Small Business Leadership and Sales Blog

Happy Thanksgiving week.  Pleae enjoy this piece written by Joshua Becker. 

 “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.”  —John Henry Jowet

Gratitude matters.

A grateful heart is a contented heart. A contented heart is a simple heart. And a simple heart leads to a simplified life.

Gratitude opens the door to simplicity. A person who is grateful for the things they own will care for them, enjoy them, and waste less energy seeking more. They will experience fulfillment in the gifts they already possess rather than looking outside themselves for more.

But we live in a culture that preaches discontent. A consumer culture will always attack gratitude—if they can sow discontent in our lives, they can sell us their new product line or latest version with new improvements.

In contrast, those who can find gratitude in their current existence will be less influenced by those empty promises.

How can we find gratitude in a world that seeks to destroy it?

1. Intentionally choose it. Gratitude will never be a result of your next purchase, success, or accomplishment. It is available in your heart right now. And you will never find gratitude in life until you intentionally decide to choose it.

2. Count your blessings. A new day, a warm bed, a loving spouse, a child in your life, a unique personality, or a special talent… You have wonderful things in your life already. Gratitude quickly sets in when we begin to spend a quiet moment each day remembering them. This practice alone has the potential to change your heart and life immeasurably.

3. Stop focusing on what you don’t have. Too many people never realize gratitude because they spend so much mental energy focused on what they don’t have. Throw away catalogs and advertisements that inevitably promise you more fulfillment and joy in life. Those things are not sold in stores—never have been, never will be.

4. Embrace humility. Humility is an essential ingredient in gratitude. A humble heart finds satisfaction in the gifts it already possesses and demands less from others and life. Remember that no matter what your accomplishments, your life contains no more inherent value than the person sitting next to you… no matter where you may be sitting.

5. Open your eyes to those with less. Almost half the world, over three billion people, live on less than $2.50 a day. 1.1 billion people have inadequate access to clean water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Let those facts sink in for just a moment—and slowly allow gratitude and a desire to become part of the solution to take their place.

6. Find gratitude in difficulty. It is easy to be grateful when things are going well. It can be more difficult during the trials of life: death, disease, rejection, or failure. The truth is that no one is exempt from the trials of life, but good can always be found in even the worst of times. And embracing gratitude during those trials may be the one thing that gets you through them.

In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. And that gratefulness always leads to a satisfied, simplified life.

About Joshua Becker

Writer. Inspiring others to live more by owning less.
Bestselling author of Simplify & Clutterfree with Kids.

Please enjoy this article from Wisdom Group. In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. How does Gladwell arrive at this conclusion? And, if the conclusion is true, how can we leverage this idea to achieve greatness in our professions?

Gladwell studied the lives of extremely successful people to find out how they achieved success. This article will review a few examples from Gladwell’s research, and conclude with some thoughts for moving forward.

Violins in Berlin

In the early 1990s, a team of psychologists in Berlin, Germany studied violin students. Specifically, they studied their practice habits in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. All of the subjects were asked this question: “Over the course of your entire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced?”

All of the violinists had begun playing at roughly five years of age with similar practice times. However, at age eight, practice times began to diverge. By age twenty, the elite performers averaged more than 10,000 hours of practice each, while the less able performers had only 4,000 hours of practice.

The elite had more than double the practice hours of the less capable performers.

Natural Talent: Not Important

One fascinating point of the study: No “naturally gifted” performers emerged. If natural talent had played a role, we would expect some of the “naturals” to float to the top of the elite level with fewer practice hours than everyone else. But the data showed otherwise. The psychologists found a direct statistical relationship between hours of practice and achievement. No shortcuts. No naturals.

Sneaking Out to Write Code

You already know how Microsoft was founded. Bill Gates and Paul Allen dropped out of college to form the company in 1975. It’s that simple: Drop out of college, start a company, and become a billionaire, right? Wrong.

Further study reveals that Gates and Allen had thousands of hours of programming practice prior to founding Microsoft. First, the two co-founders met at Lakeside, an elite private school in the Seattle area. The school raised three thousand dollars to purchase a computer terminal for the school’s computer club in 1968.

A computer terminal at a university was rare in 1968. Gates had access to a terminal in eighth grade. Gates and Allen quickly became addicted to programming.

