The intangible tangible

A couple of years ago, I was at a major event with my company and it was lunchtime. So I am spending time with about a dozen of my partners and we are catching up and enjoying our fellowshipping time. One of the women wants to introduce me to a Dentist who has come as her guest. She was very excited about the prospects of this man building a business and just knew that he would be excited about moving forward after being at this wonderful event and hearing the founders speak, and the Dr. speak, and seeing all the great people, etc.



So I mosey around to the other side of the table (these are standing tables) and before I even reach him, I can feel the negative energy coming from him. It was like a fog enveloping this man and it was seeping towards me as I came closer. Sure enough, he had nothing but negative to say. "This is a bunch of..." "This isn't real..." and so on. I did what I usually do, I went up to him, and after being introduced, I shook his hand and smiled and thanked him for coming...and I parted company from him within one minute. I was certain that I would never see him again.



Last week I was at another event, and there was this man again. Now if I told you I was surprised, I would be lying. I knew he would be at the event. You see he was negative and he grumbled, and he even left early from the event two years ago...but he didn't walk completely away. The energy was just too positive for him. There were too many things said that he couldn't truly disregard. He ended up digging into the products on his own. He ended up watching what was going on, and pretty soon he began referrring the products to others.



Now he has reached a milestone level in the recognition levels. He is still in the early part of building his business but it is growing...but that isn't the moral of this story. The person I saw at the event last week, and I was with him on two separate days, in no way resembled the man I met two years ago. This man was friendly and fun. He was a blast to be around. I was prepared for him to be there and I knew it would not be negative...but I was not prepared for the transformation I witnessed. It was incredible. I've seen this before...the effect of spending time around positive caring people for a period of time. This community effect is intangible to explain to someone...you really can't capture it in words or articulate it in a way where someone else can really grasp what you mean.

It has to be experienced. But once it has been experienced, the effect over time becomes very tangible. One of the most powerful aspects of our business is being in relationship with the kinds of people we attract and the kind of people we develop. There is nothing like it anywhere else.