Mayor of Yountville
Cynthia Saucerman
6550 Yount Street
Yountville, CA 94599
Phone: 707-948-2636
e-mail: csaucerman@yville.com

Mayor of St. Helena
Del Britton
(707) 963-5635 (h)
City of St. Helena
1480 Main Street, St. Helena, CA 94574

Mayor Of Napa Jill Techel
c/o City Hall 955 School Street
PO Box 660 Napa, CA 94559-0660
Work Phone: 707-258-7876
E-mail: jtechel@cityofnapa.org

Mayor Of Napa Jill Techel - Home
1075 Round Hill Cir.
Napa, CA 94558-5320
Home Phone: 707-255-6054
E-mail: MayorJill@aol.com

Napa County District Attorney
Gary Allen Lieberstein
Duties as Public Prosecutor
931 Parkway Mall
Napa, CA 94559-2647
Office Phone
(707) 253-4211
Office Fax
(707) 253-4041
e-mail: District_Attorney_Office@co.napa.ca.us

Harry V. Martin
Napa Board Of Supervisors Candidate
1627 Lincoln Ave
Napa, CA 94558-4827
(707) 253-8186
e-mail: sentinel@napanet.net

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160
e-mail: governor@govmail.ca.gov

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 2050
Phone Numbers:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov

And the City and County of Napa, The State of California, United States et al:

Video Of Our Son

Updated: The True Story - Authentic Document

Parental Rights Documented: Proof

The Reason Custom Event Group Breaks The Law:

Original E-Mail To The Mayors

Note: Click On This Web Link Below And See How Close:

Mayor of Yountville - Home
Cynthia Saucerman
2011 Webber Ave
Yountville, CA 94599-1379
(707) 944-1852

Lives To The Perpetrators:

Criminal Behavior Profile

Alfred Richard Woodson III and
Rev. Carolyn Lorraine Strong Woodson
2004 Humboldt Street
Yountville, California 94559
Home Phone: 707-944-2038
e-mail: woodsonar@sbcglobal.net
e-mail: cswoodson@sbcglobal.net

Google Map

The Guardians, Alfred Richard Woodson III and
Carolyn Lorraine Strong Woodson,

Have Violated The California Penal Codes:

Neglect-Abandonment-Conspiracy-Concealment

Abduction- False Imprisonment- Kidnapping.

Click On This Link: California Penal Code

Mayors Of The Napa Valley Attention: Abduction
Jeffrey Feeney’s Criminal Background Attached and
Case Lookup Web Link And Contact Information Listed Below:

Click On Link Below And Type In The Name Jeffrey Feeney And Click Submit:

Napa County Case Lookup

Prima Facie On This Day Of June 12th 2008

On Sunday, June 8, 2008, it was reported to my fiancé,
James A. Sablan Sr., and myself, Sarah Lorraine Matlock,
that our infant son, James Matlock Funes, was abducted/illegally
adopted by the individuals listed below, and is presently in imminent
danger. I am enclosing attaching Jeffrey Feeney’s criminal background:

Jeffrey and Rebecca Feeney
Unlawful Custodians Detaining And Concealing “Child”

The Reason Custom Event Group Breaks The Law:

1094 Valley View St.
Saint Helena, CA 94574-2346
Phone: (707) 968-9445
Cell Number: (707) 580-5678
Fax number (707) 968-9437

with the assistance of:

James Vaughn Jones
Attorney At Law
State Bar Number: 40883
1564 First Street
Napa, CA, 94559
Work Phone: (707) 252-8644
E-mail: onecal1@saber.net

Our parental rights have not been terminated,
and there is no California jurisdiction over our child.
We are seeking the immediate return of our son.

This was reported to us directly by Sarah Matlock’s
older son, Jeffrey Alexander Funes, who has been
living in this house from which he was abducted.
We also have evidence in writingthat this was
premeditated by the perpetrators,

Alfred Richard Woodson III and
Rev. Carolyn Lorraine Strong Woodson
2004 Humboldt Street
Yountville, California 94559
Home Phone: 707-944-2038
e-mail: woodsonar@sbcglobal.net
e-mail: cswoodson@sbcglobal.net

who are Montana-appointed guardians of our baby.
They have no paperwork filed in the State of California
and no legal adoption papers filed in the Napa Courthouse.
Prior to this, the baby had also been maliciously concealed
by the perpetrators forapproximately eight months, for
whichwe also have proof.

We have evidence in writing and by eyewitnesses that this
adoption had already beenin process, and this fact was
also confirmed by:

Investigator: William Jabin
Napa County District Attorney’s Office Child Abduction Unit
931 Parkway Mall
Napa, CA 94559-2647

Work: (707) 253-4356
e-mail: WJABIN@co.napa.ca.us

Amazingly, Napa County is not concerned about this crime
whatsoever. After confirming the facts of the carrying-out
of the adoption to Bill Jabin and Yountville law enforcement
on Monday, June 9th, we have been ignored and even blamed
for the crime.

Sergeant Berg of Yountville indicated that the criminal
abduction and illegal conspiracy was our fault because we are
bad people and that he was going to do nothing about it. Bill
Jabin has ignored our concerned phone calls for four days.

Harry Martin has been informed, and Neil Bowman Davis, the
Family Law Facilitator at the Self Help Center in the Napa
Courthouse,was informed. Regarding concealment alone,the
District Attorney should have picked up charges on this months
ago, since Napa County authorities were aware of the crime
months ago.

We know for a fact that if this crime was perpetrated by low
income people, the system would have completed a child
welfare check the first day that such a report came in. But the
conscientious Napa County authorities did nothing. This is due
to the corruption and favoritism of the rich in Napa County.

There has been not so much as one simple child welfare check at
the Feeney’s house to verify Jeffrey Funes report that our child is
there. In fact, there has not even been a single police report taken
with a number assigned to it by Sergeant Berg or theNapa Police,
who were also called on June 9, 2008. It is illegal not to take a
police report and assign a number to it when a crime is reported.

We are going to expose this matter. We have many ways of doing
this which include the use of the Internet. The information we have
includes all correspondence made with authorities, non-confidential
paperwork, and incriminating e-mail evidence.

Obviously, upon the report of an abduction, a police report should
have been taken the first day, and a welfare check completed
immediately. Upon finding the child where he reported to be living
at this time, the parties should also have been arrested and require
to show any and all paperwork they have concerning any legal tie to
the child (which of course would be fraudulent).

We are, quite frankly, appalled by the irresponsible, uncouth
behaviors and attitudes of the Napa authorities, their haughtiness
and evident favoritism toward the wealthy, and the lawlessness
that they are endorsing through their negligence. Apparently they
have some type of strange agenda given the fact that if our facts
were incorrect, Jabin should have already called and verified this.

There is no need for a lengthy investigation to resolve this.

We are requesting your assistance in bringing an end to the
perpetuation of this serious crime since you have the power
and influence as Mayor of Napa, Mayor of St. Helena and
Mayor of Yountville,Napa County District Attorney Gary
Allen Lieberstein, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and
President George W. Bush to make this happen.

We have already informed the guardians of their violations of
the U.S. Statues which are:

U.S. CODE TITLE 42–THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER 21–CIVIL RIGHTS SUB CHAPTER–GENERALLY

Sec. 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights.

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance,
regulation,custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or
the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected,
any citizen of the United States orother person within the
jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of anyrights, privileges,
or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws,
shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in
equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in
any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or
omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive
relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was
violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes
of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the
District of Columbiashall be considered to be a statute of the District
of Columbia.

(R.S. Sec. 1979; Pub. L. 96-170, Sec.1, Dec. 29, 1979, 93 Stat. 1284;
Pub. L. 104-317, title III, Sec.309(c), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3853.)

Codification
R.S. Sec. 1979 derived from act Apr.20, 1871, ch. 22, Sec. 1, 17
Stat. 13.
Section was formerly classified to section 43 of Title 8, Aliens and
Nationality.

Amendments

1996-Pub. L. 104-317 inserted before period at end of first
sentence “, except that in any action brought against a judicial
officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial
capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory
decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable”.
1979–Pub. L. 96-170 inserted “or the District of Columbia” after
“Territory”, and provisions relating to Acts of Congress applicable
solely to the District of Columbia.

Effective Date of 1979 Amendment
Amendment for deprivation of rights, privileges, or immunities
secured by the Constitution and laws occurring after Dec. 29, 1979,
see section 3 of Pub. L. 96-170, set out as a note under section 1343
of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.

U.S. CODE TITLE 42–THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER 21–CIVIL RIGHTS SUB CHAPTER I–GENERALLY

Sec. 1985. Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights.

