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How we got started
(plus a special offer for a free pack of postcards)

March 10, 2004

Welcome to Change Your World!

Hello. My name is Courtney Huntington, and I am the founder of Change Your World.

Perhaps you're wondering why I started Change Your World, why I've assembled a team to help me push forward on this idea. It started as a small idea. Now we have an outrageous goal, and we want your help. Please keep reading.

For years, I have been assembling what I call "Life Principles." These range from the big-picture principles like "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" to the mundane principles like "If you open it, close it." Personal responsibility is very important to me, and I have worked hard to be responsible. But sometimes I forget. Sometimes I slip into old bad habits. Does this ever happen to you?

Old Habits Die Hard

I recently resigned from a position that I was unprepared for and ultimately unqualified for. It required leadership at a level I was unable to provide. At several points along the way, my gut told me that I wasn't the right man for that particular job, but I kept pressing on, thinking that if I just kept trying, I would be able to untie my hands, make real progress, and change the way we were doing business. But my heart wasn't in it. Success in any endeavor requires faith. Since my heart wasn't in it, I was bound to fail. In his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill devotes an entire chapter to faith. In it, he qoutes the following poem by Walter D. Wintle:

If at any point I had lost the gut feeling against staying in the position and been full of confidence and faith in my ability to overcome the obstacles, then I could have been successful. As it is, I have had to leave the company without any strong productivity or accomplishment to show for my time there.

It hurts me that I failed. It hurts me even more that I may have lost some close friends in the process—people who have lost faith in me because I failed to pull through. And it's amazing how complicated sorting out all the details can become, how many misconceptions and misunderstandings develop, and how many disagreements there are, even over matters of principle. As a leader, I blew it. I was responsible to guide my team in a way that got results, but we didn't get results. I have this failure now lurking in the back of my mind.

Why? Because I didn't follow the old adage: Go with your gut. You've got to go with your gut, but I forgot. My intuition said, "Back away." But my rational side said, "You can do it. There's no logical reason why you can't win here." Reason is a very important part of any decision-making process. We must look at the facts. We must think accurately and logically. And we must think intuitively. My intuition didn't let me down; I let my intuition down.

So the question now is: "How are you going to deal with your failure?" The answer is that I am going to objectively analyze my mistakes to learn how I could have avoided the problem. My analysis of my failure to use my intuition properly is an example. I now have a deeper understanding of my intuition and how to use it. Every failure is food for success. Success is often built upon the ashes of failure. Look at Donald Trump, for example. He was a billionaire; then he went bankrupt; now he's a billionaire again. Intuition is not the end of my analysis. I made other decisions along the way, based on a lot of different factors, and I made some poor decisions. And it's important that I learn from my mistakes. I have to take responsibility for my mistakes by admitting them freely and changing myself to avoid those and similar mistakes in the future.

Failure doesn't have to be the end. Remember Thomas Edison who went through 10,000 experiments before he found the secret of the light bulb. Failure, properly understood, is merely a form of education. In a recent interview on the Wayne Brady Show, Kathy Ireland, CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, said, "I view failure as education. In that sense I'm really well educated." What a great attitude! That's the attitude we all ought to adopt when we encounter personal failure at any level—spiritual, mental, physical, financial, or otherwise. When we realize that we've failed, whether because of bad choices or bad intentions, we ought to make amends through apology or other means if necessary, and then we ought to move on and be thankful for the education.

How Change Your World can Help

What does my failure have to do with founding Change Your World? My failure is a classic example of forgetting foundational principles to success in life. Success looks different for every person who attains it, but the underlying principles remain the same. So what can all of us on the road to reaching our goals in life do to help each other get there?

I was listening to a motivational audio series one day while I was driving in the car with my wife. The series is by Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the amazingly huge bestselling book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul. Surely you've heard of that! You probably own a copy or two. I sure do. Whether they own one or not, most people have probably heard of the series. They have sold over 100 million copies so far!

The title of the series I was listening to is How to Think Bigger Than You Ever Thought You Could Think. During one of the sessions, he mentions a postcard that has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. It's a networking postcard that has a short message on how to network yourself to success. I had listened to this same session five times before, but this time an idea entered my mind that hadn't before: Combine the principles of life you've been collecting with the principle of postcards. Voilá!

That's how it started. I initially put together a small list of about 20 principles. But as I was thinking, more and more principles came to mind that I could share. Many of them are little things that we can do to work on ourselves and our neighborhoods. That must be the starting point. We must begin with ourselves, and when we begin with ourselves, we must being where we are.

