CTMH Studio J Tutorial #8 (Mat to Your Heart's Content)

Blogging under the influence.....

It's blog time.....

I want to start with a slight confession about my post this evening.  I am a bit loopy as I type this.  I went to the orthodontist this afternoon ....a great fear of mine since I have issues with my jaw.  I'm under the influence of a muscle relaxer, so please bear with me.  It's Tuesday and I must blog!

A message especially for my 1st Downline:

I hope by now you have had a chance to listen to Kristine's Instant Info on the CTMH website regarding the proposed compensation plan enhancements.  If any of my 1st DL would like a "Personal Business Review" to see how the new plan affects you, please contact me and I can arrange it.  At Team Builders, each attendee had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with one of the CTMH VP's for a 25 minute review of our business.  It was an eye opener for those who had never really "run the numbers" on what they have accomplished thus far and what we could do to reach the next level. 

As a result of my "PBR" my goal is to attain the level of Presidential Director by convention.  With the new changes, I know it's within my reach.  What I want to do is to work with at least 2 of you who want to really grow your team and reach Director level with 1 Manager and 3 Supervisors.  Please let me know if this is you!  For the rest of you, I'd LOVE to help you build your teams as well.  CTMH is offering an incredible Constant Campaign in February just for new recruits.  CTMH announced that 2011 is the year for recruiting and it is reflected in the cruise points offered just for bringing new members to your teams and getting the Straight to the Top!

Team Meeting News:

Registration is now open for Karen Morris's Leadershare in Las Vegas, NV  April 19th.  It's open to all of her 1-5th DL first, that means most of you!  I plan on being there to soak up some much needed sunshine and bask in the warmth of being with my CTMH friends.

This weekend is our Oregon team meeting.  I am excited to report that attendance is WAY up!!!!  This was one of the goals of the Leadershare program.  We will be covering the Team Builders meeting and the new compensation plan.  We will also be creating some incredible artwork using Sophia that you can share with your customers.  I will be posting photos next Tuesday.

A special thanks to Chris Green and Kathy Smelcer who will be leading our create and take.

Creative Bits:
I love the new paper packets in the Spring/Summer Idea Book!  Each person who attended Team Builders won one of 4 new stamp sets.  Here is some art using the new products that were done by the CTMH Art Department to inspire us to go home and start creating with the newest designs:

Team Builders

Greetings from sunny LasVegas!

I'm sitting here at my wonderful upline, Karen Morris's computer, trying to figure out how I can possibly tell you about the amazing time we have had at Team Builders!  I told Jeanette that of all the CTMH events I have attended over the past 20 years, this was my favorite!  Although the huge mega event that our National Convention has become, is wonderful, I loved the intimacy of this special meeting.  I got to spend time reconnecting with the many friends that I have come to know throughout the years that lately have only chatted with in passing.  We began with a "brainshare" which was kind of like speed dating.  We started sitting across from another consultant and had 5 minutes to talk about a business question.  It was a great jumping off point, but it seemed that most of us used the time to reconnect with each other.  I'll post some photos when I get back home on Thursday.  On Saturday, the corporate staff unveiled the updated and enhanced compensation plan.  I have been through 2 of these before, and this is by far the best thought through plan we have ever had.  Kristine explained the strategy and reasons behind each change.  Watch for the full information later this week on the CTMH website.  I hope you will be as excited as I am.  If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me........

4 hours later: 
I took a break and got back from watching Donny and Marie here in Vegas!  I need to get this posted to make it under the Tuesday at midnight deadline!

I'll do another post and finish this post when I get home on Thursday.  Gotta publish this now before the stroke of midnight!

Whew!  I just made it so I have not "broken the chain"  I'm home now (it's Thursday)  I hope you all read today's update from CTMH and will read the compensation plan update that will be posted tomorrow - Friday.


Shout-Outs:  Congratulations to the following team members for adding to their teams!  And welcome to their newest members!!!! 
 3rd DL - Lynn Como - recruited Carol Anne Mullaly and Tammy Cooper
4th DL - Karen Bittinger - recruited Ashley Dawson-Bottorff
3rd DL - Barbara Kubiak- recruited Cindy Ring
1st DL - Jackie Bluhm - recruited Melissa Kubitz
3rd DL Darlene Rosson - recruited Dian Katz

Quote of the week:
Success seems to be connected to action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.
Conrad Hilton

---

Close To My Heart - Always on Trend



Card has damask, chair a fancy border and black brads

 Today, while I was in the grocery store, I did something I haven't done in a long while - I paused and picked up a paper crafting magazine.  I used to subscribe to a number of magazines, but between running out of room in my office and our CTMH Idea books and Teaching programs being so amazing, I found I really didn't need them anymore for ideas.  Like most consultants, I have spent the last few days pouring over the new Spring/Summer Idea Book.  One thing I puzzled about were a couple of the Stamp of the Month's, particularly February and May.  I thought, what's up with all the chairs???? and do we really need more damask stamps and fancy borders? more pennants?