(1) Preventing officer from performing duties

If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire to
prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting
or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United
States, or from discharging any duties thereof; or to induce by like
means any officer of the United States to leave any State, district, or
place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or
to injure him in his person or property on account of his lawful
discharge of the duties of his office, or while engaged in the lawful
discharge thereof, or to injure his property so as to molest, interrupt,
hinder, or impede him in the discharge of his official duties;

(2) Obstructing justice; intimidating party, witness, or juror

If by force, intimidation, or threat, any party or witness in any court of
the United States from attending such court, or from testifying to any
matter pending therein, freely, fully, and truthfully, or to injure such
party or witness in his person or property on account of his having so
attended or testified, or to influence the verdict, presentment, or
indictment of any grand or petit juror in any such court, or to injure
such juror in his person or property on account of any verdict,
presentment, or indictment lawfully assented to by him, or of his being
or having been such juror; or if two or more persons conspire for the
purpose of impeding, hindering, obstructing, or defeating, in any
manner, the due course of justice in any State or Territory, with intent
to deny to any citizen the equal protection of the laws, or to injure
him or his property for lawfully enforcing, or attempting to enforce,
the right of any person, or class of persons, to the equal protection of
the laws;

(3) Depriving persons of rights or privileges

If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire or go in
disguise on the highway or on the premises of another, for the purpose
of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person or class of
persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and
immunities under the laws; or for the purpose of preventing or hindering
the constituted authorities of any State or Territory from giving or
securing to all persons within such State or Territory the equal
protection of the laws; or if two or more persons conspire to prevent by
force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to
vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner, toward or
in favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person as an elector
for President or Vice President, or as a Member of Congress of the
United States; or to injure any citizen in person or property on account
of such support or advocacy; in any case of conspiracy set forth in this
section, if one or more persons engaged therein do, or cause to be done,
any act in furtherance of the object of such conspiracy, whereby another
is injured in his person or property, or deprived of having and
exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States, the
party so injured or deprived may have an action for the recovery of
damages occasioned by such injury or deprivation, against any one or
more of the conspirators.

(R.S. Sec. 1980.)

Codification
R.S. Sec. 1980 derived from acts July 31, 1861, ch. 33, 12 Stat.
284; Apr. 20, 1871, ch. 22, Sec. 2, 17 Stat. 13.
Section was formerly classified to section 47 of Title 8, Aliens and
Nationality.

U.S. CODE TITLE 42–THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER 21–CIVIL RIGHTS SUBCHAPTER I–GENERALLY

Sec. 1986. Action for neglect to prevent

Every person who, having knowledge that any of the wrongs conspired
to be done, and mentioned in section 1985 of this title, are about to
be committed, and having power to prevent or aid in preventing the
commission of the same, neglects or refuses so to do, if such wrongful
act be committed, shall be liable to the party injured, or his legal
representatives, for all damages caused by such wrongful act, which such
person by reasonable diligence could have prevented; and such damages
may be recovered in an action on the case; and any number of persons
guilty of such wrongful neglect or refusal may be joined as defendants
in the action; and if the death of any party be caused by any such
wrongful act and neglect, the legal representatives of the deceased
shall have such action there for, and may recover not exceeding $5,000
damages therein, for the benefit of the widow of the deceased, if there
be one, and if there be no widow, then for the benefit of the next of
kin of the deceased. But no action under the provisions of this section
shall be sustained which is not commenced within one year after the
cause of action has accrued.

(R.S. Sec. 1981.)

Codification
R.S. Sec. 1981 derived from act Apr.20, 1871, ch. 22, Sec. 6, 17
Stat. 15.
Section was formerly classified to section 48 of Title 8, Aliens and
Nationality.

Furthermore, we are informing you of the following U.S. Statues
that apply to you upon any possible failure to comply with U. S.
Statutes listed above and below, this becomes a U.S. Code Title
18 Violation, as also listed below after Title 42 listed below. Please see the following:

U.S. CODE TITLE 42–THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER 21–CIVIL RIGHTS SUB CHAPTER I–GENERALLY

Sec. 1986. Action for neglect to prevent

1) United States Code Title 18, Part-1Chapter-13 Section 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights).
2) United States Code Title 18, Part-1Chapter-13 Section 242 (Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law).

