Show Notes

• Shift from real estate broker to trainer
• The value of professional development
• Manifesting an opportunity
• Common characteristics of successful people
• Ups and downs of the magazine business
• L.I.V.E.

Connect With Amy Somerville

✩ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amymsomerville
✩ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amymsomerville/
✩ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amymsomerville

Summary

Amy Somerville is the Chief Executive Officer of SUCCESS Enterprises, a multi-platform media company which includes the iconic SUCCESS Magazine, SUCCESS Coaching, and SUCCESS.com. She discusses the common characteristics of successful people, and the ways SUCCESS is adapting to help its customers develop both personally and professionally.

Full Transcript

Brian
Amy Somerville is the Chief Executive Officer of Success Enterprises, a multi-platform media company which includes the iconic Success Magazine, Success Coaching and success.com. Amy is a mission driven leader with demonstrated success in developing highly effective teams, delivering dynamic learning strategies and building engaged communities. Prior to joining Success, Amy was vice president of professional development and industry engagement at Buffinian Company and the founder of Moment of Clarity LLC. In her previous role as an executive with REMAX, she led professional development, technology engagement, multimedia production and education. Amy is a master of client engagement and a passionate community builder who thrives on gathering like-minded, successful entrepreneurs and business people to share best practices for success. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Amy has served on several advisory boards and is a devoted contributor to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Amy lives her life intentionally and is driven daily by the acronym LIVE, which stands for lead, inspire, value and empathize. I’m excited for our conversation, and it’s great to have her on our show. Welcome Amy, and thanks for joining us on LifeExcellence.

Amy
Thank you so much for having me. Wow, what an introduction. I’m pleased to be here with you.

Brian
Well, it’s wonderful to have you. Amy, you have years of experience in education and training, much of which you gained in various roles at REMAX, but you actually started your career as a real estate broker, not a trainer. How did you discover your gift for coaching and training which led to training brokers, rather than being a real estate broker and then eventually to executive positions at REMAX?

Amy
That’s a great question. It was not originally intentional. My husband and I were practicing real estate in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the REMAX brand and he was born and raised here in Colorado and wanted to come back to Colorado. We really thought we were going to purchase a REMAX franchise and that was going to be our next level up. We were going to purchase a franchise and we were going to coach and train agents underneath us. That was January of 2007, real poor timing for a big change and investment in franchise ownership, certainly in the real estate market and massively shifting economy. He happened to have a friend that he grew up with who worked at REMAX world headquarters – that happens to be not far from where we were living, in Denver – and she said, I know you’re entrepreneurs, but even if it’s just until you make the transition into being a franchise owner, we would love to have your experience here at headquarters from a consultive [sic] position; consulting broker owners and agents through their journey in what was kind of a tough time. So we decided that we would step out of entrepreneurship, become full time employees for a short stint, come in wherever we could help. One of my first positions was consulting and coaching franchise owners in the central Atlantic region and the Carolinas region. While doing that, the education, coaching, training side kind of kept tapping me, and I thought that was the craziest thing because one of my biggest challenges is public speaking. It is something that is very uncomfortable for me. Back then, it was way worse than it is today, where you would sit in a room and people go around the room and tell your name and your favorite movie; I mean, [I was] profusely sweating, panicking, couldn’t remember my name, couldn’t remember a single movie I’d ever seen, like full blackout. So the idea of standing in front of people and training them in any kind of a one to many concept was not something that I was passionate about, not something that I ever even considered. And that team just kind of kept poking me and tapping me and tapping me. Around that time, my husband and I had our first child, I was traveling a lot for my work, he was traveling a lot for his, my mom was living in our basement, essentially raising our daughter. We had a come to Jesus meeting [that] something’s got to give. My favorite part of this entire journey is I remember looking at him and saying, it’s alright, babe, this team has been tapping me to move to training and that would keep me more local, not traveling as much, I’ll go ahead and take one for the team. That decision has catapulted my career and the impact I’ve been able to make in the real estate industry and beyond, and certainly ignited a fire in coaching and professional development I didn’t know existed.

Brian
You’ve certainly been stretched both in the training and coaching side and also on the speaking side. REMAX is obviously a huge global real estate company with, I think, around 150,000 agents in something like 110 countries. I imagine it’s really important for those agents across the organization to be on the same page, so to speak, and that’s probably where training comes in, at least to some extent. What are the elements of professional and personal success you focused on when you were there?

