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Dear friends,

To simplify access to my past and future blog entries I am making them available on the newly designed Unicity International website.  The new address is http://www.unicity.net/usa/en/blog/stewart-hughes-blog

Thanks to my loyal followers and please visit my new site often.

All the best,
Stewart

How can we be sure we will be happy with the way we have lived our life?

Peace, power and deep satisfaction come from living your life in a way that you absolutely know will end well. Over the years I have struggled at times because I just didn’t know whether I was investing my time, talents and energy in the right pursuits. After lots of prayer and meditation I came to an understanding of my purpose and mission in life. Having this understanding doesn’t protect me from making mistakes from time to time nor does it insure that I will always be right on target but it does give a “North Star” to chart my life with on a day to day basis. This is one of the greatest blessings of my life.


Recently I came across an article written in the Harvard Business Review. The author is one of the most highly acclaimed consultants in the world and a professor of business at the Harvard Business School. In this fascinating article he outlines his own discovery of purpose and how each of us can claim the peace, power and fulfillment of living a life that is based on fulfilling our own unique purpose.

Please take a few minutes today and read this life changing insight. (Click Here)

All the best,
Stewart

http://www.unicity.net/usa/enews/pdf/how_will_you_measure.pdf

The First Step To Learning is ...

In my last post I shared the need to learn before we can earn. I mentioned the fact that there is a learning curve in every occupation and even in every activity or sport in which we find enjoyment. Our business is no different in this regard. We too have a learning curve. However, what sets us apart is that we have a culture that is different from every other business I have ever observed: we have thousands of successful leaders who are willing to share all their secrets with any new person who is willing to LISTEN.

You guessed it, the first step to learning is to LISTEN. Too many of us invest too much of our energy in trying to be heard, trying to say something or impress someone. Most of us don't invest enough time and energy trying to hear what someone else is saying. How can we learn if we do not listen--especially if we don't listen to those who know the way to succeed by actual experience? There are many types of listening and I am not going to list them here because for our purposes they don't really matter. The only type of listening that will allow you to learn what you need to know to win in Unicity, and in life generally, is this type: "Listen with the intent to understand." This is the essence of the 5th habit of Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Successful People". This book is one of most successful books ever written and if you haven't read it lately I urge you to do it now.

Most importantly I urge you to make a commitment right now that you will listen today at least twice as much as you did yesterday. If you do you will learn some pretty useful knowledge and you will be better prepared to live your dreams.

All the best,

Stewart

http://www.leaderu.com/cl-institute/habits/habit5.html

A Reality Check!

I often meet people who expect to make massive income in network marketing and do so quickly. And yet most of them have never made massive income before in anything else. I try to help these people realize that all significant incomes have a learning curve. For example, physicians are required to go to 4 years of Undergraduate Study, plus 4 years of Medical School, then 3-7 years of Residency and some do another 1 to 3 years to specialize. As a result, many doctors spend up to 18 years of schooling and training to qualify to become licensed physicians. Those requirements often leave doctors with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, before they are allowed to even begin making an income. Talk about a learning curve!

Success in network marketing has a learning curve too, but a small one in comparison to medicine, a legal practice, accounting or just about every other traditional career path. In Network Marketing, part of the learning curve is simply learning the Step-by-Step process of how to run your business according to the success pattern already established. Another part of it is having the discipline to stay focused on your goals until you get good enough at the business to achieve those goals. I will share some specifics ideas on how you can fly up the learning curve with Unicity in next week’s posts.

All the best,

Stewart

The Time is Now!

To all my friends,

Over the past few days we have had a few of our US leaders come to the home office to be filmed for a new video we are producing. It was great to spend a few minutes with each of them individually. I love to hear what is going on in the lives of our leaders. I want to know what they are doing that is giving them success. Here are some short snippets of insight from each of those I visited with along side their picture.

T. Gray:

Success is coming because we are being consistent in the delivery of great training and wonderful product results. The results from the products are beyond anything we have ever seen before. The business rewards are just as impressive. I am seeing people earn $2,000 to $5,000 their first month and then be able to duplicate that success in their new teams.

