2009 August 30 | HODGEPODGE BLOG

Who packed your parachute?

On August 30, 2009, in Motivational, by jHodgepodge

Tom Mathews has built an amazing team of over 20,000 people. After getting to know him, I realized…He’s a leader who “gets it.” He truly understands the power of recognition, kindness, and setting personal goals. Also, in all of our conversations it was never “me,” but always “we” when discussing any success he had enjoyed in his business.

Today I’d like to share a great story from Tom’s book: Aim for the Heart…Leading to Build Great Teams. Enjoy!

Who Packed Your Parachute?
An excerpt from Aim for the Heart
By Tom Mathews

As a leader, do you honor and appreciate the power of WE? Do you stop to thank and recognize the members of your team? Do you consistently show an attitude of gratitude?

I recently read a great story about Captain Charles Plumb, a graduate from the Naval Academy, whose plane, after 74 successful combat missions over North Vietnam, was shot down. He parachuted to safety, but was captured, tortured and spent 2,103 days in a small box-like cell.

After surviving the ordeal, Captain Plumb received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit and two Purple Hearts, and returned to America and spoke to many groups about his experience and how it compared to the challenges of every day life.

Shortly after coming home, Charlie and his wife were sitting in a restaurant. A man rose from a nearby table, walked over and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

Surprised that he was recognized, Charlie responded, “How in the world did you know that?” The man replied, “I packed your parachute.” Charlie looked up with surprise. The man pumped his hand, gave a thumbs-up, and said, “I guess it worked!”

Charlie stood to shake the man’s hand, and assured him, “It most certainly did work. If it had not worked, I would not be here today.”

Charlie could not sleep that night, thinking about the man. He wondered if he might have seen him and not even said, “Good morning, how are you?” He thought of the many hours the sailor had spent bending over a long wooden table in the bottom of the ship, carefully folding the silks and weaving the shrouds of each chute, each time holding in his hands the fate of someone he didn’t know.

Plumb then began to realize that along with the physical parachute, he needed mental, emotional and spiritual parachutes. He had called on all these supports during his long and painful ordeal.

As a leader, how many times a day, a week, a month, do we pass up the opportunity to thank those people in our organization who are “packing our parachutes?”

I love great stories. They can speak to our souls. This is one of 28 great stores shared by Tom Mathews in his book: Aim for the Heart…Leading to Build Great Teams.

Today we’re pleased to offer the book for $15.95. Our regular price is $15.95. To watch our 3 minute movie or to look inside the book, just click here

To Life,

Mac Anderson
Founder, Simple Truths

99% of entrepreneurs make this mistake

On August 30, 2009, in Affiliates, Business, Good To Know, Marketing, by jHodgepodge

Dear Early to Rise Reader

-99 percent of all aspiring entrepreneurs spend the bulk of their time searching for the next Hot New Product.This is a huge mistake. And I’ll tell you why…There’s a virtually unlimited supply of “Hot Old Products” just waiting for you to pluck them out of obscurity and offer them to millions of eager buyers. The best part? You can get your hands on these “hidden treasures” for practically nothing. Plus, this “Hot Old Products” strategy doesn’t involve buying storerooms full of second-hand items. It doesn’t require selling “overflow” items that other companies couldn’t sell. It doesn’t mean peddling junk on eBay or Craig’s List. It’s not a multi-level-marketing scheme. Yet this secret is embarrassingly simple. If you can recognize the much-overlooked value of “Hot Old Products”… And if you know where to find the gems with the biggest selling potential… You stand to rake in piles of extra cash.How much, you ask? You have the power to make anywhere from a few hundred bucks a month to hundreds of thousands a year. For example…

A martial arts expert from Florida stumbled upon a few “old treasures” – one from 1914. He estimates that one made over $20,000 in one month… But he was just getting started. Another decades-old goldmine has gone on to pull in a verifiable bounty of over $332,252.00.

A 32-year-old Internet marketer also caught on to this “Hot Old Products” secret. He discovered a little-known “retired powerhouse” that brought in $19,453.00 in just 3 weeks.

Another “dead” product was brought back to life – and has since sold 15 million units and counting.

Even some of the world’s richest businesspeople – Walt Disney and Ted Turner, to name two of the most famous – have mastered this secret… In fact, this single secret is a major factor in their massive wealth.

Once you possess this much-overlooked knowledge, you’ll know exactly where to find hidden stores of “forgotten” money-makers.

We’ve wrangled three of the country’s leading experts on this secret (including the martial arts expert and the Internet marketer I mentioned above) to spill the beans. They’ve agreed to reveal all the details to cashing in on old, dust-covered, and even downright dead products.Find out how you could start pulling in anywhere from a few hundred bucks a month to a few hundred thousand bucks a year right here
All the best,

Charlie Byrne
Associate Publisher, Early to Rise