The beginning of a business…ain’t it grand?

Hot off the press…I just got an abbreviated copy of the transcript from the 3M Mastermind call today which Eliza Vaile hosted. I just wanted to post this part about perceiving a beginning in the proper perspective (with their permission of course). I thought it was GREAT!!
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Most of us, when we started our business, the very thought of even starting a business seemed like a Herculean task. Frankly, that’s only because it hadn’t been done before for most of us. Many of you have served as literal pioneers in what you’re bringing to the market.

I’m sure that when Ben Franklin discovered the electrical effects of lightening, he thought it was a pretty big deal at the time as well. However, the availability of electricity is a very common assumption for most of us all over the world nowadays. In fact, I’m so accustomed to it, that on those rare occasions when it does go off during a storm or something, I find myself thinking, oh well, I’ll just watch some TV while I wait for the power to come back on. (Do any of you do that too?)

Anyway, while we’re not disputing the value of electricity in our lives, we do have to recognize that it wasn’t the top of the mountain, or the ultimate accomplishment, so to speak. So much more has been done to generate power, and ease and convenience in our lives since then, right? And we all realize that we have to learn to walk prior to running. However, most of us mistakenly give ourselves way too long of a trial period for walking before we attempt to run. And in doing so, we limit the amazing ripple effect that could have been realized, had we pushed sooner or harder. We hesitate to participate in a bigger league or broader scope of possibilities. What I’m teaching you here is that we need to be acceptant of larger and more successful beginnings. There’s always a beginning- But the beginning is perfectly capable of BEING GREAT! Beginnings need not be feeble, sub-standard, or insignificant. I worked in a print shop when I was 13, and I always came across interesting printed matter. One customer had a bumper sticker printed up just for her, and I have NEVER forgotten it, because I found it to be so profound. “Just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t after me.” Just because someone is new doesn’t mean they can’t do a good job. Just because we do make mistakes, doesn’t mean we’re not competent.

Michelangelo is well known for his work on the Sistine chapel… what you may not know, is it wasn’t because of his experience in painting that made this wonder of the world so magnificent!


He was from Florence, Italy. In those days the Pope could basically just demand that you do such and such. If you did not perform, you would be imprisoned without a second thought and for the rest of your life!

What most people do not know is that he was NOT a painter. He was a sculpturer! He was still required to do this task though. So he took a mere 3 months of painting training, and he then went to work and painted the Sistine Chapel! Isn’t it interesting that reality would suggest that those who TRAINED Michelangelo would be better suited for this task. But no. The burden was laid on Michelangelo to perform superbly. I suppose he could have done an “OK” job. I suppose he could have excused the absence of a perfect painting to the fact that this was after all, his first attempt. But he was armed with this TRUTH. There’s always a beginning. But a beginning is not an excuse, reason, or cause for a sub-standard performance. Even though many of us are “beginning” a new path, a new career, perhaps even a new workout regime or other discipline, it need not be feeble. It can be splendid!

Those of you who have the privilege of being parents- When you first held your brand new baby in your arms, didn’t you find yourself saying “Oh, he or she is so “Perfect”?! This little bundle of joy is merely at the beginning of their life. And yet most of us look at them and hold them and see just how perfectly beautiful they are. Is not this indicative of the truth that beginnings can be fabulous?

Walt Disney first created Disneyland. It was a massive undertaking. He was scoffed at and scorned for dreaming so big! Millions of individuals have attended that theme park over the last 50 years? with a critical, even cynical perspective, and yet millions have been converted to it’s magic… to his belief that a beginning effort can be wonderful! He then went on to prove that it wasn’t a fluke! He did it again, even better with Disney World! Guess what. Euro Disney was not so successful when it first opened. Even as great as the other two Disney park ventures were, it didn’t mean that they all were going to be great and wildly successful. But that doesn’t lessen the success of their beginning, right?

George Washington was the first ever General of the United States as well as the very first U.S. president! And what a fabulous job he did in both of those capacities.

Don’t get me wrong…Michelangelo, Child Birth, Walt Disney, George Washington- all of these involve a great deal of labor and challenges. But they are STILL worth it, right?. And they can still be amazing. There’s no rule that says a beginning has to be mediocre.

