At a young age, I learned how important having a positive mindset in my personal and business life would be. I’ve been in direct sales my entire life. I started as a sales rep at 18, fresh out of high school. Despite my age, I was the number one salesperson in our company (with around 150 representatives) for two years at the ages of nineteen and twenty. I was consistently outselling people who had been in the industry for five, ten, fifteen, and even some of them over twenty years. Some of them were more than twice my age. Why did I outsell people with far more sales ability and knowledge? It was because I took the time to learn and develop success principles and was disciplined in living by what I was learning. I’ve always believed that champions are made behind the scenes, not in the limelight. I was willing to do what most people wouldn’t. I constantly studied sales, psychology, and people development. I was always in the top 10% of the company sales standings in my sales career. I’m highly driven and goal-oriented; I believe in setting goals and going after them. To me, a life without dreams would be like taking a trip without knowing where you’re going or where you’ll end up. Goals have given my life a purpose, so I want to help as many people live their dreams by teaching them what I’ve learned about having a positive outlook. That’s why I wrote The Power of a Positive Mindset. While I believe in higher education, I have a high school diploma and not one day of formal education after that. That doesn’t mean I stopped learning after high school. That’s when my real learning began. I once heard Zig Ziglar say that he overheard two students talking at a graduation ceremony, with one student saying to the other, “I’ll never open another book till the day I die.” Zig said those were the saddest words he’d ever heard. I agree with him and make it a point to be a person who is part of the solution in this world rather than joining the masses and being part of the problem. I’m a student of life and on a mission to constantly improve myself and those around me. That’s the only way to live out my purpose and help others live their dreams. I’ve been very fortunate to have some tremendous mentors. My parents taught me to believe in myself and that I could do anything I put my mind to. They are also why I got into the sales business all those years ago and worked directly for my dad for several years. Without their influence, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today. My wife is one of the most positive people I know and has dramatically influenced my journey to develop a positive mindset. I live in Ohio with my wife, Tara. We are both originally from Iowa; we have two kids who are now thriving young adults. We met in high school and started dating one week after we graduated. Tara is my best friend, and I’ve been enjoying living our dreams together for over two decades now. Raising our kids was both our biggest challenge and most significant accomplishment. Both of us believe in the power of a positive mindset. We teach the principle to anyone who will listen and live by it every single day of our lives. Our priorities are simple: God, family, then everything else.
