Next Page | Contents | Previous Page
Jake's sixteen-hundred-dollar investment in the PI from Buffalo paid off. He was competent at his job. Two days before schedule, Jake pulled from his mailbox the report on the "other eight" students. He rushed to his room and opened the PI's report.
The first of the `other eight', Jake already knew about: Al Patterson owned a chain of 28 daily papers and a web TV station under the Patterson Media Group. Each daily paper was called the Patterson Press. The chain of daily papers was referred to as the Patterson Papers. He said he wanted to be in 50 markets within the next five years.
The Patterson Papers was the fastest growing chain of daily papers in the country. It was based on a new concept of seeking out and tracking the development of new values, especially new technologies, that would dramatically benefit the general population. His papers would follow the development of a new technology, covering its progress, sharing the hopes, the visions, the obstacles, the victories...reporting with the passion of an exciting television drama. People started to turn to that section first, before sports or political news, because that section directly notified the reader of exciting, upcoming values and technologies that would benefit him. This section called New Technologies and Other Values was stimulating and became addicting to read. Developers of new technologies cooperated with an open-arm policy to intense reporting, for Patterson's coverage built a large following and a ready market for the new technology.
The shift in format happened gradually. Over the years, he learned his New Technologies and Other Values section became more widely read than the political news on the front page. So, the Patterson Papers gradually blended new-value news into the front page along with other newsworthy items and gradually moved political news off the front page, back to a Political News section of its own. Now, the only political news that Al Patterson allowed on the front page was the rise of Jonathan Ward, for Patterson Group viewed Jonathan Ward's platform of ending government regulations, to free the country's businesses and technological geniuses, as the catalyst to bringing us spectacular new values. Jonathan referred to his campaign for president as the launching pad for a new political party he named the Neo-Tech Party, meaning new technology. The Patterson Group picked up on that name and started referring to Jonathan's Neo-Tech World as "a world of soaring standards of living after Jonathan is elected and frees businesses and entrepreneurial geniuses". Al Patterson's papers extrapolated the image of that Neo-Tech World, an attractive image more and more people began to believe in.
In every market his Patterson Paper appeared, he would steadily take more and more of the market share from the traditional daily paper. In every market entered thus far, the traditional daily paper eventually sold out to the Patterson Group. The Patterson Group was currently planning to enter eight new markets.
That plan for expansion ended the first page of the PI's report and the description of Al Patterson's empire. Jake could not wait to turn through the rest of the pages in the PI's report. What became of Miss Annabelle's other seven students? Jake hopped off the couch and locked the door of his small dorm room. This way, he would not answer his door if one of his fraternity brothers stopped by. He sat at the desk built into the wall and turned the page to reveal...Reggie Tucker.
"I didn't know that!" Jake said out loud as he read the first line of the page: Reggie Tucker, Grassroots Charts, Inc., CEO, owner.
Grassroots Charts was the six-year-old national cable station that took America by storm, spanking the other music stations in the ratings. Moreover, the Grassroots Charts' 24-hour show pulled ratings not only from the music cable stations, but from the radio stations as well. Teenagers at home, it was discovered, preferred leaving Grassroots Charts on instead of their radios.
Grassroots Charts began as a novel idea, destined to success from the beginning. Grassroots Charts took the power of selecting musical tastes out of the hands of the industry-elite power brokers and put it in the hands of the people. That shift in power not only appealed to the viewing audience, but multiplied the entertainment value beyond anything seen before in the music industry, for the depth of quality and breadth of variety exploded with the new phenomenon.
Here's how Grassroots Charts worked: Local musicians, singers, bands of any type from around the country were encouraged to send in a complete 40-minute CD of their own original music, which could include some creatively done remakes. Reggie had learned as a teenager that there were thousands upon thousands of exceptional bands and singers that the people never heard because the elite few power brokers in the recording industry selected only a handful of artists to market. Logistics, not quality, kept brilliant and entertaining values from the people.
