Chapter 10

Appointments with Freedom

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I sat, still staring at the Greatest Networker’s housekeeper, trying to grasp what she had just told me. She politely ignored my stare, and continued with her recounting of my host’s first visit to Japan.

When they finally returned to Tokyo, she said, as they were sitting in his suite at the Imperial Hotel, he’d asked her what would she do to establish a Network Marketing business in Japan? Whom would she choose to direct the effort – with whom did she think and feel would she want to work? – by whom would she want to be sponsored?

“It was so much more of a question than I could answer, then” she told me. “I knew that it was terribly important to him, but I honestly felt that any one of the businessmen at the meeting would be a fine choice, and I told him so.”

“However, I was concerned that none of them had any Network Marketing experience, and he said that was really best anyway.”

That way, he explained, they wouldn’t have to unlearn the business. It would be difficult enough to help them shed their conventional sales and marketing approaches, without having to change what they thought they knew about Networking, too.

“We talked for a number of hours,” she told me, “in fact, well into the next morning. We talked about what I thought would work best in Japan, about how Japanese people worked and lived, and what I thought they valued most and wanted in their lives. I kept trying to get him to tell me what he thought, but he just wanted to know my answers.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” I told her. “He asks more questions than anyone I’ve ever met!”

We laughed, and as we did, the Greatest Networker came back into the room and sat down in a chair facing Kazuko and me.

“So,” he asked, “did Kazuko enlighten you?”

“She was telling me how you met. How you began your Networking business in Japan. And how you never let her ask you any questions – which sounded pretty familiar to me,” I told him.

He laughed and asked, “Did she tell you she was in charge of our Network in Japan?”

“No,” I said with surprise. “She didn’t!”

“Kazuko-san,” he scolded. “Tell him the truth.”

“He chose me to be in charge of our Japanese operations,” she said directly. “He caught a lot of flak for that – at first. His company’s management wanted a highpowered business man, but he kept telling them to give the job to a housekeeper.” She laughed. “Can you imagine how they felt about that? Anyway, he told them I was the best person. I understand they argued a great deal about it… ”

“No, we did not,” he interrupted. “I simply made them a deal that was in their best interests.”

“Oh, yes – you certainly did that.” She laughed, turned to me and said, “He told them to give me the position for one year,
and that if I did not exceed their sales and distributor goals – by 100 percent! – he would sign over his commission checks back to the company for the next 12 months!”

“Really?” I was – again – amazed.

“Yes,” she said. “What’s more, he never told me he’d done that. I only found out on our first anniversary meeting when his president and some other company officials from America came back to Japan.”

“Tell the nice man what the sales goal was, Kazuko.”

“To reach $500,000 a month in Japan by the end of year one,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“And tell the nice man what you actually accomplished,” he prodded.

“No, you tell him, Gaijin-san.” She threw it back to him, pretending displeasure.

“Our little housekeeper here,” he informed me, “was the fastest-growing, most successful distributor in the history of the company – worldwide.”

“Her group, which included all of Japan, did just under $11 million in total sales for their first year. Kazuko became a millionaire before the end of her second year in the business.”

“Incredible!” I gasped, and I must have looked very shocked indeed, because he pointed to my face and they both burst out laughing.

“My friend,” he said leaning forward toward me, “in this business, you will only achieve what your habits of belief allow. I chose Kazuko because I saw that she believed anything was possible. She had no limitations in her paradigm for Network Marketing in Japan. She had none for herself, either. She did not believe that it couldn’t be done – and she refused to listen to anyone who told her otherwise.”

“Ignorance is bliss,” Kazuko added, smiling. “It’s true. I had been blessed with parents who raised me to believe I could do anything I wanted, anything I set my heart and mind to. And that was quite something for a Japanese woman to grow up with, believe me.”

“Besides,” she said, “my dear friend here spent literally every waking hour of every day with me for almost six months to get our business started. All I did was follow him around, translate and do what he taught me.”

“That in itself was one of the most powerful lessons I learned. And I’ve now done that with all my key people,” she added.

“How many leaders do you have?” I asked her.

“Nine key leaders,” she told me.

“How many people have you sponsored, totally?” I asked in surprise.

“Oh, 50 or so,” she said.

“In 10 years?” I asked – again, quite surprised by her answer.

“Yes,” she responded, “in 10 years. That’s another thing my ‘Sensei‘ here taught me.

