Gary Carpenter

KW Climbs to 2nd-Largest RE Franchise

 

Keller Williams Realty Climbs to Second-Largest Real Estate Franchise in United States

Goals set for worldwide expansion to add 75,000 international associates

 

AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 8, 2011)—Keller Williams® Realty Inc., announced today that it is now the second-largest real estate franchise in the United States based on the total number of sales professionals, surpassing Century 21, according to research conducted by REAL Trends, a leading source of analysis and information in the residential real estate industry. The company claimed the number two spot with 77,672 U.S.-based associates at the end of 2010, just two years after claiming the number three spot from RE/MAX® International.

 

 

“Once again, this milestone achievement is a direct result of the dedication of our associates and the stability and profitability of the Keller Williams business models," said Mark Willis, CEO of Keller Williams Realty, Inc. “It’s incredible to see the momentum that our associates and our offices have right now."

 

This news comes one week after the announcement of positive growth by the company at their annual convention in Anaheim. Including its presence in Canada, Keller Williams closed the year with 79,315 associates and 701 market centers (offices). At the convention, Willis also shared that Keller Williams associate profit share was up 7.2 percent, with its agents receiving $34.6 million dollars back in 2010. Despite industry contraction, Keller Williams associates across North America also showed significant percentage gains in listings taken (+13%), contracts closed volume (+9%) and contracts closed units (+6%).  

 

The company also formed Keller Williams Worldwide with Chris Heller as president, citing plans for global expansion, with plans to grow the division by an additional 75,000 associates in 10 years.  

 

“Our goals are to expand the Keller Williams Realty model – with the focus on training and our sound business models," said Chris Heller, president of KW Worldwide. “And, when looking for the right country and business partners in planning for expansion, we will not sacrifice the perfect fit with our mission, vision and the KW culture, those are absolutely necessary."

 

Despite the sharp downturn in the real estate market, since 2005 Keller Williams Realty has grown 30 percent in agents, 40 percent in market centers, 21 percent in closed units and 11 percent in closed GCI.

 

Keller Williams Realty received many accolades in 2010 including:

·         Entrepreneur magazine, No. 1 ranked real estate franchise on the 31^st Annual Franchise 500 list

·         J.D. Power and Associates, highest in overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms for the third year in a row

·         Inman News, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board Gary Keller named one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Real Estate

·         Training Magazine, highest ranking real estate franchise on the annual Training Top 125, #47 Overall

 

“It is such an honor to be a part of a company with such dedicated and driven people," said Mary Tennant, president and COO of Keller Williams Realty. “Our associates are setting the pace in the industry. It is truly an exciting time to be in real estate and to be a part of the Keller Williams family."

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About Keller Williams Realty, Inc.:

Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the second-largest real estate franchise operation in the United States, with 701 offices and almost 80,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company, which began franchising in 1990, has an agent-centric culture that emphasizes access to leading-edge education and promotes an economic model that rewards associates as stakeholders and partners. The company also provides specialized agents in luxury homes and commercial real estate properties. For more information, or to search for homes for sale visit Keller Williams Realty online at (www.kw.com) Information about Keller Williams Realty’s international expansion can be found at (www.kwworldwide.com).

"It's Never Too Late"

It is November 20th and I am working on setting my 2011 Goals and as usual one of my greatest mentors of all time is reinventing himself! Floyd has been a friend, father, mentor, advisor, and inspiration to me for most of my adult life! Knowing that at the age of 69 he still setting BIG GOALS inspires me to do the same! I am currently the CEO/TL of Keller Williams Realty in Omaha NE and my BIG GOAL for 2011 is to help change the lives of 100 real estate agents the same way that Floyd has changed mine! Enjoy this inspiring blog post from Floyd Wickman below!

I just set a new 5 year goal for myself.  Some may think it silly to be setting a 5 year goal at age 69.  What might be even sillier is that I have no doubt but that I will achieve it. 

On one hand I am humbled and blessed to think of all that I have achieved, and overcome, throughout my life. On the other hand, I believe there are some very specific ingredients that worked for me and will continue to work as I strive to achieve my next goal.  I share them with the hope that someone reading this can use these ingredients to achieve his or her goal, regardless of age.

