Last night we went to Shogun to celebrate Sam’s (age 3) accomplishment of learning to ride a two wheeler without training wheels.  The day of this actual accomplishment was Monday March 8^th.  There was much rejoicing right then and there but Sam had bigger plans for celebrating.    There is little that is more exciting than the joy of accomplishment, but that joy is diminished when no one celebrates with you.   Think about it.  You make a hole in one or you beat your best score on a video game.  If no one is there to see it, it’s just not as exciting.

 As leaders, friends, parents, teachers etc, we must learn the often underdeveloped ability to support and celebrate other’s accomplishments. 

Oscar Wilde said “anybody can sympathize with the suffering of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success” 

There seems to be a natural inclination to sit at length and listen to someone’s problems and failures but when they want to tell you about their success we are often bored and uninterested and feel as if they are bragging.    If we were all honest with ourselves we would admit that it is often a feeling of envy or jealousy that prevents us from truly celebrating another’s success.   I know I have felt that way before….haven’t you?  For some another’s accomplishment makes them feel inadequate.   I can only speak for myself but the main thing behind this feeling for me is my competitive nature.  Everything is a contest….a race. There is also the tendency to diminish the accomplishment if you have already done it.  “Big deal…I’ve been riding a two wheeler for three years” 

Don’t get me wrong, I think a competitive nature is good, it keeps us driven.  But in the game of life one person’s win does not mean you have lost.  It means it can be done, and you can do it too.  So celebrate the accomplishment.  Be sincerely excited and impressed. Celebrate!!!  Not just with a 3 year old learning to ride his bike, but with adults reaching a new level in their business, getting the next degree, getting that promotion.  

From this time forward whenever someone I know reaches a goal I want to see them as I would my child or grandchild reaching that accomplishment.  I will not try to top their accomplishment by telling what it was like when I did that.  I will not steal their thunder.    I will be excited, celebrate and be proud…proud of my friend.   I will celebrate with them.  

If you are in the Louisville area join us Monday morning at Southeast Christian at 10am to talk about blogging and affiliate marketing:  http://www.meetup.com/Blogger-Afflilates-and-Internet-Marketers/  Our special guest this week is Shannon Denniston.  Come hear about the all important Auto Responder.

Jake's Team Wins the Championship!

A couple of week ago I read the book “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. It’s all about achieving your childhood dreams. I had seen him on Oprah and it’s hard to describe all the emotions you feel as you listen.  I know you’ve probably seen it but it is well worth watching again.    The original lecture in it’s entirety is over 1 hour long and has over 11 million views.   How long has it been since you even thought about your childhood dreams.

 I don’t think there was any such thing as attention deficit when I was a kid. Maybe I was just decision impaired, but it seemed like I wanted to be something different every week. One week I wanted to be Napoleon Solo from “The Man from U.N.C.L.E” and the next week I wanted to be James Kirk from “Star Trek”. Later I wanted to be Marlow Thomas from “That Girl”. You can see that I was majorly influenced by T.V. which I’m sure is still the case with many kids today. Kind of makes you think. Well I’m actually glad I did not reach those specific dreams.

Some people seem to know from the very beginning what they want to be when they grow up. Lot’s of Olympic athletes talk about that. I heard Terry Bradshaw also talk about this once.  But I am not one of  those people.  I still often say “what should I be when I grow up”.   But I have been spending some time pondering what my childhood dreams really were. I always loved to travel and I am continuing to achieve that dream. I loved adventure and I loved playing Monopoly which has lead in some way to my interest in real estate and the thill of the deal.

I would love to know about some of your childhood dreams.  If you feel comfortable sharing let me know or add a comment.

If you are in the Louisville area join us Monday morning at Southeast Christian at 10am to talk about blogging and affiliate marketing:  http://www.meetup.com/Blogger-Afflilates-and-Internet-Marketers/

Also on Tuesday night please join us at The Ryan’s Steakhouse on Bardstown Road for a Networkers only meeting and help us organize our meeting scheule for the next few months.  We will meet at 6pm for dinner and begin our meeting at 6:30.  See you there.

