Jul. 8, 2008
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My Summer Vacation!
I love that you have come to my blog! I am celebrating the Summer of 2008 by being on vacation. This doesn't mean I am on a long trip, but rather living every day with the giddiness and anticipation of those carefree days I remember as a kid on summer vacation.
My friend, Fran, has dubbed me Princess Singing Heart...a title I am embracing since, until September 22, I am only doing the work that makes my heart sings.
So you may see blogs posts of a more personal nature for the next couple of months, as I unravel from an over-scheduled life to one of blissfulness. If you've come here for business tips...I'll redirect you to my articles andnewsletter archives. I have written enough to keep you busy for the summer, if that's what you are looking for.
Otherwise, I invite you to be part of my summer inquiry of "what is essential to my life being blissful?" and "what isn't?"
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Jul. 13, 2008
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You are perfect!
" Listen
Make a way for yourself inside yourself.
Stop looking in the other way of looking.
You already have the precious mixture
that will make you well.
Use it."
RUMI
I love Rumi! He was so wise and I seem to find quotes from him on the right topic on the right day.
Isn't life perfect? Mine is today. I hope you see yours is too!
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Jul. 8, 2008
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Message From The Universe
Every morning The Universe sends me a message. It is even better than reading your horoscope.
This is what I got today. I love it!!!!! Don't you? Which way are you living? I'm a Princess in training for this one.
| Tell me, when you think of taking consistent action in the general direction of your dreams, Joeann, do you imagine discipline, stamina, work, sacrifice, monotony, courage, and strategies, or are you thinking adventure, discovery, new friends, excitement at the crack of dawn, magic, surprises, fun, laughter, and, on occasion, the Macarena?
Cool! Me too, "HEY!"
The Universe
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If you'd like the Universe to send you messages each day, all you have to do is ask!
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Jul. 4, 2008
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Summertime and The Living is Easy....
"Summer is the time when one sheds
one's tensions with one's clothes,
and the right kind of day is
jeweled balm for the battered spirit.
A few of those days and
you can become drunk with the belief
that all's right with the world."
- Ada Louise Huxtable
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Jul. 3, 2008
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Yes I still love him, though he's 64!
 I threw my husband, Bub, a not-surprise birthday party the night before he turned 64 at the Fox and Hound Smokehouse and Tavern at the Foothills Mall. They gave us a great private room with pool tables, couches and great wings and pizza. This started 4 days of celebrating. Bub's birthday wish was to go to Winslow, Arizona and stay at La Posada , the historic Fred Harvey railroad hotel built in 1930 . Bub chose the route, commissioned me to drive and invited Lily to come along to go back in history!
The day dawned a beautiful, cool Aizona morning. We went out to the tennis courts first, where he beat me a quick 6-0. His practice with my brother last week gave him a bit of an advantage, though we had some good volleys.
Home to pack and load the wagon to get on the road by 9:30. We were estimating arrival at 3 to answer granddaughter, Lily's, constant chorus of "when are we going to be there?" We headed north from Tucson on the Catalina Highway through the Junctions: through Oracle Junction, then Florence Junction, and Apache Junction.
 Bub had found a couple of roads he had never been on (and neither had I ) and wanted to see the country. So we headed towards Roosevelt Lake on Route 88. Looked like it was about 40 miles. Pretty mountains and cactus with bright orange flowers on agave blooms that were 20 feet high. Then the sign said "Next 25 miles unpaved road." Hmmm.....Bub says,"Oh, that must be what the dotted line on the map meant." LOL
We traversed a 12' wide washboard road with speed limits from 15-25. There were maybe a dozen other vehicles along the way, as we passed Canyon Lake, Apache Lake and Tortilla Flats before we got to the dam at Roosevelt Lake. It was gorgeous, wild country. It wouldn't have been surprising to have turned a corner to see a circle of tipis and indians....but lizards we about the only other life we saw. Though I think we probably had plenty of Indians spirits hanging out. It took quite a while and I had to recalibrate arrival time for the impatient backseat gal.
When we came around the corner to see Roosevelt Dam, I asked Lily if she knew what that was and without missing a beat she says,"The Great Wall of China?" We got her straightened out but I guess that means she is getting a little geography at school to have knowledge of such things! We'll have to add the Great Wall to the list.
