WOW, Jess and I just had such an amazing experience out in Phoenix, AZ. Below is a little background as to why we were going in the first place and some of the highlights from our trip out west.
As many of you know, Rich Dad Poor Dad literally changed my life. Thank God for that little black and purple book. It’s helped shape my business life in so many ways and snuck some personal lessons in as well. A few years ago, we invited some of the Rich Dad executives out to Michigan to collaborate on an online reinforcement program for the book. One of the executives that came out was Phillip Lechter. Phil is the son of Sharon Lechter who co-wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad. Phil and I hit it off immediately and became very good friends. For reasons that I won’t bore you with, the product never came to life, but the friendship remained.
Fast forward a few years later, both Sharon and Phil have decided to separate from their business partner and follow their passion of providing financial literacy for young people. They had a powerful brand in Rich Dad, but needed a powerful vehicle to reach thousands of teens across the world. Enter Dale Carnegie. Phil is a Dale Carnegie graduate and has a great affinity for the course. He and I have spoken about it often and he knows I’ve worked with the Dale Carnegie Franchise network for years. He called me and asked if I could help them get a program off the ground that would combine the courage and confidence course from Dale Carnegie with the financial literacy material from Rich Dad Poor Dad. WHAT?!?!?! Two passions that run so deeply in both me and Jessica and they are looking to join forces? Too good to be true. I was ready to help any way I could.
Sharon had already made strides by speaking to Dale Carnegie corporate, but in order to gain momentum, she needed to win the crowd! That crowd was the franchisees and I introduced her to the best and brightest. People like John Rodgers, Bob Herrera, Aaron Kent, Dave Rust, Herb Escher, Phil Zeller, Rick Gallegos and others. She won them all over and the financial literacy, personal development and confidence course was born.
This trip was to kick-off the content and marketing development for this powerful program. Sharon invited us out to Phoenix for three days of intense brainstorming and green light thinking.
Oh yeah, she also offered to sit down with me and discuss the book I recently wrote about internet marketing for small business owners. Yes, the author of the book that sold over 13 million copies was going to give me her ear for as long as I needed. I had died and gone to heaven.
So we arrived in Phoenix and, of course, I was battling a cold. Classic. Nonetheless, we headed over to Sharon’s house for a welcome dinner and to get to know each other. She had already gathered a group of great people. We were first introduced to her husband, Michael Lechter, who is a successful businessman in his own right. He is a patent attorney and helped the Cleveland Browns keep their name when the team was moved to Baltimore.
Next was Kevin Stock, the guy behind the design of Rich Dad Poor Dad and created the brilliant purple and black brand.
She had this wonderful, brilliant high school teacher (Dave) there who’s been teaching financial literacy to his students for years. They have joined forces to create this content for the new program.
And of course my buddy Phil – ready and excited to launch this powerful new course with his mom.
Side note – Sharon is so passionate about teaching kids about financial education. She can’t get through talking about it without crying. It’s really wonderful and inspiring to see someone so passionate about their professional mission in life.
Of course Sharon lives in a gorgeous house looking out at the beautiful Arizona Mountains. She had a personal chef there, Eric, who was also a wine sommelier. That’s French for “knows way too much about wine.” Needless to say, we ate the most amazing food all three days.
The next two days were intense and absolutely fantastic. The time we spent with just her group was very productive and then the next day we invited all my franchise contacts to work on the course content and marketing. These guys came with phenomenal ideas, comments and suggestions and Sharon was so pumped and so excited about the future. She also was so very thankful for what Jess and I contributed and we both felt so honored just to be able to participate. That’s the thing about Sharon -- she’s hugely successful but she’s as real as they get. She makes you feel like part of the family the minute you enter her home. But not part of the family enough to let me drive her Aston Martin roadster. Phil told me he's not allowed to drive it either so I didn’t feel so bad.
The last day was about my book. I was humbled and honored that Michael (her husband) sat in on the conversation as well. They both were very complimentary of the book and gave me great feedback. Sharon capped it off with an official endorsement and quote for my book and they both promised to assist me on bringing it to market. Can you read the giddiness in my writing? Unbelievable.
Here’s the quote!
“Do you want to ignite your sales and drastically increase profits through the Internet? This is the first book that gives practical, easy-to-follow action steps proven to increase traffic to your Website. You’ll think Corey Perlman wrote Internet Marketing for the Small Business Owner just for you.”
Jess and I are on the plane heading home with hearts filled and heads flowing with ideas and thoughts for the future. I’m also heading home with badly burnt shins. We got a few hours at the pool on our last day and Jess told me to put sunscreen on, but I informed her real men don’t wear sunscreen. This real man is now very uncomfortable and is using his apple-cranberry can to cool the burn. Nice.
Much love to you all!
corey and jess
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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