How I feel…
Lots of emails going out today… This Pinata represents today… the changes… and Yes! I am going to write more… at least three times a week! This blog… the more personal… the feelings, the stress… the inner workings of my mind and “eyes”!
Welcome… welcome everyone.
I am very happy that everyone could attend today…
This is our sixth Christmas party… We opened Exportadora Camino Norte in October 2005!
So to all of our guests… we, at Exportadora Camino Norte, say thank you for coming today!!!
Over the years we have developed certain traditions here… some planned and others by accident…
One tradition is that I always give a speech at all of our parties… I think this tradition was an accident! But it would not be a party without one now…
Our Christmas party is the most important party of the year… it is a time for us to have fun, to celebrate the past year and to look forward to the next year… it is also a time for us to say thanks… to each other and to our friends…
So to everyone here… I say thanks… thanks for being a part of something very special… When people visit here for the first time… they never leave without telling me just how special this place is… that this place has a feeling that they don’t feel when visiting other companies. They see how we work together… act together and help each other… and they are amazed…
Every year I always say thanks to individuals… for what they’ve contributed to the company, how they’ve changed and how much I appreciate them…
But this year… I want everyone who works for Exportadora Camino Norte to stand up….
OK everyone… stand up!!! No exceptions…
This year… instead of saying thanks to any one person… I want to say thanks to all of you… at one time…
This year is the year that we became a team… in every meaning of the word!
We’re a team because you allow each other to do what each does best… you focus on what people can do… not what they can’t do… We’re a team because we have so many differences… each of us is unique… and yet you allow each other to be who they are… to be themselves… We’re a team because you care about each other and watch out for each other… We’re a team because together we do so much more than 21 individuals could ever do working by themselves.
Exportadora Caminmo Norte… Thank you and I believe 2012 is going to be a great year… for ECN, for Rose ann Hall Designs and for each of us…
Now Mom… you get to stand up… for our visitors… if you don’t know by now… this is my mother… Rose Ann Hall… she started Rose Ann Hall Designs in 1985… and rose ann hall designs represents ECN in the U.S. rose ann hall designs has always sold products produced in Mexico and only Mexico!!!
In 2011, my mom returned to work after a six year vacation!!! It’s good to have you back!!! And your work has definitely paid off! Thank you!! And I hope we at ECN have made you proud…
To all of our visitors… you’re here today because you play a role in the success of this company… either directly or by being important to me in my personal life… or my family’s lives… so I want to say thank you to each of you…
What started out as a crazy dream… has become a reality today… it is nothing short of a miracle… there was a movie in the U.S. 20 something years ago… it has a very famous line… the line is… “if you build it they will come” and that’s what we’ve done here… we started something, kept working at it, and people came… they bought and they continue to buy!
Everyone that works here is a part of that… and more importantly each of you are artists… When our customers receive our products, not only do they say the products are beautiful works of art… but also the packing… Now if we can only make them feel that way about the invoice…
Six years ago when I arrived in Mexico… I never could have imagined that we could have accomplished all of the things that we have… I never could have imagined how those accomplishments could have changed my life in the ways that they have…
To all of you at Exportadora Camino Norte… because of who you are…. how you’ve changed and grown as individuals… the level of pride and talent that you bring to your work… you’ve given me something special in my life…
You have changed my life more than you will ever know… and I am very lucky to be a part of something this special!!! You are the most incredible group of people I have ever had the honor of working with…
You have made me look at my life in new ways… you gave me the desire to change… to try new things… you gave me the incentive to work on areas of my life both in business and personal that needed changing… you gave me back my desire to make a difference in the world… and I can only hope that this company, this place can give you the same desire…
So to ECN… Thank you…
I said that this blog would be honest… It must be… or else it’s just another blog, another compilation of words with little or no value…
I haven’t written in quite some time… It’s not that I haven’t had a lot of thoughts or many things to express. It’s just that there’s so much… so much going on!
Today is the third anniversary of my Dad dying! It was about this time that I quite writing in my old blog… todreamtotouch.blogspot.com I was telling my family the other day… I’ve been in Mexico for six years… The first three years seem to go much slower… I went places, I did thing, I got out more… these past three years… have gone by extremely quick!
What I learned from my Dad dying… the true test of a parent is not when they’re alive… it’s after they’re gone!
It’s ironic… the harder I try, the harder I work, the more seriously that I take things… the more frightened I become…
Seems pretty simple when I write it down on paper… (OK… when I type on the computer… Who writes anymore?)
It’s simple… it has more meaning! It becomes more important. It gains in Value!
Continuation of the story in the previous blog… I hired Suzanna… the girl with no arms. Why keep you in suspense. Of course I did… How could I not?
When I invited her back for a formal interview… I asked her a few questions. Had she ever worked before? No. How much education did she have? Finished her 2nd year of prepatoria… (2 years of high school! How old was she? 23… you can ask that in Mexico! Had she ever looked for a job before? No. WHY?
Her answer: That she didn’t know how! She didn’t know what people would say. So why now? Why us?
Her answer: Because we had other disabled individuals working here maybe she could ask us… Maybe she could work here!
