What Makes Super Success?

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers. It is as thought-provoking as his last two. He takes a detailed look at why people are successful and has found some pretty amazing theories.

Some reasons for wide success are the date of your birth, the decade you were born and your ethnicity in relation to your chosen career. One theme threading through his various case studies is that each person would not have been the wild success that they are without the help of someone else. Bill Gates needed the mother's club at his school that bought a computer for the students. Some people had wonderful mentors and other received financial assistance.

In this last week of the year, don't let an opportunity to pass you by. Think about the person you may have met at a networking event in December that could benefit from a little attention. Give them a call and invite them to coffee. Just the fact that you are showing interest will probably will them a little more energy to keep on, keepin' on. I made one of those calls today, expecting the person to not remember me, but they did remember and seemed delighted. We have an appointment next week.

When I think back over my career, there are several names that stand out. They were not managers. They were just ordinary people. John Steele and I worked together at a long ago business. He took me under his wing, just because. And I learned so much about the "real" sales world from him. Rita Long was my Dale Carnegie instructor. She asked me to be her graduate assistant which meant I got to watch her in action while I was sitting at the back of the room. Rita showed me how to motivate people in the way she managed her Carnegie class. She made her students feel really good about themselves.

Your legacy could be that someday the super successful person will credit you with being the catalyst to their success. And if that isn't the best that can be, I don't know what is!

Scary Ways

I have just finished reading Stolen Innocence, the true story of the young woman, Elissa Wall, who was forced to marry someone against her wishes when she was only 14. She was a member of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints or FLDS as it is known. She went on to testify against Warren Jeffs in the state's trial against him. It was brought about because he forced this marriage even though she was underage and did not want it. While it is a very sad story, what is amazing is the end of the book. Elissa Wall moves through all the sadness and disruption in her life to let those in her life, especially those still in the FLDS compounds know that she still loves them. She refuses to let anger and hurt rule her life.

Just previous to this book, I read The Bookseller of Kabul, set in Afghanistan. Again women have no standing in the community and just as in the first book, women are thought of as a man's property.

In this day and age.

While I am not a man-hater, in both books, men thirsted for power. They were not happy unless everyone obeyed them.

Power. Small word. Ugly consequences.

My massage therapist has a saying displayed in her office that reads something like this, "When the power of love supersedes the love of power, only then will we have peace."

I have nothing more to say.

The Library Thing

Well, I figure I've saved myself about $315 at minimum. I decided to start using the library instead of ordering books online. I also started keeping track of the books I read through "Library thing" which you can link to from my blog. You can look at what I've read in the last year just by clicking on it. The first entry was May 21 '07 and since that time I've read 45 books. At an average price of $7, (if I ordered used) the savings really does add up!

I really hadn't looked at all the features of this website, but just recently realized that in the list of books, if I click a title, I get a whole bunch of information including usually a list of other books that I might enjoy. Gosh, I'm in pig heaven!

For those of you who love reading as much as I do, this might be fun for you to do, too.

What's the best book you read recently?

Follow-up on Fari

When I came back from vacation this year I wrote a post about an author I had met at our Super Bowl Party in the jungle. His book, Fastball Fari, is about the first woman to pitch in the major leagues. (It's fiction.) I shared that while a copy of the book was at the party and I could have read it, I decided to wait to purchase my own copy.

Michael Cruit beat me to it, by sending me a copy. Oh my gosh, it is such a fun read. If it were on display in the new authors' section at Barnes & Noble, the comment would say, "This book keeps you guessing right to the end. The characters are wonderfully developed so that pictures parade through your mind as you read the book. The ending leaves you wondering, 'what's next."'

Sometimes new authors or self-published books are not compelling. I can tell you that if you go to www.lulu.com and purchase this book, you'll have a fun read. Michael would love to hear from you about how much you either liked or disliked the book.

He lives in Costa Rica at the mouth of the Sierpe River, that empties into the Pacific. He has no Internet connection, but he comes into "town" from time to time and then does read and reply to emails.

So either order the book or purchase the download. It will take more than one plane trip to finish the book, but you won't mind carrying it on a couple trips.

Who'd of Thunk?

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, at the jungle Super Bowl party I met an author, Michael Cruit. Mike has been in Costa Rica for a long time now, living at the the place where the Sierpe River empties in the Pacific. That's even farther out there than Tracy's house. Michael has to come to town to get Internet.

Anyway, Michael has self-published his first book via www.lulu.com.

Big deal, ya' say?



Well, you're right, there are a lot of self-published authors out there.

Michael had a copy of his book at Tracy's house. Fastball Fari is a fictional account of the first female, professional baseball pitcher. Now I think just the premise of the book makes me want to read it. But even better is Michael's style. His sentence are short -- real short. The read is fast. I could have really gotten into the book that night, but realized that good author etiquette was to purchase the book to read it! If this sounds good to you, you can also do the same, either as a paperback or a download.