There will be all of these same challenges inherent in a project that doesn’t start out so wonderful as well.

We are all plagued with some type of malfunctions- but does that mean that we are in any way programmed for failure simply because we are new at something or “just” a small business owner? Believing in beginnings is actually critical to your happiness and success. Because if you allow yourself to perceive otherwise then you can and WILL always blame someone or something or some circumstances in your life for you mistakes, shortcomings, etc, and then you will ALWAYS perform less than you are truly capable of. Remember, “there are no victims, only volunteers.”

We can’t bar ourselves from doing something new because it’s imperative to our success as business owners. We’ve got to be willing to forge ahead in order to stay relevant to our customers. We can’t afford to tell ourselves that we’re not even going to try because of fright, intimidation or some other reason, because in a lot of cases in today’s economy, we may be ignoring our only shot at playing in the game. As Robert Ringer says, “If life’s a game, we might as well play hard to win.” Why NOT have fun and try to win?


*********** That’s all of it that I got permission to share for now. I strongly recommend that if you’re an entrepreneur, you register as a primary member of 3M Mastermind. It’s free! And their monthly training webinars are excellent! Just go to http://www.3mmastermind.com/

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Doctors…do you know what your receptionists are doing?

Doctors…do you know what your receptionists are doing?

You’re sick enough that your oversized work ethic is requiring you to finally succumb to the mercy of a doctors office. After 3 miserable days in bed you finally manage to get showered and feel quite wiped out having done so. You half consciously make it to the doctors office…the place where you hope that you’ll finally get some advice or help in overcoming your misery…and what’s the FIRST thing you hear from the receptionist when you announce your on time arrival?

“Do you have insurance?”

No “Hi. How are you today? Sorry to see that you’re ill. We’ll be with you as soon as we can. Heaven forbid someone should actually acknowledge your human-ness and address you by name.

A little human consideration goes a long way towards improved health when you make us sit half naked with nothing but an oversized paper towel over us, or when we have to wait for hours in a waiting room with other sick, wheezing, vomiting people.

Sure insurance pays your bills. But PEOPLE pay for the insurance. And PEOPLE are who make the decision which doctor they will use. I realize that you may be oblivious that your receptionists are greeting your patients this way. But the majority of them are nowadays. Does it really rack up your overtime costs if your receptionist takes a millisecond to say “hello” before she asks about insurance information?

Here’s a perfect example…a true story…no exaggeration…

Patient calling into a doctors office: Hi. I’m ___________, the husband of ___________ who is a patient of doctor ______________. My wife just passed out after throwing up right after she took the prescription you gave her. What should I do?

Receptionist: “What insurance do you have?”

NO KIDDING! Holy cow, the least she could have done is said “Mr. _______, what insurance do you have?” or “I’m sorry to hear that. What insurance do you have?”

Doctors, if you’re unhappy with the grumpiness or the lack of social tact of your patients, a little bit of education of your greeting staff could make a huge difference in the daily fulfillment of your career.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Celente Predicts Revolution, Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012

Paul Joseph WatsonPrison Planet.comThursday, November 13, 2008
Gerald Celente

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re going to see a fundamental shift take place….putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente, adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46MEqEgdLTg

“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,” said Celente, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as “The Panic of 2008,” adding that “giants (would) tumble to their deaths,” which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.
“There will be a revolution in this country,” he said. “It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen.”

“The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop.”

“It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

“We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.”

The George Washington blog has compiled a list of quotes attesting to Celente’s accuracy as a trend forecaster.

“When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.”— CNN Headline News

“A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.”— The Economist

“Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right.”— USA Today

“There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.”- CNBC

“Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.”— The Wall Street Journal

“Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark … he’s one of the most accurate forecasters around.”— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Mr. Celente tracks the world’s social, economic and business trends for corporate clients.”— The New York Times

“Mr. Celente is a very intelligent guy. We are able to learn about trends from an authority.”— 48 Hours, CBS News

“Gerald Celente has a solid track record. He has predicted everything from the 1987 stock market crash and the demise of the Soviet Union to green marketing and corporate downsizing.”— The Detroit News

“Gerald Celente forecast the 1987 stock market crash, ‘green marketing,’ and the boom in gourmet coffees.”— Chicago Tribune

“The Trends Research Institute is the Standard and Poors of Popular Culture.”— The Los Angeles Times

“If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.”— New York Post

So there you have it - hardly a nutjob conspiracy theorist blowhard now is he? The price of not heeding his warnings will be far greater than the cost of preparing for the future now. Storable food and gold are two good places to make a start.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Grateful for Him—Happy Thanksgiving

I’d like to think that I’m mindful of what I have to be grateful for on a regular basis, but I’m sure I take way too much for granted.

