My good friend Joe Lombardo and I were talking today about the new reality, our struggles and what this all means for people like us.

He asked for my thoughts on the economic recovery and I told him I’m not optimistic, for many reasons and based on some pretty clear indicators.

Then I clicked on the Huffington Post and saw this interactive map.

I was born in North Dakota. Judging by this map, I might have to go back there.

Take a look.

Posted by Patty Soffer under Branding & Business & Design & Economy & Life & This just Sucks & Uncategorized | No Comments »

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

Posted by Patty Soffer under . . . Xocai Healthy Chocolate & Business & Health and Wellness & Network Marketing & Patty Soffer | a collec+ive & The Collec+ive & The Collective & Xocai | No Comments »

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.

Posted by Patty Soffer under Branding & Business & Patty Soffer | a collec+ive & Strategy & The Collec+ive & The Collective & Uncategorized | No Comments »

People will tell you who they are. All you have to do is listen. -  Oprah Winfrey, on the best advice Maya Angelou ever gave her.

I recently had the privilege of coaching and strategizing with a young woman who is starting her own business. She had reached maximum pain in her life - the point at which people change - and was ready to cast off her fears and go for it.

Ready, yes, but was she willing?

We had to identify her needs and how she was fulfilling them. We spent several days in intensive sessions, first identifying who she was, finding  her core values and discovering the whys of her existence.

What we found was rich and fertile potential for a successful business, yet potentially deal-breaking if she was not willing to dig deep and understand why she behaved as she did.

She was not willing. Predictable, given her very obvious judgment, anger and victim issues. Willing is a big step. Her greatest need is for attention, and she has gotten it through these behaviors.

I knew we’d have to revisit this, because herein would lie her strategy.

We moved on and uncovered a delightful whitespace in which she could operate with little competition and high odds for success. [Shameless self -promotion: This is the plum I dig for each time I work with businesses, and I always find it.]

All along, I knew there was a brick wall out there with her name on it, and she was running toward it.

Off she went to find clients. Each day she returned more unhappy, heavy, more defeated. She wasn’t getting the response she wanted. People weren’t respecting her voice or opinion. They weren’t taking her seriously. Sometimes they weren’t  letting her participate in the meetings. Some just plain didn’t like her.

She was showing up as who she is and the responses she got were commensurate. These were the same responses she had gotten her entire life.

It was clear that until we healed the demons, nothing, including her business, would work. So in short order, she was right back where she started - in maximum pain. Nothing had changed.

The lesson? Your business is personal, no matter what anyone says. It’s about you.

How you show up in business is how you will be treated. Human beings operate on polarities, just like magnets.  A good, strong business connection is the result of a deep commitment to showing up with integrity, honor, trust, and heart, and giving WAY more than you take.

Today, more than ever before, this is true. The paradigm has shifted, and the cold, corporate culture is no longer viable.

Business is relationships. Good business is about respect.

So how do you show up? What are you telling people about yourself? Are you a critic or a creator? The answer will absolutely determine your success in all you do.

Posted by Patty Soffer under . . . . Heart-Based Branding & Branding & Business & Patty Soffer | a collec+ive & Philanthropy & Spirituality & Uncategorized | No Comments »

♥ 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.

Posted by Patty Soffer under . . . . Heart-Based Branding & Business & Health and Wellness & Patty Soffer | a collec+ive & Spirituality & The Collec+ive & Uncategorized & Wonders of the World & giving | No Comments »

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.

http:/www.pattychocolate.com

Posted by Patty Soffer under . . . Xocai Healthy Chocolate & Business & Health and Wellness & Patty Soffer | a collec+ive & The Collec+ive & Uncategorized & Xocai | No Comments »

“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.

Posted by Patty Soffer under Business & Economy & The Collec+ive & Uncategorized | No Comments »

Exciting Update on Xocai Healthy Chocolate:

All I have to do is look at the progress my mom has made in the last 90 days to know Xocai is amazing. It’s mind-blowing to me that she has gone from physically weak/often chair or wheelchair-bound, with great difficulty in expressing herself, to strong, mobile and expressive once again. I am thrilled at her renewed quality of life!

This is not just my opinion, but that of her nurses as well. Xocai, with it’s high ORAC, has documented success in nursing homes and with Alzheimer’s patients, among many others.

FYI: ORAC represents the antioxidant levels in foods. Xocai is a superfood and the ORAC is huge.

Take a look at the stunning ORAC scores of the Xocai products both mom and I eat daily:

The company is also releasing the first-ever antioxidant meal replacement diet in mid August.

Click on http://www.pattychocolate.com or email me at patty.pattychocolate@gmail.com if you are ready to get seriously healthy!

Posted by Patty Soffer under . . . Xocai Healthy Chocolate & Business & Health and Wellness & Uncategorized & Xocai | No Comments »

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.

Posted by Patty Soffer under . . . . Heart-Based Branding & Business & Economy & Health and Wellness & NBA & The Collec+ive & Uncategorized | No Comments »

If one adopts a child who arrives with a multitude of problems created at the hands of others, is one obligated to correct every issue in the first two years of the process? Is it even possible?

You all know the answer.

So why do people expect President Obama to do just that with America?

Our country is a troubled, damaged, over-fed, undernourished child emerging from years of all manner of abuse. Curing our ills will take patience, time and wisdom.

Predictably, it’s the very abusers who are now screaming the loudest.

Stop. You have done enough. We need compassion and creativity, not complaints or cruelty.

We’re not going to out-scream you. That’s a game with no winners. Instead, we’re focused on nurturing this country and its people back to health.

We would love to have you join us. If not, please step aside.

You’ve had your turn. Now it’s ours.

Posted by Patty Soffer under Business & Economy & Family & Green & Health and Wellness & Politics & Spirituality & The Collec+ive | No Comments »