I have a dream...

Today, as a nation, we celebrate the life, accomplishments and contributions, of Dr. Martin Luther King.  So many of his words have become infamous that often we don't remember the man who spoke them or why he said them. 

Maybe the greatest honor of all is when you words still inspire, even if you are forgotten?  I don't know.  I just know that that the words of Dr. King for me as till infused with the television images of him speaking the words.  For those memories, I am grateful today. 

"I have a dream..." was a grander vision than any dream I have ever held, yet it is those words that I utter every time I remember that any dream is a worthy dream, and any dream begins to come to reality not when all the steps to create the dream are in place, but when I take just one step toward that dream. 

My morning reading had an interesting passage:  "Do you want to live the life you are living or are you ready to say yest to your dream life?"  I paused after reading that question.  For me the question would be different.  I am grateful for the life of love I have built.  That love is real and not a dream.  For me the question would really not be a question.  It would be a statement of intention.

"I am grateful for the life of love I have created AND I am ready to add to it my dreams that make those loves come to life."

What are your dreams or intentions?  Are you ready to say 'yes' to your dreams even if you can see no further than the first step of writing them down and choosing one small step to take toward making your dreams your realities? 

When you look at the road ahead you it may look as though the obstacles before you are to great to traverse.  Start walking your path anyway.  You may be surprise that the road may be crooked, but those obstacles can become nothing but majestic scenery. 

Thank you Dr. King. 

Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.Facebook.com/DrSuccessPhD
http://www.servingsuccess.com/
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com

One Door Closes - Another Door Opens

Dr. Success Challenge: Do you have a dream of a product or service you want to get to market? Have you made a list of the reasons you think you have not succeed yet in achieving that dream?

In November 2009 I featured the success story of Sherry Campa (pillowholder@gmail.com), a 62 year old, disabled grandmother, whose economic situation required she ride the bus as her main means of transportation. Her regular trips on the bus allowed her to observe passengers who were confined to wheelchairs. She noticed their heads rested on uncomfortable and ill fitting pads. That gave her an idea. From that idea, with no money, no talent for sewing or design, she created the Dreamy Comfort Pillow which is now featured on Nissan’s website, used by law enforcement agencies and in medical supply houses. A dream was allowed to grow because a dreamer took action regardless of the apparent lack of resources.

Everyone has heard of or experienced the economic devastation of the last 18 months. Living in Las Vegas I know that devastation is wider and deeper than many other parts of the country. Yet, in the mist of such a situation, I serendipitously encounter a young man who managed to dream of a product and get it to market. The young man’s name is Brian Agster. His company is Vegas Doorstops and the product is Door-Pro(tm).

The encounter was serendipitous because I met Brian while dining with my husband at one of our favorite after shopping haunts. Unfortunately, we were informed upon our arrival that the restaurant would be closing and reopening in several months as a new and different restaurant. Not exactly good news, since that means many people would be losing their jobs in a market that already sits at the top of the unemployment scale nationally.

During dinner we started asking Brian general questions about the restaurant concept switch, how long we had respectively lived in Las Vegas, the sorry state of the education system, etc. We asked what he would do for work during the restaurant closure. He said he was fortunate because he had a business based on a product he had created. The business was Vegas Doorstops, and they made – yes, you guessed it – doorstops. Now doorstops are not original, not exciting, and older than almost any product sold that I can imagine. Yet Brian found a way to improve upon them while addressing a market need that is huge – and growing. How Brian told us about his product is a sign of great salesmanship. He did not start telling us about the product. What he did was ASK us a question. He asked, “how do you hold the door open to your house when you enter from the garage?” (For those of you on the East coast who may not have garages attached to your home, the doors usually are spring loaded.) I responded that I use one of the bags to prop the door open. He then went on to explain how his product worked.

Instead of needing to be put at the bottom of the door – requiring bending – his product slips easily on the hinge of the door, thus allow it to prop open. Now bending down may not seem like a big deal to you, yet I am here to tell you people hate to bend down. And housekeepers in hotels really hate to bend down because they have to do a minimum of 15 rooms per day. That’s a lot of added bending to a given day. Also, as the population ages, bending is not something people can do easily whether they like to do it or not.

A simple product, a new design, and a new global market is born.

Brian highlights several outstanding qualities of a successful entrepreneur. He kept his day job while creating, patenting, copyrighting, manufacturing, selling and distributing his dream product. His dream product was simple and needed. His sales pitch focused me on how I live and why his product would make my life better!

Down economy? Who cares! Have to work to feed my family? Who cares! Already been invented? Who cares!

Brian and Door-Pro(tm) is a true example of: You can make excuses or you can get your dream product to market, but you can’t do both.

With appreciation for the greatness our country allows, Andrea
Dr. Success (tm)
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
866 975 3777

When Books Become Things

Each month I feature a different book on a segment of the morning television show, AM Arizona. I post a blog about the book I am featuring. I choose books that align with the themes of positive psychology and human development. Almost exclusively I choose books that require the reader to take some action to shift from where they are to where they believe they want to be next. My September section was When God Winks and October was You Unstuck.

This month there will be no new book featured on the November 10th segment. Instead, I will be featuring someone who brought those books to life. Her name is Sherry Campa and her product is the Dreamy Comfort Pillow Holder (notice hot look fabric headrest cover in photo). Let me explain.

When I completed last month’s segment and turned on my phone, there was a message from a woman by the name of Sherry Campa. I did not know a Sherry Campa. Her message stated that she was a 62 year old grandmother. She traveled by bus a lot and noticed that people in wheelchairs had a very uncomfortable looking, and generally not well fitting, headrest on their chairs.

Me being the optimist that I am, thought she had just seen the segment on You Unstuck and wanted to tell her story of how she – against many, many obstacles – got unstuck. Take note of how an optimist thinks!

Actually, she was a viewer in the Phoenix area, but had not watched that day. She was just looking for ways to get the word out about her new product. She made the right decision that day. After I got over my initial ungrounded optimism, I realized that Sherry was the perfect example of a person who noticed When God Winks and took action to make sure she got You Unstuck.

Here is her MO: Sherry is divorced, economically struggling, disabled (but not in a wheelchair), and over 60 years old. The bus is her only means of transportation. Not exactly what you think when you think budding inventor and entrepreneur. Yet, she observed a need (When God Winks), asked her seamstress friend Marilyn to sew a prototype, researched free resources like those offered at a government program called SCORE to understand how to patent her product, and started making calls to find outlets to showcase and sell her product (You Unstuck).

Because of all the action Sherry took – not because she believed her circumstances defined her life – Sherry will be on the segment of AM Arizona with her product. She had her former landlord – a Phoenix police officer – test one in his patrol car and is now endorsing her product. She made a friend in the general manager of the Scottsdale Pinnacle Nissan dealership who got the ball rolling and is featuring her product on their website. And then there is her original market – wheelchair occupants. A medical supply store is in the process of getting her product on their website.

No budget, no prior experience, no real advantages. Yet at 62 she can add inventor, patent holder, and budding entrepreneur to her life successes.

Morale of this story: Optimism, no matter how ungrounded, coupled with action, can help you pack your Dreamy Pillow for real life comfort. The comfort of knowing you did not just dream, you got up from your pillow and achieved.

Sherry's website is not yet complete, but you can contact her at pillowholder@gmail.com

With hope in my heart,

Andrea

http://www.servingsuccess.com/

http://twitter.com/DrSuccess

702 869 3729

866 975 3777 toll-free