From the Desert to the Rockies

mesa_rt08_dscn2703I love the desert and the deep brown earthy soil of the Arizona landscape — perhaps odd to those who long for a bit more green, which is particularly abundant in the Northwest. So landing in Phoenix started my heart thumping a bit more vigorously. And walking off the airplane and feeling the dry warmth of the sun was a welcome experience after landing.

There’s some great youthful energy that exists in Phoenix. The market is in such infancy, but it has the support of both exceptionally strong leaders from across the country, as well as some emerging leaders local to this region.

Upon landing, I went for a run, I think Michael did a workout, Stephen did yoga, and Regan’s not telling what he did (naptime?). Whenever I travel to sunny cities, I just tend to go outside. It’s like the walkways are calling me to go exercise.

So we expected the Mesa event to be a really strong meeting, with an enthusiastic Associate audience as well as a good number of guests. John Ryan again hosted this meeting, and it was supplemented with some great testimonials by Peter Wright, Ron Fauntz, and Kenny Rossi towards the end.

Before the event started, I got to catch up with friends Gale George, Saul (without a known last name!), and Diane Tucker (Mrs. America and Mrs. World), who traveled down from Tucson to attend the event.

During the evening, Michael Jr. continued with a new twist to his routine on the Road Tour by engaging the audience with an open invitation for questions through which he creates impromptu comedy. It actually started by accident in Sacramento and worked well to open the audience up that he continued this into Mesa; we’ll see how much further it goes.

The Phoenix area, especially smarting from the decline in housing prices along with the tightening of the credit markets, had a new burst of both energy and urgency in the air — not unlike what’s felt across the U.S. I ended up talking to a good number of people who were so thankful for the timing of Univera and their involvement.

In fact, one amazing couple (out of many that I met) — the wife a teacher and the husband an owner of a collision repair facility — expressed what a “Godsend” (their words) Univera has been. In down economic times evidently (and logically), people will more often collect their insurance premium and not get the vehicle fixed on more cosmetic-oriented repairs. They expressed with both excitement and optimism the freedom they’re finding in Univera, as well as the fun and energy that it brings to their life and other people.

One night quickly ended, and it seemed my head just hit the pillow before the morning sun arose and we were off to Denver.

Sometimes, there are cities or geographies that are either so gorgeous or relaxing that I get chills. It doesn’t happen often (Sydney is an example), but for me, going to Denver (and the Colorado area in general) is incredibly therapeutic — between the mountains and air, the place is simply magical.

Stephen, again in an effort to save time (MJ, Regan, and I didn’t know we were in a hurry), rushed to the rental counter offsite while we got the bags, which, by the way, I think Regan and I can pretty much confirm after having watched this process for three cities that it really doesn’t save much time in the process, though it usually results in a little live comedy.

Speaking of, traveling with Michael Jr. is starting to get really fun. The first few days were a little awkward at times. Nothing big, but you know you’re spending a lot of time with a new person that you don’t really know. And, he’s a comedian. So every time he says something, you automatically assume it’s a joke. So it takes a while to learn the temp of the group. We really settled in at Denver, and I think Regan (who I’m convinced secretly wishes he pursued a career in comedy as well) is having about as much fun as he ever has had on a road trip.

There are more leaders concentrated in Denver than any other city in North America, and many readers probably don’t realize that Broomfield, Colo., served as home to Univera nearly 10 years ago. As a result, there’s a solid concentration of quite a few Diamonds and several Blue Diamonds among many other Univera Associates, which is another reason I always love to visit; I love spending time with the leadership here.

I’ve got to give good credit to the organizers and leaders of this event; many were involved in all the behind-the-scenes logistics, and it was extremely well run.

And there’s something about leadership in each event that lends itself to either great energy upon entering a room, or to be gentle about it, “not great energy.” Tonight’s meeting simply had great energy, buzz, and excitement — before anyone even picked up a microphone.

I attribute so much of this to the mood, energy, and excitement of the leadership’s example that day; it’s something each of us noticed visibly this evening, so a lot of props go out to all those local leaders who contributed their part to bring a high energy level to the room.

denver_rt08_dscn2707John Rogers really did an exceptional job hosting the event from both a flow and content perspective; it also didn’t hurt that he has an FM-quality radio voice.

Often, we spend time talking with Associates and guests at the end of the evening at Road Tours in the past, but what we’re loving about this event is that while we’re still spending time saying hello to the new and old, there’s a lot of time being spent among guests and hosts. And a lot of new signups.

Tonight was an example in spades; over 230 attendees (felt like more) and well over 100 new guests were at the event. As always, it was fantastic to say hello to both old and new friends in the area, and I wish we’d had more time to spend with more people.

denver_rt08_dscn2720But the best conversations of the night didn’t occur between any of us and the Field.

