During our journey we would encounter areas and individuals that would make a difference in our sales and in our lives, which happened in Lancaster, Ca. I first met one of the key people at a meeting I held in Ventura, CA, this individual appeared to have what it takes to make something happen. I offered to come back and do some meetings in their area, which happened to be north of Los Angeles in an area called the Antelope Valley (the high Dessert), what a beautiful area.
I became so involved in the area we opened an office their so I could spend more time there. A short time after I started being there on a regular basis it was decided that we would open some quick oil change centers under the name Oil-Rite, that I wanted to create, right there in Lancaster, CA. I announced it at one of our regular meetings, the next morning I had eleven people at my hotel waiting to talk to me about the project, so off we went to find a location and get started. When we kicked off the project with the grand opening of our first center we had people lined up at 5:00 AM to be some of our first customers, what excitement.
When I talk about the excitement that was generated by the people from this area, I can’t emphasize it enough, everyday was something new. We started planning for five more centers, we found locations and we were on the move.
One morning, I w
as in a local coffee shop and I was discussing my love for sales and sales training and I was explaining my dream of building a center for Sales Training where we could broadcast to the world via satellite all types of training. The individual I was sitting with was a builder, he asked if I knew what type of building I wanted, and the answer was of course, yes! He asked me to meet him back at the coffee shop later that day. When I got back there he had a friend with him who was an architect, I explained what I wanted, the water fountain, the front, the look the feel and the operations, well three days later he had my first sketches of Sales Center USA, talk about excitement.
We drew up plans, found the site, entered into an agreement for sale on th
e property,
the California papers picked up the story and we were off and running… so I thought. Building something of this magnitude is not as easy as it looks and the project was put on hold. It was necessary to focus on the business of Syn-Trek and the Oil-Rite Lube Centers. In addition at the same time I was doing seminars on living: I believed and still do that most people spend too much time as spectators of life and I believe that they should get out of the stands and get into the arena and participate in life… not a bad idea. We would produce four 8 hour seminars based on; Proper Attitude, Proper Body, Self-Esteem & Proper Mind, these seminars were receiving a wide-range of acceptance and were taking up a lot of our time.
The Arenas of Life were as follows:
What is the “Arenas of Life" seminar program? They are a series of instructional programs designed for the individual to improve the quality of life, gain financial freedom and benefits within our free enterprise system and make life generally more successful.
ARENA I - Self Esteem: Within each person is contained a sleeping giant robot which obeys our commands. We have total recall within our own minds if we are able to train th
at giant robot to do our bidding.
Setting our goals by determining our values, identifying the things wanted in life, creating time management tools and constructive imagination are also topics given much consideration.
Many of us spend more time planning a two week vacation than we do our entire life. This ARENA helps to transform your life by showing how to plan your life instead of just waiting to see what happens. This is done by using new currents of thought, new commitments and new behaviors, all using old methods.
Creating new relationships through seeing the good in other people, listening, forgiving, loving, accepting, affection, compliments, communication, producing enjoyment and discipline are all areas included in, but not limited to, the concept of bringing about a new self-esteem.
We are constantly striving to explore the vast, imperfectly-known universe our own being, learning how our self-esteem acts very much like the setting of a thermostat deterring a performance comfort zone. Our inner feelings of worth and value as a person have a direct impact on our ability to function effectively; how we feel about themselves is everything, for all we ever do or aspire to do will be predicted by that all important self-esteem; understanding self-esteem is fundamental in understanding our behavior.
ARENA II - Prop
er Attitudes: Attitudes take charge of your life, they are patterns of thought. Awareness, behavior and commitment form new patterns. Attitudes should be focused on the future, present and past in order to open a closed mind and change those patterns.
Hiding an attitude is a very difficult thing to do, it will actually drain energy. Changing the attitude is a more profitable and practical way to develop the new personality. Taking on an "I am - I can - I will" attitude will help in this personal development. Building a new attitude by competition or opposition, beliefs, expectancy, intentions, goals, dreams, plans can be very rewarding.
