Richard DeVos (Amway) : Go For It!

Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is "Go for it!" Over to you, Rich DeVos.

I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going. I wake up every morning.

Starting at the bottom on Amway is wherever you are today. Everybody starts at the bottom, and there is no advantage to starting 10 years ago as opposed to starting today. In fact, it's better today than it was then. Our products are better, our line is better, our plan is better, it's more proven. It's a better plan today than when we started. And sometimes there are no answers as to whether you want to be in business or would like to be in business. You just got to put your toe in the water. You know, if you're going to wait till you know everything, you'll never do anything. And you always say, well, I got to check some more, I'm going to do a little more research. So go ahead, just keep going. And you'll never get in a business. You're going to go swimming, you got to get wet, you know. And then you find the people who got a hot button for having a business of their own and want to do their own thing and like the chance to build a big business. Well, you got to have that dream. That's why the people talk about having a dream. Oh, you got to have a little bit of a dream. And then you say, I'll go and get customers, you know. I got a big chance to build a really big thing. I'm going to go get some customers. When you start something new, it's not easy, but life is easier when you got a business and you're making some money. Makes it a little easier. So stick with it. Find a way through it. Just find out an answer. It works, folks. This business works for those who work it.

There comes a point in time in your life where you just need to decide you're gonna go for it. In a lot of things in life, not just in starting the business, In asking that guy or girl out, in deciding to get married or not, in saying yes to that opportunity or not. At some point, you have to decide to go for it. And it's hard because you wanna have perfect information, right? You wanna have it all figured out. You will never have perfect information. By the time you get perfect information, you will have missed your opportunity. And so if you want to have success as an entrepreneur, you need to jump in before you have the complete picture and you adjust and you figure things out as you go. I lost a $40 million deal in my first business because I was too late, because I was planning and planning and planning and planning and not doing enough. I still end up selling my company, but I didn't get the $40 million that the other guy got. And I don't want that to happen to you. And it already is happening to you. That's the frustration. That's the problem. You have already had genius-level ideas that other people are making money off of. Because you were tinkering and thinking and strategizing and planning day after day after day and not actually doing anything, this person went out there and made tons of money and had a huge impact off of your idea. Why can't that be you? And don't complain. It's not because you didn't have resources. It's not because of whatever reason you're telling yourself. It's because you didn't take action. You got to go out and do it. And you don't need to go all in. You don't need to burn the boats. You don't need to take out a huge mortgage on your house or a massive loan that puts you way back. You can start smaller, but start. Do something. As soon as you get an idea for something that you want to test, that might be something big, that you might have this big passion for, then try immediately, today, right now. Take some small action towards moving that ball forward and figure out, do I want to keep doing this or not? Does it make me come alive? Am I passionate about this? Is there a path to adding value for people or not? A lot of the things that you have in your head, once you start actually doing it, you don't like it and you quit. That's great, and you move on to something else. But you can't actually get to the finish line, you can't have that big impact, you can't be the person that you know you can be until you actually go for something. So do it today.

Believe.

So the question of the day today is, I'm curious, what have you been holding back on? What's the thing that you haven't gone for yet that you want to, that you've been holding yourself back on? And hopefully by writing it down in the comments below, it'll force you to actually do something on it today. Make a powerful decision, write it down. I'm gonna join in the discussion. I also want to give a quick shout out to Jodi Holland. Jodi, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. It really, really, really means a lot to me. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of Enespresso.

I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going.

Hey, Believe Nation! For those of you who want a little more motivation, insight, expertise on going for it, here are some bonus clips that I hope you'll enjoy.

