Are you are a "?" or "!"

At your job or in your relationships are you known as a “?” or an “!”

You may have a puzzled look on your face trying to figure out exactly what I am asking, so let me rephrase it…. Are you seen as someone who is a keeper or someone that can be replaced by whoever is waiting in the wings?

Ask yourself; at work are you the one ALWAYS asked to lead the conference call or head up the project?  Do your bosses value your input when making an important decision?  If so, you are definitely an exclamation point.

An exclamation point is a person that is highly valued in a particular circumstance, organization or relationship

However, if you are sliding by at work and your bosses never call on you to be the “go to” person or you are never up for a promotion, then you may be known as the question mark.

The question mark is a person that does their job, but they do not stand out.  They are never picked to lead/inform those within the company and/or represent the organization.  They are normally the first to go when layoffs happen, because they are not seen as he valued employee

It is like the saying “always the bridesmaid, but never the bride.”  Most of us strive to be the bride, but in order to be the bride we must show value and not settle for anything and always give our best.

If you are in a relationship and do not know how the other person views you then you are a question mark, however if the other person shouts from the rooftop...he or she is the love of my life... you are definitely an exclamation point.  If you are a question mark and want to be an exclamation point do not settle.  Find a way to be an exclamation point or walk away.

Your perceived value determines your punctuation, so decide whether you want to be a question mark or an exclamation point and be happy with your decision, because you are determining your brand.

Be blessed

A. Mayartis J.

I would love to hear if you are an exclamation point or a question mark and 

What are you worth?

I met with a prospective client a few weeks ago and after the meeting I sent him a follow up email to recap the meeting and tell him what I thought he needed to help expand his brand and grow his business.  He agreed with every thing I wrote and asked me to put the proposal together.  I then asked the question that makes or breaks some deals…

What is your budget?

He had a great response… he asked me to compile past proposals that were similar to his needs, so he could determine a budget.  I worked on it feverishly for a couple of days, but didn’t send it over right away, because I was scared of his reaction when he saw the price.  Now I am confident that my work is worth the price I was suggesting, but I really wanted this clients business.  I had no idea of his budget and did not want to lose the chance to work with him, but in order for me to give him the services he needs I had to charge him this fee.

There have been times that I charged clients much less than the services were worth in order to get the business only to find out later that they would have paid my fee, so I made the conscience decision to start charging what I am worth.  If I discount for this person and he refers me to a friend or colleague, I have set the bar so low that I may have to stick with it.

Although there are times you have to give a special client a break do not make it the norm and settle for less than you are worth, it is not going to help you in the long run.

Be Blessed
A. Mayartis J.

Control Freaks... Let go

As an entrepreneur you feel as though you have to be in complete control of everything or your dream(s) will fall apart, however that is not always true. Letting go could actual benefit you in the long run.... personally and professionally. Last week I let go and it was an awe-inspiring experience.

A family member passed away and I had to travel overseas last minute to attend the funeral, however at the time I was in the process of working on two crucial contracts and was honestly scared to leave. Additionally, I was working through some personal issues and feared that the reason for the travel and the extra time on my hands would make the problem worse.

After much consideration I decided to bite the bullet pay the ridiculously high price for my flight and go support my family as well as pay my respects. When I boarded the plane I made the conscious decision to take my hands off the steering wheel of my life by doing as much as I could do and releasing it. I wrote the proposals for the prospective clients on the plane sent it to a business partner to check over before emailing it to the client's. I also crafted a message to send to the people I was having a personal issues with so that I could release it and move past it.

When I landed in the beautiful country where I would spend 5 amazing days... I let go.

At this point I did not care if I got the business. I did not care If the personal issues worked out. I know I had done all I could do and I shut down... only checking email once a day and contacting the people just to check in.

By the time I returned home. I had the contracts, a speaking engagement, sold several books, acquired a new mentor and connected with someone who was already driving business my way. On the personal front we were able to hash out our differences and we are in a better place than I could ever imagine.

Life is amazing if you just take your hands off the wheel of life SOMETIMES and just coast.

Our Children Posting Violence

Has the advent of the camera phone and the ability to post its contents to social media with a push of a button created a society that only cares about getting an image online verses helping those in need? Its nice, to post random acts of kindness or cute pet images that are uplifting and make us feel good, but is filming someone being injured when you can help cool? Today, I watched a horrifying video recorded on a cell phone of a teenaged girl being beaten by several other teenaged girls at a McDonalds in Brooklyn, NY. The video really bothered me. I was saddened at the fact that no one (and by no one I am mean no adult) stopped the fight. I was saddened that no one in the crowd called the police… I understand peer pressure/ bullying and the fear of retaliation, but no one thought about leaving to call the police... None of the victims friends helped her, asked McDonalds management to help or called the police. Is this the world we live in now?

Where are we going wrong with our children and what do we need to do to bring up a generation that cares about others more than their 5-minutes of fame?

It use to be that our children would act out to get attention from their parents, but now they are using social media to act out in front of the world and make themselves famous. How will the actions of these children translate in the workplace when they are adults?

These are our future employees, executives and CEO’s and although most of them will shed their childish behavior as they cross over into adulthood and look to build their financial future/ a legacy, we still have to ask… How will their hunger for fame effect their work ethic? Are we raising our children to enjoy their childhood, but also be socially responsible? How can we harness this need for the spotlight and make them exceptional employees, executives and CEO's?

I do not know the answer to all of these questions, but I do know as social media continues to evolve we need to teach our children to be socially cautious, value life over fame and that their actions today may hurt them tomorrow.

I would love to hear your thoughts and/or solutions on our leaders of tomorrow.

Be Blessed

A. Mayartis J.

Never Give Up

On February 1 , 2015, I along with millions of people watched my New England Patriots win their 4th Superbowl. The game was lack luster until the third quarter. I remember being in a house filled with predominantly Seahawks fans and them telling me that there was no way that my team would win this game, especially after Tom Brady threw two interceptions. The only thing I said until the last two minutes of the game is Brady is a fourth quarter quarterback, so do not count him out until the last whistle is blown. They laughed and continued to taunt me.

I like everyone else never thought the last few minutes of the game would be so eventful taking two amazing turns that could make either team the winner. When the final whistle was blown and the Patriots were the victors… I celebrated.

On the ride home the question popped into my head… what are we giving up on?

If you have a dream and you truly believe in that dream then giving up on it when the odds are against you or when things get tough is not an option. The time for us to dig in and work harder is the moment when we do not see the victory.

I remember everyone at the party congratulating me for the win AND never giving up on my team even when my odds seemed bleak. We never know when things are going to change in your favor, so today I congratulate you on accomplishing your dream(s) and not giving up when it seemed like you would never succeed.

Be Blessed