“He told me that every highly successful Network Marketer he had ever met had earned the majority of his or her income from the sales generated by two to five individual distributor groups built by leadership distributors. He said to look for those four or five people – to ask all my new people right up front if they were committed to achieving that level of leadership and success, and he told me to focus my efforts on developing those men and women who had made that commitment. So I did.”

“What about people who didn’t want to make that kind of commitment?” I asked her.

“I gave people what they wanted,” she said. “Remember, I’m a housekeeper. I take care of people. So, I simply provided people the level of support and gave them the time and attention that was appropriate for where they were and what they wanted to accomplish. But I was very clear about what I wanted. I wanted leaders who would duplicate themselves.

“I never made judgments about what prospects or new distributors wanted,” Kazuko said. “I asked them. And some of them didn’t want to build large Network organizations at first. I knew that for a number of those people, they simply didn’t believe great success was possible for them. So, I always worked on establishing habits of belief that supported them in becoming all they truly wanted to achieve. A number of my leaders today were people who had no idea they were capable of such things when they began.”

“Do you still sponsor people?” I asked.

“Oh yes,” she answered, “but not very often and not usually directly. I help my people downline sponsor, and when I meet someone new and exciting, I match them up with one of my people with whom they’ll enjoy working the most.”

Well, I sat back even deeper into the couch. I’d heard all of this before. Read it in books and interviews in Networking publications. But I’d never sat face-to-face with someone who’d actually done it.

My habits of belief were getting a real stretching lesson here.

“Kazuko,” I asked, “I’m sure you’re able to retire by now. Why do you keep working your Network Marketing business – and why do you still… are you still, a housekeeper?”

“I am involved in Network Marketing because I love it,” she said. “There is nothing else I would rather do. It is how I earn my living,” and the emphasis with which she said my living made it very clear to me that she meant more than a job or even a career.

“I’m still a housekeeper,” she smiled as she said the word, “because I like it. And you know, I’ve come to realize that housekeeping is excellent training for leadership in Network Marketing. Really,” she added, in response to the disbelief on my face. “Network Marketing is all about taking care of people, and I like taking care of people. Especially this Gaijin-San,” she added, pointing bluntly towards my host with one thumb as if she were hitch-hiking. Her obvious affection for my host showed easily through her feigned nonchalance.

“This is my Sensei – my mentor. It is an honor for me to be with him. I learn constantly from him – and from the family. You haven’t met Rachel, yet. You will – he will, yes?” she asked him.

“I trust so,” he answered, “though I’m not sure where she is. Have you seen her today, Kaz?”

“No, I haven’t,” Kazuko replied. “Today’s the 25th. Is this a show day?”

“Every day’s a horse show day – in the Spring,” he said. “I thought today was clear. I’ll have to check my Commitment Book. I know we have an appointment for dinner,” he added.

“Commitment Book?” I asked.

“Like an appointment book,” he answered.

“You make appointments with your family?” The idea of that fascinated me.

“Yup,” he answered, “with Rachel and the kids, too.”

“Ah… ” I asked hesitatingly, “would you tell me about that?”

“Sure. What do you want to know?” he asked.

“Well, it seems strange to make appointments with your own family,” I said.

“That’s a nice opinion,” he said. Then he repeated, “So, what did you want to know?”

“Well, ah… it seems a little cold – doesn’t it?”

“Not to me,” he answered.

“It works for us. I make business appointments and I make family appointments. Making them helps me keep them. They’re my commitments.”

“But,” I said, “doesn’t that take the spontaneity out of things?”

“Just the opposite,” he said. “That’s one way I make certain I have the time for being spontaneous.” He noted my puzzled look. “Let me explain.”

“There was a time when my family took second place to my work. Truth is, far-distant second. I love working. There’s nothing in this world I’d rather do. And because of that, I was putting my family second. I’d get to them when it was convenient – when there was ‘free time’ after my business was completed.”

“Well, at one point I noticed there never was any ‘free time.’ Every time some space would show up, so would something to fill it. I had my life all scheduled and no time for them – and no time for myself, for that matter.”

“So I asked, what’s missing? What did I need to do to make the time I wanted to be with my family, and to do the things I wanted to do for myself, as well?

“Two things were missing,” he said, “and the first was simple: making a commitment and keeping it. I knew I could do that. I was making business commitments – and keeping darn near every one of those. It seemed a simple matter to me – not necessarily easy, but simple. If I
could do that with my business, there was no reason I couldn’t do it with every other area of my life.”

“So, I started making appointments for specific times to be with Rachel and the kids. I told them what I was doing and why, and they agreed to help me keep the appointments I made with them, because we all saw them as commitments now – not just appointments.”