Reggie made a Neothink breakthrough that changed the way the music industry had always been run. His company received hundreds of CDs a month by small-time but serious musicians and bands. A local band serious enough to produce a CD was a good sorting mechanism. With its 24-hour format, Grassroots Charts actually aired over half of the bands that sent in CDs. It truly was a grass roots dynamic.
The bands chosen to go on the air (actually, televised via cable) were notified and asked to send in a homemade video of the band performing. They would, of course, send in their very best performance. The video was introduced between midnight and seven in the morning. Up to a hundred new groups could be introduced during this time. Each new group or artist would be scored...by the viewing audience. Now, here was the genius behind Reggie's concept: the score was, simply, how many CDs were sold.
His station functioned sort of like a hybrid of MTV and the Home Shopping Network...with the stimulating tension of those live COPS type shows. He would televise the videos shot on location, jumping from back-street clubs to high society...from swank to sleaze. On the left bottom side of the screen was a telephone number to call and order the CD and a live tally of how many sold -- the score. Next to that live tally of number sold on the bottom left side of the screen was another small box with a live tally of the number sold of the previous video. (90% of orders came in within four minutes after the televised video.) The viewing audience enjoyed this relentless competition and became familiar with the records set and the exciting consequences when a new band broke the existing record (usually meant million-dollar recording deals).
The viewing audience from midnight to 7:00 a.m. loved the feeling of "going into" uncensored nightlife scenes. Many people watched late-night Grassroots just for that purpose: to "visit" the sometimes "dangerous" nightlife scenes. Between midnight and seven in the morning, all CDs sold for the bargain introductory price of $6.95. If fifty or more sold, that video was guaranteed to stay on the next night and the next, as long as the score stayed at fifty or more.
Those videos with the highest scores for the week moved on to rotation in the better time slot between 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Grassroots Charts would send their recording crew to professionally video those winners of the week from the introductory time slot. Grassroots produced a professional quality video for the more prominent daytime slot.
At this new time slot, a score of 200 -- that meant 200 CDs sold -- guaranteed continuing airing the next night as long as sales stayed above 200. During that time slot, the selling price of the same CD jumped to $9.95. The increasing cost of the CDs toward a retail store's price as the airing time improved actually kept a solid viewing audience tuned into the introductory time slot between midnight and 7:00 am, for those were the increasing number of bargain hunters. Those bargain hunters made the whole system work.
Reggie learned early on that his company would manufacture and store the CDs. He developed a formula that gave him a good idea of how many CDs would sell based on the introductory results. By producing all the CDs himself, his huge quantity got the price down to rock bottom costs, even if manufacturing only a couple hundred of any one artist.
Grassroots Charts kept the revenues of sales and paid the artists a 10% royalty for each CD sold. Of course, by far the greatest value to the artists was the opportunity at national exposure. In fact, a metamorphosis occurred in the music industry over the six years Grassroots Charts entered the music scene. The major retail stores were filling their shelves with the top artists on the Grassroots Charts.
It was inevitable that the big retail stores stopped listening to the elite power brokers from the record labels and started listening to the people -- the voters for the Grassroots Charts. It was inevitable because the leading artists on Grassroots Charts were already demonstrated in the marketplace as the best sellers. The retail stores' improved net profits using this indicator -- the leading Grassroots artists -- broke down the control of the elite few power brokers in the music industry and put the control in the hands of the consumers and the artists.
That meant: doing well and moving up to the prime time rotation from 4:00 p.m. to midnight on Grassroots Charts could put an artist in the big leagues. Doing among the best of the artists on Grassroots Charts would attract lucrative, multi-million-dollar record deals with the established record labels. Artists who would have never reached the ears of a music power broker could now get his shot at marketability by recording a CD and sending it to Grassroots Charts. He or she would get a fair shot at the marketplace. If his or her musical creation was marketable -- a value to the people -- it would rise to the next level. If his or her musical creation was marketable at that next level to a broader viewing audience, it would rise to the prime time audience.
