Col 2:6-7 (the Message)

challenging to me today...

"...just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him! You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quite studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

Coach K ... building a world-class team

Coach K is probably not my favorite coach in the world... and Duke is certainly not my favorite team, but I am reading his book about the Gold Medal Olympic team and there's some good stuff in it. I am sort of reading it through my "team-building" filter if that makes sense...

Coach K says, "You do not select a team, you select a group of people and then work together to develop into a team. In other words, teams don't instanteously become, they evolve. To do so, you need time, goals, and competition."

Time: for relationships, for establishing standards, to get motivated, to get on the same page...
No time: for excuses, for surprises, for internal turmoil...

Goals: a purpose for which the team unites and prepares...

Competition: creates the basis for training and preparation, may be the very reason you have a team

I will use some of these thoughts as I continue to build a "world-class" sales team!

people don't like to be sold, but they love to buy

At our SEED COMM sales meeting last week we discussed the concept of earning... working hard for the loyalty and relationships with our customers. We concluded that if you build relationships you can earn a fortune! If you think you don't have time for relationship building because you are too busy making sales then find something new to do -- you won't last very long is sales. Here's something to think about ... everytime you call a customer it doesn't have to be to sell something!

Action...

I was doing some sales reading this morning and here are some of my thoughts and questions for my sales team:

Question 1: What are you willing to do to achieve your dream?
Question 2: What are you willing to do even if you must do so for free?

Thoughts:

> Success begins by beginning.
> Success continues with consistent action.
> You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great!
> The first two letters in the word "goal" are G-O!
> Anybody who brags about what he is going to do tomorrow probably did the same thing yesterday.

Happy Father's Day!

I'm just sitting in my booth at the 2009 Trial Lawyer's Convention at Sunset Beach... I'm thinking about my dad and about my children and how much I enjoy being their dad! I love watching Luke, Hope, Noah and Nate grow up. Luke and Hope present their teenage challenges but are both really great kids. Noah and Nate still love to play and seem more playful and energetic everyday. I love spending time with them! We're getting ready to have a fun day by the pool... the boys and I will play golf later today... then a full day at the beach tomorrow.

Lots of thanks out to my dad today... you taught me a lot of things growing up but the greatest thing you taught me was the love of a father. I still carry the MLB baseball in my truck as a daily reminder of a father's love (if you want to know the story behind this...ask me later).

So... the work of a dad is hard and long... but greatly rewarding!

A quote I read this morning said... "All of our successes are the same. All of our failures, too. We succeed when we do something remarkable. We fail when we give up too soon."

Thanks today to all the remarkable dads who didn't give up too soon! Happy Father's Day... have a great day!

reading thoughts...

the best quote of the day from my plane reading...

"Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

my thoughts... to avoid trying new things a lot of people develop attitudes that keep them safely stuck right where they are... attitudes that suggest: It's not important! I don't have the time! I already have the answer!

hoping that my time with my sales team at Infocomm 2009 will inspire them to avoid such attitudes and instead pursue opportunity with a passion for work!

great flight companion...

Today on my flight from Atlanta to Orlando I boarded the plane fully frustrated by the delays and missed flights. The perfect flight companion calmed me down and helped me enjoy the next hour and half flight. His name was Ayden and he was 5 years old. He was travelling with his Mom, Dad and two brothers. Guess where they were going? Disney World of course! He spent about the first 45 minutes or so describing to me all the scary rides he planned on taking while at Disney. He was a kid with a plan and filled with excitement. He had some chewing gum. He said he chewed it to help his ears not hurt and that if my ears started hurting I could have some of his gum. I had a lot of fun for those few moments ... I forgot about everything else that was frustrating me and enjoyed listening to his excitement. With about 20 minutes left and beginning our descent into Orlando he leaned over in the middle of a sentence a fell asleep.
Enjoy Disney Ayden!

Psalm 2:12 the Message

"...but if you run for God, you won't regret it!"
I really liked that thought this evening!

L.I.P.

I made a big decision today to really get serious about getting more healthy! I have been flirting with exercise and dieting for short periods here and there, but today I began the full-out L.I.P. program (Lee-Improvement-Plan). So what you're going to hear from me over the next several months will be bunch of L.I.P. The plan's not easy so encourage me and pray for me! The plan has three elements (physical, personal, professional) and I'll write about them each. I really dug into the physical part of L.I.P. today with an aggressive three mile walk in the heat of the day (soaking wet with sweat), began the 200 situps program with my initial test (I did 34...200 feels a long way from there), and I put my bowflex and gym plan together. I also drank a lot of water today. I feel good tonight though...I'm determined to really make some physical improvements! The personal part has to do with some personal devotion and reading stuff and the professional part has to do with some personal changes with my business/work life.
We'll I'm off and running! Pray for me!

to the woman I love...

Today is Angela's birthday! Happy Birthday to my special lady! We were talking last night and realized that we have reached the point now where we have spent more birthdays together than the ones we had before knowing each other. I am lucky, blessed, fortunate (whatever you want to call it) to have met Angela, fallen in love with her, and spent this many birthdays together! Today is her special day... looking forward to a great dinner alone tonight at Ruth Chris.

good for you...

what a challenging message yesterday at True North... really reflecting today on whether or not I really appreciate the things God has blessed me with or do I look at what others have and want it... and think it's not fair? I want to be able to see what others have and say with sincerity "good for you"...
the ice cream being served during the service was the kicker! awesome!

reflections from the weekend...

It was a busy weekend for me trying to get everything in and recover from a long trip to Calgary...
Basketball on Friday night and most of day Saturday... team played hard but results were not great although we did qualify for nationals...
Fell like I spend every spare moment at my computer attempting to catch up on missed work from last week while gone...
Sunday was another great day at True North Church... if you're in the area you should check it out one Sunday morning... 10:00 am at White Oak Cinemas...
Sunday afternoon/evening... drove with family over to Winston-Salem for mother-in-law's 65th birthday party... had a good time with the whole family... they have built an addition on to their home and it really looked great!
Sunday night...Luke and I watched the Magic and Lakers... we really don't like the Lakers... looked like goal tending to me on the last play of regulation!
then...back to the computer to get ready for another week!
Whew!

O Canada!

Just thought I write a few thoughts about my quick trip to Canada! I really like it there...it was beautiful...about 70 degrees everyday and daylight until 10:45 pm... you could actually go play golf late at night if you wanted... if we had that kind of daylight here I'd probably get a few more holes in! I one great meal at Saltlik Steakhouse in Calgary! The Alberta beef is outstanding...what a steak! The business portion of my trip was fantastic. I was there for a managers meeting with Smart Technologies. The vendor invited 16 dealers/resellers from around the county and we were fortunate enough to be one of those. Smart is a phenomenal company with innovative technology products. There are some great new ideas coming out soon... can't wait! Our future partnership with Smart looks full of potential!
Glad to be back home!