Leadership

The Cycle of Achievement (Pt. 1)

August 13th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Cycle Of Achievement

Today and for the next several posts I want to communicate a cycle that every entrepreneur should be following, and that is the Cycle of Achievement. The Cycle of Achievement, which is taken from the best selling book Launching A Leadership Revolution, will help get you to where you need to be as a leader and a business owner. Like John Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership!” So learn these principles, apply them, and rise to the top! By the way, I suggest you go buy the book! It’s full of great content!!

The leadership-development process is where a leader begins the work that he or she is about and uses that experience to gain ability and understanding. It is this work that propels the leader up the ascending levels of influence (which is I may do another series about that later).

The cycle of achievement has several different steps a leader needs to follow. We are going to talk about each step in depth.

So let’s talk today about the first step on the cycle which is Vision. Vision is tomorrow’s reality expressed as an idea today. Leaders must first have a vision of where they desire to take themselves and their organization. Without this vision the dreams will never become reality. Leaders must have a desire to make something happen, to change he way things are, to create something that now one else has ever created before.

Here is another spin on vision…Vision comes from the picture of a dream in the leaders mind. One doesn’t always get what one wants, and one doesn’t always get what one deserves, but one does generally get what one pictures. Having a clear mental picture is the vision the leader carries and casts. Some call it visualization.

I do this all the time. When I am in a Jiu-Jitsu tournament I visualize what I am going to do to my opponent before the match. I am visualizing how I am moving, how I am going to set up for the takedown, what chokes I am going to be using, what submission moves I will be executing on him, what I will be doing when I get in certain positions, etc. This helps prepare me for the match, helps me think like a winner, and helps my mental game stay positive because I am picturing myself winning.

Take this visualization technique to the business world. You need to visualize yourself being successful, getting that raise, being successful in your home business, becoming debt free, etc. Visualize how you are going to feel when you accomplish your goal. What are you going to do? How will it change your life? Your interaction with people? What will be the next step? These questions are all important for you to “feel” your goal before you actually get it because by you answering these questions it will help you get the drive you need to succeed.

So make sure you have that vision before you set your goals. It reminds me of a great ’80s movie Vision Quest about a wrestler that wants to be at the top. He first had that vision to be the best and then he went out and did several steps to become the best.

Make your vision become your reality!

Tags: cycle of achievement, Leadership, vision
Posted in Leadership | 3 Comments »

How Can Tribes Help Me?

July 23rd, 2009 by Michael Feil

Today we are going to talk about something very important that can make or break your business, and that is a tribe.

What is a Tribe?

A Tribe is a group of your social media friends who have banded together over nothing more than a particular shared interest. That interest could be to support a cause, to promote a band, to make money, or what ever else they want to do. Basically, the Tribe bands together to help other members out.

My Tribe consists of other home based business owners that want to make a difference in this world as well as make some money along the way. My Tribe understands that in order for us to be successful in our own personal lives we must help other people be successful first because when they become successful we too will be successful. It’s just how it works…and it DOES work!

So what we do is promote each other’s content. PERIOD! There are some “Tribal Leaders” that say, “Well, I will promote their educational content but I will not promote any of their money making products or services because if I do that I will be putting money in their pockets and none in mine.” This is a totally wrong way of thinking and if you are A Tribal Leader that thinks this way you may have your Tribal members for a while but you will eventually lose your members because they are going to see that you are not fully committed to their cuase or mission.

Like I said, build other people up, help them succeed, and you too will succeed and rise to the top!

Now a Tribe is different from a Community. Here is how Michael Dell explains the significance of a Community. He has what’s called the “3 Cs” which is Content, Commerce, and Community. Michael Dell said that in order for you to be the leader on the internet you need to have Good Content. You need to offer something of value to the people. Then you need Commerce. You need to sell something that people want or need. But nothing will happen if you don’t have a Community of people that will support and follow you.

