Freedom On Toast

Meet Derrion Albert.  Not your typical 16 year old teenager.  Honor student.  High School football player.  Walking home from school like thousands of other children.  Killed.  Caught in the middle of two rival gangs at the wrong time.  He was beaten with wooden planks and kicked in the head.  Four young men ages 16-19 have now been charged with his murder.  And it was all caught on video tape by a by-passer.  That in itself is incredibly sad.  But the death of this young man is truly tragic and my heart goes out to his family and all the members of his community who just want peace.

No single effort can change the world.  It truly does take a community.  A commitment.  A dream.  I believe we have heard those very words before.  But Chicago is fortunate.  They have a unique program that IS working to end the violence.   From their website, www.ceasefirechicago.org

CeaseFire is an evidence-based public health approach to reducing shootings and killings. Our methods for reversing the violence epidemic use highly trained street violence interrupters and outreach staff, public education campaigns and community mobilization. CeaseFire is one of the only proven techniques for making neighborhoods safer.

Anyone who knows me knows I want numbers.  We can hypothesize until we are blue in the face, but without the actual numbers, there is no way of knowing progress is being made.  And since this progress saves lives it’s high on the importance scale.

I sometimes don’t like my j.o.b.  Not my business - that’s all great.  But my actual j.o.b.  But I have NOTHING to fuss about when you consider the jobs these folks are doing on a daily - and no doubt nightly - basis.  Having worked in Social Services for the majority of my adult life, I get what it means to be outreach staff and educators.  I can only imagine the stress these folks have.  But even the concept of “street violence interrupters” gives me shivers - and I am not a fearful person.  These folks are IN IT.  They are immersing themselves in the most dangerous situations to save people physically and psychologically.  What an incredible feat.  And it should not go unnoticed.  Because it is this very “hands on” approach that IS most effective.  Sitting down at a conference table just isn’t going to cut it.

So for all the families who have experienced violence - and those who have been so very fortunate to not have experienced violence, just know there are people who are trying to do the right things for the right reasons because the BELIEVE in the cause.  My hats off to all the people who fight this good fight.

So unless you live under a rock, you have probably heard at least some of the debate about what we are going to do about our health care system.  Certainly change comes with a cost - sometimes to our benefit…sometimes not.  But failing to change comes with a cost as well.

I have a friend whom I admire a great deal.  She is a strong, smart woman.  Who is married to a man who became ill.  As if the initial diagnosis wasn’t stressful enough, I am certain she would say “dealing with the system” was at least as stressful if not more so than the actual illness.

Case in point.  She was informed by the insurance company (yes, she is one of the fortunate who have insurance) that she needed to check every statement for accuracy.  Well if you have ever tried to read a medical statement you know they might as well have sent it in Russian.  Looks slightly familiar but who knows what it says.  She was, however, able to read a couple lines, one of which was a charge for $18.00 for 2 Tylenol.  Straight up over the counter - no codeine added.  $18.00 for 2.  Not sure about you, but I can get a bottle of something like 500 at my local Sams Club for 8.99.  Figure roughly 250 doses at $18.00 is $4500.  Yep, I had to do the math twice.  So for a bottle of Tylenol, the hospital is eventually collecting $4500.  Excuse the language, but that is a HELL of a profit.

So needless to say, if Tylenol costs $18.00, the actual treatment cost significantly more.  The hospital’s solution?  They told her she needed to turn over the Deed to her home.  This is so fundamentally wrong it makes my blood boil.  Here are hard working, smart, upstanding citizens who are basically being exploited during a time of crisis in their lives.  My friend, as I said, is strong.  I stand corrected, she is tough as nails.  I have no doubt she told them exactly what region of the universe they could relocate to.  And she didn’t turn over the Deed to her home.  But how many others aren’t that strong willed?  How many, in the face of crisis just do what they are told because they are worried about the life of their loved one?  Personally, I think this should be criminal.  As in a chargeable offense.  And I DARE a hospital to tell me ever to turn over the Deed to my home.  Trust me, I am a lot of things but quiet and passive aren’t two of them.

So, as you listen - and I hope you are - to the continuing debate, don’t forget the bigger picture.  While you may feel secure with your current health care situation, at any given moment, your family or friends may be faced with the unimaginable situation.

Fact:  Everything starts with your mindset.

So it is always very interesting to me when I am speaking with a “possibility thinker” about starting a new home based business when they say, “But it’s going to cost me money.”

