Leave Nothing To Chance

 

How do you apply what you’ve learned from self-help books in network marketing? Listen to this episode and absorb the wisdom of Tom Oldershaw. Mr. Tom and John Solleder discuss valuable book recommendations to boost your performance. You have to study the book as opposed to reading it and putting it aside. Then go out and meet leaders who will help you reach your goals. Through this learning process you can regain the belief in your ability to succeed. Tune in and don’t let anything discourage you!

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The Wisdom Of Tom Oldershaw

It is my privilege and opportunity to interview a good friend of mine all the way from Barrie, Ontario, and that is Mr. Tom Oldershaw. Tom, welcome to the show.

Thank you, John. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Tom, I know you’ve been a student of self-development for a long time. Let me start by asking you this question. In the book, Leave Nothing to Chance, what I authored with our good friend Foster Owusu, what’s your favorite principle?

When you look at the complete book, it’s well worthwhile. The first principle that I thought was great was leading to integrity. When it comes to integrity, it’s always been a philosophy of my life. In the days where my parents were around, integrity was all part of the package. My daughter’s son said that integrity was all part of the package that we live in. I’m not 100% sure about the changes but the idea of cheating and not keeping your word causes a lot of problems when it comes down to it.

Integrity has shut down the companies where people haven’t followed through on their promises on their indications. That isn’t a good thing. When it comes to shutting down companies because of integrity, there’s probably a lot of companies in the industry or at least some companies in the industry that would have been much better to serve when it came to the network marketing industry and potentially some great companies.

You’ve heard about Ron Henley and you’ve heard some of his interviews about the history of network marketing at this point. You’ll hear a lot more on that as well. Integrity is what has built the big companies, the ones that have been around a long time. They’ve all gone through baptismal fires at different points to test that integrity. To your point, there were others that didn’t have it and they disappeared, unfortunately. It cost their distributors and themselves not only money but time.

Under the principles in the book, there are some key principles. To take one, I don’t think does justice. The other key principle that you look at is principle ten, train yourself to think the way that successful people think. There are several reasons for that and one being mindset. The other is becoming a better version of yourself. Leave Nothing to Chance takes you in that direction. It’s important when it comes to books of your design that you become continuous improvement. My education is Industrial Engineering. Continuous improvement was part of the package. Whether it was manufacturing or through self-improvement, it played an important role in my life.

When you say that, you remind me of an expression Tony Robbins uses, which is CANI, which stands for Constant and Never-Ending Improvement. Everything could be improved. If we think we’re successful, that’s when we go backward. We’re still going forward that it matters. Let me ask you this, Tom. In all your years around self-development, what was the first book that had an impact on you?

John, when we look at the first book, it was Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking by Robert Schuller. I happen to pull those books out. They’re taped together. They had been used and re-read and worked with on a continuous basis. It reminds me of when I go back to starting to read that book. On August 13th, 1982, I turned 40 years old. My career had been in the material handling business, selling lift trucks, and material handling items. What happened during that time was the economy took a downward trend. When it came to material handling, people weren’t putting out capital expenditures.

What happened was, August the 13th, I was laid off from the job. On my way home, I got a call. In those days, we had car telephones. I got a call that said my son had an issue and was being rushed to sick children’s hospital. They weren’t sure of what the issue was, but what the story was, his blood was not coagulating. As a result, any bump or bruise could cause serious problems. I got to Barrie, turned around, picked the family up, and headed back down to Toronto again. That was when I was 40 years old.

When it came to Think and Grow Rich, it’s a great book for me. In July 1982, that’s when I started to read self-development books. When it comes to Robert Schuller’s book, it’s things like Possibility Thinkers Creed, “When faced with a mountain, I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a goldmine with God’s help,” on a 3×5 card. It’s still with me.