The Community won’t happen until you get with a few good Tribal Leaders that will help you promote yourself and your product or service. The Tribe comes first, the Community will follow. But the great thing is that the community will not only follow you, they will follow all the members in your Tribe because you all will be promoting each other and be seen as “The Elite” or the leaders and experts in the field you are representing.

How do you form a Tribe?

All you really need to do is just ask a few people if they would be in agreement to start promoting each others content (educational and fancial). Normally you want to seek out people that have similar interests as you do.

From that piont you will be promoting their content on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, and where ever else you can. Naturally they will be doing the same.

What if they don’t keep their end of the bargain?

For me it’s a two step process. First, I would send them an email to see if they are OK, having problems, stuck on something, and to see if I can help in any way. If they say they are good, but still don’t promote your content then I would just drop them and find someone else out there that is more reliable. Believe me, there are pleanty of people out there that would be willing to partner up with you.

Things happen in people’s lives, circumstances change, and people change. Sometimes people are all gung-ho when they first start then lose their momentum if they get frustrated. That’s OK, this business may not be for them. So just find someone else to take their place, but the important thing is to make sure you hold each other accountable. You need to keep your end of the bargain and they need to keep theirs.

Once you start your Tribe and everyone is putting out each other’s content you will soon see people wanting to correspond with you and wanting to know what you’re all about. The more valuable content you put out the faster your community will grow.

So that is a brief summary as to what a Tribe is and how a Tribe can help build your business fast!

My challenge to you is if you do not have a Tribe yet seek out a few people and start your own Tribe.

Now I want to leave you with a short video of Seth Godin talking about the importance of Tribes. Enjoy!

If you like this please comment and retweet! I greatly appreciate it!

Tags: Tribes
Posted in Internet Marketing, Leadership, Social Media Marketing | 15 Comments »

Surprise Wedding: Yes, You Read That Right!

July 18th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Because I know most of you only through the internet I want you to fully know me; not just professionally but personally too. So here’s a little peak into my life. Although this happened a little over a year ago I want to share with you one of the best days of my life.

Well, Christina and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on 2/28/08. I am very happy with her, our children, and our plans for the future. One thing that Christina wished was that we had the wedding she always wanted when we first got married. You know, the kind of wedding girls always dream about. Unfortunately she didnt’ get that wedding because of some family situations and money, so she got a very small, immediate family only, wedding.

Well, I gave her a Surprise Wedding on our 10 Year Wedding Anniversary. This video is of me addressing the wedding attendees on what exactly I did and how I did it….

Here is what Christina saw when the limo pulled up to the same church we got married at 10 years ago. The two little girls are our daughters. It was awesome to have them in the wedding!

The Wedding Party

Here’s Christina’s reaction when the limo pulled up to the church. By the way, Christina is deaf so when I first talk to her I say, “I konw you didn’t get the wedding you wanted 10 years ago when first got marred so I wanted to give you the wedding you always wanted. Will you marry me again?”

So we had a formal wedding ceremony with 150 of our closest friends and family and then had a great reception at a very nice ball room a few miles away from the church. It was a great day and the best gift I could have given her for our anniversary. She is a great woman and deserved it!

The Happy Couple

If you like this please Retweet it and leave a comment while you’re here! I’d love to hear from you!

Tags: Character, communication, dreams, Marriage, relationships
Posted in Leadership | 9 Comments »

Are You On The Right Highway?

July 14th, 2009 by Michael Feil

The Dream Highway

Today I want to go back to the Launching A Leadership Revolution by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward. In the book they talk about a specific highway that leaders need to be on in order to be
successful. If you visualize a leader you are going to visualize someone that is a mover and a shaker. Someone that is launching a plannedassult on the status quo. Someone that is tired of the same old and wants to change and make things better.

Remember, a leader takes people somewhere. The moment the leader is not moving, the leader is not leading. And it takes ambition to keep the leadermoving.

Here’s how Chris and Orrin describe this highway in their book.