1.  WORK HARD.  Nothing will ever replace hard work as a major force in taking one toward the goal.  Asking ones self "what can I accomplish during my workday?" rather than "what can I get out of doing during my workday?" is one noticeable difference between an achiever and a wanna-be.  Remember, if you wish to leave your footprints on the sands of time...wear work-shoes!

2. STRONG CORE VALUES.  Those traits that best describe a person and his or her ethics, guidelines or promises can often predict the outcome of ones efforts toward achieving the goal can be reduced to concise and clear core values.  A person needs only to look back upon a successful period of his life to discover his core values.  What traits obviously contributed to the successful outcome?  How would others describe the 'work ethics' or conspicuous characteristics he demonstrated. 

To help the reader understand what I mean by Core Values, I give you mine.  To Always...

...Live by the Get-by-Giving Philosophy.

...Make my clients number one goal, my number one goal.

...Live up to my standards despite temptations to lower them.

...Be willing to work toward a common good.

...Do what I say I will do.  Sometimes more, just never less.

Each person should ask themselves this question.  "Are my core values such that, if I adhere to them, I have the best chance to achieve my goal?

3. HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE.  This is a term my 'big brother' Zig has reminded me often of throughout the years.  Simply put, he says we cannot succeed to our full potential without the people in our life rooting for us.  Encouraging us to be our best.  Whether its our spouses, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers or just our closest friends, our odds of success soar when they are cheering us on and giving us our space to grow.  How do you get this?  You get by giving.  By encouraging the people closest to us; giving to our families the love and attention they want and need; and, putting their needs high on our 'to do' lists, we dramatically increase our odds of having that 'home court advantage". 

 Linda and I have been married for 46 years and I can tell you,  beyond the shadow of a doubt, without her encouragement, belief and support, I could never have achieved the success I have.  No one does it alone.  In my book "letters to Linda" www.floydwickman.com we share the 15 principles that has given each of us the 'Home Court Advantage'.

4.  TRUST GOD.  Believe that God wants the best for you.  Believe that He has a purpose for you to fulfill.  Believe that He is there in the toughest of times.  Believe that He wouldn't have given you the dreams you have if you weren't able to accomplish them.

Hope this helps.  Oh, by the way, my 5 year goal is to Speak to 100 separate 'general' audiences (other than real estate groups) on or before October 20th 2015.  Wish me success.

Love,

Floyd

Transparency By Zig Ziglar

Zig has been a Mentor of mine for 15 years and this artical is yet another inspiration that keeps me going in the right direction! Thank you Zig for all that you have done for me and my family!

On March 7, 2007, my life changed completely with one, simple, misplaced step and a fall down the stairs resulting in vertigo and brain injury induced short-term memory loss. Some would say it changed for the worse, and by human standards they would be entirely right. Fortunately, and I can assure you this is not by chance the one verse that I've written in the majority of books I've been asked to autograph, the verse that I believe encourages people most in the midst of their troubles, Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose" (KJV), is the verse that allows me to know that God will use this season of my life, difficult though it may be, for His glory and my ultimate benefit.

One day my daughter Julie asked me if it was upsetting to me to have short-term memory loss. I told her that I honestly did not ever feel upset because I could not remember what I had forgotten. My life today is entirely in the present. That kind of focus has its benefits, but I have to say that without my wife to tell me where we're supposed to be and when, well, I'd miss out on just about everything.

Some might call what I just told you "being candid." I call it "being transparent." There is no sense in trying to act or pretend like nothing unusual is going on with me. Just a few minutes of conversation on some days is enough to reveal my memory problem. Other days I have considerably more clarity, and if we met and visited for even up to thirty minutes, I might seem like my old, pre-fall self. At least that is what my family tells me. I can't remember all that happened yesterday or this morning, but I can tell you almost anything you want to know about stuff that happened before the fall, and that is why I'm still able to be on stage with the interview format.

But I have to be transparent with my audience. Julie tells me there are times I "get stuck in a loop" and keep going back to the same topic. She interrupts me, and I usually have a one-liner on hand to put the audience at ease…when you laugh at yourself the world laughs with you. If we hadn't told the audience in advance about my fall and about my memory loss, it could get very uncomfortable for them while they try to figure out what is going on. That's one reason I'm talking about transparency here. The other reason makes the bigger point.

