Mr. Sijan, Richard Houston, is at it again.  With all those going for the Sijan award this month, Richard doesn’t want to take any chances on anyone catching him so he’s heading out on #12!  Richard is working hard and set his November goal to qualify for the Dominican Republic, earn a President’s Pin, earn a Bonus sign and earn his 12^th Sijan.  If anyone can do this it would be Mr. Sijan Richard Houston.  Watch and learn!

“Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.” ~Aristotle

By Buddy Swisshelm

Know Where You Are Going

Management Mistake: People can’t lead others if they have no clear direction themselves.

Leadership Solution:  Leaders set goals in all areas of their lives.

• The most successful people are those who set goals early in life.
• Have specific goals and a specific plan for reaching them.
• Discover the magic of 90 days.
• Reward yourself when you achieve goals;punish yourself when you don’t.
• The day you start setting goals, you’re a day closer to success.
• The first step to a goal is a dream.
• Goals are not just for business but for all areas of your life.

Don’t be Afraid to Fail

Management Mistake: Many Managers let their fear of failure keep them from achieving real success.

Leadership Solution:  You must take chances in order to have great success.

• Don’t waste time and energy worrying about things that haven’t happened.
• When people are running scared, they make more mistakes then ever.
• Eliminate the basic “failure fears” from your business life – fear of competition, fear of controversy, fear of what other people say, and fear of things you can’t control.
• You can’t hold anything back if you want to win.
• All you can do is all you can do.

You’ve Got to Pay the Price

Management Mistake: Many Managers want a fast, easy road to riches and success.

Leadership Solution:  Every big achievement has a big price.

• The harder you work, the luckier you get.
• Sacrifice is a part of paying the price.
• The greater the rewards, the greater the price.
• Winning is better than you ever imagined.
• Paying a price builds confidence and staying power.

By Buddy Swisshelm

Develop a Positive Attitude

Management Mistake: Many Managers dwell on their frustrations, disappointments and problem, and pass those negative down to their people.

Leadership Solution:  A leader maintains a positive attitude and passes that attitude to his people.

• No one will follow a negative, dull, disillusioned frustrated crybaby.
• Your business attitude is a reflection of the way you look at life.
• In your business, you must learn to pass negatives up and positives down.
• A bad attitude will cause failure faster than anything else.
• Let your people know that you expect them to work on developing a positive attitude.

You Get What You Expect

Management Mistake: Many people have low expectations of what they can accomplish.

Leadership Solution:  Leaders expect to succeed, and they expect success for their people.

• Life gives people whatever they expect.
• A leader won’t accept expectations of failure.
• People will rise to the standards you set for them.
• Constant encouragement leads to increased expectations.
• Your encouragement helps your people compete.

Get your Priorities Straight

Management Mistake: Many Managers place their career above everything else.

Leadership Solution:  Successful leaders know the importance of living a balanced life.

• Setting priorities helps to establish balance and perspective.
• Faith and hope come from a strong spiritual commitment.
• It is possible to balance a busy work life with a rich, rewarding family life.
• Good health is necessary in order to work effectively, and to enjoy the fruits of your efforts.
• A leader must be an example of balanced living.

By Buddy Swisshelm

Stand for Something

Management Mistake: Most Managers change their principles to suit their business

Leadership Solution: Leaders have the highest principles on both their business and personal lives.

• In business, reputation is everything.
• Trust and respect buy a loyalty that you can never buy with salary.
• Before you can become a great leader, you’ve got to become a great person.

Total Commitment is the First Step to Greatness

Management Mistake: Some Managers have only a half-hearted commitment to what they are doing, and it shows.

Leadership Solution: A great leader has a total commitment to his business and personal goals.

• You can’t ever be truly successful until you make a total commitment.
• Total commitment helps develop mental toughness.
• Successful people do what it takes and a little bit more
• Before you can be totally committed, you’ve got to love and believe in what you are doing.

Become a Crusader

Management Mistake: Many Managers are only in business to make a living.

Leadership Solution: Leaders find a cause they believe in and commit to it totally.

• Commit to something bigger than your business.
• A crusading spirit provides the motivation and inspiration that inspires activity.
• Crusade for a cause that’s worth the effort.
• Crusaders learn to live with criticism.
• Build your people’s success by helping them become crusaders.
• Show people the good their efforts can accomplish.

“The road to success has no speed limit.”  ~L. Nicole Green

• Here’s one for you: every lite-up buy a silver coin. About the cost of breakfast for two.
• Every order, buy a gold coin. Buy a 1/10 ounce for $170

Decide that in one year you want a treasure chest of coins.  Vernie has helped more people with this “little big idea” to have fun and build a nice nest egg and with what is going on in the world maybe a small fortune!

