In another post, I wrote about “Your REAL Impact”.

I recently got this story in an email from my new friend, Dileepa. For some reason, it touched me deeply. So I’d like to share it with you.

Hope it brightens up your week!

= = = =

THE STORY OF THE RED MARBLES

I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes.

I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprizing a basket of freshly picked green peas.

I paid for my potatoes, but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas.
I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me.

‘Hello Barry, how are you today?’

‘H’lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus’ admirin’ them peas. They sure look good.’

‘They are good, Barry. How’s your Ma?’

‘Fine. Gittin’ stronger alla’ time.’

‘Good. Anything I can help you with?’

‘No, Sir. Jus’ admirin’ them peas.’

‘Would you like take some home?’ asked Mr. Miller.

‘No, Sir. Got nuthin’ to pay for ‘em with.’

‘Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?’

‘All I got’s my prize marble here.’

‘Is that right? Let me see it’ said Miller.

‘Here ’tis. She’s a dandy.’

‘I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?’ the store owner asked.

‘Not zackley but almost.’

‘Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble’, Mr. Miller told the boy.

‘Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.’

Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me.

With a smile said, ‘There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever.

When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn’t like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store.’

I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man.

A short time later I moved to Colorado , but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles.

Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one.

Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while there I learned that Mr. Miller had died.

They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them.

Upon arrival at the mortuary ;we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.

Ahead of us in line were three young men.

One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts…all very professional looking.

They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband’s casket.

Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket.

Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket.

Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.

Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ag o and what she had told me about her husband’s bartering for marbles.

With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket;

‘Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim ‘traded’ them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size….they came to pay their debt.’

‘We’ve never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,’ she confided, ‘but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho’.

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband.

Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.

We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath.

Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles -

A fresh pot of coffee you didn’t make yourself.

An unexpected phone call from an old friend.

Green stoplights on your way to work.

The fastest line at the grocery store.

A good old sing-along song on the radio.

Your keys found right where you left them.

Share this with the people you’ll never forget.

I just did…

It’s not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived

= = = = = = = = =

To the list of “moments that take our breath”, I’ll add this:

“A cube of ice dropped down the back of your shirt by your wife!”

It happened to me this morning!

Anyway…

Did you like the story?

It shows just what impact YOU can have on YOUR world.

Now, as the Nike ad says: “Just Do It!”

There’s a section/category to this blog titled ‘WISDOM’.

In it, I share lessons from my life.

Have you ever wondered WHY I do this?

If you’ve watched Randy Pausch’s ‘The Last Lecture’ (if you haven’t, go click that link now - or when you next have time - and invest the most life changing 47 minutes you’ve EVER spent in listening in awe to a fascinating person share an inspiring message!

I know, I know, you don’t have 47 minutes to spare… well, neither did I - before watching the first 3 minutes of that video. After that, I’d have spared the rest of my life to listen! Yes, it’s that powerful.)

Oh well, I lost the thread of what I was saying (that’s the effect Randy has on most of his 10 MILLION viewers!)

If you’ve watched Randy’s lecture, you’ll have heard about ‘head fakes’. And know why Randy really did his ‘Last Lecture’.

Well, the WISDOM section of this blog has a similar purpose - to serve, in part, as my legacy to my daughter and her kids, maybe even my extended family.

Will they benefit from it? Or not?

That’s up to future generations to decide.

On my part, I’m documenting bits and pieces of ‘wisdom’ drawn from the rich tapestry of my incredibly exciting life.

How about you? Ever thought about doing it?

Why not begin - today?!

As a young 22-year old medical graduate, I played mind games - on myself! They were necessary. Some things needed to have meaning.

Like when a drug addict with sores all over his body, a glazed, lifeless look in his eyes, in extreme malnutrition, and with a non-existent will to live is dropped off in the E.R. — by a police van which picked him off the roadside.

I had to find meaning, to understand WHY I should make the effort to treat him.

