Lip-Sticking

There Is No 'There' to Get

Guest post by Lena L. West, Social Media Strategist

Recently, I participated in a teleclass about heading boldly into 2011.

And, one of the participants said, "I know my mission in life, but I didn't get there yet."

Walk with me...

Now, I'm a firm believer in having people around me to support me on my road to success. I'm the kinda person who has a business coach, a mastermind group, two Power Partners, a vision coach, a wellness coach and it goes on and on. Well, my wellness coach (and now friend!), Cheryl Miller, calls it a "success environment" and boy is she right.

Before I started working with Cheryl, I was working with a body work practitioner couple, Giten and Rohi, and they were awesome and very talented. Giten used to say something all the time and I never understood what he meant until the past couple of years. He used to say, "There is no 'there' to get to. There's only the journey." Now, I know many, many people have said that, but Giten was the first person to say it to me and now I get it.

So, back to the person I mentioned above, and them "arriving at" their mission...

A mission isn't someplace you "get" to. A mission, in the most precious, whole sense of the word, is an on-going, ever changing quest. It's what wakes you up and keeps the coal fires stoked in your solar plexus.

So, often, as women, we rush ourselves.

• We're sick and we're quick to tell everyone exactly our plan of action for getting un-sick.
• We lose a loved one and we want to know how long is a normal length of time to grieve.
• We suffer an embarrassing setback that takes the wind out of soul and our sails and we tell people it's no big deal.
• We're hurt by a friend and they want us to "get over it already."

We're always trying to get *there* and in the end, I think this...THIS wanting to rush past the yucky, crappy feelings...wanting to steamroll over the speed bumps...this is why staying in the rhythm of that mission often eludes us. We find ourselves waaay off track...uptown somewhere, when we need to be downtown or across town (not literally, but figuratively).

Guess what? These women are also at the helms of their own companies, organizations and teams; and, if they do this drive-by missioning (yes, I just made that up) in their personal lives, what do you think they do in their professional lives? How you do anything is how you do everything.

I have copy of Zappo's 2009 Culture Book and if you want to see commitment to a mission, check out THAT company. Not every company can be purchased by Amazon.com and have their brand survive to not only tell about it, but to write the book about it. What if the good folks at Zappo's had the idea that they had arrived at their mission? I shudder to think...no, they keep striving and keep going...trying to be better with each call, order and return.

Back in San Fran a few years back, I met Tony Hseih, Zappo's CEO, at a conference - actually this was a few months before Zappo's was purchased by Amazon.com and Tony said something I thought was mind-blowing, he said that when Zappo's realized that Amazon.com wanted to purchase them a non-negotiable pre-requisite of even accepting a phone call from Amazon.com was that Zappo's would get to keep their own operations and their own identity.

That doesn't sound like a company that plans to "arrive at their mission", to me it sounds like they have every intention to keep going.

What about you? Are you rushing your business to "arrive" at its mission or are you in it for the long-haul?

Six Online Privacy Tips for 2011

Guest post by Lena L. West, Social Media Strategist

If you've read any of my posts here on Lipsticking, by now, you know my take on privacy. It's essential. And, with more people than ever using social networking, it's even more critical to stay ontop of how much information you're REALLY revealing.

One of my friends listens to a popular radio show and over the past couple of months, my friend has been able to pinpoint exactly where this radio show host lives, based on what the host of the show has said and revealed on-air. Now, my friend is totally sane and wouldn't DREAM of going to this person's private home, but, sadly some people are not sane.

The folks at SafetyWeb released their list of tips for keeping our kids safe online, but adults can benefit from the same information as well.

Here's a paraphrased list of SafetyWeb's tips with Lena-swagger added for clarity and emphasis:

• Change your account passwords. Creating new, effective passwords for all of your accounts can prevent identity theft. Mix it up , yet make passwords easy to remember by using combinations of things that have a personal meaning to you. So, while it's NOT ok to use family members' or pet's names, when combined with other numbers or special characters, you've got the makings of a solid password. Remember, even the best passwords should be changed approximately every 3 months - especially ones for banking, etc. It goes without saying that you should never share your password with anyone.

