Alan Sickman

By Alan Sickman
Double Crown Diamond
Advisory Board Member
Million Dollar Circle

The Max business model is somewhat unique, based on the potential for financial success verses the capital required to start a business. There are many examples of people who have earned fortunes or full-time incomes at Max. There are hundreds of examples of people who have earned a substantial part-time income. There are no income guarantees or claims, but the Max business allows Associates to be highly successful because it allows for the opportunity to earn from the efforts of others.

Although this is similar to the way traditional business works, wherein the business owner reaps the benefits of others’ efforts, the major difference is that in our business we are rewarded for teaching, empowering and fostering the independence of others. In traditional business, the profits are made, but the employee has a ceiling on what they can earn and the position they can achieve within the company. They will never become the CEO. In the Max business, we are all CEOs. It is difficult to accumulate business wealth when income can only be generated from your own efforts. John Paul Getty once asked “would you rather earn 1% of the efforts of 100 people or 100% of your own efforts?” Given the opportunity, the choice is clear for most people.

Remember, as an employee your efforts are limited by, first, your value to the marketplace, and, second, time. In the Max business model, you get paid for setting others up for success and there are no ceilings or limitations. The reward is not just the money and time freedom, but personal fulfillment. Those are strong desires that most people have and few accomplish. That being said, there are many Associates who do not achieve financial success at Max. To become a high achiever, the difference between success and failure will depend on you practicing these four fundamental principles:

1. Long-term Relationships=Long-term Success
Too often, sales are the only focus in the Max business. Sales are nothing more than an event on the journey to developing a relationship. In reality, sales are a promise to Associates you sponsor or your Customers. The path to earning business relationships is in giving your all to ensuring that promises are fulfilled. The key to a large, successful, and long-term Max business is “critical mass.” In other words, the more stable and lasting the relationships within your Max organization, the more it will create lasting success and yield greater “relationship income.” Some would classify the Max business as “residual income” because it pays from the relationships in the organization even if you are not working. However, we should all earn our way, and one of the keys to keeping a large business is to constantly find and cultivate new relationships. We are not handed a successful business. Rather, we are given all the tools that are needed; the rest is up to us.

2. Desire—Never underestimate the power of a strong “why”
Desire is often the fuel behind discipline. The stronger the desire, the stronger one’s discipline and resolve. It has been said, “To achieve greatness, your dreams have to be stronger than your largest obstacle”. This is so true. Life throws constant interruptions and choices at all of us. For many, that reality creates a life that is like a leaf blowing in the wind. Desire requires resolve. It requires a level of commitment where you will reach the top of the mountain or be found dead on the side. As Napoleon Hill noted, “Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to cut all sources of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win—essential to success”.

3. Willingness to Work
Many who fail to succeed in business seem to lack the key element needed to succeed in anything—the willingness to work. Even more important, it is the consistent discipline built around a solid DMO (Daily Method of Operation, our routines in life) that is often the key difference between success and failure. The ability to dream lives in all of us. However, it is the few verses the masses who have that willingness to work to do whatever is necessary to achieve that dream.

We all know or know of people who achieved success without working very hard, and we also know they are the exception to the rule. You will find in high achievers that there is not only that willingness to work, but an extra drive that really makes the difference. As the old adage goes, there is very little traffic in the extra mile. It is those who conquer that extra mile that become the examples in everything in life. That little bit of extra effort pays off.

4. Teachable – “You Must Grow as Your Business Grows”
The key is to grow right along with your business. That will always give you a better outcome. Don’t wait to begin your business until you feel you have sufficiently grown personally or you will never get started. Once you achieve success, it can become a wall for continued growth. It is here where the potential of an individual is minimal or even lost.

Use the principle of constant and never-ending improvement. The more money you make in business, the harder you should work to increase your value to the marketplace and your team. Continue to invest in your own personal development. There is always something you can learn that will help you achieve more and contribute at a higher level. Investing in personal development only occurs if you remain “teachable.” Growth in life requires an open mind. When you close your mind because you believe you have enough knowledge, then you are cheating yourself and all those you are serving. In the end, remember that experience is always the best teacher. However, as Vernon Law quoted, “experience teaches only the teachable.” If part of your DMO is not focused on growth, then you limit your ability to grow.

It is important to remember that principles mean nothing if you do not apply them to life. Application occurs through activity. That means you have to integrate these principles into your life if you want to achieve the benefits and rewards that come with them. Make relationships a priority. Learn how to create and build them. Fuel your desire everyday because that will fuel the discipline and resolve necessary to succeed at anything in life. Work hard and make productivity part of your DMO, regardless of the amount of success you have achieved. Success always leaves clues. Finally, remain teachable because there is a world of information that can open your mind to new possibilities and take your success and happiness to new heights.

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, then what am I? And if not now, when?”—Hillel, Ethics of the Fathers

These keys to business success are what my mentor taught me. It has served me well for the last 20 years in this industry. I remain committed to personal growth and learning how to better serve you. Partnering and relationships are essential to a successful business and life.

