The three reliables sat on the bench outside the Muggs Bar and Grill for Nancy to open the door at 4:45 pm. Nancy was glad the bench was there for the experts to sit on because even though they knew the venue opened at 5 pm the three showed up at 4:30 pm every day to make sure they were there early to get their booth. “Mugs Bar and Grill” used to be known as “Tuscans” where many employees came to relax after working the typical 8 to 5 shifts.  The original owner was from Arizona hence the name Tuscans. He wanted a place where you could go to unwind, have a drink(s) and a simple menu of tacos, burritos and such while having fun playing pool or shooting darts with other co-workers before heading home.

Now the Mugs Bar and Grill is also the venue for many independent entrepreneurs to hang out with the typical employee since they both work hard every day. Muggs has a huge side room with an amazing AV system which allows you to watch your favorite sport team or TV show on their large screens throughout the common space. As well as a raised stage for want to be famous speakers to practice presenting on the elevated area and occasionally on the screens if you convinced Walt to hook it up. The long bar with dozens of bar wooden stools on the west side of the room still reminded you that you could still have a mixed drink while learning the new news of the day which often resembled the news of yesterday.

Bobbi the coach took the left side of the booth. Vito the consultant took the right side of the booth and as usual Sheryl the professional speaker took the center of the U shaped booth making Vito get up so she could squeeze in. She never understood why Vito didn’t wait for her to sit down until she took her place in the center. No one knew Vito’s last name he simply went by Vito.

All three of them belonged to various national organizations. For example, years ago Sheryl was awarded the coveted CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) title by the National Speakers Association. Bobbi is a Certified Master Coach designation which she keeps current with continued education credits from a reputable organization – the International Coaching Federation. Vito was granted the CMC (Certified Management Consultant) achievement from the National Bureau of Certified Consultants. They met daily to discuss the status of their ongoing search for projects, speaking engagements and recognition from the media. The 3 of them had been gathering here for a decade or so sitting at the same booth at the same time every Monday through Friday. None of them ever missed a meeting.

To keep guests from just sitting there Nancy would write a topic of conversation on the white board as a topic for your group to discuss. Vito always argued with Bobbi and Sheryl about the topic, trying to convince them he knew more about that topic then they could possibly imagine. So none of them knew much about each other than their names and their opinions of Nancy’s topics.

To Nancy, even though the three were kind of pitiful, they were easy and didn’t cause any trouble. They ordered the same drink and ate whatever was the special of the day. Occasionally some other customer would ask if they could have that table tonight. No, it was their booth.

This is the way it went, year after year until “The Transformation Day” as it became known later. It was the Monday that the US celebrates Memorial Day. Nancy opened the doors at 4:45 pm as usual and the reliables were not waiting on the bench.

She was amazed that they were not there but thought maybe it was because it was a national holiday. However, for the entire month of June not one of the reliables showed up at any time of the night or any day of the week.

This was quite a mystery. The others at Muggs discussed the disappearance one day at the end of June. No one had a clue of what happened to Bobbi, Sheryl and Vito. Then suddenly Joe remembered he overheard the three regulars discussing this LinktoEXPERT interactive publicity platform they joined a couple weeks before their disappearance. They decided to investigate.

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What if you transformed your reputation as the reliable to being known as the Expert?