The first person you have to be transparent with at all times is yourself. If you can't see what's going on with you, you can't see what needs to happen next. The alcoholic who doesn't think she has drinking problem won't seek help. The workaholic who denies that twelve-hour workdays are too long won't take time off to see his child's soccer game. The perfectionist can't and won't relax, the morbidly obese won't get healthy, and the people who think they present a perfect picture to the world take themselves way too seriously. The list is endless…add a few of your own…maybe you'll discover something that applies to you.

I've known many people who have been told by more than just a few friends that they had problems, but until they're willing to admit their problems, there was no convincing them they needed help. Reality can be pretty hard to take, especially when dealing with it might require gut-wrenching hard work. I come from a generation that didn't talk about personal problems. You sucked it up and went on with your life. If things weren't going well, it was your duty to hide it from anyone and everyone. Appearances were more important than getting help.

When I first started doing a lot of public speaking, I knew that what I said had to make a difference in people's lives or there was no sense in saying it. I instinctively knew that people needed to relate to what I had to say on an emotional and applicable level and that I had to be real myself if I wanted my material to make a "real" difference to the individuals who heard it.

Nothing, in my experience, has a stronger impact on individuals than hearing stories of how it was then, how it is now, and what happened in between. Those stories give hope to the hopeless. They say, "See, life can be hard but it will get better – if you do!" If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel you can't see where to go. Stories of hope inspire people to find their way out of bad situations. Like the parables in the Bible – they give direction.

I'm sure I could have gone my entire speaking career without telling anyone that I don't gamble or drink and why. I could have left out the truth about how many different jobs I've had in the course of my sales career; how many times I relocated my family in search of the pot-of-gold sales job. I could have skipped telling how my wife has cried with relief when I came with cash and we could pay bills and buy groceries. But I could never have convinced you that you can improve your attitude and your circumstances if I couldn't show you how I'd done it myself.

I was young, vigorous and healthy when all of the circumstances mentioned above happened. Now I have challenges that I may never entirely overcome, and I want you to know that having the right outlook, realistic expectations, and constant hope for something better will serve you and the people you love so much better than resigned acceptance of the status quo. Life is to be lived transparently, excitedly, with eager anticipation of the good things that still lie ahead, in spite of our circumstances.

 

Adapted from Embrace the Struggle: Living Life on Life's Terms by Zig Ziglar and Julie Ziglar Norman - © 2009, Zig Ziglar. Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Pastor’s Advice for Better Marriage: More Sex

I would Love to get your comments on the 7 days of Sex Challenge. Is it a Good idea or not?

GRAPEVINE, Tex. — And on the seventh day, there was no rest for married couples. A week after the Rev. Ed Young challenged husbands and wives among his flock of 20,000 to strengthen their unions through Seven Days of Sex, his advice was — keep it going.

Mr. Young, an author, a television host and the pastor of the evangelical Fellowship Church, issued his call for a week of “congregational copulation” among married couples on Nov. 16, while pacing in front of a large bed. Sometimes he reclined on the paisley coverlet while flipping through a Bible, emphasizing his point that it is time for the church to put God back in the bed.

“Today we’re beginning this sexperiment, seven days of sex,” he said, with his characteristic mix of humor, showmanship and Scripture. “How to move from whining about the economy to whoopee!”

On Sunday parishioners at the Grapevine branch watched a prerecorded sermon from Mr. Young and his wife, Lisa, on jumbo screens over a candlelit stage. “I know there’s been a lot of love going around this week, among the married couples,” one of the church musicians said, strumming on a guitar before a crowd of about 3,000.

Mrs. Young, dressed in knee-high black boots and jeans, said that after a week of having sex every day, or close to it, “some of us are smiling.” For others grappling with infidelities, addictions to pornography or other bitter hurts, “there’s been some pain; hopefully there’s been some forgiveness, too.”

Mr. Young advised the couples to “keep on doing what you’ve been doing this week. We should try to double up the amount of intimacy we have in marriage. And when I say intimacy, I don’t mean holding hands in the park or a back rub.”

Mr. Young, known simply as Ed to his parishioners, and his wife, both 47, have been married for 26 years and have four children, including twins. They have firsthand experience with some of the barriers to an intimate sex life in marriage, including careers, exhaustion, outside commitments, and “kids,” a word that Mr. Young told church members stands for “keeping intimacy at a distance successfully.”

But if you make the time to have sex, it will bring you closer to your spouse and to God, he has said. You will perform better at work, leave a loving legacy for your children to follow and may even prevent an extramarital affair.

