Lake Wylie Professional Center

Join us after work as we co-host the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours event tonight!  Come by for a good time, good food and good drinks!  And lots and lots of door prizes!

Also, if you have any items that you would like to donate to the Palisades Episcopal School yard sale, we will be collecting them here!

Co-sponsors include all of our neighbors in the Lake Wylie Professional enter -  McSpadden Custom Homes, Glaza Chiropractic, Lake Wylie Eye, and Focus PTF (Physical Therapy & Fitness.)

Time:  5:30pm – 7:30pm

If you know where our office is – it will be easy to find.

If not, if it at 548 Nautical Drive in Lake Wylie.  Since this is a new road, it is probably not in your GPS or on Google Maps.   Nautical Drive runs parallel to 49 on the right side of the road.    We are directly across 49 from Anytime Fitness and the BP Station.

I first blogged about Toastmasters when I became involved in the organization in early 2008 (Click here for the Toastmasters post).    Now that I have been involved with it for quite some time, I thought I should expand a bit on that prior post.  When I first heard about Toastmasters, I admit that I had know idea what they did.   Did they make toasters?   Where they a bakery that specialized in hundreds of unique types of toast?  When I would hear the name of the group, I could just picture someone standing in front of a large room, holding up a glass, and giving a “toast” to something or someone.  Well, I was wrong on all accounts.

After visiting the Dyehard Toastmasters club in Belmont, NC, I came to realize that it was a group of positive individuals and business leaders who wanted to foster exceptional leadership and communication skills in themselves and in others within their community.  I joined  the group back in February 2008 because of my phobia of speaking in public or in front of people I didn’t know.    Since joining Toastmasters, I have come to realize that it is one of the top organizations worldwide to improve your leadership and oral communication skills, which in turn fosters self-confidence and personal growth. 

Toastmasters has detailed and systematic educational programs for both communication and leadership.  One of the great things about them is that you are able to go at your own pace.  So many other training and education programs require you to go at the instructor or trainers pace – if your schedule does not permit you to keep up – to bad.  For more information on Toastmasters Educational Program- click here.

One of the greatest things about Toastmasters is the cost – it is cheap!  While individual dues vary by club, it is easily the best bargain out there for this type of training.  For example, ongoing dues at my club are only $24/quarter which covers both our local and our international dues.  Compare this to the thousands of dollars that some “leadership” programs charge for a week of training.  The frequency that clubs meet depends on the individual clubs – some meet weekly, other biweekly, and others only monthly.  The club I belong to meets every week.

I challenge everyone who is serious about improving their leadership qualities to take the time to find some local Toastmasters clubs and visit them.    I invite anyone local to visit our club over in Belmont.  We meet every Tuesday night from 7pm to 8pm.  There are nearly 50 Toastmasters Clubs in the Charlotte area alone – surely you can find one that meets your scheduling requirements:

For a List of Charlotte Area Toastmasters Clubs: Click Here.

To Find a Toastmasters Club outside of the Charlotte area:  Click Here.

(P.S.  If you didn’t notice, I have officially changed the name of this series of posts from “Smart’n Up to Invest in Yourself.  )

Zig Ziglar is appearing at Get Motivated! in Charlotte on October 29, 2009.

If you are around the Charlotte area, this is a must do event for personal development!   

Get Motivated! is a dynamic seminar series that is put on by Peter Lowe that features some of the best speakers from around the Country. The good news is that it is coming to Time Warner Cable Arena (aka Bobcats Arena) in Charlotte on October 29th!  Even better news is that it only cost $4.95 per person (or $19 for your entire office)!  The price at the door is $225/person, so register in advance!  (Note, prices are not typos!)

This year, speakers at the Charlotte seminar will feature:

Zig Ziglar
Terry Bradshaw
Laura Bush
Dr. Earl Mindell
General Colin Powell
Tamara Lowe
Rudy Giuliani
Steve Forbes

Topics covered include time management, team building, leadership, personal development, goal achievement, sales training, negotiation skills, financial management, investing, relationships, health and fitness, spiritual success, business strategies, motivation, customer service, communication skills, productivity and more!

To register or to find out more information, visit the Get Motivated! website.  I already have my tickets!

Other cities on the tour include:

Hershey (Oct 20th)
Fort Worth (Oct 26th)
Jacksonville (Nov 2nd)
Orlando (Nov 10th)
Corpus Christie (Dec 1)
San Antonio (Dec 2)

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who came out to the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours that we co-hosted on July 16th. It was a much bigger success than we could ever imagine. Also, thanks to our co-sponsors, McSpadden Custom Homes, Glaza Chiropractic, Lake Wylie Eye, Focus Physical Therapy and Fitness, and Lake Wylie Marina.

We also want to thank the many friends and neighbors that visited us during this event.  It was great to see everyone.   I wish we could do one of these every month.  I can’t wait until next years event.

It was great to finally get into our offices a few months ago and finally get to showcase it for the community at this event.  If you missed the event, and did not have the opportunity to stop by, please do so.  We would love to see you!