About The iFactor Network
As a young man I remember yearning to be around people who could inspire me in some way. I grew up in a council estate in Hackney, London. Many of my friends lacked the maturity and motivation to do anything more with their lives than get by day-to-day. This mindset never sat well with me, and at times I was at odds with them about their attitude to life and achievement. This sometimes cause contention and would often lead to accusations that I had pie-in-the-sky ideas about my future.
I began to withhold my ideas from them for fear that they would only find reasons for me not to go ahead or why it would fail.
Do you have people like this around you?
This lack or moral support led me on a quest to find people of a like-minded mindset. Individuals who I could speak to, socialise and share my ideas with. I had read Napoleon Hill's Book 'Think and Grow Rich' and had taken in his advice about mastermind groups and the need to have positive forward-thinking people around you.
It was this desire to mix with positive people and place myself in social environments where I could learn and grow that led me to join a number or organisations and groups. Some were too formal, others were too big and I felt lost, some were just cold and I still at times felt like a stranger. However, I still managed to grow from their associations.
This quest for positive social environments has never left me, in fact as I have grown I have realised the importance of such environments play even more to my success in life. It was this continuing quest that led me to start AIM. A network for Aspirational - Inspirational and Motivational people.
The concept proved very popular and was a great success. I and the many people that attended the sessions grew immensely from them. The testimonies from the people that attended the sessions reaffirmed this. Although the concept was going really well, I put AIM on hold for a while when I launched my first book The Seven Principles of RESPECTisms. As I wanted to focus on building the RESPECTisms brand.
Even though I inspire and motivate hundreds of people each year and immerse myself in personal and professional development, the need to mix in positive social environments is always there. I have always understood that we can never learn enough, we can never surround ourselves with enough positive people or build enough productive business relationships.
Times have changed so much, we have changed. Our jobs have changed, where we live has changed and our aspirations have changed. Many people are now more educated, socially aware and economically empowered than ever before.
But somehow our social environments have not matured with us.
Yes, we all have our small circle of friends that we mix in, but when we try to extend outside this and go out socially, we invariably and all too often meet with the same social offerings that we encountered many years ago. There are some exceptions, but not enough for the need people now have to mix, communicate and socialise with like-minded people. This is one of the main reasons that social networking sites have grown so much in recent years.
It allows people to meet individuals who they have something in common with at the touch of their fingertips. However, the human need to meet face-to-face can never be replaced by online interactions. The launch of my book The iFactor, prompted a renewed focus on positive social environments from myself, colleagues and the individuals who read the book.
This has led to us bringing back our AIM Network together with our AIM Evenings in 2009, with a number of positive changes. Firstly AIM is now known as ‘The iFactor Network’ and the AIM Evening’s will be called ‘The iFactor Evenings’.
We have a great new venue, new format and a great new experience but with the same focus of providing and inspirational and entertaining evening. The iFactor Evenings will now be held in the Lane Bar in the City. This is great news as you can now have an inspiring evening with a social drink, chat and if you choose, something to eat afterwards. These fun, friendly and inspiring evenings will be held on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month – providing you with a regular opportunity to invest in your personal development; meet like-minded people, exchange ideas and make new contacts and friends.
Marianne Williamson said, "Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. I want to tell you to never accept less, to dare to dream… big dreams, the kind of dreams that excite you when you think of them." Look around you at some of the people you know, many of them have given up on their dreams… life has given them a few knocks and they have decided to settle for less than they would care to admit.
I hope you will never give up on your dreams, however never forget that one day you have to wake up and make then a reality. The fact that you came to this web page and have continued reading down to this point, shows that you want change or to gain some further improvement in your life. Greatness in your life is yours for the taking just believe that you can have it.
The iFactor Network can help you on your journey to achieve it.