Thank you for your valuable time,
and we wish to hear from you soon.
Please us e-mail us back at your
earliest convenience. Pursuant To:

Uniform Commercial Code - Article1-General Provisions Part 2 §1-207
Performance or Acceptance Under Reservation of Rights.

(1) A party who with explicit reservation of rights performs or promises performance
or assents to performance in a manner demanded or offered by the other party does not
thereby prejudice the rights reserved. Such words as “without prejudice”, “under protest”
or the like are sufficient.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an accord and satisfaction.

Signed,

James A. Sablan Sr. and Sarah L. Matlock
e-mail: jamessablan@yahoo.com
e-mail: woodsonsarah@yahoo.com

Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have. —Zig Ziglar

We used the recipe I posted previously, although we substituted melted salted butter for the oil, a recipe mod I endorse because (a), salted butter is a much more useful thing to buy than weird baking oil, and (b) the slight saltiness adds complexity to the flavour of the 5-minute microwaved mug cake. And snacks you make at 2am can always use more complexity, eh? Sometimes I take all the vowels out of the Alpha-Getti just for a challenge.

Another recipe mod I would endorse is using a wee bit more cocoa and a wee bit less flour- maybe altering the original recipe's ratio by a tablespoon in each direction. That would make the cake denser and more chocolatety, both of which are good words in the dessert arena. A not-as-good word in the dessert arena is "obesity", which can be "caused" by "late-night" "gluttony".

Also: use a large mug.

Mixing batter in a mug is challenging, so use a fork (even though the sound of the fork-tines scraping the mug upsets some very primal part of my brain). And stir the dry ingredients well before adding the egg & butter, or else you end up with a layer of dry, unmixed flour at the bottom of your mug cake, like one of us did, and then the other of us (the one whose mom is a professional pastry chef) laughed at me and I hid in the bathroom.

I don't know from baking but I did pick up some cake & pastry flour for the mug cake, and my cake rose pretty well. I suspect that using all-purpose flour might have a detrimental effect- the mug is so small that it's hard to get bubbles into the batter by stirring- whereas cake flour is more encouraging, promoting better self-esteem in batter applications.

It will look like the mug can't possibly hold all that mug-cake, but it probably will. Mine only overflowed by a couple drips, even though the uncooked batter reached right to the top. Yay uncritical optimism, I bet this means everything else will work out fine, too!

Also: don't forget to buy some milk to wash down your epicurean genius.

And there we have it, folks: Mug-cake. Dee-licious.

Since it's now official - I can tell you the scoop :)

Ben Hazlewood, NZ Idol contender, all-round nice guy. Writes songs. We record some demos. He puts them online. Gets tapped to join US boyband "Stateside". Less than a week after initially hearing from the management compaany, he's on a plane to Orlando, FL. Cool :)

then off to LA, now living in London and the list of people who they band are working with is amazing.

so far, writers and producers working on the album are :

Max Martin (Max produced and wrote the hits for N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and heaps more. )

Wayne Hector (written hits for Westlife,Carrie Underwood, O-Town, among others!)

Steve Mac (Over 50 worldwide number 1 hits - including for Westlife, Ronan Keating, Leona Lewis, Mel C, Atomic Kitten, Boyzone, Ruben Studdard, Five - plus too many to list...)

So, yeah, the team working on this project is made up of top-level producers and writers - so hopefully stateside will come out with a great, catchy pop record. I am sure you will here more of this when the first singles from the album start to get airplay.

anyway - check out Ben and Stateside here.

cheers

I read an interesting  post today  that talked about " Fast Leadership - Stop Thinking and Start Deciding ." He basicallly advocates a Gladwellesque "Blink" style of decision making, which I think has merit in the right time and place. It's a good post, but one thing I thought was missing was some kind of feedback mechanism that allows you to take stock of how your decisions worked out over time. .." Also "..see this nice roundup of decision making links over on Lifehack.org..."See resource- Decision roundup Tuesday, August 29 2006 , quoted on AllBusiness.com,  (Ethan Willis and Steve Gross are  great example of  great leadership)

I also read a post on the  LeadershipNow Blog and  I came across  4 rules of influence from the book The Art of Influence written by Chris Widner-see below-

1. Living a Life of Undivided Integrity. Notwithstanding that integrity is in fact being undivided, he writes that while leaders do make mistakes, followers "do expect their leaders to admit and correct their mistakes, mend the cracks in their integrity, if you will. Left unchecked, eventually a lack of integrity erodes the trust that is needed between a leader and a follower."

