Going from the 80/20 to 90/10 rule

Smart smart SMART people at Apple ::  who has gained so much insights into me :: the books I read :: 90% of my reading is from iBooks music collection in iTunes and even a few Christmas carrols I sent as gifts instead of a hand written, store bought cards and/or things people really don't know. Apple was amazing in putting this collection together, whom I don't have many songs in my musical collection, to show me who I am missing ...... and fall immediately in love with the suggestions.

Jeannette Marshall @optioneerJM musical #bestofeverything

Makes the lightbulb go off!  :: I should assemble all this music on my YouTube Channel.

If you need help on downloading music for free:  I stumbled upon this link via Google to YouTube ::: the brotherhood has formed.

How to Download Music for Free Directly on Your #APPLE iPhone! -2015 https://youtu.be/mCH6yUeP9wY

..... I think Google is kicking Apple's ass in data which holds consumer and business purchase patterns, where they spend money online, where they look tempted (comparison shopping), knows your travel habits based on you book online because banks and airlines give you rewards for your loyalty, who you talk to, connect with, professionally, friendly or romantically.

Which this blog came to mind, to apply what I’m learning about #socialmedia and the media.  How can you leverage the massive audience of traditional media and channel it into SEO overdrive or socialmedia expedientially?   Here are few of my favorite secret discoveries:

A few years ago (six years to be exact) I jumped into social media.  What unfolded should have been predicted in all those HR quizzes and behavioral Q&A, psychological profile for an employer to hire based upon …….. like yeah, how many of the brilliant social media personalities can say they’ve been forced to look at oneself, with all the B.S. behind you, and often more in store.

An unsuspecting, honest intellect began to surface : :  It was like a magnet :: most of the most creative, artistic, musical talent, author, writer, (p.s. journalists seem to jump on your radar, you connect, you gush, then you go on being per normal and by some accidental research find out they’ve unfollowed you ages ago.)

The bold, best communicators are emerging in this force field fueled by Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple and HP who cast their net far and wide and help assemble an audience of epic proportions. 

The fortunate cast in light are quite few.  Surprisingly little.  Certainly there are brands (when I refer to brands, I mean personal brand and commercial brand).  Personal brand is you, your behavior, your habits, your favorite musical, entertainment, books, news sources, technically savviness without being able to be accused of as a nerd.

Whenever I am on Twitter, usually at least once a day for minimum 10 minutes to go check in on all my profiles – MAX.  I have figured out how to be intermittently dispersed about.  Never too much like some of those “consultant” that seem to have a lot of time to post pictures pooled from top photographic sources, that have read blogs like my earlier ones, that visuals was going to drive social media.  Misidentified as “visionary” … which is hardly the case because they have probably 3 hours a day dedicating to posting. 

Who knows what they do for the remaining 21 hours.  Now before I get to far ahead, it should be known that my of my supporters and collaborators follow me, my page, @optioneerJM on Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, StumbleUpon.  Those are the best generator of thoughts, likes, personality, who or what you are associated by (art, imagery, photography), that MASHABLE is my favorite source of information.  I would say, Canada’s GLOBE&MAIL, would be close behind in 2^nd.  Then my source for info-magazines:  Entrepreneur, Inc., Forbes.   

Google or Facebook probably know that I am a fitful sleeper:  insomniac of a creative thinker, who can fall asleep only to be jolted awake with this most fabulous idea.  Trying to fall asleep is lost, rewinding the idea to its beginning :: how did it formulate, what was the seed that was planted?  Then fast-forwarding to what your subconscious insists is your perfect Utopia.

We’ve seen a burst of energy and focus, but distracted by watching reality TV in the form of the United States’ unfolding reality docu-drama to hit the earth since probably, the first man walking on the moon.  

There are some really talented people who can instinctively sense the next direction we’ll be forced to take.   Just imagine the panel of intellect behind the scenes, the image makers (I just noticed when I got home later than anticipated from work, to watch CNN to get a recap of the night’s events.  One of the authorities and experts somewhat startled me.   Title:  image maker.  How inspired is that?

