There's a Fine Line

By Mark G. Pollock

There's A Fine Line is a book that shared principles in business and life that separate the winners from the rest of the pack.

The book outlines startegies and patterns that will help any business person or salesman achieve a higher level or activity and prodcution in their careers.

Mark interviews several seccessful individuals at the end of the book from all walks of life such as CEO's of major corporations, entrepenuers, pro athletes, professors, bankers, and more....

The interviewees answer the followiong 2 questions:
1. "If you could point to one aspect of your personality that contributes most to your success in business, what would that be?".
2. "If you could go back and do anything over, what would that be?"

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456700836

Mark G. Pollock

Mark G. Pollock was raised in Shaker Heights, before moving to the Chagrin Falls community, an eastern suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Mark has been in the financial services industry for over 33 years and has consulted with many start up businesses around the country. Mark has been active in the non-profit and charitable communities from donating his time on boards, personally volunteering, to helping to raise funds for working capital and endowments. Over his career Mark helped placed over $5 billion dollars of Bank Owned Life Insurance (BOLI) and is currently involved with developing innovative strategies to help non-profits with their capital funding programs, wealth transfer for high net worth families and athletes, and funding plans for governmental entities. Mark enjoys his family, traveling, golf, paddle tennis, and writing and speaking at various conferences around the country on the topic of “protecting our kids.” Antonietta Pollock was born in Montecalvo, Italy, a small town on the outskirts of Naples and the Amalfi coast. At the age of 12 she immigrated to the United States where she met Mark. She studied and earned a license in cosmetology in 1978 before marrying Mark and raising 3 boys, Adam, Christopher, and David. Antonietta has been active in a number of charitable organizations and has devoted most of her adult life to her home and children. Today, she is involved in a home based business offering an Internet travel and shopping portal and is active in promoting skin care and beauty products through her Cose Belle enterprise. Antonietta enjoys traveling to her hometown in Italy, playing tennis and paddle tennis, cooking, making new recipes, and visiting her 3 sons.

Book preview

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

SECTION 1

1 | What Is The Fine Line?

2 | Assess Your Paradigm

3 | Antonietta

4 | What Is Your Passion?

5 | What Makes You Different?

6 | Fly Like An Eagle!

SECTION 2

7 | Know Your Message and Target Market

8 | You Only Have One Chance to Make a First Impression

9 | Start With the End In Mind

10 | Make Complex Things Simple

11 | Just Do It!

12 | Be Sincere

13 | Two Ears, One Mouth

14 | Don’t Worry About Rejection

15 | Ask for the Sale

16 | Locked and Loaded

17 | Nifty 50 / Dirty Dozen

18 | Manage the Relationship

19 | Use Deadlines

20 | Have Fun!

SECTION 2

21 | MLM’s, Network Marketing Organizations, And Home Based Businesses

SECTION 3

22 | Principles Of Character

23 | Open and Honest Communication

24 | The Value of Education

25 | Goal Setting and Contests

26 | Lead By Example

SECTION 5

27 | Balancing Your Life

28 | Is It Always About Finishing First?

29 | Its Lonely at the Top

SECTION 6

30 | Are You Ready To Go MAD

(Make A Difference)?

SECTION 7

31 | Interviews with Successful People

32 | What Did I Learned From The Pros?

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank some of the many people that agreed to read my various manuscripts, who endured the many hours of conversations as I was writing this book and who wondered if I would ever finish this project. Some of these include of course my wife Toni, the Pollock boys, Mark and Pam Alder, Jeff and Nancy Pollock, Izabela Reszko, Dustin Lopez, Todd Holder, Vicki Evans, Scott and Deb Kremer, Jeff and Alex Concepcion, Tim White, Jeff Spetrino, Cecil Bergen, Stuart Muszynski, Bob Lind, Bill MacDonald, and John Redeker. My sincere thanks go out to all of you.

Also special thanks go out to Cindy Woodie, Lisa Lantz, Laura Towslee, Annie Dragolich and PFG, all of who helped me format my manuscripts and took the many pages of mess and helped to make it look like an actual book.

Cindy was there for the first word written, Lisa served by my side for two and a half years while I was writing this book and was my alter ego and eternal sounding board as I bombarded her with many of the concepts and stories that went into the final print, and Annie helped put some final touches to artwork and formats. I often found it very helpful to bounce many of my ideas of off these friends to see if the concepts made sense and were interesting.

INTRODUCTION

Since entering the business world and beginning my adult life a little over 30 years ago, I have always been intrigued by those individuals who have achieved the highest level of success or achievement in their particular industry, profession, or personal life.

Whether it’s sales, banking, athletics, practicing law, politics, building a family business, or relationships, there is something that differentiates those that finish first from the rest of the pack.

American Idol calls it the It factor.

Many athletes call it their A game.

It’s often referred to as the X factor.

