BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES WITH A DEEPER PURPOSE!

Having my own home based business I am always very interested in general business and what the underlying motivation is for someone to step into the business world to ultimately achieve success; whatever the definition of success might be. Whilst reading Richard Branson’s book (“Business stripped bare”; highly recommend it) about entrepreneurship I came across this interesting statement from Dr.Muhammad Yunus that I absolutely love

Dr.Muhammad Yunus is the Nobel Peace Prize winner 2006 and has pioneered an economic system that transformed the lives of millions. Muhammad is a proponent of ‘social businesses. He states:

Ordinary businesses are aimed at making money….there is no consideration of how people benefit; it’s all about making profits. Social business, on the other hand, is all about social benefits, not personal gain. Profits are important to social businesses, which seek to sell products at prices that make it self-sustaining. A social business is not a charity – but profits are not its ultimate goal. When a social business turns a profit, the original investors are repaid, but the rest of the profits stay with the company in order to achieve its long-term social goal of helping the poor.

Being entrepreneurial and involved in a business myself with a deeper purpose is so liberating and profound. I could never be involved in an ordinary business as there is nothing more satisfying then helping other people and making a contribution or change in their lives. Forever grateful to Dr. Yunus for your effective leadership and the business that I am in.

Paul Mantel – http://www.livelifeco.com

GRATITUDE FOR THE AMAZING RAY CHARLES

A few months ago I watched the movie “Ray”, the life story of Ray Charles, one of the most incredible life stories I have ever seen. Completely intrigued about how someone from an under privileged background can create such enormous success. Taken away by such inner strength, total self reliance and confidence. This is such a lesson to all of us how to achieve success.

The great Ray Charles was an explorer who returned time and again from expeditions across musical boundaries to give us, in his own unique way, melodious stories and charts of his adventures. From rock ‘n roll, soul , R&B, swing, gospel to Country music Ray Charles broke barriers that nobody thought was possible. In so doing he changed what had previously been only a black and white territorial paper map of American music into a 3-D, solid terrain model, full of colour.

Ray Charles Robinson was born Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, Ga. His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and a handyman, and his mother, Aretha, stacked boards in a sawmill.

At just five years old Charles had to endure the trauma of witnessing the drowning death of his younger brother in his mother’s large portable laundry tub. Soon after the death of his brother he gradually began to lose his sight and by 7 years of age Ray Charles was blind.

But Charles would not be denied and rather than give up, he made a significant geographical relocation to Seattle, Washington. It was in Seattle’s red light district at just 16 where he met a young Quincy Jones only 14 himself. He taught the future producer and composer how to write music and arrange. It was a friendship that lasted a lifetime with the two working on many sessions together later in their careers.

His first 3 recordings were made in Tampa, Florida in 1947 and included Guitar Blues, Walking’ And Talkin,’ and Wonderin’ And Wonderin’. Charles got his first taste of commercial success in 1953, when he arranged and played piano on bluesman Guitar Slim’s recording of The Things That I Used to Do, which sold more than a million copies. The real Ray Charles emerged in 1954 on a record called I Got A Woman. The recording reached #1 on the R&B chart in 1955. More significantly it brought together elements of gospel music in a secular setting, in a way they had never been married before, and served to spawn a whole new genre later to become known as Soul.

The movie “Ray” is a must see. Gratitude to Mr. Ray Charles for changing the world. Love it!!!

Paul Mantel – http://livelifeco.com

ENTREPRENEURSHIP WITH RICHARD BRANSON

From high school drop out to multi billionaire..how do you do that? Operating my own business I am very interested in other business leaders and leadership development around the world to see what their philosophy is about achieving massive wealth creation. At an amazing personal development conference that we promote I learned from one of the speaker that anyone can be your teacher as long as you listen. What better to learn and listen from people around you who are achieving huge results right now, here today. Sir Richard Branson needs no introduction…wow..what an amazing leader. I came across the following in his book (“Business stripped bare”) which is just so profound for any type of business. Talking about the simplicity and fanatic dedication that will bring you results. Here it is.

Those business leaders who seek, in interviews and in their writings, to turn their industries into complex puzzles, subtle chess games of one sort of another – these people really, really annoy me. It isn’t enough for them that they’re good business people: they have to be Confucius. To listen to them, you’d think you must be born into an industry to make any headway in it. And this is rarely true unless you are truffle hunting. A basic understanding of the business, gleaned by immersing yourself in every little detail for months or even weeks, is often enough to get you started. The volume of information you’ll need to hack through will be high – so find some friends to help you – but the underlying business model is always fairly simple.

