Suddenly I See....I need to go dancin'

OK....It has been a month since I have made a post about music.

Please bear with me.......

I gotta say something about this song that is running through my head.

KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See"

When it comes on the radio, I gotta turn it up. I cannot get it out of my head. I am lovin' it! I just want to go dancing.

Maybe I am getting excited about getting together with my college (GO Purdue!) roommates in March. We have so much fun together. They will probably kill me, but here are some pictures of our last few outings.

~The green dresses were not planned until we saw them at a store.
~Then we went to an 80's prom, we laughed so hard getting ready!
~Last year, we figured we had to do something, hence the blonde wigs.

We are getting together in March, perhaps in Chicago for my Survivor audition. (NO, I have not heard back yet. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts.)

So for "kicks and giggles"......Any ideas on something crazy we can do?

Happiness...I got it!

So many people have asked me lately:

"Are you always happy"
"How do you stay postive?"
"Do you always have fun?"

There is no Happy Pill. I am ME.
My life has been....challenging? Not that no one life is not. Life is tough and, at times, it pretty much sucks! But I have taught myself to turn my thoughts and actions to the positive.

I started the process one late night in October listening to Mr. Nightingale's, "The Strangest Secret." (I downloaded it from Limewire) The cd is always in my car and I listen to it every week.

Then I visited a Landmark Education preview. Very powerful to be in room with so much positive people and energy without judgement. That night gave me validation that what I was doing was correct. (I have not completed the Landmark Forum, yet).

Finally, I have a Vision Group and we watched "The Secret" which sealed the deal for me. In the past I played life like a chess game, always planning 4-5 moves ahead.

Now, I focus on the moment at hand making that moment the best possible. Do I have moments of stress, drama and "I want to stand up and scream!" ? OH YEAH, but not very often anymore.

But I let myself have a moment--just a moment. I will call a friend, ask my boys to give me the biggest hug they can (amazing how good that always feels) and I have driven down a road screaming at the TOP OF MY LUNGS!! (no one can hear you inside your car at 50+mph). When I allow myself to have a moment, it gives me the opportunity to vent my feelings. Once I vent, that's it. Done. I don't dwell or analyze, just regroup and move on to bigger and better.

That is what is working for me. I love my life. Yes, I am happy and always having fun! I giggle when I fall asleep at night and I wake up before my alarm clock ready to go in the morning.

I am successful because I am doing what I love to do and having so much fun!

Life is crazy......Why not enjoy it?

Getting a House in Order

Busy week for me between business, personal and family/kid stuff....I am looking forward to the weekend. As I hear Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" in the background.

One project I had this week was a follow-up visit with my Office 911 client, Lynn (aka "Lisa"). Her main goal was to switch the craftroom and her son's bedroom. The before pictures show how the craftroom started out.

Lynn did a great job getting started before I arrived. (I think our Office project last month inspired her--yeah!) But what that did was gave us time to work on other areas of her home.

We moved furniture to the garage for donation and switched furniture between the two rooms. We were able to sort out her other son's room, hang up some cool basketball lights and get her linen closet cleaned out.

Lynn's craft area is cleaned up and ready for her projects, her son's new bedroom is ready for the furniture to arrive, her other son's desk and closet is organized and she is donating several bags of items to charity.


I expected one big project today, and not all these little projects. It felt very rewarding getting so many little projects done. I had a GREAT time!

Lynn, it was my pleasure helping you...again.


How do you adapt to your client's needs?

CBS Survivor

I do not watch TV that much.

LOST, CSI and Survivor. That is about it. Every now and then I watch Comedy Central. (South Park and Carlos Mencia--"De de de", Hilarious!!)

I must admit to being a Survivor "Junkie." My application is complete and the video transferred to VHS (CBS--why still VHS??), ready to be sent. My video is not overproduced. Yeah I screwed up some lines, even banged my head into a wall....Hey, this is me.



I will be in Chicago around March, then LA April/May, then off to a "remote location" for 7 weeks June-August. Speaking engagements can be scheduled around December 2007. (Hey if you can't imagine the outcome, why play the game!)

