The End
I'll never forget that evening.
That was the night I first met the greatest networker in the world. It was
also (as I've heard a number of very successful Network Marketers say
since) the night my life changed for the better – forever!
First, I suppose I should tell you what my life was like at that point.
I'd been involved with this one particular network marketing company for a
little over four months and it wasn't going very well. In fact, it was looking a
lot like a bad joke.
The products were great – everybody I shared them with agreed with that.
But for the life of me, I couldn't get anyone interested in my business
opportunity. I was working 30 hours a week part-time – all my evenings
and most of my weekends – and what I had to show for it was a retail profit
of 150 to 200 a month!
Like I said, "Ha ha."
I'd figured it out once: my home-based "wave of the future" business was
earning me a handsome 1.56 an hour – gross! My kids were strangers. My
wife was disenchanted and so distant she might as well have lived in Alaska!
Clearly, this Networking business was not for me, nor was I for it.
I'd made up my mind. This was my last opportunity meeting.
The hotel room was packed, as usual. When I walked in, I noticed a
particularly large swarm of people gathered around someone in the front of
the room. I took aside a distributor I'd met before, pointed to the group and
asked, "Who's that over there with all those people around him?"
"Oh," she said, "that's the Greatest Networker in the World . . . would you
like to meet him?"
"Sure," I said. She took me over.
The man in the middle was strikingly handsome – well-groomed, looked to
be in his early forties, elegantly dressed, yet not at all showy. He was
clearly successful and wore it well.
His clothes were expensive: British suit with real buttonholes, great floral tie
and a breast pocket scarf quietly but noticeably picking up the burgundy
reds of the tie . . . and, yes, there was the gold Rolex Oyster I expected,
peeking out from beneath his cuff-linked shirt.
I noticed that his shirt was monogrammed on the cuff, but the stitches of
the initials were the exact same color thread as the shirt. Subtle, classy
touch, I told myself.
Just then there was a brief opening in the crowd around the man and my
friend pulled me into the "inner circle."
The Greatest Networker was listening intently to what a woman standing
directly in front of me was saying, when his eye caught mine. He put a hand
on the woman's shoulder and asked her to excuse him for just a moment.
Then he looked me straight in the face, extended his hand to me, and said,
with a warmth that actually shocked me with its intensity:
"Hello. It's really good to see you." He told me his name and asked me
mine.
Now, normally I'm able to say who I am with ease. Not this time. I
stammered – actually, I stuttered, something I hadn't done in 25 years. His
grip on my hand became a bit firmer and he asked, "How are you doing?"
I said something conventional – I can't remember exactly what. Something
like, "Fine, thanks." And he replied, "Really, is that true?"
Before I had time to stop myself with a polite avoidance of his question, I
found myself telling him how I was really doing. He listened to me in a way
I've never experienced before. I actually felt him listening to me. It was,
well, physical.
Amazing!
I told him how my business – and my life – were going. There it was, all out
in the open and on the table. And I told him this was my last opportunity
meeting, that I wasn't cut out for Network Marketing. I think I told him, "It
just isn't my thing."
He smiled. I suddenly realized that throughout our brief conversation, he
still had hold of my hand. He squeezed it again, just then, and asked,
"Would you have some time after the meeting to spend with me?"
Before I could get my defensive "No" plus an excuse out of my mouth, I
heard myself say, "Gosh, that would be great."
"Gosh . . . " – I sounded like a teenager.
He smiled again. Thanked me. Said he'd see me after the meeting, turned
back to the woman with whom he'd been speaking and walked and talked
with her, taking a seat in the front section close to the right of the stage.
I sat in the far back of the room in what had become "my" seat. It was, I'd
come to learn, a seat in my "comfort zone." It was a place to hide, and I
knew that.
After the formal part of the meeting was over and the groups of new
distributors and their sponsors were leaving together, he came up to me
where I was standing by the coat rack. He smiled at me with that same
noticeable warmth as before, and I pointed to his smiling face and said,
"You know, if I could find a way to package that smile of yours, I'd have the
perfect product. I'd be rich in a couple of weeks!"
His laughter came so quickly and boomed so loudly all around the room,
everybody who was left turned to look at us. I was very self-conscious.
"That's great!" he exclaimed. "Thanks! It is a good smile, isn't it? Well, I'll
tell you, I built this smile myself – tooth by tooth. My smile wasn't always
like this.
"Yes," he continued, "I am proud of this smile," and he flashed the grin
even bigger than before. "It feels wonderful, too!
