In December 2004 Andrea and her husband Hunter sat in their kitchen on pins and needles waiting to hear if their friends had survived the southeast Asian tsunami. Asking themselves, “What can we do to make a difference?” prompted a life-changing journey which led to founding their own nonprofit organization, Aid Still Required (ASR).

This influential nonprofit has enlisted the help of former President Clinton’s United Nations office, in addition to musical artists such as Paul McCartney, Norah Jones, Maroon 5 and Bonnie Raitt, and NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Grant Hill.

Collectively, the Aid Still Required community has created powerful outreach raising awareness for the survivors of the 2004 tsunami, the Darfur genocide, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Long after the media dies down, Aid Still Required presses on to champion forgotten people and issues and to identify sustainable, impactful solutions. WOW, right??

Well today is an important day for Andrea and I wanted to help support her. Will you join me?

My friends and clients at Aid Still Required (ASR)  have galvanized 40 plus musicians, athletes, and actors with 120 million followers to FB , tweet, comment, and make challenges to raise awareness and funds on January 12th, the 2nd anniversary of the devastating Haiti earthquake. Campaign participants include Alicia Keys, Deepak Chopra, Maroon 5, Sting, Slash, The Killers, Lady Antebellum, Don Cheadle,  and many many more.

Hundreds of thousands in Haiti are still living in tents, there is vast unemployment, and many abandoned kids…and Aid Still Required has programs to help!  January 12th you can help by LIKING ASR on Facebook and following on Twitter, Liking Campaign participants, commenting on posts, engaging with followers, retweeting, posting to your friends.

New cause-marketer snoball allows participants to make mini-challenges, such as “Donate  $.05 every time someone likes ASR or Donate $.50 for every point in the next Lakers game  or Donate $1 every time I buy a Latte at Starbucks!

Please help ASR trend and help garner donations from those who are able to contribute and are inspired.  You can be the miracle in someone’s life! “Just because it left the headlines doesn’t mean it left the planet.”

Click Here to go to the Website for Aid Still Required

Sometimes we get so focused on “how do I get more traffic”, “how do I make the most out of social media”, or “how do I make more money online”, that we forget the very most important key to success online: Giving.

When your ideal customer goes online, they pull up Google in search for an answer. They don’t want to be forced into jumping through hoops on your website to get the answer. They aren’t even ready to engage with you. All they want is the answer and secretly they want to get inspired to be a part of something bigger.

Today I wanted to give back and give you some bulleted key points that really impacted me during this Experts Academy 4-day awesome event. Some are things I just needed a simple reminder of – maybe you do too:

•  When walking clients through a process or how-to, don’t teach to the lowest common denominator. Raise expectations and challenge your audience.
• Be what you speak fully.
• A power plant doesn’t have energy, it generates energy. If you think you don’t have time to create a prodcut in the next 30 or 60 days, you’re nuts. Generate the energy your business (and the world) needs to get your message out there as quickly aand fully as possible.
• Be strategic about everything in your business. From how you create content, to branding, to reaching out and gaining promotional partners. Strategy is everything.
• Brendon has read a book a week for 15 years! Oh man, I need to read much, much more.
• Listen to the questions your audience has. That’s what you create a product around.
• Entrepreneurs get so easily distracted. We’re creators and so always have new ideas of new projects to pursue. The average entrepreneur will only work at their business concept for 3-10 months before starting to give up on it. Decide what ONE thing you want to pursue and go get it. Dedicate 18 months to the project, build it strategically and you will be amazed at what unfolds for your life.
• The #1 thing your clients pay for is your perspective.
• Let your audience feel how much you appreciate them in each touch point – blog post, email blast, product, etc.
• Avoidance is the best strategy to long-term suffering.

And those 10 points are just what I got out of Day One! If you have the resources to go to a Brendon Burchard event, you are NUTS not to take action and go. I can tell you I already signed up to attend his High Performance Academy in November. Maybe you’ll join me?

As always, I plan to practice what I preach. So look forward to more giving, more challenging and more love from me.

My BIGGEST takeaway:
I realized at this event that I have not pursued a top-level mentor to really challenge the heck out of me – in about a year or two. Gasp! Now that was hard to admit. I follow leaders and get spurts of inspiration or challenge, but I have not had a consistent HARD challenge from one top-level mentor in way to long.

