My husband and I always enjoy hiking Kennesaw Mountain in Kennesaw, Georgia. On mornings that are clear, we can see the Atlanta skyline far-off in the distance.

On other mornings, when we reach the top of the mountain, all we can see is thick fog. The fog is so dense; it’s difficult to see anything beyond a few yards from where we’re standing.

When it’s foggy, it’s almost hard to believe that the Atlanta skyline even exists. But our subconscious knows it does and tells us it does. That’s what faith is all about - having a firm belief in something for which there is no proof.

Accordingly, just because you can’t see the great potential, which lies within you, doesn’t mean it’s not there. It was there the day you were born. Your job is to “unleash” it. Just because you may be feeling hopeless, doesn’t mean hope doesn’t exist. It’s always there, waiting for you to grasp it and move forward.

It’s so easy for many to throw their hands up and literally accept defeat without a fight. And others seem to hang their head, giving up after losing only one battle. Nevertheless, you must believe that your possibilities are still endless.

I love the quote by Conrad Hilton, which says, “Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”

Success could be right around the corner. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. You’ve got to embrace that…and keep moving forward!

Well, he’s not little anymore, but he was at the time. When I was fourteen, Jay was six years old. He was a well-mannered little kid with curly red hair, a face full of freckles and an easy smile. As a matter of fact, he could even cook a full breakfast for himself, at six years old!

His mother worked odd hours, which usually left him on his own most of the time, so Jay learned early on to do for self. After I discovered he was an only child, I became his unofficial big brother and he treated me as such.

One day, I saw him as he was going to the neighborhood convenience store. I spotted him walking at a quick pace in my direction. I was on my way to the tennis court to practice my game.

Calling out to him as I always did, I shouted, “How’s it going, Jay?”

He yelled back, “Fine, but I can’t talk right now because I have to go to the store for my mom.”

After we had made it within a few feet of each other, I noticed something was in his hair that made it look all matted together.

I inquired, “Jay, what’s that in your hair?”

His response was, “Nothing…I can’t talk right now or I’ll get in trouble. I have to go to the store for my mom.”

He started to cry.

I called out, “Jay what’s wrong?”

Once again, his reply was the same.

“Nothing.”

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Effective leaders encourage their people to question everything. When we begin to question things, we elevate our thinking. When we elevate our thinking, we also expand our possibilities. And when we expand our possibilities, we will come to realize that the facts don’t count. The facts are only the truth as long as we believe them.

We cannot live our lives based solely on facts because facts are changing almost daily. Furthermore, the facts don’t motivate us anyway — the possibilities do! William Faulkner exclaimed, “Facts and truth really don’t have much to do with each other.

“The fact of the matter is, in 1949 when the Federation for the Blind was founded, 99 percent of the blind people in America were unemployed. So, the founders of this organization decided to encourage their members to view blindness as a personality trait rather than a disability.

In other words, the leaders of this organization encouraged their people to rethink what was possible for them. They changed the facts! Because of this paradigm shift, blind people today are succeeding in areas once believed impossible. They now work in almost every field imaginable…teachers, attorneys, mayors, artists, Olympic athletes, professors, entertainers, TV talk show hosts, professional speakers, etc., and the list goes on and on of professions which the blind now occupy.

Are you old enough to remember Allen Funt from Candid Camera? Well, he used to always say that most people don’t question things. They just accept things as they are and invariably go with the flow.

The Candid Camera crew was in Delaware filming a few segments for their television show. They put up a giant sign that read, “Delaware Closed Today.” Mr. Funt commented that what was so amazing about the entire episode was the fact that most of the motorists didn’t even question this outrageous stunt. Some of them just asked, “Well, uh…is Jersey open?”

…Excerpt from Grow Through It & Lead

Dr. Leila Denmark was born on February 1, 1898 in Bulloch County, Georgia. The year she was born, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was 49 years. Currently, she is the 67th oldest person in the world, according to the short list of super-centenarians (people at least 110 years old or older.)