Time and efforts are two things we must take charge of. They are the master keys to life and happiness. Developing and following a master plan to this end will allow that attitude to become a reality. A week should never be started until it is finished in plan form.
Emotions and motivation are important elements to this ARENA and a good deal of time is spent in their development.
Finally, communication must be developed, and mastered. Our communication maturity is exemplified by his seeking constantly to understand and to be understood by others. Daily life is filled with one communication experience after another, and people are usually successful in direct relationship to their ability to communicate. Almost all human progress has been achieved through cooperative action, which depends upon effective communication.
Developing a successful Proper Mental Attitude and using it to the fullest is building and living a new life
.
ARENA III - Proper Mind: As in ARENA I Self-esteem beco
mes a part of ARENA III in
focusing on the 'Powers of the Mind'. It contains unlimited amounts of success, happiness, and joy awaiting your discovery and use. You must become conscious of the processes before you can fully use it. If you do not risk interaction and sharing, the growth process cannot take place.
Your life is governed by your mind. Your mind works according to laws that are unchangeable. The actions and productions of the computer are like the mind - the output depends on the input or programming done by your attitudes and/or beliefs. They will in turn affect your self-reliance, the power of beliefs and the power of faith in yourself.
A good share of the ARENA III will encompass the four quarters of the mind which is the left brain or logical thinking part and conscious or physical awareness aspect of the left brain, and also includes the right brain, which is the creative side of the brain and the subconscious or synergistic quarter. Man spends most of his time in the conscious left brain. However, the other is far more interesting, useful and powerful. Also included in ARENA III is the power of perception, what is wanted, the power of thought, the power of the emotions and spiritual guidance (peace of mind).
Awareness of your mind and the powers it has will bring greater appreciation and deeper understanding of life. We are a mind - working through a power generator, the brain, producing tremendous energy. Thoughts that are strong enough become ideas. Ideas form blueprints become concepts. Creating a concept (model) from which a belief can be developed and construction started. There are great stores of untapped energy, ability and power available when one begins to ask, seek and knock as directed.
ARENA IV - Proper 
Body: Included in ARENA IV, a "Proper Body" we find a new philosophy of the whole person as one of the topics. That is an awareness of the USDA standards of the past 50 years and the present controversy of health care practices and how it is shedding some light on these areas and unlearning some of the concepts we have been taught over the past years.
Other topics are power of a healthy body, disease that we don't catch - we eat, nutrition provides energy, eating raw, living foods, natural foods and complimentary foods, pure water and air, eating habits, not going on a diet, but instead just being careful what we eat.
Regeneration is a different solution to health problems. Regeneration is the duplication of the system that we have into a new and healthy system. Also a system of specific nutrition. This is a new approach to many of today's health problems.
The benefit of exercise and avoiding environmental factors and other problems, such as accumulated stress, toxin build up, meat poisons, drugs (prescription and counter), etc., along with psychosomatic illness are all areas to be covered and dealt with.
Your physician can be one of your most important resources. They will tell you one of the most important things you can do is monitor your health. ARENA IV will show you how this is done.
And finally, the holistic concepts are those things that have to do with your body such as weight control, fasting, faith (which takes us back to ARENA III), positive affirmations and mirror techniques.
In many instances our "ARENAS" overlap one another. This is because a holistic approach encompasses the many arenas of life.
All four "ARENAS" stress the three basic good health habits:
Eating Right. 2. Exercising Moderately. 3. Maintaining Calm and Cheerful Attitude.
Here seems to be a new attitude about the integration of the soul, mind, body and environment. In ARENA IV, we would like to open some new doors for the individual as we explore the valuable contributions of preventive medicine, maintenance and health restoration through several concepts, including regeneration.
Our physical maturity is exemplified by the continuing appreciation and respect for the mind and body; the increasing neuromuscular development; the fulfilling experiences through physical activity; and the continuing positive response toward the solution of problems arising from the physical world.