Amy
Probably the the biggest piece was pulling everybody, like you said, into a space where they were all singing from the same sheet of music, where they are crystal clear on the culture, that they were a part of the value proposition, that they could put out the education, training and coaching and consulting services so they could develop their people but have each other – because they were so connected and still very independent – connect with each other and share best practices for success. So for me, masterminds is a huge piece of that, having a foundational training program is a huge piece of that. So that when I think of what brings great cultures together, like the foundation, the glue of culture is language. Are we speaking the same language? Are we speaking the language of personal development and growth and mindset and being learning based? And do we all have the same commitment to not only learning ourselves but developing others around us? I think once you get the culture together and everybody’s singing from the same sheet of music and speaking the same language, then you get to share not only successes, but failures, challenges, bumps on the road, and it’s more relatable and easier to pivot and make tweaks learning from each other, who may be in the same country, may be in different countries.

Brian
You were at REMAX, I think, for about 16 years, and your steady advancement at the company caused you to move from delivering education and training, which is where you started, to more strategic roles where you were directing and leading vision for professional development. What were the gaps that you noticed in education and training of agents once you moved into those executive roles? What are you most proud of having accomplished at REMAX? I know you really took training and development to the next level once you moved into the executive roles.

Amy
I think, funny enough, looking back at that, and it’s been a while, but I think that one of the the biggest gaps in assessment…one of the first things I did is I sat in the back of the room of the training that was occurring. I went to events and watched what was working, what was impactful, what was fluff, what was marketing, what was really hitting deeply for people. Then – I hate to say it’s part of me, is [I am] a linear thinker – so it’s all in the story tell. If I were going to read a story from beginning to end, what does that training look like, and where are you missing some of the elements of that story? So as a franchise owner or as an agent or somebody who’s dedicated to personal development, what pieces were people too embarrassed to say, I’ve got a question. I’m supposed to be this independent franchise owner, business owner, I would be embarrassed to come into a room and ask a question, financial management being a great example of that. I think that there’s not enough conversation about financial management and business owners often jump in, having no real acumen in speaking about P and L’s and taking a look at what revenue coming in looks like, and overhead expenses, and what is your monthly recurring revenue, and what are your recurring expenses; having basic conversations that I think that sometimes we end up in places where we are too embarrassed to ask the questions. When you can put people in a room and interview them personally – what would you have liked to see, what are still some challenges for you, what are still some roadblocks, what are some things that you don’t understand and [would] put into a training class? I think that that’s helpful. The other piece with gaps – and I’ve said this a long time, I think – is that there is such a thing as crystal ball leadership. That is this: I don’t know…maybe they’ll want this, or maybe they’ll want that, and I’m sure this would be of value. First of all, I don’t think that’s effective, I think it’s a good waste of time. But again, it comes back to that ego piece where I would rather sit down with peers or a bunch of customers, clients, and say, so what are your biggest challenges? If this was going to be the best event for you, where you walked away and said, I would go back to this event every single year as long as it provided blank, blank and blank, what would those things be? What’s funny about that is having those kind of grassroots, very honest conversations you then go put it together and deliver just as you were told and you get this like, oh, you’re brilliant, oh, what a great event, that was really great. And I think to myself and say to people, I mean, you helped me build it. I just did what you asked me to, built what you told me to. So getting away from crystal ball leadership, really getting belly to belly with people asking what they need and then delivering that. It seems simple and it is.

Brian
REMAX has obviously done a very effective job of incorporating training and development into the fabric of how it conducts business, partially because of the investment that you made in the company. As you know, though, not all companies have done that, and just on a really basic level many organizations don’t even buy into the importance of training and development. Why is professional development important? And what strategies have you found most effective in fostering a culture? You mentioned culture earlier, fostering a culture of continuous learning and development within an organization.

