Todd Burrier - Creating Success Through Personal Growth! -

In any way that you choose to measure it, Todd Burrier is beyond successful. He has an amazing and loving family. He’s a fitness enthusiast who embraces and lives the fitness lifestyle. He’s highly liked and respected by everyone who knows him. He does important work that helps countless people which he is extremely passionate about. He’s a multi-published author and course creator who’s book The Process is a “How To” guide in home business development. Todd coaches and inspires others to develop their own level of success, while helping them to become more fit and healthy and pursue the life of their dreams. In addition, he gives them the opportunity to help others while they learn to better themselves and their own lives. (ToddBurrier.com)

If you have no idea who Todd Burrier is he would be perfectly fine with that, except for one thing. He knows that if you let him, if you listen to him, he can help you. If you’re interested in health and fitness, the company that he’s an integral part of manufactures and distributes arguably the best nutritional supplements and skin care products in the world. If you’re interested in business development and financial success, he’s a home business and marketing guru with almost 30 years of experience who came from very humble beginnings to achieving staggering levels of success for himself, his company, and his partners. If you’re interested in personal growth, it is one of the key components he teaches and practices that has led to many of his life’s greatest achievements.

Todd Burrier does not need your money. He does not need to do an interview for Bodysport.com. He does not need to spend all the time he has spent helping and coaching others (myself included) on how to be successful and grow the business of their dreams. He does it because he loves to help people. He does it to give back. He does it because he knows what it’s like to struggle and feel defeated, yet still have the hope and passion to believe that things can and should be a lot better. Todd Burrier may never get to be a Hollywood style celebrity or a social media icon. But he may be the most important person you can possibly learn about if your goal is to have a better life and create a better version of yourself! In a world filled with too many people who take much and give back little, Todd Burrier is a gift to all who are fortunate enough to know him.

(click on images to enlarge)

Part 1: Getting To Know Todd

Bodysport: Where are you from?

Todd: I grew up outside of Annapolis, MD, went to school at Univ. of Maryland and spent several years in the DC Metro area and now live in Westminster a small town in central Maryland. Married to my soulmate for 29 Years with two grown children.

Bodysport: Were you active in sports and/or fitness in your youth?

Todd: If it had a ball involved I played it at some level. Played baseball and basketball in high school and was beginning to get some college basketball interest when I went completely off the rails and spent more time partying in the parking lot than actually going to school.

Bodysport: I know that you have an incredibly busy schedule. Can you give us a breakdown on what you do to stay in great shape?

Todd: I’m happy to. For me it’s a mindset and a priority. I know that nothing works in life if you aren’t healthy. You can’t show up well in relationships and you certainly can’t be as productive in your pursuits. I work out 6 days a week and I fuel my body with the right food and the best supplements, in addition to drinking 4 to 5 liters of water every day. When I wake up in the morning, I have about twenty minutes of what I call quiet time. Which is feeding my mind spiritually. Then I go to the gym. I do resistance work 5 days a week, aerobic 6 days, and some type of core work 6 days. Regardless of whether I am traveling or at home, I maintain this schedule. At almost 57 years old, I can run circles around most people half my age. Not because I am a genetic freak (genetics in my case are not really in my favor…I have already outlived my brother 15 years and my Father by 9), but because I work my tail off. I started the fitness regiment when I was about 25 years old. I had taken a desk job and put on about 25 pounds over a four month period. I was at the beach with some friends and one of them said to me “dude, you’re getting fat.” The next day I started working out and I have never stopped.

Bodysport: What’s your education and work background?

Todd: After barely finishing high school…I had literally no plans. No ambition. Went to a community college for a year and then decided it made sense to get a degree. Went to the University of Maryland…absolutely loved it…girls, beer, freedom, no one making me go to class, basketball all day, party all night…almost flunked out twice…and then discovered economics. For some reason, economics made complete sense to me…all I had to do was read the book and I would get A’s…actually made Dean’s List a few times once I took Econ. Several years later I got my MBA from Mt. St Mary’s University.

Work wise, I put myself through college as a waiter and bartender. Again…being ambitionless at that point in my life, it was so much fun I did it for the next three years after college. After all, I am a natural introvert who struggled a great deal with low esteem, so being a bartender was the ideal social situation for me and it was tons of fun.

