Urgent Memorandum from Doug Wead about Billion Dollar Basics on Sunday.

The one thing that XanGo leaders can’t do?

In Las Vegas – at Billion Dollar Basics – I will be approaching my one year anniversary with XanGo.  Wow.  I have learned a lot.  You have shown me success.  But there is one thing you cannot do.  Only I can do it.  I know that sounds arrogant, as an outsider, as someone new.  But here we go, you cannot promote yourself.  And you need credibility and leadership or your people will waste their time and money on things that won’t work.

I can give you that authority, that credibility to lead your group.  I have been given 25 minutes on one day to do that.  It could be the most important 25 minutes of the year for your group.  Make sure they are there.

Why me?  Because you have promoted me to your people for the last year.  Now, I am deeply humbled by that and honored by your trust.  But it is very important now for me to use that status, that credibility you have given me.  I have to spend it or it will be wasted.  And the honorable thing is for me to spend it on you.  To give it back.  AND YOU NEED TO RECEIVE IT!

In Las Vegas I will teach your leaders at Billion Dollar Basics how to promote events, cd’s and most of all YOU.   I will share secrets from 35 years of network marketing.

There will be 24 SPEAKERS !!!! – 500 K’s and the hottest of the hot. From Mike McCarthy to Suzi Jackson.

AND I AM GOING TO SHARE POWERFUL TEACHING ON WHY YOUR GROUP NEEDS TO BE LOYAL AND NEEDS TO PROMOTE EACH OTHER.  NEVER BEFORE SHARED SECRETS WITH A XANGO AUDIENCE.

Tired of complainers and gripers and lazy bums in your downline, disloyal behind your back? Give em to me for o25 minutes.

I promise that your people will come out of Las Vegas more loyal and more appreciative of you and more willing to work with you than ever before.  But you have to get them there so I can do it.  You cannot promote yourself.  But I can promote you AND I WILL promote you if you can get them there.  So start planning now.   Billion Dollar Basics.  This will be the most important day of the year for many.  25 minutes, one day that will equal six months of knowledge and training.  Twenty-five minutes.  One day.

By Doug Wead

Linda McCarthy died at 11:00 PM, Wednesday, March 10, 2010.  Her long battle over.

The passing of Linda McCarthy marks a unique moment in the world of business.  As a networker, Linda and her man Mike, who survives her, were renowned for their generosity.  Their popular website, McCarthy Central, drew views far and wide from around the world.  It was an attraction because it gave information and priceless technique and did so freely.  The information was far more valuable than the tricks and gimmicks others sold at a premium.

Mike and Linda were always straight shooters.  If others pushed the envelope with “gray” programs that found temporary success, Mike and Linda always did it the right way.  And it paid.  They were examples of building a network marketing business to the top, without compromising principle or cheating trusting prospects who would have followed them anywhere.

In many respects, the integrity and commitment to people of the McCarthy’s transcended the corporation with which they were working.  Networking companies are notorious for winking at “gray” policies that make them money.  And when finally forced back, will return to the honest, steady work of distributors who follow the rules and provide the dependable bulwark of income.  The result?  The “good guys” often work harder for less.  But the McCarthy’s proved that being good pays money.  They were not only generous and refused to cut the corners or defraud their own prospects, or raid people who weren’t their own, they made money, as much as any of their more flamboyant colleagues.

One more thing.  While offering their wisdom to the world.  The McCarthy’s loved their own lines of sponsorship and promoted them freely.  Their website is more about their people than it is about themselves.

It was a high wire act.  On the one hand they maintained the best of reputations with the company, their downline, their colleagues and on the other they made money.

It is hard to believe that Linda is gone.  But her reputation will live on.  Popular author, Zig Ziglar, who is failing in health, recently told a friend of mine.  When you die, all you really leave behind is your name.  Linda McCarthy leaves us a treasure.  We will feel her with us as we carry on.  And more than once we will ask ourselves, “What would Linda do?”

Notes to our new team partner in Norway, Sandra Hansen.

From: Doug and Myriam Wead

Hi Sandra, I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year.  We went skiing.  How about you?

