Jun. 26, 2007 - Joeann's Tuesday Tip - June 26, 2007

Jun. 19, 2007 - The Law of Attraction (Principles 8-14)

Jun. 18, 2007 - All Peru Chronicles

For perspectives from the whole group and many pictures, Frances Flynn Thorsen, is doing a great good of pulling this altogether at www.WebWomenGivingCircle.com

Take a peek

Jun. 16, 2007 - Peru Chronicles Day 6

Our last day in Huaraz and actually in Peru, seems to have arrived quickly. I am wakened by the sound of suitcases being rolled over the cobblestones. At first, I panicked and jumped from bed, thinking I had overslept and everyone was leaving. As I peeked out the door of my room, I see dozens of teenagers arriving for the weekend and wanting our rooms! So much for sleeping in!

It's a beautiful clear morning and the snow covered mountains and babbling brook are a beautiful way to start the day. Life is sweet this morning at the ECCAME Hotel.

We get scrambled eggs for breakfast along with the rolls, matte tea and cafe con leche. We learn the kids are on a field trip for the weekend-they are giggly and high spirited. Then the bus takes us to the airport. There are 2 flights a day in and out of Huaraz. Crops are planted next to the runways and there are people working in the fields. Very different from the airport "security" we are used to! Our plane is late by about an hour, due probably to the pea soup conditions in the Lima mornings. The plane holds 16 and has one seat on either side. We get a nice boxed lunch and newspaper: waht great customer care!

The CCS staff and van are waiting for us on arrival in Lima and we are taken back to Home Base for lunch. This gives us a chance to pack to go home, check our email and eat lunch. There is one very funny moment at lunch when the platter of meat was being brought from the kitchen and you could see signs of panic on many of our faces. It looked a lot like the guinea pig we'd been feted twice with. We had this fleeting thought they were serving us this delicacy on our last lunch! But, we quickly realized, to our delight, it was chicken legs and wings!

Our afternoon visit began at the EDYFICAR Agency in San Juan de Lurigancho (in southeast metropolitan Lima. The Credit Manager, Marco Guzman, is waiting with refreshments for us (Cookies and juice-no cuy!)  When we had visited with Milo Stanojevich  CARE's country Director, he had explained that the micro-development projects had been so successful, that CARE had problems with the scope of the lending and accounting required, so they had partnered to form an independent bank network to serve this purpose. EDYFICAR is a mircofinance institution regulated by the Peruvian Superindendent of Banking and Insurace. CARE-PERU is the largest stockholder. They operate in 8 cities to serve the entrepreneurs. We asked a lot of questions and discovered how differently things work in Peru. The average loan length is 2-3 years and the interest rate was slightly below the country norm but still surprised us when we heard it was about 3 1/2% per month! Many of the entrepreneurs had taken out loan after loan-some having taken advantage of using the sytem 10 or more times.

We visited 3 families that had benefitted from the loans and had thriving businesses that were supporting them and allowing them to hire others. We saw sophisticated embroidery machines in one house where about a dozen people were working in every nook and cranny to produce baby clothes. At the next home/business there were knitting machines and we watched the sweaters being made for the markets and learned the difference between baby alpaca wool and "maybe" alpaca wool! And our last stop was to see a business making religious, clay handicrafts that were being exported to Germany and to other places. We learned that many of these entrepreneurs began with $500 or less and have paid back and taken ever larger loans to be able to purchase the equipment we saw and to expand. They were proud to show us what they were making. They were living and working in 2 and 3 story buildings that were filled with people and supplies.

What a week! We saw so much that an average tourist wouldn't have been able to see. I know each of us was appreciative at the work that went into planning our trip so that we could really experience first hand the country of Peru.

We went back to Homebase, packed and headed out for out last dinner together at a nice Lima Restuarant recommended by the CSS Country Director, Kique Bossio. We had taken in a lot this week and certainly were getting tired, but we celebrated and toasted out thanks to MORE and to CARE for creating an extraordinary adventure.