When Michael gets his load of books, who do you think he should send marketing copies to? I will forward your suggestions on to him.

Book Report from Paradise

As you all know, my job on vacation is to read up a storm.


Here are this year's results:



Citizen Vince by Jess Walter- I picked this up from the bargain table at Barnes & Noble. Not the type I'd usually read - intrigue and murder, but I was trying to diversify my choices this year. OK, story. Probably a reason it was on the less than $5 table.




Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs - I have now read all his books. Hurry up and write some more Augusten! He is so bad that he's good. I don't mean bad, as in a bad writer, but in all his stories. He makes me laugh out loud, cause he does the things that I wish I had the guts to do. This book is more fiction than his others, which are memoirs, but I'm sure this book came from bits and pieces of his life. This book has no redeeming qualities. But I would read anything Augustine writes.




The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger - I actually listened to this on the plane. It got me through the seven hours of flying so that I wasn't grumpy when I arrived. It was sort of like People Magazine for my ears. I have heard that this is based a real life. H-m-m-m, I would have lasted about two seconds at that job.





Atonement by Ian McEwan - Whew! I almost threw this down more times than not. And I only continued cause I had several more days of vacation and only one more book yet to read after it. Finally after 148 pages it got good. But good grief, Ian likes to string out lots of flowery phrases and repeat himself. Sometimes I wondered if I'd fallen asleep and was reading the same paragraph over again, but no, it was a new paragraph, just rehashing a previous paragraph. I don't usually like reading about war stories, but the writing of the time where the Brits were retreating to Dunkirk (during WWII) was skillfully done. I'm glad I didn't let this book get the best of me, but I must admit that I'm a little hesitant to read anything else by this man.


Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga - Well, it was okay. I liked the whole premise around the story; antique book conservation with a sub-plot of religious political in-fighting, but the story was too tidy. I kept expecting some twist or turn or surprise to happen, but it was pretty straight and narrow.



What's this all have to do with networking. Well, any good networker shares knowledge with others. But in addition, I thought about how an author through his or her writing can establish a relationship with the reader...or not!

In the case of Augusten Burroughs, I want long term and conversely, Ian McEwan, I am leaning towards no relationship at all.

Who is your favorite author and why does that person engage you?

Yep, I'm Proud

Last Wednesday evening, I attended the Way Public Library Foundation board meeting. The first item on the agenda was for a check to be given to the foundation.

That's right. The financials from the Evening with Masters event had just been finalized the day before and we could begin cutting checks for the three chosen charities.

Sandy Pirwitz, owner of Sandy's Stuff for Women, and chair of the event, came to help with the presentation. The library was surprised with the size of the check -- $1,000. That's Sandy on the right presenting the check to Lisa Richard, administrator of the Foundation. (No, Lisa is not sleeping, we only have one picture to choose from, darn it!)

Yep, I was a proud mama!

Masters Evening, Part II

The Masters of Sales book is a compendium of short articles written by those who have something to say about sales and selling. At our celebration last week, three of the authors presented to the audience.

Now, I've been to a few events where the keynote presenter bored the heck out of me or gave me so much fluff, that the minute I walked out, I didn't remember any of it.

In my opinion, these talks were different.

Each of us (yes, I am included in this) gave three stories about our sales career where the incident taught us a lesson, as we told stories about how we were shy, stupid or boring, I saw heads shaking in the audience. I think that because we were "real" we allowed the guests to be there with us. I had several people come up to me later to tell me that they couldn't believe how much we were describing something they had done in their sales career.

Linda Macedonio, Executive Director of BNI, Rhode Island, SE Massachusetts and Maine; Deanna Tucci Schmitt, Executive Director of BNI Western Pennsylvania and I had planned for several weeks via conference calls what we were going to say. We tried to come up with a central theme, but just couldn't seem to do that. Magically, it happened that evening as Linda first talked about being shy, then Deanna talked about a stupid move on her part and then I bragged about how boring I was when I made presentations to prospects. So there we had it on the fly, shy, stupid and boring.

We had fun and I think our audience did too.

What story would you like to tell an audience about your career?

Back From Vacation

Today is the first day.

Yep, the day, I change the message back to normal on the phone. The day I try to catch up for being gone for ten days.

I have several ideas for posts, so I'll just start in to regale you over the next week or so!

Top of the list is a list of the books I read while gone.

I spent a week with my friends, Marcia and Gary Housel at their home on Tingley Lake near Scranton, PA. This lake has some pretty fond memories as the Housels and the Peters used to vacation there together every year with our kids, six in all. They have retired to that lake, having built a home just a couple lots away from where we used to stay in the Victorian "Itall Do." Long ago, Marcia and I read while the kids played 'sink the rowboat' and the men golfed. We haven't changed much. So here goes:

1. Freakonomics - I borrowed the copy and I'm glad I didn't spend my money on it. As far as I was concerned it was way too focused on unimportant issues.

