What Does It Have To Do With Anything?

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

.The Clydesdales came to town yesterday! I was so excited to show these magnificent horses to my grandchildren. Being a grandma also means seeing the whole world brand new through their eyes.

But – I wanted to share with you the meaning of desire, teamwork and ambition. Go check out this video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=42587 94138972547179

Now tell me, what does this have to do with organization and building values in a team? I think it has a lot to teach all of us.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers
There was once a man from the city who was visiting a small farm, and during this visit he saw a farmer feeding pigs in a most extraordinary manner.

The farmer would lift a pig up to a nearby apple tree, and the pig would eat the apples off the tree directly.

The farmer would move the pig from one apple to another until the pig was satisfied, then he would start again with another pig.

The city man watched this activity for some time with great astonishment.

Finally, he could not resist saying to the farmer, “This is the most inefficient method of feeding pigs that I can imagine. Just think of the time that would be saved if you simply shook the apples off the tree and let the pigs eat them from the ground!”

The farmer looked puzzled and replied, “What’s time to a pig?”

Thought for Today:

Kindly words, sympathizing attentions, watchfulness against wounding men’s sensitiveness–these cost very little, but they are priceless in their value.

-F.W. Robertson

Tips and Techniques

The A-B-Cs of building an organization

C is for creativity. So many people concentrate on “fixing” their weaknesses they never seem to work on what is right about them. It is far more important to find and concentrate on your strengths. Identify your talent! Embrace your talent and build your life around them. Do what you dream of doing, not what others tell you, you have to do.

Happy designing!

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What Are You Giving?

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

Welcome back – hope you had a grand Holiday weekend!

I went to the Memorial concert in DC. What a memoriable event that was.

Memories! So many of them build over the years. Are the memories you are building with your group good memories?

When facilitating a group we all need to be taking advantage of the skills and talents of each member in the group. You cannot be expected to know everything.

You can’t be expected to have had every experience compared to the collective experiences of the group.

You may find that one suggestion made can hand over the leadership of a meeting to another member with more experience, please don’t take offence to that person taking over the meeting. This is when you as the facilitator of the group can truly shine, by learning to “pick the brain” of the more experienced member.

This is one of the biggest compliments you can pay to a junior member. Give him the floor allowing him to expand and share his experiences.

One of the secrets – To me this is what empowerment is all about.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

The Crist family worked at a zoo.

Each year they predicted the general luck and overall mood of the year by watching the the gnu. If the gnu’s ears were forward, that meant a successful, joyous year was almost certain to happen. But if his ears were laid back flat against his head, it meant that an unlucky or very unhappy year was sure to come.

One year it was young Mary’s turn to “survey” the animal and come up with the prediction. It was her first time solo, and in her excitement, she forgot to take the key to the cage.

She was late in coming to check on the gnu. Well, she saw the wrong ear position and predicted a bad year, when in fact it was quite good.

To explain the error, the local newspaper ran the following headline a year later: MARY CRIST MISSES AN HAPPY GNU’S EAR!

Thought for Today:

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. ”
-Winston Churchill

Tips and Techniques

The A-B-Cs of building an organization

B Bravery. It takes bravery on the part of a business leader to empower his team,

to give over the idea of “management” to “mentoring.” It also takes bravery to

step out of ones comfort zone to begin any new project or to learn something new.

This is especially true when it comes to giving money or time for the unknown.

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Building Cohesion

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

Did you read the article in the study hall yesterday? If you didn’t this whole week’s discussion is going to go right over your head, I promise.

Why is it important to learn how to work with and facilitate groups?

You tell me, but I am in Internet Marketing, or I sell whatis in party plan sales, or I work with people to help them with their portfolio, when do I ever have to work with or facilitate a group?

If you are a mom or a dad, the first group you facilitate is your family.

You are building an organization. This organization is independent contractors.

Tell me, just how many people quit your company because they say they get no help from their sponsor? I happen to know that many people will be sponsored into x-y-z company with a sponsor that is just as green as they are.

The activity of building an organization is key if you want to build residual income in your chosen profession. Managing that organization is NOT like managing any other kind of business. You cannot just tell people what to do. Their training and income do depend on them being able to “duplicate” instructions.

Their income does depend on each of them becoming a part of the whole team, but until they come to that conclusion and decide they are not in this alone you can talk until you are blue in the face.