There are certainly some very well knowns.  What-was-his-name who went up against Piers Morgan on CNN over gun control?  You know who I mean.  If not, you can probably find a constant reminder by Piers, who, in my opinion, was more worried about Twitter Followers than his guests on his honorary top spot upon the much-missed retired Larry King LIVE!  Piers was likely fired because he was offending the advertisers too much.  Having my first experiences in media via magazines in my 20s, I have a radar that acts like a cool-metal-detector. 

Chuckle to myself.  Apple is showing how I can listen to Mettalica and Iron Maiden, whom most would take a double take as a music of my choice.  I’ve had this image since I was a wee child.   I have no idea if it was based on the fact that my father was in the military and we had to move entire homes and lives, every few to five years. 

Most corporations today have a: PRODUCE or PERRISH mentality.  Grave mistake.  Restricted foresight.  Most likely, the ones that knew, the Baby Boomers are all retired and the INbetweeners absorbed all that learning, only to be passed over because some political junkie walzed in to ask for the dance just ahead of you.

You could almost call the Millennials the (PJs) political junkies.  They were brought up to believe that anything was possible, only to be outraged that the life they were promised is wrought with debt, ethical violations to humanity, steep mountain to climb for sure.

These PJs have pretty much run over the INbetweeners which for this purpose, could be the 30-55 year old.  Ironic to me.  When I was selling an upscale magazine in Western Canada, that was the then IDEAL demographic.  I forgot about this.  Huh.  Neato.

Getting back into the theme of collected intelligence.  You know how they made it into something groovy sounding?  I have no idea, but I’m going to find out:  who coined the phrase for the collection of data into the “CLOUD”?

The more time I spend online, the better I get to know myself.  I would have answered if someone asked me if I liked The Tragically Hip?  I wouldn’t have had to stretch for an answer :: it would be an immediate, resounding “NO!”

I came online because my husband was gaming :: yeah, I know, the Hunkster Hubster is over 50 years old and still actively talks to my 27-year-old son and same age fiancé to his daughter, all about X-BOX, trending games, especially “Call of Duty”. 

So, I thought to myself :: you’ve got another 3 days off!  You’ve only used one day, what will you do differently?   Take care of me bubbled to the surface.  Go back to Apple and listen to the selection they’ve assembled for me.  Dusting off the headphones, disconnecting from the Marshall blue tooth speakers, I listened to music that I realized our INbetweeners learned best to listen to.  We didn’t have the fortunate ME generation that was so explosive and implosive loud and protesting habits.  Nor did we quite predict the “what about ME generation? The last 30-35 years had produced.

The irony is that we created the term “YUPPY”  that our kids have replaced with “Sweet” :: “Nice” :: and wear badges for standing up for one cause or another.  Which is startling to a parent who faded into the background, not because they themselves were shy, but to escape the noice those Baby Boomers were making.

The next big competition going on that only the PLAYERS know about is about gathering intelligence about us, to sell to the highest bidder or BETA test with a select audience.

MY GOSH, I haven’t even gone back to read this and even as a mental outsider, a quick flash back, this sounds very much like a  rebellious blog.   There are a lot of MEs around:  take US President Obama, return to the 80s in fashion. 

It is ironic also that many that we gave birth to in the mid-80s to mid-90s fell in love with the 80s.  My girls, their cousins, couldn’t get enough of “Grease” starring Olivia Newton John and John Travolta.  Quite amazing, registering mentally at the time.  There are a few like me out there, besides just two.

The rebellious, vocal, demonstrative, period skipped over like us like a skipping stone, only to land firmly on our children :: the “what about ME” generation, attitude, culture.

So, my dear friends.  I hope that the very few online that are not looking for romance, can never get enough information into their brains, visual promotion abounds :: insult by having porn waved in their face with a huge aversion and need to avoid :: that believed there are happy endings, not by a GOD (whatever the religion or beliefs), but by sure determination, hard work and maintaining their morals.

Pretty hard to do?  I’d say YES for about 90% of the population.  The 10% is at the top, destroying the 80/20 rule to the massive proportion of the new 90/10 rule.   Like a diver into the ocean, who scrambles to the surface, with more need than just to breathe. 

I can’t definitively say that these 10% fall solely in the INbetweeners age group.  More like a common attitude and language.  A beacon sends out a light to this community who truly want to constantly improve, bring value to those surrounding them, and disperse it to a much larger scale than would have been possible even five years ago.

