Baby Bristol

In my last post I shared the joy of experiencing the 4D Ultrasound of the arrival of my third son. Well he has arrived and the dust is beginning to settle and here “I am back in the saddle again.” Oh great – now I have the Aerosmith version of the song playing in my mind threatening to suck me into endless clicks of YouTube. Of course depending on the era of life you grew up in you may have the Gene Autry version playing in your mind but none-the-less it is good to be back in the saddle.

Babies are cute and cuddly – a noise at one end and a smell at the other. We do not mind changing them – with a clothespin over our nose – because that is what we are supposed to do. It is when they get older that they must transition to changing themselves. Nobody wants to change a teenager with diapers the size of bed sheets.

Taking the transition from working a full time job to entrepreneurship is truly a learning and growing experience that can be messy – maybe even down right dirty in the beginning. I believe it is necessary to have a coach or mentor who is willing to put the clothes pin on the nose and tell you the truth.

Who are your coach and mentor?

The realty is you will not find a personal mentor just sitting back and waiting for them to appear. You must seek them out and in most cases it will cost you something. If you are in direct sale marketing or multi level marketing – find a leader in that field and get in their organization and stick to them like glue gleaning everything you can.

The internet can be your mentor – content, content, content. You can learn so much from the content available online. You may not have the direct phone number of a great mentor or leader but you sure do have access to the knowledge base of wisdom that can help you.

Mentors come in all shapes and sizes.

Do not just get hung up with following the so called greats. Mentors and leaders are all around you. I enjoy submitting things to people around me that I know will give me honest and truthful feedback. These are also my coaches and mentors.

Don’t just learn – ACT!

You have heard the saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” This is where you go from diapers to undies. Take what you learn and put action to it – otherwise you become a storage facility of knowledge with no substance and you will move very slow and fail. Like I said, “No one likes a teenager who knows it all and is still in diapers.”

Let the clothespin become your award.

So you’ve gotten dirty, transitioned to undies and now you graduate and your diploma is your very own clothespin! That’s right – it’s your turn to take someone under your wing and develop them with this mindset: That they may succeed greater than yourself. A true mentor will have the Patriarchal desire to see the ones they raise up actually to go beyond them.

So go ahead and comment, share your nuggets of wisdom or failures that we may all learn from you.

Get in – jump in – and take the plunge! Let the mentor rise in you!

This is a big difference from our first boy almost four years ago where we had a VHS tape and 2D ultrasound pictures.

What is 4D ultrasound?

An ultrasound is the machine that allows you to see the baby during pregnancy. A sonogram is the picture taken of the baby during the ultrasound. A sonogram is a “still-shot” of the baby.  4D Ultrasounds take 3D ultrasound images, or 3D sonograms, and adds the element of time to the process. The result is live action ultrasound images of your baby. Some people refer to the procedure as prenatal imaging, 3D imaging, a 3D scan, or 4D scan.

It is amazing how technology changes and continues to enhance our experiences in life. This technology of 4D ultrasound has had an impact on our life and I share it with you.

Michael Bristol

My two little boys woke up in the morning to start their day and I greeted them with this statement,

‘Guess what!’

As I said that, my boy’s three and half year old eyes lit up with an incredible look of anticipation on his face as he said:

‘What!’

I proceeded to tell him we were going to the zoo today and told him of some of the things we would see! Oh you could feel the energy of excitement and anticipation in the air as he jumped around saying over and over,

‘Oh, oh we’re going to the zoo!’

My son had anticipation of this not so ordinary day because we created it to be a not so ordinary day.

Do you anticipate each and every day? Do you wake up with ‘The Anticipation Factor?’

‘Write down the vision and make it plain… set goals!’

You hear those crafted words at a conference and in a breakout session of a meeting you get pumped up as you write down your one, five and ten year goals – and then what?  Once you’re out the door the paper you wrote your goals on remains in the conference binder only to be found when you have to move to a new house and pack up your things.  You pull it off the dusty shelf and suddenly you realize that your goals and success are slipping away.  So you throw the binder in the moving box only to be discovered again when you are cleaning and realize once again you are on the slippery slide downward and chalked up as another statistic of a person who is losing their dream.