• Check your privacy settings. Many social networking websites, like Facebook (no surprise there!), made multiple changes to their privacy policies during 2010 and if you haven’t maintained your settings, they may have been changed to the site’s default settings. Take the time now to review them on every social networking site you use and make changes where necessary.

• Google yourself. This commonly referred to as an "ego search". Googling you is the first thing people will do when they want to find dirt on you, so stay ahead of the game and learn what’s out there. If you find any suspicious, inappropriate or unauthorized content, report it to the site’s administrator immediately. One of our clients found HORRIBLE things written about her and had to get her attorney involved to get it removed from a blog hosted by Blogspot. It's not a joke out there.

• Don't overshare. Avoid posting photographs and information that reveal identifiable information such as your address, information about your children or any other sensitive data. There are several sites that allow you to connect with people to share your travel itinerary, do so with caution. How many people really need to know when you're leaving home and when you're coming back?

• Disable geotagging on devices. Smart phones often automatically store metadata within any photograph you take and reveal your exact location. Uploading photographs from a smart phone to a social networking site or photo sharing site (like Flickr) may disclose your whereabouts to just about any interested party. Note that Twitter also has a geo-tagging feature that is set “off” as default, but might currently be turned “on” in your account. You do NOT need to be signed up to geo-location services, like Foursquare, for these settings to be active so look into it.

• And, yeah, what about Foursquare? Find out if you have signed up, either consciously or inadvertently, for the popular GPS-based social network in which users “check in” to various locations throughout their city via a cell phone app. It may sound like fun, but like geotagging, sites like Foursquare can jeopardize your safety by divulging your location. I don't actively use Foursquare for precisely this reason.

464.

Guest post by Lena L. West, Social Media Strategist

Four hundred and sixty four.

That's the number of people Oprah Winfrey's company, HARPO Studios, has in its employ.

Like many people - especially women - I spent a good chunk of this weekend familiarizing myself
with the content on Ms. Winfrey's new OWN televsion network. I say "familiarizing myself with the content" as opposed to "watching TV" because I can already see, just in the first few days, that her network has C-O-N-T-E-N-T. If content is Queen, then Oprah's the Empress.

Each year at the end of the year, I go off the grid to make sure I "arrive" in the next year in a way that is calm and collected and also to do some logistical planning. This year, I was starting to feel badly because I spent so much time consuming the content on OWN that I was wondering if I was wasting time that I usually spend transitioning. It was anything but wasted time.

I watched a brilliant couple reclaim their lives from clutter and hoarding. I mean, you just have to heart a show titled Enough Already!

I watched the All Star Team (Oz, Phil and Suze) talk about poop, finances and what it's like to be a 56-year-old virgin!

I saw a courageous wife reclaim her sexuality after years of religious dogma had taken it's toll on her psyche.

And, I just UBER-HEART the fact that Oprah launched her Master Class series with a profile of Jay-Z (arguably one of the rest rappers alive, if not THE best). Many people think that the series was lauched with Diane Sawyer. Nope. That's just how they advertised it. Jay-Z went on first at 5:00am on Sunday morning. I know because I saw it and watched every minute. Finally someone who understand this man's genius. Whether you agree with his lyrics or not - do. not. sleep. on. Jay's. business. prowess. He's a force. And, he's someone who has, for years, been a "mentor in my head".

And, as I watched these people on my television screen, I began to connect and think, if they can do this, what can I do?

So, back to that number -- 464.

That, too, made me think...it's like my business coach always says, when you're preparing to take the next step in your life, you have to look at people who are where you want to be and ask yourself, "What would this kind of a person do about X?" X being whatever decision I need to make in my business. It's another way of "acting as if" and putting yourself in their shoes. Successful people act, think and roll a certain way.

464.

• What would someone who has 464 employees do about goal setting for the coming year?
• How did someone who has 464 employees find and hire the right people?
• What kind of support does someone who's running a company with 464 employees require?
• What kind of resolve and tenacity does someone with 464 employees have?

Whether you want to have 464 employees or 4 employees is not the issue here. It's a matter of taking yourself out of your day-to-day and leveraging the energy of a connection you feel with someone else (your own "mentor in your head") to propel your business forward. The more you can think like them, the more you'll act like them and the more you at like them, the more results you'll have like theirs. Success leaves clues.