Dr. Denmark was the 3rd female graduate of the Medical College of Georgia in 1928. She was one of the first female pediatricians in Atlanta and practiced medicine for more than 70 years. It has been estimated that Dr. Denmark treated more than 250,000 patients during her distinguished career. She is credited with being the co-developer of the Whooping Cough vaccine, which saved countless lives of children in the early part of the 20th Century.

When I first met Dr. Denmark in 2002, she was 104 years old, and had just closed her medical practice the previous year, at 103. At that time, she was the oldest practicing physician in America.

Over the years, I’ve learned many valuable life lessons by staying in contact with this legendary Atlanta doctor. Some of them prompted me to do further investigation, and I incorporate many of them into my daily life. Coming from Dr. Denmark, they were even more powerful because she has seen many years come and go. Here are a few lessons she shared with me… Read the rest of this entry »

I once read that all the fur in the world cannot warm a lifetime of coldness. I was young at the time and could not really wrap my brain around such a powerful statement. But now, with the passage of time, being older and wiser, I know exactly what it means.

My 110 year old friend, Dr. Leila Denmark, a legendary pediatrician for more than 70 years in the metro Atlanta area told me once, “The greatest change I’ve seen in my lifetime has been the neglect of little children.” She went on to say that “Children are not getting enough parental guidance, and it’s wrecking this nation. Parenting has gone out of style.”

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Your company image comes down to one thing, your packaging. The way your brand is packaged has the power to influence a potential customer to buy. Packaging refers to your business card, your stationery, website, phone answering system, your email address or anything else related to your business, tangible or intangible.

Is your company conveying the right image? My Spanish professor in college used to tell us, “It’s not who finishes first, it’s who gets the “A”, so before you rush to get that brochure printed, make sure you let someone else look over it for correct spelling, proper use of grammar, photo clarity, and overall design. Branding really boils down to how a product makes a customer feel. The late Walt Disney wrote, “People spend money when and where they feel good.”

Branding your product effectively can also help your company stand out from the crowd. John Williams, the branding and image expert wrote that we must brand, package, and market ourselves so that we are desirable. Today, effective branding isn’t an option, it’s an absolute necessity. Your business will be viewed in a certain manner either by choice or default. We have the power to choose how we’re going to be represented in the marketplace.

After we understand what branding can mean for our organization, we must embrace Personal Branding for our own benefit. Personal Branding is about understanding who you are, what you stand for, what you want to be known for, and what you believe. It is not enough for people to know what you do, you want people to know you for what you do differently. Being another player in your category will not make you known. You want people to perceive you as the best in your category…the only solution to their problem.

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Someone once said, a vacation is what you take when you cannot take what you have been taking any longer. When you live a busy life, it is easy to find yourself out of fuel and feeling a little run-down. Anyway, you do not always need a long vacation to renew your mind and give your brain some fresh air. Sometimes, you just need a day off.

Business owners sometimes fool themselves into believing that their business cannot afford to lose them for even one day. Well, it can. Trust me, long after you’re gone, the world will continue to spin on its axis.

So…be kind to yourself. No one can do it better than you can. Put your feet up, relax your mind, get a massage, go to a movie, go to one of Georgia’s State Parks, (entrance is FREE on Wednesdays) do something that will make you feel refreshed. Just make sure you add some FUN into your life.

Sometimes a day off can be your BEST reward for your overworked life.

It may sound harsh, but it’s true: Businesses that fail to advertise - very often fail completely.

Advertising is a necessary investment for any business – new or seasoned. Unfortunately, many business owners neglect advertising for a variety of reasons, including cost and lack of advertising savvy. This is something that just shouldn’t happen.

If any business is to do well, people absolutely have to know that it exists. That means getting your name out and planting it in the mind of potential customers. There are lots of avenues to explore when it comes to increasing your exposure, including: word-of-mouth, radio, television, business publications, bulletin boards, classified ads, billboards, press releases, articles, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, seminars, advertising specialties, and last but not least, the Internet.

As a reminder, if your business caters to a high-end market, you’ll have to pay close attention to the company image you project. The people you want to reach are used to buying products and services that meet certain standards. Your advertising will have to indicate that your business meets or exceeds those standards, or consumers won’t consider using you.