Eventually I realized the lifestyle I was living would lead me to an early grave so I got a job in banking. I spent 4 years and had some success and was an AVP in Commercial Real estate lending when the bank I was with lost it’s lending capacity through regulatory issues in January 1989. So suddenly I was unemployed…literally overnight. This was the second time something like this happened in my four year stint and this one was particularly awful for me. I was newly married and we had our first child on the way.

Part 2: Todd Becomes An Entrepreneur!

Todd: I’ll never forget the feeling…it was horrible. How was I going to go home and tell my pregnant wife that I didn’t have a job, when we were already just scraping by? It ended up being one of the best things that could have happened to me. It was at that point in my life I stopped behaving like a victim and put my foot down and said I will never allow myself or my family to be in this situation again.

I am so thankful it happened…I didn’t have passion or love for what I was doing…I was just good at it and thus I probably would have spent many years in banking…and man would I have missed an amazing life. I dedicated myself to finding a way to have freedom. This wasn’t an easy road by any stretch of the imagination. As I mentioned earlier, I had very low self-esteem and am introverted. In searching for a way to have freedom I realized that sales was really the way (the idea of starting a business never occurred to me…came from no money, had no money, and my conditioning had been get a good job and life will be fine…).

The idea of sales was incredibly unappealing, not to mention in my earlier efforts to get a good job, I had interviewed for good sales type jobs (even though the idea terrified me) and always moved far enough in the interview process to get to the sales aptitude test. Which I failed every single time. I always got the same response after the test…”you’re a nice young man, but you are no salesman.” Years later after doing several personality assessments it was clear why…I’m non-confrontational and my biggest fear according to tests is being rejected.

Anyway, I ended up in a classic network marketing meeting. Heard I could get rich fast, bought the lie, spent my three grand, and I was in business. I realized in the first few weeks I wasn’t getting rich any time soon. It was brutal. I was laughed at, made fun of, and down right verbally abused by many people close to me. But for the first time in my life…I didn’t quit. I obviously wanted freedom for myself and my family more than I wanted other people’s approval. So I stuck it out, worked my butt off, struggled for a while, made money, lost money, and grew personally immensely. Ultimately I figured out what I valued and that the style of business I was in wasn’t right for me. I don’t like hype or pressure or anything that is not about helping others first. I eventually found a concept that fit my values and was centered on helping others first and built a multi-million dollar global business that launched my career and helped me uncover my love for teaching others.

Bodysport: You went through some very tough times that led you to a career in network marketing and business leadership. Is that where your passion for helping others to succeed comes from?

Todd: It has been a combination of things. Building and leading networks, and teaching leadership to companies, as well as coaching tons of people, I have had the opportunity to interact and work with many thousands of people. But it started with my own development. I underwent a massive personal development journey that helped me uncover so much that helped me and gave me a lot of clarity, in combination with working to help so many people, of why people stay stuck.

Essentially a high percentage of people spend too much time focusing on what they are not instead of understanding they have all they need. Everyone is blessed with their own unique combination of gifts, personality, affinities, etc. to be able to make a contribution and truly do what’s in their heart to do. Nothing gives me more joy and fulfillment than helping people discover what they are capable of and do better in life.

Bodysport: What are some of the companies you’ve done business development and/or conducted marketing or leadership training for?

Todd: I have trained everything from Mom and Pop companies to massive corporations. Some of the ones you would recognize would be Aerotek (one of the biggest staffing firms in the world) Penguin Random House (Mega Publisher), Under Armour, Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, Knorr Brakes, Performance Food Group, Flowserve, and Lifeplus International.

Part 3: Business Advice From Todd

Bodysport: Is there a way to tell the difference between a “good” and “bad” network marketing business or company?

