Wine Survey

Local food and wine businesses are two serious economic drivers of northern Michigan. We may make light of our "Foodie Wednesday" visits with wineries, food producers and restaurateurs, but make no mistake, we appreciate their impact.

Mary in the Morning started listener events at wineries back in 2006 then switched to the Chef du Jour Tour in '08. The thought, guarantee a full house plus a bunch of promotion, was to help restaurants on Monday nights when business can be pretty scary for a restaurant owner. The Chef events sell out every time and now, we are looking at the wineries again.

Do you support the local wineries? Do you visit the tasting rooms? Do you buy the local wines at your grocery store? Do you consider a winery visit entertainment or are you a serious wine connoisuer looking for an opportunity to fine tune your palate before buying many bottles? Are there just too many wineries in our region? We want to know.

The TC Wine & Art Festival was such a huge success, we are wondering if the area has an insatiable palate for wine entertainment and access to local vino. Please take our survey!

I've got a thing...

At the Marigold Forum last week we asked women to share a gem of wisdom that has changed their life. Many shared tips that they wished they had learned earlier.

Many of the comments surrounded saying no, taking control of her time, not over thinking and especially not over-explaining yourself.

June Palumbo, Ford Insurance took the prize for "The One Great Thing".

Her advice: When you need to end a phone conversation, end a meeting, leave the office, exit from a committee meeting (regardless of why) simply say "I need to go, I have a THING". Isn't that beautiful! I have a thing, no details, no making excuses for yourself, no anticipated judgment of your reason, just "I have to go now, I have a thing".

It could be a conference call with your number one client or a towel on the beach calling your name. Doesn't matter.

Thank you June!!!!!!!

You don't need to be hit by a car to learn this lesson!

This week's Forum Luncheon is all about giving and shortcuts. I'm asking you to think of a bit o' wisdom that you've picked up along the winding path of your career or business development that you wish you had acquired much earlier. I'm asking you to recall how you came upon this piece of gold and to have you think about how to tell that story and what the gem has meant to you.

Then, I want you to wrap this story and the wisdom it brought you in a beautiful (but pretend) box and bring it with you to the Marigold Forum to pass along to another woman. It won't cost you a dime, but could save a sister thousands in dollars or time.

What is the One Great Thing that changed your effectiveness, productivity, peace of mind, profitability, work/life balance, financial security, ability to build a team, made you an awesome leader or allowed you to give yourself permission to do something completely outside of your comfort zone?

Our featured sponsor, Bonnie Alfonso, President of Alfie shares her story of convalescing for 6 months after being hit by a car. She learned to let her team members get things done in their own way, not her way. It was tough for her to let go, but she learned to care more about the work getting done than on how it got done.

I hope that you can accept these gifts of wisdom as just that: The gift of a shortcut in life's lessons. We don't each need to be hit by a car to learn Bonnie's lesson.


Please join us Thursday, August 20 at the Traverse City Golf and Country Club, promptly at 11AM. Register here.

SARK and the E-Myth

Don't you just love when you are talking to a new friend and the two of you discover a shared passion? Bonus! Well, that is what happened when I was chatting with my new friend SARK (or Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy). She has inspired millions of women through her art, books, PlanetSARK.com, workshops, etc... on how to transform their lives. After her first interview (a fluke!) on Mary in the Morning, we invited her to become a regular on the show, which I'm sure we will all enjoy.

In prepping for her first "regular" appearance which will air this Friday, we were talking about the joy and freedom versus the total consumption and loss of a personal life as relates to running your own business. Well, I mentioned our Marigold Book Club selection, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and she went completely nuts! She not only loves the book, she has conducted classes and workshops on it and thrusts copies of the book into the hands of anyone in the midst of an Entrepreneurial Siezure.

On Friday, SARK shares her personal E-Myth testimony to how she was working 24/7, losing her mind, didn't understand the cost of goods sold or ROI and was about to jump in a lake when this book came into her life and changed her way of operating. She assembled a great team of people, got smart about how a business is run and the rest is history. She is an artist, author, and a celebrated business person running an empire based on her personal brand. This is a sister who survived the infancy and adolesence of her business and is riding high thanks to the E-Myth and its principles.

Check out SARK's website PlanetSARK.com and you will see the many revenue streams that she has working on her behalf while she is chatting on the phone with Mary in the Morning. An inspiration to be sure!

Click here for more information on Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited!