January 15

Today is a glorious sunshiny day here in Maine! After my meeting at Saint Dom's High School this morning, I went to my favorite little coffee shop in Gorham, sat in the window seat and basked in the sun. I had to take a few moments to think, and be thankful.
Russ, the Director of Institutional Advancement at St. Dom's HS is a great guy. He has a no nonsense exterior and looks like a marine so I was a little nervous. But it didn't last long. I started by telling him about myself and my family, and how I got involved with My PowerMall. We covered the details about TWCCTW, Ginny, and how schools and NPOs can create sustainable funding. I discussed the 3 sources of income, the WCM fees, rebates from the mall and the American Express gift cards. I handed him a printout of the income calculations for the school after each one. I used very conservative numbers. Tier 1 was the school, tier 2 was 50 staff, faculty and board members, tier 3 was 275 students and tier 4 was 1375 (each student getting 5).
I told him the best was yet to come - each person - staff, faculty, board member and student could help a non profit, AND earn money themselves.
He said exactly what I said the first time I saw the income numbers..."I can't wrap my head around this.It seems too good to be true" I said, "Yes, I know!"
I preempted his next comment by saying "You may think it looks like a MLM, but it's not. There are no products to stock or sell, no meetings and no games."
I added at his point that my husband has been a State Trooper for 23 years. I am used to being very careful with what I associate with. We checked out everything before I even got involved, and I invited him to do the same. He seemed pleased with this. We got back to the numbers...
"So, on this level where I would have a WCM, where does that money go?"
"To you, that would be yours." Big silence.
I know it's a lot to take in so I just sat there and let him think.
He was thinking about how they could implement this at the school, because the next question was "I could very easily see us directing parents to use the gift cards to pay tuition, but how would they do it?"
"They would go their own WCM, buy the Amex gift cards, then go to the School site and pay the tuition online."
We logged onto the Buxton Food Pantry WCM at this point and I showed him around the One Child at a Time, the Local Merchant Mall, and then we went to the biz site. I showed him which video he should watch, and the "I want a World Changer Mall" button just below it. At this point I suggested that he talk with Brian, his counterpart from Cheverus, about how we could get a pilot program started right here in Maine, and offered my help at every point along the way. He agreed that we would meet again soon.

January 14

Today I spent some time on the website for the school I will be visiting tomorrow. I was looking for themes or phrases that recurred throughout the site - sort of like their lingo. Even though I hate sales, I learned many things in sales workshops. Since I can't personalize a mall for them, I can focus on familiar lingo. For this school, planned giving was big. Jacki confirmed on the morning call that the malls can be willed to future generations, or even schools and NPOs- another nice detail.

On the news today in Maine, the state economist gave his forecast for the coming year. Layoffs were projected in both government and retail sectors, and giving was going to be way down. Maine usually ranks pretty high nationally in the giving category, so this will hurt. I really like the concept in the NPO video of NPOs shoring each other up to weather tough times. Instead of fighting for every last dollar, that same dollar, spent on a World Changer Mall, will multiply.

January 13

I think the first domino is beginning to tip......

My meeting today with Brian at Cheverus went very well. He told me how their fundraising was moving away from being event based. Which led very nicely into my presentation.I showed him how changing shopping behavior just a little could produce unimaginable, sustainable income for the school. Then I explained how each student, staff and board member could also add a nonprofit to benefit. I talked about my vision for the school hosting a TWCCTW Day. He agreed that this fit like hand in glove with the school's motto of becoming a person in service to others.
And so, this will move along to the next level. The school will thoroughly check out the company. I offered to be at each and every meeting necessary. I am very encouraged by the movement forward, and understand that challenges still lay ahead.
I am in awe of how the puzzle pieces of my life are fitting together, as I mentioned in my previous blog. I imagine heaven to be a place where you can review your life like it's a movie and say "Oh!, that's why this happened!" We might get glimpses along the way as I am now, but I'll bet there are so many more times we set something in motion that we just have no idea of the impact.

