The Power of Gratitude

Radiate Your Message

Dolly Parton once said, "Discover who you are and do it on purpose." I love that! It's such a phenomenal way to live your life. It's also a great way to do business. So many people struggle to market themselves using all the latest tactics the gurus suggest and still fall miserably short. It's not that the tactics are bad, it's that most people use them without ever getting clear about what it is they're marketing.

Until you lay a foundation of who you are, what you stand for, and how you intend to make the world a better place with the products, services, and messages you deliver, marketing is going to be a struggle. Once you get clear, decisions come easier and the right people, events, and circumstances start flowing toward you -- especially if you convey that clarity in everything you do. Everything about you and your marketing materials should radiate this "brand of you."

Sound like a tall order? It really is easier said than done. It takes some real thought and some foundational soul searching. Most of us don't even know where to begin on our own. For example, while it's intuitive for me to see the core message for others, I have a tough time getting clarity for myself. There's one person who has been critical in me finding the clarity I searched for for years. That person is my friend Phillip Davis of Pure Tungsten. Phil has a knack for cutting through all the information overload, clutter, and scores of interests an individual may have and getting to the core. What's more, he has a way to teach you how to do it for yourself!

Recently I had Phil on one of my Mondays with Marnie calls to talk about this. The response was so phenomenal that Phil asked me to co-host a 4-week telecourse with him called Radiant Branding: How to Discover Your Brilliance and Let It Shine!  We set up a site at www.RadiantBranding.com . You'll want to visit it if you crave the kind of clarity that wakes you up with a sense of possibility, knowing that your gifts, talents and abilities are the perfect match for those who would greatly appreciate them. On this site you'll be able to listen to the call that started it all . . . it's on the right hand column, midway down the page. You'll also be able to sign up for the course that starts November 25th.

Do You Have a Big Dream?

Do you have a big dream? Do you want to make a difference in the world? If I put together a free weekly coaching call to walk you through discovering your message and delivering it to the online world, would you be interested in participating? If so, what days/times work best for you?

Whether I decide to do this or not will depend upon the response I receive. So if you're interested, please speak up and email me at [email protected]! :)

Abundance, Ownership & Stewardship

Did you know you are rich? Even the poorest pauper is truly rich. The secret is acknowledging and accepting the abundance that is already yours. I hope you enjoy this short 4 minute video on gratitude and its role in accepting abundance into your life.

View it on youtube here.

What's Your Big Dream?

I was on the phone with one of my experts today - Michael Gilbert - and discovered him to be a most extraordinary man. You'd think he's primarily a sales and marketing expert for businesses, but there's much more to him than that. Michael is personally involved in a project in Texas that helps ex-cons (felons) start and continue to operate successful businesses. This group takes prisoners who have been through a Christian wing of a Sugarland penitentiary and teaches them life and business skills for several months. Then they help the ex-cons start businesses of their own. Michael's company owns the business for the first three years and gives the person access to expertise from CEO's of some very big companies. They thoroughly train these potential business owners. Then at the end of the three years, the individual can purchase the company and run it on his own.

It's an amazing project and Michael admits that only a small percentage who start the program end up following through completely. But those who do have been very successful -- what's more they break the cycle that normally leads 85% of average felons (age 27 or older) back to prison.

After telling me about his life's work, Michael asked me, "So what's your big dream?" I chuckled and said, "To be a New York Times Best Selling Author" which to me sounded incredibly shallow when compared to Michael's work!  I added -- "to promote experts, I love promoting talented people."  Still, it sounded pretty stupid. It's not that I don't have a big dream, it's just that when put on the spot, I realized I didn't have a very good way of describing it.

So, let's back up, Michael, (if you're reading) and let me try that again, please!   My big dream is to bring millions of people closer to Christ so they can better identify and live their God-given missions. My dream is to help millions of people live their purpose to the fullest degree so they can find joy therein. The New York Times Best-seller list is just my "earthly" way of quantifying that I've reached millions with a message that matters. Honestly, I wouldn't be satisfied with a NY Times best-selling fluff novel. It's got to have a message that matters. And the reason I love promoting the experts I promote is that 9 times out of 10 they have a message that matters … like Michael Gilbert and Nancy Spivey with her Transform a Neighborhood project.

I may not reach millions of people directly, but if I help enough people like Michael and Nancy, then there's a multiplier effect there. Good flows forward. It's the nature of it.

I ran across this quote today and I just love it, "What a sweet blessing it is to come to know -- to gain a testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost -- that there is a God and that He has a plan with an exalted purpose for each of His children. It is also a very powerful, personal driving factor to be able to accept that we each can have a particular role to play in this plan. You owe it to yourself to make an extra effort to discover, in every detail possible, who you really are -- to discover your eternal potential in God's plan" (Your Divine Heritage, Robert C. Oaks, BYU devotional address, March 21, 2006).

I consider myself, in many ways, as a mentor and a megaphone who makes it easier for others to live their part in the plan. I might help them verbalize their role, or share truths that enable them to live their missions more fully. Or I might help them promote their message to the online world. But to answer Michael's question, my big dream is to help millions of other people live their God-given missions.

So, what's your big dream? Can you put it into words if someone put you on the spot?