It’s NOT Common Core that’s the Problem

I surely can’t speak for the professional educators, or the Governments Dept of Education, or the Governor’s who have enacted “Common Core” …

I am fortunate enough to have grown up on a tomato farm in southern New Jersey in the 50’s and 60’s. My teachers (most of them) taught my father in the same small elementary school I attended (Grade K-5) I graduated from Paulsboro H.S. in Paulsboro, N.J. in the Top 20% (30 of 150) Our Top Students went to Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania I went to the University of South Dakota because my Coach knew the Athletic Director there and they offered me a scholarship (I didn’t know a person in S.D. at the time I boarded a plane to fly there)

My H.S. Chemistry teacher told me I was a good Chemistry student, so I majored in Chemistry. Ultimately I converted to math and because I enlisted into the USMC Platoon Leaders Class (PLC) commissioning program and was accepted into Flight school I took some engineering classes my last two years which is what I would have majored in IF I’d only know then what I knew at the end of college – oh well, such is life.

This picture is a picture of “my tools” then (1964-1968) – I’ll call them – “Old Core” and for us then they were certainly “common”

I had a passion for flying then; I still do today and would continue to do it if they’d let me (“common sense” and “age” preclude such activities at a commercial level today)

PASSION in my mind is the key to success – regardless of your pursuit in life or your station.  I ran across this YouTube clip this week and for my money this young woman – Valentina Lisitsa possesses and demonstrates unsurpassed Passion (please take 7:34 of your day and listen and watch this pianist play Beethoven’s “Appassionata”)

Passion and talent has and will always propel society forward … education’s main purpose in my opinion should be to identify and nurture our children’s passions and talents – the tools we use will certainly advance because those with that passion and talent will see to it. If you think a minute about Valentina’s performance – she was taught, played on a wonderful piano someone developed, and played music written 200 years ago by Beethoven, I call this a “perfect storm” if you will.  Question is – where do these talents, passions and inspirations come from?  I believe from God.  I don’t know everything about every Religion, but I do know every Religion states their God provides all his children talents, spiritual gifts, etc; I’d like to call these things our Genius.  We all have a unique genius and as Dick Richards in his book “Is your genius at work? 4 key questions to ask before your next career move.” Richards writes, “The renaissance of genius has been encouraged by Wayne Dyer in The Power of Intention, James Hillman in The soul’s Code, Deepak Chopra in Seven Spiritual Laws of success, Gary Zukav in Seat of the Soul … Hillman offers – each person bears a uniqueness that asks to be lived and that is already present before it is lived.

We all have these gifts, mine is flying, Valentina’s is piano – what is yours? What is your child’s genius?  This is a better question to ask.

Finally, I believe once we discover our passion, our genius, if you will – we then MUST use it in the best way possible to benefit ourselves, our family, our society and ultimately our world.  Our “Moral Conviction’s” need to abide the naysayers, the temptations of this world and stay true to ourselves and our Genius.

Common Core is NOT the issue … living our lives in harmony with our higher Power’s gifts, talents, passions and genius – that’s the life we should seek with all our heart, mind and soul.

Namaste



HOPE is a four letter word!

Have you ever found yourself working with a prospect for any extended period of time?  All of your interactions have been positive; they appear to like you and by all indications are interested in your ideas. They request a proposal (RFP) and you spend hours creating one. You give them your – unique selling proposition (USP) and they respond with the magic words (be honest now … you’ve heard it before, perhaps many times before!)

“Everything looks great. Let me get back to you in a few days and we can move forward.”

“Boom” (followed with the corresponding fist pump) … “it’s all over but the shout.” Back to the paperwork – you update your sales funnel forecast and then begin that dreaded wait for the “big” call.

A couple of days go by … nothing … a few more days – still no call. You tell yourself “He’s probably busy…no time to become a pest …I’m sure he’ll reach out soon.” Days turn into a week and still – nothing. You finally decide to follow up but are surprised that calls aren’t returned and your texts and emails seem to have been intercepted by the NSA.

Sound familiar?

What went wrong?

How can you prevent this from happening again?

Here’s some practical advice to help you kick the “Hopeium” habit and begin filling your sales funnel with real opportunities!

