From Cancer to Career
From Cancer to Career
She wouldn~{!/~}t be having these good times, however, if she had not had a terribly bad time. At the age of 26, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Her doctor told her that she had only six months to live. Christina~{!/~}s mother had died of cancer, so she had some idea of what lay ahead. In any case, she decided to quit her job at an advertising agency and spend the short time she thought she still had doing things she liked.
While she was telling this story to her employer, a fellow employee was eavesdropping. He told Christina that he was acquainted with a man who knew how to recover from cancer by changing one~{!/~}s diet. Christina wasn~{!/~}t particularly hopeful, but she figured that she had little to lose. The man was Robert Pirello, who told her that he had gotten the idea from a book written by a Japanese thinker, Michio Kushi.
Christina followed the diet, and within 18 months, she had a complete remission of her leukemia. She also married Robert Pirello. ~{!0~}My doctor told me, ~{!.~}Sometimes God just makes a miracle,~{!/!1~} Christina recalls. ~{!0~}He also said, ~{!.~}Food will not make you better.~{!/!1~}
Christina, though, was inclined to place her faith in the diet. In any event, she says, it makes people feel better. Having grown up as a butcher~{!/~}s daughter, disgusted by the blood and guts endemic to her father~{!/~}s work, she was so grateful to get her life back that she became an evangelist for whole grains and vegetables.
In 1987, she began teaching cooking classes out of her home, charging each student $25 for a three-hour cooking lesson. She then compiled her recipes into a cookbook, and started to try to get on television.
Because she cared more about getting her message out than about making money right away, she accepted an arrangement with a local PBS station to do the show without any payment, other than an announcement of a number to call to order her cookbook at the end of each half-hour program.
She is very grateful for the widespread acceptance of the program, but success brought costs she didn~{!/~}t anticipate. ~{!0~}We were selling books like crazy,~{!1~} she says. But she quickly found herself paying high legal fees to protect her image and her recipes. The producer was taking a cut of her book sales, and the stations that ran it were taking another cut. She found that she was overpaying for the toll-free number for taking orders.
Indeed, her overnight success brought about so many new expenses that her husband, Robert, who had been working with Christina in her business, had to take a job to pay the bills.
In the long term, of course, the exposure is giving Christina some exciting new opportunities. Robert has returned to working with her and finding underwriters for the show, and making sure it continues to be aired and is promoted. Christina has been told that she has the potential to become ~{!0~}the Martha Stewart of macrobiotic cooking.~{!1~}
Christina and Robert are still the only employees of their business, which remains in their home. But even Michio Kushi, the guru who started it all, told her recently, ~{!0~}If you don~{!/~}t move out of your home, you cannot grow.~{!1~}
Christina respects the advice of the man whose ideas she credits with saving her life. But she adds, ~{!0~}My goal is never to build an empire. I want to tell people how they can have their health.~{!1~}
From Cancer to Career - To learn more about this author, visit James Chan's Website.
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In November 1997, Christina Pirello became a star. That~{!/~}s when her program Christina Cooks began to be broadcast on public television stations throughout the US. Hers was the first cooking program to make a macrobiotic diet~{!*~}devoid of meats and heavy on grains and vegetables~{!*~}palatable to a mainstream television audience. Overnight, she went from teaching a few people at a time how to cook her way to addressing a national audience. This was an exciting moment, a vindication of what she believes in.
She wouldn~{!/~}t be having these good times, however, if she had not had a terribly bad time. At the age of 26, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Her doctor told her that she had only six months to live. Christina~{!/~}s mother had died of cancer, so she had some idea of what lay ahead. In any case, she decided to quit her job at an advertising agency and spend the short time she thought she still had doing things she liked.
While she was telling this story to her employer, a fellow employee was eavesdropping. He told Christina that he was acquainted with a man who knew how to recover from cancer by changing one~{!/~}s diet. Christina wasn~{!/~}t particularly hopeful, but she figured that she had little to lose. The man was Robert Pirello, who told her that he had gotten the idea from a book written by a Japanese thinker, Michio Kushi.
Christina followed the diet, and within 18 months, she had a complete remission of her leukemia. She also married Robert Pirello. ~{!0~}My doctor told me, ~{!.~}Sometimes God just makes a miracle,~{!/!1~} Christina recalls. ~{!0~}He also said, ~{!.~}Food will not make you better.~{!/!1~}
Christina, though, was inclined to place her faith in the diet. In any event, she says, it makes people feel better. Having grown up as a butcher~{!/~}s daughter, disgusted by the blood and guts endemic to her father~{!/~}s work, she was so grateful to get her life back that she became an evangelist for whole grains and vegetables.
In 1987, she began teaching cooking classes out of her home, charging each student $25 for a three-hour cooking lesson. She then compiled her recipes into a cookbook, and started to try to get on television.
Because she cared more about getting her message out than about making money right away, she accepted an arrangement with a local PBS station to do the show without any payment, other than an announcement of a number to call to order her cookbook at the end of each half-hour program.
She is very grateful for the widespread acceptance of the program, but success brought costs she didn~{!/~}t anticipate. ~{!0~}We were selling books like crazy,~{!1~} she says. But she quickly found herself paying high legal fees to protect her image and her recipes. The producer was taking a cut of her book sales, and the stations that ran it were taking another cut. She found that she was overpaying for the toll-free number for taking orders.
Indeed, her overnight success brought about so many new expenses that her husband, Robert, who had been working with Christina in her business, had to take a job to pay the bills.
In the long term, of course, the exposure is giving Christina some exciting new opportunities. Robert has returned to working with her and finding underwriters for the show, and making sure it continues to be aired and is promoted. Christina has been told that she has the potential to become ~{!0~}the Martha Stewart of macrobiotic cooking.~{!1~}
Christina and Robert are still the only employees of their business, which remains in their home. But even Michio Kushi, the guru who started it all, told her recently, ~{!0~}If you don~{!/~}t move out of your home, you cannot grow.~{!1~}
Christina respects the advice of the man whose ideas she credits with saving her life. But she adds, ~{!0~}My goal is never to build an empire. I want to tell people how they can have their health.~{!1~}
From Cancer to Career - To learn more about this author, visit James Chan's Website.
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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