Friendship - Tell them now, not in an eulogy

Original post on website/newsletter Nov. 21, 2104

You’re like peas and carrots. Peanut butter and jelly. Buzz and Woody. Bert and Ernie. No matter what happens, through the good and bad, happy and sad, you’ve never left each other’s side.

How do you describe a friendship like that? Here are some famous quotes about friendship. Which one captures your friendship best?

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” – C.S. Lewis

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.” – William Shakespeare

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” – Elbert Hubbard

“My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” – Henry Ford

“Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer.” – Unknown

“Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.” – Ally Condie

“The real test of friendship is can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple?” – Eugene Kennedy

“Friendship isn’t a big thing — it’s a million little things.” – Unknown

Good friends are hard to find and impossible to forget. Let these simple quotes inspire you to make time for your special friend today. Nurture what you share together and send them your love in a custom card or gift today.

Let Your Positive Attitude Lead the Way

Reposted from NEW BLOG page

 original date: October 20, 2014

by d_mohr

 

 As an entrepreneur, you have an amazing opportunity. You have the power to create a business that encourages people to promote goodness and embrace the positive.
Imagine a world where people actually act on their promptings to make a difference in the lives of others? That’s what SendOutCards is all about! We’re also about building and maintaing relationships and promoting a positive attitude.

Let this opportunity guide the goals of your professional life. It is possible to make a difference in people’s lives! And it all starts with your attitude. Here are a few ways a positive attitude will contribute to a better bottom line for your business:

Set realistic goals and view them in a positive light. Put your mind in a place to desire success and then strive for it. Yes, achieving goals can be difficult, especially when you are first starting out, but if you focus your energy on how difficult it is to achieve your goal, you are devoting your efforts to a dead end. Remember that the purpose of goals is to give yourself something to strive for!

Don’t underestimate the power of your mind. Every time you tell yourself that you have talent and you can succeed, you water a small seed of confidence that will help you grow into the person you want to become. It also doesn’t hurt to surround yourself with people who are great at cheering you on!

Remember that your attitude affects those around you. Building connections is by nature a group undertaking, and it’s your responsibility to be a positive example to people. If you tell others to be positive but don’t take your own words to heart, they will eventually notice, and your words will be meaningless.

Rely on your optimism to re-energize yourself. We all feel discouraged sometimes, and we all run into those among us who doubt us or even try to tear us down. But successful people climbed the mountains in their lives by revitalizing themselves. They came to a point where they began generating their own optimism and positive energy to keep themselves going when everyone around them thought they’d fail.

Take this opportunity to create positive goals that will ultimately strengthen the foundation of your business, so you can enjoy the journey to the greatest extent and achieve the success you desire.

**PLEASE NOTE, we are transitioning to new social media uses with FB and our blog links. Please check us out at http://cardsandmohr.sendcere.net and register there to receive our newsletter via email with a lot more insight and connections. 

As always, we'd love to see you & connect at our Facebook Page.

Got Gratitude?

Proud Mom as my oldest is 2 weeks into the Gratitude Challenge.  Will you join us? Age, gender, location does not matter - all you need to do is committ to sending one card a day x30 days.... sending kindness & appreciation to thirty people.  Imagine the impact. 

Take a look at Zach challenging you - JOIN US!

No risk. No strings attached. And 100% money back guarentee if you complete challenge and are not satisfied.... Highly doubt it, but guarentee.

Help us make a difference!
Hugs, Danielle & Family

New Gratitude Challenge Participants

My heart is sooo happy? Guess who is doing the Gratitude Challenge? Yep - our boys! The big boys pooled their money together and are sharing the 30 days to send cards to their teachers, coaches and friends. They are loving it and while I know how I feel and have read your messages, to see my children participate is unmatched.  Take a peek as they show you how easy it is to be part of the challenge by clicking here!

Make someone's day.... What do you have to lose..? That is right - absolutely nothing. Hugs, Danielle

30 Day Gratitude Challenge - Are You Doing It?

Who do you appreciate? Have you told them? Are you are over-due in sharing your gratitude? Take a peek at the 30-Day Gratitude Challenge that many in our SendOutCards family are participating in for a month. Now look at our CardsAndMohr team and customers who jonied us.... we are in awe of you!

As I mention in the video, we want to hear from YOU! Please message us via email or Facebook. Connect w/ us for a $31/mo account so you pay 62 cents a card - add the stamp and you have just made someone's day... month... year for about $1.