This is where I bite my tongue.  I WANT to say, “Did you REALLY think you could start a new business without any investment?”  Or, “Have you taken your medication today because you are obviously actively delusional!”  Or, “Tell me again…you want to make a million dollars a year without putting any money into anything to get you started?”  Or, “So you were planning on starting a business but not actually MAKING any money?”  For I am CERTAIN that my ears must be plugged.  I couldn’t possibly be hearing such statements.  We are, after all, living in a real world, with real people who presumably have real brains.

But what REALLY, REALLY gets me is that these folks are not seeing the big picture.  And it makes me sad.  They are looking at their business as an expense rather than an investment in their future.   They are not seeing their business as a money making opportunity.   They are not viewing their business as the link between their real world and the world of their dreams.  At this point, there are really only 2 options…

1.  Really work on your mindset.  Evaluate your goals.  Consider your aspirations.  Do your homework.  In order to be successful in business you MUST - there is no room for wavering - you MUST consider your business an investment.  If you can’t get yourself to that point, then you have option 2.

2.  Quit.

I know.  It’s not pretty is it.  And I could soft-shoe it and make it sound a little more glamorous, but, well, I’m not going to.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I am not suggesting you max out every credit card you have to get your business going.  Havng a business budget is not only responsible, it’s critical to your long term success.

But I am suggesting you consider your mindset.  Do you view your business as an expense or an investment?

I can provide you with support.  I can provide you with a solid “system” that will move you toward success.  I can provide you with 1:1 coaching.  I can provide you with free online resources.  I can send you a CD that will give you the secrets to success.  But ALL those things won’t help you a bit if you don’t have the right mindset.  That is THE critical component.

So, that said, do you believe your business is an investment or an expense?  And which of the 2 options are you choosing.

I received this in the email today.  I have no idea if it is true and decided that I really didn’t care if it was true or not as the message is a powerful reminder about the choices we make.

Enjoy and Happy Monday!

Washington, D.C.  Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007.
The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.
During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

I hope you had the chance to see the movie Bucket List that came out a couple years ago.  It was an endearing story of friendship and the power of dreaming.  Well there are many stories of successful people who have written down a list of things they want to accomplish.  This isn’t as much an exercise in goal writing as it is dreaming.  The difference?  There really isn’t a plan written down - AT THIS POINT.  Obviously if you want to accomplish the items you will need a plan and that is where the more serious goal setting comes into play.  But for your bucket list you are just dreaming of things you want to have, experience or ensure.

It’s simple!  Just write down all the things you hope to accomplish in your lifetime.   Make sure you allow yourself to dream fully.  No self-limiting thoughts here.  If you want to travel the world - put it down.  If you want to be at your childs wedding - put it down.  You should easily be able to list 100 items to your list.

If you are having difficulty consider the following:

1.  How much money do you want to make?  How will you manage your money (investments)?

2.  What do you want to have?  Material items?  Spritual benefits like “peace of mind?”

3.  What do you want to learn?  Who do you want as a teacher?  Where do you want to learn?

4.  Where do you want to go?  Remember, anywhere is fair game for dreaming.

5.  What will you do for fun?  Hint:  throw the TV away!

6.  How do you add value to society?  What contributions do you make?  Where do you want to volunteer?

7.  Where do you live?  What does your dream home - or maybe homes - look like?

8.  Who do you want to spend time with?

So take some time to dream today.  Get your bucket list down on paper and watch as you slowly but surely accomplish them. 

What items are on your bucket list?  I would love to see your top 10.  Have fun playing!

My husband accuses me of not being able to relax on a beach.  Sad as it sounds, he’s right.  I am not a sitter.  I maybe, in a bad week, watch 3 hours of TV.  I’m just busy doing something (although I have neglected my dust.)

So I run across an article today that says “How to Tie your Shoes in 9 Steps”.  Sure enough, there are nine steps regardless of whether you choose the standard shoe tying option or the bunny ears option (my personal favorite to this day.)  This is what is wrong with the world.  Not the bunny method, the shear fact that somebody has to write a step by step guide to something so…simple!  Obviously the article wasn’t meant for a child to read.  So no learning there.  It’s just another deterrent to actually DOING something!

Brian Tracy wrote a great little book called, Eat That Frog!  The subtitle is 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.  Amen.  I don’t know one person who says, “Gee, I have all the time in the world and nothing to do.”  But rather than just taking action, we do the easy tasks and put off the tasks that are perhaps more challenging or difficult. 

