The Best Strategy of All
August 15th 2010
Archive for the ‘The Collec+ive’ Category
Smoky Mountain Bye
August 14th 2010
I’ve had enough of me.
I’m headed down the mountain and back to society once again.
Great trip, but what I learned about being alone is this:
I like being with people. Other people besides just me. I’m outward-focused, and all this introspection gets old after a few days. Plus, it’s hard to play tennis alone (if I even played tennis . . .).
I work with people for a living. I help them think about themselves and why they do what they do and then dive into what it is they really want to do. I take all their ideas, help them think bigger, and then help plan their business growth and innovation strategies.
To do this job, one has to be able to listen. It’s when people tell you who they are (thanks Maya Angelou).
I have learned to be a good listener and I love to listen.
To someone other than myself.
Network Marketing: The Business Model That Makes Total Sense
August 12th 2010
As a former owner of a few different companies over the years, I operated as a corporation, which I now realize is the ultimate pyramid.
Only us owners were able to make more than just a salary.
But along with ownership came taxes, licenses, loans, office expenses and other profit drains.
Worse, for me, were the emotional drains. Between the constant stress of running the operation and the limited ways in which I could help my employees, the fun was gone and the business collapsed under its own weight.
I now see the beauty of Network Marketing. Yeah, of course I was skeptical. People always fear doing things against the grain. Well, look around at the devastation of the past couple of years. I fear that more. Status quo ain’t cutting it anymore.
All I can tell you is there are millions of people out there making millions in Network Marketing. And Both Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki like the business model.That’s good enough for me.
Not only does Network Marketing eliminate the profit and emotional drains, but it enables me to completely satisfy my core value of contribution. Additionally, I’m no longer tethered to a desk, an office, a partner or any overhead. THANK GOD.
I chose Xocai Healthy Chocolate as my network marketing product because health+ wellness are also core values of mine, and Xocai is proven pure health, period. I have already shared the health victories this product has afforded my mother. And their just-released Meal Replacement product will rock the weight loss world. You will be hearing about it everywhere.
So this is pretty much a win all around. I’m sitting here on my loaned vacation home porch in North Carolina and making an income, all at the same time.
Sweet. And I don’t just mean Healthy Chocolate.
Feel free to e-me. Feel free to join me. I’d like all my friends to feel like I do right now.
patty.pattychocolate@gmail.com
I Changed States-And my State Changed
August 11th 2010
OK, we’re not talking strictly geography here, ‘tho in this instance it’s relevant.
If you’ve been following my travels, you know I’ve gone from Florida to North Carolina. My trip abruptly became unrecognizable from the trip I had planned. The universe clearly had other plans for me.
So-without repeating the long and very boring story, I am here. ALONE. 100% devoid of any companionship other than Addy and Ed, the dogs. Thank God I fought for them being part of this trip.
Anyhow, this turn of events has completely changed my STATE. Yes, I’m in a different state, but mostly, and more importantly, I’m in a different STATE.
Like I am seeing things differently. Hearing things differently (including the Boogy Man at 3 am-I don’t sleep til the sun rises. Oh crap I am a vampire).
My golf/hiking/dining/laughing/bonding trip is now just me and a rocking chair on a porch, and let me tell you–things look very different through this lens.
Bridal Veil Falls, NC
So I went, camera in hand, to Bridal Veil Falls. Gorgeous, but very quickly clear to me that any photo op would have to be jacked from whomever was there.
So I asked a nice lady if she would take my photo, and she replied. ” ARE YOU ALONE?????? OMG, you are so brave!”
I got, very clearly, that my trip, ALONE, was such a state change that I was seeing everything differently than anyone else.
ALONE is cool. ALONE is often necessary. ALONE refocuses oneself on what matters most. There is no one around to boss you, agree with you, argue with you, love you, fight with you, kiss you, hold you, yell at you.
Yeah, alone is brave.
It’s just you.
And you.
Talk about a change of state.
My state right now is creative and content.
And, more tired than ever before in my life.