I went from working for the top technology companies in the world, if always, with Apple in its dust :: to the telecommunications industry, recognizing the pop pop POP of smartphones everywhere.

ANOTHER DETOUR:  This just rose to the top in my most avid dislikes:

1)     Smart phone earbuds :: I waste my breath talking to you!!  I dislike having to first check for full attention and no wires hanging out of ears.  It brings back a valuable lesson ::  Don’t hire friends or family to work for you :: I had to fire someone who looked up to me as an older sister, when I first arrived in Calgary (fill in the blank ___ number of years ago).  I was creating my own team, and when you hire someone who thinks because they think they know you better than you know yourself and tests your limit, it can end up where you have to fire them.   A sense of entitlement yet faced with by me.  I remember having to tell her she had to take her iPOD earbuds out because she works in a manufacturing facility, however small, and safety won’t allow drowning out warning noise of any catastrophic event.  (Remember, I’m one of the few who was born in that very tense period of 1960-63, where fear prevailed, shelters, practice emergency alerts, alarms, were background noise to them drowned out even to their cries of birth.

2)    Chewing gum :: Just ask my daughters and stepdaughter.  If anyone noticed, I never accept gum.  I’m anti-GUM!!  I missed my calling to start an anti-GUM-revolution.

3)    Poor manners :: I came from the final generation where manners, gloves, napkins, hats were born from:  the very first year of the baby boomers 1944.  A period of exuberance after a horrific war that had so many victims besides soldiers, in the history of mankind.   There really is a formula.  What I can’t figure out where the precise recipe went awry.  My kids were taught all the same manners, often a source of pride on being hosted on soccer tournaments.  They were often made examples of by parents of their friends who wished that they had not forgotten the lost importance of etiquette and manners.   My kids and sometimes even my stepdaughter, forget that important parenting ingredient called respect.

4)   Being disrespected :: I emerged in the corporate world, one of only a few at the top at the time :: and I had to work harder to prove to my mostly male colleagues, that I had earned the right to be there at the same time, and equally as them.  I was of an era, and attitude that only in sales are you able to be paid for what you produce, regardless of gender.  Unfortunately, we swept over a great number of candidates of female pioneers.  Not the speckle few like Emelia Arhardt, but the victorious who floated up, peacefully, naturally :: to take prominence in a much more male-gender-geared occupation:  sales. 

5)    Chewing with your mouth open :: GROSS!  Enough if you agree that this falls under both manners and being respectful.  When a guy really likes a girl, he can transform from belching and scratching places, to perfect gentlemen, who cut their meat with such elegance and precision.   Sadly, if you marry them, they can alter at an alarming rate, making you wonder what you first saw in them to begin with :: chewing with mouth open?  Why, I never ….. yes, I got over it and can still see the greatness I saw in the Hunkster Hubster, even if he doesn’t always recognize it.  Don’t confuse this writing as feminist rant.  It isn’t, someone has to talk with maturity and advice to this brilliant group of girls coming up in the world.  They need to mentor the very very VERY few who even want to pay attention to anyone older, they already have the answers :: you got it :: the what about ME generation.

Whoever is going to rise to the top of the TOP, is going to be because they dominate information.  They have the data readily available to create commerce from.  Fueled by social media, online profiles, of very well-adjusted, successful people. 

Everyone is going to be one of them, or be like one of them.  Are you going to be a leader or follower?  I guess I found my own answer by writing this didn’t I?

I’m seeing some very interesting factors on my own knowledge base gathered from jumping in and participating in social media.  A natural, outgoing, positive, gregarious gal I have often been described as.  Heck, even APPLE gets me!  I’m the dutiful one who hit 50 and realized that I held on, restrained myself, self-disciplined self, and wanted to break free :: a rebel not by actions, but gathering knowledge that lifts us up, inspires us, and in turn, trickles to the audience (backspaced over “down”). 

Pure motivation and wisdom is shared.  To keep it reserved, try to forget about it, or not share it is a grave injustice.   Let the hard times be far behind, with optimism scaling a very ominous wall of terror, fear, security loss :: evaporate.  POOF! :: gone.