2. Water For Elephants - By Sara Gruen. I loved it. The writing and the story were wonderful. I can see why it is a best seller.

3. The Language of Blood by Jane Jeong Trenka. Again I loved it. I would rank it right up there with Water for Elephants in both style and story. (I can't remember the title of this book, nor the author. I left it behind for Marcia to read. She will email me the title and then I'll update this post.)

4 and 5. Riding Lessons and Flying Changes by Sara Gruen. All I can say is that this author of #2 above has gotten a ton better. These books aren't bad, but sort of formulaic.

So there you have it. I love reading about other cultures and other times, so 2 and 3 really hit it on the nose. Now back to some business books.

What book did you think you wanted to read when you did, you found out it wasn't so great?

Oh by the way, just another month till the new Master of Sales is published by Entrepreneur Press. It's rumored to be best seller material.

No, I Don't Want to Play

I was talking with a friend the other day about the networking event we are going to have in the fall for the launch of the new book Masters of Sales. I am a contributing author to this book. Page 250, just in case you wanted to know!

This friend is also a published author. In my opinion her book is great because it makes me laugh out loud. She is self-published, but she paid the extra money to have a cover designed and also had some stiff editing done to make it read better. I have purchased several copies of the book to give to friends.

So there you have the background.

In this conversation she mentioned that she still had several hundred books in her garage.

I shared that at our event, we were thinking of asking other local authors to be in attendance. We want to support their efforts, too.

She said that she didn't think that it would be good for other local authors. It is her experience that BOOK FAIRS don't work. She explained that people only bring a certain amount of money and she didn't think people would budget for other books besides ours.

Now, she has probably done a lot more work of promoting that book of hers than I will ever personally think of doing for Masters of Sales. After all, we have the whole BNI network behind us. But why would she kick a gift horse in the mouth?

If you were an author and had some books you needed to sell, would you want to be a part of this networking event which is not a book fair?

Great Read

Okay, I must admit my addiction. I love reading. For the past several years, I have been very strict with reading habits, allowing only that reading associated with business. While I do like to devour those books, I had eliminated some of the fun.

I have given in to the craving!

I am reading fiction and I'm not on vacation.

I am remembering the wonderful pleasure of losing myself in a book, letting the hours just slip by.

I just finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I could not put it down.

I will now atone for my sins, by finishing the last part of Scott Ginsberg's newest book, How to Make a Name for Yourself. Sorry, Scott that I allowed you to be set aside.

I'm leaving on vacation in less than two weeks to visit my friends, Marcia and Gary Housel. They live at Tingley Lake, just south of Binghamton, NY in Pennsylvania.

What books do you recommend I take with me for the reading marathon that Marcia and I will have?

Which Book Shall I Take?

This week I'm heading out for the annual national BNI conference. I'm flying east to Bethesda, so at least I don't have the time change to deal with!

The flight is only two hours, so I need to decide which book to take that will keep me busy for those two hours.

I am not a bad plane traveler, but I am antsy. If I can loose myself in a book, my seatmates will be happier.

Should I take Seth Godin's "The Dip" which I am about halfway through? But that book takes some thought. I probably won't get "lost reading it.

Should I take Scott Ginsberg's newest book, "Make a Name for Yourself?" Again I am halfway through and I have to stop and think as I read.

Should I take something else??????

I am in the middle of some dumb mind candy book -- fiction. Six women -- been together since college -- basically a soap opera. But would I be embarrassed to be seen reading this book????

Should I take "The Glass Castle." I got tired of being on the waiting list at the library and bought a copy at K-Mart yesterday. But that would mean that I am reading four books at one time.

What should I do?????

Book News

If you've read this blog before, you probably know that I love to read and write.

Just this past week I got the official word, that yes, I am a contributing author to Ivan Misner's new book, Masters of Sales which will be officially published in August. Ivan told us that the original 100,000 word manuscript had been pared down to 70,000 words.

Of course, I'm one of the no-names in the book. Tom Hopkins, Brian Tracy, Martha Stewart, Jack Canfield, Harvy McKay and Tony Robbins will be mentioned on the cover.

It's been so long since I submitted my article because the publisher, Entrepreneur magazine pushed back the publishing date. They wanted it to coincide with their annual August sales issue of their magazine.

So the fun begins. It will be a busy fall promoting the book. Can't wait.

Breaking News!

Scott Ginberg, the name tag guy's newest book, hot off the presses, is available. He'll even give it to you for FREE. Go here to find out how.


Actually, I have a copy. Not only is it chock full of good stuff, but it looks pretty impressive, too.


Shiny Cover


Shiny Pages


Scott, you may only be 27, but you know how to lead even us old(er) folk with your amazing ideas.


Get the book, read a couple pages and tell me what you think.