This is the stuff made of legends.

Imagine a man, whom, for the last 15 years, became a multi-millionaire creating "The Marathon Group", a top network distributor group in networking company Unicity International. His group spans all over North and South America, Europe and Asia, and because of their reach, they have created the largest portion of multi-millionaires within the company!

Today, he has become the CEO and part-owner of Unicity International.

His name is Stewart Hughs.

Consider the following excerpts from the book, Prescription For Success, by James W. Robinson:

As a successful investment banker in the 1980s, Stewart had a chance to study one particular network marketing company inside out. "As a result, unlike many other professionals, I developed an extremely positive view of network marketing from the very beginning. Done right and with integrity, it is the most exciting and impressive way to do business."

In 1990, Stewart decided to put his opinions into action and joined a leading Network Marketing company in the US. "Nobody ever pitched me to do the business. I pitched myself on them."

Just over a year later, he decided he had to move on. "They are good, but not dramatic enough for me - simply not crusade material for Stewart Hughes," he says.

So, he began looking around. On Aug 15, 1991, he signed on as distributor with the then Rexall Showcase International (which in 2001 became part of Unicity). He was very impressed by the company and the quality of the leadership. He found the company to be "very solid", and thought that if the Bios Life 2 product worked, "it was something I could get really excited about. This could be crusade material."

On the date he signed up, his cholesterol level stood at 206. Forty five days later, it was 144 - thanks to the Bios Life product. And while the cholesterol went down, his income started going up and up and up. "I brought home $300,000 the first year, doubled it the next year, and reached $800,000 the third year."

After hearing so much about this living legend, we finally get the chance to meet him face to face!


This thursday, 25th May, Stewart will address Singaporean distributors at Meritus Mandarin Hotel, 7.30pm, and he is likely to focus on the very 'crusade material' that got him on to Unicity: Bios Life 2. From the looks of it, the event promises to be jam-packed and high energy!

The event will also include a short recognition segment for new leaders who has started to climb the ranks, and of special interest to me is the inclusion of Stephanie Leong, our speech and hearing impaired 'business woman extraordinaire' as one of the keynote speakers! Stephanie will share, literally, in her own words, while I assist her on stage!

Watch this space for more updates on this events!

View the event flyer here
Special thanks to Eng Hai for providing the indepth details about Stewart Hughs!

Sitting at a 24 hour indian eatery at 1am in the morning, I had a long drawn out conversation with Forrest, a good buddy, personal hair stylist, and soon-to-be business partner in an exciting new business venture. One favorite topic that stood out in my mind was about his changing passion.

Forrest is a very passionate hair dresser, taking extreme pride in his 'hair arts'. But lately, he finds that his interest has started peeking into looking at business opportunities with me, so that he can make more money and leading a more comfortable life.

"I think I'm losing my passion to reality" He tells me.

"Really?" I asked with more than a little alarm in my voice. After all, losing a dream to worldly constraints and social norms (otherwise called 'reality') hardly sounded like good news.

I wanted to be sure, and so I asked: "What is it that you like most about hair dressing, Forrest?"

And he said: "I believe that if I can help someone look the best they can, they will feel even better about themselves, and that will help them to develop a greater confidence in themselves."

And I thought that was a profound point.

It turns out that Forrest's real passion was in inspiring people to discover and feel good about who they are, and it gives him joy and enthusiasm to do that. Hair dressing came along the way as a convenient occurance that allowed him to express that passion.

Since our schooling years, we've been so accustomed to think about what we want to become when we "grow up", and we spend much of our growing years pondering and trying to squeeze ourselves into predefined roles in society. That's alot of emphasis on the what we can "DO". But what about the bit on what we can "BE"?

A teacher asks "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And a little boy says "I want to be a doctor" - because doctors make people feel better when they don't feel too good, just like how he feels whenever he visits his family doctor.

But he doesn't know this. And because teacher's aren't normally trained to ask things like "What do you like about being a doctor?", he doesn't get to discover what he really feel inside.

As he grows up, the little boy, now an energetic young man, pursues a degree in medicine. But this time, it's because he's been told how he has a bright career if he does. And then he graduates and fulfills his goal.

Then reality sets in. He's spending countless hours in the hospital, away from his family. Politics are rife among his colleagues, patients are making legal claims against mal-practices, and there are lots of paperwork to cover the legal issues, now all of a sudden, this doesn't seem so fun anymore! Where was that 'bright career' he was looking for? The energetic young man, who is now a tired, frustrated middle-age man, stops in his tracks and asks himself: "What is this all about, really?"

He never got in touch with his true passion since he was a little boy: to help people feel better when they are not feeling too good.

A year later, to the suprise of many around him, he quit his job as a doctor to join a seminary, where he studied to become a pastor.

For both Forrest and the middle-aged man, reality set in to help them re-look at their lives to discover their true passions all over again. It isn't always a job description, but sometimes a personal life purpose, that has to be run outside of any single discernable job scope.

I finished up my drink at the indian eatery, and gave a quiet "thank you" to Life for that amazing little insight from my conversation with Forrest. I now contantly re-examining my passion and purpose to get to know again the little boy that I was before. It isn't always about the DOING, I remind myself, it's about the BE-ING.

What would you like to BE when you grow up? ;)

This topic came up in the Wow-Her.com forum, after someone stumbled upon what was presumeably a famous hokkien song about the same topic.

Some people said that they would go on trips, and some said they would hold huge parties, and yet more people said that they would put their money into investments; make that million dollars grow and multiply the joy!

I thought that last idea was very prudent use of money: let it work for you, and create a continuous stream of income to enjoy for a long time!

Yet what is it I REALLY want from that million dollars?

I recall a conversation I had with Eng Hai, and felt moved to share. Here was what I said in the forum:

I just recalled something I learnt from my mentor (who is incidentally a reknown guru in the investment circle) that I feel very moved to share. This was an actual conversation I had with my mentor.

He asked that question once: "What would you do with a million dollars today?"
And I said "I'll invest it and get more money back", clearly wanting to impress his investment persona.

And he asked "What will you do with 'more money'?"
"I'll use part of it to buy whatever I want, and re-invest the other part."

"And what is it that you want?" He asked finally.

After a weak answer, several 'ums' and 'ahs' later, he spoke again with a laugh "You clearly don't know what you want!"

I learnt that day that the point to his question to me wasn't really the 1 million dollars, it was what I wanted for myself in an absence of constraints. I continue to teach this ideas to my own students (I do some coaching to my own business team).

People say money is not an end in itself, but a means to an end: it was meant to be a vehicle to help us do and achieve things - from little things like getting food to fill our tummy, to great things like building churches and temples. What we want, money can get for us.

Yet sometimes we forget that, and end up wanting money on its own. That's where it gets unhealthy. We don't really know whyAnd the funny thing is this: if you don't know what to do with money, money will not find its way to you.

So, my friends, what will you do with one million dollars today? :)

View the Forum Discussion here

Yipee!

How about that? A brand new look! :)

I was a little tired of the dull, old layout and was opting for a little 'freshness' in the website. And so, after a night's worth of slogging and brain-cracking, I finally came out with something that I like: light, expandable, and easy to read!

I particularly liked the picture at the top, as it goes well with the little story prologue that appears at the top :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the brand new face of AnyBanter.com! I hope you'll enjoy it!