Is it a matter of luck? Is it a matter of luck to be a person who has enough vision to stick out the process long enough to see a good or great result? It’s all luck, its just luck. Get a little lucky And you make a little money Here, in Fools Paradise.* I think pretending there is anything random about our life is living in a Fools Paradise. There is nothing random, nothing by chance. All is ordered, specific and with purpose and intention. At least that’s how my universe is managed. NULL
I do believe in Fortune, as in Good Fortune and Unfortunate Circumstances. Our fortune is what we create; it’s not the result of random chance. God doesn’t play dice, not in my universe.
15 years ago The Soccer Goddess was in a pre-K Gymnastics class. During her time at the Gym they moved to a new large, gorgeous facility. Just before the Grand Opening I was photographing the owner, David and interviewing him as we went through the photoshoot. I had only known him and his wife for a year or so and it appeared that they had had a meteoric rise to success, and I said as much. “Over night success? Yeah, twenty years in the making.” And he continued to tell me the story of finishing college and hanging out his shingle as a Gymnastics Coach, and the lean years of more month than students and years and years of working sixteen hour days and somehow having to balance (he’s a gymnastics Coach, BALANCE) wearing all the hats, including marketing and answering the phones and teaching the classes and doing the books and keeping his own saw sharp, taking his classes all while falling in love getting married and starting his own family. Twenty years down that road and here he was enjoying the bright new facility, with a large staff to wear many of the hats that were formerly perched only on his head. Now he had time with his wife and their two sons, they had just returned from Disney World, and he was home on time for dinner every evening. To me at that time it looked like luck. As though he had just walked into the right thing at the right time. We lived in an affluent area in Chicago and yuppie parents were eager to enroll their little darlings in every kind of class they could find, and all of that was then still a fairly new trend.
What I was overlooking was how my friend had been honing himself for the moment. How all of his work for years had made him ready and poised to take action when the opportunity presented itself.
How many leaders in our industry are perceived that way? People ask me, “Is it true (insert your own favorite name here, someone who signed up with a company and went right to the top of the payplan) just brought over his downline from his last company?” Usually it’s not true. And what is being overlooked is that person has been Networking and building relationships for years. Let’s visit the 4-step ShipBuilding process again. 1. RelationShip – we say hello and we are in RelationShip. Now our job is to do a little exploring and find out if there is ground for FriendShip. 2. FriendShip – Here’s where I am listening for your values. Do we have enough values in common for me to want to get to know you? Will I like you? Will I trust you? Here’s a clue when I learned to listen for people’s values, without judging them, without needing to agree or disagree, I found that I fell into total like with just about everyone – what a Gift that was! 3. PartnerShip – Think of things that need to get done as projects, and the people we work on projects with as Partners. The day-to-day details of Marriage is a project, our spouses are our partners. Raising a family is a project; all the family members are our partners. Building a Network Marketing business is a project, our Distributors are our Partners. When I know you, like you and trust you I can offer PartnerShip. And that can happen just a few minutes into the RelationShip, or it can require nurturing fostering, and cultivating for years. 4. LeaderShip – Do all of the above over and over and develop a muscle called LeaderShip. Look behind the curtain at any success in our industry, I dare say any success in any industry, and there has been a serious amount of ShipBuilding going on for a long time. Folks, that is what I say our business is, it’s not nutrition, or travel or telecom or greeting cards or any of those other sexy, great and amazing products and services we have. At the bottom line our business is all about building RelationShips, FriendShips, PartnerShips and developing LeaderShip.
Doing the work of building ships, though I dare say it really is play, is how our businesses grow and develop and mature.
Is it a matter of luck to be a person who has enough vision to stick out the process long enough to see a good or great result? Is it a matter of luck to be a person who is willing to keep repeating a few simple and basic things over and over and over, every day for weeks and months and stay focused on the prize, without getting distracted by measuring results daily or hourly or after each task? Maybe I was just lucky enough to learn those skills. It’s all Luck. It’s just luck. You get a little lucky and you make a little money.* From Joni Mitchell’s “Dry Cleaner From Des Moines” cut from the album “Mingus”
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The skill of being truly present and listening without agenda, and without judgment, which gifts the other person with the all too rare opportunity to show up as how and who they really are.
The skill of having fun even when— maybe especially when— working really hard.
The skills of Teamwork— not just working as part of a Team— really learning how to follow and support the leader, which turns out to be the very best way to learn how to be a leader.
And having this bundle of skills in my toolkit adds up to being magnetically attractive and a whole lot'a fun.
If ever there was a servant leader, it's Maran. "It's all good" is something she lives— whether in the chaotic aftermath of a South Florida hurricane or facing the frustrations of a seething subscriber who can't get into the site. "Take a deep breath", she says, and goes about her business of turning straw into gold.
I've been together with Maran for more than five years now. Tough and high times both. She is a rock. One of those highly polished, swirling blue Lapis lazuli ones with the word Creativity etched in platinum. Maran is all that good! JMF
- It’s all good by Maran Banta - November 25, 2020
- Appreciation Marketing by Maran Banta - August 1, 2009
- Leadership by Maran Banta - March 1, 2009