I remember when I got my first real job. I was so excited! I brought home my official offer letter and showed it to my wife. She looked at the annual salary and said, “$11,900 a year?” I said, yeah, but I can make commissions! She said it wouldn’t even pay our monthly bills. It was then that I realized that I had to rely on myself in order to provide for my family – that my hard work and efforts would directly affect my income.

It wasn’t long before I ended up working for a great manager and mentor. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he used to take me on these little “Dream Building” field trips. Every few weeks, we would take a drive into some nicer neighborhoods and look at homes. He would slowly drive around these neighborhoods and pull up in front of a house for sale and say, “Can you imagine living in that house?” I would honestly say, “No, I can’t.” He would then look over at me and say, “Well, if you can’t imagine it, you will never achieve it.” He would then pull away. I remember sitting there in his car and thinking, “huh, he is right, but I don’t have enough money to live in a house like that.” As I started making more money, I started to actually believe that I could live in some of those houses. I started to believe in myself and I began to imagine living in those neighborhoods. So, when we would pull up in front of a house for sale, I would jump out of the car and grab a flyer for the home. I would then bring the flyer back to my work-space and I would hang it up with the others that I was collecting. This is where my dreams began.

I remember he asked me one day what my dream car was? I told him a Porsche Carrera. We drove over to the Porsche dealership and walked in. As we walked through the doors, I remember seeing a black Carrera sitting in the middle of the showroom floor. I walked over, opened up the door, sat down on the seat, adjusted it a bit, grabbed on to the steering wheel and could not believe how good it felt to be sitting in that car. The smell of leather, the sport seats and the feeling of the steering wheel in my hands. Wow! This was my dream car. I knew then, that at some point in my life, I would be driving that car. So I got a brochure and the price from the sales person and hung it up in my work-space.

From that point on, every call I made, every appointment I set, every time I got in early and stayed late, I saw those dreams on my wall. I knew that if I worked hard and focused my energy and attention on my future goals, I could and would achieve it! But first, I had to believe in myself.

As we begin 2012, The Year of the Dragon, what a great time to re-evaluate our goals, our dreams and our desires for life. Take some time over this holiday, write down your short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. Share them with those around you that can help you achieve them…we are all in this life together, hoping for the same three things in life: Better Health, More Wealth and True, Genuine Happiness!

Now is the time to Take Back Your Life!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Al Diaz Jr.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

While Internet branding offers huge opportunities for business, in order for it to be effective one needs to attract and engage its customers.  This isn’t easy on the internet. Branding is not as easy as putting up a website and adding your company logo and slogan. Your internet branding strategy should make your online brand noticeable and apparent.

Branding utilizes hi-tech tools to create an online presence for your business. Graphics and animation, a compelling web copy, and overall website design that reflect your company are some of the important elements that will bring your online brand alive. An attractive website that helps customers easily and quickly find the information they need is the key to getting customer interaction and eventually, business. Your branding plan should include good design elements and ease of use to create an effective overall impression.

A strong online image will make the difference between a customer who buys from you online or switches to your competitors. Remember, that online customers can just leave your site and go to your competitors at the click of a mouse. A lot depends on the impression they get from your site. Branding seeks to convey an immediate unique message about your business to your target clients.

As you can see, there are many requirements for a successful branding strategy. Hiring a branding specialist might be helpful to give you focus on your efforts in creating an online presence that will become a valuable asset to your business

Branding Yourself  is much more than just a thoughtful logo or slogan and it’s more than just a unique color scheme. Below are the initial steps that need to be taken in order to start your successful brand image.

Step 1: Examine the Competition

One of the keys to creating a successful brand image is to separate yourself from your competition. You will need to know how consumers see your competition. You need to recognize how your competitors differentiate themselves from others. Also, you should know your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Your business can benefit from knowing this information by learning from their weaknesses, and learning how to differentiate your company from the competition.

Step 2: Identify Your Strengths

Now that you know your competition’s weaknesses you can begin to focus on your company’s strengths. Perform a target market analysis, learn from it, and use it to your advantage. This is a useful tool to confirm your company’s strengths are in fact important to your target market. Once you’ve realized your strengths, and what strengths are important to customers, you can think about ways to successfully market these to the public and involve them in your branding campaign.

Step 3: Know Your Customer

Learn more about the customer. Know their purchasing behavior. How often do they buy? Do they buy only during sales or promotions? Do they buy an array of products or services or just a select few? These are questions you should ask to better market to your customers. Also, know your customer’s lifestyles, needs, mindsets, and attitudes. Knowing and working with these personality traits are also key to marketing success.

Step 4: Be Your Brand

Make sure your company truly represents what your brand identifies you with. For example, if one of the traits your brand identifies your company with is politeness, be polite. This means every employee from the receptionist all the way up to the CEO needs to live your brand.

Holidays bring out emotional pain. This time of year can be difficult for any one who has suffered a loss. Should you be missing loved ones this holiday, rejoice in the knowledge that they are with God. Don’t push yourself today; allow yourself that time to grieve.

For those who may be feeling depressed this Thanksgiving holiday, open your heart to giving. Helping other people in need is a wonderful way to celebrate the day and may make you feel less alone. Check out communities in your area that may need volunteers during the holidays- example: soup kitchens, shelters, hospitals or reach out to your local church.

Life is full of unexpected changes. Death is very much a part of life. Whatever you do today, don’t cover up your feelings of depression and isolation. Own up to those feelings and know that you’re not alone. Somewhere today, someone is feeling the same way that you are.

Today on this Thanksgiving Day please remember, though the harvest might not always be plentiful, family and friends may be few, God has given us each a great deal to be thankful for. It’s my experience that it’s much easier to thank God for our blessing than to find a way to be thankful in the midst of our troubles.

I’m thankful that I have the strength to meet the challenges that come with life. I’m thankful for each memory that family and friends have given me. I’m thankful for having a profound understanding that it is more important to give than to receive. This Thanksgiving I have much to be thankful for.

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser

Today be thankful for what you have to give, not just what you have received.

Happy Thanksgiving

Al Diaz Jr.

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Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It’s more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It’s more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company….a church….a home. The remarkable the attitude we will embrace for that day. Cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how we react to it. We are in charge of our ATTITUDE.

I have come back to YOLI and it’s Family.

After 2 years looking for the right company to call it home.  Yoli comes out with a new plan and a Better Y Body program.

Come and check out a short video why I call YOLI my Home!