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Most people who know me also know that I’m very particular about how things are done when it comes to publishing a supplement to my website called, People You Need to Know in metro Atlanta. With a circulation of 500,000, free of charge at locations such as Kroger, Publix, Kmart, Blockbuster, Sears and Bally’s Fitness Centers, I want my brand to stand out from the crowd. (A copy of this publication can be viewed here.)

Over the years, I’ve had to struggle with graphic designers, printers, photographers, makeup artists, cosmetologists, etc., just to make sure they were giving me their absolute best. After trying to convince my commercial printer, whom I no longer use, to move my front cover up to the next level in terms of clarity, his response was, “Anybody else would be happy with it, Spark Plug.”

Of course, I explained to him that I wasn’t “anybody else” and I knew he could do a better job with his equipment worth millions of dollars. Eventually, we reached my goal. He later thanked me for helping him go the extra mile in terms of giving me a product in which I was satisfied.

This experience is all too common because too many people are ready and willing to do just enough to get by. So when it comes to your brand, make sure you remain at the helm of the ship so that you’ll be in charge of building a brand that you can be proud of.

Quite simply, your brand is your identity in the marketplace.

In 1997 when Tom Peters wrote one of the first articles on personal branding in Fast Company Magazine, The Brand Called You, he said you have to be your own brand, the CEO of Me, Inc. In other words, you have to differentiate yourself from everyone else.

If you are serious about being in business for yourself or being the top performer on your job, you must become devoted to your brand. It all begins with you.

Your dress, the way you answer the phone, the way you speak, the way you network, your business card, your website, email address, all the way down to whether or not you return phone calls, your personal brand is broadcasting what you stand for - what you believe in - your best selling features.

We all fall short at times but personally, my pet peeve happens to be people who don’t return phone calls in a timely manner or not at all. I like to call them people who are not concerned about their brand.

John Williams, one of America’s leading image and branding authorities says, when it comes to branding, a negative impression can cause a potential customer to take a detour just as a positive reaction can influence a potential customer to buy. The goal in branding must be to package and market yourself so that you are the most desirable choice for the consumer.

What does your brand say about you? Does it say you’re someone people need to know?

Lions have gotten some great PR over the years; so much so, most people believe they are the King of Jungle. The truth of the matter is, they mostly inhabit grassy plains called savannas.

But what I’d like to focus on is the fact that they live the largest part of their lives in territorial groups called prides or in our business language, a network. They are the only permanently social, or group-living cat; all other cats are solitary…which brings me to my next point.

Our People You Need to Know Grass Roots Publicity Tour has revealed to us that the one-man band marketing approach is down to its last song. We realize most people wouldn’t see the fault in this one-man band approach because of our individualistic culture. Still…this marketing technique is not as effective in today’s “less trusting” business climate.

We promote an array of businesses in our publication and our clients don’t have to be at the Business Expo because we’re representing them. We’re all there as a team. The one-man band’s one-pager or business card gets lost in the shuffle compared to a first-class publication, which has more power than a solitary business card or one-pager.

My advice would be to find an organization that’s committed to promoting your business in a variety of ways, but above all else, make sure they promote teamwork via a publication, brochure, newsletter, networking event, etc. In the end, the “orchestra” has a better chance of succeeding than the one-man band.

No one is going to know your business exists unless YOU tell them about it, render the type of service and quality to get others talking about it or pay someone else to get the word out for you. And the quickest way to do that is to invest - yes, invest - in advertising. But where should you advertise and how much of it should you do? How much should you spend? How often should you advertise? What form should it take?

Lots of questions. Let’s look at some of the answers. And please note: Every advertising plan is unique, so these answers are just possibilities - suggestions - and should not be construed as YOUR plan. You will need to investigate the possibilities for your product and your target market and come up with your own plan before you begin.

Where you advertise depends on your type of business and the area you want to cover. You might choose local magazines and newspapers, or publications that are distributed free at local supermarkets and other retail and private outlets. You might also consider radio spots or press releases to augment print ads.

However, if your business or idea could be of interest to people nationwide, you might consider purchasing ads in vehicles that reach a wider market; sending press releases to newspapers and other publications throughout the US; or developing an Internet website or blog to reach clients who are hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away.

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