Balding, Middle-Aged Friend Embarks on Growth Strategy
That would be me. 2006 was my year to stretch this shell of a skull, to go where this man has never gone before (we’re Star Trek fans). It started in October 2005 when Anita and I attended T. Harv Eker’s Millionaire Mind Intensive in Atlanta. Harv’s course taught us the psychology of wealth and opened our eyes to a new world (if you haven’t read his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, add it to your 2007 reading list). That brave new world started in Los Angeles at the Life Directions Intensive Course. I spent most of a week answering the questions: “What is Rick passionate about?” and “How can I use that passion to assist others?” The creative juices in LA kept flowing to Orlando in March for Harv’s Guerrilla Business School. This course put an entirely new perspective on the entrepreneurial process and gave me insight into how to create multiple, successful businesses. Finally I ended up back in LA in May for The World’s Greatest Marketing Seminar – WOW, if I can implement 20% of what I learned we’ll all have more money than we’ll ever know what to do with. I also enrolled in Success Tracs, a coaching program to provide accountability, teach me tools to set goals, schedule tasks and track progress. All this while working a full time job (I’m still w/ Procter & Gamble) and helping Anita by creating marketing material and web sites to support our business efforts.
We Strive for Progress NOT Perfection
I’ve been moving, the question is in which direction. This year I’ve:
- Started an eBay business under the username FyneShops. I studied a system created by one of eBay’s Titanium Power Sellers (another one of those course I forgot to mention) but quickly realized that selling on eBay requires more time and patience than I have (today).
- Jumped full force into supporting Anita’s real estate business. This was the principle focus of the course work with Peak Potentials (Harv Eker’s training company). Business plans, marketing strategies – lots of plans but little action. The real estate market in Cincinnati has become extremely competitive (long gone are the days when Anita was one of the few investors on the courthouse steps for the Sheriff’s Sale for delinquent properties). It’s become increasingly difficult to “find deals”, then even harder, to sell them. Neither of us had the energy to slog it out with the thousands of other investors.
- That brought us to FUN Unlimited – a networking company with a unique signature product, the Power-Pop. This revolutionary product allows you to Eat Candy and Lose Weight – guess what, it really works!! The FUN product line consists of a number of truly unique products. I jumped in mouse first and built some web sites to support our branding of many of these products, failing in two VERY important areas – 1) driving traffic to the web sites, and 2) converting the traffic I did receive to sales. I was still missing critical pieces of the puzzle (it’s not like eBay).
- If at first you don’t succeed – keep trying, what else am I going to do with the time, sleep? More about our newest discovery later – keep reading, it’s a winner!
Hot, Sexy Woman Saves 1,000’s of Lives
You probably guessed that Anita is the hot, sexy woman (I’m a bit biased); but how’d she save 1,000’s of lives? If you know Anita, you know her passion is animals – in particular kitties. Anita’s saved 1,000’s of kitties lives in Cincinnati by bringing a low-cost, mobile spay/neuter clinic to Cincinnati called The Neuter Scooter (cute). Dr. Tess Peavy and her crew come from Bloomington, Indiana to spay/neuter kitties every month – Anita’s total is 409 since May 2006!! Wait a minute Rick, how does sterilizing 409 cats save 1,000’s of lives? I’m glad you asked. The statistics in our corner of the world are dismal for cats that enter a shelter – 85% of them are put down (frightening for the 16,000 cats that lost their lives last year in just 2 Cincinnati counties). Statistically a female cat and her offspring can produce a total of 420,000 kittens – yikes!! If we assume half the kitties that were sterilized were female, Anita saved a total of 72,828,000 lives in 2006 alone – WOW!! There are 7 pets born every day in the United States for every baby – anyone have seven animals? We don’t have 7 but we’re back up to four kitties – we adopted Simba from a local shelter where Anita volunteers. Adopting from a shelter saves two lives – the animal you take home and the one that takes their place. Please spay/neuter your pets.
