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1: Act 1 Scene 1

On the 28th of January 2006, I joined Ecademy, having come across it as part of my ongoing research and investigation into blogging, social networks, and ‘web 2.0′ in general. Within ten minutes, I knew that PowerNetworker status was the only sensible starting point, and I also recognised that Ecademy had something that an Israeli company I’d been working with needed – and vice versa. I wrote to, and had a response from, Thomas and Penny Power, the very next day.

By February, Ecademy had a deal on the table with Conduit to create the Ecademy Toolbar, and I was beginning to recognise that by sharing ideas and contacts, I might not be getting paid for “the deal” in cash, but I was earning goodwill from all the parties I brought together. Goodwill, in my years of building businesses, I consider is more valuable than money – because you can’t buy it – you have to earn it – and when you need to spend it – it’s inflation-proof.

I started to recognise that my skills could be used in Ecademy in a very specific way: to rewrite profiles, and market place adverts. After all I am a journalist, copy writer, photographer, designer, can code HTML and tell a story. So the “profile makeover” service was created. After honing my talents on a few willing friends and volunteers at Ecademy, I finally managed to persuade Thomas Power that I should rewrite his profile in July 2006. When he published the result and posted a blog about it, I soon realised that I had just invented an industry. By October of 2006, I had a constant three week waiting list of customers, and they were almost half referrals from existing customers.

I decided that I should investigate joining BlackStar: for two reasons. 1) Some of the best networkers in Ecademy were Blackstars; 2) Many of my customers were Blackstars; and 3) The energy and focus these people all seemed to have intrigued me, as did the idea of a wealth profile – something that I kept seeing and hearing about.

In correspondence and meetings with Thomas and other Black Stars, I saw that being “a member” somehow helped other Blackstars to get to the point quickly, establish a level of intimicy and trust that seemed almost automatic, intuitive. I also read up on wealth profiles and the work of Roger Hamilton. I decided to apply in December, filled out an application form, and had an interview of about an hour and a half, at the end of which, I was accepted as a member.

I made my payment, and within two hours, was astonished to see that I had an inbox message welcoming me to BlackStar. What? How did that colleague know so soon? I looked at my profile summary, and it suddenly dawned on me: my little membership icon had changed from orange to black. I was a BlackStar.

It was the 29th of December, 2006. I did not quite know it then, but I had the most stimulating, fulfilling and rewarding three weeks of my life ahead of me, which were beautifully crystallised on Monday 22nd January, at my first ever (and I hear the biggest ever) BlackStar Monthly Meeting in London.

(Free MP3 Recorded version of this story will be available shortly – just send an email to blackstar25@searchsuccess.net and you’ll get to grab it when it’s edited.)

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