Another Day, Another Miracle

Greetings, again!

Well I have been informed that along with my former list of bald headed greats, I might look like I need to add Mr. Clean, the long lost fourth Ninja Turtle, Yoda or the turtle in The Never Ending Story. I think I like the notion of a new bald hero - Mr. Heritage. But, you can decide or add your own option on your comment posts.

Thursday morning was spent in the office for more great planning and coordination meetings regarding Studio enhancements, photo management priorities, scanning support tools etc. It was exciting and I wish each of you could have been there to feel the energy, but you'll be getting it at Leaders Conference and Reunion.

Thurs afternoon Judy and I went to the SLC Bone Marrow and Stem-Cell Hospital for review of my situation and possibilities beyond Chemo. I must admit the doctor, one of the best, talked straight and was not very encouraging, but he laid out a strategy of a first step, Chemo, second Stem Cell transplant and then as a last possible life extender donor Bone Marrow transplant. He went over the history of the treatment of Mantle Cell Lymphoma and the process of the transplants. We left knowing that he doesn't know all the treatments there are or that I have been getting. We all know that healing comes from the body as directed by its divine self healing processes and by intervention when necessary by our all powerful and merciful God. I assure each of you He has heard our (your) prayers and continues to give miracles and understanding. Thank you all again for your faith and contribution.

Friday morning was spent in meetings at the office, including a great meeting with Wendy McGee and darling daughter, Delanee. We discussed strategy and directions for Leadership Conference and Reunion that are in process. She was excited and I was blessed by her visit and infusion of commitment, vision and leadership. She and her team are flat going to make things happen over the next few months!

Then it was on to the second round of Chemo. I must admit I went with a bit of trepidation, given the near death of the last treatment of Rituxan, but I had been assured the next round of Rituxan would not be as severe. They were right. The infusion took about four hours and I returned home ready for the onslaught of nausea etc. It is now Saturday afternoon and I am back at the lodge and have had little nausea and no vomiting (praise the Lord, knock on my bald head and a piece of wood for a continuation of that blessing)! I feel a little tired but will be well rested to jump back into the forging of HM with you after the recuperation of the holiday weekend.

As we look ahead at expanded and enhanced strategy for growing our (your) HM business it has become so clear that we need to move our focus to a paradigm shift from the current primary goal thinking of "sell and sponsor" to a fundamental precursor that is largely untapped by our current business model. When this paradigm is fully explained and your paradigm of the way we do the business "shifts," I sincerely believe that we will see the business jump into momentum. We are therefore preparing materials and a presentation, live and web to present at Leadership to help you make the shift in thinking and the way you grow your business.

A sneak peek of this concept is that it focuses on Heritage Making Workshops as the introductory step to the business, not just a "help them get started" workshop that many of you are using as a follow-up for new clients. The Heritage Making Workshop's primary goal is for everyone who comes to join us as a Heritage Maker in their home. The flow of the workshop will become the cookie cutter for all of our people, especially new consultants who will have seen and participated in this simple and scripted process themselves.

The elements 0f the flow, scripts, and tools will go like this:

1. Photos.

• Why did our grandparents sacrifice for these expensive photos of their times?
• Why did our parents follow the pattern of taking pictures of everything they did and of all the friends and family they knew?
• So, why do we continue the process into the digital age? Our grandparents handed down their relatively few pictures to our parents, they added their boxes of photos before they gave them to you. If you haven't received the legacy of all these boxes of photos yet, count on it you or one of your siblings will. (Judy was the elected sibling of 30 such heritage-rich boxes in her family!)
• Why were the pictures taken? What was the intended use and what will you do with them now? Will you continue to stockpile, store, hide, and worry about their security and what to do with them? The answer is to capture and secure the stories behind the pictures and to preserve the stories for future remembering and passing on to the next generation. But how? Do we just keep stock piling the photos and throw those away when the stories and details have fully faded or been lost?
• Oh, yeah, right, you can scrapbook the pictures. Many have and many do. But those who have for very long find out how very time consuming and expensive it is. They discover how all the good intentions to get each child's or event scrapbook copied is an elusive butterfly that soon becomes a dragon. The joy of scrapbooking fades as you discover how difficult it is to find the time, deal with the mess, and acknowledge that you may not have the creativity to create the masterpiece you want. When you do, it is a one-of-a-kind, precious treasure that you want to put up to avoid damage, peanut butter and jelly, and the request to "borrow" the book.

