Leave Nothing To Chance

 

As the world continues to adjust to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, network marketing is something people should really give a chance. It may have some bad appeal to many, but looking into it a bit more reveals its great potential in these trying times. John Solleder sits down with his friend Jamie who shares why he chose to delve into network marketing even at 70. He imparts actionable advice to young and old people on navigating this industry as the corporate world and the entire market continue to evolve. Jamie also talks about the books that inspired him to try network marketing and his continuous pursuit for professional growth.

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Living Well With Jamie

It is my privilege to welcome a long-term friend of mine in the industry from beautiful Ontario, Canada. Let me formally welcome you, Mr. Jamie Holly, to the show. How are you?

I’m very good, John.

I know that you are a long-term student of self-development. What was the first book that got you that a-ha moment? What was it?

It was The Greatest Salesman by Og Mandino. The book itself was very inspirational because I had no experience in this business, John. No sales experience and marketing. Reading that book indicated to me that if you want something bad enough, you can figure out how to do it through sales. I enjoyed the book. It was fairly easy to read, but the concepts were very profound.

If you want something bad enough, you can figure out how to do it through sales. Click To Tweet

It’s one of my favorites as well. I have re-read that book seventeen times. I had on the show, you probably heard him, Paul Blanchard, who’s the president of the Og Mandino Foundation and quite a great family that runs that. You’re even featured in a book, the new Leave Nothing to Chance book, which I’m the co-author of with Foster Owusu. When you read that book, what’s your favorite principle? Why is that your favorite?

I picked principle number five. All the principles have a very important place in our business or any business, but I picked number five, especially looking at my own business, my own life, is the whole concept of commitment. What I realized is that we can be committed at certain times and then we lose our commitment where I’ve been. What strikes me with that principle is that once you move away from your commitment, as that principle indicated, you guys indicated, you freeze yourself. You isolate yourself out of business and what you initially wanted to do.

I had my initial commitment. I enjoyed that chapter because basically, what they’re saying is if you don’t have a huge commitment, it doesn’t matter whether you’re going into medicine or network marketing. What you’re going into, without a serious commitment, other things are going to distract you. That was the other part of that principle is that the distractions are out there, the naysayers and whoever, but if your commitment is strong and even though I haven’t got to the top level of the company, I did well in the beginning.

Without that commitment, I would have been long gone. It’s helped me stay here. As a matter of fact, I’m recommitted because of various things in our company. I’m very happy with everything. At my age, I’m definitely committed to getting this thing going. I want to go into my latter years feeling financially free and satisfied with what I’ve done in life.

Let me ask you this. Let’s stay on the self-development question. Obviously, The World’s Greatest Salesman by Og, Leave Nothing To Chance, but if they showed up at your front door and they said, “Jamie, we were going to take you to a deserted island with plenty of food and water but besides your Holy Bible, you can only bring three other books with you.” What would those three books be?

I’m glad you said the Holy Bible because I would take something that’s Christ-driven because I think that’s become very important in my life, in my latter years. One of the books, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, has been a very impactful book in my life. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. You look at the book, The Secret and all these other motivational concepts, the old sayings, “What you think about, comes about.” I believe that. Sometimes I have had the problem of thinking too much and not always being positive. You bring things to fruition. That’s a huge book. The other one is The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. I found it a very good book. There’s a myriad of other books that I’ve looked at and read, John, but these stand out in my mind.

All great titles, all favorites of mine as well and probably many of our readers. Let me ask you this. You’ve been in the industry now for a quarter of a century. What are the best systems for getting people started?

I think the best part of the whole system is finding out what people want. Not what we want, but what is the prospect you’re speaking to, your new potential business partner, what do they want? Finding out enough about them that you know what they’re potentially capable of? What their true interest is, their true commitment, going back to commitment?

I think basically right now with where we are in our business is using training that’s provided by professionals with the company because those trainings are well-designed. You’re with good company. I’m sure they’re going to have good training. To me, why reinvent the wheel? Follow what the people who have done this teach you.

Let me ask this. Let’s get off business. I’m going to come back to a business question, but I know you have been to Greece. How many times?

I’ve been there fourteen times.

I was telling my wife. I said, “I think he’s been there 14 or 15 times.” Let’s talk about Greece, just as a human-interest question. Why Greece so many times as opposed to elsewhere? What’s your passion for it? When you go, what are your favorite places and food?

There are a number of reasons. One of my minors in the university was Archeology. I had a real affinity toward ancient history and archeology growing up. Especially now, I intend to travel back to Greece and other places in the Mediterranean. I did find out too that my father’s great-grandfather in England was married to a Spanish woman. I could never figure out why I had an affinity toward the Mediterranean. I think now I know why. If you saw my dad, he looked like he was right off the boat from Italy or Spain.

