Fear of Failure— Gocha' or Gimmie?

I believe "fear" is a thought. I know... I know... Fear is an ancestral gift from our Creator to keep us from being some pre-historic sharp-toothed nasty's entré. I don't think so. I think that's instinct & intuition— heart not head stuff. But then, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. Or, in other words, who cares what I think.

I've been digging & drilling down into fear for years. That R&D effort resulted in BeliefBusters amongst (many) other things. I'm always alert and on the lookout for good stuff about dealing with any of the FADWAS (Fear, Anger, Doubt, Worry, Anxiety, Sadness). her's one such that came into my orbit from Brian Johnson, CPO (Chief Philosophy Officer) at Philosopher's Notes: Big Idea - Dan Millman: The Fear of Failure. Brian adds his own commentary. Enjoy it..

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“Ultimately, fear of failure generates a vicious circle that creates what is most feared. To break this cycle, you need to make peace with failure. It isn’t enough to merely tolerate it; you need to appreciate the failure and use it... Body mind masters have made peace with failure, treating it like an old friend playing a practical joke. The greatest inventors, artists, and athletes have all failed many times. Babe Ruth was the home run king of his time, but also the strikeout king.”
— Dan Millman from Body Mind Mastery

Ah, the fear of failure.

Here’s what Michael Jordan, one of the greatest athletes *ever* has to say about failure: “I’ve missed more than nine thousand shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” (That’s from a Nike commercial. It’s strong. Check it here.)

Robert F. Kennedy tells us that: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

And David Viscott tells us that: “In the end, the only people who fail are those who don’t try.”

What’s YOUR relationship to “failure”?!? Have you made peace with it and gone so far as to see it as a necessary part of doing anything, let alone achieving greatness? Sweet. :)

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"Failing forward," it's called. Paraphrasing Guy Kawasaki, "Failure isn't an option. It's required." And if you follow my beginning idea here that fear, especially fear of failure, is a thought you have. Then game is, change your mind.

I highly recommend a subscribe to Brian Johnson's Philosopher's Notes. Click the link to go there.

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Are You In the Shipping & Receiving Business?

BELOW is an "old" piece I wrote for Network Marketing
Lifestyles (remember that). I've been in-search-of those
things that are "classic" and still (and probably always
will) apply for my TGNWeekend. I re-read it. NOthings
changed for me (from 10 years ago). You?

Please, let me know...

Relationship, Friendship, Partnership & Leadership
by John Milton Fogg
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I'm on a jag… a tear… a recurring rant. I keep coming back to this one idea and simply cannot get it outta my head/day and night/night and day…. It's like that- just like that- like that soon-to-be if not already over and over and over silently sung song that the sinister singer with-in will not stop singing!

It's maddening.

R is for Relationshipping.
F is for Friendshipping.
P is for Partnershipping.
L is for Leadershipping.

(Me quoting myself and I…)

"As Network Marketers, you're in the Relationship business. That's what you do for a living- you create and maintain Relationships. In this business, that's JOB #1. And as I've said before, you grow those Relationships into Friendships. When you take those Friendships into Partnerships, we call it Sponsoring. Then you transform your Partnerships leveraging them into tens, hundreds, even thousands (if you're very good) more Partnerships to create a Network Organization and you do that with Leadership."

So tell me I'm wrong. Okay. Fine. You're coming along great with your life-coach (therapist) and you don't do that anymore. Fine. Tell me I'm "mistaken."

I mean, prospecting is all about getting into Relationship— yes?

Gotta' be. Build rapport. Ask questions. Reveal their dreams and aspirations— their why. Person to person. Mano a prospecto. Like (or as) I said, Relationshipping. Network Marketing IS the Relationship business.

I know I've got this first one right.

Any argues from you…?

Good.

