NT1406 Nov-Dec Preview

NOVEMBER/DEC EMBER 2015

SACRED COMMERCE

Ayman Sawaf & Rowan Gabrielle How to Cultivate an Abundance Mindset The November/December HOPE Movement: 2015 Business with PURPOSE

VOL 14, ISSUE 6 NOV / DEC 2015 $7.97 US / $10.97 CAN

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CONTENTS

PERSPECTIVES 5 LEADOFF Creating an Abundant Life Garrett & Sylvia McGrath In network marekting, the more you give and serve, the more you earn.

We are grateful for a business that has abundance baked into the pie.

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WORDS OF WISDOM On Abundance Mindset Memorable quotes by Dr. Wayne Dyer, Buddha, Marianne Williamson, and others.

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OUR TIMES – PART 1 “How do we cultivate an abundance mindset?”

• Barry Borthistle, Become an Enlarger of People • Richard & Kimmy Brooke, Be Generous and Look for the Gold • Gene Adigu, What You Think Is What You See • Marion Culhane, Love Attracts, Fear Repels

DEPARTMENT 14 PROFESSIONALISM The Principle of Nudge Mark Rodgers To make the most of networking events, set realistic goals, be present to what’s happening, use self-deprecating humor, and ask solid questions.

FEATURES 16

LEAD INTERVIEW Sacred Commerce A visionary entrepreneur and bestselling author, Ayman Sawaf is an early pioneer in Emotional Intelligence. His book Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizations, which he coauthored with Dr. Robert Cooper introduced emotional intelli-gence in the business world. His latest book, Sacred Commerce: A Blueprint for a New Humanity focuses on evolving the business world one person at a time, emphasizing a system guided by spirituality.

November/December 2015

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CONTENTS

FEATURES

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CEO CORNER Purposeful Business Trey White and Brent Hicks are highly successful entrepreneurs who cofounded a network marketing company in 2009. They built their corporate culture, products, and programs on the idea that business is not a zero-sum game, but a vehicle for personal transformation and global evolution. As chairman (Trey) and CEO (Brent) of their company, they launched the HOPE movement based on their mission to Help Other People Evolve.

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MASTER NETWORKER Friendship Farming Emmanuel and Kimberly Bernstein are a dynamic network marketing couple passionate about making new friends, building teams, and changing lives. With over 20 years of experience, they’ve led organizations of more than 100,000 members in 17 countries. After building a company for 13 years in the nineties, they joined their current company seven years ago. Reflecting on their success, the Bernsteins point to a strong focus on personal development.

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MASTER NETWORKER Work Hard, Play Hard Irawan Prajogo and Jirath Submongkonkul are Southeast-Asian network marketer leaders who recently became top earners in a U.S.-based skincare company. Building the business side by side under one distributorship, they reached Double Diamond in December 2014 after just two years with their company. When asked about the size of their team, they say they don’t focus on the numbers, because they just keep growing. Irawan and Jirath have their minds and hearts set on changing lives around the world.

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RISING STAR DREAMS COME TRUE! Brian and Danielle Morgan are a young network marketing couple that’s leading a growing team of several thousand customers and associates from their home in Saint Paul, MN. Ever since they met, the Morgans’ dream has been to build a business so successful it would allow them both to be stay-at-home parents. Brian and Dani had their first child in April 2015 and have spent every single day with him.

Networking Times

CONTENTS

FEATURES 64

RISING STAR Journey to Freedom Nathan and Jennifer France lead a growing network marketing organization of 12,000 people from their home in Minnesota. High school sweethearts, they had been married for 18 years when they came across their current company in 2012. Jenn was working in the pharmaceutical industry and Nate was running his construction and real estate companies. With three teenage children, they were doing well financially, but family time was scarce and life was stressful.

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OUR TIMES – PART 2 “How do we cultivate an abundance mindset?” (continued) • Todd Falcone, The Abundant Networker • Loren Robin, Swim and Dive Deep • Frank Keefer, A Fait Accompli • Doug Firebaugh, What Is Your Heart Set On? • Don Karn, Financial Abundance Across the Century

RESOURCES 78

THE CLOSE Happy Birthday John David Mann When you create the reality in your mind, there’s no limit to what the universe will rearrange to make it happen.