Train yourself to think the way that successful people think. Click To Tweet

Self-development books like Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill were all part of the package. When you look at that whole process, the key is learning. When it comes to Think and Grow Rich, what I picked up from that book is knowing what one wants is perhaps the most important step towards self-development. It goes on to say that the keyword is persistence and I have continued that throughout my life. Part of my strategy and my whole growth is persistence when it comes to books of that nature.

When it comes to books, Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone, preferenced by Og Mandino. When you look back on those days, the real key is the learning that took place in that whole process. When I look at the books and the idea of carrying it out for years, the principles now are similar to what they were several years ago. There’s a lot of great books out, but to name a few, Positive Mental Attitude is one. When it comes to success principle, your purpose in life, giving the extra mile, self-discipline, and applied faith are all part of the package.

Looking at the successful areas in life, a pleasing personality, personal initiative, and enthusiasm are keys to a successful life. If you read the blog, everyone that’s been on has exhibited a degree of enthusiasm when you talk about the network marketing industry. Teamwork is a key possibility, a key necessity when it comes to building the network marketing business, creative vision, budgeting time and money, and maintaining sound physical and mental health. Through the years, mental health and physical health is important. It goes on with a few additional habits.

The original 3×5 card from years ago was key in taking notes. It also goes back to studying the book as opposed to reading it and putting it aside. When it came to reviewing the books or looking at the books, the underlining and highlighting that took place was an indication that studying was an important part of the whole process. I’m an avid reader. When it comes to self-development, I like to categorize things. When it comes to leadership development, Intentional Living by John Maxwell, Jack: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch, and Real Leadership by John Addison formulate or put together my ideas on leadership.

 

When it comes to personal development, Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi, The Next Millionaires by Paul Zane Pilzer, High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard, SPARK by Dr. Tracey Jones, and The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino all play a part in my personal development. When it comes to operations, skills, and daily method of operation, books like Moving Up: 2020 by John Solleder and Keith Hooper, Go Pro by Eric Worre. It’s important when it comes to the skills that are necessary. Fire your Boss, Hire Yourself by Foster Owusu, and Building an Empire by Brian Carruthers are all key when it comes to that self-development aspect. I believe when it comes to building a network marketing business, the strength of your business is the strength of your leadership capabilities.

Easy to say, Tom, that all leaders are readers and readers are leaders. I know your bookshelf behind you there, I know there’s a lot more to it than that. Those are all great. I’m familiar with every book that you mentioned there. It’s interesting that when you get together successful people in our industry, they’ve all read the same stuff. It’s almost common sense. It goes back, in your case, several years talking to some of the historians of our industry. Most of these things go back longer than that. A lot of them go back to the Bible. It’s where most of these concepts started. Different people did different things with them.

Jim Rohn’s list of books is key when it comes to leadership development. Click To Tweet

If you look at people like Jim Rohn, the first book on his list of books is the Bible. I have two lists that I tend to follow. Jim Rohn’s list of books is key when it comes to leadership development. Dr. Tracey Jones put a list together. The need to read is important. To add to the list, the people you meet are important. You’ve introduced me to people like Larry Thompson. Larry gave me a call on stage and said, “Tom, John has mentioned you. If you need any help, if you need coaching, give me a call.” It’s people of that nature.

When it comes to books, knowing authors, and podcasts, the importance of the learning process when it comes to self-development. I wouldn’t say it’s surprising, but when it comes to podcasts, the amount of learning material. When it comes to your show in network marketing and Dr. Tracey Jones’s podcast when it comes to leadership are all key items when it comes to the learning process. It’s so important. When it comes to age, it’s mind over matter. If I don’t mind, then it doesn’t matter.

We’re going to get to that, Tom, about some of your activities here at your age. I want to ask you one last question on network marketing and then we’ll get to that question. Let’s say that there’s a dad and his son, a 60-year-old guy and his 25-year-old son and they both decide, “Let me go see Tom Oldershaw and see what he has to say about network marketing.” Why should a 25-year-old and a 60-year-old, at this point in time, look at this industry? Everything that we all know has happened during COVID. Why should they look now? How would you advise them into getting started properly?

