Happy Holidays to You!

Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!  Enjoy every moment of your holiday traditions or have fun creating new ones. In our home, we take this time to reflect on all of our blessings and put our plans in place for the next year. We wish you all good things.

Thank you for reading this blog and being a part of our lives, however remotely you are. We thank you and wish you many blessings in the New Year.

Write Your Volunteerism and Charitable Contributions into Your 2010 Goals

This year for Christmas I gave the pot away. I took all of the money I would have spent on gifts for people- gifts they’d likely not remember 2 months later- and donated it to my favorite charity. Each person on my gift list received a holiday card with a note inside describing where their gift cash went.

It felt great to do that. It also had the bonus of freeing me up from not having to join the stampede at the mall or fret over gift-giving this year. A win-win.

As you write you goals for 2010, I encourage you to include your acts of charity. It could be a donation, decide how much and when to stick to it. It could be volunteering your time or family’s time, note how much time per week or month and what tasks you’ll likely be doing. Also, make sure to write about and share why this is important to you. How does it enrich your life to give to others? That after all, is probably the most important lesson you can pass on to your friends, family and colleagues.

Be giving in 2010. Give what you can. Map it out now so you have some direction... and simply to start the year off right.



Happy holidays.

The Harmonica Man... a great story to warm your heart and make you think

Its not often I'm touched by a story. I hope you read about Bahia in my blog a few months ago. She was a little girl that survived the odds while her dad still called her "fragile".


This week I had on CBS Evening News while I was doing something else and the story caught my ear and then my eye. It was about a Harmonica Man. I was first interested because I love the sound of a harmonica. It’s so raw and timeless. The harmonica, to me, symbolizes the heart of men and women- their courage, their strife, their sadness and their triumphs. I can see people playing it on their Appalachia porches with barely little else to their name and I can also see it being played in the best blues and jazz bars in the world. Its one of the greatest instruments- to me at least. I've digressed.

The Harmonica Man had survived at least 5 heart surgeries and was on 15 different daily medications. He lived in an RV. He made the conscious decision one day to stop taking the medication and allow himself to die. Instead of paying for the meds, he bought 300 harmonicas and took them to the local school children to teach them to play. After a couple months, and the realization he was still alive, he decided to buy more. That was several years ago. He has since brought on an assistant, through a generous $5,000 donation by someone who saw him on the news years ago, and now not only teaches them to play the harmonica but other instruments too. He's had a few more heart surgeries along the way but attributes his being alive not to the surgeries or meds (that he opted to forego) but to the children and purpose he created with them.

It’s a great story and I've barely done it justice. Watch it for yourself on CBS Evening News http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5979464n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Think about this story on many levels. Celebrate the Harmonica Man and his bravery and courage to live beyond the odds.

Happy Holidays.

Join me for Power Hour Wednesday, December 16 in Shadyside (Pittsburgh)

My friend Tom Baker hosts Power Hour each month at Alto Lounge on Copeland.

From Tom's Website:

"Come join difference makers and passionate leaders at the Get Involved! Power Hour. Each month we bring together difference makers to brainstorm ways to positively influence the region, assist each others businesses and organizations, and develop connections. We also feature brief speakers who will share about ways that you can Get Involved! and make a difference."

Its always a pleasure to be involved with Tom's events and activities. He practices what he preaches when it comes to being actively involved and making a difference in your communities. I'll be joined by other difference makers and leaders in Pittsburgh to share stories and ideas with guests.

I hope you'll join us. It should be a great time.



Visit Tom's event site here: http://www.bakerleadership.com/powerhour.html

Ethics Check!

Did you hear? Employees at a Walmart in Iowa found $10,000 in a tin can. The can sat on a counter for days before they opened it!  They called the police and turned the money in. My question to you is what would you have done if you found $10,000 in a tin can without any identification attached to it? What if you found it alone without anyone present? What if you found it with your best friend? What if it DID have identification - even just a name- in the can? What if it was $20 and not $10,000, would that make a difference?

Think about each of these answers. Ask questions I haven't posed here. Discuss this with your family. And, really flesh out why you'd do what you say you'd do. It could be an eye-opening exercise.

For the whole article on the cash visit http://kdka.com/watercooler/cash.tin.can.2.1357472.html

Happy Holidays.

Added Value this Holiday Season

6 Tips for Adding Value to your Business this Holiday Season

1. Offer free gift wrapping no matter what amount the purchase (all of your customers are valued right?)
2. Send handwritten notes (and handwritten envelopes) to those you hope to serve in 2010 and those you served in 2009
3. Reward your employees this season with something they really want (and you should know what your employees really want)
4. Invite those you value to an invitation-only cocktail hour celebrating them this season
5. Announce what your customers are in store for in 2010 (get them excited about the months ahead)
6. Be the model- enjoy the season (don't be a scrooge)

Bonus tip: I chose to celebrate this season by offering my clients and Champions 30-60% off services. I want to ensure they are geared up for the wonderful year ahead. Give your best clients something you rarely ever offer. You want them to always feel like a winner in your presence.

Join me at Heinz History Center, Saturday December 5th from 10-2

I had so much fun at this event last year. I'm honored to be invited back again this year. Join me at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh's historic Strip District tomorrow, Saturday, December 5th from 10-2. The even is free and open to the public.

I'll be on hand with more than 40 other authors. All genres will be there so you'll find something for everyone on your list.

Oh, and I'll have the Howard 430 radio that Flavius Jankauskas used in 1943 to hear my granfather's name from a Geman short-wave station!  You don't want to miss this.

Visit the Heinz History Center website to learn about this and other events: http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/events.aspx?EventID=9