These four swings on a brick walkway are opposite Waterfront Park in Southport, North Carolina. Marge and I drove to Southport for a Passions Lead to Profit breakfast seminar yesterday and were a bit early so we drove to the waterfront.
Marge at Waterfront Park. Notice the bird sitting on top of the light and the two crossing ferries on the water in the back right.
Me in the same park. Same bird, same ferries.
Our breakfast group gathered at Surfer's Restaurant. Marge on the left, Betty Nash, Lauren Formalarie, Debbie, Dan Boone, and Norman Formalarie.
Marge, Betty, Lauren and I had our photo taken with Dolly (the mannequin) before we left.
We had a good time and enjoyed talking with Betty, Debbie, Lauren, Dan, and Nolan about the four P's of our Passions Lead to Profit system.
"Life in hyperbole. It's a choice. It has consequences, but for me it's the only way to fly. Why choose a life of restraint?" - Being Bruce
I fully accept that my attitude, my approach to life, and even my communication are loaded with figurative exclamation points. Notice I didn't write "I confess" or "I admit". I accept, allow, and rejoice in living an enthusiastic life.
At one point in my life I'm pretty sure I made the conscious decision to live "enthusiastically". It may have been at a pivotal time for me when I was 28 - you know, the time many American males start to realize that it could be appropriate to start acting like an adult, maybe? (LOL)
Regardless of when or why I decided in favor of or made the shift toward consistent positivity, it's how I choose to live now. And here's the thing, if I'm going to be positive, why not crank it up and BE REALLY POSITIVE!?!?
Sometimes it's true that "good is good enough", especially if you're trying to get something started but are stuck in perfectionism or maybe even delaying because of concern about how something will go over. In those instances, as my buddy and mentor, Bob "The Teacher" Jenkins says, "TARL" - Take Action Revise Later.
But while "good is good enough" is an effective jumpstart when projects are in the odd delay moment, a life that's just "good" doesn't cut it, at least not for me. I'm absolutely grateful for just being alive in this moment, so in that sense anything more is gravy, or frosting, or gilding. However, given the choice, why not choose "GREAT!!"?
There are many easy arguments against being positive. Sorry, I don't buy 'em. And now, of course, there's the vaunted "scientific proof" that being positive is good for you in Dr. Barbara Frederickson's Positivity, published just last year and based on solid research. (Note, the book title links to Amazon but isn't an affiliate link, we just think it's an awesome, important book.)
So I choose to be positive and to crank it up. Sometimes it's a bit extreme, but guess what? Life is seldom boring when you live in Hyperbole.
So what about you? How does positivity work for you? I'd love to hear from you on this.
Our friends Melissa Hewett and Eddie Hughes of the Leland ATMC store star in this short video. Wow! They are not professional actors by any means, but they rock it in this video! Who knew they were so good?
[Note - this post was originally put up on our Quantum Results Coaching blog, just this morning, but I wanted to repost it here to be sure it gets widest distribution - Bruce
Yesterday our web site went live and we are very pleased. Not only do we have the web site we wanted, we also have gained new friends in Nathan Tayloe and Andrew Gray, the owners of Tayloe & Gray marketing and web design firm in Wilmington, NC.
Nathan Tayloe and Andrew Gray
We probably weren't their toughest clients ever, at first anyway, because we knew what we wanted in three crucial elements of a web site: design; function; and content. They dug right in and made rapid progress on the site.
And then we changed two of our elements, several times. We altered the functions quite a bit and we changed the content. We also threw in a twist when we requested our site be converted to WordPress when they were very close to the finish.
Nevertheless, Nathan and Andrew came through for us and we appreciate them and their work.
So here we are, in our own words:
Thanks, Andrew and Nathan, you guys did a solid job for us. We look forward to working with you as we make the inevitable changes over the years.
We made their job a bit trickier because of other influences in our web design and function.
Ali Brown
Marge and I are students of Ali Brown and took her Online Success Blueprint course in early 2009. From that course we had a clear sense of the basic design for our web site, including the basic layout, the newsletter sign up box in the top right of the banner, and the inclusion of links to partners and teachers.
Bob "Bob the Teacher" Jenkins
This year we enrolled in Bob "Bob the Teacher" Jenkins' SIMPLE 10K program which was fortuitously held in Wilmington and it was Bob who strongly suggested we convert the site to WordPress (something Nathan had originally suggested but to which we'd said "No").
We asked for feedback for color schemes but eventually went with the bold colors you now see. Three people unwittingly influenced us in deciding to go with our preferred color scheme.
Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood with Marge and Bruce.
Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood, the developers of and our teachers and mentors in The Passion Test from whom we've learned so much and on whose work we now base so much of our coaching, gave us the easy decision-making process to choose the colors that fit us best.
Fabienne Frederickson
Fabienne Frederickson of Client Attraction was another style and color inspiration.
Since I'm on a roll here thanking and acknowledging people, there are three others who have made a difference in our web site content and design. Wendy Hunt
Wendy Hunt, photographer for our good friend Justin William's
Justin Williams
NBM Magazine took the photos of Marge and I that are on the home page banner. Wendy was shooting us for a feature in NBM Magazine about our 31 Days Mastery books and both she and Justin gave us permission to use extra photos from that session for this web site and for other purposes.
Alfred Poor
And last, one of our best friends, Alfred Poor, who is also the owner of Desktop Wings, Inc. and our publisher, and has certainly forgotten more about most subjects than I will ever hope to know, served as a patient sounding board for our web site project.
So Nathan and Andrew brought our web site to life, but it wasn't without the influence and assistance from a bunch of other fine folk, some of whom never even knew they were involved.
As we now say as Southern Transplants who still have roots in New England, "Thanks to all y'all."
OK, this has been in progress for a while, and we shifted our focus and some of the uses of the site along with way, but as of 5AM our website, QuantumResultsCoaching.com is live!
First of all, props to Tayloe & Gray for designing the site exactly to our specifications and making possible the various things we wanted it to do. Andrew Gray and Nathan Tayloe stuck with us as we considered different design features, merchant account and shopping carts, links to partners, links to our blogs, then changing to embed one of our blogs actually into the site, then converting the whole thing to WordPress. The list goes on and on. We are pumped and happy.
Yeah, there are some immediate changes and fixes we need to make, and all are based on input we provided that was incorrect or has since changed.
Finally, we have a real website. As our friend Maran Banta of Atlanta says, "We were stepping on our own hose." in getting this thing out - we delayed by making changes in direction and being distracted by business and by life. But now it's up! Woohoo!
So check out our website, QuantumResultsCoaching.com and let us know what you think. We'd love to hear from you.
We just got back from a great party at Stevens Fine Homes South Brook neighborhood model home in the back of Mallory Creek in Winnabow, NC. Stevens Fine Homes hosted the party in conjunction with the Home Builders Association as part of this Spring's Parade of Homes.
This home model, BTW, is unbelievably spacious and priced at just $72 a square foot including the lot! Wow, you must see it to believe how much space is in this home that starts at a base price of just $229,000. If you're in the market for a new home and aren't already working with another agent, I'd be honored to show you this model. Marge was so impressed she said she might even consider having more kids so we could buy one and fill it up! (May need some re-thinking here. But seriously, everyone who tours this house is blown away by the space for the money. Wow!)
Jenny Steele, Charlotte Palmer, and Craig Stevens, all with Stevens Fine Homes were the hosts and had drawings where they gave away $100 bills.
The party was catered by Middle of the Island, which is always a hit, and there were plenty of eager eaters on hand.
Even Madonna Nash, who provided the entertainment, took a turn at the buffet line.
And here's Madonna performing. She's a local artist who's making a lot of noise on the regional music scene (good noise, that is . . . seems like everyone I talk with has heard of her). She has a lot of followers and avid fans . . . including me!
Thanks once again, Jenny and Craig, for a nice party. We're pleased Stevens Fine Homes is doing so well this year and this model with it's huge bang for the buck signals continued success for the rest of the year.
(No joke, folks, you gotta see this house! I know I promote stuff and get all excited and everything, but this house is an incredible value!)
Kimberly and I had our first practice today for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars. The term "practice" may be sort of a loose usage since we spent the time with Kimberly teaching me some very basic steps.
Here's a short video of just me in the practice room before Kimberly got there
And here are Kimberly and I after the practice.
As you can see we were both still standing and both still smiling. (A friend told me that even if I don't get the steps, just keep on smiling, so I will.) Actually, I had a great time and look forward to the next session, and in the meantime will do what I can to practice on my own. (I think a lot of that should mean getting to the gym and getting stronger.)
Coming across the Cape Fear River to Leland, NC, the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce held this month's Business After Hours at Cape Fear National Golf Course in Brunswick Forest at the clubhouse.
Hanover Center's Bruce Henderson, Fat City Card's Marge Brown, and Vera Weiss, Wilmington Chamber Membership and Event Director.
Three woman at the event assisting with sponsor R.A.Jeffreys Distribution Co. From left to right, Blair Stokley, Erica Lloyd, and Karla Aquilera.