In essence: She would not be alone! Wow! (My reaction!)
Last Friday she finished her first week! She’s back, she’s working… She’s cutting paper and bubble wrap and then wrapping glasses and putting them in a box!
I’ve been fortunate to give jobs to a number of disabled individuals over the past four years… some stay, some go! Some survive, others don’t! You have to want “it”! You have to want to work here… This isn’t a government hand-out or a non-profit institution! This is a “real” company… All I ask is that you do your best and have a good attitude! In that regard everyone is the same…
What I’ve learned: When someone does their best, gives it all that they have… other’s accept them as they are… no questions asked! If only… I had understood this, years ago…
Lessons from the second half of life….
From these lessons come a new and different understanding of life… the value of life and most importantly the sanctity of life!!!
Today… more than ever… I understand that it truly is… “better to give than to receive!”
Happy Thanksgiving!
I used to like to write… It used to be exciting… Things are always exciting when they’re “for fun and for free”. It’s when things become necessary, mandatory, expected that you go from “fun to work”!
What once was fun becomes stressful… because “something” is expected… and you want results! I have my expectations… I want to write, to have fun, to express… for fun and for adventure… But now it’s work… there are lives depending on it! Now there’s
pressure…
Then… there’s you… all of you… Hopefully? What’s the point of writing… especially if it’s mandatory, necessary… of extreme importance! And what if… no one reads it?
What if it doesn’t change the course of the business?
It’s not just writing… it’s every little step… Things are a little difficult at the
moment! Not really bad, but I can see the writing on the wall… depending on what we do, what the economy does.
It also goes back to the core of what this blog is about… going from obscurity to greatness… from being insignificant to being a force in the industry!
But the journey is frustrating… it’s unknown… things are changing
so rapidly in every part of the wholesale industry!
This is actually what happened… as I finished writing that last sentence… a girl with her brother arrived at my office door… the girl has no arms… (I mean from the shoulders down… she was born that way.) And she wants a job! We’re known for hiring disabled individuals! This is important to me… for many reasons… Now… I was born disabled… I know much of the prejudice “out there” and I know uncertainty!
Now… even I have to ask myself… How does a girl with no arms do things… like you… I’ve all seen those amazing videos of people doing all sorts of things with all sorts of disabilities… Hell… some people tell me I should put those out on YOUTUBE… actually I have one… it’s called “Tying my Shoe”
Question: Is she one of them? Is she independent as she claims?
You know what she said… Just give me a chance and let me show you what I can do…
Wow! Like I never said that before… in my 9 years of trying to get a job after college before getting my first corporate position!
But like I said in the beginning of this writing… it’s no longer for “fun and for free”…
TODAY it’s about real life! Real people! In a real world… where jobs and money and
reality all come into play!
What would you do if you were in my position?
P.S. People with their own companies and work force sent her to me! They didn’t hire her… I’m not judging… well I’m trying not to… but it is… the way that she found us!
My staff, two of my top four people and I are in Patzcuaro… We’re taking a few days to get away…. think, strategize, reflect… time to re-energize… time to build stronger bond…
Our focus… Products… new and different! Customer Service… why do we still make mistakes? Sales and Marketing… how to change, adapt to this changing world…!
Sometimes I feel over whelmed… But this time with Mary and Mario has been really good. We’re talking seriously about the issues above.
We’re staying at my Mom’s house in Patzcuaro… Yesterday we visited an old friend… and talked about new products, new ideas and opportunities!
Today we’re going to Tzintzuntzan and Santa Fe de Laguna… talking to, working with new artists and old friends…
Overwhelming times often lead to break-through ideas! I’ll keep saying this… we’re tired of being obscure… little… un-known… our products and our employees are to good not to be noticed!
In 2007 and 2008 I did a blog called TO DREAM TO TOUCH … At times it was quite personal… I’m not afraid to reveal myself… so be prepared! To Dream To Touch.. if you start at the first post and work your way through… at times it reads like a book! I quite writing on it when my Dad died… That was two and a half years ago. Life has definitely had its and downs in these last two years for me. BUT… now the time to write again has come…
This blog will be as personal as the last!
Read: “About” At the top of the Blog… under the wide, landscaped photo… there are two words… “Home” and “About” This will have the philosophy and purpose of the blog, so you can reference it easily!
I am Passionate about this endeavor...
I hope to chronicle an adventure from Obscurity to Greatness: for a company by the name of Rose Ann Hall Designs and her sister company Exportadora Camino Norte… as well as myself!
If this sound a little conceited… a little arrogant… Only time can determine this!
Or it could simply be my vision of the future being projected ahead of time… some might simply call this “the power of positive thinking”…
My mentor in finance used to tell me… no one is going to think more of you than you think of yourself! He used to tell me this before I ever had my first corporate position… Back in the days when no corporation wanted to hire me. But without confidence and without a belief in yourself… making a future for yourself is almost impossible… that was his point.
If you don’t value yourself, believe in your product… no one else will either…
This blog is associated with… Rose Ann Hall Designs they go hand in hand!