The boonies are scary at night, and I’m there, eyes wide open and heart pounding, sitting sentry so the dogs can sleep well.
Holy Crap.
This is some weird state.
No, I Haven’t Gone All Mayberry On You - Yet.
August 9th 2010
But I am tempted.
Anyway, what caught my eye today, besides the beauty of this little Bed and Breakfast, is the INTENTION with which they declare themselves to the world.
They want “Nice People” as their guests.
There.
They said it.
For all the world to see.
This implies a contract in that when someone walks in to register at the front desk, they are “nice people.” If you’re not, then the Chandler Inn isn’t the place for you.
I think this is fantastic. I’ve worked with brand after fancy brand over the years - and this little North Carolina Inn just simply gets it.
Most businesses don’t declare themselves - to them or their customers. In fact, many don’t have a clue who their customers even are, or who they are, for that matter. So how can they speak with INTENTION?
People rush into business all the time without building a foundation, a strategy. They mean well, but eventually wind up in trouble. [been there done that]
It’s critical to discover and verbalize your core values so you can declare your INTENTION with you, your customers, vendors, partners, employees, family and everyone else you come into contact with.
Then, if something does not fit your core values, it cannot exist in your life. Period. It makes decision making a snap.
I’m guessing these nice folks have a strong set of core values that they live by every day. They must. Because their reputation is as lovely as their premises.
Here’s another photo.
Have you done the work to identify your core values? E-me. I can help. This is what I love to do.
It’s always my first step when I work with businesses.
It’s always the one people feel is unimportant or a waste of time.
It’s always the one they are most grateful for in the end.
Core values keep us directed and focused.
Core values keep us out of trouble.
I’m loving it here in Mayberry. And I’m learning a lot. Learning is one of my core values.
Unplugged Ain’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be
August 7th 2010
Ok, not exactly video blogging today. Sometimes pictures speak louder than moving pictures with words.
Plus my hair is a mess . . .
So - my bucolic mountain trip is perfect.
Except my MacBook Power Cord is failing.
Damn.
So the wilderness is only cool when I’m connected?
Yes. I admit it.
But not because I am a connect-a-holic. Which I am.
But because a big part of my trip here is to complete a huge project that is near and dear to me.
And that can only happen online.
It’s the modern world, no matter how deeply buried I am in the mountains.
So FEDEX will find me when nobody else can.
I actually think that’s cool.
I’m as lost as I need to be to find myself.
So here’s what I did today.Rather, what I did for myself today:
I bought flowers. I love flowers. On the dining room table. Photo as evidence. [Failing MacBook Pro power cord is under the table. Sob.]
I also bought incense. Named after the local 5-star hotel here. Yummy.
Think the FEDEX guy will be able to sniff me out come Tuesday am?
Oh Good God, I hope so.
In the meantime, I will be zooming through the Smokies on the back of a Harley with some new friends I made today.
I love it here.
You. Me. Some. One. Now.
July 30th 2010
♥ Someone you haven’t yet met is already dreaming of adoring you.
♥ Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.
♥ Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God’s children.
♥ A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, “nourish them.”
♥ Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you. Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favourite food is, and treat you to a movie.
♥ There are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.
♥ Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.
♥ Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.
♥ The next great song is being rehearsed.
♥ Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.
♥ Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.
♥ Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they’ll be thriving like never before. They just can’t see it from where they’re at.
♥ Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to ARRIVE, will get precisely what they want — and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in its reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angst and longing and render it all “so worth the wait.”
♥ Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.
♥ Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.
♥ Someone is fighting the fight so that you don’t have to.
♥ Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail; and your garbage is picked up; that the trains are running on time; and that you are generally safe. Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.
♥ Someone is regaining their sanity. Someone is coming back from the dead. Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable. Someone is curing the incurable.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
You. Me. Some. One. Now.
Amazing chocolate. Amazing health benefits.
July 29th 2010
Xocai Healthy Chocolate is cacao in its pure, healthy form. It is delicious and bursting with free-radical -fighting antioxidants and flavanoids, plus epicatechin, which controls blood sugar and weight. Contact me and get healthy.