Thank you to:
Rebecca Booth, Imagine That! for Brainstorming ideas with me.
Monnie Holman, DP Design and Print, for being my "camera chick."
My mom for being incredibly supportive & watching my boys.....I will get you to Hawaii!!

Anyone want to attend my BNI and Senior Collaborative meetings this summer?

Vision

Making goals is good.


Creating accountability for your goals is better.


Achieving your goals....well, that's PERFECT!




I am a member of a Vision Group. Four women who have teamed up to make each other accountable for our 2007 goals.

We have listened to The Secret together and made "Vision Boards."
Mine is hanging in my bathroom. I love it. I look at it at least twice a day and remember why I am doing what I do, what I am shooting for, and to stay positive in my thoughts.


This has been extremely powerful for me. It energizes me every morning, setting the tone for the day. My excitement is like the dude in The Emperor's New Groove. (not his self-centered characteristics)
When I walk into a room, I just want to yell "BOOM BABY!"
(oh...I did do this once)

Thought I would share my Vision Board with you, and I will keep you posted as a achieve my goals.

What are your goals for 2007?

Sex?

I am not sure where to start with this,
so let's just jump to the point.

IKEA did a customer survey that found that
31 percent said:

They were more satisfied after cleaning out their closets
than they were with sex.
I found this out in an article in the Monroe Evening Newspaper about getting organized, featuring....ME. (click here to read more)

Are my services better than sex?!? ......Really?



I don't know what people are doing (maybe they don't know), but this is a FANTASTIC STAT!

I LOVE IT!!!



Charles Slat--You ROCK for putting together a great article.
Valerie--You ROCK for having fun with me during my "photo shoot."

2007--You ROCK beyond words. We are only 14 days into this year.
I am besided myself with happiness.

....Plus, did I tell you I can help people feel better than sex???
OH, How much fun will I have with this?
C'mon....smile and laugh with me!

Fun at the BBA?

Last night was the Bedford Business Association's (BBA) monthly meeting. Bedford Township is a old farming community in Michigan (near Toledo, OH) that is a great place to raise my family. I LOVE IT! The BBA is an organization of about 300 business located in Bedford, and is set-up similar to a chamber organization.

I find the meetings unwelcoming (is that a word?) to new members. Maybe it is just me....a young business chick, fresh to the community, eager to make a difference, and excited about the opportunity to grow. So, I decided to attempt to make an impact.

I stood at the door to the meeting armed with a stack of blank name tags, a pen and a question. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE GROWING UP?
A simple question, everyone had to answer before entering the meeting. It was FANTASTIC!! People's faces lit up!

"Wow! I haven't thought about that in a while."
"You know, I really wanted to be a race car driver."
"Oh dear, you are bringing back happy memories."
"I wanted to slice meat." (OK, inside joke here, but that's what a Deli Dude said. I wrote "Meat Slicer" on his nametag. He got some hassle, and changed to football player.)

The point in all this was to learn something interesting about the members. And have some fun at the BBA meeting
(I know, sounds crazy, right?)
IT WORKED!!
I had fun, a few people told me they did too.

If you came to this meeting.....What did you learn?

If you did not....What have you done to impact an organization?

Oh yeah....I wanted to be an Astronaut.



.....mmmm, stay tuned for next month's question.

The Office Challenge

I had a tough job today, working on a business office.

Tough for two reasons:
1. This is a business associate I see weekly.
2. It is a business office, usually I work with residential clients.

Working with a business office always seemed tricker to me because there are different issues to consider versus home offices. Business offices can be public, whereas home offices are private. You must take the time to understand the business and the needs of the office before jumping into getting it organized. I am just plain more comfortable working with residential clients than business. (I hate to admit it, but it is true)


Before
I spent a lot of time talking with "John" trying to understand his needs and goals for his office. Brought some suggestions, which were not readily accepted. Some storage plans were shot down. I really felt worried going into this project. I then decided I would just do my best and see what happens.


