September 2008 – Razflections

September 20, 2008March 26, 2009

Hola Amigos, from Puerto Vallarta

On Thursday afternoon I arrived in GORGEOUS Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to meet all the winners of our latest promotion. Most of the attendees were Silvers and Golds, with a few exceptional Platinums and a new Diamond also winning the promotion. (Updated with photos Friday, September 26)

The event was simply fantastic, words don’t fairly describe the positive energy, the enthusiasm, the commitment, and the heart that we experienced. But even though words don’t describe it, I’ll still try below. 🙂

Photos are forthcoming, but a seven minute highlights video is available below. A FEW CAVEATS about this video. First, it was filmed by hand using a “Flip” camcorder. Second, it wasn’t really edited–a bunch of scenes were just spliced together and sometimes with some missing gaps. So enjoy the very authentic and choppy footage.

Was the event fun? Yes, without question it was the best incentive trip we’ve ever had.

And it wasn’t just the beautiful beaches, the charm of Vallarta with it’s cobblestone streets and cultured stores and local people, the pool volleyball, the endless choices of fantastic foods (including that Sunday morning brunch–incredible!). All those were great, but it really was the people that made this event so special.

My best memories from the weekend were from hanging out poolside, just talking, and getting to know people. Hearing about their dreams and desires. Learning more about them as individuals–who they are and who they want to become. Listening to past experience, some of great success and others of failed endeavors. All of which led them to being the people that they are today and the success of their accomplishments. Though, beyond this, I have a couple other memories that were good 2nd and 3rd place finishers, but those stories are for another time.

I learned a lot in the short time we had, including:

Regan’s primary, secondary, and tertiary colors on vacation are bright yellow, brighter yellow, and brightest yellow. In exactly that order. He loves to have fun, including playing pool volleyball among other endeavors. I also learned that he’s fundamentally opposed to wearing sunscreen in order that he could really demonstrate to the people in Mexico the power of our products (Aloe in the Raw) after getting a rosy red burn–about the color of a stop sign.

I learned that Meredith doesn’t love the stage or the microphone. At all. 🙂

Yes, I’m teasing, being a little facetious. But she’s great on stage, and she really gets into doing the introductions with the booming voice routine while calling out award winners names. We are very fortunate to have her on the team, she’s not just great on stage but she’s great behind the scenes as well.

I saw firsthand what I had previously experienced in small doses. Kenny Rossi has nicknames for nearly everybody. And they’re all endearing. My favorite nickname was Pork Rind, who I also really enjoyed as a person. We had a few great conversations on different nights, though it took me a while to remember correctly his nickname–I kept butchering it (no pun intended) and creating different pork-related-nickname derivatives. Come to think of it, I don’t even know the guys real name. But I will forever remember Pork Rind.

I learned Glen, aka “Big Daddy” worked for about ten years at another Relationship Marketing company, a successful and established billion dollar company. And after that time had a total of 88 people in his organization. In LESS THAN SIX MONTHS at Univera he has over 400 in his organization. If this isn’t a testament to people winning and succeeding in Univera with our strategy, products, and team I don’t know what is.

We celebrated, including with and for Matt St. John as he had a birthday while we were there, which I was thrilled to acknowledge with him, his fantastic wife, and a bunch of other Univera associates one very fun evening.

I laughed endlessly in talking to Jordan and Genie about Florida, including the tropical smells of fruits and flowers in the summer and telling her about the magic of boiled peanuts which I think you can only get in that state–maybe the outskirts of Georgia. Yes, Jordan, those are totally an acquired taste.

I reminisced back to a prior life when sitting next to Jason, sharing a few knife selling stories from our Vector Marketing days–and hearing about his experiences in Univera, how he positions the opportunity, and about the team he is building.

Returning home, I enjoyed speaking with Jenn and Matt Wilson at the airport, along with a few others. Sharing transparent stories and concerns about Wall Street, the utter dismay at such a massive financial crash and not just for a few but for millions upon millions who are affected, yet while also discussing the feeling of opportunity and comfort in an industry and company that can provide SO MUCH good to SO MANY people, who have been so hurt or pinched by the current conditions. Which will only continue to magnify for the coming months and years.

