New Blog Monday! Born from inspiration from a friend, some empowering thoughts!

HAPPY MONDAY!! Time for a new blog!*

*I am going to try to keep this short..ish :) but I'm a sneaky one. .there are lots of links to great things, and even more from me, so it only 'seems' short!

I have a good friend, Nish, that always seems to "know" what I am working on and dreaming about even though we rarely see each other...

Lately, for instance, I have really been thinking about how AMAZING this little business called 'Giving Tree Jewelry' is. In fact, I can't think of any other business I would consider as special. And I say this with absolute objectivity :) because so much of what makes me feel this way, has more to do with YOU than it does with US. In short, I think Giving Tree has the greatest customers in the world! And after I watched the video Nish sent, I realized that my admiration of you all, and my desire to help create the best business for you was the best source of inspiration I could ask for!

Here is what Nish sent:

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

This is a video from the amazing website www.ted.com
This video is pretty geared towards business, but in a nutshell the speaker explains that for any business to be 'great' you have to start with the "why" you are doing it, not the "what" it is that you are doing.
I realized, quite quickly, after watching, that I want to make Giving Tree a wonderful business so that I can reciprocate all the happiness our customers have brought to us! It was quite a revelation, especially at about 5:30 am today:). And I found myself so inspired, I even updated our "About Us" story to try to account for the last 5 years. Check it out! (See how I snuck more in here ;))

I love the Ted.com website. For those that don't know, it's a collection of talks on just about anything and everything that is good in the world!

Another one (from Nish, of course.. he of all things totally 'right on' and 'pitch perfect' for me) that really went a long way in giving me the courage and road map to begin to start actualizing another big dream of mine (yes, stay tuned :)) was this one:

http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_vaynerchuk_do_what_you_love_no_excuses.html

To my friends (you) following dreams, endeavoring to launch or nurture a creation, I say watch it!

Here are two other perennial favorites


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html
(thank you Khanh! You are an inspiration for me!)



http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
(thank you Amy for the introduction! You're SO cool! I've now watched it about 100 times, never without crying)



All of this to say, thank you Nish for the source of the revelation, and thank you to all of YOU that support and believe in Giving Tree, and give us our beautiful answer to the question of "why"?

With wishes for endless inspiration and revelation!
Rachel, NYC, 5/17/10