Amy
Sure, well, I think you’re right. I think it does have to come from the top, and I have been lucky enough, blessed enough, to work for incredible leaders who are dedicated to personal and professional development. I think…I mean many things; from productivity, personal productivity is driven by personal development and happiness. A lot of people, I think if you sent out surveys today, what drives happiness is that seeking of growth, that path of development, feeling like you’re contributing to the world, that you have a purpose. Not only does that happiness lead to productivity but also to loyalty and retention. If you are an organization that thinks that you’re just going to roll out, here’s the mission, here’s the vision, we’ll hire some really great technicians and they’re going to work really hard for us and they’re going to stay forever – good luck If you’re not offering some form of personal growth or professional development. I don’t know very many people who feel like they were put on this planet to be stalemate, to be plug and play to one particular output over and over and over and over without any opportunities for advancement or expanding the mind or encouragement or learning from others. So I think that is really risky, if you’re thinking about the long term success of any organization, if you’re not focused on a culture that develops people. That doesn’t mean…I almost call it like 1990s development. It doesn’t mean that everybody goes through entry level and then gets promoted to manager and then gets promoted to director and then becomes a vice president one day. I think we do need to go away from that and redefine what personal professional development looks like within organizations. I don’t think most people should be managers, just my personal opinion. That is a different skill set and it’s a different focus. I think you can be an unbelievably talented practitioner, specialist and continue to develop in your career, even if you’re the only person in the company who does that. Having leadership that comes alongside you and helps you take courses or continuing education or be in rooms and events with other people who do what you do and learning from them; mastermind becomes really, really important, again not only to success, happiness, productivity, innovation, retention and loyalty.

Brian
I think it’s the key. You mentioned that management is a different skill set and it is, and leadership is a different skill set. As you know, in organizations, a lot of time what happens is people are really good at, let’s say, a very good salesperson, the best salesperson in the company, and when the opportunity arises for a sales manager position people think, oh, let’s peg her because she’s a great salesperson, and it’s a totally different skill set. Sometimes, what happens – oftentimes, in fact, with salespeople, but also in other positions – we put people in management positions because they’re the best at what they do, but they’re not, certainly not automatically, the best managers.

Amy
“People people,”…I certainly have had situations in my life where I’ve had a team member working for me who says, I just need to know what my trajectory is, what’s my path here, I’d like to be manager next. And I say, well, let’s talk about what that looks like, let’s talk about what management looks like. What do you love about your job and what are you looking to grow and develop into? A lot of times, really, it’s not the manager role, it’s the escalation in a position, a change in title, a belief that compensation has to be tied to that next management level up. I think that, like I said, I hope we start going away from that. Very clearly, there’s no maximum ceiling that you can hit as a specialist, as a practitioner, if that’s what you want to do, if that’s where you want to be your highest and best we will find opportunities for you to grow and develop and be compensated for your skill set. It doesn’t need to be tied to management, which is a lot of times in the worlds that I’ve worked in, you walk away from your specialty and now you’re managing processes and systems and people and accountability and it is not fulfilling.

Brian
I think what people are looking for is growth. I think you use the word advancement; people are looking to grow and improve and flourish and thrive. A lot of times we call management that growth or that ascension, and it really isn’t growth at all. People often find that they discover that very quickly once they get into a position that they thought was what they wanted, but ends up not being what they want at all.

Amy
Very true, very true.

Brian
After leaving REMAX Amy, you started your own company, and then you accepted another professional development position in the real estate industry. Then in 2023 you became CEO of Success Enterprises, where you would lead a magazine that was established in 1897. Success has always been one of my favorite magazines. I’ve been involved in personal and professional development for well over 30 years, and I’ve been an on again, off again subscriber for that long. How did you end up leading Success Enterprises? I’m curious, how familiar were you with the magazine before you became CEO?