Happy Second Decade of the Millennium. Let's get it started.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat?

I've been thinkin'...good marketing makes it really easy to buy.

Especially impulse purchases like gum, tic tacs, mini-eyeglass repair kits, portable sewing kits, and for me, soap. Yes, soap...as in bars of soap.

I'm about to share something I've never really shared with many people: I'm addicted to soap -  specifically organic soap. I have coveted suppliers and preferred soap vendors. When I have a bad day, the first thing I do is crack open a fresh bar of soap, it always makes me feel better. Hey, some people head for chocolate, I head for soap.

I'm convinced this soap thing is an addiction. When I see an all-natural bar of soap, I'm completely taken in. Provided I like the smell, I want to use it right away, and in many cases I do.

I prefer the gigunda bars - 12 and 14 ounces or better. And, if it smells like mango, banana, ylang ylang or any other exotic or tropical scent, I'm sold.

As a result (I can't believe I'm saying this), I have a big shopping bag FULL of all different types of organic soap squirreled away in my hall closet. And, I don't mean a small shopping bag either, I mean one of those heavy-duty Barnes and Noble plastic shopping bags with the durable handles that they give out during holiday time. Yeah, one of those.

At first I thought it was the packaging and then I fell in love with a particular brand of organic soap that's sold in nothing but parchment paper with a label slapped on it. Nah, it's definitely the soap.

I was speaking with my good friend the other night and I was talking about this unintended soap "collection" and because she's SUPER good a sleuthing out the story behind the story, she started asking me some questions, like:

• Why soap?
• What does soap represent to you?
• Why do you keep it in the hall closet?

It wasn't long before I realized that soap - especially organic soap - represented luxury to me. I have an abundant schedule and it's not always easy or convenient for me to get to the spa, so I turn to soap as my moment of indulgence. Who knew? And, I thought I just liked soap or was a victim of the sly marketing tactics of soap companies. (Those devils!)

The funny thing is, the more I looked around the more I realized that I have a LOT of unintentional collections: soap (we KNOW that one), international teas, incense, vitamins and supplements, software, stationery, etc.

And, everyone I've talked to about this "unintention" has one or several of these "collections", too. I'm sure you do, as well.

But, these collections worry me a bit - not because they're bad; after all, it's not like I'm collecting botulism-riddled, rusty tin cans or anything. What worries me is the unintentional aspect of these collections and the fact that I have more of any of these things than I can use in any reasonable amount of time. It's all neatly organized, but still I'm going to do something about it.

So, luckily, the same friend who asked me all those good questions has a group coaching program coming up, it's called Zen in 2010 and it's specifically for people who want to have a "Harmonious Home", but either have serious challenges with clutter (not me), or various types of "unintentional collections" that have gotten out of control (me!)

I feel so good about the results I KNOW I'm going to get that I'm gifting a seat in her program to a Lipsticking reader. If you read this far, you deserve it. All you have to do to win is write a Tweet with a link to Cheryl's main Zen in 2010 program (you can use this one: http://bit.ly/ajeI2g) and use my handle (@LenaWest) in the Tweet so I'll see it and I'll pick someone by Monday of next week (the program starts on 10/14).

Oh, and if you want to find out just how good she is without spending a dime, she has a free preview teleclass coming up on October 7th @ 8pm, EST, called, "Hang It, Dang It: How to Get Good at Finishing What You Start". You can register here: http://bit.ly/aKQ5Nm

For once, I'll be the student and not the teacher. I can't wait.

Facebook, Dammit!

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

I originally posted this content on my Entrepreneur Magazine blog, Seriously Social, but I think Lipsticking readers need to see this, too. Rather than rewrite it, I just copied and pasted. Mea culpa. :)

As if we need one more change from Facebook, right? We can barely keep up with our own lives much less Facebook making more changes.

I'm sure, by now, you've heard about the design changes that are planned for Facebook Fan Pages (yes, I STILL call them Fan Pages). And, if you've been sunning on the beach or dealing with an allergic reaction to expensive face creams, as I have, you can get the scoop, here.

