Happy Mother’s Day from Joan

First shared in our 1999 Update, Joan shares about her treasured role as a wife and mother and gives some encouraging advice.

 

Erma Bombeck wrote a fun book to read – Actually all of hers are fun to read.

In her “Motherhood – the second oldest profession” she claims that Motherhood is the biggest on-the-job training program ever.  One of the biggest complaints about motherhood is the lack of training.  Erma claims that motherhood is an art – to be perfected.

Well, I don’t know about that!  I happen to believe that mothers have the greatest training manual in the world –available for both mom and child – God’s Word.

Oftentimes, when I am introduced to someone for the first time, they will ask me, “What do you do?”  Many years ago that tended to be irritating to me.  I guess the irritation worked in me as it did in the oyster shell—because now the “pearl” comes forward in me.  Instead of being irritated, I am proud to answer, “I am Andy’s wife” or “I am Andrea, Sarah, Tim, Mary, and Tommy’s mother.”

This is my title – wife and mother.

Mothers have always been a priority in Premier Designs—and I’d like to pay tribute to all our Jeweler Moms.  You are very special to us.

Your children are your investment!  A Mother’s most important job and the one with the greatest rewards is her work with her children.  Much will be said and written about Mothers these next few days, but no mere words could pay proper tribute to our Mothers.  They are truly investors.

Do you want to experience what the writer of Proverbs 31:28 said?  “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also and he praiseth her.”  Be an investor in the lives of your children.  Invest in them first of all spiritually by teaching them God’s Word from early on.  Take care of their spiritual needs first.  Make sure they know that Jesus loves them.

Secondly, invest in them physically by taking care of their bodies—providing good nourishing meals for them—not McDonald’s every other night!  Encourage them if they are interested in sports activities by attending their games, and, of course, we could all benefit by exercising regularly with our children.

Thirdly, invest in them emotionally.  They need lots of love, hugs, and compliments.  Remember, these “little people” need an investor who sees the opportunity to train her children profitably—not for financial profit, but for the promise of a Godly life bringing glory and honor to our Heavenly Father.

Mary Crowley said it this way:  “A mother is TRUTH with a mop in her hand…BEAUTY with a cake in the oven…WISDOM with a confused bank account, and a MIRACLE OF LOVE with a sick child in her arms.”

How true!  How true!

May I salute all our Premier Moms who are able to reach out to serve others as well as take care of their appointed tasks at home.  I thank you for being there for your children—whether they are grown and establishing their own homes, or whether they are little ones running in the door hollering, “Momma!”  May God bless you with patience and wisdom.  You are precious to Him and to us at Premier.

 

Count it all joy!

Love ya,

Joan

The Personal Touch

Excerpted from a speech given by Joan at the 2007 National Rally

 

Without friends, I would think my life was not complete. Our friends become real treasures. A perfect definition of friendship is this: “Turning complete strangers into friends is what friendship is all about—for all of us.” Isn’t that cool?  We all begin as complete strangers and by keeping it personal, we make lasting friendships. That is the personal touch.

Women need women at all stages of their lives. We all need that personal touch.We need other gals to come alongside and speak our language. We learn from each other while not realizing that or understanding it.

There are several ways for us to build personal relationships into
strong friendships.

• Foremost is personal contact—enjoying each others company
  face to face.
• There is the personal phone call. So much is communicated by the voice. I am sure you have all heard volumes in the words spoken. My friends will say, “You sound so tired today.” Or, “Wow, you must have had a wonderful day.” Or, “Is there something going on…I can tell by your voice.” We can hear so much on the phone.
• There are handwritten words where much is communicated, but not as solidly as hearing the voice personally.

Premier Designs is different and unique. There are several reasons for that. When the Southwest Entrepreneur of the Year award was presented to us they made mention of the different business culture we had built. We were pleased to hear that and gave God the glory for all the commendations we received.

That different culture was easy for us to identify. One of our purposes is to honor God. The Lord is in our business. We believe He raised up Premier Designs for such a time as this. I also am convinced that the difference between Premier and other companies of similar size is that we have a purpose of enriching lives and serving others. That is the real personal touch!

