Friday, November 4, 2011

My Mega Partners
In October of this year I was privileged to attend JT Foxx's premier partnering event Mega Partners IV in Chicago.  It was unquestionably the highlight event of the year and well worth the time and money I spent to be there.  JT pioneered this unique event for business people.  The three days (four for VIP ticket buyers) were packed from 7 or 8 am each day to 7 or 8 pm or later.

He brought in entrepreneurs from as far away as Germany and Australia and gave us an unrelenting barrage of extremely valuable information on ways to build our business, without subjecting us to an onslaught of pitchmen offering us a get rich quick solution along with a set of ginzu knives if we buy right now.

He succeeded in getting Jay Abraham, a renown marketing genius and partner of JT, to spend a total of about four hours over two days educating us on the power of relational capital and strategic alliances.  Because of my work with JT and Jay in launching their AbrahamFoxx brand, I was among a small group of people who got to meet privately with Jay and JT.


While at the event, I realized I had not taken good care of my relational capital.  I resolved to mend my ways.  So, you will see in this post a window where you can put yourself on my list.  I am sending out emails to everyone on my private email list and directing them to this blog post.

I don't believe in using private emails to do business.  So, I am giving all of my friends, family, and associates the opportunity to add themselves to my business mailing list.  Once on the main list, I will give them a chance to get periodic email updates from me or to get on smaller lists that are focused on specific businesses I am engaged in.

Thanks for Being a Good Friend to me.  Let me Give something back to you!


For instance, I have published several ebooks recently and am about to publish a hardcopy book with XLibris Press called "Fire Yourself: Get the Job You Want."  Those who want to keep tabs on what I am doing to help people manage their careers toward stable employment can get on a list where they will be notified of my work in that area.

I am also in the midst of doing a real estate for 18 houses valued at $1.2mm.  Those who would like to learn about investing in real estate and learn how to get their money working for them instead of spending all their time working for their money can opt to participate in that smaller list.

I hope you will take the time to add your name to my list of friends, family and associates.  I promise I won't abuse your trust in putting your name on my list.

Thanks for Being a Good Friend to me.  Let me Give something back to you!


  • I won't sell or rent your information to anyone else
  • I won't send irrelevant emails
  • I won't SPAM you with tons of emails 

While at Mega Partnering, I met Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, the man who was foremost in leadership when the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists on 9/11.  He shared with us his secrets of leadership.  For those of us in the VIP dinner we got a second, more informal, dose of his wonderful spirit during the VIP dinner.


Another headliner at the event is a man I have had the honor and pleasure of meeting on several occassions, Dr. Nido Qubein (http://www.nidoqubein.com/).  Nido is currently the President of High Point University (http://www2.highpoint.edu/) in High Point, North Carolina, he is the Chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company and sits on the Board of Directors of BB&T, La-Z-Boy, and other companies.  He wrote a very kind remark for the cover of my book "Fire Yourself: Get the Job You Want."

Nido is always a compelling and entertaining speaker.  In the VIP Dinner everyone got to see a side of him that most audiences miss as he and JT verbally sparred.  In Nido, JT has more than met his match when it comes to exchanging witticisms.


Of course, aside from instruction by some of the most successful people in business today, the biggest benefit of Mega Partnering was all the wonderful people I met and either renewed connections or made new connections with.  I am certain that I will be doing business with many of these people over the course of the next year and beyond.  This is the real power of Mega Partnering, learning how to network with people and then networking with them and collaborating to lift each other to new heights of success and abundance.  If I didn't do a single deal as a result of Mega Partnering, I would still be a much richer man from all the relationships I established with high quality people at this event.

I was so much in awe of the power of the event that I signed up for the next one without waiting to hear who would be attending or where it will be held or even how much it cost. I know it will be worth the investment.

Thanks for Being a Good Friend to me.  Let me Give something back to you!


One of the things JT learned from Nido and which he prides himself on doing is WOWing people.  You know what a WOW is?  That is when something unexpectedly nice happens and you automatically say "Wow!"  JT literally got a "Wow" from me at Mega Partnering when Joe Gnapp, his VP of Mentoring slipped me a piece of paper announcing that we would soon have a visit from Stedman Graham (http://stedmangraham.com/) and I was invited to have my picture taken with him after he was done speaking (actually it was to be done before, but Chicago traffic delayed his arrival and we did the photos after he spoke).


