Success the First Nation Way

 In First Nation’s culture we are constantly focused on seven generations from now, knowing that what we plant today will grow and flourish tomorrow. As a motivational speaker, my mission is simply to empower everyone I come across. Why? Because seven generations from now it won’t be my work that makes a difference but theirs. Their communities will thrive because I showed them how to believe in themselves. Their children will flourish because they were raised by parents who learned to believe in the power of the human spirit. Their legacy will be similar to mine – leaving the world a better place than the way we found it.

Materialism has no place in First Nation’s country and I would be a dismal failure if the “bottom line” ever became my focus. My bottom line is, and always has, been my faith – my spirituality, my never-ending, unwavering, all-encompassing faith in Creator.

You see, I know that if I do good work today – if I assist one more person to believe in themselves, if I honour my gifts by giving all I am to assist others to become all they are meant to be, then the rewards will be beyond anything I can imagine, without me ever once having to worry about them. My life today is living proof. My success is a direct result of those teachings.

You see, years ago when I started my company, when I wrote my first book, when I created my first seminar I never once thought “Wow! I wonder how much money I can make?”

Instead I focused daily on all those people who were hurting, struggling, or lost. I focused on all those people who could be assisted by listening to and learning the teachings of my beautiful Anishnawbe Mother. If SIX people were assisted by reading my book, if SIX people’s lives somehow became a little bit easier then in my mind, the effort was worth it. All I wanted to do was get my books into the hands of SIX people. I stopped counting at 4000 copies sold.

 Do I make good money doing what I do? Absolutely. In my world humility is realizing that I am not
better than any other but confidence requires that I also realize I am not worse than any other either. My work has value, as much value as anyone else in my field. I fine tune my work after each seminar delivered and after six years of doing this, I can honestly say my seminars do not disappoint.

Running my business the Anishnawbe way DOES mean I am financially successful, but what fills my heart with joy is the fact that my career allows me the joy of a “double pay cheque”. The first – simply the money I make to do what I do and for that I am forever grateful but the second is so much more important. The second – the emails I receive telling me how a woman, recently freed of an abusive relationship, found hope and light in the pages of my books; the comments shared with me explaining how a young Father has managed to hang on to his sobriety by reading my words; the phone calls I get from other beautiful Anishnawbe men and woman thanking me for assisting them to FINALLY feel their worth and value during one of my seminars.

I don’t know how long I have on this planet and I don’t care how much money I make in my time here. What I care about is leaving it a better place, inhabited by me n and women and children who believe in the value gifted to them on the day they were born, men and women and children who no longer put their value in the hands of another, men and women and children who realize they are here on purpose and that they are AWESOME.

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