 

Phillip Song:

I have never been more deeply focused on Unicity than I am right now. My wife and I know that this is the time to make the next big drive to a level of financial freedom. However, the money is not the really important motivation for me—I want more quality time with my family and friends, this kind of time only comes when you have passive income. We want more of it—and now is the time to get it.

Dr. Annie Varughese:

Even though I only joined Unicity 9 months ago I feel like I have come home. There is such a feeling of comfort and peace in this place. I have had wonderful success using Bios Life Slim with my patients but the relationships I have built on the business is also very rewarding. I am excited for the future.

Cheryl Straub:

I feel like I am finally at the place where I know—with no doubts—that I can build this business in a very big way. I am looking forward to the next phase of my Unicity life. The first four years have been incredibly rewarding. I am confident the that the next four are going to be even better.

Dana Peterman:

We have worked hard to be ready for the growth we know is coming. We are ready. The success we have had already is great but we expect much more because these products work so well. Our lives have been touched in a very personal way with the products and that makes us fired up about sharing them with as many people as we can possible reach.

10,000 Diamonds!

Ten Thousand Diamonds

A big part of my job is to work with our Franchise Owners all over the world in order to educate them, to motivate them,  and to build their belief in their own talents, dreams, and abilities—and in Unicity as the map they can use to reach their dreams. That’s a big part of your job too, by the way.

Sometimes I’ve done this with just one person in the room or on the phone, and sometimes with tens of thousands. But one of my favorite times was at the close of the 2010 Unicity Global Convention in Bangkok, Thailand earlier this year. 

Close to thirty thousand attendees had just finished watching a spectacular production that honored thousands of Franchise Owners who advanced in rank during the year—and honored the leaders who’ve made an undeniable difference in improving the lives of others all over the world. Messages delivered were translated in over twenty different languages!

Then it was my turn to talk. Time was short. I had no desire to steal the limelight from our leaders. I wanted to leave with them a vision, an idea, a story that they could take home and share with others.

I’ve been asked on numerous occasions to share copies of what I said—and honestly, it wasn’t really ever written down. I knew at that point in time my job was to open up my heart, to open up my soul and let others see what I see for Unicity.

Recently we’ve had those remarks transcribed. I want to share with you today what I shared that day:

“There are so many people who need to feel what we’re feeling right now.

Millions of people are living below their potential—scraping out a bare existence because they have no one to lead them.

When we come together and we see people achieving their dreams, it builds within us both the desire and the confidence that we can also achieve our dreams.

What you’ve seen here over the last few days and what you’ve heard here is important, but it’s not as important as what you felt here. What you felt here will stay with you forever if you will nourish it and protect it, and most of all, share it.

Share your dreams. Believe in them. Share your passions. And most of all, share your love for people everywhere. Because we are Unicity—one family—brothers and sisters in search of a better life. Let’s not stop trying to share our opportunity with other people.

Someday your life will be over. Someday you’ll be at the very door of death—and I know what that looks like. When you’re at the very door of death you won’t be thinking about money, you won’t be thinking about supercars, or even Patek Philippes.

You’ll be thinking about how many people you have helped to be better and happier.

That will be your legacy. It will be your final thought—so I pray that the number is a big number.

That as you think those final thoughts, you’ll have thousands and thousands of faces that will go across your mind; that you will think of, and be grateful for.

I’m grateful. I’m grateful for all of you. You who lead, who paid the price to win—and I know it wasn’t easy, but you have become an inspiration to thousands and tens of thousands of people.

We have leaders here from all over the world, and they have seen it, and now they can feel it.

About eight months ago, Khun Joe, Khun On, and I met for a short visit in Hong Kong. Khun Joe asked me, ‘Why do you go to Japan so much?’

I said, ‘Because we’re working hard to build the business in Japan.’

He then said something that has changed my life forever. He said, ‘If you come to Thailand every month, we’ll build a fire so big they’ll be able to see it in Japan!’

So Japan, can you see it?