Amy
Yeah, that’s a wild story, I will tell you, I do believe I manifested it. I was very familiar with the magazine. In fact, known, I would say, on the REMAX side as the Success Magazine gal. I had a credenza behind my desk that was always covered with Success magazines, and people would come and check them out like it was a library when they were going on business trips or, hey, is this a new one? Can I grab it? Hey, my notes are in there, make sure you bring it back. So always a big fan of Success, actually worked with bringing Darren Hardy to several REMAX events, so a big fan of him as a publisher. I would say that Success was my mentor as a publication. When I didn’t have humans to lean into or coaches to lean into, and even when I did, it was kind of an added, I guess, supplement to my way of thinking, which was very much in the personal development space. I had been an entrepreneur, now as a leader of entrepreneurs, I kind of think that you can’t take the entrepreneurial out of the person ever once you’ve been there, it’s hard to to take that drive to work to certain standards out from your work framework; how you do your job, how you attack strategy, how you lead your people. So I was a huge, huge fan, and never stopped being a fan. As you carried through my career, I’m like, oh gosh, it’s been that long, that’s crazy. But about a year and a half ago, one of the things that I always stayed connected to were events – and again, still to kind of just keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone – attended a real estate conference, probably the number one conference in the United States, anyway, as tied to real estate, which is the Inman Conference. And in January of 2023 I was attending as a facilitator, as somebody who was a panelist, and I honestly had one of the longest weeks ever at an event. I was exhausted [from] planning and preparing and delivering. There are probably a few leaders that I do get together with at this event. We’re all in different places, but we get together and talk to each other about how things were going, how we saw our next year going. So January is that day where we really get hey, what’s your plan for the year? How have things been going? And a good girlfriend of mine, who’s a powerhouse in the industry, said, so how are things? And I said, good. And she said, huh, and kind of stared and said, good, huh? And she said, I gotta tell you, good doesn’t look good on you, something’s not working here. Then she actually had to tear off for another meeting. What I didn’t know is that she was tearing off to another meeting with Glenn Sanford, who is the founder of EXP Realty and had two years prior acquired Success Magazine. The next morning, I’m ready to fly home, could not be more exhausted, and I’m in sweats and a T-shirt and a ponytail, ready to get home, fly from New York to Denver, and I get a text from a friend who said, Glenn Sanford would like to meet with you this morning before you leave. And I said, I am not in proper form, this is not going to happen today. We’ve zoomed before, we’d met before, we’ll just do a zoom meeting when I get home. And she said, I think you would regret that. Actually what she said was you should put on a dress that you wore earlier this week, take a perfume bath, and get your rear end down here. I did and we had a great conversation, wasn’t about business at all. We talked about books we were reading, we talked about podcasts we were listening to – all professional development. And at some point, he said, I know you need to get to the airport. Do you know who Jim Collins is? And I said, I do, the author of “Good to Great.” And he said, Yes. He said, I subscribe to the Jim Collins way that you find your who and you figure out your what and your why later. He said, I don’t know my what, I don’t know my why, but I think you could be my who. It was the most seen I think I’ve ever felt. Long story short, I went to the airport and felt guilty because I put together a business plan for a company I didn’t work for, the entire flight home. That was January 25 of 2023 and by Valentine’s Day, my husband and I were at a restaurant celebrating and I was signing an agreement to become CEO of Success.

Brian
Oh, what a great story. It’s very cool. It is very cool. Amy, for the benefit of our listeners and viewers who aren’t familiar with Success Magazine, tell us more about the magazine, who your target audience is, and the type of content we can expect to see when we either pick up an issue of Success, the magazine or go online at success.com.

Amy
Wonderful. Yeah, 127 year old magazine, no pressure. That’s quite a legacy that I’m a huge fan of, started out focusing on leadership and entrepreneurs, and that’s where it is today. I think the the difference in where it is today is that we are highlighting lots of different specialties, focus, action, stories and I would say kind of the story behind the story. I was at a photo shoot that I can’t disclose right now, but I ran into a gal who was doing an internship. This gal asked me about the vision of and mission of Success, and I was telling her that it is not just about this concept of the ivory tower, but it is to inspire action for success, however you determine success. That it does inspire you to take a an action toward and learning from the tactical, practical, the come up stories of those who are on our cover. And she said, oh, yeah, yeah, I get it. It’s like, people see the glory, but they don’t know the story. I thought that was absolutely brilliant and I told her I’d give her credit. I can’t remember her name for anything in this moment, but I might now just start stealing it I think it’s so brilliant. That’s exactly what it is. It’s kind of a little bit of our tagline at this point, like that is it exactly. It is just peeling back the layers so that people can see themselves in the stories. People can see their achievements, their success, their next step, their next practical idea in the stories that they read or in the courses that they take. I think one of the big things that we’ve done this year with Success is get real clarity on who we are, who we’re trying to attract. Certainly, I think that my demographic, so this kind of 45-55 demographic, or even 40-50, are people who are most connected to personal and professional development because we came up with it. But I think we’re definitely focused on bringing up what I would say [are] my kids generation. I’m lucky. My kids are surrounded by this. They can’t not be, and I use them as puppets and test pilots, the guinea pigs, all the time. They speak the language of professional development and personal growth. I want to make sure that the generations that are coming up behind us that that is not lost on them, and they get to apply it in the way that they want to. Some of the cover talent are people that appeal to a younger demographic, a younger audience, and ways to connect with them, behind the scenes stories that are kind of fun and interesting, interviews and of course, content and digital magazines and all of those things trying to bring it into the now and and help people connect for another 127 years.