I enjoy it, John, because of the history of the area. There are so many beautiful places. If you look at it from an archeological standpoint, from a historical standpoint, and believe me, we could learn a lot about what’s going on with what went on back then. They talked about too many wars, corrupt politicians and all the other stuff that destroyed a lot of these societies. I love being over there. The history and a lot of the buildings that were built by the Venetians, the Romans and the Greeks 3,000 years.

The Parthenon, for example, is still there. It’s not intact, but there are many artifacts that come out of these areas and that you could spend a lifetime going through the museums there seeing what people created. The ladies on this show later will appreciate this. On the island of Crete, there’s a place called Knossos, which was 5,000 years old. That society was run by women.

Until later on, men showed up, who militarily took over that area, but that’s an area where there are still phenomenal Greek ruins. You can find them in Rhodes, which is an island near the Turkish Coast where the Knights of St. John went to fight the Crusades. The history in all these areas is mind-boggling. I love it. Aside from all that, we have beautiful scenery in North America.

Many parts of Greece remind me of Nevada, New Mexico, those areas because it’s very hot and dry and whatever. The Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, I read something on the internet where a guy said, “If you haven’t sailed on the Mediterranean in the summer, then you should before you die.” I could go there 100 times and see something different and love it.

I was only there once, unfortunately, and I’ve always wanted to get back. To your point, it’s like the Parthenon. You go up those stairs and realize like you’re probably the ten-millionth human being that’s walked up those same stairs that have been walked on.

 

John, let me add one quick thing. Right below the Parthenon is another Acropolis, which is the Greek word for rock. There were a lot of people down on this big rock. If anybody ever goes there, for a Christian, this is huge. This was the rock where Saint Paul Christianized the Greeks and the history of that is phenomenal. It’s funny.

The first time I went to Greece, I was on a mission to see where I was in life and what I was doing. I went to Turkey, to Ephesus, the birthplace of the Virgin Mary and all this stuff. When I got back, I showed my trip to a guy and he said, “You did almost the same trip that Paul did when he was trying to find himself.” That always stuck with me. There’s so much to see there, it’s unreal.

It’s not bad shoes to walk in, certainly. Let’s come back to the industry. I don’t need to tell you or our readers, for that matter. We’re living in some strange times. I love your parallel to ancient Greece because they lived in an interesting time. We’re living in some interesting times. In all the years that we have known each other. These months or whatever it’s been now since COVID started, have been unique, to say the least, with all of the challenges. Let me set this question up for you. I’d love to get your response.

Let’s say that there was a 25-year-old young man and a 60-year-old dad. They’re living down the street from you there in Ontario. The 25-year-old is a college-educated, smart, good kid, understands technology and understands all of the stuff that goes on in the world now. He started his business career right before COVID. He got out of school and has all the bills that he’s probably still paying. All of a sudden, COVID came along and whatever he was doing, all of a sudden, ceased to be done.

The best part of networking marketing is finding out what people really want. Click To Tweet

Dad is in a different predicament because dad is 60. Dad is basically at that point going back these couple of years with COVID, he was getting to the end of his working life maybe, thinking of retirement and thinking of all the golf balls he was going to hit or the fish he was going to catch or whatever it was that he was planning on to do.

Dad and his son say, “It’s Thanksgiving. Jamie’s been in that network marketing stuff for a long time. Let’s go down, knock on his door, see if he’s home and pick his brain.” If that were to happen and they knocked on your door and said, “Jamie, tell us why we should get in network marketing. How would it change your life? More importantly, why should we get in it now?” By the way, maybe they have had a negative view of network marketing previously.

John, I can answer that in very many ways. When I was an elementary school teacher, I had a principal who was probably the largest network marketing company ever and still around. They start with the big A, but he almost drove me crazy. I swore to God. I would never have anything to do with this industry. Having said that, when life deals you some terrific blows, I found myself in a position where at 47, no job, no income, no pension, nothing. When Wally introduced me to this, this gave me an option. If I was talking to the 25-year-old and looking at where these folks are, the biggest thing we’re hearing, John up here, and I’m sure you hear it in the States.

This is very negative stuff, but it’s reality. We have one of the highest suicide rates in Ontario, in our city. I hear psychologists, doctors talking about it and said, “What is it?” They said, “There’s no hope for some of these kids or a lot of them.” They have an education. They’ve been raised to believe that with an education, the world opens up for them. The world is not opening up for them.

At 25-year-old, this can give you options to not be dependent on Corporate America. Now, Corporate America, Corporate Canada is very fickle. Everything’s up and down. Nothing is secure and nothing is secure here if you don’t work. If you get with the right company, I would say to that 25-year-old and I’ve said this, “I wish I were 25 again because where we’re headed is a phenomenal ride.”

 

For a 25-year-old who applies themselves, there can be a good future here where you control your own destiny. You’re your own boss. You develop that mailbox income. We talked about residual income. Once people understand that and can understand the fact that we have a legitimate product line, most of our companies are very legitimate. There’s an opportunity for that young person that now, there’s not a lot of hope out there unless you’re a computer scientist or an engineer or something. That’s what I would say to the 25-year-old.

