This is Why I Do What I Do

What I do is grand; meeting people, traveling to wonderful (sometimes less than wonderful!) places, wearing fabulous clothes, jewelry and shoes (!) and of course, being the center of attention! But here's the best part of what I do. Read this wonderful letter that just makes me kvell! Thank you, Matt.

Mikki,
In December of 2007 I had the pleasure of being a part of your presentation with my past Vistage group.
At the time of your inspiration I was going through a difficult time with the family business and personal life issues. You challenged us to live our lives with intention and meaning, after that day I began to do just that.
When I left the meeting I pursued the 15 credits remaining in my Psychology degree and graduated from Marquette in the spring of 2008.
While finishing my degree I decided to pursue my dream of running my own business in an area that I love. On March 31st 2008, I left the family business with my wife and two kids and moved to Denver, Colorado.
Since the move my wife and I started BHAG Enterprises and bought our first company Pizza Supply. We have also started a non profit company called Flour for Families. Flour for families donates flour for every pizza box we sell. This year we have donated over 600 5lb bags of flour through a local food bank.
My wife also pursued her dream of becoming a photographer and has done so successfully with Jaime Rowe Photography.
It has now been over two years since that incredible experience of seeing you.
I wanted to thank you for all that you do and for the push I needed to start living my life with intention.
You are never far from my thoughts and whenever times get tough I think back to that day.
Wishing you all the best life has to offer.
Matt
Pizza Supply
Custom Pizza Boxes Delivered to Your Shelf
3133 West Hampden Ave
Sheridan, Colorado 80110
303-442-7478
www.pizzasupplyco.com

CSP Certified Speaking Professional or Certified Specialist in Paperwork?

Before anything else, are you voting for me daily, as much and as often as you can? Have you spread it to your various networks from your address book to your social media networks. In case you forgot, I am auditioning to be Oprah's next talk show host and I need your votes now through July 3rd - Click Here.

Now to blogging...I am a CSP! What the heck is that? It's an earned designation through my professional trade association the National Speakers Association. There are less than 500 of us worldwide and it a prestigious accomplishment. We have our own online ezine and I wrote an article that will appear this month. As you will obviously not see it, I thought I would include it for you here.

How Do I Love CSP, Let Me Count the Ways

I earned this designation so long ago, all you “digital natives” as Gina Schreck called you in last months’ Credential News, probably weren’t born. And I can’t remember when it was because I am a “digital immigrant”, thanks, Gina, that’s almost as exciting as when someone called me a “pioneer” in the speaking industry.

Here’s what I do know as Oprah would say (oh I’m just full of clichés). I LOVE this designation!, Why? Because I EARNED it. Not to take away from our prestigious Cavett Award or the CPAE designation but there is a source of pride knowing that you earned something by your own merits; that you set and met criteria; that you set a goal and achieved it. AND, that you did all that paperwork, oops, sorry, back to being a digital immigrant, it’s probably done electronically now, duh! As my buddy, Warren Greshes used to say, CSP stood for Certified Specialist in Paperwork.

So how do I use it and more importantly, how do you use or abuse it? Abuse it? Yes, by not using it, OK so now I’m resorting to cliché with rhyme. This will not be brain surgery, folks but here are some simple ways that I use it and would hope each month someone would write in (do we still say that?) and add your uses to this so we can indeed “count the ways”. Hey, it’s the title, I had to do that, kinda’ like when you throw the convention theme is your speech to show how much you customized☺

Then once this suggested list has evolved, we can give it to all new CSP’s to use as a template. Do they do this now, who knows, I wouldn’t be writing this article if I knew that. Oooh, touches of Dale Irvin sarcasm.

OK, here’s the obvious;

1. It’s on every correspondence with an explanation as to what it is.
2. The logo is on the home page of my website.

3. It’s in every introduction at every speech

4. It’s in the program of every convention brochure.

5. It’s on the cover of my media kit

6. The CSP brochure is on the inside cover, (do they still make them, I bought 1000’s so I still have them?)

7. It’s on my social media sites (or it will be, just thought of that one)

OK, enough about me, let’s talk about me. No, no, time to send your creative juices regarding uses (couldn’t resist, I know, it’s kinda like my matchy matchy with clothes, earrings and shoes) I’m easy to spot at conventions.

So as Robert Browning meant to say, “How Do I Love CSP, Let Me Count the Ways!

Condom-nation

My girlfriend told me the funniest story tonite so I just had to share. She has been single for awhile and not missing the dating scene but missing sex, yes, I wrote that...real women miss sex:-) Sooooooo she decided to carry one, only one condom with her with the hope that the law of attraction is really true. Well, she was in a studio, filming, and the microphone kept slipping off her body because the lights made it so hot she was sweating. An old trick...wrap mike in saran then put a condom over it to hold it in place (she would have preferred a real Mike;-). She asked all the guys, c'mon guys, who's got one, none of them would fess up to it so she had to turn over her solo one to save the day. Not exactly the usage she was hoping for:-)

My Dinner with the Blackhawks!

So I was having dinner with Kristen DaRosa (friend and member of one of my Vistage groups) on Thursday at Tavern on Rush and who comes in to join us for dinner? The Blackhawks! Carrying the Stanley Cup, no less. Okay, okay, they didn't really join us for dinner but they were there. How cool is that?
Can you find the Blackhawks in the pictures? Me either, but they were there...honest!

And here's lovely Kristen with Goldie Hawn. You'll have to ask Kristen about that one. She's just a celebrity magnet, isn't she?

Love in Bloom in June, Part 1

June is for weddings, love, graduations, celebrations...so it seems appropriate to talk about marriages (no...not mine!). But I have been inspired over the years by a few. So much so that I tell everyone about these couples every chance I get. I asked my favorite married folk to share with you the secret of marital bliss and longevity. Now I get the chance to share it with you…in their own words.

