Just Got Back from New York

Just got back from a 10 day work trip to Manhattan.  I worked way too much but I took every free chance I had to see the sights.  I got to see everything I was hoping to see.  New York is 100% all the time.  It makes me appreciate what I have here in Seattle.  City life with the small town life just miles away.  Everywhere you go in Manhattan you are downtown.  I even got to eat at the Shopsin's restaurant that I mentioned in the previous post.  Amazing food, I am still thinking about it.  I had the Spingsteen with Smashbrowns. 

I am very happy that I can now cross New York off of the list.  Many more things to see.  Cabo is next.

The Rise of the Little Guys

We get so caught up in convenience that we don't even think for a second about where our money is going and what that decision ultimately affects.  I watched a short video today about how the big stores like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Costco are completely wiping out small businesses.  If you stop for a second and think about it there are some pretty severe consequences by doing all of your shopping at major chains.  Think about when and where you grew up.  What was once the local grocery store everyone shopped is now gone and a Walmart has replaced it.  Spanaway is a perfect example.  If you needed something growing up you went to Safeway or you went to Stock Market.  Now that a Walmart Superstore rolled into town everyone is shopping there.  Those other two are ghost towns.  This is happening everywhere in America.  The town in Missouri I lived in for a while (St. Joseph) has a Super Walmart on both ends of the same street!  I worked there twice!  They paid me and every one else there nothing.

But you should think about all of the small mom and pop stores that Walmart drove out of business.  Some of those people had to go on and get jobs at Walmart!  How sad is that?   It makes you really appreciate some of the Seattle towns like Ballard, Fremont, and West Seattle.  Where it seems as though they are not allowing the big corporate outfits to open businesses.  I have thought more than a few times while working in Fremont, "Man I wish they had a McDonald's close to my work."  But I catch myself and think how nice it is that Fremont doesn't allow these guys to come in.  A lot of mom and pop shops are able to survive because of it.

I can literally walk outside of my place and throw a rock at McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Time, and Wendy's.  If I put a crow hop into it I can hit the Olive Garden right next to the Azteca!  I bet reading this will make you think twice about shopping at the big places or at least make you think about it while you are doing it.  How cool would it be to devote a month to shopping at only locally owned stores and small businesses?

If you have never heard of Shopsin's in New York I would highly recommend watching "I Like Killing Flies".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390109/
Get it on Netflix.  Thank the Lord that places like this are still in business!


If the big guys have their way every personable locally owned place you shop at will be gone.  You will be giving your business to the giants out there making big wigs and stock holders needlessly wealthy while we (the little consumer) have no choice but to give our business to them.  You know when you hear about a CEO that got 100's of millions of dollars for a bonus last year?  It's because of all the business they get.


Makes you stop and think about it.  Everyone I know has at one time or another thought of starting their own business.  From opening a restaurant to selling tshirts.  If enough people are forced to do their shopping at the big names there will be NO CHANCE for the mom and pop shop to start, let alone survive.

I don't know if it is my ACN experience that got me to think more about this or the YouTube video I watched(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5WVNr7DuFY).  But it is starting to get completely out of hand.

The ACN example: the Telecommunications industry is a TRILLION+ dollar industry.  ACN has a less than 1% presence.  You can easily guess who the major players are and who gets rich off of the proceeds.  ACN gives the little guy a chance to run their own small business selling the major products and brands people already use today and give them a chance to get just a crumb of that TRILLION+ dollar profit.  Yes this means the major outfits like TMobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are still getting their large chunks but at least we(the little guys) are getting our crumbs.  When I say crumbs I mean 1% of $1,000,000,000,000.  You are more than welcome to go start your own cell phone company, not.

Pretty unbelievable.  The next time you drive through your old town take note of the new big stores, restaurants, movie places, banks, etc.  Even the smallest of towns out in the middle of nowhere are being taken over. (please visit Omak, WA)

Thank you for listening.
Chipper :)

The Power of Positivity

While flying back from Charlotte I was sitting next to an older gentleman flying home to Oklahoma City.  I usually don't talk much on planes but with the new attitude this year I got out of my comfort and struck up a conversation.  He was a very nice guy that worked in the mortgage business.  I mentioned that I had served in the Marines and he told me that his only son would be leaving for the Marines in June.  I gave him a lot of advice that would help his son and some advice that will help him and his wife as well.  The most important piece of advice that I gave him was to let their son know how proud they were of him.  My parents let me know how proud they were of me during one of the most stressful times of my life and it helped tremendously. 

Being 18 years old in Marine Corps boot camp, I struggled daily wondering why I was there putting myself through hell.  Nearing the end of high school I had no direction and was not at all ready for college.  Instead of working a low paying job while hoping to make my mind up, I joined the military.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I just knew it was probably better for me than not doing it.  I was lucky enough to get the scores needed for a computer job.  I say lucky because I barely finished high school on time.  I just didn't put forth the effort and thankfully showing up to class everyday got me through.  My teachers must have really liked me because I never did my homework.  I remember my dad telling me, "Son, I don't care what you do with the rest of your life... I just want you to graduate from high school on time."  So I did, barely. 

