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The Humble Pie Chronicles: The Business Series www.CharisOnLife.com I’m laughing right now … inside laughing … but none the less, laughing. As I have said before in previous posts, you gotta laugh, however that happens is totally up to you. You’re asking what the ‘sam hell’ this has to do with business so let me fill you in. Before I start however I am going to apologize right now for all of my previous posts and ALL that will follow in regards to my language. I AM going to swear occasionally, hopefully that doesn’t offend you. Truth is sometimes, colorful language just is the best way to phrase things. It doesn’t make me any less of a lady, and none the less professional. In reality, the ONLY reason I do swear, yes, sometimes like a sailor, is BECAUSE of the places I have worked. Where you are wondering? (Don’t lie I know you are!) … With cops, in the building industry and last but not least, an office full of professional women. Not kidding. However, I digress… So “eating rainbows and pooping butterflies”, anyone know where that line comes from? People with kids will, let me rephrase, people that watch movies WITH their kids will. It’s from “Horton Hears a Who” a classic Dr. Seuss by Blue Sky Films and Twentieth Century Fox from several years back. I must say I have always sat down with my bio-units (aka my children) and at least watched the first time they ever watched a movie. First of all to make sure it was a kid-compatible, and the other to catch all of the parental lines that film makers throw in their for adults that kids would NEVER get. It as always good for a chuckle. At the end of the day, it was bonding time and truthfully, the down time let me zone out. That’s one thing about getting down on the floor with kids to play or do their activities, it lets you get back down to basics, and you see things again through a child’s eyes which is amazing. I’m not good at remembering lines from movies … or jokes (especially punch lines) for that matter and sometimes, I might not remember your name. (I’m good with faces though ha!) This is one line that I always have remembered and it’s been years since I’ve sat down and watched a children’s flick. It STILL makes me giggle, I have no idea why, maybe it’s the premise. Kids laugh their guts out because someone said poop, yes I know you’ve gone through that stage with your kids. It doesn’t end until way past when you think it might. (Get used to it) However, not why I like this line. Business… what the hell does it have to do with business? Everything. Well at least in my world it does. This morning I had a new client come in, we can coffee and chatted about what was going on in her life, she is trying to figure out her next move with her career. Absolutely lovely lady, adorable really! We talked about her resume initially, analyzed her skills, education and spoke about her work story. This part I’ve done a hundreds of times with potential employees and of course candidates looking for a change in their lives. Then… the “Charis” was released….weird talking about myself that way. (a friend coined that term yesterday, it kinda stuck) I started asking her questions about why she enjoyed each role, what her favorite things from her past were and we started weaving a new story. The difference is here that I listen…. And I listen VERY carefully to what people are telling me. I look at their body language; I see the things that make their face light up and happiness peek in where frustration might lay. When we spoke about next steps, she asked me why she would have me create her resume rather than doing it herself, especially when it was she that experienced and lived it. It was a valid question. This is what I said: “Yes, you did live your life and you did experience all of those things in your work life, however, what I see and what you see are two different things. You see if from the, these were my tasks point of view. I see it from the point of a leader, a recruiter and from a client’s perspective. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside, with fresh eyes, to look at the information and see the same information in a completely different way. I not only look at your resume with all of those hats on, but also as a someone that must market my clients in a way that the information is not only succinct but so that the reader is interested in hiring them. It’s still story telling in a way, just with facts. It’s about how you put it together and getting noticed.” She looked at me and agreed that yes that is completely valid, why? Because in the short time that we were together, we were able to decipher what she would really LOVE to focus on in the next part of her very exciting career. Let me say, it wasn’t what we started with. This is where the “eating rainbows and pooping butterflies” comes in. When she left, she was beaming, she was excited, she was renewed. I think if we could coin how she might have felt right at that moment, she was all of a sudden “eating rainbows and pooping butterflies”. She hugged me when she left, she truly was bubbling. This is where I was “eating rainbows and pooping butterflies”. I realized that I am here, doing what I’m supposed to be doing, helping people, on many different levels, I LOVE my job. When she left, I myself was beaming, ear to ear, how glorious a feeling it is too help someone else feel great about themselves and their future. My role is not only to help people transform their lives, as far as I know, it’s to hopefully cause a domino effect and make a difference in the lives of people that they themselves touch. Sometimes in think in the rat race of life we forget about this aspect of people, of work, of life. It gets lost in the rat race of life and business, it gets lost when companies grow, it gets lost companies fail. To some people and in many companies it doesn’t make any difference if there are any rainbows or butterflies in any way shape or form. If there is, I sure would love to hear a shout out from any of you that read this about a company or a person that has taken their business to that level. Myself, I think that far exceeds making millions of dollars. (However, I wouldn’t turn that down if I felt I could do both) So… thanks to all that take the time to read this today. I hope you’re “eating rainbows and pooping butterflies” too and if you’re not, I’m hoping that you want to. #CharisOnLife #CharisOnBusiness #CharisOnCareers #CharisOnEmpowerment #DrSeuss #BlueSkyFilm #TwentiethCenturyFox #changinglives #MakingADifference #ResumeWriting #transformation #lifecoaching #CareerCoaching
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 Can’t you afford paint?
