Fw: A Message from Tyler Perry: Untie the Rope
Note: I received this through an e-mail forward and I couldn't agree more!!! Go 'head Mr. Perry you're an inspiration!
So, I just finished filming a really good movie called GOOD DEEDS. It’s me like you’ve never seen me before. It comes out in February, brace yourself.
There were a lot of long days on this shoot, so I wanted to take a break. I decided to do some traveling and since I still have 20 more pounds to lose before I start my next movie, ALEX CROSS, I thought I would go to the Grand Canyon and do some hiking, climbing and so on. At one point in the climbing, I was over a steep drop and was tied to a safety rope, while a buddy’s safety rope was tied to me. It was my responsibility to help him up, since I was bigger and weighed more. I told him, “I’ll hold on to you to help you up but if you start to pull me over with you, I’m going to untie this rope.” We had a good laugh about it, but I was serious…
I started thinking about that moment a few days ago. How many times are we tied to a person, people or things that are pulling us down and we won’t untie the rope? For whatever reason, be it family, friends, society, or just the feeling of being obligated, trapped or that if you don’t, no one else will. I have watched so many people go over a cliff with a person that they are trying to help up, it’s sad. YOU MUST UNTIE THE ROPE!!!
This is your life and you are wasting it being tied to someone who is destroying his or her opportunities and yours. If the person that you are trying to help does not know that they are worth being saved, how do you expect them to put any value on you saving them? You’re not worth it to them. They can’t get it! SO YOU NEED TO! Listen to me, untie the rope and don’t lose yourself trying to hold on to someone who can’t survive on your level. You hear me? Maybe they have gone as high as they can go. Just because you can survive on that level doesn’t mean that everyone else can. Stop trying to help them, UNTIE THE ROPE! I know you may feel this is cruel, but what is more cruel is dying a death that’s not your own. Letting your destiny go to hell because someone else pulled you there. Are you kidding me? That isn’t God!
Here is what I have learned over the almost 20 years that I have been in this business. Let me tell you, I have seen and worked with some of the most talented people you can imagine and I used to wonder why they never got any higher than they are. You know, the kind of people who always seem to be at the door, but never can go in. It used to blow my mind until I got a revelation from God.
For many years I was the same way, I would get close and things would fall apart. I couldn’t get any traction, not in my career, not in my personal life and not in the pursuit of happiness. I just couldn’t move forward. Through much prayer and self-discovery, I found out that I used to be, notice I said “USED TO BE,” a self-saboteur. I would find a way to subconsciously destroy every good thing that was in my life and I didn’t even know I was doing it. Most self-sabotaging people don’t know that they are doing it. I don’t think there is anyone sadder than a person who blames everyone else, but themselves for their situation. The very revelation that I was causing my own problems was one of the greatest blessings God could have allowed me to see. Once I realized the behavior, I was able to change it. That is why my life is in such a great place right now. I realized that my very thoughts were keeping me from being successful at everything. “So, as a man thinketh, so is he.”
Many times a lot of us sabotage subconsciously because of what mamma or daddy said, traumatic childhoods or any number of things that happened growing up that made us feel that we shouldn’t have or that we didn’t deserve it. I’m here to tell you all, that misinformation was wrong. You do deserve it! You are worthy of it! For me, knowing that Jesus died and rose again makes me know we are all worthy.
Why am I saying this? I’m just tired of people being upset with people who have realized their dreams. The only difference in someone who is living their dream and someone who can’t get it to come to pass is they don’t feel they deserve it. They don’t feel they are worthy of it. So many of us have dreams, dreams that the world is waiting for, talents that will help heal and change nations, but we keep destroying our own successes. I know for a fact that if I had not figured this out, you wouldn’t be reading this email right now. Nor would I be a happy soul.
The world is waiting for your gift. Give it to yourself and you will give it to them, but first you have to UNTIE THE ROPE.
Imagine having the power of the Gods at your fingertips, but all you want is one man to love you? Would you use your powers to get that love you believe you deserve? One woman will try in "Sleeping with a D-Man: An epic supernatural tale of forbidden love, conspiracy and sacrifice.
The Project
"Heaven is where the future is born" ~Made in Heaven (1987)
It is time for you to leave "Heaven" and go to Earth but before you go you must first meet with THE ALL.