Friendshipping:
(Just to let you know, I'm sure this is right, too. And I do so love being right 8^)

If you were opening a restaurant business or beauty salon or bike shop, who would be your first customers? Think back- MCI: friends and family- right? (Family; friends by virtue of birth.) We want our customers to be our friends. We want our prospects to be our friends. We want our distributors to be our friends. What are you doing; recruiting your enemies, hated high school history teachers, wicked Stepmothers? Nah.

The only reason to approach those strangers in the cold market is 'cause you've run out of friends- or they've run out of you. Hey, no more friends… NFL, no friends left? Get new ones.

This is Network Marketing. You don't have to work with people you don't like. You do not have to prospect and sponsor people you don't want to. And you really only want to walk the beaches of the world with people who are your friends- don't you?

Yeah, Friendshipping is right, too.
(Told ya'.)

Partnershipping:
Prospect: "Why are you asking me all these questions?"

Prospector: "I'm a Network Marketer. Keeping my business successful depends on finding bright, ambitious, caring and sharing, authentic and exceptional people and having them become my new Business Partners. I was trying to find out if you were one of those people."

Once you've made a Friend of someone it's easy to offer him or her the opportunity of Partnership. "Hey, friend. Will you take a look at my business and tell me what you think?"

And you cannot succeed in Network Marketing without a whole boat-load of Partners- customer/partners, your upline partners, downline, cross-line, all the guys and gals back at the home office... in partnership with you.

Network Marketing is the least do it yourself business in the world. You simply can't— do it yourself— here. Go ahead; sponsor you and you sponsor you and you sponsor you…. Partnership, and lots of 'em, is and are required.

Leadershipping:
Now nobody's gonna' argue with this one- right? Speed of the Leader, speed of the pack; Leaders showing the way; Leaders on stage getting awards; and on it goes.

Yup, Leadership is in there like Prego (used to be).

Relationshipping, Friendshipping, Partnershipping and Leadershipping.

What else is there…?

Relationshipping, Friendshipping, Partnershipping and Leadershipping.

Really, what else do you do? What else do you teach and train your people to get out and get good at but these four things?

They're Network Marketing's Four Horseman of the Acropolis… or is it Apocalypse … Okay. Fine. It's Notre Dame.

Relationshipping, Friendshipping, Partnershipping and Leadershipping.

That's why Personal Growth and Development gets such center-stage attention in this business. It's how you have people get good at all this shipping stuff. And they've got to get good at it and you've got to get good at it, because….

(Again, I quote me:)

"Network Marketing is all about Personal Growth, because it is a Shipping & Receiving business. It's Relationshipping, Friendshipping, Partnershipping and Leadershipping, and when you do those well and rightly, you Receive (amongst many other things) a check. The better you are at all that "shipping" the more receiving you'll get to do and the bigger your check. That's just the way it is.

As said, I wrote this 10 (+ ?) years ago, B4 Web 2.0. Funny how the game has changed so much, but some things... 8^)

Let me know what you think & feel & value most about this piece.

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Is it time for your break-through?

Is it time for your break-through? (Is it past time?)

I have some important questions to ask you:

Are you struggling or disappointed with your performance in your business or your life?

Have you been stuck at the level you are on now for far too long, seeking the "more & better" you know is possible for you but your progress has plateaued, your growth stagnant?

Are you dissatisfied, disheartened, discourage— a little or even a lot? That doesn't feel very good,
does it?

What you "need" is a break-through.

And that's what I'm offering you: An honest-to-goodness, card-carrying breaking-through to new heights of productivity, performance & satisfaction.

If you really want to take powerful life & work-changing action. . . 

"Growing your business by growing yourself"

. . . that gets results that last and does it  fast. . . learn about it here:

http://JohnMiltonFogg.com/TGNWeekend.

And if it's a fit for you, call me right away.

And that's NOT a fit for you. . . if the dates don't jive or if $2500 isn't something you can afford right now, fine. Go to the page anyway and read/listen/download/keep The Greatest Networker in the World for free. Dig into the archives here at TheFoggBlogg (and share that link with your friends and colleagues) where you'll find free audios, videos, articles, excerpts, Mp3s. . . a ton (really) of good to great stuff is here for you.