Cape Fear National Marketing Manager Brad Walker, General Manager Jim Hahn, and WCC Board Member Scott Cromartie.
Teresa McLamb with McLamb Communications, Pam Stephens with Costco Marketing, and Star News Media Reporter Judy Royal.
Brunswick Forest Health and Fitness Center Club Manager Kate Piediscalzo with John Meyer of Cape Fear Weddings.
Erica, Blair, and Karla with Bill Rhodes of R. A. Jeffreys Distributors.
Photographer Wendy Hunt.
Four guys looking for trouble: Bruce Brown, Fred Kumpel of Stickland's Window Coverings, Bruce Henderson, and Scott Cromartie.
Marge with Stephen Glaser of SMG Business Solutions.
Brad Walter with North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce board members Jeff Harvell of Nancy Hall Publications and George Murray of Murray Art & Frame.
One of my favorite guys to take photos of at networking events because he's always so expressive, Michael Byrd of WordWright Web. Here he was just about to break into an aria.
And then he quietly accepted our applause and cheers. Seriously, Michael is a great guy and a good sport. He also does good work, check out his company at www.wordwrightweb.com to see a video of Michael (not singing, unfortunately, but quite lively).
It was a good time. Thanks to Vera and the Wilmington Chamber and of course to Cape Fear National and R.A. Jeffreys.
David Spetrino's Plantation Builders has started selling homes in the Shelmore "village" area of Brunswick Forest. Like the other homes in Shelmore Plantation Builder's models have front porches, picket fences, and rear garages with small yards. The model below, where the party was, just went under contract but they're ready to build more.
If you're not familiar with Plantation Builders and the style, type, and quality work that David's company provides, you're in for a treat. Much of the company's work is in downtown Wilmington and the surrounding area. They build custom homes and condos and in the downtown area often do stunning restoration/renovation construction. That's David in the white shirt and tie in the photo below.
You'll really have to see the model to get a sense of how much living and storage space is provided in this seemingly "small" home. We were shaking our heads as we went from room to room and, particularly on the second floor, in the amazingly ample walk-in storage. With the various configuration options in these homes you can never say you don't have enough storage.
So when you get a chance, stop by Plantation Builders' Parade of Homes entry in Brunswick Forest this weekend or, if it's sometime later and you're looking to buy a great new home with incredible storage, fine finish details, and family-friendly living spaces, all in a super new neighborhood in the an amenity-packed community in the greater Wilmington area, call me. I'd love to take you to see it.
A second new hotel has opened in Leland. The Best Western/Westgate Inn is already in business and it's a beautiful facility. Yesterday they had a grand opening party and ribbon cutting.
Fat City Cards' Marge Brown and North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Dana Fisher.
Dana and me.
Marge and me.
Entertainment provided a nice background during the celebration.
Marge with hotel General Manager Corey Gooden.
Hotel Managing Partner Riley Evans with Dennis Walsh of Charlie MacGrooders. Dennis catered this event and will also be running Monk's, a lunch and dinner eatery inside the hotel - that is too cool.
Riley Evans, Scott "Santa Claus" Reeves, and Robert Evans, Riley's brother and another of the hotel's owners (it's a family-owned established).
Welcoming Corey are Barry Eagle and Lee Ann Mitchell, the Comfort Suites Magnolia Greens General Manager/Partner and Marketing Director.
Corey and Barry - two people who run hotels across the street from each other.
NBCC board members Brenda Bozeman and Mike Leggett.
Lyn Preston with Alice Razzano.
Leland Police Department Community Relations Officer Corporal Robert Ernst and East Carolina Bank Manager Susan Cruse.
Corey Gooden, NBCC President George Murray, and Dana Fisher.
NBCC Ambassador Ken Schiess, board member Justin Williams, and Rev. Matthew L. Ernst on the board for the Brunswick Literacy Council, with board member Jeff Harvell in the background.
Big gathering for the ribbon cutting.
And once again, it worked! Yay.
The lounge area. The food was awesome and we all partook - some of us (like me) more than once.
I don't know all their names but this a family shot of many of the people who own and run the Best Western/Westgate Inn.
Welcome, folks. We're glad to have you in the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce. And thanks for the great party!
Marge at Waterfront Park. Notice the bird sitting on top of the light and the two crossing ferries on the water in the back right.
Me in the same park. Same bird, same ferries.
Marge, Betty, Lauren and I had our photo taken with Dolly (the mannequin) before we left.
We had a good time and enjoyed talking with Betty, Debbie, Lauren, Dan, and Nolan about the four P's of our Passions Lead to Profit system.
