November 19: Cleveland Rocks!

Ali made this the other day and it made it into my bag... so happy it did!

Heaveno!

No, seriously. (the guy who prepared my steak salad at lunch told me to tell you all that Cleveland rocks. Think it has something to do with the R&R Hall of Fame here).

The view from my hotel room...

Anyway, thank you all for your words of encouragement. Today's presentation went GREAT! I want to share just a couple of nuggets from it, because I think they are valuable to anyone. The title of my session was, "What are YOU worth? Defining YOUR place in the marketplace."

Here are some of my nuggets to chew on:

Worth = the intersection between real and perceived value; between where someone is willing to pay you for what they think you do, and what you are willing to be paid for what you know you do.

Any conversation or opinion you have about money is just that: yours. Money does not have an opinion of itself, nor a conversation about itself.

Any conversation or opinion you have about selling or sales is also just that: yours. Selling and sales do not have an opinion about themselves, nor a conversation about themselves.

For me, money is a reflection of value created for others.

For me, selling is simply a pathway to helping others.

Workin' the room...

Okay, that's it. I had about 30-40 people in my session and we chewed on the topics of money, selling, price versus value, and positioning. I was speaking to my fellow music therapists. We don't receive much of this training in our degree programs, so we are not really well equipped to ensure our own viability and sustainability in the marketplace. After all, with such a thing as music therapy, the marketplace doesn't instinctively know what our services are worth; it is up to us to declare and create that. Now, without any training in that area, can you see how easy it is for us to miss the mark and undervalue ourselves, especially when we haven't been made to sit down and learn to efficiently articulate what makes music therapy so unique and valuable.

Here are some of the unique selling points I often share about "Why music therapy?"

It's the only protocol that treats the staff while it treats the patients.

It's the only protocol you play!

Because everyone has a Prior, Personal, and Positive relationship with music. It is the mutual friend in the room.

It is the only protocol that treats the SELF inside the patient (David Aldridge).

I say more about each in conversation, but I'll spare you! Suffice to say that I know that music therapy works, and I know I as a music therapist work. My job is to get the MTs in my session in touch with that truth for themselves, so they have the confidence to get out there and start serving the clients that need their help at a rate the honors the value they are creating.

Did I mention that I recently promoted myself?

I am the self-appointed Ambassador of Music Therapy!

I'm REALLLLY glad I am here. Over the past 6 months, I have not had music therapy on my mind, even though I was using it daily. Now that I'm back and I look out over all these young (and not so young) faces that are HUNGRY for freedom and empowerment in the business side of music therapy, I feel so honored to be a motivational, educational, and inspirational force at their side!

The monument to soldiers in the square in front of the hotel where the conference is...

Okay, slightly new topic. Here goes.

Last night, I watched as they announced at our national conference opening session that our association has received two incredibly generous gifts over the past year. I want you to hear about these, because they are examples of God's abundance and generosity right around us right now.

First story:

A music education teacher passes away, and literally has 2 million dollars in her estate, when everyone (including her) thought she only had a million. She had a will for the first million, but no instructions for the second million. So, her benefactors went out on the internet to look up other places to donate the money. A google search later they found the AMTA at musictherapy.org. They had no idea about music therapy and were so excited, they donated $400,000.00 of the million to start music therapy programs in Washington state where this teacher was from.

A google search later we were gifted $400,000.00. Seriously.

Second story:

A successful music entrepreneur donates $2.5 million dollars to endow a music therapy program at All Children's Hospital in Florida. One check.

Folks, God's abundance pours about! You'll never see it if you look to the media to tell you about it. That's not their interest. Of course, small amounts of the news are occasionally devoted to happy stories like these, but that's certainly not the bell curve.

People are doing great things with money, so that others may do great things for others.

So, if you work for a large organization, chances are they have a matching program for charities. Check to see if PUCK or their parent organization CCRF (The Children's Cancer Research Fund) is listed on your company's list. If they aren't, add PUCK. Here is their complete information:

Pioneering Unique Cures for Kids

Lonni Mooreland

8362 Tamarack Village

Suite 119-265

St. Paul, MN 55125

Tel. (651) 621-3372

puckfund@gmail.com

www.puckfund.org

They use CCRF's tax ID which is:41-1893645

Please, if you haven't used this option, I know you gotta buy a turkey next week and a bunch of presents next month... I bet it's "a bad time" to ask for donations in the non-profit world right now, but 10 years from now, a little girl with EB is going to get to have more than only one Thanksgiving and Christmas with her family. Because of Bella. Because of us. Because of YOU.

Thank you for being partners in that child's life.

Cute Christmas tree in the adjacent mall...

Remember, kids died from asthma attacks 30 years ago that could have been avoided with today's medicines. It took a certain amount of research and funding for that research to make that switch possible. We have the researchers, and we even have the foundations of a successful treatment, but we don't have the money to see it through.

President Barack Obama, whether you like him or not, raised more money in his campaign than any other politician in history... 10 and 20 dollars at a time.

1 snowflake alone may seem frail, but put enough of 'em together, and you get an AVALANCHE.

If you haven't yet, will you please add a couple of snowflakes (or a whole snowball if you're feeling frisky) to our avalanche? Better yet, get your company involved and make it 2 snowballs!

One of the fun side streets in downtown...

How about asking that instead of presents, people send you a card that says they donated to PUCK in Bella's memory? In fact, to all my family and friends, that's all I want for Christmas, okay? Cards that say you donated my christmas money to PUCK. I am overflowing with God's blessings, I am in need of nothing, but our work is far from done with EB, so forward my gifts straight to PUCK, okay? God is so good. All the time.

God night.

From our lone Christmas picture photo shoot. How cute!!!