"Come on," he said, taking me by the arm and moving off through the door.
"Let's get some coffee and something to eat. Have you had dinner?"
I said I'd grabbed a quick bag of nuts before the meeting.
"Trail mix?" he asked.
"Something like that," I said. "Got it from the gift shop downstairs."
"I've had dinner there myself," he said. "The food and service aren't very
good. The selection is limited. It's pretty pricy, too. You know," he laughed,
"that gift shop is a truly disappointing restaurant!"
I agreed – laughing right along with him. It felt good to be with him. He'd
certainly changed the way I was feeling in a remarkably short time.
"So, what do you like to eat most?" he asked.
And before I could say something polite – and not the truth – he added,
"It's a sincere question. What would you most like to eat – right now?"
I took a deep breath and said, "Italian."
"Great!" he said. "Me too. Can I take you to a place I just love? It's only ten
minutes away."
"Your car or mine?" I asked.
"Let's take mine," he said. "It's right out front."
I don't know what I expected the Greatest Networker in the World to drive.
Something exotic . . . certainly very expensive, so I was quite shocked
when the doorman greeted us and walked us over to open the passengerside
door of what I guessed to be a mid-'70s Ford pickup truck. Painted
simply in gray primer, no less!
I guess he saw the disappointment or whatever the look was on my face. He
laughed and asked, "You look like you were expecting something else?"
"Yes, I was."
"What did you expect?"
"I don't know – a Mercedes . . . a Porsche . . . maybe a Rolls Royce or
something."
His laughter boomed around the enclosed hotel entrance. This guy seemed
to laugh from his toes, not his mouth. The doorman was smiling, as well.
"Yes," he said, "I have those, but I like my truck best. You know, Sam
Walton is the richest man in America, worth about $22 billion all told – and
he drives a pickup. If it's good enough for Uncle Sam . . . ." And he let the
rest of the sentence hang in the air.
He handed the doorman a $10 bill. Thanked him and said he hoped to see
him soon. Then he stopped, as if remembering something, and asked the
young man, "How's your business, Chris?"
The young doorman – a college-kid type – replied, "It's just great, sir. I
made Supervisor last month. And thanks for introducing me to Barbara.
She's the greatest!"
"Good," said the Greatest Networker. "You work hard, Chris, and you're
smart. You deserve your success. What's up next for you?"
"Well," the young man answered thoughtfully, "I'll stay here at the hotel for
another month or three. You were right about this place," the young man
said looking up at the hotel. "I've met some of my best people here. I've
got some traveling I want to do. I've got a great group going in San Antonio
and I think I'll go down there for a few months. After that – who knows?
Germany . . . Japan, maybe?"
"Let me know your plans. I know some people in Japan you might enjoy
meeting," said my new friend.
"Thanks, I will," replied the young man earnestly, and I could tell by his
tone that he would indeed do that.
"Have a great evening, Chris," the Greatest Networker called out as we
drove off.
As we traveled to the restaurant, we made small talk. Actually, I made
small talk. He just kept asking me questions.
He asked me where I lived . . . what part of town . . . how I liked it . . .
what my neighbors were like . . . what my house was like . . . how my kids
liked it and what their schools were like. I don't mean to make it sound like
an interrogation. It wasn't that at all. He just seemed so curious, so
interested in me – and so easy to talk to. I probably told him more about
my life in those ten short minutes than I'd ever told anyone before.
When we got to the restaurant, a uniformed man came out and greeted us
warmly, opened my door and asked me, was this my first time at his
restaurant?
I told him it was, and he said how it was nice to see me and how he hoped
I'd enjoy my dinner, and he suggested that if I truly liked great fresh fish,
there was an absolutely terrific snapper cacciatore on the menu that he
highly recommended.
I thanked him, feeling a little clumsy. I wasn't used to such treatment from
anyone, let alone from the doorman at what looked to be a first-class
establishment.
We entered the restaurant with the maître d' and the Greatest Networker
appearing to be the very best of friends; and I noticed smiling exchanges
passing constantly between my host and an assortment of waiters and
customers. As we took our seats, I noted, "You certainly live in a different
world than I do."
"How's that?" he asked.
"Well, everybody is all smiles and warmth and friendship . . . you seem to
know everybody, and they all know you and like you. Do you own this place
or something?"
Another booming laugh. I was becoming a little less self-conscious about
that.