Linda and Jean Pierre Marques
Who knew a Frenchman born in North Africa would meet and marry an American-Armenian from Los Angeles and be celebrating their 25 years together (and 20 married years)? It has been a deep love and friendship, and each year it gets stronger and stronger. The amazing thing is that, even today, people still ask us if we are on our honeymoon. We feel the biggest factors in a long, happy marriage besides a deep, true love, is unconditional love, respect, compromise and communication with your partner.
From Jean Pierre:
As a man I learned very fast, the best 2 ways to a healthy, happy lifetime relationship is: 1. A Happy Wife is a Happy Life And a very powerful, positive mantra to make this happen is: 2. Learn to say to your wife, “Yes, Dear.” (Mikki, of course, I am just kidding) These are my thoughts about my beautiful, loving relationship with my wife. First, it doesn’t matter the race, religion or culture. Always I respect and enhance the individuality of Linda, compromising when I have to and, more important, to realize that a man has a different way to think, see and feel than a woman. Therefore, when I put myself in the place of how a woman thinks, feels and sees, I can understand and make the change necessary to have more harmonious and playful and peaceful communication. Vice versa, I do believe if a woman can understand that, love, peace and harmony can be forever with a couple. I do know I achieved that with Linda. My philosophy is that we have to let go of our egos and negative conditioning of what women and men are. Knowing that we are human beings yearning for love, care and peace. That is my personal experience of how we can make the world a better place as well. By first changing ourselves, then as a couple, family and the rest of the world. Each day when I wake up, as the years go by, I realize I am still on my honeymoon knowing in my soul that my union with Linda will be for the rest of my life. Wow!
From Linda:
When we married it was my first marriage and I was 35 so I knew exactly what I wanted and what I didn’t want. I loved Jean Pierre the minute I met him for his passion, his character, his love of life, his teaching and care for his students, and his sense of humor (let alone his good looks!) and all I knew is that I wanted to be around him (and I still do!!!) Every day is a new adventure, and through the ups and downs of life, which is just a part of life, I know my husband is there to support me unconditionally and me for him. Two funny stories: When I was growing up and well into adulthood I remember thinking I would never date anyone who was under 6’ tall. My whole family thought I was nuts and quite unreasonable. I had opportunity to date some nice men but no, the height trumped everything. I had a nice selection of shoes and boots with the 3” and 4” heels that made me close to 5’10”. Well, the day I met Jean Pierre (who is about 5’8”) and the months and years after, my gorgeous “heel” shoes seemed to be going into boxes and into garage sales. What was replacing them were lower-heeled shoes and flats. My dad especially couldn’t believe it. He knew this was the “real thing” if I were giving up my shoes and my “never under 6’ thing. He even told the story at our wedding. So now I tell my family and friends and students “never say never.” Second story is the fact that humor and laughter and fun are a big part of any lasting relationship, especially with a Frenchman. For 25 years the Frenchisms keep us laughing and Jean Pierre is such a good sport about it. I tell him I’m not making fun but that it’s so darn cute….
The latest funny was when Jean Pierre insisted someone looked like “champagne.” I said, "How can someone look like champagne?” and after about 10 minutes of back and forth we realized he was talking about “Sean Penn.” Another time we were having coffee on a Sunday morning at our favorite café. Jean Pierre said, "I’d like Myco Mix.” I said what is Myco Mix thinking it was a French cereal. He just said “myco mix, myco mix.” Getting frustrated I said, “I don’t know what Myco Mix is.” After about 10 minutes of this he slowed down and said “My Comics”!!!!!!"

Linda and Jean Pierre's Businesses, based in Coronado, CA
Coronado Yoga & Wellness Center
Zen of Movement, Inc. Behavioral, Wellness and Spiritual Consultations
619.437.6840

Love in Bloom in June, Part 2

Susan and Rick Roman
Rick and I had our 29th wedding anniversary on May 22nd. In those 29 years we have had 2 children (Angela, 27 and Dominic, 22), lost three out of four of our parents (my Mom died before Rick and I met), moved only twice (which may be why we are still married), and have run The Signature Room at the 95th for 17 of those years! At the altar, one of the three priests that witnessed our nuptials (you can never have too many of those, you know) asked us who will be the boss? Rick and I looked at each other like a couple of deer in the headlights and I blurted out, “He wears the pants in the family, I just tell him which ones.” Turns out that he STILL asks me what to wear almost every morning. Our secret to longevity….hmmmmmm….I would have to say appropriate communication and respect for each others’ differences. That combined with something we learned at an Anthony Robbins workshop: being each others’ “raving fan”! It is imperative to know that when everyone else appears to have it out for you in some way shape or form, you can go home and know with every fiber of your being that your partner has your back and will cheer you on to the next day. We toast with our coffee every morning, declaring, “We get another one of these!” and as many nights as possible we have a cup of tea before bed and talk about the day or just veg out and watch a TV show from our Tivo list. We also make it a habit to focus on growing together, not apart from each other. We try new things as a couple so we can continue to have new things to talk about. And we laugh! We started laughing at the altar and we still laugh and laugh and laugh. In the end that is the most important thing…laughter.

Rick and Susan Roman
The Signature Room at the 95th Chicago, IL
For more information call Susan at 312.280.0460 or email her at smr@signatureroom.com

Social Not-working!!

Is there anyone out there like me who is so totally linked out, face cooked and twittered to the state of overwhelm? Yes, it was fun to find my college beau from $%^&* years ago (and yes, we did connect) BUT I find it tedious, not fun, not necessary, and just not-working. OK, now that I've vented I've go to go update all my profiles, arghhhhhhh!