Todd: From my perspective definitely, but it can be a pretty cloudy for the person looking at an opportunity. In general, it comes down to business fundamentals. On the surface though, the reason it’s murky is that the opportunities are represented by the people in the field. There are some very good companies who have people with bad intentions and there are also bad companies who have people with good intentions. Red flags for me on the surface are hype and pressure. If someone is using either of these you have to step back and ask yourself would you be comfortable doing business with these people and further, would you want to expose others to this. Your credibility/reputation is on the line once you engage in the business. Fundamentally, what is the track record of the company? Lots of people think that in order to be successful they have to be “in early.” Completely false thinking. The earlier you are in the more likely you have picked the wrong horse to ride. What are the chances they last ten years? Less than 5%. The most successful companies hit there true stride after ten years and can morph into something giant after 25 years. It’s all about fundamentals. Do they have a product or service of value. Would the average person buy it and use it regardless of being in the opportunity? Is the company investing in themselves or are they using debt to grow? I’m not a fan of anything that forces a big buy and has high quotas. I believe this knocks the everyday person out of it in general.

Bodysport: What is referral marketing and how does it differ from others forms of network marketing.

Todd: Referral marketing is where the industry is headed in my opinion. In general, referral marketing has the same residual style income potential but without a lot of the things that people traditionally associate with MLM. Usually there is no direct person to person selling as everyone orders direct from the company at the same price. So no big upfront buy and little start up fees. It fits perfectly with today’s technology and allows the everyday person to work forward indefinitely. It is a model that embodies people helping people. So is network marketing when it’s done properly, but with referral marketing there is no profit without someone getting benefit.

Bodysport: Why is it is so critical for people in this day and age to start to develop their own home based business?

Todd: I could spend a few hours on this answer so I will try to be as brief as I can. First off it’s really smart. The tax advantages of having a 1099 income are many. Starting a home business allows someone to keep more of the money they earn from their job (W-2 income) because many of the things they currently spend money on would now be used in the business. It’s not my place to give tax advice but this is essentially how it works. In addition, I don’t think it’s much of a secret that there is very little security in a job. Technology is making many jobs redundant in general. One person can do today what several were needed for a few years ago. People need to recognize that anything that can be done by a machine will soon be done by a machine. A great example is cashiers…how many of those jobs currently exist? Virtually none will exist in the future. Economists project that 70-80% of all current jobs will not exist over the next 20 years. Certainly there will be some new jobs, but not as many as will go away. The rise in minimum wages is also going to directly reduce jobs. The other major influencer in the job arena is the rising cost of health care. Corporations simply don’t want to continue paying it. Their answer to this is simple. Hire people on a contract basis. The projections are that as much as 40-50% of corporate jobs will move to contract workers. This means zero loyalty, zero security, and zero pensions. It essentially turns employees into entrepreneurs whether they like it or not. The best time to start a home business is when you don’t need it. This allows someone to treat it like a project they can consistently work on and do it without the pressure to create lots of income immediately, which is hard to do in anything. I hate to see good people get blind-sided and feel hopeless which is what happens when someone suddenly loses a job and has nothing to fall back on. It’s so easy to start a home business and costs virtually nothing now.

Bodysport: Why is fitness such a good area for people who are interested in building a business?

Todd: Fitness or anything in the health and wellness field is a growing market. This is being fueled by multiple things but I’ll just talk about a few. Over the past 20-30 years the baby boomers have led the charge that they will not get old without a fight. They began looking for ways to stay younger and active longer. As a result there are a lot of 50-60 year old people who have been exercising, eating more healthy, and using good supplements over this time. And guess what? They look, act, feel, and live a lot better than the people who didn’t make this choice. This has created a self-evidence that is undeniable. Social media has made this more noticeable and created higher awareness that you can be healthy and vibrant and look younger by doing the things I mentioned, regardless of what the media might be saying about it. You simply cannot hold the truth down. It will come out. This awareness is driving a market that is booming but is still early in it’s potential. On the other side, the state of the health in general has continued to decline especially for those who just rely on the medical system for health care. They have misinterpreted this system. It’s really a “sick-care” system and it’s not working statistically, and definitely becoming massively unworkable financially. Health care costs are breaking people. It is so much more financially costly to NOT take care of yourself. It won’t be long before the only thing to do is have catastrophic insurance with huge deductibles and invest the rest of the money in self-care, like high quality supplements, good food, and exercise. We are only seeing the tip of this iceberg.

