The Power Within
Another busy weekend as usual, but we tackled it with fresh resolve after attendding the motivating seminar the Power Within on Friday. If you hadn’t heard about it, the Power Within Seminar was a full day of world class speakers, ranging from the producer of the infamous Survivor series, Mark Burnett, to the equally well-known author and national talk show host, Dr. Phil McGraw.
The most inspiring and exciting speaker for us was Mark Burnett, producer of Survivor. His rags to riches tale was enough to pump any entrepreneur to take immediate action. At age 22, he took a job as a nanny in California for a 21 year old girl. This position lasted for a year. After that stint was over, he took another nanny position for two kids, this time, the kids were nine and seven. He stayed with them for a couple years.
Then he got an idea. He left his nanny job, took $2,000 and invested it in t-shirts. He took these shirts and sold them in Venice Beach and multiplied his wealth to $18,000. He continued other business ventures, such as providing credit cards to people who couldn’t qualify for credit and made a small fortune.
One day, he was at a party. He told all the attractive women that he was a banker, thinking that would be a good way to get them interested. Well, they weren’t. He noticed, however, that his producer friend wasn’t having any problem with the ladies. So he thought to himself, I guess I’d better become a producer. That was the beginning of his Survivor Series.
Another funny story he shared with us was his first meeting with Donald Trump regarding the Apprentice. Mark had this fantastic idea for the show and contacted Donald directly. Donald, of course, loved the idea and went for it. He told Mark to work out the details with his agent. When Mark did, the agent disliked the idea and found numerous problems with it. Really, he was angry that he didn’t go through him (the agent) first. When Mark called Donald to tell him that his agent didn’t go for it, Donald called his agent back immediately. Guess what he told him? He uttered his famous TV line, “You’re fired!” Donald and his agent eventually worked it out and the Apprentice became a reality. Mark said Donald’s agent hated it when he told that story.
Needless to say, the day was fantastic. We’ll provide other interesting insights in future blogs. Make it a great day!