Remember to communicate, and pay attention to detail. You wouldn’t believe how far you can get, just by remembering and practicing those two rules.

In our business we train and guide people within an extremely, proven successful business model to make sure that they will succeed. All they need to do is follow the system, nothing else. My observation is that people still are changing a successful formula. The ones that are fanatically dedicated, can communicate and are determined to keep it simple are the winners.

When I met Mr. Jim Cathcart, in Macau/China earlier this year he was talking about: “exceptionalise your business”, which is such an important and valuable statement and I believe not many business owner do. Sir Richard Branson is the prime example of being exceptional in what he does.

So thank you sir Richard Branson for being such a great leader and setting the example of what is possible.

Paul Mantel - http://www.livelifeco.com

SELF RELIANCE WITH A SUPER-FISH

Matt Cowdrey (born 22^nd Dec 1988)is Australia’s new ‘super fish’ after collecting his fifth gold medal and fourth world record at the Beijing Paralympics. His achievements also saw him awarded Paralympian and Male Athlete of Year at this year’s Paralympian of the Year Awards.

He won five gold medals - all in world record times - and three silver medals, placing him at the top of the individual medal count for the Paralympics. This eclipsed his medal haul at Athens in 2004 of three gold, two silver and two bronze, and earned him the role of flag bearer for the Australian team Even before the Beijing Games had begun, Matt had already achieved Paralympics, World Championship and Commonwealth Games glory.

Born with a congenital amputation to his lower left arm, Matt broke his first Australian open record at age 11 and his first world record at age 13. He has since gone on to break more than 70 world records at the Beijing closing ceremony

Outside of sport, he balances a full training program with studying for a double degree in law and media at the University of Adelaide.

Check out the valuable lessons from Matt and the comments from his mother in this amazing story:

Laurie Lawrence (one of the most successful sport coaches) once said: “When you get a talented person who is prepared to pay the prize you will have a superstar!” Matt Crowdrey is in my eyes the ultimate definition of a superstar.  Matt stated that when he is in moments of success he is not focussed on anyone else or any other thought process. He is complete in the moment and things just happen. How profound. We often seem so occupied with things around us. What people think of us or how we would look like to the outside world.

The only way to succeed as a human being is to do things for yourself. Matt was told by his parents to do things for himself. So often do we shift the responsibility or blame external factor for our own results. Matt Cowdrey is a perfect rolmodel for all of us to take full responsibility for our own creation. We are truly the creators of our own universe.

So thank you Matt for raising the bar again. You are a true inspiration to me and I will follow your performance very closely.

Paul Mantel – http://www.livelifeco.com

It’s an interesting question… For some Success can be measured by how much money they have in the bank, for others it could be the role they play in their community, the career they have, or maybe it’s the person they are being.

For me personally it’s all about the contribution you make and the integrity and values you have. There are plenty of very wealthy people out there who have achieved success and have created financial abundance, but if they are alone without friends and loved ones, then one would hardly call them successful. Money alone won’t keep you warm at night. On the other hand, having absolutely no money or financial security is not a success story either, no matter how much you give back to your community. You need to be able to help yourself to be able to more effectively help others.

Key to Success

Integrity would have to come into the definition of success for me every time. I know of many people who would consider themselves to be “successful Business Men or Women” and from a monetary standpoint that could be true. However their integrity is often lacking and their attitude displays one of “what’s in it for me”? Often these individuals display acts of greed, selfishness and arrogance. Luckily most of the Successful people I know are successful in every sense of the word - they are rich in income, friendships, relationships, health and happiness and those 5 things would be my 5 pre-requisites in the definition of Success.

One of my favourite Personal Development speakers Jim Rohn once said “if you help enough people get what they want, you can have everything you want” and this is how I run my business. My business is absolutely about generating a fantastic income for myself and my family, but that would be a pretty empty goal if I couldn’t assist others to create the same along the way. Helping others to achieve financial and personal success is a balance that many people are looking to achieve.

My husband Paul and I were recently at one of our conferences in Puerto Rico and we got to hear from an amazing speaker Neal Petersen. Neal sailed solo around the world in a boat he designed and built - 27,000 miles in a boat alone at sea! Neal spoke about having 4 key values in what you do, and to me sums up Success;

“1. Is it right for me?

2. Is it right for my family?

3. Is it right for my community?

4. Is it right for the next generation?”

I genuinely believe if you ask yourself these 4 questions about the actions you are taking in life, and can answer yes to each of those 4 things, you’d have to be on a successful path. I know that what we are doing with our Business is absolutely on a success path . “Stand and be counted by your contribution” Neal Petersen

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