Race”.

I find it incredibly interesting that the average person associated Risk with Loss, while the successful person associated Risk with Gain. In all of my financial adventures when I am about to make an investment or start a new business, all of my friends have always discouraged me and tried to protect me from “taking a risk”. Well it has been through those risks that I have been able to enjoy a freer life than the same friends who did not want me to take the risk.

If you want to take a look at your financial forecast, take a look at your philosophies that are associated with the topic of Risk. This will give you great insight as to your future.

There is a phrase I always use about network marketing and it goes like this, “Anytime you aren’t where you want to be, hold up a mirror and there’s your blame.”

As a leader, you will hear many excuses as to why people can’t do the business or why they are struggling. They don’t have a strong upline, their downline isn’t doing anything, the company has too many products, the company doesn’t have enough products, the company’s business cards are the wrong color, the meetings start 10 minutes too late, etc.

When a member of my team tells me one of these reasons as to why they aren’t working towards their dreams, I always let them know that I can introduce them to 10 people who had worse circumstances than they do and they made it.

I have seen and heard of a lot of people making it in this business under tremendous circumstances. In a business centered around communication, I have seen deaf people make it. A person with no arms or legs. A homeless person. A single mom of 5 who owed over $1,000,000 to a hospital. The stories are out there and they are incredible. People, all over the world, are working very hard towards their dreams.

So the next time you are feeling low, you aren’t where you want to be, just hold up a mirror.

Few people who join Network Marketing have owned their own businesses, so when they get started, they ask a lot of “How-to” questions from their sponsors and other successful people. Frequent questions are:

• How do I contact people?
• How do I advertise?
• Should I have a website?
• How do you follow-up?
• What do you say?
• How do you do things?

These are all great questions, but they are the wrong kinds of questions. All these questions do is get you used to asking how something is done… but not why. So why is it important to know why something is done instead of how? Have you ever been in a slump? A week or a month or two go by and you’ve made your Network Marketing business more of an afterthought? Holidays get in the way, vacations, etc.

When you stop working the business, it’s because you don’t understand what doing the business actually means. Say for example you ask a successful Cold Market Network Marketer (a Network Marketer who doing most of their business through cold market leads) how to approach people, well they won’t have the best advice because most of their contacts are people they’ve never met. Instead if you ask them how to gain trust over the phone with contacts, it changes everything. Now instead of having a simple few steps to follow, you understand the process.

Most people are afraid to ask for help because of their ego. If you do something all by yourself, without asking for any help, then you get all of the credit. You feel better about yourself and use that success to push yourself forward. Another reason is people feel weak when they have to ask for help. But do you think Bill Gates did it all by himself, or do you think he asked a few people for help along the way? Do you think Bill Gates is weak? See my point?

Another thing happens when you ask someone for help, they feel better about themselves. So not only do you gain knowledge about the process of why something works, but you help those around you. Most people will not ask for help. They would rather go down, fail, than to ask for help. Take the necessary steps right now to help your business by asking someone for help.