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or...

stop being so darned professional and take a break today!

 

 Issue No. 47                                     February 2012
Welcome! If you enjoyed last month you'll be craaaaazy about this month!The purpose of this ezine continues to be inspiration, humor, business, personal and just plain fun: aka the don't-take-yourself-so-seriously ezine.
Banner-25 years
Banner-10 years

In This Issue
I Love This Book!
Mikki & Friends
25 For 25
Creative Captions
Shoe-Be-Doo Stories
Wonderful Website-ings
Mikki Mouth
Social Media Guru Guy
Titillating Trivia
Econ Recon
The Happy Cooker
He Who Laughs...
Mikki's Mantra
Inspirations
Visionary Volunteerism
Mikki on the Move
Speakers School
Mikki Williams, CSP

MUSINGS FROM MIKKI

Musings 2-12
It's over...boo hoo! My two month sabbatical was fabulous and exceeded expectations. I spent two months at my home in Naples, Florida writing a book (done) launching a new biz (done), creating a new me - physically and spiritually (done) - and the results of all that will be shared in due time. As I write this I am on a plane to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to end my sabbatical with a friend on a week's vacay at Pueblo Bonita Sunset Beach Hotel, then I move over to Villa La Estancia for my Vistage CEO group's annual retreat weekend with members and spouses/partners.
So, not much to "muse" about as I basically wrote daily, exercised a lot, enjoyed the sun, worked on projects and vegetated at night.  Glorious! The few photos to share are from a weekend when BFF Michele Goldsmith visited as she was working in Florida. 
I took only one job during my sabbatical and only because it was in Miami, a car ride away. Here I am with Tim McCarthy, CEO of The Business of Good.




The best part was our opportunity to go back to our all-time favorite restaurant, Barton G in Miami. Barton G.Fabulous, fun and funky! The food is awesome but the whimsical way they serve everything is what makes it so unique.  Michelle and Mikki

How else would you serve duck?Duck

The other exciting night was getting together with two of Michelle's friends and two of my friends and putting everyone together for a fun dinner at the new  Wine Depot and Bistro restaurant in Miami.Dinner at Wine Depot

I'm excited about my trip to Mexico and excited to come back to reality, my Chicago home finally being "finished" and lots of great stuff to look forward to in this new year. 
Hasta la vista, baby. (Just practicing my Spanish.) The damn customs forms are now ALL in Spanish...wassup with that?

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

Thank You Economy
The Thank You Economy
by Gary Vaynerchuk 

I reviewed Gary's bestseller Crush It in May 2010 and liked it so much that I was excited to read this new one. This book reveals how companies big and small can scale personal attention to their entire customer base, internal and external, using social media. Word of mouth power from social media has replaced the big budget marketing dollars of yesteryear. Now, customers want and expect authenticity, originality, creativity and intention the way they did in the "olden days."  I'm a big fan of Zappos (no, not just the shoes) due to their incredible culture which is indeed so customer-centric.  In his book, Gary foresees a new C suite position with the addition of a CCO, a chief culture officer. He states, "...whose job will be to keep track of the needs of every single employee at the company."  Not keep track of every employee; that would still be HR's job. Keep track of their needs and meet them through individualized goal setting, strategizing for the future and making sure the employee is satisfied. Happy employees create happy customers. 
Now go get this book!!

I love this book!!
 
Mikki & Friends 

Join me and some of my fabulous friends for fun and informative tele-conversations!

 

The next tele-conversation is on  

someday
Wednesday, February 29th at 12:00 noon CST.

  

 No cost, no obligation.   

Just CLICK HERE to register.    

Mikki in Turquoise

 

Todd Millar

TELE-CONVERSATION WITH 
Todd Millar
FROM BOARDROOM TO BASECAMP
Todd Millar from Calgary, Alberta, Canada will reveal the answer to world peace and the reinvention of the Internet. Okay, now that I have your attention, what you'll hear is more exciting.
Learn leadership skills from a man who in his capacity as company president was involved with one of the most successful private equity transactions in the history of Bain Capital. He was instrumentally involved with the acquisition of Canadian Yellow Pages for 1.9 billion and in less than a year selling off the assets for 2.6 billion! Learn how all this transpired by assembling the right team, providing leadership and creating a rewarding environment. 
Todd's model will give you the tools to not only become the best leader but also the key to work/life balance. 


