A Note from the Founder of SendOutCards...
There is one thing I notice every time I receive and read these stories. The sender of the card is showing appreciation and celebrating another human life. The sender is not thinking about the faults or shortcomings of the receiver. They are simply pouring out love through simple expressions from the heart. The sender is not placing judgment or focusing on the negative of another, they are accepting the receiver as a person with hopes, goals and dreams.
What I love about the unexpected card is that it puts the sender in the mind-set of acceptance and love. It helps us to understand that we are all human beings with weaknesses and strengths; it helps us to see that we are all in this life together and our greatest accomplishments will be reached by loving each other through the experience.
It is my hope that we can use cards to care a little more and complain a little less, to become more accepting and strive to be less critical, I would like to see us arrive at the conclusion that we are no better or worse than anyone else. We are all deserving of the very best that life has to offer. What we send out is truly what we get back. Accept others for who they are, with no strings attached, and they will accept you back. Express gratitude to others for the sake of the gratitude you feel in your heart and they will reciprocate ten fold.
May we all spend our days sending out the best we can and may we strive to teach others to do the same.
Your Friend,
Kody Bateman
From Adam Packard, SOC Entrepreneur:
My friend Marc became a distributor with Send Out Cards because he thought it would be a good tool for his business. He liked the idea of being able to follow up with clients. A couple of weeks ago, I gave him a call to do some training, and was informed by his secretary that he was off to have surgery. I asked her what the surgery was for and if it was serious. Apparently, Marc had a seizure a couple of days before and I came to find out that he had a brain tumor and had to have brain surgery. I was blown away.
Immediately I sent him a card, wishing him well and telling him that I was praying for him. This was something that came out of the blue because Marc was a completely healthy and athletic person.
Apparently there were some complications after the surgery and he had to be re-admitted to the hospital. He told me that being re-admitted was the scariest part. He really thought he was going to die. Marc began thinking to himself, "If I died, who would come to my funeral?" He realized that he had not been keeping in touch with people, telling him how much he loved them and cared about them. Marc told me that he had been thinking of both me and the cards while he was in the hospital. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Here is a man who is going through brain surgery, and he is thinking about greeting cards.
Immediately when he got home, he called me to let me know that he was getting better. and he could not wait to learn how to best use Send Out Cards. He said he was anxious to start sending all kinds of cards, telling people how much he loved them and appreciated them. Marc also told me that he can't wait to share Send Out Cards with other people and is looking at really making a business out of this. He is a very successful financial advisor and doesn't have a need to make extra money, but a light bulb went off in his head while he was in the hospital. He realized how important it is to help others become senders of cards and is looking forward to building this business.
Marc "gets it" now and he realizes the meaning behind what we are doing. Never again will he lose touch with the people in his life.
From Sally Haslett, SOC Entrepreneur:
We live in a community where our Post Office employees are residents. One of the ladies (she reminds me of Angela Lansberry) is always so pleasant and cheerful when I go in there. I had not been in for about a month and when I did go last week (to mail a S.O.C. fundraiser packet to a coach), I noticed that she was bald and had a hat on. We all know what that means!
I immediately came home and looked up her address. (She did not know me and I looked at her name badge to see her name.) I sent the Spirit, Serenity, Strength card to her with a message about how much she always brightened my day with her smile and pleasant personality and expressing wishes for good health.
This week when I took another packet in to mail, I was leaving when she picked up the packet to put in the mail bin. As I was at the door, she shouted, "Whose package is this?" I turned around and saw it was mine. When I answered, she said, "You sent me a card!". I said "Yes." She then proceeded to tell me how much that card meant to her and how she had it on her desk at home. She finished by saying," That card is a real "keeper." I will always save it!"
I am a retired teacher, and I KNOW what a simple message of hope, congratulations or kindness can mean to a student. Sending an unexpected card can mean even more in OUR lives.
From David Diener, SOC Entrepreneur
I followed Joe Girard's sales techniques back in the mid 90's and got to a point where I was sending out 3000 handwritten cards a month, and finally had to hire someone to help me write the cards.
I had a customer named David Helm who bought a truck from me, and used to stop in the dealership every month to pick up oil and oil filters for his truck out of out parts department, and always say thank you to me for the Valentines card, St Patrick's Day card, the Christmas card etc. I sent out a card every month to everyone I knew asking for referrals.