Europe, can you see it? Philippines, can you see it? Korea can you see it? North America, can you see it?

Are we going to stop here? No! No stopping! We’re going to build a fire so big that they see it all over the world and they can warm their hearts by the fire, and they can feel confident because of it.

We are going to be the biggest—the biggest direct marketing company in the world!

Nothing can stop us now. Nothing! But, we need you to be up here (on the stage). We need you to rise to a higher level of leadership excellence.

A hundred diamonds is not enough!

A thousand diamonds is not enough!

We need ten thousand diamonds!

That’s the vision—ten thousand diamonds!

Do you believe? Do YOU believe? We’re going to do it!

Don’t forget to share the feeling. Take it home with you and share it, and bring them back home—bring them back to one family. Unicity!”

ALL the best,

Stewart

"A rising tide..."

Dear Partners,

I am sure many of you have heard me use the quote "A rising tide lifts all boats".  The Unicity tide continues to rise!  Now is the time for you to get your share of the market.  Click on the "May, 2010" Global Leadership Call link to the right and listen to what is happening with Unicity around the globe, and what you can do to grab your share.  Start today!

All the best,
Stewart

Bios Life Slim--let's tell the world!

Today I received an email from one of our franchise owners in the USA.  It caused me to reflect again upon the urgency we all ought to feel about sharing Bios Life Slim with our family and friends.  With permission I am posting that email here for you to read.  Hopefully it will inspire you to educate and motivate your loved ones to make this amazing product a part of their daily health regimen.
Stewart

Hi Stewart,

I have been wanting to let you know the story about my parents and their experience with Slim and finally feel ready to share.

When I returned from Salt Lake City last year, I was excited to try the Slim and get my parents on it. My dad (Mel) had been in very poor health (cancer survivor, hip replacement, open heart surgeries, and at the time was recently diagnosed with diabetes), so I was really anxious to see what it could do for him.

Because they are retired and on a fixed income, I was giving my parents two boxes of Slim a month to use. Mel had to take a shot of insulin daily and sometimes at night because he was prone to cheating with his diet. After just a little over one week, his sugar levels were fantastic (even after pasta). He did not have to take a shot of insulin from April to August while he was using the Slim, he felt great and was very active.

My mom lost over 30 pounds during this time and she was very skeptical of the product from the onset. She is a huge believer that this product is what has helped curb her cravings and allowed her to manage her weight. 


Because my mom was using the product three times a day, Mel started cutting back because he did not want to ask me for a third box each month. I went to visit them the last weekend of August, they were getting ready to leave for a vacation. Mel seemed to be in pain and I asked him what was going on. He told me that he had stopped taking the Slim two weeks prior and he could really tell. He told me that he had to take insulin shots for the first time since April because his sugar was out of whack. I was upset with him and told him that I would rather spend a little extra money each month and have him feeling good and he agreed to start taking it again as soon as they returned from vacation.

A few days into their vacation, my mother called and Mel's organs had started to shut down, he was rushed to the Emergency Room in Memphis. He was put on life support and never regained consciousness again. One by one his systems failed and he passed away on September 11th.

Now, I am not sending this to be all depressing but because I am convinced (and my mom is convinced) that the Slim gave him a better quality of life and when he stopped taking it - his pancreas was the first system to fail which affected all the other systems. I am not a doctor obviously but it's just too coincidental to ignore.

To end on a positive note, my mom has continued to use Slim and is now down 48 pounds. She said she'd like to lose another 10 or so but I think she looks fantastic. I wish she had done the Sim challenge to begin with.

Thanks for a wonderful product and opportunity to share it with my loved ones.

sincerely,

shannon

ps. LOVE love LOVE the Energy drink. It not only gives me energy but makes me feel more alert mentally with zero jitters.

Cultivating Discipline Harvesting Success

It’s starting to look like Spring here at the Unicity Global Headquarters. The snow is beginning to melt from the lower elevations on the mountains and all the trees and bushes are budding. Springtime reminds me of a story about two farmers.