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November/December 2015

3

LEADOFF

Creating an Abundant Life Piece of Cake—or Pie in the Sky?

By Garrett & Sylvia McGrath

A

t this time of year across North America, many of us gather over turkey, stuffing, and pie to give thanks for our blessings. We spend time with family and friends, maybe watch some football over another piece of pie…

What does pie have to do with abundance, network marketing, or creating success? As it turns out, a lot. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey explains how most people are deeply ingrained in a scarcity mindset. They believe that what they desire (love, appreciation, a promotion, money, relationships, and so on) is in scarce supply. As if there was only one pie out there, and if someone gets a big piece, it means less pie for everyone else.

Someone with a scarcity mindset has a hard time sharing recognition, credit, power, profit, or anything else—and isn’t happy for others’ success. Scarcity thinking leads to combative, grasping, or manipulative behavior in a person, company, or team.

An abundance mindset, on the other hand, is based on a belief in “plenty.” It means there is more than enough for everybody, and there is much more than one pie. It flows from a deep inner sense of personal worth, security, or faith. In teams, this mindset results in sharing praise, credit, profits, ideas, and decision-making. It opens up greater possibilities for solutions, creativity, and exponential success.

How do you change your mindset from scarcity to abundance? Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his sermon called Creating the Abundant Life: “Life is not something you find. Life is something you create, by the help of God. My friends, choose to live up to your highest and best self, and thereby create the abundant life.”

We see three simple ways to bring more abundance into our lives today: 1. Gratitude. A grateful heart is open to receive. Express gratitude for everything—even the problems you’re trying to solve, as they are preparing you for your next level of greatness!

2. Generosity. Give, share, and help your fellow man. “When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure you are always blessed in abundance,” says Joel Osteen.

3. Association. If you wish to develop abundance thinking, associate with mentors who practice it.

Identify leaders who embody a spirit of win/win and spend time with them—in person, through books, or online.

In our business model, the more you give and serve, the more you earn. Instead of fighting over a piece of pie, we are baking more pies to enjoy—and share!

As network marketing professionals, we are helping people create better lives around the world. We are grateful for a business that has abundance baked into the pie. This holiday season, may we all practice gratitude, generosity, and win/win thinking. Let’s continue to be a force for good in our communities and the world! n GARRETT MCGRATH has served as President of the Association of Network Marketing Professionals (ANMP) since 2012.

Garrett and Sylvia McGrath have over 40 years of combined experience in leading large network marketing organizations and serve on the editorial board of Networking Times.

November/December 2015

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LEAD INTERVIEW

SACRED COMMERCE

a conversation with

Ayman Sawaf 16

Networking Times

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n international visionary entrepreneur, published musician, and bestselling author, Ayman Sawaf is one of the original creators of the discipline now known as Emotional Literacy and an early pioneer in Emotional Intelligence. His book Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizations, which he coauthored with Dr. Robert Cooper, introduced emotional intelligence in the business world. Ayman has spent the last 20 years building the evolutionary foundation for entirely new systems and industries that are transforming human potential by providing new maps to evolve our relationships with ourselves, our business, and our world. His latest book, Sacred Commerce: A Blueprint for a New Humanity, which he coauthored with his wife Rowan Gabrielle, focuses on evolving the business world one person at a time, emphasizing a system guided by spirituality. Ayman has influenced countless individuals, teachers, coaches, and business leaders worldwide. He believes network marketers are particularly well positioned to embrace the feminine and the sacred in business, thus opening the path towards emotional mastery, abundance creation, and conscious evolution.—J.G.

Tell us a little about your background.

I was born into a Lebanese family and grew up in the Middle East, but enjoyed a multicultural upbringing in an international environment. I studied engineering and mathematics in the U.S., and after I graduated with my university degrees, I started my entrepreneurial career in the lighting business in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. I became very successful, I had two children, and my life seemed perfect. However, as I hit my late 20s everything started falling apart. I went through a divorce. I became depressed. I had a health crisis, and I thought, “That’s it. I wasted my life.”