Picture success as a road that leads to you dreams:

Along each side of the road are shoulders. Often the shoulders of the roads are comprised of gravel. If a driver inadvertently runs onto the gravel, the sound serves as a warning that a course correction is required to resum traveling safely on the road. Conversely, sometime that same gravel can grip the wheels of the vehicle and pull it from the road into the ditch.

On the left shoulder is comfort. Comfort is fine in small doses and in certain areas of life, but, like gravel, it can also serve as a warning. Remember, ambition flourishes in discontent with the status quo. Discontent and comfort cannot coexist. If a leader becomes too comfortable, ambition will die, and the soft gravel of comfort can pull him or her down into the Ditch of Complacency.

Complacency is defined by Webster as “self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.” Complacency pulls a leader from the road of success and halts all travel toward his or her dreams, as when a car is stuck in a ditch.

There is another danger in traveling too close to the shoulder of comfort: opposing traffic. Most people in life are looking for the easy road. They want comfort and will pay the price of mediocrity to get it, so they rush toward it like cows to the barn at feeding time. If a leader attempts to lead from a position of comfort, he orshe will run smack into that mass of traffic heading in the other direction away from dreams and toward mediocrity.

Leaders, however, shun comfort and seek excellence instead.

They travel down the right lane in the diagram and away from oncoming traffic. The right lane is never crowded. There always seems to be a shortage of leaders but a plethora of people heading the other way. This is one thing that makes a leader so special. Also notice that being a leader means traveling close to the Shoulder of Frustration. In fact, this is the mark of any true leader.

Being a leader is a study in managed frustration. Any real leader traveling the Road of Success toward his or her dreams will encounter frustration along the journey.

Frustration can be healthy, but, just like the shoulder on the other side of the road, this gravel of frustration presents a trap. Too much frustration can be a warning to the leader that his or her attitude is dipping and could pull the leader down into the Ditch of Discouragement.

Discouragement is a show-stopper because it robs the leader of hope. Without hope the leader is trapped in the Ditch of Discouragement and makes no further progress toward his or her dreams.

The only way to stay away from oncoming traffic, the Shoulder of Comfort, and the Ditch of Complacency – and the only way to travel near the Shoulder of Frustration but clear of the Ditch of Discouragement – is to focus straight ahead on the dreams in front of you. Having a dream-focus keeps a leader safely on the Road to Success.

Please do two things for me:
1. Tweet this!

2. Leave me a comment to let me know what you think!

Tags: dreams, goals, Leadership, success, vision
Posted in Leadership | 1 Comment »

A Sad Situation

July 8th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Christina (my wife) and I took custody of a 17 year old girl that is a junior in high school back in October 2008 (she is now 18). She was in a very bad situation and needed a family to love and care for her. So we went through the court system and became her legal guardians. She joined our family with our two other daughters Morgan (6), and Callie (4).

Christina and I told her that if she was gonna live here she would live by our rules (which are not very strict) and she would become part of our family. We told her we would treat her like our own daughter. We gave her love, support, told her that we were proud of her, and just tried to build her up by giving her positive influence.

About five months into her staying at our house we noticed a change in her. Her actions became negative, our discussions about her behavior became more often, and even though we showered her with the care and affection every daughter needs her behavior became worse.

About a month ago she was scheduled to fly and see her mom for a month. The night before she left she did something so bad that it put my family (especially my two little girls) in a dangerous situation. After I took care of this dangerous situation my wife and I talked with her for the next four hours about her life, her actions, her decisions, and what’s been going on recently. We found out about a lot of bad stuff that was going down.

The next day when before Christina dropped her off at the airport I told her that she has 1 month to think about her actions and how she wants to live, and Christina and I has 1 month to decide if we are going to accept her back into our family, let alone into our house again.

During this past month Christina and I found out even more stuff that was going on and that was continuing to go on while she was away. So that shows us that she still doesn’t care about her actions nor the harmful life that she is living. So I informed her today that she will not living with us when she arrives back to Delaware, and that she can live with her dad now that he is back in town (which isn’t a great situation but she made the decision by her actions).