Facebook says they're making the Fan Pages easier to navigate for developers, etc. Whateva. The link above to their "Profile and Page Roadmap Update" could have been a bit more focused on what the heck people should expect, but hey this is Facebook, right? Why should anything be easy? :)

Here's what you need to know:

When is all this going down?
Monday, August 23rd (ummm...yeah...that's today...hop to it)

What are the three things you need to know to keep your sanity?

1. The Boxes tab is hitting the round file. If you don't have a "Boxes" tab, skip this item and go directly to #2. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. (How to tell? Go to your Fan Page, cycle through all the tabs at the top. If one of them is called Boxes, you have a Boxes tab. If you don't, you don't.) If you DO have a Boxes tab, know that it will be going bye bye. (This means Boxes on your personal profiel, too, by the way!) Get all that content off there and creatively move it to another tab.
2. The page layout will be more narrow. You might have to have your graphics resized to fit correctly. If you are the administrator of your page (if you created the page, that's YOU!), you can see how that looks in a preview now. If you have a designer, tell them to resize custom graphics to 520 pixels wide. Unless you are a graphic designer by trade, resist the temptation to just "do this yourself". It will end up looking weird, grainy and unprofessional. You've put a lot of energy into your online image - pay someone for an hour to do the right thing for your business.
3. The Application tab will be going away, too. So, if you have one, move the information off that page and creatively put it someplace else. Copy and paste works fine for text data. You might not have an Application tab...that's fine. If you don't, don't worry about it.

Just as an FYI...

If you've recently (like the past 30 days) paid someone to design a custom Facebook Fan Page for you, they "should" make the changes for you for free. That's what we're doing for OUR clients. Designers might disagree, but I'd rather eat an hour or two per client and build goodwill than nickel and dime. That's just how I roll.

If your designer will not make the changes, you can:

1. Hire another designer (but you're still paying, so what's the point in that?)
2. Try to strike a deal
3. Remember the next time you work with social media designers to include any changes in your contract if you can.  As you know, Facebook changes their mind with the weather.

If you still find yourself confused and bewildered or you just don't want to deal with it, reach out to me on Twitter (be sure to use @lenawest in your Tweet so I'll see it) and we'll get someone from our team to help you quickly and for a reasonable rate.

These changes are REALLY simple and straight forward and should not require an Act of Congress to get your designer to change them. In most cases, a competent designer can make the changes in an hour.

Hope this helps ya! And, hey, look at this as an opportunity to spruce up your Fan Page design! :)

The Unfortunate Burden of Poor Social Media Examples

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

I was speaking with my Aunt the other day and mentioned that she was reading a story in a newspaper - I think it may have been The New York Times - about how people exaggerate in their "speech" online. I do it and so do many others. The article gave an example of a young woman on Facebook who used the abbreviation "LOL", even though she wasn't really laughing out loud and the example of adding too many letters to the end of a word - like OKKKKKKKKK!

 As well, in my speaking travels (I'm speaking at BlogPaws in Denver next!), I've often heard from women that they don't want to use social media because they don't care to share what they had for lunch and they don't care what other people have had either. And, I can't say that I blame them.

I'm always quick to point out that these are the most inane uses of social media (some of which I do from time to time...I can't *always* be sane, can I?) and we shouldn't use these outside cases of how individuals use social media as the barometer of how businesses and business people should use social media. It's kinda like saying that how your teenager wears their hair is acceptable for an adult business woman who expects to be taken seriously in her work. The two don't jive. Definitely *not* apples to apples.

But, somehow, no matter how many positive media stories there are about how food trucks are using Twitter to bring in big business, the stories that stick in our heads are the ones that showcase the most ridiculous uses of social media.

These stories could, instead of being held up as spectacles to be scoffed about, be leveraged as deep learning examples of how NOT to use social media. What's the saying...a teachable moment?

Instead of saying, "I'll never use social media because I don't want to read about someone's ham sandwich." Say, "I'll never use social media like that for my business because I always want to be relevant, add value and keep the conversation moving."

There, isn't that better?

Don't Speak to Me In Acronyms, Please

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

Having to deal with banks and DMV is excruciating.

Every time I find myself faced with having to do business with either of these types of entities, I put myself in a positive frame of mind and expect that only good experiences will take place. Sometimes it works and other times, like today, it doesn't.

One of the things that particularly annoys me is when people who work at these types of organizations speak to you in their "lingo".