Well....when I opened a couple of the magazines that showcase products from many companies, low and behold it was full of chairs, damask, fancy borders, pennants, dress forms, butterflies and ribbon flowers, just like our Spring/Summer Idea book!  SO - the first lesson learned is I really should at least peek every now and then at the trade magazines to see what the trends are, but also, I know I can trust CTMH to keep track of them and always bring us products that are on trend and up to date!



Top left - pennants, Bottom center - damask



Shout Outs:

Congratulations to 3rd Downline, Krista Hershberger for her promotion in December, from  Ex. Manager to Sr. Ex Manager!  Director is just a little stretch more!

Top Personal Sales for December:



Lynn Como - 3rd Downline  NJ

Debra Courtney - 2nd Downline  VA

Debi Squires - 3rd Downline  CO

Top Team Sales for December:

Kathy Markloff - 1st Downline  PA

Wendy Vogel-Vineis - 2nd Downline  PA

Susan Tomaino - 2nd Downline  FL

Top Recruiter for December:

Sherri Tozzi - 3rd Downline  FL

Business Tip:

It's the start of a new year, take a moment and log on to the CTMH website and click on Personal Business Assistant.  Check all your information under each tab for accuracy, update information especially the expiration date of the credit card you have on file for auto-ships, your MyCTMH website and your Studio J account.

Quote of the Week:

Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.
Stephen R. Covey

My first post of 2011 and Oregon Team meeting details

Happy 2011!

 I will be sure to post while I'm away!

I am so excited to be heading off to Salt Lake City (by way of Las Vegas to visit my upline, Karen Morris) for Team Builders with 60 other top Directors and the Close To My Heart corporate leaders.  I will be away from my office from January 10th - 20th. 

I'd like to start the year off with a Shout-out to:

Wanda Riley, who has added Mary Ritter to her team!  Congratulations to both of you and welcome Mary!  I hope you will be able to attend one of our team meetings in Salem.

Speaking of team meetings, below is the information for our upcoming 1st Quarter Oregon meeting.  The art swap is open to anyone regardless if you attend.  If you'd like to participate, simply mail me your  cards with a self addressed stamped envelope and I'll mail your swaps back to you.

1^ST QUARTER OREGON TEAM MEETING:

Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, January 29th

Time:   10:30 - 3:30 or whenever we get done! - Bring a lunch or snack 

Place: Call the hotel if you need directions. 

Phoenix Inn Salem North location  

The address is off I-5 at Market St NE

1590 Weston Ct NE 

Salem OR  97301 

Phone # 1-888-239-9593

ALL 1^ST-5^TH  DOWNLINE ARE INVITED  First come first served so RSVP to reserve your place today!

RSVP by Tuesday, January 25th - Watch for future updates to the "Bring List"

The art swap theme will be anything NEW – Make 6.  Use any product from the Spring/Summer 2011 Idea Book marked “NEW” as well as our core product line of Inks and Cardstocks to create a card (minimum size 4x4), layout or other project.

So far for the Create and Takes you will need to order:

X7131A Sophia Level 1 kit

X7131C Sophia Level 2 My Stickease

Z1310 My Creations Board Book

Please bring:

Adhesive

Paper Trimmer

For the business portion, I will be covering the information from Business Builders

A special thank you to:

Lynn Christopher

Kari Palmer (something from Magic)

and Kathy Smelcer.  You have signed up to do a create and take projects.  Please let me know if you are still able to do this and email me a photo and bring list for your project as soon as possible.  If you are unable get the info out to me by Sunday when I leave, do a reply to all on this email so everyone gets the list.

 Creative Tidbit:

An update to the "recipe" for the spray pen is to use 70% rubbing alcohol instead of water.  It dries faster especially here in the Northwest with our high humidity.

Business Tip:

from Team member Lisa Sargent of Newcastle, Washington:

I thought, and thought, and wondered, what could I tell Naomi that she didn't already know?  Well, I can't say that you didn't already know this, but when I discovered it, I was excited.  GOAL: I wanted to improve my margins/keep more of my money.

I used to take credit cards regularly, even from my club members.  Now I reward them for "good behavior"...paying by check or cash.  Once I discovered that, I thought, I should expand that to reward other desirable behaviors.  I give little door prize tickets to everyone for doing certain things:

-Pay by check or cash (improves my margins by 3.5%!!!!!!!)
-Bring a friend/be the friend
-Bring your own adhesive (I was getting complaints about the glue stick/Tombows.  I still have glue sticks available, just don't go through them as quickly)
-Carpool
-Round Up and donate to Operation Smile
-Bring something for show-n-tell that you made with your CTMH goodies

During the holidays I also added "bring something for the food bank."

Prizes are sometimes a pack of handmade cards, Club Connections Rewards, little things I've made, extra supplies...
Quote of the week:

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. Give your dreams all you've got and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you."

William James

Goal Update - Don't Break the Chain

Week #4 - Goal update: I'm determined to keep up with my goal of posting every Tuesday!

It's 7:20 pm and I just got home from a wonderful 31 hours with 2 fantastic girlfriends.  We all needed a post-holiday stress reliever so we booked a hotel downtown Seattle, had one of our guys drop us off and we hit the sales, enjoyed the holiday decorations and rode the holiday carousel giggling like 7 year olds.  It's still Tuesday so I still have time.......

