ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many authors find this a very difficult part of a book. I think spelling the word ‘acknowledgements’ is the toughest part! Now all I have to do is list the people who helped to make this book possible, while being extra careful not to miss anyone out, mix up one person with another or make it dull for you, the most important person to acknowledge, the reader! So let’s start with you, the most special person in this section because without you there would be no reason to write Flip It. Thank you, dear reader. An author’s dream is to get their book published, and an author’s nightmare is that no one reads it. Thank you for reading Flip It and keeping the dream alive. OK, now we’re off.

Next it’s an easy one, my wonderful wife Christine. Here’s a little secret. Christine writes my books with me, runs our business and looks after my live productions (including audio and visuals for all my events). She writes course materials, submits all the best ideas, effortlessly manages to look after all the important bits of family life and still looks as stunning now as the day we met. She does all that and I get all the credit. Christine, I’m sorry that happens. But thank you for doing it. And can we keep it just that way, please?

I’m deeply proud of my son Michael, who works hard, lives our methods and is always there to help.

I am inspired by my daughter Sarah, who makes me laugh so much and keeps me on my toes with my goal to be a brilliant dad.

I’m very lucky to have Pearson, the world’s greatest publishers, as my network to the world. My editor, publisher and friend, Rachael Stock, has once again pulled out all the stops for this book. Thank you for having faith in Flip It from day one and for making this revised edition fresh, fun and fabulous.

Thank you also to the brilliant marketing and sales teams at Pearson. Getting a book published is the easy part; ensuring every book store wants it, gets it and sells it is something else. You are the very best in the business.

The illustrations in Flip It are created by the amazing Steve Burke at The Design Group, Newcastle.

My personal team is amazing. Vanessa Thompson, Ruth Thomson, Laura Scott, Alastair Walker and Sheila Storey make everything easier, better and much more fun. Thank you for your work, creativity and patience.

We have some brilliant supporting organisations that make life much easier and pleasurable. A couple of special mentions: the Red Carnation Hotel Group provides us with our ‘home away from home’ in brilliant style; Datawright Computer Services and Carrot Media supply first-class IT and web support; and dozens of people and organisations brilliantly supply and partner with us. Thank you to you all.

It’s about now where I could start to list the hundreds of people who help to make my life better so, in the spirit of brevity, I’ll simply say you know who you are. Thank you.