And there were others - many, far worse. As a doctor, you treat patients. Not the people they really are. And that means you come across murderers and pimps, psychopaths and lunatics, thieves and other unsavory characters.

You learn to treat them all equally.

And that needs some mental gymnastics - in the beginning.

So I’d imagine a scenario where my child (I hadn’t one at the time) was walking on the sidewalk, lost her footing, and slipped onto the road - in front of a speeding automobile… when this druggie who was lying in a daze, almost in a reflex, reaches out and pulls her out of harms way.

That’s a good reason to fight to save his life!

There were many such imaginary games. And in the end, they all drew me towards what I know today is the right conclusion - EVERY human life is precious, valuable, worth saving.

Today, with the hindsight of two decades of medical practice and living life, I no longer need mind games. There’s enough proof of this fact - both in a physical and spiritual sense.

But that’s just background.

The real point I’m driving at is this.

Everyone has a role to play in the rich tapestry of life. Everyone has an impact. Just like you.

That’s kind of intuitive.

What is harder to grasp is how far and wide your REAL impact can reach.

I post frequently on forums and discussion groups. The reasons and motives are diverse. But I’m often stunned to hear from people whom I’ve never been in direct one-to-one contact with, saying how their life changed after something they read on one of my forum or blog posts!

For instance, Joanne Mason asked me to read and approve of her including me in the introduction to her new ebook, “21 More Income Streams - Multiple Ways to Make Money Online”

I’ll quote a bit from Joanne’s introduction message:

“Let me tell you a quick story that may help you to understand my motivation a
little better.

One of the most generous (TIMIC) forum members is Internet Marketing guru, Dr. Mani. Some of the information that he freely shares on this forum could be packaged and sold at a premium price. Some of his tips might help you discover something that you never knew existed. Some of his other posts simply cause you to look inside yourself and reflect on your true purpose in life and business.

That was the case recently after I read a post where Dr. Mani asked the forum
what was our reason for doing whatever it is that we do in business.

Of course, I already knew how I much I love working at home before Dr. Mani’s
question. However, after being challenged to think about it more deeply I also
realized how much I love sharing even my limited knowledge with someone else.
Thank you, Dr. Mani.”

While this indeed was the intention behind my posting to the forum, the insight made such an impact on Joanne, she made it the focus of her foreword to a new project that will help hundreds of beginners make money online.

That’s what I like to think of as the ‘Ripple Effect’ - where your impact just spreads and spreads, like ripples on the surface of a smooth pond when you drop a pebble in it.

But with one difference.

While ripples on a pond’s surface can’t spread beyond the limits of the pond itself, YOUR impact has absolutely no limits to how and where it can spread.

Two days back, out of the blue, I got a telephone call from Bangalore. It was from the representative of a large charity that was helping under-privileged children.

The organization had heard about my work, and was interested in seeking my help with their new Internet initiative. I asked for more details about their work.

The email I got in reply blew me away - I had no idea this was so big. Here’s a part of it:

“Our aim is to feed a million kids by 2010. Presently, we are feeding 950,000 children daily and hope that we will reach our goal by this year.

Our Foundation has been recognised as the largest school meal program in the world by ‘The World Economic Forum’. And Harvard Business School has made it a Case study that is being used as part of MBA curriculum for operational excellence and for the use of technology in the social sector.”

By being a part of this foundation’s work, I will indirectly be helping feed 950,000 children every day! That is so very exciting, fulfilling and rewarding - and this is not something I could have achieved if I had consciously set out to try and do!

It happened naturally, as a consequence of steadily growing IMPACT.

On Monday, I was reading an amazing document that I found through Seth Godin’s blog. It’s called “A Brief Guide to World Domination” and it’s about how to lead a remarkable life in a conventional world.

It’s a report EVERYONE should read - and internalize. Especially entrepreneurs and people who want to make an IMPACT. That’s YOU.

Chris Guillebeau stretches one’s mind to the limitless possibilities that our vast human potential allows, yearns, indeed clamors for - but sadly, too many of us ignore.

