Archive for the ‘business’ Category

Mistaken Identity

February 8, 2019

For about 6 years, I had a side business selling note cards I designed with a focus on using handwritten notes as a marketing strategy for making impactful business connections. I was a bit ahead of Send Out Cards, but without their deep pockets or their online technology component.

I gave many presentations to business groups and often included this quote attributed to Maya Angelou.

One day after my talk, a woman told me how much she loved my presentation… especially the quote by Michelangelo. I decided correcting her would NOT make her feel good, so I said thank you and let it go. It still makes me laugh and I’m now more conscious of my pronunciation!

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Kudos to Gillette

January 31, 2019

While working on a client project this week, I was doing research on the commercials for the upcoming Super Bowl. (About 3/4 of advertisers release them in advance now.)

I love, love, love this new campaign by Gilette in response to the #MeToo movement. This Gillette commercial is getting a lot of buzz along with Super Bowl ads, but won’t be aired during the game.

Gillette Ad in response to #MeToo

Gillette’s new campaign is called “The Best Men Can Be”, an update of its tagline from 30 years ago, “The Best a Man Can Get.” It promises to donate $1 million per year for three years to American non-profit organizations dedicated to educating and helping men become their own “personal best.”

Evidently a lot of men don’t like being called out on their bad behavior. Interestingly, the YouTube video is on track to be the most disliked ever. As of today, Jan 31st, the video has nearly 28 million views, about 750K likes, and 1.3 million dislikes.

You might find this article interesting where they talk about this campaign and other brands that have approached their advertising as a form of social communication.

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Addicted to Approval?

January 31, 2010

“Once you free yourself from the need for perfect acceptance, it’s a lot easier to launch work that matters.” ~ Seth Godin

Everyone has an opinion

I’ve noticed how often I wondered what others would think before I took an action or made a decision. In the past, there have been times when I felt addicted to wanting approval from others before moving forward.

My husband is reading a book that makes the distinction between choices and decisions. The author says CHOICES are made from the heart, while DECISIONS are made from the intellect. I’m learning to trust my choices and have quit making decisions by committee. I gather information from a variety of sources (including my gut) and then choose. I’ve given up feeling I need to do what someone else thinks just because I asked for their opinion.

It is a journey for me and I’m aware now more than ever of the choice I always have to speak my truth in love. I’ve heard several times recently that the only time someone will accuse you of being selfish is when you don’t do what THEY want. That is an eye-opening perspective for me.

Part of this journey has been making peace with the understanding that I don’t need other people to agree with me. My truth is my truth. A gift of growing older is that I’ve learned more, experienced more and met others who comfortably live their truth. I examine what I think and why I believe a particular thing… and sometimes change my mind.

I believe in cooperation, collaboration and finding ways to work together. I think the ways we can come together are more important that the reasons that keep us apart. I also believe that we all just want to be heard, appreciated and loved.

I’m working with a couple of business collaborators on a tele-seminar around approval that was sparked from the Seth Godin quote at the top of this post. We aren’t sure how this will all come together, but we are excited about exploring the topic.

Your thoughts about this would be helpful as we gather information! Please share any comment that “addicted to approval” sparks within you, including ways you have “done work that matters by moving forward without perfect acceptance.”

I’ve also posted a question on LinkedIn if you would like to leave your comments there and see what others are saying.

Thank you!

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Posted in books and articles, business, collaboration, random thoughts, spirituality | 5 Comments »

Peace with Prosperity

January 7, 2010

Today is the 7th day of the new decade and the year of my Personal Peace and Play Project. I’ve given up goal setting in the traditional sense. I’ve decided instead to focus on what I want from life and “play” my life as a game of improv instead of trying to map it all out. Staying more present in this moment and choosing my next action from what is actually happening instead of what I expect to happen. Moving toward what feels like fun and where my passion and enthusiasm can create the greatest impact.

A water crystal after the word peace was written or spoken over it.

So, instead of focusing on wanting more money, I’m focusing on having peace with whatever prosperity I have. I’ve had times in my life when I’ve had a cushion of money in the bank and have still been anxious about losing it and about making more. The gift of not having that cushion now is that I am forced to focus on what I want from money anyway. I want peace around having $10 or around having $10 Million.

Hence, my Personal Peace and Play Project. I’m experimenting with ways to focus, which includes Days of Gratitude. Another action I’m taking is writing “PEACE $” across the solar plexus area of my chest with a marker each day. When I get anxious, I feel it in my chest. The first time I wrote this was a few nights ago just before bed, when I had felt anxious many times through the day. That night I slept all night without waking up (a very rare occurrence) and slept until almost 8am (an even rarer occurrence)!

