This picture may not look like it reflects our current weather and season, which is true.

It does however mirror many thoughts and feelings including; living our dreams, peace of mind, new beginnings, taking risks (as in jumping off the diving board or dock) and overall, the beauty in the world and our lives. I took this picture near my home on Bass Lake, in Lyndhurst Ontario, about a month ago when I was out walking our dog Phoenix and experiencing this glorious sun rise. I’d be interested in what this image conjures up for you, please share your thoughts and feeling with us, love to hear from you.

Philanthropic Businesses is a Facebook Group I formed over the Christmas Holidays, spurred on by my phenomenal experience attending the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Convention (CAPS) www.canadianspeakers.org that took place in Ottawa this past December.

Giving back to both charitable organizations and non profits was a consistent theme for many of the business owners attending this conference. So much so that it elevated my desire to know more about; what charitable organizations were being supported and why.

These questions and more will be answered on the Philanthropic Businesses Facebook page, and you’ll get to hear firsthand how having purpose and passion for giving back both drives these businesses and further our understanding of the commitment we as business owners, when we make more money, we want to give back even more.

This group was also created to support each other with the philanthropic goals we’ve set for ourselves personally and professionally in 2018.

In addition I want to demonstrate that the Philanthropic Conversation is happening everywhere, in order to encourage other Financial Advisors to engage more meaningfully in these conversations and especially with our clients.

Peggy Killeen addresses this issue about the Philanthropic Conversation, quite eloquently here in her article she wrote for Financial Planning Week last November.

In addition, I was suitably impressed when taking Steve Foran’s Course in Gratitude at Work so in visiting his website, I borrowed an idea from him, www.gratitudeatwork.ca (thank you Steve) and am now showcasing the charitable organizations we support along with our partners in our #OurPolicyistoGive initiative, Giving Back: more information about this to come shortly.

In closing I’d like to thank Sarah McVanel greatnessmagnified.com for her enthusiasm in conducting the first live interview with me, over the holidays, even though it took us, hmmm at least 7 tries to get it right! Then Dave Falle www.davefalle.com worked his magic on the editing!

 
Our next live interviews will include;

• Jayne Blumenthal jayneblumenthal.com
• Jennifer Stewart dianeandjen.com/about-us/jennifer-stewart
• Dereck McKinley singsongpartytime.com
• Alison McKinley salonmyplace.com
• Maggie Ashton ashtontax.ca
• Mark Black markblack.ca
• Marlene Armstrong unbridledcoaching.com
• and many more!

We look forward to sharing our journey with you while collectively making the world a better place for us all.