For additional information on the “Arenas of Life" seminar program contact you may contact me directly at
mailto:evellissr@gmail.comil.com
The program and building of Sales Center USA would have done a lot to advance this program, but it was not in the cards at that time.
The enjoyment of introducing the advantages of synthetic lubricants to individuals all across the U.S., Canada and Japan was both exciting and rewarding, but the most enjoyment came from seeing individuals achieve more than they ever believed they could. To see individuals get up in front of their peers and tell their success story was more than I could ever ask for.
As we were moving along with this program, I was leaning more and more about my wife’s illness, there was more and more evidence that pointed to the quality of the water she would drink and the nutrients she was missing. With the network of dealers we had across the country, I thought it would be possible to have them offer water treatment equipment, I learned it was a stretch and it did not turn out the way I would have liked.
With my wife’s illness becoming more and more in the forefront of my life I wanted more for her. I found myself questioning every move I made.
Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I doing this?” I know I have, more than once. Yes, I then step back and rationalize why I am working so hard. I heard a question once, “How much is enough?” and I really don’t believe there is a real honest answer to that. You see, I really don’t believe that most SUCCESSFUL or (in process) SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs are focused on money, I believe they are focused on the challenge of completing the project.
The Path We Leave…
Why do we choose to travel this path?
Are we chasing a dream? Are we running away? Are we a ship without a rudder? Are we trying to duplicate what we believe others have? Are we doing something to rebel against someone or something? Are we doing something to please others, maybe their dream of where we should be? Or, are we totally undirected?
86,400 seconds every day, potentially the same amount of decisions. What do you do with yours?
As we travel through life in pursuit of our dreams reaching for what we want or at least believe what we want we leave a path.
Does money always bring happiness? ask Tiger Woods that question.
After a lot of questioning and thinking I decided that I wanted to move more into the water business, The Oil-Rite lube centers would be taken over by the current operators and the Syn-Trek synthetic oil would be taken over by the dealers and I would move on to the next challenge.
Starting In 1988, I started working diligently on two major projects, both were being developed as a result of my wife’s illness. With all of the time I spent on airplanes and airports as a result of Syn-Trek, it only increase my enjoyment of reading and learning. Over the years I had read a lot about Bee Pollen, however when ever I tried it I did not receive the results I had read about or expected. One of the articles I read mentioned a man by the name of Royden Brown, he was located in Arizona. I did some research, tracked him down and flew to Arizona to meet with him, what a wonderful and educational experience. After my visit, I returned to Pennsylvania and met with an individual by
the name of Dale Darcas, I told him of my meeting, he got excited and pulled together two other idividuals and told me he would like to market the product if I would help them with the contacts and putting the sales program together. I explained that I was in the process and fully committed to developing a chain of waters stores. We came up with a plan that I could work out of their office while I was in the research stage and at the same time help them get off the ground, so Successful Life Products came to be and the company worked with Royden to get products manufactured under the SLP name and sales started and the results from the use of the products was just like I read about. So, Dale, B.J., Ernie and Lenny were off and running with their new business and I had the opportunity to work on the development of my dream of entering the water business in a unique way, we would sell water by the gallon. I said to myself, who would not want good clean drinking water? Well, I had a lot to learn.
I thought I had it all planned out and ready to go, I had a name, a business plan and the desire. I found a great location, entered into a lease and started construction. The name was to be “Oasis-The Kleer Water Store”, I thought this was great. Since I was the President of Jr. American Legion Baseball in the area and VP of Sr. Legion, I felt it would be great if we sponsored a team and their was one available in Plymouth Township, not far from where this first store was located. We entered into an agreement, purchased uniforms and were up and running. The store was under construction and as problems arose and there were a lot, I never expected the requirements that I would face for taking city water and making it better, well they were beyond my wildest imagination. Day after day there was another regulation that I had to face. Thankfully my son Pat took on the technical responsibility and he got us through that asspect, but that was just the beginning, we then started to face plumbing problems and problems that we never anticipated, such as the affect the purified water has on plastic tubing and plastic bottles. Then, I did not like the way the walls or the lighting looked, well this went on and on. We were already six months into this project with rent at $2,500.00 per month and we still can’t project an opening date. Then, I’m reading the sports page about the team we are sponsoring when I realize I don’t like the name of the store. I call my son and tell him to call the sign company and have the sign turned around, he was ready to have me committed, I was almost ready to agree with him.
