Leave Nothing To Chance

Your success can only go far as your mind. Wally Kralik is someone who knows this by heart, owing his success to the ways he has learned from great mentors and books, changed his mindset and belief systems, and worked hard towards his goals. Now, he has a lifelong entrepreneurial streak, owning many businesses and becoming a leader in network marketing. In this episode, he joins John Solleder to share his journey, which started with some blue jeans, and the many lessons he learned along the way. Wally also talks about some of the books that have helped him reach success, imparts advice to those who want to achieve their goals, and discusses how he is leaving a legacy to his children through health and networking. Follow along to this conversation to gain some nuggets of wisdom around the importance of having the right mindset, with the right company, at the right place, and at the right time.

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Blue Jeans Big Daddy With Wally Kralik

This is the sixth episode of the show. It’s my privilege to bring another long-term friend of mine. Somebody I have great respect for and known for many years, Wally. Let’s start at the beginning. Share with everybody a little bit, going back to when you finished your education. I know you’ve had a lifelong entrepreneurial streak in you. You’ve owned many businesses. Share with everybody a little bit about what you did before networking.

Thanks for having me on the show, John. Going way back when I’m an immigrant. We came over here at the end of the war. I was the typical kid on the street that got bullied all the time. My self-esteem didn’t exist. I struggled. I didn’t finish school, but my parents always taught me to always stay focused and to work hard to accomplish something. I started very early as an entrepreneur selling comic books, doing newspaper routes, and all that kind of stuff. I did that at the beginning. After school, I started driving a truck. I was one of the best truck drivers in Toronto.

I could cross the city in fifteen minutes back then. Now, it’s three hours. I got involved in a number of businesses. Some I made a few dollars on and some didn’t do so well. From ice cream business to car wash business, to a gas station, to sporting goods stores. I was in so many different things. Finally, I hit a homerun and it was a fluke because what people don’t realize is if you get in front of a trend that’s happening with the right company at the right time at the right place, you’re going to make money. By accident, one of my gas customers was in the clothing business and he says, “Why don’t you get into business with me? We’ll start selling jeans.” I said, “Sure.”

I don’t know anything about jeans. I never wore jeans, but I got involved with him. He didn’t like the way I operated. I ended up in the business by myself. I didn’t know what a pair of Levi’s was. That’s how bad I was when it came to an understanding the industry, but it was in front of a trend. That’s the reason why I bring that up. The trend in the world right now is home-based business. The biggest in the home-based business arena is the health industry. People that pumped themselves in front of a trend like this are going to make money. I got involved in this jean business because Hollywood started to make it a fashion item. Within a few years, I was doing about $15 million a year in sales.

I was making a small fortune. I’m making a seven-figure income for myself. I made a serious mistake and I still can’t believe it happened to me. I lost about $4 million. I lost the whole chain. I had 44 stores. The bank did this to me. They put 350 people on the street right at Christmas, including me. I lost the house, the dog, the cat and the wife. Everything disappeared and I didn’t know where to go. That’s when I answered an ad working from home with little investment. Lo and behold, it was about network marketing. I knew exactly a zilch about the industry. I didn’t even know Amway existed. That’s how naive I was about the business, but I went to a meeting. I thought the thing was less than credible and I left.

I didn’t do much about it, but the person who had invited me was smart enough to stay on my case. He kept telling me about all this money he’s making. In the meantime, I was struggling to stay alive. I made a final decision. I said, “Show me.” I got involved. I worked really hard, but the big problem was my belief system. Wayne Dyer, what you think about, comes about and Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life. I got reams of books here that I’d like to review with you really quick, but I knew the belief system was the most important thing.

I got involved in the network marketing industry not knowing what I was doing with no belief system. In the beginning, I failed dramatically not until I realized the importance of aligning yourself with the right reading material and making sure your belief system is in the right place. I acquired the skills and it then started to happen for me. Until that happened, I was a failure in this industry. Like many people, if you don’t have mentors, you don’t read the books, you don’t acquire the skills. It is a profession and it takes time and effort. Everybody can do it, but not everybody will do it.