In one section of it, Chris talks about how we get to extend our impact - without even trying. Because once you become good - REALLY good - at something, become known for it, recognized as an expert… suddenly people from other unrelated areas of specialization come to you for advice and support.

That allows you to increase your impact on the world - without even trying.

And amazingly enough, within 24 hours of reading those words, I had proof of it in my own life!

The formula, as Chris reveals, is really quite simple.

“You have to be willing to give it your all, and for a long time with potentially few rewards. In the short run, few people will notice, but in the long run, everyone will.”

So, in case you’re wondering if it’s all worthwhile, if you have doubts and uncertainties about whether anyone at all notices or cares… keep the faith.

Far more people are aware of you and what you do than you might dare imagine. And that works in a positive sense, as well as a negative one. You cannot afford to let your guard down - ever.

Because just as there are people watching when you behave and perform like a role model, they are also looking when you behave like an immature, spoiled child - and making their judgements, drawing their conclusions… even if they never, ever spell them out to you, or anyone else.

Go on and continue making YOUR impact on the world.

It is real.

It is meaningful.

It will help change the world, make it a better place - if you give it enough time.

When my dad graduated from high school, his father made him an ‘offer he couldn’t refuse’.

Become a doctor. Or go back to the village and tend to farming on our lands.

The problem with this offer was that dad wanted to be a school teacher. He loved Tamil and wanted to teach the language to others.

Those were days when one didn’t disagree with parents, least of all someone as tough as grandpa. He was strict and stern. Heck, even us grandkids regarded him with fear and respect - and this was when he was in his sixties!

Long story short - Dad became a doctor.

He specialized in Internal Medicine, and then went on to become one of the first 3 cardiologists (heart specialists) in my State. He was the first of them to receive his training and diploma overseas, at the prestigious and world-famous Texas Heart Institute in Houston.

When he returned to India, he headed a department at a large University hospital and helped treat thousands of heart patients over a career spanning 20 years.

By all accounts and standards, he was massively successful. His students, peers and colleagues all regarded him with respect and considered him a great cardiologist.

But all along this illustrious career, dad was a Tamil teacher at heart.

He would often tell us this:

“If I were an incompetent, or even average doctor - and then told the story of my dream to be a school teacher - people would mock it as a ’sour grapes’ tale. So I decided to first be a success as a doctor… and then point out that I was never interested in being one!”

Which is the message of this post.

First, Do It.

Then, Say What You’d Do Differently.

Or Better.

Or Instead!

The recent discussion about despicable affiliate practices on Rick Butts’ blog is what brought this line of thinking to mind.

Rick uses a phrase that is distasteful to refer to these affiliates. But I’m surprised that more people are not offended by the behavior as much as they are by the term used to describe perpetrators!

A couple of years back, I outlined a set of guidelines for ‘Acceptable Affiliate Practices’ and invited others to add to it (sadly, there was precious little response).

Why did I wait until just 2 years back to mention them?

Because by then, I had established a reputation as a successful ‘Super Affiliate’ - and could point out flaws and criticize them without being accused of doing it from a weak perspective of a ‘failed’ affiliate marketer.

Today, I condemn unethical selling practices that merely fatten the seller’s wallet or bank account - and can get people to pay attention primarily because I have ‘made my bones’ in the cut-throat arena of Internet marketing. Without employing these tactics, I may add.

I still remember the criticism one early buyer had of my ‘Ezine ANTI Marketing’ course that sold then for $197.00.

He mocked the ’small’ numbers I quoted from my business and said he made as much on a bad day, that I had some nerve teaching such practices - and charging a lot of money for them.

Well, fast forward to 3 years later, and those very same principles I shared in the course and follow in my business grew it 300% every year - bringing me to a six-figure annual profit level.

The principles work. They worked then. They work now.

But what makes acceptance of them easier today is the track record that backs it up, the achievements I’ve been able to prove from their use.

It’s also when criticism, and pointing out scammy or scummy activities and attitudes carries more weight and gets more people to listen and think.