At prime time, the CD would sell for $12.95. As long as it scored/sold 500, it would be guaranteed to run the next night. In some cases, an extremely marketable group or solo act could have a run of several weeks in prime time, which guaranteed the artists would become multimillionaires with a major record label.
The major record labels also benefited from Grassroots Charts, because it took the risk out of signing artists. Those artists, by way of Grassroots Charts, already demonstrated their marketability. That demonstration enabled the record labels to aggressively, without risks, market their newly signed artists.
The most talented and marketable artists, as determined by the marketplace, aired during prime time, creating the best musical entertainment on TV. Grassroots Charts not only offered the most creative and quality entertainment in America, but also the greatest variety with artists in so many different settings. The viewer never got bored as Grassroots Charts took the viewer into backstreet clubs all across the country for unique and fresh entertainment. For his advertisers, Reggie Tucker even took numerous polls that demonstrated the viewer never felt bored watching his station.
The PI's report on Reggie ended by saying that Grassroots Charts announced it will launch its own record label that "will sign and market its own star artists instead of giving them away to the record labels that once made it impossible for the majority of artists to succeed." ...Reggie Tucker, a black child from a poor family, now sitting on top of the world...wow, Jake thought...thank you, Miss Annabelle, for giving these kids the keys to Neothink.
Who, Jake wondered, is on the next page of this report? What surprise am I in for next? He flipped the page and read: Rico Rodriguez, Rico Steaks, President and Owner. Ah, yes...Rico, Jake remembered, the shy Mexican boy from a family line of criminals. He owned Rico Steaks, the largest consumer-direct steak retailer in the East with outlets all along the East Coast. Also, three years ago, Rico expanded nationally, selling his steaks through direct mail, and in that time, he was already the third largest mail-order steak retailer in the country.
What, Jake wondered, was his breakthrough? Jake had seen a trend in Miss Annabelle's students: They rose to the top because of breaking through to the next level at something. But on the private investigator's well-done and thorough report, there was nothing that indicated a specific breakthrough about Rico Steaks.
Jake could not wait to find out, because he knew Rico had done something different than had ever been done before. So, Jake impulsively picked up the phone and called Rico Steaks. He was surprised when he asked to speak to Rico Rodriguez, and the receptionist said, "Just one moment, please."
Jake almost hung up. Where, he wondered, would I begin? How do I start my questions? He realized he really needed to prepare for this call.
"This is Rico." It was such a deep and friendly voice, which helped Jake's frozen mind to thaw out a little.
"Oh, yes sir," Jake stammered.
"How can I help you?" Rico asked.
It was so strange to hear this mature man after having heard Rico's high, prepubescent voice on the lecture tapes. Jake felt as though he had gone through a time warp into the future. Just the other day he was listening to this person who was then a little boy less than half of Jake's age and now that little boy was Jake's senior, nearly twice his age.
"Rico...I mean, Mr. Rodriguez, my name is Jake Catchings. I'm calling from Boston. I'm doing a report for college, and I wanted to ask you if you could shed some light on your company's success." Jake realized he could have kept the bigger picture from Rico for now, for Rico was genuinely glad to help ambitious students toward a successful future. But as Rico started revealing the breakthrough Jake was looking for, he knew he would go ahead during this phone call and tell Rico the whole story.
"My success story is a story about my workers, son," Rico answered. "I did something no one else would have dared. Two out of every three people who work for Rico Steaks are ex-cons."
Rico paused, expecting a knee-jerk reaction of surprise out of Jake. But Rico did not know that Jake knew all about his roots. When Rico heard no reaction, he went on to tell Jake about his breakthrough, "I've become quite famous in these parts for hiring ex-cons for high wages. My secret is that I hire ex-cons of political-policy crimes and NOT objective crimes of force and fraud. So-called criminals of laws of some politician's claim to fame are not really criminals. Instead, they are innocent people caught in the illusion of that politician's rise to power...their lives used and stepped on for his ladder to the top of politics. Those decent people who should've never gone to prison have a hard time getting good jobs with good pay when they get out. So, when I hire them and pay them nearly twice the industry norm, they become highly motivated, loyal, and protective. I have the highest morale and productivity in my industry, anywhere in the country. ...Now, other companies throughout other industries are looking into my unique personnel program."