Let’s talk a little bit about books. Let’s start there. The latest book that I authored with our friend Foster Owusu, Leave Nothing To Chance. I know you just finished that. Out of the fifteen principles in Leave Nothing To Chance, is there one that grabs you and if so, discuss it.

The Moving Up one is the one I really liked. Leave Nothing To Chance is also a very good book. On day one, when you’re a little kid, what did your mother or your dad do for you? They read stories all your life growing up until you started to read your own stories. TV tells you stories. Teachers tell you stories. This book is all about stories and people can relate to this. We have single moms and professional people in here. There are stories in here that anybody can relate to and apply to their own life. We all have a story to tell. Some of us are more dramatic than others, but we all have stories.

We listen to stories. It gets people involved. It’s all about facts. People let that come in and go out, but you read a story about a mom losing her house and got three kids, all of a sudden, she’s introduced to this powerful industry. She aligns herself with the right people, reads the right material, acquires the skills and becomes a millionaire. I liked this book for that reason because it tells stories and people relate to stories. They can see their own lives unfolding in the different stories. If they see other people doing it, they can do it. It’s an inspirational book.

Blue Jeans: People don’t realize that if you get in front of a trend with the right company at the right time, at the right place, you’re going to make money.

Moving up, I don’t mind the plug. Thank you. Your story is in that book. If people want to read it, Moving Up: 2020. It’s still on Amazon. It’s an Amazon bestseller, as was Leave Nothing To Chance. Ironically in 2020, I had two bestsellers, which is strange and a very strange year to say the least. Let’s stay on books. Going back in time, whether it was when you were in traditional business with all the businesses that you mentioned that you own along the way. I’m sure you read books then or when you got into network marketing. Do you remember the first book that you picked up and you had the highlighter? You got to the end of it and the thing had dog ears on half the pages. You said, “I got to have this.” In addition to my Holy Bible, this is an important book I don’t want to put down. What was that for you?

Before we jump on that specific book because what started me in self-improvement in the first place were Napoleon Hill, Wayne Dyer, Burke Hedges and Jim Roland. I have a whole series of Jim Roland and CDs. That’s what I started with. It was with CDs because prior to getting involved in my own business, I didn’t do very much reading. I read a lot of comic books, so I never got into reading and realizing the importance of reading. Until I became semi-successful in the clothing business, I realized how important it was for me to motivate myself and to learn something intelligent that I can pass on to my managers when I went to the stores.

I was doing 50,000 miles a year in my car. As I say, I’ve got dozens and dozens of series of different speakers like this. That’s how I got started in personal development and realizing the importance of doing that to yourself because what you think about, comes about. That was one of the very powerful things for me when I listened to these tapes. What you say to yourself was very important too, because people talk to themselves all the time. We have 50,000 thoughts in our heads every day. What are you thinking about? What are you saying to yourself with all these thoughts that are going through your head? The sad part is 90% of the thoughts, the next day is the same as the ones you had before. Unless you change your thoughts, your life will never change.

That’s why it was so important. When I started getting into this, it’s Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life. Your belief system, what you’re thinking about, what you believe in is what’s going to take you to a certain place. We’re all designed to be a success, but we’re programmed for failure. That’s the sad part about our whole system. We got to look at our programming. On day one, our parents say, “No, you can’t do this. You can’t do that.” Unless you hang out with the right people, you read the right books or you go to the right school, you’re going to be programmed in a negative way. We’re not programmed to be entrepreneurs and that’s what networking is all about. You’ve got to acquire the skills.