BIG HUGS,
Danielle

Fundraising Ideas

Do you do any type of fundraising - for school, church, non-profit or other? Do you have a way to stay in touch with your donors year after year? Do you have a quick, convenient, and inexpensive way to send a "thank you card?"  If not, take a peek at this video.

You can be a card sender... in your individual, business and service relationships. I would love the opportunity to share how easy our SendOutCards system is for managing all your contacts (database), dates, cards and campaigns to be sent at a later time.

You have a chance to make a difference in your fundraising efforts. Make sure you take a moment to appreciate those who donated to your efforts so they will want to donate again next year.  Try the system out - send a card at by clicking here!

All my best,

Danielle

Thank You for MY Card

As THE card sender, I was floored today to receive a SendOutCards "big card" in the mail. WOW - I'm speechless.  Take a peek at my Thank You video.

I am blessed!
xoxo, Danielle

What is Your Legacy?

Unexpected phone calls from family make me nervous... We just talked to them - why are they calling? Such was another phone call today as we learned that my husband's uncle had passed away after an auto accident earlier this week.

It is these unexpected tragedies this year (compared to a "prepared loss" as ridiculous as that sounds with an older relative) that has really put a lot of things in perspective for me and *what* is important... From the unthinkable of a parent saying good-bye to an infant as God holds a baby angel to a little girl losing her mom to friends losing parents... and now this unexpected loss in our family.

I'm not going to be a philosophical here, but recently I have often asked myself what legacy and memory do I want to leave... and I am revisiting that question tonight.... What legacy and memory do I want to leave for my children?  What do I want people to tell my kids about me? What impact (no matter the size) will my life have to those around me...? 

As I read the above I realize it sounds "doom & gloom," but it's not meant to be. It's meant to reminde me what is important and how we should celebrate all the little things "now" and not later, as someday or tomorrow is not promised.

So ask yourself, what is the legacy you want to leave? If you aren't leaving the legacy you deisre, change it.  Only you have the power to change the outcome - this reminds me of a quote from Facebook today about CHOICE - CHANCE - CHANGE... Remember: Celebrate the NOW! 

Big hugs all around,
Danielle

Do you still believe?

Wow! I knew I was struggling to write since tragedy took a friend in November, but I apologize for my absence.  Well, a full day (from 12-8pm) free of technology and filled with great fun. Returned from morning sports and put our pajamas back on.  Ordered pizza, made popcorn, and settled in for a holiday movie marathon.

The movie watching concluded with "The Polar Express."  And I want to leave you these words as you think about 2012... what are your goals... where do you want to be... what is your dream....

From "The Polar Express"   One thing about trains... It doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on."

Do you still hear the bell ring? Do you still believe? This Christmas and always, don't forget to DREAM! ♥

How do I blog after my last entry?!?

Hi Friends and Followers -

First of all, you are amazing individuals who have offered up prayer for two families this week... and have included prayers for my heart. I'm blessed.  I have to admit, I'm kinda stuck on how or what to blog... While I find the next fitting entry, I wanted to share a email I received about the last video.

Last week, I tried all morning to create the video reminding you (and me) to act on our promptings.. you know that little voice that we often ignore.  I tried all morning and I never got it done... then our 3 year old came home and I still hadn't been successful.  Our kiddo was almost a good distraction to keep my tears away so I could share the message.  I was concerned and expressed it to friends that I didn't want the video to appear disrespectful with Landon crawling in the background, but was reasured he did not do that.

Here is what a friend sent me:
"Danielle - God was speaking to you that day and he wanted you to do the video. Not a perfect video but that is OK because none of us are. It was genuine and heartfelt and that is what is important along with your message. I thought it was very sweet that your son wanted to be a part of it. I always thought you had a good heart Danielle even when we were kids. That is obviously still reflected yet today! : ) "

Thank you to my friend above and to all of you who have sent messages, texts, phone calls and cards. You are amazing. I hope I have blessed your life as much as you have mine and our family's. Thank you for being part of our "Family" in and outside of SendOutCards.

Big Hugs,
Danielle

30 Minutes for Progress

Although the photo for this blog seems to be referencing physical activity, I want you to think about taking 30 minutes each day for you.  It doesn't have to be the same task or activity.  Take 30 minutes today (yet) or start tomorrow and do something "better" in your life.  Take 30 minutes and make progress towards something.


