Category: Uncategorized

Something Better

It is said, what we sow is what we will reap. This means that what we do in life may be visited back on ourselves. If we are kind to others, we will find kindness. If we shun others, we may be avoided. If we harm, we only hurt ourselves.

Whether or not someone else is kind, or mean to us, is not what matters. That someone is mean, angry or hurtful does not play into what we need to do, or give us leeway in our response. The responses we offer and how we do that is what we are responsible for.

We often forget this. Even in trying to do the right thing, to do good and help others, we are apt to go awry by moving towards the final goal and not thinking about what we are doing along the way. These errors become even worse when we tried to do what is right for our group at the expense of all others. When this happens nobody really wins.

The sad part is that until we realize we are caught up in these negative emotions and take measures to break the repetitive cycle of greed and emotional errors, it will be hard to advance as a culture. With all that we have learned about ourselves, our world and our technology, until we raise our awareness of how we should treat each other, we are still stuck in yesterday’s thinking.

Please do not take my word for this. Look around and see what’s going on in the world. You see it in the neighborhoods. You see it in mass media. And if you take time to talk with individuals, and you should, you will probably notice it there.

Does this mean that we’re doomed to a repetitive cycle that cannot be broken? No, at least I don’t believe so. We can break the cycle and go on to do better. We only need to desire and work towards something better.

Thank you for reading my blogs this week. I hope to be with you again soon.

Trust

When we buy a candy bar, we trust it’s going to be like all the other candy bars of that type we have purchased before. When we get ready to eat the candy bar, if we open it and the chocolate is old and stale, and the creamy insides are is hard as a rock, we may throw the candy bar away. After all, it’s only a candy bar.

When we go out to a restaurant, and we order something, we trust that they will serve us what we ordered. We trust our order will be made under sanitary conditions with care and it will be edible. If we are disappointed in what is served us, we may send it back or even remove the restaurant from our places to frequent. After all, it’s only a meal.

When we order courses off the web to learn something new or to expand our horizons, we trust that we are getting what was offered in the promotion of the course. If we were told that the course was for us and could solve specific problems that we had, we trust that is what is going to happen. As we pay for that course, the results for us need to stack up to the promises made and the cost of the course. This is important because what we study and learn will influence us as we move into our future.

Some people trying to convince others that their course is valuable and essential will charge thousands of dollars for it. They have been taught and live under a belief that a course not costing thousands of dollars cannot possibly be a good course. I am not sure that is so, and in charging high prices, I am probably not going to get to teach some of the students who could really benefit from my training.

I have studied education and training most of my life. I have always both worked and volunteered in part as a trainer and a coach. I have the academic degrees to back it up. And I trust in my skill and motivation. I have no plans to charge you thousands of dollars for something when I can give you a much lower and reasonable price. Don’t get me wrong, if you feel you have to pay me thousands of dollars, okay. Yet, I would have to ask the question, why?

When you take one of my courses, I am trusting that you signed up because you really need the course, or really want the course. I trust you are going to take the course seriously, I have faith that you will do your best to learn what I am teaching. And I believe that you will use the knowledge to better yourself and/or those around you.

I am working on a real active trust and faith which I haven’t quite ironed out yet. I do hope that I can have it figured out and completed by Tuesday of next week (October 2) I will talk about this on that day whether I can accomplish it or not and I think it’s something you might want to read. If it works, it’ll be an excellent offer for you.

Until then I am trusting you will have a good day. And, I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

 

Giving Back

I remember hearing or reading somewhere there is a saying, it goes something like, to those whom much is given, much is expected. We could look at this from many perspectives, for today, I am looking at the aspect of helping others.

I have always had a feeling and a desire to help others. When we have money, it is easy to make a donation. We can drop some coins in the kettle, have a monthly gift taken out of the check, attend a gala, or just write a check ourselves. What do we do when we don’t have funding for ourselves?

Working as a member of the military for most of my life and then putting kids through school, there were occasions when I understood the lack of personal funding. And yet, it never stopped me from helping others. Donating money, if you have it, is an easy way to help others. There are other ways which are sometimes a little bit more challenging.

Whenever I don’t have money to donate, I like to give time. Donating money is not cheap, yet you can always earn more money. Money becomes a renewable resource. If you donate your time, you are giving a nonrenewable resource which you cannot replenish. And yet there is a beautiful trade-off here.

