Refuse to Be Ordinary Attack Everyday with Ivan Earle

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weidell, and let's get started. I'm back with Ivan Earl, legendary businessman, entrepreneur, inspirational business coach, personal coach, example in his community, making a difference everywhere he goes with every conversation, helping inspire others. And as a result, he's really learned how to communicate the fine line between mediocrity and greatness. So welcome back, Ivan Earl.

Thank you, Larry. Glad to be back with you.

You know, Ivan, a lot of people right now are having to rethink their future because of the COVID situation. But you know, the world's always changing and pretty much on 20 year cycles, it's always been that on 20 year cycles, the world goes through big changes. You know, you have, if you're in communications, the radio came in and then the television came in and then, you know, then you had the cable came in and now, then the streamings come in and you have to make adjustments. The airline, you know, you have bicycles and you have cars and trains and, you know, industries are always changing. We used to talk about in Winston Salem, where you and I have spent a lot of time training and building our organizations that they used to have a thing called Wilson Wagon Works. It was the biggest building in Winston Salem. And one day Mr. Wilson looked out the window and he saw the Model T or Model A, the first one of Henry Ford's contraptions come blowing smoke into town. And that was the beginning of the end for the wagon business right there. You know, it's like, oh, you know, we got trouble. And they tried to legislate it out. You know, that's what they always do with progress, you know. You know, they, they, they take their money and they, they get themselves some politicians to put up some bogus rules and fake science. You know, right now, everybody, it's just science. It's just science. And don't get me started on that. But they said it's science. Your, your head will blow off your shoulder if you go faster than 30 miles an hour. Don't argue with me. You know, just like the governor of California just said two days ago, don't argue with me. It's not a matter of, you know, it's just facts. It's not whether you believe it or not, it's just accepting reality. It's science. And so that's what they did with the, to fight the Model T, that if you go over 30 miles an hour, your head will blow off, you can't breathe, and you'll die. And so they, they had all these restrictions on them. But you know what they found out? You know, you don't actually die when you go 200 miles an hour or 250. You know, your body can handle it. But eventually, Wilson Wagon Works just disappeared because of progress. And in Winston Salem today, 99.9% of the people have never even heard of Wilson Wagon Works, which was the big employer in town at one time. And in every industry, don't be shocked because right now you're going through some businesses. You know, businesses are going out of business all the time. So don't be shocked. But oh, X number of businesses going out of business, they would. A bunch of them would have gone out of business anyway. But there's also a bunch of new businesses being formed. And so if you're looking at this right, you look at it as an opportunity for yourself. And so of course, we always hate for people to get, you know, caught in the crossfire and for especially unnecessary things, lawlessness and all to cause you to lose your business. But, you know, you got to fight for your independence. And sometimes fighting means you got to change industries, you got to develop new skills. And that's always happened. I had to do it, you know, I was in construction as a superintendent and had to change and learn financial services, learn how to market products and work in that, that kind of arena, regulated arena. You had to change industries yourself and talk about how hard that was for you and how quickly did you fight it or did you throw yourself into it so you could get the learning stage over and pick up speed as fast as possible.

Well, one of the things that I think is we live in a society that has conditioned people to be middle class and average and ordinary. You know, this society tells people that you supposed to be successful, you supposed to go to school, get a good education so you can get a good job. Okay? And the sad fact is there are no such thing as a good job. So when people buy into that and they go to college and they come out and, and they think that that's going to be the road to success and they ask go make all their dreams come true, then they come out and they, and they, and they in reality, hit some. What's reality? Well, when you go out in the job market, no, they not talking to you about 100, $150,000 a year job. They talk to you about $40,000 and $50,000 a year job. You know, they got. They talking to you about you taking home $3,000 a month and you've gone to school for all these years got these degrees, and now that excited person who thought they were going to conquer the world starts settling in, and they start settling in, and they just start accepting it, you know. So the thing that I see is what people. The vehicle that people are trying to use for success was never designed for success. So those who really starving for success are the ones that's willing to think outside of the box and look at something different and possibly take on the challenge of becoming an entrepreneur and learning something different. Now, when that happened to me, I dived in with everything that I could because I saw an opportunity. I saw opportunity through entrepreneurship to make, when I was on a job what it would take me to make a whole week's salary. I could make that in the financial service industry. I saw that I could make that off one sale. That motivated me, and my mind worked well. You could make it off one sale. What happens if you do two sales? What happens if you do three sales? You mean to tell me I can triple my income immediately?

So.