How much does paint really cost? Are you telling me that your profit margins are so low that you can’t invest back into your company’s well-being and image? What, you can’t afford leasehold improvements? Or is it that you don’t put value into the property you own? How about this… You don’t really care the image that you are portraying to your client and employees. Whether it’s in business, your personal life, or anything in between… we should be putting the best of who you are out there, EVERY SINGLE DAY. Why? Because it shows that we care about who we are, what we do and want everyone to know what we stand for. The point here is this… I think many companies are missing the importance of their external environments. Here’s a piece of advice, if a business looks like a disaster, it usually is. Not everyone feels that a work place image and environment is important, but I sure as hell do. Based on personal experience, places that looked a mess, were less successful at attracting business. Clients or customers that walked in and looked at the space, walked out. What did they see? … a dirty, unkempt, barren wasteland. When the basics haven’t even been taken care of, there’s something a brewin’. I’ve been in many work-spaces both as an interior decorator, and potential employee, a manager. My initial impressions have ALWAYS been right. When a company can’t even keep their place of business clean… it means a few things: the company and the employees don’t put any value in their image or their property. That is often indicative that the same will go for their internal workings as well. No paint in 20 years? Trouble in paradise. Here’s a tip for you old school dinosaurs…buy a bloody can of paint, a mop and get your image cleaned up. No one wants to do business with a hot mess. As a company you may not value what these few things bring to your place of business, but your customers sure do. I have actually walked out of businesses and jobs based on their environments. Image=Potential Customer Service + Integrity. I know what I require personally to be happy in a workplace, if I have to spend 8-12 hours a day there, the company had better have put some investment into making it worthwhile. Looking at a dingy, dirty grey wall with fluorescent lighting doesn’t cut it. If a company doesn’t care, the employees don’t care, if the employees don’t care, you can’t run a business, if you can’t run a business, you don’t have one. If there are no expectations, then no expectations will be met and everyone lives in mediocrity. Needless to say, I did clean it up. Everything about it…all of a sudden they had customers that cared about their own businesses instead of the bottom of the rung clients that didn’t pay their bills. Why? I had expectations of how the business should be run, I had expectations of my customers and I had high expectations of my staff. You attract customers and clients based upon your own image and beliefs about how you run a company. Bottom line…People want to take pride in who they are, in their work, and in their work environment. Employees want to enjoy going to work because the company cares about their well-being, which includes a clean, aesthetically pleasing, safe and comfortable work environment. Companies need to understand that you get what you provide for. If you don’t care about these things, what makes you think that you can attract or retain employees that do? Bottom line… figure out what kind of employees you want working for your company. Figure out what kind of clients that you want to attract and retain. Raise your expectations of yourself as a company and what you want to exude to the world about who you are. Any place I have ever worked, you can ask them about what I have done to make my own space as comfortable and appealing as I can. I WANT to love my workspace and enjoy being in it. CharisOnLife, my business empowers individuals and companies to put their best feet forward. CharisOnBusiness and CharisOnDesign promote magnificent workplaces; I challenge all of those companies out there to get their image cleaned up, for yourselves, your employees and your clients. That being said … hire a cleaner that REALLY cleans. BUY A CAN OF PAINT! Really? Of all the things that you could do to maintain a workplace, at least paint it every five years! Note here….NOT GRAY! Pay some attention to colors that invigorate creativity in your employees, don’t you want your employees to LOVE their space? Invest in some artwork and decent lighting. Pay attention to the studies that are out there that would help you get the most out of your employees. Get your heads out of the sand, take pride in the company that you have built and what it stands for.  