 

Caryn KoppMARCH'S GUEST:   

Caryn Kopp    

Date: Friday, March 23rd at noon CST 

Topic:  Overcome Objections, Close More Sales 

 

25 FOR 25
In recognition of my 25th year as a professional speaker I am going to attempt to list my 25 favorites of various categories over this year. One of my favorite quotes is from Yoda... "There is no try, only do." 
So here goes...

25 Favorite U.S. Restaurants (Yes, I really do keep lists!)

AZ -Phoenix, Tacos La Hacienda (Mexican anything)
CA -Los Angeles, Taix (if you love escargots as I do)
CA -San Francisco, Farallon (best branzino, that's a fish, silly)
CT -Sakura, Westport, (my favorite sushi)
DC -Washington, Vidalia, (outrageous donuts)
FL -Miami, Barton G (MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE RESTAURANT)
FL -Naples, Ted's Montana Grill (who knew I could love a bison burger?)
GA -Atlanta, Buckhead Diner (oh, those onion rings)
IL -Chicago, The Wieners Circle (amazing hot dog stand)
KY -Louisville,  Proof at the Museum Hotel (chicken with lavender...oh my)
LA -New Orleans, Cochon,  (beef brisket - NOT like mother used to make)
MA -Boston, Mistral Bistro (best mussels ever)
ME -Kennebunkport, The White Barn Inn  (lobster bisque to die for)
MD -Baltimore,  Oceanaire Seafood Room (crab, of course)
NM -Santa Fe, Geronimo (OMG, try the lamb - OK so I'm not a vegetarian)
NY -Buffalo, Schwabl's (you must try Beef on 'Weck, my favorite from my college days)
NY -New York City, Norma's at the Parker Meridien for brunch (how about chocolate banana caramelized waffle napoleon - now reallllly!)
PA -Philadelphia, Vetri (Italian food that Italians love)
RI -Newport,  Cafe Zelda (a toss up between the lobster roll and the steamers)
SC -Charleston,  (The Total Chocolate is THE most amazing dessert, EVER!)
TN -Memphis, Rendezvous,  (yummy ribs)
TN -Nashville, Sambuca (the lavender martini...oh yes!!)
TX -Austin, The Salt Lick (barbque anything)
TX -Dallas,  Maudee's Cafe and Tea Room (peach tea with homemade cookies)
WA -Seattle, Wild Orchid (coconut soup with mushrooms)


CREATIVE CAPTIONS

I love creativity and as a wordsmith I love double entendres, alliteration, onomato... whatever the heck that one was. One of my quirky habits is collecting names of businesses that display any of the above. Here are two of my favorites:  

      

 Bead It  (bead shop)  

Gone With the Chin (plastic surgery)

 

 ***********************************************************

Keep sending these, they're outrageous! 

Please send to [email protected]


SHOE-BE-DOO STORIES

As change is one of my themes for the new year, here is a different version of this column for 2012. People knowing my love of shoes send me countless versions and articles they come across.  

 Shoes-Feb 2012

Valentines Day shoes by Kobi Levi, Israeli shoe designer

I might have worn these when I was in my lip-collecting days (but that's another story), however right now I think I'll just list them in my outrageous shoe category.   

Whaddya' think?  

WONDERFUL WEBSITEings

I come across so many and so many are shared with me that I thought I'd share with you.     

 

 www.consumerlab.com  

As someone who is an avid vitamin/herb pill popper, I find this site very valuable. Their mission is to identify the best quality health and nutritional products through independent testing.   

 

 

MIKKI MOUTH:

QUOTATIONS I WISH I'D SAID AND SOME I DID SAY!

Mikki Mouth

Enjoy a quote each month from my new book - some funny, some poignant, some professional, some just darn cute!     

    

I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.

--Anonymous


 

 

Order the book today! 

SOCIAL MEDIA GURU GUY

Dave Nelsen

Dave Nelsen

Dave's formal title is President, Dialog Consulting Group.

From 2005 to 2009 he was CEO of TalkShoe, a social media company now serving more than one million monthly listeners...and the fabulous company I use to produce my monthly teleseminars.     

 

A Remedy for Too Much E-mail

 

Ever heard the expression, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail?" Yes, I'm talking about e-mail. According to the recent book, The Tyranny of E-mail by John Freeman, we're now spending more than 40% of our time in corporate America "working" e-mail (note the quotes around the word working). It's not just you; it's your entire staff, your entire company. The problem with e-mail is that it's other people's agenda, not your priorities.