“If you’ve said, ‘I do,’ do it,” he said. As for single people, “I don’t know, try eating chocolate cake,” he said.

The sex-starved marriage has been the topic of at least two recent books, “365 Nights” and “Just Do It.” But Mr. Young’s call from the pulpit gave the discussion an added charge.

It should not, in his view. This is not a gimmick or a publicity stunt, Mr. Young says. Just look at the sensuousness of the Song of Solomon, or Genesis: “two shall become one flesh,” or Corinthians: “do not deprive each other of sexual relations.”

“For some reason the church has not talked about it, but we need to,” he said, speaking by telephone Friday night on his way to South Africa for a mission trip. There is no shame in marital sex, he added, “God thought it up, it was his idea.”

Those who attend Fellowship’s location here or one of several satellite churches in the Dallas area and one in Miami are used to Mr. Young’s provocative style. (The real “f word” in the marital boudoir, he says, is “forgiveness.”) But the sex challenge was a bit much for some of his church members, who sat with arms crossed in uncomfortable silence, he recalls, while many in the audience gave him an enthusiastic applause.

One parishioner, Rob Hulsey, 25, said his Baptist relatives raised their eyebrows about it, but he summed up the reaction of many husbands at Fellowship Church when he first heard about the sex challenge — “Yay!”

A week later, he and his wife, who are expecting a baby and have two older children, could not stop holding hands during the sermon. His wife, Madeline Hulsey, 32, said she was just as thrilled to spend a week focusing on her husband. Usually, “we start to kiss, and it’s knock knock knock, Mom!” she said.

Others found that, like smiling when you are not particularly happy, having sex when they did not feel like it improved their mood. Just eight months into their marriage, Amy and Cody Waddell had not been very amorous since Cody admitted he had had an affair.

“Intimacy has been a struggle for us, working through all that,” Ms. Waddell said. “This week really brought us back together, physically and emotionally.”

It is not always easy to devote time for your spouse, Pastor Young admitted. Just three days into the sex challenge he said he was so tired after getting up before dawn to talk about the importance of having more sex in marriage that he crashed on the bed around 8 p.m. on Tuesday night.

Mrs. Young tried to shake him awake, telling her husband, “Come on, it’s the sex challenge.” But Mr. Young murmured, “Let’s just double up tomorrow,” and went back to sleep.

A Peek into the World of Short Sales and REOs

By Roger Higle, Course Writer for Keller Williams University, Keller Williams Realty International in Austin, Texas

Want a quick peek under the tent at the large and very different world of short sales and REOs (bank owned foreclosures)?

Four top distressed property agents chatted with Gary this morning, sharing some views into a world that a relative few agents know well, and one that a growing number are learning.

Foreclosures have been growing across America in the past several years and nothing has changed about that reality. What’s new is that more agents in places like Pennsylvania and Minnesota are learning what the most distressed markets like California, Arizona, and Florida have known for some time. Distressed property is here to stay, for years to come.

The panel was short sale specialists Brian Gubernick from Phoenix, AZ, Jeff Payne from Panama City, FL, as well as REO masters Kristian Peter of San Diego, CA, and Andrew Monaghan, from the Phoenix-area. Between them, these agents listed and sold more than 1500 short sale or bank owned properties in 2009, and their businesses are all growing!

Their focus was on key business realities that define what they do. Here’s a short list of key messages they shared, and the huge crowd listening in:

• Short sale lead generation is much like traditional lead gen. Gubernick and Payne use the same techniques to prospect that work in traditional markets. They make themselves very visible in all their target markets as “the short sale expert.” Said Gubernick, “The difference is we ask just one very direct question in our lead gen, “Are you behind in your mortgage payments? Are you underwater? If so, we can help you.”
• Seller qualification is very important in short sales. “These homeowners are in serious financial pain, or headed that way fast,” said Gubernick. “For the best chance of selling short, homeowners need to be motivated to cooperate with their agent all the way–fully disclosing their financial status and providing all the documents including tax records that banks want to see. Gubernick does a brief qualifying phone interview (less than 30 minutes) and then emails the necessary documents from him–and also a list of what the homeowner must provide. “If I don’t get a completed document set back in about 48 hours, chances are that party is not going to work with me successfully,” Gubernick emphasized.
• The all important negotiation of offers with the lender is the part many agents dread. The best alternative? Refer a short sale lead to an expert in your area, and stay focused on your own lead generation. “When an offer is received, that’s when the hard work really starts,” said Payne. Both agents confirmed the key to success is negotiating the offer to an acceptance from the bank or asset manager is “not taking no for an answer” and “being willing to escalate quickly and forcefully to higher-ups in the bank when unreasonable no answers are given.”
• Homeowners are more likely to be forthcoming about their distress these days. “There’s been so much written and broadcast about short selling now that people seem less afraid to move forward,” Gubernick said. “And there are people who are planning to sell short even before they’ve missed a payment.” Payne reported more than 20% of his closed sales there days are for homeowners who were not behind in payments when they made their decision to sell.

