Lisa Grossman

Lisa Grossman

Top Rank Distributor | Pruvit

Lisa Grossman’s Millionaire Training Story

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Although it would be many years later until I had the privilege to meet Larry Thompson in person, through The Millionaire Training, he had been my coach, my mentor and I felt my friend since almost the beginning of my career. Through his stories and teachings, I was able to shift my thinking and understand the principles of our profession and learn the strategies to build it successfully by duplicating it with others. The impact that it had on me has created a ripple effect in my business and sphere of influence that reverberates to this day.

When I started in this profession there was no internet; self-help was a shelf in a bookstore.  There was little to no generic training available and what was there, was limited to what to do, but did little to address the mindset you needed to do it effectively and consistently. Moreover, even that was dependent on the company in which you happened to find yourself.

Network marketing came into my life when I was in my mid-twenties and in some circles, I would have been considered a success financially, but I was in fact very unhappy. As I learned and often share with others and when I speak, “Even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat.”  However, the freedom I caught a glimmer of spoke to my soul and I leaped in and very quickly realized that I did not know what I was doing. And, I didn’t understand it enough to figure it out. What I did understand from what I was hearing, was that getting to events was important, so I committed to go to the next event in Toronto. I was told that if I hit a certain rank, I could attend a special school where the top earner in the company would be the trainer. Somehow, I got to that rank – I had to do it. I had to learn the secrets that were eluding me.

I didn’t realize it at the time but qualifying to go to that school was the first big lesson that I learned.  I was already different by the time I got there so I listened with different ears. My first big wakeup call was how impressed I was with the top earner simply because his background prior to network marketing was so unimpressive. He was my age, had been a waiter and yet he was earning in a month what most people at the time would have been happy with as an annual income. What stood out for me was rather than finding what he said to be complicated, it was his gift of simplification that seemed to be the secret of his success.

Over the course of three days he kept referring to his mentor, Larry Thompson, and how much he had learned from him.  He spoke about Larry’s The Millionaire Training and how he still listened to that coaching via cassette tape consistently.  I knew that I had to have that program. Of course, it was not available in a generic format at the time as it had been designed for Herbalife, the extraordinary company that Larry founded. That didn’t matter to me. With some searching and digging, I managed to get a set and it became my Bible in the first decade of my career.

I listened to it over and over again.  I filled notebook after notebook with what I learned and rose through the ranks and the incomes in my endeavors.

I took a hiatus from network marketing for several years and when I decided to come back to it, I could not find the tapes. And I wanted them. One of the earliest things I learned from Larry is what you feed your mind is paramount to achievement and that was the best mental food I had ever come across. So, in the early days of the internet explosion my search on eBay led me to another set and I started listening again. I am not sure why the seller wanted to let these tapes go, but I’m so grateful he did because I attribute them to part of my success today. 

What was amazing to me is once again, as I was in a different place when I listened to the tapes, I understood things in ways I didn’t the first time. I realized that it all comes down to the story we tell ourselves, the narrative that becomes our truth. This stage of my growth was more internal than the first go round had been. And The Millionaire Training is so timeless, that while much had changed in the way of technology and opportunity, human nature really never changes and the information was every bit as relevant 10 years later and still remains so today, nearly 20 years after that.

Though I had listened to Larry almost every day for 10 years, it was only then that I realized it was more about what we think, our mindset and the story we tell ourselves that is the real gamechanger. One thing Larry always emphasizes is that we’re worried about what we feed our bodies, but do we spend enough time worrying about what we feed our minds?

Once that hit home for me, it changed everything. I started to realize that the narrative we tell ourselves is the loudest of all, and it’s very easy to go out and feed your mind with things that will reinforce a story that doesn’t serve you. That mindset will keep you from contributing at a high level and not allow you to realize that you see things from a narrow confine of where you are rather than where you could be.

Consistency and repetition will hone your skill but what you think and how you see the world will directly influence if you will actually stick it out and not quit.  Larry taught me to “Keep the main thing the main thing”. People often think the main thing is a paycheck or how much they’re earning. Money is a part of this business, but if the leadership and team expansion don’t happen, you’re not going to keep the money or maintain what you did to get it because you can’t achieve success independently.

You can make somebody who isn’t very highly evolved in their thinking work hard and be a record salesperson, but that doesn’t guarantee they are going to be able to lead others well. It’s only by building depth that you create a legacy and provide a means of change for the people around you.

Constant personal mental growth and listening to/reading powerful truths over and over is what makes that happen. You can hear something and say to yourself, That makes sense,then you listen to it again and think, Now, I see something I didn’t see before, but eventually, if it resonates with you and you’re immersing yourself in it over and over again, you can articulate it to others because it’s no longer what you hear, it’s what you think. It becomes embedded in you. We’re not talking about duplicating system strategies that have worked, but duplicating leadership.

Take Michael Jordan, for instance. Yes, he has natural talent and ability, but he became the Michael Jordan we know because he practiced more than anyone. He shot more free throws than anybody, to the point that he could pick up a basketball and do it in his sleep. He was in a zone. If you see excellence in any space, you’re going to find that same level of dedication.

The fact that anybody can join the network marketing profession is both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness. You can have people on your team with the highest level of commitment or no commitment at all. Larry taught me to be selective in who I recruit because you agree to go to work for them. If I meet someone and they whine for an hour, the last thing I’m going to want to do is to be in business together.

When I finally had the privilege of meeting Larry and heard him echo what I thought were my thoughts (only because I had heard them so many, many times), I remember thinking, Oh, my gosh, we think the same! And, then I realized that he is the person that planted those thoughts in me. Those thoughts were no longer repetition or imitation of Larry; they had become embedded in me with a whole different complexity and depth. 

