What is Important...

Being the very visual person that I am, when I share my blog with you,  I like to include wonderful beautiful photos..but I had a very eye-opening experience this past week that I really want to share with you...just a few photos but mostly words. This is something that I think is worth mentioning for us to ponder...

I went with my friend, Kathy, to the Colorado National Speakers Association monthly meeting held at the beautiful Westin Hotel (side note- this is where the NIADA conference is next year- so why not check it out??)

so we were a bit like 

"fish" out of water..

Kathy is looking into becoming a speaker for Life after Recovery for Women...I think that she is going to be fabulous at it! She told me about this meeting with a "famous" speaker talking about "Building your Business that You never Dreamed Possible".

it is good to step out 

on a limb and into groups 

you are not quite familiar

I thought this man had some good info that I was pretty much practicing, which was good to see it formulated and laid out in a bell curve-type format. I am always for making my business better for my clients. He told funny stories that tied in well with the points he was covering. 

So you are asking why I am even writing about this??

hummm there was just 

something odd about this guy..

The story continues with a discovery from my oh so brief contact I had with "this man"...he basically was saying that your clients range from A-E with A being those who are not so interested but may dabble a bit into your business to E being those who spend a lot and need little energy...

So I thought hummm...for my business I am probably in the D-ish range...at the break I went up to chat with him a bit (this man who talks of building relationships and community)...I introduced myself and told him I was a doll artist (not a speaker) and was enjoying what he was saying- "WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION"- was so forcibly smacked into my mid-sentence...I was caught off guard ..."GET TO THE POINT- LESLIE"

I thought ok...here is my question "How do I get from D to E?"..."name of book" was his reply accompanied with a stare and with that I turned and walked back to my table thinking "What was that about?"

need I say more??

As the day went on and my view of him had been greatly colored a sort of murky muddy color...I thought well even though he is very distasteful, I can still glean SOME info from him...but as I sat there listening, his jokes were not so funny and his stories about himself took a slower pace than the info he was dishing out...I thought this guy is really a well honed machine giving you just the right bit of information and speaking so fast that I had a bunch of half sentences written down- well at least he would have people buying his books for more information...or not...

So later that day after Kathy and I left early to get a little retail therapy after that weird experience...I thought about all that he had said (or really NOT said) all of this in a tidy presented package of if you are going to be as great and wealthy as me this is what you do...

I came to the final conclusion that really to get from D to E -Would I have to become a big jerk pushing aside those middle people?...and is that really what I want for my business? Is that really MY business anyway?

kind a lonely at the top

kind a dark too..

NO! What is really important to me- the true building of relationships, the creating of community-that we do together...that is what is important to me. That I can touch someones heart and make them happy..that is what makes me happy...and no amount of money can ever buy you friendship or the smile you get when someone loves your work- all right it helps pay the rent here at ROotie, but I think you get the point.

I am so thankful for all of you who share my life, as a student, friend, family, or even the person who reads my blog on occasion! 

So all and all- 
Thank you for being you and being in my life!

 and they lived happily ever after
knowing they had love in their hearts!