The Gates family lived near the University of Washington. As a teenager, Gates fed his programming addiction by sneaking out of his parents’ home after bedtime to use the University’s computer. Gates and Allen acquired their 10,000 hours through this and other clever teenage schemes. When the time came to launch Microsoft in 1975, the two were ready.

Practice Makes Improvement

In 1960, while they were still an unknown high school rock band, the Beatles went to Hamburg, Germany to play in the local clubs.

The group was underpaid. The acoustics were terrible. The audiences were unappreciative. So what did the Beatles get out of the Hamburg experience? Hours of playing time. Non-stop hours of playing time that forced them to get better.

As the Beatles grew in skill, audiences demanded more performances – more playing time. By 1962 they were playing eight hours per night, seven nights per week. By 1964, the year they burst on the international scene, the Beatles had played over 1,200 concerts together. By way of comparison, most bands today don’t play 1,200 times in their entire career.

Falling in Love With Practice

The elite don’t just work harder than everybody else. At some point the elites fall in love with practice to the point where they want to do little else.

The elite software developer is the programmer who spends all day pounding code at work, and after leaving work she writes open source software on her own time.

The elite football player is the guy who spends all day on the practice field with his teammates, and after practice he goes home to watch game films.

The elite physician listens to medical podcasts in the car during a long commute.

The elites are in love with what they do, and at some point it no longer feels like work.

What’s Next?

Now that we’ve reviewed the trends uncovered by Gladwell’s research, what can we do about it? All of us want to be great at something. Now that we know how other achievers have gotten there, what can we do to join their ranks?

One approach: We could choose a field and practice for 10,000 hours. If we are currently working in our target profession, forty hours per week over five years would give us ten thousand hours.

Or… We can look at the question in reverse. Where have we already logged 10,000 hours of practice? What is it that we do really well? What tasks do we perform so well that people ask: How did you do that? Sometimes when we fall in love with practice we don’t even recognize it!

If you’re running a company, what does your company do better than anybody else? What is it that the individual members of your company do better than anybody? How do you create an environment that gives everyone on your team the opportunity to practice?

Conclusion

Business is tough, especially now. Yet even in the midst of a challenging economy, there are individuals and companies that prosper beyond all expectations. Practice plays a major role in success.

Suggested Reading

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Through interviews and statistical analysis, Gladwell determines why some people and organizations achieve success far beyond their peers.

Hello Marvelous People: 

Some blogs can be short, but powerful.

This blog is one of those.

Short.

Profound.

To be shared with your group.

Over and Over and Over.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!
Marvin LeBlanc

From Glenn Shepard’s Rules of Work:

1. Raises are earned, not given
2. Leave your home life at home
3. Do NOT read your text messages when a customer is talking to you (my team keeps phones OFF)

4. You are the company
5. If you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t say it to their back
6. When YOU cause the problem, YOU fix it (this is the way it works in my office)
7. If you can’t be on time, be early
8. Be Low Maintenance

Hello again Marvelous People!

Today we are honored to have an internationally known coach and author.
Paula's writings are amazing and insightful.
Please be sure to pass this on to the friends, neighbors, co-workers or relatives that you know are in the midst of a crisis.

Keep in touch. And be kind to yourself!

Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP
Best Selling Author - Small Business Owner

----

Crisis Times: Respond Using These 3 Timely Tips

By: Paula Eder

Crisis times come unexpectedly, by definition. How do you respond? When it’s someone else’s crisis that strikes, do you find yourself full of feelings and knocked off track?

The time challenges that a crisis presents are complex. But the good news is that a friend or family member’s crisis, while very difficult, doesn’t need to throw you totally off balance. You can respond from a centered, grounded, and warm place. But how do you get there?

Crisis Scenario
Here’s a situation to consider: Suppose a close friend of yours unexpectedly loses her job. This certainly qualifies as a crisis! She is angry, frightened and hurt emotionally. Her need for your support goes beyond the usual social contact that you both enjoy. Her crisis makes the need at once more immediate and less flexible than usual.
In response to her crisis, you are called to find time to be a good friend right now – not tomorrow or next Friday, when you might actually have free time. So, what can you do?