First of all, network marketing, I’ve looked at and started other businesses where capital costs are tremendous. All you have to do is look at McDonald’s. That’s several million dollars to start. We looked at the robotic industry, which when it came to capital costs were $150 million to $200 million to get started. When it comes to the network marketing industry, the key is low cost and under $1,000 for a high return. Something I’ve learned from listening to podcasts, especially John Solleder’s podcast, when it came to approaching young people and communications, the critical part is we think differently.

For the older person, the standard communications, presentations, talking, and the information to back everything up are critical. When it comes to younger people, the idea of short sentences and pictures are probably presenting a lot of information. When I say pictures, the old story, a picture tells 1,000 words. When it came to Rohn, a picture tells 1 million words. The whole approach, we have to take differently. Communications, the skills would indicate that when it comes to the younger person or the older person, you want to advise them separately. In that, the communication skills do not match. You would be doing, in many cases, a disservice to the young person if you were talking to a 60-year-old and talked in the same language as you would talk to that person.

These are all part of the learning process from Ron Holland. The fact that we’re teaching left-hand theories to right brain people and the idea that we’re teaching old theories to young people, education needs to change to some degree in that. If you look at social media, the fact that young people are understanding Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, and all social media operations. The idea that trying to communicate with younger people in a lot of verbiage and a lot of communication skills probably loses their attention. You want to get the idea of network marketing is the best when it comes to creating a low capital cost business for a high return. It’s important when you look at the COVID-19 issue that we’ve gone through where industries have virtually closed down. Airlines and hospitality are an example. To sum it up, we need to look at a 25-year-old person and a 60-year-old person differently. Their communication skills are different.

It is amazing because I look at a lot of memes now. Several years ago, I thought they said, “Me-mes.” My son would send me some of this stuff. He’ll text it to me and I was like, “What the heck is this kid sending?” Some of them were so good that one little meme, you know exactly what the author of that meme wanted to communicate. To your point, the message is the same in terms of the result. We want you to build a business for your future whether you’re 60 or 25. How we get there, the communication has to be a little bit different. You got to use different tools to get to the same place is what you’re saying.

 

When you look at that whole process, the skills that are needed are similar. The idea of helping people is critical. The idea of looking at the business is based on the people you’re wanting to serve as opposed to what’s in it for me. You need to serve people in order to gain. You’d go back to people like Zig Ziglar that states, “The more people you serve, the bigger your paycheck.”

It’s a perfect segue to what I want to talk to you about next. I know making a difference is a big deal in your life. I know you’ve been a person that has done a tremendous amount of work for the homeless community there and people that are struck with poverty there in the Barrie area. I know you’ve been on the Board in the past in the David Busby Centre for a program called Out of the Cold. I know you’ve got a huge goal by 2026 to deposit over $1 million through your Oldershaw Making a Difference Foundation. Also, you’ve been the recipient there in your community of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal as well as the Order of the Spirit Catcher. Congratulations on all of that, Tom. Tell people because they’re going to be blown away when they hear how you raise some of this money.

John, it’s mind over matter. The old process of me is if I don’t mind, then it doesn’t matter. One of the keys that happened when I was on the Board of the Busby Centre, the Center is lacking community awareness. One of the tasks that I was assigned was to make the Busby Centre aware within the community. The work they were doing was key. When it came to the Busby Centre, the fact is that they relied a lot upon fundraising. When it came to fundraising, one of the key principles is if people know who you are, it makes life much easier. You don’t have to do a lot of extra explaining. The Busby Centre lacked awareness within the community.

