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The Rest of the Story of  How Make The Difference Network Came to Life

In October 2003, I came across a book that changed my life.  I downloaded and read a book by a man named Joe Vitale, titled "Spiritual Marketing." 

Implementing much of what Joe says in that book helped me to earn a scholarship to a conference Joe was putting on in January of 2004.  What happened at that conference, which was called The Spiritual Marketing SuperSummit, and all the people that I had the privilege to meet at that conference, caused another monumental, wonderful change in the direction of my life.

What follows is a "Thank You" e-mail that I sent to Joe Vitale on March 5, 2004. (It has been edited a little bit to reflect some updated changes of the status of the Make The Difference Network - the essence remains the same).

Joe:

I am writing this to thank you for putting on the Spiritual SuperSummit and giving me the scholarship that made it possible for me to attend

I apologize for not sending this thank you sooner, but my life has been in an incredible, wonderful state of chaos since the SuperSummit, so it wasn't until just 5 days ago that all the chaos cleared and began to make sense.

I decided not to write and tell you that you that you had seriously confused and complicated my life, but to wait until I had some great news to thank you.

 I can now do that.

This is not a real short story, but that's your fault. Since I read Spiritual Marketing in late October 2003, the impact you and your work has had on my life has not been a minor one.  :)  My intention in writing this lengthy e-mail is to thank you for opening a door in my life that I am now choosing to walk through that will impact the lives of thousands of people.

I was so excited to be at the Joe Vitale's Spiritual Marketing SuperSummit.  I arrived with what I thought was a pretty clear idea of what my purpose in life was and even how I was to accomplish it.  I expected to get additional clarity around that purpose and to connect with lots of exceptional people who would be influential in helping me accomplish my purpose and that I might somehow be helpful in assisting them achieve their purpose as well.

What I thought I Was Going to be Doing

I thought I was going to be continuing to expand my Internet training and consulting business. I have been doing a live seminar called "How 2 Put Your Business Online WITHOUT Going Broke or Crazy" and I planned to expand it with additional live seminars, under the same "How 2" brand on a variety of add Internet marketing topics.

I planned to build a membership-based portal called The NetBiz Success Center for small businesses to continue their learning about how to market online.

I planned to write/compile a series of books called NetBiz Success Stories, celebrating the successes of small businesses in mastering some small or large part of the Internet marketing puzzle. The stories were to serve as an inspiration for other small business owners to see what was possible in their business.

I got some great personal advice from several of the speakers on how to leverage what I wanted to do in order to maximize my sales.  It all made great sense.  I was happy and flying.

But Something Happened Along the Way

There was this underlying sense that I had that while I was learning effective ways to build my current dream, I might not be in the right dream.

I heard speaker after speaker talk about "Doing what you're passionate about, Doing what you're good at, Doing what you love to do." And I thought I was doing that.  And to a certain extent I was…But

But then a speaker took the stage that changed my life forever.

Dr. Rick Barrett.  Dr. Rick was the first person I met at the social event on Thursday night.  When he told me what he did with the Medical Missions to Mexico, it struck a chord inside of me that had not been struck in several years. Later when he spoke on "The Power of Giving", I had a series of intense feelings that I can't adequately describe...ranging from the feeling of abject despair that I hadn't been giving enough - "Making A Difference" enough - to feelings that somewhere inside of me I had just discovered my purpose and I would do something that could "Make A Difference" in the lives of thousands, even millions of people.

I had this brief, but intense idea that I was to build a portal where people like Dr. Rick could post the needs of their project and people who wanted to assist with projects like his, could connect with him and help him directly.  Sort of a Yahoo-like portal for connecting "

Dr. Rick Barrett, left and Kent McBride at Joe Vitale's Spiritual Marketing SuperSummit - January 2004

People, Projects and Organizations in Need" with "People Who NEEDED to Help People, Projects and Organizations in Need."  But I dismissed the idea since I was already "clear" on my purpose and was getting ready to build my own small business portal.

Anyway, I returned to Colorado full of excitement and energy to focus on my business, had great ideas to write more "How 2" courses, build my portal and get ready to write the "NetBiz Success Stories" series.... 

But it didn't flow.  It was hard. And I know that when I am on purpose, it is easy.  And this wasn't easy.  My computer kept dumping my work...My new voice recognition system that was designed to speed up my book writing kept locking up my computer. 

What the hell was going on?

I had brought back a box full of books, tapes and CDROMS from Austin.  I continued to listen to the "Think and Grow Rich Automatically" CDROM most of my waking hours.  I listened to the "Beyond the Power of Positive Thinking" CDROM set.  I read your "Adventures Within" book.  I read your P.T. Barnum Book.  I re-read "Think and Grow Rich" for the first time in years.  I re-listened to the "Spiritual Marketing" tapes.

