All in.

So think about that for a moment. When you think of the words all in, what does it mean to you? One word, two words, somebody shout out something that all in means to them.

Committed. Committed. That’s perfect, Neil. That was the word that I came up with too. So committed.

Committed means when I looked it up in the dictionary, bound, dedicated, or obligated.

Say it again, bound, dedicated, or obligated. It’s not half hearted. It’s not too bit. You’re in. You’re all in.

The world is filled with people who get into retail and they hope that it becomes okay.

They hope that it works out, but they’re not committed to their success.

The fact that you’re here tells me you are committed.

Are you all in? I mean, let me ask a serious question. If you’re all in, raise your hand. Right?

You’re all in. You came here to Grand Rapids to learn the things that are gonna help you grow and help you change. Am I right? So when I started to think about that, so what does it mean to be committed?

You know, committed is potential. The world is filled with people who are committed in the beginning, but then don’t follow through.

Every gym in the world is filled on January three with people who are committed to getting in shape, but then by the end of January, the gym is empty again. So they were kind of committed, but they weren’t all in. What we’re talking about here is making meaningful change that is going to stay with you until the end.

That’s what all in means to me. You are here. We are here. We are all in.

But if committed is potential, you have to make choices. You have to make good choices that get you where you wanna go. Right? So let’s talk about some choices here.

There are little choices. All of us make little choices every single day, every minute of every single day. And every choice that you make will either get you closer to where you wanna go, keep you stuck, or move you backwards. Let me ask a serious question. How many of you have ever made a bad choice?

If you didn’t raise your head, you’re lying. Am I right? So we’re all making choices. And here’s the thing to recognize, that the quality of your choices are gonna determine the actions that you take. And the actions that you take are gonna determine the results that you get.

And the results that you get determine the quality of the business that you run, which will determine the quality of the life that you lead. So it’s all about choices. When I start thinking about this fifteen, twenty minutes that I have here with you in the beginning, it’s like, what makes the big difference? What’s the ultimate leverage? And the ultimate leverage is choices. It’s been attributed to several people, but the question is, who wants to be a winner?

The answer is, win.

Right?

Make good choices. Make choices that win.

Here, let’s talk about a couple of quick choices. I used the example earlier of getting into shape. So let’s just say you wanna be healthier and you wanna lose some weight. The choice is Snickers bar or apple.

What’s the right choice? Anybody? Good answer. Who was gonna say Snickers bar? Right? Somebody’s gonna say Snickers bar.

There is an occasion when the Snickers bar is all right, but it’s an apple.

So let’s bring it a little closer to home here for all of us who are entrepreneurs. You’ve got somebody on your team who, yeah, you know, they show up, they kinda do the work, they kinda don’t do the work. They are holding you hostage. Anybody here being held hostage by somebody on their team? Right? They’re holding you hostage, but you don’t want to have that uncomfortable conversation.

So the choice is, you let it slide, you let them slide, you let it go, it drives you crazy. Or the other choice is, you have that uncomfortable conversation. I see people shaking their heads. You have that uncomfortable conversation. What’s the right choice? Let it slide or have the uncomfortable conversation? Anybody?

Thank you, Jennifer. Uncomfortable conversation.

By the way, just as a quick aside, you wanna get better at having uncomfortable conversations, here’s your mantra. I’m good at uncomfortable conversations.

Before you go into that meeting, before you set that person down, I’m good at uncomfortable conversations. Fake it until you make it, but get good at uncomfortable conversations. You get good at uncomfortable conversations, you make that choice to get good at uncomfortable conversations.

Your life is going to become significantly better.

Third choice, think about.

So you’re gonna have an opportunity to go see our sponsors.

You’re gonna be listening to people talk. You’re gonna listen to me and Susan. And the way that you think about what you’re learning here will determine how much you get out of your two days here. So when you’re walking around looking at sponsors, are you saying, oh, this is interesting. This might do something good for me. Or are you saying, oh, they’re just trying to sell me something?

When the break comes, are you going to reach out and find somebody and talk to somebody you don’t know? Or are you gonna retreat to your phone and call the store? Nobody at your store needs to talk to you.

Right? If there’s blood or smoke, maybe, but otherwise be present, be here, learn what you can learn. That’s a choice, isn’t it? The choice is to be here, be present or find some way to escape. So those are just three examples of choices.

But now let’s talk about keystone choices. Three keystone choices. Choices that will determine the quality of your life.

Choice number one.

Do you see things as a problem or an opportunity?