3 Timely Tips for Crisis Situations

1. First, it is important to be aware of your own feelings about the crisis.
You need to find time to understand how you feel about this event before you can provide support to your friend. Do you feel obligated? Do you feel pressured? Do you feel guilty thinking about how the need to support your friend will complicate your planned activities?
The more conflicted you feel, the more difficult it is to provide support for your friend in crisis.So, when a crisis hits, start finding the time to be the friend you’d like to be by clearing your mind of all sense of obligation or guilt. These don’t provide a good base for responding to the situation.

2. The next step is to be realistic about what you can do in the context of your existing commitments.
Don’t create expectations that you may not be able to meet. Scan your schedule and take a look at your priorities. Once you have considered your own feelings, you have the clarity to realign your plans and respond to your friend’s crisis from a clean, grounded place. You will then be able to balance being the friend you’d like to be with accomplishing what you need to do.

3. Your presence is what counts!
When you respond to a friend in crisis, remember that offering your undivided, unhurried attention with genuine caring always provides more support and relief than ‘sacrificing’ more extensive time while feeling distracted, resentful and over-extended. Your authentic and warm presence is a gift that helps in ways that are very meaningful and sustaining.
Crisis times are always going to be disturbing and disruptive. But, to the extent that you can find time to connect with yourself and stay grounded, you will be able to respond rather than react to what is happening. This is very helpful energy to bring to a crisis, or to any challenging situation.

Paula Eder, PhD is an internationally-known coach and published author who specializes in mentoring heart-based entrepreneurs and small business owners, from the inside out, to align their core values and energy with their time choices and behaviors so that they make more money, create more freedom, and find more time. To learn more about Paula’s unique, Heart-Based Time Management™ System and begin your transformational journey, sign up for her Finding Time Success Kit . Discover how you can find time for what matters most.

Hello Marvelous People.  Please enjoy this guest post from FC Etier.  Happy Holidays! 

Remembering Leroy Anderson -- who?

You probably know who he is already. At least you’re probably familiar with his music -- and may not realize it. He’s the guy that wrote that song. You remember the Christmas song with the bells ringing? It was the one with the lyrics, “We snuggle close together like two birds of a feather would be.” and “It’ll nearly be like a picture print from Currier and Ives.” One of my favorites!

He also wrote that other song. The one with the clock, and then there’s the one with the typewriter. Don’t forget the one with the cat meowing either. He also had a song that reached Number One on the Billboard charts and earned a Gold Record the year I was born -- 1952. It was “Blue Tango”.

But his first composition was written in 1938. It was a piece written for Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, “Jazz Pizzicato”. Aaaah, jazz. Fiedler must have been a jazz aficionado as well, because he soon requested another jazz composition and Anderson complied with “Jazz Legato”.

Light orchestra music may not get the appreciation it deserves and Leroy Anderson shouldn’t be considered only as “that guy who wrote the song about a syncopated clock.” Anderson earned two degrees from Harvard, served as the band director, and went on to become a prolific composer whose work has been covered and paid tribute to by artists across the music spectrum from Winton Marsalis to Lawrence Welk. Like Elvis, Anderson interrupted his endeavors in music to serve in the U.S. Army (he spoke nine languages fluently), working in the Pentagon and later serving in Korea.

Leroy (le - ROY) Anderson’s honors include a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and being the namesake of the Anderson Band Center at Harvard. His music lives on as a popular resource for television show themes and in frequent tributes.

Can you name a singer with a Christmas album that hasn’t covered “Sleigh Ride”? Originally intended as a description of a winter event, Mitchell Parish wrote lyrics for it and it became another number one for Anderson on the Billboard charts.

Next time you’re enjoying Christmas music “snuggled up together like two birds of a feather”, thank Leroy Anderson and remember, “These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives.”

You can check out more about FC Eiter here. 

