11 Ways to Have the Best Summer Ever

May 30, 2018 Leave a comment

You will never get this summer back! I am not sure how old you are, but imagine you live until 80. Do the math. How many do you have left? If you have young children, there are only so many summers before they get so independent you hardly see them.

I have great memories as a kid of the basketball camps I attended, times at my aunt’s lake place, golf with my dad, lawn dart championships in the back yard (yes they did exist, now banned), floating the Little Spokane River in tubes, family picnics with my mom’s fried chicken, and the road trips in the family station wagon to cool places in the Northwest.

Here are 11 ways to have the best summer ever.

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Breaking Through the Boring Convention

April 4, 2018 Leave a comment

What was the highlight from the last convention you attended? Can you remember the last one? What about five years ago….ten years ago?

I can promise you that when I get the opportunity to do my Breakthrough – Breaking Barriers Experience, it is remembered five, ten or every twenty years later! I just finished my new video about the program with the help of the team at Primeau Productions. I really think it turned out terrific and wanted to share it with you and ask a favor.

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A letter to my 18 year old son

November 9, 2017 Leave a comment

Today is a day you will long remember. Today you become a man. At least you are the legal age of maturity according to our culture. But it’s true. You can vote. You can drive. You can enter into a contract. You can fight and die for our country. Voting, driving, signing and fighting don’t make you a man. Being a man is about more.

I believe you were born for greatness. You were born to make a difference. Inside you are the seeds of greatness. Being a man means digging deep, finding those seeds, believing they exist, being able to delay gratification, being patient, thinking long term and watering and tending to them diligently. You must also be willing to take a close look and pull out the weeds that can ruin everything. I tell you this because I know you and what is possible for you. Our family has a long history of success and you will continue that legacy.

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What is UP with your USP? Are you standing out?

October 24, 2017 Leave a comment

Super star drummer Mark Schulman (see picture), currently with PINK on tour and Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic athlete ever were also speaking, so it was quite special. HOF was the first company to take a commodity like diamonds and give it a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). They pioneered a special way to cut diamonds that makes them sparkle more than a typical diamond. I am a believer! I was excited to see an HOF store filled with neat items and the sale was good enough even people in the jeweler business were excited. I got my wife an amazing diamond pendant on a necklace. Boy does it sparkle! It looks like it has it’s own spotlight! Yes, she was thrilled!

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Buffalo, yes that Buffalo!

July 19, 2017 Leave a comment

When was the last time you had your preconceived notations about a place blown out of the water? I was hired by Ingram Micro to speak to their Apple Distributors in Buffalo, NY. Yes that Buffalo! I had been to Buffalo before, but it was a 18 months ago in February with Davis when his travel hockey team qualified for the National Championships. It was freezing when we visited Niagara Falls.
I have always taken our kids over the years a few times a year and this time our youngest Lucas came with me. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and returned home Sunday night. Buffalo can get a bad rap and my experience from the 1000 events and hundreds of cites I have visited is that every city has something unique to offer.

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How many do you have left?

June 21, 2017 Leave a comment

“Summer’s here, I’m for that. Got my rubber sandals, got my straw hat. Got my cold beer, I’m just glad that it’s here.” That is the opening line to a classic James Taylor song. You can listen to it here. If you’re not in a ‘summer mood’ yet, you will be after listening to that. Virtually everyone I know seems busier than ever. Stress levels are high and summer has arrived just in time….and it will go by quickly.

I want to you challenge yourself to make this summer exceptional.

A good place to start is to sit down and brainstorm by yourself or with your family what will make it exceptional? When was the last time you did a simple search for fun things to do within a few 100 miles of where you live? You don’t have to take a long or expensive trip to have fun. TripAdvisor is an excellent resource to find ideas.

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Big Ass Fans and Big Ass Goals

May 2, 2017 Leave a comment

Big Ass Fans! You have got to admit that is a memorable name. I was just in Lexington, KY and had the opportunity to tour their offices and product development area with a client of mine in the building industry who is one of their customers. They used to be called HVLS as in High Volume, Low Speed, not too catchy. They changed after their customers kept calling and asking if they were the ones who made, “those big ass fans. They make them up to 24 feet wide and have some big ass goals to go along with their fans.

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Honey Can You Please Pass the Prozac? – Depression in America

March 23, 2017 Leave a comment

Honey can you pass the Prozac? Maybe not as common as salt and pepper, but the last 20 years has seen a meteoric rise in the use of anti-depressants. The NY Times in 2013 reported that ONE IN TEN Americans and ONE in FOUR women in there 40’s and 50’s are taking the drugs. Are there really that many unhappy people in the USA who can not deal with these feelings on there own and need drugs in an attempt to change the way they feel? That is really hard to believe. The article states the primary problem:

“Depression is being overdiagnosed on a remarkable scale.”

Real time update on this story – It is actually worse, NBC News in December 2016 reported – ONE IN SIX adults are taking anti-depressants. Usage has increased over 400% in the last 20 years and overdose deaths have quadrupled! Anti-depressants are the most prescribed drug in our country. Isn’t that amazing! It is a huge business over $13B. We are blessed in the USA with so much abundance and reasons to be happy and optimistic. We have the richest country and have the highest rates of depression. Nigeria is desperately poor, corrupt in a legendary way, generally filthy and has a shortage of food and water. The depression rate is 0.8%, by far the lowest of all countries surveyed.

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