Mike Jones

"The pictures in your mind becomes the stories of your life."
Cody Bateman

I've been a National Sales Manager for OPEX Corporation, an international manufacturing company based in Moorestown, NJ, so I bring something to the table.

Here's how it works:

(1) What you think shapes the words you say, and (2) our words create images in our minds.

Stick around for the lesson. I promise it can change your outlook.

Let's use my record in inviting people to join Active Rain as the example. (The sales manager in my mind tells me I'm not doing such a good job at this.) After all, in the year or so since I found this great community of bloggers...

• I've only invited 77 people to join Active Rain.
• while Jeff Wilhems (Tucson, AZ) has sponsored 637 people into the AR Community! (True!)
• Two thirds of my invitations were totally ignored. (I'm just no good at sales.)
• I've only sponsored 29 people.
• Only four of them are taking it seriously.

That's the way most of us look at our accomplishments. "I'm not so good at this." "I should probably do something else." "I'm not successful like so and so."

So we paint mental pictures of our reality. We examine those pictures, and talk to our friends about them. Pretty soon, discouraged, we quit and start all over again with something else.

Rewind the tape and start over! "The pictures in your mind becomes the stories of your life."

Let's use different colors for the chart. (Colors affect our perception, and as you've heard before, perception is reality.)

• Four of the people I've brought into AR have done a fantastic job at blogging and participating here in Active Rain.
• Those four account for 2,490 of my AR points! (Newbies, you get 10% of the points your invitees generate. Think of it as passive income you didn't have to work for.)
• 25 others have started out of the gate, and have contributed another 1,406 points to my multi-level marketing scheme.
• 48 never saw the value.

Since this is working so well for me, I'm going to spend some time today...

• commenting on the blogs of my four "Stars." They're making me successful, after all.
• coaching the top two or three people in that group of 25 who "get it."
• inviting new people to join the Active Rain Real Estate Network. I'm looking for more "Stars."
• painting a new picture in my mind.

"The pictures in your mind becomes the stories of your life."
Cody Bateman

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your sales coach. Feel free to re-blog this. Call me to talk; I'll make time for you.

It's raining! We love the rain here in the desert southwest.

The monsoons are not over yet! We may have another week or two before the weather pattern changes again.

I camped out during the storm and took photo after photo with my little digital camera.

I must have taken 70 frames.

This one caught the lightning streaking from cloud to cloud as the storm receded towards the southern horizon.

Didn't God create a beautiful world?! I'm glad to be able to share it with you.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

I frequent cemetaries. They're more educational than seminars, and the tuition is free. I like free.

Don't you wonder what dreams lie buried here?

Young Mr. Lemon of Aberdeen, Scotland lies beneath this headstone in a grave in Tucson, Arizona. He was 29 when his life was cut short. How that happened, we don't know. The style of the headstone would indicate that he was buried here in the early 1900s.

That was before Arizona became the 48th state of the Union. Unemployment (1900) was higher than it is now, at 5%, but things were a lot better here than back in Scotland. Beginning in 1904, more than 600,000 Scots (13% of the country's population) emigrated to North America in less than a decade.

Gordon was likely a part of this exodus, and he made his way farther west than most.

I wonder what dreams died with him.

I wonder why I'm complaining about the real estate market and the credit crunch, when I ought to be laying the foundation for tomorrow's success instead.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

Tom Murray is my favorite artist in the medium of oils. It's not just his tecnical ability; it's his subject matter. I love the cloud formations in my Arizona skies.

We saw something similar to this cloud formation from our back yard in Tucson Estates II on Friday night.

You'll find Tom Murray's oil paintings at Jane Hamilton Fine Art in Tucson. It's on River Road near Campbell.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

Arizona skies are awesome. So is painter Tom Murray. I've never seen clouds captured on canvas with such realism and painterly beauty.

I first met Tom at Jane Hamilton Fine Art in Tucson on River Road near Campbell.

That's where you'll find original paintings like the one you see featured here.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.