On dream setting

The time has come I that reaffirm and recommit to my future, my roots in service and destiny for greatness.

When I was young, I went through all the traditional phases of "what do you want to be when you grow up?," just like we all have. There was the astronaut: first woman on Mars, to be precise, dream; right around Mrs. Mason's homeroom days, Grade 2. There have been movie star and Broadway actress dreams, revolutionary scientist dreams, newsreporter, firewoman and even superhero. Those that know me well know that 5th grade cemented my true course: I was madly determined to work with, study, and understand marine mammals. The other dreams faded away as my future became so very clear: dolphin trainer, dolphin researcher, marine mammal educator. And I worked. And worked. And studied. And planned. And worked. And researched. And changed majors. And worked harder. And exchanged to Hawaii. And Graduated. And planned some more. And applied. And interned. And BAM! It's been 2.5 absolutely incredible years living my lifelong dream, training and working with, bottlenosed dolphins. I do not take a single day for granted, because I know that every person has, trapped within the depths of their soul, that single dream that they may not have been able to reach. Sometimes dreams get lost along the way. Sometimes they change. Sometimes we give up on them. And here I am, so incomprehensibly living mine out on a daily basis. The luck! The work! The combination of both!

Having been blessed to be a part of that minute percentage of those that nail their dreams to the wall, I find myself in the most peculiar stage. What is so vexing me: after achieving all you set out to achieve, what now? Where does the next dream begin? I spent so long preparing for this accomplishment, that it seems I forgot to plan the afterward. After dreaming so long and so hard, and fixating on the realization of the singular, I suddenly found myself teetering. A dreamer and a doer, I must have direction, or the equilibrium is all wrong. I feel as if I have traveled back through a wormhole, back to those early days of dream scheming, back to time when I hadn't yet cemented my path.

As I find myself immersed in my dream job, I have been shown the true importance of always having dreams to work on. So as I slipped back into my second-grade self, I had to seriously analyze what I want to spend that next wave of effort on. I needed to decide on a course that will allow me to dream concurrently, so I can pursue the dream i always had, while reinvigorating myself in new endeavors. In the end, it all goes back to my roots. Established by my family and a deeply innate desire to affect positive change in the world, my soul has always yearned to be great. To use the gifts I have been given to impact others, to be a voice for those that have none, and a solution, rather than a problem. I have been lucky enough to attain my most selfish dream, to move thousands of miles away from those I love to put all of my eggs in one basket and hope I got the chance to work with the animals who have touched my life since my earliest memories. Now it's time to get back to the Corlin habit. :-) The new dream is, and always has been, about service to others. It is what I was meant to do, and by gum, this is gonna be BIG.

Enter the new dream: To reinvent charitable giving to harness the power of our globalized society, and use this system to effectuate a leveraged response to the worldwide hunger epidemic. Wow. There's a lot there. I will break it down in a future post. Here's a bit about it to start.
The good news: I don't have to reinvent charitable giving, there's a billion-dollar company that has already done this.
The better news: I am leading a movement based on the team effort of the people I care most about ("with our powers combined...") and all of us can run concurrent dreams. In fact, this movement is a revolution not only because of the impact on the hungry, but it is revolutionary because it is incentivised giving. Welcome to the world of Philanthrocapitalism. (More on this later).
The best news: I can effectuate change in a global way, something until now I have lacked the power to do. I have always believed in the power of ONE, as that single person can absolutely make a difference. Yet, while the power of one can be a powerful message, it is the power of a network, of a team, that is going to have the real capacity to move mountains.

How does this work? Well that's my post for tonight. ;-) Stay tuned. Thanks for reading, and for daring to believe in the incredible potential contained within this revolutionary idea.

Xango reaches ONE MILLION meal packs! Check out the Press Release

LEHI, UT – XanGo, LLC announces a significant milestone in its efforts to feed severely malnourished children and adults around the world, with the donation of its 1 millionth meal through the XanGo Meal Pack program. Distributed through a grant from the XanGo Goodness charity program in partnership with global health and disaster relief organization AmeriCares, the XanGo Meal Packs provide needed sustenance to those suffering from chronic malnutrition, illness, displacement due to war or natural disaster and extreme poverty across Latin America, Africa and Asia.

