Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest,
which co-mingle their roots in the darkness underground.

~ William James

The fulfillment grand prize week for Souper Star Mansion was in August of 2004. Souper Star Castle followed the next summer in June of 2005.

And just one month later, in July of 2005, the next location that I booked, the exquisite little Caribbean island named Little Eden Cay, became the grand prize for Souper Star Island.

Back in that initial meeting in Los Angeles, Chad had informed me that each of these promotions cost Campbell at least $10 million. Each spectacular venue was featured on product labeling and in marketing and advertising collateral that included television commercials, print, the Internet and in-store materials. I recall stating at the time that everyone knew and grew up with Campbell Soup and asking why they were doing all of this promotion. He told me that Campbell used to be the soup that you gave to your kids when they were sick. But now it was the “cool” soup.

Shortly after the promotion began for Souper Star Island, one of my Feel Free to Prosper students sent me an article from a large trade publication for the marketing industry. The article detailed all of the promotions that Campbell was running for children and their budgets. It stated that up to that point, Campbell had spent $450 million dollars to target their young audience with these promotions. Now remember, I had only been involved with three of these promotions at that time.

It became an obvious fact of life…$450 million dollars could buy “cool.” :-)

The booking of Little Eden Cay, www.little-eden-cay.com, brought into my life a most extraordinary and fascinating family. Martin Thomas and his wife Jenifer, with their five young children, were living what he called the “divine experiment”…they changed their roots like sophisticated nomads, creating their homes and their destinies as they went along. The children were home schooled, never watched television or listened to radio, yet they traveled the globe, spoke several languages, were highly creative and advanced, and as if that wasn’t enough, the entire brood looked like fashion models! Martin's family, to me, represents the epitome of spiritual and family values and a prosperity consciousness. They moved from New Zealand to Italy and then left the home they had restored – an old Italian school house that they transformed into a luxurious villa – and moved to a remote deserted island two hours from the mainland in Nicaragua. He said that islands in the area were going cheap at the time, and the family was intent on creating their own adventure and their private “slice of heaven.” (later the title of his published book). For seven months, the couple and their four (later to be five) young children had lived in a small "shack" while their island paradise home was being built, with supplies brought in by boat, piece by piece. Talk about turning dreams into reality!

Some time later, after the Campbell fulfillment week on the island, Martin and I were again brought together through an unexpected synchronistic occurrence initiated by a Ryze member, and Martin became my private student. Our association led to an island booking for American Express, a segment on the largest television network in New Zealand and ultimately the sale of the island for several million. You will find this television clip of the family on their island to be fascinating, www.afamilyonthemove.com/video.html.

Now let’s return to the fact that simultaneously with these bookings for Campbell, Feel Free to Prosper was evolving and growing into various formats – from lessons to private mentoring to group programs and audio programs. My reputation continued to grow and the Universe had provided a very nice foundation along with some major credibility to allow me to grow my program with grace and at my own pace. And I also had the privilege of being exposed to a couple of very special venues and the people associated with them.

But lest you think there was still not quite enough walk to my talk…:-)

After Souper Star Island, there was yet another completely unexpected surprise.

I was contacted out of the blue by the marketing contact who was in charge of the Canadian division of the Campbell Company. They had seen what the U.S. had done with these promotions and had requested the name of the vendor who was responsible for securing these locations. That would be moi. I was asked to book the same or similar venues for the exact same promotions that would now run in Canada.

Last year, in 2006, all taking place in the month of July, we had the fulfillment dates for those next three promotions that I booked: Souper Star Hollywood Mansion for the U.S., Souper Star Mansion for Canada, and Souper Star Castle for Canada. This was the first time I had consecutive bookings like this for Campbell in the same month.

It was also the first time that I think I knew in my heart this was my swan song with regard to my business of two decades.

To be continued...

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