I think there are two main themes here (I may think of more as I am typing).
The first one is SELF-RESPCT. One thing that we have found out and that she has admitted is that she doesn’t have any self-respect. If you don’t respect yourself or have any self-worth then you can’t have any meaningful goals, dreams, or aspirations. Without self-respect you will never be successful. Without self-respect you life will go into a downward spiral.

Self-respect is vital to living a healthy lifestyle, making the right decisions, and learning to love yourself. If you can’t love or accept who you are then of course you will walk around with a non-caring attitude and you will put yourself in every bad situation that you can possibly think of.

People can not make you respect yourself. That has to come deep from within you. Christina and I saw the potential in this young girl. She finished this year on the honor roll, getting sports awards, and was really in a good situation, but because she didn’t see what Christina and I saw (even though we gave her the positive comments and love and care that she needed) she has made several wrong decisions.

Her comment to me was that she was a mess up and will always be that way. I tried several times to explain to her that it doesn’t have to be that way. She can get out of the situation she is in and can be happy and have a good life. I gave her the example of Christina coming from a family where everyone fights and no one get along. Chrisitna made the decision one day that she is not going to live that way and took herself out of that situation because she wanted to be happy and have a good life…and she did.

I tried to explain to her (just like my tag line says) that Chrisitna and I have been feeding her POSITIVE INFORMATION these past several months, because she never ACTED on the information we gave her she never got POSTIVE RESULTS. If you act on information from someone that has more experience than you, most of the time you are going to get positive results. How’s the saying go…You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

Your life is what YOU make of it, and to be honest, life is too short to live a life of hating yourself and not caring about the world around you. Change is hard, it’s not easy, and it takes work, but if your are willing to put in the time and stick to your goals you will see small improvements there and there and eventually you will be out of the situation you were once in.

The second thing is that your actions affects others. This girl we were taking care of didn’t think of that. She was putting herself in a dangerous situation, which put my family in a dangerous situation, which put me in a dangerous situation because I had to quickly get the situation under control. So because of her negative actions she will not be living in our house anymore. So her actions have affected herself, her mom and dad because they now have to deal with her, me and Christina because of her betrayal, and my two little girls because now I have to find a way to explain to them why their “big sister” is not living with us anymore.

What ever you do, positive or negative, affects people. It doesn’t just affect yourself. Things that you do, big things or little things, have an affect on the environment around you. People notice when you do things big or small, and when they see what you do they will form an opinion, they will think about what you did, and they may respond positively or negatively to how you acted.

For example, an elderly person is having trouble carrying in their groceries from their car to their house. He sees you watching him, he already has a negative opinion formed of the “younger generation” and you do nothing to help him. This proves to him that their opinion was right. Now if you go and show one act of kindness…one positive act their opinion may be changed because you showed you care. You may not of thought what you did was a big deal, but it was an opinion changing action to that elderly person.

Your actions don’t just affect you!

So take away what you want from this post. It’s just sad to see this happen. I am disappointed in her actions, but I can say with a clear conscience that Christina and I did everything we could to help her out. She just didn’t want the help. Her negative actions are catching up to her and she is going to get hit hard soon. I just feel bad for her when that day comes. But like I said, she made her choice.

One thing’s for sure, this will not hinder Christina and I from helping people. That is what we’re about! We’re trying to make a positive impact on this world and we will do it one action at a time…and if you don’t want it we’ll move on to the next person. But I hope you want it because no one deserves to live in many of the circumstances that are out there today.

I wish you all the best! Please comment and retweet this if you can.

Tags: actions, relationships, self-respect, serving
Posted in Leadership | 7 Comments »

What is True Leadership?

June 28th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Today I want to touch on what is leadership.

