Want to build a better business? Then sometimes it’s good to look for a little motherly advice, or to use her as an example for your life. For Seth Dorne this is easy. His mom Susan serves as his inspiration to become the best he can be.
If she can do it, so can he.
“I was in 4th or 5th grade when my mom was diagnosed,” says Seth. “But I didn’t find out until I was about 11-or 12-years old. I actually learned about my mom’s condition from one of my childhood friends, because my mom told his mom. I had no idea what it was. I really didn’t understand it for about two years. I thought it was something that would heal on its own and go away.”
It wasn’t going away, it never will, but for Seth’s mom, it’s not what defines her, it’s simply what she deals with and she serves as perhaps Seth’s greatest source of motivation. “My mom’s a trooper,”says Seth. “She was the class clown in high school, she can laugh anything off. She’s in a wheelchair, she can’t walk, but she’s all there mentally, kicking ass and taking names as she goes. For her it’s not a problem, there’s never an issue.”
If she can do it, so can he.
The “it” is Multiple Sclerosis. For Seth and his family it is something they have dealt with for 20 years. Two decades that have helped to shape Seth’s life and drive him to be a great success in whatever challenge he faces, from sports to business. Seth serves as a Field Sales Leader for USHEALTH Advisors, and he serves as one of the best – inspiring himself and his own team to serve at-or-near the top of the production charts each and every week. Be tough, work hard, help other people everyday.
“My greatest challenge in life is to be competitive with myself,” says Seth. “I’ve always been very competitive in sports, whether in college or high school, and I gained my competitive edge from watching my mom. Helping to care for her with the MS could be a challenge, especially when I was younger. It’s a disease that sets in slowly. Once it gets worse, you can’t really get better. You lose certain feelings and functions, like eyesight, hearing and once you lose it, it never comes back. You reach a point where you can’t really get better.”
So you adapt. You shift. You change and you accept the challenge.
Despite the challenges his family faced, Seth persevered. Never really missing a beat. “I loved my childhood,” says Seth. “I’ve gotten to do everything I really ever wanted to do in my life. I played a ton of different sports and my parents supported me through everything. When I was super young my parents enrolled me in karate. Then I moved onto combat sports like wrestling. Then in 5th grade, Brazilian Jujitsu.”
But it was the wrestling, especially the brutal competition of high school wrestling and his own drive to be the best at the sport, that eventually got the best of Seth. Shortly after high school, the physical punishment his body had endured led to reconstructive elbow surgeries and a few years later, two shoulder surgeries.
The second shoulder surgery was in August of 2014 and Seth says it was the worst. “I had to sit in a chair for two months,” he says. “I couldn’t sleep and lay on my back because of the blood flow into my shoulder. The pain was terrible, I was on plenty of drugs to get through it. It was two months before I could shake someone’s hand again.”
But everything happens for a reason, timing can be your best friend and take you places you never expected. When the handshaking resumed, Seth was out looking for work, having recently left a job at a pharmacy that was no longer serving him. Seth says he went on seven different interviews.
The last of the seven and the last hand he shook took place on October 8th, 2014. Seth remembers that date for a couple of reasons – it led him to the career he loves – and to the love of his life.
“Of all the interviews I did, I couldn’t find anyone paying more than $55,000 a year in salary and bonuses,” says Seth. “Then I interviewed with Mara. She told me about the career and the money she was earning. I figured if this girl can do this job and make the ton of money she claimed she was making, even if I can do half of that, I’m still going to do great. If she could do it, so could I.”
Seth worked hard, earning his way up to the Field Sales Leader position and he and Mara became great friends. This past February, they became husband and wife. Now Seth has the career he loves and the girl he loves and he says he owes so much of it to his philosophy in life.
“I think anyone can achieve anything they want in life,” says Seth. “If you can see it and capture it and visualize a goal in your head, then you really can accomplish it. Whether it’s a leadership position you want, then work like you are already in it and get there. If it is something you want – picture it, feel it, see it. If you can feel your goal, you can obtain it. You only need the sensations of it and you can have it. I don’t believe in a lot of hokey stuff, but I do believe if you have a goal you can get it. I wanted to be in a relationship with Mara and it worked out. It took a while, (he laughs), but it happened.”
A lot is happening. There will be a new addition to the family this coming February when the couple welcomes another son into the family, (Mara already has two children of her own, Liam and Lilli). Seth says he loves being married and looks to Mara as his best friend. “It’s good to have someone there,” he says. “Someone to call on and to rely on and know that no matter what happens they are there at the end of the day to guide you and support you.”
Seth and Mara are also working hard together to make their other baby – their sales teams with USHEALTH Advisors – the best in the country.
Seth says: “This company is such a tremendous opportunity. The coolest thing is it’s an American company and a true opportunity for those who really want it. The people you work with, you rely on them as colleagues and as friends. It’s a sales organization that works together to achieve all of their accomplishments, it makes us different. Colleagues teach others how to be more successful. I work my tail off and have since day one. I track the leader boards and watch what others are doing. I always told myself and my leaders if they can do it, I can do it. It’s just a matter of time before I get there. I even brought my sister into the business and she’s on track for great things.”
Seth says you need to rise to the challenge in this, or any business, because challenges will always be there, and it’s how he views those challenges that inspires his team. “I’ve learned so much from my mom,” says Seth. “If my mom can get through what she’s got going on, then I can get through this. When I was younger and I would have a tough wrestling practice, then I would think of her and know I can get through this. I apply it to this sales career as well. You hear the word ‘No’ a lot in sales. When I hear all these people tell me, ‘No’, then I think about what my mom is going through, and know that I can get a ‘Yes’, and stay positive. If she can do it, so can I.”
Until next time thanks for taking the time,
Your Storyteller,
Mark Brodinsky
