Ned's Message
The year was 1993 and I found myself sitting in an auditorium full of parents like ourselves anxious to get it all over with. I had been there the year before with our daughter Tonya, now one year later it was Jason's turn. Commencement Ceremonies for his high school graduation. Jason was an honor student and quite the Drama Club super star. We were so proud. Then it hit me. He was graduating, his sister had already went out into the world to stake her claim that year and I knew my eldest son would soon do the same. I glanced over at Cheryl and then to our 4 year old son Nathan. I had missed it! I had missed those important years of my eldest two growing up. But wait, I was only doing what a parent was supposed to do. Work all the hours I could to provide the best I could. As a tool and die maker, the machinist pay was top of the scale but the hours were brutal, 70 hour weeks, week after week after week. I had missed those important years. Tears were welling up in this big brute of a man and I could not hold them back. Cheryl looked at me and asked what the world was wrong, and I looked at her and just keep saying "I missed it, all those times I could have been there for the plays, the games, but I was trading hours for dollars. On the way home I made a promise to Cheryl, that I would not miss Nathan growing up. I started wondering how on earth I would do that. I didn't have a plan just a glimmer of hope. It wrenched at my craw for almost two years and one Saturday when the foreman came up to me and TOLD me I had to be there on Sunday for six hours I lost it. I said I was sick and tired of being there more than with my family and that I had already given the company a reasonable amount of over time that week, can anyone relate to this? A co-worker heard me and asked me a question, " Ned, if time and money weren't an issue in your life, what would you do different?" I smiled and said he didn't have enough time to hear that answer. We laughed and he invited me to meet him at a local hotel the
next Tuesday night, even offered to pick me up. Tuesday came and I called and said I couldn't make it, he said that would be ok, but I was missing a great deal of knowledge on how to get the time and money I said I wanted. Well, I showed up much to his surprise. That was my introduction into this industry. An Amway meeting, I think I must have been living under a rock cause I never heard of it. That night set me on a path that has changed my life. I started to read "self-help" books and listened to tapes by Dexter Yager and Les Brown, and getting around like minded people. That was all well and good, but not enough, I wanted more. It was three weeks before Thanksgiving, and I was approached by my first mentor, Don Kennimer a Diamond, our Diamond. He told me he would see me in St. Louis in two weeks. I looked at him like he had two heads. We can't be in St. Louis in two weeks I replied. I had already shelled out the enrollment and still hadn't made a cent. He then told me that I couldn't afford not to be there. Told me all the "leaders" WOULD be there. Well maybe it was ego, maybe it was curiosity, but we made a decision that this was going to work. We paid the $300 or so dollars for the event and another $200 or so for a room at the Adams Mark in St. Louis. We loaded in a car with another couple, our sponsors and drove 12 hours to St. Louis. That was the missing piece of the puzzle, my roadmap to freedom.
We spent the next four years learning and attending four major conferences a year. The books the tapes the being around the leaders. We spent thousands of dollars over those years. Then I met a young man in Dallas, Texas when I wandered into looking at another program. This young man was Matt Morris and the time was almost six years ago. At this time Nathan was 10. The rest is history, we left Amway and started following a young man that knew where he was going and how he was going to get there. I have been a stay at home dad now for almost 6 years, try to put a price tag on that!!
Now why did I tell you all that? Let's step back and look at what happened over those years. What prepped me for success, the books, the tapes the seminars and being around the winners, the leaders. Being where they were, picking their brains on how they got there, and because I was there, they were all but too anxious to feed me all that knowledge. Ask yourself this, " Are you where you want to be? Are you missing out on important things in your life? Do you have all the income you need?" If you answered NO to any of those questions, you NEED to be in Dallas, Texas November 11th 12th and 13th. You can give excuses or you can take action. The road I traveled to success was indeed a toll road, one with dead ends and pot holes, but once I got the right road map I arrived, WE arrived. Make the commitment to be in Dallas, I promise you this, you will never look back from that point on. Want change in your life? Well sometimes that takes a few inconveniences and changes in your life. Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside. Want to know where you'll be in five years if you keep doing what you're doing? Look at someone that has been doing what you do for five years more! Scary isn't it!!
SEE YOU IN DALLAS.ALL THE LEADERS WILL BE THERE!!
Ned & Cheryl Rae
Personal Development Executive Directors
Founding Members
International Field Advisory Board Members
Success University
next Tuesday night, even offered to pick me up. Tuesday came and I called and said I couldn't make it, he said that would be ok, but I was missing a great deal of knowledge on how to get the time and money I said I wanted. Well, I showed up much to his surprise. That was my introduction into this industry. An Amway meeting, I think I must have been living under a rock cause I never heard of it. That night set me on a path that has changed my life. I started to read "self-help" books and listened to tapes by Dexter Yager and Les Brown, and getting around like minded people. That was all well and good, but not enough, I wanted more. It was three weeks before Thanksgiving, and I was approached by my first mentor, Don Kennimer a Diamond, our Diamond. He told me he would see me in St. Louis in two weeks. I looked at him like he had two heads. We can't be in St. Louis in two weeks I replied. I had already shelled out the enrollment and still hadn't made a cent. He then told me that I couldn't afford not to be there. Told me all the "leaders" WOULD be there. Well maybe it was ego, maybe it was curiosity, but we made a decision that this was going to work. We paid the $300 or so dollars for the event and another $200 or so for a room at the Adams Mark in St. Louis. We loaded in a car with another couple, our sponsors and drove 12 hours to St. Louis. That was the missing piece of the puzzle, my roadmap to freedom.
We spent the next four years learning and attending four major conferences a year. The books the tapes the being around the leaders. We spent thousands of dollars over those years. Then I met a young man in Dallas, Texas when I wandered into looking at another program. This young man was Matt Morris and the time was almost six years ago. At this time Nathan was 10. The rest is history, we left Amway and started following a young man that knew where he was going and how he was going to get there. I have been a stay at home dad now for almost 6 years, try to put a price tag on that!!
Now why did I tell you all that? Let's step back and look at what happened over those years. What prepped me for success, the books, the tapes the seminars and being around the winners, the leaders. Being where they were, picking their brains on how they got there, and because I was there, they were all but too anxious to feed me all that knowledge. Ask yourself this, " Are you where you want to be? Are you missing out on important things in your life? Do you have all the income you need?" If you answered NO to any of those questions, you NEED to be in Dallas, Texas November 11th 12th and 13th. You can give excuses or you can take action. The road I traveled to success was indeed a toll road, one with dead ends and pot holes, but once I got the right road map I arrived, WE arrived. Make the commitment to be in Dallas, I promise you this, you will never look back from that point on. Want change in your life? Well sometimes that takes a few inconveniences and changes in your life. Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside. Want to know where you'll be in five years if you keep doing what you're doing? Look at someone that has been doing what you do for five years more! Scary isn't it!!
SEE YOU IN DALLAS.ALL THE LEADERS WILL BE THERE!!
Ned & Cheryl Rae
Personal Development Executive Directors
Founding Members
International Field Advisory Board Members
Success University
posted by E K Gann at 11:22 AM