I would be very interested to get some feedback on this blog post to be sure. It’s “International Happiness Day”, the 3rd Annual, decreed by the United Nations. I took it upon myself to do my share of not only creating happiness in those around me, but for myself as well. I took it to my social media connections and challenged them to do their part in my #GetYourHappyOn movement for the day. The first part of it, born from a YouTube announcement asking to partake in sharing your happy song with the #HappySoundsLike hashtag attached to it. I also put that out there for my own networks. Mine is the old standby, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, the rendition by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. It gets me every time. So I started to think about some of the things that I have done over the years in one way shape or form to add some zest and happiness into the workplaces I’ve been in. That of course led to the age old question of, how many employees in your workplace actually FEEL happy there. Do they enjoy coming to work? Is the workplace conducive to creating happy employees? Are the business owners happy, or is it considered a luxury? Maybe people just don't care. Right off the hop I must say, that if you are a business owner and you're not happy, then change it. You’ve got the power baby, if anyone can make a difference it’s you. Think about if your work culture in your own company even promotes happy employees? If you take a hard look at yourself and your company, or as an employee, your work culture, what do you see? Employees, look at yourselves, what are you doing to contribute to a happy workplace culture? One of the places I worked at didn’t promote too much in the way of overall happiness. Sales people were told that their family lives came after work, and the expectation if we wanted to succeed, was to work 24/7. I gotta say, when those words came out of the mouth of my VP to the sales team, I nearly choked. Ya… that was a sure-fire way to promote happiness in your team, tell them they can’t have a life. We weren’t encourages to talk to one another, we weren’t encouraged to lunch together and on it goes. They wondered why the turnover was astronomical, most people there were fired or they left. So what are we talking about? Culture or work/life balance? Both? Work/Life balance is a terminology these days that makes many companies cringe, management for the most part gags at the mention of it. (many not all… just clarifying, I don’t want anyone to think I’m generalizing) I've had clients say to me in considering candidates for their companies, “If they are into the work/life balance crap, we aren’t interested.” I’m not kidding, all I have to say about that is this, as a company, you better get into the current train of thought. Candidates are also CHOOSING not to work for companies that don’t have any type of work/life balance. All of that being said, I make my own happiness; I seek out those that also strive to be happy, no matter what the circumstances are. Even in the toxic wasteland that was my workplace, I still was able to laugh, smile and show others that I cared, I promoted THEIR happiness. That's how this article all started. There was this fantastic receptionist, heart of gold, she was truly a remarkable person, and we CHOSE to be happy at any cost. So… the FRIDAY HAPPY DANCE was borne. She said that her little grandson would come home all excited because they did the Friday Happy dance at school that day, we laughed, and then, the tradition began. So, every Friday, for a very short five minutes, we did our “Happy Dance”. We laughed every time; the dance moves were awful, but were magnificent regardless. The point is this, we are all responsible for our own realities, our own happiness but what a great thing it is when the people you work with and the company you work for acknowledge just how important that happiness is. It comes down to the basics my friends, happy business owner…happy company, happy company…happy employees, happy employees…PRODUCTIVE and LOYAL employees which in the end benefits EVERYONE. This isn’t rocket science. There are of course those that just cannot see to be happy, employees and employers alike. We cannot help those people, they have to help themselves, but for the rest of us, if we all make a concerted effort, the results would be amazing. Today on International Happiness Day, make yourself happy; make someone else happy… just DO something, even if it’s your own happy dance. Go ahead, I dare you. #worklifebalance #HappySoudsLike #CharisOnLife #CharisOnBusiness #CharisOnCareers #GetYourHappyOn #accountability #MakeChange #BeTheChange #BeHappy  The Humble Pie Chronicles: Bathrobes and High Heels I am constantly amazed at what I can amuse myself with. This morning is a perfect example, life working at home. First let me note, that I am extremely grateful that I am able to work in my home office. The biggest benefit is that I can spend additional time with my 14 year old son, and that I am able to be there for him whenever I can be. So… this morning, wait … backup. Ever since I have worked out of my home, I have realized that there are certain things that