Want more to read?  I like to discuss, research, write about demographics, specifically, the very few who were born from 1960 to 1965 called :: The INbetweeners on WordPress.  An experiment of sorts :: which is better?  Google's BLOGSPOT or Word Press?  I will write about that later on.

I define myself as a "fabulous fashionista fighting her fifties" on Meanderings.  A corner in the blogsphere where I reflect upon family, kids, positive energy, movies, books, fashion dilemmas and solutions for the younger-than-a-Boomer mindset but acting our age, leading by example for Millennials.

A one person promotion

Jeannette's background has success written across operations management, new business development, service delivery, service management, solution sales, team leadership, major accounts management, project management, brand & content development, web page creativity, change management, social media, enterprise IT, content curation and loyalty/retention.  She has been effectively been coached by executives, clients, mentors & stakeholders of distinguished global leading organization: IKON, Xerox, HP, Telus(Canada)

In 2010, Jeannette got fired up when introduced to social media and thought :: it's the next BIG thing!  Creating a pseudonym @optioneerJM she sought to seek out & research information to answer an insightful question :: could she apply this knowledge to create a unique identity online?  Leaning on her advertising, business savvy and creative mind emerged a name:

  "If the Internet is the information highway, then Social Media is the bullet train."                   ~Jeannette Marshall as @optioneerJM #Quote

The excitement Jeannette has created has been contagious. Her refreshing enthusiasm merged with expansive knowledge gained from curiosity is widely embraced by her global audience & following.

Her originality is dispensed by content curating, resourceful writing and keen visual optics applied with a unique business savvy:::awarded Top 1% online influence by KRED (yes, compared to whomever is trending today), Klout Score  77% (by 3rd party talent who apply algorithm metrics to emerge brands::to score influence, assign credibility, access a larger audience::she recognized instinctively the eventuality that online influence, beyond fame, will become a currency to attract traditional brands clamoring to gain recognition averse to traditional means, minus SEO, to land on honesty.

Perhaps she can help you?  Some have tested her to see their scores double (credibility with brand enforcer ) discovering that :: if you stay consistent to your passion, goals and beliefs, you will emerge glorified as a visionary.

Very very very few have been acclaimed visionaries.  Jeannette is one.

When honesty hurts

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m thankful I ran across the story afire on Twitter to draw me  to MEDIUM to read what the fuss was all about for myself.  It made me want to comment, respond, and say a few words.....

If I were her mentor, I would have advised Talia to stay away from broadcasting her frustration with her company and employer so publicly. It has ramifications that one may not have anticipated, such as losing a job, as it did happen. Many organizations have Code of Ethics with social media rules that protect themselves from this very thing, which would state “loss of employment” if you violate the rules.

Having said that, let me applaud and share my respect for the courage that it must have taken to publish this not-so-secret plight. It is a sad state of circumstances that many 20 somethings are dealing with: not being able to afford a living while working: often called the “working poor” or forced to live at home.

If she had asked me, which she certainly didn’t. I would have recommended that she reach out to HR to ask for advice so that they may have guided her on what extras could be done to move up the ladder. (However, these same advisors are usually people who are hired fresh out of university themselves, without life wisdom, because they will accept a lower wage with the same optimism that they can work their way up the ladder to a better paying job). 

Or, she could have asked her direct manager, what skills she should focus on to become a higher valued contributor in order to be promoted within the company. (Which those same managers may not be equipped for career mentoring while to juggling high turnover from the constant revolving door of employees who get fed up or luckily are snapped up by a competitor or another company willing to pay a little more for all that training and experience that the former company cast aside).  Thanks for training your competitors?  Huh?

Steve Jobs was certainly known for NOT keeping his opinions to himself.

There are a lot of remarkable examples the world over who were often  considered rebels: think Steve Jobs … getting hired and fired, committed to his beliefs and passionate about perfection, who ended up paving a way to a career on his own terms. Difficult to imagine when you don’t know where the money for groceries or having to turn off the heater to save on costs.

Talia was very brave in her expression. However, being as smart as she is, she may have anticipated that she could lose her job over self-expression: telling it like it is. She is a lesson and champion for her generation, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. She had the tenacity and realization that it isn’t a plight of hers alone, but of many similar in age who are saddled with student debt, not finding a good job because you need a good job in order to get the experience to get a better one, or still living at home which destroys any self-confidence or optimism you may have once had. Forced to accept minimum wage for an important role: speaking to customers.