Even though I barely made it, my father still made it a point to tell me he was proud of me.  When I was struggling in boot camp wondering if I should quit, he told me he was proud of me.  When I graduated from boot camp and he was there with my brother, again proud.  After the Marines I went to college and got very good grades my first semester, same.  My mother was just as supportive.  It has helped me more than they could ever know.  I might have quit had they not made it a point to let me know how proud they were of me.  It helps me realize that positivity is the catalyst to success.  Knowing this helps me to be positive during negative times in my life. 

I know these times are different, kids are different, and parenting is different.  But letting a child know that you are proud of them will have a bigger impact on them that you could ever imagine.  It did for me.

Today Marks One Month in ACN

It doesn't seem like it but today makes it one month since I joined ACN.  I have attended about 5 events.  Not bad considering this a "when I have time" venture.  I have already reached the first level up as a Qualified Team Trainer.  Small steps I know, but with my full time job going strong every bit of progress and leveling up is nothing but a great.  At the beginning of the year I made the decision to try new things.  To get out of my comfort zone and say yes to things I would normally say no to out of habit or fear of failure.  I decided to focus more at work and learn more technologies, challenge myself more in my personal life, and simply try to be a better person in general.  I wasn't a bad person before, but I honestly did wonder a lot about what I needed to do to make my life better and get at least a little bit ahead.  No matter how much more I made I always seemed to be living paycheck to paycheck.  By no means did I have anything to complain about.  I have a wonderful family, great girlfriend, literally a 1000 people which I would consider great friends, and I honestly do love my job.  I have worked with some of the nicest people you could ever meet.  For that, I am truly happy with my life.

I have always been a different breed of person, anyone who has ever met me would say that I think WAY outside of the box.  I have always wanted to do something that made people happy.  Saturday Night Live, standup comic, writer, motivational speaker, etc.  But didn't know the first thing about how to do it.  I should have studied theater or script writing in college.  But I was too busy playing football and worrying about everything but school.  I did study communications enough to know that I love standing in front of people and presenting.  I find it thrilling more than scary.  I did a lot of self thought, wondered what I was doing and where I planned on going.  I really do love my job.  I am currently a Systems Engineer in IT.  To put it plainly I work on really big computers.  It comes very easy to me and I always thrive in a customer facing role.  I truly enjoy dealing with people face to face and providing a great product.  I get to do that in IT.  Very rewarding and won't be leaving any time soon.

But as much as I love working in IT,  it's not Saturday Night Live, standup comic, writer, or motivational speaker.  So I am left to wonder "what next?"

ACN International Convention in Charlotte, NC

What a great trip.  As good as I thought it was going to be it turned out to be amazing.  22,000 people filled the sold out Time Warner Cable Arena for three straight days.  Great training presented by all and everyone in attendance was excited.  Imagine what it feels like to have that many people in the same place all giving of positive energy.  I am absolutely thrilled that I made the trip.  I learned even more about the opportunity and how I can be successful.  The co-founders of ACN gave a great presentation that left you excited about what ACN is about and how they plan to make it even better.  As usual I got the chance to meet so many great people.  Every single one of them wanting everyone else to be successful.  Never before in my life have I been a part of something so positive.  I am a better person for it. 

Started Reading "The Attractor Factor"

I decided to stop watching movies on my iPod during my bus ride to work and start reading. It's amazing how much your brain is a muscle and you have to get used to reading again. I had a copy of "The Attractor Factor" by Joe Vitale sitting in my computer room for the past 4 years. I started to read it a few times but didn't keep up with it. I made it a goal to finish the book in at least a month. I read a chapter to and from work every day I ride the bus. Just finished Chapter 3. Very good book so far. Easy to follow and written with people like me in mind. It's all about giving off good energy and how to get what you want. If you want something bad enough you should start attracting that thing into your life. Stop saying NO to yourself and allow yourself to succeed.

Here is a free PDF version summary of the "5 Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) from the Inside Out":
http://www.frumi.com/images/uploads/TheAttractorFactor.pdf
(Very good read for people trying to market themselves)

I will let you know more about it as I go along.

Making New Friends out of Complete Strangers...

What a great networking tool! I was changing buses today in Downtown Seattle and bumped into the guy I was sitting next to at the Saturday training. His name is Anthony. Nice guy. We said what's up as we passed each other. We both were in a hurry. Had it not been for ACN he would have just been a complete stranger walking by. It's funny how things work. As big as Seattle is it really is a small town. I see people I know all of the time. I wonder how many times this will happen because of the people I meet at ACN. Some people just don't get it, how beneficial and healthy it is to have a large network of good people. You never know when you might need a hand or when your help might be needed.