Over the weekend we saw images of the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike along the Texas coast.  One of the most riveting images was one of a single home left standing while others for blocks around lay in ruins.

Over two million people were evacuated and tens of thousands are in shelters.  And the remains of Ike wreaked havoc throughout the midwest, causing record rainfall that led to flooding and other woes.   As the storm moved on, the victims are trying to reclaim and rebuild their homes and lives.

But many agencies are on hand to help.  And Amway Global is pleased to help  those dealing with the aftermath of the storm by partnering with the American Red Cross, World Vision, and Save The Children to support the relief efforts they have underway.

Here’s how we’re helping:

The company is making an immediate $100,000 cash donation to the American Red Cross, which is providing food, shelter, and other aid to the victims,  and Save The Children, which offers programs to give children in shelters a sense of normalcy.

We are donating product to World Vision, which will coordinate and distribute our donation according to need.

We also are matching IBO and Amway Global customer donations to the American Red Cross and Save the Children — up to $100,000 — to help with the recovery and rebuilding of devastated communities.

And here’s how you can help:

As we have done in similar times of need, Amway Global has established a special SKU for our customers and IBOs to donate to Hurricane Ike relief efforts through the American Red Cross at AmwayGlobal.com.  IBOs can select either a $10 or $25 donation, and adjust the “quantity” for the total donation desired (for example, for a $50 donation one would select a quantity of two $25 donations or five $10 donations.) IBOs also have the option to donate to Save the Children. IBO and customer donations through our site will be matched — up to $100,000 — by the company.

So if you’re going to give, your giving will go farther as we’ll match every dollar donated up to an additional $100,000.

We’re also here to support our IBOs who have been directly affected by Ike.  If you know of an IBO who has been personally affected by the storm, please contact Amway Global Sales or Customer Support.

For all of you out there in the Pacific Northwest….Amway Global’s National Spotlight event is coming your way today and tomorrow in Portland, Ore.

I’ve heard from some of you who are heading to the event, and rest up as  there’s lots to see, hear, and do.

You’ll learn about our products and brands up-close-and-personal from brand experts. You’ll find out about services available to help you be more successful.  Your Independent Business Owners Association International will be there to talk about how they support you and all IBOs.   You’ll be able to sit in on informative training sessions.  And, best of all, you’ll meet a few of the people who are here to support your business.

Can’t make Portland?  Your last chance to be part of Spotlight this year is October 17-18 at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas.

My daughters, inspired by the gold-medal winning performances of Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, decided they wanted to try gymnastics this fall.  We have strict rule regarding the number of activities they can participate in during the school year, as we don't have the time to shuttle our kids to and from half a dozen classes, leagues, and clubs.  Don't laugh — we have friends who juggle at least six activities per child!  In one family with three kids, that's 18 different activities in a single week. It exhausts me just to consider the idea!

We're lucky that we can lump our kids' activities together (they both do Girl Scouts in the same troop and they both take gymnastics in back to back classes.)  

My girls have two different approaches to gymnastics.  One goes in sweats and has specific feats she wants to accomplish.  She's very determined and focused on specific executions.    The other goes in a cute little purple outfit with ribbons in her ponytail and basically mimics what the world-class gymnasts do before and after a performance — you know, the pose that starts and ends a routine with arms in the air, back arched, feet together.  And a pseudo-military strut on and off the mats.  But in-between, she's just learning how to do cartwheels and backbends.  But she sure looks like a pro before and after her attempts.

I realized there's a lesson in these two different approaches.  One child will achieve through hard work and tenacity — basically not giving up.  The other believes looking the part is half the battle — faking it until she makes it.  Not that there won't be hard work in achieving skills, but there's an undeniable impact that belief has on achievement.

When I was young, I had ambitious but somewhat unrealistic goals.  I wanted to be a gymnast and compete.  I achieved some pretty impressive skills but due to a slight curve in my spine, to this day can't do a straight forward or backward roll (what we used to call a somersault).  Those were compulsory skills which meant I couldn't compete because I could never get past the first level — regardless of the aerial front and back flips and other stunts I could perform on the floor and balance beam.  I then set my eyes on high jumping, due to a crush I developed on U.S. Olympian high jumper Dwight Stones.  I rigged this setup between two trees in our yard with clothesline and would literally hurl myself at and over this rope.  Never mind that this was a serious strangulation risk (and that I was then, and am now, height-challenged).  I believed I could become a high jumper.

Part of achieving anything is believing you can do it.  Seeing the possibilities and having the confidence to be willing to set goals is the first step.  The hard work and dedication is the second.  But how far you can go — and how hard  you may be willing to work – is all about believing you can do it in the first place.

