Grant Thorpe Life Coach

Creating a Fan Club

One of the big mistakes people make is trying to build a great career and life on their own, without any help from others.

In the world there are two distinct groups of people.

Those that fight their way through life, and those that sail through life, riding over the rough seas – with help from their friends.

When you see someone truly successful in life or in business they will undoubtedly have a very strong network or fan club around them.

I noticed this early on in my business career when I worked with a young man, who despite his years had an amazing network of people supporting him. He seemed to know everyone that was possible. If you need a mechanic, he knew one, if you needed a builder he knew a reputable one and on and on it went. Not only was he referring a lot of business to this group but he was constantly getting the heads up from them on any business within his industry too. He has learnt the value of having a strong group of people around him that were looking out for him – ensuring his journey was going a lot more smoothly than mine!

Sometimes in our lives we have to make sacrifices now to accomplish the greater goal later. Delayed gratification it is called. Unfortunately others around us may not be so committed to the long term goal and believe they need our time or resources right now.

This can create what I call ‘an emotional blackmail’ situation. Where quite frankly you are left feeling dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t

I remember in my early years of selling real estate when my children were very little. I was in a constant dilemma when I had to go out in the evening to secure a listing or negotiate a deal. This was often right at their dinner or bedtime and their demand for me to read a good night story or be there with them in the evening was strong and well vocalised.

Often I would leave the house with such a feeling of guilt, that it affected my whole performance in the field. Instead of walking out the door charged to go and do the business, or to be in the groove to negotiate a deal, I was stressed and guilt laden to the point that I knew the clients could probably sense it too.

Then one day it dawned on me, what I need was fan club one that would cheer me out the door, one that would be as excited as me when I had completed a deal, and a fan club that was coming with me on the journey.

So, simple as it sounds, I sat down with my two young boys and my wife and set about explaining to them what I was trying to achieve and what it meant when I had to go out at night.

I went to great lengths to explain, what I did and how it all worked.

But most of all, I sold them on what it would do for them. I set a goal for all of us, that if I could sell one extra house each month for the next 4 months we would all go to a tropical island for a holiday.

They were impressed. I put up a poster of the island in each of the boys rooms and got some brochures showing them all the fun things they could do on the holiday!

Now I had a fan club!

Each night if I had to go out, I now had two young boys cheering me out the door, ‘go Dad’ they would yell, ‘get out there and sell a house’! Waving as I drove out the drive, what a difference this made, when I drove off I was invincible, the greatest sales man in the world!

And of course first thing in the morning they would run into our bedroom to ask if I had done the deal! Were we all, that bit closer to the holiday?

Now here is the secret! This worked in two ways!

Firstly I was released to do the job without having to carry the emotional burden out the door with me – weighing heavy on my back.

I now had a ‘fan club’.

But just as importantly I now had a whole extra layer of motivation, how could I let this new ‘fan club’ down and not perform to deliver the team the goal of the holiday on the tropical island.

This is a technique I still use today, if you can have others buy into your dream, with their support anything is possible!

Getting out of your own way!

One of the major obstacles we have to overcome is our selves. We simply get in the way of our own journey

This style of obstruction comes mostly from our belief systems, what we believe to be true, even if it is completely wrong. For many of us, these beliefs, about what is fair, the way things work, or what we deserve or can expect, are in place by the time we reach our late teens. The problem is most of them are wrong, in some cases not just a little bit off the mark but up to 180 degrees away from reality.

Carrying around these beliefs is in effect a disability, as it restricts us in our ability to make an informed decision about the next best move forward.

Often our beliefs are passed on by those around us. These people may be seriously under qualified to give an opinion and they just continue their cycle of belief through into us. What they know and believe may once have been true; but could now be a generation out of date, and has long been passed by with the advance of discoveries in technology, science, medicine or finance, to name a few.

The dream we have, to achieve something specific in our lives, can be easily quashed by someone near to us who doesn’t believe it is possible and voices that opinion. A dream can be diverted or diluted by someone who wants to protect us from failure and so convinces us to take a safer option. The result in the end can be a journey much further away from our original goal, so far in fact that the end result is the ‘other person safe dream’, not ours.