I suggest she continue to be passionate about her beliefs even when the world seems to be knocking her down. We don’t always know where we’ll end up, but having integrity and passionate about injustice, is a character trait that should serve her well in your future. Someone WILL recognize someone who is prepared to go the extra mile for their customers, their career, their company. Sometimes true honesty is a thermometer of what is really going on. It is not rocket science that happy employees create positive experiences with customers. Society and the corporate world don’t always recognize that although the truth can hurt, it may foreshadow a downward turn in their good fortune. It often appears in the end, with executives scratching their heads, revolving disruptive CEO or executive turnover who make change for the sake of making impact, without asking the frontline people if it makes sense. We know them as media darlings who are constantly being broadcasted about their demise, their layoffs, their diminishing shareholder value.

Yes, it took guts. But the ramifications are indicative of the world we live in: it is safer to take your grief to your employer-sponsored benefits to a counselor, who may be better equipped to help you handle it.

I hope others will recognize, as I did, that if you ignore a problem or keep quiet about it, doesn’t necessarily mean it will go away.  Typically, it masks a much bigger problem. The company is simply doing what is acceptable practice: protecting their reputation so that they don’t lose customers or shareholders. The same companies that hire juniors, train them for responsibility, and then hope that it will turn out in their favor …. all at a much lower wage than they could hire someone with greater experience who can’t afford to start all over again.

Many employees keep quiet about how they feel to protect themselves

Many quality organizations promote honesty and create platforms to voice complaints about a manager, express how they really feel.  Yet, many employees are frozen with fear that the same manager or situation will get flagged and travel back to them, causing more undesired issues, ramifications and sometimes retaliation.   

At least, they try:  often,  they are the bigger corporations that have accountabilities to shareholders, if not always employees.  Then, there are the smaller or mid-size family run businesses where staff can be fired on a whim or a bad day.... with little to no fear of ramification.  At least, some companies hold their entire organization accountable and are known for firing executives for  violating behaviors.   

Above surface: what the world sees; below surface: what is really going on

That is a slippery slope of discussion best not expressed by an employee who could be misunderstood or misperceived that they're talking about their own organization when they are not.    Safer to keep away from slamming former employers or a nasty former boss unless one doesn't care that they could be held accountable.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." 

~Albert Einstein

How many organizations, I wonder, evaluate employee turnover and examine if there are trends?  Are managers with higher results or performance forgiven more frequently for high turnover because they may be perceived as driving results when the real reasons may be disguised?  

 I like my job, I love my company.  I consciously stay far away from writing about or participating in corporate politics.  I have a focused decision to do my best to write positively and help others be more optimistic while improving their skills .... a more constructive way of moving ahead ... in my opinion.

Thank you for your honesty, Talia, it is precious. As a mother of four 20-somethings it isn’t anything I haven’t heard before …. although albeit a lot less publicly.

 +Jeannette Marshall (mother of four 20-somethings aka Millennials)

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

~Albert Einstein

DONATIONS discussion: Do you click, donate, fund, share or pass?

"It isn't how much we give but how much love we put into giving."                                                                              ~Mother Teresa

Do you respond to the spirit of giving?  How does it make you feel when someone who is important in your life has put up a "Go Fund Me" campaign and you're being asked to donate?

If you are online, your heartstrings are likely pulled often by sad stories and worthy reasons to feel empathy to those brave enough to share their heart-wrenching stories or the cry for funds to help injustice, violence, illness, financial ruin.

In the past few months, I've had two instances wherein I was asked to share "Go Fund Me" stories to my followers.

A good personal IRL (in real life) friend had racked up debt in legal fees fighting for an inheritance that went morally wrong:  a greedy sibling and spouse cleaned out an elderly's legacy so that when the inevitable did happen, there was nothing left to bequeath to the children.  This lady went to the courts that were there to protect her from injustice, ending up costing her much of her own nest egg to fight for what was rightfully hers and so wrongfully taken from her.