“Involvement in important causes and improving the quality of life of others are key values at XanGo, and our ongoing Meal Pack program provides a tangible way for our distributors to practice this virtue,” said XanGo President A. Craig Hale. “Having recently been on the ground with AmeriCares in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I can say with confidence that these meals are being used efficiently and make a true difference in extending the quality of life of their recipients.”

The XanGo Meal Packs, formulated with a high-density oat flour base containing essential fats, minerals and vitamins, are designed to nourish those on the brink of starvation who cannot assimilate solid foods. The Meal Packs are the first step out of starvation for many users. Purchased by individual XanGo distributors around the globe, the Meal Packs are shipped to AmeriCares’ global partners with distribution costs donated through the XanGo Goodness charity program. The Meal Packs are then used in hospitals, clinics and refugee centers. Since the program launched in October 2007, meals have been served in Cambodia, Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Myanmar, Haiti and El Salvador.

“AmeriCares partnership with XanGo has helped improve access to good nutrition in Cambodia and Malawi,” said Randy Weiss, director of corporate relations at AmeriCares, a nonprofit global health and disaster relief organization. “AmeriCares vision is to help many more people live longer, healthier lives and a healthy diet is an essential component. We look forward to continuing to work with XanGo to deliver donated Meal Packs and provide essential nutrients to help reduce the rates of malnutrition for both children and adults around the world.”

Haiti Relief Efforts by Xango Goodness

I opened my email today to find the following message from our Xango CEO, Robert Conlee. It brought tears of pride to my eyes as I read about the massive outpouring of effort by this incredible company and its distributors. Sometimes I am still caught unaware that a billion-dollar company can actually have a soul... and then, enter Xango Nation. There's no place like home.

Haiti Relief
In the past few days, the world has heard and seen harrowing accounts of the human suffering in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday. It is no surprise to us at XanGo that many distributors have expressed a desire to help provide XanGo Meal Packs and other humanitarian aid to this hart-hit island nation. We appreciate your expressions of care and concern, and we share your desire to assist the Haitian people in the most efficient manner possible.

Almost since the news broke, XanGo, LLC and the XanGo Goodness Foundation have been working together with our global health and disaster relief partner AmeriCares to assess conditions on the ground. As you might imagine, right now the biggest needs are essential items like drinking water and medical supplies. Given the magnitude of this catastrophe, the needs in Haiti are just beginning to be understood and will continue to be revealed in the days, weeks and months to come.

Rest assured that XanGo remains in very close contact with AmeriCares and its staff, which has just arrived on the ground in Haiti today. We have discussed the need for Meal Packs in Haiti, and we anticipate that a shipment will be sent in the near future and distributed to those most in need through AmeriCares’ trusted partners. XanGo is well equipped to respond rapidly, in large part thanks to the recent increase in Meal Pack donations resulting from the One More Wish promotion.

We thank you, our XanGo Distributors, for your consistent desire to help and your compassion expressed for the Haitian people. We will continue to inform you as we determine with AmeriCares the best ways to assist this massive global undertaking.

If interested in making a financial contribution, click here to donate to the XanGo Goodness Foundation. Please make sure you note your reason for the contribution as “Haiti relief” and we will ensure the money is used to assist AmeriCares’ ongoing efforts.

Sincerely,
Robert Conlee
CEO

Simplify

My 2010 anthem comes from the amazing Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband from the incredible album "Dream Big."

"Simplify"

I say what the hey I've got bills to pay
I work all day I got no time to play
And what's more, knocking on my door
Is the tax collector and I'm poor
See there's too many bills too many pills
Too many features and too many frills
No money, too many things to buy
Too many ways to split the pie
I've got to simplify
Simplify my life
I've got to simplify
Simplify

I've got to smell the flowers enjoy the ride
I've got to open up my eyes and see what's outside
All the things I miss each day
'Cause I'm driving in the fast lane
And it's making me insane
And I don't want to be that way
I want to be free today
From responsibility that brings excess duress
I've got to enjoy more and stress less
I've got to simplify
Simplify my life
I've got to simplify
Simplify

That's great, I'm late
I'm always in a hurry for a meeting in the state
Of confusion, a delusion
An illusion I've taken much too far
I'm always living in the future or the past
But time flies too fast I've got to make it last
So enjoy, relax, chill out
Just give it a try
I've got to simplify
Simplify my life
I've got to simplify

Happy 2010!

