“Let me grab your briefcase.” my youngest son, Christian, offered. 

“I’ve got his paperwork.” said Chaz, my oldest son. 

“Looks like you had a great day.” Natalie said holding six-month-old Faith, our daughter. 

“Yes, I sold 8 today!” I said triumphantly. 

“I will update the board,” one of the boys shouted and ran off to get the hand-written poster board with numbers all over it. 

It was 1996. Just under a decade after we had gotten married. There had been some good times…and some really rough ones, financially. 

I had just gotten a job as a Medicare Risk agent (a decade before Medicare Advantage) with a Fortune 500 company. Finally, preparation had met opportunity. Every instinct in me told me that this was for real. We needed it to be. 

I had just transitioned from a claims position within the company. A decent position, with benefits, for a growing family but the income was limited. I had tried several sales jobs during that decade, but calamity and necessity mandated I find a “secure job”. 

Before I took the job, I called a family meeting. We had a lot of those and always included the kids…especially after the BBQ debacle! I outlined the opportunity in such a way that they could all understand.

Sharing the M.V.P. Award. 

During the Vision stage, I told them that each client I enrolled, I would earn $50 per person and that if I hit 100 in a month, it would double to $100 per enrollment (hey, Medicare folks…it was 1996!) I then did the most powerful thing I could have ever done. 

I tied them to the goal… 

I told them that everyone could have “Christmas in July”, if I sold 100. 

They all jumped for joy, running and dancing. The scene in my mind brings back the joy and tears. They created a Jerry Lewis style telethon tote board. Pictures of what they wanted pasted all around the bulb at the bottom and fireworks at the top with a big “100”. 

It was the ultimate Power of Agreement. 

They had a stake in my success. They took genuine interest. I told them stories of the lovely people I met each day. The job came to life for all of us. Natalie did my paperwork (I hate it!), the boys helped me with thank you notes (which later became a summer business they started for over 50 agents – Lick’em and Stick’em – I raised entrepreneurs!) when their envelopes needed to be licked and stamped. 

The Power of Agreement is what Napoleon Hill calls in “Think and Grow Rich” a Mastermind Alliance. 

The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony. No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind [the master mind].

Each day, I woke up with a fresh sense of opportunity, and when I crossed the threshold coming home (sometimes very late), I was celebrated. 

As you may have guessed, I wrote 110 applications, and everyone got their prize. In 1996, I entered the $100k Club – which had seemed out of reach for so long. Largely from the Power of Agreement that was forged from the bottom to the top, excluding no one’s voice in my household. 

We didn’t do that every month, but the support never stopped. The celebrations continued…but most importantly, 

The Power of Agreement still lives on in our household 25 years later!