Sorry, for getting behind.  But keep in mind that YOU are the key to your success.  Not us.  Still, here are some helpful steps you will want to share with anyone you have sponsored.  Let’s go through them one by one.

HOW TO GET STARTED

1 Make a list.

First make a list of friends, acquaintances, neighbors, colleagues and people you meet day to day.  If you followed through and got the book First Things First at the www.xgopro.com then you have a long, long list of ideas to help you.

This is a very obvious step in building a network but many people will not do it.  They have a block.  I think it comes from fear.  They are afraid of rejection and if they put these names down on paper they are moving closer to talking to them about their business opportunity and experiencing rejection.

Actually, their fear is close to the target because there is great power in making a list.  When you put that name on paper your subconscious begins the work of recruiting them, imagining what to say or not say and what barriers are in the way.  So, in a way, you have begun the process as soon as you write down their name.

Now, don’t argue. LOL.  It won’t hurt you to dream a little bit.  Get started and make your list.

2) Refine the list

Not all names fit the same categories.  This is especially true with XanGo because we have a powerful product that produces emotional and compelling stories.

I want you to divide your list into two categories.  You will say the same things to each category but you will “lead” or begin differently.

Product people.  There are friends you know who have health issues.  Put them on a separate list.  They have arthritis or headaches or some other issue relating to inflammation.  They will be easy to talk to.

And the second list is for business builders.  These are people who can make a lot of money in networking.  You will approach them differently.

The lists are not mutually exclusive.  Some product people will eventually become business builders and some business builders will fall in love with the health benefits of the products and yet never build the business.

3) Rehearse

A great football coach once said, “It is not the will to win that makes a difference.  It is the will to prepare to win that brings success.”

This is very, very true with networking.  Get alone with your list and imagine conversations.  Keep doing it.   Unless there is some pressing reason to hurry don’t rush the process.  Consider what they will say and how you will respond.  Do this over and over again.

This is the hardest work you will ever do in networking.  Don’t put it off, get it done.  There is a right way to say something.  And if you think, and think, and think, you will come up with the right words and the right attitude and once you have done it one time, you can use those words over and over and over.  The hard work is done.  And by the way.  You will lose fear of rejection because you will have come up with amusing and happy ways to handle anything that they say.

4) Be honest and comfortable

Make sure what you plan to say is true.  There is no reason to deceive someone to get into your network.  In most companies, good companies, you don’t really make any money recruiting them.  You only make money when they start to succeed.  So it is counterproductive to misrepresent something and then later tell them to trust you.  Thankfully, in XanGo there is no problem telling them the truth.

And then, make sure that what you say and how you say it is comfortable.  If you like the feel of a pair of shoes you will wear them.  If you don’t, not matter how nice they look you have a hard time putting them on.  Work on ways to show the products and the opportunity that fit your personality and don’t violate who you are and what you believe.

Даг Вид

This is a series of letters to Sandra Hansen, my new distributor in Norway.  And it will be part of my ongoing series on successful network marketing.  I will call this lesson,  Network Marketing 101

Okay Sandra:

You asked me to help you build your networking business.  Well, I am going to take it step by step and in the process write a workbook for others, for future networkers, who may want to follow our path.  So forgive me if I am stating the obvious or repeating things you already know.  This exercise will help a lot of people in the long run and it will help me as I re-think the lessons I have learned from so many others who have worked their way through the maze to success in networking.

1.)  Commit to success.

There is no reason for me to invest large amounts of time if you are only interested in making a few thousand dollars a month.  You can do that on your own two feet and by just moving the product to people who need it.  If we are going to work together it will be to build you all the way to a good, livable, monthly income and then we will stop and decide from there.

Don’t be afraid of this.  Ironically, it takes just as much work to build this business sloppy and create a small income as it does to do it right and get a good income.  But it is a different kind of work.  A more disciplined work.  You will be teaching your kids how to clean up their rooms instead of picking up everything yourself.  And that is always more frustrating.   So, at first, it will seem to slow you down.  But in the long run, you will be making more money for less work.

2.)  Learn, learn, learn.