Start by asking fewer “hopeful” questions. They add little value and make it too easy for your customer to be agreeable. When salesmen “probe” and only look for good news that’s typically what they find. Asking hopeful questions like “Are we still on track to get the contract signed this week?” or “Do you have everything you need?”  These questions might make YOU feel better but they don’t encourage honest feedback from the prospect.

Let’s eliminate “Hopeium” from your approach.  Start by asking questions focused on uncovering the real problems/issues in the prospects mind about the proposal you’ve presented.  Questions like “I sense that this RFP has you nervous, does it?” give the prospect permission to share their concerns (“Yes, I’m still a little nervous”). This way they don’t feel the pressure of having to introduce bad news to you because you’ve already broken that ground for them.

Some of you may be thinking its risky business to introduce negativity, fears, uncertainties or doubts during the selling process.  And odds are pretty good that your funnels are full of stalled opportunities right now – wrapped in nothing but good news. You don’t have a clue as to why the deal isn’t moving forward and you keep “hoping” that something will happen.  It’s time – you need to re-evaluate your approach.

When you ask questions focused on flushing out bad news, one of two things will happen. Your prospect will either validate the bad news (“Yes, I’m still a little nervous about price”) or they will push back and defend their position (“No I’m not nervous about the pricing model, as a matter of fact, this looks like something we can do”) … either reply is good; you’ve encouraged them to share their reality and that’s where sincere opportunities are created.

Your success is a function of how well you discover, probe and resolve your prospects concerns. The critical piece that most reps overlook is creating an environment where it’s safe for buyers to share their uneasiness. If the customer thinks you will resist or balk at bad news, there is a good chance that you’re not going to hear any. At least not until it is too late.

You can build a sales career by knowing how to get customers to say “yes.”  BUT you get to the top by making it easier for them to say “no.”



How’s that “hope and change” … working out for you now???

Just a thought … brought to you by your local Coach.

How do you see yourself in 2014?

Who do you see 1st?

Look at this picture closely … what do you see?  Keep looking – do you see the other woman?  I’m sure you’ll find them both … just as you would if you look at yourself as closely! (Don’t we all have at least (2) sides to our nature?


Goals – there’s (2) sides to them: Set and accomplished or Set and abandoned!  What’s your percentage year in and year out?

At this time of the year you’ll hear people publish their “New Year’s Resolutions” to the office … many if not all will be abandoned by Valentine’s Day a mere 45 days into the year!  Why? My experience with clients is that they don’t have the necessary ingredients, systems or procedures to follow to achieve success.  Successful goal setting and more importantly successful goal achievement takes forethought and follow through … you’ll need a system and you’ll need discipline to stick to the tasks.

It’s important to understand the obstacles we’ll face along the way – here’s a list (not comprehensive) of the land mines we can encounter:

  • Lack of belief in yourself
  • No sustained Support
  • Too much concern with Fear of Failure
  • Too much concern with Fear of Success
  • Poor Organization
  • Lack of defined action steps
  • “Failure to launch,” – not taking action


Perhaps in 2013 you focused on things that you thought were important but they didn’t turn out to be what you expected. As a result, last year went away without you being any closer to your goals. I know that’s happened to me before…


Your goals didn’t seem to matter as much as the fires that “needed” to put out. As a result, you and I are another year older with nothing new to show for it. This year, let’s change this – shall we?


  • Let’s live in a world of constant and never ending improvement.
  • Let’s toss the status quo out the window.
  • Let’s kick conformity and complacency to the curb.
  • Let’s find out what we’re BEST at and live our dreams through them.
  • Let’s promise to let our clients, friends, family and fans know how great they are in 2014!


I wouldn’t take you down this path if I didn’t have something in mind! The Solution – “My Perfect on Purpose Plan” we call it MP³


A significant piece of this plan is the “Perfect on Purpose Day” click here to see what I’m talking about;  this Plan when followed, with support (Coaching) and implemented will convert you into becoming my favorite type of person – you’ll become a “Master Goal Achiever” (leaving all the rest, the “Master Goal Setters – in the dust)


Here’s to your 2014 !!!

FTC: One Out of Five Consumers Has Errors on Their Credit Report

caption=”Which one is you?