Go to: http://Facebook.com/JohnMiltonFogg and dig into my Notes. NOT a full ton, but eating them all would sure fill you up.

And go visit http://SpeakingAndListenning.com. Click on "free resources." Lots of good & great material there for you.

And this hidden treat: http://TransformingMLM.com/Resources. "Yum, yum. Eat 'em up." (For you old "Our Gang" fans of Uncle George).

I know beyond  shadow of an anything you can find something(s) in what I'm giving away that will lead to or give you the breakthrough you're after. If you don't, let me know. I'll go find more— or come to TGNWeekend.

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Which MLM Network Marketing Game Are You Playing?

WARNING: What follows requires thought, open and authentic, "Hmmmm, that's interesting (perhaps even exciting). I wonder what would happen if I...?" Like that. Don't waste your time if you're not up for that and more.

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Lots of talk— virtual and actual— about a Revolution in MLM Network Marketing. Most in truth is back to basics stuff; those good and great things to do and be done that have worked since the beginning and will continue long after you and I are the upline in the sky. The rest is evolutionary; logical and intuitive next steps born from experience. Honestly, I don't find much being offered that truly "turns over" (the essence of the root word revolvere) the status quo of what's so now. Except perhaps this...

From one way of looking at it, MLM Network Marketing is a game. There's a field of play, rules, time frames, teams, ways to keep score, bats and balls and racquets (and rackets), uniforms even (for some)... all of that.

But there's another view of the MLM/Network Marketing "game"— a wholly different paradigm that is not only vitally and vastly different from all the other "business" game models, but is a 180 degree shift from the MLM game most of us have been taught and are playing today.

See if what's below presents you with a lighthouse to your battleship.

These ideas are excerpted and paraphrased from the remarkable book: Finite and Infinite Games - A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James P. Carse

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There are at least two kinds of games: finite and infinite.

A finite game is a game that has fixed rules and boundaries, that is played for the purpose of winning and thereby ending the game.

An infinite game has no fixed rules or boundaries. In an infinite game you play with the boundaries and the purpose is to continue the game.

Finite players are serious; infinite games are playful.

Finite players try to control the game, predict everything that will happen, and set the outcome in advance. They are serious and determined about getting that outcome. They try to fix the future based on the past.

Infinite players enjoy being surprised. Continuously running into something one didn't know will ensure that the game will go on. The meaning of the past changes depending on what happens in the future.

All games are inherently voluntary. There might be consequences of not playing, but there is always a choice required. Driving in the right side of the road, shaking people's hands, and paying taxes are games one has a choice about playing. There are certain rules and boundaries that appear to be externally defined, and you choose to follow them or not. If you stop following them you aren't playing the game any longer.

There is no rule that says you have to follow the rules.

All finite games have rules. If you follow the rules you are playing the game. If you don't follow the rules you aren't playing. If you move the pieces in different ways in chess, you are no longer playing chess.

Infinite players play with rules and boundaries. They include them as part of their playing. They aren't taking them serious, and they can never be trapped by them, because they use rules and boundaries to play with.

In a theatrical play the actor knows that she really isn't Ophelia. The audience knows that she really isn't Ophelia. But if she does a good job, Ophelia can express herself through the actor. The playing is most enjoyable when it is both clear that it is chosen play, that it is the actor doing it voluntarily, and at the same time it is so convincing, following the rules well enough that it seems real.

You can play finite games within an infinite game.
You can not play infinite games within a finite game.

You can do what you do seriously, because you must do it, because you must survive to the end, and you are afraid of dying and other consequences. Or, you can do everything you do playfully, always knowing you have a choice, having no need to survive the way you are, allowing every element of the play to transform you, taking pleasure in every surprise you meet. Those are the differences between finite and infinite players.
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So, where are you at with all that? Seeing anything differently? Which game have you been playing? Which game do you want to be playing?

Let me know what you think & feel & value most about this piece.