You’ve got to read the books that will start making you believe in yourself so that you know the importance of being focused. You got to be focused. You got to know exactly what you want. We talk about why in this industry. It’s so important. Why are you in this business? What do you want out of this business? Write down the goals and once you’re focused, you have to master your thoughts. Start to be in control of your thoughts. Every thought is a thing. Whatever you think about, comes about. What thoughts are going through your head, the 50,000 thoughts a day? If they’re the same thoughts, you’re going to get the same results. If you want different results, start thinking differently. To start thinking differently, you got to read different books. You got to listen to different people. You have to have different mentors. This is a continuous cycle.

It’s so important to have your belief system in the right place, focus your mastery and then the activity. You got to start into the active stage after you figured out what you want and you’ve mastered your thoughts. I like to think ahead five years down the road. I got the best wife, the best car, the nicest house and all the toys. How do I feel when I think about it five years down the road? That’s what you should be thinking about now. You act that. You have that kind of energy. Don’t put on the Rolex and the $1,000 suits, but your thoughts should be based on, “I am a leader. I will change the world. I will have these things that I think about that I’ve programmed myself to have.” When you come across like that, people see that. They sense it. They feel it and you’re talking from the heart because you want to help that person accomplish everything that they want in their life.

I know you’ve read a lot of books in the last number of years, but if you had to narrow it down to your top three, what are they?

I brought this guy up. What You Say To Yourself is very important to me. The Dyer book was also a very important book for me. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind is very powerful too. These are all part of my belief system that I try to control my mind and I still have problems. For the longest period of time, I had a heavy-duty elastic around my wrist. Every time I had a negative thought, I pulled that sucker and “Whack.” I’d end up with a red wrist, but if a block fell on your head every time you had a negative thought, you stop thinking like that. When you read this type of book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, you’re going to change your way of thinking. Once you change your way of thinking, your life will change.

Everything that’s on this planet has been somebody’s idea. Why can’t we think the right thoughts? Especially, the world is in such a confusing place. First of all, I encourage everybody to turn off the TV, stop this virus stuff and all this other crap that we’re being indoctrinated with and scares you. You think the world’s going to come to an end. We’ve got to stop listening to that stuff and go back to focus on what you want and get out there and do the activity that’s going to accomplish the goals that you want and build leadership. That is important too.

I know myself, we got rid of all the cable channels with the exception of the regular TV we can watch. It does make a huge difference because you’re not influencing yourself. First of all, it’s somebody else’s point of view, somebody else’s spin on something, which the media, unfortunately has become. More than that, you’re not programming yourself for, “The world’s falling apart.” Instead, reading the books you mentioned in addition to Moving Up, Leave Nothing To Chance, and other great books on our industry or outside our industry.

Moving Up: 2020 and Beyond

I’ve been a big fan of Dyer for years. Much of what we do is controlled by how we think. It’s funny because you go to the gym and you’ll have 1 to 1.5 hours of workout. You’ll hop on the treadmill for 45 minutes for your run. How much time are you spending developing your mind? That’s what you are saying. You’re a product of that. Your success not only in traditional business before but certainly in network marketing is that. If I came to your house and I said, “What are you reading? What’s Wally Kralik reading right now?”

John, I’ve read your books and they’ve got nuggets in there. I find these guys very interesting, Randy Gage and Chris Richard’s books. I just finished his book again. I’m reading Seven Secrets to Success. That’s all I’m reading right now. Books about the industry with different viewpoints. It’s interesting how some of these gigantic leaders picked the wrong company. They made millions but unfortunately, a company went sideways and that’s the problem in this industry. You got to be very careful to align yourself with a company you know is going to be here 25, 30 years from now. It is so important. It’s not just about the money.

It’s about building a legacy for yourself that has to do in this industry. That’s what I love about this industry. Being able to get into this industry for a few hundred dollars and become a multimillionaire. It only happens in America and this is a wonderful and exciting industry. A lot of people still misunderstood it, but more and more people are getting involved in it. They are sharing information and talking from the heart. It’s not about signing people up. It’s identifying needs and wants, and what they’re concerned with, and offering solutions. This industry, in most cases, can fix most problems.