2. Digital Era.

• Now we enter the digital age and the possibility of scanning the pictures to make them secure, to do something with them on the computer. Anyone who has tried scanning their photos on a typical home-use flatbed scanner knows the frustration and the time. Dragging the boxes, sorting, and scanning is more than a weekend project. It is a headache for sure.
• Heritage Makers' High-speed Scanning Service offers clients the solution to both their photo security concerns and their "what to do with them issues." The primary reason for taking the pictures is to retain the stories and relations behind them. This scanning service makes it possible to overcome the mess, time, and frustration of the process.
• You then show a brief DVD video of the scanning process.
• Then, with new high tech picture enhancement, meta tagging (journaling) and album management tools that are being added to Studio, the dreams of our ancestors who took the photos and our hopes for doing something with them to retain their stories and to pass them on in a more useful form can be accomplished. Encourage them to take advantage of the scanning service and the special deal you have for them tonight. This is where you discuss turning the photos into heritage.

3. What is heritage anyway?

• Simply put, heritage is the story of your family, your history, significant people, events, traditions and values. Your Heritage is your story. Do you know it? More importantly, are you teaching your children their family story so they know and can live the traditions and the values you cherish -- their roots? Do they share your view of the world, life, and its purpose?
• What happens to children who grow up not knowing the roots, values and purpose in life?
• Most often without this vital sense of belonging and heritage they will seek to find or make it on their own or adopt the heritage of their friends or gangs or others who have an overt statement of values and priorities that are often at odds with yours and societies.
• The lack of feeling this purpose and direction, goals and expectations that are part of heritage and that create this vital sense of belonging and connectedness, leads to depression, withdrawal and low self-esteem. For far too many children, especially teenagers, the only escape from the emptiness and lack of meaning and purpose is taking their own life. In extreme cases, where a heritage of violence has supplemented a loving home-based heritage, they take others with them. When the focus of their lives is allowed to be on violent video games and movies themed with criminals who get the attention they lack, some teens want to leave a legacy of terror.
• Current statistics indicate that suicide is the number 3 cause of death among young people ages 6-24. Heritage making is a vital, though not understood, role of every parent. Heritage Makers is dedicated to helping parents, primarily moms, understand how to build the heritage in their homes and transfer it effectively to their families through the power of storybooking.

4. Storybooking Heritage.

• Storybooking your heritage is the powerful and exciting introduction to Heritage Makers company and products. Here is where you will show and tell a group of key storybooks and other HM products. You will get them to briefly identify (not tell) a story they would like to have in a storybook (and will have some fun ways to help you get this information from them). The Story Card Game tools will be very helpful and exciting in this new approach.
• After showing them samples of the products and getting them in touch with their own stories, you move on to a demonstration of HM Studio. This is done with an updated DVD demo that shows all of its new features and powers and helps guests see how fun and easy it is to become a Heritage Maker in their home.
• We then discuss the four cornerstone storybooks they can make to help each child in their home understand and connect to the family story and their birthright of heritage. These storybooks include the paternal and maternal grandparents stories. These first two books (with simple templates and guides) chronicle basic information about their grandparents and help them see their grandparents as heroes and how their values and traditions have been passed onto their children -- you, and now onto them -- your children.
• The third storybook is your story. How you and their father met, fell in love got married and began building a life and a heritage for their family and how they looked so forward to that child joining them in the great adventure of building a family and a home together.
• Lastly, the fourth cornerstone is their own first storybook to tell of their birth, uniqueness, talents and the joy they bring to your home. These are the cornerstones for every member of the family, and we offer starter packages for new Heritage Makers that prepare them to create these books.

5. Becoming a Heritage Maker.

• Then we offer an invitation to the guests to become a Heritage Maker, a member of our community of proactive, intentional heritage making. We explain how they can become a member for free with Studio basic, or they can get a Studio Plus account for free with a purchase of a heritage maker starter pack of credits. If they are as excited about becoming a heritage maker as you, they will want to become a Premier Member, and we show and tell the differences and offer the starter packages.

6. The HM Business.

• Explain what the HM business is as a personal storybook publishing consultant. Consultants simply share the message in workshops like this and then they are available to coach and help members of their HM community. They coach them to storybook their Heritage and to establish their own HM community of heritage makers as a Consultant.
  
• You express your love for the business and how you would love to welcome them as a member of your heritage makers community in any way they would like to participate.

7. Take Orders.

• Then you, and any other consultants who have brought guests, meet with them individually to sign them up as a member (Free, Plus or Premier) and to take orders for the Packages and product.

While the system is similar to a Celebration , the fundamental difference is the mindset of bringing them into the community. This is the first objective--sign them up. Then service them with Studio and Product options. This is the shift. We want them as heritage makers in their home -- however they want.

Again this is the concept and the scripting and tools are coming. Prepare to change the paradigm and to reap the harvest of a rapidly expanding community of heritage makers!

Please understand our mission is membership! Please pass this vital concept (maybe the blog info) to others who need this clarifying focus on the nature, purpose and future of our business.

Onward and Upward!

Love,
Doug