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Please, let me know...

Asking the right questions gets the right answers

"For more than 20 years," (this is me quoting me), "I've been collecting and creating valuable & useful how-to knowledge & success resources for direct sellers and network marketers." Collected another one. (So good when you don't have to make it yourself.) This from kindred spirit of both GET RICH SLOW and Speaking & Listening, Jim Britt.

I won't pull that stupid marketers pet trick saying "My friend," because he's not— yet. I've met Jim and have known about him for years starting back when we were both involved with Cell Tech (remember them?). But after a couple of eLetters such as this one you're about to read, and a dig into his web site, I'm now actively chasing him for a MasterMind Session and the ability to write "my friend" in the future and mean it.

I REALLY like Jim's stuff. And... I would, of course. He's urges direct sellers & network marketers to ask questions and listen (another "really"). He's all about Shipping & Receiving (Relationshipping, Friendshipping, Partnershipping and Leadershipping). And he is, as said, a card-carrying member of the GET RICH SLOW Club.

Hence, the following to feed your educational hungers. But what if you're NOT hungry to learn? Good luck in this business (and this life.)

Asking the right questions gets the right answers
By Jim Britt

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Asking the right questions I would refer to as "The art of networking."  

When you ask your prospect questions... questions that make them think and feel, the answers you receive will be the signs that will carry you to your first destination. And what is your first destination with a prospect? Well it comes in three parts?

1. Do they have a problem?
2. If they do, do they have a desire to solve it?
3. Can you help them solve their problem?

That's the first thing you want to discover. That's your first destination. In other words, instead of focusing on making the sale, or recruiting the person...

Focus on whether there's a sale to be made or a worthy prospect to sponsor in the first place.

When you truly listen to your prospect the correct approach will materialize to you.

For example, if you hear a single mom saying that she is stressed out because she has to leave her children everyday and therefore can't give them the quality time they need... of course an obvious feature for joining your company would be that she could work from home. However, before offering her the opportunity, build some history.

The biggest mistake people make in network marketing is they get in a hurry.

Take some time to get to know her.

Here's what I mean:

• Ask what her present work is.
• Ask if she likes her job.
• Ask if she has to commute to work everyday.
• Ask if she feels she's getting paid what she's worth.
• Ask her what an ideal job would be to her.
• Ask if she would like to spend more time with the family.
• If she says that she would like to work from home then ask her what she would like to do.

The answers to your questions will help her to further discover and to reinforce her real desire to work from home. Remember, she will always have the answers to what she wants, but she will probably not have a solution.

That's your job once you have arrived at your first destination, and that is to established a need.

Questions will encourage them to talk and will give you information. It helps you to uncover problems... to discover if there is a real need. Questions help you to understand their priorities... what's important to them? You might say that questions help you to diagnose.

How would you feel if you walked into your doctor's office and your doctor never asked you what was bothering you... he just said "hey, you look sick and here's a couple prescriptions... call me in a month." How would you respond?

Questions also help you to establish your own credibility with your prospect, which should be to help them find a solution to their problem. But, just like with the doctor, you have to first discover their problem.

Questions make your prospect feel that you want to play a key role in helping them to find a solution.

Questions help you to paint the right picture in the mind of your prospect. Pictures that are benefit oriented. You get to formulate the picture yourself by asking the questions and listening to their response, but more importantly, your prospect gets to see it in their mind and to discover they have a need.

Questions will help you to "break the ice." By asking a simple question like, "how are you today?" You can get a response or an opening that can lead to the next question, and the next, and to the process of discovery on your part and theirs.

Questions allow you to "plant" your own ideas at the appropriate time. "What if you took this approach? What if you started your own business working from home? Have you ever thought of that?"

Questions let you handle their concerns in the form of an answer during the course of the conversation instead of as an objection that needs to be overcome.

Questions put you in control, not for manipulation purposes, but for the purpose of keeping the conversation on track and discovering their need and if you have a solution.