I got everybody tog
ether, including my wife and told them the story and I asked everybody to write down a list of possible names for the store. One good thing at this point, it’s taken so long that we are almost at the end of the baseball season (by the way the team was doing great), (Oh, I failed to mention, I managed a team that played against them 3 times a year). Well, with all the comments about my sanity coming fast and furious, I felt it was better to make a change now before we open the first store rather than after we have five open. We finally selected a name that was suggested by my wife, “WaterHaven”, I thought about it, Water-a well known clear substance, Haven-a safe place, great name, so off we went, New signs and new uniforms for next year. (They won championships for the next two years, not bad).
At this point I was starting to believe we were getting close to the point where we could start to plan for an opening date, boy was I wrong. When I started this project I had calculated that I could get the project off the ground with Two hundred Thousand Dollars, and I had Fifty in hand and I had lined up One Hundred Fifty from an accounting firm in North Jersey (I thought), it turns out that he was only a Senior Accountant that worked there, he did not even discuss it with the partners, I leaving out all the ugly details for the sake of time. The bottom line is we are almost a year into this and we are not even open and we have a money problem and one last plumbing problem. Well, we have an emergency party (imagine – party), yes a party. We invite everyone we know, show them what we are doing, explain the whole problem and tell them to enjoy themselves, look around and by the way, we need a loan. It’s amazing what a little honesty does, we arranged for the loan to complete the project and get open. The acceptance was more than we could have asked for and we paid off the loan in ten months.
Our name was getting out there, storys were being told about us on th
ree different TV stations and people were coming to us to hear about our story. The store looked great our sales were increasing and our service department was growing, we were on the road to something very exciting. Now, I believed we needed a team, A group of individuals that could handle the growth and the possibility of taking this national, we definitely had the potential.
We were advertising very heavily on a Philadelphia Talk Radio station and w
e had a few of their personalities make guest appearances at the store when one of them mentioned that this may be an ideal situation for her husband, I immediately set up an appointment to meet with him, she was right. He was the first of five or six key individuals that would join the ranks of our endavour.
Less than a year after we opened, I received a call from a friend by the name of Peter G who had a business in New Jersey and he and his partner were in trouble with their business and wanted to know if I could help, I said I was very busy but I would take a ride over and take a look. At the same time we were locating an office complex to run Waterhaven out of. When I arrived in New Jersey at their offices for their company Zaplink, Inc, they were more than in trouble, they were being evicted, they had all kinds of equipment and they had to fax out a daily foreign newspaper, this was really not the right timing to have to help somebody with a problem of this nature, but I did. I had just found the office for Waterhaven and at this time I had the extra space. We made arrangements and got them moved to Norristown, Pa., in one way it was good since we got some other management people and they would help with the rent payments.
As things were developing, Peter G and his partner in Zaplink approached us and stated they could get the parent company of Waterhaven, Brighter Community, Inc. taken public. He explained that we could merge into a public shell, they managed to find us a shell and they arranged for a CPA firm to have our financials certified and in a short period of time the merger took place and we were on the move. Our management staff now consisted of Ed , David T, Ed L, Peter G, Karlton Z Gil O’ and myself. Mr.G, Mr. Z, and Mr. L were from Zaplink.
One day Mr. L and Mr. Z asked about a book they had seen in my office about a printing business I had developed in the late 70’s. When I originally developed it, I named it Creative Counterfeiters and due to Politically correct input I was pushed to change it to Creative Link. They asked if I minded if they were to work on the project with Mr. D and see what could be done with it, I agreed since I was tied up with Waterhaven and this would keep them involved with the company. They put together a nice package and they left me involved (since I was the one that developed it) in all of the story paperwork.