Let’s start off with a good definition of leadership from John Maxwell who says, “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less. People have so many misconceptions about leadership. When they hear that someone has an impressive title or an assigned leadership position, they assume that he is a leader. Sometimes that’s true. But titles don’t have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated. It must be earned.”

So basically leadership is the influence of others in a productive, vision-driven direction and is done through the example, conviction, and character of the leader.

Your boss (if you have one) may think he is a leader but he is really a manager. Why? Because he has no influence. Yeah, he may tell people what to do and people may be scared of him, but that is not leading. That is poor management!

True leaders get people to do what they need to do by influencing them to do it by setting an example themselves, showing character, integrity, and respect for the people they influence.

Here is an example, suppose you are in a sales position and your numbers aren’t up to par this month and your boss sits you down in his office and says, “You need to bring up your numbers because if you don’t you will know what’s going to happen! We can’t afford to have underperformers here at this company! Now go get me some coffee!”

That is an example of a lousy manager with very poor leadership skills. If your boss was a true leader he would say something like, ‘I see that your numbers have dipped this month. What’s going on out in the sales field? Have you tried doing this ….? You’re one of our best sales reps and I know and trust you can bring your numbers up by the end of the month. What can I do to help you out? Do you think it would be beneficial for me to go on some calls with you? Let’s put together a plan for the rest of this month and see how we can get your numbers up to where they need to be.”

Big difference! You see in the first example the boss is flexing his POWER, showing his CONTROL, and is asking to be SERVED.

While the second example the boss is GIVING POWER (EMPOWERING) by saying you can do this. He is HELPING OTHERS FIX PROBLEMS AND MOVE FORWARD by strategizing with you to see how you can bring up your numbers. Finally, he is SERVING you by asking if he can help you in any way and seeing if he can go out with you into the field.

What it comes basically comes down to is communication and relationships. Leaders know how to communicate and they know how to establish strong relationships that will be a win / win situation. Just remember leaders empower, help others fix problems and move forward, and serve others. I just want to encourage you to think of how you can use these 3 important principles in your own life whether it’s at work or at home.

The leadership training system that I am teach stresses on the two things that I mentioned above….communication and relationships.

Tags: Character, communication, Influence, Integrity, Leadership, relationships, serving, vision
Posted in Leadership | 10 Comments »

The Three Foundational Qualities Of A Leader

June 27th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Today I wantto talk about the Three Foundational Qualities of a Leader taken from the #1 Best Selling book on leadership, Launching A Leadership Revolution by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward.
Here they are:

- Hungry

- Hone-able

- Honest

All leaders have to have these three qualities. They are very important for someone to reach the leadership status. Why? Well, let’s review them real quick…

Foundation Quality Number One – Hungry

Let’s look a hunger in general. Have you ever watched the news and they were doing a story on people that live in 3rd world countries who were starving and you see this hunger relief truck backing up to a crowd of these starving people? What happens when one of the relief workers opens up the back of the truck and starts throwing sacks of rice out to the people? The crowd goes crazy! They start pushing, people are getting knocked down, and sometimes fights break out? Why? Because these people are hungry and will do anything it takes to get food in them and totheir families.

As leaders we need to have that same hunger burning inside of us. We need to think of books, leadership audio CDs, and associating with the right people as the food that will satisfy our hunger. We need to believe in ourselves that once we get the right information in our heads we will have the power to make our lives and our family’s lives better. That, my friends, is the kind of hunger I am talking about!
You need to find out what is your motivation. There are three levels of motivation that I want to share:

Material Success

This is financial independence and material things. When we position ourselves as a leader we have the opportunityto make a lot of money. Many people get into network marketing, internet marketing, start their own business, investing, etc. because they want material success. They want to pay off their debt, they want to buy a new car, they want to buy a vacation home, they want to travel more, they want a Rolex, etc. So this is the first level of motivation. It’s wanting better things for yourself andyour family.