Early each Spring, the two farmers look out over their fields. In their hearts, they have similar desires—that the coming Fall season will provide them with a vast harvest.

All Winter the first farmer spends time cleaning and sharpening his tools. The second farmer looks out over his field—hoping that the Fall season will provide him with a vast harvest.

As soon as the snows melted, the first farmer is out in his field carefully preparing the furrows and removing any large stones, while the second farmer looks out over his field—hoping that the Fall season will provide him with a vast harvest.

After the last frost, the first farmer is out in his field dropping his seeds carefully into the furrows and gently covering them with soil. The second farmer is also out—casting his seeds on the ground as he walks around his field.

Throughout the long, hot Summer, the first farmer toils—herding the thin line of irrigation water to the end of each row and pulling weeds wherever he sees them. The second farmer paces the floor of his house—hoping that it will rain and the Fall season will provide him with a vast harvest.

Come Fall, the first farmer has a vast harvest. The second farmer is disappointed again with his meager harvest—wishing that it had rained more and that the birds hadn’t eaten so many of the seeds that he cast in the Spring.

Both farmers are good men. Both have the same desire—that the Fall season will provide them with a good harvest. With a large harvest, they would be able to provide for their families, have seeds for planting in the Spring, and prosper by selling the surplus in the market. Yet despite their equal desires, the first farmer’s harvest was so much larger than the second farmer’s.

The first farmer went beyond just hoping for a good harvest. His desire was more than a mere wish—it was a motivating conviction that moved him to action. The first farmer, in order to bring about his desire, took actions—even though harvest time was far away and there was no guarantee that the weather would cooperate, he still took actions.

The first farmer was cultivating more than crops, he was cultivating self-discipline. When we take actions that move us in the direction of our desires—especially when we can’t see what the outcome might be—that’s self-discipline.

From farming to building your own Bios Life Franchise, be assured, you’re in the right place at the right time with all the right conditions—just add self-discipline.


Wishing you all the best with your harvest,
Stewart

Seeing the Possibilities

Just two hours drive to the north of our Unicity International offices, on a lonely stretch of desert, is a historic site called Promontory Point.  Here, less than 150 years ago, the United States’ first transcontinental railroad was completed.

A story is told of a local farmer who stopped his horse, laid his plow on its side, and walked to the edge of his field to watch the railroad workers build the railroad he had heard so much about.

He saw them level out the ground, place wooden trestles, and then lay the heavy iron tracks on top of the trestles. When they were finished, a train moved forward onto the completed section.

Scratching his head, the farmer turned around and walked back to his plow thinking, “So, that’s it? That’s what this railroad is about? Tracks and trains?”

It’s true, the farmer did see tracks and a train—but what didn’t he see?

He didn’t see that for the first time, people would be able to go from one side of the country to the other in just days instead of months. He didn’t see that soon fruits and vegetables, and other food items, could be shipped to where he lived, and that whatever he was growing could be shipped and sold somewhere else.

He didn’t see that ideas, books, information, and entertainment could be shared and spread across the nation. He didn’t see that new people, different people, could travel and live wherever they wanted to live. All the farmer could see was the tracks and a train.

What he didn’t see were the possibilities.

Ironically, 100 years later when air travel became popular, it was the railroad that failed to see the possibilities. Instead of thinking that it was in the transportation business, the railroad only saw that it was in the tracks and trains business. As a result, many railroads went bankrupt.

Being able to see the possibilities, even in difficult circumstances, can change your future.

Over the past few years, most of the world has been experiencing significant economic and cultural changes. These changes require the ability to see the possibilities in order to thrive and prosper.

Here’s one way to view these changes:

For the first time in history an entire global generation is faced with employment insecurity, meager retirement, eroding company loyalty, and dissolving job satisfaction.

Or you can see the possibilities:

For the first time in history an entire generation all over the world is truly free to control their destiny. The power of choice is completely in the hands of the people. You can choose where and how you work; in fact, you can choose your income. Never before have country club connections and fancy pedigrees mattered so little—what matters now is the desire and discipline to work.

