Viral Storytelling with The Story Lady, Ronda Del Boccio

Well, today I was edged out by about $2 from being in the top 6 on Top Affiliate Challenge.  One less refresh and I would still be a contestant right now.    It has been a wonderful experience.  Thor Schrock and his wife Kimberly and their team have taken excellent care of all of us throughout the competition.  We’ve had comfortable beds in a decent hotel.  We’ve had food from local restaurant sponsors  every day twice a day.  We have not had to endure selling popsicles in 90+ degree heat or filming in a hot airplane hanger.

We have enjoyed food from some really good restaurants, like Olive Garden, Billy’s, Runza’s, Raising Cane, The Brown Bag.  Some contestants and John Chow have whined and complained about food at various places, but I have enjoyed just about everything.    The chicken at Raising Cane is out of this world.  Runza has great fries.  We had some sort of stew from Billy’s that was quite tasty.  You can’t go wrong with Olive Garden, and I truly enjoyed the fresh fruit and veggies to go along with the sandwich at Brown Bag.  The macaroni salad is exceptional.  All these places are in Lincoln, Nebraska.  From what I hear, no trip to Lincoln would have been complete without visiting Runza and Raising Cane.  We also had the delicious treat of meals from the new Texas Roadhouse that is soon to open.  They are in training now and had to do something with all those steaks and shrimp!  Thanks for sharing them with TAC. 

A few people have asked about prizes.  there are no prizes just for making it to the show.  The affiliate network sponsors  gave us some things at the beginning, so  we each have a bag of t-shirts, pens, and other small give-aways from the networks.  The affiliate managers who came on the first episode talked about rewardsfor the winning team or the team that used the most of their company’s offers.  With all the restructuring that has happened, it is unclear how that will all work out.  Perhaps next season the networks will realize that a group of people who blog and do videos might talk about them more if they give more interesting gifts to the contestants. 

For me the point of being here, aside from going for the top show winnings, is to build relationships, learn, showcase my abilities, and to compete!  It was really hard not making it to the top 6.  I had hoped to go further and I worked very hard to get there.  But such was not my fate.   Have I learned some things?  Oh yes, definitely, and by and by I will share them with you.

It has been really hard not to blog or tweet about things that are happening on Top Affiliate Challenge for 48 hours or so after they happen.  For one thing, the days flow together and it is sometimes hard to separate out what happened on what day.  For another, I have become accustomed to being able to share things happening in my life with those around me and with my readers and community.  It was easier not to say much than to possibly leak something because I got the days mixed up.

Today’s show started with the results of the 2-day challenge.  Did anyone wonder about the huge difference between Collin LaHay’s earnings and the rest of the pack?  Since I was eliminated, I did not get to see John Chow get kicked off the show until I watched it tonight.  He is a lot like a 12 year old with a bank account.

This is what I found most interesting about him.  Last week when my team Toolbarn moved over to him because of the early arrival of Shoemoney’s baby, I was not happy.  Oh, I understand that the producers had to make a decision because of the unexpected twist, but since I had watched Team XY7.com throw 2 competitions already, I knew he had some game in mind.

The first time I went to the Team XY7.com room, it was me, the 2 Collins and John Chow.  Both Collins are on film saying they voted themselves off the show.  Sure it was obviously staged, but they still made that public statement.  It was so clear to me that John did not care about the team except to protect Collin L.    Well, I do not throw myself under the bus for the team so I would not play along with that game plan anyway.  I was one of the stronger players on Toolbarn.

If I am going to lose or to win, I will do it honestly.

John told me how much Shoemoney respects me and said something I am not going to reveal right now.  Suffice to say I didn’t like it and would not have agreed if things played out that way.  I also know he was trying to find out whether or not I was corruptable or not, and whether I would play along.

Anyway, I did not like the new combined team situation at all.  I was not going to take one in the heart for “the team” and play along with the Chow game.  I just figured that there might be some other twist in a day or two, so I would learn what I could and wait it out.

As I said in my interview after being eliminated, I threw myself into every competition and every challenge.  I never whined about the food or the hotel.  I never used my disability as an excuse or asked for any special considerationsw.  I am having a great experience in Top Affiliate Challenge and do not regret any of it for one moment. 

Over the course of the show, I have made great contacts and unexpected friends.  I will say more about that another time.  What you need to realize is that when you do things like this, people are watching and paying attention.  hundreds of people watch or download the shows every single hour.  How we play the game is noticed.

People are watching how each contestant plays the game, and the networks are no doubt deciding who they want to work with.  Though this is a game and not reality, still it is in many ways just like life.  Some people goof off and skate by on the hard work of others.  Some work hard and get edged out because of a last minute twist.  Some let somebody with money buy their win for them.  It is not necessarily the most deserving who are at the top.  Perhaps someone slacked off most of the time but turned in the right numbers at the right time, then will slither by once again.  Some divert a winning plan to game the system.  Some get emotional about things that truly do not matter.  Just like in reality.

Will the good guy making it on honest effort win?  or will someone with an uber bank account by someone’s way to the top?

Keep watching Top Affiliate Challenge!

Tags: business development, success, Kama Sutra of Storytelling, Blog Talk Radio, network marketing, story

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