A terrific lesson on Goal Setting & Achieving

Hi Everyone,

What an incredible week at the Firestone household. Business is amazing and the momentum is awesome since getting back from our Super Saturday Event in Las Vegas. Our Associates are getting qualified, and we are headed to Cancun in about 6 weeks. This Liberty Conference will be ground breaking. Get in touch with me for more information on how to join us.

Our new home in Hilton Head, South Carolina is almost finished and is looking pretty incredible. Brandon is getting ready to move into his NYC apartment & needless to say, he is totally psyched. Yesterday, we celebrated Jacks birthday. We had a romantic dinner at Carlton on the Park, and then went to an IMAX Theatre to see Harry Potter. Bigger than life. It really was a perfect week. Hope yours was too.

Do whatever it takes to create your dreams. Everyday you wake up, make the choice to have a good or great day. Life should be fantastic, incredible, awsome, healthy, prosperous, and full of love and happiness. Life is about sharing and giving. Celebrate the journey as you take the actions to reach your goals. Do something different.

I came across this story today, and shared it will all of my business associates. I decided to share it with all of you too. I get updates from Bob Proctor, well known author and best known for "The Secret." http://thesecret.tv/ If you have not yet watched this ground breaking DVD, definately, check it out later.

Here is the Friday story that he shared ...


This true story reflects exactly what I am talking about. Anyone, and absolutely everyone can reach their personal and financial goals, if they are crystal clear on what those goals are. You must be willing to be patient while you are taking the necessary action, and determined like you've never been before. You must be willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes, because it is that important to you. NEVER GIVE UP ON YOURSELF, NO MATTER WHO TELLS YOU "YOU CAN'T or WON'T SUCCEED!" You must believe in yourself and NEVER EVER give up on your dreams. If you would walk away from your dreams and your goals, then they are just simply not important enough or meaningful enough for you to go after.

Read this story, find your passion, role up your sleeves, get your DMO in place, take the action, and know you will succeed. Have an awesome weekend ... Life is Beautiful, it really is!


A Lifetime of Planning Pays Off

"You gotta be crazy!" That's what Lee Dunham's friends told him back in 1971 when he gave up a secure job as a police officer and invested his life savings in the notoriously risky restaurant business. This particular restaurant was more than just risky, it was downright dangerous. It was the first McDonald's franchise in the city of New York - smack in the middle of crime-ridden Harlem.

Lee had always had plans. When other kids were playing ball in the empty lots of Brooklyn, Lee was playing entrepreneur, collecting milk bottles and returning them to grocery stores for the deposits. He had his own shoeshine stand and worked delivering newspapers and groceries. Early on, he promised his mother that one day she would never again have to wash other people's clothes for a living. He was going to start his own business and support her. "Hush your mouth and do your homework," she told him. She knew that no member of the Dunham family had ever risen above the level of laborer, let alone owned a business. "There's no way you're going to open your own business," his mother told him repeatedly.

Years passed, but Lee's penchant for dreaming and planning did not. After high school, he joined the Air Force, where his goal of one day owning a family restaurant began to take shape. He enrolled in the Air Force food service school and became such an accomplished cook he was promoted to the officers' dining hall.

When he left the Air Force, he worked for four years in several restaurants, including one in the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Lee longed to start his own restaurant but felt he lacked the business skills to be successful. He signed up for business school and took classes at night while he applied and was hired to be a police officer.

For fifteen years he worked full-time as a police officer. In his off-hours, he worked part-time as a carpenter and continued to attend business school. "I saved every penny I earned as a police officer," he recalled. "For ten years, I didn't spend one dime - there were no movies, no vacations, no trips to the ballpark. There were only work and study and my lifelong dream of owning my own business." By 1971, Lee had saved $42,000, and it was time for him to make his vision a reality.