My CHALLENGE for you today is:
Think of someone you really admire, respect and trust. This someone should light a fire under you and remind you of your greatness. Then, commit to that mentor and learn everything you can from them. Interview that person, read all their books, watch all their online videos – fully learn who they are and what they teach. Allow that to challenge you personally. Challenge yourself to be that great. But for today, just pick the person you want to study.

Last, I would like to invite you to ask me some questions. I was just at one of the greatest seminars on the planet - what is your burning question and I’ll tell you what I think based on the amazing tips and training I was lucky enough to just receive. Thank you in advance for your decision to take action:

My biggest disappointment was named Lee Michael. We worked at Vector together — me the Sales Manager, him the brand spankin’ new representative that wanted to prove to the world he could do anything. He was a sucker for recognition, just like me. We totally hit it off from the beginning – a sales duo that was indestructible. Out of all the representatives I interviewed and trained myself, he was the highest earner in his first week pulling in over $12,000 in sales. (I worked hard to pull in $3,500 my first week!)

A couple months went by and I admit to switching my focus toward developing the many new reps that just launched from training. I took Lee Michael to be self-sufficient at this point in his career - major mistake! Meanwhile, Lee Michael was feeling completely ignored and used. One day he came forward with his feelings but there was no discussing. He talked about how hurt he had been that I stopped giving him as much recognition, attention and training. I was still present, just not as much as I was in the beginning (when I set the stage for his career – what it would be like working here). He quit and that was the last I ever heard from him.

Now, hopefully your experience isn’t quite as intense. But sometimes it takes a very serious event to get us to learn. I am incredible thankful for the gift that Lee Michael taught me about management, staying present and never thinking my team “is ok” because you just never know.

I have developed a list of 13 Ways, both big and small, to help you stay focused on employee retention and keep your team happy.

 
1. Recognition is KEY. When your employee does something above-and-beyond, something unexpected, something that impresses you… tell them. When you express to them your genuine impression they respect you, appreciate you and want to impress you even more.
2. Remember it doesn’t always have to be about business 100% of the time. 98% is still plenty. Ask them how their weekend was; if they have anything fun planned for the Holidays. I’m not saying break into their personal life, that’s a no-no. But ask them enough to let them know you recognize they have a life outside your office.
3. Birthday and Holiday cards go a long way. Last year in early December I hired an assistant and still got her a Christmas card with a little somethin’ inside. It meant the world to her and was unexpected. I simply said, “Are you kidding? You’re amazing! You’re totally worth it!” It goes a looong way.
4. Bring up important events or news they tell you about. Write it down if you have to. Then, bring it up as the event nears and let them know you cared enough to remember.
5. Keep your promises. If you gave your team an incentive or dangled a carrot, you’d better make a note to pay up. Those incentives drive your team to greatness. If you then don’t deliver as they did for you, they start to perk their ears up for other mishaps.
6. Listen to them. If it’s Friday night and you are drained – can’t wait to leave, and your team member is going on and on about something important to them, listen anyway. It will be hard, believe me. But think about this… if they weren’t lonely or really needing a little extra attention, would they be there in the first place? People can tell that you’re not listening when you have that far off look in your eyes, or are ruffling through papers. Take a few minutes, be present and then you can get back to wrapping up your week.
7. Quarterly evaluations help tremendously. Call a one-on-one meeting with each team member. Ask them what you can improve to make their work-life better. Then you can share a few things they can do as well if anything needs to be addressed. They will appreciate your willingness to change and will take their criticism much better as a result.
8. Be aware of the time in between raises and the responsibility you’ve added, and how fast. If you hire an assistant who does the same thing day in and day out, you still want to give raises but it wouldn’t have to be a steep raise. If you are piling on the responsibility to that assistant, she will pick up on it sooner or later and wonder if she will be at the same pay while you just pile it on. Try not to even let it get that far. A quick talk is all you need. “I know I’ve been giving you more and more responsibility…here’s why…you’re doing great…if you keep it up a raise is in your future.” Then, make a note and follow through on that promise.
9. Look for ways to teach your team new things to get them excited. Personally, if I’m not growing I’m dying. I need to always be learning, mastering new things, teaching. If they do the same thing every day for years, it may get old after a while for some (not all).
10. Let them participate in the planning process for your business. When it comes time for a new growth phase, strategizing for the new year, etc. invite your team to have a group meeting. Have a brainstorming session to get ideas then ask them to also come up with 1-2 suggestions after the meeting, individually. Try to some up with a plan that involves pieces of everyone’s ideas. They will all feel important and valuable to the business – retention here we come!
11. For upper level team members that are of huge value to your company, invite that person and a guest to dinner. The extra mile counts every time.
12. Learn each team member’s strength. Ask them if you need to, “Crystal, what are your 5 strengths would you say?” Then, keep that information and use it to excel your business – having each member use their strength to excel for you.
13. It’s good to sometimes involve a team member in an area they normally wouldn’t know about. Example…I used to have my receptionist review applications and tell me who she thinks I should hire. Or I would tell my programmer about the new helpers I was looking at, have him look over the applicant’s website portfolio and tell me his thoughts. They may not have interviewing experience, but getting their opinion on hiring a new team member could prove beneficial and builds trust.

