The Triangle Times

This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

Their memory will live in our hearts forever.

TRIANGLE CONCIERGE will be closed for vacation from June 28 to July 6 - Since we haven't taken a vacation in over a year, Ron and I have decided to practice what we preach and take a little time off. We'll be monitoring our email and telephone messages while we're away, and all book orders placed next week will be shipped out on the 7th of July. Have a great week everyone!

Our next Concierge Webinar^TM is July 16-17 -- Why travel to a seminar when you can attend one in the comfort of your own home or office? Plus you will still get the benefit of a group seminar! The Concierge Webinar^TM offers exceptional convenience and is cost-effective as it is done via your individual computers in the comfort of your home or office.

Attention Triangle Grads!!! Earlena "Cookie" Morris has started a group on LinkedIn for Triangle Graduates. LinkedIn is a professional social networking tool, and a great way to display your recommendations from your clients and colleagues regarding your services. Just click here to join: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1957608/eml-grp-sub/

Katharine will be in LAS VEGAS in September! Hope to see you all there!!!

NEWS from ICEA

ICEA's annual membership drive! ICEA is about to launch it's annual membership drive. If you are an ICEA member, for every person that signs up for membership under your name, you'll receive 5 ICEA dollars to use towards your dues, an item in the ICEA bookstore or the upcoming conference. Make sure that your referral puts your name on the on-line form under "referred by" so that we can make sure you get the credit!

If you used to be an ICEA member and just can't afford to re-new your dues, it's our pleasure to offer the same program to you. For every person you refer, you'll receive 5 ICEA dollars that will go towards your dues. Refer 20 people to us and your dues are free!

ICEA has a new Certified Concierge Specialist program - The certification program has been designed to recognize those individuals who understand professionalism is more than joining an association. In order to attain and retain the CCS designation, there is some specific criteria that you must meet. Just visit ICEA website for more information. The application can be found in the members-only section.

2009 ICEA Annual Conference, October 21 - 24, 2009, Glasgow, Scotland --- HURRY AND REGISTER!! Earlybird deadline is June 30th! Click here for more information

The Coaches Corner

The Coaches Corner with Katharine Giovanni

The world experienced three great losses this month ...

Ed McMahon - who brought us the gift of laughter

Farrah Fawcett - who brought us beauty and grace

Michael Jackson - who brought us the gift of music

Three incredible icons who taught us to never lose your ability to laugh and play. We learned to always keep laughing, keep dreaming and keep reaching for the stars.

The world is in an interesting place right now. Companies are falling, economies are crumbling and people are leaving.

It is not the end.

It is the beginning.

We are on the precipice of change.

Light always overshadows darkness and wins the day.

Peace comes out of chaos.

Keep your chin up and allow faith and hope to carry you through. A new world is being born. A world filled with hope, peace and prosperity. Keep your eye on your dreams and don't look back.

Stay the course and never give up your dream. Stay strong.

And when the world beats you down?

Remember the laughter.

Remember the beauty.

Remember the music.

You are all a gift to the world and your contribution to it is priceless.

In peace,

Katharine

Quote of the Month ...

Feature Article - 1

Social Networking - Market to the Whole World and Watch Your Revenue Skyrocket
By Kimberly Reddington

With the advent of Web 2.0 came the ability to communicate with people from all over the world in more ways than anyone ever thought possible. It is absolutely amazing how anyone can now connect with anyone else on the internet. Your Average Joe is connecting and communicating with famous people and millionaires. Have you ever wanted to ask George Bush a question? The internet makes it so easy.

One of my husband's close friends is two connections away from Hillary Clinton and John McCain in his LinkedIn account. Would you like an introduction? One of my role models that I follow intensely is Anthony Robbins. He recently launched a blog and created a Twitter account. I can now ask him anything, or tell him anything. He reads his blog comments himself and posts tweets to his twitter account personally. If I'm lucky he may even send me an answer.

As far as marketing goes, I was speaking to a good friend of mine the other day about how she markets her distribution company. Her business markets offline and online. 90% of their online marketing is free and 80% of her business comes from online efforts. Her business grossed $1.3 million last year.

I was reading an article the other day about a company that was doing really well with their offline marketing efforts. It took a few years for them to be convinced that adding online marketing could boost their business. They finally took the plunge. Their business skyrocketed by 40% in just a few months. They are now putting a new marketing plan in place that will turn some of their offline marketing efforts into online. They have found their online marketing to be more effective. They can market online to more people for less money.

Social networking seems to be the biggest hype of all. Most online social networking efforts are free to very inexpensive. A few popular sites that are considered part of social networking are twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, ning.com, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and more. It takes a little effort to get some payoff with social networking, but when you are consistent with your efforts it can go a long way to driving traffic to your website, increasing your exposure and establishing yourself as an expert in your field of business.

