Weekend Blog 5

The weekend blog is off the topics of networking, marketing, sales, biz dev and PR. It is my chance to write about any subject under the sun.

An American In Paris

When my now eight-year-old daughter was four, she announced that she wanted to take a vacation to Paris, France. I am sure that it is not just a coincidence that the movie "The Rugrats in Paris" was released at about the same time, and she absolutely loved the mad-cap adventures of Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil..... and Paris became her desired destination.

At the time I told her that it cost a lot of money to go on a vacation to Paris, and we discussed the value of money and the importance of saving for special things, like a vacation in France. At age four, she took it to heart and began putting her money away into a savings account.

She has since acquired Eiffel Tower pajamas, T-shirts, puzzles, and enjoys all things French (she thinks that French Fries are a product of Paris, and I do not have the heart to tell her otherwise).

This year when we decided to holiday with friends in Italy, my wife and I decided that it was not right to fly over France and not make a stop in Paris. After all, for four years our kid has saved her birthday money and allowance, and remained focused on getting to France. We did not tell our daughter that Paris was part of the itinerary until the last day in Italy. While in the airport in Rome we showed her our plane tickets with Paris as the destination, and told her that we were so proud of her setting a goal and saving her money, that we would be going to Paris for three days (NO, I did not make her give me the money in her bank account!!!). Yes, she almost pee'd her pants she was so excited.

This photo shows that anyone can set a goal and accomplish it if they are tenacious, patient, and want it bad enough....even if they are eight-years-old!!!

Have A Great Day.

Thom Singer
www.thomsinger.com