"Tell me," he asked, "what's present for you when all of this 'smiling and
friendshipping,' as you call it, is going on?"
What a question. "''Present'?" I asked, "what do you mean?"
"What's here, like in the air around us – what do you notice is present for
you?"
I took a deep breath – I was getting used to his unique kind of questions,
too. So I answered thoughtfully. "I feel envious," I told him, "and curious,
too. I want to know how I can have my life be like this."
"Tell me," he asked, leaning closer and looking very directly, yet not at all
threateningly, into my face, "what do you really want your life to be like?"
And so began a two-hour-plus dinner – the best I've ever eaten and spoken.
All he did was ask me questions, followed by, " . . . Tell me more about that
. . . " or, " . . . Can you say more about that?" And all I did was to tell him
things I hadn't ever shared with anyone, not even with my wife!
A number of times during our dinner conversation, he asked questions to
make sure he understood what I was saying. But there was something odd
about them to me, because he'd ask me if such and such were true, even
though I'd never actually said that particular "such and such."
I know, that's not very clear – is it? Let me give you an example.
I was talking about a job I'd had early on with a computer company back in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Calling it a "company" was a bit of a stretch. It
was really just a bunch of guys – "hackers," we were called – who were
messing around in the early days of computers. It was an exciting time for
me. The work was fun, the people were wild – very smart and very
stimulating. I'd had a good time back then.
He asked me, "So, you're a pioneer?"
See what I mean?
"Pioneer?" I said back to him. "No, I'm no pioneer. I was just having fun – it
was in the early days of computers and we just played with stuff, that's all."
"Had anyone ever done that before?" he asked me.
I guessed not, I thought, and told him so.
And again he said, "So, you're a pioneer?"
I must have looked at him strangely, for he leaned back on his chair and
gave a medium version of his booming laugh. I was no longer embarrassed
by these mini-volcanos of mirth – and the folks in the restaurant, which had
thinned out considerably by now, seemed more comfortable with them, too.
They just turned to him and smiled, and then went back to their
conversations.
"Ah . . . man," I stammered, "you've sure got a way of disarming me. Well,
I suppose I was a pioneer . . . in a way . . . back then."
He looked surprised, and asked, " . . . back then? – Not now?"
Was he unreasonable or what? "Okay," I said – and I let my irritation show
a little, "I'm a pioneer. But I seem to have lost my covered wagon . . ." And
the moment I said it, I could literally feel what he was going to say next.
Something about a "vehicle." I was certain of it.
But he didn't say a thing.
Silence.
I was very uncomfortable.
At last, he asked, "What were you thinking just now?"
"When?" I asked him back – a little too quickly. Then I held up my hand and
shook my head saying, "No, wait. I know when. It's just . . . well, I . . . Oh,
I don't know.
"Look, where's all of this going?" I asked him. "I mean, you're asking me
questions and saying things to me that nobody's ever said to me before.
Things that stop me cold and I don't know what to say to you . . . or even
what to think."
He didn't say a word – just leaned forward, ever so slightly, and turned his
head to the right and toward me just a bit, as if he wanted to make sure to
catch every syllable I uttered. It was an intriguing expression – expectant,
as if he were waiting to hear what I'd say next, and empathetic, as if he'd
already completely accepted what I said, even though he didn't know what
it was yet. It was comforting – and disarming at the same time.
I felt the air go out of me – and feelings well up inside me. Big feelings.
Important ones. I felt suddenly very sad.
"I just want to be a success," I told him, emotion troubling my words a
little. "I'm so sick and tired of the sameness . . . of not having the money to
do what I want . . . to give my wife and kids the things they deserve.
Disney World," I said, "I want to take the kids to Disney World – and
the Grand Canyon. I want to be free. I want time . . . creativity . . . control . . .
. And yes, I do want to be a pioneer – again. I loved doing that . . .."
"But . . .?" he asked quietly.
"But, I don't know how," I answered, and I was certain I sounded close to
crying. "I've heard all that positive mental attitude stuff, a hundred times –
a thousand times. It doesn't work for me. Network Marketing doesn't work
for me. Or, I guess, I don't work for it. Something like that".
"I see other people doing it. Lots of them. So I know it can be done. And I
know they're not any smarter or better than me, or work any harder. It's
just that – I can't seem to get it to work for me. I try. I really do. I make
the calls . . . run my names list. It just doesn't work."
I looked over at him and asked, "What's wrong with me?"
He let his head fall back and looked up at the ceiling. He scrunched his
shoulders up and down, took a big, long, deep breath and leveled his eyes
on me.