Some networking leaders will want you to be an obedient soldier, with blinders on, focusing only on them and what they teach you.  They will be recruiting you into their “cult.” Ha.  They will try to “force” your thinking and your opinions to fit their view of things.  They will want you isolated from any competing views.   Not me.  I want you to check things out on the websites and the internet.  Search to your heart’s delight.   Many of your prospects will be doing the same thing.  You want to be there first and have answers for them.

Now let me tell you why I am not insisting on “isolation.”  I have spent 35 years in networking.  And I looked carefully at all the opportunities and I chose XanGo because it is the best.  So I can assure you that the XanGo opportunity will hold up to all the arguments online.  I am not going to take the time here to outline why I turned down many other offers and opportunities, I just ask for one thing.  Call me with the topics or questions from critics or rivals and let me have the opportunity to respond.

3.) Buy the book First Things First.

This is a book published by XGoPro.  It costs $25 but it will cost much more if you are ordering from Norway.  Just go to First Things First.  This book is worth it and a lot less than an airline ticket to Salt Lake City, where you could meet with the team that put it together.  It will be a time and money saving investment.  It is not a book you read through in one setting but one you constantly consult while building your group.  You will keep going back to it and different stages of growth.

4.) Talk to me about yourself.

My wife and I want to know your life story, or as much as you feel comfortable in telling us.  Let’s set up a time as soon as possible to talk by phone.  Do you have Skype?  It is a free telephone service that you can download on your computer.  If you get it we can talk on the phone free of charge.

5.) You’ll notice that I said, “My wife and I.”  Because you and I are of the opposite sex and in this day and age, when many couples both work and when there are many single working parents, it is very likely that you will be prospecting and working with members of the opposite sex.  When that happens do your best to reassure them that you are a professional and this is business.

Well, that’s it for now.  Next, I will give you one of the most important steps in network marketing.  It is a simple step that involves no risk, no rejection, no pain.  It can have an enormous impact on your odds of success in networking.  And yet, most people never take it.

But that is coming next.

There are two times when MLM or networking businesses explode.  When the economy is bad and when the economy is good.

When the economy is good people watch the story unfold on television and feel like they are being left behind.  Everyone else is making money but them.  They feel like they are standing still.  Networking offers a quick chance to get into the economic bloodstream.  It doesn’t take time and capital.  In one moment you are in.

When the economy is bad people watch the horror stories and worry.  Maybe I should diversify.  What if I lose my job?  Networking gives them a chance to do more than fear and worry.  They can put that energy to work.

Maybe that’s why we are experiencing a boom now.

See: When networking explodes.

Ме?ньше зна?ешь — кре?пче спишь.

“The less you know the better you sleep.”

- A Russian proverb

Amway Leader Threatens Beating

On a trip to Russia last October my translator told me about an angry telephone call from one of the local leaders set up by the Amway Corporation.  This particular person is a friend whom I admire.  But I was now with XanGo, a different company.

According to my translator, he was furious, huffing and puffing.  Someone from the corporation had called him to say that I was contacting his Amway leaders, trying to recruit them into XanGo. “Doesn’t Doug Wead know that he is being followed by Amway Security everywhere he goes?” the leader told my translator, “Isn’t Doug Wead afraid of getting beaten up? You tell him to stay away from my ‘Diamonds.’” (A “Diamond” is Amway nomenclature for a top earner.)

“Now, just a minute,” my translator said. “Has Doug Wead contacted one of your Diamonds?  Name one?”

“Well,” the Amway leader said, “I can’t say.”

“Okay, so settle down.  He is here to speak for a XanGo corporate function in St. Petersburg and he has to meet with some of the parents of children who attend his school.  (I help run a private Christian boarding school in Oregon.) And he has to settle old business accounts but he is only meeting with people who have asked to see him and need to see him.  And that’s all. Who told you he was contacting Amway leaders?”

“Well,” the man allegedly replied.  “Someone from the company called me to warn me.”

“Well, they are wrong.  Mr. Wead has not initiated contact with a single Amway distributor, Diamond or otherwise.”