Go to this link to watch the story on how many people have errors in their report (how many are significant errors!) and what to do to fix it!  When it comes to your Credit File YOU must be proactive to maintain it up to date and error free … the report effects many aspects of your life: refinance of home, auto’ loans;  Home owners insurance rates;  health Insurance rates; ability to rent an apartment, house, office space, etc.  We provide continuous monitoring; repair; restoration and Peace of Mind for your entire family for pennies a day, check it out


How to Respond to a Suspicious IRS-related Communication

Identity Thieves are busy this time of the year.  They are making the IRS work overtime.  Currently, as of September 2012, there were 650,000 unresolved cases within the IRS dealing with Identity Theft.  Here’s a link to help you if you receive suspicious IRS-related communications

Tax Related Identity Theft

As many people are filing their taxes it’s time to be on the lookout for what the Identity Thieves are doing … here’s an article that may prove useful (more)

Stickups – Down … Identity Theft – Up

Bank robberies are down significantly plummeting over that past 15 years.  What was once a “high -reward … Low -risk” crime is now just the opposite.  Banks have employed guards, sentencing is more strict and the result was as expected – less bank robbery.

Criminals have “adapted” just like viruses and are now immune to the latest tactics used by law enforcement and are now using “cyber techniques” to accomplish their robberies.  Identity theft is up significantly over the same period and the trend is increasing.  The criminals now look at Identity Theft as the “high – reward … low – risk” crime of choice.  Jack Nicas wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal on February 5, 2013 – “Crime That No Longer Pays” … you might peruse it for greater insight.

My solution to this and other cyber crimes is to use the Legal Shield Identity Theft Protection Plan that covers me and my spouse, and for an extra $1.00 it covers all my dependent children under the age of 18 – it differs from all other plans in that it provides “Restoration”, in other words they restore my credit back to its’ pre-breach status.  My accounts are continuously monitored, any activity is reported to me via email and text msg, I check the activity to see if its been generated by me, if not I call an 800 number and begin the fix, restore process – all for $13.95 a month.  It’s that easy to provide you and your loved ones Peace of Mind!  Take a look at what is provided by clicking (more) and if you want assistance in setting up your families protection get in touch with me.

You are NOT safe from Identity Theft

It’s time for you to take a look at the reality of “cyber -crimes” and how it is effecting your life.  The stakes are enormous.  “We the People” trust in our government to protect us, we trust in our large institutions (banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, etc.) to do likewise.  The cyber criminals on the other hand, relentlessly, pursue an agenda that comes in many facets.  Some are political enemies of the United States and wish to destroy our financial institutions to topple our government; others are out and out criminals stealing our identities to rob our bank accounts, use our credit cards, steal our health benefits, use our social security numbers to gain employment, rob our driver’s licenses and in some cases use our good name and clean record to commit crimes or to gain access to our country because their given name is on a “watch list” that prevents them from entering our Country.

Far too many people believe that if they simply destroy their credit cards, cut up their social security card, lock away their driver’s license, shread their documents, etc that they will be safe (the latest iteration of the Ostrich with its head buried in the sand) – this can’t be further from the truth.  Since our birth, institutions have obtained our confidential personal information from hospitals, schools, employers, banks, etc … our new born babies require applications for social security cards before leaving the hospital (today the fastest growing aspect of identity theft is the theft of children’s identities between the ages of 0-18) our information is “out there”  Today’s thieves are “hacking” into these large institutions with all of our confidential date (supposedly safeguarded) and using it for their purposes.

Our only safeguard is to purchase an Identity Theft Protection Plan, have it monitor our credit bureau activity, alert us to changes within our files (including our children’s files) then provide us with information on how to handle the illegal use of our information.  Collectively, all of our “personal confidential information” has been stolen by these thieves as they hack into large institutions; our Government indicates over 500 Million personal records have been compromised (that they know about) and we know there are only 360 Million Americans, therefore it’s easy to see they have our information already.

This headline was in today’s paper – “Fed says internal site breached by hackers, no critical functions affected” (more) I rest my case – when the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States of America gets hacked you and I have no hope of protection.

Take Action Today … spend 12 minutes and view my video … it will allow you to see what protection looks like and it will provide you peace of mind – peace of mind for your entire family including your babies, children and teen-agers.