A foster mother who had given her heart to a rejected boy who was bestowed upon her to care for him for 12 years who devastatingly passed away during the night from seizures that took his life.  When the funeral and memorial was planned and held, the foster parents, who had dedicated themselves and helped him bloom.  He came to them mute, unable to speak, inflicted with fetal alcohol syndrome because his mother either didn't have the resources to care for a child with exceptional extra needs.  (Last I heard, this 30-year-old woman had 11 children, from different fathers.)  The mother of this dear boy's heart had no rights to his funeral, memorial as it automatically is returned to the birth mother.  This mother set about a "Go Fund Me" campaign simply because she wanted him to have a grave marker and tree planted near where he was buried.  The despair of losing him was magnified when the toys she placed carefully where he was buried were his favorites and to remind his spirit he was not forgotten. These toys laid with her heart, are always stolen.  

I did share the posts that they asked me to.  Maybe once in one case and with comments for the other.  I ran across the first lady at a shop and her look at me was something along the lines of anger or avoidance:  she said she was in a hurry and could not stop to chat.  I sensed her fury with me and I quickly realized that it may have been because I shared the second "Go Fund Me" posts more than her's.

"Never worry about the numbers.  Help one person at a time and start with the person nearest you."                                                                         ~Mother Teresa

Whenever one is asked to donate or support a cause, it can create discomfort.  Not because the cause isn't worthy for donations or support.  The request was for me to use some strength or merit I may be blessed with to share the posts.  It doesn't mean that I have any gift or power that people will scramble to donate just because I have shared it.  

I don't feel it is my place to beg people to pay attention to the cause or influence or peddle people for donations.  I do like to use the means I have to share injustices in this world.  I do want it to be a better, safer, lovelier world.  I try to use that gift to bring awareness to others.

How people react to photos of maimed dogs or soldiers, is a personal one.  It isn't my place to judge whether they skim past the post or take the time to read, or even take it a step further to comment, or motivated to share, or inspired to donate.

Neither should it be my responsibility as to whether a "Go Fund Me" campaign catches on virally and money pours in for the cause.  It isn't fair to expect that I have such an influence that can take it to a higher level.

It is always an honor when others think that I may be able to help.  It isn't something I take lightly or for granted.  What is disappointing is the judgment or evaluation on how much attention I may give one over the other.  If my friendship with a person deteriorates because I have acted in a way they expected me to.  That is a common flaw in humanity. We project our expectations on others and grade people sometimes based on our OWN expectations.

Many of us would love to be able to donate to every cause, sad story, injustice, or violent act that crosses our screen.  It is reasonable to expect that the people that know you best would be the first to step up and hand over some cash to support that plight.

However, it can cause people embarrassment.  You may not have the money at the time, you may have pledged it elsewhere, or any other justified reasons.  Sometimes what we ask of people, especially when it comes to giving money, makes one uncomfortable if they are unable to give.

One person's justification for their cause can be different than another's.  Maybe a person donates to charity on a regular basis as part of a budget and does not have disposable income that they can pull out funds on demand to show they care or to demonstrate that they think the cause is worthy.   

Perhaps another judges their perceived power or influence you have:  just share or post and money will pour in.  

If you decide that a person is no longer a friend or as loving a relative if he or she is based on their donation or supporting your cause, becomes your issue, not their's.  

Hurt can result when you don't see the donations that you hoped for or from those you thought would. That shouldn't be a measurement of friendship.  

People react differently when they are grieving or under tremendous stress.  Don't evaluate their worth to you in their life based on whether they can act on it financially or by posting, commenting or sharing.  You are deteriorating the value of that relationship.

I did do a brief research on Go Fund Me.  I am admittedly skeptical of anything that generates revenue off the backs of people's grief and sad situations.

I got my answer quickly, as I knew I would:  they do make revenue off of sad stories.  They do take a cut of the proceeds from the donation.  

I looked at the campaigns that have raised the most funds.  Tragic always.  Pulls at the heart strings, definitely.  What did the service do to promote each and every campaign?  That is vague.  What I took instinctively from it was it is set up in a way that the person setting up the campaign is trusting that their friends, family or acquaintances will be compelled to contribute.  That is how they make their money:  by a percentage of the contributions.


Why not set up your own Facebook Page or create a website that celebrates the person's life?    You can have an image gallery for people to upload their own personal memories.  You can allow people to upload a video dedication, write a poem, comment on how they impacted their life.  That can have far-reaching meaning and benefit to those who cannot visit a gravesite or lay flowers or toys even though that would be their desire.

