Episode 109: How do we become great?, with Stephen Woessner.
Stephen is the CEO of Predictive ROI and host of the Onward Nation podcast. He is the author of two bestselling books, speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media.
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\nGood Morning Onward Nation. This is Stephen Woessner.
\nI am grateful you decided to be here this morning \u2014 to be here right now \u2013\u2013 to share your most precious resource with me and Onward Nation \u2013\u2013 your resource of time. We all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day and I consider it a sacred exchange of time and value \u2014 so I am delighted you and I can have this time together today.
\nLet\u2019s start off by considering some difficult questions \u2014 and then as I always try to do \u2014 I\u2019ll leave you with some action steps that you can apply into your business to move onward to that next level.
\nHow do we become great?
\nHow do we achieve greatness in all we do?
\nHow do we realize our full potential \u2014 your dream for success?
\nLes Brown said, \u201cI don\u2019t believe that any of us are giving dreams that we cannot accomplish. It is possible. You can have your dream as you run toward it.\u201d
\nSo why can\u2019t you be the best in your industry? Why? Why not you?
\nYou may have heard these words from Sylvester Stallone\u2026
\n\u201cLet me tell you something you already know. The world is not all sunshine and rainbows. It\u2019s a very mean and nasty place. And I don\u2019t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain\u2019t about how hard you hit. It\u2019s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That\u2019s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you\u2019re worth \u2014 then go out and get what you\u2019re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers and saying you ain\u2019t where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and that ain\u2019t you. You\u2019re better than that.\u201d
\nOnward Nation\u2026even some of the people who are closest to you \u2014 want you to fail. It isn\u2019t because they are bad people. It\u2019s because they love you and don\u2019t want to lose you. But you can\u2019t let their fears stop you. You have to decide that no matter what \u2014 no matter what you have to sacrifice in order to achieve greatness \u2014 you simply have to decide and finally agree with yourself that you are worthy to pursue your dream. That your dream \u2014 that deeply personal dream you are scared and afraid to be bold enough to chase with all of your gusto \u2014 that you are worthy to achieve that dream. That you will SHOW the world how great you are.
\nPlaying small does not serve your purpose \u2014 does not serve your WHY \u2014 and certainly does not serve God with all of the abundance of talents you were blessed with so you could build an extraordinary life for you, your family, and leave your impact on this world.
\nIf you are not making someone else\u2019s life better \u2014 then you are wasting your time.
\nOnward Nation\u2026pain is temporary \u2014 it may last for a hour, day, a week, or even a year. But it will subside and be replaced by something else. But if you quit\u2026your pain of regret will last forever.
\nInstead, I encourage you to dig deep and pursue greatness like Bryan Arzani did. Bryan was my guest on episode 75 of Onward Nation.
\nBryan was broken\u2026he was beat down by circumstances\u2026by the fear of failure. He nearly went bankrupt twice. But he had the guts to keep moving forward. He said no to the fear and said \u201cI WIN\u201d and now he has. Because he decided greatness and success would be his fate.
\nOr maybe you a listening to my voice right now and thinking to yourself\u2026easy for you to say, Stephen\u2026I just got served with this lawsuit from someone I trusted\u2026a family member\u2026or a business partner. How can I possibly go on?
\nAnd if that is you\u2026then do what Tim Fargo, my guest for episode 64, did. Tim shared the story of when he was at a Christmas party with friends and business associates and was served papers for a $10 million lawsuit \u2014 while he was at the party. Who was suing him? His former business partner \u2014 who also happened at the party! Did he quit? No. Why? Because Tim wanted to succeed as bad as he wanted to breathe. He dug deep \u2014 he fought \u2014 he won \u2014 and went on to great success when he sold his company.
\nOftentimes, one of the keys to success is being all-in on what you working so hard to accomplish. Eliminating any path of retreat. So Onward Nation, are you financially all-in with your business like Cody Foster? Cody was my guest during episode 80. Cody and his two co-founders at Advisors Excel invested everything they had 10 years ago to create the company. And it was not millions of dollars. It is was a modest amount while sitting at Cody\u2019s kitchen table. Cody, Derrick, and David were all in ten years ago \u2014 and now they have built a company that will achieve over $5 billion this year.
\nOr how about Carl Wright, my guest on episode 45 of Onward Nation. After the real estate market crashed\u2026Carl was $14 million in debt. $14 million! He didn\u2019t quit \u2014 instead \u2014 he took a few days to sit, think, and let the plan come to him. And then he decided he would make it happen. He would do it. And then he did it. He pursued it with all the energy he had \u2014 to make his vision a reality.
\nYou, Onward Nation, need to be the only person who you give permission to tell you what is so. And that is what Carl did, and now his company has built a real estate portfolio worth $100 million. All because Carl had the desire to be great and the will to win that pushed him forward. Carl was willing to pay the price and a little bit more.
\nYou have to do whatever it takes to get the job done. In the words of Art Williams\u2026 \u201cJust do it, and do it, and do it, and do it, until the job gets done,\u201d Onward Nation.
\nThe real challenge of greatness comes when you get knocked down and how you respond. Do you remember the story of Larry Winget, my guest in episode 98? He went to work, rich \u2014 and then by the time he left to go home that same day, he was poor and had lost everything. Not because of anything he did but because of circumstances outside his control in his industry.
\nWhat did Larry do? Did he feel sorry for himself? Did he gather around a support group to listen to all of his misfortune and tell him it would be better someday? No. He developed a training program that contained four modules and then he started at the \u201cA\u2019s\u201d in the phonebook selling the modules. Was it a glamorous way to make money? No. Was it effective? Yes. Why? Because no one else is willing to make that sacrifice \u2014 that same level of commitment. But that is what Larry did, and he won.