5 Critical Lessons for Career Success You Won't Find in Any Textbook

by: by Myra Corrello

We all know that marketing is a complicated mix of product line, pricing strategy, positioning/branding, and promotion. That mix becomes even more complicated when one is attempting to market oneself. In today's competitive environment, career professionals and entrepreneurs alike must be able to demonstrate their value to the right people in the right contexts in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Here are five strategies to keep in mind:

1. Determine a clear strategy for everything. Whether you are contemplating attending a networking function, volunteering for a special project, or deciding whether to get another degree or go to a conference, it's critical to truly understand what , specifically, you need to gain from your investm ent in money, time, and energy. All three are precious resources and can easily be squandered. Any time you are considering a new activity or project, take time to carefully consider the following questions:

Why am I doing this?
Why am I doing this in this way?
What else can I do with this?
What do I really want to happen as a result of this?
Who or what is critical here?
How will I measure success?
2. Capitalize on all opportunities to gain exposure and influence. If you're a regular reader of this newsletter, you've heard this one many times. It's all too easy to disappear into your own silo and then wonder why no one is calling you. In order to be considered for special projects and assignments, you must first be seen and you must be seen when the opportunity exists.

Think about a quit-smoking program. If you have a product that helps someone quit smoking, there is only one time that matters when your product must be seen -- when the person actually commits to quit smoking. Therefore, you must be "out there" on a regular basis in order to be there when the time is right for them.

How can you gain exposure and influence on a regular basis?

Speak at conferences and in your community
Write articles for trade publications and your own company newsletter
Be active in social media, write a blog, and actively participate in other leading blog-sites
Host meetings, networking functions, task forces, and other activities that bring influential people together
Connect with influential people within your company and within your industry and area of functional expertise and continue communicating with them on a regular basis
Volunteer for key assignments and in any community activity where you will be able to informally interact with influential people
3. Leverage everything. Think "green" in terms of your work. Recycle everything in a different form. Your hard work deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. Ask yourself:

How can I repurpose this:

Training program?
Proposal?
Report?
Research?
Presentation?
For whom?
In what form?

For example, record your conference presentation, take the .mp3 and have it transcribed cheaply through a vendor you find in eLance.com, take the transcribed Word document and then have a writer break it into a series of articles, and then pitch it to a trade publications editor. You can also take the same .mp3 recording and break it into segments and create an audio product from it, post podcasts on your blog, use it as the basis of a recorded webinar, or simply send segments to influential people who may benefit from your message. The combinations are endless.

4. Strike when you're hot – follow up. Sadly, this is the Achilles' Heel for almost any busy professional or entrepreneur. You meet someone who could offer you incredible access to valued resources and you take their card back to the office with every good intention . . . and it gets lost in the shuffle. How many business cards do you have lying around that you didn’t follow up on? Even with the ones you did, how many did you re-connect with to create the most important round of sharing or conversation? When an opportunity comes your way:

Follow up immediately – within the first 24 hours
Suggest a "next step" if one is not offered
Follow up again within 2 weeks and take the conversation or sharing one step further
Create a system for regular, ongoing communication and sharing - and add all high-value resources to it. (See the June issue for a great tracking system.)

5. Plant lots of seeds. Living in the "Information Age", we are bombarded by free tips on how to do anything and everything. You may need to be willing to share your best knowledge more freely than is often comfortable. However, by giving away the right information to the right people, you begin to create goodwill, trust, and liking. When the time comes for that target to choose someone to assist in their specific projects, you will have positioned yourself to be a safe and smart choice. Just like in planting seeds, you never know for sure which goodwill gestures will "sprout". It takes the right timing and conditions. Therefore, plant many seeds and you will be assured good, viable sprouts on a regular basis.

Provide demos or work samples regularly to your strategic targets
Give freely and regularly to demonstrate your expertise and build rapport/likeability
Give them lots of no- and low-risk ways to access/invest in you
Whether your goal is to continue building a successful career or growing your own business, these timeless tips will serve you well. Take a little time each day to make sure you evaluate opportunities from a strategic view, continue to build exposure and influence, leverage your best work in every way possible, follow up religiously, and keep planting those seeds.

Dr. Myra Corrello helps entrepreneurs, executives, and subject-matter-experts craft presentations to increase revenue, secure investors, build PR, or enhance overall effectiveness. She offers presentation-skills support through coaching, consulting, on-site training, webinars, and downloadable self-study resources. Find out more at: www.PresentationsForResults.com or contact Myra at (504) 899-8660 or by email: Myra@PresentationsForResults.com.

Welcome back Marvelous Performers!