Along the way, I have put together a team of people to help me develop more postcards and expand the concept to other products. And we came up with an outrageous goal. We want to distribute 10 million Change Your World Postcards this year! But more importantly, we want to give $100,000 to charity this year! We don't have any idea how we're going to do it. We simply believe that we are. But we can't do it alone. We need help from thoughtful people like you. Would you help us take this message of hope and change to the world?

You might wonder how you possibly could. It's seems like a huge task. But we believe you can. All you need to do to start is tell your friends to visit this site. How many friends should you tell? It doesn't have to be a lot. Just decide that you'll only tell ten friends about Change Your World. Refer them to this page, and tell them to read this message that you're reading. Why are we asking you to do this? Because we believe that you are the kind of person who wants to make this world better. You are the kind of person who is willing to do the hard things that most people shy away from. And you are the kind of person who is willing to start by changing yourself first.

We have a special offer for you, too, as our way of saying thank you. We know you're committed to making our world better, otherwise you wouldn't still be reading. So as our thank you for telling your ten friends about our goal to raise $100,000 for charity, we want to give you a free pack of postcards. Each pack contains 14 cards. This is completely on your honor. You don't have to fill out any form or give us any information. We trust you. We know that you are hardworking and honest, and we know you'll only ask for your free pack, if you actually send ten of your friends to Change Your World. We believe that everyone one who visits our site is out to benefit us. We are what W. Clement Stone called "reverse paranoids." To take us up on our offer, all you have to do is send us an email to order@howtochangeyourworld.com and include the words "I'm a reverse paranoid" in the Subject line. That's it! We will send you a pack of postcards at no cost to you. We will choose one of the four designs you see below. If you want to tell us anything else, feel free to write us a note in the body of your email.

Your cards should arrive in 2-4 weeks. We currently have a limited supply, so if you order now, you will guarantee that you receive your cards ASAP. We hope our next shipment of cards arrives before the current supply runs out, and we will let you know immediately, if you should expect a delay. We don't foresee a delay, but we cannot predict the level of response we will receive, and we will fill every request that comes in answer to this offer. Of course, you can understand that we must limit  the timeframe for this offer. This offer is only available to those who respond before Easter. Your request must have a date of or prior to April 10, 2004—the Saturday before Easter. Why not place your request now? All you have to do is email us at order@howtochangeyourworld.com and include the words "I'm a reverse paranoid" in the Subject line. Don't wait. Do it now.

Now that you've placed your request for your free postcards, why not consider taking your commitment to the next level. We have a special offer to help kickstart your involvement with Change Your World. We will give you ANOTHER FREE PACK OF POSTCARDS, if you simply agree to buy two more packs. All you have to do is tell you want another free pack of postcards. This offer is subject to the same stipulations mentioned in the previous paragraph. You must respond by the Satureday before Easter! And because we do not know what kind of response we will get to the offer above, we cannot guarantee we have your postcards in stock at the time you order. We will fill your order in the order it is received when our new shipment arrives. Your order will be filled. To tell us that you want to take us up on our offer for another free pack of postcards, all you have to do is choose which packs you want and click the button. Remember that you will be receiving a total of 3 packs, but you'll only have to pay for two of them. Why not accept this offer now?

We currently have 4 designs available:

               

        

               

        

Please tell us what we've done well and what we can do better. Tell us what products you'd like to hear more about. Contact us at info@howtochangeyourworld.com. If you haven't already signed up for our newsletter, take a few minutes to sign up now. It's packed with great information, and it's free. Sign up here: Change Your World for Good.

Thank you for taking the time to read my message. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

With many blessings and wishes for successful positive change,

Courtney Huntington
Founder

P.S. Remember that you have until April 10th to request your free postcard as a thank you for sending ten friends to our website. You are on your honor. We trust you to keep your end of the bargain. So if you haven't already made your request, why not do it now? All you have to do is email us at order@howtochangeyourworld.com and include the words "I'm a reverse paranoid" in the Subject line. Just do it.

P.P.S. Once you've taken advantage of our free postcard offer, take advantage of our offer for ANOTHER FREE PACK OF POSTCARDS. If you haven't already, get another free pack of postcards by simply buy two others. All you have to do is choose the combination of card packs you prefer and click "Yes!" We can't wait to send them to you!

               

        

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