You need to serve people to gain. Click To Tweet

As part of a committee, we created a certain number of stories. We went to key people within the community. The president of the local hospital, the mayor, businesspeople, a lot of key people, the police chief was an example. Through that whole process I got to know people. One of the additional things that we came up with was the ride for Busby. The ride for busby was a guy called Oldershaw doing rides. It goes back several years. The first was a 100-kilometer ride on my bicycle on rail trails. The idea of the rail trails was the avoidance of traffic, cars, buses, trucks, the whole process. The riding on the rail trail met my conditions.

One of the things we used to do or did and will do is we had a press conference prior to the ride. When it came to the ride, the local newspapers would pick up the story. The first ride was 100 kilometers. Over the years, I extended that. There was one weekend that I went into looking at the Guinness Book of World Records, which at those times is a 450-kilometer two-day bicycle run. I was attempting that ride. Part of the issue, I needed a big team to record all the information for the World Book of Records. I decided, “I will take away from the ride if I go for a world record.”

What happened was I rode the 450 kilometers two-day ride. It was on Labor Day. As I was riding through a park in Orillia, what happened was, the second day, I’m out pushing myself as an athlete. I’m surrounded by people enjoying themselves, having picnics, looking at a fun time, swimming, and the whole process. I said, “To get newspaper coverage, if I did 200 kilometers, that would be sufficient.” Over the last years, the 200-kilometer ride gained the media coverage that I needed for the ride to make people aware of the issue of homelessness and the issue of Busby Centre looking after the homeless. That’s how that whole process started.

After I retired from the Board of the Busby Centre, I set up the Oldershaw Making the Difference Endowment Fund, which was a fund managed professionally by the community foundation. It’s an organization in Toronto. A local accountant looks after the whole process, so I didn’t have to have the financial part in my hands. I continued to ride 200-kilometer rides, single day rides on the trails around Barrie. For anybody in the area, it takes from Barrie to Orillia to Penetang-Midland and back to the other side of Barrie. A complete twelve-hour ride. The key is endurance. It’s not racing. I don’t need to race anybody.

I need to accomplish the endurance part of that ride. That, I use again to keep track of what org publicizes the ride and the activities that I’m aware of. Several years ago, I had an article published in the local sports magazine entitled Inspirations. In essence, the story that I’m telling was about an old guy riding on his bicycle. I know one of the questions that will come up is, “How old are you?” On August 13th, 2021, I will reach my 79th year. I’ve looked through my life as the quality of age. Aging with quality becomes extremely important.

Part of that function is exercise, having fun, and enjoying life. That, in essence, is the story in a nutshell. Other than the last couple of years, I backed off a little bit. Looking into 2026, realizing that I’ve committed $1 million to this fund. I’m looking at what’s the best way. Part of my strategy is to commit, let people know what’s happening, and figure out what you need to do to earn these $1 million. It’s a big commitment. The key is network marketing it will allow me to do that. Part of it is I have to spend a lot of time in leadership development, education, listening to podcasts, and reading. It’s about the people we meet in networking with the key leaders.

As an example, Larry Thompson, the fact that he has a book, The Millionaire Training. That’s part of my reading process. The Leadershift and No Limits are two books by John Maxwell. I always have 2 or 3 books on the go when it comes to reading but I need to educate myself more and become more aware of the leadership skills in a condensed period of time. There may be an end to my life at some stage and I believe in that. I work part-time at a funeral home and the strategy is that you’re born, you live your dash, and you pass away. You do not avoid that strategy in life. The question becomes, you can extend your passing away period to 90s. People now, more are living to 103 or 104 that you did not see in the past. That’s part of the development I’m going to. I put a package together, momentum 2021, all about my story. It’s recruiting tremendous leadership champions that will make it happen.

 

A part of that is the condensed period that I have to build a network marketing business. Through education, I believe that I can do that in a five-year period. Through the learning process, I believe in my ability to succeed and won’t let anything discourage me from achieving my goals. Part of the strategy that I need to live with. I believe in committing to a project, letting the world know, and figuring out what I need to do. Within my education and the network marketing organization groups with people I’ve been exposed to, I firmly believe that. When I look at my whole process, my mindset was one of the keys that I needed to change. I have changed it through the idea of podcasts, reading, and getting to know authors like yourself and Foster Owusu. Key people that, when it comes to learning, have a lot to offer a lot of information to provide, are top in their fields, and have gone through the whole process.

