Friday, July 24, 2026

Become MORE! (Yes, You CAN!)

 

I had the opportunity to hear the late, great, Jim Rohn speak a couple of times before his passing. A couple of quick and important lessons in that alone...#1. If you have the opportunity to hear one of our current "top minds" in whatever area you are pursuing - DO IT and DO IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE I was actually at an event at which he was scheduled to speak and which would have been my 3rd time to hear him but he was ill and unable to do so. He passed shortly after that.    #2: I was able to do so because I was part of a MLM organization that had hired him to speak at their conventions. This was something NEW for me to do but, if nothing else, I had the opportunity to learn from someone like Jim Rohn! 

Why do I mention those things? Because they are EXACTLY what I'm discussing in today's article...stretch and push yourself so that YOU can become MORE!


Notice what he said in this quote and APPLY IT TO YOURSELF. This should cause you to ask yourself a couple (at least) of questions such as:  1. Do I feel (and maybe even complain) that I'm not making enough money? 2. What am I doing about it as far as improving myself in the area of personal growth? 

Listen, you can earn all of the certificates, etc. that you can or want and still not do well because of your personal skills and mindset. That, my friend, is a fact.

Here's another graphic from one of my white boards in my office...

 


 

 Maybe you've heard the idea of "Be - Do - Have" with the explanation behind it being that, if you want to change and improve your life you must first BEcome the person you need to become in order to DO the things necessary for you to HAVE those things that you desire. I've heard that discussed and explained very well and I understand the point behind that line of thinking. 
 
However (and this is another point to consider as well), I don't completely agree with that order or process. As indicated on that image from my whiteboard, I think you must first DO something before anything else takes place. What is it that we must DO? We must FIRST make a firm DECISION about what it is that we want to accomplish in and for our future! Once that is done, THEN (in my opinion) and ONLY then can we figure out and know what it is we need to DO in order to achieve that result.
 
(Hey Mike, what's the other "point to consider" that you mentioned?) Don't just settle for what someone says...no matter who it is! Now then, let me differentiate that a little. Just because you don't understand something or it's not clear to you at the time does NOT mean that it is wrong! If you are listening to someone that has "been there, done that" and you haven't, you likely don't understand because your mindset hasn't developed to the same point that theirs has. Right?
Write that thing down so that you can go back and examine it again and again and again and, if possible, listen and/or read more from that same person which may also help you begin to understand what was being said.
But, that STILL doesn't mean that you have to agree with everything that was said. So it was with what I shared with you by using the graphic above. I heard what they said and I understood the reasoning behind what they said and, for a while, I agree with what they said. But, as I grew and developed I began to believe the thought that I shared with you that you must first DO something and that "something" was to MAKE A DECISION! 
 
Bottom line is simply this: You must WANT something so badly for yourself and your future that you DO WHAT IS NECESSARY for you to BECOME MORE so that you CAN have what you desire.
 
Follow me for more! Please visit all of the sources listed below and subscribe, like, follow and SHARE with others because, friend, I'm just getting started even though I've been doing this since 2009!
 
 
And, as always..."Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"
 
Mike
 


 



 

 

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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Try Something NEW??


So, earlier today I was going to record a video to put on my new Skool Community ("Finish What You Start!") that is linked down below and found that, once I got ready to do so, I could actually do a "LIVE" version. 

I thought that was great and, even though I'd done live steam videos on other platforms but never on Skool, I figured that I could figure it out. But, guess what? I couldn't! At least NOT YET!

And I will.

Now, this is just a very small example of what, for many, is a much bigger problem that often keeps us stuck where we are and afraid to step out and move forward. 

Ready or not, we live in a very fast-paced evolution of technology that can (if learned to be used correctly) make things so much easier for us (you and me) than was possible just a very short time ago.

But, will you step out and "try something new"?

Or, will you simply say, "I can't" or "I don't know how" and allow this new technology to pass you by?

It all goes back to what we have been talking about for the past couple of months talking about the decisions (aka, "VOTES") that we make each and every day and facing the fears that hold us back.