Brian
I absolutely love what you’re doing, and it was one of the reasons I was super excited to have you on the show, Amy, because there’s so much overlap between what you just said and what we do at LifeExcellence. It’s one thing to sit and passively absorb information, to learn. It’s quite another thing to take what you’ve learned or take what you’ve heard or seen or read in a book and then apply those ideas to make a difference in your life. So my philosophy is life excellence, and we’re going to talk a little bit about your philosophy and the values that you live by, but for me, it’s about constant and never ending improvement in every area of your life. That’s growth not just professionally, but growth personally, growth relationally, and in health and fitness and spirituality and financially – in every area of life. What we try to do on on LifeExcellence, on the podcast, is not only have people learn tools and techniques and strategies, but ideally do so in such a way that gives them the ideas, gives them the tools that they can then take and apply in their lives, and again, do it, not just in their professional lives, but personally. So I love what you’re doing and and I love everything that Success Magazine has stood for since I started reading it, which is quite a long time ago. The other thing is, I really applaud you. You mentioned your children, but also the younger generation, and that’s the hope for us because, you’re right, there’s a generation – the Baby Boomers and older Gen X generation – that grew up in this personal development, personal growth era with people like Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy and even Zig Ziglar and Mark Victor Hansen and all of those folks. But those people are all getting older and our kids aren’t exposed in the same way your kids are and my kids certainly are. I mean, like your kids, our kids could teach everything that we’re talking about and probably do it better than I would because they’ve been, I’ll say, indoctrinated, but it’s something that they’ve grown up in. They’re natural goal setters and natural achievers, and they understand the difference between not having goals and hoping as a strategy, rather than being very intentional about how they live their lives. Just one more thing I’ll say before I move on, is you mentioned the sound bite and not knowing who to give credit and maybe you’ll take credit for that. Brian Tracy, who you probably know and he’s a friend and mentor of mine, he said something a long time ago that I always remembered. He said, the first time you hear something, when you tell somebody about it, you say – and I’ll use you as an example – “as Amy says,” and then repeat the quote. And then the second time you say that, you say, “as someone once said,” and then you repeat the quote. And then the third time you say it, you say, “as I always say.” You can take that without attribution to me, and if you want to give credit to Brian, I’m sure he’d appreciate that. Amy, as you think about your time so far as CEO, what skills acquired throughout your career have been especially helpful in leading Success, because this is a different position in many ways for you.

Amy
It is. I think clarity on the leadership journey in general, not only did I learn a lot that I brought to Success, but I’ve been learning every day since I got here, which I believe is a major part of my purpose, to create leaders, to help develop leaders, to help leaders see their development potential and opportunities and come alongside and raise them up. So coming in with the leadership experience, I think, was really important. I have to say, when I came in, if I’m being completely honest, and I think the team would 100% support, it was a cultural mess; people were not talking to each other, it wasn’t organized. In fact, there were some negative feelings on different parts of the company and how the company worked together. Today, I would say we are pretty darn close to well oiled. Every once in a while there’s a relational or communication snafu that we need to pull around. But because we…actually one of the first things we did when I came on is we co-created the mission, vision, values and beliefs. I didn’t come in and say, well, I’m the new kid in town, and let me tell you how this leadership is going to change, and this is my mission, and this is my vision, and this is what we’re going to do. We sat in a room off-site together, and I said, well, what do you want it to be? We co-created it together, we actually came to consensus on what all that was going to be. It’s something that we live by and we believe in every time we’ve gotten together. We’re a one hundred percent virtual company so it does make it difficult. There’s a lot of connective tissue that’s missing when you’re on Zoom calls or chats all day, in Slack all day, missing some of that communication and the emotion and the intention behind certain messaging. So we have to be really, really connected that way. But when we physically get together, that’s when the magic happens, and that’s when we get to break down the barriers. We’ve had meetings that are called “elephant in the room,” that is like we’re not going to leave here until the air comes back and you have the tough conversations. But it’s not just conversations, it’s solutions for processes and systems that need to be better. As far as the coaching side of things, and being able to bring that element in and see how that works, my commitment to personal and professional development, I think, is key, because I’m passionate about it. I would say that one of the sound bites to it is, I’m a product of the brand. I know what it has done for me and I want to make sure that it can continue to do that for others and for generations beyond. So I’m dedicated. I’m passionate about it. It’s not just a job, it’s not just a leadership position, it’s everything I believe in.

Brian
It’s obvious that you are passionate about it. The magazine features entrepreneurs and others who have achieved a significant level of success in their businesses, and you’ve had a front row seat into their stories. Everybody sees the glory. You’ve seen the stories behind the glory. What would you say are the top two or three common characteristics of the people you feature in Success Magazine?