Believe in your ability to succeed. Don't let anything discourage you from achieving your goals. Click To Tweet

You had this goal with the Oldershaw Making a Difference Foundation of $1 million by 2026. I think of another great author, a guy named Dr. Jim Collins, who wrote Built to Last and Good to Great amongst other books. I read Dr. Collins. He comes a lot to Dallas occasionally. When he does, I always try to see him. I had the opportunity a few years ago to have lunch with him with a bunch of college students, which was fascinating.

I asked him questions. I was working to help to hire, believe it or not, a CEO of a company. I asked him about that. There are fascinating answers that he gave me. Dr. Collins I asked him about the BHAG, the Big Hairy Audacious Goal. That’s what you set out. He says the same thing. “You set the goal,” like Starbucks, for example, wanting to be the biggest beverage company in the world, he worked with them and then he’s like, “You figure out how to get there.”

Without the goal, the mind doesn’t do what it needs to do to set off all the initiatives to get the mind going to do the things that it has to do to accomplish great things you’re trying to do there. Tom, in closing, last words of advice to our readers as far as network marketing, entrepreneurship, and life in general because you’ve lived a great way. Tom, for our American readers, that 200-kilometer ride that’s 120 miles. He does this on a regular basis. If you haven’t hit the gym in a while, folks, Tom’s a good motivation for a good role model.

John, when you look at that process, my training between now and when I ride, I will have ridden, just in cycling training, about 2,500 kilometers of riding based on the training plan that I have. It’s key. The old process, it’s what you make up your mind up to do. To answer your question, the key when it comes to network marketing, you need a purpose. For me, what clicked or what was the key book there was John Maxwell’s Intentional Living. That talked about the whole process of putting together a process so that you will not give up the goals that you have.

The idea is that your goals have to be stronger than the issues that come up on a daily basis. The issues that you want to make quick, why do I need to do this whole process in life. Being active at an older age, training daily, riding a bicycle, I believe we need to remember that if your lifestyle doesn’t control your body, eventually, your body will control your lifestyle. It’s important in life. I see older people that sit back. In COVID, I have gone through a couple of stages where I’ve sat back. When it comes to exercise as an example, the idea that you do nothing for a day and for a week, then all of a sudden, a month and a year to fight back and especially at a new age, it takes a lot of persistence and drive. Not only that our whole system is built backward, the idea that it takes weeks to develop conditioning, it takes days to undo that whole package. It’s a need. You develop an idea, a philosophy, a strategy that says, “It doesn’t make sense to quit.” Not only when it comes to exercise and nutrition are good for you but the idea of not doing it doesn’t make sense. The whole strategy makes a big difference.

You sound like Jack LaLanne there because he used to say, “Nutrition is king. Exercise is queen. You put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.”

 

Words, when it comes to your show, I’ve heard. The idea of changing lives is so important. Homelessness is a big issue strictly global but if everybody did a little bit, it would make a big difference. My goal when I look at the individuals, families, the young people that ended up without a home, a place to sleep, and with adult issues, it’s not a fun place to be. I, myself, through life, have run into challenges. If it hadn’t been for friends and family, I probably would have been in the cold as well.

Some of the risks that I took in life in terms of developing a high capital-intensive business with high capital, some of the risks that you take in life, the key is the learning process. Without taking those risks, you would not know whether you could do it or not. You would not understand that there are businesses that require huge capital to get started. You need to raise that capital. If you look, I’ve had friends that looked at professional golf. Similar in that, you need to raise your own capital to become a professional golfer. It is a business.