Worse than that, with the explosion of spam and use of "Reply All," information density is actually declining. Am I the only one who thinks we should have the death penalty for long e-mails? This tool is totally out of control.

Gen Y rarely, if ever, uses e-mail. Why? With their fresh eyes, they've found social media tools that are more efficient and more effective for communicating. When they want to convey time-critical information, they send texts. Otherwise, they use a rich information-sharing tool called Facebook. While these tools are great for personal communication, what if we could use similar mechanisms for corporate communiation? Interesting... no?

Companies that have adopted such approaches are seeing (on average) a 30% reduction in e-mail AND achieving 52% faster access to information. Think about it. That amounts to one hour per day, per employee, for every person in your company.

For sharing time-critical information, use Yammer or Chatter. With these texting-based services there's a big difference compared to e-mail: It's not just that messages arrive instantly even without Internet connectivity. And it's not just that messages are concise, such that you can read and respond in less than a minute. Instead, these new tools put conversations into the cloud.  

 READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE 

 

 

You can find more formal details here: 

wesocialize.biz 

To contact Dave directly:

[email protected]

TITILLATING TRIVIA


 St. Valentine Day is a day of the year when you can express your love to the people you appreciate. A legend says that St. Valentine was a Christian priest. He was thrown in prison and beheaded on February 14 because he secretly married couples - it was forbidden. And also because he performed a miracle - he healed a jailer's daughter of blindness. He wrote her a letter and signed it 'From your Valentine.'
Valentine cards became popular in Great Britain in the nineteenth century...the most traditional symbols are: hearts, roses and cupid.    
Many historians believe that sending poems on this day originated with the capture of Duke of Orleans, during the Battle of Agincourt. He sent his wife a rhyming love letter from his prison cell in the Tower of London. February 14th became the date for exchanging love messages and Saint Valentine became the patron saint of lovers.  

ECON RECON 

Introducing my newest columnist, the "economist with a personality" (my title not his) ...
Brian Beaulieu. I'm delighted, honored, thrilled, jazzed (can you tell I'm happy?) to have Brian BeaulieuBrian as a contributing columnist this year. He is Vistage's chief economist, one of the country's leading economists, MY Vistage member, a phenomenal speaker, brilliant businessman and a special friend. CEOs worldwide rely on his forecasting as they plan their business year. And for anyone trying to understand the economy, Brian speaks and writes in English not in that foreign language called economicspeak. Enjoy!

PLAN FOR INCREASED OPPORTUNITIES

We are projecting that the U.S. economy will continue to expand in 2012 and most segments of the US economy will participate in the positive trend. Our clients know this and are making sure that they have the capital, people, materials, and equipment necessary to meet the need. Determine where bottlenecks in procurement, production and delivery might occur in the coming year with the assumption that you will be busier next year than you are today and spend some cash to fix those problems now.
The bullishness is not based on hope. It is based on a sound business cycle theory that has delivered a 94.7% accuracy rating on key forecasts looking out over one year out. The positive outlook is also based on positive trends found in key extant leading indicators, including the U.S. Leading Indicator and the Purchasing Managers Index to name just two. The latest Purchasing Managers Index release (December) was very encouraging at 53.9.  December marked the 29th consecutive month of growth in the manufacturing sector. The encouraging results confirmed our long-standing outlook of economic expansion in 2012.
Global opportunities will be found in 2012 with business cycle rise occurring in the U.S. and in China (and likely Japan as well). The good news in these economic zones should keep the EU zone from falling apart despite current financial strains.
China will find itself increasingly in the news during 2012 because of its housing issues, civil unrest, new leadership, and colonization efforts. We expect that China's economy will continue to grow in 2012 and at a pace sufficient to avoid a political crisis or virtual economic downturn.

Learn more about the future at www.itreconomics.com
Or contact Brian through Kim Beaulieu at [email protected]

 THE HAPPY COOKER

Little girl chef

Yes, that was the name of one of my businesses and oh, come on, I know guys cook, too.    

 

Perfect for your Oscar party.
Sausage-Cheese Balls

Makes about 6 dozen   

  • 1 lb. lean hot sausage
  • 3 cups Bisquick
  • 12 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Sausage-cheese ballsPreheat oven to 375�F.  

Knead all the ingredients in a bowl. It may take a while to fully moisten the Bisquick and the cheese.  