Amy
Belief in themselves, regardless of what was going on in their past or…let’s go backwards; a goal. Whether that goal is a full on mission to change communities, to change behaviors, to achieve a certain milestone. So goal setting first and then the second is belief in self. It’s just a mindset that doesn’t threaten them every day. It’s an interesting thing to be a leader in a space, certainly with Success…and I admit that I deal with imposter syndrome all the time, like, is this the right way? Am I in the right place? How would people know? I would say that the most common thread and response is, I never doubted myself. Some of these just over the top achievers have a unrelenting belief in self, that no matter what stacks up against them or where they are in life, they know in their heads, in their souls, that they are going to make this thing happen, or make this change in the world, or this impact. I would say that the other piece – I’ll go with a third – is they’re not selfish missions. Rarely, ever, when you’re peeling back the story, like, oh yeah, I just wanted to make it rich, I just wanted to be a billionaire. It is very much for the greater good, like, I just wanted to provide this brand for people who looked like me growing up and didn’t have access. I just wanted to help people in countries that didn’t have what I had access to. I just wanted to…so it is a big mission, a goal setting standard and unrelenting belief in self.

Brian
As you describe that, either goal setting or the beliefs or the altruistic component, is there somebody that that stands out for you as demonstrating one of those, or is there an anecdote that you can think of that you could share?

Amy
I think Tony Robbins has one of the most unbelievable rags to riches stories of all time. Hearing that he…one of the stories I remember, and hopefully I don’t butcher this, but he was so poor that he was living in his car, and some friends had asked him to come over for Thanksgiving because they wanted to take care of him. He said, yes, I’m going to be a little late because I need to help another family who doesn’t have Thanksgiving dinner. And here he was living in his car, I want to say that his mailing address was the 7-11, that he had somehow finagled that. As much as he was appreciative that others would want to support him on Thanksgiving, he was doing what he could to provide to a family that had nothing. Those kinds of come up stories of, I know I don’t have much but what I have to give, I’m gonna give.

Brian
That’s a great story and I appreciate you sharing that. I didn’t know that particular story. But isn’t it interesting with that background? I’m sure you know what Tony does, even today, on Thanksgiving, and that’s always been a very important way to for him to give back so it’s interesting to hear how [cross-talk]

Amy
Feed America [inaudible] does anything without and at this point, all goes to charity, all goes to Feed America. I think it’s Feed America, hopefully I’m not wrong about that, but it is an organization. They’re feeding millions and millions of families each year, and he’s driven by that for sure.

Brian
Yes. Amy, one of the things that I really enjoy and look forward to in every issue is reading your “From our CEO” column. What do you hope to accomplish with the column? Do you have a certain framework that you follow in terms of topics addressed, or do you just sit down and write whatever you’re thinking of at the time that’s really interesting?

Amy
Thank you for that. It is something I am very proud of, and I’m proud of it because very few CEOs write their own letters, that there is some sort of ghost writer. When I came on, they assigned me a ghostwriter, and I said, how’s somebody going to write my story? No, that’s not how this works. But the framework is almost always in the story tell. There are times that I have…so we always have a theme. That’s something that has been different. As we theme our magazines, and we’ve themed well into 2026 I think, so I know what the theme is going to be. When you’re focused on a particular theme or subject or piece, things just kind of come to the surface and they could be memories of my past. They could be conversations I’m having with my kids. It could be working through some things personally. I’m a big fan of the story tell and I think that that is how I lead. That’s always, kind of been…not always, actually, but I have gotten to a space where I feel very comfortable being that vulnerable and very comfortable being authentic and real and believe that that moves people forward and leads people more effectively than any other avenue, at least for me. So it’s the story tell that’s, I guess, the framework; could this story help someone? Can somebody see themselves in the story? Are there practices, maybe it’s just, hey, let’s get to know each other a little bit better, so that there are relationships and connections that come from it. I don’t know that I have a result that I’m hoping from it, but I know when they hit for me and I know when they don’t. I’ve got a couple of CEO letters that I’ve written for [issues] that are coming out even in January, February of next year. We work that far ahead. I sent it to the editor in chief yesterday – I guess it was Saturday – and I said, sorry to bother you on a Saturday, really, this one was hard for me to write. I am kind of dipping my toe in the water of sharing a part of my story and my journey without going too far, what do you think? I want to make sure that it’s not just selfishly driven, but that people can connect to the story in some way, shape or form. So I bounce it off of people before it goes to print.