One day David came in and said that his father had died and he had to go out to Hemet, California and take care of the estate. I immediately went next door to the K-Mart and bought a sympathy card and sent it to him. A month later I saw him again, and he made it a point to tell me thank you and how much the card meant to him. He was in a hurry because he said his wife just had a baby boy and he had to get back to the hospital. I immediately went next door and bought a congratulations card for the new baby and sent that off.
Two weeks later David, his wife and three daughters pulled up into the dealership and asked for me. I figured it was to show me their new baby. As I greeted them, David said "I need a new truck, my wife needs a new mini van, and I want to buy each one of my daughters a new car also. I sold 5 cars that evening to one family and made a family and my dealership very happy.
Ninety percent of all customers who buy cars from a dealership do not remember the salesperson's name who sold them their last car. This family remembered me, and those additional car sales that month made me a huge bonus and a trip for 2 to Cancun. What took me a half hour of my time, only takes 30 seconds today with Send Out Cards. I became 13th in the nation in Toyota sales because of my card sending, and if I would have had Send Out Cards in the mid 90's I would have been #1 or 2 I'm sure.
Show people you care, and people will take care of you... they remember. Making people feel good will come back to you tenfold!
From an SOC Wholesale Customer:
Last week I was on a business trip and I called home to check in. My wife told me that our eight-year-old daughter, Jenny, was home from school with the flu. As soon as I got off the phone, I logged into my Send Out Cards account from my laptop and found the perfect get-well card for her. I found one of my favorite digital photos of the two of us and uploaded that into the card, and then I typed in a message of encouragement to let her know I was thinking about her and hoped she felt better soon, and to remind her how much I loved her. I clicked “send” and went off to a meeting with a client.
A few days later, I was back home (I work from a home office much of the time) and had completely forgotten about the card. My wife had just gone out to get the mail, and when she came in the front door I heard her announce to our daughter, “Jenny, you’ve got mail.”
The next thing I heard was the tearing of paper as Jenny ripped the envelope open. Then she said, “This is the best card I’ve ever seen!” followed by the sound of running feet as she headed toward my office exclaiming, “Thank you, Daddy! I love you so much!”
From SOC Entrepreneurs Damon and Lisa Cooke, Reno, NV
In May 2004 we came over for the Treat 'em Right Seminar. Damon's best friend lives in Provo, Utah and he was excited to show him SendOutCards. His friend really didn't want to sit through the presentation but did it anyway. He told Damon just yesterday he would have paid $1,000 for it because when he saw what it really was he knew he had to have it.
What we didn't know at the time was that his Rock Climbing Equipment Pro Shop was in danger of going under. He started sending cards to his customers as well as campaigns. Each night when he gets home, even when he's wiped out, he sends 10 cards. It has saved his Pro Shop. Even when he's tired he sends the cards because of the results he's had. Some people call him and thank him for the card; others mention it when they come in the store. How awesome is THAT??? Oh, and this guy and his wife attended one of the Treat 'em Right Seminars in Salt Lake in the summer of 2004 and they loved it.
From SOC Entrepreneur Michael Brenner, Santa Clarita, CA
I understand how sending unexpected greeting cards generates goodwill, appreciation, and thoughtful kindness that benefits the sender as well as the recipient. Additionally, I recognize the opportunities it provides for us to develop our business for the benefit of all concerned. But I'm discovering that sending unexpected cards also provides opportunities to develop trust in our intuitive faculties as well.
Recently, I set up a gift account for a friend even though she was quite resistant to the idea of sending out an unexpected card. Two or three times she protested that she couldn't think of anyone or didn't have their mailing address at hand. Suddenly, she relented, admitting there was one person she'd just thought of ... someone she hadn't seen in 9 or 10-years ... that she'd like to reconnect with. Browsing the SendOutCard catalog, she quickly found a card she liked, and typed a brief but heartfelt message. Pulling from memory she typed her friend's address and clicked "Send."
Ten days later, she received a phone call from her friend's husband informing her, sadly, that his wife had died. He went on to explain that she'd been sick for some time, but was thrilled to receive the unexpected card just two days before her death ... an unexpected but heartfelt greeting card that almost wasn't sent.