This happens in home businesses all the time.  People get distracted by tasks that not only don’t move their businesses forward but actually set their businesses back.  Folks get so hung up WANTING the step by step details that they aren’t taking action.  Why?  I’m not sure.  Maybe they are afraid they will fail so using this “learning” excuse sounds valid.  Maybe they lack self-confidence and are not used to making decisions so it’s easier to just do a task or two rather than really step out into their greatness.  Maybe they aren’t able to prioritize what’s important so they do what is easy rather than what’s necessary.  Who knows.  Humans are an odd bunch sometimes.

But I do know this - you are either growing or you are dying.  Your business is either moving forward or it’s moving backwards.  Nothing is static.  (Thanks James Ray!)

Hold your focus on what is truly important.  Consider each task (briefly - don’t slide into  the “let me think about this” mode too long) and decide if it is an action that is helping your business.  If it’s not, but is something that needs to be done, then just do it as quickly as possible and move on.

Brian Tracy states in his book, “Here is one of the greatest questions you will ever ask and answer:  ‘What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?”  I can promise - yes I said promise - that if you put your attention on actions that are business building actions, on a daily basis, your business will move forward.  I can also, unfortunately, promise you that if you focus on the minutea, those tiny irrelevant details, your business will continue to suffer.

So if you are foturnuate enough to be in a business that has a solid system in place, by all means follow it!  Don’t concern yourself with the size of a label.  Your customers won’t care.  Don’t fret about which color bag you should put your product in.  Your customers won’t care.  But DO care about taking consistent and meaningful action, building relationships with your customers and prospects and having integrity throughout.  THOSE matter.  Those will move your business forward.

But above all, just do it already!  <smile>

I hate football.  So let’s just get that out of the way.  I could write at least 10 posts on my reasons but I’ll spare you.

The Minnesota Gopher’s (for those who love football as much as I, they are the football team for the University of Minnesota) just got a brand new stadium.  It looks, from all the pictures, to be a grand and glorious stadium and there is sure a lot of hub bub about it.  In fact, one coach went as far as saying having the new stadium will give them greater recruiting opportunities.  Really?  Whatever.

But this I LOVE!  Meet Grace Weet.  Grace lives in a quiet suburb of St. Paul and is 89 years young.  Grace attended the U of M as a freshman and in 1938 went to her first ever Gopher’s football game in the old Memorial Stadium.  She was a freshman then and decide to purchase season tickets.  Grace has purchased season tickets EVERY YEAR since 1938 and has attended every single home game that has ever been played - regardless of it’s venue.  She hasn’t missed a one.  Not one!  I don’t know how many games are in a season but I can figure out that she has been attending games for 71 years.  I certainly hope the Gopher’s honor her in some way for her steadfast dedication.

I just think, what would the world be like if everyone committed to something positive for 71 years (or however long they are around) and held onto the passion and determination that Grace Weet has displayed?  Wow, what a wonderful world we would live in!

Enjoy the game Grace.  For your sake I hope they win and I hope you are given the best seat in the house.  Heck, for that matter, they should give you a thrown for attending all those games!  Rock on girl!

So I have a pet peeve.  I bet you are surprised!  <smile>  Here goes - why in the world, do the car manufacturers stick with the same boring colors when they produce brand new cars?  They are clearly Crayola challenged.  Heck, I can go to any store in my area and buy a box of 64 colors - and that’s not even the biggest box!  But cars?  You can pick from the boring array of gold, silver, black, white, red, blue, green and maybe brown.  BORING!  How about a nice periwinkle?  Or a deep purple?  Or a sunshine yellow?  Even M&Ms have greatly expanded their delicious little candies to come in 25 colors now!  These car folks need to expand their terminally gray horizons for sure.

So do I have you thinking, “yeah, why don’t they get more creative?”  I’ll tell you why.  Because people choose options that are familiar and comfortable to them.  Toyota made a cute little pink car once.  How many of those do you recall seeing on the road?  Not many.  Because people choose what’s familiar.

It’s the same dilemma Network Marketers face when speaking with a prospect about a new business opportunity.  The prospect might think what you have to say sounds great!  They might even dream a little about the possibilities of a life without debt…or that dream vacation…or a new purple car (okay, that might be pushing it) but when the question is posed, “are you ready to make a change in your life?” most will shy away and stick with the familiar.  In this case, the rat race.  The 9-5 job (if they are lucky enough to have those hours these days.)  They stick with what’s comfortable and hold on to their safe life.

