Not a very productive day

Today was pretty much a bust for me. After the morning call, I had to go with my mom to the Social Security Adminstration so she could register for death benefits since my dad passed. No one told us that you have to actually register for this stuff, so it was a long day of waiting. After a few attempts to speak to the people waiting with us and no contacts, I threw in the towel. It wasn't that I didn't want to try, but some of those people were so downright nasty that the negative energy in the room was stifling. One positive thing did happen there though...my mom is totally on board to help me/us in any way that she can. She was encouraged by the way that I am approaching things with MPM and she said that she would do anything to help.

So when we got home today, she made a list of people that she would call that are in her circle. She and I are going to do that on Tuesday of next week since she has dialysis on Mondays. I am excited to work with her!

I also started a group on Facebook to track my progress and invite people to join. It's still in the work-in-progress stage, but I hope to have it done tomorrow.

Finally, I finished up the Super Bowl preparations for the party on Sunday. I have labels on all of the door prizes, and the grand prize poster is finished. I am hopeful that it will be a great party.

See you all on Monday! Lisa

Leads, leads, leads

Today was a good day. I was on the blogtalk radio call this morning and I LOVE the idea! Simply for the fact that anyone can log in while on their computer and listen without having to be on a phone. I think this will open up many more interested people. I enjoyed it so much, that I think I might do my own show as well!! I am going to figure out what works for me, i.e. what my angle would be. I think the stay-at-home-mom route that earns money for the family as well would be right.

After the call, I went to meet my mom for lunch at her retirement center. While I was there, I stopped by the director's office and talked with her for a few minutes. She was a great help to us when my dad was going through his last few weeks. I outlined a little more about what I would like to do at the center with MPM and the donation of my dad's old computer. She thought it would be a great addition to the other activities that they plan every week. I asked her to look at the site for herself and she said she would. What I would like to do is have a mini-clinic once a week to go over the benefits of MPM and a World Changer Mall. I do think that some of the seniors might need a little more in-person training than the MPM 101 training, so I have no problem going by there and helping out. It's actually one of my favorite ways to volunteer. When I was little, my grandmother and I used to volunteer at a senior center every summer. I was able to log over 10,000 volunteer hours over about 8 summers. Until she passed away, she had over 100,000 volunteer hours and was recognized by the mayor of Houston for her years of service. I truly believe this is where I learned about giving. I guess my point is that this is going to be one of the easiest and most rewarding tasks I've done during this boot camp. I told her that I would be able to get the computer up and running by Tuesday.

When I got back from lunch with mom, I called the NPOs again...no answers or voice mails. I hope to get one of them to sign up. I really want to work to help these groups that need it.

Finally today, I called some of my "magic leads" as I am calling them. I am referring to them like this because they are AWESOME! I mentioned on the call this morning that a friend of mine who used to be in a MLM told me she wasn't interested in doing MPM right now because she was just burnt out on the whole referral process. She has a great job and just wanted to take time off of any other kind of opportunity for awhile. I tried to explain a bit about how MPM works but she just really didn't want to hear about it. Well OK, that's fine. I am not one to pressure anyone by any means. What she did for me though instead of signing up was that she GAVE me over 500 leads that she had paid for previously, but never contacted. Now mind you, some of them are outdated and the information is not correct on all of the cards, but almost all of the ones that I have actually been able to get in contact with have turned out great. These people are definitely looking for an opportunity - I just hope that it is My Power Mall that they go to.

I hope everyone has a great night! Lisa

Let's get this right

I think my computer has it out for me...this should have been posted last night!

Dealing with a sick child, I thought I wouldn't get anything done today, but surprisingly, I was able to talk with 3 different people today and got good contacts. One was a stay-at-home mom who was at the doctor's office. While we were in the waiting room, we just started talking and MPM just started to flow into the conversation. I got her information and am supposed to follow-up with her on Thursday.

