Whether you’re a solo-preneur working from home or a small business owner set on building an organization and leading a team, sometimes it can feel like you’re carrying a large weight on your shoulders alone.

One of the things I try to do (aside from reaching out to people directly and ensuring I get regular rigorous exercise) is to keep positive messages in front of me daily. Some might do this with placards and post-it notes, but I prefer to change it up every day so tend to look for ways to get streams of this stuff coming to me automatically online. It’s also fun to see the unusual ways other people are headed with their business and/or interpretations.

Earlier in the week I spotlighted a new find offering short snippets from the Tao that I’m really excited about discovering and thought some of you might enjoy too.

I met Kelvin Ringold several years ago through a business associate. Actually, I had my first face-to-face with him this year, but felt like I had come to know him pretty well even without the direct contact. He started a company called VitaminKDaily and sends out ‘a daily dose of positive’ at an early enough hour it’s already in my inbox when I start the day (I think they go out at about 3 a.m. EST). This one, which came in this week, really grabbed me:

Do you remember the days, Nanette?

Do you remember the days when you were a child, and you asked your mom for something — or maybe your grandmother — and they gave it to you, and you forgot to say “thank you?” Do you remember what happened?

When you were little, they’d say, “Okay, little one what do you say?” and you’d sweetly say, “thank you,” and they’d let you go.  But do you remember when you were older and didn’t say thank you?  For us, one of two things happened.  Either 1) whatever they gave us they’d snatch back from us, with a comment like “you forgot  your manners; obviously you didn’t want that.”  OR… 2) they might not say anything until the next time you wanted something they’d hold it ransom:” “Nope; last time I gave you something you didn’t say thank you, so you gets no more.”

Then sometime they would just be nice and give you something unsolicited… and if you didn’t say thank you then, it was even worse!. Those “old folks” didn’t play.  They needed to KNOW that you appreciated whatever it was.  They needed to HEAR the words “thank you” or you got no more goodies.

What if life was like that? What if when life gave you something… and you didn’t say thank you, it took it back or at the very least the next time you wanted something, life said, “No. You didn’t appreciate the last gift I gave you, so…”

“What if the only things you got today, were the things you consciously said “thank you” for, yesterday?

Would you have anything?  Gratitude — it does a body good.

Thank you for listening 😉

Be awesome today,

Kelvin

Cool, huh?  I know my life would look very different if I managed a state where I was grateful for every nice thing that happened to me. Still, this set me straight so I’ll be more conscious about appreciating the little things.

The other point this spotlights is the limitless ideas available to an inventive business owner. Yes, Kelvin offers more through his services, but he’s about putting smiles on people’s faces. He’s a positive extrovert who draws his life blood from encouraging others to become more excited about living. So, he created a service whereby he can reach many more people than would be possible face-to-face for $24.95 a year.

Imagine how you might follow this example of developing something a little different with your business to reach out to more people while adding a little revenue for your efforts.