Lee wanted to open an upscale restaurant in Brooklyn. With a business plan in hand, he set out to seek financing. The banks refused him. Unable to get funding to open an independent restaurant, lee turned to franchising and filled out numerous applications. McDonald's offered him a franchise, with one stipulation: Lee had to set up a McDonald's in the inner-city, the first to be located there. McDonald's wanted to find out if its type of fast-food restaurant could be successful in the inner city. It seemed that Lee might be the right person to operate that first restaurant.

To get the franchise, Lee would have to invest his life savings and borrow $150,000 more. Everything for which he'd worked and sacrificed all those years would be on the line - a very thin line if he believed his friends. Lee spent many sleepless nights before making his decision. In the end, he put his faith in the years of preparation he'd invested - the dreaming, planning, studying and saving - and signed on the dotted line to operate the first inner-city McDonald's in the United States.

The first few months were a disaster. Gang fights, gunfire, and other violent incidents plagued his restaurant and scared customers away. Inside, employees stole his food and cash, and his safe was broken into routinely. To make matters worse, Lee couldn't get any help from McDonald's headquarters; the company's representatives were too afraid to venture into the ghetto. Lee was on his own.

Although he had been robbed of his merchandise, his profits, and his confidence, Lee was not going to be robbed of his dream. Lee fell back on what he had always believed in - preparation and planning.

Lee put together a strategy. First, he sent a strong message to the neighborhood thugs that McDonald's wasn't going to be their turf. To make his ultimatum stick, he needed to offer an alternative to crime and violence. In the eyes of those kids, Lee saw the same look of helplessness he had seen in his own family. He knew that there was hope and opportunity in that neighborhood and he was going to prove it to the kids. He decided to serve more than meals to his community - he would serve solutions.

Lee spoke openly with gang members, challenging them to rebuild their lives. Then he did what some might say was unthinkable: he hired gang members and put them to work. He tightened up his operation and conducted spot checks on cashiers to weed out thieves. Lee improved working conditions and once a week he offered his employees classes in customer service and management. He encouraged them to develop personal and professional goals. He always stressed two things: his restaurant offered a way out of a dead-end life and the faster and more efficiently the employees served the customers, the more lucrative that way would be.
In the community, Lee sponsored athletic teams and scholarships to get kids off the streets and into community centers and schools. The New York inner-city restaurant became McDonald's most profitable franchise worldwide, earning more than $1.5 million a year. Company representatives who wouldn't set foot in Harlem months earlier now flocked to Lee's doors, eager to learn how he did it. To Lee, the answer was simple: "Serve the customers, the employees, and the community."

Today, Lee Dunham owns nine restaurants, employs 435 people, and serves thousands of meals every day. It's been many years since his mother had to take in wash to pay the bills. More importantly, Lee paved the way for thousands of African-American entrepreneurs who are working to make their dreams a reality, helping their communities, and serving up hope.
All this was possible because a little boy understood the need to dream, to plan, and to prepare for the future. In doing so, he changed his life and the lives of others.

Cynthia Kersey


Excerpted/Adapted from UnstoppableCopyright 1988 by Cynthia KerseyYou can visit Cynthia's site by going to: www.unstoppable.netCynthia's latest book, Unstoppable Women: Achieve any Breakthrough Goal in Just 30 Days is available by clicking here.

... How To Create the Leader Within ...

Are you a Natural Born Leader?

Are you willing to do what it takes

to cultivate the leader within?

Are we born leaders, or are leaders created?

This question has been a debate for generations.

We become who we surround ourselves with.

Jack and I are self made millionaires. We recognize opportunity, act upon it immediately and then take full command of it. We did not get here by luck or accident. Let us show you how to break free of the paralyzing fear, that has prevented you from tapping into your full potential.

When you are ready to go for it all, get in touch with us. Be prepared to learn what it takes to be empowered and unstoppable. We have been creating and cultivating successful leaders for years. We will provide you with one on one coaching, training, and mentorship. What are you willing to do, to tap into your true potential, so that you can break out of your cycle, and take control of your life and your future?