Of course, that was not the complete story.  The fact is that I had met with one Amway leader, at his initiative, and afterward, when all the Amway leaders were called and warned not to meet with me, “the phone started ringing off the hook.”  Diamonds wanted to meet me for dinner, for lunch, for breakfast, for in between.  Their curiosity was insatiable. Why did I go to XanGo? Is Amway going retail?  Are they dumping expired products from Malaysia on the Russian black market? Why are they requiring loyalty tests? Are they going to end systems income?  Are they trying to change the laws in Russia to outlaw systems? How will we live or make any money without it?   How can you build the business without functions and cd’s?

Now, here is where it gets really funny.  I can’t speak Russian.  I don’t even know how to spell the names of any of these people.  I don’t have their phone numbers or addresses.  In all my years I have never taken business cards or collected names or built a mailing list.  Why would I? These are Amway leaders whom I respect.  They invite me onto their stage, why would I want to hurt their businesses?  I had my own reasons for getting into XanGo.  (See: Why I Chose XanGo.)

In Moscow, later in the week, when I met with one of the parents from the Christian school in Oregon he laughed about it all, “Well, well, you are causing quite a fuss.  I am getting all kinds of phone calls from Amway leaders saying that their security people are following you and they are taking pictures.  Anyone who gets their picture taken with Doug Wead is in danger of getting kicked out of Amway.”  We both suddenly looked to the restaurant window where a student with a back pack held up his cell phone.  Making a call or taking a picture?  And then we both made ugly faces and laughed.

On my trip to Russia I had requested only one meeting with an Amway leader and that was with Natasha Yena, a wonderful person with great networking skills.  My purpose for meeting her was to set the ground rules on what I should say or not say or how I should act as a new XanGo distributor.  Of course, I didn’t need her permission or her suggestions.  I wanted them.  I know very well how hard it is to build a network.  And I had a lot of fans in Russia.  I had, and still have, no intention of trying to recruit Diamonds.  If there are any more of you out there trying to call just hold your horses.  I have no interest in taking you from Amway.  If you are making money and are happy, just stay where you are.

On the last night I sat in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in Moscow, talking with a former Diamond, who had called me and asked to meet with me.  His ex-wife was still in Amway and according to him the company was now threatening her income.  How would she and their children survive?  During the meeting he got an anxious telephone call. “We know you are meeting with Doug Wead right at this moment in the lobby of the Marriott hotel.”

But he interrupted the threatening caller, “I’m not in Amway,” he retorted angrily, “Talk to my ex-wife.” And then he hung up on them.  At least, that is how it was all explained to me in translation, this happening right in front of me.

We all paused to consider the irony of the moment and had a big laugh. He and my translator explained that they had all been through this before during the Soviet era.  It was what often happened to ordinary citizens in those days.  Threatening people was common. But it was amusing to see it acted out again in Russia with associates of an American corporation calling itself Amway. (The American Way.)

When I returned to the United State I spoke to a very kind and reasonable man from the American Amway Corporation.  He has been with them for years and he assured me that he has never seen such things.  “Amway doesn’t follow people.” And he promised to look into it.

Meanwhile, I resolved to forget the whole thing.  Who wants trouble?  In the last 30 days I received only a few random communications from Russia and not necessarily from top leaders.  And then?

Once again I started getting calls from Diamonds, this time from friends who were warning me.  One note said that, “reprisals have begun.”  What did that mean?

And finally late last night a warning call from Russia.  An Amway Diamond had talked to my friend. “Is it true,” the Diamond had asked, “Is Doug Wead speaking at a XanGo event in Astana, Kazakhstan on December 15, 2009?”

“I’m not sure,” my friend hesitated. By the way, XanGo is perfectly legal in Kazakhstan and they have a large group there.  Amway is not legal in that country, although they have tens of thousands involved.  And then the Diamond said to my friend, “If Doug Wead comes to Astana we will have to take protective measures.”

Now, what would that mean, I wondered?  And then I was told a chilling story.  Attila Gidofalvi, a leading distributor in the Forever Living Company, had just visited Kazakhstan.  Attila, like me, was also a former Amway distributor.  And his company, Forever Living, like XanGo, is also legal in Kazakhstan.  But Attila, I was told, the man who is called the father of Amway in Russia, the man who once had 122 diamonds, including Natasha, was accosted and beaten in Kazakhstan.  Could this be true?

