Hi,

How’s it going? What a day yesterday. I spent
hours and hours and hours trying to get
my Nextel phone fixed. It was a TOTAL nightmare.

But this isn’t going to be about my Nextel
phone not working. I have an important lesson
to pass on to you that I remembered yesterday.

Well when I got home from driving around
to I think 4 different Nextel stores,
I went to check my email. I saw a long
13 page fax from someone. I was thinking
“hmmm, I wonder what that is?”

It was a fax from someone who use to
work for me with helping out with all the
bipolar disorder stuff and quit with zero notice.
This person was faxing another time
sheet to me and other information I really
didn’t understand.

If you have been on my list, you may remember
me talking about how someone quit one day with
zero notice. She had a job working for me
where:

You could work f.rom home
Set your own hours
Have fun
Be part of an important cause and help lots of other people
Eventually get a full time in.come
Be challenged
Etc.

It sounds like an advertisement for something
but it isn’t. It was a real job, that she really
had working for me with all this stuff related
to mental health and bipolar disorder.

As you may also know, I have hired a number of
people to help me with this organization, some
of which have bipolar disorder.

First, you may be thinking I hired this particular
person and she has bipolar disorder. Actually this
person was a referral from someone that I know.
This person that quit does NOT to my knowledge have
bipolar disorder or any other mental illness.

Secondly, many people ask so I might as well address
it now. I have I think 8 or 9 people who work for me
with a mental illness. You might want to ask, “What’s
that like?” Some have asked me if it’s a “nightmare.”

It’s absolutely positively NOT. The people who work for
me especially the people who may have a mental illness
are a joy to work with. They do such a great job.

I have nothing but GREAT things to say. NOW this doesn’t
mean every day is perfect for them. It’s not. But I
am not perfect either.

But let me move on to the lesson related to bipolar disorder.

The person I spoke about before quit with zero notice.
She had a bunch of my stuff, passwords to things, information
on how to do stuff that I didn’t know and information
that helped certain parts of the organization function.

I was really shocked. I really wasn’t worried however.
Why? Well let me tell you a couple of things.

Well first, notice the name of my company is The
Leverage Team, LLC. It’s not the Leverage Individual,
LLC.

I believe in teams and working together. I think this
may come from being in team sports for many years. When
I set this up, I knew that I would need a team. I also
wanted no one individual to be greater than the team.
It’s almost like a security system.

In my case, the first person on my team was Pascale
who helped me get everything started. Pascale is super
smart and no only does behind the scenes things. Then I
think the next person was Andrea. Then I think Rod.
Then Michele.

NOW, if you have gotten my courses/systems, on
bipolar disorder you will notice that I talk
about building a team.

SUPPORTING AN ADULT?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/report11

SUPPORTING A CHILD/TEEN?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarparenting.com

HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.survivebipolar.net

This is SUPER important and a hard lesson that my
family has learned. My mom’s team is her doctor, therapist,
herself, her support system (sister, mother, myself, dad,
Sharon, etc), her pharmacy person, her primary care doctor,
etc.

My mom has a lot of people on her team. And when she has
a problem she works with the team for a solution. I really
encouraged her to do it this way. In the old days there
was no team.

In the old days it was a bad doctor who didn’t care,
no therapist, my mom really wasn’t on her own team, no
pharmacy person, no primary care doctor, her mom or
sister didn’t know about bipolar disorder so my mom
had virtually no team members.

Guess what happen when there was a problem? It was
a total disaster.

NOW, today when there is a problem there are so many
people on the team that can help out and solve problems.
This is one of the secrets as to how I don’t have to
do much any more. I leverage the team.

“Holy cow Dave, you just used the word leverage, that’s
in your company name????”

That’s right it is. Do you know what leverage is.

Here’s the definition from dictionary.com:

lev·er·age

3. power or ability to act or to influence people, events,
decisions, etc.; sway: Being the only industry in town
gave the company considerable leverage in its union
negotiations.

In this case, I am leveraging other people to help
my mom. That’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing.
In the old days there was nobody to leverage. Today
there are many people.

AND on the note of the person quitting from me
with zero notice, I always had a backup plan
and because since I work with really smart people,
within 2 days of the person quitting there was
a replacement and all is well.

Based on the story that I told you, I will ask you:

Who is on you or your loved one’s team?
What happens if you or your loved one’s doctor, therapist,
etc. retire or get sick? Have a backup?
Who is your weakest link on you or your loved one’s team?
What are you doing to make that weakest link stronger?

These are questions that I had to ask myself back a
few years ago when I first start helping my mom. By
asking these questions, it forced me to come up
with answers which made a stronger support system
for my mom and has led to her Independence.

To this day, my dad still worries about my mom’s
doctor retiring. I am not sure why. I have 4 backup
doctors. I certainly am not going to operate
with one doctor hoping that she stays in practice
forever. That’s just not a good plan. My
dad thinks however my mom’s current doctor is
the only good one. I don’t think so. I have a system
and I have found other good ones through the system
that I found her current doctor.

Bottomline, you need a team when you have bipolar
disorder or your loved one does.

Hey I have to run. Have a great day.

Dave