What, in your experience, has helped you to retain employees, promote growth and keep your organization happy? Shoot me a comment below and let’s keep growing this list!

“With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom.” – TED

What’s really great about Your Brand Radio is the theme behind its well-known program: Your business is not unique, but you are! With a couple million followers, Your Brand Radio invites some of the most talented experts on the show to provide never-ending value to its loyal listeners.

The live show was held at Espressole Caffe in the Denver Tech Center which is a great coffee shop that can’t be beat. Accompanying Mark, David and me was a fabulous professional photographer, Neil McKenzie. I noticed throughout the show he was really seeing my interaction with the hosts from every possible angle. I couldn’t have been more impressed. If you need a photographer or a professional photo shoot done, call Neil! I just have to give props when people deserve it!

Mark and David from Your Brand Radio were perfect hosts! I have known Mark for a few years as you’ll hear about when listening to the interview below. When Mark asked me on the show I was really excited and knew it would be a lot of fun. The interview lasted about an hour. We talked about what I was trying to accomplish and how I was trying to make a difference in the world. We talked about the past and the future. We talked about mentorship and giving back. It was simply awesome!

And now, I invite you to listen to our radio interview that Joe Sabah called, “SIMPLY SUPERB!”

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this interview if you wouldn’t mind sticking around and submitting a comment below. Let me know the part that stood out the most to you and why.

For those of you who are in the media or want to be, and looking for some public speaking tips, check out one of my previous posts, “The Fears of Public Speaking and Speech Writing Tips”

At Tony’s event I had many realizations about my past and future – how I wanted to show up in this world. This jump started my book to release next year titled “Rescuing Me: A Teen’s Journey From Lost to Found” and made my life’s purpose clear. I make every effort to improve and thrive, then help others along the way.

Today I was searching for a video I could share with you, from Tony Robbins, to give you a taste of his power of influence. Sure, it will provide motivation. But more importantly, his 5 keys can serve as a goal that you can hit. I like to take tips and ideas from others, really listen, then analyze to see what parts I want to integrate into my life and which parts I’ll discard. Tony tends to transfer power to his listeners in a way I’ve seen rarely from famous coaches.

I hope you take time to watch his video below, “5 Keys to Thrive”. I also hope is impacts you today as it did for me.

Enjoy!

Original Article:
http://training.tonyrobbins.com/378/5-keys-to-thrive/

I have been one of the lucky few that wasn’t dramatically affected by the swift change in the economy (don’t throw eggs at me!). I haven’t missed any mortgage payments, my work is steady and my ambition is strong as ever. Let this be the best news you’ve heard all day so far. Why? Because maybe I can help you see a new perspective – one that loosens up your stiffness and gets you on the track you know you want to sprinting on.

So what did the economy really do? It injected high doses of FEAR into our bloodstream. We fear we will lose our house, our job, our spouse, our children, our health, our cars, our things, our sanity. Watching the news enhances this fear: “record job loss”, “the stock market took another plunge”, “disease”, “foreclosures at an all-time high”. No wonder so many people feel paralyzed and scared.

There is another way… and that is precisely what I am here to tell you today.