Take a few minutes to read this article on Leadership. If you are committed to change, you must do things differently. We are here to assist you in following through with your commitment to yourself. Let us help you, create The Leader Within.
After reading the article, go to our website http://www.leadfromthetop.com/

Robin & Jack Firestone "The Dynamic Duo"


The Successful Leader
By Anne Marie Baugh

Sometimes we may choose to lead and in other circumstances we are pushed into leadership. Whether you want to lead or are selected to lead, how you demonstrate your leadership will determine how successful you will be and how successful those who follow you will become.

Successful Leadership is a demonstration of a true example. We lead by the example we set. If you expound on virtues or techniques that you do not follow or demonstrate yourself, those that follow your leadership will fail and then wonder why. This can only reflect badly on you as the leader. Teach and live what you teach to be the type of leader that will stand the test of time. Great leaders become role models to others for their future success. So how are great leaders made? Consider these tried and true principles of leadership as demonstrated by leaders worldwide.

Leaders learn. They understand that the moment they become un-teachable, they lose their edge in the world. Leaders not only understand that they must continue to find opportunities to learn, they crave every chance to learn. Brian Tracey, the nationally recognized guru on Leadership, encourages those seeking leadership success to read at least one hour every day. He states that one hour a day will make you a nationally recognized leader within three years. Commit to learning for the rest of your life and embrace the opportunity to do so.

Leaders listen. They understand the difference between passively hearing and actively listening to what people are telling them. They also have the wisdom to know who is worth listening to and who is not. Some people just like to hear themselves talk, but they never actually say anything. A janitor may have a very worthwhile story to tell that teaches wisdom on human behavior while a millionaire may be stuck in his own ego and simply enjoys the sound of his own voice, never really sharing anything worth the time.

Leaders develop discipline. Discipline becomes the corner stone in their lives. Not just in business, but in everything that they do. They learn to develop more discipline by curbing instant gratification. Learning to say no, when they can say yes is the road to discipline. For instance:

"No, I won't eat that cake. I'll wait and have one piece on Friday."

"No, I won't sleep an extra hour even though I have extra time today."

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. By curbing your wants makes you stronger in every aspect of your life. Leaders discipline themselves to do necessary tasks even when they do not feel like.

Leaders take time to be quiet. Successful leaders are generally very busy people with little extra time in their schedules. However, the most successful leaders take 15 to 30 minutes every day to be absolutely silent. They remove all distractions and noise to sit within the calm of a completely quiet surrounding. In this precious silence they can hear themselves think and feel. In this way they develop their intuition, which guides them with all their decisions.

Leaders are compassionate. They know that kindness trumps bad behavior. That softly spoken words are heard with understanding and that yelling at peak volume simply becomes a battle of wills. In short, leaders care.

Leaders don't wait for other people to do it for them. Nothing stands in the way to accomplishing their goals, certainly not excuses. They are people of action. However, they do understand when it is good to be patient and when it is time to go forward. They also understand the value of delegating. No one can do everything all of the time. Delegation is vital to great leadership. They just make sure that those they delegate to actually get the job done.

Leaders manage their time. They understand time is the only commodity that they cannot get more of no matter how successful they become. So they treat it with great respect. They manage their time by planning their days with precision.

Leaders are persistent. They work doggedly to accomplish their goal no matter how long it takes. Persistence is not an option. They know it separates them from those that would have and those that could have but didn't.

Leaders focus on the positive. A leader keeps his eye on the end result and always maintains a positive outlook, regardless of current circumstances. They think in terms of solutions rather than problems. Leaders understand that they are in command of their own thinking.

Leaders also value failure. The average leader will fail many times before he succeeds. They are undaunted by the failures and view them as golden opportunities to get closer to their goal.
Leaders understand that failure is not the end of something hoped for, but a chance to learn to do it better next time.