Keys to Max Business Success is a post from:

Mark Brown

By Mark Brown

Our last training message focused on the power of axioms. We stated that because axioms are by definition true, using axioms as you identify core values helps you live according to true principles. And, if you establish core values that aren’t based on truth, you will eventually find your actions, and therefore your life, drifting from truth.

The importance of core values cannot be overstated. We live in the information age and are bombarded from all quarters with all sorts of data—some of it useful, most of it vacuous, and all of it with the power to distract. If we are not clear on our core values—if we do not have clear priorities—and if we do not take the time to remind ourselves what those core values are, we can lose sight of them.

One may wonder how one could lose sight of a core value such as being a trusting and loving father, for example, but just ask yourself when you last gave more priority to something of far less importance and you’ll see what I mean. It’s like a radio signal that you can’t quite pick up because of all the noise in the spectrum.

In our Max Living seminars and in the Max Living System Guidebook, we provide a thought exercise to help you identify your core values—for what would you cross a six-inch wide, 192-foot-long I-beam 1,483 feet above the ground? Perhaps a few would cross for baseball or Starbucks, but the vast majority would only do so for what truly matters most—family, friends, knowledge, liberty, etc.

All of your core values together help build a picture of your “why”—tile by tile, you are crafting a mosaic. They provide the “what” of your why. Most, if not all, of the companies in our industry talk about a “why”—why are you devoting your time to building a business? The idea is to go beyond the surface benefits of the chance to earn an income and identify the underlying value that such an income will support or make possible.

Max International gives deeper substance and structure to a why by helping you identify the core values that comprise it. Core Values of “I am financially independent” and “I am a devoted and loving husband and father” can obviously work together to produce a powerful why that will propel you to success with Max. As you routinely review your core values, you can keep the foundation of your why at the forefront of your activity. In this sense, the means justify—or, more precisely, clarify—the ends.

If you have developed your core values, be sure you are taking time every week to review and, if necessary, revise them, and don’t lose sight of them. If you haven’t developed your core values, it’s time to get started! Go to the “Your Max Business Plan” section of the Max Living System Guidebook and take the first steps on what will be an illuminating journey.

To your success!

Training Message: Core Values–The What of Your Why is a post from:

All Max Philippines Associates with the rank of Silver and above are invited to attend the first training workshop to be conducted by Diamond Associate Hd Yco, the Philippines’ Pioneer Associate. Learn valuable information and strategies that helped propel Hd Yco to success with Max.

The training will be conducted in eight sessions over eight weeks, on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon starting on March 17, 2011. These trainings will take place in the training room of the Max Philippines office in Makati City. The training sessions are open to all Silvers and above from all lines.

Following are the topics of the Training Workshop:

1. Right Attitude
2. Testimonies
3. Mentoring/Teach-ability
4. Product/Comp Plan
5. Personality Plus
6. Art of Closing
7. Goal Setting
8. Prospecting

Post from: Max International Blog

Mark Brown

By Mark Brown

In our Max Living training and in the Max Living System Guidebook, we emphasize core values, and with good reason. The core values you identify for yourself should serve as a personal compass, guiding you in the ways you use your time. Or, perhaps a better way to put it is that your core values should represent the “ideal you” that you can constantly measure yourself against. When you find yourself drifting from the ideal, you make corrections.

A future message will devote more time to identifying core values. This message is about axioms that guide behavior. You might almost look at core values as atoms, and axioms as the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up those atoms.

So, what is an axiom? One definition is “a generally accepted proposition or principle, sanctioned by experience.” Because the concept can be considered “self evident,” proof is not necessary. Axioms are, by definition, true; using axioms as you identify core values therefore helps you live according to true principles.

On the Max Living blog, I recently reviewed Snow Rising, a book that had a profound impact on me. The central message of this book was the power behind four characteristics that the author labeled “axioms”—compassion, humility, gratitude, and conscience. (Axioms don’t have to be one-word concepts, but you get the idea). Most rational people would accept these four axioms as something everyone should demonstrate in their lives. The value of living according to these axioms should also be self evident, making them worthy foundations for core values.

As one passage of Snow Rising explains it, “The strength of my beliefs and values, the power of my convictions, is defined by how closely what I believe to be true mirrors the axioms, or what is actually true.” Shortly later, this illustrative idea: “Life isn’t necessarily easier when I believe gravity to be a true principle, but it is a lot less dangerous. So, first: axioms; and second: beliefs and values.”

In other words, gravity isn’t something we “believe in.” Rather, it simply is, and when our actions conform to its existence, things work out better for us. The closer your core values adhere to axioms—to truth—the better it will work out for you. Working against principles we believe to be true will only create cognitive dissonance—an internal realization that we hold conflicting ideas, or that our actions do not reflect our beliefs.

To resolve the discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance, we rationalize and typically surrender some or our beliefs. This is entirely contrary to the concept of core values. If you establish core values that aren’t based on truth, you will eventually find your actions, and therefore your life, drifting from truth.

By acknowledging axioms, you can more effectively define your true core values that sustain you over time. This process can help us really know ourselves, which is what personal development is all about. And of course, the Max Living System is designed to help you identify and—more importantly—focus on these core values in your everyday actions.

Post from: Max International Blog