January 12

I'm ready for tomorrow! My meeting with the Director Institutional Advancement for Cheverus High School is at 9:30. I spent a few hours today going over the material in the back office training section, and printed out final copies of the income calculations. I created a Business Mall for them, and printed out the Welcome sheet with their websites, mall number and key code. After I give him the background on TWCCTW, Ginny and My PowerMall, I'll ask him to log onto the new mall. I learned a while ago at a sales training workshop to personalize the presentation as much as possible. It creates a sense of ownership. I really hope this is ok to do and know I'll hear soon if it isn't! :)

I figure, this way, I can show him around the key points of the mall and back office,including the income calculators.
He then can show the mall to the board and other faculty without commitment. When they're ready to move forward, it's just a simple upgrade to the free WCM.
I will reiterate throughout my presentation my commitment to helping every step of they way. I'll probably be on the 8pm call tomorrow, so I hope to have a positive update.
I am keeping Larry in my prayers. Ginny is right, this wonderful bootcamp has made him like family.

January 10

What a week this has been! The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together both in my efforts with the My PowerMall bootcamp, and personally. I really believe I have found what I was put here to do. Please allow me to explain.
As I look back, I see several turning points in my life that led me to be here today. At the time, they didn't make any sense, yet I truly felt the pull to make those choices.

My career path was science based. I have a BS in Biology and a Masters in Forest Management. I was painfully shy in school, and sought a career in forestry for the love of the outdoors and the solitude. I loved being in the Maine woods all day alone, and I saw many magnificent things. After a few years,I became involved as a volunteer in an education program called Project Learning Tree. As a female forester, I was unique, and schools sought me out to come speak to the children about the Maine forest and nontraditional roles for girls. I loved this new challenge and found that my voice grew with each experience. I was asked to serve as a board member on several environmental education based non profits, and was a regular in the Maine State House, giving testimony before the legislature on pending bills that affected the Maine forest. Where did this come from? In high school, I don't think I said two words out loud. Here I am, now a spokesperson?!
Eventually, I became the Community Relations Manager for another corporation's Maine location. With that, came the responsibility of administering the foundation funds, about $500,000/year. As a hands on person, I spent most days visiting local non profits, hearing about their needs - a consistent flow of money and volunteers.
Since the area was economically depressed, I decided to focus on education and mentoring. I wanted kids to know they had choices beyond working in the local mill.I also wanted the mill employees experience the great rewards of volunteerism. Programs were set up that rewarded schools and non profits financially when employees volunteered for them.
I loved my job and felt I was truly making a difference. Well, life is unpredictable. Just when I thought I was in my dream job, we had to relocate for my husband's career in the State Police.
That was ten years ago. I love being at home with my kids, but always felt I was meant to do more.
Last night, when my husband came home from work, I started talking about My PowerMall and didn't stop for 45 minutes! He just listened patiently. When I finally took a breath, he smiled and said, " You're back!"

January 8

Another school contacted me today! So now, I have an appointment to meet with one next Tuesday and one on Thursday. As I was preparing the income calculations for each school, I had a few AHA! moments. What if people bought American Express cards just above the limit they really want? For example, buy one for $1025, instead of $1000. There's a big jump in rebates. For my sons' school, it would add thousands of dollars each month. What if every person at a school or non profit selected their own school or non profit as their NPO mall. I can't even begin to figure out how to calculate that income for them!

January 7

I received a wonderful email today from the Director of Institutional Advancement for a local private high school. He was confused because he received a copy of the email I just sent to the President of the school asking for a chance to meet about MPM. Apparently, he had been trying to contact me since my original emails, calls and letters back in November. For some reason, my email was rejecting messages and all of his were among the rejected. He has wanted to her about My PowerMall for weeks!

I spent the little free time I had today preparing myself for the meeting I'll have this week at the school. (Today was a snow day here in Maine, so I had all the daycare kids from 7am to 5:30pm, and my own five kids. I SO wish I had a very large margarita right now!)
I printed out 3 of the income calculator pages with different scenarios. (Using some conservative assumptions on the number of malls with 500 students, each student setting up a free NPO World Changer Mall for a local charity, family members and alumni and NPO staff on subsequent levels), I calculated the schools income from the shopping rebates on the malls, then the income from $1000 American Express cards used to pay tuition each month for each student, and $500 for parents' monthly bills, and finished with the WCM fees.
I plan on showing him the new NPO video, then the pages of the income calculations.