Problem or opportunity. You know, fixed minded people see everything through the lens of what’s outside of them. Growth minded people see everything through the lens of what they can do something with.

So every time you have a problem, you have a choice. Is the choice, oh man, I’m gonna blame it on somebody. It’s somebody else’s fault. Or is the choice, I’m gonna figure this stuff out. That’s your choice, right?

Sales are down? Figure it out. Become a better marketer. Train your team how to sell.

You’ve got a problem on your team? Become a better leader. Become a better manager. Your inventory, you’re swimming in it.

Talk to somebody who’s an inventory planner. Every problem has a solution.

But the smart people, the good people, the people that are gonna succeed, they’re the people who see it as an opportunity.

Don’t get bitter, get better. Let me say it again. Don’t be bitter, get better.

Problem, opportunity.

Keystone choice number two. When you look at things, is it our cost or is it investment?

Right? Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying you should not be aware of your costs. We’re entrepreneur.

Managing your costs is important. But too often, we see something that may be good for us and what do we do? We retreat. We retreat.

We’re afraid. What is fear? Too much past, too much future, and not enough now. So when you are presented with an opportunity to invest in something, doesn’t mean you have to do it, but you have to ask yourself, am I thinking about this from a place of fear or am I coming at this with an open mind?

You know, money loves speed.

And when you can invest in things that make you learn faster, grow faster, invest in them. Let me ask a question. If you gave somebody a thousand dollars, and in two months it was fifteen hundred dollars, would you do that thing?

Absolutely. Every day, all day. A good investment doesn’t cost, it pays. So your team is an investment.

All of our sponsors outside represents investments. So when you walk by and you look at them, don’t say, ah, this won’t work for me. Say, this might be interesting for me. So recently I had, I did a an office hours, know, sort of a come on in and ask me any questions that you want.

And a woman, incredibly enthusiastic, said, Bob, I have done all of your free stuff. I have listened to every one of your real retail TVs. I go to all of your webinars. I love your free stuff.

She said, I’ve never gotten to paid, but I love all of your free stuff. And of course, I’m honored that she is learning from me. But think about this, how much better and how much faster would she have learned what she needed to know if she had made an investment in the Retail Mastery System? She would be so much farther along if she invested in herself rather than seeing it as a cost as she does.

Does that make sense? So that’s the second key choice. The third keystone choice is the whole idea of fear versus courage.

Let’s go back to that idea. What is fear? What is worry? Too much past, too much present, not enough now.

You wanna go all in, you have to be brave. You have to be courageous. So right now we are in Davos Convention Center. Right down the street is Van Andel Arena.

Right next to us is the Amway Grand Plaza. Rich Davos and Jay Van Andel started Amway Corporation as young men and now So in the eighties, downtown Grand Rapids was depressed.

The Amway Grand was the Pantlin Hotels. It’s where the bombs hanged, hung out. That’s what, you know, and it was downtown Grand Rapids was not nice.

And Rich and Jay decided that they were going to take Downtown Grand Rapids and revitalize it. And they did it in the teeth of a depression. And the Grand Rapids business press said, wow, why did you decide to make this huge investment in downtown in the middle of a recession? And you know what they said? You know, Rich DeVos said, he said, we choose not to participate.

We choose not to participate.

That is fear versus courage.

See what needs to be done and do it. Tony Robbins, I saw it, I’m paraphrasing now. But he said, the most successful people are the people who are willing to be uncomfortable for long periods of time.

You’re making choices. You’re stepping outside of your comfort zone. You’re being courageous. The beautiful thing about being courageous is it makes you confident.

Right? You make a good decision. You’re gonna make bad decisions. I asked, how many of you made a bad decision in the past?

You all raised your hand. But don’t let what happened in the past determine the decisions you’re gonna make now.

Or if it informs it, make sure it informs it correctly.

So that’s what we’re talking about here today. For the next two days, you’re gonna be confronted with choice after choice after choice. And the question that I want you to ask yourself, am I making the right choice? Am I thinking about it from the perspective of I can grow? Am I thinking about it from the perspective of this would be a great investment? Am I thinking about it as this is the courageous choice? This is the choice that’s going to mean something to me, that’s going to make something of me.

Again, the choices you make determine the actions you take.

The actions you take determine the results that you get. The results that you get determine the quality of your business, which in turn affects the quality of your life. That’s what it’s all about. So again, who here is all in? If you’re all in. All right. So, you didn’t, there’s always somebody that doesn’t raise their hand.

So if you’re all in, please stand up and find somebody behind you, in front of you, next to you. Give them a high five, look them in the face and say, I’m all in. Stand up.