Dad was right.

Be a success first. Then say what needs to be changed, improved or given up completely.

I catch up with Seth Godin’s blog once every month or so. I’d do it more often, except my head ends up hurting from the way he keeps stretching my brain!

Yesterday, I found something on it about an interesting new way to write a book. And that reminded me of a book I’ve been writing - since 2001. Yes, seven years… but it isn’t even half done!

Begun with the working title “The Icedrop”, it is an allegory that, by tracing the path of a raindrop from atop the peaks of the snowy Himalayas down to the ocean, seeks to capture the essence of man’s search for identity and purpose.

The first 2 chapters are finished. So is the last one. The intervening 4 or 5 are outlined on paper - but not yet drafted.

And Seth Godin’s idea just might be the impetus to ‘Get It Done’.

Here’s how I plan to make this happen in the days ahead.

First, the initial chapter will be accessible to everyone. For free. Not even an email address required.

Read Chapter #1 of “The ICEDROP”

That’s so that you can read it, and see if it’s something you’d like to continue reading. And if you do, you choose to move on to the next phase.

This will require giving me your email address to get free access to the second chapter. That gets into the plot of the story itself - and gives you a fair idea of how the rest is going to be.

You’ll be able to judge for yourself if the promise is being fulfilled, if the style of writing is to your taste and if what little JL Icedrop is experiencing has any relevance at all to your complex life.

And if, as I hope you will, you say that you like it and want to hear the rest of the story, then I will proceed to write it. The key is to find time to allocate to this project - and stick with it.

I have estimated that if I have a certain dollar amount in advance to compensate for that time, I will be able to find it. So, if you cross the second phase and indicate that you want to hear more, I will ask you for a contribution - of only $5

If a minimum number of people contribute that $5, and the total adds up to the dollar figure I have in mind, I will go ahead and complete this project.

On the other hand, if not enough interest is evident, I’ll know the time spent on it will not be my best investment, and put it back on the back-burner to revive at a future date.

Sound interesting?

Wait until you’ve read the first chapter. You’ll be blown away - and won’t be able to wait until you get the rest.

And what’s to come in the story of our little icedrop is shocking and thrilling, inspiring and reassuring, comforting and compelling.

It is up to you to say if it’s time to tell the story!

Read Chapter #1 of “The ICEDROP”

Ten minutes in the shower this morning brought many things into sharp and sudden focus. Discrete, almost random thoughts suddenly snapped together to form a startlingly clear picture.

It Was Like I Saw “The Truth”!

The moment was incredibly exciting. In my hurry, I nicked myself shaving. Rushing out to my computer, I called out to my wife and daughter, “Don’t say ANYTHING to me for the next ten minutes!”

And in a frenzy, I jotted down notes that became this blog post.

What’s in it that makes it so important? Go on. Read it. You’ll see.

It all began in the private TIMIC forum with something David Schwartz said about the ‘Thirty Day Challenge’. David stated that Ed Dale wasn’t selling anything.

However, I knew WHAT Ed Dale was selling in the ‘Thirty Day Challenge’. I knew because I BOUGHT it. Not only that, I even SOLD it to others.

But… WHAT was it?

Read on, and you’ll learn what - and why.

The foundational thought underlying this message came from something Adam Urbanski said on his recent ‘Contacts to Contracts’ teleseminar series. It was this:

“People do business with people. You don’t borrow from a bank, you speak with a person who helps make it happen.”

People are at the core of any business activity. Yes, even in a Fortune 100 company. And in the socially networked space we all occupy, this fact assumes serious relevance.

Mari Smith, who FAST COMPANY calls the ‘Pied Piper of Facebook’, says:

“Solopreneurs should not fear competition. You are unique. There is only one YOU.”

As you probably know quite well, every business needs a USP. A Unique Selling Proposition.

And YOU are unique.

Think about that for a moment. Then, read on.

Here’s a startling question for you.

Assuming the price was affordable, would you BUY me?

Yes, ME.

Dr.Mani.

