I have missed writing, blogging and sharing!!!

So much has happened.  You’ll now find me on Facebook.. marykgardner and motivating, sharing and connecting! I write about social media for the Orlando Business Journal but have greatly missed my blog.. so now.. I’m back.. and in the works..are some other things I will explore!!!

The book is done and about to be released. I released Blessed Chaos to a few special needs families and was warmly received.   By sharing our story, many people have been able to relate and have told me their own stories of BLESSED CHAOS!

I’m now working full time at Lamm and Company Partners, which I love! I’m the director of Business Development, marketing and PR.   I enjoy the work and the people with whom I’m working… so the change has been great.  Sway is taking care a lot more of the house duties.. and we’ve discovered he’s a WONDERFUL cook!!!  Our son continues to thrive in sports, school and music.  (although he now wants to change all of his activities b/c he says he hates swimming and piano)!!!  mgardner@lammco.com

Our live is back on track and going great. I’m starting to put together my next book on living the GLUTEN free lifestyle.. and diary free… which has helped us out a TON.

So, I’ll be updating and recreating ..creating and innovating.. as much as possible.. and seeing where life takes us!

Glad to be back and hope you’re well!!!

Mary

Hey Everyone!

I’ve been busy behind the scenes with my book: Blessed Chaos! I’m working diligently with a new editor who is making it better than it was before… so that’s been a lengthy project but one that I hope you’ll find beneficial to families who are raising “unique” kids!

Also, I did my first marathon at Disney a few weeks ago! It was excruciatingly painful because it was the coldest day of the year and one of the coldest days on record that Florida has had in about 20 years. It even snowed! There was ice on the ground! People slipped at the water stops that froze over. It was difficult to keep the body from freezing too.. so let me say, it wasn’t something that I’d like to repeat soon. But, after it was all said and done, I got a nice medal, and had an experience with euphoria when I realized.. I RAN A MARATHON!  Still, my time reflected a novice runner, so I’m getting back in the game again and training harder for NEXT TIME!

Professionally, I’ve started a business with two amazing women: Linnette Padron and Cheryl Hardy. Our new business is called Persimmon and our website is www.persimmonventures.com   We’re doing PR/Marketing for a variety of projects and people.. including my book!  If you have any projects that we should take a look at you can write us at info@persimmonventures.com or mary@persimmonventures.com. 

Always nice to correspond with friends around the country and thanks for keeping up with me on Facebook and Twitter. I hope to continue to learn about the world of Autism as well as mental, physical and spiritual health.

Thanks for checking in and I look forward to posting more! Mary

Let’s face it. People aren’t very good at returning calls these days. If you don’t have something they want right then, often times the calls take a back seat to the more pressing matters at hand.

In business, it seems to be less offensive than in one’s personal life. In business, if someone doesn’t return calls it is usually because the person isn’t quite ready to do business. Perhaps they haven’t made a decision or they are working on another project. Perhaps they don’t want or need your services and so they’re saving face by not returning the calls. Casual persistence is the best way to handle these people. And dropping a hand written note with valuable information is always a good tactic. Sometimes, by adding enough value you are able to charm the person into returning or taking your calls. A rule of thumb though is to NEVER, EVER make them feel guilty for not returning the calls. It’s best to pass it off and never mention it again. It’s past history!

In business and in friendships there are usually good excuses why people aren’t returning calls.  Okay, there are times that a relationship will be put on hold due to some of the choices we make. And there are cases that a relationship is over due to the differences in values that people have.  Or, perhaps they’ve found another vender who is more affordable and they don’t have the guts to tell you.   But normally, it doesn’t happen like this. Normally, there is something else going on.

For instance:

The other person had a death in the family and is having to attend a funeral.

They are in the process of moving offices or homes.

They are at a business conference.
They are having some financial issues and getting together for lunch or dinner is not in the budget.

They have many other pressing business matters that need their attention first.

Okay, you now get the picture! People are BUSY. Taking it personal that someone isn’t calling or emailing you back is probably natural, but not practical. We are living in a different day and time now and the old days of everyone returning calls immediately has now changed to, “I’ll call you back when I can.”

Returning calls and emails is the polite thing to do. My dad once told me to always be the last one to write or call and to never leave people hanging. It’s great advice and it’s advice I share with others. But I also have tolerance for others when they are slow to move as quickly as I am at that moment.

My friend Kelly Price of Kelly Price & Company has it all figured out. Her business of real estate is all about relationships and so she makes it a point to be efficient, and organized.  Kelly switched from a paper calendar to electronic through Outlook to book appointments with her friends and clients. In her business, time of the essence so she sends a request for a meeting and once the person accepts, it gets put on both of their personal calendar. Kelly told me there is “no more phone tag” and loves the simplicity.

