Tornados are scary…you may go years without being anywhere near one…but if you do happen to get caught in one I can only imagine how helpless you’d feel. The devastation caused by the tornado in Joplin is hard to imagine…I’m sure you’ve seen many of the pictures.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Joplin Missouri – I don’t know of anyone personally there, but I grew up only an hour or two from there and it seems awfully close to home.
•To support The Salvation Army Disaster Relief Efforts, people can text the word “JOPLIN” to 80888 for an automatic $10 donation; by calling 1-800-Sal-Army (1-800-725-2769) or by going to www.salvationarmy.us. Donations may be mailed to The Salvation Army, 3637 Broadway, Kansas City, MO 64111.
•To support the American Red Cross Disaster Relief, people can text the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation; by calling 1-800-Red-Cross (1-800-733-2767). Donations may be mailed to the Greater Kansas City Chapter, 211 W. Armour Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64114.
Finally – here’s a really intense video that was taken during actual tornado. It’s primarily just audio, but you can really feel the fear and intensity that people were going through.
I had a great discussion the other day at one of my Peer Group Advisory Boards – we were talking about rolling out a new marketing initiative and that it would be a real challenge.
At that point, one of the members used a phrase that summarizes one of the primary secrets of business success:
“If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.”
On the surface that sounds like a pretty obvious thought…almost a ‘duh’ moment. But if you think about it a bit longer, it uncovers a lot of the issues that business owners face all the time.
I’ve said it before, but we live in Interesting Times…sure there’s the downside of the economy and the constant drumbeat of all of the negative news out there, But there’s also an amazing upside – we are seeing things today that would have never been thought possible 50 years (maybe even 10 years ago). In fact the overall progress that’s been made is nothing short of staggering.
In fact it’s mindblowing!
Want some proof? Check out these 2 videos a couple of friends recently shared as great examples of amazing things that are going on.
Now’s a great time to reflect on all of the amazing things in the world (like the Aurora Borealis…) and all of the important people in your world.
It’s also a great time to think about 2011 and what that might bring…so with that in mind, here’s a great article on 11 trends for small business in 2011.
Do you know what’s holding you down in your business? It might be your circumstances, the people around you, bad luck…but often at least one of the things holding you back is…you! Specifically I’m talking about self-limiting beliefs, those sneaky almost unconscious beliefs that we all have and in some cases keep you from reaching the success you’re capable of.
A self limiting belief can be as straightforward as ‘I could never do…(insert something you’re really scared of)’ to something a little less obvious like: ‘Everyone knows the only way to get new customers is to cold call.’ In either case your belief is holding you back from trying something (or if you do try it, it’s likely to be a half-hearted effort that’s doomed to failure from the start).
The good news is that self limiting beliefs are internal…and can be overcome. Paradigms can change, new beliefs can be formed.