Let’s talk about one of many things you’re good at, but one in particular, which is you got a new person started. You sign up a new guy, a new couple, a new woman or whoever. You sign them up.

Read a book, because until you believe you’re in the right industry at the right time, at the right place, you’re not going to be successful. You’re going to work hard, get 3 or 4 people signed up. Probably in most cases, you get the first three noes, and you’re out of the business. The belief system is the most important thing. Help them to recognize that this industry is powerful. It’s going places. You can be part of the stories here. You can relate to the stories in your job. You talked about your need. You want to put your kids through private school. Here’s somebody that put their kids through private school. You can relate to different stories that different people are talking about.

The belief system is the most important thing. After the system, you have to identify what they want. What do you want? What are you focused to get? What are you trying to accomplish? Why are you in this business? Identify those things. I discuss the five basic skills that they have to acquire, finding people, qualifying them, doing a presentation, follow-up and follow-through and then train. I take them through all those steps and I also make a list of at least 24 people. We all know a couple of hundred people, but we’re not going to phone 200 people.

I want to stay in bed with that person until they sign up their first customer or their first distributor. I can then let them loose a little bit. There’s an accomplishment just reading the book. The first accomplishment. The person won’t read the book, I’m not going to spend a lot of time with them because how serious are you if you don’t want to learn what this industry is about? Identify the skills that they’re going to need, talk about their why’s, set some goals, do some three ways with them, talk to 24 people and get them into activity within the first 48 hours. That’s what I normally do with the branding person.

You’ve been very successful doing that. Let’s talk about legacy a little bit. I know your son, Kyle is part of your business now. He’s in the business and your older son is in your business as well. I know he’s got a traditional business he owns that he’s very successful at. I know he dabbles in it. Is your daughter involved also?

No, my daughter is strictly a user of the product. Kyle is my main guy, but my older son knows that when I’m ready to retire, he’s going to get a piece of the action. Both my kids are going to be in the business when I decide. I’ll never retire because that’s the other nice thing. I’m not old enough to play golf every day. I don’t know what I would do when I retire. This is the business you can do until you’re 90. You’re always talking about health and changing people’s lives, making the world a better place. There’s nothing better than this industry to do it in. I’m going to hand the reins over to the two boys. They will go ahead and do the things that I couldn’t do because technology is changing this industry.

There are so many different ways to build a business. Networking will never go away. Health will never go away. I’m building that legacy. The industry is going to stay here. Health is got to stay here. I believe I’m in one of the best companies in the world and the boys are going to take it over from me and keep me and the lifestyle I’m accustomed to. They can go out there and create their own million dollars of income with what I started. That’s what I love about this industry is being able to pass it on to your children or sell it and give the money to charity if you don’t have kids.

Blue Jeans: Once you change your way of thinking, your life will change. Everything that’s on this planet has been somebody’s idea, so why can’t we think the right thoughts?

That legacy is important because you worked hard to build a business with your current company. One of the things and it’s such a good point that we never talk about is the fact that we build a business here. It’s no different than a guy who owns five Subway franchises, five McDonald’s or three Burger Kings. They have a business that they can pass on to the next generation especially if you’re with a company that lasts. In your case, your kids are going to have to wait a little while, because as I recall, your mom passed away.

They were on a product that I am so committed to and they lived to be 90 years old without drugs. Within the last two weeks of their life, their mind started to go. Up until that point, they were sharp. They knew exactly what they were doing. They were mobile with no meds other than some aspirins. I do have good genes.

It’s funny because I remember a story that our friend Doug McNabb shared with me that he pulled up to your house one day and he’s like, “That’s Wally on the roof.” He then realized it was your dad and your dad was about 90 years old. He was still up there hammering shingles on the roof, which is a great testament to good health, to eating right, and taking good care of yourself.