THE OTHER HALF OF THE STORY









Not to diminish the “risk” American’s face from criminals with guns, I’d like to present another “risk” American’s are facing. As Daniel Wood states the US Crime rate is at a decade’s low, the FTC just reported: For Release: 02/28/2012


FTC Releases Top Complaint Categories for 2011

Identity Theft Once Again Tops the List

The Federal Trade Commission today released its list of top consumer complaints received by the agency in 2011. For the 12th year in a row, identity theft complaints topped the list.

Identity Theft Reported By Households, 2005-2010  –Lynn Langton

November 30, 2011    NCJ 236245

Presents data on the nature of and trends in identity theft victimization among U.S. households from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The NCVS defines identity theft as the misuse or attempted misuse of an existing credit card or another existing account or the misuse of personal information to open a new account or for other fraudulent purposes. Findings are based on experiences of all household members age 12 or older as reported by the head of household. The data brief examines changes in the percentage of households experiencing identity theft from 2005 to 2010. It describes differences in the types of identity theft experienced by households in 2010 compared to 2005, as well as changes in the demographic characteristics of victimized households. The brief also presents estimates on the monetary losses attributed to household victims of identity theft.

Highlights:

  • In 2010, 7.0% of households in the United States, or about 8.6 million households, had at least one member age 12 or older who experienced one or more types of identity theft victimization.
  • Among households in which at least one member experienced one or more types of identity theft, 64.1% experienced the misuse or attempted misuse of an existing credit card account in 2010.
  • From 2005 to 2010, the percentage of all households with one or more type of identity theft that suffered no direct financial loss increased from 18.5% to 23.7%.

WHAT TO DO?

Protect yourself!

Criminals are coming at us on (2) fronts – Overt and Covert.  It’s your decision on how best to mitigate the Overt … self defense, awareness, alarms, firearms.

On the Covert side … Identity Theft is a “silent killer” affecting millions and the story is getting worse – more victims year after year.  We offer the solution you’ve been looking for, monitoring your Credit Bureau Activity (like everyone does) PLUS we provide “restoration” … we restore you back to your “pre-breach” status … this restoration is unique within the industry, others do not provide it and according to the FTC the average victim spends over 800 hours repairing their own credit when victimized – that’s 40% of a complete years work at 40 hours per week.  Restoration is a valuable service.  Here’s the info if you’re interested.

HALF OF THE STORY











For a guaranteed blank stare, ask gun-control proponents how often Americans use guns to defend themselves. They can’t tell you, because they don’t ask.

Suppose a guy goes to a baseball game. “Honey,” his wife asks afterward, “who won the game?” The husband says, “The Dodgers scored four runs.” What’s missing? Obviously, the wife still knows nothing about the outcome because she knows only one-half of the equation. Well, how can one responsibly discuss “how many people die because of guns” without discussing the other half of the equation — how many people would not be alive without their defensive use of a gun?

So, how often do Americans use firearms for self-defense?

Criminologist Gary Kleck estimates that 2.5 million Americans use guns to defend themselves each year. Out of that number, 400,000 believe that but for their firearms, they would have been dead.

Professor Emeritus James Q. Wilson, the UCLA public policy expert, says: “We know from Census Bureau surveys that something beyond 100,000 uses of guns for self-defense occur every year. We know from smaller surveys of a commercial nature that the number may be as high as 2 1/2 or 3 million. We don’t know what the right number is, but whatever the right number is, it’s not a trivial number.”

Former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney David P. Koppel studied gun control for the Cato Institute. Citing a 1979-1985 study by the National Crime Victimization Survey, Koppel found: “When a robbery victim does not defend himself, the robber succeeds 88 percent of the time, and the victim is injured 25 percent of the time. When a victim resists with a gun, the robbery success rate falls to 30 percent, and the victim injury rate falls to 17 percent. No other “response to a robbery” — from drawing a knife to shouting for help to fleeing — produces such low rates of victim injury and robbery success.”

When asked if additional gun laws would be beneficial or have no effect, most Americans get it. They oppose shifting power to the criminal. And they don’t need the National Rifle Association to tell them: The only people willing to abide by additional gun laws are the law-abiding.

Larry Elder is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com.

“US crime rate at lowest point in decades. Why America is safer now.” The crime rate for serious crimes, including murder, rape, and assault, has dropped significantly since the early 1990s in part because of changes in technology and policing, experts say.

By Daniel B. Wood, Staff writer / January 9, 2012