My son chose not to become a professional golfer other than he went through university on a golf scholarship. It shows that it wasn’t going to be a life for him. Both sons, when you look at the process by osmosis have become independent entrepreneurs of which they looked at and said, “We will not be in that category.” Both have followed that process in their career. It’s a critical and good life. One secret, time freedom is so important. Look at many successful executives earning big dollars but are on the road continuously prior to COVID. They’re missing family functions, the first steps that their child takes, and all sorts of key lifestyle issues. Network marketing does allow you to be with family members when you need to. Network marketing is no different to any other business in that you have to apply yourself to make it work. There is a saying that when it comes to life, the idea of great thoughts of reading is important but it’s action where everything hits the road that makes a difference to mind current.

Tom, thank you so much for your words of wisdom. Continued good success and good health. I know you’re still riding crazy, so that’s keeping you young. A few years ago, I went to a track meet here in Dallas. The oldest competitor was 99. He was still running 100 meters. He finally passed away when he was 101 or 102. I’ve been in powerlifting meets for guys in their 80s and even 90s. You’re still a spring chicken as far as this.

Remember, John, for you too, 60 is like a child.

I know. People keep telling me that they are older than me. It’s a funny number.

Your goals have to be stronger than the issues that come up on a daily basis. Click To Tweet

My words of wisdom to you would be, “John, get over it.” That’s said in love.

I am. Foster Owusu’s already asked me, “Don’t start saying I’m going to be 70 in ten years,” because I drove everybody nuts talking about 60. Thanks so much. In closing the show, this is the show called LeavingNothingToChance.com. You can go read about not only to Tom’s interview but all the other interviews that we’ve done with some of the thought leaders in the network marketing industry, some of the legends in the network marketing industry and some people that aren’t even in the network marketing industry, but have amazing life stories that are shared.

A lot of the concepts that we talked about come from two books, the first being called Leave Nothing to Chance, which is a book that you can get on Amazon. It’s been an Amazon bestseller. It’s digital and hardcopy. Get it however you want to get it. Get it, you’re going to want to read it because there are fifteen principles in there that are life-changing. Also, Moving Up: 2020, a book that Tom was featured in with a number of other network marketing leaders around the world. That book also is available on Amazon. Thank you all. The show airs every Tuesday on Spotify, on iTunes, and on several other podcasts networks. Thanks so much for reading and we’ll talk to you soon. Bye for now.

Thank you, John.

Thanks, Tom.

Important Links:

• Tom Oldershaw – LinkedIn
• Leave Nothing to Chance
• Move Ahead With Possibility Thinking
• Think and Grow Rich
• Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude
• Intentional Living
• Jack: Straight from the Gut
• Real Leadership
• Millionaire Success Habits
• The Next Millionaires
• High Performance Habits
• SPARK
• The Greatest Salesman in the World
• Moving Up: 2020
• Go Pro
• Building an Empire
• Out of the Cold
• Oldershaw Making a Difference Foundation
• Oldershaw Making the Difference Endowment Fund
• The Millionaire Training
• The Leadershift
• No Limits
• Built to Last
• Good to Great
• Intentional Living
• Spotify – Leaving Nothing To Chance
• iTunes – Leaving Nothing To Chance

About Tom Oldershaw

I am a strongly motivated, experienced and results-oriented person with an entrepreneurial background, with a positive self-image and good attitude. I am reliable and dependable, willing to accept responsibility as a team player and leader. Willing to complete work on time with 20 years of entrepreneurial experience encompassing sales management, sales and marketing, business plan development, budgeting and financial skills development.

Key account management has been instrumental in building and cultivating new business in the robot industry. Process skills analysis has put me in the top 10 percent of knowledge workers as an interactive team player with a clear sensitivity to people, able to manage tasks and respond to customers while maintaining proactive approaches to problem resolution and decision making. Strong communicator who can lead through coaching, facilitator for resolving work flow and problem solver. Comfortable in presenting to senior management and large groups. Competent in planning and analytical skills.