It’s very important and taking care of the mind and the body. If you do it correctly, you’re going to live a long life. They’ve got body parts coming down the road. The big thing you got to concern yourself with is the brain and that’s not hearing others. Think positive.

You mentioned the brain, but that’s why it’s so important. That’s why this show is dedicated to the concept that all leaders are readers, all readers are leaders. In addition, another side benefit to it, an unintended consequence is that the more we read and the more we stimulate that brain, just like when we go to the gym and we do curls or we do squats or whatever for specific body parts, reading constantly stimulates that brain. The brain is taking in that information as we get older. It’s so vitally important to good long-term health like your folks had, like you’re having and I hope to have in my case. We’re living in interesting times as everyone here, so certainly would agree.

There are two people that come to mind when I think about where we. I like you to respond to this in closing out this interview. We have the people who are my age group, maybe late 50s, 60s, maybe a little older, maybe a little bit younger. They’re either been downsized because of the pandemic. They’ve been unemployed because of the pandemic. Perhaps they’re like you and me that had been business guys. They owned a business and maybe it’s not going to be the same when everything gets back to normal.

Let’s face it, people have gotten used to realizing that they can shop and work from home, etc. Things are not going to be the same. Secondly, there’s that young group, the 25-year-olds. They have all these internet skills, cell phone skills, technology skills, and not a lot of jobs out there for those people. What would your best advice be in closing for those two groups of people in looking at network marketing perhaps as either a part-time venture, like most people, start out or even a full-time venture like you and I do for a living? What’s your best advice for them?

It is unfortunate that so many people in North America, by the time they retire, don’t have any money in the bank. They’ve got to be stressed out, which in turn affects your immune system, which brings on a disease like dementia and Alzheimer’s way before it should happen. Getting involved in network marketing can solve a lot of those problems. An extra $500,000 a month coming in to a senior makes a huge difference. Not even a senior, anybody. Nobody’s got an extra $1,000 a month that they can just blow. This industry can allow a senior from the comfort of their home, acquire some of the skills and go through all the learning process, which they can do. They’re all educated and a lot of them are very skilled.

They’ve got to adapt their skills now to acquiring what do you need to know to build an MLM business? There’s so much information out there like books that you’ve written, John, and dozens of other books that are out there that can teach these seniors how to work from home. If you are sitting there and watching TV, you’re better off learning a skill that you can work with until the day you die and still have all the tax write-offs and have some of the traveling when it starts to happen. It’s all part of this industry. As far as the young group goes, they’ve got to be a little patient. Unfortunately, a lot of young people want the money and that’s not what this industry is about.

This industry is about building a team, first of all, acquire the skills, the mindset, building a team and creating leaders. You will have income for the rest of your life. A lot of these young people have to be nervous about their futures because the jobs are not the way they used to be. We don’t know where this world is going to go and how bad the economy can become. The ideal thing is to have a little extra income on the side. As you mentioned, John, many people know they can work from home. Many people want to buy stuff online. If you pick the health industry, everybody’s interested in health. Those things that these young people can learn and do right on their phone sitting in their cars wherever they want to do this business. It’s a sure win for them if they want to learn the skills and get into the activity.

In wrapping this up, I want to first of all thank, Wally Kralik, for his time and his sage advice on not only general business but network marketing. Thank you, Wally. Continued success to you and your family. Thank you so much for your time and your inspirational words.

Important Links:

• Wally Kralik – Facebook
• Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life
• Leave Nothing To Chance
• Moving Up
• The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
• Seven Secrets to Success

About Wally Kralik

Successful Serial Entrepreneur, Home Business Coach and Trainer, Devoted Husband and Father

Wally’s expertise lies in assisting individuals to resolve their stress, which usually arises from unsatisfactory job conditions and an inadequate income.

He has been successfully mentoring people for the past 18 years to create an exceptional lifestyle for themselves including time freedom and the income they desire.