are necessary for me to be able to function properly here. I think many people find it difficult to work at home because they feel that they have to do home stuff as well. I don’t. I am seconded to my office and I don’t touch the laundry, wash the floors or worry about household tasks. I can’t afford to, I need to focus on business. The other part of this methodology is dressing for “work”. I literally get up in the morning and “get ready” for work. I shower, get beautiful and get dressed in “work clothes”. Seriously. I can’t think straight in yoga pants, part of my whole premise in life is being ready for whatever comes my way that day. I have no intention of rolling out of bed, throwing my hair up in a ponytail, slide into yoga pants and expect to be “on my game”. So… 95% of the time, this is the case. However, this morning, after spending many sleepless nights getting my website and social media organized, I just couldn’t. This always bites me in the proverbial ass. I’m quite sure that someone will show up at the door. This morning, sporting an ugly brown house coat, my hair thrown up, no shower, and no beautification AT ALL, my kid calls me from the corner. He needs motherly assistance. I haven’t even had coffee yet. “Can you come pick me up RIGHT now”, he says? RIGHT NOW are the key words here. If you’ve read my website you know my mantra… never leave the house looking like crap. However…I have no choice. This apparently is a life and death situation. There have been times that my son laughs at some of the outfits I will throw on to drive him to school. So picture this…remember that we live in a northern climate. I will have all of my work gear on and then throw on HIS size 10 SORELS (aka the ultimate winter boot necessary to survive here) on over whatever I have on. His comment is always, hopefully you don’t have to get out of the car mom, you look RIDICULOUS! So now that the weather is great, and we have this private joke going, I put a lovely pair of Ivanka Trump mules at the front door for when I have to drive him. You know, to complete the outfit. That’s all that was at the front door this morning. Against all better judgement, not being COCO-fied, I run out the door in my ratty brown house coat, and yes the Ivanka Trump mules. I jump into the Rover and think… god forbid I have to get out of the car. My image would be DESTROYED. All that personal branding for the last 30 years… down the toilet. As I pick my son up, he dies laughing, he says, I just can’t believe you came out like that! I’m laughing alongside him… if anyone could see this spectacle, they would have been killing themselves as well. I guess the gist of this Blog post is this, it’s really important to laugh, and more importantly to laugh at yourself. I can only hope that you’ve had a chuckle reading this as much as I had writing it. The one thing that I want to exude in any of my writings is that this is real life. I’m living it, and I love it. Do yourself a favor today… laugh. The idea of CharisOnLife has been evolving and growing over the last several years, during some of which I wasn't even quite aware of what was happening. Life produces a series of action and events that help you along your path to your life purpose. I struggled for some time trying to figure out exactly what that looked like for me. There were aspects of the roles that I had that I felt fit, others, not so much. This website is the combination of all of those experiences; analyzing each experience at its most basic level, allowing me to learn what intrinsically makes me happy, fills me with purpose, and most of all, leads me to my passion in life. I always knew that I was meant to help people; they have flocked to me since I was a child. Part of that was because I have that leadership gene -- and yes, I do believe whole-heartedly that leaders are born not made. I have the gift of getting along with just about anyone... the exception being those that are body-snatchers (negative, eat their children, chew you up and spit you out kind of people). I can sense them a mile away, which is another one of my gifts. I'm an intuitive -- you can't get much past me I'm afraid. That's part of the reason why transformational life coaching works so well for me. I am able to listen, guide, and help others look at life in what is perhaps a different way than they have done before. My hope is to rejuvenate people's zest for life and all of its potential by helping them to define themselves differently, positively and with intention. I want to transform old negative ways of thinking and build a new foundation for which to base the rest of your life on. Many of us struggle daily with life's trials and tribulations; the secret is to not only weather the storm but to use those instances to make us stronger. When you realize that life is what you make it; what it deals you is only measured by how you react to it. We alone are responsible for the people, the opportunities