There is a flurry of activity on the Internet this morning. My buddy and long-time business partner, Orrin Woodward, has decided to pour out his heart. On his leadership blog, Orrin has posted a couple articles to start a series in which he is telling all about his history in the Amway/Quixtar business.
It is nostalgic for me to read; remembering all the hundreds of thousands of miles we drove in those days, the nights we stayed up late with people, the tears, the frustrations, the joys, the relationships, the excitement, the disappointments, the victories, 
the defeats, the re-awakened dreams, the personal growth, the 5,000,000,000 cassette tapes we listened to (or thereabouts!), the seminars we attended, the cramped hotel rooms we stayed in, the "No’s" we heard, the "Yes’s" we heard, the things we learned, and the personal growth we experienced.
I guess everything that happens in your life is a part of who you become. I have met thousands of people in their living rooms, at their kitchen tables, and one or two on their picnic tables out back! I have found and forged friendships that will last a lifetime. I have met some of the greatest people on this planet through my involvement in this industry, and I am thankful for all of them being in my life. Additiona
lly, I have experienced some of the funniest stories one could ever imagine:
1. people with food stuck in their beards the whole time we talked business
2. two different occasions where women told me their dream was to get breast im
plants
3. the husband and wife who got into a screaming match right in front of me and wouldn’t let me leave because they wanted me as a witness
4. the guy that wanted to make a bunch of money so he could open a strip, shoot, and drinking establishment
5. the play group made up of a bunch of moms that one-by-one left the room until I turned around and found that I was talking to nobody!
6. the kid that hid in a pantry to be near me and listen to the plan, and how frantically his p
arents were searching for him, thinking him missing! The whole time, I didn’t know what was going on, and all I saw was the parents swooping in and out of the kitchen, frantically but quietly, as I continued to show the plan
7. the c
ar accident that occurred when people left my driveway one night after a meeting and ran into each other
8. the family that had a pet pig under the table when I sat there with them talking business
9. the couple that stopped our conversation and insisted we all begin praying together because the dogs had just begun mating under the table and they had been wanting that to happen for a long time
10. the drunk guy that crashed into one of my house plans and decided to "help me" by pitching in his comments
11. the guy that decided he could do a better job than me of showing the plan, so he got up and took the marker out of my hand and started answering everyone’s questions
12. the young couple who had just shillacked their kitchen chairs and neglected to tell me. After an hour of talking with them, my dress shirt was stuck firm to their chair!
13. the mobile home that had a two-foot diameter hole in the floor under their carpet right in front of the white board where I was standing. I fell into it over and over throughout t
he night as I tried to explain the business to their friends.
14. the plan I drew out in the snow on the trunk of someone’s car
15. the time I showed the plan in a dog grooming shop in Miami (and itched for weeks afterwards!)
16. the very, very, very tiny dog that bit like a German Shephard and wouldn’t let go
17. the Dalmation that wouldn’t keep its nose out from under Terri’s skirt
18. the guy that wouldn’t get in the business because the checks came in the mail and that would be "one more piece of mail I’d have to handle."
19. the guy that wouldn’t get in because Quixtar didn’t have canned peaches
20. the guy at work that told me he’d decided not to join because he just got a new puppy
21. the tropical bird that squawked so loud behind me during a house plan that he nearly gave me a heart attack
The list could go on for pages!
I have met people interested in everything you can imagine: NASCAR fans, basket 
weavers, Native American enthusiasts, wood-carvers, coin collectors, motorcycle racers, horse-showers, dancers, DJs, photographers, model ship makers, gun collectors, boaters, sailors, pilots, painters, readers, body builders, fish collectors (his whole house was full of fish tanks), opera singers, recording studio hobbiests, bell choir enthu siasts, and wine connoisseurs.
I have met people of almost every occupation: doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, engineers, small business operators, maids, nannies, tow truck drivers, firemen, police, soldiers, hairdressers, professors, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, manicurists, salesmen, managers, line workers, factory workers, electricians, millwrights, plumbers, consultants, and even a wine taster.
I have been in rich people’s homes and poor people’s homes, rural homes and urban homes, apa
rtments and condos, farms and ranches. I have been in homes of people from every ethnic and geographical background. I have been in homes that practiced nearly every religion one could think of. I have been in single parent homes, happily married homes, not-so-happily married homes, broken homes and several other types of homes.
I have see
n people beat their alcohol addiction, give up smoking marijuana, get off drugs, stop gambling, and stop abusing others whether verbally or physically. I have seen people come to faith. I have seen people reunited with loved ones they hadn’t spoken to in years. I have seen siblings grow closer to each other, parents grow closer to their children, and visa versa.
I have seen people change.
No matter what happens, no matter where I go, no matter where life’s journey takes me, I will forever be enriched by these experiences with these people. It has been an education and a blessing that defies description.
It has been a Crazy Journey.
And it has only just begun!
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