“Did you catch the frumpy 47-year old Susan Boyle on her audition for Britain’s version of American Idol?

If not, it may be the best seven minutes you’ll spend this year.  Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY  

She’s middle aged, triple-chinned, eyebrows that look like dead caterpillars, never been kissed by a man… everyone just knew this Gong-Show reject was going to bomb.

I had to give Simon Cowell credit, as he did his best to keep a straight face.  When he asked about her goal, she said she wanted to sing like a star.

Simon rolled his eyes at this train wreck.  Half the audience groaned.  The other half just sighed, shaking their heads.  Some outright sneered.

But when she started to sing…it was like Angels from heaven had came to earth.

She lit it up.  And the crowd went wild!

If you were touched by her performance, you are not alone.  It brings out and OVERCOMES something in you that you try to hide, yet it’s buried inside you somewhere.

Any time you’ve faced defeat…been laughed at and humiliated…had your spirit crushed…faced rejection…experienced shame…you strengthened this part of you that identified with her.

Yet this one person reached inside herself and overcame all that inner negativity in one fell swoop.

The face you don’t want anyone to see…the one you hide even from yourself…is the one that she wears every day.  And she turned it into a thing of beauty.

This is about redemption, baby.

And it’s within your reach, too.  If you lack confidence that you can’t work in this foreclosure market, that it’s too hard, or you’ll never make it, that’s the inner voice of failure talking.

But know that you can reach inside and bring out the best within you and emerge a success.

If Susan Boyle did it, you can too.

Some of the most unlikely people have attended our trainings and have come out on top.  They might not have looked the part of a perfect Realtor, but with drive and determination, they’re making 2009 their best ever.  They are determined.  They are driven.  And they are making it happen.

Some are making more money than they dared to dream possible.  Dared to believe they were capable of.  Dared to believe they were even worthy of.

Training has changed their life.

Take this step.  Reach for the best within you and become the success that our other agents are now.

Yet they walked the path we showed them, and became new people.  maybe it was in spite of their former lives.

Maybe it was because of their former lives.

Point is, they ARE special.  And they were all along.  They were just waiting for a way to prove it to the world.

Sign up for training.  Come into the Market Center.  Make 2009 your absolute best ever.

Silence your biggest critic once and for all.

And I’ll see you at the top!

Chris McLaughlin

Well today, I got an even better treat!  I got to be the person in front that got to pay for the person behind me! 

As I drove away, I got stuck at a red light and as I looked in my rear view mirror, here came that same car that had been behind me in the drive thru line…whipping around the corner and racing up to sit next to me at the stop light.

Well of course, I had to glance over and look and look at the driver next to me and to my pleasant surprise I saw a very enthusiastic young girl waving like crazy and blowing me kisses!  I quickly rolled down my window, blew her a great big kiss back and gave her the thumbs up. 

How fun!!!  I know I had the biggest, cheesiest smile on my face when I drove away, but it just felt so good to do such a fun surprise for someone…and it only cost me $6.42!

If you haven’t tried this little trick yet at a drive thru line (I recommend Chik-fil-A because they seem to be used to it) I strongly recommend it…it will completely make your day!

Baby is our canine version of “Tiny Tim” and was a sick little puppy, just about from the time I drove to Terre Haute through an ice storm and brought her home.

She never gained a lot of weight and two years ago this month she was so skinny that her ribs were showing and her spine was arched like a scaredy cat!

I took her to the animal emergency hospital out by the airport and after many tests were performed it was determined that she has a liver shunt.  From what I remember, this can be very common in yorkies and it means that her blood does not pass through her liver to get cleaned the way it should (or something like that).

We had two options…to operate or to try and change her diet.  Because she was so small and I had heard so many horror stories about little doggies not waking up after surgeries, I opted for the diet change.

Well here we are two years later and I’m thrilled to say that changing her food to the Science Diet L/D formula has worked wonders and my little doggy is celebrating her 5th birthday today and weighing in at a whopping 3.5 pounds….yeah!!!

Our rule of thumb is to keep her away from proteins (except for the occassional sprinkling of shredded colby jack cheese) and she hardly ever gets sick.

Thank goodness for the doctor at the emergency animal hospital that was familiar with this problem.  I thank you and Baby thanks you, too.  Happy Birthday Baby Doll !!! :)