"Your breakthrough in business came through personnel?" Jake asked, suddenly realizing breakthroughs in business are not limited to product, marketing, or operations.
"That's right, son," Rico said. And, as if reading Jake's mind, he added, "My business is labor intensive. A breakthrough in my workers' productivity can be as effective as a breakthrough in marketing."
Jake sat at his little desk and stared at the PI's report, opened to the page about Rico Rodriguez. These people live at a different level than everyone else, Jake thought. He wanted to talk to this benevolent man on the phone about all this. Jake had no preparation but felt he wanted to open up.
"Sir, can you remember your childhood?" Jake asked.
"Yes, sure I can. ...Why?"
"I know a time in your past, when you were just eight or nine years old," Jake said. Rico was surprised. How does this young man know about that?
"You know about my past?" he asked.
"Mr. Rodriguez, can you remember when you were eight years old...can you remember when you went to third grade?"
Still confused, Rico said, "Can you refresh my memory?"
"Can you remember Ian? Or how about Teddy...or Johnny...or how about Sally and her mom who had cancer?"
"Oh yes, I remember Sally...that was so sad about her mother," Rico answered. He was really curious now.
"Tell me, Mr. Rodriguez, if you can remember..." suddenly Jake's heart started pounding, "...your third-grade teacher...Miss Annabelle?"
A deafening silence followed. Did he, Jake wondered, forget? How could he forget? Jake's heart kept pounding as sadness started to overcome him with each passing unanswered moment. How could Rico forget?
"I loved that woman." Rico's deep voice broke the silence. The depth of emotion in Rico's voice made Jake's eyes flood with tears. He could not talk for the moment.
"Son, do you know what happened to Miss Annabelle?" Just to hear Rico say her name again sounded beautiful to Jake. She lived in her students' thoughts!
"Yes, I do," Jake's voice cracked at realizing the impact Miss Annabelle still had on her students. With his voice shaking and cracking, Jake continued, "I've spent the past month making the most amazing discovery of my life. It's about Miss Annabelle and her students during your year together in the third grade."
"Jake, where are you calling from?"
"I'm at Boston University."
"I want to fly you down here to Philadelphia. I loved that woman, and I still do. I owe her my happiness. I want to know everything you know. Will you come?"
"Yes, of course."
"Okay, Jake, I'm going to put you through to my secretary. She'll make all the arrangements. I can't wait to talk to you, son."
"Thank you, sir."
That confident, successful voice was replaced by the soothing sound of a competent executive secretary. She asked Jake if he could come to Philadelphia that weekend. When he said he could, she asked him if he would be accompanied by someone. He smiled and surprised himself as he said he most likely would have someone with him. She told him she would call him back within the half hour with the travel arrangements, thanked him, and said good-bye.
Jake sat at his desk in stunned silence, moved by Rico's reaction. Miss Annabelle's students still loved her like the day she left! Jake felt a rewarding sense of justice as he knew something big was starting to happen. He also felt very proud that he was the one making it happen. He wanted to share his excitement with Angie and Jessie, but the report staring at him on the desk before him pulled him back to it, reigniting his unbearable curiosity. Talking to Rico had flooded his veins with adrenaline, and he was ready to spend hours with this sacred report that fast forwarded Miss Annabelle's students ahead 27 years. What surprise awaited on the next page?
Unbelievable. Nattie, now known as Natasha Stokov Kemp, produced and hosted a nationally syndicated radio talk show.
But, before Jake could read more, he closed the PI's report.
"I'm getting value overload," he muttered to himself. He was burning with curiosity, but he knew he was still hearing in his head his call with Rico while, at the same time, trying to read about Natasha. ...Each student now had such profound accomplishments that he realized he could absorb only two or three pages of the PI's report at a time.