I’m going to start by telling you what I’m up to right now. My priorities are: My health, producing high-quality work on time, improving awareness and romance in my relationship, saving money, helping others through writing, paying off final pieces of old debt, making positive decisions, getting plenty of rest and soaking up my down-time, and last, I push myself a little each day.

I don’t have enormously high expectations of myself, but I strive on setting goals. I’ll make a goal to workout of 45minutes, or edit my upcoming book for an hour, or find 2 tasks that aren’t due for a few days but getting them done now so I feel ahead.

If the economy has taught us one thing, it’s to start RE-focusing on the things that truly matter most. Many luxuries got stripped away – for everyone. Doubt and depression came in. Now more than ever it’s important to increase your awareness of these feelings that suck the life force out of you.

Below I have a quick list of 5 ideas that will bring you inspiration and give you energy to take action once again. Your life needs you to take action.

1. Sit down with a blank piece of paper and write a list of how things are now, compared to how you want things to be. This can involve a way you are feeling (such as I feel like something’s missing now, but I want to feel empowered), a word that describes your situation (such as now I have debt, but I want to save OR now my marriage or business is suffering, but I want it to thrive and start making a profit again), etc. By using short words to describe your experience, you open up the world of possibility once more. You admit there’s something missing, and you identify what you want. Now you have a starting point.

2. Push yourself a little farther every day. I know it can be really hard – I too live it every day. Forcing yourself gets the ball rolling and gets you feeling much better, really fast. Every day we make a hundred decisions – and some of those are “options” and we feel like we’re on a teeter tooter. We could go either way. In this moment ask yourself, “Am I getting closer to my goals or further away from them?” Procrastination is a killer. You don’t have to do everything for everyone all the time – I would never suggest that. I’m saying, pick one or two things that normally you would have “put off”, force yourself to them, and then bask in the glory you feel afterward – knowing you made the right decision.

3. Dust off your ideas list and to-do list. Get them started again. Crossing of tasks is a quick, easy way to build your confidence and get you excited about taking more action!

4. Start spending again. No, I’m not advocating spending on all the unnecessary luxuries you were spoiled with before the economy hit. But, if you are contemplating a purchase that will help you get closer to your goals, get your business more exposure, give you that boost you’ve been needing – DO IT. Sacrifice something else to make it happen if you need to. The economy put fear into business owners and they thought they had to stop all spending and hide. The lesson isn’t to stop spending, it’s to learn how to spend smart.

5. Help others – help everyone around you. I believe in karma, treating other the way you’d want to be treated, and I believe in doing the right thing. If someone emails you asking for help, spend the time to write a response that will really help them. I’ve written email responses that took me 45minutes before and you know what? It was worth every second for the inspiration it gave others to take action. Spread the wealth – I really believe it comes back in a bigger more positive way.

If you take nothing else from this post, I hope to plant a small seed in you to consider taking action again.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

 
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

Ever since I began working at Vector Marketing, as a sales rep and manger for Cutco Cutlery, I have had this intense passion for helping and impacting people. My teenage years were spent with me feeling lonely, negative and searching for who I wanted to be. Vector was my first step to moving past those events which happened in high school. I was motivated and encouraged. I became addicted to helping others achieve the same strides I had made in my own life.

After I move past my position at Vector, and started seeing what else was out there for me, my opportunities to impact people felt less frequent. Especially young people. In Vector, I primarily managed kids right our of high school or just starting college. The age when you’re wondering what the hell you’re supposed to do in life and who you should be. It was perfect.

With InsightfulDevelopment.com I was able to impact people in a business sense – but I still had this tugging of the soul that I needed to do more – I could do more.

So, I started developing a personal site – leaving InsightfulDevelopment.com to grow and flourish as my business site. AmberELudwig.com opens its doors today as a blog/website based around overcoming obstacles, decision making, personal achievements, story sharing and more – all Based on a Teen’s Journey From Lost to Found.

As you probably know by now, when I was 22 I wrote a book that is due to be published next year all about how I went from a negative depressed teenager (for good reasons) – to overcoming and understanding what happened – not allowing my past to affect my future.

My new site is a branch of that book. Designed to help people through their struggles, offer a little motivation on the tough days, and create a safe space to be who you truly are without holding back.