It truly saddens me that I can’t just go to the dealership and purchase my purple BMW.  With white seats and purple piping I might add.  But what saddens me even more are the countless number of people who have the skills and talent to change their lives - and many others - yet continue with the familiar and comfortable.  I am sad that they aren’t willing to take a chance.  And I can’t imagine what it will be like for those folks as they age and ponder what their life might have looked like if they had only taken a chance. 

So I am calling for a rebellion.  Next time you purchase a car, step outside the norm.  I know that’s a challenge in itself when very few car manufacturers offer anything but the boring.  Just purchase the car with the most unique color and drive it proudly as you show off your bravery.  Maybe if we start with something small, like the color of a car, people will begin to change their thinking and enjoy ALL that life has to offer - not just the mundane.

Many of the world’s most successful people will tell you to feel gratitude on a daily basis.  It’s great advice for sure.  But what is even better is to simply FEEL that gratitude without any prompting.

I have the incredible good fortune to be part of something great.  Really great.  And it’s not something I take for granted.  I KNOW I am extremely fortunate and one phone call to a person who is looking for a business, relaying how challenging it is to have a difficult boss, just solidifies those feelings.  You see, I am part of our teams leadership group.  I love that name - it sounds all fancy schmancy.  Like the President himself will be calling me any day for advice.  And no doubt our group could offer some.  From 6 perspectives.

Our leadership group consists of a core group of 6 women.  These are some of the brightest, most caring, most courageous, most generous and funniest women I know.  They are my brainstorm partners, they are my comic relief, they are my personal cheerleaders and most importantly they are my friends.

Most of us live hundreds of miles away from each other yet we know each other better than our next door neighbors. 

We may not know all the stories.  We may not know all the history.  But we know the character of each as well as we know our own.  One of our members - and I guess it is a membership, sort of a club not unlike our clubs as children with goals and commonalities - but I digress - asked us to list 5 unique qualities about her today.  I love her to death but I had to laugh.  This woman is uber talented but wanted something unique?  Geez, some people.

So I encourage you, if you aren’t already part of something great, to find something great to be a part of.  It is immensly rewardinig and the gratitude will come so naturally you will need no prompting whatsoever.  It really doesn’t matter what the something great is.  Something in your community, something you have always had an interest in, something in your spiritual life, something in your home life - just find something to be a part of - something that is great.  And never forget what an honor it is to be a part of your something big.

Thanks ladies!  Banana slugs on me!  (Sorry, that’s a story for another post.)

Ah, the sweet sound of cryptic phone calls.  “Five minutes.”  “Front door.”  “$5.00″  It must be the start of the school year.  That glorious time of year when the weather changes, the trees begin to change and children across the country are back in school.

Throughout the summer, we, as parents, have been subjected to the tormenting words of those “wiser” that warned, “children will forget everything they learned last year over the summer.”  We scurried to find just the right camp.  We planned educational outings to ensure our children’s brain cells would remain intact.  We made weekly trips to the library that were preceeded by weekly arguments about the importance of reading.

THEN, as school was quickly approaching, those “wiser” warned, “going back to school is a time of transition.”  “Children will experience stress due to the change in their schedule.”  “They may need additional sleep because of all the new social situations they will encounter.”

Well, being an egomaniac for a day allows me to say this - “Today is about ME!”  I will once again be the master of my calendar.  The captain of my own adventure from sunrise to sunset (okay, maybe just 7:00-3:00.)

Not ONCE over the past three months have I heard someone - anyone - ”wiser” say anything like, “parents will experience a sense of disorganization as they are pulled in six directions to simultaneously go to the zoo, play taxi driver to a friends home across town, pack a picnic for the backyard Barbie party, paint fingernails, take the dog on a walk and stage an all out attack with little army men!”  Not once did I hear, “yes, you will have all the responsibilities you have everyday of your life PLUS a zillion more for the next three months.”

So I declare today, a day for all parents to enjoy.  A day to be an egomaniac for the day.  Do something fun!  Reconnect with your old pal your calendar.  Call a friend.  Write in your over-neglected blog.

But don’t forget to have that plate of cookies and a hefty chunk of time set aside around 3:00 to make sure all is well in the world.  The first day of school is exciting for all of us!

PS - you can only be an egomaniac today.  Anything beyond that and we will talk about you when you aren’t paying attention.