New anniversary line launched

My company’s new offering, Minted Memories®, has been launched. It’s a product line of unique anniversary booklets and videos for companies celebrating milestone anniversaries. My first batch of letters to prospects went out today. I was prepared to send them last Friday, but thought that day might be too ominous – like stepping on a crack, breaking a mirror or walking under a ladder – since it was 9/11. So, good things can and do occur on Mondays.

Mark Salloum, of VideoMagic, and I are eagerly awaiting some orders for Minted Memories® videos. My graphic designers and I are ready to put our unique stamp on booklets ordered through the program. Their skills at designing annual reports, newsletters and brochures will be just as amazing when applied to this format.

Meanwhile, the memory book for my mother is in the layout stage. When completed, it will be a fitting personal tribute to a woman who has had an incredible impact on just about everyone that she met and, most especially, her children.

These projects reflect solid values, hard work and the ability to overcome adversity to reach prosperity. In their own way, each offers a tribute and sense of hope. Best of all, these stories allow us to get a closer look at the amazing people who have brought some great things to life. Whether successful companies or close-knit families; in times of turmoil, we need more of both.

Making memories

I’ve been thinking about my mom a lot lately. She passed away March 20, 2008 at age 81. I’m working on a memory book about her, with entries from my seven siblings, some aunts and friends. It’s almost done. I only have to finalize the copy, add the photos and have a designer do the layout. Yet, just as the shoemaker who can’t fix his family’s shoes, I’m dragging my feet on this project. I’m not sure why. I can get my clients' work done on schedule, whether it’s a newsletter, annual report, community report, e-newsletter, speech or Web site. But implementing my own ideas or completing non-compensatory projects often loom as monumental challenges.

Maybe it’s because I don’t think the actual book could ever encapsulate what a tremendous presence my mother had on our lives: not only her kids, but also nearly everyone she came in contact with. She was quiet but underneath that sea of calm was a churning of ideas, concern, compassion, questions and connection. She loved people and learning about them. Rather than having a WIIFM attitude (what’s in it for me), she took the perspective of how she could improve other people’s lives.

With a family of eight children and a solid 50-plus year marriage, she didn’t have a chance to fully develop her career abilities. That was a different era, yet she had earned a bachelor’s degree from Marygrove College in Detroit and two master’s degrees: from Wayne State University in Detroit and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Once the kids were older, she became director of the religious education program at St. Alphonsus in Dearborn, our home parish. For about 10 years, that was her illustrious career. During that time, she impacted many lives and hosted fun holiday parties.

Writing this blog entry is motivational. I will continue on. I will complete it…hopefully in time for our family reunion this Labor Day weekend. I’ll just focus on how cool it will be for her family and friends to have a keepsake memory book of a wonderful woman who quietly spoke volumes about the true values in life.