So, it all depends on your DECISION as to what it is you truly want for your future. Yep! It's up to you but I am here to help along the way, if you'd like. (THE great reason to join me in my new Skool Community listed below).

And, as always..."Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"
 
Mike
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Monday, July 20, 2026

FINISH WHAT YOU START (Join My Skool Community!)

BE SURE TO JUMP IN AND JOIN MY NEW COMMUNITY ON SKOOL!

 My guess is that anyone that reads this article has gone through the whole "New Year's Resolution" fiasco more than once. Am I right? You know what I mean...making BIG plans and maybe even declaring them OUT LOUD to a friend or even a group of people only to give up and never see those plans through.

As a matter of fact, data has been gathered that indicates THE date that marks when most people have done just that and, guess what? It's called, "Quitters Day" and, believe it or not, it is on January 19th.

Nineteen days??!!?? Wow! 

Many times we "laugh it off" and think nothing about it but...can I talk to you as a person? Can you (and WILL you) allow yourself to be totally honest with yourself on this? Here we go: Even though you may have "laughed it off" in the past, is there a part of you that realizes that you've allowed this to become bigger of a problem along the way and you understand that it is actually holding you back from a better future?

Often, in the past, I've stated that DAILY RESOLUTIONS are much more valuable than "New Year's Resolutions, and I still believe that 100%. It's a whole lot easier to make needed corrections on a daily basis than it is at the end of a calendar year.

So, bottom line, that's what my new community on Skool is all about. If you've been reading and/or listening to my recent episodes then you know that I've discussed the importance of taking a good look at the people that we spend most of our time with and really considering the impact of those relationships.

You've likely heard, many times, the idea of "You are most like the 5 people with which you spend most of your time".  I've mentioned that, you don't necessarily have to completely separate yourself from these people BUT you need to start connecting with those that will actually encourage you and cheer you on and NOT criticize you or make fun of you because you want to improve your life. 

Don't misunderstand the purpose of this community. It is NOT a place for a bunch of people to come together and whine. Nope! Not at all. But, it IS a place that will challenge you to step up and step out in making decisions for your future and then following through. YES, you WILL stumble and YES you will "fall" from time to time and that is where this group will be so helpful and encouraging.  

Step up and join and introduce yourself. Once you do, I will personally welcome you into the group and connect with you. I will continue to share positive information like this with you but will also be offering different ways to "zone in" and "focus" on some specific "next steps" that WILL HELP YOU MOVE FORWARD TO SUCCESS in the area that you pursue.  

Are you ready? If not, why not? Isn't it time to put away the excuses (usually disguised with what we like to call "reasons") and finally decide that it's time to actually FOLLOW THROUGH and "Finish What You Start"? 

Click on the link below and I look forward to meeting you there! 

And, as always..."Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"
 
Mike
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Saturday, July 18, 2026

Think BIG!

                                           

Premium Photo | Think big Motivational Quotes Illustrationtypography 

 

This is a fairly long read and I hope you find it interesting and informative. I wanted to share it so that you can get the whole "background" to what you find in the last 3 lines. THINK BIG! 
 
Buc-ee's marketing budget is almost entirely billboards, and most of them are bathroom jokes. 'Only 262 Miles to Buc-ee's. You Can Hold It.' A company convinced millions of families to drive past hundreds of gas stations using toilet humor. It worked because the promise behind the joke was real.
Buc-ee's sells gas so cheap that a competitor sued them for it.
 
In 2019, a new Buc-ee's in Alabama priced regular gas at $1.79 a gallon. The wholesale cost was around $1.90. They were selling fuel below what it cost them, and a rival gas station took them to court over it.
 
Most people would look at that and see a gas station losing money on gas.
Buc-ee's isn't a gas station. The gas is the bait.
 
The founder has said it himself. Roughly two-thirds of Buc-ee's revenue comes from inside the store. Food, snacks, and merchandise. Only one-third comes from fuel.
 