Not only can social networks bring you closer to your customers and offer them a way to learn to trust you, but it can be fun, too!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kimberly Reddington, Moms in Business Thoughtleader for CereusWomen.com, teaches moms how to turn their skills and talents into a successful home-based service business and to find a balance between their business and their family. Discover Kim's popular special report by visiting [http://www.cereuswomen.com/]http://www.CereusWomen.com; Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kimberly_Reddington http://EzineArticles.com/?Social-Networking---Market-to-the-Whole-World-and-Watch-Your-Revenue-Skyrocket&id=2211501

Ron's Rants and Raves with Ron Giovanni

Ron is always ranting about something. Sometimes he rants because something irritated him, other times he offers a life or business tip to help people out.

From politics to family life to sensitive issues, you can bet that Ron will rant about it. He understands that not everyone will agree with him! He's not trying to change opinions, he's just ranting.

Here are Ron’s thoughts for the week …

Hello everyone,

I need to vent about my hard drive.

Now I know what you are all thinking ... why do I want to read about your hard drive? How boring is that? Actually, I'm not talking about the hard drive on my computer, I'm talking about the hard drive in my brain.

The other night at 3:54 AM, my hard drive (my brain) decided it wanted to run, and run it did. In fact, it ran until I decided to get up and turn on the TV at 5:15 AM. I then moved onto coffee at 6:15 AM.

We've all had the experience of sitting at our desk and all of sudden our computers, for no apparent reason, starts it hard drive and runs a program. Since you did not click on anything, you wonder what caused it to start. Well my brain decided it was going to do exactly that and it started going through the many different files I have stored up there. I thought about business, worried about my two sons, thought about our vacation, and on and on it went. My brain's hard drive pulled and processed all sorts of files! It just kept jumping from one file to another, from one idea to another. Unfortunately, unlike my computer, I did not have buttons to click that could potentially stop it. I cannot understand why this happens to me. Everyone else in the house was sleeping soundly. Not me! I have a hard drive that needs to run these programs back to back to back. It drove me crazy.

Here's the difference between my brain's hard drive and my computer's ... my computer has the control-alt-delete function so I can shut the programs down. I can't do this with my brain, although I wish I could at 3:54 AM. I know that I am constantly thinking about things. In fact, Katharine often tells me that I need to stop thinking as I'm going to hurt myself or burnout. J I am always trying to find ways to do things differently, to make things better, and to find solutions to problems. I just don't want to do it at 3:54 AM. Now if your control-alt-delete does not work and your computer hard drive keeps running, you can shut down the computer. I can't do the same to my brain because there is no off button! So I just lie there, rolling over and over, again and again.

At least I have a remote control that will take my brain in another direction. Maybe just maybe it will stop running those annoying files so that it can absorb something new. In my sleep deprived state, I was the perfect candidate to buy something that I don't need. Eventually I decided that falling back asleep was not a good idea, so I proceeded to the coffee pot, which takes me on another ride ... a ride fuel by caffeine. But that is another story for another day.

Do you all know that for $39.95, you can buy a magic program and become a millionaire? Wow! Amazing that I could become a millionaire by buying a program for $39.95. Oh boy, a prescription for my hard drive problems, and it is right there when my hard drive is running! If I only slept with my credit card then I too could be a millionaire ... for only $39.95. I guess if there are a million others whose hard drives are running like mine, and they kept their credit cards next to them, I guess there will be a millionaire made. I'm just not sure it will be me, not for $39.95.

Have a wonderful and safe 4^th of July. I hope you have a nice quiet, restful nights of slumber. Remember to never keep your credit card near you in the middle of the night, or you might be making someone a millionaire, and odds are it is not you.

Warmest regards,

Ron

Feature Article - 2

Funny Questions About Life
By Hal Eisenberg

Those Funny Questions About Life Keep On Coming.

Ever had one of those funny questions about life? Then please read on.

When it comes to funny questions and thoughts about life, every time think I've seen them all I find one I've never seen before or come up with more of my own. The following are some of the ones I've discovered or written however, I know there's more because thats, well... life. So, if you find while reading these funny questions and thoughts about life make you smile, pass them along. All right, let's get started!

Humorous questions - Group 1 Why does Hawaiian pizza also contain Canadian Bacon? Grape Nuts cereal. No grapes - no nuts. Huh? What's the difference between regular ketchup and fancy ketchup? Do Dutch people always split the bill? If you use Miracle Whip on Wonder Bread, do you have to use Heavenly Ham?

Wacky Questions about life - Group 2 Is there ever a day that mattresses aren't on sale? They make bullet proof vests, why not bullet proof pants? Why are oriental rug stores always going out of business? Is there any difference between partly cloudy and partly sunny?