Back on paved 65 mph roads....for a fast clip to Payson. The clouds had been building into beautiful thunderheads and finally opened up. We had planned a picnic under the pines when we got there but had to settle for a pullover between Payson and Pine to eat our sandwiches. Lily was more interested in her slurpee and Bub's Cheetos than her turkey. The temperature had been 102-106 since midmorning, but now dropped to 70.
It was 2:30.
DVD players have changed the traveling with a child dynamic considerably. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing. It helped with the incessant,"when are we going to be there" and "I am bored" but we had to get her to pull the earbuds out and MAKE her look when we saw breathtaking scenery. Not a particularly good trade-off, methinks. I'm loving the concept of living that "it is the journey, not the destination" and having the concept be embraced by Lily would make me feel like a good grandma.
.jpg) As we drove towards Winslow, through the tall trees of Pine and Strawberry with their antique shops, then downthe mountain, the land became pretty barren and dry. The temperature was back up to 90. A perfect place to site a prison like the one we saw just south of town. I'd left my directions to the hotel at home, but told Bub we could pull it up on my Centro, but turned out there was no need. Winslow isn't that big and, of course, the railroad hotel is right next to the tracks on the famous Route 66.
La Posada Hotel Restaurant and Gardens didn't disappoint. I've used my Flip Camera to post a tour of La Posada. This was the masterpiece and favorite building of Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the greatest of all Southwestern architects. Really a museum full of art and artifacts, the hotel has been lovingly brought back to life by Allen Affeldt.
We have the Harry Truman room. It's one of the largest of the rooms. Gorgeous gardens  surround the hotel. I'm insired to go home and plant a rose garden. Bub says I'll have to stop travelling to stay home and water it (he's said the same about my desire to own a parrot). I imagine I could buy a fancy timer and set them to automatic.
We relaxed a bit. Lily and I put bubbles in the Jacquzzi tub and let the car kinks melt away. She and Bub walked the grounds while I cleared 125 emails (yes, I am guilty). Dinner was amazingly magnificent. The Turquoise Resturant was named one of the Top 10 AZ Resturants this spring by Arizona Highways magazine. The Mexican tiled floors, Navajo Rugs and dark wood create just the right atmosphere. Lily got her every wish: from hot rolls to start with, to mac & cheese for dinner, a Shirley Temple to toast with, crayons to keep her occupied, to adjusting the temperature because she was cold. This child is definitely NOT low maintainance!
 Bub got everything he wanted too! He choose a Chilean Shiraz from the extensive wine list. Our meal started with a soup duo: Corn Chowder and Mexican Bean soup-light cream on one side of the bowl and dark chili brown on the other. Definitely a taste treat for the palate. I ended up having this 3 times during our stay, it was SOOO good!Bub's Prime Rib came with fresh horshradish sauce, stemed vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy and I ordered Wild,Wild, Wild, which brought a trio of  game: quail, elk and a corn tamale with grass fed beef. Lily's Mac and 4 cheese was just to her liking.
The piece de resistance was the Chocolate Souffle for dessert, with chocolate Gran Marnier sauce and fresh whipped cream. A candle and Happy Birthday song by Lily embarassed Bub sufficiently to give us glee.
What a great way to spend a birthday. The three days on the road, taking us to places we had never seen, turned out to be a fun, summer adventure. Happy Birthday, Bub! We do still need you, we will still feed you and we still love you though you`re 64!
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Jun. 21, 2008
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Summer Vacation
I have been inspired watching my friend, Jennifer Louden, aka The Comfort Queen, as she took a 9-month sabbatical. (if you've never heard of Jennifer, she is the contemporary voice of women's comfort -- a best-selling author, life coach and social commentator who provides women with the information, inspiration, and tools to create lives they love.) What a joyous thing to do, I thought. Inspiration almost always opens some thinking for myself of how would that fit for me. I had put this on hold for the future-maybe just wait until retirement-which I am musing about too...But, something kept gnawing at me to shape it for myself.
Then I woke up last Wednesday and I had it! Don't you love it when that happens? I've been watching Lily have fun now that school is out, with different adventures each day and saw how perfect that was. I remembered summer vacations of childhood that were devoted to having FUN every day!!!! So.....I'm going on Summer Vacation.From the Summer Solstice (June 21) the Autumnal Equinox (September 22nd),I AM CELEBRATING SUMMER VACATION!!!!