It is your job as the leader building this team to find the common denominator.

It is your job to find what is going to build that cohesiveness that will help people to learn.

The ten tips mean something to you; read them, think about them and figure out how to apply them.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

A blind man with a seeing eye dog at his side walks into a grocery store. The man walks to the middle of the store, picks up the dog by the tail, and starts swinging the dog around in circles over his head. The store manager, who has seen all this, thinks this is quite strange. So, he decides to find out what’s going
on.

The store manager approaches the blind man swinging the dog and says, “Pardon me. May I help you with something.”

The blind man says, “No thanks. I’m just looking around.”

Thought for Today:

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”

-Danny Kaye

Tips and Techniques
The A-B-Cs of building an organization

A – Attitude
With your attitude in the right place, you can do or accomplish anything you set your mind to doing. You attitude is your internal compass. Do you have yours pointed in the right direction?

Happy designing!

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10 Tips for Facilitating Groups

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

I can hardly believe it is the last week of May already! BTW Won’t you take a minute and hug a veteran today!

Have you achieved all of the goals you set out to do this month. If you have I want to congratulate you whole heartedly. If you haven’t please do come to the goals class that I facilitate every Monday night. Oh and by the way today (Monday) is a holiday in the US so there will not be a class tonight.

I have been reestablishing the study hall and am now satisfied that this new script is not attracting the riff raff. I really did hate going in there every day and having to delete the drugs and the off color posts that seem to proliferate the PHPBB forum. Its security settings just are not secure.

Therefore I am going back to my former posting of a weekly article for discussion both online and in the goals class.

The article has been posted and is entitled, “10 Secrets to a Shared Purpose” If you are ever called upon to facilitate a team effort you will find these tips most helpful.

Click on studyhall —> Weekly Articles —-> Mentoring Vs Managing —> 10 Secrets

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers
After many years of marriage, a husband has turned into a couch potato, became completely inattentive to his wife and sat guzzling beer and watching TV all day.

The wife was dismayed because no matter what she did to attract the husband’s attention, he’d just shrug her off with some bored comment. This went on for many months and the wife was going crazy with boredom.

Then one day at a pet store, the wife saw this big, ugly, snorting bird with a hairy chest, powerful hairy forearms, beady eyes and dribble running down the side of its mouth.

The shopkeeper, observing her fascination with the bird, told her it was a special imported “Goony bird” and it had a very peculiar trait. To demonstrate, he exclaimed, “Goony bird! The table!” Immediately, the Goony bird flew off its perch and with single-minded fury attacked the table and smashed it into a hundred little pieces with its powerful forearms and claws!

To demonstrate some more, the shopkeeper said, “Goony bird! The shelf!” Again the Goony bird turned to the shelf and demolished it in seconds.

“Wow!” said the wife, “If this doesn’t attract my husband’s attention, nothing will!” So she bought the bird and took it home. When she entered the house, the husband was, as usual, sprawled on the sofa guzzling beer and watching the game.

“Honey!” she exclaimed, “I’ve got a surprise for you! A Goony bird!” The husband, in his usual bored tone replied, “Goony Bird, my foot!”

Thought for Today:
“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop”.
-Ovid

Tips and Techniques

Re-read the 10 secrets. Make a list of 3 – 4 things you can do today to improve or start communication with your group.

Become a member of the studyhall, then post your thoughts and results by adopting these actions.

Happy designing!

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Proofreading

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

After you have collected all your ideas, then becomes the time to put them together. Writers have many techniques for organizing their ideas.

Some may begin with an outline. The outline can be in the form of titles, headings and subheadings. Outlines can also take the shape of a web with ideas stemming off the center point of focus.

I find what works for me best is taking the ideas and just writing – free form. Then I rearrange the paragraphs or ideas into headings.

You have been writing probably since you were seven or eight years old. You know
how to write, you just have to allow yourself to write.

Write about what you love.

Write about what you know.

Write about what you do.

Don’t worry about how good it is. The more you practice, the more you write, the more you put you into your writing the better you will become.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Want to go into space?

NASA was interviewing professionals to be sent to Mars. Only one could go and couldn’t return to Earth.

The first applicant, an engineer, was asked how much he wanted to be paid for going. “A million dollars,” he answered, “because I want to donate it to M.I.T.”

The next applicant, a doctor, was asked the same question. He asked for $2 million. “I want to give a million to my family,” he explained, “and leave the other million for the advancement of medical research.”

