Paris inspires me because of it’s architecture, it’s people, the food and the art.
Los Angeles inspires me because of the sheer diversity of people, beautiful weather, entertainment industry and weird people from almost everywhere.
Florence inspires me because of the art (and food), but mostly the art.
But no city inspires me more than New York City. Even the name… New York City… has meaning.
Let’s hear it for New York!
There’s no place like New York. It’s crowded but lonely. It’s where some of the richest people in the world live and ignore the cockroaches. It never sleeps, yet is silent on Sunday mornings. New York is Lou Reed, not Sheryl Crow. It’s Jackson Pollack, not David Hockney.
It’s monumental. It constantly changes, but yet, it stays the same.
My favorite bar has been serving Manhattan politicians, entertainers and socialites for decades, yet seems different every time I go.
This is just the coolest, most inspired ode to New York I’ve seen in a long time.
Let’s hear it for New York!
The great and talented New Yorker, Alicia Keys wrote the song in the video above. I’ve taken the liberty to copy the lyrics here:
Uuuu, New York
Uuuu, New York
Grew up in a town
That is famous as a place of movie scenes,
Noise is always loud
There are sirenes all around,
And the streets are mean
If I can make it here,
I could make it anywere,
That’s what they say
Seeing my face in lights,
Or my name in marquees found down Broadway
Even if ain’t all it seems
I got a pocket full of dreams
Baby I’m from New York!
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
Big lights will inspire you,
Hear it for New York!
(New York, New York, New York)
On the avenue,
There ain’t never a curfew, ladies work so hard
Such a merlting pot
On the corner selling rock
Preachers pray to God,
Hail a gipsy cab,
Takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn Bridge
Someone sleeps tonight
With a hunger for more then an empty fridge…
I’m going to make it by any means,
I got a pocket full of dreams,
Baby I’m from New York!
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
Big lights will inspire you,
Hear it for New York!
(New York, New York, New York)
One hand in the air for the big city,
Street lights, big dreams, all looking pretty
No place in the world that can compare
Put your lighters in the air,
Everybody say Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!
New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
Big lights will inspire you, Hear ït for New York!
No matter how long it takes, following the steps without fail, you WILL meet success. That time is going to pass anyway, so wouldn’t you rather arrive at the appointed time a success with all the growth under your belt that it took to get there?!
If you’re not a quitter and ready to join a team that doesn’t quit (doesn’t have to!),
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t quit though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
Five years ago today, we were married in the Palazzo Publico in Siena, Italy.
Here’s a copy of our blog post/announcement when we returned to planet Earth. 🙂
Yep, we eloped! We’ve been BURSTING to tell everyone for the past couple of months! We got the idea to get married in Europe about two months ago, and we’ve been working on the paperwork since.
We knew that we were going to be in Spain for almost 10 days, and our plan was to drive through the south of France and stay in Tuscany for a few days before we ended our trip at our company’s Summit Conference in Rome. Spain and France had too many residency issues, so we targeted Italy. We dropped the idea of driving from Spain to Italy in favor of a more relaxed trip, spending more quiet, quality time in a villa in Tuscany.
But… before we could even think about really getting married, there was paperwork to do.
We hired a wedding planner to assist us through the process… Lady Kelly Hayes. She was fantastic!
Both of us had to have new birth certificates issued by the states of Georgia and New Jersey. After the birth certificates were issued (with special stamps recognized by Italy), both certificates had to be sent to the Secretary of State of the issuing state for an Apostile Seal, recognized by the Hague Convention as being valid by other members of the convention. Being that we live on the west coast, all of this had to be done remotely – and fast.
Next, all documents had to be translated into Italian.
Finally, we made an appointment to visit the Italian Consulate in San Francisco so that we could be issued an Atto Notorio. An “atto notorio” is an afidavit sworn by two witnesses that acknowledge that “it is common knowledge and everyone knows that we are free to marry.” It was hysterical. After an hour or so of nervous excitement, an interview with the Consulate General, sworn testimony by two of our friends, lots of forms, stamps, etc., all the US portion of the paperwork was done! Here’s the guy himself… about to sign the documents that we were to take to Italy!
Are you a salesperson working for a company? How much time do you spend prospecting?
Two hours/day? Seven hours/day?
Do you have your own home-based business? If you do, and you are successful, I bet you spend anywhere from 3-6 hour/day, everyday on the phone prospecting.
What if I told you there was ZERO prospecting with the Empower Network.
ZERO. ZILCH. NADA.
Holy, moly… what would you do with your day?
I made this video for everyone that HATES PROSPECTING.