It’s kind of like learning to ride a bicycle. At first, you’re uncomfortable and aware of every movement you’re making, but with practice and repetition, it becomes second nature. It’s no longer a struggle, and you’re going off muscle memory. It’s the same thing with putting Larry’s teaching into practice. One day, you are thinking the same as they are thinking without even trying. That’s when you know everything has changed. You’re succeeding, achieving ranks, and accomplishing the things you set out to do. It’s working because you’re following the mentors you’ve chosen to follow.

One of Larry’s most underrated qualities and greatest contributions is his ability to choose the right words matched with the proper delivery. He understands that language matters. One little nuance in the delivery of the message greatly can change how it’s received; it’s more than just the words themselves. Larry had his own mentor, Bobby DePew, whom he studied and learned from and Larry would listen to his speeches over and over again on reel-to-reel tape.  Larry would master his voice inflections, timing, and the language he used. 

Often people don’t realize that even though it’s sometimes useful to simplify a message, you can’t always simplify the message to the point of what I call “fortune cookie wisdom,” where the message loses all meaning. The great minds cannot articulate everything they need to say into 140 characters on Twitter.  When I started listening to Larry and realized language matters. I wanted to be able to communicate with people and paint a picture for them. I wanted to be able to get people to see things that could change their life, and if people don’t see it, they’re not going to aspire to do it themselves. What Larry taught me was the importance of telling a story.

I’ve been in this business for over 30 years, and I finally got to meet Larry in person when we spoke at the same event. I was freaking out because here was this icon I’ve looked up to for a quarter of a century. I base so much of what I do on his principles. I think every successful person has been guided by mentors if they want long-term success and getting to meet one of mine was a massive moment for me.

As I think back on Larry’s teaching and influence on my career, one of the critical points that sticks out to me is the phrase, “Marry the process and divorce the results.” You have to understand that our job is not to convince anybody, and whatever they decide at that time doesn’t mean it’s the final answer because, as Larry says, “The fortune is in the follow-up.” To understand that we are not here to convince anyone to do anything and that if someone says, “No,” that it is not a personal rejection. Whatever people decide today is just for that day. And that No does not mean never. Don’t respond in a way that robs yourself of the ability to have a follow-up conversation the next day or the following week or in a couple months. It’s all about the process, and you can’t get emotionally attached because everyone has a right to their choice just as you do.

Your goal is to have a wealth of people to follow up with at all times and to operate in a way that people wanted that seventh exposure from you because you didn’t make them angry the first six times you called.

I’ve been revisiting the The Millionaire Training for years, and I’m always gaining something new from it every time I listen. Something I continually take away from Larry’s teaching is not to prejudge and get so caught up in my stuff that I forget that it’s about somebody else. I need to continually touch base with people because new timing can create massively different results. Even though The Millionaire Training was recorded in 1981, the knowledge is timeless. Wisdom doesn’t change. It’s timeless because we’re dealing with human nature, and that doesn’t follow trends. Delivery mechanisms and techniques vary, but concepts and principles don’t. They are the DNA of this business and the hallmark of longevity and a legacy of success. 

The legacy I am building now includes my daughter, Hillary. I am beginning to see a lot of second-generation people coming into this business. The millennials coming into this profession are more likely to think for themselves. They are not motivated by the same things that motivated my generation. They tend to be more minimalistic and less interested in the big fancy car.  They are about the company that makes the car being socially responsible. Nowadays, with the internet and gig economy, if people don’t want to have a boss, they have many options. When I was young if you didn’t have an education or the right pedigree, there weren’t many options to be an entrepreneur outside of network marketing. 

Today, more people are choosing this profession because it gives them the ability to leave a legacy. You have the opportunity to teach somebody everything you know and hope that they do it better than you, and if they’re successful, you’re compensated accordingly. Where else do you see that happen where you can teach somebody all your secrets and make money because they do it better than you? That gives me great hope, and I do see a bright future for our profession, one where my daughter can excel. Network marketing had become a much more inviting atmosphere than it was when I started. When I began, you had to be pretty tough and have thick skin. Now I have hopes that my great-great-granddaughter will be working from home, presenting to someone, somewhere across the globe, with a hologram but utilizing the same principles and guiding wisdom that’s been around for generations. 

I’m very proud of what Hillary is accomplishing in this field. Being in the second generation of this business, people often attribute your success to your parents, so you have to work that much harder to get out of your parent’s shadow and prove yourself to others. I had her listen to all the people I respected, because like I said before, wisdom is wisdom no matter the time or the place. When Hillary went to one of Larry’s conferences, she came back and asked me, “Have you heard of this guy?” and all I could do was laugh.

“Have I heard of him? I was raised on him!” Hillary was raised on the same principles and values as all of us because long-term success leaves clues. 

Larry’s concepts have stood the test of time because they teach you how to think rather than what to think. There are no shortcuts to success, but there is the leverage you can gain when you’re educated by people who have accomplished what you want to achieve and headed where you want to go because they’re invested. Spend time with people who want to open people’s minds.

I’m thankful that Larry Thompson has spent his career doing just those things. He has a legacy he’s built and has never let any obstacles stop him. I love the fact that he’s never retired. He’s still out there, giving all his energy to sharing information with another generation. I respect and admire the fact that Larry has continued when it’s no longer about money but out of a desire to help others and pass along this timeless wisdom so that the pebbles he has dropped in the pond of this wonderful profession will continue to ripple around the world without end.