Brian
Well, you do a great job. I know from personal experience that when you’re writing to theme, sometimes that goes really, really well, like a hot knife through butter, and other times it’s a little bit forced and it’s a little more work. But I’m sure it’s resonating with people, it certainly does with me. I mean it when I say I look forward to starting every issue with that column, which, of course, comes right at the front of the magazine. So thank you for that. (Amy: That means the world to me. Thank you.) Well, good. You’re welcome. Amy, Success Magazine has such a rich history, 1897 origin and many of the pioneers of modern day personal development have been involved with the magazine at one time or another, people like Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, Og Mandino and Norman Vincent Peale, and yet the magazine has gone through various starts and stops and a couple name changes. Beyond the current day challenges facing all print publications – because it’s very difficult today to publish a physical newspaper, a physical magazine – but beyond that, what particular challenges has Success Magazine faced? Why do you think it’s so important to continue offering this type of content to the world?

Amy
Well, you asked me at a pivotal point. I wonder how my team will feel about the fact that I’m just going to share it with you early. There have been a lot of those moments of challenge where we are reviewing. In the first six months we were hyper-focused on building a culture that would be innovative and sustained and lovely and highly productive and we check marked that off. Then we moved on to new products. Gosh, we’ve got Success bestsellers out, we had our first virtual event, we started planning for our first physical event, we have brand new website. So we’re innovating and we’re doing all of these great things, new products, new services, new offerings, and we weren’t seeing the result that we wanted to see. And so this last six months has been, what’s really going on, really digging through the data. Yes, it’s a tough, tough, tough business model to be in the media space that has a print forward magazine, but we have a founder that truly, truly believes in it, and so that’s kind of everything, to have his support in moving things forward. But the question was, are we facing a business model change? And the answer is yes. So we are right smack dab in the middle of moving from a product model to a membership model, where people who just want content can have all the content they could possibly want, and if they want to plug and play and take courses at two o’clock in the morning with their pajamas on they can do that. There’s another subgroup, though, and another audience target, that wants a membership that involves community, not only networking groups, but accountability groups and live events and virtual live events. How can we pull together and be connected in a way and in relationship and build community. That’s another level of membership. We certainly have people who are influencers that would like to be on the magazine, would like to be featured and hosted on podcasts and that kind of thing, which is a different level membership. And then we have companies, organizations, that are really dedicated to personal professional growth for their companies, their employee base, their staff, and they want it even bigger; they want bulk subscriptions for everyone, they want the community, the connection, the accountability groups, all of those kinds of things happening at the same time. So moving into a space that is…instead of feeling like it’s here’s a product, here’s a service, here’s an event, here’s a product, here’s a service, here’s an event, how can we…as a great example – [let me] spin around…I don’t know…I’m looking at my covers back here – a Daymond John, and say we would love to do a cover, we’d love to do a beautiful feature, we’d love to do an event with you, we’d love to have you on the podcast. So we’re kind of doing this big time, multi-pronged relationship piece where we pull together in community and purpose for not just a one shot PR deal, like no, we really want to work with these teams. How much impact could we possibly have if we did it as a service and in membership and community and not just by product.

Brian
Wow. Well, this is breaking news, and I really appreciate [cross-talk] (Amy: It is breaking news!) I’m honored. I hope you don’t get into trouble for sharing it. We’re going to drop this episode just as fast as we can to make sure that we’re the first out there, but it’s super exciting. And just on a personal note, I’m really looking forward to what that looks like and then stepping back, though, and thinking about how I frame the question…Success Magazine has been around for a very long time, and there have been starts and stops and it’s a wonder in some ways that it’s still around, having started in 1897. But the reason it’s still around is because of things like what you’re doing right now; it’s adaptability, because there are a lot of magazines that actually were, in their heyday, more popular, had way more subscribers, maybe ten times the number of subscribers that aren’t around anymore. We could both name magazines that we used to read that we don’t have the opportunity to read anymore. So I really applaud you for reacting to that because I think…and one thing, by the way, that sets Success apart from just a print publication is there is an online component. There has been an events component for a long time, and so that adaptability has been in play for a long time. We could probably look at the entire history of the magazine and see when it first went out of business or when it changed its name, and those are all examples of of adaptability. But I’m super excited, and I’m happy for you. I applaud you for leading your team through that effort and I hope that we continue to see Success the magazine and whatever else is coming up in the not too distant future and for a long time.