Answer the question before moving ahead. You can only vote once, so pick wisely!

Click here to vote (poll is on the right side bar)

Now, no matter what your answer was, consider the next 2 questions:

* What if YOU were a ‘product’?

* Who would buy YOU? Why?

John Counsel, in a very nice report, taught me the valuable distinction between marketing and selling.

Marketing is finding what an audience needs - and giving it to them.

Selling is making them want it - because otherwise, they’re not buying.

So, knowing YOU are unique - and knowing that business is always about people, isn’t it natural that the one thing you should ALWAYS keep selling is the ‘product’ - YOU.

If YOU are the ‘product’, then you should be filling a need. And because you are selling yourself, you should learn to position the product ‘YOU’ as something that your audience needs - and then wants.

When you do both, it becomes easy to market yourself!

That’s exactly what Ed Dale is doing in the ‘Thirty Day Challenge’. He’s selling ED DALE! The person. And the brand.

It’s also what everyone - including you - now has the power to do… through social media and networks.

Social media marketing is about revealing and sharing your personality. Authenticity and transparency are its currency. By aligning your brand with your personality, you maximize your every social media interaction.

Your identity is who you are. Your image or brand is what you want to be perceived as.

Think you’re too small for ‘branding’? You’re wrong. In a thought-provoking post, Hugh McLeod of GapingVoid.com introduced me to the concept of a global micro-brand.

With a well planned micro-branding strategy, you can create and strengthen what Tom Peters called “The Brand Called YOU”.

Deborah Micek, who was also on the ‘Contacts to Contracts’ teleseminar, referred to our moving from the ‘Information Era’ to the ‘Recommendation Era’. In a nutshell, it means more business is driven through personal networks and referrals than by impersonal advertising or promotional efforts.

Never before has it been faster or easier to seek and find ‘trusted’ referrals for anything. Anywhere. Any time.

That’s the big impact social networking has made on the business arena.

How can you take advantage of this paradigm shift in business and marketing?

It’s simple. Make it easy for others to recommend YOU.

Do it by making YOU the product and brand, instead of an impersonal business.

Now, with this structure in mind, look at how you might engage in social media marketing.

Will you go out there and ‘pitch’ to a random crowd? Or will you strive to grab the attention of an audience that matters to you, develop a relationship with them, and then attract them into your fold?

How will you do it?

More to the point, how do you want to be SEEN doing it?

Because, remember, YOU are the brand.

And the product.

And the person.

I was born to a ‘hoarder’. My mom still saves stuff from when I was one year old - and earlier!

I married a ‘hoarder’ - though a constant struggle is ‘reforming’ her a bit! (don’t tell her I said it, though)

I gave birth to a ‘hoarder’. Age for age, her collection of ‘valuables’ would rival my mom’s - and even make her acknowledge her match!

In the midst of these ‘Clutter Queens‘, I live… my most treasured memorabilia of four decades resting in a small briefcase in the attic.

• It has my Rubik’s cube, that I used to solve in under 3 minutes as a school-boy.
• It has a pen I wrote my school final exam with - and ranked 6th in my State.
• It has letters of application I sent to medical schools in the U.S. for training positions that I didn’t get.
• It has a diary storing highlights of my life since 1984.

And little else.

How come?

Because, by nature, I enjoy clearing out clutter. And when those moods hit me, there’s chaos around the home!

I get into ‘clean up’ mode and pick up something to throw away.

“Not that, dear. I want it” says my wife.

I glare at her… but back down at the next sentence.

“If that goes, so does your (one of the few things I treasure)”

So I drop it, and pick up the next piece of ‘junk’.

And a piercing scream is followed by, “Daddy, that’s my precious ____ . Don’t throw it away. Please. Please. Please.”

The pleading won’t end until I give up.

Finally, after spending 30 minutes on a task that should have been done in 5, I carry down a box or bag - only to meet the glaring stare my mom fixes on it.