Hanging On to Nothing
July 23rd 2010
“Hello, this is Miami Herald Customer Service. How may I help you, Mrs. Sawffer?”
Finally. Getting a person on the phone was not easy, and the online customer service had no ability to handle my request.
“SOOOOOOFFER,” I said, correcting the common mistake. “My name is Patty SOOOOOOOOffer.”
“Thank you Mrs. Sawffer. I will make a note of that. Is your email still pat.sawffer@sawffercollective.com?” she continued, no hint of irony in her voice.
“It’s pat.soffer@soffercollective.com,” I answered. “With an ‘o’ as in ‘ornery,’” which is how I was starting to feel.
“Oh, thank you Mrs. Sawffer,” she said. “What can I help you with today?”
I decided to forge ahead on my bigger mission, clear I was not to win this battle.
“I am calling to cancel my weekday subscription to your newspaper, ” I replied. “I want to receive the Herald on Sundays only,” I added.
Ok, Mrs. Sawffer,” she said. “I can go ahead and do that. Let’s just put you down for our Thursday thru Sunday home delivery.”
Huh?
“Please,” I said, “just sign me up for Sunday home delivery ONLY, and cancel my weekday subscription.”
“Ok, Mrs. Sawffer,” she said. “I can do that. You know we have an in-depth TV section that we will include in your daily delivery for 50 cents extra a day. Let me just put you down for that.”
Freaking insane. Totally freaking insane.
“Please,” I said, removing her metaphorical claws from my virtual piggy bank. ”Just cancel my weekday and set me up for Sunday only.”
“Mrs. Sawffer,” she said, having her own conversation. “So I’ll just go ahead and suspend your weekday home delivery service effective three weeks from now, and you will call us when you want reinstatement, ok?”
Parallel universe? Zombie planet?
“Ma’am,” I said, digging deep. “Listen to me. I want to cancel my weekday home delivery effective this very minute.”
“So,” she said, “Mrs. Sawffer, you’ll love the discount on your weekly delivery, along with coupons good for valuable products and services, and your very own web account.”
Ever see that annoying Bill Murray movie, “What About Bob”?
“Please stop,” I begged, like a victim pleading with her captor. “I want to cancel my weekday service. I don’t want coupons or TV listings and I don’t want your online newspaper. I ONLY WANT YOUR SUNDAY HOME DELIVERY.”
“Ok, Mrs. Sawffer, I’ve got it. Starting Sunday, August 15th, you will be on Sunday home delivery only.”
Today is July 23.
I couldn’t stop myself.
“Cancel my entire subscription,” I said. “I don’t ever want to see your paper again, on my porch or anywhere near my house.”
Then I hung up and did what I should have done from the start: I removed the Miami Herald from my bank’s autopay.
And as I did, it became clear to me that I was part of the tug-of-war that is online - v - print.
Her role was to keep me at all costs. Mine was to eliminate cost.
There’s something a little sad about all this. My background is 30 years of print. The Soffer Colle+ive placed millions of dollars of advertising media each year - in the Miami Herald.
Progress sure leaves a bloody trail.
Heart, not Head
July 12th 2010
I suppose I will have every sports writer in America (and maybe James himself) up my rear on this one, but I disagree on the motivation for LeBron James’ choosing the Heat over any other NBA team.
His was not a head decision. It was all about passion. James chose TO WIN over anything else. That was his fuel. His 13-year-old inner child popped up to help on this one. He called his momma, who told him to do what makes him happy. His strategy of picking the team with whom he has the best chance of winning was based on his desired outcome: TO WIN. His move was all heart.
Tony Robbins teaches that humans have the same basic needs: CERTAINTY; VARIETY; SIGNIFICANCE; CONNECTION/LOVE; GROWTH/CONTRIBUTION.
James’ decision satisfies each of these needs. These emotional needs.
Yes, all heart. And winning a ring this season will take all the heart these guys have. I can’t wait to watch it happen. Their heads will strategize the game, but it’ll be their hearts that win it.