2. Always Demonstrate a Positive Attitude. People respond to optimism. Bad things happen. And when they do, you need to ask not "Why did this happen to me?" but "What's next?" or "What good can come from this?" "You are choosing to believe that something good can come from negative circumstances and that the future will be better than the present."

3. Consider Other People's Interests as More Important Than Your Own. "Even more important than being interesting, is being interested."

4. Don't Settle For Anything Less Than Excellence. Widner encourages us to grow our influence by improving ourselves around seven areas of excellence: physical appearance, emotional health, intellectual growth, spiritual depth, relationships, financial success, and charitable giving. Excellence is in the details..."

The bottom line is influence is not "about manipulation and slick fast-talking"; true Influence  and leadership teaches that your ability to influence others begins from within. These is our culture at Prosper. Although we are not perfect, we strive to become better everyday as we can to serve our people and help them gain success. Also see Prosper Learning Star Fish Story

Any thoughts?

Devin Willis

http://www.linkedin.com/in/devinwillis

This method of therapy against anger works for most common cases of your daily life and it helps a lot! Instead of becoming nervous with the other person’s behaviour or their actions, you make fun of the situation or what they are saying.

For example, your wife/husband, son, or friend gives you an order demanding many unreasonable things that will require many efforts and time. Instead of becoming nervous with their request, ask them if they want “something else!” This is a known ironic answer but you can improve it by asking if the person wants their absurd demands served in a dish.

Did someone steal your reserved parking spot? Has someone left trash outside the can and causing a stink? Did someone break your favorite cup? Never mind! Let it be. Learn to relax and accept what is happening without losing your temper.

Humor! Make fun of the negative situation. Try to justify what happened as if it was preventing you from making a mistake. Now you cannot park your car in the same place and the thief who wanted to steal it cannot find it. Perhaps you are lucky because only your parking place was stolen, not your car.

Is your neighbour an indifferent person? Keep the neighbourhood clean on his behalf and do it with humor, without complaining, but considering yourself a big hero who solves the problems caused by others without fighting and creating worse problems.

Go buy a new cup for you, because a new cup has the symbolic meaning of a new time in your life. Something different in your routine may help you feel better!

Give good explanations for whatever happens to you, justify people’s actions or simply make fun of what is wrong because nothing should be able to eliminate your good disposition and courage.

On the other hand, your good disposition and intelligence will easily eliminate your anger and nervousness in all situations.

This way, you will always be fine and happy and give wise lessons to many people!

Prevent Depression and Craziness through the scientific method of Dream Interpretation discovered by Carl Jung and simplified by Christina Sponias, a writer who continued Jung's research in the unknown region of the human psychic sphere.

Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com and http://www.booksirecommend.com

Click below to download your copy of the Free ebook
Beating Depression and Craziness

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christina_Sponias

Have you submitted Your own dreams for Free professional dream interpretation and psychotherapy?

Don’t waste time! This is a limited offer, only for this summer.

A single dream is not enough. We need a series of dreams in order to understand what is happening to the dreamer and to understand the guidance of the wise unconscious mind that produces our dreams.

So, write down your dreams every day if you want to see results for your efforts.  Your dreams and their special messages should be really important to you!

You need to start right now so you will have enough time to submit many dreams. If you put off this opportunity, time will pass and you won’t be able to send me anything…

Go to http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com and learn more.

Christina Sponias

Carnitas!, originally uploaded by WontonBrutality.

I made pork, and it was delicious. This is a big achievement for me, since when I was learning to cook, I was a vegetarian.

Meat is mystical to me. Delicious mysticism.

I used a method/recipe from the Homesick Texan and it worked like a charm.

Carnitas (adapted from Diana Kennedy)

Ingredients:
3 pounds of pork butt
1 cup of orange juice
3 cups of water
2 teaspoons of salt

Method:
1. Cut pork into strips (three inches by one inch), bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered on low for 2 hours. Do not touch the meat.

2. After two hours, turn heat up to medium high, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork fat has rendered (about 45 minutes). Stir a few times, to keep pork from sticking to bottom of pan.

3. When pork has browned on both sides, it’s ready (there will be liquid fat in the pan). Serve either cubed or shredded (pork will be tender enough that just touching it will cause it to fall apart).

Serves 4-6

Notes: I used apple juice instead of the orange juice, just because that's what I had on hand. It was really lovely and I think nearly any sweet juice kind of thing would do the trick. I also put it in a tall pot and got it all going. Next time, I'll use something more like a big, flat sided skillet, to make the browning stage more productive.