I finally met the property manager that I have been dealing with for over a year on the phone and I just came right out with how I was looking for people to partner with on my business venture. She gave me her information and told me she would take a look. We had been speaking about the different things that tenants leave in houses after they leave. She said that she used them in garage sales to make extra money. So when I told her about MPM and how I thought it would be a great compliment to what she was already doing, she seemed to agree. I will be speaking with her on a regular basis, so I hope that was a good contact.

Finally, I talked with a friend of mine who's husband just lost her job. She was talking about how hard things could get. I offered to help in any way that I could, but I told her about MPM so that she would at least have some information. Even if she only signs up for a business mall, she could be helping out her family.

I tried to call the 5 different NPOs that were on my list for today while in the car between school drop-offs and the doctor's office, but got only voice mails. I will try those again tomorrow as well as the next 5.

I am excited about the marketing videos! They will be an awesome addition.

The good news is that my son is definitely feeling better tonight. He sounds terrible, but he wants to play with toys again, so that is a good sign! Anyway, that's it for tonight.

AND THIS IS TONIGHT'S ENTRY:

So I was happily surprised to get the marketing videos from Lost Marble in my inbox this morning. I immediately posted one of them on facebook and asked people to check it out and let me know if there was anything they saw. I got quite a few people asking about it or telling me to let them know how it was going. I think I'm going to put my progress on there daily so they can see how great MPM is. Also, I put a quick blurb on there that went something like this: "Lisa is wondering if anyone wants a home-based business anymore? Do you all want to work for the MAN for the rest of your life? hehe". Any wouldn't you know it, I got a response or two or four! I had people asking me what I was doing and made several good contacts. I think I'm going to either call (if I have their phone number) or email them and finish the discussion.

I have (or am supposed to have by the time this is posted) a new World Changer. It is the preschool teacher from the first week in boot camp! I was walking her through everything earlier and she was supposed to complete it when she verified her credit card address. It's funny, because although I am very glad to have her, I never thought those early contacts would amount to anything because I felt like such a babbling idiot! However, with regular follow-up, I was able to turn the situation around. I am very happy to work with her. I believe in her potential and I hope that she will see that as well.

I called all of the NPOs on my list for today and again, no actual response. I did get live people - secretaries, as well as answering machines, so I'll try again tomorrow.

I can't wait to be a radio star (wink, wink) and so I will be on the call in the morning. Hope everyone has a great evening. Bye!

This one is short

Hi folks! This is going to be short as I have a sick little one who is in the bathroom now with his head in the toilet! I made some follow-ups today, with not much success, but I am going to keep trying everyday.

Also I spoke with the retirement center where my mother is staying now about setting up a computer lab there for the residents and showing them about MPM. We have a meeting scheduled for Thursday.

I hate to make it this short, I will add more tomorrow, but mommy duty calls!

Good night!
Lisa

It's Friday!

I love Fridays! Although I don't have a 9 to 5, I have a 24/7 with the kiddos, I still enjoy the feeling you get when it's a Friday. I guess the stresses of the week start to melt away and I relax into the weekend. I was not sure if I would get all 5 contacts today because the day was jam-packed with doctor's appointments and errands, but it was surprising how much I was able to fit in here and there.

I spoke with a friend of mine who also happens to be a manager at the hair salon that I go to. While I was sitting in her chair, I started to talk about MPM and how the business partnership program would greatly benefit the salon. They send out the coupons in the mail and have fliers sitting in the waiting area, so I told her about how we are able to advertise local merchants and the cost is only $15.95 a month. What was even better was how I explained to her that in the very near future, that cost could be covered with others that join and just do their basic everyday purchases. I promised that I would drop off some more information next week for her to look over, but I directed her for now to the biz site. I wasn't even trying and I got one!

My son's teacher had a family emergency and had to go up to Michigan for her sister. She broke her leg and has small children at home, so my friend went to help her out. I found this out this morning when I dropped my son at school. PHEW! was all I could think, because I know that she wasn't brushing me off! Of course, I feel bad for the lady that broke her leg, but maybe I can now show this to her sister and she can make some money while recuperating.

