Recent Success Stories

"I was able to almost triple my income in just 30 days as a result of working with Christopher Howard. Not only did the work we did together impact my financial future, but he assisted me in finding my life’s purpose. I am more on track and excited about life then ever before."

— Jon Andre Bliss, USA

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Success is not all about who has the latest communication technology, BlackBerry, laptop, or cell phone. In this age of communication, ultimate success is determined by who has the best communication skills.

This means:
(1) how and what we communicate to ourselves inside our own mind and body, which includes how we think; and
(2) how we communicate with other people.

Everything we have covered thus far has been about improving our internal communication. Much of the rest of the book is devoted to ways you can communicate with others to create synergistic relationships and inspire others to work together to carry your vision forth and make it a reality. The question is, how do you get 10, 20, 100, or even thousands of people conspiring for your success?

When Richard Branson was 15 years old he launched his first business venture, called Student Magazine. It was born out of frustration because he wasn’t doing well in school. He had been branded dyslexic at an early age, so he concluded that school wasn’t going to be the place where he would excel. Due to a knee injury he also realised that sports could not be his platform on which to shine. At this point he could have chosen to believe his problems were going to hold him back for the rest of his life – but he didn’t. Instead he decided he’d make his impact in business.

He thought there was a niche in the market for a magazine that would air the political views of the student population in Britain, so he founded Student Magazine. In order to make it work, he had to sell ad space to fund the venture. In fact, at the beginning he had to sell ad space for a magazine that didn’t actually exist. It’s easy to look at him now, see his multi-billion dollar empire, and assume his level of success is out of reach for you. But Branson didn’t build that empire overnight. It was a journey, and when you break it down, you realise that there were some simple, solid skill sets that went into making it happen.

So here he was, 15 years old, and he needed to sell ad space in a non-existent magazine in order to make his vision a reality. He picked up the phone and started calling every business in town. There is a certain amount of courage that goes into that kind of action, as well as a level of communication excellence and negotiation skills, not to mention influence and persuasion. But there must also be an ability to convey a vision of something. Having the vision isn’t enough. The magicians in the material world are those who can weave the abstract vision, then reach up into the ether and pull it down with enough specificity to turn it into results.

Branson was able to do that and Student Magazine was born. It wasn’t a huge financial success, so later in his career when the magazine started to flounder, he decided to use it to launch a little mail order record business call Virgin Records, and that worked a little better. But he was frustrated at the way the music industry worked because, as a retailer of music, his ability to make money was capped. He realised there would be more money in the business if he could get involved with the musicians themselves and actually cut the records rather than just sell and distribute them.

His next step was to create The Manor, a 15-bedroom house in the English country side where artists could come and record music. This was an ambitious project; 15-bedroom houses don’t come cheap! Once again he found himself in a position where he had to communicate his dream and sell the vision, this time to investors.

Imagine a young kid in his early 20s walking into the bank and asking for a mortgage on a 15-bedroom house! Yet he did it. He walked into Couttes Bank and was able to communicate his vision for The Manor so successfully and so powerfully that he persuaded the bank to give him a mortgage.

He then persuaded his parents to kick in another $2,500 and his aunt another $7,500. Suddenly an idea has become a reality. Branson set up The Manor, which launched the Virgin empire we know today.

…. Further down this chapter…

I look at all those stories and the results these people achieved, not just in terms of the money they made but in terms of the change they were able to affect in the world around them. These powerful individuals were able to act effectively in order to get results. They all thought outside the box of conventionality and then created outrageous dreams by selling these dreams first to themselves and then to those around them. That is my definition of power and influence.

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