While preparing the tomato-filled chilled delight, I began to think about some differences between New York and LA. New York is definitely cooler, which is not always a good thing, it depends on the sitch.

In New York you meet more people who are struggling to create art. In LA art is business. So the successes you meet, it's more interesting in New York. Like someone will be in some shitty band, and then suddenly their shitty band is signed to a label, and then suddenly they're playing sold-out gigs.

I know everything.

I will tell you something else. Dewar's Special Reserve is a fucking hidden gem in Scotchville. It's only 20 bucks at Trader Joe's, and it is great.

Back to the gazpacho, I bought all the supplies at the farmer's market, which is always nice. The main lesson I learned is, 75 cents gets you a lot a lot a lot of parsley. If someone were ever debating about how bad inflation has gotten, I would take the other side and just point to parsley. They're practically giving it away.

As Dora might say, Who is they?

I think we all know the answer to that.

When looking for a way to take your business to the next level, it's nice to have a level playing field to begin with. Here are some secrets for your success.

Business is indeed like warfare - as evidenced by the translation of Machievalli's the Prince and Sun Tzu's Art of War being translated into strategies for business.

The basic essence of business, I believe, is to help others get what they want. The greater the need you fulfil, the greater the reward. Look at property magnates. shipping etc. I learnt a Chinese phrase, the 'best' businesses to be in cater to "Yi" - Clothing, "Shi" - Food, "Zhu" - Accomodation, "Xin" - Transport. However, those are highly competitive businesses to be in.

As a small business owner, it is important to be in a niche, stand for something. Be the expert/specialist in a tiny niche that the 'big boys' will not find interest or value in actively pursuing. Do it well and slowly expand from there.

In all things, keep costs down and try to boost sales. Watch cash flow, profit margins, dead stock, pilferage etc. and at the end of the day, despite all the niceties about helping others, MAKE SOME MONEY AND KEEP IT!!

Learn the concept of leverage - hire staff if need be to run your shop if you are in retail - also consider outsourcing - letting the experts do your work for you. This can be especially useful in accounting and logistics.

Build a system - have a systematic way of doing things. Educate your staff on it. Have control measures in place.

Alliances - like the saying goes, 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer' - build strong, strategic alliances with your competitors but being dealers for them.

Unpredictability and misinformation - have a reputation for being unpredictable in the marketplace - WOW and SHOCk customers, suppliers and your dealers every now and then. Also, don't be afraid to send out misinformation to confuse your competition. A little ruthlessness is sometimes necessary.

Prioritise - time management - remove the time suckers such as going to buy stock, meeting people unneccessarily, especially people who are trying to sell you products/services or to ask you for money.

Focus - set goals, focus and get things done. Take action. Try to progress and grow your business a little a day.

In lean times, do not be afraid to sit back and let things go by. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. Moves made in desperation usually do not turn out well. Also, live in the present. Do not look back at wrong moves in the past and live in regret. Take time to think, consider your options, discuss with associates, friends and family and then make a well considered move.

Business, like life, is like war. You need your troops i.e. your money. The more troops you have, the better your position. You need generals - your management staff to fight the different fronts. You need a system, training programs, logistics, finance etc to run your army/business. You need market intelligence to find out what your competitors/enemy is doing and above all, you need yourself, the visionary leader to inspire and lead your troops to VICTORY.

Be positive, choose to be happy. Enjoy life. Remember the 80/20 rule - you achieve 80% of your results with 20% of your time. So don't be afraid or guilty to relax and take things easy. Sometimes, your best ideas come when you're feeling relaxed and happy.

I believe that you have to identify what you feel passionate about and enjoy doing and use that as a basis to decide what business you want to go into. Do NOT go into any business that you have no knowledge nor interest in purely for the sake of money. There is a reason why 80-90% of all businesses fail within the first 3 years.

From a Christian perspective, I also believe that God loves us and wants the best for us. Do not settle for anything less than the best. Dare to ask for what you deserve and God will give it to you. Believe, trust and have faith that you will be blessed and go out there, fight a good fight and claim what is yours! VICTORY is yours. It also helps to learn to pray and mediate and ask God for help or just to thank Him for everything.

I love Christian principles. You reap what you sow, Ask and it shall be given. Godliness with contentment is great gain. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as upon God and not unto man. i.e. give a 100%, full-out effort.

