On March 3rd, I heard the news that Mark Yarnell had passed away. Mark was one of the greatest advocates the network marketing industry has ever known and his loss has been felt all through the industry.
A few years ago I became a distributor of Qivana – a company I had at that point never heard of. The only reason I joined was because I would work directly with Mark Yarnell! You see Mark had become a legend to me and truth be told, my only due diligence was to know that Mark was my direct upline and I’d get the chance to work with him directly.
Over the next two years, it was a true pleasure to get to know Mark as a friend. It was always a massive delight to either hear from him or call him for a chat, advice or a three-way call because I always knew that he would be full of such huge enthusiasm! Enthusiasm that was utterly infectious and that simply made the day much brighter!
When I heard that Mark h
ad died then, I was obviously saddened, but as I started to remember conversations, thoughts and interactions, I immediately smiled and started to chuckle!
It was even a pleasure to call Mark when he wasn’t able to answer because he changed his voicemail message daily and it was always a message that simply improved how you felt about the day.
An absolutely voracious reader, Mark had an amazing intellect. I really enjoyed delving deeply into almost any subject with him and he had particularly sharp insight into so much of the “crazy” of the world we live in – mobile phone obsession being a particular target!
There are so many stories to share, but two in particular comes to mind. I brought two different people on to a three-way call with Mark. Now if you have been in the home business industry for any length of time it becomes incredibly wearisome to hear “is this one of those things”, “is this a pyramid” and the like.
The first person asked Mark “is this a pyramid”? While I was cringing on my phone, Mark immediately responded with “you mean one of those things where there are people who get in early who make all the money”? The guy replied “yeah, that kind of thing” to which Mark answered “absolutely it is, do you want to get in early”?
The second was in a similar vein. A guy asked “is this one of those scheme things”? Mark answered “yeah, it is. Here’s the good news though, the Feds have done a deal with us and we get to make $8 million each and then we only have to spend 24 months in low security prison, are you in”?
It took a good 90 seconds of silence before the guy’s words were “24 months huh”! Much laughter from Mark and I followed that.
Mark Yarnell was someone who I will always value greatly as a huge stepping stone on the journey of my life. I’d love to have been able to bottle his enthusiasm – and then sell it of course!
He had a real lust for life. He was an avid fisherman – something I love – so we talked a lot about that. He also was going to get me to paraglide! Something I simply did not have the cojones for, but I hereby commit in writing that I will make at least one un-powered flight in Mark’s honour!
As with most journeys, mine took me to other ventures and pastures new after the two years with Mark. Whether that was good or bad I cannot answer only that I truly have no regrets in life at all. I would not be where I am without every part of my journey so far!
my only real sadness at changing direction was that inevitably I would not get to spend the time with him that we had. I meant to catch up with Mark many times and always life had got in the way of picking up the phone and I am naturally sad that the option to do so does not exist any longer.
I’m sure Mark would concur then with the thought that “if you feel the urge to call someone – call them”!
Do One Thing At A Time, Do It Right, Finish It ~ Mark Yarnell’s Law.
R.I.P. Mark..