I’m literally smiling as I write (except for that last part about the current financial situation, of course), going through the memories. There are so many other AMAZING people I met which I wish I could write about but can’t because I don’t have the time.

My biggest regret is that I felt like I ran out of time, and wish I could’ve spoken and spent time with more of those in attendance. There just wasn’t enough time in the day.

My other regret is that I wish I’d said a few other things during my talk that last night of our event. In fact, I wish I’d said both less and more.

Less, in that I wish I simply spoke less, and gave some of your guys sweat glands a bit more of a break (PV was both HOT and HUMID, but still gorgeous).

More, in that I wish I could have shared with each of you a better perspective of why I’m so excited about our future while also better thanking and recognizing you for your contributions you’ve made to the Company.

My enthusiasm and confidence exists because of people in the Corporate office, those like Regan, Stephen, Teri, Nash, Meredith, Ralph, Rebecca, Jessica, Lynn, Julie, Rachel, Bob and many many others in all departments who have your best interests at heart and are committed to seeing and helping you succeed.

It’s because of the ECONET, all these worldwide resources that we can sometimes take for granted, our innovation, our stability, and our ability to deliver the promise of a sustainable long-term business that will reward your commitment and trust for decades to come.

It’s because of Bill Lee, among the most gracious, patient, and visionary leaders within this industry–an individual I have been privileged to get to know and work with over the past nearly three years.

And, finally, it’s because of each of you. At times I think this message either gets too repetitive or diluted. So let me clarify. When I say it’s “because of each of you”, today, I don’t mean this in just a loose sense of the word, as in, you whoever so has a heartbeat and an associate ID. I mean this as in people who are truly and in a heartfelt way committed to our great Company and our cause.

Not just those on the trip (though, in this posting, particularly those), but each of you who share this commitment.

It really is because of each of you, and the decisions that you make daily that drive us to our objectives. It’s truly among the most symbiotic business relationships that I can think of, our success and yours are so closely intertwined.

Which is why we work so hard, yet we can only go so far on our own efforts. At which point we rely on you, each individual engaged in Univera, to deliver the greatness that we have to to those throughout North America–and soon the world–so that we can win as a team.

So since I wasn’t able to say it verbally, I’ve said it here. I’m committed to each and every one of you, equally fueled by your passion and inspiration to greatness as I hope you can at times share and be fueled by mine and those that work within Univera headquarters.

The secret to our success is no secret.

It’s simply in our heart, head, and hand.

Heart, in that it’s about our enthusiasm and passion to each other, ourselves, and families that is needed in order that we succeed. There’s a part of “falling in love” with our passions and ensuring these intertwine with our skills, desires, and needs that instills the jet fuel within each of us.

Head, in that it’s our responsibility to develop the competencies and skills needed to succeed. Beyond that, to also use our logic and rationale of commitment to carry us through challenging times while keeping us grounded and humble during great times.

Hand, in that at the end of the day we simply must transact the passion and the intellect into meaningful and committed (and hard) work. To move forward, to keep gifting, to build the team, to not stop, to not quit, to take the extra steps. Daily. Without the daily, or at least weekly commitment, it is tough to make progress in anything.

My sincere congratulations and appreciation to the team who compiled all three characteristics that enabled you to achieve your personal and team success, which led to our phenomenal Puerto Vallarta event.

It was among the most memorable events of the year.

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September 11, 2008March 26, 2009

Seven years ago today…

It’s taken me five days to finish this post that I started on 9/11.

I remember so vividly the crisp fall morning, awakening early to what literally started as a most idyllic day–and quickly morphed into something quite different–from the freshness of having just learned that Erica was pregnant two days before, to enjoying a cup of morning coffee while overlooking the morning sun and blue skies as well as the Manhattan skyline from our apartment a few blocks South of the WTC (pictured above).