Then Mr G and Mr Z said this could be taken public as well, and another shell was found, this one was Multi Spectrum Group, Inc., all the paperwork was completed and the project was underway.
While this was underway, Waterhaven was exploding, I was approached by an individual who was building stores for one of the early video franchise chains and asked if he could build stores for us, he was a perfect fit. At the same time an individual approached us about putting a Waterhaven store in Richboro, PA, a perfect location for a second store and I was already looking at a location in York, PA.
I sat with our management team and discussed all options, we agreed to go ahead and let this individual open a store in Richboro and let our Video builder build this store as a trial for the future. Everyting gets underway, I sign a lease for the third store in York, PA and we start construction as well. Then crazy things start to happen again, the individual who is having the store built in Richboro dies, now we have two stores under construction and one is really not ours, we quick regroup and without thinking I start doing what ever has to be done to keep moving, the builder says he would like to take over the Richboro store, great tempory relief, back to concentrating on our main store and our future store in York. We then offer the store in York to a group rather then just one person, it works and we are back working.
We open the store in Richboro and over 5,000 people atted the Grand Opening, we have a dunk tank for charity, Celebrities from WWDB radio broadcast live from the opening and others stop by for appearances; Russ Miller, broadcast his Real Estate show, Paul W Smith is there and even goes in the dunk tank with me, Irv Homer, Susan Brey and Dom Giordano all stop by to see the store and their fans and the TV show Steppin’ Out broadcast the event. What a day!
We even produced a book explaining everything a person should know about water and how they can make it better, we distributed over 200,000 of these “Good Water” books.
We participate in Health and Fitness shows in Valley Forge and Philadelphia as well as charitable functions all over Philadelphia.
We continue on the move and push hard to complete the store in York. It’s easy now to look back and say with all this running; “Who’s watching the store?”
It’s funny, I was out at the York store trying to get it done and a vendor said to me that I have to start to delagate better. I asked; “What do you mean?” he said he was still witing for the art work I promised him. I went wild, I got the office on the phone while he was standing there and asked why didn’t he have it, I said just do whatever you have to, you make the decisions, I don’t have to be involved, so why wasn’t it done, NO ANSWER. I had always tried to work by Regans philosphy of delagating, but I forgot his was two part, Delagate and Verify, I only did part one.
Well, we got the store open, this time on a Saturday morning in October and we had 6,000 people at the opening; we had a helicopter, a hot air balloon, a Country Western Band, a mime, a pig roast and lot’s of water to give out and it all came together.
I really felt we were on our way, we had three stores, we owned a silk screening company, we had just purchased a 67,000 square foot warhouse, we were in an agreement of sale for a resturant and another historic landmark in downtown York as well we were scheduled to build two more water stores. Peter tells me the stock on Waterhaven is trading at 5/8’s which is 62-1/2 cents and we had about 19,000,000 shares, not bad.
It appears that Creative link is underway, or so I thought. Apparently, there are a lot of loose ends and incomplete projects, you learn quickly, at least I did; “You can’t lead if you don’t direct”, and apparently I did not give defined directions and I was about to pay a very expensive price.
Well the end of 1993, when I thought we were on a high turned out to be the beginning of a major low, it proves that you must pay attention, and always remember a Postive Mental attitude can hurt more than it helps. In mid 1993 we made the decision to merge all of our projects under one umbrella, we would name it American Business Connection, Inc. We would take Brighter Community (Waterhaven), Creative Link, Sales Center USA and Kajoli silk screening, by packaging these companies we could limit our need for excessive management and focus on profitability. We had a cassette tape made to tell the story and we held an open house to tell our story and it was well received. But, as I said, I was unaware of what was about to happen. Be sure to stop back to learn more about my story. Due dillegence should start every day with you looking in the mirror.
