Table of Contents

• COMMITTEE REPORTS
  • MEMBERSHIP REPORT
  • SOCIAL REPORT
  • SPEAKER COORDINATOR REPORT
  • TREASURER REPORT
• LEADS
• NOTABLE MENTIONS
• QUESTION OF THE DAY
• MAIN SPEAKER

Committee Reports

Membership Report
(Click here to go to the Membership page)

No report.

Social Report
(Click here to go to the Social Event page)

No report.

Speaker Coordinator Report
(Click here to go to the Speaker Schedule)

Program Schedule

• 12/22/06   No Meeting - Christmas Holiday
• 12/29/06   No Meeting - New Years Holiday
   

Treasurer Report

No report.

Leads Report

24-48, 53-23, 20-13, 20-23, 15-41, 15-26, 28-40, 25-23, 25-31, 41-38, 34-22, 49-20, 49-46.

This week's leads focus...

• Paul Kavanaugh
• Denver Johnson
• Andrew Jensen  

Notable Mentions

Let's get one thing straight!...Phyllis Prater is not here to make money!  But...She does have beautiful necklaces at great prices and they make nice stocking stuffers.

What will you do more of or less of in 2007?
The new year is around the corner.  It is a time of renewal.  Your chance to rejuvenate and perhaps get back that "spark".   

• John Passante - I want to devote the proper amount of time to each customer and my family.  I don't want to grow so fast that my schedule is out of control.
   

• Mark Dreher - We have higher expectations for employees.  We give them an opportunity for professional growth.  We are enabling them to enhance their relationships with clients.
   

• Mike Whalen - I'm looking at all my relationships. I am making the time to go out to lunch with each of my employees.  I have the best staff right now. They are empowered.  I find that the more I give to them the more they give back. 
   

• Joe Zingale - I turned 55 this year and I started to think about retirement. I would be curious to know how others in the group are handling it.
   

• Sandro Menasci - Become a business consultant in your field of expertise and only work when you want to.
   

• Stuart Schindler - I have started to think about retirement too. This city is getting too big for me.  I might move to northern Arizona or even further.
   

• Phil Passant - My dad recently retired...for a day. He was nervous.  He didn't know what he would do with the time.  He retired on Friday, paced the house for two days and went back to work on Monday.
   

• Bill LaLonde - My two sons are with the business. I doubt I will ever retire because they won't let me. Maybe I will just cut back a little.

Nick Mawrenko's handout will help you evaluate your past year and give you ideas on how to start 2007...

1Review your 2006 calendar, and make note of highs and lows. (More of / Less of)

1Make a list of everything - I mean everything - you accomplished this year. Include small and personal victories, not just the big ones that other people know you did.

1Acknowledge yourself for the things no one else has.

1Make a list of things you had hoped to accomplish but didn't. Either commit to those things for the future, or decide to let them go. You can even shred or burn the list when you're done reviewing it.

1Think about who you'd like to acknowledge, and do it.

1Ask to be acknowledged by someone else for the things you accomplished.

1Consider scheduling time with your boss or your staff to talk about the lists you made and to exchange acknowledgements.

1Purge your office and filing cabinet of anything dated, or that you no longer want or use.

[directory/old/bussert.htm]

Althea Bussert is from a small town in Iowa.  Her dream was to move to Minneapolis.  She made it there when she went to college.  She taught art for a couple of years until she met husband and moved here to Arizona.  She taught another seven years of art to a diverse group of junior high students.  She had a daughter and decided to stay home.  This is when she began weaving.  This led into interior design work.

Althea has an eye for design.  She can go into a place and visualize the best way to get a "flow" from lighting to spatial features.  She likes to go in, do her own drawings, turn them in to an architect and see the first wall come down. 

Her daughter is back in Cairo.  They are building a new campus.  Her son-in-law is currently interviewing for jobs so there is no telling at this time where they will end up living.

When working with a client, the first question is usually "What can we do?"  The first visit usually takes up to 3 hours.  It takes time to build up and learn what the client likes.

Painting gives you the best bang for your buck.  But you nave to be careful.  A color may look great in the show room but not in your home.  Lighting in a room has a big impact on how the color will look.  You also need to think about the finish.  Althea prefers the look of flat but it is not always practical.  Builders often put semi-gloss in kitchens and bathrooms. Unfortunately, this leaves you with a funny line between the flat and semi-gloss.  She likes Suprema from Sherwin-Williams which has the nice look of a flat but cleans like a semi-gloss.

Althea recommends different colors on the walls and wood trim.  Then you can add accent colors if desired.  Althea only uses Dunn-Edwards paints.  She has their color sheets which she takes with her to each location and uses them to show clients how a color will work on each wall and against their tile and/or carpet and the lighting of their room.

After seeing Althea's samples...Can you tell if a wall is painted "white"?