So then you begin to start dreaming of what that life would be like if you could triple your income immediately. And then you dive in and you start learning your products and you start learning how to do all the things you need to do to make that work. And then luckily, in our industry, the key thing, the key thing that I think I learned, Larry, that blows me away, that most people don't understand is the fact that the reason why most people can't be successful is because they are 1% depending upon themselves for income. So if you can get into a business that allows you to duplicate yourself unlimited number of times, you know, so eventually you can zero out, which means you can go from being 100% dependent upon yourself for income to to 0% depending upon yourself for income. And that's really where success lies. That's really where freedom lies. That's really where you have a chance to become financially independent. Which you and I sought after with everything is to be financially independent when we didn't have to wake up every day and go to work for money anymore.

And that's the great point that Michael Gerber makes in his book the E Myth, the entrepreneurial myth that you really only have a business when you built something that will run just as effectively with you. Not there. In other words, you know, you know, if you. Yeah, I've always looked at it like this. Once I had my business built, there was no reason for me to spend one second of time on that business running it, because, you know, I had people to run it. But if I was going to spend time, additional time on that business, it dad gum, well, better grow, because that's the only way I could, you know, I built something that would run without me. But if I spent time on dad gum, well, better grow, otherwise I was useless. That's the way I looked at it. And it's not that you don't spend time on your businesses once you get them built, but the businesses are not little helpless, needy kids that are going to starve to death if you're not there to feed them. You know, you build a business to run, to work, to thrive, to be successful. And then if you decide to put extra energy into it, that that's just helps accelerate the growth. And it's fun getting to that point, but getting to that point, there's a lot of things you have to reprogram your mind and how you look at it. And I know that you spent a lot of time in meetings and tapes and books and making friends with people that were higher up the food chain that could explain things to you. Talk about that process of reprogramming your mind to allow yourself to build something as big as you built. How many states are you in, by the way?

Right now? My business is in, I think, 20 states.

20 states. That's a good feeling, isn't it?

Yes. To have people in business with you that you got people in business with you that you don't even know they in business with you.

Yeah, it's kind of like if, you know, it's almost like it's like people say, well, how much money do you have? Well, if you don't, how much stocks do you have? Well, if, you know, you probably don't have enough, you know, and it's supposed to be changing every day and growing. And so at any one time, you know, you can know the range of it. But the great thing about multiple states and is that, you know, if we have the hurricane, I mean, that these hurricanes come through and just wipe out the towns they hit and tornadoes devastate. But if your business, all of your business was in one of those areas that got hit by a hurricane, a tornado, a fight, you know, like these fires, they go through, they burn entire towns down. It's just tragic. And the only way to protect yourself against that happening to you for sure, is to have yourself at multiple locations, you know, spread. Spread the risk out a little bit. You know, think ahead, have some design and strategy to building up some security and stability to your income in your business by diversifying the regions and towns that you're in. So talk about the mindset changes and how. What were things that you gave you the most, fits that you fought with the most or didn't understand that people would say things, you thought they were crazy, but eventually the light bulb went on.

Well, the biggest thing I think that frustrates you in business is when people, the people that you are in business with, don't have the same vision you have. I always tell people our business is not hard. Our business is frustrating, you know, and it's frustrating because what we have to do is we have to figure out how to motivate and influence people. And you're trying to get people to do something that's in their best interest, that they don't understand, so they don't always respond the way you would like for them to respond to. And we have to be patient. See, I think the thing that I. The thing that happened to me was the fact that I spent time with people that were better than me. I spent time with people who. Businesses were bigger than me. I spent time with people who, when I looked at them, I was like, that's what I want. That's what I would like to be like. So I spent time with them. You know, we, me and you both spent time with a legend named Bob Turland. And that expanded my vision. That's got me from thinking, that got me from not so much focusing on just income. It really started me focusing on outcome. Now, so many people go in business and they chase income, they lose focus of outcome, you know, and I know you gotta have income, but, you know, in my business, a base shop can give you income, and you can get trapped in a base shop making good income that you forget about building outlets that ultimately will give you the outcome you need and really blow your income up. But if you just stay focused on that little income, you will miss the big picture. So getting exposed to people that had a bigger vision, that had a bigger picture, that could speak a different language to me about distribution, about outlets, about what a real business was supposed to look like, I think is the thing that benefited me more than anything else.

Was there anything in particular you can think of that was really tough for you to get yourself to do? You personally? Not frustration with your people or whatever, but you know that you personally had to reorganize, change your thinking on.

Yeah, you know what? It was. It was. And this is going to sound crazy, but the thing that was hard for me to get myself to do was to commit to Working every day.

And why was that hard?

You know, I.

Because you said you work seven days a week, you know, eventually, but see, but I mean, you did that at the factory, you know, the factory, you.

Know, I did that.

Yeah.