Today I am honored to have Frank C. “Chip” Etier contribute his unique views and insights – “Come Hell or High Water”. Chip is a father, husband, photographer, high school football official, author and frequent contributor at the popular Examiner.com. Chip has “been there and done that” and reinvented himself several times. Enjoy his opinions here and make sure we hear YOURS. As always, we love your feedback. It’s the very essence of why blogging is so popular.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!
Marvin LeBlanc

During the mid to late seventies, I knew a man for whom I had a great deal of respect. He suffered a personal and business disaster when a close friend suddenly turned on him and the business eventually closed. In the depths of a quagmire that would be the undoing of many, he bounced back and within a month was busy building a new business with new partners.

"How did you manage such a timely and dramatic turnaround?" I asked him.

Roy Tauzin, who was at the time, my father-in-law (and is now deceased), said without hesitation, “The worst possible thing that could happen to you, might turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you -- if you don’t let it get you down.” It didn't get him down, and I've never forgotten.

In 1984, a young man came to work for a sales company with me and made quite an impression.

Never had I met anyone with such a strong desire to succeed.

Never had I met anyone with such a focused obsession for persistence.

Come Hell or High Water is Marvin LeBlanc's book that tells his story of how hurricane Katrina might have been the worst possible thing that could happen for him, his family, and his career. It is also the story of how he refused to allow that to happen.

Never have I seen such a fine example of Mr. Tauzin's comment played out.

By mid 1988, Marvin and I had gone our separate ways and continued our careers. He was a rapidly rising star with State Farm Insurance in St. Bernard Parish, near New Orleans. His career was on the verge of a quantum leap into sales stardom when Katrina hit.

One of the traits that Marvin LeBlanc has, that makes him such a great salesman, is the ability to get his listeners to experience the same emotions he has had, while maintaining control of his own. His clients trust him. His team is loyal. Together, since Katrina, they have achieved the coveted Chairman's Circle twice at State Farm.

Readers will find LeBlanc's book to be not only emotional and informative, but inspirational as well. When bad things happen to you, you can overcome them as well. LeBlanc shows you how. Photographs by Joshua Lee accompany the text and depict scenes of the destruction as well as the reactions of the survivors.

Come Hell or High Water is available on this site, and from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle version.

Book review written by Chip Etier.  For more infomation about Chip please click here. 

Hello Marvelous People!  Please enjoy this guest blog from Chip Etier. 

It Happens Every Home Game

“Let’s go watch the band march in.”
We had just about wrapped up our tailgate party (circa September 1981) and were relaxing waiting for time to go to our seats, when my neighbor, Mike (not the Tiger), made that suggestion. We had our kids with us and everyone enjoys a parade, right?

This isn’t officially a parade, but it might as well be one.

About an hour or so before kickoff, the Golden Band from Tigerland assembles outside the band hall, near the Greek Theater on Dalrymple Drive. Their march carries them to Field House Drive and finally a right turn onto North Stadium. That turn is situated at the top of a hill known to Tiger fans as “Victory Hill.”

Thousands of fans line North Stadium Road and watch for activity at the top of the hill. As soon as the drum cadence can be heard, the cheers begin. We were waiting with the crowd and I put my son up on my shoulders so he could see better. The human version of LSU’s mascot, “Mike the Tiger” leads the procession with the Golden Girls right behind. The color guard is next followed by the drums and the rest of the band.

Anticipation is about to peak.

The entourage stops when the drumline reaches the bottom of the hill so that most of the band is on the hillside. The cadence stops and the crowd awaits eagerly.

Cymbals crash, snare drums rattle and are quickly joined by the entire drumline. The band raises their instruments, do a quarter turn to the left and fulfill the crowds desire with the most famous four notes in college football -- “HOLD THAT TIE-GAH!”

A half-turn back and it’s repeated to the right side of the street. By now, the cheers are so loud and continuous, it’s hard to hear the 325 member band. A quick segue into “Touchdown for LSU” and the band begins to run in tempo down the hill and to their entrance into Tiger Stadium.

Some SEC schools have well known two-word slogans but only LSU has those famous four notes. Their sound sends shivers down spines and motivates the faithful.