My personal mission in Premier is very simple. I have committed to keep the culture of Premier on a personal level from top to bottom and from side to side. I am asking each one of you to help me to Keep It Personal.

 

Getting to know you!

by Andy Horner

What does listening mean to you?

There was a real popular song many years ago from the musical, The King and I, called Getting to Know You —“Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me….”
We live in a world of words, and yet it seems we talk more, but communicate less! That makes it hard to really know someone.

Good listening is so crucial for effective communication. People believe generally that being the speaker is more important than being the listener—it’s the way you get people to do what you want them to do, understand you, be impressed by you.

There’s no denying the importance of talking, but conversation is two-sided. It’s talking with people, not at them. What kind of countless situations do you find yourself in when it’s important to understand what the other person is saying?

• a friend asking for a favor
• your child telling you about their field trip coming up
• a Jeweler in your downline sharing why she missed training
• important business information shared from the Home Office

Every day people try to communicate with us, and it’s our responsibility to listen and to listen well. They want to feel listened to because it makes them feel cared about and special.

There are many reasons why we do not listen well and maybe you can add to the ones below.

Preoccupation or Daydreaming. Our to-do lists are never ending, our calendars full, we do not have a spare minute to give someone else because we are filling our mind with chores, problems, and ideas. We are unable to give our focus to another person.

Attitude. I’ve shared many times how vital it is to have a good attitude to be successful and it’s just as important to being a good listener. Moods or feelings may color our thinking and block us from being able to listen objectively and openly.

Self-centeredness. We all have the tendency to believe that what we have to say is the most important. (Could also be called argumentativeness when we have to make our own point instead of understanding one another.)

Busy-ness. It takes time to communicate, and it seems the more intelligent man gets, the more gadgets we create, the less time we have for each other… “I’m so busy.”

Jumping to conclusions. It’s easy to judge, evaluate, approve or disapprove too hastily.

The greatest thing we can do for another person is to truly listen to what they’re saying. Seek understanding and respond, not react, to them appropriately. Yes, it takes a lot of self-discipline, but when we listen, we can recognize the needs and motives behind the words, and we can show that person we care and are interested in them. Becoming a better listener makes us more effective as a leader and friend.

Listening Is a Part of Love!

 

 

New Beginnings for a New Year by Joan

Gems from Joan, originally printed in January 1998 but the message still rings true.

 

“Great is His faithfulness, His mercies are new each day.“

A new beginning!  Promises, resolutions, new commitments.   These words are very prominent around the first days of a New Year.  Life is a series of new beginnings.  We get a new car, a new home, new clothes, new friends, a new baby.  These all suggest a fresh new start.  Newness is a beginning again.  It may be something that never was before, or it may be something that was before, but is now different.  I love the verse found in Lamentations 3:23, “Great is His faithfulness, His mercies are new each day.” Isn’t that a great promise — new every day!

What about your promises?  Lose weight?  Spend more time in the Word?  Cook dinner every day for my family?  Pray for my family every morning and evening?  Be a friend to someone who needs a friend? Eat more vegetables?  Show care for my neighbor?  And how about my Premier family and business?  This can truly be a new beginning, a time to start over afresh.   Can you dream with me?  This is the time to move away from the ordinary.  This is the time to book, and book, and book.  Now is the time to plan on just one more Home Show each month, which will give benefits to one more Hostess, and will enrich the life of one more somebody — can you dream that?  Dreaming can be threatening for some, but I trust it will be exciting, a challenge to move onward and upward, a commitment to build your Premier business, to make it deeper and stronger in 1998.

I dream of our company which shows care and concern for others.  I am committed to keeping that personal touch that I have spoken of so often — just one more phone call, one more note (hand-written), one more word of encouragement, one more smile.

1997 is gone — fading into history.  Let’s look forward, reaching beyond our dreams, into the lives of those we encounter.  Maybe it’s at a Home Show or maybe it’s doing a “one-on-one.”  We all have this fresh, new beginning and I promise to join you.

Andy joins me in wishing you a Happy Premier New Year — May God grant your every desire, as we together serve in the homes of America (just one more).

Serving more in 1998,

I LOVE YOU DEARLY,

Joan