They occurred between the inviting Associate, the guest, and if available, the local Diamond or Blue Diamond for that organization.

Thanks, Denver, for an outstanding event with such great energy.

No doubts, take Lasix only as prescribed by your doctor. Levitra is one of the best-known medications of all when. What is the most significant information you must study about levitra vs cialis? Most doctors say the effectiveness of Levitra is well documented. Absolutely, a sexual problem refers to a problem during any phase of the sexual response cycle that prevents the individual from experiencing satisfaction from the sexual life. Whilst sex is not vital for good soundness, its doubtless great for anyone. Why it happen? What kinds of professionals treat sexual diseases in men? A common class of antidepressants, which include Zoloft can kill the mood in bedroom.

Sunny Days in Denver

eddy-wittry-hostingDenver has something like 364 days of sunshine a year. We came on day number 365.

Okay, that’s a little hyperbole. Maybe it’s something like 310 days of sunshine a year. Regardless of the clouds and off/on snow in May, our brief time together in Denver was fantastic.

post-event-mingling2Stephen came to Denver a day early, Rengen (not a typo, read previous blog entries) and I were en route yesterday on a much delayed flight that put us in just about in time to catch the tail end of the Leadership reception.

Nearly 400 attended this evening’s event, really a strong turnout for the day of the week and weather. Coming back to Denver is really like a second home for me, with both the people and the geography. While I ultimately love nearly every place we travel, both California and Colorado are idyllic to me.

half-of-400Denver is quite a diverse group of business professionals, entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals, moms who work at home, and on and on. It’s a very passionate and diverse group of people.

Eddy Wittry hosted the event, and he’s such a credible and rational voice. His background, having worked in some very high profile roles at some fantastic companies, simply reaffirms—to me—the uniqueness and appeal of Univera. Here’s a guy who is immeasurably talented and could be involved in any business endeavor he practically desires, yet he dedicates a considerable portion of his time and energy to Univera. He sees the vision, the power to change peoples lives, the impact of residual income. By the way, he also has a great family and I got to see again two of his fantastic kids this evening.

i-am-dino-dgreat-testimonialsTonight’s testimonials were good and I always get a kick out of Dino’s story as well as his intro (“I AM Dino D”…If you’ve heard him you know exactly what I mean), his story really is so powerful of how he’s transformed physically over the past two and a half years.

Just recently, as a Company we started sending out these “Power of Four” pins. You can see one modeled here nicely by Ed Cook in the bottom left photo. If you look closely, or click on the picture, you’ll see a close up of the pin which represents a pretty cool designation. Notice his pin says “12”, which means that he has 12 frontline Customers or Associates on Convenience Plan. So this pin and the number simply represents the frontline associates or customers on CP, and the pins range in increments of four from 4 to 20. Great job Ed!!! 12-frontline on CP is excellent. Keep an eye out for these pins, I’m still looking for the person who is wearing the first “20” pin, but am thrilled to see so many with 4, 8, and 12.

check-out-that-pinAt every meeting Regan opens up pretty early with a slide of a quote from a famous movie. For those that will still be on the tour I’ll save both the quote and reference for the real presentation. Here’s the funny part, at least to me. Every time Regan flashes the quote on the Power Point he asks the audience “What movie is this from?”

And about every time, 99% of the audience answers it correctly. The other 1% I end up sitting next to, and Stephen responds by blurting out “Animal House!!!”

I can assure you, the quote Rengen’s giving is not from Animal House. So it continues to give me a bit of a chuckle when Stephen does this and a few others have noticed it as well. So, tonight at the conclusion of the event, John Rogers on behalf of the Denver leadership team, gave us as memento copies of the movie Animal House. Very clever and cute, another memorable and fun moment.

the-other-half-of-400This morning we’re off to Oklahoma City—the first time anyone from Corporate has ever been there on Univera business, and then onto Dallas, Texas in the afternoon for an evening event.

road-tour-oklahoma-and-dallas-002We started the morning right with a bite to eat at McDonalds (actually, we DID eat healthy—none of those fried potatoes containing that poison commonly known by humankind and potatokind as acrylamide) and then continued the journey with three journeymen posing for a raucous flight in the photo taken below.

road-tour-oklahoma-and-dallas-006

No doubts, take Lasix only as prescribed by your doctor. Levitra is one of the best-known medications of all time. What is the most significant info you must study about levitra vs cialis? Most doctors say the effectiveness of Levitra is well documented. Absolutely, a sexual problem refers to a problem during any phase of the sexual response cycle that prevents the individual from experiencing satisfaction from the sexual life. Whilst sex is not vital for good health, its doubtless great for anyone. Why it happen? What kinds of professionals treat sexual diseases in men? A common class of antidepressants, which include Zoloft can kill the mood in bedroom.