Amy
Thank you. I really appreciate that. I think you guys will all be excited about it. We kind of sit on this “respect the legacy but push innovation” mindset, and that is the exciting thing; we get to innovate, we get to try new things, we get to throw some spaghetti on the wall. At the same time, we very, very much respect the legacy of the Success brand. I think that when you keep that in mind moving forward, respecting the legacy or the heart but moving forward the brain and the mind, good things happen.

Brian
Amy, on a personal level, I know the acronym, LIVE is central to your philosophy. Tell us about the four elements of LIVE and how you apply it daily, both personally and professionally.

Amy
Absolutely, it is. It is an acronym. I also kind of call it my purpose. In some ways, it came as a result of feeling reactive to my day, those days that we’ve all had where you have an intention for the day and at the end of the day, you have been reactive to emails or people problems or emotions or challenges or problems and had too many of those in a row. I had way too many of those in a row, and I was bringing that energy home. Sometimes I was bringing that energy home, sometimes I was bringing that energy home really, really late and past dinner. Obviously my focus was somewhere else. I made the decision to live a little more intentionally and not on the reactive of what was happening in my day to day. First I decided, actually, I’m just going to make a list of all the things that make me feel yucky in my day, that is stripping me of energy. I’m just going to write them all down then I will not do them and I will find somebody else where that’s their purpose or their drive; that was the worst exercise ever on the planet. Probably the most depressing exercise you could do is write down a list of things that don’t make you feel good. But, luckily I recognized that pretty quickly and decided to go back and reformat which was, what is it that happens in my day that makes me feel alive, makes me feel like I’m really living in my purpose? If this is why I do things and this would be the output, then I could do it forever, and that I was in control. I could leave the office, I could come home to my family and leave work where it needed to be, and focus on family, and not feel like I was bringing that negative energy on top. After several weeks of writing that down in the evenings – what was it today that was good, what was I feeling, what was happening – it created a trend, and I could see the trend pretty clearly from page to page to page. When I felt at my highest and best I was leading or being led, I was inspiring or being inspired, I was providing value or receiving value, I was empathizing or receiving empathy. And like I said, not only is it reciprocal – somebody else can have that impact on my day that sets me into the right mindset or into my purpose – but also I’m in control. If I’ve had the day that I’ve been run over by and it’s five o’clock, I can listen to a podcast on my way home and be inspired and then shut that kind of…I use it as, like a report card. Oh, I did it, right? I know that this is what makes me feel alive and I’ve moved that. I can pick up the phone and call someone and empathize about their day or their challenges. I can lead someone in a challenge that they’re having, or I can call and ask somebody for their leadership advice. So again, an intentional report card that keeps me on track and not reactive, kind of that rolling ball of response in my day, my week, my year.

Brian
Amy, I love that on every level. One of the things that – and it surprised me a little bit – I really enjoy about that is how you don’t always have to initiate that. You don’t have to be the leader or you don’t have to be the one inspiring somebody else or valuing somebody else, that you get joy and satisfaction and purpose from also being led or inspired or being valued, being seen or somebody having empathy with you. I really appreciate that we talked earlier about my personal philosophy. As you know, our show is called LifeExcellence and I’m curious, Amy, what does excellence mean to you?

Amy
I think excellence can be a scary word in that either people use it as an end, like it has to be perfect, or this is excellence once I reach this level, it’s a level of excellence. But what I like about the word excellence is, it’s not excellent. It’s not a past tense. It’s not achieved. It is the journey and the process of, and I think that that is steady improvements over time. If you are – in your your whole life: career, personal, family, friends, relationship, spirituality, financial, all of the things, your physical being – trying to move the lever, even if it’s one centimeter at a time or one percent a day or one notch a week and you can look back and say, gosh, I improved on this this week, or I didn’t realize this about myself, this is an awareness I didn’t have, or this moves me into this place. I think that journey of excellence is, gosh, I wouldn’t want it any other way. That’s what drives me every day; how could this be just a little bit better? How could I make this little bit of improvement? Again, not necessarily you having to be the driver of it, but putting yourself in experiences and opportunities where you can receive it. Yeah, I like the word excellence.

Brian
I do too, and I love your response. Amy, thank you so much for being on the show today. It’s truly an honor to meet and get to know you, and I’m grateful for your time on the show today.

Amy
Thank you so much, Brian. It was a pleasure, and I would love to have more conversations with you in the future.

Brian
I look forward to it. Thanks for tuning in to LifeExcellence. Please support the show by subscribing, sharing it with others, posting about today’s show with Amy Somerville on social media, and leaving a rating and review. You can also learn more about me at brianbartes.com Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.