That led me to deciding to live differently and explore my emotions. Money and business had been such a strong part of my identity that I had never really paid attention to my feelings. A friend observed that this might be the cause of my problem. I was introduced to a book by Louise Hay called You Can Heal Your Life and started reading it. I realized there is a connection between emotions and belief systems and our external reality.

I was an extremely chauvinistic* and mental person, categorizing emotions as a feminine energy and not part of my world.

One thing led to another. I met a teacher, read some books, and started my healing journey. I was astonished at how healing my emotions caused my body to heal. I said, “How come no one taught us this in school?” I had been to the best universities. I thought I was very smart, but realized I wasn’t. I saw how we needed to bring and showcase the value of emotions into our education system. I decided, “Let’s start with a new generation of kids who are emotionally smart!”

I coined the term emotional literacy, which is the ABC—123 of our feelings—how to recognize them, acknowledge them as ours, how to express them, how to receive the messages they carry inside them. I created a media company in Los Angeles. We did four TV series. We released 28 books, the emotional literacy series for kids.

The company is now called KidsEQ.com. For years I sent out emotional literacy newsletters to hundreds of thousands of people, including school teachers and university psychology departments. I launched a non-profit organization called F.E.E.L.—Foundation for Education in Emotional Literacy.

*Chauvinism: 1. zealous and aggressive patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory; 2. biased devotion to any group, attitude, or cause; 3. the denigration, disparagement, and patronization of either sex based on the belief that one sex is inferior to the other.

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CEO CORNER

PURPOSEFUL BUSINESS a conversation with

Brent Hicks & Trey White

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Networking Times

T

rey White and Brent Hicks are two highly successful entrepreneurs based in Dallas, who founded a network marketing company in 2009. They built their corporate culture, products, and programs on the idea that business is not a zero-sum game, but a vehicle for personal transformation and global evolution. They launched the HOPE movement based on their mission to Help Other People Evolve. They believe having a compelling purpose will be the competitive advantage of business in the future and are committed to leading the way.

What led you to start a network marketing How do you give hope to those who are company? facing lack or loss?

BRENT: I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole life.

My first big success came in the financial world, where I spent 14 years building a mortgage banking business. We built a large organization and helped a lot of people achieve financial success.

Through that journey we gleaned many lessons that were applicable to life.

In the process we gained a passion for learning and giving back. In 2006 Trey and I had invested in a technology that ultimately became our first nutritional product. When considering how to launch this product, we looked at direct sales, and for me that has become a calling I’m passionate about.

Steve Jobs in his commencement speech at Stanford talked about “connecting the dots,” and how everything in life prepares you for something bigger. When you are going through it—whether it’s trials and tribulations or success—you may not understand what that preparation is for.

Making it big in the mortgage industry ignited my desire and gave me the vision to impact large numbers of people. I saw direct sales as a vehicle to achieve this, combined with products we knew could drive change.

We launched our company during the height of the Great Recession of 2008, when lots of people were losing jobs and homes. Obesity rates were at an all-time high. Many people needed help. Trey and I saw an opportunity to create a culture that provided hope alongside of a health product line.

November/December 2015

BRENT: Everything that happens in life is either a teacher or tormentor, depending on our mindset.

Carol Dweck wrote a book called Mindset, which says there are two types of people: those who have a closed mindset, and those who cultivate an open mind, a learning mindset. Our company culture comes from that place of openness and growth. We believe in being intentional about everything we do and always come from a place of genuine giving.

Another book called Give and Take explains there are three types of people in the world: givers, takers, and “matchers” who look for what’s mutually beneficial. We choose to come from a place and an energy of simply giving—a place of true abundance. As we continuously give of ourselves, we start to build credibility and through the Law of Reciprocity, which is one of the most powerful Universal Laws, we attract what we need.

