Some of you know that last year I set out to expand my mindset around abundance and prosperity. I’ve helped a lot of people transform their relationships with Money and radically change their whole lives. But if you think about WHY I got into this whole Money thing, it’s because that’s been my blind spot, the area of life that needed love and attention. So in 2008 I set out to give my Money Honey some love and attention.
In March I took Chris Howard’s “Billionaire Bootcamp” and studied the values and strategies of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson. Weeks after the class completed, I had my own billionaire mentor.*
Fist I’ll tell you how we met. This isn’t a guy who mentors or meets strangers as favors, but he let me come by and sit in on a lunch meeting powow over a book on that he was co-authoring with the Dalai Lama. I met Freddie Segal and my heart just opened up. This wasn’t what I expected at all.
I met all his cool friends, had a nice salad, and I apparently passed the test; I had a mentor! We went down to his store in Santa Monica, where he showed me around. (For those of you who aren’t movie stars, or shop with movie stars in Los Angeles… Fred Segal’s stores are among the most famous, glamourous, and overthetop expensive boutiques in the world. Another piece of trivia: Fred Segal invented bell-bottom jeans and is the father of ALL designer jeans!)
Lesson Number 1
Keep it small. He kept his stores small, he said, so he could have a personal relationship with everyone. We walked into one of his stores, and a gentleman came up and said, “Thank you Freddie. Because of you I was able to buy my first house.” Can you imagine? This was totally unscripted. Another boutique owner has leased space from Fred Segal over 40 years. “This,” said Freddie, “is the secret to my success.”
Lesson Number 2
It’s all about relationship. Freddie has the same employees, partners, and friends forever. What I’ve noticed, watching him interract with his friends, gardeners, and waiters, is that he is really NICE to people. He introduced me to everybody as if we were all important. He makes sure he gets what he wants, but he treats the people around him with tremendous respect and friendliness.
That’s it for now. I’ll cover more lessons–on selling, patience, universal love, and why girls shouldn’t part their hair down the middle–in future posts.
Warmly,
Morgana
* I don’t know as absolute FACT that he’s a billionaire. After the first few hundred millions, who’s counting?
Tags: abundance and prosperity, billionaire, billionaire bootcamp, Chris Howard, Fred Segal, relationship
