From Dan Peña – "The Money Messiah" and Mentor/Coach for The New Millennium

Dear Friend and Subscriber:

I think this response to my recent newsletter and my reply is worthy of a newsletter in and of itself.:

Dear Mr. Pena,

As per your comments;

**You should check with a lawyer, but what you did may be illegal!

I went to my lawyer today and he said the position I am in stinks but is not illegal. He will check into it further with a securities lawyer to be sure. If it is illegal then I will follow his prudent advice and do damage control, which I hope and pray is not too costly to my good name or my pocket book.

** You are changing the deal if it was 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 before ! ** If you said it would be evenly split – you are changing the deal.

You are right, I changed the deal. QLA demands that I keep my word in a deal even if it is a bad one. No excuses, end of story. I went back to them and unchanged it – to the original deal. I said I would not be a part of anything illegal though. I still will not handle any of their funds. My financial situation is precarious and they are better served by the liaison person.

**It’s not about betrayal. It’s naivete and or greed even at the subconscious level. It’s also natural. Don’t be hard on yourself ! You can always go back to the original deal !

I like the way you put that.

Gulp. I hate like hell to say it but I did three deals last year and none bore any real wealth. The first, a dot.com went dot.death. I owned 10%. Then the one we are talking about now which needs no further introduction. The third is supposedly delayed until the second quarter of 2001? I hope to buy a Castle seminar with those profits. The year before in 1999 I started a general contracting company which is now going broke. I had better get it together or I will be bankrupt in three months. No honor in that. With that said I have a company to save and I have to go.

Thank you for your sage advice. Have a super weekend.

Sincerely, J

As I said in my last letter, many deals will be made in a lifetime of business. People will judge you over a lifetime. I received this response from a QLA follower I This man got involved with an opportunity and involved some other people, as happens more often than not. Others get involved because you need money and/or other assistance.

In this particular case, one of the individuals involved was a con man – a dishonest person! Eventually, the dishonest person was found out. The business opportunity involved a public company. Remember, public companies have specific rules and regulations.

When the writer discovered the con man, he attempted to make the wrong right by exposing the con man. The public company (apparently out of gratitude) gave the writer compensation for what he did. He then shared the compensation equally with his two partners – a husband and wife. Later he discussed with his partners what if he was to receive more compensation from the grateful public company as promised. The writer suggested they split whatever was received 50/50 as opposed to equal thirds. The rationale was the wife really didn’t do anything. Of course there is always a reason why the deal should change. And normally it’s some form of "they didn’t really earn it", etc.

Obviously, the husband/wife were outraged. The writer then said he would allow the public company to determine who would get what, and he apologized for changing the deal. Of course, the damage had been done.

I advised the writer that what he did may not be legal vis-a-vis the public company, and he was changing the deal. He went to his lawyer and admitted he had changed the deal. He also said the deal would be the original one which was agreed. The writer is financially in bad shape, so he probably needs money. This is one of the biggest reasons for changing a deal : money / greed!

I go on to say "It’s not about betrayal. It’s naivete and/or greed at the subconscious level. It’s also natural. Don’t be hard on yourself! You can always go back to the original deal!"

Unfortunately, people box themselves in – then trap themselves by listening to people who agree with them for various reasons, i.e., the same greed, etc. I often say ask your spouse, priest, rabbi, mother or another financially/emotionally disinterested person. While your spouse is emotionally/financially involved, their head is normally screwed on straighter than yours.

It’s not easy to admit you’re wrong. You’ve taken the harsh position and now have nowhere to go. At least that’s what you think.

I wrote with pride in my last newsletter about my young Dutch partner. He has grit (balls) and will do well in life. The other two deals I alluded to have progressed. One has been solved by the partner, as I hoped and believed would happen. The second potential problem can still be rectified, by hasn’t yet.

I sincerely believe all the people described are good and honest. We often get misled in life! We don’t think through all the permutations! We, more often than not, don’t factor in the absolute downside because we convince ourselves the other side will take less than agreed rather than blow the deal up – leaving nothing for everybody. That’s a bad gamble with a high performance person! Integrity has no value!

To Your Quantum Leap,
Dan Peña

PS. All mentioned in my last letter subscribe to my internet newsletter. Of course, you all probably knew that.

PPS. Another response from my last newsletter came from a former Dutch partner. He is doing well and I posted his email to my website under Testimonials. The funny thing is I miss him and his outrageous actions too!

RESPONSE SLOW TO FREE ADVICE
PPPS. Remember as promised, as part of the new QLA Millennium Internet Format, a ‘Free Consultation Program’ was initiated — 01/01/01. Once a quarter, the subscriber who introduces the most new subscribers to the newsletter, will receive one hour’s FREE consultation. THE NEW SUBSCRIBER MUST MENTION YOUR NAME AND SUBSCRIBE VIA MAIL@DANPENA.COM. This one hour consultation [worth $3,000.00], can be used in parts, or all at once over a given year. Alternatively, it can be used to reduce the cost of any QLA seminar. Monthly winners of the introduction program will receive my best-selling book "Your First 100 Million" FREE –a $400.00 value. The January winner will be announced soon! Yearly winners will receive a FREE three-day "Executive Castle Seminar" at Guthrie Castle — a $9,000.00 value. In addition, for every "Your First 100 Million" purchased via my website, a 10% discount on the "Executive Castle Seminar" will be given. All the above incentives are exclusively for the benefit of QLA Internet Newsletter subscribers ONLY. Specifics on the new QLA Millennium Internet Newsletter program will be posted on my website SOON, but the race began 01/01/01. Questions can be forwarded to: mail@danpena.com