And I remember the walk into the office, arriving first to the office at 8am–abnormally early by Manhattan start-up company standards–while feeling a strength of excitement to my event-filled day with Exec’s from planned meetings throughout the day.

And then I got the call from my friend commuting into the City, whose frantic plight was among the earliest acknowledgments that something was terribly wrong.

And the day, as everybody knows, turned horrific from that moment on. Each of us has a story of where we were, the people we knew affected, and the resulting impact from this day many years ago.

And for six years I awakened on this memorial day with an almost methodical remembrance of the anniversary of this days events, with a customary moment of silence during each of the major attacks, along with numerous phone calls to those with whom I shared the day from years back.

Perhaps this year it was a culmination of being on the West Coast, where I expect there exists some direct relationship to distance and discussion, though perhaps it was also the factor of time that had passed as well as a harried and busy calendar for the day.

Yet on 9/11 I felt like something was missing from the day, an intangible that I couldn’t–and still can’t–quite express.

Now today, five days later, when I read a touching 9/11 remembrance article from the Wall Street Journal that my dad emailed onto me, copied and pasted below, it struck the chord that I seemed to miss from this past Thursday.

Wall Street Journal
September 13, 2009

‘They Are All Better Than Me’
By AMY FINNERTY

The taxi driver did not want to take me to Brooklyn. Stephen, a very tired-looking man from Ghana, muttered under his breath when I got into his cab on West 11th Street in Greenwich Village and asked for Montague Street — just over the bridge.

He was just starting his night shift. The ride downtown was one of those passive-aggressive, stop-and-start affairs that cabbies use to punish inconvenient fares. But the driver’s mood softened when we reached the site of the World Trade Center.

On the eve of the seventh anniversary of 9/11, the lights — two soaring, vertical columns of blue-grey mist representing the Twin Towers — were projected heavenward, as they are each year. We had just passed the stretch between the Village and Tribeca when the two of us were caught off guard south of Chambers Street. We were directly under the light beams, at the base of operations, as it were, near the construction site that is still a mess. The annual civic display was both less romantic and more impressive up close. Bugs swarmed in the electrical glow of Big Machinery. The wattage was alarming.

We lingered in the phosphorescence, stuck in traffic, mesmerized by the shockingly muscular beams. He stopped the car. This, we agreed, was a big deal, and must have cost the city a lot.

“Where were you when it happened?” I asked, glad that he was no longer mad at me for dragging him to Brooklyn. “Don’t ask me, please,” he responded. “I’m getting tears in my eyes.” The New Yorker in me suspected this intimacy might be a bit of theatrical tip-seeking. But I soon felt terrible for thinking so.

“The night before it happened, I dropped a fare right here at a hotel under the Twin Towers. I don’t know what happened to them.” Back then, Stephen had just recently left his day job . . . at the Twin Towers. “I worked for a freight forwarding company,” he said, and I thought that the very African way he pronounced “freight forwarding” made it sound as vital and noble as it actually is.

“Two people I knew died,” he continued. “I had recently quit working there in the day, because of my kids, to work nights driving a taxi, to make sure my kids were OK, to get them off to school. We had problems with babysitters.” He seemed energized when I asked what he thought about Osama Bin Laden. “Those people!! So wicked! So smart! So Samaarrrt!”

Moments later, he handed me a color photo as he turned on to the Brooklyn Bridge. A lineup of dark-faced, pastel-clad kids, several girls and a boy, all gorgeous, strapping and smiling broadly. “The oldest girl is so pretty,” I said, stupidly. “That’s my wife,” he confided. “She died two years ago of throat and neck cancer. I can’t believe it’s two years.” I asked him for a pen.

“You’re doing an incredible job of raising these happy kids,” I told him, wanting to write down his words and make him feel better. “What do your kids do?”

