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Sunday, September 19, 2010

Motivation Corner: Making your dreams come true with a Dream Board





I wrote this as I was listening to a show on BlogTalkRadio.com –excellent website full of tips for people sitting at their desk on the computer. It’s an excellent topic- discussing being fearless. So once again, with my pen in hand, I write about the Fear Factor and why is the fear of the unknown keeping you from reaching your full potential? This can be in achieving personal goals that you set for yourself, getting out of debt, going for that job you deserve, or creating the wealth that you desire. All of these things can inhibit someone from achieving their full potential, and most of it stems from fear.



I read in a recent Black Enterprise article that many successful people have what they call a “Dream Board” that they place pictures of objects and words that describe goals they wish to achieve in life. The article did not go into detail as to whether or not it’s a virtual board or an actual board that can be live. So I took this concept and creating my own idea of creating a board on my computer using images from Google and other search engines. It took me awhile to choose and configure the pictures especially since I like everything to be in place, but I was able to complete the task within 2 hours. It was a labor of love and I take great pride in my dream board. I can break down each thing that is on the board and it explains perfectly where I want to be and how I plan on getting there.



If you look at it, you will see many items reflecting about debt, entrepreneurship, how to become rich and marketing. As you may have guessed, these are things that are important to me financially. In turn, if I am able to achieve these goals, I can eventually move onto get those dream items that I would like to purchase such as the mansion on the hill, the platinum grey Lexus ES400, and Bentley Phantom Coupe- black (of course). My dream board also has motivational words such as faith, leadership, mentoring, persistence, thinking big and being a winner.



My dream board an everyday reminder that I need to work hard to achieve these goals such as doing more volunteer work, mentoring young students, and finally learning Spanish!! As the article insists, you must post your dream board- no matter how you create it, in a space that you can see it everyday. I spent the money to reproduce the actual file, and it was an investment in myself well spent. I can look at this board on my computer, my wall in my cubicle, as well as the wall in my bedroom. I can view it everywhere I go, and eventually, you may see more dream boards as this journey goes along.



I encourage everyone who is serious about achieving their goals in life, family, professionally, and otherwise to create a dream board. How will you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been or how you’re going to get on your next destination? A dream board is your first step in achieving these goals- who knows, this self-motivation may create a fire that may create another business venture. It moves us a step closer to making progress- and remember the following: Progress must come- we must accept the constant hand of change (Annette Howard) Stay tuned as we make our progress towards change!!



This is all for our motivational corner, I hope this provides you some tools you can use. For more tips, stay tuned next week as we provide other tips on how to save your event and your sanity. If you are looking for an event planner to assist you in creating an awesome event, please visit our website at http://www.nov8iveevents.com/.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Why should America Keep Meeting

As a disclaimer, this was written earlier this year, however its still a timely topic for all event planners whose pockets have been hit hard due to the reduced number of events that are being hosted this year, especially for large corporations. Also, I apologize to my FB followers, had some technical difficulties with the blog posting. :)

The following article has been adopted from the website for Keep America Meeting (www.keepamericameeting.com). It is a third party petition site created by meeting and event professionals working to gain support from U.S. legislators to keep the meeting an events industry going in order to help the U.S. recover from economic disaster. The article explains the importance of businesses utilizing meeting planners and keeping America meeting.

The Value of Meetings

Why Have Meetings?

Meetings that are well executed and designed to meet specific goals greatly contribute to company profits. Meeting benefits include:

  1. Development of engaged employees

Engaged employees form an emotional connection that comes from being involved in their work, their company, and its brand. This results in both an emotional and functional commitment, which in turn leads to a more dedicated workforce.

Studies have shown that companies with engaged employees are more profitable.

  1. Improved company culture, which is especially important in rough times

When employees know their company values them, they are able to focus on their work instead of worrying about keeping their jobs, resulting in greater commitment to stay with the company. When employees know the challenges their company is facing- and what they can do about them- they are able to pay an active role in meeting those challenges.

Eighty percent of workers said that clear communications motivated their performance and made them more productive.

  1. More satisfied employees

The three aspects of work that employees consider most important, in descending order, are:

a. Exciting, challenging work

b. A change to learn and grow

c. Great People with whom to work with

Meetings address all three aspects:

a. Meetings are a means to communicate company and brand message, and to bring challenges to the table. By keeping them informed, employees are able to play a role in finding and creating solutions.

b. Meetings that include seminars, round tables and other educational sessions address the employees’ desire to learn and grow.

c. Bringing coworkers together in a less formal setting away from the workplace allows them to learn more about each other, which translates into more trust and better collaboration.

Companies with satisfied employees generate better overall returns in the stock market, with firms on the list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” generating up to five times as much return as their competitors.