But I think what happened was I came from, I came from a Factory job making $12,000 a year take home pay. You know, they tell you 18 to 20, but you got to pay taxes, so you're only getting 12,000 of that. And I came into the business and the next thing you know, I was making three to five thousand dollars a month when I quit my factory job. So I had, I had, my income had grown five times. And the next thing you know, because your thinking is so small, that becomes good to you. And until, until you get to a point where the $5,000, 3,000 or $5,000 a month won't accomplish all the things you want to accomplish, you won't go to the next level. See, I always tell people that you will never go to the next level until you develop a dissatisfaction for the level that you have.

Yeah.

You know, and, and that's what takes time for some people. So.

Now, were you married at this time?

No, I was not married.

Yeah, because see, if you were married, if I'm kidding now, I'm kidding now, but you know, if you were married, you would have not had that trouble. Because I found that the spouses develop the ability every year to make at least 25, to spend at least 25% more money than you're making in that given year.

I was not married, but what ended up happening was I had a problem that came up in my life 3 to $5,000 a month couldn't solve. And then I did some soul searching and I said, you're in a business, you have unlimited opportunity. You can make as much as you want to make. So why is it that, why aren't you taking advantage of it? And what it all boiled down to was I wasn't working every day, I wasn't focused on the real activity of the business every day. And I made a commitment to myself right then that I was going to do it. And I did it from that moment forward. And you know what? My life changed. I mean, my income exploded immediately. And I'm like, dang dumb. You want to slap yourself. You're like, well, why did you delay this kind of success? You know?

Yeah, what, what are things you immediate? You could tell people you noticed there were advantages you got from attack, you know, being on the attack every day.

Oh, your skill set Improves dramatic dramatically. So you get so good at your craft where. If you. If you like. If I did 10 appointments, eight of them will slam dunks. My recruiting went up, my closing rate.

Went up.

My team size went up, my leadership development got better, I started teaching, and my whole business exploded. So I went from $5,000 a month to roughly $20,000 a month and less than 12 to 24 months, that is.

So you went from 5 to 20 per month in what period of time?

In about 12 months.

In 12 months.

12 months. And then I went from being a regional vice president to a national sales director within 18 to 24 months.

Fantastic, Ivan. Thanks for sharing. You know, behind the scenes, I hope people are getting the idea that there's no magic dust you can sprinkle over your life. And all of a sudden you're thinking, right, you're working right? And great things are happening. You know, you have to go through the process. It's like making a sculpture. You have to get. Get out the chisel and the hammer and knock out the things that are in the way and then polish up what's left and. And create yourself something magnificent. And you can do it, but you're not going to do it by laying on the couch. You know, you're not going to improve laying on the couch, wasting time, going to movies. Of course, you know, you need your recreation, you need to recharge and all of that. But if you're not putting tons of sweat equity, thought energy into your business with a purpose, you know, behind the activities that give the biggest results, you're going to delay the success you could have. And, Ivan, you were referring to that, right? Like, if you had locked down on that, you know, full commitment, and rather than just kind of working to make some money and decided, I'm gonna. I'm gonna work to build something as fast as possible and make this thing get huge all of a sudden, when you fully committed, I think people can tell when this change happens inside you, don't you think?

Yes, people can tell. But, you know, most people look for the pill. Most people want to take the success pill, and they. Until they figure out that it's not a success pill, it's a process of development that you have to go through.

Absolutely. It's a process, and it can work for you. If you get these patterns established, you make these adjustments that Ivan's talking about, you can get yourself organized for some incredible success. And even if you don't even know what your next opportunity is, you don't really have the Opportunity. If you use these principles to excel where you are, really get yourself sharp, effective, powerful, you're going to find bigger and better opportunities come across your path. And they may be coming now, but maybe you're not tuned in enough to pick up on them. So the first step is to start. You know, if you want to be a hit comedian and get on Jimmy Fallon or one of these TV shows, you get your shot. You darn well better be funny when you get up there. You know, America's Got Talent or, or something like that, you better have been working on your craft so that when you get your moment in the spotlight, people respond to you, they want to get more of you. And so maybe you don't know what your opportunity is right now. Maybe you've been bashing your head against the wall looking for a way up and out of your current situation. Well, if you will max out on the opportunities that you have and you'll improve yourself, you'll find you'll be surprised about the opportunities that can come and you'll develop an instinct, a smell, an appetite, an ability to kind of find those things. You'll start noticing things and you probably wind up meeting a little bit sharper type person that maybe knows about some of these things that you don't even know exist right now. They could be right around the corner from you. So keep fighting is what I'm telling you. Because that's what Ivan did. And look at the life he's got now. Ivan, thanks so much. I hope to get you back soon and thanks so much for sharing. I hope you had fun.

Well, thanks for having me and I look forward to doing it again the next time.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind with me, Larry Wydell. If I've helped you in any way, leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. For more information like this, listen to our other Million Dollar Mastermind episodes and check out my Wydell Academy YouTube channel and visit us on wydell on winning. Com. I'm the Million Dollar Mastermind. And until next time, go go.