ition, I got the crazy idea to make 
s and they almost fell on the floor when I offered my help in getting their new venture off the ground. It was no surprise to me when they declined my help, I wished them well and off they went. To shorten the story within three months the three was down to two and another sixty days they dissolved their project, you see too start with they had NO understanding of the word TEAM. At the same time, the day after the kick-off meeting I received a call from an individual named Jim B. from Bethel, PA, he was organized and determined to succeed, Jim worked the program and traveled across the US and Canada promoting the product. He even recruited a top-notch mechanic by the name of Clark H. from Wormelsdorf, PA to become the Technical VP of the company and travel with him, they made a great pair. 
ement was everywhere. We traveled from New Brunswick, Canada to San Diego, CA from Tampa, Fl to Vancouver, Canada to Kalispell, Mt to Japan and everything in between, it was an adventurous journey and one I will never forget or regret. In fact on one of the trips I took one of my daughters who was thirteen at the time and we went from NJ to L.A. to San Francisco to Houston, TX to Virginia, what a trip, what a memory
as in a local coffee shop and I was discussing my love for sales and sales training and I was explaining my dream of building a center for Sales Training where we could broadcast to the world via satellite all types of training. The individual I was sitting with was a builder, he asked if I knew what type of building I wanted, and the answer was of course, yes! He asked me to meet him back at the coffee shop later that day. When I got back there he had a friend with him who was an architect, I explained what I wanted, the water fountain, the front, the look the feel and the operations, well three days later he had my first sketches of Sales Center USA, talk about excitement.
e property,
at giant robot to do our bidding.
er Attitudes: Attitudes take charge of your life, they are patterns of thought. Awareness, behavior and commitment form new patterns. Attitudes should be focused on the future, present and past in order to open a closed mind and change those patterns.
mes a part of ARENA III in focusing on the 'Powers of the Mind'. It contains unlimited amounts of success, happiness, and joy awaiting your discovery and use. You must become conscious of the processes before you can fully use it. If you do not risk interaction and sharing, the growth process cannot take place.
Body: Included in ARENA IV, a "Proper Body" we find a new philosophy of the whole person as one of the topics. That is an awareness of the USDA standards of the past 50 years and the present controversy of health care practices and how it is shedding some light on these areas and unlearning some of the concepts we have been taught over the past years.
the name of Dale Darcas, I told him of my meeting, he got excited and pulled together two other idividuals and told me he would like to market the product if I would help them with the contacts and putting the sales program together. I explained that I was in the process and fully committed to developing a chain of waters stores. We came up with a plan that I could work out of their office while I was in the research stage and at the same time help them get off the ground, so Successful Life Products came to be and the company worked with Royden to get products manufactured under the SLP name and sales started and the results from the use of the products was just like I read about. So, Dale, B.J., Ernie and Lenny were off and running with their new business and I had the opportunity to work on the development of my dream of entering the water business in a unique way, we would sell water by the gallon. I said to myself, who would not want good clean drinking water? Well, I had a lot to learn. 
ether, including my wife and told them the story and I asked everybody to write down a list of possible names for the store. One good thing at this point, it’s taken so long that we are almost at the end of the baseball season (by the way the team was doing great), (Oh, I failed to mention, I managed a team that played against them 3 times a year). Well, with all the comments about my sanity coming fast and furious, I felt it was better to make a change now before we open the first store rather than after we have five open. We finally selected a name that was suggested by my wife, “WaterHaven”, I thought about it, Water-a well known clear substance, Haven-a safe place, great name, so off we went, New signs and new uniforms for next year. (They won championships for the next two years, not bad). 
ree different TV stations and people were coming to us to hear about our story. The store looked great our sales were increasing and our service department was growing, we were on the road to something very exciting. Now, I believed we needed a team, A group of individuals that could handle the growth and the possibility of taking this national, we definitely had the potential.
e had a few of their personalities make guest appearances at the store when one of them mentioned that this may be an ideal situation for her husband, I immediately set up an appointment to meet with him, she was right. He was the first of five or six key individuals that would join the ranks of our endavour. 