I am truly blessed with an amazing husband and some incredibly supportive family members and friends. But I’m also blessed with a phenomenal team of support in our office who possess amazing talents and depth of character.

Additionally, we are ALL greatly blessed with the ability to achieve, regardless of how painful the trials and challenges feel at times. The question is will we dare to believe in suitably high achievements?

I pray that I never get fearful of the heights of challenge and achievement for I know I will then cease growing. I believe that wishing away the challenges I encounter, however painful they may be, is discounting and dismissing His wisdom in the application of His involvement in my life. Personal realization for me…I am grateful for Him in my life and thus will never minimize His involvement by referring to him as some code name such as “the universe” or “nature” etc. He is indeed the Savior of the world and has clearly earned the right for me to be grateful to Him and to acknowledge Him by name, unashamedly…Jesus Christ.

May each of you have a joyful reunion of family and friends held together by gratitude this time of year.

Sincerely,
Kellene

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

What really happened to the U.S. Post Office?

Today’s headlines blame the economy on the fact that USPS is in the red over $2.8 billion. For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to lump the woes of DHL and Circuit City’s bankruptcy news in this today as well. After all, their challenges all have one thing in common…and it’s not the “bad economy.” It’s the inability for these entities to accept responsibility at an opportune time in which the economy can be blamed.

Now let’s get to the truth of the matter.

How about the fact that the USPS has lost a significant amount of trust with its consumers nowadays? High-count direct-mail marketers are strongly cautioned against sending out all of their mail on the same day due to historical instances in which the postal employee recipient will merely throw them away. As a result, not only do large-scale mail marketers have to separate their outgoing mail among several different post offices (which costs them more in the bulk mailing costs they pay) but they also have to be sure to plant “seed” addresses in their lists. In other words, have the items be mailed to individuals who they can trust and confirm that a mail piece was received.

What ever happened to “through rain, sleet, or snow?” Many business owners are reporting that the post office is refusing to deliver mail to any floor above the first level regardless of the presence of an elevator. Instead, regardless of what kind of sensitive documentation your business may receive, the USPS will hand over your mail to a business on the 1st floor and expect it to get to you. And thus wash their hands of any responsibility to do what they actually get paid to do…deliver mail to the addressee.

In this same situation, business owners are complaining that certified mail isn’t even being delivered to and signed for the intended recipient. It’s merely signed for by some mindless individual at the office that the post office determines will accept the mail for the entire building.

Have you ever noticed that smiling customer service is rare at a US Post office? Long lines all year round. Minimal supplies when they are available. Waiting in line only to be told that you didn’t need to wait in line or you have to do such and such and then get in line again. How does a post office run out of stamps on a regular business day? Isn’t that a big part of what they are supposed to do?

I don’t know about you, but over the last two years I’ve been receiving a significant increase in mail that’s not addressed to me. Not even close. And yet when I put it back in the mail box to be delivered to its appropriate addressee, my postal worker informs me that it will merely be returned to sender as undeliverable. Holy cow! The address is right on there only a couple blocks away!

And yet for all of these stellar benefits, we give frequent “raises” to the post office in the form of regularly increased postage costs.

Our office used DHL exclusively for some time, until we just got too fed up with packages not being delivered on time, being nickled and dimed with additional fees, and DHL not accepting any responsibility when a package was delivered incorrectly.

On the opposite side of this business, our Fed Ex delivery person once attempted to deliver a package to our office at Christmas time only to discover my husband and I had already left. So he drove over to our home and delivered it there! Fed Ex doesn’t deliver perfectly either. But when Fed Ex messes up on a delivery, an immediate credit is issued without having to wait on hold for 20 minutes to share the unpleasant tale.