“You aren’t thinking of throwing away that, are you?” she asks. I wearily subject the contents to her scrutiny - and carry out a much lighter box to the garbage bin.

After each of these tussles, I think about the act of cutting out clutter.

Both in our physical lives, and in the world of our thoughts and past memories.

My uncle visited us recently, after a hiatus of over 10 years. For weeks, my mom was excited and could speak about little else.

When he finally arrived, after ramping up anticipation to fever pitch, the ‘actuality’ was a relative let-down. After his visit, there was little said about it.

Reality had shattered illusion.

Nostalgic moments are best treasured in our minds. On that rich, variegated stage, in a show of which we are director, producer and actor rolled together, we can give those memories any tinge and flavor we wish.

Smooth out the wrinkles. Conceal the lines and scars. Erase any unpleasant associations or character flaws.

And on the screen of our mind, we can play back those lovely nostalgia movies any way we like.

But once you focus the harsh spotlight of today’s reality on those fanciful thought forms, the magic disappears. Mirages dissolve like lovely chalk drawings on the pavement on a rainy day.

What’s left behind is bleak, ordinary, even boring.

That’s a pretty sad way to re-live the best memories of our rich lives, don’t you think?

Nostalgia is a sentimental attachment to the past, a wistful look at vintage memories that make you go ‘Aah…’

And your ‘clutter’ might just be someone else’s trigger for those memories.

Just make sure you save the right ‘clutter’ to use as triggers - or else they’ll end up shooting you in the foot, and make you go ‘Ouch!’ instead!

More details about ‘Google Fun’ - click here

Credit for this tip goes to Ed Dale - join his ‘30 Day Challenge’, it’s free!

The question has haunted me for years.

As a 3rd year medical student, on our first posting in the clinical medicine unit, our professor asked us a question.

“Why did you decide to become a doctor?”

The ensuing interrogation was penetrating and funny. It might go like this with one student.

“Sir, because my father is a doctor too.”

“So, then, if your father had been a carpenter, would you have become one?”

“No, sir, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“So, why did you decide to become a doctor?”

“Well, I want to help people.”

“You can help them by being a nurse, a policeman, a tailor - even a carpenter! Why choose to be a doctor?”

“I can make a lot of money!”

“Yes, and you can do that more easily in other fields. Why be a doctor?”

… and on and on.

The answers were interesting. But the important lesson that experience taught me was about critical thinking.

About asking the question, “Why?”

And about not stopping until you get at the ‘real’ answer.

- - - -

1989 was the year I grew up.

It was when I did my medical internship.

That was when theoretical concepts, technical knowledge and years of physical and mental preparation were brought face to face with raw human suffering.

It was a shock… like being thrown into freezing waters of a rough sea - without a life-jacket.

Until then, as medical students, we had been shielded and protected from the harshness and emotional turmoil of clinical practice.

As an intern on the wards, that safety net was suddenly jerked away, the training wheels yanked off, the protective guard around us withdrawn… and all of a sudden, we were face to face with the reality of being a doctor.

Like steel is tempered by fire, we young medical practitioners were conditioned by the ravages and suffering, courage and fortitude, pain and hope displayed by a healing humanity.

We had to cope as best as our nature, character and training allowed.

In the end, we came out as doctors.

- - - -

One of the toughest things to learn to face - and accept - was Death.

It is never easy when a patient in one’s care dies. It wasn’t then. It isn’t now.

And every time it happened, the questions would repeat themselves over and over, into the wee, dark hours of many sleepless nights.

Why him?

Why now?

Why this way?

Why not me?

And these “Why”s led inevitably to that tormenting question - “Who am I?”

Every physician in training goes through this process. The lucky ones find the answers. The rest suffer through agony for years as they seek them.

In those days, I studied history and psychology, religion and philosophy, trying to find a hint that would lead to the answer. The diverse interests developed at that time have continued over the years. And in time, bits became clearer.

Today, as I read Eckhart Tolle’s book, “A New Earth”, I feel many more parts of the complex equation coming into sharper focus.