REO agent Monaghan and Peter emphasized they live in a process-driven foreclosed property world. Their institutional clients, also banks and asset managers, insist on fast turnaround and precision from the moment a listing is assigned to an agent–that includes property inspection, rekeying and security, accurate pricing, property cleanup, and efficient cash for keys exchanges to move out occupants (tenants or former homeowners).

• The institutions who hold foreclosures are expecting more from agents than ever before. “Were scored by either manual or automated systems on almost everything we do,” said Monaghan. There’s a lot at risk. A well-regarded REO agent receives listing in batches–anywhere from several to ten or more at a time. “My inventory has gone from as high as 700 listings to less than 150 in the last year or so,” said Peter. You have to be very cost conscious and have a great staffing game plan to manage it.”
• REO agents make big financial commitment to have their business with lenders. “Ninety percent of expenses are reimbursable,” said Monaghan, “but I estimate my out of picket on a typical listing runs almost $4,000.” Top REO agents have full time accountants working for them.
• Lead generation for REO is not unlike ordinary lead generation. The difference is who the clients are. “These are institutions. People change jobs, and it’s a world of policy and process,” Andrew said. “I spend almost all my time networking with my institutional contacts. I used to have as much as 80% of my business with one client. Now, that’s changed a lot.” Both Peter and Monaghan said they regularly work with more than 20 banks or asset managers at a time–and each one has their own systems and requirements.

The rise of Craigslist and how you can use it to generate leads

By Laura Price, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Keller Williams Realty

“I’m persistent until prospects tell me to take a hike,” explained Bob Cenk, mega agent and Craigslist aficionado. “And I’m good at taking a hike,” the former mountain climber joked while on a panel discussing the best Internet strategies during Mega Agent Camp Wednesday morning. Just last year he made $700,000 off Craigslist alone and isn’t showing signs of slowing down – this year he’s projected to crest nearly $1 million in GCI.

After leaving mountain climbing to spend more time with his family, Cenk got into real estate and quickly realized he needed a free method to generate leads. So he jumped on Craigslist and started posting. Here are the lessons he’s learned and the strategies he’s currently implementing to stay on top of his game.

1. Capture their attention. Traditional thinking might tell you to describe the home, its price and the neighborhood in the title. Through trial and error, Cenk has found that those headlines actually send people away from your post. “Consumers usually go onto Craigslist only once, and they are automatically looking for ways to disqualify the home,” he says. The best headlines, he explains, are the non-traditional ones. Here are three that are proven to pull in leads. 

!!!! START PACKING … LET’S MAKE A DEAL!!!!

***** WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THIS JEM******

!!!! PINCH ME I MUST BE DREAMING!!!!

2. Simple is better. A lot of agents make the mistake of writing too much about a home. “That just gives the consumer another way to disqualify the home – which loses you a lead.” Cenk has found that the simple posts which merely describe his service are the ones that get the most attention. For a full explanation on how to post simple ads, watch the video below.

3. Consistency and persistency with marketing and messaging: “We’ve found that people typically don’t click to the second page.” The strategy: “continue to post throughout the day to stay at the top of the first page. As redundant as it seems, posting the same message over and over is effective.” Cenk was quick to remind the audience that once leads (hundreds a day in his case) start coming in, it’s important to leverage your time and add someone to your team to handle your posting, and follow-up for you.

4. Adapt. Through trial and error Cenk has successfully found his way to success on the site. Liking his adaptation to climbing a mountain, he said “when you climb and come to a rough patch, you go back down; train and then head back up a new way.”