Circuit City has been getting too big for it’s britches over the last two years as well. Winter shopping at this retailer proved to be confusing, frustrating, and altogether unpleasant—clearly reflective of their employee training program and management standards they have in place.

But hey. Let’s blame the demise of USPS, DHL, and Circuit City on the economy, shall we? That takes the blame and focus off of the real problems. That way no one has to accept accountability and learn from these horrendous mistakes. Too bad Enron didn’t close down in the midst of an economic crisis. No one would have gone to jail.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Joe the Plumber

Joe the Plumber vs. Rick Sanchez—the talking head of CNN. And the winner is…Joe Wurzelbacher. On the other hand, at the risk of sounding like the amateur mass media, Rick Sanchez is this year’s entrepreneurial putz.

In his November 4th interview with the newly famous Joe the Plumber, Rick Sanchez appeared to be as knowledgeable of the abilities of entrepreneurs as the Mr. Clean knows hair care.

Mr. Sanchez’s mindless questions of Joe the Plumber demonstrated that he had clearly NOT done his research of this nation’s entrepreneurs. He joined the mass of misperception when he underestimated entrepreneurs all over the world as indicated by empty-headed questions to Joe Wurzelbacher. Sanchez’s ignorance was manifested on at least 3 separate lines of questioning.

1) “Why would you be so upset about people who clear more than $250,000 a year—having to pay taxes, when you’re nowhere near that category?”

One does not need to live in a leper colony to have sympathy for their plight. Wurzelbacher made it clear repeatedly that he objected to the principle of the wealthier paying more taxes simply because they had more of it. Like most entrepreneurs,

2) “…you are not in a situation where you’re going to be able to make that money any time soon.”

Who is this talking bobble head to dish out the socially acceptable level and speed of any person’s achievement or fulfillment in this life? (business owner or not)

The fact of the matter is, every entrepreneur is very near making $250,000. Many have succeeded in making multiple times that in one day. Some are content to choose to earn less, and some push themselves to earn more. There’s no mandate that it must take decades, years or months to earn this kind of income. No initials after your name are required. No special gene pool. It’s not a secret and it’s accessible to any literate human being in our nation. It requires applied knowledge, a restlessness with the status quo, and a combination of passion and commitment.

3) “You’re nowhere near being able to buy a business that clears more than $250,000 a year because that would take millions and millions of dollars, right?”

Another mistaken assumption. It does not take millions of dollars to clear $250,000. In fact, there are many well known business owners who have brought in significantly more than that for significantly less. Entrepreneurs of all kinds know how to create huge profit margins. Paul Hartunian, for example, paid $500 for the discarded wood of the Brooklyn Bridge walkway to be delivered to his home. He then cut the wood up in tiny little square pieces, wrote a killer press release, and made millions of dollars actually selling the Brooklyn Bridge to people all over the world. To this day he is STILL getting free press about this and subsequent feats of similar style.

Credible information marketers such as Dan Kennedy, Lee Milteer, Michael Cheney, Rich Shefren, Matt Bacak, Shawn Casey, Tellman Knudsen, Jeff Walker, Bill Glazer, Andrew Fox, and countless others regularly clear 7 figures within a matter of days in exchange for a weeks worth of writing and sharing their expertise—and do so repeatedly! Write, launch, reap, repeat.

Here’s the ultimate problem with Sanchez’s skewed vision of the world of capitalism. He’s forgotten about freedom combined with human potential. For every story of failure, there’s an enduring story of success in even greater proportions. In my opinion, there are equal amounts of ways to succeed as there are to stumble.

One of my clients recently earned over $500,000 on one transaction. Granted, he had to make his way through whole lot of “suspect clients” in the last 9 months to get access to the real deal, but he did so. And now that he’s accomplished this, no Rick Sanchez of the world can ever convince him that his ideas of success are impossible.

One significant success will breed a confident, unshakable entrepreneur.

My hope is that one day entrepreneurs will be viewed as the standard of success, genuine security, and credibility. In my opinion, they certainly deserve the respect, sincere assistance and accolades more than Wall Street, Big Corporate America, or the sacrosanct banking institutions do.