“I made dates with Rachel – dinner dates, dates to watch videos after the kids went to sleep, we even scheduled a couple of weekend seminars at local hotels. I’ll let you figure out what the subject matter was.”

“Rachel and I scheduled 30 minutes every day at 9:00 in the morning to talk with each other about what was happening in our work and lives. When either of us was traveling, we did that over the phone.”

“I made appointments with Bobby, too. I hired him as my ‘Fun Coach,’ because I saw that fun was missing as well – you know, ‘All work and no play… ‘ Bobby’d take me out and play ball – which is how I became a teeball coach, by the way. We’d go for walks, have adventures. I just let him be the coach and show me what to do.”

“Rebecca was a bit more difficult at first. Her only suggestion – outside of horses – was to have me go shopping with her. Dad as wallet. I’d already mastered that one, so we stuck with horses.”

“I hadn’t ridden in, gee… ” he closed his eyes, thinking, “… in almost 20 years. And then only in a Western saddle. She taught me English-style riding. She taught me to jump, too. It’s great. She’s a wonderful teacher, and now, I have two lessons a week with her. Dad as student, client and paying customer.”

“The question of ‘cold’ or ‘spontaneous’ never occurs to me. What’s important is, does this way of doing things empower me and empower my family? It has – for years. So, I conclude – it works. It may not work for you.”

“No,” I protested, “I understand. It really sounds like a great way to make sure you balance those two areas of your life. I want to try it.”

“You know,” I added, “keeping a commitment book like that, and including appointments with your family, is kind of like creating a habit of belief, isn’t it?”

“Bright boy. Charming boy,” the Greatest Networker said, just as he had done earlier with Bobby, and sounding again like the transformed Scrooge.

“Can we finish our talk about habits?” I asked.

“Let’s!” he said, leaning forward and rubbed his hands quickly back and forth with a smile. “But first – remember, I said there were two things I found which were missing in my being able to spend time in my life where I really wanted.”

“Yes, you did,” I agreed. “Making and keeping your commitments was one. What’s the other?”

“As soon as I began to honor my commitments, what showed up immediately was how little freedom I had with my job to make new ones.” He spoke slowly and with emphasis, as if treating a very serious topic. Which, I immediately realized, he was. “I thought I was a big deal. You know, six-figure salary, all the benefits, called the shots. After all, I owned my own business and I was the boss. WRONG!”

“To tell the truth, I was shocked when I saw how little freedom I actually had.” He stood straight up and spread out his arms, as if drawing a weighty conclusion for a college seminar. “Time was what was missing most! And I knew, the only way to have more of it was to create my life – and my work – with more time to do what I wanted.”

“And that’s where Network Marketing entered the picture?” I guessed.

“And that’s where Network Marketing entered the picture.” He nodded in assent. “I’d known about Network Marketing for years. I thought it was interesting, possibly even very powerful, but I didn’t really understand it. I had too much baggage from being a conventional marketing man to see what the possibilities were. You could say – and you’d be right – that my habits of belief didn’t permit me to see myself being successful in Network Marketing.”

“So, what did you do?” I asked, fascinated.

“Well, I knew I’d have to unlearn lots – and I knew that would be hard for me. I can be pretty stubborn.”

“I’ll say,” Kazuko chimed in.

He made a face at her and continued, letting out a deep breath as he spoke. “So, I selected a company with a superb reputation – one which had been around long enough for the unique ups and downs of this business to make them strong, which had solid management with field experience, an excellent product line consumers loved once they tried and would continue to use forever, so there was residual income involved – and, the very best sponsor I could find.

“In fact, the sponsor I wanted,” he continued dramatically, “was the Greatest Networker in the World.”

“Whoa!” I exclaimed. “Wait just a minute. I thought you were the Greatest Networker in the World!”

“Yes, some people say that,” he admitted. “But if that’s true, what does that make the person who taught me everything I know about this business?”

“I see… ” I said unconvincingly. I didn’t. This Hitchcockian twist had my mind spinning more than a little. I sat there stunned. There’s an even greater Networker than he is? I looked over at him, and then at Kazuko, and they just sat there grinning, like two kids just barely keeping a secret. No answers there.

“Okay…” I said, expecting to say more, but nothing came to mind or mouth.

“Come on,” he said, standing up and rescuing me. “Let’s go find my sponsor.”

It’s her! I thought. It’s got to be his wife, Rachel. “This is amazing!” I announced to myself out loud, as I followed him and Kazuko out of the room and out of the house.

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Click here to read: Chapter 11: Habits of Disbelief