After
The job went well. I started at the top and worked my way down. (That system seems to work best for me) Began clearing off the top of the cabinets, then the upper cabinets. Onto the desktop, and tackled a couple of the cabinets under the desk. He had some cabinets (not shown in the pictures) along another wall that took some time sorting through. In the end, the office is back to a great starting point. John was left with a couple piles he needed to sort out. (hopefully he will toss the majority of those papers)

The best part was he left me to work for a few hours, when he returned...."WOW! Angie this is amazing!"

He was pleased and I felt much better. Postive thinking always pays off in the end. Now, I am ready to take on business offices with more confidence.

Thank you John for pushing me out of my comfort zone.

It was my pleasure helping you.

How has a client ever pushed you out of your comfort zone?

2007...You Rock!

My website, Organized Solutions, has been up and running for one year this week. It took a month for Google to picked me up around 19,999,999 out of 20,000,000 results.

I just checked today.

Organized Solutions is at listed at 5 out of 34,200,000 results!!
(click here to see)
My goal was to get Organized Solution's website into the top 8 pages of the Google search in one year.

I made it to page #1 !!!
DANG!! I will jump up and do my "Happy Dance" now.

...wanna join me?

Stand Up and Talk

This morning I had my 10 minute presentation on my business for my BNI group. I was very nervous, also quite excited to tell them about me and my business. My very good friend Joani Donovan, fka Joani Algiere, set the stage for me with an AWESOME introduction! Her humor put me at ease (thank you).

When I was planning this, I had a too many things to mention. So I thought I would rather go short than cram in everything, leaving time for questions.

How was I going to start and get their attention at 7:30AM?


AH, HA!! Stand on a chair! PERFECT!!
I'm a nut, I will admit that. My girlfriends will vouch for me.

Bottom line: I had everyone's attention in the room.

I was only briefly up on the chair, I jumped down, walked a bit (eases the jitters), and felt I did a good job getting my business presented.

It has been 9 years since I had to do a formal presentation. When I was a Design Engineer, I had them weekly. This one was WAY more fun than any presentation I have ever done on Method of Blow Molding a Vertical Rib. (How much fun can you imagine I had with this project? Read the words slowly, and laugh)

I forgot I could do this. My first, and most difficult, presentation is done. 3 more this month and 2 scheduled in February.

Mmmmmm....2007 is off to a great start!

Let me know if you want me to speak....I'll come up with something fun.

Have you ever forgotten that you could do something?

What do I do with this stuff?

A friend of mine from DP Design and Print referred a very good client of hers, "Mike," to me. She felt my business would be a perfect fit for his needs. (Networking is so cool!)


Mike's mom recently passed away and he was looking for some help in dealing with his mother's home and her belongings. He has it for sale and needed to get all the "little" stuff out. Most of it was too good to throw out. Mike and I walked through the home to show me what he wanted done. I then came back and started the process of recording all the items I was removing from the home, taking pictures, boxing everything up and transporting it to
the local Salvation Army.

The process can be a bit time consuming recording everything then packing it all up. Mike wanted an itemized account for his mother's estate, and I was happy to help him. It took nearly 6 hours with two trips to the Salvation Army and typing up the list of belongings donated.


Mike was quite pleased with the job I had completed. He was surprised I included pictures.

If you are going to donate any amount of non-cash items to a charity, it is a good idea to have a "snap-shot."
Especially if it is as much as he had! (this is only one of five pictures)

It was my pleasure to help Mike with his mother's belongings. It was also my pleasure to help my friend at DP Design and Print in completing the networking circle.

How has networking helped you and your business?

5...4...3...2...1......

BLAST OFF!!

OK, here we go! 2007

Back to work, though my boys have one more day until school starts. I have quite a list of calls to make, 2 presentations to work on, a pantry design to finalize and, of course, new christmas toys to play with my boys.

I am looking forward to getting back to business and seeing what develops in this new year. I don't know what is to come, but I know it is all good...very good!


Are you ready to get this party started?