During this vacation I will:
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Let go of everything work related that is non-essential
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Play lots of tennis with Bub
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See friends and take time to celebrate
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Learn about weaving
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Do Yoga
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Limit clients to those that I love and those who value my gifts
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Write
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Travel
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Read
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Do only work that makes my heart sing
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Keep the speaking engagements I am already committed for
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Play with my granddaughters!!!!!!
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Start any new groups or programs
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Be writing my Tuesday Tips
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Do my Monthly Fossland's Forum's
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Work on anything that isn't joyful
While, as you see, Tuesday Tips will be on vacation, too, I do intend to Blog as the spirit strikes me. I invite you to bookmark my blog or suscribe here. There are also archives of the past Tuesday Tips here.....plenty that is still relevant. I may also send you information if it seems like something you should know about or that would be of value!
Bliss is the anchor word for my summer vacation.
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Jun. 13, 2008
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When The Time is Right.....
· "Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions
themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer."
-Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet
I love to read this quote when the hurry, hurry, hurry in me wants to make quick decisions and baffle them all with action. I am learning to let things unfold instead of forcing....
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Jun. 11, 2008
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Is Your Dance Card Full?
Right now is a perfect time to strengthen and expand your strategic partner network. Who are strategic partners? They are the people interested in the same client that you are. Your strategic partner network should be one of the foundations of your business and it needs consistent care and feeding to bring you the most business.
Here are 5 Steps To Strategic Partner Success:
1. Start With Your Database. Just as it is a good idea on a regular basis to go through your database and "clean it up," the same exercise is valuable to take a look at with those strategic partners. Hopefully you have these in a database and have a separate category or group for them. If you don't, do that first. If you use Outlook, at the bottom right of every contact card, there is a category. You can create a general category called Strategic Partners or further define into subcategories, such as real estate vendors, farm area merchants, waterfront vendors, etc.
2. Do Some Strategic Thinking. Make a good long list of people you'd like to have as strategic partner. Here is my Team 100 list to help with the brainstorming. You want to choose vendors, businesses and other folks who have:
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Ethical standards that align with yours
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An interest in growing their business
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An interest in the same demographic that your clients have (where they live, their age, income)
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A service or store that serves the needs of your niche markets (such as boat stuff if you serve waterfront properties)
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Great customer care
3. Create A Plan! What a concept, huh? One of my clients did a great job of this by starting with a letter introducing herself, complimenting the prospect and suggesting they get together to discuss ways to mutually grow their businesses. A few days after the letter arrived, she called to set a lunch(or could be coffee or breakfast).
Then her purpose was to find out about their business and to see if there was enough commonality to pursue some joint marketing campaigns or to determine what might be a way to refer actively. If your list consists of people you know well, you could skip the introduction letter and just invite them to meet.
4. Refer. We get by giving! As you develop your relationships, remember to keep your ears open for opportunities to solve someone's problem ( needing something and not knowing a good source!).
The more you refer, the more you are building capital in the bank account that will repay you. In Robert Ciadini's classic book, Influence, he calls this The Law of Reciprocity. He says people have a need to balance the scales when someone has done something nice for them.
5. Use The Tech Connection. Exchange website and blog links with your partners. Think of ways to help each other:
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Set up a page of preferred partners on your website
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Send their discount coupons to your past client and farm databases
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Recommend them on LinkedIn and ask them to recommend you
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Twitter about them
Designing your plan and implementing are the actions that will give your business and influx of great energy and reward you with some business. The most important element is to have fun. Build your dream team and then play the real estate game to win!!!! You might even want to consider playing a Real Estate Game® to energize things! More strategic partners=more referrals and business...Go Have Fun!
Borrowed Wisdom
Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail and Editor-in-Chief of WIRED magazine, stated in his interview with Stephen M. R. Covey on The Speed of Trust: “Money was the currency of the old economy; Trust is the currency of the new, global economy.”
"Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself." — Richard Bach
Tech Tip
Add listings once. Advertise instantly on top search sites*.
