New Insights "Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity." Joseph Addison, The Spectator
"It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated...it is finished when it surrenders."
Ben Stein
Professor and Writer
"It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen."
Claude M. Bristol
1891-1951, Author of The Magic of Believing
---
Be Your Best, Do What It Takes, Have What You Want!!!
------------------------------------------
You can achieve your personal best!!
Re: New Insights Making The Best Of A Bad Situation
As long as I can remember, there have been two things, other than our children, that my husband has had a deep passion for; golf and flying. As a young 18 year old, I can remember our first date-a blind date I might add, in which, Steve was going to college full time, fueling airplanes after classes and working on his flight hours at night-this was his passion, his vision and his future and he had set out on a course to graduate from college, become a major airline pilot, and hopefully someday own his own company as well.
Within a matter of years, Steve became an airline pilot with United Airlines, I graduated with a Masters degree in Communication/Journalism and we lived the "American Dream." Great house, beautiful children, money in the bank and the love and support of wonderful friends and family-until that day.
Arriving home from a three day trip on September 10, 2001, Steve walked into the random chaos of our home. With a two year old and three and a half year old, toys were always scattered everywhere, nothing was ever organized and sleep was a luxury, not a need. However, the sound of little feet running to greet him after each trip and a wife with a big smile on her face because she had a little bit of relief for the next 24 hours was what it was all about during that time. All in all, life was good, dinner was done, kids were bathed and Steve, who had been doing Boston-San Francisco trips all month, was home for 24 hours before flying to Chile for three days and then home for about a week-a week in which would include spending time with the kids and possibly a round of golf. Of course, his time on the course was not the same as it had been prior to kids-it was like sleep, a true luxury.
The next morning, our lives, as those of every American, were forever changed. In route to the store, Steve called, "come home, United has lost a plane in route to San Francisco." The tone in his voice was one in which I will never forget. "This is your route and your airplane," I remember screaming as we watched the horrific news that day. It had been speculated and later confirmed, that the terrorists had been in and out of the Boston airport, possibly on one of Steve's flights the past week as a test run. As the phone rang with people calling to see if Steve was home, we cried and knew the worst was yet to come.
And boy did it come. It was apparent, that Steve could be laid off at anytime. By Christmas time, most of the lay-offs had happened on the pilot end of the company, and Steve was one of the lucky ones-but a 50% pay cut happened right before the holidays. But who were we to complain, Steve was alive and had a job.
We decided that if any opportunities came up for me to go back to work, we should seriously consider it. So in the winter of 2002, I began to contact my previous group of co-workers and business associates and Steve and I decided to join up with some of my fellow co-workers from the "pre-kid" days and start a series of community lifestyle magazines-Lifestyle Publications. The magazines focused on people making a difference in the community. By year 3, we were mailing out over a 100,000 magazines a month and were purchased by a large publishing group, due to an offer we could not refuse. Steve continued to fly and I was happy as a stay at home mom to three wonderful children, active in their school and loving life once again.
About the time when you begin to get really comfortable in your daily routine, inevitably life throws you a curve ball to see how you are going to handle it and once again, we had another one hit us.
18 months ago, Steve came home from an international flight with a stiff back, through some misdiagnoses and mistreatment, he suffered a ruptured disk within days, and within a matter of three months underwent 2 surgeries, 3 epidurals, countless pain pills and was told he could not play golf or fly an airplane for at least a year, possibly two. But then, as it has done throughout our lives, The LAW OF POSITIVE ATTRACTION kicked in again, just like it did after 9/11-Steve took this injury as an opportunity. An opportunity to begin to publish his dream magazine, one in which he had put on paper over 4 years prior-but with flying, the Lifestyle magazines and 3 kids-there was no time-until now.
Along this uncertain road, and at times tragic events that have occurred in our life, the determination to succeed, and the faith in God, our personal strengths, the unbelievable support of family and the positive people that we have met, we have risked it all once again and believe that the Law of Attraction has already delivered to us and will continue to deliver to us because we ask for the success every single day.
So here we are today-a year under our belt with Golf Fitness Magazine, a magazine that teaches you how to play your best golf by improving your body and mind. The magazine continues to grow and grow and grow- The people that we have met and the lessons we continue to learn, once again make this "extreme risk" an experience we would not ever give back.
We now live with the attitude that this will be the biggest and best Golf magazine in the country and that Golf Fitness Magazine can offer something for everyone.
In addition, Steve has been given the green light to go back flying and to play golf, and his vision since age 18, is now forever a reality.
Kristi Gomen
A year ago Kristi and her husband Steve founded Golf Fitness Magazine to fill a void in the market place. They understand the importance of making a positive impact in the lives of others. To send Kristi your thoughts on this story email her at: Kristi@golffitness-magazine.com and to support their great magazine please go to: www.golffitnessmagazine.com/subscribe
---
Be Your Best, Do What It Takes, Have What You Want!!!