I guess that does it for now. Will be updating whenever inspiration strikes.

"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success."

As Margaret Meade once said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Our collective actions proved Ms. Meade right and I am happy...no thrilled...to report that Renee Brace and the ASPCA Online Community spoke with Verizon Executive Coordinator, Steve Schwartzman, and the offensive ad has been pulled in all markets. Mr. Schwartzman was very understanding of everyones feelings and admitted that they have received quite a bit of heat over this commercial.

The first days of training were the best: I got doses of the most positive reinforcement I've ever recieved, something I didn't get much of as a child.  My original intent was to work only a few hours per week, but I soon found myself wanting to work as hard as possible.  My division manager Mike Dawid (awesome guy) even gave me access to several motivational audio seminars, as well as books written by past Cutco reps and Robert Kiyosaki.  Ready to take on the world, I ended up selling $1,000 worth of Cutco in my first two days. 

After about a week and a half, I quit the Vector program.  I felt horrible for giving up on the team that was so inspiring to me.  It's not that the business plan didn't work, because I know it does.  If you want to make a few extra dollars selling Cutco, you definitely can if you're dedicated.  It requires spending a lot of time with your division manager and constantly improving your sales skills.  This is a great business if you don't have much money, and the promotions are there for those who want them. 

However, my original intent was to make a few extra dollars and focus more on my real estate business.  Vector was flexible with my schedule, but I was actually losing focus.  I knew that in order for me to be successful at Vector, it took a lot of dedication between office meetings and calling prospects. 

In addition, I learned that the real money wasn't in the knives, but in recruiting.  If you work hard selling Cutco you have the opportunity to become a division manager, which focuses more on recruiting sales reps.  As a division manager, I'm speculating that one makes a percentage of sales off of the reps, in addition to other types of bonuses.  I imagine this is where the true money is made.  YES, YOU REALLY CAN MAKE MONEY WORKING FOR VECTOR!  Too many people quit right away because they think it won't work! 

Vector requires that you invest a small amount of money for your demo kit and gas money, but this is true of any business. As for me, I didn't have any extra money.  My money was invested in my real estate, and I'm hardly rich as of right now.  Therefore, I didn't feel it appropriate to spend additional money trying to make it work. 

I also didn't wan't to build a business on a product that wasn't mine - that's the bottom line.  I had already experienced sales success when I worked in banking, and doing it all over again really didn't seem that appealing, despite the large dose of enthusiasm and encouragement I received.  Personally, I would rather work hard to be the one who creates the original idea.  If you really want to be rich, this is truly how it is done.  If you come up with just one good idea, you could hire all the sales reps you want.  Then YOU get to keep the larger portion of the pie, not your division manager or regional manager. 

Again, selling Cutco is great work if you have the time and energy to become a division manager and sell the system, instead of remaining a sales rep.  In my case, my real estate business was most important to me and I would end up losing my properties if I didn't stop spending money on gas and such.  Honestly, I didn't really spend that much selling Cutco, but it was more than I could afford at the time. 

Overall, if you're considering selling Cutco I would definitely recommend giving it a shot if you have time and a small amount of money.  It teaches you the reality of trying to promote a product without any help - you are responsible for your own success like any business!  That's the beauty of it. 

Does anyone out there have any experience with Vector????

Freedom is the right to live as you wish.
If you wish to free yourself from enslavement,
you must choose freedom and the responsibility it entails.
There's a price for every freedom,
something to be given up for every liberty.

It's up to you to weigh the price you must pay
for each of your freedoms.
And everything you want has a price.

Freedom is the opportunity to make decisions.
It's the capacity to take a hand in your own development.
Freedom is the right to choose.
It's the right to create for yourself the alternatives of choice.

No one is free who is not the master of himself.
You are free to do whatever you like.
You need only face the consequences of your actions.

Copyright 2008 www.yourdailymotivation.com

Something that I've picked up from travelling to and from home to work via public transport is the repression of emotions on each vehicle of transport--whether it be a tram, train or a bus. All entail a bleak atmosphere. Faces of people who paint an expression of ignorance and apathy to avoid others on the train or whatever.

That said, I want to touch upon how and why the detachment of emotions and the facade of expressions realistically work. I will emphasise here and now that this is all in the depth of theory and whilst I publish this; it pains me that I'm unable to corroborate it. I really mean it. What's a statement without objective evidence. Bah.