The other contacts I made today were online. They are former customers of mine and I just called them while I was out. I decided to take the list with me in my purse, so that whenever I get a chance, I can pull it out when I need it.

I am going to try and do almost all follow-ups on Monday. I need to get in front of these people's minds again!

Have a great night!

Lisa

Feeling better

I feel better today. I loaded up on vitamin C and cold medicine, so it seems to be working. Nothing like being a mom and sick, you still don't get a break! So this morning when I dropped the kids at school, I asked their teacher if she was still interested in signing up and she told me she had some problems. She told me that she isn't very good with computers, so I offered to walk her through it tonight. Well...I called her at 8:00 like we had planned and she didn't answer. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm sure it was just a mis-understanding because when I talked with her this morning, there was no indication that she was trying to brush me off. So no sign-up yet. I'm the first to admit that life gets in the way sometimes, so I will just keep trying.

I attempted to make more phone calls again today, but only got voice mails and a couple of housekeepers. It is a little frustrating sometimes, because all I want to do is talk with a live person! But I will keep trying.

I was on Facebook alot today since I am losing my voice, catching up with old high school friends that I haven't seen in over 20 years. I put on my status today that I was buying toilet paper online and not paying for tax or shipping, so maybe I'll get a couple of people asking me about it. I am going to send a message to the friends I have on FB and tell them how they can shop as well. Most don't have their phone numbers listed, but I will send them emails and tell them what I am working towards. All-in-all, I think that there will be many interested prospects.

I sent out 3 letters to schools today. They are preschools that my son has attended, so I do have a personal relationship with the school. I made sure to mention his name as well as the teacher's name in the letter. I hope to be able to set something up to visit them next week. One of the schools is associated with a Jewish organization that raises money for Israel. I know they try to get people to donate all the time for their cause, so I think I am going to approach them from the stance that they can help raise money for the school, the parents, and their foundation all at the same time.

I really did buy TP today ONLINE! It was pretty cool because as those of you with kids will attest to, the grocery store can become a nightmare when shopping with the kiddos! I got the shopping alert today and there were comparisons for several of the stores on the mall. I used to live in Michigan, so when I saw that Meijer was on there and their rebate is higher than Wal-Mart, I couldn't say no!

So that's it for tonight. Hope everyone sleeps well.

Lisa

i'm sick...boo!

For those of you that have been sick lately, thanks for passing it along!! I'm feeling pretty yucky today. I feel like it's allergy season in January! Anyway, since I sound like a clogged mess, I didn't get to really speak with anyone on the phone. I tried and the two people I did speak with told me to call them when I'm feeling better. So I just got to do more letters, which for me is nice because it has now become a challenge to find creative ways to grab their attention.

My son's preschool teacher is supposed to sign up tonight! I spoke with her in person today and she had said that she looked at the site and thought it was an interesting idea. I told her that I could help her every step of the way. She told me to go home and feel better and if she had any hurdles to overcome that she would call me tomorrow. Hopefully she won't have any problems, but I'm going to call her tomorrow and make sure that everything is OK. I also told her that I wanted to talk with the school administrator and she was open to helping me with that. I'm going to go over the numbers with her so that when we walk into the office she will understand what I'm presenting.

I called some of the non-profits today that I got from the shopping contest to verify the information and most were correct, but some of them had changed or the person that I should be talking with was different. I also was able to find out a little bit about their mission so that I can be clear as to what they need. I didn't want to mention animal rescue if it was a women's shelter!

Tomorrow, I am going to make a few more calls as well as send out my 1 x per week emails. I try to do it on Wednesday or Thursday, because I think most people get alot of emails in the beginning of the week, so I don't want to get deleted.

I'm going to take some cold medicine and go night night. Bye everyone!