In both of these groups, I would also emphasize the whole concept of immunotherapy, looking after your immune system and staying healthy. That’s an obviously vital concern of everybody. The 60-year-old is probably even more concerned with your health, with what’s going on with the pandemic. If you’re a 60-year-old and either near retirement or you have retired, for me, I think I’m like a lot of people in our business. I’m not an everyday golfer or bolder or anything like that.

I would emphasize the fact that you can stay healthy. You can develop a part-time income if that’s okay with you or full-time, but you’ve got full support. At 60 years of age, you can develop an income if things go the right way and you do the work. I’ve got a little sign up in my office here and it says, “Dreams come true with work.” That’s how it works. With a 60-year-old absolutely emphasizing health is probably number one.

If you want more income, you look at the company and do your homework. You can see that there are opportunities out here to add to your present financial situation. It’s all very legit. The old myths of network marketing not being legit is ridiculous when you think about it. That’s what I would share with people.

The great thing with the 25-year-old is they understand stuff that I wrestled with anyway. I don’t know if you wrestle with it or not, but all the technology. They understand them. They understand WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and all the others. The latest one is TikTok. It’s the new one that everybody seemed to be on except me. That’s the great thing about that 25-year-old. For a 60-year-old, if they can supplement their retirement income from whatever they did for a living plus Social Security or the equivalent there in Canada, what a great way to have multiple sources of income as they get into the later years like you are. I’m not far behind.

Once you move away from your commitment, you will isolate yourself out of business and what you initially wanted to do. Click To Tweet

The name of our books, by the way, Leave Nothing To Chance, which is available in English and Spanish, digital as well as a soft copy on Amazon. You can read more about Jamie Holly and a number of other people in that book and some of the ideas that they use and also our prior book, Moving Up: 2020. Jamie, back to you with the last question, network marketing changed your life for the better. Give me three things that have changed in terms of who you were versus who you are now.

I’m going to be very honest too. I was raised in a very serious family and you’ve seen the serious side of me. My dad was very serious and probably serious to the point of not being on the level sometimes because he was a military cat. Confidence-wise, I realized I grew up even through many years of teaching without a lot of confidence. When I started looking at this business, my sponsor was like, “He’s too serious. He doesn’t have an outgoing personality. He’ll never do this.”

I learned to change. I think that’s the biggest thing with this business is there are some things you have to change. If you look at a nature thing, nobody wants to put a rabbit or a bunch of rabbits in with a rattlesnake. If your personality is such that people don’t relate to you, you don’t come across like you care about them and I do. I care about people. I see what’s going on in the world with young people.

I watched a movie called Freedom Writers about kids out of the LA ghettos and slums where a young teacher went to work with these kids. He did unbelievable stuff with these kids and showed them that there was hope. The word hope is so important. This business gave me hope because when I saw that we had something that was very viable, honest and ethical health-wise, I could make some money with it.

Initially, I didn’t know whether I could do this or not, but I kept talking to people and sharing it with people. As you know, John, I’ve been part of the Millionaire Earners Club. The only problem is I keep saying, “Where did all the money go?” It’s changed my life. For it to change, I had to change. Through the books that we talked about and even now, I realized that there are times I need to go back.

I watch a lot of different people on the internet, motivational speakers and so on. I have my favorites. Simon Sinek is a guy that I love. He talks about what these young people are facing in the work environment and about loving what you do. I never loved what I did until I started working for myself and for the people that I was helping.

Once I got ahold of that concept, I’ve never looked back. It’s been the best 24 years of my life. I would never change a minute of it except that I would try to maintain the commitment level a little more. This business is very forgiving because when I go back to work, which I have now, I can recreate a lot more than I’ve accomplished up to this point, which I intend to do. People say to me, “You’re in the 70s.” I will be doing this until the big guy upstairs takes me. I will feel privileged of doing it.

 

Thank you so much, Jamie, for your words of wisdom.

I’m going to go out and enjoy the sun. We don’t have much more of that.

I lived in Ontario. I know.

You cannot thrive in network marketing if you cannot be relatable or approachable to other people. Click To Tweet

I love hockey and hockey is coming back. I got a grandson, eleven, playing hockey, but I spent four months in Georgia last winter, and I loved it. I brought some people into the business in Georgia.

That’s a great point too. You’ve been able to travel some and spend some time away from Canada during the bad weather up there. It’s another great benefit of this industry.

Eventually, John, we will be able to go to the Mediterranean. I have a doctor in Athens who can’t wait for this to come there.

Thanks so much, Jaime.

Thanks, John.

 

Important Links:

• The Greatest Salesman
• Paul Blanchard – Past episode
• Leave Nothing to Chance
• Think and Grow Rich
• As a Man Thinketh
• The Secret
• The Magic of Thinking Big
• Moving Up: 2020