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Darren Hardy reveals the truth behind success in his new book, The Compound Effect.
SUCCESS magazine Publisher Darren Hardy built a lucrative career in real estate and direct selling before becoming a leader in the personal-development industry. In his latest book, Darren presents what he calls a “distillation of the core fundamentals of success.” It’s a no-fluff, no-frills, power-packed description of what it really takes to earn success. Here, he explains how the Compound Effect was the key to his success—and how it can help reduce salesforce attrition, increase profits and maximize your members’ performance.
A. Ninety-seven percent (or more) of people who come into direct selling come from having worked for someone else all their life. They have grown up and been conditioned by the structure of academia, and then corporate culture, where someone tells them where to go, what to do, for how long and what their results need to be. They’re used to someone constantly standing over their shoulder with threats of performance reviews and job security to motivate their performance.
When they get into direct selling, there are no “have-tos.” There’s no boss telling them what to do or when to do it. Instead, all of a sudden, they have to be self-directed, self-disciplined and be responsible for managing their own time, expectations and outcomes. It sounds like a great thing, but the necessary mindset, behaviors, habits and discipline patterns are completely foreign them…. They’re like a fish out of water having to learn how to walk.
What’s worse, because most people start part time and are still working a job, they’re living parallel lives. On one side, they have this structured, pressure-filled environment where they have a manager with a watchful eye holding their actions and output accountable. Then, on top of that, they’re trying to find time to do this direct selling thing they don’t have to do, that is completely foreign and uncomfortable, and that they’re already getting flack from their friends and family about. Which life is going to get their time and attention? The direct sales side of their life has almost no chance.
Q. How does The Compound Effect address those issues?A. The business model of direct selling is simple. The tasks required are simple and easy, but the behavior changes are not. The key to successfully making the switch is learning new habits, new disciplines, self-direction, self-motivation and true self-confidence, as well as developing a mindset of positive expectancy, commitment, consistency and resiliency.
This book addresses those issues head-on. Behavior is what we do, right? The actions we take. Repeated behaviors become our habits. And our habits (whether conscious or unconscious) define our outcomes and, thus, our lives. To move from having a job to being self-employed, some completely new behaviors and habits have to be learned. This book teaches how to uproot bad habits—specifically and with a plan—and how to then install the new habits and disciplines one needs to be successful in this industry or in any industry or area of life.
With the right habits and disciplines, combined with a bolstered mindset, attitude, self-belief and positive expectancy, mixed with the opportunity direct sales affords, the individual can release the potential they always had inside but didn’t have the keys to unlock.
A. To clear the clutter, demystify the truth and tell it straight—with no fat or fluff included. I have been part of the personal-development industry for 16 years, and as the publisher of SUCCESS magazine, I’ve seen and heard it all. There are 5,000 books produced every year in the personal-development and success space. To break through the noise of that sheer volume, so many “gurus” today have resorted to sensational claims of great “secrets” or “new scientific breakthroughs” and the like. It’s marketing gimmickry, and it does more harm than good for the people who are looking for real self-improvement answers.
I wrote this book to return people to the basics—the truth and the core fundamentals of what it really takes to succeed. The fundamentals of success are simple but truly profound. There are not 5,000 things one needs to do well to be successful. There are about a half-dozen things that need to be done well, 5,000 times over to be successful. This book brings clarity and focus to those half-dozen things and offers a specific and actionable plan on how to do them well. Master these fundamentals, repeat them consistently over an extended period of time, and the payoff will be extraordinary. Then you will get the honor of your friends, family members, colleagues and neighbors calling you “lucky.”
| Fig. 1 The beauty of The Compound Effect is in its simplicity. Notice how, on the left side of the diagram, the results are intangible, but how powerfully they differ later on. The behaviors all along the way are exactly the same, but the magic of the Compound Effect eventually kicks in to bring massive differences in results. |
A. First, by eliminating the great un-expectations. Unfortunately, direct selling recruiting messages often promote or suggest the idea of big money and big dreams being easy and fast. Even if the companies’ materials don’t suggest that, many of the independent contractors do. So, when it is (quickly) discovered it is not so easy or so fast, this un-expectation has a 99 percent chance of blowing them right out of the business.
The truth is, success is a slow, long, arduous, mostly mundane process. It requires real commitment, real effort, real fortitude and real persistence. When people understand that, they’re less likely to get whacked by these great un-expectations.
Throughout the book, I use myself as a personal example. I worked hard to achieve success—without the benefit of any special talent or skill or connections. My story reveals that success really comes down to consistency and commitment. If we can realign expectations with what it really takes to succeed, we can wipe false expectations (and the disappointment they cause) out of the equation.
And second, this book can help people make the behavioral and mindset transition from employee to self-employed by teaching them to develop the success behaviors, disciplines, habits and self-confidence needed to succeed.
A. I’ll tell you the greatest secret to my success and the biggest reason most people fail. It’s not lack of desire, big dreams or even motivation. It is not a fear to sign up, try or to even get started. People go to seminars, buy books, join gyms, start diet programs or sign up for a new business opportunity. Starting is not the problem. Staying is. A commitment to consistency is the key. My definition of commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you. People get excited, they get started, maybe even experience some success, but then they stop or stall. That start-and-stop process kills momentum and destroys progress in every pursuit—that’s true in your relationships, in your wealth-building plan, with your diet and fitness, and it’s most certainly true in building a direct selling organization. It’s not about who gets started first or fastest, but about who can repeat the simple disciplines, the core fundamentals, over and over, consistently over time, igniting the power of the Compound Effect. That is why the tortoise beats the hare every time—not because the tortoise is more talented, experienced or faster, but because the tortoise is simply and relentlessly consistent.
This book teaches and reiterates the power of simple fundamentals repeated consistently over time to multiplying one’s success—in direct sales and in every area of life.
To learn more about Darren Hardy’s new book and audio program, The Compound Effect, visit www.TheCompoundEffect.com.
Erin Casey is an Editor of SUCCESS from Home; she is also the Columns Editor for SUCCESS magazine and the Books Editor for SUCCESS Media.
