At the 2015 National Summit, I had the privilege of sharing some information on what drives and motivates me to do more each and every day. It all started with a saying that I learned from one of the pastors at my parent’s church, Michael Jr.

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day… teach a man to fish and you have to buy him a fishing pole, tackle box and drive him back and forth to the lake. You might as well buy him a fish sandwich...

But if you show him his reason to fish, he will figure out how to get it done!”

Though the saying has a bit of humor to it, it also has so much truth in it.

I enjoy going to the gym in the morning to start my day. It helps me clear my mind and think through things away from the phone calls, to do lists and general chaos that my day turns into.

Leading up to this Summit, I took some time each morning to think of a few things I wanted to share with you. So here it is…

The question is, “How do I know?”

Now, when you ask that question, people ask, “How do I know WHAT?” 

But that is NOT the question you should be asking yourself.  The question you should ask yourself is “WHY?”

The Key is to always know your WHY... If you know your WHY you have options on WHAT your WHAT can be.

It might sound a bit confusing, but stick with me; I have a video that will set the stage…(watch before reading on)

You see, the First time, he knew WHAT he was doing.

The Second time he knew WHY.

When you know your WHY, your WHAT has more impact!

You should understand this about me.  I did not grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth, and my parents sacrificed a lot to provide for me.  I might not have appreciated it at the time, and believe it or not, I was not the easiest kid to raise.  But I am so grateful for the vision and values they instilled in me.  But even with the great upbringing I had, at a very early age, I recall a strong drive and motivation in me to be self-sufficient, financially free to be able to do what I want, when I wanted to.

Originally, just making a lot of money was my WHY, and my WHAT was my entrepreneurial abilities and businesses I would create.  My WHY always drove me to work hard and do more than the people around me.

As many of you know, Real Time Pain Relief was created in 1998, but it was neither Tim’s, nor my, primary focus.  It was a natural and organically growing business that was pretty self-sufficient, and we each had various other businesses that we were focused on, both together and separately.  This began to change in 2007, when Tim and I were at my home having a cup of coffee on the patio and talking through business strategies.  We were both at a point in our lives that, by the standard of many, we had achieved the pinnacle of success.

We began talking about Real Time, and how it was growing and helping so many people live pain free, and what its potential would be if we focused our efforts on it. 

After that conversation, we quickly realized how big an undertaking this would be.  We realized the commitment of time, effort and money it would take to do it right, and to do it in a way that was unconventional, with a strategy that others would say could never be done.  However, we believed it could work. Looking back now, it seems like a no-brainer, but you have to realize that we had both done well enough in our respective businesses to live out the rest of our days financially free, so what could possibly motivate us to risk all that to embark on a new venture of taking this company to the next level?

We had to think long and hard about our WHY, because our WHY would give us the passion we needed to get it done.  As I prayed and contemplated the prospect of this venture, I noticed that my WHY began to shift from what it had always been before.

My WHY became more than myself… it became more about others.  My WHY became about Family and Legacy.

Please don’t confuse the Legacy I am talking about.  When I talk about Legacy, I am not referring to making enough money for generations of my family to not have to work, but rather, a Legacy of Opportunity for them to partake in something that will allow them to create their own Economic Mobility.

And when I talk about family, I mean more than just my immediate family, but also the adopted ones through Tim and his family that I feel such a part of.

When you look around this company, you will see many of the people involved are family members.  But we have grown now to have more employees that are not family members than those that are.  But once they get involved, they have the same commitment to the company as we do, and we have just as much commitment to them.  This commitment has grown to include our Vendor base.

These things fulfill the Family and Legacy part of what my WHY is now.  In addition to my WHY, I came to the realization that God gave me this opportunity for a reason, and the things we would accomplish with this company would not be by our abilities, but by God’s abilities through us.

As a side note… Part of my daily prayer, and I hope it becomes part of yours too, is that this business will bring glory to God.

If you have not noticed, Tim and I are very non-traditional in how we operate.  We don’t fly on a private jet and then jump into limo to stand in the spotlight with glorified titles.  Heck, if you saw us in most settings, you would not even know who we are unless someone told you… If you don’t believe me, ask Cedric Houston about our Starbucks meetings.

We would rather visit with people one-on-one to help them develop their business to achieve their individual goals.  Fortunately for all of us, RTPR is becoming such a strong company, that we are all getting out of our comfort zones and we need larger venues like the Summits to allow us to help more people that have a passion for this business.

Our WHY drives us to live outside of our comfort zones.  Our WHY helps us stay laser focused day in and day out.  Additionally, to help us stay on track and focus on the goal, Tim and I always put ourselves into a mode of accountability, making ourselves:

• Accountable to the Processes
• Accountable to the Goal, and
• Accountable to the people helping us build this business

Being Accountable drives us to start early and stay late, and to always be thinking of ways to improve this company.

The point to all this is to say, we do it because we know our WHY, and our WHAT is RTPR.

I encourage you to find your WHY…

You need to find something that motivates you to BE better… To DO Better and to DO what others are Not, Day in and Day out.

Temporary WHYS are OK... for example, to get out of debt, pay off your mortgage, earn extra money to supplement your income, or even buy a new car.  But these things are just that…TEMPORARY.  There are plenty of junkyards filled with dream cars.

I encourage you to make your WHY about more than just money!

But I caution you, when you find your WHY… Don’t lead with your But.  I could do this But, I could do that But.  I ask you to not just fill the holes, and do only what is asked… Do More!

With RTPR, every Vendor owns their own business and is able to have a vested interest in the overall growth of the company, but always think of yourself as your own employee.  Make yourself accountable to your business.

Find your WHY, and make it what drives you… make every action you take and problem you face accountable to it.  If you fail for a time, don’t worry.  Failure is an Event, not a Person!

Make yourself accountable to your WHY… Your WHY will help you stay on track, because you are walking towards your purpose!!!

As I said before, The Key is to always know your WHY.  If you know you know your WHY, you have options for WHAT your WHAT can be.

Over the coming weeks and months, stay tuned as we give you many more reasons that RTPR will be the best WHAT for so many.

Sincerely,

Ron Snodgrass