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Greg put in his time in "the safety zone" and only dabbled in side ventures. He worked diligently at his job and was promoted into a management position for his efforts. This was great news because it meant his hard work had been noticed, and it also meant an increase in his salary. It didn't take long before he grew accustomed to the new responsibility and additional money, but in one day all of that was destroyed.
It's a tale that's told all too frequently these days - Greg was forced out of his position due to a change in the company's administration. According to him, they brought someone else to put in his position, so he was sent back to the machine shop and his pay was cut almost in half.
As anyone would imagine, this was a devastating turn of events. The demotion was not a reflection on his performance but the message was clear: he was expendable. That did not sit well with him, considering he'd put in 10 years with the company. Add to that the bills that were piling up because he wasn't earning enough money to pay them.
He says, "Over 10 years worth of loyal service down the drain...I resolved right then that no one would ever control my paycheck again. The thought of spending the rest of my life working for other people - only to make them rich - made me feel ill."
This is exactly what Greg needed to force him back into his life as an entrepreneur. But gone were the carefree days of selling bikes and peddling candy bars. Greg never abandoned the idea of having his own business; he had the right mentors and certainly done enough research to know how to get started, but he admits that one thing had kept him from acting on his plan for success: fear.
Fear that he wouldn't make enough money; fear that all his school teachers were right - a traditional job is the only proven way of making a living; fear that he would live up to the expectations of all the people in his life who told him he'd never amount to anything. But now Greg had enough courage and determination to put aside those fears and do what he had been planning since childhood.
"When I was only a child, I started studying successful people," recalls Greg. "My Aunt Wanda and Uncle Jack once took me on a ride in a sailboat my uncle had built. I was thankful for them
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taking me, but I couldn't help but notice all the fancy boats on the lake. Then my cousin Georgia's husband sped by us in a really nice speedboat and all I could think was, "Why am I not on that boat?" I was thankful for all I had, but I still wanted more."
As a child, he could visualize having that kind of success one day, so he researched how others were making their money and their mark. he read entrepreneur books, magazines, and attended success seminars - many before he even graduate high school. And, he promised his mom that by the time he was in his 30's, he'd have his own business. There was no doubt in her mind that he'd achieve that goal, but there were plenty of "dream stealers," as Greg refers to them, who just laughed at his ideas and told him he'd never succeed.
Greg and his wife Marie set out on a mission to find the best home-based business opportunity on the market. The plan was to get a business going strong so he could quit his job. They attended a seminar featuring six different opportunities and ordered everything. Marie told Greg she was sure of him. "She believed in me," says Greg. "She said that even if we lose everything , I'll stand by you. She wasn't in it for the money, she was in it for me."
With that kind of support, Greg put all his efforts into finding the one venture that would enable him to quit his job and never work for someone again. "I went through a variety of business opportunities and 98 percent didn't work out," shares Greg.
When he heard the words of Zig Ziglar, "You can get what you want in life if you help enough others get what they want," Greg understood what he'd been doing wrong. "The focus was on me and that wasn't getting me anywhere. I changed my focus to helping people achieve success - it's a concept that has developed into a culture," he says. He believes in reaching out to others and getting them started in their own home-based business so they too can realize their dreams. That kind of help results in success and compensation for them, as well as satisfaction and compensation for him - his reward comes from his efforts in helping others succeed first
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and not at the expense of others.
A well-known marketer introduced Greg to a company that sold a unique air purification product, and he was offered a chance to team up with them and build a business with the product along with finding others to do the same. "I saw the benefits first-hand. I knew it was both a product and an opportunity to help others get what they want," says Greg.
This was what he had been searching for - a proven product that changes people's lives physically and financially, and a business that is proven. He admits that there are some people who have to see success before they'll follow, but not him. He considers himself a visionary - he sees the success before it happens. He always has. "But with this duplicatable system and the many success stories that go with it," adds Greg, "the proof can't be disputed. For those who need to see success first, like my dad for instance, this system shows it."
Greg gave his mom an air purifier as a gift. One day when his parents had the neighbors over, someone lit a cigarette, but nobody knew there was a smoker in the room. Greg explains, "That's because the purifying unit and its unique filterless radio wave-like technology was able to completely eliminate the odor and sight of smoke at its source before anyone had noticed."
That was enough to convince Greg's dad, Paul, that it was a product people would want to have. Paul's instincts were correct because he went on to build a very successful business with the product. In fact, he had so much success that he was able to quit his full-time job as an engineer to do the business full time.
But, as in any business, it's not enough to have a love for a product. Like Greg's dad says, "You can have the best product, but if nobody knows about it, then who cares?" in order to make money, you have to know how to get others as excited about it as you. Greg has always known how to do this and was ready to create a step-by-step recipe for success for others to follow and get excited about.
He teamed up with his partner, Jon bender, and went to work, brainstorming for months with several of the nation's top marketing experts, including Sharon Gold, Paul Svetz, Mike Johnson, Cynthia
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