It is a beautiful morning here in Newport, Rhode Island, as I just arrived for the Thrive! experience with a very special group of people. I’ve decided to get here a bit early so I may slow down the wheels of life a bit, sit and watch the water scenes, listen to the beautiful sounds around me (water, wind, boats, birds, the flag) and read a great book.
And yes, Chadology is by my side to capture and enhance these special moments.
Over and out!
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Got on the Continental Saturday morning early flight from Cleveland to Newark and then continuing to London. The comfortable Business First accommodation allowed me to relax, listen to my favorite iPhone music (about 8000 selections to choose from), catch up on my reading and continue my preparation for the New Product Experience I am conducting with Alan Weiss next week in Rhode Island. This week in London is going to be an outstanding week as five of my very close colleagues and clients: Dr. Guido Quelle from Germany, Libby Wagner from Seattle, Washington, Phil Symchych from Canada and Stuart Cross from the UK are meeting here with Dr. Alan Weiss to finish our certifications as Master Mentors, a new service we are going to offer to our clients.
During my first day (Monday) in London, my friend Libby Wagner and I, got a chance to visit Windsor Castle, the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms and Buckingham Palace. Amazing and fascinating places and history.
Here are some of Churchill’s wit that resonated with me:
“When I get to heaven I mean to spend a considerable portion of my first million years in painting”
“I have a tendency against which I should perhaps, be on my guard, to swim against the stream:
In 1933, as Hitler’s Nazi part came to power in Germany, Churchill asked: “Where shall we be in 1940?”
And here is another of his quote that I believe represents what true leaders are made of:
“I felt as if I were walking with destiny and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial … I was sure I should not fail”
Windsor castle commentary by Libby Wagner. For a moment I thought the guards were going to escort her away:
St. George Chapel and view of Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Amazing art inside Windsor Castle
State dining room at Windsor Castle:
Guard by St. George Chapel
What a Royal Mail box looks like
Houses of Parliament from St. James’s Park
The gates of Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
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May this next year be the best of many to come. Wishing you health, peace and happiness. Chad and Laurel.
Images I captured during my recent Israel trip:
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Sea of Galilee
Jaffa
Jaffa
(click on images to enlarge)
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It all started with a dream six years ago. Here is the brief conversation I had with Alan Weiss:
Chad: “I have this amazing idea of creating an online community that enables us (24×7) to communicate with you and each other.”
Alan: “This sounds quite interesting and appealing to me. Let me talk to Maria (my wife) about it.”
Chad: “I just realized that I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
Alan: “What’s that?”
Chad: “I’ve come to realize that I am not talking to the economic buyer!”
A few hours later, an email received from Alan saying: “Let’s Rock!” So Alan and I put our heads together, discussed it strategically and tactically and 45 days later the dream has become a reality and with it, an amazing transformation of my life and business.
So a huge thank you to you Alan and this amazing community of colleagues, clients and wonderful friends, for making this a remarkable, uplifting and inspirational journey.
And of course a huge thank you to my wife, Laurel, and my awesome family.
Chad
p.s. and finally, for my outstanding business team.
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Below are three videos that will give you a sense of the amazing time I spent in St. Lucia with members of Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Club. In the mornings, we discussed our businesses, how to reach the next level, we shared our intellectual property with each other as well as shared our interpretation of what the future looks like in our areas of expertise. In the afternoons and evenings we relaxed and enjoyed a great time with our spouse while continuing our fabulous discussions.
Listen to what participants had to say about this amazing experience:
Our MDC friend, Michael Sheargold, discusses letting go at the peak of the Piton Mountain in St. Lucia and at the peak of Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Club. Prior to playing the video and by looking at the picture below, can you tell who is the member of the million dollar club and who does not care if he is?
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Reflecting on the Jewish new year I have to admit that this year has been absolutely amazing. Just over 6 months ago I was blessed with the birth of my beautiful granddaughter, Dafna. My daughter Sharon was ordained as a Rabbi. My son Yoni is maturing and becoming a handsome young man. My son-in-law Hillel, still in school and whose main mission in life is to take care of my daughter and his and who has been doing an awesome job at that. And of course my beautiful wife, Laurel, who what can I say, is just amazing.