The Giving Circle will be "regrouping" in the coming weeks. We want to complete the pledge we made to raise $100,000. That leaves us about $76,000 to go!!!! After seeing the empowerment that CARE is bringing to their projects, I know each of us has passion to share our experience and to continue to share our resources! Thank you MORE!!!!(And especially Peggy for your vision) and Thank you CARE (and especially Amanada and Carol for you dedication!)

Jun. 13, 2007 - The 28 Principles of The Law of Attraction

1. Become Incredibly Selfish - You must take care of yourself and make sure your needs are met before you can help others. Think Extreme Self-Care. Determine what puts fuel back in your tank and what nurtures you. Then set up your life so these things are non-negotiable.
2. Unhook Yourself From The Future - Make the present perfect and quit focusing and using energy to have it be different. It is what it is. Stop living for "when"...something happens. Fully live, experience and enjoy the now.
3. Overrespond To Every Event - Do not get stuck in reacting, but rather, take responsibility for what you truly want and begin to watch the process. There are always other options. If something went awry, notice what change needs to be incorporated so you won't face the same problem twice. Listen to the signals your body sends you.Experiment when you overrespond. Do it immediately, not gradually. Evolve, don't just improve. Stop hanging out with people who react or meltdown.
4. Build A Superreserve in Every Area - When you have enough time and resources to respond to the opportunities that are always waiting in the wings, you have a superreserve. Become an investor, not a spender. Get your personal needs met. Choose one area of your life and start by building a superreserve there. Is it enough time? money? love? beauty? safety? space? Delegate the things you don't need to do. Simplify your lifestyle
5. Add Value Just for the Joy of it! - Once you have taken good care of yourself, you will have the energy to start focusing on how you can joyfully contribute to others. First find out what brings you joy. Then find out what the other person values. Stop trying to sell, convince, close. This will naturally occur when the value is there. Put people together. Network and give value
6. Affect Others Profoundly - Focus on what gifts others have and appreciate and acknowledge them. Listen deeply and respond in kind to the underlying emotions in others. Remind others who they are. Give them something meaningful to do. Make others feel good about themselves
7. Market Your Talents Shamelessly - Attraction isn't passive. Plant seeds, add value, respond and market! Be proud of what you do/deliver. Become a model for others. Customize what you have so people can't say no. Have comebacks for those who doubt. Make certain the value of what you do is evident.

Jun. 7, 2007 - Peru Chronicles Day 2

 When I visited my wonderful financial planner, Pat Raskob, yesterday and was sharing about the trip tp Peru, she asked me if the federales with Uzis were on every corner. I realized, unlike our previous trip, I saw no soldiers with machine guns. While there still was one posted in front of each bank, the guns were not evident. Hopefully this says something good.

Sunday May 27  Lima Peru

The cafe con leche was a welcome start to the morning. We gathered for a traditional Peruvian Breakfast of fresh rolls, fruit, and hard boiled eggs. Kique was our host and interpreter for the day. We loaded into a van and drove about 40 minutes to Villa El Salvador neighborhood. Lima is very much a desert city that gets little rain and it showed as we drove through the streets. The air quality is filled with smog from the 8.5 million residents. It was cloudy and misty.

We were greeted at a community center called Los Martincitos by the director and Sister Jacci.  Villa El Salvador was created when 150 Incan families joined to start a well organized structure to serve their needs. The Peruvian governement did not allow them to build where they originally took their stand, but peacefully relocated them to where Villa El Salvador is today. Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, this neighborborhood is governed democraticatically and with great pride. It has grown to a community of over 35,000.

From there, we went shopping! The Inca Market was scores of stores with alpaca sweaters, jewelry, leather and cloth items. I got a great red wool sweater you will see me in! Others bought presents and treasures. Spending some money in the local economy seemed a good thing to do and we had fun!

We went back to the CCS home base for lunch. Lunch is the big meal of the day in Peru. We had a delicious soup and  a white meal (hardboiled eggs, potatoes) and fruit.