As the Bible says, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” That’s the culture we are designing. Every company in the world has a culture—either by design or by default. From day one we asked ourselves, “What’s the intention behind our company? How do we bring people in? How do we lift them up? How do we start a process where people begin to believe and have hope?”

How exactly do you accomplish this?

BRENT: It starts small, and then it can begin to blossom. When you create a community of

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MASTER NETWORKER

Emmanuel & Kimberly

Bernstein

Leaving a Legacy for Our Children

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Networking Times Networking Times

Friendship FARMING

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mmanuel and Kimberly Bernstein are a dynamic network marketing couple passionate about making new friends, building teams, and changing lives. With over 20 years of experience, they’ve led organizations of more than 100,000 members in 17 countries. After being involved in a company for 13 years since the late nineties, they joined their current company seven years ago.

Reflecting on their success, the Bernsteins point to a strong focus on personal development. “It’s been in our lives for 20 years now,” says Emmanuel, “and we make sure the people who join our business are listening and reading something positive every day. Ongoing personal development is the fastest way for someone to build belief in themselves.”

Kimberly adds, “We just love building friendships, having fun, and creating additional finances together. We really get to know our distributors and their families. From there we teach them how to leverage themselves into full-fledged business builders.”

Learning to work together as a couple has been a learning process for the Bernsteins, especially when Kimberly’s role changed from building her distributorship to becoming a stay-at-home mom. They love how their company encourages leaders to bring their families to events and incentive trips. They believe when business offers a family environment, this is the best of all worlds. —J.G.

How did you get started in the business?

EMMANUEL: I always had an entrepreneurial

mindset from the time I was a kid growing up in Chicago. My dad used to take me to various business seminars like Zig Ziglar’s. At the age of 12 I found myself sitting in the front row, listening in awe and learning how to be successful in life.

My mom passed when I was 10, so my dad had to step in and take care of four children. He had an entrepreneurial spirit himself and I loved learning from him.

I did well in school and when I graduated, I was hired as a technical support rep doing medical installations. I was traveling all over the country, but I knew working a job wasn’t for me. It so happened that every time I checked into a hotel, I would notice a company name on the marquee that sparked my curiosity. It took me a couple of months to see it all over the place. Finally on Valentine’s Day 1997, I was at a hotel in Dallas where I was living at the time and there was that sign again.

November/December 2015 November/December 2015

This time my curiosity overwhelmed me so I decided to inquire what this company was about.

I followed the arrows to a room and found out it was network marketing, a concept I’d never heard of. It was a small meeting and I didn’t know anyone. At the end of the presentation I waited around to speak to the presenter, an energetic gentleman dressed in a sharp suit. We exchanged phone numbers and he came to my house the next day. He showed me the opportunity and I joined.

Just like that. You didn’t have any reservations?

EMMANUEL: I was already looking for another

way to supplement my income. I was hungry for making six figures a year any way I could. A little naïve, I thought my first job would lead me there, but soon realized the money my corporation was paying me would not allow me to provide for a future family. I was single at the time, but I was looking 10 years down the road.

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MASTER NETWORKER

WORK HARD, PLAY HARD

Jirath Irawan Submongkonkul & Prajogo

Treat It as a Business 46

By Dr. Josephine Gross

Networking Times

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rawan Prajogo and Jirath Submongkonkul are Southeast-Asian network marketer leaders who recently became top earners in U.S.-based skincare company. Building the business side by side under one distributorship, they reached Double Diamond in December 2014 after just two years with their company. When asked about the size of their team, they say they don’t focus on the numbers, because they just keep growing. Irawan and Jirath have their minds and hearts set on changing lives around the world.

Their company is already open in over 100 countries and offers a technology platform that allows its associates to build a seamless global business, including in countries they have never visited.

Irawan is the spokesperson in the story below, as Jirath had to take a last-minute trip. —J.G.

Tell us a little about your background.

I was born in Indonesia, but my parents sent me to school in Singapore from second grade onwards.

I finished my high school there, then moved to the U.S. for my university degree. I studied hotel management at UNLV and stayed in Las Vegas for about a year afterwards to finish my internship and get my degree.