Once more, the story was just too unbelievable for me to fathom.  But this afternoon I worked up the energy to track down Attila himself and eventually found him.  I put him on speaker phone and brought in a witness to hear his story.  He said he was attacked on a train by some people identifying themselves as Amway distributors.  They beat him badly.  Then they threatened to kill him if he returned to their country.  When the train arrived at its destination he and his traveling companion reported it to the police but his assailants were gone.

I was told by my caller to hire bodyguards, and good ones, when I visit Russia next week.  It will be part of an around the world trip.  And yes, I will be stopping by Astana, Kazakhstan, a great city, in a great country.  But why would I need bodyguards to protect me from people I love?

It has been my pleasure to work with Amway on many levels for 35 years. Most of them are great people, who have done great things.  When I worked in the White House years ago I proudly arranged for several of their leaders to sit next to the President at events I moderated, knowing that they would give him good and sound advice.  At my urging and nomination, one was appointed to a Presidential Commission.

But the great leaders I worked with are retired.  And I know that big corporations sometimes delegate their “problems” to public relations firms, who hire former police and intelligence people to solve especially knotty challenges.  (See an exaggerated, Hollywood version of this in the recent movie Duplicity.) And sometimes these projects get out of hand, as in “We’ll take care of this, just leave it to us. And don’t ask questions.” And sometimes it may result in “a beating.” And sometimes things get set into motion that cannot be called back.

So just for the record, I am making this public, so that if I should be found in my hotel room in Moscow with a heart attack or found unconscious on the streets of Astana after an apparent random mugging, you won’t blame it on Russia or Kazakhstan.  It is probably someone’s version of “public relations.” (Imagine actually having to pay money for that sort of thing?)  Or maybe it is a case of some bad apples in a company culture that has so much power that it is getting a little out of control, and has lost its way, and its values, and its purpose and has made the dollar more important than the lives of its own people.

Hopefully, this all has a simple explanation.   If not, let me state the obvious, if think you have to hire ex-police and spies to follow and photograph and intimidate your own people to keep them from leaving your company, if you think you have to track your competitors and threaten to harm them, you just may have already lost the war.  And you misunderstand your own leadership, who were promised that they could be “Independent Business Owners” not employees who must take loyalty tests and who are now arbitrarily audited by corporate chosen “vendors”, who are sometimes their very own crossline rivals, competing for the same money.

Hopefully, this sort of thing won’t be repeated when I return to Russia.  If it is, I will be sure to keep you informed, for my own protection, of course, and for the sake of my five children and for the public record.  And then, also, to keep those of you who are students of “public relations” up to date on the latest techniques – American style.  Who knows? Maybe this sort of thing works and society doesn’t really care.

Даг Вид

Hmmm, this interesting post from Ron and Marlene Brice.  Who famously bought a Jaquar with their monthly check and had $22,000 left over.  They are a passionate couple with lots of integrity and networking smarts that came the hard way.

Hi team,

Here is the real truth about Network Marketing from years of analyzing the industry, thanks to John Godzich. These facts are accurate across the board from company to company and are not snap shots, rather long range carefully analyzed results. No one gets to the truth better than John:

The Number Three Reason people stay in NM is when they are earning $350 a month or more. I believe XanGo’s comp plan to be second to none in this arena. As Doug Wead says after careful study, “You can make more money, faster, with less effort, and with less people than any other comp plan.”

The Number Two Reason people stay in NM is Recognition, (While XanGo has fabulous recognition, other companies, like Mary Kay, place tremendous stress on recognition), and

The Number ONE reason people stay in Network Marketing is that they are passionate about a cause. If anyone honestly looks for the real facts, in order to learn the unemotional truth, no company has a better cause factor than XanGo………product line, charitable giving, with success fueled by the Grand Daddy of all comp plans. While other companies certainly have good products, in a debate with one who knows the real facts, no company today can compete with the XanGo opportunity for cause factor.