Mildly amusing Questions about life - Group 3 If it only takes one match to start a forrest fire, why on earth does it take me a whole box of matches and a can of lighter fluid to light my grill? When they ship those styrofoam peanuts, what do they pack them in? How do you know when pickles or sour cream has gone bad?

Zany Questions about life - Group 4 How does one know when their bagpipes need tuning? Allstate Insurance has a disclaimer that reads: not available in all states. What? If Donkey Kong's main character is a monkey, why isn't it called Monkey Kong? Why does the word lisp have an "s" in it?

Questions about life - Group 5 How come you never read the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"? The next time someone says, "Now I've seen everything", ask them if they've ever seen a UPS truck parked in a parking space. Has anyone ever really seen a Jolly Rancher? If you get a club soda stain, how do you remove it?

Funny Questions about life - Group 6 Has anyone (besides Donald Trump's wife) ever been fooled by a comb over? Is it really possible to change the direction of a bowling ball by waving your hands? There's senior citizens, so why aren't there junior citizens?

Funny Questions about life - Group 7 They say laughter is the best medicine - so who came up with the phrase, "I died laughing"? Why do doctors leave the room when your getting dressed? After all, they've already seen you naked. What's wrong with the United States? They only have two choices for President, but fifty for Miss America. Any reason they nail down the lid of a coffin? When butterflies get upset or nervous, what do they get in their stomachs?

Funny Questions about life - Group 8 Where do they put price stickers on non-stick pans? If it's called lipstick, why is it always coming off? When they sing, "Take me out to the ball game" they're already there. Why? Who's idea was it to make the word abbreviation so long?

Yes, these are just a few of the Funny Questions about life that try men's - and women's souls. And there's a ton more funny questions about life not listed here. Some of them come to me during the course of a day. For example, why does every shampoo bottle say, lather, rinse, repeat? I'm sorry, did I miss my head entirely the first time or do you just want to sell more shampoo? If you have or have thought up any funny questions of life yourself, feel free to send them along and thanks for wasting a few minutes of your life pondering these funny questions of life. Now get out there and do something good. Like figuring out what people in China call their good plates.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hal Eisenberg is a freelance writer and author. He is also the proud co-owner of kiddiekort.com If you'd like to get in touch, you can reach him at http://funny-questions.blogspot.com; Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hal_Eisenberg http://EzineArticles.com/?Funny-Questions-About-Life&id=2252084

Calendar of Industry Events

To see a complete listing of upcoming workshop dates, please click here

JULY 2009

July 16-17

The Concierge Webinar ^TM

Click here for more information

The webinar you conducted was fantastic! This is great for people that cannot attend your class in person. The information was very insightful and easy to understand. I have been wanting to start a concierge service for a while but did not know how to do it. You gave me a plan that I can implement today. Thanks to you, my dream is manifesting right before my eyes. God Bless You and Ron. Renee Harp, Luxury Lifestyle Managers, LLC, Detroit, Michigan

Click here to read some comments from our clients

SEPTEMBER 2009

Katharine is coming to Las Vegas!

September 24-25

The Concierge Masters Seminar^TM

The Canyon Gate Country Club

Las Vegas, NV

Click here for more information

Thoroughly enjoyed your workshop and the group of people involved. The staff at the Club were truly amazing. What a wonderful bunch. It was well worth the trip from Toronto. Lots of information to present and cover but the nice thing about a group workshop is the learning from each other. Everyone has something to bring to the table. You did a great job of keeping it interesting and keeping it moving. I now have a better understanding of what I need to do next and have been doing so since my return from Raleigh. Thanks again and I'm sure we'll be in touch. Diane Goldsmith, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Click here to read some comments from our clients

OCTOBER - ICEA CONFERENCE!!!

2009 ICEA Annual Conference

October 21 - 24, 2009

Swallow Hotel Glasgow

517 Paisley Road West
Glasgow, Scotland

Click here for more information

Please visit our Resource Center for new helpful products and services ... http://www.triangleconcierge.com/resource-center.html

The Concierge Directory

Everyone can join the directory, there is no fee. All that we ask is that you link back to us on your website.

If you are a graduate of the Triangle Masters Academy, don't forget to email us your listing for the directory! All our grads get a special logo next to their name as well as a detailed listing. Here's the link to check it out ... http://www.triangleconcierge.com/concierge_directory.htm

If you would like to exchange links with us and get your company listed in our free directory, then please visit our website for the details at Triangle Concierge Inc.

Administrative Details

The Triangle Times is a monthly newsletter that offers a mix of business and motivational articles and is sent out to clients from Triangle Concierge, Triangle International, NewRoad Publishing, and KatharineGiovanni.com. Please pass this newsletter along to anyone you like. We hope you enjoy it!

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