I went back to Asia in 1997 around the time the financial crisis hit. Not many companies were hiring, so with my family we started our own Manpower agency, pairing skilled workers with businesses in need of their specialized abilities.

We mostly sent Indonesian professionals overseas to work all over Southeast Asia.

Because success in this field is all about making connections, you have to spend a lot of time getting your name out there and crafting relationships as you start your business. We wanted to enter the U.S., but due to the regulations—for instance the maximum stay for visitors is only six months—that didn’t work for us. We wanted to give our people longer contracts of at least two

November/December 2015

years. We always tried to match people with the proper jobs and made sure they were well taken care of abroad. We were responsible if something went wrong with the worker overseas, as the family could come after us.

I did that for 10 years, traveling quite a bit to look for new clients and visit our agents overseas.

Our business also expanded into the Middle East.

We were careful about the partners we chose to work with in each of those countries. My job was to go on location and make sure all the benefits were being delivered and all promises honored.

It was exhausting because of the different time zones and I was on call 24/7.

How did you come across network marketing?

In Asia, particularly where I live in Indonesia, network marketing doesn’t have a good name.

A part of the problem is that you rarely hear of anybody having success in the business here. The people who are involved in MLM are always trying to sell and recruit. MLM is one of two industries that’s frowned upon—the other one being insurance. When you meet someone in insurance and they’re offering you a policy, typically you say, “I already got it,” even if you do not have it, just to shut the person up. Same with MLM. Some of my friends got involved in it and asked me to join them. I said, “We’ll see. Let me just use the products for now.” Our Manpower business took a lot of my time. Thankfully I was still single, but as I was thinking about my future I realized I couldn’t be traveling all the time.

“How am I going to be able to settle down?” I wondered. I imagined if I had a girlfriend in one of the countries I traveled to, she’d ask me, “Why are you always away?” I didn’t think a long-distance relationship would work, so I started to look around and ask some questions to find out what proper network marketing really is. I believe we

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RISING STAR

DREAMS COME TRUE

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Š Gregg Thompson Photography

Danielle & Brian Morgan: Leading by EXAMPLE Networking Times

B

rian and Danielle Morgan are a young network marketing couple that’s leading a growing team of several thousand customers and associates from their home in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Ever since they met, the Morgans’ dream has been to build a business so successful it would allow them both to be stay-at-home parents. Danielle and Brian had their first child in April 2015 and have spent every single day with him.

“It wasn’t that long ago that we would have thought our life today was just a dream,” says Brian.

“We are living proof that it can happen!”

“We are passionate about helping people around the world live better lives,” says Danielle, “to help them dream bigger and know in their heart that they are worthy of abundance and wealth in all areas of life.” —J.G.

Brian’s Story Brian Morgan was a licensed flight engineer about to be laid off by the airline when he was first introduced to network marketing in 2008.

When his friend Carlos invited him to check out a “business idea,” he was intrigued and agreed to attend a meeting. On his way over, Brian received a call from another friend who warned him this was network marketing.

“I immediately turned my truck around and gave my friend an excuse for why I had to cancel,” Brian recalls. “I felt so negative about MLM because I’d never known anyone who had been successful at it, and I didn’t want to waste my time.”

Carlos had also invited Brian’s younger brother Mark, who did attend the meeting that night.

Mark joined and reached out to Brian, who at this point decided to do his due diligence. He even talked to his tax attorney and received his blessing, so Brian decided to give the business a shot.

“I got started quickly because my days were numbered at my job,” he says. “To boost my confidence, I read up on the history of network marketing, spent time on DSA.org, and visited the biggest direct selling company websites.

Brian’s upline was the only person he’d ever known who was making a significant network mar-

November/December 2015

keting income, so Brian followed his instructions to a tee: make phone calls, set appointments, show the plan, help your new team members show the plan—and repeat. “That’s exactly what I did,” says Brian, “It worked so well I became the company’s Rookie of the Year in 2008. Little did I know, I’d also meet the woman who would become my wife.”