Here is the kicker on #1. I just got off the phone with a competitive networker. This couple is a dynamic young couple who are earning around $8000 to $10,000 a month in their company. They believe so much in their company (the cause factor) that they are totally blinded by the truth. They have been seduced (read manipulated by their company’s  published pay percentages that don’t compare apples to apples, and well intentioned upline) into believing that their Binary Pay Plan pays out over 50% and that their pay plan has no breakage. The real facts are that their pay plan is riddled with breakage and in actuality only pays out mid 30 percent money in commissions, a far cry from their over 50% payout claims.

This is the way many manipulative founders of companies in this industry keep the true facts about their pay plans from being discovered. Brainwash eager recruits, then through their upline, company perks and recognition, control their minds, and you have them forever because of their inaccurate but compelling belief in the cause factor. I know, I spent 13 years full time with another company where my mind was controlled by masters. Sadly, it took a decade for me to see the truth, and when I saw it, I simply had to leave.

How very sad indeed. The truth is that, if you overlay XanGo’s comp plan onto this couples incredible effort, charisma, and recruiting skills, they would be making 4 to 5 times the monthly pay checks with our comp plan (#3 reason), boy, would this get them recognition (#2 reason) and they would have much more devoted followers (#1 reason, the cause factor) if they had XanGo’s unique mix of honesty, compassion for telling the truth, and our product lines which are incomparable anywhere in the industry.

THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

Our best to you,

Ron and Marlene

Ali Shermacher

 Most of us who knew Ali Shermacher have not been able to get much sleep this week.  Just a few hours and then wake up with a start.  Is he really gone?  Will I never hear his laugh or see him flip back that full head of hair?

 Ali was in an elite category, a man with a super charged personality.  As a networker, he could sponsor people who didn’t understand his German or Dutch or broken English.  He sponsored people on the subway in Budapest or in Hotel lobbies in Bucharest because they could feel his excitement and they were all charmed by his love of life and his genuine appreciation – no, his pure joy – at being with people.

 Ali was once a room service waiter at a Movenpick Hotel.  He charmed the man in the presidential suite, told him why his hotels were losing money, and for a few years ended up directing the chain, a dark blue suit at the top. What a story, what a guy.

He started a website for fun with a friend and it soon became the biggest site in Holland.  He sold it to the Dutch version of Google.

 Oh, how I wanted to write his book.  Maybe I still will.

 He lived life to its fullest.  We once shared a trip to Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.  Hey, we met all over the world on business.  But most of his life was tucked away in a little village in the Alps with Trixi, with moments that were  only theirs. 

 When he called earlier in the year to say that he was dying of lung cancer I suddenly remembered that, yeah, that’s right, he smokes.  Even that was so forgivable in one so kind and personable to others.  And he was such a handsome guy that the smell of smoke was never a negative. And I promised to pray for him every day.

 Ali made you feel like you were important.  He could listen.  He would laugh at your humor and ponder over a good line.  He was present.  By that I mean he was in the room, not dreaming or planning of something else, preoccupied like most of us.  He was with you.  Only, not now, he is not with us now.  Now, he is gone and it hurts.  And it is hard to sleep.

(Russian)

A льберт Ширмахер : человек с солнечной улыбкой

Даг Вид,  12 августа

Большинство из нас, кто знал Али Шумахера, не могли спать на этой неделе. Спишь несколько часов, а потом просыпаешься, как от удара. Неужели его больше нет? Неужели я никогда больше не услышу его смех, не увижу как он вскидывает голову с густыми волосами?

  Али был особеным человеком, необыкновенной личностью. Будучи сетевиком, он умел спонсировать людей, не понимавших его немецкий, голландский и ломаный английский. Он спонсировал в метро Будапешта и в холлах гостиниц Бухареста, потому что люди чувствовали его воодушевление, он покорял их своей любовью к жизни и истинным удовольствием, радостью от того, что он с ними.

