Archive for the ‘Making a Difference’ Category

Kevin Degen is my hero as well as for hundreds of others.  He died last week at age 52 and even though he spent his life partially paralysed with Cerebral Palsy, he became a role model for hundreds of others by spending his life raising hundreds of thousands of dollars riding his bike and raising funds for others.

The tears began to flow immediately yesterday as my husband and I pulled up to the church for Kevin’s funeral.  I couldn’t believe it — there were hundreds of bikers everywhere – sporting their riding gear and wearing the shirts they wore for the various fundraisers like the Make a Wish ride that Kevin has participated in just a few weeks before riding hundreds of miles on his three wheel bike and using just his left hand and foot. 

During the eulogy, many friends and family members shared stories about how Kevin’s had impacted their life.  One friend shared how he had been riding with Kevin and decided to slip by and take a short cut to the camp.  He had arrived back early and had a chance to take a shower and nap.  Kevin arrived back late that evening never complaining.  He learned that since Kevin did not see his friend, he had gone all the way back to the starting point looking for him – adding another 20 miles to his trip that day.  Needless to say, this brought tears to all of our eyes because Kevin never complained. 

Just a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to celebrate my friend Julie’s 50th birthday by watching her jump out of a plane and sky dive.  Who do you think was there to join her that morning?  You are right, Kevin drove his specially designed car out to the air strip and even though he wasn’t sure that he would be allowed to sky dive, he had already decided that he would be experiencing this high along with everyone else.  Here is Kevin’s video of him jumping from the plane. He says this was the happiest day of his life.  Today, Kevin is free of his physical body and flying again.  You can help continue his legacy by visiting the foundation set up by his fellow bikers at  www.kevindegenfoundation.org

How can you make a difference and leave your legacy by following your dreams? 

We had a terrific time at Fleming’s Steak House last Friday night as we celebrated and raised funds for Smart Women’s Empowerment with a delicious wine tasting event hosted by Fleming’s Steak House, Livonia!  Not only did we have fun raising funds for our Women in Transition Scholarship Fund, but we recognized one of our donors, Deborah Miesel of Seed Foundation,with our Generous Spirit award for all the work she has done over the years helping individuals empower thier lives with her personal time and effort as well as financial donations.   Thank you Debbie and everyone who helped to make this event a success!

There were so many new friendships and connections made during the two hour wine tasting event.  At one point, Peter Travis, Operating Partner of Fleming’s, auctioned off a fabulous bottle of 47 Diamonds wine (priceless) along with two hand carved wine glasses.  This caused a huge bidding war which was finally won by no one else than my former nanny and now successful business woman, Greta Myers!  What a hoot!

I created the Smart Women’s Empowerment Foundation to help women who are temporarily down on their luck due to an unexpected death, divorce, domestic violence, job loss, disability or other transition.  These types of transitions affect women from all walks of life and economic levels.  Our goal is to offer the short term support and funding to help them get back on their feet with confidence and financial independence.

To learn more about Smart Women’s Empowerment, visit our site at www.smartwomensempowerment.org

My dad was a war hero who received two purple hearts.  The army was his passion and he was great at doing what others only feared. 

This is what his Commanding Officer, Captain William R. Carey of the Sixth U.S. Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy in Fort Lewis, Washington had to say about him in a letter my mom received on December 29th, 1964:

“I would like to express my deepest sympathy for you in the loss of your husband, Staff Sergeant Huotari.  His death came as a terrible shock to me and it was hard to realize such a tragic accident had occurred.

I had the greatest amount of admiration and respect for Staff Sergeant Huotari, his personal attributes as well as his work, and considered him as one of the finest persons that I have ever known.  The contributions he made to the young men that we teach here at the Academy will long we remembered, and his personal qualities and polite attitude will never be forgotten.”

I have often imagined how life could have been different if my father had not died and had been there to protect me, to offer his advise and to love me.  Instead, the Universe had another plan.  I had a dream that I could go back and change the past, so things could have been different, and then I realized that everything that had happened was really perfect and as it should be.  I finally found peace in his death.  He was not supposed to raise me, just give me life so I could experience my unique journey. 

I know there are so many other men and women who have lost their loved ones during war time and my heart goes out to all of you.  My dad had a wonderful and happy life.  Although his time here was short lived, his legacy lives on in the hearts of all those who were touched by him. 

Please share your story of your loved on here with us now.  My heart goes out to you.

What are you doing to live with more purpose, passion and prosperity and how can you tie this into making a difference in the world that you live in? Good question, eh? Well, this must just be part of my DNA, because ever since I was a small child, I have been doing some sort of fundraising, helping the less fortunate and following my passion.

Learning to give back: As a y0ung girl, I attended a four room parochial school where we were constantly asked to go door to door selling things like Texas fruit cakes, boxes of Florida oranges, candy and even zip code books. My mother was the mastermind behind all of this. When we were asked to sell zip code books, for example, my mother took me to each of the local businesses in town, and had me introduce myself as, “Wiley Galbraith’s granddaughter.” My grandfather was the manager of the local bank in town, so this carried a lot of clout. Also, since businesses new they would soon need to be using zip codes, I ended up selling more than everyone else in the school combined. I still remember getting up on the stage to collect first prize which was a clock radio! This was back in the early 70s, so a clock radio was very cool.

