From Dan Peña – "The Money Messiah" and Mentor/Coach for The New Millennium
Dear Friend and Subscriber:
Well, my first book signing is now part of history. In this case, a number of bad analogies come to mind for reasons that will become obvious when I explain (briefly) what happened. Rain! Rain! Rain! And no books! Yes, they couldn't find "Your First 100 Million" anywhere. Shit happens!
The book signing was designed to be an outdoor event with a band, etc. About the time it was to begin, it poured down buckets!
Shirley McClain's part was indoors (seating for about 20), while the other authors were relegated to suffer from an outburst of nature. It was strange to be on the other end of the celebrity continuum. It's been a long time! That will change!
Anyway, I write not for sympathy – I assure you! I write this non-interim newsletter edition to illustrate a couple of interesting points while still fresh in my mind.
At the event I received via FedEx, personally delivered by the Borders Manager just before the rain started, the following letter. The timing was perfect. The letter is self-explanatory.
October 23, 2000
Dear Mr. Pena,
….I am a newsletter subscriber of yours. I was hoping to be able to come out to Los Angeles and meet you personally at Border's. Unfortunately, I was not able to, so I figured the next best thing would be to write you a letter.
I want to thank you personally for providing your newsletter. I look forward to receiving it and find your no "BS"/no hype approach to business very refreshing. You tell it like it is without sugarcoating anything. Your commitment to your subscribers/customers regarding getting the truth out is second to none and for that I have tremendous respect and admiration for you…..
Do you have any advice you could pass along to me regarding this? Are there any types of business opportunities that I should avoid such as MLM? Mr. Pena, any advice you could pass along would be greatly appreciated.
Again, I am sorry I couldn't be out there in Los Angeles. I hope to get the chance to meet you personally in the near future. Are you going to be in New York anytime in the near future?
Mr. Pena, thank you for your time, help and for sharing your 30+ years of business wisdom with me. Thank you for not allowing yourself to be a part of the "Big Lie" that exists in the business/success development seminar industry.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely
CK
In addition a newsletter subscriber from Cleveland, OH, was there along with another subscriber from LA. The guy from LA was a social service investigator and uses QLA for non-business reasons. He is looking for peace of mind. With the job he has, I'm sure he deserves peace of mind! The gentleman from Cleveland is attempting to use his 25 years experience in real estate to establish a new service to create a B to B internet giant. Subscribers for 3 weeks and 5 months respectively. It was interesting to talk and spend time with them. Too bad the weather probably precluded more from attending. On the other hand, if rain and thunder keeps people from something they want, QLA probably isn't for them!
While I appreciate the opportunity to interface with subscribers, it emphasized the point to me how you can never underestimate how screwed up external events can make your plans, i.e., I had specifically reorganized my calendar to make this event. I have naively thought cutting back on my schedule would preclude such occurrences. I'm sure there will be other occurrences as an author/cyberman!
To our Quantum Leap,
Dan Peña
P.S. When I got home, I had this email.
Dear Dan,
I'm sorry that I did not know that you were going to have a book signing today (10/27) in LA……I was just in Scottsdale, AZ until the 24th…..
Would you be good enough to kindly sign a book for me…..and charge the cost of the book and mailing expense……
I'm enjoying your newsletter very much…and I am always reminded of your great talk at the Ron "X" ?? Seminar in San Diego a couple of years ago. I thought at that time, and still do, that Ron was extremely fortunate to have had you and Rich Powelson speak at that seminar. You may not recall understandably, since you meet so many people at those gatherings all over the world, but I went up to you after your talk and told you how much I enjoyed your talk and how well I felt I could relate to you….with your "down to earth, straight talking, to the point and no holes barred" style. Unfortunately, we only had a very short time to chat…there were others waiting to talk to you. Yes, I'm that tall gray-haired senior citizen…..
May I send you my very best regards and also wish you and your family God's choicest blessings for good health, happiness and love always.
Sincerely,
A
It had rained so hard I couldn't (or didn't want to) get to my car. I thought more about ruining my Saville Row (British hand-made suit) than leaving in a timely manner. So I ate/drank in a crowded Mexican restaurant in the same complex as Borders. It was funny as I strolled through the mall. I looked, or at least I was starred at, like I was from another planet. I was the only three-piece suit, pin-striped, gold pocket-watched guy in the mall.
The point: when you follow the QLA precepts I write about, you will be looked at as if you just landed. It's not easy to go in the face of conventional wisdom. In fact, many times you will find it almost impossible, vis-a-vis what others think of you and/or say about you. That's merely part of the price you pay!
PPS Remember, your life may be in the land of milk and honey – just flowing smoothly! (This is what others say about life. Yea! Sure!) But for most of us, we need a hydrolic or even an atomic pump to get the milk and honey to us. QLA is that pump!
PPPS Why Businesses Fail – I recently added a Free Report to my website. New subscribers to my internet newsletters receive it as an auto-responder. If you're a current subscriber and would like a copy of the Free Report, please email me at mail@danpena.com and I'll have it emailed to you.
