Chicken Man
One day, I got a call from my Minister’s executive secretary. She wanted to set up a meeting for the two of us! It was a special event and I shared it with my wife immediately. I had never been summoned to his office before and a small part of me left over from my teenage years of miscreant behavior, wondered if I had done anything wrong.
Thanks goodness to the contrary, he wanted to thank me for our contributions to the church and invite me to join his board and help raise money
for an impending move to a larger facility.
Much to my chagrin, I demurred because I had just taken on the huge responsibility of launching a brand-new Network Marketing company in my backyard. He politely asked what it was, and I shared the glory and the wonder of my flagship weight loss product!!
He asked if I had a bottle and I raced to the car, knowing that my wife would be upset that in my enthusiasm, I was ‘pitching’ the Rev. Well, turns out the Reverend was quite an expert on wellness and supplements, and he fell in love with the product. I asked if he could help me expose the product to the Church membership and he told me that he couldn’t be actively involved but could steer me in the right direction.
IF ONLY I WOULD BE WILLING TO STAY ONE HOUR AFTER THE BIGGEST SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE.
I didn’t realize that for years, he watched me race out the back door of the church to get to my football games!
I agreed. The next Sunday, after the 10 o’clock service, I would stand at the table with the bagels and coffee and watch for a sign from the Minister. He stood in a receiving line with his wife, mother and other Senior Pastors to give everyone a blessing. When he got a ‘good’ one, he would signal me and send them over. It reminded me of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the sting, only, of course, in this case, for all the right heavenly reasons.
Remember the Minister was looking for people who were the opposite of me; people who were chatty, engaging and hugged EVERYONE!!
He sent me Stuart!!!
I met on a Tuesday for lunch with Stuart and had a spectacular time. He was funny, charming and popular. He simply loved to ‘kibbutz’! He was also crafty, brilliant and strategic, spending many years on Wall Street, marketing and selling with the best.
I shared the foundational story of my weight loss product. It was developed by a brilliant formulator in Eastern Canada to help fat Canadian chickens lose weight and lay more eggs! I told that story because comically illustrated how the product works without mindset because chickens didn’t usually worry what they looked like in a bathing suit or wedding dress.
I could see that Stuart loved the story; little did I know how much!
The next Sunday, I showed up for the 10 o’clock service and from a considerable distance, I noticed a commotion. Seems a portly man in a full-on ‘chicken suit’ was passing out brochures. Stuart, with his big tummy and spindly legs was dressed as a chicken and creating quite a stir!!!
I had ‘recruited’ someone who did what I didn’t do well, and the rest was history. Everyone wanted to try our product, Calorad!!
And when one of the Board members of the church, an assistant district attorney from Pasadena began to ‘shrink’ each week as she spoke from the altar, our business boomed!
And from that growth spurt created by the Chicken man, the next moves were incendiary. And of course, the subject of our next chapter, stand by!
