Simple Skills That Lead To Super Success, Part 1
Hello, everyone. This is Jerry Clark welcoming you to another issues of Power Tips, your regular dose of energy and power. And I'm very pumped and passionate about the guest that we have here today. And even though I'm overcoming a little bout of laryngitis, I said, you know what? Carpe diem. Seize the moment. And the moment is here. I have Mr. Robert Butwin from California. He is in Texas here at my house, and I said, you know, I'm not going to let this opportunity pass because Robert has so many incredible insights to share with all of you, I want to make sure you all have a chance to benefit from that information. Robert has a very interesting story because unlike a lot of networkers who come from an interesting background to where they didn't have a whole bunch growing up, Robert was in a situation where he had the Country Club family. I mean, there was money, there was opportunity, there was a lot of stuff available and he decided to break away and just really do his own thing, so we're going to find out why he decided to do that. And as you know, Robert is also the author of Street Smart Networking which is a no-nonsense guide for creating the most richly rewarding lifestyle you can possibly imagine as well as the author of many audio programs that you will get a chance to find out a little bit about later on. He is a very powerful networker. I've seen him in action. He has a lot of great insights to share with you.
INTERVIEW:
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
Robert, we're really excited to have you here and welcome to the program.
ROBERT BUTWIN:
Thank you, Jerry, and I'm glad to be here today.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
Excellent. Robert, let me just start off. What was the process that went in your mind to make you make that decision to go ahead and get started in network marketing.
ROBERT BUTWIN:
You know, that's an interesting question because when I originally got into network marketing, or actually when I started my business career, networking was the farthest thing from what I thought I would ever be doing. What happened was I was going along my career path, which was the expectation of running our family business. And all of a sudden, I, so to speak, awoke. That awakening happened and I started to realize that the path that I thought that I was on that was going to lead me to where I wanted to be was not the path that I had to be on. What happened was I was working in our family business and I was in sales, and all of a sudden in one year I increased sales from, like, $400,000 and I got like a $4,000 a year raise. And I said wait a minute. These numbers--.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
Even in the family business, huh?
ROBERT BUTWIN:
That's right. These numbers did not add up, and it started to help me realize that I better start looking for an alternative.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
Okay. Now the alternative, obviously there are a lot of different alternatives. You know, you could have started your own business. You could have went out and worked in corporate America and so forth. What got your attention in network marketing? How did you get introduced?
ROBERT BUTWIN:
I got introduced originally as a fraternity brother of mine in another company was making as much in one month as I was making in a whole year, and that caught my attention, because I think I probably had the similar type ideas that many people have, which is how could I really create the kind of lifestyle that I wanted. To be able to take vacations when I want. To be able to take my family where I wanted, when I wanted, and not have to worry about prices. And when I took a look around and I started to analyze what my alternatives were--because I was making fairly good money--and nothing really logically made sense to me but network marketing, because it was the type of business that would allow me to have the freedom that would allow me to live a life of higher meaning.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
So you actually saw someone getting the type of results that you felt that you would like to get. Now, did this person approach you and say, hey, why don't you come take a look at what I'm doing? I mean, how did that work?
ROBERT BUTWIN:
As I said, it was a fraternity brother that was making the money, but a little sister in the fraternity that I belonged to approached me, letting me know about the results that this other person was having, and that opened my eyes, because what I realized up front is that if other people could succeed, one way or the other I would figure out how to do it because I had the same desire, I had the same skills, and I just had belief in the fact that I would be able to accomplish the results that I knew that I could.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
So that means that you went to the top real quickly, then, huh?
ROBERT BUTWIN:
No. Definitely not. In fact, my first involvement in the industry, I learned how you could create a tremendous amount of debt, but I also realized--yeah--I realized that everything in life happens for a reason, and I believed that I would gain a greater experience from the situation that was at hand. The debt did not bother me because I realize that in the long run it would come to serve me, because I also realized that everybody goes through different kinds of challenges, and this was just a challenge that I had to get through so that I would be able to help other people get through their challenges and I would have a comparable story. No, I don't believe that you need to go out and create a tremendous amount of debt to succeed in this business, but there are challenges that we're all going to have to get through to be successful.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
Now what were some of those challenges for you? I'm sure one of them was obviously a family challenge, because you're family was probably what is this guy doing? Has he lost his mind? I mean, what is happening here? So could you tell us a little bit about the family challenge and also any other challenges that you encountered along the way here?