Xango Goodness - Straight Up

The following is the introduction I am using for the Xango Goodness Network Giving project. 2010 is about simplification and streamlining for me... so here's the first product.

 _________________________________________________________________________

     Xango is an 8 year old billion dollar premier health and wellness company. They make incredible high-impact health products that I have personally had a lot of success using. I became a distributor initially because of the products and the business model. What I have discovered since becoming a distributor is something that I never believed could actually exist: the chance to become a professional philanthropist. A Xango "Philanthropreneur" is an independent distributor who is building a business by helping provide meals to starving children around the global through a process called Network Giving.

Here is Xango Goodness Network Giving in a nutshell:

     Xango created a life-changing product called the Xango Meal Pack; a dry powder formulation that, when mixed with water, can be used to bring the most malnourished children in countries around the world back from the brink of starvation. Xango Goodness distributors place an order each month for the meals to be delivered by AmeriCares directly to children in need. When a distributor shares the program with others who want to be a part of this movement and they also purchase meal packs, the distributor is eligible to receive a commission on those meal packs. Thus, distributors are able to make an exponentially larger impact because they are leveraging the power of others to feed more children than they ever could by simply making a donation to a charitable organization. The commissions that are paid back as a distributor could be an income source for the distributor (which is incredible); but even more amazingly, they could actually be an income source for an organization, community group or house of worship! This program has the potential to be a fundraiser for organizations that actually provides meals to starving children at the same time. I have never seen anything like it. The distributorship is a legal home-based, income-generating business, which means distributors are eligible for all of the tax advantages that come with owning your own business. On top of it all, AmeriCares provides distributors with contribution summaries at the year end that can be used to earn tax credits to pay you back for your donations! 

     This concept truly is a revolution in charitable giving. It has always been my dream to be a Philanthropreneur; I just never believed it possible until now. With the Xango Goodness Project, I have finally found a way to make the global impact I have longed for.

The following link will take you to a video that will provide more insight:

http://www.doingwelldoinggood.info

XANGO Goodness
Over one million meals have been donated through the leveraged efforts of Xango Distributors.

Join the movement.

On a roll in 2010

Well it's 2010 and I'm busier than ever. I'm gearing up to participate in an incredible training workshop series put together by the incomparable Pat Petrini. I'm setting up appointments to share the Goodness project with many longtime friends. I'm getting PUMPED for Vegas and am designing some totally awesome invitations for my team to BE THERE. And tonight marked the first Xango Team Hawaii Goodness Tuesday meeting at ING Waikiki. We've streamlined our Goodness Presentation to 30 minutes so we're making the first 30 minutes of every Tuesday night meeting a Goodness Opportunity Meeting. Awesome! I then came home to draft a Goodness Introduction email that I'm using to share the Goodness message with people I love. There's so much to Xango as a company that it can easily be overwhelming at the outset. That's one of the reasons I am so crazy about the meal packs. They are so straightforward and easy to package if you only have a short amount of time. They're not complicated so they don't need a complicated explanation. I decided to post the introduction here because I think it's an accurate example of my most important points. Check it out... I made it its own post.

p.s. Will "Events" Chen is awesome. Thanks for the preparations all this week, for spending time with me at ING early to set up and then powering into next week with a righteous attitude. Also to Frank for getting the word out to everyone...and for Diana for coming (with cookies) and bringing Lucy to welcome to the team!

Love this Life

Today I had the best meeting ever. I got to seemingly slide into my parent's living room to be a part of my Mom's Xango Goodness Party, share my story via Skype and then "be in the room" while Jenn and Ona shared the amazingness that IS Xango Goodness. How cool!! Then I spent the rest of the day reconnecting with old friends and sharing the Xango Goodness project. Have you seen this video yet?

Xango Goodness Foundation

There's also a new Goodness Foundation website too: www.XangoGoodness.org

I get all teary when I watch my family immerse themselves in this opportunity... think of what we can do: TOGETHER. :-)