  Когда-то Али был официантом по обслуживанию постояльцев в номерах в гостинице Мовенпик. Он очаровал человека, который остановился в президентском номере, объяснил ему, почему его гостиницы терпят убытки и на несколько лет стал управляющим сети отелей, человеком в синем костюме на самом верху служебной лестницы. Какая история, какая личность!                                                                              

Для собственного удовольствия вместе с другом он создал вебсайт, который вскоре стал самым большим в Голландии. Он продал его голландской версии Google .                                     

О, как я хотел написать о нем книгу, Может быть, еще напишу.

Он жил на полную катушку. Однажды мы вместе ездили в Куала Лумпур и Джакарту. По бизнесу мы встречались в разных городах мира. Но большую часть своей жизни он проводил в маленькой деревушке в Альпах вместе с Трикси, и эта жизнь принадлежала только им одним.

 Когда в начале этого года он позвонил, чтобы сказать, что умирает от рака легких, я вдруг вспомнил, да, он же курит. Но даже это было так легко простить такому доброму и отзывчивому человеку. Он был таким красивым мужчиной, что дым сигарет не вызывал осуждения. И я пообещал каждый день за него молиться.                                                     

Али умел дать вам почувствовать, что вы важны для него. Он умел слушать. Он смеялся над вашими шутками и думал над тем, что вы говорили. Он был с вами. Под этим я имею ввиду, что он был здесь, не мечтал или думал о чем-то своем, занятый собой, как многие из нас. Он был с нами. А теперь его нет. Он ушел, и от этого больно. И невозможно спать по ночам.

(Hungarian)

Ali Schermacher: Az arany mosolyú férfi

 A többségünk azok közül akik ismerték Ali Schermachert nem sokat aludtunk ezen a héten. Csak néhány óra alvás után felébredve újra kezdhetjük. Tényleg elment? Soha többé nem hallhatom a nevetését és nem láthatom ahogy hátraveti a haját?

 Ali egy elit kategóriába tartozott, egy ember “szuperfeltöltött” személyiséggel. Mint hálózatépítő olyan embereket tudott szponzorálni akik nem is értették a német, flamand vagy tört angolját. Szponzorált embereket Budapesten a metrón, vagy Bukarestben a Hotel lobbijában, mert érezték a lelkesedését, és elbűvölte őket az életszeretete és őszinte tisztelete – nem, igazi öröme – az iránt, hogy emberek között legyen.

 Ali valamikor szobapincér volt egy Mövenpick Hotelben. Elbűvölte az elnöki lakosztályban tartózkodó urat, elmondta neki, hogy miért veszít pénzt a hotelja, és néhány évre rá már az egész hotel láncolatot ő irányította, sötétkék öltönyben fenn a csúcsról. Micsoda történet, micsoda srác.

 Szórakozásból elindított egy weboldalt a barátaival, ami hamarosan a legnagyobb oldallá nőtte ki magát Hollandiában. Aztán eladta a részét a Google-hoz hasonló holland vállalatnak.

 Ó, de szerettem volna megírni a könyvét. Talán még meg is fogom írni.

 Tejlesen élte az életet. Egyszer együtt utaztunk Kuala Lumpurba és Jakartába. Micsoda, a világ minden pontján öszzefutottunk az üzleti utak során. De az életének nagyobbik részét egy eldugott kis alpesi városban Trixivel töltötte, olyan pillanatokat, amelyek csak az övék voltak.

Amikor az év elején felhívott és elmondta, hogy tüdőrákban szenved, hirtelen arra gondoltam, hogy hát persze, hiszen dohányzik. De ez is megbocsátható annak, aki ilyen kedves tud lenni másokhoz. És olyan jóképű fickó volt, hogy a cigaretta füstje sosem jelentett negatívumot. És én megígértem, hogy minden nap imádkozom érte.

 Ali azt éreztette veled, hogy fontos vagy. Tudott hallgatni. Nevetett a vicceken és eltöprengett a poénokon. Jelen volt. Ez alatt azt értem, hogy ott volt a szobában, nem álmodozott, tervezgetett valamit ami lekötötte volna, mint a többségünket. Veled volt. Csak most már nincs velünk többé. Elment és ez fáj. És nehéz elaludni.

Даг Вид