and the challenges in our lives. It is all about accountability for our actions and reactions, and how we end up formatting these instances in our minds. When you take charge of both your life and your thought processes, you free yourself from all of the lower energy feelings that fill your life (anger, hurt, fear, disappointment, worry, stress and hatred). There is no room for these feelings in a person that has risen to a higher functioning vibration. When you are able to raise yourself to that higher vibration and frequency, you can achieve a happiness and a peace that you can't possibly have imagined. Life these days is crazy; it's hectic and people everywhere are struggling to find happiness (however they might define it). Wouldn't you love to be able to reduce the stress, worry and not feel anger and resentment? It is incredibly liberating. The sooner you realize that you alone choose the song that you are dancing to, the partners you choose to dance with, and the steps to which you move to that music, the sooner you can achieve true happiness. We are our own worst enemies. How would I know anything about any of this? I have achieved it, in every aspect of my life. Granted it took me a while to figure it out, but we all have a purpose in life. We must learn certain lessons before we can achieve that higher frequency and higher vibration, thus achieving happiness and peace. I got lost in trying to survive for many years, doing what the rest of the world was doing, trudging through the trash thrown in my path. It was all for a reason. I guess that is another point to live by: although we choose our paths by our choices in life, we do so because we have lessons to learn and a life to discover. Sometimes we don't learn our lessons the first time around so we have to repeat until we get it right… frustrating? Yes. Necessary? Yes. Fun? Not always. I have been a single parent most of my life, and have raised three of the most wonderful children. I have been blessed, many times over. Everything I have done to this point was done because I wanted to provide the best life possible for my children, as I didn’t want them to want for anything. It was hard, but I would do it all over again in an instant. That being said, if I knew now what I knew then, I would change the way in which I did it in some aspects. I would stop and breathe, I wouldn't immerse myself in work instead of being with my kids, I would stop the cycle of the rat race, I would love more, and I would be more grateful. Now I wake up every single day and am grateful for my life. I am happy, I am peaceful, I have an awesome family, wonderful friends, a beautiful home, and a cozy bed to sleep in. My fridge is full, as is my table and my heart. I am hoping that I can help others achieve what I have been able to do… I do believe it is a feat of miracles, finding one's self, as well as, your purpose in life. If I can save others from some of the things I have had to go through, allow them to do a little side step through life's obstacle course then I will be ecstatic indeed. I work only with those that are completely invested in changing their lives and in creating their own destinies. It takes a strong person to go within themselves to analyze and be accountable for their lives, and an even stronger one to come out on the other side. Remember there is no place for fear, for where fear resides, success cannot. Let go of fear and embrace what the world has to offer. 
Photo: Scott Zielke Photography
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Lifestyle blog, detailing life experiences, coaching tips, how-to's with lifestyle product recommendations and reviews. Health, beauty, travel, home and family!
CharisOnLifeLet me not be judged by what I have and have not accomplished but by the remarkable children I have raised. Mother, Business Consultant, Entrepreneur, Designer, Artist. You are your best billboard! Create the lifestyle you want by putting in some effort, make sure your best foot is forward, have discriminating taste, financial smarts, plan your lifestyle! This Lifestyle blog has lifestyle and product recommendations, coaching and services.
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Disclosure:There are portions of this blog and the following blog pages that may recommend, or showcase different services and products. It will state explicitly if I have used the products personally. This is a professional review blog which gets compensated for the products reviewed by the companies who produce them. I am an independent blogger and the reviews are done based on my own experiences and opinions. As an affliate publisher, I may generate a commission for any sales generated from the links on any page of this website. Please understand that as an a small business entrepreneur, I appreciate any interest and sales that you make from my site that supports us. A million thanks.
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