The meeting you will have is similar to a meeting a screenwriter has with a successful Hollywood producer to pitch an idea for a blockbuster film.
You share with THE ALL your High Concept project that will become your life story. Since you are in Heaven, you have no outside influences or distraction. It is just you and THE ALL. Your pitch will be as close to DIVINE as possible.
THE ALL will green-light your project even if it’s not what THE ALL has envisioned for your life on earth. After all, THE ALL has blessed you with free will so what you want is what you'll get.
When you return to Heaven, you’ll be judged on your performance, the execution and completion of your project. How well you do will determine if your future projects will get the green light.
Knowing there is no right or wrong answers, what's your pitch? What story do you want to develop that will become your life while on earth?
Enter your log line (A brief summary of a project that provides both a plot synopsis and an emotional hook to stimulate interest) here:
Now that you’ve decided on your High Concept project, here's the caveat: Once you get to Earth, You won’t remember any of it.
How will you carry out your mission?
***
If you have the answer, why aren’t you doing it?
Photo Credit:http://www.nrscrisisline.org/rpm/GreenLight.html
Copyright (c) 2011 Mel Hopkins
THE 50th LAW -Thou Shall Not Fear
Ever since I finished reading The 50th Law by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Robert Greene, I've been feeling some kind of way.
THE BLACK AGENDA
In response to Dr. Boyce Watkins’, post A Stronger America: The Black Agenda First, thank you for this article. While I may not agree with your viewpoint, I do appreciate it.
Second, I voted for President Obama for two reasons -his proposed policies in educating the populace specifically in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics and his ability to walk his talk when it comes to a woman's rights.
I am of African ancestry, however, in my opinion, there are only two differences in the human species and that is Sex: Male and Female.
Therefore, if President Obama has the ear of women and gays but the black community feels shut out; would not that actually mean that less than half of black community does not have President Obama's ear?
Maybe I am missing something; you mentioned that President Obama is not a civil rights leader and I agree but atop his agenda seem to be civil rights issues. The groups you have mentioned all have civil rights issues on the table. Gays want the right to serve in the military, they want the right to marry legally; Latinos are looking for some type of immigration reform that benefits their families; Women want the rights to equal pay for equal work, we want to retain the rights to choose what to do with our bodies, etc. What civil rights are we blacks, particularly men, not enjoying that is already on the law books? High incarceration for black men is the cause célèbre’. If the courts are unduly targeting blacks for imprisonment for criminal activity then there is a remedy for this alleged malfeasance of the justice system. It starts with the United States Department of Justice's Civil Rights division.
I digress.
It seems to me the group most offended by the policies of the Obama Administration is men, both white and black.
In my opinion, President Obama was not appointed the savior of black people simply because his father comes from Kenya. Nor was he elected president to keep the status quo for white men just because he is descendant of England's King Edward.
He, in my opinion, is a shining example of what a man can do even when the odds are stacked against him.
Therefore, from his leadership, the take away is "Empowerment", and if anything, that goal should top "The Black Agenda"
President Kennedy said it best in his inaugural speech,
"My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."
GET IN THE MIX
After posting Part I of “Help Desk: Webinars” we received a few more questions regarding the Resume Remix Webinar on Saturday, February 26, 2011 @1 EST.
First, the Resume Remix is an interactive seminar that broadcasts over the internet.
You would attend the same way you would any other meeting. The only difference is you are at a location of your choosing when you log in.
Keith Brooks, President and founder of PlanOnce LLC will host and moderate Resume Remix Webinar.
Once again, Mr. Brooks has agreed to give us a behind the scenes look, this time a close-up, at the Resume Remix Webinar
Why are you the best person to host this webinar?
Actually, I’m the producer and moderator of the webinar. In short, I hire the talent, train and coach them in the use of web conferencing technology, and I have overall responsibility for the production.
Our featured speaker for the Resume Remix is Alana Gaymon. Alana is credentialed (PHR) human resources professional. Alana will share her insights as a former Director of Human Resources for a very large non-profit organization. I will add some perspective as a business owner. We believe that is what sets us apart from other resume seminars.
My experience and Alana’s years in human resources and her dynamic speaking ability make us the best choice to host this webinar.
How many webinars have you produced?