Blogspot Radio host and author Kerry Heaps of www.kerrysnetwork.com prefers the good old fashioned notebook to manage her phone calls. She agrees with the statistic that it takes 5-6 outgoing calls to get a returned call and by then the person is usually thanking her for her persistence!  Her method of stapling business cards to the notebook to keep a running long of her phone activity, she believes still works well for the “visual” person.

In a day in time where connecting solely by phone is almost in the past, people have to first figure out what system the person is using to communicate with others the most – Email? Texting? Twitter, Linked In, Plaxo or Facebook? Do they Skype? Teleconference?  Or do they use the good ol’ fashioned phone! But then you have to know, do they use their land line or their cell phone? So many choices! 

Most people find, that if you want to talk with someone, do what you can to make it happen by phone. When you finally are on the phone together, it’s time to seal the deal!
Because who has time to go through all of this with every vendor!? 

Phone calls are not out of style, but managing them has evolved.   Take time to create a system that works for you so you can increase the ease and efficiency in your business. And soon with all of the happy clients, people will be calling YOU.

Where is your blog I’ve been asked!!! It’s ON FACE BOOK… where I comment several times a day if I’m in the office … to and do much of my communication there and on TWITTER.

 I just read a stat that 80% of HR directors are now using Social Networking – LINKED IN, to hire their recruits.

 WOW… things sure have changed!

 I can see, through my own usage, that I’m getting opportunities right and left on FACEBOOK and meeting lots of national players on TWITTER. It seems that TWITTER is a marketing tool and FACEBOOK is more social, and yet, there is personal business done on FB.

 So, I’ll be better about updating the blog. My column is back in the Orlando Business Journal so I AM writing… and check out my  NEW PODCAST: marygardner.mypodcast.com. Most of these are directed at parents who are raising children on the AUTISM spectrum or who have ADHD, but they’re all about HEALTH and WELLNESS, so any of them are fine for ANY of us!

 Thanks for being back in touch!!!

Re-launching a life!

I’ve been absent for a few months but I’m back! 

I have been transforming.. in nearly EVERY area of my life. As my good friend Giovanni Livera says in his speeches, that we have to RESET our life and goals and expectations occasionally.  That is what I’ve been doing.

I’ve also been READING and STUDYING about health. We’ve adapted the GLUTEN FREE lifestyle as a family and have been studying about nutrition, cooking vegetarian and organic and learning about COOKING and FOOD.

I’m also training for a MARATHON – which is scheduled in January 2010- the Disney Marathon. I’m running with Track Shack in Orlando, and enjoying it a lot. I’m up to 7 miles so far, which is what I did today.

I’ve been landscaping my yard, decorating my home and deciding what to do with my next step professionally. Since I’m a coach and trainer, I’m adding some products to my arsenal and will continue to go down the path of WELLNESS in my career. Coaching is great, but to have products and other associates who can serve my clients… that’s an added bonus. 

Sway, my husband, redid my website as you can see, and I have been working on that and learning how to use it. I’ve written several articles but didn’t post them.. yet. 

I hope to be launching my book soon.. and will share about that later. In the meantime, I hope you’ll come back and read my blogs and updates.. and let me know what’s on your mind!  My clients are re-launching too..and I’m excited to be back in the seat with them as well.

More to come! Mary

I just finished watching President Barak Obama being sworn in. It was an exciting and thrilling thing to see so many people turn out and be so genuinely happy.

What I took away, is that he is going to lead us, and the countries who watch us to really start the movement of being more compassionate, more helpful and less egotistical. He encouraged us to keep moving, to keep fighting and that we will triumph!

I’m really grateful to live in a country where we are free to vote for who we want to lead us. My mother in law is from Cuba, and she’s only been back once in 60 years… because of the tyrant Castro. It’s wonderful to know that here in America we are free to make our own choices and create our own path.

God Bless America… today and always!

Today is the first workday of the year. We had a wonderful and peaceful and relaxing vacation which we spent with family and friends and even got away to the beach for a week. It was incredible to be with good friends, working out and walking along the beach. I couldn’t have asked for a better time.

So our minds were at rest when we got home on Friday and so we felt rejuvenated to attack the house and clean up the Christmas stuff along with cleaning out closets and drawers and clothes. We’ll be taking a trip to the Good Will this week to make a huge deposit!