Happy new year to all. May this year bring health, happiness, prosperity and peace to us all.
Dafna and me
More of Dafna
And more Dafna
Handsome Yoni
Dafna and my daughter Sharon
Dafna, my wife Laurel and me
Sharon, Hillel and Dafna
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On a recent vacation trip to Israel I realized prior to boarding the plane, and to my horror, that I forgot the power cord for my MacBookPro laptop. You all know how ornery I get if I don’t get my daily access to my Mac. I quickly used my iPhone to email my friend Dov Gordon in Jerusalem asking him to make the connections necessary to see where I may get such cord. Upon landing eleven hours later, fully rested in first class, and greeted by the beautiful Israeli afternoon, my iPhone email inbox and text messages quickly notified me that I might be in luck. Dov, with the help of technology and probably the Israeli secret service, informed me that the only place in Israel that may have my desired cord is the Mall of Ramat-Aviv, located in an affluent suburb outside Tel-Aviv. So we (my wife and I) picked up the Hertz rental car, turned on the GPS and on our way we were to the mall.
Less than thirty minutes later I parked the car, turned off the engine, smiled and said to my wife: “We’ve made it. Let’s get the cord and start our great vacation.” She smiled and said: “And what a better place to start than this great mall.” As I opened the car door and stepped out of the car, my keys dropped out of my hands. In a split second, and to my true horror this time, I realized that they fell into a grate and from the sound of it I could tell that it was quite deep. “Oh shoot,” I yelled. (Well it kind of sounded like that.) “What happened?” asked my wife. “I dropped the darn keys in this hole in the ground,” Frustrated I explained. For a moment she thought I was kidding but she quickly learned I was not.
Looking for a quick solution or perhaps a miracle such as parting of the red sea since I was in the holy land after all, I noticed the security booth around the corner. I quickly ran there and explained my situation to the friendly guys. “Not to worry,” said one of them. They quickly grabbed the ladder, gathered the troops, well three does make a troop right? They rolled my car off the grate, lifted the grate and explained to their buddy that they won’t need the ladder while grabbing his legs and dropping him into the hole in the ground. He was mumbling something while going down and seconds later, my keys are flying in the air and land in my hands while the guy is pulled out of the dungeon. I thanked them profusely and rewarded them with American dollars as a sign of my gratitude.
“The cord you are looking for is on back order,” said the clerk at the store. My life flashed before my eyes. Well, not quite but you get the point and the seriousness of my situation right? Yet, I was determined that there is no possible way I am walking out of that store without a cord. After much schmoozing, we find out that this guy helping us at the store, traveled the US quite a few times, he has a family in Cleveland which my wife happens to know quite well and he admits that someone just turned in their laptop for repair with the cord attached. It took all of my positive influence, talent and mastery of the language (begging probably had a lot to do with it) to finally convince him to sell me the cord for a full price. It was double the price I would pay in the US but who cared at that point. I was able to convince him to take the back order cord when it comes in and attach it to the item being repaired. We paid, thanked him and ran out of the store before he changed his mind.
Luckily the stores and coffee shops were still open so it turned out to be a fabulous evening as we gladly invested in the local economy. See pictures below as proof. On the way back to the car I held the keys tighter than ever before yet realizing that in the midst of all this excitement I forgot to take some pictures or videos that would have made my story believable. Well, it truly did happen, really, I mean it!
Chad drinking as known in Israel “upside down coffee” or simply latté in the US.
Laurel after another successful shopping day
© Chad Barr 2009. All rights reserved.
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Reflecting on this day:
I am proud to have served in the Israeli military service.
I am proud to have become a US citizen.
I am fortunate to have an amazing family and friends.
And my utmost respect and gratitude for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and have given their lives so we may enjoy our freedom.
God bless.
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The Bridge to Web Success