When I donate time, I do give a nonrenewable resource which I know I will not be able to recoup. In exchange, though, I received terrific gifts in return. I am able to connect with people and talk with them. I learn new things that I consider important because the lessons come from those who actually live the knowledge they have to share. I may have a chance to make somebody’s day better. Having given this donation of time, no matter how grueling, I almost always walk away knowing that I feel better for the opportunity and the experience.

You don’t have to have something formal or participate through an organization, sometimes helping a neighbor rake the leaves or sit on the porch and talk with a neighbor who might be lonely is all it takes. If you play catch with the kids in the neighborhood and talk with them, you are positively molding the future.

Think about it. Because the real trick is, doing something good for someone else really does something good for you.

Thank you for being here today I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Today Is The Day

Today is the official kickoff of my new course on Thinkific. ‘Mapping Your Future’

‘Mapping Your Future’ is a great course which helps you to explore where you want to go as you transition throughout life.

Transitions happen many times during the person’s life. Sometimes because the job requires you to transition to somewhere new. Sometimes it is because you want to do or try something new. Sometimes, it happened, not because you want to, instead because of something beyond our control. The end of high school, or college graduation. Going into or out of incarceration. Retirement sneaks up upon us. Because a factory or another workplace closes. Sometimes, we need to move on, and we have to stop and plan what we should do next, and where that may take place. We need to think of what it will cost and accomplish and the research that is necessary to achieve a successful transition.

This is not a course to just talk about things. You can talk about things with anyone. This course assists in coming up with solid plans and guides you with tangible action items which include:

  • Deciding what you want to do.
  • Researching your next endeavors in life.
  • Finding and utilizing mentors and supporters.
  • Understanding the milestones and goals to get to where you want to be.
  • Developing a physical map of your milestones, goals.

This course comes with many benefits:

First, it is a pilot course which means you have more one-on-one and group time with me to make suggestions, share information, and so I can better assist you.

Next, once you have had this course, you are welcome to come back to it any time you wish. I plan to always have the course here for you to use when you need it. You will also get to see updates to the course as they come out.

The course comes with a Facebook group where all the students can get together along with myself, and we can talk about many things share ideas and discussions, have one on one and group meetings and work together to obtain mutual goals.

If you have a spouse or significant other, they get to join you in this course for free. This extends to your immediate family.

The costs that you pay for this course will be subtracted from the next course you take with me. If you like to take courses and are interested in any that I create, this is $197 bonus.

I do not believe in offering you something for free, just to turn around and pester you every day to buy something that I don’t even know if you want to or not. When I offer something, I suggest it to everyone at the same time and if the attachment is something you wish,  download it.  You do this before you ever give me any way of contacting you. Therefore, you will not be receiving a daily or weekly funneled email from me. If you would like the monthly newsletter, I would be glad to put you on that list.

I wish to thank those reading this article. Some of you are new to my courses and training, and some of you are loyal friends and acquaintances.

To sign up for the course, Please, just click Purchase Now.

 

 

Marketing Has Gone Amuck

Marketing is okay, it’s the way marketers market that I can’t stand.

I turned 65 in June.  I started getting the calls in January.  Have you ever had your phone ring 20 different times in a day because someone wanted to talk to you about Medicare?   Even after I signed up for part B, they would not let me alone. Although I told the same callers daily that I had TRICARE and Medicare part B, they stilled called me the following day, and the day after that, and the day after that. It got to where I could not pick up the phone anymore.  I just heard that next year there will be 10 billion more robocalls.

I hope you don’t have to experience this, I know you won’t experience it at all from me.

I turned to my email. Unfortunately, it turns out I was routinely getting more emails with even more people who wanted me to buy something from them. When I used the unsubscribe buttons, many requests were just ignored. They just kept on sending me junk mail. And that’s when I made a promise.

I will never market anything by being a bother to anyone until they buy. I will do my best to avoid mail funnels. I will continue to remind myself and anyone who works for me that we have a quality product that can speak for itself. We have no need to bother anybody. And, shame on us if we do.

I tell you about this now because, as my first training products are making their way into the marketplace, I plan to hold faithfully to these promises mentioned above. In open forums, articles and my blog, I will let you know how I am doing with various projects. I may tell you of the benefits of some of my courses or an exciting book you might like. Yet, I am not pressuring you, nor do I expect you to drop everything and go buy whatever I am talking about. If you’re interested in more information, at the end of an article I will post my email, and I will give you my Facebook group which you may join if you’re interested. I may even post my phone number in case you wish to call me and ask a question or two.

