Jason Womack

Tis the season...to check in on some things (once a year or so!)

Thanks Maestro for the picture

Here in California, we'll "gain" an hour due to daylight savings time...along with changing all the clocks around the house, I'll also...

Reset automatic lights and sprinklers.
Check fire extinguishers and test the house smoke detectors.
Restock first-aid kits [did this recently, after a little "spill" off the bike!] and emergency supplies.
Change important passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs).
Rotate car tires and inspect the spare and fill it with air!

Geographically independent, and moving through the crisis!

On vacation, I found out my website is down, my email account is down, and I'm a 4+ hour drive away from the office. So, I called in on my network of friends and mentors: - we've domain-forwarded the website (that's why you're here, if you typed in www.jasonwomack.com. - we've moved my email hosting (please E-mail me at jwwomack (at) gmail (dot) com

Ok, we're back up, you can E-mail me at the link off to the right side of this page between now and Monday)

- we've decided to take a hike, as I'm not going to drive back to the Ojai office to fix this. This is what running our own business - and being geographically independent - is all about!

Who do know who needs some good news about the "housing crisis?"

photo by respres

We Can Keep People in Their Homes

"The world's turned upside down. For generations of Americans, family homes were assets to be bequeathed to our children. Today, instead, we are proposing to leave them billions of dollars in long-term debt issued by the federal government to prop up a housing market gone bad. This is unfair." (click here for the rest of the article...)

Later in November, I'm going to speak at the Mastery Business Plan event in Las Vegas. This event is designed to assist Mortgage Planners and other loan professionals in creating and implementing their next years' business plan.

Phew, a tall order in light of what's going on out there! Here's an article I read in today's Wall Street Journal by Andrew Caplin, Thomas Cooley, Noel Cunningham and Mitchell Engler. Thanks guys!

Tags: foreclosures, wall street journal, Andrew Caplin, Thomas Cooley, Noel Cunningham, Mitchell Engler

What's your next, next thing? Check out the WSJ today; working after retirement.

I believe I wrote about this free booklet I picked up at a bookstore in Orange County last summer. Published by the AARP, "Job Hunting" has great advice for ANYone entering, reentering, or moving around in the job market these days.

Then, this morning (Tue, Oct 28, 2008), on page D4 of the Wall Street Journal, I read a great article by Sarah Needleman titled, Easing Back to Work After You've Retired.

Go check it out...the advice is rock-solid, and stuff that I will incorporate into my presentations in Las Vegas next month (where I'll speak to over 1,200 people from the mortgage industry).

http://www.masterybusinessplan.com/speakers.php

Going green, it's the new distinguishing factor for hotels!

Wow...that's all I can say.

I've stayed in Marriott hotels about 100 nights a year since the year 2000. This past stay - in Jacksonville, FL - I saw something I'd never seen before...and, it's amazing! A hotel staff actually focused on their carbon footprint.

During my stay, I did go through 6 water bottles. And, I recycled them all!

It felt good knowing that the hotel has a focus on landfill reduction, just see the sign posted at the front desk.

Wow!

Are you presenting something in front of a large group soon?

A link to an article we had published: How to Present Yourself Powerfully

A thank you...in general, to those out there making things possible

Sitting here on a plane reflecting on the good going on this week. I know it's Sunday, and many of you are taking the day off. I'm on my way to Jacksonville, FL where I will present a seminar on Workplace Performance and Professional Development.

Looking forward over the next couple of weeks, I'm excited about some partnerships and projects I'm working on for clients in Los Angeles, London, Washington DC and New York. In fact, I'm going to Cambria, CA to meet with an expert in renewable energy for a couple of discussions.

On another note, I want to say thanks to those mentoring me along the way. Just last week, I had an engaging conversation with a teacher of mine, and we're exploring the idea of sponsoring a local/global community professional development network*.

I'm looking for 20 more people in the Ojai, Ventura and Santa Barbara areas (ok, anyone who can get to Ojai for the sessions, really) to participate. We'll start with 4 meetings over a period of 15 days. The goal: Create a personal business plan for change that will inspire and inform significant professional development.

Stay tuned, and thanks in advance!

*A consortium of like-minded folks thinking about improving their businesses and their lives in profitable AND sustainable ways who want to expand their options ... and make things possible!

Rooms of all sizes - and, this one filled up as well!

Here in Washington DC, it was a great "seminar day."

A "global/local" team came together for a few hours in what turned into a combination "presentation/group-discussion" of several productivity issues.

(Out that window: Pennsylvania Avenue!!! Can ya guess where I am?)

The room was filled, and the interest in professional development ran high.

Topic range:

Effective communication

Meetings and agreements about "time"

E-mail management/in-box control and organization

Leadership/decision making about allocating limited resources

After facilitating those discussions, I returned to the office of one of the managing directors, and we spent an hour creating a workspace that more closely aligned with her personal work and learning styles.

Then, toward the end of our time together, we started discussing mentoring and coaching. After I described the articles we have written and the development work we have done on creating mentorships, she asked me to consider a presentation for the group.

I "may" be coming back for a presentation on this topic in two weeks! See ya in DC...

No small projects...thanks for the reminder Kinkos!

Walking to work, in Washington DC today, I looked across the street to see this life-sized poster in the window of a FedEx Kinkos store.

Wow, this poster could not be any more perfect for this week of work and travel (and meetings and writing). I continue to realize just how important the day-to-day really is.

Just a few more days of October are left...what are YOU planning to accomplish?

Less than 3-minutes to get inspired...thank you Jason McElwain

In our seminars, we talk about Mastering Workplace Performance...in life, I notice it more and more. When people give their all, when the people around them rally to let that happen, amazing things happen. Check this out!