You determine tomorrow based on what you plan today.  You are the one who creates ‘The Anticipation Factor’ for each day.

I once watched a movie, ‘The Power of One’. The main character was taught by his mentor to look for answers to his problems in nature. He had a problem and journeyed out into the African wilderness to find answers.  He came to a powerful waterfall and stated, ‘The power of a waterfall starts with one drop.’ He came to the conclusion that one person could make a difference.

You may have dreams that seem enormous and powerful but they can be attained one day at a time. Set your future goals but create the anticipation factor for each day.

Will you wake up tomorrow with the ‘Guess what’ in your mind? If you do your dreams will become a reality.

Now it’s your turn. Comment on how you will create ‘The Anticipation Factor’ for tomorrow and help other readers come up with ideas that will help them on their journey of dream realization.

 Picture Taken by Mary Hogle http://amaraimages.com

Thankfulness is an important ingredient to add new friendships and to strengthen our existing relationships along the way. We are days away from the season of Thanksgiving here in America and typically is a time when friends and family gather around the table for a meal.

Thankfulness can be expressed in many ways. I remember a time when my Father and I went to a grocery store to pick up a few things – ‘The Honey-Do List’.  While in the checkout line I noticed the clerk had a look on her face expressing to all, this was not a good day.  It was our turn in the checkout when my dad spoke up and said, ‘Your hair looks very nice today.’ She immediately began to shine and said, ‘Thank You.’ After saying that, she turned to the clerk next to her and said, ‘You know you look very nice today.’ I stood there and watched this happen, when all of a sudden the next clerk turned to the third clerk and commented on her appearance! I was amazed how I was able to witness how one compliment began to have a ‘Chain reaction’ from one to another.

Showing thankfulness to each other can take someone from a place of feeling low to a feeling of elation.  Try this on for size.  What if you were feeling low and instead of groveling over your misfortune, you turned and thought of the people or things you were thankful for and then acted upon it.  Give action to your feelings.  Maybe the clerk noticed that the other one looked nice but she was too focused on her own pain to actually say something.

Zig Ziglar once said, ‘To deny your talents, is to deny your friends and family the fruit of those talents.’ Expressing thankfulness is a talent and is not to be denied but expressed.

One night my lovely wife, whom I have written about, was fast asleep from a long day.  I realized that she does a lot that I am thankful for, so I left ‘I Love You’ notes everywhere on things that I knew she did everyday.  I left one on the mirror when she gets ready in the morning, on the toys for the boys at bath time, on the door when she lets the dog out – you get my point.  Over the next few days she would stumble upon an ‘I Love You’. Everything she does means so much to me that I wanted her to know I am thankful for her and all the things she does.

Now it’s your turn to put action to your thankfulness. Leave your comments of whom or what you’re thankful for on this post and then forward this post (Share This) to them to put action to your thankfulness. They will read your comments and then comment and pay it forward as well.

www.FutureVisionFinancial.com

Well if you haven’t heard of Twitter, you will.  It is the city that never sleeps!  ”Twitterville” is a social networking platform where you follow and subscribe to, other peoples “tweets” or “twits” (my slang).

What is a “tweet” or “twit”?

Well it’s not what you called your little brother when he snuck into your room to rummage through your things.  A ‘Tweet’ is comprised of little snippets of information and statements limited to 140 characters. So be unique. You choose to follow people and when you do, you subscribe to their statements. If they choose, they may extend the courtesy of following you as well.

As more people follow you, you may actually have people look into your websites and blogs.  If they like you, they will want to learn more about what you have to offer.  You will begin to grow your social network at a very rapid pace if executed properly.  Before you know it you may have thousands of people subscribing to your thoughts and your blogs.

Addictive!!!

