Two frogs were sitting on a limb. One said to the other “I’m jumping down.”

How many frogs are sitting on the limb?

TWO!

Saying you are going to do something is FAR from actually doing it.

The gentleman came into the office about a month later with a check for $100,000 to get started moving his entire ($1,000,000) portfolio to the financial advisor’s office. The financial
advisor was shocked because he really did not think he had a chance of getting this account. He asked “If you don’t mind me asking, what made you chose us?” The gentleman rummaged through his papers to find the thank you postcard. He said “No one else cared enough about me to say thank you. But you did!” So there - The $1,000,000 Postcard. Do you need to send one out today?

If you need help saving time and money on your appreciation strategy - I am here to help you.

Today, we move on to step 2. This is a very fun step. It is to list 50 DREAMS. Things you want to buy. Things you want to do. Things you want to experience. Thing you want to BE. Do not stop till you have at least 50.

You may find that the first 10-15-25 come fast and easy but then you start to dig down to the more meaningful DREAMS. Maybe you have not dreamed in a long time and it will take bit to let go and do it again.

I started to dream again about a year ago. I had forgotten what it was like. I had turned that part of my mind off. I had just started living day to day with no dreams of what could be in the future. That was a very sad place to be.

Some of my 50 Dreams:

- Take the kids to Disney.
- Take hubby to the Kentucky Derby.
- Hire a cook.
- Start a scholarship for my high school.
- Be at the top rank of my card business.
- Be thought of as a referral queen.

Share some of your DREAMS with us - it will be great inspiration for us.

      - Can Green Beans
      - beef boulion cube

Open green bean can(s).

Rinse beans.

Add to pot.

Add enough water to cover beans with ~1/4 inch.

Add boulion cube(s). (1 cube/can)

Cook on medium high until water is just even with green beans.

Cooking more is easy - 1 cube/can of beans.

Extras are easily refrigerated and reheated in microwave or on stove top.

Let me give you a little example:
A man, with considerable means, several homes, lots of contacts, finds that his mountain home has been serial broken into and USED as a weekend retreat by some college kids for the last couple of months.

Like I said, he is a man of influence, a business man, he networks in every moment of his life. He has met 10 maybe even 20 security system salesmen in the last 5-7 years. But, he was not interested in a security system at the time (and NONE OF THEM have stayed in contact with him). He is NOW INTERESTED in a security system and he has no one to call, so he heads to the phone book.

Put yourself in the security system salesman’s shoes, the one this businessman met 3 years ago at a Chamber Event.

WHAT IF…

When you met this business man, you got his business card. You explained that you LIKE to stay in contact with people and you LOVE sending out Birthday Cards. So you could always send him a Birthday card, if he would not mind getting one from you, all you would need is his home address (that way you wouldn’t lose touch in case of a job change) and his birth month and day (year not needed).

And WHAT IF as the security system salesman you HAD done that for the last 3 years. You had sent out a birthday card and maybe 1-2 other cards throughout the year to this business man, just to touch base, to make him smile, to share what is going on in your life?

I WILL TELL YOU WHAT — when he was ready for a security system, he would be calling YOU instead of going to the phone book.

SO…do you really APPRECIATE PEOPLE or are you just interested in the Cha-Ch’ing of the business they can give to you RIGHT NOW?

If you want to learn MORE of how to do this type of Appreciation and follow-up in a time efficient and cost effective way, I am here to help you.

Value is really what you are looking for. The highest quality for the best price.

Chicks & Cubs offers VALUE in our baby shoe bronzing and pewtering lines. We are a part of the largest and oldest baby shoe bronzing company in the United States. Our products are backed by a lifetime warranty. We are providing heirloom quality keepsakes, yet our prices are under the suggested retail.