A lot of IBOs are starting to set goals for the 2008-2009 qualification year.  Some of them have shared some of their goals in the Opportunity Zone.  It's a great time to set bold goals, as the company makes unprecedented investments in building its brands and reshaping perceptions about the opportunity.  

So, be bold.  Be brave.  Believe.  And begin. 

Tina Turner has just announced an additional eight dates for her Amway Global-sponsored North American concert tour.

Tina will now play 35 dates in the U.S. and Canada, including newly added shows in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York, plus an additional show in Toronto.

Full details are available at http://www.tinaturnerlive.com/.

And speaking of big wheels turnin', the finishing touches are being put on our mobile brand experiences for Artistry and Nutrilite and they'll soon be rolling into West Michigan for rehearsals and outfitting before joining Tina's Tour at its launch October 1 in Kansas City.  Watch the Opportunity Zone for more news about this exciting brand building program!

My daughter recently noticed a few of the keys on my laptop no longer bear the letters they represent — there's only a shadow of  "n" and "s," and "e" and "a" are fading fast.  And she wondered if I used them more because I love them better than the others.

My keyboard in the office is worse, because it's older.  There's not a trace of "n."  "M" looks like a semicolon. "S" is half gone and "h," "a," "e," and "u" are fragments.  There's also a shiny spot on the space key reflecting hundreds of thousands of strikes.  And there are some curious smudges around the delete key, as I self-edit as I go along.

Now, I don't consciously use some letters more than others.  I wouldn't expect "n," based solely on wear and tear to the key, to be my most-used letter.    Somehow I thought the vowels would get more play, because you can't create many words without them.  But "o" and "i" are largely unblemished.   (Go ahead, post your words without vowels — assuming there are no issues with our comments policy, I'll post them all!)

I appreciate  all the letters in the alphabet because they create words and language.  I don't love any of them better than the rest.  Like my children, I love them equally but differently!

Today is a "big day" for my fifth-grade daughter.  It's her first day as a safety at her elementary school.  And it's raining, so apparently there's more for a safety to do because all the kids are inside. 

It's also the first day for fifth-grade homework.  There was not much the first two days but now they get the much- heralded 10-15 pages per night.  And it's the first day the fifth-graders switch classes and move from their home room to math, science, and social studies throughout the day.  Finally, she starts gymnastics tonight with her BFF and rides the bus home with her so she can catch a ride to class.

As she said, it's a big day with a lot of firsts.  I was thrilled that the "big day" wasn't intimidating or overwhelming — just exciting.

When's the last time you had a "big day" with so much happening and so much to be excited about?  We've had a couple of them here lately and more to come.  This week you're seeing the second phase of our brand transition rollout, with Amway Global becoming more prominent as we phase out Quixtar through the end of this year and into the next.  On Tuesday, we celebrated the accomplishments of our medal-winning Team Nutrilite athletes with a full-page ad in USA TODAY.  Tomorrow, September 5, there will be another Amway Global ad in USA TODAY.

We're putting the finishing touches on our mobile brand experience units — our Artistry bus and Nutrilite trailer — and preparing to roll them out when Tina Turner launches her Amway Global-sponsored tour October 1 in Kansas City.

And you'll be seeing and hearing more about the YMCA program as it rolls out in the coming weeks with the launch of a web site and online wellness evaluations, the results of a national wellness survey, and the Y's wellness events at more than 100 YMCAs across the country.  

These programs are all designed to heighten awareness of our brands and create familiarity that leads to stronger businesses for IBOs who are out there selling Nutrilite and Artistry or introducing the Amway Global business to others.  Big days mean big news for your businesses!

Today it’s back to school for Michigan schoolchildren.  It’s my oldest daughter’s last year in elementary school, so it was her last first day at her school.  I was surprisingly weepy, so much so that she suggested I not follow the bus to school for more pictures and goodbyes there.

Years ago the first of September used to also mark the start of a new fiscal year, but those are now aligned with the calendar year.  It does signal the start of a new qualification year for IBOs, so it is a time of new goals, new opportunities, and new energy – just like going back to school.

And, it’s time for something new at this and other blogs in the Opportunity Zone.  As part of our brand transition we’re changing the names of some blogs like Inside Quixtar to Amway Global Insider and Real
Quixtar Blog to, er, SuperDu.  But you’ll have to read Robin’s blog to learn more about that.

For all sending children off somewhere today – to kindergarten or college – be brave and be proud.   For those setting goals and starting anew –  be bold!  There’s more support for IBOs than ever before, between our unprecedented investments in our brands to our business incentives.