It’s a fascinating, yet slow, read - because what the author says has me pausing every few pages to THINK. Not many books have that impact. This is a good one.

Taken together, Victor Frankl’s masterpiece, “Man’s Search For Meaning”, and Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” will probably be the keys that unlock the mystery of that deep question… “Who Am I?”

I know a lot about the man behind it - the master marketer named John Reese.

No, this is not about the public persona of a famous IM guru. It is about how John Reese impacted me, my business and my non-profit work. I regard him highly and count him among my friends for that reason alone.

John Reese taught me the power of succeeding massively in business.

The lesson came from his Traffic Secrets launch in 2004. No, not from the product - but from the event. It raked in $1 million in less than a day. Out of this windfall, John Reese made a donation of $10,000 to the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation. It funded heart surgery for 4 children.

That was a revelation. Until then, I had been content with modest success in my online business. After that event, I realized it was far more reliable - and also easier - to build my own business to the point where profits could fund my dream project to help poor Indian children receive life-saving treatment.

Applying my knowledge and experience with a renewed vigor, I have grown my business to the level where my own contribution to the Foundation out of my profits has far exceeded that $10,000 donation in 2004.

But without that push, it may never have happened.

John Reese gave me the ‘WHY’ - and then Jay Abraham gave me the ‘HOW’.

And how that happened is another way John Reese touched my marketing life. (It also is a good reason YOU may want to participate in the launch of Traffic Secrets 2.0, even if only as an observer - read on to see what I mean)

Let me take you back to 2004 again. I did not join the Traffic Secrets affiliate program. I was not one of the many people who received a review copy of the course. But I was one of the keenest observers of that launch.

I saved EVERYTHING!

On John Reese’s Marketing Secrets blog, I swiped-and-saved every single blog post going back 6 months (yes, that’s when his ‘anticipation marketing’ began). I watched each tactic he deployed with such deadly effectiveness. I signed up for his email list and saved every message to a folder.

After the launch, and before the Traffic Secrets course that I had bought arrived, I went back and studied all the material saved. And then, used EVERY one of them in my own marketing of a course called ‘Quick Niche Profits’.

It was a monthly print newsletter with CD-ROM - priced at $197.00 every quarter. With no more than 5 JV partners, purely through the effectiveness of a proven marketing system that a top-notch marketer was using in his own big launch, I got over 200 subscribers to join.

The profits from that great launch were used to both fund heart surgery through my Foundation, and to buy expensive training material from America’s biggest marketing guru and consultant, Jay Abraham.

That opportunity created another paradigm shift in my quantum of success. From a low 4-figure annual revenue, I grew by 300% every year for many years.

And as the business grew, the amount I could donate to the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation went up too. And along with it, the goals I set for the project kept moving higher.

From hoping to fund 1 operation every year, the goal had gone to 5, and then 10 per year. Today, I can realistically hope to fund ONE HUNDRED operations every year in a short time from now.

It all started with a mindset and a method.

Both were taught to me by a marketing specialist named John Reese. And that is the man who is behind the creation of Traffic Secrets 2.0

NOBODY knows what’s inside the course. All the affiliate generated noise you hear is just that - a mindless parroting of what the ‘marketing manual’ says. The only bits of Traffic Secrets 2.0 that ANYONE has had a chance to look at are the free videos John Reese has made available on his Income.com blog.

But MANY PEOPLE know the man behind the course. What you’re hearing is an endorsement of that person. A trust that is well-founded by a stellar track record.

You decide about the reason why you’ll participate in John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2.0 launch.

• You may want to learn methods to drive web traffic, and might consider buying the course (it’s going to cost $397, less if you own the earlier version).

• You may want to satisfy your curiosity about what the IM universe is buzzing over - and viewing those free videos may scratch your itch.
• Or you may want to study a marketing master at work… and as I’ve shown through my own personal experience, that can be wildly profitable too.

Whatever your reason, if you’re ready to take the next step, watch the videos and join the mailing list… you can do it from this web page - click here.