I call it The Fine Line.

I’m sure at one time or another you have seen this up close and personal and easily recognized this phenomenon. And not just on TV, but in real life. You can picture this in your mind’s eye: you go about your daily routine, whether it’s a special social gathering, an important business meeting, a sporting event, a vacation, or just spending time with your family, and suddenly you run across that one certain individual that, from your vantage point, seems to be on top of the world.

That person may be famous, may be a superstar, or may be just average Joe 6 pack, but somehow they simply seem to be different…and in a good way. You’ve noticed this, I’m sure, in your business or social environment but at the end of the day, these are the folks that you seem to be drawn to and admire. They are the ones that stand out in a crowded room.

I’m also sure that as you have observed these people, you have probably said to yourself at least one time, What makes them different? Different from me? Different from the rest of the room? And how in the world did they get there?

As I turned 50, I have been in the business world now three decades and during this timeframe, I’ve been blessed and have considered it an honor to meet a wide range of people, from CEO’s of major Fortune 100 companies, to owners of private family businesses in their fifth generation, to professional athletes, to politicians and more.

Those that know me well will quickly point out, or even warn you beforehand, that I am the Question Man.

In the normal course of an interaction, I might ask ten rapid-fire questions to perhaps one question asked of me. Part of this nature in me is that I am truly and genuinely intrigued to learn what makes others tick. I find it quite fascinating to see where successful people came from, what their personal journey was, and how they got to where they are today. To understand how they’ve succeeded and achieved their highest level of performance is worth its weight in gold.

But also, I think that it’s a valuable process to learn from people who are successful and then to try to incorporate certain of those elements into their own lives. In my career largely involving sales, this skill of asking a lot of questions has afforded to me the valuable experience to gain a truly unique perspective on what makes people successful or not. I’ve been able to see what’s behind the door, what their passions are, and what they do on a daily basis that contributes to their success. I have also tried to incorporate into my own personal experience and sales practice some of their characteristics and skill sets.

Oh, and by the way, I have also seen many people fail too. It’s not always a rosy picture out there and many valuable lessons are also learned in the depths of a failure, a bad business deal, or a broken relationship.

I hope in this book to share with you some of the positive characteristics, experiences, and stories that will lead you down a path with a fork in the road. You can continue on the path you are on or you can decide to go down a different path that could possibly lead you to a new and higher personal level.

In addition to being the Question Man, if you ever spend some time with me, another characteristic you may learn is that I am a huge fan of movies and I like to use movie analogies in a lot of my conversations. The concept of which path do you want to go down can no better be seen in the movie The Matrix. The Matrix has a little bit of everything. It’s part fairy tale, part fiction and part spiritual and definitely set a new standard for special effects in filmmaking.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Morpheus meets Neo (our hero) for the very first time. In a dark and secluded back room of a warehouse, Morpheus tells Neo that his perception of reality may not be true and that there are, in fact, two worlds presented by a red and a blue pill.

Choose the red pill and you will stay in Wonderland. Chose the blue pill and you will go see just how far the rabbit hole goes down, Morpheus explains. Of course, Neo chooses the blue pill and his eyes are opened to the difference between his world as he knew it, known as the Matrix, and the real world.

How does this relate to your personal path? Well, the path that you are on now represents the red pill whereby apart from no change you continue in wonderland and stay in the status quo. Or you can decide to take the blue pill and go down a different and unfamiliar path. Neo is repeatedly told that you can’t be told what the Matrix is but rather you have to see it for yourself. In order to experience the difference you have to actually make a choice and do something

In writing this book, I am hoping to challenge you to decide if you are happy with where you are at this particular moment in time, if you are on the path you desire, and if not, makes some changes that might put you on the winning side of the Fine Line.

I also thought it might be interesting and valuable to end the book with a section featuring some of the most wonderful and successful people I have met over my career and hear briefly about their personal journeys and what they view as the singular characteristic that has most contributed to their personal success.

Each chapter will discuss a Fine Line concept, share a few elementary concepts and related stories, and then end with an Insight and Action paragraph that will summarize the chapter and encourage you to take action.

Enjoy!

Mark

SECTION 1

THE FINE LINE

1 | What Is The Fine Line?

As a young boy, my life was very much consumed with sports, primarily golf, football, and baseball.

I grew up in an era where professional athletes did not make the mega bucks that they do today and where the passion and fire in the athletes’ hearts and bellies drove them to greatness more so than their desire to sign the next $100 million-dollar endorsement deal.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that today’s athletes don’t have passion or that there is anything wrong with signing big financial deals. For those of us that grew up watching the likes of Jim Brown, Joe Nymath, or Arnold Palmer and even Michael Jordan in his early days, you know what I am talking about. Back then because significant money contracts were few and far between, it wasn’t so much about the business of sports as it was about the sport itself.