Then we loaded back in the van for a visit to Casa de Panchita, a center for domestic workers. We were told that the families in the mountains send their daughters into Lima to work for families and hopefully have a better life. In reality, it is a hard life, sometimes even abusive, for these girls that work from morning until night. Casa de Panchita is a refruge they can visit on Sundays for support and services. We had been told that these girls leave their families as young as 6-8, but I don't think that really sunk in until we met a 7 year old who was the nanny for a 2 year old. Made me think how sad it would be to send Lily (my 5 year old grandadughter) off to live in another city. At the center, they were able to relax and do crafts, visit with each other and do studies. There was also employment services that would help them find good jobs and had blacklisted dangerous ones. We heard how the girls are often not sent to school-only the boys and how difficult it is for them. This visit was sobering and gave us our first real insight into the cultural differences, how the women are treated and what is being done.

See this with pictures and the sunsequent days over at www.WebWomenGivingCircle.com

Jun. 6, 2007 - Peru Chronicles Day 1

Last year around this time, I saw a mention by Peggy Northrop, editor of MORE Magazine of their intent to raise $1 Million Dollars for the humanitarian organiztion, CARE. She announced they were asking Giving Circles for their support and would award to the Giving Circle that raised the most money a week long volunteer trip to Peru with CARE and the MORE editorial staff. I immediately knew this was a challenge I wanted to be part of. So, I contacted many friends and we formed the Web Women Giving Circle. We brainstormed, contacted others, and shared with our friends, in real estate, coaching and the general public. You bought premium packages with donations from many great sponsors, bought paintings and gave us money. In all, we raised almost $24,000 and won the prize!

Last week, this culminated in an amazing trip for me and 4 members of The Web Women Giving Circle, Frances Flynn Thorsen, Molly Gordon, Coco Fossland and Dawn Yellott. We were accompanied by Amanda Bolster and Carol Moore from CARE and Peggy Northrop and Julie Mahoney from MORE and Peggy's 13 Year old daughter, Franny. We are wearing our CARE "I Am Powerful" T-Shirts in this picture while visiting a water treatment facility at Huamachuco, Peru outside of Huaraz at about 10,000 ft elevation. But...now, I am getting ahead of myself!

Web Women Giving Circle Members, Amber Riviere, Beth Cross, Jean Mabry, Laura Kovacs, Elayne Beyer, Paulette Long, and our Aussie Inspiration, Karin Hanna choose not to go on the trip but were all part of the reason we were successful. We knew they were with us in heart and spirit. We want to share with you and

Copyright 2007 Peter Frey/CARE.

them a day by day overview of this extraordinary trip, so you can have an idea of the incredible work being done by CARE and an example of how your $20 contribution was actually able to help change lives.

Saturday May 26

We flew in from all over the country to Altanta to fly to Lima. Delta Airlines supports CARE and we were flying on SkyMiles tickets. Coco went in early to see Machu Picchu, and the CARE contingent, Amanda, Carol and Peter, our photographer, flew in the day before to prepare for our arrival. Molly flew in from Seattle, Fran from Pensylvannia, Dawn and I from Tucson and Peggy, Julie and Franny from New York. Most of us were meeting in person for the first time, but the experiences we shared over the course of the week have led to a special friendship. Our flight to Lima was almost 6 hours and it was around 11 PM when we landed. Several other international flights landed about the same time and it was slow going through customs, but we got stamped and to the other side where we were greeted by Kique Bossio, the Cross Cultural Solutions Country Director and a driver. Excited and tired, we took in the sites of Lima as we drove to the Home Base in Surco where we'd be staying for the next 3 days.  We begged that our day begin with breakfast at 8 instead of 7 and our wish was granted. We settled into our bunk beds and were soon fast asleep.

Jun. 6, 2007 - Tech Tools & Trends Part 3 of 3

Tech Tools and Trends, Part 1 & 2 can be read here in my newsletter archives

The Four Areas:

• The Absolutely Necessary
• The Smart Tools For Your Peak Effectiveness
• The Web 2.0 Requires Changes
• The Consumer-Driven Wants

Today, we'll look at Web 2.0 & The Consumer-Driven Wants. Although it may not be time for you to get all of these tools, the knowledge of what is available and what your competition is using, gives you the edge. You may want to plan to include these into a future plan and budget.