Why not set up a charity in that name as a tax deduction with a financial institution.  Why not approach an arborist, landscaper or tree farm to donate a tree if that is what you are asking for?  

I see a lot of opportunity and ways to honor a person, get specific items like a grave marker or tree by approaching organizations who generates income for such things:  they have the most to gain with their reputation by donating a gift in kind.

In the case of dishonest relatives who wipe out their siblings' inheritance:  why not find a legal team or firm that does gratis work and approach them for legal assistance for free?

I am not suggesting that you avoid asking your friends and relatives for assistance.  Many would love to help, even if it is not financial, it can be to spread the word, share, click.

Just don't project your expectations or evaluate their value in checks (cheques) and balances.  They may truly care.  They just may not react the way YOU want them to.  Sadly, it is you who will ultimately lose if you cross them off based on your judgment of their willingness, ability or actions.

Evaluate your own expectations and deal with that long before you walk by someone you would normally stop and chat with.  You may not know or understand why one campaign or post got your attention more than theirs.  Don't expect anyone else to feel as passionate about it as much as you do.

If you have it in you to give.  Give.  Not because it is expected of you.  But because it resonates in such a way you want to.  Also, give if you have the talent or resources that may not be financial.  Avoid those that judge your friendship based on their perception of your ability to give.

BE THE FORCE on social media

Experimenting with creativity

If you put yourself "out there" in social media, you have to be prepared for the spoils.  On the one hand, you are trying to attract attention, on the other hand, you are avoiding the wrong kind of attention.

Facebook has opened its borders to me seemingly.  At first,  I reacted with "WOW, how cool".  It quickly faded and now boils down to annoyance.  It seems so many want to bring you down into their cesspool of corruption, dishonesty, scams, cheating and porn.

I have clearly identified myself as happily married to a wonderful man who began the journey of blending two families of teenagers at the time, three of them girls.  I know, clearly, madly in love.

It is perplexing to me how many ignore reading that simple bio detail:  "Married".  Makes you wonder if that term is an aphrodisiac to the unfulfilled or cheaters of this world?  

If you are going to circulate in social media, you should follow some simple and clear rules:

DO NOT private message anyone without asking         permission first.  

DO NOT assume that your audience will be as thrilled with your dick as much as you are.

BE PREPARED for your private message posts with images to be shared on your page where your employer, clients, friends and family hang out.

 DO NOT do anything online that you are not prepared to come back to haunt you.

 DO NOT share pictures of yourself drunk, disorderly or in situations that your future employer will discredit you by.

 DO NOT abuse the power of influence you have by using your words to abuse, bully, objectify, rant or vocalize a cause unless it is against such causes.

 BELIEVE IN YOURSELF you don't need likes, shares, favorites or retweets to tell you that you are beautiful, talented.  Let your family and loved ones do that for you in your presence.

 BE KNOWN FOR respecting women and applauding their accomplishments, not their looks.

GUARD YOUR REPUTATION  as though it is a newborn babe.

STAY AWAY from those who are out to tarnish your good name. 

YOU ARE WHO YOU ASSOCIATE WITH:   as in real life, the rules don't change because one is hidden behind a keyboard.

SURROUND YOURSELF with those that align with your values.

REINFORCE YOUR CREDIBILITY  by having those more knowledgeable in your sphere of influence.

BE POSITIVE and share uplifting, inspirational, motivational messages, images, quotes and stories.

BE THE FORCE that promotes harmony, peace, and humanity with an undertone of humility.

REACH HIGH and you will be cast wide with your words of wisdom, helpfulness, knowledge for the lost to discover a new optimism.

BE THE PERSON you were meant to be.

ME BEING ME  working on becoming the person of my own destiny.  Have a look and tell me what you see :::

I had thought that I had posted this yesterday - goodness me, at least I remembered writing it, lol.  I did a VLOG later on and even referenced it.  The 3 or 4 people that viewed my video may have thought I've lost it .... perhaps my memory yes.  Alas, here it is.  I think it is appropriate to merge the two messages on to this one post, thus I am posting the video herein to blend the message:  OWN your reputation online.