The last applicant was a lawyer. When asked how much money he wanted, he
whispered in the interviewer’s ear, “Three million dollars.”

“Why so much more than the others?” asked the interviewer.

The lawyer replied, “If you give me $3 million, I’ll give you $1 million, I’ll keep $1 million, and we’ll send the engineer to Mars.”

Thought for Today:

”You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.”
-Indira Gandhi

Tips and Techniques

Proofreading Checklist
___ All misspelled words have been corrected
___ All sentences begin with a capital letter
___ Sentences end in periods, question marks or exclamation points
___ Dialogue is contained within quotation marks
___ Paragraphs are indented
___ Apostrophes are used correctly to show possession and for contractions
___ Unnecessary words and repititions have been eliminated
___ Missing words have been added in
___ Subjects and verbs agree
___ Sentences are varied – run on sentences broken up
___ Sentence fragments have been made into complete sentences
___ Proper nounds are capitalized
___ Commas and semicolons are used correctly for sentences
___ Strong active verbs have been used
___ Specific nouns have been used to add details
___ A double check has been done for words spelled correctly, but are the wrong word for the sentence i.e. there, their you, your

Happy designing!

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Find Your Own Special Place

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

Find your own special place

In France, writers are famous for hanging out in cafes. Where do you like to write?

It often helps to have a special place that puts you in the mood for writing. a comfy chair with a good light, a quiet corner. Some writers need quite and some – believe it or not need a lot of activity.

My favorite place, well I have two… When I need stimulation I get my trusty tape recorder and go for a drive. I put the windows down in the car and just drive. The mountains and scenery around me put me at ease and my mind clears so I can actually think.

There are times when the 18” between me and my computer screen are so closed in that I have to get out.

When I need to rest and relax, there is nothing I like better than listening to children laughing. A trip to the park will let the children run off their energy and me – well, I relax then it becomes so much easier to be creative.

I strongly recommend you find your favorite thinkin’ place!

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Q: What are the six worst years in a blonde’s life

.
A: Third grade.

Thought for Today:

”If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve

always gotten”.- Anonymous

Tips and Techniques

7 Revision Strategies

1. Create an opening that grabs the reader’s attention.
2. Add details. Add many details. Then later cut any that don’t work.
3. Change some of your passive verbs to active verbs. Use stronger, more descriptive words whenever possible.
4. Challenge yourself to find just the right words.
5. Move sentences and paragraphs around and see what happens. You may discover better organization of your thoughts and ideas.
6. Write more about your topic. Explore and expand every possibility.
7. Take a break – then go back to your writing with fresh eyes.

Happy designing!

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Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

Keep a writer’s Notebook

Write down your thoughts, questions and observations as often as you can.

When it comes time to write a paper or article you will often find you have a lot of material already written on your topic.

Painters sketch, writers journal!

When those funny things happen in your life and they often will, write down the specifics of the event. When those heartbreaking things happen in your life write down the feelings. Involve all five senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and of course what you hear.

Every day things happen to you and around you that can spice your writing or enliven the story you are writing. Yes, this is even important if you are writing technical materials.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Thank you for calling 911. All of our operators are currently busy. Please stay on the line, and your call will be answered in the order it was received. (Worst Muzak possible.)

Thank you for holding. Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold. Or, if your little emergency isn’t too serious, leave a message at the tone, and one of our crisis operators will call you back. Have a nice day.

Tips and Techniques

Revising Strategies
You can always change what you’ve written. You can add, cut and move things around. By playing with words, sentences and even paragraphs you can make your wiring say exactly what you want.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when you begin revising
1. How do I feel about this writing so far? What do I like? What doesn’t feel quite right?

2. Is there any place where I could or should expand or clairfy?

3. Is there anything that surprised me? Do I now remember more about the event?

4. What is my topic or focus? Has it changed?

5. Is there anything I wanted to say that I didn’t?

6. Who am I writing this piece for? Does it speak to them?

7. Is there anything I said too many times?

8. Does this piece grab my attention right from the start?

9. Did I complete each of my thoughts in a logical order?

10. What would happen if I moved the paragraphs around?

Happy designing!

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Writing Part 2

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

If you want to write well – Talk

Try talking with a friend about your ideas. Let your friend ask you questions. You can tell each other stories. When you find that you have a lot to say, stop talking and start writing.