I believe desire and will to win is everything. I don't know why I'm like I am, but my butt's always burning. There's always something. Say, Art, dadgummit, you're supposed to go for it. Art, dadgummit, you're supposed to be somebody. You're supposed to make a difference with your life. What does the $500,000 a year person do the $50,000 a year person doesn't do? You look at the outside and study those two individuals Everything seems to be the same. They both are the same sex. They both are the same age. They have the same training, the same positions, the same contract, the same fringe benefits. They both are successful. They work hard. They're good family people, make tough commitments, but what's the difference? What does the $500,000 a year person do the $50,000 a year person doesn't do? He pays the price and a little bit more. He works hard and a little bit more. He's loyal to the company and a little bit more. He believes and a little bit more. He makes He makes money and a little bit more. He saves money and a little bit more. If you want to win in these United States, you got to be tough and you can't quit. The last thing I'll talk to you about today in building this winning edge is, folks, if you want to win in business, you got to be a leader. Leadership is everything. You show me anything in these United States that win, I'll show you a leader at work. You show me a successful church, Boy Scout troop, club, football team, business, I'll show you something run by a leader. See, see, I thought at one time in my life you had to be smart to win. I used to have these smart people that dress so pretty and talk so pretty and use these big words. They just intimidated me, and I said, "Arch, you can't ever be that good. Why don't you just throw in the towel and go on back and coach football for a living?" I found two things out about smart people. I think it's almost impossible for a smart person to win in business in America today because I find smart people spend their whole lifetime figuring things out. They always trying to figure out an easier way and a quicker way, And another thing I found out about smart people is they just don't get around to doing nothing. And see, somebody like Art Williams, everybody said, "Well, he can't do it. Hey, somebody like that can't do it." But he does it. See, folks, I want you to know almost everybody in America almost does enough to win. They almost get there. They almost are over the hump. They almost have it going. They almost in everything they do. Almost is a way of life to almost everybody in America, but the winners do it. What do they do? They do whatever it takes to get the job done. They do it and do it and do it and do it and do it until the job gets done, and then they talk about how great it is to be somebody they're proud of. We need leaders in America who can do it. If you want to become somebody, do it. If you want to go in business for yourself, do it. If you want to become financially independent, do it. I hear too much talk in these United States. Everybody can talk a good game. We need people in America Who can do it? I go all over this country with A.O. Williams, and I have people say, "Art, you can count on me." Wonderful. Just do it. "Art, I guarantee you this is my last stop. I'm going to win now." Super duper. Just do it. "Art, if I could just have one good month and get the ball going, I know I could make it big." Super. Just do it. "Art, if I could just pay off this debt, I could really go." Great! Just do it. "Art, if I could just sell my house." Do it. "But houses ain't selling." Do it anyway. "Art, I'm not making any money. What can I do?" You just do it. "Do what, Art?" You do it and do it and do it. "Art, I guarantee I'm going to win this contest." Super duper. Just do it. "Art, I'm over the hump now. Watch my smoke." Great! Just do it! "Art, I want to make it so bad I can taste it. What do I do?" You just do it! "Art, I'm a vice president now. Can I quit doing it?" Nope! "Art, I don't know if I can keep on keeping on. I'm really hurting. What do I do?" You just do it! "Do what, Art?" You do it and do it and do it! "Art, all my life I've wanted to be somebody important." Well, do it then! "Art, I'm going to save money so I don't have to go through this again." Great! Just do it! You just do it. "Art, I don't feel like I've had enough training. What do I do?" You just do it. "Art, my manager don't give me no help. What do I do?" You just do it. "Art, you don't understand. I was Mr. Everything at my former company. You don't mean I have to start off down here at the bottom and do it, do you?" Yep, you really got to do it. "Art, Art, what's the primary difference between winners and losers?" The winners do it. They do it and do it and do it and do it until the job gets done. And then they talk about how great it is to finally have achieved something unique and how glad they are that they didn't quit like everybody else and how wonderful it is to finally be somebody they're proud of and make a difference with their life.

Kind of cliché, but just do it. A lot of time is spent thinking about something.

Oh yeah.

And talking about But when you actually get something down, either on paper or in code or, you know, in front of someone, that's when things start happening. And you're going to make a lot of mistakes. The important thing is that you make decisions and you keep moving forward. But you have to get it out there. You have to start and you have to be brave enough to take the criticism. I always go back to the punk movement of the '70s. People would get out, they'd be on the street.

Because you were a teenager back then.

Yeah, well, and they would be learning in front of people. And like, they get out on the street and it's the first time with a guitar.

Yeah.

And, you know, they're learning how to play and they're getting better and better and better.

Yeah.

And I think that's really important to just get it down. Do it. Just do it. Edit, edit, edit, edit.

It's one thing to philosophize about training strategies and to, you know, compare this philosophy versus another, you know, argue about, you know, how many grams versus how many grams is is— but then there's something to be said for doing the damn thing, you know. Just, just do it, you know. Stop talking, stop trying to sound smart. You meet these people that want to engage you in these conversations and one-up the professional bodybuilder. Ah, you know more about nutrition than Evan, dude. I mean, I'm not straight. I'm not where I'm at because, because I know more about nutrition than everybody else on the planet, you know. In fact, I dare say that the, the top bodybuilding athletes that are on stage are not the man on stage, Evan Carmichael, right here, because they know more about training science and nutrition than the, than the average person sitting in the audience. A lot of times the difference between the person in the audience and the person that's on stage doing it is the use of the knowledge.