Lastly Leaders are authentic. They know that their clothes and cars do not make them successful as human beings. It is their actions in the world and their true intentions that make them leaders worth following. They are authentic in their approach to life, which includes their day-to-day living. Their spoken principles reflect their actions.

Leadership is the desire to excel and to share what is learned on the path to success. As a leader it is important to be generous but authentic with praise. Those learning in your footsteps need to know when they are getting it right and then need to know from you. Praise should not be effusive, but rather appropriate to a particular situation. Given too often, it can lose it's meaning. Not given enough the student can become discouraged. We all need praise. It is invaluable from those that are leading us.

Whether you are a manager in a company overseeing employees or a mentor teaching students, you must be able to handle the rocky road to learning that invariable comes to those new to the task at hand. Everyone learns at a different pace. Some understand certain techniques and ideas with ease, while others struggle to incorporate them. A great leader is able to work well with both personality types.

Patience is the key, as is not personalizing your students struggle. Don't see their struggle as your failure, but rather their learning curve. Motivation is vital to helping others through the learning process. It's important that students or employees feel comfortable asking questions and understand that their questions are valued. Never dismiss a question as unworthy of your time as communication is the foundation for leading successfully.

Engage your students in the process and keep them completely informed. If you are holding back tiny bits of useful information in order to keep your leadership intact, your students will fail and your leadership becomes suspect. True leaders maintain a mentality of abundancy that states there is enough for everyone.

Great leaders have a variety of personalities and styles. You should not strive to become a copy of someone else. Individuality is important to leadership. While strong principles are important to the integrity of leadership, so is your unique vision.

It takes time to incorporate all the principles of leadership so it's important to be patient. Strive to incorporate one leadership principle a week and within a few months you will be demonstrating the true qualities that define and set apart a true leader. You will become the best vision of yourself and that person is ready to lead, motivate, and inspire a future generation of leaders.

Talk About Abundance ...
Another mind blowing event as promised. Over 1000 LLI Associates in attendance at Liberty League's Las Vegas Super Saturday Event. World class training and information was shared thruout the day to take our LLI Business to the next Level. Our phone has been ringing off the hook from our associates who attended, including several associates who have thanked us for getting them off their butts to get there. So many nuggets of information ... too much to mention, but here is a little taste of what we experienced ... The on stage training was sensational, done by fellow EMC Members. Such professionalism without the stuffiness of corporate. It is hard to believe this was a training Event. And what about Larry Winget, The Pitbull of Personal Development, well known TV personality and Best Selling Author? He blew all of us away with his presentation and information. He was right on target and really hit home with his presentation. This conference is unlike anything I have ever experienced. The energy was totally contagious. We were then treated to our Co Founders Brent Payne and Shane Krider, who also took the stage. AWESOME INFORMATION. What a treat to have these masters on stage, IN PERSON. Shane shared his insight on what it takes to become the Pinnacle Leader ... after all, LLI is all about cultivating Leadership. Brent reviewed the POWER of our brilliant compensation plan. Such abundance. How about all of the Team Parties, in those fabulous, over the top suites, hanging out at the cabanas around the pool masterminding with EMC members and other team leaders, as well as all of our associates ... and what about the LLI 6th year Celebration Birthday Bash? Mind-blowing to say the least. The buzz was all around the place, beautiful tables set, scrumptious food and drink ... everyone looked Ab Fab. Our INCREDIBLE co founders Brent and Shane awarded the prizes themselves, after they drove into the ballroom in the Range Rover , yes, they actually drove the range rover into the ballroom ... To top that, Shane was dressed as Elvis and Brent as one of the Blue Man Group. I just love these guys. Money Confetti blasted from the sky as the Contest Winners were announced. Then, the next Summit Conference was revealed ... Rome Italy ... here we come. What a day, what an event, what great people, what a company. I love my life. By the way, my husband Jack and I flew in a few days early to renew our wedding vows of 25 years. Our son Brandon, joined us also. What better place to celebrate our happiness, than with our Liberty League Family ... Robin Firestone