Here’s my challenge to all entrepreneurs—and a special invitation to Joe. Register as a Primary Member of 3M Mastermind—FREE. No strings attached. No charging your credit card later when you’ve forgotten all about it. Get real information so that you too can prove the mindless naysayers wrong about the strength and necessity of business owners. Simply go to www.3MMastermind.com

Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of every economy in the world.
They are the fire behind invention.
They are the seeds of security.

Because of this unconquerable belief, Monetary Intelligence has paid enormous sums of money, put in countless hours with an army of researchers—and most of all their heart and commitment—to give today’s entrepreneurs the helping hand up they need. We’ve investigated a mountain of the “success systems” of gurus, experts, doctors, etc from all over the world. We’ve spent the last year implementing their theories and creating some of our own as a result.

Whether you’re in business or hoping to be, MI has created a training division, 3M Mastermind, to deliver substance to today’s frazzled business owners in the form of monthly live webinars and so much more.

We’ll prove to you your abilities now, for your market today.

Come off of the observation deck and take the wheel! Get access to your original content, exclusive training system for FREE right now! Go to http://www.3mmastermind/ to begin your journey with a partner who truly cares, and is willing to prove it. We’ve already invested in you. Your future success awaits.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Confessions of a “Normal Woman”

I admit that I’m not the most objective person to determine whether or not I truly am “normal.” In fact, I’m not sure that “normal” really exists out there anymore. Regardless, I’ve decided to share some of my closet hang-ups and let you decide. Will the feedback convey an accurate assessment? Probably not. I’m sure that my writings don’t necessarily attract “normal” individuals either.

Confession #1- I’m a judgmental driver. Everyone who passes me is an “idiot” and everyone who goes too slow is a “moron.” I caught myself mumbling these exact two accusations within 30 minutes of each other on my way home the other day. No wonder the confidence of mankind has dwindled lately. They’ve got unrealistic expectations thrust upon them by drivers like me.

Confession #2- I think people are attractive until I see them chomping gum Seriously. I watched an absolutely beautiful woman in line at the grocery store the other day transform herself from a Perfect 10 to a Negative 2 because she was chomping her gum like a cow munching on his cud. I don’t care how beautiful you are. Even if I was a dentist I would have no desire to see what you’re chewing in there!

I also loathe the snapping sound that folks make with their gum…especially when I can hear it all the way across the store- or worse, church. I’ve turned people away from a job interview simply because of the gum chewing (and I confess that I strongly encouraged an assistant to quit once I discovered that they constantly chewed with their mouth open. Do I really want to lose a business relationship that affects my entire staff all because someone can’t keep their lips together while enjoying a business lunch with one of my clients? You really don’t want to turn someone’s stomach when you’re attempting to wheel and deal, right?

Confession #3- I firmly believe that the civility of our society has plunged dramatically because of the common courtesies/decencies that many parents have failed to teach their children. And our entire nation is suffering as a result. People spend more money when you’re being nice to them. People pass on smiles when they get them. Instead we spend our Saturday errands going from place to place attempting to get over the last painful business encounter we just had at the last place.

Did this training get left up to Dear Abby somewhere?

A couple of Christmas’s ago a much younger sibling of mine was having a really hard time financially. Being plagued with a boundless Christmas Spirit I decided to play Santa that year. Even though I was raised by strict parents who firmly required us to be polite, be mindful of others around us, and to exert impeccable table manners at the risk of death, this particular sibling must have worn them down by the time she came along. Because after all of the gifts were handed out, there was not a single “thank you” from the sibling or any of her 5 children, and in fact, my husband and I were greeted with an annoying wail that that’s all there was!

Oh, and if you really want me at your bridal shower or your wedding, you’ll give me more than 48 hours notice. And when I do give you a gift, you’ll darn well send a thank you note! (I bet getting in the business of selling thank you cards is about as profitable as Lehman is right about now.)

Ok. I’m done with my rantings and ravings. I’ve finally let down my professional demeanor and expose to all of you the inner seethings. Either you’ll admit you share some similar feelings, or you may inform me that your confession is that you loathe reading confessions.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.