Use the power of asking questions instead of telling people what you know or making statements.

Learning to ask questions is your most powerful tool in network marketing.

If you try to "feed" people solutions before asking questions and arriving at your first destination, "Do they have a need," you may become the one that owns the problem... and the solution, which will take you nowhere fast.

If you tell someone that your business opportunity will provide them with financial freedom the conversation will probably stop there, because you haven't yet established a need.

On the other hand, if you ask them if financial freedom is important to them you can start a conversation that leads to other questions that will establish whether they have a need or not.

The key to mastering the art of network marketing is to master the art of asking questions... and listening... in order to arrive at your first destination... and that is...

Do they have a need that you can fill?

And Jim then gave this assignment for the week:

This week make a commitment to meet at least five new people with the intention of just getting to know them. Don't try to recruit or sell them a product. Just get to know them and see if you can arrive at your first destination... do they have a problem that needs solving and do they want to solve it?
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Good stuff. No, clearly much more & better than that. Mr. Britt is not simply on the GET RICH SLOW bandwagon... he's leading the parade.

Learn more about Jim Britt (click the link) and his offerings, and take a "sincerious" consider of getting his new book. I haven't read it yet. I'm simply stalling for one of those from one author to another, "Send me a signed copy" deals.

Let me know what you think & feel & value most about this piece.

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Network marketing is...

The fine (very) folks at Networking Times have assembled a wonderful (and I think powerful) 8-page piece from "American Thought Leaders on the Network Marketing Profession." It features commentary by John Assaraf, Bob Burg, Seth Godin, Michael Gerber, Ivan Misner, Nido Quebin, T. Harv Eker, Kiyosaki, Proctor, Waitley... and other famous others. It's available with the link below as a PDF download and you can get "hard copy" reprints as well. (AND they've a Special "Limited Time" Offer, ending July 6, to get free reprints with a subscription or renewal.)

It is (I say) a MUST read for your own self and the people in your business, and you may find it a great prospecting tool to hand out. Review it and let me know.

Here's the intro written by John David Mann.

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“Network Marketing Is...”

Last fall, as Wall Street blew up and the economy melted down, a number of large network marketing corporations posted some of the largest sales figures in their history. Even as millions of people saw their savings evaporate and stock portfolios disintegrate, network marketers world-wide were quietly taking stock of their businesses and asking, “Are we okay?”

In the main, the answer appears to be a cautious yes: network marketing historically has been to some extent counter-cyclical, faring relatively well at times when the economy at large does poorly. Still, to find adequate comparisons to the economic panic of today one has to look back to the 1930s— a time when network marketing had not yet been invented. So how are we doing?

For this issue, we assembled a panel of American thought leaders to give us their thoughts on the state of the profession. The consensus: our current economic woes may well bring about a historic up-surge in the popularity of the network marketing model. — J.D.M.

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Trust you'll find it fun-learning and useful as I did.

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You've got to treat your business like a __________.

(Fill in the blank)

You've heard that one ever since you first got involved. "Treat your business like a business." It's offered as one of the golden keys to success, one of the Top 10 fixes for a struggling direct sales network marketing enterprise. But what if it's NOT? What if the REAL solution for you was to ...

Treat your business like a JOB.

Heresy, I know, but... think about it, please, just for a moment, like doing an experiment.

Let's say you got a job in the sales department of a local maker of whatever and what you had to do was to make at least 100 calls per day to "prospects" to sell your company's wonder widget to them. You were being paid $1000 a week.

Would you make those calls?

Sure you would— whether you liked it or not, no matter if you were comfortable or not, whether you felt like it or not, whatever the results. And you'd do that because if you didn't you'd get fired. Now, if you didn't get results after some period of time, you'd probably get fired for that as well, but in the beginning, if you wanted to get paid... if you wanted to "keep" your job... you make those 100 calls each day, because that WAS YOUR JOB.

So, what if you treated you networking business exactly the same way... what if you treated it like a JOB?