I see evidence of the possibilities everywhere in I visit. Bold entrepreneurs, both men and women, are taking personal responsibility for their financial future. This is nothing short of a revolution that values personal industry, creativity, and teamwork.

If you could do something else— something that you control—and receive all the rewards that come to people who see the possibilities, would you make a change if an opportunity like that came along?

If you would like to explore the choices you have in your life, then I urge you to do this one thing: consider a career in direct sales as a Bios Life Franchise Owner.

Being a Franchise Owner is all about giving you choices, power, and showing you the possibilities.

All the best,

Stewart

2010 Global Convention

Hello friends,

The Unicity 2010 Global Convention in Bangkok, Thailand is now history. It was truly one of the high points in my career in our business! For me it began minutes after landing in Bangkok, where, along with over 200 business partners, I joined in the Service Project where Unicity planted over 1000 mangrove trees to help reclaim precious ground from the sea. I was touched with the enthusiastic efforts of our President's Club members from around the world jumping into the mud and water to support this very worthwhile project.

The next morning I was awestruck the first time I walked the convention hall. The stage was the largest I have seen and the sea of over 20,000 chairs set up and ready got me excited for the event to begin. That evening the Black Tie qualifiers were treated like royalty as they enjoyed a special evening of food and entertainment.

I must admit to some nervous anticipation as the doors opened Friday morning. As the seats began to fill and flags began to wave, I saw my Unicity partners filling up row after row of chairs. I saw the excitement and anticipation in the eyes of everyone. Many of you had made great sacrifices to attend and I am grateful for each one of you. Once the event began the time flew by. Rather than try to put everything into words I have attached some video links, as well as a link in the right side border to the Global Leadership Call I recorded while still in Bangkok.

I was inspired by the stories I heard. My heart was touched as I was able to meet many of you for the first time, and renew acquaintances with good friends I have worked with for years. I issued a challenge to everyone there to now go forward and share with others the feelings that they felt at the Global Convention. I plan to do that and I hope you will too. The vision I shared is 10,000 Diamonds. Will you be one of them? How many of your partners will join you as a Diamond?

All the best,
Stewart

Leadership strikes again!

On Thursday the 14th I boarded a plane for Bangkok. I arrived at 6:30 Saturday morning, the 16th. I cleaned up from the 25 hour journey and started my meetings. I met with five of our key leaders and spoke for a few minutes at the monthly Bangkok training meeting (attendance 6,000). Then I got back on a plane and began the 25 hours back to Utah. So it was 25 hours over, 12 hours there and 25 hours back. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Anytime I can be in front of highly committed leaders it is worth it. Why? Because I always learn something that can make me better.

On this trip I learned many important things that can help us be a better platform for your success. I was also inspired by a powerful young man with an incredible story. He joined our business in 2009. The obstacles he has overcome on his way to success are almost unbelievable. He lost his father when he was just 5 and his mother at 8. His grandmother cared for him until she passed away when he was 13. During these years he had to work long days at any kind of work he could get to help put food on the table. After age 13 he was completely on his own. He taught himself how to survive. He somehow managed to learn how to read and write. Before he found Unicity the most money he had ever had at one time was 6,000 Bhat (about $175.00). Now he makes a lot more than that every month. Life is better for him in ways that are beyond his ability to express. Leadership is what changed his life--a Unicity leader found him and helped him develop the skills, habits and mindset to transform his world and now he is doing that same thing for others. I was inspired--I hope you are too.

All the best,

Stewart

Welcome to a New Year!

How exciting to be at the beginning of a new year—twelve new unused months lie ahead. A new year where anything can happen and everything is possible!

The beginning of a new year has always been an important time for me. I try to do an evaluation of the past year's performance in all aspects of my life. This can be a sobering experience as I often come up short in some of what I had hoped to do and to become. Nevertheless, it is important to reflect and to renew the determination to keep pushing forward. As we all know, it is in the “struggle” that we develop the strength and refinements that bring lasting satisfaction.