Many wonderful singers, who as children may have taken the brave step to sing out loud only to be told, it wasn’t good enough, or to be laughed at for trying, quietly retreat away, never to sing again.

When people pass comment about us, they are telling us all about themselves. The person, who told the child they couldn’t sing, didn’t want to sing themselves. Or did want to sing, but didn’t have the courage. They passed on their beliefs and fears to the child. The result a disaster for both parties!

So the first step to success is being careful who you share your dreams with, make sure they are people who will support you on the journey, and that they will be able to put wind under your wings.

The next step is to ensure that if you need advice; to only get it from someone skilled in that area. Why would you take financial advice from someone poorer than you? Why would you take medical advice from a builder, or take real estate advice from a restaurateur.

So you can see how others can affect your journey, and that can be much easier to see because you will have someone ‘external’ to blame.

You need to remain totally focussed on the outcome of your goal or your dream and no matter what, no matter who tries to divert you, who tries to dilute it or who tries to contain it or whoever tries to quash it, you remain true to yourself and to your dream!

But what about yourself? The number one internal terrorist to achieving your dreams!

The last step is to deal with your internal conflict, and perhaps the greatest hurdle to overcome, is getting started then sticking to the plan. A test I like to use when I have to complete a task that I don’t really want to do, but needs to be completed to get me one more step closer to my end goal is the ‘Pleasure or Pain’ test.

It is simply this, no matter how bad the next task is, how much I fear it or how much it puts me out of my comfort zone, – will the end result be more pleasurable of more painful to me.

If it is going to be more pleasurable then I do it. If the end result is more painful I don’t.

Everyone will have an opinion about why it can or can’t be done. You will be bombarded with facts and figure, opinions, strategies and ideas but….

Just remember this!

“If the dream is big enough – the facts don’t matter”.

visit my audio series at www.secretstoswonderfullife.com

Why Haven’t You Got What You Want Yet?

By http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Alison_Bolger    Alison Bolger

Have you been asking for what you want and it hasn’t shown up yet?  You want the new car, a house by the beach, a better paying job etc.  Well where the heck is it?

You know you can have it all because you really believe that you can.  You are using the law of attraction.  You have visualized what you want.  You have all the pictures on your vision board.  You can see yourself with exactly what you want.  You are doing all the things the experts tell you to do so how come you are still living on credit cards and overdrafts.

Your intentions have been good every day, but now all you seem to do is spend your day in-tension.  You start to question the methods and techniques you are using.  Without realizing what you are doing you start to focus more on what you don’t have.  When you don’t get the results you want all you see is what you don’t have.

The more you worry about your lack of money then that’s the amount of money you don’t have.   Your feelings of lack become your dominant vibration.  Fear takes over and compounds your worry and all you see is more lack.  Sometimes you don’t even realize you are doing this, but if you tune into how you are feeling it will give you an instant indication of what your dominant thoughts are.   You’ve had years of practice at self sabotaging yourself and unless you recognize those underlying beliefs you will continue to  live your life based on them.

From now on when you find yourself questioning where all your “stuff” is, change your thinking.  Instead of obsessing about your lack, start being grateful for what you already have.  Are your basic needs of food and shelter being met every day.  Do you have a car, a bed, clothes and shoes.  What about an indoor bathroom, hot and cold running water.  The list is endless.  Write down the value of what you already own.  You may be surprised at the dollar value of what you already have and this will inspire you to do better.

When you start to look at what you already have you let go of your neediness and lack.  You come back to what is, and the gap between what you do and don’t have disappears.  The tension goes and you free yourself up to make a fresh start.  Once you get rid of that sense of lack then you begin to open up to new ideas and opportunities that will give you what you truly want.

So every day from now on when you get out of bed each day, start giving thanks for everything you do have.  This will set you up for a real positive start to your day.  Feel how great it is to have all this.  Now you will really be in the right frame of mind to attract what you want.