*All feeds not available in all areas
Point2 Homes Zillow > Google Base > Craigslist > Backpage > Yahoo! Real Estate > Oodle > Trulia > LiveDeal > Condo.com > City Cribs > Vast > Hotpads > Cyberhomes > HomeScape > HouseHunting.ca > CLR Search > Clickable City Directories House.com > Worldwide-Realestate-ForSale
. . .and the list keeps on growing
Point2 Agent is the easiest, most cost-effective way to advertise online. Your listings are your best vehicle to brand yourself on the Internet today. Point2 automatically makes sure you are advertised in as many places as possible.
If you don't have your listings in Point2 Agent, what are you waiting for? This link will give you a website that is free for 6 months. Add your listings free today!
Giving Back
Many of you generously have supported the www.WebWomenGivingCircle.com last year with donations to the humanitarian organization, CARE. Those donations help many people and were much appreciated. CARE is on the scene in Myanmar. They say,"We were well-positioned to respond to this emergency, with more than 550 staff who have worked on projects in Myanmar for more than 14 years. To date, we have provided clean water, food and emergency supplies to more than 125,000 people around Yangon and throughout the Irrawaddy Delta......" To read more about what's being done or to make a donation (no matter how small..it all helps) please click here.
Last Calls
1. June Fossland Forum: Michele Martineau is a brilliant marketer. Her ideas "Elevate Your Business" will help you build more business! These monthly interviews are my gift to you. Remember, they are archived and you can listen any time or download them
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
PDT: 11:00 AM | MDT: Noon
Central: 1:00 PM | EDT: 2:00 PM
Hawaii: 8:00 AM
Register for the Next Forum here
2. Tired of Negative Headlines? Join me with Frances Flynn Thorsen, managing editor of RealTown, Hilary Marsh from NAR and Blanche Evans, Editor of Realty Times and learn how YOU can make a difference.
Join us for this special, FREE No Blogger Left Behind Breakout session on Tuesday, June 17:
2 PM EDT,1 PM CDT,12 Noon MDT,11 AM PDT and Arizona, 8 AM Hawaii
Register here.
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May. 28, 2008
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Upcoming Opportunities (and gifts) For An Awesome 2008
1. The June Fossland's Forum with Michelle Martineau is going to be very special! These Forum's are my monthly gift to you. Remember you can always listen to the archives if you can't attend. This month's topic is:
"Elevate Your Business"
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Michelle Martineau, of Martineau Systems is a past CRB, CRS and VP of Communications and Public Relations. She is a high-performance mentor who builds successful real estate businesses with a unique infusion of marketing, and belief systems. |
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
PDT: 11:00 AM | MDT: Noon
Central: 1:00 PM | EDT: 2:00 PM
Hawaii: 8:00 AM
Register for the Next Forum here
2. Are you going with the flow or paddling hard in the other direction? Learn how to use The Law of Attraction to have a business and life that you love! The next RELAX and ATTRACT Teleconference Series will be held June 2, 9, 16 & 23 at 5 PM EDT, 2 PM AZ & PDT. Join a small group for personal coaching that will enable you to have the mindset and attract what you really, really want.
Only $97 for 4 weeks. We'll using the workbook**, 30 Days to Turn Your Life Around With The Law of Attraction
***A GIFT FOR YOU: You may have the workbook without taking the course!
3. Does your business need a boost? Join a June The Real Estate Game® or The FSBO Real Estate Game every day for 4 weeks, you'll have a short coaching call and a group of highly motivated agents to compete and brainstorm with. The accountability will keep you focused! The tips will give you ideas for success! The 4 weeks will bring you business! All for only $197. More information here.
4. The Summer No Blogger Left Behind is now open for registration. If you are ready to take your blogging to the next level (or just get started with a blog). This 8-week webinar series, featuring winning Blog Coach and Realtown Managing Editor Frances Flynn Thorsen, will take you step by step through the maze! Let us make it easy for you. Includes an additional 1/2 hour personal coaching session. The summer dates are on Wednesdays at 7 PM EDT, beginning June 25 and then July 2, 9, 16, 30, Aug 13, 20, 27
If you just want to get started right away, here is a Webinar that Frances created last month for RealTown Blogs.
Or you can check out the action at Activerain.
I hope you have an amazing week!!!!! It is up to you!!!
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About Me
Resources, articles and thoughts on being awesomely productive and creative while enjoying a life you love! Don't forget to visit my web site at www.joeann.com for even more information and resources. COMMENTS ARE WELCOME. Please notice the Post A Comment link at the bottom of the posting.
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