For example, at one point in my business I needed to get a business card for one of our team members for expenses and such.

So, I went to my bank, sat down with a manager who proceeded to ask me, "Did you fill out for C8D12 yet?"

Come again?? Here's the deal: I don't know if I filled that form out or not. I *can* tell you that I filled out a form that asked for my name, the name of the person that the card is for, etc.

Why do these people at banks think you work there? How would you know the name of the form? Do most people, when filling out a form, make a note of the tiny little numbers in the bottom right-hand corner of the form? If they do, I don't!

Same thing at the DMV. "Did you complete MV-109?" Hell if I know!

After having these experiences, I started thinking, what if we *all* conducted our business this way?

How many clients would I have if my advice to my clients was contingent upon them successfully answering the following question:

"Are you running SQL version 4.1.a.3?" (There is no such version, but you get what I mean.)

I don't think people really understand how much they alienate potential and existing clients and customers with their industry- and company-specific information and inquiries.

We hear a lot about jargon, but questions about form MV-109 is more insidious in my opinion. First, they ask with the you-should-know-this-already tone and then when you don't know, they usually can't describe the form to help you out.

Everything is marketing.

"White Collar" Lies & Your Marketing

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

I'm baaaack! :)

When things come up again and again, I have to believe that I'm not the only one experiencing it and so I write or speak about it in hopes to develop some sort of dialogue about the topic. This topic is particularly sinister, however.

Something happens when you start a business - people start to treat you differently. And, once that business becomes successful, people make oddball requests...and by oddball, I mean requests that ask you to lie on their behalf.

Oh, don't be fooled...they don't outright *ask* you to lie, they couch the request in a much more positive light. I believe PR folks call it "spin"? Let me provide you with some examples so that you'll be able to identify these requests when they come your way:

• A "friend" whom I hadn't heard from in *months* called me to ask if I could provide a work reference for her nephew. Now, I knew her nephew, but he had never worked for me in any capacity -- not even stuffing envelopes (is that still done anymore?) I asked her if she meant a character reference (since that was the only reference I could possibly give on his behalf) and her reply was: "Right, a character reference...that would be the only one you could give since he didn't work for you." My reply, "Yep." I told her that I was willing to provide a character reference if he called me and asked me himself (I believe youth should be empowered to ask for what they need as opposed to some adult always being their mouth piece). I never heard from her - or her nephew - again.

• A "friend" who was in the job market called and asked if I could provide her with a work reference. She, too, had never worked for me. Turned out, my company needed her help with some work so she was able to do the work and I was able to provide the reference, but she fully expected me to provide the reference without her doing the work first.

Here's the *really* odd thing about the two above scenarios: when I received the request from the person in example B, I asked advice of the person in example A and she said that I shouldn't do it because that would be lying -- but she then turned right around and made the same request for her nephew a few weeks later!!

The reframe of all these "requests" is that I am fortunate. Huh??? Well, I look at these requests as my having the ability, on quite a regular basis, to recommit to my values and show the Universe that I operate from a base of truth. Or, as Suze Orman says, "Say no out of love rather than yes out of fear."

What does this mean for your company and its marketing? Under the premise of how you do anything is how you do everything, the thought is twofold:

1. If you lie about these seemingly small things, you send the message to that person, yourself and the Universe that you're willing to be untruthful about any number of things.
2. It will come out that you lied. In this social media enabled world, it will come up. It could be that the very person you "helped" gets mad at you one day and decides to pen a blog post about how you helped them to lie. I don't know, but I do know what my Grandmother always told me, "What you do in the dark, will always come to light." (She also said, "If you lie, you'll steal.")

Think about it. If it came out, how would that make you look? Your company? People would think, if you lied about that, what else did you lie about? Maybe your products aren't 100% organic? Maybe you really *did* get that email when you said you didn't? Maybe that invoice "error" wasn't accidental?

Everything is marketing.

An Open Letter to the Ann Taylor LOFT Bloggers & Disclosure = Taxes

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

A couple of blog posts ago, I wrote about the fiasco that resulted from Ann Taylor LOFT's alleged attempts to "go social".

A few days later, I spoke with, Yvonne DiVita, about her thoughts on my blog post (it's always good to know what your editor is thinking about your writing), and she said that while she liked it, she wanted to know why I hadn't mentioned the bloggers as culprits, too.