Think about how powerful 30 minutes will be over one month?  When you add up the 30 minute "investments" for thirty days, that is 900 minutes... that is 15 hours of progress.

And 15 hours of progress is better than 15 hours of regret... or 15 hours of not doing anything. Maybe your 30 minutes is physical activity/exercises, maybe it's meditation or time to journal, maybe it's time to read a couple chapters of a personal development book, etc.

What area(s) in your life are you going to tackle in 30 minutes blocks.  It's a retorical question, but if you want to share - we'd love to hear about it below in the comments or in a email message.

Cheering you on.... because what is 15 hours for one month, will soon be approximately 19 days of progress in one year.  That is nineteen more days of progress than you had last year.

Thirty minutes a day changed our lives!  We are cheering you on!  --Danielle & Tim

Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction states that whatever you focus on, think about,

read about, and talk about intensely, you're going to attract more of into your life.

Think of it this way... According to the Law of Attraction, the phrase "I need more money" allows the subject to continue to "need more money". If the subject wants to change this they would focus their thoughts on the goal (having more money) rather than the problem (needing more money). This might take the form of phrases such as "I have as much money as I need" or "I have a job that pays very well". ♥   Shoot for the moon. -Danielle

VOLUNTEERS

Valued for every hour you share,
Open to giving your generous care,
Lending a hand as well as your heart,
Ultra-dedicated in doing your part,
Noted for going abouve andbeyond,
Taking the time to smile and to bond,
Extraordinary in how you brighten days,
Eager to help in so many ways
Reliable in all that we request of you,
Someone who's loyal, dedicated, and true!



Thought the poem was great and wanted to share. To those of you who give your time & talents to another person or cause, THANK YOU!

My Gratitude Journal - shared entries

Do you have a Gratitude Journal? If not, I encourage you to get one. You can see details in an earlier blog post, but it doesn't have to be fancy.  Just get a notebook and give yourself 5 minutes when you start your day to reflect on all your blessings... big or small.  Click here to see my journal as I read some entries, but you can create a list or write in a narrative. In these simple five minutes, watch how your day will change... your outlook... the way you appreciate what you have.  There is nothing fancy to my journal (seen here or on the video), but a place for me to write my thought & appreciate all that we have.

Thinking of you. I am GRATEFUL for you - your friendship, your following and your support!  Thank you for you!  Hugs, Danielle

Staying In Touch -

I was asked to write a blog entry for Professional Building Network (PBN) Group and I wanted to share the content with you too.  Enjoy!  To your success - Danielle

Staying In Touch by Danielle Mohr

Are you one of the 40% of sales people that do NOT follow-up with a prospect?  If yes, stay tuned for a future blog. However, if you are one of those that do follow-up, how do you keep in contact with those you have networked with or met?  How do you set yourself apart from others?

The best advice I could share would be to stay in touch and with this staying in touch efforts, make sure you are giving to give… and not necessarily gain business immediately.  The referrals and business are the goal, but with kindness and appreciation you will achieve that success. You will quickly learn that appreciation will “win” over self-promotion every time.

The first idea someone has to stay in touch is using e-mails.  While it is convenient to send emails, you need to make these attempts personal. Write and send a personal e-mails asking how the customer/client is and and briefly share a couple sentences what you have been doing. This isn’t a sales solicitation.  And yes, the phone still works… pick it up, dial and say “Hello!”

The goal is to try to stay in touch with your customers, clients and prospects on a regular basis. Eighty percent of sales are made between the 5^th- 12^th contact or interaction.  A hand-written note is a great way to show you care and stand out from the crowd. Send the card to your customer/client on special occasions and send them “just because” for fun & a positive contact with your recipient.  Send out seasonal cards – I have a client who swears by sending Thanksgiving cards for his business. It is his moment to express his gratitude for their relationship and business. By sending Thanksgiving cards, he believes he is standing out among the traditional holiday card. 

While holidays are a great time to send out cards, you can get pretty creative when to send other cards to have an opportunity to make those customer/client contacts.  Try sending recipe postcards or themed cards: “Spring Ahead – Set Your Clocks Forward” or notes of appreciation: “Thanks for your business or Thanks for the Referral” with a gift card to a coffee shop or such. Send notes about career changes, marriage, new houses, babies and sympathy cards. The gesture goes a long way.  These handwritten notes carry a great return on the networking you began. You may look at your contacts in business or with other businesses and think how will I be able to write all those cards?  There again, is another blog entry or you can contact me for the how-tos or try it out for FREE!.