This is a philosophy that I wholly believe in and although, many will claim that the act of pretense or feigning certain emotions is inherently immoral and self-contradictory - it really isn't. It might be unnoticeable since it is of a manner that we enact ourselves during the course of each day but it certainly isn't wrong. In fact, the general notion of self-improvement is realistically the conditioning of these emotions feigned. Without drilling too much into the topic of self-improvement, the art is about self-analysis and rebuilding yourself into another person. Essentially, this involves an adjustment in behaviour or personality. So, by logic, the mere change in traits implicitly relates to the refinement of emotions. Consequently, the permanency of this is noted as a result of an self-improving effort.

Take, for example, someone with confidence issues. He/she tries to express themselves in a way that dispels their lack of confidence. That person is essentially and initially pretending to be or seem like another person with the traits that are contrary to what they considered as a flaw in their own character. Whether it proves to accomplish in the long-term or is fallible in itself isn't the point. The point is that pretense is the starting point of becoming and forming who we want to realise. It then becomes an enigma as to constitutes a pretentious construct of character and the ethical considerations of this.

This hide of character is commonly seen with the majority of retail workers. And isn't this true?

It's what they're paid to do. The chirpy, lovely girl behind the counter is coerced to present themselves in a manner that evokes similar emotions from potential customers. And isn't that true too?

The only way to survive in the world is to either forget the social constraints that are apparent in our world. It doesn't feel natural to do so but how would we survive in such conditions without learning to adapt?

It's horrible to think that as humans, we can't act naturally as we would like to. Of course, there's reason to say why do we need to heed and live by social norms and collective expectations of society? It's because that's how it realistically works. There's even more reason to ask: if it all depends on the goal and desires of one person and how they live - why does a person need to consider social requirements? That might be a difficult one to answer. However, this is how I see it - if one has desires and needs, whether it be material (superficial) or abstract (emotive) - there has to be one of those desires and needs that regards the interaction with people as a necessity to fulfill those goals. If so, the goal of interaction with people is mainly based on how effective an individual is with their presentation and demeanour towards that speciail other person. That presentation can be changed by the facade we want to display to obtain whatever response we're looking for. Yeah, I'm really complicating it.

I can't speak as to how many people have legitimate desires that involve the connection and interaction with people but if you're a normal person, I would have to believe that some component of that desire requires the presence or mutuality of other people.

"Be yourself" has become so redundant to me. There's two simple choices to make - stay and be yourself or adapt to how other people behave. And being yourself isn't really as simple as people think. Those who disregard others around them to behave the way they wish have a disjointed and disconnected social awareness. However, those who adapt themselves to how other people behave are only fooling themselves with what they innately are.

I really feel that there's no gray area in that respect. Draw the line between having a social awareness or not having a social awareness. How easy it is to hypothesise, yet how difficult it can be for those who have grounded themselves with what they are and want to change. Ah, fun times.

Don sponsored Paula. Paula sponsored Judi. Judi sponsored Sarah. Sarah
sponsored Marilyn. They all sponsored a lot of other people too, but
you should focus on THIS amazing leg for 1 important reason: they all
made Diamond, a very high achievement (and well-rewarded and
recognized) in their company!

And every one of them did it the same way - using the generic (no
products or companies mentioned) "Success In 10 Steps" ebook.

On Saturday, July 26th, at 8:55 pm Eastern time, Richard Dennis will interview Sarah Thompson. You'll learn Sarah's secrets - exactly how this duplicatable system came about. You'll get all the details on how you can use it to build your M-L-M fortune.

In this interview, you will learn:

==> Why Mentoring for Free has such strong appeal
==> What makes the ebook "Success in 10 Steps" so powerful?
==> Why this ebook attracts your perfect target market
==> Who exactly opens and reads Success in 10 Steps? And WHEN do they
open it? (This is REALLY the key!)

It is F*REE to listen to this LIVE conference call. However we only
have a limited number of spots on the conference bridge. If You have
struggled to duplicate in your net*work mar*keting business, you
really need to hear how Sarah Thompson hit paydirt with this system.

Just reply back with "Sarah" in the subject line to confirm your
planned attendance.

As soon as I get your reply, I'll make sure to reserve you a spot on
the call and get the access information to you.

This is going to be packed out call!

To Your Success,

Jayne Cambra 
617-892-4661 Anytime
jaynecambra@gmail.com