Honestly, I’ve lost count. I was in the corporate training market (I taught project management) when webinar technology first appeared on the scene. Until very recently, it was the sole province of very large companies seeking to reduce travel costs and find more efficient ways to roll out their programs (like changes to the company 401k plan). If I had to put a number on it, I’d say over the past ten to twelve years I’ve delivered over one hundred webinar presentations.
Walk us through the process.
First, let me start by stating our privacy policy. If you contact us or register for one of our webinars, we will reply to you via email. That is the only use we make of your contact information. We will not add you to any external lists and we will not share your information with third party vendors.
How do I register for the Resume Remix webinar?
It’s a four-step process.
1. Attendees visit www.resumeremix.eventbrite.com to view the details of the event and to purchase tickets.
2. After the attendee enters any discount codes that may have been provided, choose the number of tickets they want, and clicks Order Now, they are taken to the Register page. On the Register page, they enter their billing information.
3. Attendees are now taken to the Review your order screen. If the information they've entered looks good, they click Pay Now to complete the purchase. The attendee is then taken to the order confirmation page.
4. The attendee will receive an order confirmation email from www.resumeremix.eventbrite.com after they successfully place their order. Note: Attendees should check their spam folder if they don’t receive an email within the hour.
How do I pay? Can I send a check? PayPal?
For this event, we are not accepting checks or PayPal processing.
If online is my only option is my payment information secure?
Payment processing is handled by Eventbrite. Eventbrite NEVER stores credit card information on their servers. Eventbrite is tested daily by online security firm Mcafee to guard against identity theft, viruses and other online threats.
Another point your audience might want to consider is that Eventbrite is by far the global leader in event ticketing via and online event registration. In 2010, they sold 11,004,743 event tickets. Their gross ticket sales for 2010 were $206,889,900.29 . For additional information on Eventbrite’s privacy policy your audience can go to www.eventbrite.com/privacypolicy
Can I get a refund if I can’t attend for some reason?
For this event we will not be offering refunds however we will run this webinar often enough that you can register for another one at no additional charge.
Now that I’ve paid my money what happens?
The day before the webinar, you will receive an email with a special link providing you access to The Resume Remix. Beyond that just sit back and enjoy!
Will there be freebies?
We will raffle off some pretty cool gifts.
Do you have any links we can download?
After the webinar, we will provide links to the checklist and other documents.
So there you have it…Now you have one last step,
Resume Remix Webinar: Resumes for Today’s Ultra Competitive Job Market
HELP DESK: WEBINARS
Before You Plan Your Business, Prepare For Profits
REVIEW: "the Art of Profitability"by Adrian SlywotzkyWithout profit, there is no business. No business equals a hobby. A hobby means you pay instead of someone paying you.
Too many people go into business without thinking about how they are going to make a profit. Too many corporate executives are in business without continuously thinking of strategic profit models.
One of my favorite lines from the book is, "Profitability is a way of thinking. Profitability is thinking differently, always asking: 'How’ does high profit happen?" Then to paraphrase the next line: you ask yourself that same question five times until you get your answer.
There are 23 profit models in this book, which will help you to open your mind to big business and how it makes its money.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is self-employed, anyone thinking about a system that will create a big business for you to own, investors or even employees.
Even W-2s will recognize the signs your employer is about to downsize and/or go belly-up. Great reading. I am going to take a break, read "The 50th Law" again and then re-read this book.
copyright (c) 2010 Mel Hopkins
THE AFTER PARTY
The Five O'clock commute was
underway - except for the intersection at Ashland Place and Fulton Street where inside someone at the bar was drinking up his day's wages from a shot glass.
I was glad I came to these negotiations with my mother, because at 17 years old I would have probably disappeared into this den of iniquity called "Ashland Place" neighborhood bar, never to be heard from again.
Who was I to judge this venue; however, the location was perfect. It was a nice sprint from our high school and even on a spring evening's night if you decided to go straight home after the Brooklyn Tech Spring Fashion-Talent show you still had to pass the night club first on your way to the train station.
Even the most obedient teenager would be tempted to stop in to dance to one song. At least that was what I was counting on - after I got the $5 admission fee (with ticket stub or $7 without) I didn't care what they did with their time.
And so I hatched my plan with the bar owner; "Half of the door/All of the Bar", I offered.