The Earthquake Game

Prior to the 2011 season, it was rare that the margin of victory in the annual regular season game between LSU and Auburn would be more than a touchdown. More often than not, it was even less. One, two, and three point games were common place. Most games between these rivals were -- and still are memorable.

And so it was in 1988. LSU trailed 6 - 0 when Tommy Hodson threw a touchdown pass to Eddie Fuller with barely a minute left in the game. LSU converted on the extra point and held on to win 7 - 6.

The Louisiana Geological Survey had a seismograph set up in the geology department near Tiger Stadium. The morning after the game, it was discovered, that the crowd’s reaction had registered on the Richter scale.

I was there.

I’ll never forget the “earthquake game.”

Eric Reid's incredible interception against Alabama

This play is most likely the key play (in an undefeated season) that is responsible for LSU being in the BCS National Championship Game. It was reviewed by the instant re-play official. The call on the field was not reversed. LSU eventually won. Reid’s interception was chosen by several pundits as “The Play of the Year” for 2011.

Had Eric Reid not made this interception, maybe Alabama would have scored a touchdown and perhaps won the regular season game between these two long-time rivals. Who knows what MIGHT have happened?

All we can say for sure is what DID happen. LSU earned their way in to the title game with an undefeated season and consensus number one rating by all the raters. Alabama got into the game because two other teams lost.

Many football fans around the country aren’t happy that two teams from the same conference are in the title game.

SEC diehards are happy with a sixth consecutive national title for their conference.

Many LSU fans remember what Nick Saban said when he was head coach of LSU, “Any team that cannot win their own conference has no business playing for the national title.”

Alabama didn’t win their own division within their conference this season.

It is what it is. Monday night, January 9, 2012, we’ll see what shapes up to be another great game.

That football ain’t round, and it takes some crazy bounces. It could be that one of those crazy bounces determines the outcome.

Geaux Tigers!

We are all in sales. We sell something everyday. Some of us won’t admit it. Some of us have less than a favorable view of sales as a profession. But we’re all selling. It may just be ourselves and our abilities. It could be our writing skills, our opinion, or [gasp] a product.

Much of the everyday fabric of our lives contains patterns and connections. In his first book, Split Second Choice: The Power of Attitude, Jim Winner (yes, that’s his real name) identifies significant patterns that influence every aspect of our lives. These patterns eventually become habits for us and often are followed with no conscious thought. They are interwoven into our daily routines and our personalities. Winner, a professional trainer for over thirty years, helps us to become aware of these patterns, take control of the behavior they cause, and find connections to the solutions that make these patterns work for us instead of against us. Winner is a man of dreams and goals, someone who has learned to deal with fear, and a mentor whose amazing career is convincing evidence that what he offers in this book is effective.

Philosopher William James proposed that when we see a bear approaching, we run. He says (and this is simplified) that we feel fear because we run, not just because we saw a bear. Winner builds his success pattern on a derivative of James’ bear theory – we can alter our lives by altering our attitudes of mind. Winner writes, “Many authors have written about how attitude makes the difference…” but that “…they leave us on our own for the most difficult part…” and “…they don’t really tell us how to control our attitude.” Split Second Choice explores the power of attitude and our personal obligation to control our own emotions. Winner encourages us to learn how to identify the decision point, make the right choice, and be successful in all our endeavors; then make a habit of the process.

Ninety-six pages long, written in workbook format, Split Second Choice takes barely more than an hour to read. It could be a reference that you consult for years to come which is why I wish it was available in hardcover. My own experiences in the self-help field have taught me that you cannot learn to ride a bicycle by reading a book, listening to a tape, or watching a video or webinar or podcast online. You learn to do by doing and this book is the recipe. The book, filled with flow charts, diagrams, and inspirational stories concludes with an indispensable chapter on dealing with frustration, something Winner says is as inevitable as ants at a picnic.

Split Second Choice is now available as an e-book and paperback at: Amazon.
James L. Winner lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his wife, Margaret, and family. He is still active as a professional trainer and is also involved in real estate.

FCEtier, aka "Chip"

Chip is a husband, father, grandfather, pharmacist, photographer, high school football official and freelance writer. He's currently in the 10th year of a long term "news fast" -- so for him, everything is history.