Alison Bolger has been studying and teaching self improvement and wealth creation for over 20 years.  To read more tips and techniques like the ones in this article please click here: http://www.learnwealthysecrets.com/wildly_wealthy.html http://www.learnwealthysecrets.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alison_Bolger http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Havent-You-Got-What-You-Want-Yet?&id=656055

How To Say No With Less Guilt

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Barbara_Hare,_Psy.D.]Barbara Hare, Psy.D.

Have you ever said “yes” to something that you really did not want to do? Or maybe you wanted to do it at first, but did not realize exactly what you had agreed to until it was too late? Setting boundaries is an important part of managing stress. You have a finite amount of time and energy to give to any single day. And if you don’t protect it, well, no one else will!

Sometimes we agree to something to avoid feeling guilty later. The problem with this is that we may feel resentful toward the person who asked for our time, as well as ourselves. But the idea of saying no can be quite stressful for many people. It may feel like a no-win situation. How do I say no to lower my stress, if saying no increases my stress?

Here are four strategies to make saying no easier:

Delay Your Response.  The first words out of your mouth should be “Can I get back to you on that?” or “I need to check my schedule.” This gives you time to consider the request. Do you have the time? Do you have the energy? Do you want to do it? This is especially helpful if you have a bad habit of saying “yes” without thinking about it.

The Sandwich Approach.  Put the “no” between two positive comments. For example, you might say “Thank you for your confidence in me, but I can’t take on another commitment right now. It’s sounds great, though!”

Change the Subject.  After you have said no, ask follow up questions to show your interest in the person and his or her life. Keep the other person talking for about a minute.

Broken Record Technique.  If the requestor is persistent, repeat yourself as often as you need to. If he or she is exceptionally pushy, you might need to say something like “I understand that this is important to you, but my answer is no. I cannot help you with this.”

These techniques may soften the blow of telling someone no. Regardless of how he or she reacts, if you use the techniques with respect and empathy for the other person’s feelings, you will have nothing to feel guilty about.

About The Author Dr. Barbara Hare is a licensed psychologist with a private practice in Phoenix, Arizona. She specializes in helping women with anxiety stop worrying and start living.
For more information about Dr. Hare or anxiety, please visit http://www.new-perspectives-psych.com/]new-perspectives-psych.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barbara_Hare,_Psy.D. http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Say-No-With-Less-Guilt&id=647579

Creating a Help Squad

Creating a help squad is the answer to the big mistake that sales people make, that is trying to build a successful sales career on their own, without an help from their Sphere of Influence A Sphere of Influence data base is all the people you know and consequently all the people that they know.

So some easy numbers : if you know 100 people and they each know 100 people than you have the ability to make contact with 10,000 people it’s just that 9900 of them you haven’t met yet. By tapping into this database, you have so many more times the opportunity to do business. Your sphere of influence will consist of all your friends, family members as well as everyone you have ever met. Trades people, professional people, sporting clubs, hobby and school contacts too As a rule, everyone you meet should go into your database; you never know when that contact will be useful to you, or when you can be helpful to them. A mistake many sales people make is to try to get their immediate database to do business with them, right now.

For a start, as in the example we just talked about, this limits you to just 100 people. But if you take a strategy of using the 100 people you know to reach the other 9900 people then the game changes dramatically.

Your personal data base wants you to be successful, they just don’t know how to help you yet? So you need to start to train your database to help find you business. One of the easiest ways to start this process is to make sure that every time you meet anyone, anyone at all, that you ask them this, Do you know anyone who might be thinking of buying or selling ( your product)?? in the near future?’ Don’t try to sell them something today, ask them to refer you to someone they know who needs your service. By the way if they want to do business with you, they will say so. Give them your card, and swap it for theirs. In fact give them 6 cards that they can hand out to other people for you.

One trick I like to use is to prompt them to put your cards in the glove box of their car. We all know that the glove box is rarely emptied out, and sure enough, at some much later date when they are asked, if they can nominate the best person for the job, they will remember they have your card in their car and they will surely pass it on for you.

Give and you shall receive is the other important strategy. So often we are going for the sale, instead of offering to help someone else become successful, and by way of doing this we train them to see the value in referrals. Giving out a referral to your Sphere of Influence is like throwing pebbles into the pond. Each time you through one in, a ripple runs out across the water, soon or later it will bounce off something and the ripple will return to you. The more pebbles you throw in the pond the more come back your way.