The underlying key no matter what form you use to stay in touch is to build the relationship. Keep connected and nuture the friendships so they don’t disappear. These relationships are with people who you support and will support you. The first step is up to you.

And remember, "a card a day - keeps the competition away."

Say What You Mean... Today

The month has just begun and we've already had the need to send sympathy cards to Friends for family losses.  My heart aches and I will never know what our Friends are feeling, nor will we have the "right" words when we send a heartfelt note.  But we do just that - we sit down and send a heartfelt card with our own sentiments.  Forget that it is in our handwriting and signatures, but just think about the impact that our Friends feel with this gesture of love.

We're blessed to use our SendOutCards system/tool so we can immediately act on our intention.  Too often we have the intention, but due to time or money we may not act on it.  Although are words won't be the "right" words, they will be there for Friends to read and re-read for comfort.

Don't be afraid to express yourself. We share so much admiration and praise for others in their eulogies.  We want to provide you a system/tool to act on your intention and celebrate those around you TODAY!  We encourage you to reach out and tell someone what they mean to you. 

If you love someone, have praise/admiration or the need to say thanks - do so today.  Seize the day. Never have regrets. And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family. Reach out and tell them TODAY because when you decide that it is the right time it might be too late. 

Have the thought to send a card now? Click here to send greeting card for FREE! 

Hugs, Danielle

Take Time for Your Mate & You!

For those of you who follow our blog, you know that my husband & I were MIA for a couple weeks with trips to Nashville and Las Vegas. Those two weeks were amazing and I gained so much insight, appreciation and fresh perspective for myself and my roles in family and business. I have a list of items/blog entries I want to write about from these moment.  And even though my girlfriend thinks I’m nuts “put [my]self out there," I thought this would be a good start...

Although it is one of those things you know, your closest relationship is with your mate.  And such is true for me, as my relationship with Tim. We’ve been married 12 years and counting and as you know the husband & wife relationship changes when you become father & mother.  In writing this, I don’t mean to imply the change is negative – it is just different.  And for us, it is exciting and fun to experience our adventures, vacations, life lessons and more as a group of five than solo.  I will be the first one to admit that we don’t take the dates and time away as a couple (as all the “experts” advise); however, we make other “dates” and prioritize our couple time over family time occasionally.  We don’t choose couple time over family time to be selfish, we chose it to flourish & strengthen our family time.

Since we don’t always make the true date (restaurant, movie, etc) out in the community, one thing we do is plan a date for a late dinner together at home.  We do this with take-out dinners (yep, even our favorite Hibachi restaurant creates meals for us) or late dinner for us when the kids go to bed.   I am a huge component of family meals, so we still sit/snack with the boys during their dinner to continue conversation, but save our dinner & dialogue for a little later in the night.

How do we have dinner or this quiet time? We’ve been lucky to have good sleepers, but we also encourage bedtimes around 8 pm +/- 30 minutes depending on the kiddos’ age.  Your ‘in-home’ dates don’t have to be perfect or expensive… perhaps it’s sharing a TV show, playing cards, dinner, looking at photos or just the simple conversations without being interrupted. 

Don’t let your business or outside stresses separate your relationship with your spouse. A great book is When Husband and Wife Become Mom and Dad by Elisa Morgan & Carol Kuykendall in which they share, “Hope comes in realizing that the chaos you’re experiencing in your marriage is perfectly normal.” And that is a reality.  In a life with kids (I’d never change that), we are rarely going to FIND time with our partner/spouse – we have to MAKE it. 

One thing I’ve enjoyed doing these last two years (and my parents are spoiling us) has been taking a solo (aka couple’s) trip with Tim for a couple of days.  We have no immediate family around us to call for a weekend sleepover or a quick babysitting favor, so true dinner and movie dates are far & few between as we’ve already stated.  My sister doesn’t know how good she has it w/ both sets of grandparents within a 1-3 mile radius. *wink-wink*  Our parents have been kind to offer up their time while visiting us in TX to stay with the kids so we could take simple, 3-day trips ALONE.  We’ve have been blessed to do this the last two summers as a couple… no parenting, discipline, cutting up meals, etc.  In 2010, we went to San Francisco & Napa Valley.  We spent time on the Pier, toured Alcatraz, and bicycled 16 miles around the wineries.  This year we went to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  Both trips were amazing!  Yes, the sites were great; however, it was a time for us to reconnect, pretend we were newlyweds and reminisce our adventures – from courting in college to parenting. 

