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I have studied many of the books and materials that John C. Maxwell has put out for most of my career.  His new book, called “Everyone Communicates- Few Connect” is a must-read for all! Once again John has taken success principles that he has discovered by talking to thousands of the world’s most effective leaders in all walks of life.

According to John, “Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.” That is the difference between people actually listening to what you have to say. This is so important no matter what business or career you have chosen.

I learned by reading this book something that I discovered when I was a Cosmetologist. Everyone wants to talk when you are doing their hair, and people are all so different. So I found that by focusing on them and finding common ground you can connect with anyone.  John points out in his book that this same principle works when talking to one person or speaking to a large audience. If you don’t connect, they will lose interest in anything valuable that you have to share!

Connecting with people requires energy, and a positive attitude. John said that “people may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.”  Do you have a passion and a genuine interest when you talk to people? It is visible not only through your words,but your body language and your actions.

In “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect‘” you will learn John Maxwell’s 5 Connecting Principles and 5 Connecting Practices. This can be used  in personal, professional and most importantly, family relationships. I’m sure that you will want this book in your reading library too!

I am so excited about this book, and what it can do for you that I have the privilege of giving away 5 hardback copies to my readers. ( you pay only for shipping)  The winners will be chosen on August 23. To win a copy you can enter by posting a comment below (no spam please) Follow me on Facebook and post on my wall that you want a copy of John’s book, or follow me on twitter and send me a tweet that you would like to win this book. (Retweet or Facebook Like and you are entered another time!)

Thank you to Jennifer Womble from Thomas Nelson Publishers for allowing me to preview this book and providing the giveaway copies.

Technorati Tags: book review, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, giveaway, John C. Maxwell

Finding a church is one of the best ways to get connected in your community. For that reason, we decided to go to church even the first week when we were not even unpacked. ( we are still not entirely unpacked, but it’s more livable) Lucky for us, our new home is right across the street from a church! So last week, we got up late, got dressed and walked over to the service. We were greated by friendly people, and even stayed after the service to talk to other members of the church.  The service was more traditional than the church that we were members of in our East Coast home, but that won’t entirely be the deciding factor in the church that we decide to call home here. We even had a visit later that week from a church member with cookies! (Alex said this church wins hands down, but I insist we look at a few others.)

Understand, that I am NOT using a church as a way to solicit my direct sales business,nor do I encourage others to do so. I do feel that it is important to be connected right away with others in your community for various other practical reasons. Yesterday we attended a different church in town. The church was much larger, but not as large as our former church. The service was more contemporary and we loved it!  We were not approached or spoken to by anyone.  I guess if we continue to attend, they will warm up to us. In the meantime, next week we will try another church.

We have 3 other churches on our list to attend. I don’t encourage church-hopping and don’t plan to continue doing this longer than our first month here.  That leads us to some important questions. What is most important to us in a church? Is it the size, the music, the congregation, or the ministries and special programs that they offer? It is definitely NOT going to be based on a particular denomination, although we will examine their professions of faith before we join.

What about you? Has anyone recently moved and had success in finding a new church? I would love to hear your suggestions!

Believe in miracles

Originally uploaded by szlea

Sometimes when times are discouraging it’s easy to forget that miracles happen every day. Do you believe in miracles? Are you expecting yours everyday and looking for them in unlikely places? I am! I just experienced one today. It has not been the first, either. God is still in the business of miracles, yesterday, today and always!
Here is a prayer that I love. (It was written by T.F. Kirkpatrick) If you are in a Leadership position, pay close attention because it was also written for you:

Lord I need to be a Winner

Lord, I need to be a winner
not for me, but for you
People are watching and I am
the example they will follow

Lord, I need to be a winner
to show someone else the way
I can touch more lives by being a success
so, I need to succeed today

Lord, I need to be a winner
and I am willing to do my share
But knowing that all things good come from you
I need to know you’re there

Lord, I need to be a winner
Everyday you give me life
And with your leadership and your strength
I know I can succeed, in my business
And my personal life

And Lord, when you help me win
and I stand to tell my story
I’ll always remember to give unto you
the praise, the honor and the glory.

When I was crowned Queen of Sales, you will see that I gave Him the credit. Click here to listen to what I said.

Technorati Tags: Belief, Inspiration, miracles, power of prayer

Here is some holiday cheer with some lights from Pittsburgh! I hope to take my granddaughters to see this in person when I am visiting for Christmas! Here is what they said about it-:

“This year we have taken decorating our house to the extreme, we have over 210,000 lights all computer animated and synched to music. It took us 3 months to hang the lights and over 6 months to do the computer programming.

Our website is back up..Enjoy
you can check out 2 more of our videos here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W7xj5f-eCs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0zXUMBJrHE ”

Technorati Tags: Christmaslights in Pittsburgh

[cincopa 02 10464972]

This is one of the highlights of my almost 23 year career in Direct Sales. In order to understand why I am qualified for Direct Sales Mentoring, I wanted to share this video with you. This was taken at the Dallas Convention Center live in front of about 20,000 people! I hope that you will be inspired and share in the excitement as I do each time that I watch it!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Technorati Tags: Inspiration, motivation, Queen video, stage video

[I Believe I Can Fly]

Duration : 0:5:33

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I am writing this post today to let people know that there are still American patriots out there. Trish Forant of eMail Our Military is one of the. I met Trish this year on twitter (I am @nancymk and she is @mailourmilitary) My husband is a retired USArmy officer who works full time with me in my business. Since summer is usually a little bit slower for us with vacations and all, we wanted to do something to send some comfort items to the troops. We had already been doing that on a much smaller scale and wanted to do more. Most of our friends and family are safely back in the states at this time. So I agreed to match every care package with another one, increasing the value of each donation ( and eliminating profit or self promotion for me) Trish and I agreed that August 18 would be the latest that we could get these items to the troops in a time when they still needed them the most. We started with a small goal of $550. When we reached that within the first week, I boldly announced that I was prepared to match up to $5000 in care packages for the troops. So a new goal was set!
In the process of promoting this, some incredible things happened. YESTERDAY EMAIL OUR MILITARY WAS NAMED BLOG OF THE DAY!
When I was asked by Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) to do a guest post on her blog about Operation Soldier care, she became involved in our project. She came up with the idea of donating prizes for the top 5 contributors. Phyllis got the ball rolling by generously donating 5 autographed copies of her latest book.
MRS LIETENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL. Trish and I followed with small prizes, but other businesses got excited and started adding value to being one of the top 5 contributors! We now have 15 different prizes worth over $1000 each for the top five contributors. They are so excited that we were able to give back to them for helping us in this project!
Because of your generosity we sent over $6000 in comfort products to the troops in the desert. I matched every donation with an equal gift to maximize your dollars. They received sun protection products, after sun care, hydation products for men and women! Thanks to all the patriots who are making a difference.