I mentioned that I had indeed thought about that, but my main focus was to write about how companies so often try to take short cuts when it comes to social media engagement. Now, however, I'd like to turn my focus on the bloggers (*insert dramatic music here*).

The bottomline is if anyone should have known better, it would have been them. While holding Mr. Muto's feet to the fire certainly is a valid position to take; the fact is that the bloggers should have, as my friend says, "damn well have damn better known better." They know how this game is played. They're a part of the blogosphere and no doubt have read or heard about full disclosure and the SEC's position on disclosure. In short, they're in the know and the companies aren't.

The fact is companies rely on those of us in the know to lead them down the right path. There's a moral responsibility to do the right thing here. Even if only one blogger had insisted on a form that outlined the "compensation" given (in the Ann Taylor LOFT case, it allegedly was $500 gift cards) and the fact that they were going to disclose said compensation, that would have been better than saying nothing at all.

Think about how much good will that lone blogger could have possibly developed with the folks at Ann Taylor LOFT if they had taken the time to pull the powers that be aside and tell them what kind of hell was in store for them if they didn't do this right. For all I know, one of the bloggers may have mentioned it, because, hey, I wasn't there and I wasn't involved; but that doesn't appear to be what happened.

Ok, one last "side" to this story...

I recounted the story behind this blog post to my Learning Annex class, as an example of how NOT to make money while blogging and they asked why this disclosure focus is on social media and not television or radio - and, in fact, this point came up in my conversation with Yvonne, too.

I have a simple answer to that. In fact, one short word: taxes.

You see, when someone does a radio or television commercial, there is a record of that monetary exchange some place. There is a contract on someone's hard drive or in someone's files of exactly how much compensation was given for what services provided. The government can come and get their money.

With these "pay for play" blog posts, there's no real record of the exchanges. Five hundred dollars, even in gift card format, is still $500 of income. Now, the government doesn't really care until you make over $600 (I believe this is the figure) from the one source. But, what if the "pay for play" relationship is a long-term one or exceeds $600? Who has a record of that? Companies can lump that under "marketing" expenses and Mr. Tax Man is none the wiser.

Now,do I really think that some tax person is going to surf the net reading blogs and jot down disclosures and amounts? No. But, this is a first step toward making people keep records of these new media payment exchanges.

So, THAT'S why the same level of scrutiny isn't being given to radio and TV. The government knows it's getting its just dessert with those types of "pay for play" arrangements, but they can't rest assured of the same thing with social media.

As per usual, this all comes down to taxes, folks.

No Buts

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

A short post to make a bit of a profound point...

Recently, I spoke on a panel at a local event. We had great fun and the attendees told us they learned a lot. Great.

I was networking with some of the attendees afterward when one attendee approached me and thanked me for coming and for delivering great content. He immediately said that he wasn't a great writer and that he didn't think he was going to be able to do social media stuff. He had effectively written off using social media because he didn't want to/couldn't do a good job at writing!

I suggested he might consider starting a podcast or a vlog. As my Aunt says, "You could have heard a mouse pee on cotton!" The nervous look on his face said, "Oh, no, you mean that excuse isn't going to work?" Nope. At least not with me, it isn't. That's like saying, I'm not going to wear shoes because I can't afford Jimmy Choo's. HUH?

The deal is: if you don't want to use social media, that's your choice and your right, but please don't hide behind excuses of not having the right "talent" or "skill" to participate. The fact is, if you can click, read and type, you can use social media. Now, whether you want to or not, well, that's up to you.

When we remove the excuses for not wanting to do the things that we know will move our businesses forward, we stop kidding ourselves. We remove the associated guilt of not doing those things and we can stand in a place of reality as opposed to delusion. And reality is all we've really got.

I don't give people alternatives to box them in or make them feel obligated. I share alternatives to help them do one of two things:

1. Own their stuff. Sometimes they chose to do this and sometimes they don't. Again, their choice.
2. Give them options. (kinda obvious) I never want people to feel they HAVE to use social media in just one way.

The fact is, we can all come up with excuses to not do a myriad things, but it's only when we start working from a place of what's possible do we really see the opportunities before us.