““I just kept making those 200 phone calls every day!””

By Lisa Wahlgren, Communications Manager, KWRI

Recounting a deeply personal saga of growing up not knowing his father, and then holding to an undying commitment to be a daily presence in his son’s life despite a bitter divorce, a year of homelessness, 10 days in a maximum security prison for unpaid parking tickets, and an arduous upward climb to make it as a stock broker, Chris Gardner held Mega Camp attendees in rapt attention Tuesday morning. 

Gardner’s determination to hold onto his son despite all odds was every bit matched by his professional ambition. Starting out as an unpaid intern for a stock brokerage firm, and working his way into a commission plus a small base sales position, he said he had made a determination early on to “be world class at something.”  It was a determination that kept him focused on the one thing that he needed to do every day: “make 200 phone calls.” His focus and hard work led him to the highest ranks of his profession.

Gardner’s story caught the attention of the national news media and Hollywood movie producers who convinced him to participate in a major motion picture based on his life.  Starring Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness” ended up grossing more than $400 million. His book with the same title was a New York Times Bestseller for 25 weeks – three of them as No. 1 – and has been translated into 40 languages. 

“When one of the biggest movie stars in the world decides to do a movie based on your life, your life changes,” Gardner says, adding, “it took the movie producers $70 million to accomplish what I was able to do for nothing.”

Despite the international notoriety and financial success that he has achieved, he claims without question that the most important accomplishment of his life was “breaking the cycle of fathers not being there for his children.”

If you fall down this video will help you get back up!

This is a Great video! It will make you laugh and cry but most importantly it will inspire you that when you fall down to get back up! Please leave your comments below on what you took from this video!

 

Every Women Knows what's good for her, but she often doesn't do it

I have been married to my beautiful bride Linda for over 18 years and when I read this I thought they were writing about her! Holy cow ladies this hits it right on the head!

An Excerpt from Oil for Your Lamp

by Lisa Hammond & BJ Gallagher

Virtually every woman we know has the same problem - she knows what's good for her, but she often doesn't do it. She knows she should eat less and exercise more, but still she doesn't make healthy choices. She knows she needs to spend her time and money more effectively, but good time and money management elude her. She finds herself always putting others first, while neglecting her own needs and wants. She doesn't get enough rest or sleep and her endless to-do list hangs overhead like the sword of Damocles. As our friend Brenda Knight laments frequently, "Why am I always riding in the back of my own bus?"

We don't do the things we know are good for us because we are so busy taking care of others that we neglect ourselves. The problem isn't lack of information - we have plenty of information about the importance of sleep, healthy foods, and exercise. The problem is how we prioritize our lives.

Psychologists tell us that some people are inner-directed and some are other-directed. That is, some people focus on their own internal guidance system for making choices about how to spend their time and energy. Their own self-interest ranks very high on their list of priorities. "What's best for me?" is a key guiding principle in determining where they focus their attention and how they make day-to-day decisions.

And some people are other-directed, which means that their primary focus is external, not internal. They are primarily concerned with relationships, especially people they care about. "How can I help others?" is a key question in how they spend their time and energy. Building and nurturing relationships with loved ones, family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers is the guiding principle in their lives.

Research indicates that, in general, men tend to be more inner-directed, while women tend to be more other-directed. There are exceptions, of course, but as a group, men are focused on themselves while women are focused on other people. Men like to build things while women like to build relationships.

This difference in psychological orientation goes a long way toward helping us understand why we women often do such a poor job of taking care of ourselves. We run around filling others' lamps with oil, but forget to fill our own lamps first. Then we wonder why we're often exhausted, frazzled, stressed-out, anxious and/or depressed!

Awareness is the first step toward solving a problem. So the first section of this book is devoted to helping us acknowledge the problem and understand the reasons for it. Chapter 1 looks at how girls are socialized, growing up to be women who put others first. Chapter 2 examines the values women have adopted in the past 50 years, beginning with the feminist movement - leading us to believe that we can have it all - all at once. And Chapter 3 explores the corresponding myth that we can DO it all.

But don't be discouraged. Help is on the way - in Section II, we'll get into solutions for the problem. We'll learn the value of doing nothing, how to play again, how to become more inner-directed, and most important, how to ask for help.

Bill Stewart - "Leave No Doubt" Speech

This is a great way to start every morning! have a great day!!!