Form mixture into 1-inch balls (or smaller, if you prefer) and place on a baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

 

Easy, right? 


HE WHO LAUGHS...LASTS!

Laughing baby

 

 By the time Ted arrived at the Super Bowl, the first quarter was
almost over.
 "Why are you so late?" his friend asked.
 "I had to toss a coin to decide between going to church and coming
to the game."
 "How long could that have taken you?"
 "Well, I had to toss it 14 times."

 

MIKKI'S MANTRA

Be outrageous...it's the only place that isn't crowded.  
My quote was chosen again from over 5,000 submissions to be featured in The Woman's Advantage Shared Wisdom Calendar for 2011. I'm on July 3rd (a coincidence since my birthday is July 4th) and the chosen quote was "Life gives you choices, not chances and it's those choices that determine the quality of your life."
 
For more information call 919.841.0401 or visit The Woman's Advantage
  

  INSPIRATIONS


Ten Rules

VISIONARY VOLUNTEERISM

Visionary - adjective (esp. of a person), thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom   

People Touching PeopleI speak of volunteerism is my speeches. I tell stories to inspire and challenge audiences to volunteer as individuals, as responsible business and community leaders. as parents/grandparents, and to get their children involved early. By the way, volunteerism is the number one way to raise self-esteem. What are you doing in this visionary effort? Each month I will give you a link to a site where you can volunteer. Please send me a link to your favorite volunteer opportunity to post.   

  

Leg Up Farm

Their mission is to improve the lives of children with special needs and their families through programs, services, education and advocacy. 

 

                
Favorite Speaker

MIKKI ON THE MOVE

Airplane

Check out where Mikki will be speaking and piggyback your company or association event. Or just invite her to dinner or shopping!

 

Click here for her calendar:   

Mikki On The Move

Speakers School logo 
The next Speakers School is in session on    
February 23-25, 2012 in Chicago
 

 

Speakers School video 
Why Should You Come to
Speakers School?

 

Day One: Presentation Skills

Day Two: Learning Lab

(Your opportunity to practice what you learned in Day One. You must have completed Day One to participate.)

Day Three: Getting Booked

Speakers School is for people at all levels; novices, wannabes, CEOs, professionals or anyone who needs to improve their communication skills.  

And who doesn't?   

    

 REGISTER NOW!  

    

OR...BRING SPEAKERS SCHOOL TO YOUR COMPANY.  

IT'S A  GREAT VALUE.   

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS THE CORNERSTONE TO SUCCESS.

Help your employees improve their presentation skills, whether they're

speaking in front of a group or in a one-on-one situation.  

Successful business people know it's important to have an edge these days, and Speakers School provides that with Mikki's how-to techniques you can use, not theories you'll forget. Excellent communication skills set you and your staff apart and help take your business to the next level.

CALL NOW FOR MORE DETAILS: 312.664.8447 

OR SEND AN EMAIL TO REQUEST MORE INFORMATION.

 

Upcoming Speakers Schools:

February 23-25, 2012   

April 26-28, 2012

September 13-15, 2012   

Become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, connect with me on LinkedIn, catch me on YouTube, look for me on Plaxo: 
  
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Don't forget to check out my blog:  

 Blog

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In case you've missed past issues of the ezine
  Click here to visit the archives.  

To book Mikki for your next event as a keynoter, emcee, panelist, seminar or workshop leader (she doesn't do floors or windows) or for more info on Vistage, Speakers Schools, Coaching or Consulting or anything else that's on your mind, contact Mikki or Samantha

MIKKI WILLIAMS, CSP

Mikki Williams, CSP is a professional speaker/trainer, specializing in business dynamics and human potential as well as a Resource Speaker for Vistage International, the worlds largest CEO organization.  She is a small business consultant, runs tri-annual Speaker Schools, Chairs two Executive Think Tanks, affilated with Vistage International and is a Life Architect, helping people design their lives and businesses through a coaching model. To learn more about Mikki Williams Unltd. and all the services provided

CALL ME: 312.664.8447                     

FAX ME: 312.664.8460

E ME:

[email protected] 

        

SEE ME:

www.mikkiwilliams.com 


Me&Mik 2.2012
  
Thanks for spending time with us! 

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All contents � 2008, except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Duplication or reprint only with expressed permission from Mikki Williams. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. In our extensive research we've made every attempt to be accurate in attributing quotes, poems, jokes and the like and want to apologize in advance if we have not given proper credit or given it erroneously.