Start today to make your database your most powerful marketing tool. Meet with them as often as you can, even form a regular meeting arrangements like a breakfast meeting or a monthly lunch, use this time to share ideas and refer business between each other. You will soon become the sales person for the whole group, just start throwing pebbles in the pond!

So you see, creating a help squad has a far wider effect than just a quick sale for today – to the people you know.

Thorpe Shares his Library

Internationally recognised Speaker, Coach and Business Mentor, Grant Thorpe shares his recommended reading list of books that will guarantee to change the way you think. Of the hundreds of books he has reviewed these are the essential few to assist you to generate more wealth, yet ensure you maintain a healthy and stress free, balanced life.

Grant Thorpe’s Quote of the Day comes from Winston Churchill who said “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it.”

And that is what reading is all about, taking the knowledge that is so readily shared through books and then using it to create opportunities for yourself.

Business opportunities will fund Life opportunities. Life opportunities are the gift of experiences. Review Grant Thorpe’s list of 100 things to do before you die. These are some of the ‘experience’ goals he has personally set to achieve. Why not compare his list to yours and start today to be on the way to achieving them?

International Cricketer Danny Morrison Snapped!

Danny Morrison tells the story of how it all happened…

Danny, what inspired you to take up cricket?

Well I was late starter, I didn’t start playing cricket until I was 11 when we moved to Auckland, and then I saw the two greats, Dennis Lillee from Australia and New Zealand’s very own Sir Richard Hadlee and those two were in confrontation with each other in Eden Park in 1977. I saw these two guys and thought, that’s me!

Those two guys inspired me to pick up a bat and a ball and have a go at the summer code of cricket

In a brief summary, what drove you to succeed to the highest level with cricket?

Well if any of you have seen me in the flesh, yours truly is a 5 foot nothing “Garden Gnome’ as they like to call me here in Australia. And I had this burning desire and drive to not so much prove people wrong, but a lot of people doubted whether I could do that because I had spouted off a bit, pretty much half way through high school that I was going to run in and bowl fast for New Zealand and do it along side Richard Hadlee. And a lot of those teachers and people at School certainly doubted me, and I just simply desired it more than anything else. I trained hard, I simply wanted it that much more than some of the other talented guys I had gone through School and club with. I was very single minded, knew what I wanted, and went for it!

What is your greatest asset?

Your greatest asset; when you listen to a lot of very high profile speakers, high profile corporate people, sports people, any walk of life and you listen to them, they talk about a lot of things but it always comes back to central core, and that is your health! It doesn’t matter how much wealth you have got if you don’t have your health, you are simply not going to enjoy all that wealth.

So that’s always been a big issue for me, because of my physical ‘non-attributes’ if you like, I had to work really hard to achieve what the others had.

So for me it always comes back to health being your greatest asset, you can’t enjoy life without it.

How do you maintain your health & well being?

It comes back to the nuts and bolts for me, and I know that for a lot of people they hate to get up to exercise, but I really don’t care who you are, in terms of how wealthy you are and where you are in your life, if you can’t get up in the morning to do it then you are going to struggle.

You need to kick start your day with doing some physical activity, because what I found over the years is that if you leave it to the end of the day, things come up, you can make excuses, your schedule changes, but if you get up and do it first thing in the morning you have no excuses. Just like you say Grant it’s all about planning an Ideal Day!

What about balance in your life, what are you up to these days?

Having moved to the Sunshine Coast in Australia and like a lot of us you come over here for the sun. And there is no doubt about it, when the Sun is shining; it is so much more uplifting and inspiring. So many young New Zealanders have come over with young families to have a part of that.

And so in terms of balance for me, it very family orientated, with my wife and two children, it’s certainly all about that. And while you love chasing work and being stimulated by that, the balance for me has to be around family and being outdoors. I am lucky enough to be able to still do things through cricket avenues whether it’s coaching, or media commitments, certainly the balance for me is being able to be there for your children, being able to get away, exploring this whole lovely region and being involved with their sport, either my daughters Netball or my sons Soccer. It allows you to step back from busy work issues to have that balance in your life.

