Mike Pendragon (The Networking Druid)

Relax. I'm not here to sell you anything - service or product . I'm not even here to persuade you to join me in our venture. I am setting out on a journey in 2013, and would welcome advice and support along the way.

O.K., so why "The Networking Druid" ?

A few years ago Jan and I shared the platform at the FM Cosmetics U.K. Ltd National Conference with Stephen Bourne, and Stuart Walden. Closing the event Stuart announced, tongue in cheek, that it was the first time that he'd worked with a networker who looked like an accountant, and an accountant who looked like a Druid. I was that accountant !!

Why the new project ?

I'm now 65, and having reached U.K. State Pension Age, I wanted to do something for love rather than money. When Jan and I moved to Anglesey in 2002 we intended to spend our retirement walking on the beaches and the 125 miles of coastal path which skirts the coastline. But this wasn't to be. Jan's health issues mean this is no longer possible.

So what to do ? Other hobbies ? Somehow none of them seemed to  seem to satisfy anymore. I'm a life long learner, thriving on obtaining new knowledge, and putting it into practice. For the past few years I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about Internet Marketing, Attraction Marketing, Expert Marketing, Permission Marketing. But it wasn't until very recently when I started studying Social Media, and started creating my profiles, that the penny dropped with a resounding clang. I really didn't know who I was, or what I really wanted anymore. Watching one of the many videos that I've accumulated I heard the story of a young American who had been involved in a serious car accident. As he waited for the ambulance to arrive, not knowing whether he would survive,  he asked himself three questions.

Did I live ? Did I love ? Did I make a difference ?

I found the video inspirational. He then asked a very simple question. What is it you LOVE doing ?

As I wrote above, I love learning. And I love sharing that knowledge with others. Above all I love the buzz I get when I make a difference in someone elses life. I know that many people have difficulty coping with retirement. Following my retirement from the corporate world in 2004, I spent a further five years as a self-employed consultant and business analyst here on Anglesey. I finally hung up my laptop and spreadsheets in 2009, to look after Jan as her full time carer.

Almost four years later, and fast approaching that magic 65, I had what might be termed that "late-life crisis"

What did I miss about work ? The money ? O.K. so I  only have a  small employer pension to top up my State Pension, but as we live a fairly frugal lifestyle that isn't the issue. What I do miss is that sense of purpose, that reason to get up in a morning, and interaction with other people. Jan's health means that she is in constant pain, and travelling any distance is virtually impossible,  so I also wanted a project that we could work on together at home. Creating a project which applied everything I had learned, and am learning about Internet Marketing / Social Media to Jan's existing "dormant" Network Marketing business, which had been quietly ticking over since 2009 seemed to fit the bill. And of course it would give me the opportunity to share what I am learning to help others.

Network Marketing seems to be like Marmite. People either love it or hate it I remember when I first joined 4 Networking back in 2009, the section devoted to MLM / Network Marketing was treated as something of a leper colony. There are people who have made a substantial income from the industry, but there are also many who regret the day they were introduced to the opportunity.

I've always said that Jan was the networker in the family, whilst I'm the back room boffin.

(Under construction - 12th February 2013)

To be updated February 2013