I wasn't 18 yet. I couldn't purchase liquor let alone sell it as part of the rental contract. I could only purchase the space. Most of us who were going to be in attendance weren't 18 either. I offer half the door because I didn't want to take the risk of paying the rental fee upfront if for some reason my fool-proof plan didn't work.
All that was left after I secured my contract for the location was to get approval to advertise the After-Party on school property. The Student Government Organization adviser said I could do it as long as it was SGO function - meaning the proceeds would go back to SGO. Perfect, I thought, I wasn't in this to make money - I was in it to get the experience for promoting.
Hip Hop was in its early stages and we had our own resident MC Stevie Dee and his Dee Jay that was crazy on the "wheels of steel". I knew because I hired them for my Sweet 16 party. I negotiated a price with him to do the gig - and he brought in the speakers, turntables and his microphone. It was on and popping.
In addition to getting ready for the fashion-talent show, I was busy promoting the After-Party for weeks leading up to it. I had posters plastered everywhere there was a poster for fashion-talent show.
I knew from observing the years past, students were so hyped after the fashion-talent show they needed somewhere to expend that energy they built up after sitting in those hard seats in the auditorium.
I was right!
My after-party at the night club - read: neighborhood dive was a smashing success. I had to turn people away at the door and I made more than a thousand dollars that night.
Stevie-D turned it out! I sweat out my hair and had more teenage boys lusting after me, especially since my Donna Summer "Bad Girls" performance earlier that night, than I cared to deal with.
My business venture proved so successful I decided to major in Marketing in college (wrong move).
However before I was disillusioned by the educational system, I treasure that I got a glimpse of one of my vocational gifts in my formative years.
I hadn't even step one foot in college and already I knew all I needed to know about The Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
I wish I was smart enough to know not to pay to learn for something I already had; real life successful experience.
If I was, student loans wouldn't have made it into my Dossier
DAY 22
Gift: Natural Born Marketer
REAP WHAT YOU SOW
"Town Mouse, Country Mouse" or "City Mouse, Country Mouse" was one of my favorite early readers.
This well-known Aesop fable teaches us about perspectives and schemata. In my child's mind, however, it was just fun to follow the adventures of mice.
Today, I'm reminded of this story not because of the message being content with one's lot in life; but rather reaping and sowing and how it relates to marketing and sales.
(Yes, in challenging economic times everything relates to successful selling.)Since I grew up in the city, I didn't know much about sowing and reaping. I never planted or harvested anything. The concept was lost on me.
'Fast forward to the future; I wrote and published my first novel and it was then 'sowing and reaping' made a lot of sense. My small audience was proof I reaped exactly what I sowed.
If you know anything about sowing (planting) the most important step is cultivating the soil in preparation for planting.
Same is true for cultivating an audience.
I didn't make any preparation for my book to actually flourish once I published it. (I will write more on cultivating an audience in another post.)
Sadly I'm not alone. With almost 1 million books published in 2009 - there was an estimated 3 billion books sold in the same year. If every newly published book sold equally that year, it would only account for 3000 copies sold per title.
There are enough reports to know that a self-published bestseller is about 500 copies sold. Most self-published titles sell less than 200 copies each. Further, we have to figure back-list titles are still selling strong and they too are included in that 3 billion books sold.
Back-list: A previously published title that remains in stock - sometimes even 50 years after its publication date. According to answer.com J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" sells about 200,000 copies per year.Looking at these figures one can see clearly some 'farmers' are better at reaping (and sowing) than others. Sort of like the difference between the corporate farmer and the independent farmer. Both are concerned with the quality of the crop but for the independent farmer its personal; for the corporate farmer its business.
The traditional publishing house is like the corporate farm. The self-publisher like the independent farm may not have the resources that are available to the corporate farm but it can operate with the same goals: high volume selling and multiple revenue streams.
Case-in-point, when I was on the marketing teams of big publishing houses such as G.P. Putnam and Sons and Penguin USA (they've since merged) it was easy to get the lion's share of the public's dollars for our offerings. We had different divisions for marketing and sales -including academic marketing & sales, publicity, special sales, institutional sales, catalog sales; sales people in different territories; sales people visiting college bookstores, etc.
My department, Academic Marketing and Sales, consisting of eight people, would
travel around the country to get college professors to adopt our titles. We would go to conferences, conventions and exhibits, anywhere we could find decision makers, those who would and could say yes to our titles, say yes.