Interested in helping? Anita’s created a non-profit corporation called The Pet Alliance (www.PetAlliance.org) whose mission is to:
- EDUCATE ourselves & our children about the Problem and the Solution!
- IDENTIFY your pets (cats and dogs) with an ID tag AND Microchip.
- SPAY/NEUTER ALL pets to stop the cycle.
- ADOPT existing homeless animals.
Look for her to initiate Spay Ohio (the Ohio Chapter of Spay USA) in 2007 – busy girl!
First Love Enjoys Hurricane Free Season
I’m sad to report that my grand daughter Mia moved to Jacksonville, Florida in July. I’m fortunate to have shared her life weekly for the past nine and a half years. Mia’s love for me, for others and for life taught me how to love and ultimately brought Anita to me. Mia was my rollercoaster buddy in the summer, my ski buddy in the winter and my Sunday companion throughout the years. I know our love will continue to grow despite the distance, but that didn’t make it easier missing her 10th birthday or planning to celebrate Christmas without her. Fortunately we were able to see Mia twice since she left Ohio – she joined our entire Family in Pompano Beach, FL for a reunion in August and we celebrated Thanksgiving with her family in Jacksonville. Mia, her sister Anna, her Mommy Rebekah and Rebekah’s fiancé Roger are doing very well in Jacksonville. I miss her very much but know she’s in His hands. I’m doing my best to make sure that money NEVER has to be a reason for separation or never has to keep us from sharing special times together. Thank you Mia for allowing me to experience love, I’m working ever so hard to pass it on.
“What the heck are the two of you doing?”
Don’t worry, it’s perfectly legal. We’re going to keep doing it and make every effort to get you to do it as well. The above quote is from our eye doctor. Anita and I had our eye exams last week (two for one special on glasses). Anita’s been wearing glasses since the third grade, I on the other hand got mine in the early 90’s to help with the eye strain from working at a computer all day. The doc saw Anita before coming in to do my eye exam. After completing my exam she exclaimed, “What the heck are the two of you doing? Both of you had a full 1 point improvement in each of your eyes since your last exam. None of my 40-something year old patients are improving their eye sight.”
“It’s the Himalayan Goji® Juice,” I said.
That’s right; a fruit juice is helping to improve our eye sight. It’s also providing the following additional benefits:
- We both get a better, more restful night’s sleep.
- We both wake up refreshed and rejuvenated ready to start the day (even with 5 – 6 hours sleep).
- We both have more energy during the day and a sense of happiness and well-being.
I can hear you now – what kind of you know what is this all about. Keep reading or you’ll miss the good stuff.
- My acid reflux is virtually gone. I was taking Tums like breath mints, now it’s a rare occurrence.
- I have no pain after working out. Maybe you get the chance to work out more than I do but my work-outs are pretty irregular. I used to be very sore and stiff after working out – no more!
- We both have seen dramatic improvements in our allergies.
- The pain in my right knee is gone (my right leg is 3/4″ shorter than my left leg).
- My teeth are no longer extremely sensitive to cold (I have receding gums from aggressive brushing as a kid).
I’m giving blood this week and expect to see a decrease in my blood pressure AND my cholesterol – not bad for a fruit juice.
Health Secret Revealed
I know that many of you suffer with conditions and illnesses like insomnia, arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, migraines, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and countless others. We’ve worked with people personally who have been able to reduce or eliminate these and other conditions taking 4 to 8 ounces a day of Himalayan Goji® Juice. Himalayan Goji® Juice doesn’t cure anything, even better, it supplies your body with the nutrition it needs to heal itself. That’s why it’s proven to be so effective with a diversity of conditions/illnesses. Many of you will never give this a second thought but if just one of you takes the time to investigate Himalayan Goji Juice; it’ll be worth the space we’ve dedicated to it in this letter. For those not reading this letter online, please visit www.AnitaBarron.FreeLife.com or e-mail Anita at [email protected]. To All Our Health!
Best of all, Himalayan Goji® Juice comes with a 3 month, 90 day, guarantee. If you’re not completely satisfied return the EMPTY bottles for a full refund.