Now Danny I’m told that you are involved in an exciting new technology with a project called Photomax? What is this all about?

It’s very exciting, its internet technology based because that’s the way you access it, but in real terms it’s about digital storage.

In fact it appeals to every one of us because it’s about how we store digital images and ensure we protect them for future generations. This storage is not just for our precious family photos and videos but also expands into business records, various other media, and even content from you mobile phone.

All this digital technology is exploding and we know it will be changing rapidly in the next few years. My friends and family have got involved with Photomax.

Not many people realise how fragile our old photos and videos are, in fact they only have about a 10 year life span before they start to deteriorate . All these sentimental emotional memories that are traditionally stored either on photo paper or on tape, they need to be digitized, enhanced and looked after and kept for all time. Photomax has a laboratory in the USA, and one opening soon in New Zealand and Australia. Photomax also has a state of the art storage facility, where all the digital back up of the photos is kept; to guarantee their future preservation.

But also you can send off all your fabulous memories to be stored as well as have them reproduced into a variety of Albums, and DVD’s etc

Photomax is the only company that allows you to have a compensation plan where you can create a business out of this, and that is what has spoken to me!

How can people find out more about Photomax?

In the first instance you can view the Photomax website at www.creativemax.myphotomax.com or contact me directly at creativemax@myphotomax.com

The Dalai Lama hugs a Koala

On Wednesday was fortunate enough to hear the Dalai Lama speak at Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast or Australia. As part of National Kindness week, it was opportune to have him visit a location where kindness to and the protection of animals is such a focus.

His presentation was very relaxed and humorous at times, and you certainly felt you were in the presence of something greater than one individual. The Animal Planet Crocoseum was filled to capacity and being part of such a positive crowd certainly had its effect on me too.

The Dalai Lama spoke of the need for compassion both towards fellow human beings and to animals. He also spoke of the benefits of being a vegetarian and how he had as a young man brought animals in Tibet to save them from the butcher.

The news media covered the story extensively too with a large number of reporters from around the country and the world attending.

Terry, young Bob and Bindi Irwin were on hand to host him and came on stage holding a Koala bear. The Dalai Lama presented each of them (including the Koala) with a silk scarf.

For myself visiting the Dalai Lama and seeing him speak first hand has been one of the things I had included on my 100 things to do before I die list and so it was also nice to tick that one off. But it’s not really a done deal, as I am sure I will make the effort to see him again one day.

My new friend Tracey Woolley has taken some photographs and these can be viewed on her Inspire Your Day website . Tracey is not only known for her outstanding landscape photography but also for her Inspire your day business that focuses on Inspiration, Wellness, Empowerment, Nutrition and Wealth. Well worth a look

100 Things to try before you die

One hundred things to try today

I have just launched my list of One hundred things to try before you die

You maylike to view it at my website Grant Thorpe.com and take the test to see how many of my suggested ‘essential things to experience during your lifetime’ you have done.

The first ten are:

1. Swim with a dolphin
2. Skydive
3. Spend the whole day naked
4. Watch the launch of the Space Shuttle
5. Walk the Great Wall of China
6. Listen to the Dalai Lama Speak
7. Ride a camel into the desert
8. Get to know your neighbours
9. Learn to ballroom dance properly
10. Fall deeply in love – helplessly and unconditionally

Read on to find the rest and….

There is a comment submission, and a chance for you to submit your favourite 100 things to try before you die idea. The best ones will be added to the list and credited with your name and web address (if you want it too) against them. Have a look, have some fun remembering the event or planning when to do it! Remember this is the stuff you need to do while you are still around! Better get cracking?

P.s Why not subscribe to my weekly audio series www.secretstoawonderfullife.com for less than the price of a cup of coffee each week you can hear the secrets to achieving everything on ‘your list’ of 100 things to try before you die? It may not be for you, but 100′s of others tune in each week to make a difference in their lives?

The predjudice shows through?

Its a great example of people deciding the end result based on their beliefs before they see the end result, or in this case the ‘gift’ this man had to offer the world!