My mind now feels fresh with no anxiety to hit the work week. I have administrative things to do, marketing things to do along with sales and customer support, but I am excited to get through these things and have a sense of calm and peace about myself and my work day.

I will keep this in mind when things get overwhelming… and this will be a new habit to integrate this year.

Stop, rest and renew… then get back to work!

It’s almost time… the gifts are wrapped.. and Santa has shopped.. and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care… ready to be stuffed!!!

Tonight, at my parents house, will be most of my family getting together to celebrate the birth of the Christ Jesus. We’ll eat, drink and pray, and thank God for our health and for our time on this earth.

Among us, are stressed out parents, brothers and sisters, kids, teens, and even a fiancé who will be at the celebration. We all live very, very different lives, but for the first time this year, we’ll come together as a family and enjoy one another.

We will be at my parents house, who are deeply spiritual people, and who live such selfless and dedicated lives to their families.. more than most people I’ve ever met. My dad is not only the head of the house hold, but a spiritual giant among us, and both he and my mom will be celebrating to have their family there, celebrating the Birth of Christ.

The older I get, the more I think about Jesus being born only 2008 years ago. When we view dinosaur remains in museums that were millions of years ago, a couple of thousand doesn’t seem like such a long time ago. And the more I understand the deep importance of being a mother, the more respect I have for Jesus’ mother Mary, who gave birth they say as a young teenager, and watched her son die a tortured death at the young age of 33.

So tonight, my dad will pray a beautiful prayer to Jesus, who we recognize as God the Son, part of God the Father, and the Holy Spirit… three in one. We will thank Him for being born, and for coming into the world to give us a new direction saving us from our sins.

Then we’ll eat, and drink and open gifts, and then we’ll all go home to wait for Santa and his reindeer. Tomorrow, when we awake, Santa will have arrived, we’ll open the gifts and then we’ll go to mass, and then we’ll spend the day playing with the toys he brought!

The rush is almost done.. I have a few things to do before the 7PM arrival time… but the calm before the storm has arrived.

Blessed be to everyone on this Christmas Eve… Bless us everyone!!!

Three years ago I moved back to my home town of Winter Park, FL. I have loved running into “kids” who now have kids of their own, even going off to college. Of course our hair is a little greyer, balder, and we might be a little fatter, but the faces are the same and their personalities are usually more developed and secure.

There are still times however, that the old high school nerves pop up, and today is one of those days!

Today I’m giving a seminar to 6 lawyers. It’s not like I haven’t done this before. Two weeks ago I spoke before a crowd of 400+ and barely had a second of nerves. But today? Two football player studs from my high school will be in attendance. And it starts in 1 hour!
Can I teach them something valuable? Will they learn something they didn’t know?

And of course the less secure thoughts…

“Will they like me? Will I dazzle them? Will they wonder… “wow.. she’s really come a long way.. or Yah.. I always knew she had pizzazz in high school!”

Okay.. how silly! It’s the content I’m excited about teaching because I’ve learned so much while prepping for it.

Still.. that little insecure side of me that is creeping up… is still there..

Human nature.. such a bizarre thing.

I’ll just chalk it up to.. I’m human!!!

Wish me luck!!!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a friend of mine Giovanni Livera. He’s a creative genius who actually has more energy that me.. and together we could probably talk for hours and hours and solve all of the world’s problems.

After I’m with someone like Gio, I can write about 15 articles in seconds. The topics get blown up and I find so much information of use as a writer. It’s imperative that someone like me, spends time with someone like him.

He told me a great mini story about his Grandma Gracie. He said he didn’t understand it until he got older and that she used to talk to herself over and over and over. I laughed when I heard it, and realized what a GREAT habit she had formed.

When she was sewing, for hours upon end, Grandma Gracie would talk to herself and encourage herself along the way to stay focused and to stay the course.

“Come on Gracie, you can do it, you can do it. Keep it up Gracie, you can do it.”

Over and over and over she told herself, “you can do it”.

And guess what? She did it!

Giovanni, one of the most creative individuals I’ve ever met, now implements Grandma Gracie’s strategy… “come on Gio, you can do it. Good job Gio, keep going.. you can do it… you can do it…”

From looking around at the many, many amazing things that my friend Gio has accomplished, Grandma Gracie’s self talk has worked in Gios life.
And today, I’m using her technique… “come on Mary, you can do it. Way to go Mary, stay the course.. you can do it, you can do it.”

And now.. I pass it on to you… “you can do it.. you can do it….. It reminds me of the saying, “Inch by inch.. anything is a cinch”!!!! It certainly worked in their lives.. now let it work in ours!!!