ROBERT BUTWIN:
Well, I had a lot of challenges. Yes, I had the family challenges and my friend challenges as far as wondering what I was doing and had I, you know, lost my marbles. That was one of the challenges. The other challenge is when I started in the business I had, well, good credit, and shortly afterwards I had no credit. I created $102,000 in debt, so I had some financial challenges, you know, after I got involved with this business. But the one key thing that I learned from that experience was I kept my focus on the vision that I wanted to accomplish. And I kept that in the center stage of my mind. The fact of being able to one day live the life that I really dreamed of. Being able to walk on the beaches, enjoy, you know, what I saw as the finer things of life. So even though I had challenges, the thing that I learned from the challenges was to keep focused on the results that you wanted, and that's what got me through. The other challenge that I had in the business is logically, this business seems so simple, meaning the fact that you go out and get five people, they're going to get five people, they're going to get five people, and your mind works faster than the reality of what happens in life. You know, it didn't happen as fast for me, and from the time I actually started working the business until I became full-time was six years. Now that's I've been able to do it, I've been able to help a lot of other people accomplish those results in a lot quicker of a pace. But that was a very much challenge is the reality of what I knew was going to happen and that happening.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
So in the process of bridging that gap between where you were at that exact moment which were in debt and all that, and also where your vision was, to where you knew you were going. There wasn't a doubt that you were going to get there.
ROBERT BUTWIN:
Right.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
But in the meantime, you know, there's a gap, obviously, between where you are now, where you were then, and where you really desire to be. But what you're saying is in the middle of that gap, there are all kinds of challenges such as your family and such as, you know, really knowing that you're going to be there, but, man, it's like you're not there yet. You're saying the key thing was having that vision that was bigger than the fears and the challenges. And that drove you through all the obstacles and so forth. It kept you going. It kept you emotionally juiced up and charged and it kept you full of fuel so you can go ahead and make it. Is that what you're saying?
ROBERT BUTWIN:
That's one of the key elements that kept me going. Obviously the other element that went along with that, yes, it's nice to be able to look into the future knowing that you're going to get where you want to be, but you also need to develop a foundation that is going to be solid ground for you to stand one. And what I mean by the foundation and what worked for me is I started realizing that I was responsible for the lack of results in my life and that I needed to make certain kinds of changes. One of the key things that happened early on is someone gave me a tape series by Wayne Dyer called "No Limit Person." And I started to realize without understanding how that had happened that I had created certain limits in my life, and once I realized that, I realized I could make the changes and what those changes were for me--and this is what created the foundation for me--is I started this ongoing search to gain the insights necessary to be successful, and I started listening to the tapes, reading the books. I mean tapes on anything.
Anything on personal development, anything about understanding mission, vision, sales, all those kinds of things, so that I could become a master at relating with people, interacting with people, and that was the foundation that I was able to stand on until I was able to accomplish the vision that I originally started off. Now, since I've accomplished that, I have set higher visions. It's sort of like the song. The bear goes over the mountain. What happen when he gets over the mountain? There's another mountain for him to climb. So it's like you're never going to arrive. It's always going to be a journey.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
That's a very interesting insight. You know, when you're talking about this journey and when you were talking about the tapes that you listen to and the books that you read and so forth, basically what you're saying, it sounds like, is that you put yourself in an incubation system so to speak. It's like when a newborn baby is born, they get into an incubator because they're not necessarily ready to just jump out there and really to take on this new world here so to speak. But in the process, they get into this incubator which helps with their support systems with their breathing and everything else so that they're able to build up an immune system, so to speak, so that they can make it out there in the real world. And so the real world in this case would be network marketing and all the things that go along with that. The incubator for you would be the tapes, which is like your oxygen, you know, the reading the books is like your oxygen.