And I even re-read your book "The Greatest Money Making Secret in History." 

I fired my one client who was draining my energy on a project that wasn't progressing for a variety of reasons.

Divine Synchronicity in Action

In late February, I spoke with Jon Biel, the Dad and one of the management team, of one of my clients, the beautiful young actress, Jessica Biel. (Jessica starred for 8 years on the TV series "Seventh Heaven" and has just finished filming "Blade 3" where she is starring opposite of Wesley Snipes).  I had helped them build a Fan Club site for Jesse and now they needed help in figuring out ways to monetize the Fan Club since Jesse didn't really want to commercialize herself at this point in her career.  (Check out www.jessebiel.com) 

In the conversation, Jon remarked that even though Jesse's site had only been up for a few weeks and had only had a few thousand visitors, it had already made a significant difference in at least one person's life. 

Here's how.

In the "Projects" section, they listed the story of Tim Beasley, a young 23 year old Seventh Heaven fan who has muscular dystrophy.  In the story they tell of how Tim's day could be brightened up by people sending him an e-mail and how his mom had quit her teaching job to support Tim full-time.  The outpouring of e-mail emotional support and money has been overwhelming.

As Jon told me that, I suddenly had that same feeling that I had when Dr. Rick talked in Austin. There are thousands of people, projects and organizations that need help.  There are thousands of people who want to give. I am to help them connect.

It was very clear.  Once I wrote it down, it would come to life.

MTDN - Make The Difference Network

I sat down that night and instead of slowly writing on one of my two books, I easily poured out my soul and vision for the "Make The Difference Network" onto paper.

As I wrote, I had feelings of elation and purpose that I don't recall ever experiencing in my life.  I felt that I could continue with my seminars, portal and books and I could "make a difference" in the lives of several hundred people or I could pour my energy into the "Make The Difference Network" and help make a difference in the lives of thousands, hundreds of thousands or maybe eventually millions of people.

The next day I met with Jon Biel to try and come up with some ideas for the marketing of Jesse's Web Fan Club Web site.  As we talked, Jon said, "What else are you working on?"  And when I told him about Make The Difference Network, he turned to me and said "Can Jesse and I be involved with this? It sounds like a great way to do good in the world."

I was flattered, amazed and delighted.  Having a young superstar actress like Jesse involved would help the marketing for Make The Difference Network much easier.  More people could be helped.

Here's Where Things Are As of Today

  • Make The Difference Network has come to life. It is a "National Wish List" where nonprofit organizations can post their specific "wishes" and "needs" on a "Wish Page" that will be part of the "National Wish List.  Then, just like in Austin, people "Who Want to Make The Difference" can search the National Wish List and when they find "wishes" that touch their heart, they can make a direct donation to that "wish."
  • I have four partners in MTDN, Jon Biel, Jesse's Dad and business partner, Jesse, and Kenton Kuhn, who owns www.blacktie-denver.com.  Jesse Biel has enthusiastically agreed to be a sponsor and spokesperson for the Make The Difference Network. Several other movie/singer/TV celebrities in Jesse's circle of friends are very interested in joining in as well to help promote this to the world. We're going to leverage "Celebrity Power for Social Good."
  • We launched and tested a prototype site that proved, that in spite of no marketing, people who somehow found Make The Difference Network, would find some "Wishes" that would "Touch Their Heart" and they made donations directly to those Wishes.  It worked!
  • After Joe got this e-mail, he has offered to assist us in some way.  We are beginning to use Joe's Hypnotic Writing skills to write the words that effectively communicate to nonprofits, potential sponsors and potential "givers" what MTDN is all about.
  • We are continuing to connect with people who really "get" at a deep spiritual level that "giving" is the Greatest Money-Making Secret in History" and want to assist in creating a working model that actually does "do good by doin' good) and documents the process along the way. I don't have all the details worked out, but I'd certain there are many ways.
  • We intend to create a series of "Make The Difference" books of stories of people making a difference in different areas; school, home, business, environment, etc, honoring those people.  (Similar to the Chicken Soup series).

So that's the impact you've had on my life since I bought the "Spiritual Marketing" book in late October.

Thank you.

I am truly grateful for your contribution to the world and to my growth, evolution and clarity.

Cheers,

Kent McBride
"NetBiz Evangelist"

Since I wrote that e-mail to Joe, much has happened.  We've tested and re-tested the Make The Difference Network Web site.  We're automating the back-end systems so we can properly handle the traffic.  We're putting agreements into place that will allow us to partner with major media outlets in 75 markets.

We've created a way that involves businesses of all sizes in "Cause Marketing" allowing them to help nonprofits they care about while attracting new customers and building customer and employee loyalty.

Most of all, we're committed to proving a business model built on this powerful concept: "The more good you do in business, the better your business will do."

Stay tuned, it's gonna be a great next 24 months.

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