But I can't possibly rest tonight, I need to mark that "X" on my calendar.  What, you might ask, does an "X" have to do with this blog post?  I am a list person, when I get overwhelmed with life's tasks, I make a list of everything I would like to get done.  I then prioritize the list and take great pleasure in crossing each finished task off my list.  I have also noticed that there are some things that no matter how high they are on my list, I would rather not do them and I find any excuse not to cross them off my list.   One of my friends who also works from home, shared a new way she is using to combat this problem .  She said to me "Don't Break the Chain"!  She shared this article from a website called "Lifehacker"

Editor: When software developer Brad Isaac told us he had productivity advice from Jerry Seinfeld, we couldn't turn down the chance to hear more. Read on for the whole story from Brad.

Don't Break the Chain is based upon a motivation technique purportedly used by Jerry Seinfeld: In a nutshell the idea is, 1) Pick a goal. 2) Mark off the days on which you work toward that goal. 3) Use your chain of marked off days as a motivator.  http://dontbreakthechain.com/

Years ago when Seinfeld was a new television show, Jerry Seinfeld was still a touring comic. At the time, I was hanging around clubs doing open mic nights and trying to learn the ropes. One night I was in the club where Seinfeld was working, and before he went on stage, I saw my chance. I had to ask Seinfeld if he had any tips for a young comic. What he told me was something that would benefit me a lifetime...
He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don't feel like it.
He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to write. Here's how it works.
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.
He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."
"Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis.
Over the years I've used his technique in many different areas. I've used it for exercise, to learn programming, to learn network administration, to build successful websites and build successful businesses.
It works because it isn't the one-shot pushes that get us where we want to go, it is the consistent daily action that builds extraordinary outcomes. You may have heard "inch by inch anything's a cinch." Inch by inch does work if you can move an inch every day.
Daily action builds habits. It gives you practice and will make you an expert in a short time. If you don't break the chain, you'll start to spot opportunities you otherwise wouldn't. Small improvements accumulate into large improvements rapidly because daily action provides "compounding interest."
Skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next.
I've often said I'd rather have someone who will take action—even if small—every day as opposed to someone who swings hard once or twice a week. Seinfeld understands that daily action yields greater benefits than sitting down and trying to knock out 1000 jokes in one day.
Think for a moment about what action would make the most profound impact on your life if you worked it every day. That is the action I recommend you put on your Seinfeld calendar. Start today and earn your big red X. And from here on out...  Don't break the chain!

Here is my "chain"  I used green instead of red.

Creative post:

Each month I will include a creative idea and/or photo of some of my card workshop samples.  Here are a couple for next month.  Because January is the "bridge" month to our new bi-annual Idea Books, I want to focus on how awesome our core product line is; My Acrylix stamps, cardstocks and coordinating inks.  I am also promoting the new products in "Inspirations".

The top card features D1298 Beautiful Things, Garden Green and Cocoa cardstock, New England Ivy and Cocoa Inks and clear embossing.  The sentiment is from the Wings workshop Kit G1016

The lower card is a take-off of Sheri Rottlers design for our Leadershare artwork.  This card features the Circle cards with the Wings bulk papers and new pleated ribbon, Mini Medleys Black and D1470-Dreams Come True with the "stamp kissing" technique.

Quote of the week:

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. "

Bobby - age 7

Happy Holidays!

T'was the week before Christmas and I'm sure, like me, you're all wishing there were more hours in a day and "how did Christmas sneak up so quickly"!  Take time to enjoy what this time of year is really all about.  One thought that I read long ago and has stuck with me is "when all is said and done, will your friends and family remember that your house was spotless, your beautifully wrapped packages, Christmas cards etc, etc.?, or will they remember the time spent together."  I noticed several postings this week by consultants saying that, although we are in the card making business, many of us have not had the time to mail out handmade cards this year.  I say, opt for a quick phone call!  Better to hear your voice on the line than a card in the mail.  So, I offer that as my idea for the day as we all head into this busy week.  Take a few minutes and call someone on your Christmas card list that you rarely see, I think you'll make their day!

The "Shout-Outs" for week go to Tina Lovell from Salem, Oregon.  During this most busy of months, she added Noelle James to her team.  Welcome Noelle! 

I'd also like to recognize all our team members who are attending Team Builders next month in Salt Lake City.  Christina Eisenhour, Linda Sturdivant, Amy McGrew, Noreen Petty, Briana Bostick, Phil Wilhelm, Lynn Como, Sheri Tozzi and Christine David.  It is going to be an incredible gathering of the top consultants in a rare intimate setting.  Noreen Petty and I will be taking part as speakers during the Saturday training day.

Quote of the week.  A week ago, I stumbled upon and subscribed to a quote of the day.  Now, everyday in my inbox pops an inspirational bit that has helped me to stay focused.   Here is this week's favorite:
"You always have time for the things you put first."     Author Unknown

http://www.goal-setting-guide.com/quote-of-the-day.html

I wish you and your families a very Happy Holiday and a prosperous 2011.