At a normal gas station, those numbers are flipped. 
The average convenience store in America does about $5.5 million a year. The average Buc-ee's does around $57 million. Per location. Roughly 10x the industry standard.
 
Arch Aplin III grew up in Texas in an entrepreneurial family. His father built homes. His grandparents, Arch and Mae, had run a gas station and country store in Harrisonburg, Louisiana since the 1920s.
Young Arch worked summers there. They wouldn't let him touch the cash register. Too young. So he pumped gas.
 
His mother nicknamed him "Beaver" after Bucky Beaver, the old toothpaste mascot. The name stuck for life.
 
He went to Texas A&M and earned a construction degree in 1980. He figured he'd build skyscrapers.
Instead, in 1982, at 24 years old, he borrowed $250,000 from a bank president he had befriended and built a 3,000 square foot convenience store in his hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas.
He named it after himself and his childhood dog, Buck. Buc-ee's. The logo was a cartoon beaver in a red cap.
 
The store had brass ceiling fans and cedar paneling, which was unheard of in an industry built on grime and fluorescent lighting.
And Aplin opened with two non-negotiable promises.
Cheap ice. And clean bathrooms.
 
That was the entire strategy. Two things every road traveler in Texas wanted and no gas station in America bothered to deliver.
Those two trivial-sounding promises became the foundation of a company now estimated to generate $3 to $5 billion a year.
 
Every gas station owner in the country treated restrooms as a cost. A nuisance. The thing you needed a key attached to a hubcap to access.
Aplin treated the restroom as the product. He realized the traveling public would drive farther, past cheaper and closer options, for the promise of a spotless bathroom. 
So he splurged on them. Buc-ee's staffs dedicated team members whose entire job is keeping the restrooms immaculate at all hours.
 
When the New Braunfels location opened in 2012, it had 84 gleaming toilets, each with its own hand sanitizer dispenser. Those bathrooms became a finalist in Cintas' national America's Best Restroom contest, the only retailer to make the cut.
 
A gas station chain won a national award for its toilets. On purpose.
And then they built the entire marketing strategy around it.
 
Buc-ee's spends almost nothing on TV or digital ads. The marketing budget goes to billboards. Hundreds of them, stretching across highways for hundreds of miles, almost all of them jokes.
"Only 262 Miles to Buc-ee's. You Can Hold It."
"Restrooms So Clean We Leave Mints In the Urinals."
"The Top Two Reasons to Stop at Buc-ee's: #1 and #2."
 
They turned toilets into a tourist attraction. Families in minivans full of kids see those signs and the decision is made two hours before the exit ever appears.
 
Then in the early 2000s, Buc-ee's opened its oversized flagship in Luling, Texas, along one of the busiest highway corridors in the state. And Aplin made a decision that separated Buc-ee's from every other travel stop in America.
No semi-trucks allowed.
Every other big fuel stop in the country chased trucker volume. Aplin banned them. No 18-wheelers meant no rough truck stop atmosphere. Buc-ee's would be for families.
 
Freed from being a truck stop, the stores just kept growing. The Luling location now measures 75,593 square feet, the largest convenience store on the planet. That's an official world record. Buc-ee's holds a second one too, for the world's longest car wash, a 255 foot monster in Katy, Texas.
Inside these buildings, the "convenience store" concept dissolves completely.
 
Walls of fresh brisket sandwiches carved in front of you. Kolaches. Eighteen kinds of homemade fudge. An entire wall of jerky. And Beaver Nuggets, the caramel-coated corn puffs that people now buy in bulk and resell online.
 
Buc-ee's also refuses to sell its products online. If you want Beaver Nuggets, you drive to Buc-ee's. The scarcity is the point.
 
The cartoon beaver appears on over 1,000 different products. Shirts, hats, swimsuits, toys, ornaments, pajamas. Families pose for photos with the giant beaver statue out front like it's a theme park character. The merchandise is largely private label, which pushes gross margins to roughly 40%, well above the industry's 31 to 37%.
That's the Trader Joe's playbook
.
The gas is priced 10 to 30 cents below every station around it, sometimes below cost. One Colorado location alone draws roughly 8,000 cars a day.
Cheap fuel gets them off the exit. Clean bathrooms get them out of the car. The brisket, the fudge, the nuggets, and the beaver merchandise get them to the register with a full basket.
 