Writers block can sometimes stem from that blank piece of paper or the blinking curser on a blank document.

Talking with another helps to stimulate the imagination. Talking about the subject will sometimes bring out ideas that would not be there without the bantering or debate.

Talking is a second cousin to brainstorming.

Do you have a friend that will challenge your ideas?

Do you have a friend that will question your every motive?

Do you have a friend that loves to read?

Learn to cultivate the interests and specialized knowledge of people you know and trust.

Take a friend to lunch or better yet take a friend on a long walk. You can get a bit of exercise and at the same time stimulate your thoughts.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Enough research will tend to support your theory.

Thought for Today:

”Tough times never last, tough people do.”.
-Robert Schuller

Tips and Techniques

So Sorry, I posted the wrong link to the eBook yesterday. You will find it at http://www.computerkrafts.com/s-0407/ The theme of the eBook is all about developing customer loyalty and retention.

The tutorial using NetObjects Fusion and creating tables in your web design.

I do hope that you are prepared for summer. The theme for May is developing with working smart so you can keep up the momentum in your business while taking more time off with the kids or for that well earned vacation.

Summer for networking has traditionally been “slow” but it doesn’t have to be.

Happy designing!

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Prewriting Strategies part 1

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

.Prewriting Strategies

When you start to write, you don’t have to know what you are going to say. You just have to start putting words on paper. Whatever you think about, write it down.

This strategy is called Free-Write. Write down whatever passes through your mind.

Don’t worry aobut your spelling or your handwriting or even what you are going to say.

Just keep writing!

If you don’t know what to write, write that.

“I don’t know what to write!”

Keep writing eventually the thoughts will begin to take form. Then just keep writing.

Let the notes sit for 24 hours at least. Then go back through your notes to highlight the key points related to your topic.

From the highlighted points you can begin to create your outline.

Sometimes all it takes is one thought to emerge from the rest. The words begin to flow then all of a sudden you just can’t stop writing. Believe me it happens more often than not.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!

Carolyn

Ice Breakers

The results of a government study

For the past three years, the government has worked hard and spent many tax dollars to find the approval ratings for unemployment.

They have concluded that a 7% unemployment level is acceptable to 93% of the working population.

Now let’s just hope that the unemployment rate doesn’t change

Thought for Today

“Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous – not just to some people in some circumstances – but to everyone all the time.”

Thomas J. Watson 1874-1956, Founder of IBM

Tips and Techniques

Before I forget again, the April newsletter is available.
Go Here http://www.computerkrafts.com/2-0407 to grab your copy today. For $7.00 you have master rights to the eBook.

Happy designing!

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Build Your Web Site

Good Morning!
I Have Been Thinking

.Build Your Web Site.

Whereas email is the best form of communication a web site is the best form of information delivery

And, not only can your web site best inform your customer,
it can also then lead him or her to the close.

After all, that is the natural progression of a business
transaction, be it in the real world or online in cyberspace.

You attract the attention of a potential customer via
communication you inform the customer fully what, how and why your product or service will benefit their lives and you receive payment for the transfer of your goods or services.

These are the fundamentals, , necessary for successfully making truly any money online.

Just follow the above fundamental, key elements, and
you will be successful in making truly SERIOUS MONEY.

Opportunity is never lost
It goes To Those Ready to Accept It!
Carolyn

Ice Breakers

Life

If a dog was the teacher you would learn stuff like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your
face to be pure ecstasy.

When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience.

Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady
tree.

When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire
body.

No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the
guilt thing and pout…run right back and make friends.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had
enough.

Be Loyal. Never pretend to be something you’re not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close
by and nuzzle them gently.

Thought for Today:

“It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger for them”.-George Eliot

Tips and Techniques

Writing, speaking and web design all take practice. I love it and yet sometime I really have to force myself to sit in the chair and write. Like many others, I could copy from the web. I could use a ghost writer. But I don’t.

You are important to me. I am having my conversations with you every morning when I sit at my computer to write this newsletter.

Give yourself time to design your site. Give yourself the opportunity to slow down. If you really want to get good at something, go slowly, ponder, study, and implement gradually.

I have watched so many people refuse to listen. They jump in on all fours with so much gusto only to be overwhelmed by the amount of information out there. Please, please don’t let that happen to you, because I guarantee if you do, you won’t be here next year!

Happy designing!

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