I’m certain that there are those who did not achieve all of their goals for 2009. Each of us has had years when we didn’t really get where we wanted to go—or at least as far as we wanted. A year like that can be absolutely critical to our future happiness—if we choose our response to it correctly.

If we choose to mope about or engage in self-pity or worse yet, in blaming others, we are most likely to repeat the unsatisfying year or do even worse. On the other hand, if we learn from our mistakes, build on our successes, and reignite our enthusiasm, then that disappointing year becomes the platform for our future success.

All of the really important successes that I have been blessed to enjoy have come after a disappointment. In fact, it was from the failure to achieve that I learned what I needed to know to get what I really wanted.

I believe that success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals. One fundamental lesson I learned early in life is that hard work is the great equalizer.

You may not have all the talents another person enjoys but you can work hard enough to be equal to, or even greater, in achievement. In my 20s, I realized that there were a lot of people more talented than I am and

smarter than I am. I decided that if I was going Be, Do and Have, all that I had dreamed, I would have to work harder than those more talented people.

I consider that decision to be one of the most important decisions of my life. What about you? Your gifts and talents are what they are, but your choices are yours to make every minute of every day and it is in your choices that success is determined.

An important part of my evaluation has been our progress as a company. Unicity has enjoyed another good year. We certainly had our “struggles” yet we kept our focus on our goals and built on the success of 2008. I am pleased to say that we continued the trend of increasing success in each of our business metrics. I know that many of you also had strong growth in your respective businesses. Some of you have set records for yourself and a few have set records in the company. I applaud your success and hope that you will drive forward and build on that success in 2010.

This year, I continued visiting our global markets as often as possible—traveling more than 225,000 miles in airplanes. I crossed the Pacific Ocean 20 times and the Atlantic 8 times. Occasionally I’m asked, in the age of email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and VOIP why do I travel at all? Why don’t I let technology do the work? Does personally being there really matter? Aren’t I running myself ragged?

I confess that there are occasions when those technologies come in handy. And there are times when being away from home is downright painful. But I can tell you this: personally being there matters. It’s important to me to sit knee-to-knee and eye-to-eye with a

leader, a government official, or a prospect. It’s important to me that they can sense my love and commitment to making life better. Traveling two days for a two-hour meeting on the surface may not seem efficient, but in the right situation, it is very effective.

As a company, our passion, our unique ability, and how we create significant value in this world is that we build people. I have learned that building people happens best one person at a time and usually face to face.



Certainly, we improve health by offering state-of-the-art nutritional products. In addition, our Make Life Better Foundation has raised and donated millions of dollars to charities.

However, another company may be able to match our service projects and charitable contributions, in fact, other companies may try to imitate our products; but they will never be able to match our passion and our matchless, one-of-a-kind capacity to build new distributors into thriving, prosperous Franchise Owners.

We offer people the tools, training, support, and encouragement they need to prosper—and they can’t get this anywhere else. Building people is about showing them how to create a growing income, how to build a business that gives them control of their life and allowing more time to spend on the things that are most important. Building people is about giving them choices, power, motivation, education, and helping them see the possibilities.

Something magical happens when people start to grow into their potential.

We teach people how to teach people and how to live better. In short: we teach people how to be leaders. Building leaders always requires getting

knee-to-knee and eye-to-eye. It requires building and sustaining value driven relationships. Dag Hammarskjold, past Secretary-General of the United Nations, said, “It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses.” Just imagine the growth of Unicity if next year every single Franchise Owner worldwide taught just one other person how to be an effective and self-reliant leader!

Leadership is about vision and imagination and stretching for greater heights. It’s about affirmation and encouragement. It’s about teaching and correcting. It’s about good listening and good coaching. It’s about planning with a purpose and working hard to turn good plans into good results. It’s about changing lives for the better.

When you become a more effective leader—with your Franchise Organization, or at home, at church, in the community and elsewhere—your life changes for the better, too.

Let us make 2010 a personal call to leadership. Becoming and creating leaders should be our highest priority, our greatest strength, our most significant contribution, and our solemn promise.


All the best,


Stewart Hughes
CEO
Unicity International