“See that one in the green shirt?” He asked the question without turning around. “Master’s in psychology.” He slowed down in the bridge traffic. “The one on the end? She’s the oldest, a teacher.” There was a boy in his second year at college, and yet another accomplished girl. “They’re all better than me” he boasted. “Psychologist . . . cab driver!” I told him he was wrong — he gets credit for raising them. “Teacher . . . cab driver!” he boomed. “They are better!” Tears welled in his eyes as he added that he missed his wife terribly.

We arrived at my home. Stephen politely accepted my tip and I got out of the cab. Then he headed back over the river toward the lights that had, at least momentarily, bridged the differences between us.

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September 6, 2008March 26, 2009

Encouragement from the Producer of???

You know the previous blog entry about pursuing my cultural dream? How giddy I was feeling? The whole freedom thing?

Yeah, I’ve continued pursuing it and, well, funnily enough, today I feel lousy.

And have for about two days as a result of it. I expect tomorrow I’ll be better and Monday will be fine so I’m not really whining about it, but it’s a funny contrast between how I am feeling at this very moment versus a few weeks back.

My whole cultural dream process has required some effort and commitment in the last few days and physically I’m now sick directly as a result of it.

Perhaps you’re wondering, “what in the world kind of cultural dream is this?”

But, really, it doesn’t matter.

The point in my bringing it up is that if we were to simply do what we wanted to do based on how we felt at any given moment, we either wouldn’t be doing much or we’d be doing a little bit of everything. Most likely, we’d be doing nothing of excellence and significant worth.

Which is why getting to a decision point is so important and then remembering that commitment.

Because, today, I truly am feeling quite awful. To the point that I am just ready to scrap to heck my whole South Beach diet phase 2, reach in for some comfort food — perhaps just start drinking that amazing and authentic-from-Maine maple syrup in my fridge — and derail my physical goal while I’m in miserable pursuit of my cultural one. Actually, that would be kind of funny. And, yes, I would drink straight maple sugar at this moment.

But, I’m going to refuse the temptation of insulin-taunting sugar and, instead, am going to comfort myself with a sugar-free Fudgsicle (only 40 calories–incredible) and a little reminder from George Lucas.

Before I get to George, I’ve needed to remind myself over the past few days why I’m pursuing this cultural dream, and it was borne of a commitment to myself and some others that I pursue it — not based on how I’m feeling at this moment.

Because, if it were predicated on how I feel at this moment, I’d quit. 🙂

This afternoon I was reading a bit about George Lucas, who is arguably, one of the best Directors/Producers of all time…who also has an unwieldy amount of hair which seems to constantly need a cut and a wicked dose of hairspray at any given moment.

It was funny to stumble upon some of his bio and a few quotes today for a few reasons.

One, my kids are in the midst of watching Star Wars — we started with the most recent “prequel” series and are working our way through the 3rd episode tonight (this brings back MANY memories as a kid). They love it, and I love watching them love it, though if I’m being truthful in that it’s also getting slightly annoying hearing the kids awake imitating R2D2 and C3PO in between battling each other with lightsabers — which continues throughout much of the day and evening as well. I am quite certain I never did this as a child.

Regardless…Reason number two why this is interesting is that this afternoon I read a few great quotes of his. The most striking to me as follows:

“My first six years in the business were hopeless. There are a lot of times when you sit and say ‘Why am I doing this? I’ll never make it. It’s not going to happen. I should go out and get a real job, and try to survive…If you want to be successful in a particular field of endeavor, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities.”

A great testimony, and so true. Given that he’s now a multi-Billionaire, it’s a bit hard to imagine George Lucas struggling in cinematography or feeling hopeless about his talents and endeavors now that he’s among the best that ever lived.

And so maybe the expression ‘misery loves company’ is true — to a degree. At least it is for me at this very moment the expression is more akin to “Misery loves to know someone else has been miserable before and made it through.”

So with that in mind, it’s off to grab a box of Fudgsicles, my two kiddos while they taunt me with their little pint-sized treats of Ben and Jerry’s, and the third episode of Star Wars for a little bit of comfort while I plow through the trudgery of commitment. 🙂

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