------------------------------------------
You can achieve your personal best!!
The importance of selling during the start-up stage of business was exemplified some years ago by a profile of two entrepreneurs in Success Magazine.
One, a New York realtor, wanted to broker surplus office space through the Internet. He spent a year and most of $10,000 he had saved to build an impressive website. He told the magazine that he believed his site would be so good that it would make him "the next Jeff Bezos."
His marketing plan was to lure customers to his website by offering free ads for a year and then renewing them at $59.95 annually. When the website was done, he was happy - until he activated it and discovered that nobody was rushing in to take advantage of his free offer.
He spent the little money he had left on a few desperate marketing schemes, but to no avail. He had exhausted all his resources building a professional-looking site with lots of bells and whistles, but he had never tested his basic sales assumption - that he could attract lots of free postings and then convert them into paid advertisers.
Meanwhile, another entrepreneur, a car repairman, had a very different business idea. He thought he could sell neon lights that attached to a car's undercarriage. He called his venture Street Glow Inc.
When he started making this toy in 1990, he had only $1,000 to invest in it. He spent about $350 installing two crude prototypes onto his own car and the car of a friend. And then he spent all of his spare time and his remaining $650 selling.
He didn't lease office space; he worked from his home. And he spent most of his time traveling to custom auto shops and automobile-themed events, trying to make sales. At first, people were curious but most were hesitant to buy. After talking to them, he made adjustments to his product, his pricing, and the way he presented it.
He worked fast. He took enough deposits to build the systems ordered, delivered them, and then reinvested the profits in selling more systems.
For months he earned nothing, because he was reinvesting his cash flow into sales. But at about the one-year mark, he was able to start pocketing profits. At that point, he began fixing up a shop, buying some new tools, and ordering inventory.
By devoting his attention to selling first and taking care of the other, secondary business concerns later, he ensured that his fledgling enterprise would not suffer the normal (and normally lethal) cash shortages most first-year businesses encounter.
By 2002 (the last year financial data was available for this privately held company), Street Glow Inc. had garnered $23 million in revenues and had shown a consistent profit, year after year.
Michael Masterson
From Ready, Fire, Aim
---
Be Your Best, Do What It Takes, Have What You Want!!!
------------------------------------------
You can achieve your personal best!!
Re: New Insights "It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome."
William James
1842-1910, Psychologist, Professor and Author
---
Be Your Best, Do What It Takes, Have What You Want!!!
------------------------------------------
You can achieve your personal best!!
Re: New Insights "I will waste not even a precious second today in anger or hate or jealousy or selfishness. I know that the seeds I sow I will harvest, because every action, good or bad, is always followed by an equal reaction. I will plant only good seeds this day."
Og Mandino
1923-1996, Author and Speaker
---
Be Your Best, Do What It Takes, Have What You Want!!!
------------------------------------------
You can achieve your personal best!!
I think deep down everyone has a burning desire to be great. They want to be the best plumber, the best carpenter, the best mechanic, the best engineer, the best lawyer. They want to be the best dad, the best mom, the best uncle, the best cousin and the best friend. They simply want to be the best - they want to be great. It's human nature to want more for ourselves and to want more for others. We simply want to be great.
The other day a good friend of mine gave me a call. We were talking about a recent promotion that I was passed up for. I work full time as a project manager and had been told that I was going to receive a huge bonus for work well done but the compensation didn't fall through. I was offered a title change but nothing else. I wasn't in the best place and my wife and I hadn't talked in almost 36 hours because of our conflicting schedules. It was in that 36 hour that I received a call from a good friend of mine - my friend Jason. I was really upset that I had been passed for promotion because I thought there was something 'wrong with me'. Jason didn't see it that way. He asked me what had happened and listened to my story.
While we were on the phone, something happened. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I felt a shift - I felt lighter. I shared my story with Jason and he just listened. When I was all done he just said the most beautiful words. He said, "Steve, with your skills and experience you can work anywhere you want. You're going to do great things." I told him how much I appreciated his call and he told me, "No Steve. Thank-you." My heart melted. I felt like crying but I didn't. In all the years of our friendship, he never said such a thing. It was in that moment I realized what a great person he is - and in his greatness I realized how great I am. If you ever forget who you are, stop and listen to your great friends.
Make great friends and keep them forever.. It's in their greatness that lies the greatness in YOU.
Stephen Martile
Stephen Martile is a full time Project Manager and writes articles part time for his website, Personal Development Made Simple. His website is filled with insights on personal growth and his purpose is to teach and inspire others to achieve their own dreams and desires by learning from example. For more information on Stephen, go to: www.stephenmartile.com
---
Be Your Best, Do What It Takes, Have What You Want!!!
------------------------------------------
You can achieve your personal best!!