And there is research to support my marker. Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work includes extensive research around writing words or speaking words over water crystals and photographing how they change depending upon the words. And, since my body (and yours) is almost 60% water, it just makes sense to me that my marker-ing can only have a positive effect. Here is a video showing a variety of water crystals, including PEACE.

More on Peace and Play to come this year. I would love any ideas you have and what things you do for fun and peace.

~ Namaste

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Posted in business, fun, gratitude, money, prosperity, random thoughts | 2 Comments »

Make it 9!

September 9, 2009

Today is 09.09.09. My friend Carolyn suggested 9 as a theme for today (which I read just before 9am!) So, here are nine affirmations for my day and my life.

1. I do work that I love, working with and for people I really like, making more than enough money to play, to pay and to give away.

2. I am an instrument in the hand of God.

3. I embrace life, I radiate energy, I make connections. All my good expands and circles back to me in many forms including money, creative work, supportive relationships, great health and more.

4. I play. I laugh. I learn. I love.

5. I am willing to love and approve of myself just as I am.

6. I am willing to release the need for approval from others.

7. I am willing to be still.

8. I am willing to let things come to me easily.

9. I am willing to trust myself and my internal guidance.

Many thanks to Carolyn for this suggestion. What are your nine affirmations for today?

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Posted in business, fun, random thoughts, spirituality | 2 Comments »

My Best Bits

August 28, 2009

Cat Deeley, the host of “So You Think You Can Dance” often will use the term “best bits” when showing a highlight video of one of the dancers.

So, I started thinking about my “Best Bits.”

– Connecting people. I find most people fascinating and love to hear their stories. In the process, I always find out things that give me ideas of how to make connections to help them reach their goals. (Sometimes business goals and sometimes more personal goals.) Everybody has a story and it is fun for me to listen and help in some way.

– Connecting ideas. I’m interested in many, many things. This is fun for me and gives me a unique perspective on how to make different things work together in a new way. I’ve often thought of myself as a kind of translator. I understand enough about different types of people and how their business works to make suggestions of alliances they may not have considered. With many years as a graphic designer, this ability to learn about a new client and their industry has always been a joyful part of my work.

– Creative thinking. I have many experiences and bits of knowledge in my head and I’m always learning about new ideas, technologies and processes. Because of this, I am able to creatively take thoughts and ideas from a wide variety of experiences see how they can fit together. The very best bits come from collective creativity where focusing with a group of people to creatively explore ideas around a particular topic creates a batch of good, bad, different and impossible ideas – then taking all those ideas, choosing a few of the best ones and putting them together in an action plan. That is the basis of the Mindstorming process I use with clients to help them determine new ways to approach marketing, events or fundraising around a particular topic.

– Having Fun! I like to laugh and gravitate toward people who make me laugh. I also have fun at most everything I do. (OK, I have to work at having fun when I clean the house, so I wait until it really needs it so I get that instant gratification rush of seeing it go from dirty to clean.) But, most others things are fun!

So, what are your Best Bits? And is anything stopping you from putting them out in the world?

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Posted in business, fun, movies and tv | 2 Comments »

Guidance, Action and Leverage

July 9, 2009

I have often acted to make myself feel that I was accomplishing something without waiting for my internal guidance system to kick in. It seems that our culture is all about action. Over and over I hear the key to success is setting goals and taking action, but it is impossible to do it all and which actions to take?

The idea of “leverage” keeps popping up for me. Taking focused action to give me the most result for the least effort. I even named my new company “Connect 4 Leverage” to remind me that I get the most benefit from combining my efforts strategically with those of others to see quicker and more successful results.

A bigger lesson for me is to get centered and listen to God talking to me through my internal guidance before I act. A few years ago, Shihan Pete Pukish said to me during a martial arts class, “It’s hard to move from your center when you’re hauling ass out in front of yourself.” Over the years, that has been my perpetual challenge, hauling ass because I was scared or excited and getting ahead of my guidance – then tripping over myself into something I didn’t want.

I’m reading (for the second time) the Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman.  His teacher in Hawaii says this to him about leverage. “To really help people, you first need to understand them – but you can’t understand someone else until you understand yourself. Know yourself; prepare yourself; develop the clarity, the courage and the sensitivity to exert the right leverage, in the right place, at the right time. Then act.”

In what ways are you getting leverage? See how others answered this question on LinkedIn. Post a comment about how you are getting leverage.

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Posted in books and articles, business, spirituality | 3 Comments »