Yes, there are much cheaper options out there. Their prices are less than our costs. So, we don’t attempt to compete with them on price. What I can tell you is that there is a large difference in the quality between their product and ours. Some examples:

- Our shoes are electroplated with metal - not painted or a coating.
- Our metal bases are very substantial in weight.
- Our wood bases are walnut - not plastic.
- Our metal electroplating is so thick that you will not be able to squeeze the shoe.
- We have a lifetime warranty - they offer a satisfaction guarantee (there is a difference!).

So, if you are looking for the cheapest price, we are not the company for you.
If you are looking for a great VALUE, you have come to the right place and we are excited to help you preserve those precious memories for generations to come.

Because we believe that only God and Jesus are perfect, does that mean we have to beat ourselves up? Must we focus on our short comings? Must we never embrace our strengths? Do we have to always be talking about how we are not good enough?

I am not saying be prideful nor for us to ignore where we need to make changes in our lives. But do we have to be so negative? We should go after these changes with HOPE and EXCITEMENT not despair and defeat and drudgery. We have GOD within us, what is impossible? We have the BEST teacher, coach, friend, family — GOD!

What do we have to be so melancholy about?

 Raise your head, you are loved.

Smile, you are saved.

Live this life, God put you here to do just that.

Appreciate to Business Success.

Could it be that simple? I recently heard someone say that the way they get loads of referrals in their business is they keep saying Thank You, over and over and over again.

‘Thank you’ is expected in most parts and for most transactions. But how can you NOTCH UP your thank you? CARDS AND GIFTS! And not the open an account with us today and get a coffee mug (with our name on it). No!

What if …

You meet someone at your kids basketball game and you send that person a ‘nice to meet you’ card. Just to thank them for the good conversation.

You send not one but 2 or 3 Thank You cards over the course of the year to your clients.

You send a sympathy card to a prospect after you called and they told you they couldn’t meet with you next week because their mom just passed.

You send the geek squad guy that answered your “silly” computer questions a Thank You card.

You send a personalized birthday card to your client with a box of brownies, no coupons, no xyz sale is next week, just to really wish him a happy birthday!

IF you operated your business — dare I say it — your life, in this mode of appreciation, would you have more success?

I say so!

Isn’t that a great vision to get into your head - Soaring like an Eagle.

Today was one of my soaring days. It has been building for a few days with my preparation. I am doing some personal development work that is very structured (homework and all). That is always good to get you focused. Last week some of our team leaders did an awesome call about goal setting that started with listing your accomplishments and then going on to list your DREAMS. I started a blog challenge to write on my blog for 30 days in a row (after not posting in well over 18 months) and that is greatly agreeing with me. As you read yesterday, I lead my first family meeting which was a real stretch outside my comfort zone.

So soaring like an eagle today looked like this:
I was like a well oiled machine.
I was calm.
No yelling at the kids.
The kids were cooperative.
Got most of my to do list done.
Got some extras done.
Fixed a decent dinner, on time.
I have a plan for tomorrow.
Nothing ruffled me.
I was in control.

 Tell me how you feel when you soar like an eagle.

 I grew up watching The Brady Bunch and saw family meetings on there but we never had them in my house, at least not in the form shown on TV. So, they are be new to me.

I lead our first family meeting today. It was less than 5 minutes (I don’t think many of us could have stood it for much longer than that); but we had one! I controlled the agenda but told the boys that we would be having them weekly and that if they wanted to put something on the agenda that they could in the future.

Today’s meeting was for each of our 5 members to pick one chore/job that they would commit to doing every day to help with the house. I had a list to choose from. Then each person had to come up with a rule for themselves to ensure that their job would get done. Mine was that I would not go to bed with the kitchen sink a mess (ie: Flylady babystep 1). One of the boys will not go out to play or watch TV or anything fun until his job is done after school. I talked about no excuses. That we were making a commitment to do this and there would be no room for excuses.

I know it doesn’t sound like the “perfect” family meeting. But, I don’t care. We had one, everyone participated and we are on our way. NOW to keep it up and get better each week.

Help me with your ideas on having GREAT Family meetings.