Bodysport: What are some key component that are necessary for business success either within the person, or the business itself?

Todd: The business side is actually pretty simple. Does your product meet a need or desire. Certainly there are different ranges of quality and pricing, but essentially if it is good enough to meet a portion of the market’s need or desire you can succeed. From a company standpoint, you need a company that is fiscally sound and has a track record of proof. From the personal side, everyone has the ability to succeed because we all are born with WILL. This is the magical blend of persistence and perseverance. We all have the persistence part built into us. It’s how we survive. When we want something bad enough we don’t stop. Think about a child that wants a cookie? How many times will they ask? We all have that child still in us. Perseverance is simply a choice to continue to persist over a long period of time. We just have to accept that it won’t be a smooth road and endure the ups and downs. As for the other aspects that will make a difference? Everything else that matters can be learned and developed relatively quickly today.

Bodysport: A lot of people in the fitness industry work as personal trainers, group exercise instructors, coaches, gym or health club staff or management, etc. Is there any advice that you could offer to them to help them be more successful personally and professionally?

Todd: Yes. Never forget that your business is not fitness…it’s helping people. Build relationships and bring high value to the people you touch. Invest in them. Listen to them. Serve them in such a way they wouldn’t consider doing business with anyone else. In addition, think about the whole person you are serving. If you are helping them with their fitness regiment but not giving them solutions for nutrition and supplements, then you are limiting your ability to help them. You’re leaving the most important aspect of their fitness up to chance. There are a lot of fit looking people who aren’t actually healthy. To get the maximum result from your efforts people need to be doing more than just exercising. It’s smart to align yourself with products you trust and can refer to ensure that your clients are getting what they need to be healthy, and at the same time this enhances their exercise results. As a side benefit for you this can create an additional income stream which only makes sense. If you are not aligned you are allowing this income to walk out the door and go elsewhere, and again, likely to a source you don’t know or trust. You need to have a basket of solutions for your clients. Starbucks is known for coffee. That’s their bread and butter. But they also provide tea, water, other drinks, scones, cookies, and anything they believe their coffee drinkers might want. Being a personal trainer and not providing as many other solutions as possible would be like having a Starbucks and only selling coffee and making your customer go down the street to get their cookies.

Bodysport: You currently do so much and help so many. You are way beyond what most people would measure as being successful. Yet your passion and dedication seem as high as they could possibly be. What would you say have been the key things that have driven you to this point and what would you advise others as being important or key factors to help them discover their own level of success?

Todd: Success is such an interesting word because it means different things to different people. I am really clear that the key thing is to understand that it isn’t just about the journey to accomplish something, it is the personal development OF the journey that is the true fruit. Most of us are so focused on the prize we don’t realize that we aren’t even seeing the real prize. Who we are becoming through the undertaking. Accomplishing a goal is great. It feels fantastic. And it is entirely temporary and leads to a feeling of “now what?” The true prize is who you become through the journey. This is the permanent success. We become higher, more developed, and more confident versions of ourselves in the success journey. Once we have reached the goal, whatever it is, we are now on a new platform in our own development which empowers us and removes the lid of what’s possible for us. This allows us a greater potential to make an impact. This development also affects our value system. When I first started I was driven by freedom. Over time I became driven by family. Giving them better opportunities in life and modeling for them that they can go after their dreams and in fact they SHOULD go after their dreams. I think that’s the greatest gift I gave to my children aside from them knowing how much I love them. After a time my values shifted further towards helping and serving others. That’s where I am now. All of this came from an initial pursuit to find a way to create my own income and have freedom, which pales in comparison to how meaningful the work is for me now.

Bodysport: Is there anyone you would like to thank or acknowledge who has helped you throughout your journey reach your current level of personal and/or business success?

Todd: There have been many people who have played a role in some fashion over the years, but very few that have been a consistent positive influence in my life over the long haul. The one constant, to whom I am forever grateful, is my wife Melanie. She has always believed in me and encouraged me. Being someone who has fought against low self-opinion for most of my life, having someone who knows me well and loves me, consistently demonstrating belief in me, when I was struggling to believe in myself has been a huge factor in where I am today.