Tomorrow, Friday, classes would start for the spring semester. He had an early class. And tomorrow afternoon he'd fly to Philadelphia. He'd be up too late if he continued the report. He put it in his suitcase to bring with him on his flight south.
*
A soft smooth hand slipped its way into his hand as the forward thrust of the plane pulled Jake back in his seat. Jake looked over at Jasmine and smiled reassuringly while squeezing her hand. She had always been a little afraid of flying, but when Jake asked her to go with him to Philadelphia, she was too excited to decline. Besides, she knew she had to overcome her mild phobia if she was to become a journalist.
After reading some of Jasmine's work, Jake had asked her to coauthor the article about Miss Annabelle and her students. Jasmine was a skilled writer. She was a real pro who trained hours each day researching and writing on very involved subjects. Moreover, unlike anyone else, she understood at all levels what was being discovered here with Miss Annabelle, her husband, her students and man's next mentality.
Jake pulled the PI's report out of his carry-on luggage and put the report on his lap. He also had a copy of the report in his hand and gave it to Jasmine.
"Here's what her students are doing now," he said. "You'll be amazed." Jasmine started reading the first page, which told the story of her media hero, Al Patterson.
Jake opened his report to the fifth page, back to Natasha Stokov Kemp. She produced and hosted a unique, nationally syndicated three-hour morning radio show on happiness and love. She also developed her techniques into a workshop and personally trained qualified representatives to deliver those workshops across the country. The techniques in her workshop and advice on the air were uniquely focused on generating happiness first to open the door for lasting romantic love. She specialized in existing marriages, emphasizing that the initial attraction and chemistry pulled the couple together, but the lack of happiness eventually smothered the flame. Once she put them on the path to happiness, the flame returned.
Her roots went straight back to the camping trip with Miss Annabelle 27 years ago. Natasha Stokov Kemp demonstrated through real-life situations, live on her radio show, over and over again, that genuine happiness comes by producing values for society, which brings pride and happiness to oneself. A man must produce values to generate happiness, and he must generate happiness to feel lasting love. A woman, because of her different biological nature, must also produce values, either directly into society or indirectly by contributing to her spouse's value production, which might include making his life more efficient through a well-run home and dedicated child rearing. Either way, through building her life around a career or around her husband's career, or a combination of the two, would generate happiness for a woman and open the door to lasting romantic love. Bottom line for lasting love, Natasha would say, was that a man must have a productive job he is proud of, and a woman must have a productive man she can look up to and be proud of.
On her radio show, she would take calls mostly from married couples with husband and wife both on the telephone. She would spend 10 to 15 minutes per couple, placing them on the path of generating happiness, opening the door to the flaming love they experienced early on before lack of happiness blew out the flame. If she could not clearly get the couple on the path to happiness during the phone call, she would give them a free comp to the next Natasha Workshop in their area.
The workshop was a three-day, hands-on extensive program with spectacular results. It cost couples fifteen-hundred dollars to attend the famous workshops.
Couples were often a bit surprised the first day because the workshop was so unlike any other marriage retreat. Natasha's workshop had none of those emotional feel-good exercises designed to bring out the tears and temporarily whip up emotions into a romantic euphoria. Natasha knew such techniques worked only temporarily, just long enough to justify the pricey retreats.
Her workshop was well known among marriage counselors for its permanent results. And if not for those well-known results, many couples would have sunk into skeptics after the first day. Right from the beginning, it seemed to couples that perhaps they were attending the wrong workshop. The word "love" did not even come up until mid-morning the second day. There were no feel-good exercises to do with love. But Natasha wanted it that way, for she knew the cause-and-effect order to happiness and love. And her method worked.