This is my experiment for sane marketing.

mikeb@reveille.com                                      Reveille Facebook Group

A New Way to Market

Traditional marketing can often be stressful. I find it both stressful for the consumer and for the salesperson. Once a consumer shows interest in something the emails start to flow. The email congratulates you and assures you want what the salesperson has to offer.

As emails continue, the pressure mounts as the consumers are told how great the product is, and how dumb it would be to miss out on the offer. At times the emails can get downright offensive and embarrassing. The salesperson is under stress to convert more and more people from observers to users of the product. Failure to make quota means less money and a shorter job.

I have seen this on one platform or another whether magazines and snail mail or social media and email. Pretty much it all boils down the same.

I’m here to break that chain.

I know I just said something akin to let’s move Mount Shasta to the East Coast. I assure you, reworking marketing will be better and more accessible than repositioning a mountain.

I would like to start with a few ideas.

If you have something good, you want your friends and acquaintances to have it. Thus, you want to sell to friends.

Most of us have just a few friends. This means we have to make more friends. We have to gather friends who need the services we can provide for them.

How do you get rid of enemies?  Make them your friends.

You find new friends where they are, not where you are.

If your friends who use your products are happy, they tell their friends.

When the people who use your product are unhappy with it, they tell everyone.

I will tell you more tomorrow.  For now, I just wanted to start explaining a new idea in marketing that is different and might confuse some people. 

Needed Improvements

Have you ever had an irritating problem that just threw you off your whole day’s activities? Something significant enough to be a thorn in your side and yet should’ve been small enough that you would handle it in due course? I had one of those this morning. And it disrupted my whole morning routine.

My cell phone died. The end had been coming for the last few weeks. And although with technical help, I had been able to breathe life back into it for a little while, it had died. It had been an excellent 2014 phone which had lasted me just shy of four years. It’s the longest time I had ever had the same cell phone.

There was no reason to get hung up about the problem. It was just an inanimate object whose time for replacement had come, and yet it started my whole week off by having to cancel the weekly call with my accountability partner. And although I’ve had problems like this before, I don’t know why this one took me over the edge.

I think it might have been the fact that, I believe I should’ve been more active in staying ahead of the problems and not letting them come to fruition. Rather than trying to squeeze every penny out of every item in use, I need to pay closer attention to functional lifespan and staying ahead of the curve on needed improvements.

Our business, personal, and family life, all deserve upgrades as needed.

I do not believe I’m the only one to ever face the need for positive change either and what I use or what I do. If you have a story about a needed change, please share with us. I would be glad to see that it gets posted.

Thank you for being here. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Got Help?

It is okay to need or offer help.

One day or another, on one question or another each of us needs assistance in finding the answers. Help sometimes comes in the form of knowing something the other person does not and sharing that knowledge. Other times, it is the ability to do something that another person cannot do for themselves.

Once again, we see significant weather phenomena, affecting our coastline. With wind and rain, and devastation to buildings and infrastructure, we see people in the middle of the storm bringing in their boats and going out to help people. We think those people and praise them for risking their own life and limb to save others.

Most of the time, help does not require anything quite so dramatic. Help is often two friends having a talk, sharing information, knowing that one would gladly give another a hand. Help is often someone just listening to another person and giving them a suggestion or two.

In many instances, the person being helped today may be giving the help tomorrow or the next day. After all, as the poets remind us, we are not islands, and we were never designed to live in solitude. Help and being helped is part of our inherited destiny. And, we should participate in that destiny when needed.

Limited Stress

In life, we find many occasions that have the opportunity to put pressure on us to do something we may or may not wish to do. How we handle those situations defines the amount of pressure we feel, and how much stress that pressure actually causes us.

People always want you to do something, and whatever it is, the request is usually the best thing for them instead of being the best for you. They want your money for the course, or they want your time for a project, or they want your endorsement so they can use the people who look up to you.

The best way you can minimize your stress is to be genuinely you. This does not mean saying no to everything. Weigh the pros and cons that you perceive the request will garner for you. Please, do not be afraid to say no, or to say yes. Take time to weigh everything against your desires and the destinations that you have mapped in life.

Whatever your answer is will be correct as long as you do right by yourself and your plan to grow through life. You could explain to the other party why you made your decision and please remember you absolutely do not have to give that explanation if you don’t want to.

The choice is yours. Yet any agreement without full understanding is usually misguided. Take time to think things through. Make sure you know all the demands that are being asked of you and try to understand what the positive and negative consequences could be within the agreement.

Have a great day and thank you for being here. I truly understand that this is a choice that you have freely made. And, I appreciate it.

I hope to be with you again tomorrow.