Lisa

today's progress

I think it was a pretty good day for me. I am healing with every day that goes by. Of course, I have my moments, sometimes more than a few each day, but I am trying as hard as I can to move from a place of sorrow to a place of hope. I was watching the inauguration ceremonies today and it was SO moving for me. I have always been a participant in the voting process. I learned at an early age from my father that to vote is a privilege that we as Americans should embrace and exercise our voice to choose who we will allow to govern our nation. I knew that if my father were sitting next to me, he would have been just as moved. I don't think that it matters if you are democrat, republican, or other, the start of a new presidency always signals hope to me. Hope that the future can be better than the past. So that is how I approached my business today. That today was the start of a new beginning. A new way to tackle my fears and get outside the box.

The first thing I did was to decide to focus my efforts on one or two aspects of MPM. I felt as if before I was using the shotgun approach and not hitting anything!! I was rewarded with 40 NPOs for shopping and since I have the info and I have been trying to do most of my contacting with NPOs and individuals, this is what I am going to focus on. Now mind you, if I find a local business, I'm not going to deny them :). I just feel that this is where I can make the greatest impact. So I printed out letters to mail to each of the NPOs and I will start with 10 tomorrow sending emails and making phone calls to their contact person.

I tried again to follow-up with my fundraising gal, and left another message. Nothing too serious, but I did leave the ball in her court to contact me in the future. She seemed so excited first, so I am not sure what happened. I think she may have been unsure because I was so new to MPM. I do feel confident though in my presentation as I did go over with her the potential numbers for only a 5% success rate. With only team pay and sales, she would have been raising about $4300/month, but I guess she just didn't believe it. Perhaps in a few months, when I am making that much money for my own foundation mall, then she will see the light! I decided to move her to the "contact 1x week" list. Who knows, maybe she'll see the value to her in the future. But for me, it is time to move on...NEXT!

I spoke with my son's preschool teacher for a bit today. She was one of my 1st contacts when we started boot camp. I had attempted follow-up a few times, but after a couple of messages with no return call, I decided to just email her once a week. Always leaving the door open and today, she walked in! She was asking me quite a few questions today, and I have a follow-up call with her tomorrow evening. I tried to get her tonight, but she said she was busy. I was planning on sending the school director an email this week, but maybe if I can get her to sign up first, it might be an easy way in to speak with her. They do all kinds of fundraisers throughout the year (books, greeting cards, candles, Chick-Fil-A Spirit nights), so I know the school would be open to hear ideas for fundraising. This is one of my priorities for the week.

On a final note, I used 1&1 Internet (on the mall) this week to get a domain name for my mpm site. I can't believe I didn't do it sooner, because it makes so much sense to me now that I see it. This was another reason I am starting to focus on NPOs and churches and schools. The name is www.easyfundraisingforfun.com. I thought it was a great fit!

I hope everyone has a great night and I'll see you tomorrow.

Lisa

Back again!

Sometimes I feel my engine is running out of steam, for lack of a better analogy. This last 10 days or so has been extremely difficult to say the least and for the first few days, I think I was just not letting my mind wrap itself around the reality. But then BOOM! I hit a wall and the house of cards came crashing down. I didn't want to get out of bed, eat or do anything. But then today, I got Ginny's email and I read her marathon example. It was as if she was reading my thoughts or something. So it was time for me to get off my butt and do what I said I would at the beginning of this experience.

I have made several contacts lately - this is now by far the easiest aspect, when in the beginning it was the hardest! And I also have made phone calls, sent letters and emails telling EVERYONE I can about My Power Mall. I am truly hoping that I can make my business huge.

I will write more tomorrow, I'm a little tired, so goodnight everyone.

A great day/night

Hey guys! I just finished speaking with my contact and we have set the date for in the morning to get going. She did like the presentation and did have a few questions, but overall, she seemed like this was a great asset for what she does. I even told her that if she needed any verification, that she could speak to the CEO herself! (Sorry Ginny, I spoke for you, I hope it's OK :)). I am so looking forward to working with her because she is a valuable wealth of information on the whole non-profit world. I'm not some novice, but she is definitely a veteran in that world. So it was a good day.