The past, present and future- The #1 mistake I see people make in saving money is that they never start.  They look at the current situation they are in and say I need to wait.  Or, they look at their history and say “why bother”.  They take the easiest route which is to take everything I make and lessen the burden that I carry today.

I know how you feel. But the fact is that I have empathy not sympathy for your situation.

• Sympathy- I understand and you do what you need to do today.
• Empathy- I understand but it will never change unless you take the harder road and follow the rules to success and wealth.

 “Work together as a team to build the foundation for tremendous performance and growth.”  ~Vernie Boren

Work Smart - Eliminate the things that rob your time.  Time is money and anything that you have to spend for more than once, kills profit.

 Time Killers

• Call backs-each trip cuts in half again what you are making per sale!
• Needing to get signatures or approvals that were not done on the first trip.
• Not having a plan to where you are working so that you are not covering the same area again.
• Selling Signtronix signs before knowing the rules. Sorry for being so blunt but it is just stupid, period.
• Check your math before pricing. Check it again when you are writing up the contact. Check it again before leaving. Do whatever you have to do to eliminate the mistakes. Remember you earn 20% commission but pay 100% of each mistake!

1. How many signs are needed to pay for your kid’s college?
2. How many signs are needed to pay for that deposit on the new car?

If you do not know where you are, do not be surprised when you do not reach your money needs.  Make sure you are following a sales program which brings the results that you need.  Example: if you don’t know your openers, close or how to design, you cannot expect to sell the number of signs that you might need.  Be very true to yourself. This is the time to be honest with you. Do you know it or not? If not learn it now, learn it first!!!

Free Signs - We are a contract driven program. That is the fact, period. If you were Signtronix and know what they know, you would be a contract driven program too. The insecurity you might feel at times has a solution. YOU MUST WIN FREE SIGNS!  Each month you either receive a bonus WORTH 50% OF EVERY DOLLAR THAT YOU ALREADY EARNED OR YOU DO NOT!  At the beginning of each year there is a $72,000 bonus in your name. How much of it do you want!!!

This is your plan. Make sure you are selling 2.5 Signtronix signs a week. Every other plan that does not include this plan will NEVER pay as much.  In fact, it will not even come close, to paying what this plan will. It’s that simple.

TAXES - We get paid up front. We get all of the money up front.  We can really get ourselves in trouble very quickly if you do not have a tax plan. I spent the first 14 years in this business always dealing with the IRS. The solutions are very simple, so simple that few do them.

My goal here is not just to help you from getting into tax problems but to pay the smaller amounts legally to the IRS! Get an accountant, NOW! Have an expert take care of finding ways to lower your tax bill. Deductions that you did not know about like did you know that two years ago if you bought an SUV, you received a $5000 tax break? AskRoger Pelton!  Depreciations on our computers, cars, printers, etc. are also write-offs.  If you are doing your own taxes, you are paying more than you need to… by the thousands!!!!

1. Form an LLC or an S-Corp (not a C-Corp.)  Give yourself a small paycheck each month. Run all expenses through a corporation. This will lower the amount you will pay in taxes and most importantly make you creditable to the IRS. You can develop business credit for the future, and it will give you a better feeling about how you are running your life, Mr. President of a corporation!
2. Keep a travel log each day.  Log the miles and gas and keep all receipts. Put the receipts in an envelope marked January, February etc.

How do we manage our money, save our money and grow our money as direct sales people?  I was there.  I sold a lot of Signtronix signs but never seemed to have enough money. No matter how much I made, I never had enough. Everyone kept telling me I needed to manage my money but no one told me how.  Most of my friends were also broke so I had no one to use as an example.  In my early forties I read two books that changed everything.

The Instant Millionaireby Mark Fisher had a very simple principle.  I know that I always survived and always found the money but I did not want to keep just surviving.  If I did not have the money, I would just work until I did.  In this book, the author points out that the only common denominator in the wealthy people that he works with was one thing….. they had their money automatically taken from them before they could spend it on bills, life or anything else. If you have the money taken from you, you will be amazed how quick your savings will increase. I started with $1000.  Every month I wanted to call and say “not this month”   I cannot survive without this money!  Soon I moved it to $3000 a month. Again each month I almost called and cancelled it. This decision changed my life. I became a better salesperson, a better provider and, in a short time, wealthy! I did this before I became a successful Manager at Signtronix so it was on my personal sales.

1. Pay yourself first!  You’ll find the money if it was not there in the first place
2. Do not, at this time; worry about what you are investing in, the fact is if it never gained a dollar, you are ahead of not saving at all.
3. I know you feel that you cannot possibly add $1000 to your already “tough nut” each month. I said the same thing for years. Believe in yourself and make this change right now!!