I invite you to check this site out today and let me know your thoughts. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Thank you for following me on this journey!

It’s in the air…do you feel it? The success wheel is turning and starting to speed up. Just this morning I got an email from a client:

So what’s on the agenda for March? Plenty!

I have some adjustments to my website that will be happening over the next couple of weeks. I always tend to get that itch to redesign a little every quarter. I have a new header being designed, I have a home page slideshow being created, and I’m ready to start a products page on my site now. InsightfulDevelopment.com has been the best side-project! I’ve so enjoyed seeing comments role in here and there, getting you interested enough to sign up to stay connected on my right sidebar, sharing my teachings with you…I want to continue to provide you with little tidbits here and there to help you grow right along side me.

I have been working out a deal with Ruby and Marty so we can all 3 come together and create something big. Ruby is the woman who I’ve been an Author Liaison for the past year or more – helping authors from all over the world trot along the book writing and marketing process. I’ve met SO many incredible people and have gained a lot of “system automation” knowledge.

Marty as you know is the president of HereNextYear where I am the full-time Project Manager. Our team of 8 has been working really hard to accomplish many feats. We tripled our sales in January and that was the driving momentum for our biggest client base to date. And I keep sayin’, “Bring It On!” When you truly have that vision for what’s possible, who can stop you?

We have hired more programmers and designers to continue this expansion. We have WordPress down to a science now. Anything clients want done for their website – no problem. With nothing standing in our way, March is gearing up to be another break-through month.

So my latest big project is working with Marty and Ruby on the Amazon Campaign projects that occur for nearly every book. All authors pool together and offer a bonus for anyone that buys their book on the pre-release campaign day. I’ve been studying the Amazon Campaign process, have created a new website to automate the process and look forward to the endless possibilities of working with the authors in any way they need help.

Meanwhile, my book “What the Heart Wants” is still trucking along. Preparing for the final edit and creating a foundation for a new website I intend to launch in the next month or two, has been really fun to work through. This new website will open up a whole new side of me you maybe haven’t seen. I’ve been through many challenging obstacles in life – just as you – and plan to expose those challenges and the feelings that came along with it. I intend to have some guest bloggers come on to help teenagers and parents address the issues of their past and present, to create a peaceful and honest future.

And last, I still have 2 more eBooks half-written and formatted. One of these weekends, I know I’ll have the time to knock them out. One is on resumes, job hunting, interviewing, training and rising to the top of your company. The other is all about the core details of setting up your own WordPress website.

See what I mean? March is heating up! I know you have that inspiration in you as well.

I woke up this morning and looked at my phone to see the time, and the strangest sensation overcame me. I was staring at my analog clock…the second hand tick, tick, tick. Seconds just rushing by, clock-wise around the clock. I got immediately absorbed watching the seconds going by, thinking about how quickly time flies. Realizing how much time I’ve spent just looking at this second-hand alone. It made me wonder how many of us are using our time wisely. I think you see where I’m headed.

I’m just inspired and, again, ready to kick ass! What about you?

I was sitting on the floor looking up at the TV thinking, “Man that’s impressive. I can’t even image the feeling, knowing you are the best in the world at what you do.” Then my thoughts took a different direction… “There are extremely impressive, hardworking men and women entrepreneurs or employees all over the place!”

You all come up with ideas, dreams and visions – each Olympic athlete started with a dream. You go out and find the funding, hire the best and fight the good fight – each Olympic athlete finds a coach, has a steady training and health regimen, they too fight the good fight. You, like some of the top Olympic athletes in the world, face your business with fierce confidence (even if you have to fake it from time to time). You too beat yourself up when you fail or make a mistake. You could be the “Olympic Best” in your industry – if not now, someday soon. Think about that for a moment…

How would you approach your business if you carried the mentality that you are an Olympic Best in your industry? How would you go about advertising, marketing and selling? Who would you hire to be on your team, no matter what the cost?

How would you move forward starting today?

Allow that to resonate with you for a while. Find a way to approach your business the way you always wanted. Accept your challenges and doubts, then move past them with that fierce confidence.

I’d really enjoy hearing the challenges you currently face. Take a moment and make a blog comment below. Let’s see what happens next!