Pretend you are a business owner (that shouldn't be too hard) and you are hiring someone to work in your network marketing business. What's the "job description" for that employee? What would you tell him he had to do every day when he came to work? What specific daily/weekly tasks would you require she complete to earn her salary?

Write that all down.

Now, continuing with the "experiment," for the next week...

YOU do those things. Just adopt the mindset that you are an employee... this is your job... if you do not do it you'll be fired and you will NOT be paid.

(And make a note for yourself of what you would feel being fired and not getting paid.)

All this exercise is, is a shift of thinking, a changing your mind to learn if you would do things differently, perhaps breakthrough some of those things that were stopping you from doing what you know you MUST do to succeed in this business. (And you do know what to do— don't you?) Only for one week, treat your business like a job and "see' what happens.

Btw, this "Treat it like a job" is NOT my idea. I got it from a great interview Eric Worre did with Mike Dillard in his NetworkMarketingPro video series. (Incidently, Eric didn't create it either. he got it from Antinio Adair who who said something like, "If you can't treat your business like a business at first, then treat it like a job." Please watch the entire series. Mike Dillard's way of getting past his shyness on the phone and in face-to-face prospecting is priceless. The sequence that covers that is here: http://budurl.com/NMPRODillard2.

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REPLAY of TeleSeminar 07.01.09

One Hour of TGNWeekend 4 Free
Promoting "A Weekend With The Greatest Networker..." By Giving It Away!

The REPLAY of the call is available by clicking the "webcast" link below. Good call with some great gems. Please let me know what you think & feel about it. Here's the original announcement.

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Hi, it's John Fogg

The July 24, 25 & 26 TGNWeekend is "sold out." So... we're having another in August— the 14, 15 & 16. AND, I'm going to do a free Teleseminar this Wednesday to promote the Weekend by "giving away" as much material as I can in the hour+. Hope you'll listen in and bring your friends.

EVENT: One Hour of TGNWeekend 4 Free
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, July 1st at 9:00pm Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast -- it's your choice)
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW...
http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=8069763

You can learn more and read/listen/download/keep "The Greatest Networker in the World" on this web page: http://JohnMiltonFogg.com/TGNWeekend

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A Weekend With The Greatest Networker… LIVE!

A Weekend With The Greatest Networker… LIVE!

Have you read The Greatest Networker in the World?

The book has changed millions of people's lives. It's the story of a dissatisfied and disheartened young man on the verge of quitting his business who's life and career are transformed "for the better, forever" in one remarkable weekend with The Greatest Networker in the World.

This August 14, 15 & 16, that same life- changing breakthrough experience can be yours.

The July Weekend "sold out" in only two weeks. There are three places still available for August. Call me at home: 434 964 9303 or send me a personal e-mail if you want to be invited.

If you haven't read (or heard) the story, you can get the PDF of the eBook and listen on-line or download the Mp3s to your computer or iPod® at the very bottom of this page for no-charge. Here's a short 5' 43" clip from the book to give you a sense of what the weekend will be like.

No audio player above? Click here.

---

Hi, this is John Fogg,

… and no, I am NOT "The Greatest Networker in the World," And yes, I am the guy who wrote the book— every word. Although it's a story, the life-changing lessons in its pages are very real and I can teach them to you.

And please, I am a writer, NOT a copywriter. What's on this web page is an honest explanation of what's possible for you to achieve this weekend.

What I'm offering you is to be one of five individuals who will have the opportunity to experience the same profound and powerful breakthrough the character in the book lived. The difference is, this isn't fiction. This will be real. Live. Up-close & personal with me and four other special people who will likely become your friends & partners for life.

This August 14, 15 & 16, for only the second time, I am offering five people the opportunity to put yourself right into the book and live the story having a transformational weekend of breakthrough experiences just like the young "hero" did in The Greatest Networker in the World.

For more and to read-listen-download-keep the million-selling "classic" book, please visit my web site: http://JohnMiltonFogg.com/TGNWeekend.

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