Before you know it you will find who most people are following and you will learn a great deal along the way.  These are your “Tweets”. If you wonder about the big game, just post a question, ‘Hey Twitterville? Are the Giants winning?’  O.K. – I am a Giants fan… but please don’t hold it against me and stop reading.

I believe once you begin using Twitter you will see how other people will add value to your knowledge and success.

My suggestions in starting a free Twitter account is to register and then start following people that you find interesting.  Click on profiles and see what they have to say and if you like them follow them.  I would encourage you not to click on your max of 2000 people to just get people to follow you.  The reason is you will be following 2000 people and only have 34 following you.  Then you would become the next star on “Desperate House Twitter.” This would be your “Twit.”

How do you build a network with the people you follow?  If you like what someone posted on a blog, let them know by an @reply.  This will tell all of the people following you that you liked someone’s blog and it lets the blogger know you are promoting them and like what they have to say.  “Give and it shall be given to you.”

You can Direct Message someone to thank them for following you or privately encourage them or connect.  You will definitely enjoy the experience and who knows; maybe you will become the mayor of “Twitterville.”

Follow me www.Twitter.com/michaelbristol

This is what Social Networking will do to you… suck you in and take you on an expedition into a never ending environment of information.  This can leave you wondering, ‘What to focus on to gain the best results’.  If you have A.D.D. (or are a coffee addict) you’re in for a wild ride. 

So where do you start? Of which you, the reader, will complete…

1.       Find your passion. (This Starts with Desire)

What keeps you awake at night?  When you sit down in your favorite chair, in a noiseless environment, and let out a sigh as you hit the chair.  What do you think about when you let out that single sigh? That sigh is your passion.  It’s what you want to change or add to this world.  Find what is in the sigh.

2.       Find those with like passion. (This Starts with Community)

Find those, that resonate the same sigh, that when sighed together sounds like a concert.  (Interesting thought) In that concert community, occasionally you will have a solo that trumpets the theme of what you are promoting to their network.  They will begin to pass along your passion because it resonates with them.  ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ Find the birds.

3.       Establish yourself in that community. (This Starts with Honest Contribution)

If you barge into a community expecting to blast your product, you will fall flat and be labeled as a user and not a contributor. ‘Give and it will be given unto you.’ This is why it’s called ‘Social Networking’. Social Networking is a dialogue not a monologue. Find your voice.

4.       Grow Roots in Your Establishment.  (This is Where You Focus)

A mistake that can be made in the beginning steps of Social Networking is to take on too much at once in the attempt to make your voice heard.  Once you find your community, establish yourself, build relationships and allow the solo artist to trumpet about you. Once that happens, your cross networking will begin to take place.  If you spread yourself out too much initially you will be an ‘Expert of many, but a master of none.’  Let your relational network get established in the beginning and it will grow as you go.  If you spread out too much initially you will get many invites for friendships but establish zero relationships. Find your roots.

Now the rest is up to you… What are your thoughts?  You add 5, 6, 7 and beyond with your comments and contributions to this post. Begin the Social Networking process by joining this discussion and grow roots.

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Michael Bristol

http://www.FutureVisionFinancial.com/

This is the third child that my wife is carrying; her body is left with the traces of the previous pregnancies.  Yet, I view these traces with joy because of her sacrifice to bring forth the beautiful lives of our children.

The joy of being able to work from home with the sound of my two young boys in the background offers music to this father’s ears.  Balancing a work from home life with a family can be a difficult task that can leave you present, yet not present.  I have an open door policy when it comes to my little boys and wife because I want them to know that I am always around and can be accessible.  Yet she also respects when I am on a presentation call or training, to keep the boys quiet.

 In a work from home family there has to be a mutual support, love and respect of each others time.  I can be guilty of burying my head in my computer working and forget to come out to smell the roses.  Sometimes the smell of warm muffins in the oven will bring me out, (wait I digress).

To be present yet not present in a work at home environment, can be a strain on any family and it is important to remember that balancing quality family time will actually rejuvenate the joy for your work and build the support system around you for success.