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Thank You Marcel Devereaux

What a wonderful week this has been finally meeting John Wilgar the Chief Procurement Officer for the NSG Group based in beautiful Latham in Lancashire.
 
I first met John online when I was recommended to him by Marcel Devereaux who is in Global Procurement for NSG based in Germany. I met Marcel around 5 years ago when I ran my first Masterclass for NSG Group, and he was one of the 25 international attendees.
 
He loved the session and we connected afterwards. He sent me an email a few days later which fell on Christmas Eve telling me that there was great potential for me in Germany and he described a few areas he felt I could be well received.
 
 
I forgot all about him
 
I told him that I would get back to him after Christmas, but I didn’t – I forgot! I switched off over Christmas and then I was so busy with international bookings and all the logistics required that I completely forgot about Marcel.
 
I was very busy for around 3 months then when things had quietened down, I came across the email from Marcel, and I froze.
 
This was very serious, and I had blown it. I couldn’t believe that this had happened, and you have probably guessed that I didn’t have a customer relations management system to track my potential clients. You can also guess that I have a very good one now!
 
 
I kept trying without success
 
So I emailed Marcel a few times over a period of time with no response and I was about to give up fully understanding how embarrassed he must have been when I didn’t contact him as he had mentioned me to some of his contacts!
 
I was going to give up when someone mentioned that I should send him something in the post to his office in Germany, so I did. In all honesty I didn’t expect a reply. I heard nothing for around 2 weeks then I received an email. It was from Marcel who thanked me for the direct communication, and we were back on track.
 
From that point on we communicated and that led to the first of 5 bookings in Germany which have all been amazing experiences. We have become good friends and he is an outstanding character and such a lovely man.
 
 
Covid was a disaster
 
When Covid hit I lost all my business and I was looking into a black hole. Then instead of retiring at the age of 66 with a state pension, I decided to write my second book and to split my full day Mental Resilience Masterclass into 3 x 1-hour online Masterclasses which have become a great hit.
 
I then started to deliver these across the world, and this kept the business going until the doors to face to face meetings opened up and now things are moving forward nicely.
 
It was Marcel who recommended me to John who initially booked me for a series of these Masterclasses to deliver online to his international team, which in turn led to my booking at their Safety Day this week.
 
 
What a marvellous day
 
The three groups who attended the sessions were fantastic with great energy, plus excellent interaction, and engagement. Their feedback was amazing, and it made this one of the highlights of my year to date.
 
What’s the moral of this story? Well for me it’s that it’s never too late to try one more time. If I hadn’t bothered to send that personal mail to Marcel, I would have missed out on 5 trips to Germany, many online deliveries to NSG international staff and the Safety Day. Plus, whatever may come in the future.
 
 
Just one final try!
 
It reminds me of Steven King. He sent the manuscript of his first novel to 30 different publishers and received 30 rejection letters over a long period of time and he gave up and threw the manuscript in the bin telling his wife that his dream was over.
 
However, for some reason his wife picked it out of the bin and asked him to try one more time. This single act changed everything, this time he was accepted, and the rest is history. He has become one of the most successful authors in history but if it wasn’t for his wife we would never have heard of Steven King.
 
 
I could have given up
 
It would have been easier just to give up and keep my head down embarrassed about my forgetting all about Marcel, but I took that final step and sent it.
 
Marcel, I owe you a debt of gratitude for the way you forgave my error, and this resulted in some very exciting times for me. Thank you, my friend.
 
 
Thoughts for the week 

  1. Is there something you are working on right now and you have given up?
  2. Maybe you can be creative and try one more time.
  3. This week have a think about your world and where you can try one more time. 

 
Well, that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and keep believing.
 
Warm regards

John

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