I now realize that there will be times that we never learn about the thoughtful kindness we generate when we send unexpected cards, but we should never doubt that they matter ... not only to those who receive them, but to those of us who follow our hearts when we send them. Thank you for the opportunity you've provided us to make a positive difference in people's lives with a thoughtful, heartfelt click of the mouse.
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Well, the story starts out with the seminar I attended and Kody telling us to send a card to three people who had affected my life. Two of the people I had chosen were the Pastor of the Christian school I attended and his daughter, who was my best friend in high school. I haven't seen or talk to them in over ten years. As I was writing the card to my Pastor, I called my sister to tell her my prompting and she told me not to send the card because he wouldn't react the way I was hoping , so I didn't send it. Then I told my mother about the card and she told me to send that card anyway, so I did. When the pastor read the card he was touched. He told my sister that Sunday at church, "I received a beautiful card from your sister," and she said, "Pretty on the outside?" and he said "No, on the inside. The words she wrote touched me." He told her he would keep the card in his office and never throw it away. Then I sent a card to his daughter -- my best friend grow ing up. She went up to my sister and asked her, "Is Darcy dying?" My sister said "Not that I know of, why?" She said, "Because she sent me a card and the words she wrote made me cry and she sent my father a card and when I read it I cried." My sister giggled and said, "She's not dying, she is just letting people know how she feels about them." After ten years of no contact with my friend, we are now emailing each other. I am the type of person that never sent cards or ever expressed how I felt about someone. But now that I have SendOutCards it's easy for me to tell people how much they mean to me. I feel closer than ever to my friends and family. Thanks, Kody, for encouraging me to follow my promptings. Anonymous I have only one child, a son, now 25, who had been addicted to meth for almost 6 years. Those years were spent in more moments of agony than I care to remember, coupled with intense hope and utter despair at the thought of losing him. I spent countless hours leaning on the back of my car in the middle of the night under the stars talking to God. During these moments I had the sense God was always with me , but not necessarily that things would turn out ok. Life offers no guarantees. I still prayed for strength, discernment, courage, and redemption of a life that at times looked beyond repair. I actually slept during the times my son was incarcerated, knowing where he was and that he had a place to sleep and food to eat. During what would turn out to be his last incarceration I visited him only to be met with anger and volatility. I went home and wept and while I wept I looked at pictures of the little baby I brought home from the hospital; innocent and beautiful. Then I looked at his school pictures, scuba diving shots, BMX race shots, moments on the ski slopes and a host of other moments caught on film that I knew would be all the memories I would have left if he died in his addiction. I decided to upload several of these pictures and send them to him in jail, hoping he would remember who he really was. One card just said "Look what I can do" with him jumping his BMX bike 20 feet in the air at a dirt jumping competition. Another said "Guess what, I love you" with a picture of me holding him on my lap at 14 months on a trip to Alaska. And another said: "I think of you often. Each night as I lay my head down I pray to God for your physical safety, your emotional and physical healing and the resources to become available to fix your teeth. I think of how you make me laugh out loud. Your talent in music and art. All the effort you put in to becoming an accomplished diver and biker. I also think about you being almost 25 and worry that your life could become a revolving door in and out of jail. I believe that you will have to make a choice to not live by situational ethics. You need to adopt ethics that stand firm in the face of the choice before you. Then, and only then will you really be free in this life. I hope you will not let your life be of so little purpose and value. Sometimes people allow themselves to make bad choices for so long that it becomes their lives and they are considered bad people, rather than people who have made some bad choices. Think hard on that. On a lighter note, it was really good seeing you last night. I love your laughter and smile. I look forward to better times. Love always Mom." There were more cards sent during the month he was there and I got collect calls when these cards started arriving. The anger melted away to rivers of tears and a softened heart that wanted to change. I realize SOC is not the entire reason for his change, but I can tell you when you are alone in a jail cell you covet your mail and read it over and over again, and it has the potential to grab your heart. That was the last time my son was in jail. He has been clean for 10 months now. He works full time, has renewed his license, purchased a vehicle and is applying to school. He says the cards reminded him of what he once was and all that he had lost in his addiction. The cards are powerful. Add a picture of a memory and you add more power. My son is living testimony to that. |
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