HOW READING INFLUENCED OUR BUSINESS

Helena and I were never very big readers and it never occurred to us how much we needed to read.

Our awakening came much later in our lives after we were introduced to the Mannatech opportunity. Our upline became our lifeline as we were challenged in relationships with loved ones just as I suspect other people also are. They urged and encouraged us to start reading books that had helped them to grow and handle these complex situations.
 
In Dale Carnegie's book HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, he uses real life examples that we can relate to, to point out the importance of people skills.
 
Our lives consist of people and relationships, starting at birth and continuing right through. Our success in business and in our personal lives will depend on our willingness to better ourselves in all facets of life. In our Mannatech career it became apparent to us that showing an excellent plan was but just a part of the criteria to succeed. The fact that our raw material in this business is people, made us realize that we had to grow within and find out what makes us tick, so that we could help others.
 
When we read we personalise what is written and our needs are addressed in so many different ways. After reading a book, Helena and I usually reflect on our past mistakes made and many a time would say; “if only we had read these books, things could have been different”.
This is so powerful and we should not underestimate how our words and actions affect people’s lives in the long term. The effect that our words have on other people is profound! 

In our growing Mannatech business we must guard that the business doesn’t outgrow us and we are constantly aware that we have to sharpen our people skills and use all the tools available to us for support.
 
Our mentors Louis and Leone teach that you can predict the growth of your business by the amount of Tom’s circulating in your group each BP. This just makes perfect sense because each person can develop him/herself by reading. You and I as “CEO’s” of our businesses cannot possibly spend time with all our business partners every day.  We all have to grow and all need to be taught these subtle skills so why not let books do it for us. We must read and urge our business partners to read. By doing that we are employing the best teachers in the world for the price of a book.
 
Let’s not underestimate the magic power of reading.
Let’s create a culture of learning in our businesses.
Let’s encourage and boost each other
Let’s be honest and appreciative of each other.
Let’s help to grow one another’s self-esteem
Most important of all... Let us remain humble.

Let’s all improve our people skills and attract more people to this incredible business!!

Neil Wilken
Silver Presidential