"Look, how would you like me to show you how to do this business?"
"Are you kidding?" I asked, in a voice that had everybody in the restaurant
turn and look over at us. "You bet!" I exclaimed, holding my excitement
down to the dullest possible roar.
"Good," he said, matter-of-factly. "We'll start tomorrow. Here's what I want
you to do . . ."
He handed me a piece of paper on which he had written an address. He told
me that was where he lived and to come to his office the next afternoon
after I got off work. It looked to be about 90 minutes out of town, so said I
could be there by 6:30, and he said that was perfect.
He reached into his briefcase and took out a package, wrapped in a glossy
forest green paper. From its size and shape, I guessed it was a book.
"Here," he said, "this is your homework. I want you to read this before we
meet tomorrow – okay?"
"The whole thing?" I asked.
"Yes," he said, pretending to be stern, but then he smiled and added, "Don't
worry. It's a very quick read."
He paid for dinner. I thanked him. He thanked everybody in the restaurant.
He drove me back to the hotel where the meeting had been and where my
car was parked. This time, I turned the tables on him and asked all about
where he lived, his house, his neighbors . . . After four or five of my
questions, he turned to me and smiled. "Bright boy. You learn quickly," he
said.
That felt pretty good.
He left me next to my car, said goodbye and drove off in his truck.
I watched him go – watched him long after he'd gone from my sight. Then I
unlocked my car, got in, turned the key, and sat there letting it warm up,
staring blankly in front of me.
The book! I thought, and hurriedly pulled it out from my jacket pocket. I
tore off the slick paper wrapping and turned it right-side up to read the title.
Even in the dim light of the street lamp, the bold gold foil letters jumped off
the deep green, glossy cover. They said:
What You Don't Know
That You Don't Know
I opened the book with tremendous excitement, flipping quickly past the
beginning pages. After 10 or 12 pages, I stopped cold. There was not a
word in it.
Every page in the book was totally blank!
Chapter Two
To Speak the Truth
oh so you really want to know what happened next?
#################################################
ah, well then you better email me back for the special link which I will make
available to you,
because now you are ready to meet greatest networker in the
World who I met way back when I was down in the pits as well and feeling
that this was not really for me, and nobody wanted to join my team, and I
was at that meeting that evening when the greatest networker in the world
asked me my name and I stammered and yes I could not say my name......
Gerry
-- Ps Hey, have you seen this new training site for home business owners yet? http://mentor4success.blogspot.com/ http://GreatProfits.magneticsponsoringonline.com The videos are really good. Best wishes, Gerry Melanephy 00353872237086 <>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<><>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<> I know when you begin to listen, people want you in their life and New relationships begin, friendships grow and partnerships develop, helping others with their health, personal development and wealth! Teaching people how to have more time for fishing, no matter what their "fishing" is, in a way that honours their values. The greatest thing about our business is... The Incredible Freedom... Fun... And The Money! How Sweet It Is.... Bob... I have learned so much about myself, the people around me, and what I truly want in my life.... Arelene... Life is so much more fun when you are in control of your time and having freedom to enjoy your own personal growth! Gail... Can you see why I always say... *Champions make Decisions and Decisions Make Champions*! Winner's Take Action! I Believe You are a Winner! (Do You?) You chat with me on any of these u4wealth on Yahoo messenger greatprofits on Skype UrTopCoach on MSN Chat Millionaire Makers ON ICQ Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/Mentor4Success <>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<> "Is the process that you're presently using to talk with people achieving the LONG TERM results you're looking for?" Precise questions get precise answers… it's all a matter of working out how to get there. 'How to Network Without Fear, Anxiety or Losing Your Friends!' – Selling from the Soul. Ancient Wisdoms. Modern Practice. Discover how to automatically draw people to you and significantly increase your profits. email <i>mentor4success@eircom.net<i/a> or you may call Ger today 00353 87-2237086 you can catch up with me on www.skype.com that's how you can talk to your friends anywhere for free and you talk to me by typing in greatprofits in the search for Skype and see and hear your friends and we know your best friend would love to check this out and you may pass this to your friend... <>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<> PPPs This is life changing if you really realise how little you have left, have a watch of this powerfull video and see how lucky you are to have access to this project that I am working on and I will share it with you, so you will have the opportunity to change other people's lives http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8577255250907450469&hl=en-GB Gerry ########### yes it's in the numbers, what is left in your tank....
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