What are your inner conversations like? Are you optimistic or pessimistic? When you begin something or have an idea how do you relate to your ability to implement? Many times the most powerful conversations are the ones we have about ourselves. Do you create uncertainty or look at past shortcomings as reasons to be fearful or do you feel energized and excited by your ideas? I have heard the phrase that we are our own worst critic. Is this true for you?

One of the best ways I know to create empowering beliefs and to shift the internal conversation is through meditation and gratitude. Meditation is great at silencing those negative thoughts and creating space for our inner genius to come through. Gratitude is great to leave us with an empowered feeling as we move attention towards something energizing.

Are your thoughts providing energy and serving you? They are serving you one way or the other, which do you choose?

What is your personal economy like? Does a recession have to impact you? Can an interruption in production ever be a good thing? What are you aftraid of most?

To start with the first question, each of us has our own opportunity to doing something that the marketplace values. For some, it becomes a routine and complacency tees them up for an awakening. This awakening is usually when they are commoditized. An example of this would be the mortgage market. For quite some time, there has been low rates combined with low barrier to entry to deliver a loan. Some refer to this as the refi-boom. Many people could get a license and then show people how to lower payments. There was steady and increasing growth in the number of mortgage brokers due to the simplicity and demand. Hence, a routine began. People did what was “normal” for them and the money came. Then the rules changed. It was a quick and significant drop off for many. Others used it as a way to elevate what they delivered. Which type of mentality do you have and how are you going to choose?

There have been several stories about the initial business that I created with three other partners in the previous blogs. This now brings me to the story as it stands today. Engenuity will no longer be a public name from Salt Lake. I thought of the name years ago and really like it, but we are about to mark a powerful beginning where the Passion of G2 re-unite in an intention and powerful way.

Garrett White of The Investors Paradigm and Engenuity have been working towards a similar vision for years now. There were times where we worked together or others where it was a parallel effort. Garrett’s primary business has resulted in mortgages and for many years Engenuity’s transactions consisted of life insurance. Now with the Producer Power Hour, Freedom FastTrack, and The Accredited Network there is so much opportunity for us to unite and have a bigger impact.

The Investors Paradigm will still be the Accredited mortgage company, but Garrett White will no longer be doing mortgages. Engenuity no longer handles life insurance as Vitality Life has filled the role in the Accredited network. The primary difference will be that the Board of Directors for Engenuity will serve with the existing members of The Investors Paradigm Board or Directors and vice-versa. Garrett White will be a partner and Lead Associate. He is already leading a complimentary teleconference called “Economic Certainty in Uncertian Times” and will be the featured speaker for March’s Curriculum For Wealth. If you would like to attend the teleconference or CFW in March, e-mail gwhite@freedomfasttrack.com.

Ben Curtis is another executive from the Investors Paradigm and is serving as a special consultant to Engenuity in this merger. We are looking to work with Marv Curtis who is creating opportunitites for non-accredited investors and is part of The Accredited Network with this merger. There will be more details to come as we have our first combined meeting of the firms next week. This is an exciting development. More details to follow as the new name is decided upon and we unveil more details.

Take advantage of the opportunity to join Garrett White on the teleconferences held every Tuesday for the next three weeks. The last teleconference will include both of us have a very direct conversation of what has happened over the past four months and what to do now. We are going to be especially candid to help people that are confused, frustrated, and suffering due to losses in real estate, had been materialistic or prideful and are now struggling, or those that have learned the 7 key lessons already and how that has impacted them or allowed them to move forward with power and love.

Join me tonight on a podcast at Freedomfasttrack.com at 5pm mst as I have a panel talking about “Real and Relevant” issues people are facing- espcially the talks of recession.

More to come……..

(Read the Engenuity Blogs before this blog)

After Ray and Les died I began to commute to their office on a daily basis and made it my office. It was hectic, but I tried to pick up the pieces and charge forward with their legacy in mind and the vision we had together. So many things were happening on a daily basis plus I had some of my old workload as well. I say some because Greg Blackbourn stepped up and handled the Salt Lake office in an amazing way. Mike Isom was commuting to Provo on a regular basis to help out and keep things moving along. There were many employees, many of them confused, sad, and others overworked.