Recognition and Respect

Most people crave the recognition that others provide; apart of human nature is a deep need to be noticed and appreciated by others. It is not secret that everyone needs encouragement. For that reason, recognition by others is another healthy source of motivation.

Some people love to get rewards from their job, while others like to hear that they are doing a great job from their mentors. These and other forms of recognition canand should be used as motivations for performance.

Many people are motivated to obtain the respect of amentor, parent, teacher, boss, or spouse. Yearning for respect can be a strong motivator. So find those whom you admire, who are in a position in life you desire to be in, who are living their lives in a manner you wish to emulate, and strive to obtain their respect for what you are doing and accomplishing.

Purpose, Destiny, Legacy

The motivation factors that we have talked about so far are all great, but purpose takes us our of the realm of living only for ourselves and our own selfish desires, and onto a higher plane. Purpose involves sacrifice for the greater good, contribution for making a bigger difference, and energies directed at a long term view.

Destiny takes purpose further, comprehending the spiritual component. Destiny says that we were created, created for a purpose, and the unique abilities and opportunities that we find in our lives are God-given. Who you are, where you live, the talents you were born with, the opportunities that have and will come your way, are all part of a bigger picture, a picture into which you were painted to fulfill apart that only you can fulfill.

Legacy results from understanding our purpose in the bigger picture of our destiny and living it to its fullest. What we have and what we are given are not as important as what we contribute and what we leave behind. As one famous quote says, “My life is my message.”

Foundation Quality Number Two – Hone-able

Next we need to be hone-able which is another word for teachable. Leaders approach situation and challenges with a learner’s mind-set, that is, as a student and not as acritic. You have to come with an open mind and ready to learn. Everyone is not on the same plane so there are going to be people that have some leadership experience and know some principles, while others are brand new and want to get out of where they currently are.

So knowing that you haven’t “arrived” (HINT: No one ever arrives! We all can strive to do better that what weare currently doing now) and knowing that you want to improve will help you become a leader much faster than someone that constantly questions everything and is tough to work with. Leaders must approach learning with a positive, curious inquisitiveness, and never allow their responsibilities or setbacks to sour their dispositions.

Foundation Quality Number Three – Honorable

Author Jeff O’Leary, in The Centurion Principles, writes,”Honor, encompasses the virtues of integrity and honesty, self-denial, loyalty, and a servant’s humility to those in authority above as well as a just and merciful heart to those below.” In fact, honor is the force that holds a leader’s hunger in check. Without honor, hunger runs rampant and ultimately serves only selfish interests. Honor is the component that makes hunger productive for the leader’s fellow man.

This concept of honor is so important to a leader because people will follow a leader only as far as they feel they can trust him. People will not follow a leader they can’t trust.

He’s an example, if you work for a boss and your boss is coming into work late, going off for very long lunches, and getting caught in lies I am sure that you and your co-workers are not going to respect, follow, or trust him or her. But if your boss is honoring you with his or her actions, you will honor him or her by giving the respect he deserves.

Honor is, I believe, the most important of all three. The reason I believe this is because in order for the hunger and teaching to begin you need to get yourself right first. It has been said, “The internal victories precede the external victories.” Having honor means you are a standup person, you’re dependable, and people can trust you.

I would like to challenge you to do is to really think if you have the three foundational qualities that a leader needs to have in order to become an effective leader and what your motivating factor(s) are. And if you don’t have these three qualities sit down and write out a plan on what steps you need to take in order for you to get there becuase once start thinking with this kind of mindset you will see positive changes in your personal life and professional life.

Enjoy your day!

Tags: Character, communication, Foundational qualities of a leader, Integrity, Internet Marketing, Leadership, relationships, serving, vision
Posted in Leadership | No Comments »

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Leadership

The Cycle of Achievement (Pt. 1)

How Can Tribes Help Me?

Surprise Wedding: Yes, You Read That Right!

Are You On The Right Highway?

A Sad Situation

What is True Leadership?

The Three Foundational Qualities Of A Leader

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