Danielle’s Story Danielle was introduced to network marketing at age 26. It didn’t take her long after college to realize that working for someone else wasn’t going to give her the life she truly desired. She had a hard time making ends meet after paying taxes, bills, and student loans. Driving to work she would wonder, “Will this be my life for the next 40 years, nine-to-five with weekends off?” She was stressed out, unfulfilled, and her health was failing.

Reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and watching The Secret in 2007 gave her a defining moment that took her out of her rut. “Why did no one teach me Kiyosaki’s information in high school or college?” she wondered. The Secret helped her rekindle her passion for life. She knew in her heart that life would change for the better if she could keep her thoughts and feelings positive and take action when her inner voice said “Go!”

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RISING STAR

JENNIFER & NATHAN FRANCE

COMMIT & FOCUS 6464

Networking Times

JOURNEY to FREEDOM

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athan and Jennifer France are leading a growing network marketing organization of 12,000 people from their home in Wayzata, Minnesota. They met in high school and had been married for 18 years when they came across their current company in 2012.

Jennifer was working in the pharmaceutical industry and Nathan was a small business owner specializing in construction and real estate.

With three teenage children, they were doing well financially, but family time was scarce and life was stressful.

“End 2005, we were in a terrible car accident,” says Nathan. “We were hit head on going 60 mph. Thankfully we had no kids with us, but Jennifer and I were both seriously injured. After a week in the hospital I continued to struggle with chronic migraines, as well as back and knee issues, trouble with weight gain, and the challenges of a high stress work environment. Jennifer had multiple neck, back, and knee injuries. In addition, her hips were 2 inches out of place.”

November/December 2015

As the Frances were focused on regaining their health, their friends—who would become their sponsors—Brian and Dani Morgan were trying to do anything possible to help them. “After doing some business together, the Morgans had become personal friends of ours whom we loved and trusted,” says Jennifer. “They knew all we wanted was to feel better and get our lives back on track. They were taking health products that were working well for them, so it was natural to want to share them with us.”

Growing up Nathan always had an entrepreneurial mindset. He became an Eagle Scout (as are his two sons) who to this day lives by the Scout Law. Instead of going to college, Nathan became a waiter who delivered newspapers in the morning while DJ-ing at night. His dedication, self-motivation, and stamina got him noticed by a regular customer at the restaurant and Nate found himself recruited into the construction business. A decade later he owned and was running the leading construction/restoration company in the region.

Over the years Nathan and Jennifer tried out various network marketing products and saw many of their friends and family members go on to make significant incomes in network marketing.

“When Brian and Dani introduced us to the health products they were using, we were excited about the simple health system,” says Jennifer. “It

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THE CLOSE

Happy Birthday To the Universe, Everything Is a Piece of Cake

By John David Mann

O

n my birthday this past June, the universe gave me a present.

Here is how it happened.

When I woke up that day, Kate Atkinson was on my mind. I was in the midst of rereading her great 2013 novel Life After Life and, as with everything of hers, I was getting a whole lot more out of it the second time through.

Kate Atkinson is my favorite novelist of all time. My #1 favorite novel is her first, Behind the Scenes at the Museum—a sweeping, poignant, hilarious, breathtaking chronicle of one person’s life, starting with the moment its hero, Ruby Lennox, springs to life as a single fertilized egg cell (which, since the whole book is told in the first person, from Ruby’s point of view, is quite a trick) and running through its conclusion with Ruby in her forties.

Atkinson’s latest book, A God in Ruins, a sort of companion novel to Life After Life, had come out more than a month earlier. Before tackling it, I first wanted to reread Life After Life so it would be fresh in my mind.

My wife, Ana, and I both had business in New York City that day; she had some meetings for Brandon Webb’s Red Circle Foundation, which provides support to the families of Special Operations vets (Ana’s on the board of directors), and I was there to meet with Hachette, a major international publisher.

So: breakfast, load car, drive three hours into the city, check into hotel, cab to the offices of Hachette Book Group—and there, among dozens of other books on the reception wall display, stood A God in Ruins.

