Monthly Archives: December 2010

Scenes from the Million Dollar Club in Bora Bora 2010

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Chad Barr

Each year, our Million Dollar club, arranged and facilitated by my friend, mentor and client Alan Weiss, heads out to an exotic place somewhere on this planet to engage in stimulating discussions about our businesses. We then get to tough it out and have an amazing time together discussing life balance and the future of civilization over great wine and outstanding dining experiences.

This year we have selected the Four Seasons resort in Bora Bora which was just spectacular.

So allow me please to share with you this experience, through these amazing moments captured in these photos. What a great way to also look back at this year and say THANK YOU to all of you.

Happy New Year!

Chad

Here is the story told through photos, text and captions below:

After almost 24 hours since leaving home, getting ready to board our last segment on Air Tahiti to Bora Bora

The Four Seasons resort (bottom left in this photo) and our amazing suite awaits our arrival

The only way to get to the hotel from the airport is by using this water taxi, well swimming was out of the question at this point.

Checking into the Four Seasons resort

The gorgeous view and the resort reception area

This is home for the next week. The amazing view and the soothing sound of the water in the lagoon. This is my kind of "survivor" week! I am going to learn to tough this out

The astonishing view from our deck at sunset

This was our private island which was the standard view from the pool. Well the latter part of the sentence is accurate.

A night time view of the over water bungalow suites

There is a positive side to waking up at 4AM and being jet-lagged. You get some amazing photos before sun sunrise.

While anxiously waiting for the sunrise, I’ve noticed this bird at the corner of my deck, starring at the water. All of the sudden, it took off, dove into the water and was fortunate to get his meal.

Innocent fish gazing or getting ready for breakfast?

Breakfast it is!

And finally capturing the sunrise at the one end of my suite

Probably the water taxi transporting the amazing help staff at the resort

The sun is finally shining

Just another typical day

This is the view outside our bedroom door that we awoke to each day. How could you ever have a bad day?

It's time to check out the pool and our private island - The Mrs. and I.

One of the dedicated waitresses at the resort. I am told she won the local beauty contest.

My favorite exotic morning fruit.

Each day our group (Alan Weiss, Suzanne Bates, Chad Barr, Andrew Sobel, Rob Nixon, Michael Sheargold, Shane McLucas and the spouses) got together for our exhilarating brainstorming sessions. We explored and shared innovative ideas, existing and new intellectual property, future trends as well as discussed our evolving business models and how to dramatically improve what we do for our clients. What I’ve noticed is that after three years of being together, our group has reached a maturity level that allowed and enabled us to be direct with each other and “push” ourselves.

After our morning sessions, we spent our time bathing in the sun, more intellectual discussions in the pool or the beach, explored the amazing property or took the boat to the island across the lagoon for dinners:

Evening activities. Boat ride across the lagoon for dinners and discussions:

Alan and Maria Weiss

Chad and Laurel Barr

Suzanne and Drew Bates

Michael Sheargold and Shane McLucas

Andrew and Mary Jane Sobel

Rob Nixon, Michael Sheargold and Andrew Sobel

Our waitresses, or were they helping with the food preparation?

Just wanted to whet your appetite or perhaps mine

Local art at one of the restaurants

After dinner, on one of the return evening trips to the resort, I see Alan Weiss at the helm navigating our boat. It's good that we all had a bit of wine!

The reaction on my wife's face when she found out that Alan Weiss is in charge of navigating the boat at night

All things must come to an end to let in the greater things. It is departure time from this paradise on earth.

Catching the boat ride back to the airport

Spending the night in Papeete, Tahiti and one more sunset to capture before the night show and the flights back home

An amazing Polynesian show at the hotel the night before our departure

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Posted in Learning, The Best of Life | 4 Comments

Best Practices from My Best Clients

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Chad Barr

In my article Best Practices from My Best Clients I reveal my observations of what my most successful clients are doing. You may be surprised.

Checkout our most recent newsletter announcing the new site for Betsy Jordyn, President of Accelera Consulting Group.

Finally, it’s time to thank YOU and wish you and your family a healthy, peaceful and prosperous year.

All the best,

Chad

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Why Should You Improve Your Speaking Skills?

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Chad Barr

I find speaking critical from several perspectives. Here are some of the reasons I encourage others to speak often:

It is an effective vehicle that enables me to deliver my evolving intellectual property.
It sharpens my language, delivery and speaking skills.
It allows me to try and test new ideas and material.
It enables me to interact with my audience and receive immediate feedback as well as gauge what’s on their minds and what are their concerns, which allows me then to respond and also develop new intellectual property.
It “forces” me to innovate and reinvent new ideas, services and products.
It positions me as a credible expert, an object of interest and a thought leader.
It provides a powerful way to connect with qualified prospective clients and existing clients.

I find speaking to be essential in gaining new clients, growing my business as well as being able to stay in touch and increase the number of prospects who want to stay in touch by registering to our monthly newsletter.

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Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur

Posted on December 26, 2010 by Chad Barr

I am often asked by my mentorees to articulate the skills and traits of what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. Here is a list I compiled with the top 12 in no praticular order:

1. Enthusiasm.
2. Curiosity.
3. Marketing – This one is huge. Ability to market self, team, products and services.
4. Sales.
5. Smart risk taking.
6. Communication – Effectively building relationships, public speaking, writing and publishing.
7. Learn to recognize opportunities.
8. Creation of products and services.
9. Avoid being stagnant
10. Ability to innovate, invent and re-invent.
11. Focus on improving the client’s life and business.
12. Lead by example and be bold.

What would you add to this list?

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Karen Eber Davis Interviews Chad Barr

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Chad Barr

Leveraging Video to Capture the Hearts and Minds of Donors. If a picture can capture 1,000 words, imagine what a video can capture! Learn with us how to use a simple technique for less than $300 to capture the passion your donors feel for your organization. . .and share it with others.

Click below to listen to the podcast where Karen Eber Davis interviews me as we discuss how to best leverage videos and the flip video technology to effectively capture testimonials.