'Getting to Yes' would be a cinch for self-publishers and even mid-list authors in general; if not for one thing, neither group sees their book as a product.
Here's how self-publishers and mid-list authors can begin to make the shift in 3 steps. Once a self-publisher/mid-list author begins to think like a traditional publisher they can begin to do some high volume selling too.
So now that you have a glimpse into publishing what will it be self-publisher, "Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear" ?~Town Mouse and The Country Mouse.Once you publish your book it is no longer your book; it is now a TITLE. In traditional publishing, editors coddle books; marketing and sales people promote and sell titles.
1) (SELF) PUBLISHING IS A BUSINESS
Distance yourself.
You took off your author's hat when you published your book. You are now a business person. You should have set up a business that is independent of you, the novelist/author.
My business, The LeadStory: media relations & communications, handles all of my business operations including publishing my titles.
2) YOUR BOOK IS A PRODUCT OF YOUR BUSINESS
Your self-publishing business sells titles wholesale. Traditional publishers sell books primarily business-to-business - not business to consumer.
As a front-list author of your self-publishing business, you have the luxury of setting up a web site for you, the author. You can set up that arm of your publishing business as a retail site.
Traditional publishers have author pages where you can purchase your favorite author's books retail. That is, however, the extent of retail selling for publishing houses. As a self publisher, your business model should include an author web site as your only connection to the retail world. Do not, however, expect selling one book at a time to sustain your business revenue model. You must create several revenue streams in which your title(s) can generate revenue. For perspective, check out Penguin's customer service page to give an idea of the many ways they harvest.
3) YOUR PUBLISHING BUSINESS SELLS WHOLESALE
RETAIL VS WHOLESALE
The NAICS defines a wholesale business as one that operates out of an office or warehouse, advertises to trade and displays little of no merchandise. Your publishing business may operate like a retailer on your web site or at a book fair - the publishing business is a wholesale business which sells titles in large quantities.
This doesn't mean to hit up every brick and mortar bookstore with your title either. Your must think differently for your self-publishing business. While you have 1 title or a few; a traditional publisher has many titles to offer. Also they've been in a relationship with these booksellers for many years. You are basically coming to booksellers looking like a one-night stand. In addition to booksellers, look for other businesses in which to form relationships. There may be some looking for a business just like yours.
Copyright (c) 2010 Mel Hopkins
Day 16
Gift:Understanding
More Viral Than The Flu
In fact, I just realized this is the second time I've written about a phenomenon connected to number 81. First it was the book, the DaVinci Code selling more than 81 million copies now this video.
There must be something in the number 81 I think its 9. (9x9)
7, number of completion;That was not where I was going when I started to write this post but I'm honored to share the insight nonetheless.
8, number of beginning;
9, number Divine Achievement...whoa.
YAWNIf I say YAWN what comes to mind? Do you know why we yawn? Some scholars believe we yawn to achieve an alert status. When we yawn, we engage each of our senses. Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch, and the sixth sense, ESP (Extrasensory Perception), are all stimulated to alertness by the simple act of yawning.
When we yawn, our eyes water, ears pop, we breathe deeply, skin tingles, we even sometimes touch our tongue to the roof of our mouth creating a smacking sound with our lips and finally we stretch limbering up our muscles just in case engage in combat.
Try it. Yawn. If someone is near you, look at them while you yawn.. Did they yawn too? Your yawn has just gone viral.
And there you have it...
THE WHY something goes viral. Simply put, an infectious agent is introduced into the system and we become self-aware of our sleep-walking status. We are then catapulted out of our slumber and put on alert.
In the case of media, the infectious agent can be a novel, extraordinary guitar or violin playing, a jilted lover's song extolling the power of "Fu<% You" or a news story putting a perpetrator on notice such as Antoine "We gonna find you, you can run tell that, homeboy" Dodson's interview.
Bottom-line: If you want your creative product to go viral you better do your "Jesus Walk " and give us something to wake us up!
Copyright (c) 2010 Mel Hopkins
Day 14
Gift: Curiosity
Blog Your Gift
23 Days of Christmas
bit.ly/hrSxLt
Sleeping with a D-Man
She had the power of the gods
at her fingertips.Will she give all up for the love of a man? Find out in "Sleeping with a D-Man"
Get it today!
