From Basement to Booming

Today, Peak Potentials Training boasts a team of over 150 talented individuals and is one of the fastest growing self-development companies in North America. But it wasn’t always that way.

The journey began in 1988, when Harv set out to inspire others to realize their dreams, by sharing the story of his own rise to success. His first workshop How to Find Hot New Businesses that Can Make You Richstarted with small groups of only 10 to12 participants. Little did they know that they were witnessing the emergence of one of the most inspiring trainers on the planet today.

A year later, when Harv was invited to give a 2-day seminar to 350 people on the best moneymaking vehicles, he jumped at the chance. But, when the audience learned that the program promoter would not be showing up, and that the speaker was an unknown named T. Harv Eker, they were not impressed.

A third of the audience immediately walked out and the rest sat waiting, arms crossed expectantly. By the end of the second day however, the energy had kicked up and when people started asking questions about marketing, Harv offered them a course the very next weekend. Almost everyone signed up.

The workshops continued, yet Harv noticed that some people were just not moving forward. Why? He soon discovered that old beliefs were sabotaging the success of many workshop participants. He changed direction at this point and created: Your Mind & Money, focusing on the roots (the causes) rather than the fruits (the results) of success. Almost immediately more people started reaping amazing results and Harv realized that the key to mastering the money game depended on both outer practices as well as inner psychology.

Continuing on this theme, Harv created The Street Smart Business School in California, which evolved into Peak Potentials Training Inc. In 1997, the company moved to Vancouver, and after a 2 year hiatus, Harv continued his work on a larger scale.

Gail Balsillie was Peak’s first employee, acting as Harv’s personal and administrative assistant. Then in 1999, Michelle Burr joined the team after being inspired by the Money, Mind and Spiritcourse.

One day while working out of Harv’s basement, they had an idea to promote Harv’s first book Speed Wealth to network marketers. To the amazement of the team, over 400 people showed up for the workshop. The next seminar’s numbers catapulted to 2500! From this experience, Michelle Burr discovered that word of mouth was the way to go (as has become abundantly evident with Peak’s Ambassador program).

Peak’s fast growth called for a larger team and Shelley Wenaus came on board to ensure that events ran smoothly. Shelley recalls, “At that time, Gail managed the courses and Michelle not only promoted seminars, she also packaged tickets using Harv’s washing machine and dryer as a worktable, often working past midnight!”

After Donna Fox was hired to handle the Finances, they moved out of Harv’s basement into a real office. The new digs were so much bigger they designated space for a yoga/meditation room. Michelle spent many nights sleeping on the yoga mats so she could get to her 7:00 am networking meetings to hand out tickets for Harv’s preview evenings.

Harv and his growing team felt increasing joy as they witnessed the seminars changing lives all over North America. People brought their friends and families. They danced. They hollered. They dove into the adventure and celebrated their self discoveries.

In 2005, Harv’s book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind™ skyrocketed to #1 on the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY bestseller lists, plus numerous other national bestseller lists. Since then Peak Potentials Training has grown exponentially.

A large part of that success was due to Harv’s marketing strategy of including a certificate for seminar admissions right in the book. The publisher had originally resisted this tactic, but when the certificate proved effective at driving sales of the book, they embraced it with open arms.

After 18 years of speaking, teaching, and building a wealth of knowledge on how to live a passionate, successful and joyous life, T. Harv Eker still loves the gig. The Peak  Potentials Training team continues to expand to meet the demands of ever-more courses and programs while remaining deeply committed to reaching more people every year.

Harv’s message and leadership seems to have worked its magic as more people than ever before are creating positive change, abundant success, and ultimately, the best life possible through the Peak Potentials Training programs.