I had just decided to move forward and work as hard as necessary. The radio show was going well as I had great guest hosts, but determining how the business was going to operate and look became increasingly complex. Mike, Ray, Les, and myself had years of working together and could move forward quickly. Attempting to bring in a new partner and a new CEO proved to be increasingly difficult. I was not taking any income on tuitions and depositing all of the contract money on life insurance to keep Engenuity alive. Ultimately, the quality of service to the clients suffered without Ray managing the systems he created. Newer advisors did not understand how to apply principles and teach at the same level which added to a high degree of risk for the firm, the clients experience, and ultimately the vision we partners had in the beginning was diminishing.

Out of this difficulty and discontent came the most amazing burst of production for me. I held a meeting with all of our team where I was teaching them how to apply what we were teaching clients in their own life. At the end of the event, I sat all the employees down and notified them that I was violating the very things we teach if I continued in the same capacity any longer. I informed them to stop collecting tuitions, stop associating my name with the process, and figure out what they really wanted to contribute and how. I let them know that I was separating from the Provo office and rejoining my Salt Lake group starting in January.

This was emotional and difficult, but there were people getting paid without producing, clients that were being taught techniques without the foundational principles, and I was missing out on my family. This wasn’t me giving up, it was an opportunity to make a more massive contribution and get to the root of my Soul Purpose and happiness again. All that December I worked from my home. I began seriously writing Killing Sacred Cows. I started from the beginning in creating a unique process that Ray, Les, Mike and I had worked on for some time, but that the writings and documents were with Ray on the plane.

This was the beginning of the Freedom FastTrack. It is really a culmination of much more than what I began to organize in December, but December was the critical time. I became so excited about it that I had retreats with the advisors that were joining Greg and I in Salt Lake. I was staying up until 3am some nights just writing and creating. I would take entire days with critical relationships to formulate and think through the magnitude of what was flowing through me. I was in love with living again. I was actually moving the legacy of my partners forward again.

Early in June and early in the morning I got a phone call from Mike Isom. It was around 6 am and I was just getting ready to head to the gym. I didn’t get to the phone on the first call, but Mike called back. He was actually in Los Angeles preparing to attend a Strategic Coach event that day. It was that phone call where Mike told me the plane carrying Ray and Les left St. George the night before and hadn’t made it to the Provo Airport. At first I thought that maybe due to weather the plane landed somewhere else and the cell phones didn’t have any service. I was hopeful and concerned at the same time.

I turned on the TV and the news talked about a plane that had crashed into Utah Lake. At this point I still had hope, but the reality of their death was starting to set in. I immediately drove to Ray’s house and spent some time with his family. I stayed there for several hours and then went to the lake with Ray’s wife. There were many people there in support and concern. Most of the weekend was spent at the lake. A pouring of heatfelt calls and offerings came in immediately. There were people that took care of the various projects, obligations, functions, etc that were not even part of the business, but just cared and wanted to help.

Now, it was Monday morning, and I had a choice to do the radio or not. At this time, I knew that the most productive thing would be to do the radio program. I had been a co-host with Les and Dr. Paul stepped in on that Monday and we moved forward with a heavy heart.

This was a time to prove if we believed in what we talk about or not. If we could offer value to those grieving and honor two men that were not only my partners, but my friends.

Now there are three posts that would be important to read before this. All posts talking about Engenuity from this week are useful to provide context before reading this.

One of the best decisions that the original partners of Engenuity made was to do regular retreats away from the office, uninterrupted. This was a great bonding experience and was fun, but was the key to build the foundation of our vision. Our vision was for individuals, families, communities and nations to follow and understand the principals of prosperity and to live the most happy life imaginable. It was a key for us to make sure people knew the material and spiritual wealth could be acheived and were not mutually exclusive. We knew that it was also critical that people had the proper mindset to have wealth and that money alone would was not the only consideration. It was in these retreats that we developed the Curriculum for Wealth to provide the proper philosphy first. Without the education, people can not properly use the tools/products or they are not even working towards what they would truely want but hadn’t taken the time to determine properly.

It was these retreats where the Producer Revolution was born. Working with these guys was soo much fun at the time we started these partner retreats. There were a few times before these where we were scattered or even times where there was frustration on the direction and vision of the different offices or with each other. There was so much momentum and excitement. We hired Ron Zeller to coach us a full team vs. separate offices. We were working to merge more than just a few things; we were working to merge all of our businesses. We had made this a priority in December of 2005 and within 6 months the plane crashed where Ray and Les died.

This is where things became real interesting and where most people want to hear more about. Next week will be dedicated to my version of that story.