P.S. The stuff you buy in the store isn’t the same. Contact Anita and she’ll tell you why.
Couple Visits 11 of the World’s 13 Climates
And we did it all on the big island of Hawaii. We had a wonderful visit in July to one of the world’s most unique places. We were able to experience many of the island’s 11 climates from rain forest, to desert, beach to volcano – all in the span of a few hours. We’re planning to go back in 2008. Unfortunately we took SO many pictures that I’ve not had a chance to tackle them for the web site. We’ve got photos and video from our helicopter ride across the island, our snorkeling trip and our adventure to the southern most point in the United States (no it’s not Key West). Keep your mouse pointed to www.BarronsPlace.com for updates of this trip, the others we’ve planned for 2007 (the Barron reunion is in Orlando for Thanksgiving), and the life and times of the Barron family.
Collective Consciousness Heals
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers during Dad’s by-pass surgery. Kendra and I made the trip to Rancho Mirage for Dad and to provide help to Nancy through the week. Dad’s recovery is complete; he and Nancy have finished their training and certification as realtors and are now active in the real estate market in the CA desert (interested in moving to a location when the summer sun bakes you to a balmy 125°F?).
Mom completed her goal of finishing the Portland marathon in October – quite an accomplishment just prior to her 65th birthday. You may recall she walked for Breast Cancer a number of years ago. After that walk she hung up her sneakers, but has decided she’s going to keep walking to stay in shape – go Sally!
Kevin, Tina, Andrew, Grace and Will are enjoying life in Richmond. Every time I get off the phone with them I’m reminded how simple our lives really are. Raising a family is hard work. We got to share in the fruits of their labor at the family reunion in Pompano. It was SO great to spend time with them; they’re wonderful kids – great work Kevin and Tina!
Kendra, Eric and A.J. are all back to work. Eric left his job this time last year to start his own IT firm. He’s done so well he’s looking to add staff next year to allow him to get a break (and, we hope come to Orlando for the reunion). Kendra has returned to work as a paralegal at the law firm she left years ago and A.J. is enjoying his first year of pre-school. Kendra is able to drop A.J. off at school on her way into work and leave early to pick him up after school – nice arrangement. It had been two years since we saw A.J. – way too long. His joy for living is contagious and we love spending time with him.
He’s Opened His Eyes to Much, Much More
I’m still working for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and celebrated 20 years in February – has it really been that long? By my calculation I’m eligible to retire in 12 more years, at which time I’ll be 55 years old and have 32 years of service. There’s just one little problem – I’ll never make it that long! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been very successful with P&G but my eyes have been opened to so much more. I used to think that I’d be happy spending my entire career with P&G (I received a silver watch for my 20 year anniversary), but I want so much more. More for you, for me, for us all. You probably gathered that I’ve become a student of marketing (yup, me the Systems Engineer from Case Western Reserve University who’s done IT work for the last 20 years). It’s time for a marriage made in Washington – the headquarters for the Internet Marketing Center. I’m starting an internet coaching program in January – anyone else interested in learning how to make millions online (the IMC has helped ordinary people make over $65 million)? I’m not only interested, I’m passionate about it. Let’s identify niche markets starving for a product, provide affordable solutions that can be delivered via the internet and repeat until your mouse finger is sore (then take some Himalayan Goji® Juice and start over). 2007 will be our year, a year of hard work culminating in freedom from a 9 – 6 (I prefer to start late) J-O-B. This is an exciting time for both of us. Anita has made breakthroughs in her businesses as well but it’s not about what we can accumulate – it’s about who we can share it with. Are you interested?
He’s The Reason For The Season
We hope this holiday season finds you happy, healthy and looking forward to 2007. We’ve been blessed with each and every one of you in our lives – thank you so much for your love. We welcome visitors to Cincinnati – please come share your life with us – or contact us to meet you in a location to be named later (Anita’s partial to Las Vegas).
With All Our Love,
and 