This week was a week my wife and I had kind of dreaded for several months. Here was the schedule: Monday I flew to San Francisco to speak Tuesday am. Then I flew directly to Las Vegas to speak Wednesday morning. Then I flew from Vegas ”toward” Lansing but was derailed in Detroit and had to spend a night in the “Bates Motel” at the airport arriving after midnight and then departing to Lansing before six am. Then home Thursday night for a quick change, repack and get another departure to San Antonio Friday afternoon. Even IF everything ran smoothly, it loomed challenging for both of us. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a professional speaker. However, after being out most of the week before and then traveling every day for six days, travel takes it toll on both the traveler and the “single” parent left home to care for five children. Through all of this, it’s been one of the “richest” weeks of my career. If you have been following the theme of these posts, you know that it’s NOT about the money. While I mostly try to write about people who are living rich lives because they give, I am guilty of taking the occasional diversion to write about others ways in which life is rich. This week was one of the richest I’ve had in awhile:

• It started Monday in San Francisco (one of my favorite places to visit). My hotel was right at the end of the famous San Francisco trolley and while I didn’t get to ride it, I did get to walk down to the water and watch an almost full moon rise over the bay bridge there. My client I worked with, Sue Barret of the National Exchange Carriers Association, gets my vote for Meeting Partner of the Year. She was absolutely fabulous in every way possible. While in San Francisco, I also met David Douglas who is a volunteer with Airline Ambassadors, founded by Nancy Rivard (Nancy is on the REAL Richest People in America list). David had heard about my project from Nancy and he came to hear my presentation. He is an amazing guy with a ton of energy who has an organization called Global Volunteer Network – combing volunteering with unique travel experiences. In a few weeks, he’ll take a group of people to Nepal, Indonesia, and Thailand to both to see some incredible sights and work to help people there (there will be a post dedicated to David soon). David rode in the car with me to the airport and we talked about partnering on some projects that we may be working on together. He’ll also be one of the blogger for the World’s Biggest Blog Party while he is traveling for two months.
• Wednesday, I met with Harry Hoopis who is one of the top agents at Northwestern Mutual life. Harry and I had a short meeting before we both spoke at the Sales Mastery Forum. He’s invited me to Chicago to discuss joint venturing on some projects. He’s quite a success story and I’m excited about our possible projects. I also met a new speaker friend named John O’Leary. At age nine, John was burned over 100% of his body and indeed has “Risen Above”. He’ll likely have a post here with his story too.
• Thursday, I spoke for the Brain Injury Association of Michigan. The people who attended this meeting either cared for those with brain injuries or had injuries themselves. There’s probably a book just in the people who were there who had been dealt a blow worse than most could imagine yet had incredibly positive outlooks. I was the inspirational speaker to kick off there conference and I was the one inspired. One of the people I met there was a gentleman who started a television show for disabled vets. He asked if he could interview me on camera after my speech. After our interview, he told me that his show airs to over 60 million households on PBS. Unfortunately, I missed ABC newscaster Bob Woodruff who closed the conference the next day. His story is incredible.

Today, I’m enroute to San Antonio to close speak at Combined Council of Automotive Credit Unions. “Oddly” on my flight to Knoxville, I was seated behind a speaker friend I met when I worked as a trainer for Career Track seminars many years ago.

While, being the closing speaker on a Saturday can be a tough assignment, I’m preparing for yet another rich experience to cap off an amazing week. While there’s no guarantee that days or weeks that we might dread can produce results like this week ultimately will, think about how much more positive and productive we’d all be if we eliminated the dread and replaced it with expecting rich results. Here’s my take - we’d all be more wealthy.

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com