His talk was very powerful as he taught us not to be captives to the past, but rather to live in the future we create.  I had heard of Stedman before because of his association with Oprah Winfrey, but I really didn't know much about him.  After hearing him speak, I am impressed and want to learn more about what he has to say and what he is doing.  I know JT worked really hard to make a connection with Mr. Graham and Nido helped make it happen for him.  I guess that is what friends are for.

And to Leasha and Torrance who I met for the first time at Mega Partnering and to Oz who I met again - Semper Fidelis.

And if you want to know how you can attend the next Mega Partnering for free, contact me.  Because of my insider status, I can often get free General Admission for a limited number of people.  But act quickly, this opportunity will likely go away soon.

Thanks for Being a Good Friend to me.  Let me Give something back to you!

Tom Sheppard has been successfully investing in real estate since 2001 while working part time. In 2008 he left a six-figure job as an enterprise project manager with a major national bank to manage his real estate business full-time. His goal is to help 100,000 people find peace of mind by finding quality, affordable homes.   He is currently looking to expand his network of funding partners who are helping him achieve this goal. If you would like to know more about how you can Do Well By Doing Good (TM), contact Tom at TSheppard@CharlotteWealthPartners.com

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Surviving and Thriving in Good Times and Bad

Why is it some businesses thrive in good times and bad while others can't seem to catch a break?  One good reason is something called strategic planning.  Many people don't know what it is, many others don't know what it can do for them.  I know both.
What's In It For You?
  • Would you like to figure out what your customers are going to do before they do it?
  • Would you like to see how you stack up to your competitors?
  • Would you like to understand how you can adapt to changes in the marketplace and legal environment?
Strategic Planning can help you with these problems and more.  At the heart of strategic planning are two things, learing what is happening or about to happen that affects your business (or job) and learning how you can use your strengths to take advantage of opportunities and protect yourself from threats and your weaknesses.

If you can understand what is going on with your customers, competitors, market, business, and the legal environment, you can have a pretty good handle on what is affecting your success or failure in business.  Add to that, an in depth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your own business, you can then clearly see the opportunities and threats that will make or break your business.
By doing this periodically, you can make sure your business is prepared for what is coming and what is happening, assuring that you can survive and thrive in good times and bad.

For several years I provided strategic planning services for a division of a Fortune 500 company. During that time I adapted those tools to use on my own small business. In my book, I give you the tools I use.

I have taught other entrepreneurs all over the country how to successfully use these same tools in their own business and in their careers.

I recently published my first Kindle book, Strategic Planning for Very Small Businesses, on Amazon.com.  In my book, I give you the opportunity to invest less than $10 in your business that could pay you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in return.

Although Strategic Planning for Very Small Businesses is written from the perspective of my business of investing in real estate, it is applicable to any small or one-person business.
By the way, part of my strategic planning revealed and opportunity to capitalize on some of my specialized knowledge by publishing it.  I could have opted to create a $500 training course or hold seminars for $199 a head.  Unfortunately for a one-person business $500 is a lot of money.  And paying $199 isn't so bad, but you have to spend a whole day away from the business.  So instead, I opted to put this information into a book and sell it at a price anyone can afford.

UPDATE:  I have made this book on Simplified Strategic Planning for Very Small Businesses available on both Amazon.com as  a Kindle book and ebay as a downloadable pdf.  Here are the direct links:

Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/simplifiedstrategicplanAmazon


E-Bay: http://tinyurl.com/simplifiedstrategicplan

I learned that e-bay doesn't accommodate selling ebooks.  Fortunately, I have been able to get my book loaded to to an ecommerce site with A+ Results.  You can buy my book as a pdf at http://tinyurl.com/simplifiedstrategicplanning

PS: tinyurl provides a great service that allows anyone to convert a long and awkward url into a much shorter, usable url to help people find what they want.


The Kindle and the pdf are each priced at $9.97.

You Can Benefit If
  • You own your own small or one-person business
  • You are self-employed
  • You work for a small business
You can even use these same principles to help you manage your career, but if you can't quite make that mental leap to understand the relationship between your career and a small business, never fear.  Soon, I will be publishing another book, "Your Career ~ Your Business."

It too will be modestly priced and available via Amazon.com

Tom Sheppard has been successfully investing in real estate since 2001 while working part time. In 2008 he left a six-figure job as an enterprise project manager with a major national bank to manage his real estate business full-time. His goal is to help 100,000 people find peace of mind by finding quality, affordable homes. Why pay retail when you can buy a home at below market prices? www.buybelowmarket.com. He is currently looking to expand his network of funding partners who are helping him achieve this goal. If you would like to know more about how you can do well by doing good, contact Tom at Tom@CharlotteWealthPartners.com.