\nOr how about David Mylrea, my guest on episode 35. At the beginning of his career, he was selling cars at a small town dealership in the heart of Wisconsin. When the gas crisis of the late 70s hit \u2014 and the country seemingly was no longer in the market for large gas guzzling cars, and the foot traffic at the dealership slowed \u2013\u2013 did David quit? No. What did he do? He and his wife sat at their kitchen table\u2026and typed letters to people right out of the phonebook\u2026and mailed them. And what happened? People brought the letters into the dealership to see David and bought some cars. Why? Because no one had ever done that before.
\nOnward Nation\u2026it would have been easy for David, Larry, Carl, Bryan, and Tim to quit. But they didn\u2019t. They allowed their pain to be part of their prize \u2014 to be part of their journey. They harnessed their will and challenged themselves to be successful.
\nJust like Stacey Alcorn, my amazing guest for episode 3. When she had lost it all she could have given up and no one would have blamed her for quitting. But she didn\u2019t. Instead she said yes to her dreams, she said yes to her unfolding future, instead of saying no. Now Stacey is a billionaire in the making and dominating the real estate industry in Massachusetts.
\nFailure is the an ingredient to the recipe for success and greatness. Just listen to the stories of all the amazing and incredible business owners who have graced this show \u2014 the one thing the majority of them have in common is some sort of failure and sometimes a cataclysmic collapse \u2014 an epic failure of massive proportion.
\nThe loser is the one who fails and then quits.
\nThe loser and the winner have both failed. The difference is that the winner got back up again \u2014 got back into the ring \u2014 and pushed forward \u2014 learning from the past. While the loser sat there feeling sorry for himself or herself \u2014 making excuses why it didn\u2019t work out, looking for a sympathetic ear, looking for a shoulder to cry on\u2026anything to point to so that it didn\u2019t have to be them who had failed.
\nFear kills dreams, Onward Nation. Fear kills hope. Fear puts people in the hospital. Fear can age you. Fear can hold you back from doing something that you know within yourself you are capable of doing but it will paralyze you.
\nYou are an incredible child of the most high God. You have every talent and skill already inside you that you need in order to be successful.
\nIt\u2019s not easy. This road \u2014 this journey to success. But success leaves clues so let me share with you what I learned from Don Yaeger, one of my closest friends and most trusted mentors. Don created a list that he calls the 16 Characteristics of Greatness that he built after interview the most successful champions of our time. And then Don took the list deeper by creating the \u201cGreatness Action List\u201d.
\nStep 1: I will not make excuses. Michael Jordan said, \u201cA loss is not a failure until you make an excuse.\u201d
\nStep 2: I will constantly evaluate my inner circle, surrounding myself with those headed someplace special.
\nStep 3: I will set aside time each day to re-center myself.
\nStep 4: I will encourage at least one person each day.
\nStep 5: I will do the necessary \u201chomework\u201d to make each day \u2014 each meeting \u2014 as productive as possible.
\nStep 6: I will seek out a new opportunity for personal or professional growth every day.
\nStep 7: I will envision success \u2013 actually see it in my mind \u2014 in all I do.
\nStep 8: I will be better, not bitter, in moments of adversity.
\nStep 9: I will not be intimidated by taking thoughtful risks.
\nStep 10: I will stay open-minded, not allowing old patterns or habits to hold me back.
\nStep 11: I will point out the contributions of others.
\nStep 12: I will consider what I can do or sacrifice to help strengthen my team.
\nStep 13: I will do something today for someone who cannot give me anything in return.
\nStep 14: I will act all day as if my son or daughter (or my future child) were sitting by my side.
\nStep 15: I will relish the chance to be a standard for others.
\nStep 16: I will remember that my life requires balance.
\nPut those characteristics to work in your business \u2014 in your life. And if you want a daily dose of greatness\u2026go to DonYaeger.com and subscribe for his daily dose of greatness email \u2014 it is amazing.
\nSo, before I leave you today\u2026there is one last point I want to make. Our time here on this Earth is limited \u2014 so please don\u2019t waste it living someone else\u2019s life. We all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day so make sure, Onward Nation, that you are living the life you want to live and building the business you want to build and pursuing the dreams you want to pursue. That your dreams are big enough, bold enough, courageous enough, so you can look back on your life with no regret.
\nPlease don\u2019t settle. Have the courage to follow your heart. You are going to experience a lot of setbacks, a lot of pain\u2026but you are more powerful than you could ever imagine. You are greater than your circumstances.
\nYou can look at that snooze button and go back to bed\u2026or you can get up at 4:00 in the morning and get a 4-hour start on most of your competitors\u2026get a half-day\u2019s work in \u2014 50% more strategy, 50% more content written, 50% more sales calls, 50% more emails to prospects\u2026all of that \u2014 50% more of your vital metrics by just getting up early.
\nYou can lay there in bed and dream about your dreams \u2014 fantasize about them \u2014 or \u2014 you can punch that clock, get up, and go pursue them. There\u2019s a reason why we release all of our daily episodes at 4:00 in the morning, Onward Nation.
\nOne last quote\u2026and I have this hanging on one of my office walls\u2026 \u201cEvery morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up and knows that it must run faster than the fastest Lion that day, or it will be killed and eaten. Every morning in Africa, a Lion wakes up and knows that it must run faster than the slowest Gazelle that day, or it will starve to death. It doesn\u2019t matter, Onward Nation, if you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you\u2019d better be running.\u201d
\nDecide to make a great day. And I look forward to being with you again tomorrow when we share my interview with Mitch Stephen.
\nUntil then\u2026Onward with gusto!
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