School of lifelong learning: In addition to selling things, I also went door to door every holiday collecting “holiday dollars” for the poor and the needy. I was like the “Kirby Vacuum Salesperson”. My mom would drop my friend Brenda and me off at one end of the street and allow us to canvas the entire street with my brothers doing the opposite side of the street. This was during a Michigan winter where it was dark, cold and snowy. I had lots of doors shut in my face, many who would peek out and not even answer the door, but many more who gladly gave me a dollar. In fact, one man actually gave me a $20 bill once! This one experience had a huge impace on my future confidence when I really needed to “stretch”. For years, I would come back to the church with at least $100 for the evening’s work. This is just one way that I learned to make a difference as a child.

Volunteering: Another way was after church on Saturday (I was raised Seventh Day Adventist) we would go to nursing homes or to visit “shut-ins”. Shut-ins were normally members of the church who did not have family and were unable to get out of the house anymore. For years, I remember going to visit Nettie Harp, Mrs. Little and Fidelle offering to help them with chores like cleaning house, gardening, laundry and cooking.

What does all of this have to do with Living on Purpose while Making a Difference? For me it has everything to do with it. All my early childhood experiences have given me the tools to do what I need to accomplish during this lifetime–My Life Mission. It’s just up to me to take those experiences and take action today.

What I learned as a child:

• helped me strive to do my best
• gave me the confidence to take risks
• to handle rejection
• and to enjoy helping others.

In all my jobs, I tied these experiences and passions of helping others and making a difference into my work. I believe this is what helped me to become successful, and also helped me to move on to the next level when the time was right.

Living with Purpose and Passion means you are living authentically within your values system. When you can tie your values and passions into the way you generate income you not only will enjoy your work much more, but most of the time, you will end up earning more money because the energy you are sending out will be very positive, and in return, you will attract abundance back into your life.

What are you doing in your life today that allows you to live with passion, follow your purpose, attract abundance while giving back? Let me give you some examples:

• Help someone else and by utilizing a long lost hobby: (My mother is an artist, and had stopped painting after being diagnosed with dementia…I used to paint 25 years ago before my daughters were born.) I started painting with her on Sundays at my home, and guess what? I found I was a wonderful artist too and I found absolute join in painting AND spending more time with my mom. I found my passion, by helping her!
  

  My first painting with mom!

• Find out how to tie your passion into what you do for a living: After 20 years as a Certified Financial Planner, I felt a tugging to create new programs for women in transition, but was hampered by compliance and SEC regulations. I was able to walk through my fear of “losing my financial security” to start Smart Women’s Coaching where I could write, create and lead programs specifically for helping women live with more purpose, passion AND prosperity. As a financial planner, I could only help people who were already wealthy…now I could help people learn how to create wealth based on their purpose, while following their passions.
• Take a painful experience and use that experience to help others: During the first 20 years of my life, I experienced my fathers death at six years old, saw my mother struggle as a widow and then marry an abusive husband who left her homeless with cancer. I then married at 19 and found myself abused and in the hospital. These experiences helped me not only become a much better financial planner, but inspired me to start a foundation to help disadvantaged women and girls. It’s called, Smart Women Empowerment and we have partnered with the HAVEN, a domestic violence shelter, to coach four women this next year.
• Make a committment to yourself and others: I married a Detroit Symphony French Horn Player, and love classical music . To ensure I make time to go to concerts, I purchase season tickets with two of my former financial planning clients who are widows. We all win! Beth who is 90 could not attend if I did not drive, I share her wonderful box seats that she has had for decades, we have a blast sharing stories on our drive to and from the concert, they are mentors to me by sharing their life lessons.
  

  Beth, Katana and Amal at DSO concert

Spend some time thinking about ways you can bring more joy into your life and the life of others. You may end up with some very pleasant surprises just like have. Tell me, what are you doing to live with more purpose, passion and prosperity while making a difference in the world?

As a woman that specializes in finance, I find answers in numbers. To me, statistics can say a lot about an issue. So this month’s theme, Making a Difference: A Smarter Approach to Philanthropy, made me question how many people in America contribute to the greater good. My findings pleasantly surprised me. According to the “Giving and Volunteering in the United States Survey,” 89 percent of households give on an annual basis. Actually, the average annual contribution for contributors was $1,620 in 2008.

How do you give back to your community? What kinds of emotions are evoked when one is charitable? The interesting thing is, happiness and giving are directly related to each other. One of the longest-running social-science studies on happiness began in the 1920s, in Oakland, California. An astonishing 90 percent of the 200 studied have stayed participating in the survey, offering insight into what exactly a “happy life” is. According to psychologist and researcher Paul wink, one of the MAIN elements is generativity, the ability to give to others.

I have found this to be true, through my career, into retirement and now in my personal life. That’s why when I created the Smart Women’s Café, I didn’t just want to create a business. I wanted to create a resource of aid to a community of women that have nowhere else to turn. August’s fundraiser to support the organization HAVEN was a success. We presented HAVEN with $1,000 and we will soon award four women a $1,500 scholarship each, along with the support of a life coach for one year, free of cost.

International charities are a wonderful option too. Just this past Tuesday I interviewed Humanitarian and Founder of Village Empowerment, Don Smith, on Smart Women Talk Radio. Don’s mission is to help solve the problems of starvation and crime in the poorest regions of Africa. Food shortages occur on a very constant annual basis, predominately in September and October, according to Don. If you’d like to donate or learn more about Village Empowerment, please visit www.VillageEmpowerment.org. Stay tuned to this month’s weeklynewsletters (click the hyperlink to be added to our mailing list) to find out different ways on how YOU can help.

If you’re interested in travel, the Smart Women’s Coaching program and Gutsy Women Travel are joining forces to bring you a 9-day retreat to Costa Rica in January! Scroll down to read more about it!

Please tell me what are you doing to tie your purpose to your passion and prosperity?  Thank you!