In 2024, 80% of Buc-ee's customers rated their experience as excellent. People don't just stop at Buc-ee's. They plan road trips around it. They pull over with a full tank.
 
Aplin, now in his 60s, still personally selects every new location and shows up to every groundbreaking. More than 50 locations across at least nine states, with new states opening constantly. When asked how many stores he has, he answers: "I'm not in this for a number. We're just having fun."
 
44 years ago, a kid who wasn't allowed to touch the register at his grandparents' gas station looked at the dirtiest, most miserable category in American retail and asked one question.
What if the pit stop was the destination?
Everyone else competed on gas prices and location. He competed on brisket, a cartoon beaver, and the cleanest toilets in America.
 
That's not a gas station.
That's a destination retail empire that happens to sell fuel.
 
The most ignored detail in your industry might be the entire opportunity. What's the "clean bathroom" nobody in your market is willing to invest in?
Think Big
 

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Friday, July 17, 2026

STOP Complaining - START Solving!

This is an original post (new for this date in July of 2026) that is based off of a graphic that I put together several years ago. Many times I will put thoughts that go through my mind down in a file of other quotes that I have and/or make a graphic of the quote and save it on my computer. This is one of those times. 

I don't remember exactly what was going on at the time or what spurred me to come up with this thought but, even if I don't remember the specifics, it  speaks "loud and clear" to me even today. 

                     

"I must CHANGE my thinking! When I see a problem, I MUST stop complaining. Instead, I must develop a solution and put it into ACTION!"                      

I think that you would agree with me when I say that it is EASY to find SOMETHING about which to complain...right? For some, it's like a favorite pastime and, if you spend enough time around them it may seem as if that is about all that they do!

And, if (more like "SINCE") complaining is such an easy thing to do then, on the other side of the equation, to be someone that DOESN'T complain about everything so quickly would make you someone that is "different" in a positive way...right?  

For most of us, we need to pay close attention to what everyone else is doing and DO THE OPPOSITE! Especially when it's something as negative as complaining all of the time. What, of necessity, does that mean? It means that we will have a positive impact on our OWN mindset by focusing on POSITIVE thoughts and ideas instead of the negative AND we will also have a positive impact on those around us.

And, in case you don't know it, people want MORE of the person that is POSITIVE and LESS of the NEGATIVE person. It is a need and a necessity...especially if you are trying to improve your own mindset as well as have a positive impact on those around you.  

Oh, and something else to keep in mind: There have been many times in the past (and even happening right now, today) where people have taken those "things" that brings about the tendency to complain and have made millions of dollars by finding a solution. They found that THEY weren't the ONLY ones that were complaining about ____________ (fill in the blank), which represented a PROBLEM and they came up with the SOLUTION. 

That quote that I came up with that is shown up there? Just even on a day to day basis - for me - that thought helps me simply change the way I think about things that are easy to complain about. Instead, I begin to think about what I can do to change or remove that situation. And, sometimes...it is as simply as not putting myself in the position to where I'm around whatever it is that causes me to complain in the first place!

What about YOU?  

Make a list (remember...WRITE IT DOWN) of the things that you find you complain about a lot) and then brainstorm how you can CHANGE YOUR THINKING and begin to look for a SOLUTION to prevent that from being a part of your life.

Hey, it's YOUR list so don't worry about what anyone else might think about it. 

Is there something you can do to help IMPROVE the situation? (By the way, complaining to someone by saying, "You need to do this differently!" and not actually being a part of the solution doesn't accomplish much!) Is there something you MUST do to remove that negative situation in and for your life? 

Finally, maybe look at it in a way that could cause you to see if you can come up with a solution that would benefit many people in a way that you could actually build a business around it...instead of just continuing to complain about it.

And, as always..."Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"
 
Mike

 

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