Candi May and Coach Tomer

I have heard that the people who say “I have grown personally as a result of being in a Network Marketing company” are just saying that because they didn’t make any money and they need to justify the time they “wasted”.   But I have made money in network marketing and I still want to say loud and clear that I have grown personally as a result.  Network Marketing has been a valuable teacher for me.  I have become passionate about personal development.  They say wisdom comes with age but that is not always true.  Sometimes age comes alone and that is sad.  If you want to become the best you can be you must work at it.

Life is quite busy and complicated.  The day ends long before we scratch off everything on our to- do list.  There is so much to learn.  It’s a crazy new world.   They say that more information has been produced in the last thirty years than in the previous five thousand.

That’s why I am thankful for mentors.  They help us make better use of the time we have.   They move us along in the right direction.  They help us avoid mistakes and find a better path.

They learn to do it.

Candi May and Rick Ricketts

They do it and we watch

We do it and they watch

We do it. 

Repeat! 

 Douglas M. Lawson said “We exist temporarily through what we take, but we live forever through what we give”.  

 It is a noble calling to be a mentor.   I am thankful for the many mentors that I have had and I want to have many more….I also want to be one.   It is a noble calling. 

If you are in the Louisville area join us Monday morning at Southeast Christian at 10am to talk about blogging and affiliate marketing:  http://www.meetup.com/Blogger-Afflilates-and-Internet-Marketers/

Well I guess I won’t be having lunch with Warren Buffett anytime soon.  I mentioned in an earlier post that he was on my bucket list of famous people to meet.  I think 1.68 Million is just a little out of my range.

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If you could have lunch with any living famous person who would it be?  As many of you may already know from my post on Facebook I had the opportunity to meet Donald Trump last week.  I was honored and it was very exciting.  I’m really glad I went.  But even traveling to New York, as I was stuck with delays in Chicago, I called Flavius from the airport and told him I was feeling very “Ecclesiastical” which translate to

 “vanity, vanity all is vanity”…..

or What’s it all about Alfie?…

You catch my drift.   What’s the point of traveling a long way to meet someone famous?

 I don’t want to get all weird here but it really made me think.   I touched on this a little bit in my Super Bowl Blog post.  Famous to one person is unknown to another.  If I had called to talk to Jake (6 years old) he would not have known who Donald Trump was.  He would rather see Spider Man.  Flavius would rather see Eric Clapton or Warren Buffett (who is on my bucket list along with Joel Osteen).    My brother Danny would rather meet Tom Selleck, my cousin Peggy would probably like to meet Beth Moore.   You may want to meet Tiger Woods, Billy Graham or Dave Ramsey. 

So why do we want to meet them?  I think it is because the famous person represents something that we are not but something that we want to be.  We want to be like them.  We admire them.  They have often accomplished things that others have not.  

Just like the Olympic athletes they spend their life working to achieve their goals.  The thing is they are all just people that became famous for something.    And, for that we place a high value on them.  So what is it then?  Are they better than us?  Of course not!   Are they talented?  Yes, but how do they achieve fame?      Is it because they are smarter or prettier or richer?  No there are some very smart people and very rich people and absolutely beautiful people who are not famous.  We all know singers that don’t really have great voice, but that are very famous, but I won’t mention any names… Joe Cocker.  (Did I say that out loud?)    Being at the right place at the right time?    That is important but that alone does not make you famous.  We’ve all been there before …right place, right time… you know we have.  Did they work harder than others?  For the most part I think famous people have worked very hard but I don’t think that’s what made them famous.   There are many people that I know who are talented and have worked very, hard but are not famous and who are really still just struggling to succeed.