The entire first day of the Natasha Workshops focussed on each individual making a unique, internal discovery. Each person was put through a series of tests to discover his deepest motivation in life: what if he could do anything he wanted -- something active and productive, not passive entertainment like watching TV, or watching a movie, or watching sports, or playing in sports, or having sex -- what would it be? What does that person naturally enjoy so much that he or she would elect to pursue it in place of his or her typical entertainment, night out, or weekend activity?
Like so many others, Natasha identified that the obvious key to success was devotion and drive to a particular career or interest. But, she learned over the years, devotion and drive never lasted...unless it truly came from one's deepest motivation in life. To find that deepest motivation unique to each individual was the breakthrough, she knew. For instance, Natasha's deepest motivation was psychology. She would rather be reading an interesting book about psychology on Friday night than seeing a movie. Or, after going to dinner with her husband, she would rather get to a book on psychology than watch TV. She could easily spend her evenings and weekends learning about and working on her interest. In fact, that was how her weekend workshops got started in the first place. Although she would take time out to do other things, she had to tear herself away from her deepest motivation in life to do other things. Her motivation and the energy it generated naturally pulled her back to her interest all the time. How lucky I am, she thought, to be doing what truly motivates me. In her workshop, she got others to discover their deepest motivation.
She learned that once a person discovered his or her deepest motivation, the door opened to the life he or she was meant to live...a life that would bring about major value production and success. All the rules of discipline and effort still applied, but without one's deepest motivation working for him, the door to major success remained closed as one's work remained a chore and a boring trap...happiness would wane and the flame that first ignited the marriage would flicker out.
Natasha discovered that most people never knew about their deepest motivation. So they could not naturally summon the physical and mental energy needed to rise into exciting realms of major value production and success. Discovering one's deepest motivation equipped a person with an endless source of energy, which opened the way to exciting, major value production, success, and happiness.
To discover one's deepest motivation in life, her workshop would have each person look for clues, such as a particular subject he tended to read about or was always drawn to, no matter how impractical it would seem to pursue. Once he went through Natasha's exercises to discover his deepest motivation, then Natasha would have him start pursuing it as a hobby, but always with the thought, in the back of his mind: can I make this commercial or the source of my livelihood someday? For, when one's livelihood is his deepest motivational drive, then he has achieved his ambition in life. Natasha's workshop consisted of breakthrough Neothink techniques that resulted in a staggering percentage of its attendees discovering, eventually pursuing, and going on to experience spectacular success financially and emotionally. Her techniques actually flipped the reason a person almost never recognizes, no less pursues, his deepest motivation: impracticality because he could not make a living from it. Her techniques flipped that over so that recognizing and then pursuing one's deepest motivation became very practical and his unique path to wealth and success in the top 1%.
In her workshops, Natasha learned that perhaps the most universal common denominator among people was hope for a better life. It was also their least understood emotion, especially once they suppressed their hope through a sense of resignation. Suppressed hope for a better life usually manifested itself in a strong religious belief for a better life in the hereafter.
Natasha studied many people over several years. She discovered that their suppressed hope was first reawakened and then fulfilled once they found and pursued their deepest motivation.
People suppress hope for a better life -- for the life they were meant to have. Their deepest motivation points them to that life they were meant to live. Once they pursued their deepest motivation -- their essence...the person they were meant to be -- they no longer needed suppressed hope.
So her workshops took unhappy people -- including camouflaged unhappiness -- and helped them get on the path of the life they were meant to live. Those who pursued their deepest motivation became happy people who, lo and behold, fell back in love with their spouses! They stopped subconsciously living for the afterlife and instead started living to get the most out of life, each and every precious day.
*
A jolt shut off Jake's conscious realm like a switch and turned on the world of sensory perceptions around him. The plane skipped twice on the runway. He looked at Jasmine who had also been absorbed in the PI's report the entire flight and had the same disoriented look on her face. ...Now, they were about to meet Rico.
"Let the adventure begin," he said as the plane headed for the gate.
Next Page | Contents | Previous Page
Disclaimer - Copyright - Contact
Online: buildfreedom.org - terrorcrat.com - mind-trek.com