It's like you were building your immune system, you know, because then you start to feel--you know, as a friend of ours, Cynthia Kersey, says, unstoppable--and then you're able to really deal even more effectively with all the different challenges and so forth. That's fascinating. Now you've said that it took you six years to go full-time from when you first got started. What were the key things you learned in that six-year period of time, that first six years, that you felt allowed you to go ahead and say I'm at a situation now where, you know, I can go full-time because I have obviously learned certain things and applied certain things that go you to obviously a certain income at that time, that you were able to go full-time. What were some of those key things that really made that happen through that journey you talk about?
ROBERT BUTWIN:
Well, one of the key things that happened early on is one of my mentors, Robert Nadiack used to talk to me about the attitude of gratitude--that I had to be grateful for what I had. And so when I shifted from the fact of having a pity party and the fact that things were not working into understanding everything that was working in my life and making that even work at a higher level, that attitude of gratitude. And so once I started realizing that aspect and made that work for me, things really started happening.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
So you started to give thanks for what you had.
ROBERT BUTWIN:
That's right, because I knew that I was going to be there and I just had to be very grateful for everything that came my way. If it was a bad situation, I just respected it, I understood it, and I realized that out of every situation, every challenge that there's going to be a greater good that's going to me because it's going to make me a stronger person. And the people I'm dealing with are going to have those same kind, similar types of challenges.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
So it sounds like, then, that one of the main things that really drives human behavior in general, because we hear this over and over and over again, is their philosophies, their beliefs. And it sounds like your belief that, by being focused on the positive, because obviously some people don't believe that that can work. None of the positive stuff is happening so why should I do that? That's voodoo stuff. That's hocus pocus type stuff. You know, a lot of people kind of feel that way about this type of mental process that we're talking about here, because at this stage, you're mainly focusing and talking about the mental processes. You're saying that was a major key to you moving forward was really the mental process. Your philosophies, the way you thought about things, and so forth.
ROBERT BUTWIN:
That's definitely the case, and usually the people that question does this positive thought type process work, if they sat back and really started listening to how they're really talking with themselves, you know, they're going to be talking in doubts if they sit back and listen to the things that they're saying to themselves. I'm not saying that things are always are going rosy. You know, that's not the way it is. I mean, I've got challenges just like everybody else, but I also realize that the challenge was there to strengthen me and that a greater good is going to come out of it one way or the other. So I always try to take a look at what is in front of me and make it as, I think it was Zig Ziglar who said, take lemons and make them into lemonade. So I take a look for what the good is going to come from it.
JERRY DRHINO CLARK:
That's a very key aspect. I want to make sure all the listeners are really getting that, because it starts with that, like you were talking about, the foundation. Most people, they don't have the foundation. They want to go directly into the scripts. They want to go directly into how do I do this and how do I do that? How do I follow up with people? They want to know all that stuff first, but if they don't have the proper foundation, they're not going to do that stuff long enough in order to really become successful and so forth. One of the things that you are really known for is your networking skills. I mean, you've really taken networking and have really utilized what that word really is. I mean, basically people talking to people and so forth. And you are a master at that. I've seen you at work several times utilizing your networking skills. It seems like you were born that way or something, right? Obviously you weren't born as a master networker, so tell me about the process of how you actually became one.
ROBERT BUTWIN:
As the processed evolved for myself, and I remember when I originally got involved with this industry and I wanted to go up and explain the great opportunity that I knew was out there, it was very uncomfortable, and I had to sit back and just like everybody else figure what my baby steps were as far as to communicate it. And see, one of the key things about understanding the baby steps. I never got tied to the outcome. I looked at it as my sharpening of the axe, and when I'm talking about the axe, if I'm going to cut down a tree, you know, you've got to have a sharp axe. So this was my way of creating the skill set to become a master. And I started to realize as I was continually sharpening the axe and becoming a master at it, the way I became a master at it is I did it over and over again and I took a look at the fact that I never got tied to the outcome and from every experience that I had, every interaction no matter who it was that I had it with, I figured out what did I do right? What could I improve upon? And I always took a look at getting continually better at that skill. And yes, I've gotten to be very good at it and I would be happy to share with people how you can be very successful.
END OF PART 1 OF THIS INTERVIEW... PLEASE PROCEED TO PART 2 TO CONTINUE...