Both of us will tell you it has been the best thing we’ve done.  The memories of the trips are vivid in my mind.  If I close my eyes, I feel like I’m standing on the bottom of the Grand Canyon with the same overwhelming and child-like awe as I did that day.  Even after the trips are over, we chat about our time together, joke about the community pool’s similarities to the Venetian Hotel in Vegas (not!) or figure out how to buy another case of wine from our favorite Napa Valley Winery.  While I am enjoying these memories, I can’t help but let my mind wander for the ‘where’ of next summer. (Thanks Mom & Dad for the offer. This is the best gift ever!)

You may be thinking 3-days are still too much – for expenses or trust of another.  Again, you could do this with an overnight… maybe you go somewhere locally to stay overnight or maybe you schedule sleepovers for your kiddos and trade the favor with friends.  No matter what your budget allows, I guess the lesson of today’s blog entry is to find time for your mate!  I bet you are working hard at maintain your (girl) friendships; now just make sure to put the attention on your closest relationship with your mate or spouse.

You know me… your biggest cheerleader.  Sending hugs - Danielle

Our Definition of Freedom

Here is just a sampling of what the word freedom means to us:

• The ability to work for myself. ;o)
• The ability to travel - locally and other far-off, fun locations.
• The ability to do business on my schedule where I choose.
• The ability to give my time to friends and family with out worrying about going to work and asking for permission.  This means being present for our boys' school events, fieldtrips and more that I may have missed with a j-o-b.
• The ability to wake up in this great country and choose what I want to do becaus of those who serve & sacrafice... so that we all have these choices and freedoms. 

Have a safe & blessed holiday from our family to you!

Are You Thanking Your Employees & Downlnes?

No matter your business, you as the owner or manager are similar to that of a Coach.  Your employees, sales reps, downlines and others within your company are part of your team and you are the Coach.  And just like any team, the performance of each individual player affects the performance and image of the entire team.

Now-a-days, you see a turn-over within a business as employees look for other options.  Not always do employees leave for bigger & better things, some employees leave because they did not feel appreciated.  You will find yourself in a cycle of training employees who leave, thus costing you time and money.

Do you send them a thank you card, a gift or even say "Hey, you did a great job!"  Have you ever thought what a difference your note of appreciation or gratitude for their efforts, performance or success would have on the employee?!?  We all have an innate desire to be appreciated... what if it were so simple as sharing your thoughts in written words.

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." -Wm Authur Ward.  Allow us to show you how easy it is to use a system for personal & business needs - for customers, employees and downlines. Take a couple minutes and show someone you care... you appreciate them.

We are making a difference for many and will be there to help you make a difference too.

Play til the Whistle Blows

It’s time for the NBA Playoffs and we are excited to see the Dallas Mavericks back in the finals.  Watching Game 2 last night was not pretty and we saw (read on FB) lots of friends sign off and ‘give up’ on the game to go to bed.  These friends just assumed that it was over and the Mavs were going to lose… what happened?  The Mavs launched a comeback and won Game 2 on a last second shot; now the series is tied 1-1 and the Mavs have a chance to win the next three at home and claim the championship. 

What a great lesson for all of us – you, me, our kids in this game of life. We should play every day like its game day and play TIL THE WHISTLE BLOWS!  How different the outcome would have been if any of the players decided in their minds that the game was over when they were down.  You (and your personal voice) are sometimes your biggest obstacle.  Get rid of that self-defeating voice and believe in yourself just like we believe in you.  No matter your business, make your goals and keep pursuing them. For anyone on our team, please share them with Tim or I – or another accountability partner, your spouse, your family. When others know your goal, they will help you stay in the game and achieve that success.

Sure, we all have good days and not so-good days, but remember tomorrow is another day.  You’ll see ups and downs in business too, but you’re in it for the long run. You do not start a business with a ‘get rich quick’ mentality. All the practice and time you’ve put into your relationships will be rewarded – I constantly share this with our Send Out Cards team. I spent eight years in another direct sales company and never have seen the success we’ve had with Send Out Cards in one year. It’s all about the Law of Averages and you need to stay in the game, focused on your goal and play hard til the final whistle blows.  Our best to you as you shoot for the moon!  --Danielle