The cruise of a lifetime

Close your eyes for a minute and imagine the cruise of a lifetime.
Imagine you and your spouse, partner or best friend on board ship.
Our cruise ship is the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas.
For seven days, we will cruise the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
We’ll go ashore in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Labadee and Cozumel.
All this while our friends are enduring December’s cold.
Imagine participating in business mastermind sessions.
You’ll discuss your challenges with other business people.
You’ll benefit from their assessments of your opportunities.
You’ll have the benefit of their insights and years of experience.
You’ll learn what they’re doing to survive and thrive.
Imagine enjoying the finest cuisine daily. Sunning and swimming.
Learning the secrets of the ship's master chefs.
Touring the galley and the bridge with the ship's captain.
Meeting fascinating people. Great shows. Dancing the night away.
The cruise director has a full slate of activities for all tastes.
And all of your costs are covered with one cruise fee.
Imagine this as low as $900 each ($1,800/couple).
We leave Port Canaveral, Fla., Dec. 13, for seven days.
We return Dec. 20. You’ll be home in time for the holidays.
A modest $75 deposit by May 15 will hold your space.
We have room for only 32 couples. I want you to have first choice.
Email me at Jerry@JerryBellune for full details on the cruise.
To comment on my blog, please click on "comment" below.
For more about "Your Life’s Great Purpose", please click here.

Make a difference in your own life

Just a quick update on our appearances at four S.C. high schools.
We received a check for books from two retired educators.
Thanks, Al and Evelyn Berry, for your generous donation.
Connie McFarland suggested several other potential donors.
We're now talking with several CEOs about sponsoring books.
The money goes to supply copies of my book to the students.
We’ll talk about life’s great purposes with about 2,000 students.
This is a great opportunity to influence young people positively.
Thanks to Nancy Verburg, Clyde Sanders, Julie Rojek and Kate Lang.
To make a donation, please see the Tuesday, March 24, blog below.
For me to speak to your school, church or club, please email me.
Please suggest the best dates for you and how many in your group.
I’ll help you arrange book sponsors if you need them.
Please email me at Jerry@JerryBellune.com or call 803-331-6695.
I can give you a 20-minute club presentation or up to an hour.
We talk about dreams and goals in the eight critical areas of life.
These include spiritual, family, community and mental growth.
Also health, career, financial goals and what to do for fun.
Setting goals in all eight lead to an exciting and balanced life.
I speak from experience as a once under-motivated teenager.
Today I’m having the time of my life. I want to help you do it, too.
Thursday we’ll talk about our December cruise plans.
We hope you’ll be able to join us in the Caribbean.
To comment on my blog, please click on "comment" below.
For more about "Your Life’s Great Purpose", please click here.

To learn a subject, teach it

Four local high schools have invited me to speak to their students.
I’m excited because they are making important decisions now.
They’re thinking about what they want to do in their lives.
If not, they should be. Now is their time to prepare for adulthood.
The more I teach, I find, the more I learn.
You’ve probably found that, too. Teaching is an exploration.
If you’re not teaching in your home and at work, now’s the time.
Teaching doesn’t have to be formal. We all learn informally.
Sometimes it’s just showing someone else how to do something.
I volunteered to teach advertising at our technical college.
Starting with that class, I was soon teaching other business skills.
It was a great education for me. I had to think about my teaching.
My guest experts deepened my own business understanding.
My new course teaches adults to find their life’s great purpose.
We’ll be starting it in September at Midlands Technical College.
We’re all here for a purpose but we have no instruction manual.
It’s up to us to figure it out, develop a plan and take action.
My course teaches you how to do that in only seven weeks.
If you’re interested in joining this class, email me.
I’ll send you details on where and how to enroll.
Meantime, think about your own expertise and how to share it.
For more on your life’s great purpose, please click here.

Make a difference in a teenager's life

Despite the economy, here’s some good news.
Four local high schools have invited me to talk with their students.
These are Gilbert, Lexington, Pelion and White Knoll.
The topic: Setting goals and finding their life’s great purpose.
We would like to make copies of my book available to them,
We’re looking for sponsors who would help us in this cause.
It’s simple to underwrite copies of Your Life’s Great Purpose.
All of these will go to high school juniors and seniors.
Your gift could make a huge difference in their lives.
A $27 donation sponsors an autographed copy in your name.
A $50 donation sponsors two autographed copies.
A $100 donation sponsors five autographed copies.
A $200 donation sponsors 12 autographed copies.
Your donation will pay for a second printing of the book.
Book sales go to our literacy and learning difficulties foundation.
We’re making a difference in thousands of lives.
If you want to help, please email me at Jerry@JerryBellune.com
Please include your phone number and I’ll call you.
You can make a credit card donation by phone.
For making a minimum $100 donation, I’ll add this incentive:
I’ll send you a personally autographed book for anyone you want.
Know someone who might serve as a book sponsor?
Please tell them about my book and ask them to contact me.
803-331-6695 or Jerry@JerryBellune.com. Thank you.
Not familiar with my book? Please click here.

Enriching your stories

We’ve talked about the power of stories and where to find them.
Today, lets talk about enriching your stories to inspire others.
Have you ever felt awkward or embarrassed? Haven’t we all?
As a teenager, I seemed to have two left feet and stuttered.
There were times when I thought I would just like to die.
But now I can talk about that with confidence. I overcame it.
That kind of experience makes for a much richer story.
How about mistakes and failures? Stupid choices?
The opportunity you let go and someone else made work?
What about those who influenced you and helped you?
How has their example and advice made a difference to you?
What about the fascinating people you been privileged to meet?
How about exotic places you’ve been? Experiences you’ve had?
What about your successes and failures and what you learned?
These experiences and lessons empower your stories.
They make indelible impressions on others. They inspire them.
Two of my favorite storytellers were my father and grandfather.
Their stories of growing up in earlier times fascinated me.
Years later, I’ve realized what an impression they made on me.
Only as an adult did I come to appreciate the lessons they taught.
Your stories will make powerful impressions on others, too.
The best stories share your dreams, goals and great purposes.
Share those with others. They will help you achieve your dreams.
For more on your own great purpose, please click here.