Two years ago, during the beginning of the tragic conflict in Ukraine, I led a rescue attempt to get my family members out of Russia before the blockade was imposed. 

I did it because I wanted them to have a better future.

I had lived through the collapse of the Former Soviet Union and did not want them to experience this again. I knew sanctions would mean, for a period of time, cutting off banking access. I would not be able to support them financially each month, and their options in life would be severely limited.

So the plan was to first bring my sister, her husband (who is half-Ukrainian), and her son. The second phase was to bring my parents and brothers. 

At great risk, cost, and sacrifices to my personal health, I put everything on hold for a month while I fully funded, planned, and led the entire effort to bring them to a safer country. I felt like James Bond on a rescue mission (although I never watched any James Bond movies, but Bill Matassoni spoke about James Bond so passionately in Season 2 that it stayed with me. Season 2 is coming out after Season 3, by the way. We like to mix things up :-)).

But coming back to my story, at every step of the journey, they were detained by immigration agents and often denied entry through transit countries. I had to talk them through the process, calm them, and send them letters they could show the immigration agents.

I had to book multiple backup flights because some of the flights I booked they were not allowed to board. I had to pray they would be allowed to board yet another connecting flight. If you have ever bought last-minute tickets for three people, you know the amount of stress and unexpected expenses this entails. And when you start buying multiple last-minute tickets for 3 people for the same trip, it adds up to scary numbers... 

It was a significant effort without any notice to have members of my family legally enter a country and gain residency. I laid out the foundation for residency for my parents and brothers and even for my brother-in-law's family. I actually laid the foundation for everyone to legally and lawfully obtain permanent residence status.

I had to find multiple lawyers, translators, and government officials to complete it all while trying to shield them from how hard it really was.

I had to find accommodation for them and schooling for my nephew, set up bank accounts, internet, and mobile phones, and deal with lots of documentation. I went down for three weeks to help them set up their lives.

While they often went to the beach and rested, I set up their lives.

And we did it!

All went fine at first.

Everyone was content and happy, and life was good.

But before long, it all changed.

They could not see the potential of this bright new life and went back to Russia just two weeks after I had left, even though I had promised to be back in 1 month's time.

They went back to the same life with no real future because it is more comfortable in the short term. They didn't have to learn another language. Everything was familiar. 

Why am I telling you this story?

There are three lessons learned from this experience that I would like to share with you.

Number 1:

You can create opportunities for others but wait for them to come and take them. Don't spoon-feed people. Don't make it way too easy at your own expense. Some effort needs to be required from the side of the people you are helping. This way, those who are too short for the ride will not take the ride with you, and you will save seats for those who are tall enough to take the ride, or you will save your energy, which you can channel towards things that matter. And by short for the ride, I mean a person's ambition, determination, drive, level of integrity, level of gratitude, and work ethic. 

Number 2:

At the end of the day ...

... It's about them. 

I can create all the opportunities that I can to help someone, the opportunities I wish I had, but it is up to them to raise their hand and say, "Yes, Kris. I will use these resources and opportunities to have a bigger life than I would have had without your help."

Number 3:

For over a month, this rescue mission consumed my time. Yet potential clients all over the world were writing to me because they had read one or more of our books.

And, usually, when a reader reads one, they buy many of our other books. This is good news for you.

Why?

You will see below.

Why do readers write to me?

Because they want to learn more about our work, our products, and our services.

They wanted to know how they could work with us and access our other resources.

Would you like potential clients and collaborators to reach out to you, too? People you never met, you had no idea they existed, finding out about your work and contacting you? 

Would you like to be a much more attractive speaker (formally or informally) for any conference or client presentation?

What are you missing out on by not yet having the title of a bestselling author to your name? Or just a title of an author to your name. Someone who published a book. And not just any book, but a book with well-respected co-authors. In fact, the kind of co-authors you would never find otherwise, and a book that outperformed most books to reach bestselling status. 

The previous 2 books we co-authored with our clients, Nine Leaders in Action and How Leaders Get Things Done, went to number 1 bestseller in multiple business categories. And we will do the same for this upcoming co-authored book, which can be YOUR book.

Your book can be on the same author page as Mavis and Turquoise Eyes. You can have exposure to FIRMSconsulting reader base.

Other co-authors in this book are very accomplished business professionals, so there is hardly any other place where you can be in a co-authored book with a distinguished group like this. 

And, there is more. This will probably be THE ONLY chance you will ever have to be in a book with Bill Matassoni, former McKinsey and BCG senior partner and a former McKinsey's worldwide head of marketing. Bill is also a former head of McKinsey Quarterly. 

But time is of the essence.

You want to enroll sooner rather than later so there is time to work on your chapter.

Every day you are not a published author is a LOST opportunity. 

Why?

Because the world around us is getting more and more complex. Competing becomes harder and harder. 

So the message is clear: 

1) You can PROFIT from the situation.
2) You can drown in regrets, fear, and anger with the rest of the world.

The choice is yours.

If you are concerned you will not know what to do with this book to help you grow your career or business, we prepared special training for our co-authors for this project on how to use your book to grow your career and business.

Also, we noticed that many of our authors don't really need wordsmithing services as they are good writers, but they do need my help in identifying what to remove and what to include. Basically, they need my help before writing the chapter (an optional strategy call add-on), but also after writing the first draft and then the second draft, to point out to them what specifically I would change. So, if you select a wordsmithing add-on, you can also use it in an alternative way (an original way is to have a writer write your chapter based on an interview with you). The alternative way is where you write the chapter, but work with me to help you make your chapter better once it is written. It allows for time for me to help you with your 1st and 2nd drafts. This is obviously a particularly important book for us since Bill is one of the co-authors. So, we want to introduce this alternative wordsmithing version optional add-on for authors who want to write the chapter by themselves but want to allocate time for me to help them work on their chapter. 

If you are ready to apply while chapter spots are still available, follow these steps:

Step 1: Learn more here.
Step 2: Apply here.
Step 3: Pay the participation fee at the end of the application above. Installment options are also available.
Step 4: Add optional add-ons as needed and email team@firmsconsulting.com for next steps.

Take care,

Kris Safarova