I remember back in the late 60’s and early 70’s watching a few events that would forever leave a lasting impression and lifelong question in my mind.

In those days there were only three major TV stations plus a few specialty channels such as public television. There certainly weren’t, as there are today, 900 cable channels with over a hundred opportunities to watch sporting events 24 x 7 x 365.

There were however, over these decades a few annual sporting events that captivated everyone’s attention each year. A couple of these events included Shell’s World Series of Golf, the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World, The Kentucky Derby, The Masters, and The Indianapolis 500.

I can remember vividly one rainy Cleveland Saturday afternoon watching this one particular Indy 500 race. I don’t even remember whether it was live or if it was a replay but I do remember that it was one of the most captivating events I had ever seen up to that point in my young life. My heart was pounding each minute of the race.

In this one particular Indy race, there was a very tight competition for first and second place, which lasted most of the last 50 or 60 laps. Since back then there were no sophisticated instruments that exist today such as wireless headphones connecting the head of the crew in the pits to the drivers, there was much more guess work involved.

In this race the two lead drivers were pushing the envelope. As the race neared completion with less than 10 laps to go, it turned out both cars had to pit to take on a few more gallons of gas to make sure they didn’t run dry on the last lap.

As the pinnacle of the race was about to take place I was on the edge of my seat watching with wide eyes. I think I was all but 13 at the time. These two cars which were running in first and second place abruptly exited the main drag way and went into pit row to take on maybe a gallon or two fuel and that’s where it happened - my first real understanding of what the fine line really means.

The TV station showed both cars on a split screen, somewhat advanced technology in those days. But both were side by side with a stopwatch on each one of them. The two pit crews quickly rushed out with long white hoses and pumped in just enough gas to finish the race. They must have taken on something like a gallon or two at the most. In amazement the pit crews did all of this in a matter of less than 10 seconds. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the second place car sped out of pit row a split second ahead of the first-place car and then went on to win the race by a half of a car length.

Wow, what an exciting finish!

I’m sure you probably didn’t see this particular race, but you can picture this kind of photo finish in a race today or even in other sporting events. If you grew up in Cleveland it would be known as finishing on the wrong side of either, the shot, or the fumble, or the pitch. (and now The Decision) In this car race though there was A VERY FINE LINE, only a few seconds as it turned out, separating the two cars from first and second place.

To the victor went the Indy’s large payday and all the spoils. To the second-place driver….well, while still receiving a handsome payday, he likely went home wondering what went wrong and how to make all the necessary changes for next year’s or even next week’s race. No front page photos on sports Illustrated or late night visits to Jay Leno or David Letterman.

While life or business isn’t an Indy 500 car competition, after watching this particular race that Saturday afternoon I was forever intrigued by the concept of the fine line. To this day I still ponder each week’s activities and say to myself which side of this fine line did I fall on? Did I give it my all? Did I finish first today or did I fall short of my best and finish in second again? Or perhaps I may have even given up on the last lap when I noticed victory was slipping through my hands.

This concept not only applied in business or sales, but in all aspects of your life. It pertains to areas such as your relationships, exercise program, eating regimen, time with your spouse or children, or interaction with your business partners and friends… those things that matter most in life.

One thing is for sure though, which side of the line that you fall on IS NOT AN ACCIDENT. Whether you finish each little race first or second will not just simply happen. You and no one else have the largest single measure of control over the factors that go into your own personal results. I heard someone say the following statement at a speech one time, which is so simple it’s amazing but it speaks great volumes:

If you work hard and plan I can’t guarantee you will succeed, but if you don’t work hard and fail to plan, I can guarantee you will fail.

In this book and in the following chapters, I will outline some of the more basic characteristics and patterns that I have observed by watching some of the most successful people in business and life that contributed to personal success.

I have tried, often by trial and error, to incorporate many of these principles into my personal life and business practice too. My goal in writing this book is the hope that these ideas may help encourage you in your quest to be the best you can be.

So as I conclude this first chapter, the logical question to ask you is this:

"On which side of the fine line do you want to live? The one where you reach your personal goals and achieve your best results, whereby you enjoy deep and meaningful family and personal relationships, or the one where you always seem to finish second or third or even worse?

Also, pay attention for the next week. It’s pretty hard to go through a week of personal encounters or watching something like a debate on TV without hearing someone start a conversation by saying, You know there’s a fine line between…(and then they compare two apparent extremes even though they may be separated by just a fine line difference).

Defined or used in real life, when the term Fine Line is used it typically is comparing two activities that are so similar that one can easily become the other. The line (or fine line) between the two is small its nearly invisible or unperceivable.

This concept is clearly seen in the enjoyable song There’s a Fine, Fine Line from the Broadway Musical Avenue Q where a few of the lines in the lyrics say:

"There’s a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend:

There’s a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;

There’s a fine,