She was a very shy lady, probably in her late 50’s or early 60’s. I started chatting with her and was interested to find out that she was a photographer who was passionate about taking photos of Wild Brumbys (horses found in the wild in Australia).

It was really fascinating to talk with her and once I got her going about her passion,  she really lit up.

As we continued chatting more and more people became interested in the conversation…this shy lady had lived an extra-ordinary life.

She rode on horseback with a pack mule from Italy to Norway, it took her 7 months and in the end she had to ride through snow and ice. This trip was documented by some television stations in Europe.

She also went on another solo ride from Melbourne, Australia up to Cook Town. She once again took a donkey with her as pack horse and it took her a year and a half.

I also discovered that she lived in New York and worked for some famous publishing magazines.  I’m sure if I could sit down with her for a few more hours , I’d probably learn a lot more about what she has done in her life up to this point.

She likes to track the Brumbys from there air so she can later hike in and take photos and so she is currently learning to fly an airplane so she can do this for herself. She told me that she also wanted to get a pink plane and fly around Australia to raise money for breast cancer (remember this is a lady that is probably in her 60’s).

Gitta was one of the most interesting and inspirational people that I’ve met in a long while and so I wanted to send her a greeting card to say thank you and how nice it was to meet her.

Thank You For Your Inspiration Greeting Card

Gitta is a real free spirit,  someone who is not afraid to be on her own. I would say she loves nature,  solitude,  and probably more than anything else… she loves horses.

I wanted to create a greeting card that summed up her spirit and so I went to one of my favorite places to look for great images, Flickr.

While I was looking I came across Harwig Koppdelaney Fickr Photostream, this guy has some incredible images and poems to go with them…what a find.

I contacted Hartwig and asked if I could have his permission to use his image and he was kind enough to say yes.
You can see his image, Night Horse and Sword here. There is also a very nice poem that he wrote to go with this picture.

Thank You Card Wording

Dear Gitta,

It was a real pleasure meeting you at Vera’s Party the other day.

It’s always inspirational talking with people who follow their passion and dreams…it was a breath of fresh air chatting with you!

Look forward to meeting you again and chatting some more. Hopefully I will get a chance to go into the mountains and see how you work, I’d love that.

Best Wishes,

Steve

I love talking with people that are passionate about a topic. I find that if I ask the right questions, most people have a passion and this brings a whole new energy level to any converstaion.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

What I really love about making my own greeting cards is I can choose an image that expresses my feeling towards that person. I reckon I would have had to go to 10 card stores before I could even come close to finding a card that sums up Gitta, her love for nature and horses. Thanks to the Internet (and Hartwig) I was able to find a suitable image within 10 minutes and have my card written and posted in under 20 minutes.

Well worth it in my opinion!

When you put your picture in a card with a heart felt message of appreciation, you can feel sure that your message is going to have more durability than when you just express your feelings through speech alone.

I find that every time I send a thank you card, the person will call me to say thank you. This opens up another opportunity to express my feelings through speech.

This site is all about “spreading an attitude to gratitude” and this area of the site is a collection of stories about how a few simple kinds words can have a great impact on someones life.

A story that immediately comes to mind is one that the CEO of my greeting card company tells. He is a prolific card sender and one day he had a prompting to send a card to the lady who plays the music at his church.

The following Sunday she pulled Cody aside and burst into tears. She had been feeling depressed and unappreciated in life and was on the verge of quiting her role of playing music in the church. On the day when her feelings were very low, she received Cody’s heart felt card of thanks in her mailbox. He let her know just how much her music meant to him and how much he appreciated the fact her music lifted his spirits every time he heard it.

That was all she needed to hear and she instantly remembered why she played music in the first place. So can a card change a person’s life? Well we will never know what would have happened if that dear lady did give playing the music, but one thing is for sure, it helped her through a tough patch.

Who knows why all of a sudden we have a promoting to tell someone we care; where these promptings come from is sometimes a mystery. The most important thing is we act when we feel a prompting to

Today the first person I sent a thank you card is a patient of mine. (I am an acupuncturist as well as an Internet marketer.)

She is 95 years old, and an amazing women. Recently she brought in a beautiful Japanese Haiku calendar as a Christmas present for my wife and I.

Even though she is quite old, she always manages to get about on her own and when the fruits are in season she will often come with jams and sauces that she has made. It is so easy to thank her.

Thank You Card #2
Once again it was rather easy to find someone to send a thank you card to. My second card was a fun one and I probably spent a little more time than I though I would, but I know my little nephews will get a kick out of it so it was well worth the time.

I wanted to thank them for being great boys on the weekend when they came to visit with my sister and mum. It is a 800km round trip and they came for just the weekend to help us out. They never grumbled or mumbled and had fun even though they were obviously tired.

Earlier in the year we had a trip to Sydney together and went to the Aquarium and the Zoo. I always like to remind them of the fun times we have had together.

The front of this card is my little nephew mesmerized by all the wonderful creatures of the sea. This was a perfect chance to thank them for being such good boys while reminding them of a fun times we had together.

I also got to tell them that I had spoken with Santa and that he should be able to arrange a very useful gift indeed. There is nothing like building the excitement around Christmas for the little ones.

I am not a dad yet, but I sure do love being an Uncle.

Mathew Glanfield is the CEO of, Glanfield Marketing Solutions. I use one of his products, YourSqueezePage, in my Internet marketing business . It usually costs $19.95 per month to use Mathew’s software but when it was launched, he offered a one time lifetime membership for $197, if I remember correctly.

I choose the lifetime membership as I new I would get a lot of value out of it. When I purchased, for some reason my PayPal payment didn’t go through but I still had access to Mathews software. I contacted the support staff and told them about this a number of times.

In the end they said that because I was honest, they would leave things as they were and I could keep the lifetime membership free of charge.

I have been using Mathew’s software and find that it makes my life as a marketer so much easier. I would have thanked Mathew regardless of whether I got his service for free or not.

For the front of this thank you card I downloaded a photo from istock photos and then grabbed the image off the top of his sales page.

On the inside, I just sent him a nice message and inserted a $20 Starbucks gift voucher. When I am creating my cards I can put all sorts of vouchers from restaurants, chocolates, books, and many other services. I wanted to thank the staff as well, so I though a coffee voucher would be fine.

Thank You Card #2 – Blogi 360

This was also an easy one to create. One of the important things about writing a thank you card is sincerity. Unless you truly feel thankful, it is probably best not to write thank you but some other message.

I am truly grateful for the service that the owners and the staff at RPM Success Group provide. I use their service, Blog i360, to host this blog and also another blog that I own.

It is a fairly new company and so there are a few teething problems. The support staff has been wonderful in addressing any problems that I have had and so I really wanted to thank them.

The service at Blog i360 is everything that they promised and more. I am able to do my online business with ease and most importantly, my sites are regularly getting noticed by Google.

Although I have over 16,000 cards in my catalog, I just can’t resist making cards that have a special significance for the recipient.

Again I took the image off the top of their website and then found the image of the rocks at istock photos. The rocks have a couple of meanings for owners of this company. They live close to the beach, they are living their dream in Hawaii. The rocks also symbolize balance, and although Deb and J.P. have a big dream, I am sure balance is part of that for them. And of course, Blog i360 really does rock and so when I saw that picture, I instantly got the idea.

The only problem with sending thank you cards is it is way too much fun. People are really surprised when they get a card with there own company logo on it and a compliment. They really do love it and it gives me a great feeling to know I have brightened up someone’s day. It is certainly worth the time and effort!