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On August 20, 2017, we were taken into custody by the Royal Thai Police at immigration in Phuket International Airport, in Phuket, Thailand. We sat in a tiny office immigration office for over 4 hours. As an entrepreneur, I am extremely averse to situations where I do have control of the outcome. Even worse is when someone else has complete control over what I can and cannot do (including moving freely). That is the situation we found ourselves in that day. We were heading to a wedding in Nepal, and we had planned a couple of stops along the way. That Sunday we were heading to the island of Kho Phi Phi in Thailand for four days. That is the island featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach. “We just lost our trip to Kho Phi Phi…,” I thought to myself. I have to send you back… said the immigration official in charge. Why? Thailand was a last minute addition to our trip, and I forgot to check the Visa requirements. That was a colossal blunder on my part. I had been there many times, and never required a visa. However, my wife was a Mexican national with a Green Card at the time (she had been eligible for US citizenship for around five years, but we had never gotten around to it). Thailand requires a visa (from one of their embassies) for Mexicans. So, they were going to send us back to Hong Kong. Here is where it gets interesting. On the flight over, I had been listening to The Hero’s 2 Journeys , an audiobook by Christopher Vogler and Michael Hauge. In it they describe what every hero encounters in every great story… A Point of No Return. The point of no return is the moment in the story, where the hero can no longer go back to his or her normal life. There is no going back in time. That comfortable life from just a short while ago is not available. While listening to the book, I wondered when was the last time I had felt that sort of “ point of no return .” If I had to guess, I had experienced this maybe once or twice in the prior five years. Yet, here I was a few hours later, at a point of no return. I truly believe that audiobook had prepared me for that moment. They were going to send us back to Hong Kong. The Thai Airways official told us the only flight back was booked. Would we have to stay in the airport (in this dirty security office). Oh yea, did I mention our kids were 3 and 6 years old at the time? It was my point of no return. Could we salvage this trip? Could we feel happy and excited again like we had when we began the adventure? We could quit, give up on Kho Phi Phi, go back to Hong Kong and figure out a way to go direct to Nepal in 4 days. Or we could face this and find a way forward. It would be painful and stressful either way.
It sucked, but no one was gonna figure this out for me. I popped my cell phone out (pretty sure I was not supposed to be doing this) and looked at the visa requirements, and looked for the closest Thai embassies outside of Thailand. Kuala Lumpur had a Thai Embassy downtown. It was an hour and ten minute flight away. Of course, I had never been to Malaysia, could I work it all out? I suggested to the officer in charge that he let us leave to Kuala Lumpur. He agreed and approved. They took me outside the office (while my family was kept inside) and I phoned Malaysian Airlines. I Booked a hotel. Researched the visa requirements. Then we spent an extremely focused and efficient 2 days in Kuala Lumpur getting all the paperwork done (which require some special negotiating on its own). Those 4 hours in Thai custody were extremely nerve racking, especially with my young family. But 48 hours later, we were on a speedboat doing 30 knots towards Kho Phi Phi. We were legally in the country. The moral? You never know when random information you read will help you. As an author, the more you read the better an author you become. But you may also be arming yourself with information and the courage you need when you reach that point of no return. I find this to be true with the information you can learn from your connections in your niche. One connection I made recently completed made a passing comment to me that changed the trajectory of my business (a story in itself for another day). And it all started with making contacts to build my platform. Leap.Love.Grow. Ray Brehm PS. Paul Brodie and I are sharing the details of how we currently continue to build our platforms on Monday. The cool thing is, it works even more powerfully if you are just starting to build yours.
It is called Platform Building Secrets, and we go live March 27th, at 2:00 pm EST (eastern) / 1pm CST (central).
This complimentary live webinar will show you how to rapidly build a platform to increase your influence, income, and email list. We do this consistently using virtual events and partnerships.
There will be a replay, but you will need to register to attend or get access to the replay. https∶//rayb.me/pbstraining (https://email.raybrehm.com/c/eJxMy8FOxCAQgOGnKccGhmGAA4eNSeNqop6M1ylQS7JtN0Bi9u2NugfP__fHY-8c-zkFQomL81KrmY1VMhtNlIwTd_KeayvH_shtvduF_lsr0YkUVMIZSeSgyHpL3ioQeeNy-R1Lh-cXfz49sHHx1N6e8u31Q6xBW04Q07JEjY5JaiBwnrN2bOYoSZQAErTUYJRDhTAq5S0wGYxeKkd6QFn5Nte8bmM8NnEJa-_XNujTANMA008ctzzAdJ1br1z2sn-KGr5q6flvHpftOwAA___ZFFAR)
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