Of course! I hadn’t put it together until that moment. Kate Atkinson’s publisher, Little Brown, is a Hachette imprint.

The people I was there to see, the ones who were going to publish my next book, were also the ones who published Kate Atkinson’s books. Amazing!

Although, as it turned out, not yet amazing enough.

I headed into a small office, off to the side. Our meeting was booked to go for an hour, but my coauthor wasn’t feeling well, so as it turned out we concluded business quickly and broke early. I exited our little office and stepped into a larger room, where a crowd of employees stood milling about. The atmosphere was convivial, even festive. A few people held little plastic cups of champagne in their hands. I had stepped into the midst of a party.

But a party for what … or for whom?

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Networking Times

I realized I was standing at the end of a line that meandered clear across the room. We were in line, I was told, to have books signed. This, I was told, was a book-signing party. Not for the public, just for Hachette employees, but I was welcome to stay if I liked. Someone came over and asked for my name, wrote it on a sticky note, and stuck it on a big hardcover book which they then put in my hands. They said it was so the author would be able to read my name and inscribe the book accurately. Eventually I reached the head of the line.

And there sat Kate Atkinson.

Signing books.

“I have to tell you,” I said, “Museum is my number one favorite novel of all time.”

She smiled. She said that was delightful to hear. I told her how much I appreciated her sitting here, signing books for us. She thanked me back. She was utterly charming, and I was not at all surprised.

I did not mention that the reason she was here, the reason Hachette had decided to hold this impromptu gathering, on this day, a Wednesday afternoon more than a month after the book’s release, at this time (just as our little meeting broke), in this room (just outside where my meeting happened), was that it was my birthday.

I didn’t say any of that. But there you go.

I was one of the last in line. By four o’clock, minutes after she signed my new copy of A God in Ruins and we had our briefest of chats, the event was over. It was the best birthday present I could have possibly dreamed up.

Which, I suppose, is exactly what happened.

When you create the reality in your mind, there’s no limit to what the universe will rearrange to make it happen.

And really, isn’t every day your birthday? n JOHN DAVID MANN is Editor in Chief Emeritus of Networking Times.

John David Mann is coauthor of the national bestseller The Go-Giver. Earlier this fall, a new edition was released, featuring the original text (unchanged) with new material added, including a foreword by Arianna Huffington, an introduction by the authors, a Readers Discussion Guide, and a Q&A with the authors. This new edition also sports an endorsement on the back cover from Glenn Beck, who says, “The Go-Giver is a must-read for anyone who wants to change the world.”

A new edition of The Go-Giver’s companion parable, It’s Not About You, will be released in March 2016.

This edition has been significantly rewritten and also been given a new title: The Go-Giver Leader.

November/December 2015

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Commitment

The men and women listed on this page are Lifetime Members of Networking Times. We thank them for their boldness and powerful commitment to their dreams, to their team members and to the networking profession.

Lifetime Loyalty Leaders of th Year

Lifetime Loyalty Leaders

Garrett & Sylvia McGrath, 2014 Sonia Stringer, 2013 Kody Bateman, 2012 Donna Marie Imson, 2011 Orrin Woodward, 2010 Randy Gage, 2009 Randy Gage, 2008 Evertrue Bell, 2007 Donna Johnson, 2006 Ray Robbins, 2005 Art Jonak, 2004

JA N UA RY /FEB R UA RY 2 0 1 5

Corey Citron Jeffery Combs Todd Falcone Dwight Havener LeeAnn Jackson Vic Johnson Laura Kall Russ Karlen Sarah Fairless Robbins

J U LY/ AU G U ST 2015

M AY/J U N E 2 0 1 5

M A RC H/ A PRI L 2015

5 Qualities of a Servant Leader Start Local,

People

THINK Global

Live Happy

ESCAPE the Financial Matrix

and

Thrive

Exclusive interview with

Orrin Woodward

Jeff Olson

FIRST Mari Smith

Jimmy Smith

“the Queen of Facebook”

9 Ways to

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Update Your Paradigm January/February 2015

by Bob Proctor

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March/April 2015

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