I think famous people experience the perfect storm.     I think more often than not they do more with what they have been given than everyone else.  I think they are less afraid of failure.  They would rather try and fail than not to try.  They don’t give up.  Failure is not an option.  They push harder.   I think there is a timing element…“right place, right time”.  So do they have control over that?  You know what I think?  I think they do.  I think they believe for the best.  They believe in their hearts it will happen.  And they keep pushing until they hit the right timing.    The combination of these things is what I think brings fame. 

 It’s Sunday and I want to leave you with a scripture.    Now people who like to correct my grammar and sentence structure will say I have used the words “I think” too often, but pay close attention to what part the word “think” plays in this scripture.

  Ephesians 3:20    

 If you are in the Louisville area join us Monday morning at Southeast Christian at 10am to talk about blogging and affiliate marketing:  http://www.meetup.com/Blogger-Afflilates-and-Internet-Marketers/

I actually had to think for a while about whether or not I would go.  But I decide I could not turn down the opportunity to have lunch with 30 or so successful people.    And I definitely made the right decision.  It was a great trip. 

It started to look like the snow would keep me away but the flights where only slightly delayed from Louisville.  As we arrived at the airport there where snow plows all over the runways.  I left pretty close to “on time” from Louisville.  The rest of the day was plagued with delays and I finally arrived at my hotel in New York at 2am.  (Oh great ….now I’ll have black circles under my eyes:) 

The next morning I met with Rick Walsh and Sunil Wadhwa who are the top two producers in The Trump Network.   Great Guys!!!  We rode together to the hotel where the presentation would begin.  I did not see anyone I knew.  That was sort of weird.  The meeting was very informative.  We heard from the founders, Mr. Trump’s personal assistant and his attorney. 

Then it was time to go over to the Trump Grill in the lower level of the Trump Tower, at the bottom of the Golden Waterfall.  There was a private room reserved for our group.  I sat at a table with several very interesting people.  Authors and Networkers. 

The person that I found myself drawn to was Cameron Johnson.  He sold his first business at the age of nine and made his first million dollars before graduating from high school.   All of this was very impressive but the thing that struck me was what a nice person he is.   The word that comes to mind is “genuine”.  

When Mr. Trump arrived at our meeting the crowd went wild.   As luck would have it he stood right beside me as he addressed the group.  Literally shoulder to shoulder.   Many people will say “big deal…he’s just a person like you or me…nothing special about him”.    And while that is true the difference that I see in people like Donald Trump and Cameron Johnson is that they took their dreams seriously.  They did not just make a list of goals ….they put forth the effort to make it happen.   I like that!  I think that is special. 

Cameron told me a story of how when he was eight years old he wrote a note to Donald Trump on notebook paper about how his family was coming to New York to stay at the Plaza and how he really wanted to see the room at the Plaza Hotel where “Home Alone 2” was filmed.   He mailed it without telling his parents.  When they arrived at the hotel the reservationist said “you must be Cameron…we’ve been expecting you”.  Mr. Trump had arranged for Cameron and his family to stay in the Penthouse Suite where the movie had been filmed.  Mr. Trump was out of town but took the time to call an eight year old boy that he did not know, to see if they were settled into their room.  He also arranged for a special trip to FAO Schwartz. 

Donald Trump.   Some people love him and some can’t stand him.  No one can deny that he has done amazing things and kept on pushing higher even when things looked bad.    But the most impressive thing I have heard about Donald Trump is the story above that Cameron told me.  He was not too busy to listen to the dream of an eight year old boy and make it happen.    That is someone who not only took  his own dreams seriously, but, also the dreams of others.   That is a special person.

I usually don’t get involved in political debates but no matter what your political opinion is this is funny…or I think so anyway. 

President Obama landed on Air Force One and descended the stairs with a piglet under each arm.  When he reached the bottom step the soldier at the bottom saluted and said “Commander and Chief,  excellent piglets Sir”.     President Obama said “oh soldier these are not just any piglets, these are rare and expensive Razorbacks.  I got the one on the left for Nancy Pelosi and the one on the right for Hillary Clinton.”  The soldier replied “Commander and Chief, excellent trade sir” 

This of course is a joke.  Just so you know.