  1. Increased Employee Retention

Employee development is a key retention driver, and meetings facilitate development in many different ways. Meetings:

1. Allow for direct communication from executives to employees

2. Provide skill and career development opportunities with seminars and tutorials

3. Offer opportunities for employees to share knowledge with each other.

What’s more, higher retention rates are directly linked to increased profits. A 5 percent increase in employee retention can generate a 25 to 85 percent increase in profitability.

  1. Compensation more cost-effective than bonuses

When budgets are tight, meetings touch many employees and improve their job satisfaction can increase company profitability more cost-effectively than raises and bonuses, because companies with satisfied employees are more profitable.

For more tips, stay tuned next week (see I did return as promised) as we provide other tips on how to save your event and your sanity. If you are looking for an event planner to assist you in creating an awesome event, please visit our website at http://www.nov8iveevents.com/. Please stay tuned, I am regaining my will to be focused and plan on re-launching our website in an effort to create a stronger brand!!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Test Blog for Facebook 1

Are you changing the game or are you allowing the game to change you?

This is a very special blog that is near and dear to my heart. I haven’t blogged in well over a year and in the year of 2010- the year of reinvention and change, I felt it best to return with a bang. I want to take a few moments to thank Melissa Dawn Johnson, my mentor from afar, and a person that I think has one of the strongest brands and businesses in the game. On her show on Blog Talk Radio entitled, Make it Happen with Melissa Dawn Johnson, her show this week was called “Get in the Game.” Recently, I’ve dealt with a lot of setbacks and things that normally would take people out of the game and would tell the world a hearty “F You!”, but I chose to take the higher road, fix my face, or rather pick my face up from the floor and move on to the next one. So I had to go back and remember who I am, what I’ve gone through, and what I came here to do, in other words, I had to regain my focus.

Therefore, I am in the process of rebranding myself, my corporate strategy and my life, so changing the game or at least being part of changing the game is my overall strategy for success. So this is my inspirational piece, not only for you, but for me as well. Since my last piece, “What’s in a name?” a lot has changed and a lot of growth has taken place. So in a personal effort to move with lightening speed past the haters and those who seem to be destined for looserville, I want to leave you with a few thoughts. I’m making a personal promise to begin blogging more often, I have a lot of thoughts, many of them are already written, I just need to post them- so here we go.

Have you ever been a part of the crowd and feel as if you are being swept in the latest trend or the current because of the crowd (also known as groupthink)? Has that current ever taken you over the edge and you feel as if you’re beginning to drown? Do you ever feel that you’re not reaching your full potential due to outside influences? Or do you feel exactly the opposite, where you feel like you’re an individual who is a trailblazer and a trendsetter? If you’ve ever felt either of these emotions, you are either changing the game or you’re allowing the game to change you.

So ask yourself, am I changing the game, or am I allowing the game to change me? I had to ask myself that question this week with some of the interactions that have been transpiring at work as well as in organizations that I volunteer with on a regular basis. After being talked about, lied to, lied about, yelled at, screamed at, and just overall ostracized, I noticed my attitude and demeanor take an enormous shift to the right. I began to notice that my outlook on life and on people in general turned very negative and cold and I had to take a moment to self-reflect and say, am I a game changer or am I allowing the game to change me? At that time, I admit that I was allowing the game to change me.

I was allowing the games of corporate America, the games women play, and the games of jealous hearted and envious individuals affect my personal thoughts and beliefs and these thoughts began to consume so much of my time. I found myself entering a light depression and not becoming as productive as I once was.

I always considered myself a game changer by being innovative (notice I threw that in there), along with setting the trends for others to follow. I had to take back the creative control and power and enter back into the zone where I became laser-beam focused. I had to remember that consistence and persistence wins the race and to be a leader, sometimes you have to be a good follower as well. I also had to regain my self-respect and dignity to remember that no matter what title a person has or the power they perceive to have, to remember that we are all individuals (hopefully professionals) and respect is due when it is given. And finally, and most importantly, I had to remember- hey they talked about Jesus, so what do you think they’re going to say about you?

So take a few seconds to complete your self-evaluation and figure out, am I changing the game or am I allowing the game to change me? Just a tip, if you have the opportunity, please begin to listen to Blog Talk Radio, there are some excellent shows and they’re free. If you feel inspired and motivated to do so, you can start your own show. I will blog in the near future some of my favorite inspirational shows on Blog Talk Radio as well so that you can be moved to action and to aspire for the greatness you deserve.

This is all for our motivational corner, I hope this provides you some tools you can use. For more tips, stay tuned next week (and I promise it will be next week) as we provide other tips on how to save your event and your sanity. If you are looking for an event planner to assist you in creating an awesome event, please visit our website at http://www.nov8iveevents.com/. Please stay tuned, I am regaining my will to be focused and plan on re-launching our website in an effort to create a stronger brand!!