Also, I made over 20 follow-up calls, with some small success. One lady that I had contacted from the very beginning said that she was ready to take a closer look at what I had to offer. I do believe that now that the holidays are over, more and more people will be getting their credit card bills in and realizing that they spent too much money over the holidays. I hope that I can at least offer some form of hope to those that need it. Another business owner I had contacted called me early in the day and I was at the doctor, but was unavailable when I tried to call him back a couple of times this afternoon. I'm sure that I will be able to get in touch with him tomorrow.

This one is going to be short and sweet, folks...I have to get some sleep and my eyelids are slowly closing! Hope you have a fantastic day!

Lisa

Let's go again!

Hi everyone! I would like to say first and foremost, that I am so blessed to have you all in my life. Even though we have not met face-to-face, I feel as though I know each of you. So it was very touching when I read the comments that you all left regarding my father's passing. I thank you very much for thinking of me through this difficult time.

Today, though it was wonderful to get back to all things. I got busy right away so that I didn't have much time to think about the emotional stuff. My husband and I are big football fans and we are planning to have a Super Bowl party. I even thought for a way to incorporate My Power Mall here too! As you may have seen me mention, I am an eBay seller so I have some inventory here at my house. We decided to give away raffle prizes at the party, and so I mentioned on the invitation that the door prizes were "sponsored" by my foundation mall! Also in each invitation, I placed a boot camp post card in the envelope. Who knows? It might get a couple of people to take a look...

But the best news for today is an addition to the story that I relayed on the morning call. I had a conference call this evening with a group of charity fundraiser organizers here in Houston that look at different ways to raise money for NPOs. I had emailed the moderator of the group awhile back to let her know that I would be attending and gave her information about the free World Changer Mall. She works for an association of crime investigators, so I hoped she would do her due diligence. I was able to speak to the group about MPM and what we are doing to help non-profits raise money in today's economy. She asked me to call her tomorrow to get the full story!! I have already sent her an email with the links to my biz site and I have the full NPO training manual by my side to answer any questions. But for tonight, what I did gather from her is that she is in contact with THOUSANDS of supporters for the 3 different charities that she either works for or donates time to, either through snail mail, email or local meetings. I am going to run the numbers this evening with the income calculator and have those ready as well, so that I can show her what a response of even just a 5% return from supporters' shopping can do for her organizations. But I think most importantly, other people who are running non-profits go to her for advice as to which fundraising ideas are the best - I am hoping she will give a glowing recommendation!

I think what I am finally starting to realize is that Ginny & Jacki have been right the entire time...the seeds are sprouting!

Hope everyone has a wonderful night and thank you again for all of your kind words of support.

Lisa

My status

Hello everyone. I am checking in to let you know that I have not given up on My Power Mall, but this has been a very trying week. On Monday, I had phone/Internet problems (since they are tied together, I felt like I was on a deserted island). But Tuesday, after the morning call, I was finishing some of the other New Year's letters I was planning to send to some local businesses when I got a call from the respit care facility my father was in. I was told that he could not go home as planned on Wednesday because he was too sick. He has terminal cancer and has been fighting the disease since 2001. Of course, we had been told before that this disease would eventually lead to the end, but you never really think it will until it really starts to happen. So he was taken to the hospital, but after a day there, the hospital told us that he could not stay there because there was nothing "medical" that they could do. My mother and I were trying to find a place for him since 24-hour nursing care was completely out of the picture due to the cost. Finally, we found an inpatient hospice for him to go to. He was moved there last night and as of now, he continues to fight, although both my mother and I realize that the end is near. I cannot really express what I am feeling now, I am just going through the motions.

I know that my dad is proud of me...we had talked about My Power Mall and what I was doing, so he always told me to follow my dreams, but make them reality. So that is what I am going to do for him and myself. I am just taking this time to spend with my family and my dad.

I just want you all to know how much I care for each of you and that I am inspired by all of your stories and what you have accomplished.

I will be back to post again and tell you all about the interesting things that have happened to me over the holidays and what I have in store for my business. It is really great! I hope to be back in full by Monday.