SMG Doesn't Have An Ego.. But Do You?

 5 Ways To Override Your Ego and Let Things Go

1. Don’t be offended

If you are looking for reasons to be offended, you’ll find them every few minutes. This mindset weakens you, forcing you to stay defensive or belligerent, wasting way too much energy and mental focus in unnecessary confrontations.

Being offended creates destructive energy, leading to a never ending series of attacks and counterattacks. Of course, you should still be offended by the many horrific things that happen in this World, but by not letting your ego constantly complain about small things, you will learn to truly focus on those things that are truly important and affect all of us dramatically as a group and as individuals -poverty, wars, the environment, etc.

Stay calm and live in peace.

2. Get rid of the need to win and to be right

To win is a foolproof method to avoid contact with your true self. The need to win is a never ending rat race that will never allow you to step aside and reflect on your actions. You cannot win all the time. Let go the need for recognition. Forget the need to win and to be right, and your life will improve overnight.

You don’t need to impose yourself to feel right. In fact, living in a state of permanent competition against others is very detrimental for yourself. I have seen many relationships get screwed by the need of certain people to be always right. Don’t let that happen, it will ruin your life and that of those around you.

“We must go beyond the constant clamor of ego, beyond the tools of logic and reason, to the still, calm place within us: the realm of the soul.” – Deepak Chopra

3. Overcome the need to feel superior

Improving has nothing to do with being better than others. Improving is all about being better than you were last day. Focus on your inner growth, being constantly aware that no one is better than anyone else on this planet.

The ego tends to judge everyone and everything based on the appearance, achievements, possessions, value and other metrics that make sense only from the ego point of view. It loves to divide people between winners and losers. These kind of feelings lead to resentment, confrontation and hostility against each other. These feelings will pull you apart from others, and apart from the true enjoyment of life.

4. Overcome the need for more

The ego is never satiated. It doesn’t matter how much you have, your ego will keep on asking for more. It is never enough, you will be trapped.

Ironically, when you overcome the ego, it feels as if you have more than you want. You will realize how little you 

really need, and will be at peace. You will be pleased with yourself by simply living.

5. Overcome the need for accomplishments

It may be a difficult to achieve this if you identify yourself with all the things you have done. You are not your achievements. In fact, you’re not your body. You are merely an observer. Look around and appreciate the capabilities that you have at your disposal to achieve things since you were born, but don’t let your ego take credit for it all.

After all, you are part of something much bigger than yourself, have always been and will always be. The reputation that you identify yourself with is located in the minds of others. It’s an illusion, and it shouldn’t control you. If you talk to thirty different people, all thirty will have different opinions.

Stop and meditate. Reconnect with the World. Follow what you truly believe is your goal in this World, beyond what others think you should do at all. If you worry about how others perceive your actions, you will end up losing touch with your true self.

One last line of advice I would like to give you all is to keep on going! Your ego is something that has been formed from your conditioning and habits and you WILL be able to let go of your ego with practice of the above.

Lions, Tigers, &...Dinosaurs?

Lions, Tigers, and Dinosaurs, OH MY!

“Everyday is Halloween!” cheered Atalanta Vardamoskos, Account Executive here at Scarlet Management Group.  It’s hard to keep quiet about the holidays here at SMG and today we had the wonderful opportunity to assist the Boys & Girls Club of Columbus get ready for Halloween!  Philanthropy comes naturally to the SMG team as we strive to make an impact in different organizations.  This month at the Boys & Girls Club, we helped them prepare for their annual Haunted Murder Mystery night taking place the following evening for the kids.  Because they are hosting this festive event, there was no question that they needed all of the help they could get!

After having a chance to speak with Club Director, Tyshayla Reed, about the impact that SMG has had within their organization, it was evident how much our service was appreciated.  Our task today was to lay the foundation for the murder mystery event.  Our team members started off with cutting large black trash bags and began hanging them around the whole facility; an appropriate approach to set the mood for their upcoming event!  Tyshayla shared how this project took three days to set up last year!  So they were very grateful to find out that Scarlet Management Group was coming to assist in the facility!

“Every month, we’re excited to work with you guys!  They do the work that our workers aren’t able to get to.  They’re consistent and they never complain”, Tyshayla shared with me.  Because they are so limited on staff, they always appreciate the time that we are able to contribute.  “They are our favorite staffing group.  Whether it be cleaning, painting they’re always willing to help.” 

The Haunted Murder Mystery event will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday October 29 at the Boys & Girls Club located at 1012 Cleveland Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201.  As the night consists of solving a murder case, scares, thrills and a dance party, this will also be a great night to interact with the kids!  Hope to see you guys there! "What do you guys enjoy most about volunteering"?


Shey: "Good quality time to spend with other people for a good cause!"
Glenn: "Giving back to the community!"

Scarlet Management Group Welcomes Jessi Walters

We have had a busy few weeks here at Scarlet Management Group! We have been planning for both our Miami trip that recently took place as well as our upcoming trip to Las Vegas. In addition we have been adding to our team of sales and customer service reps, but we have a new face on our Human Resources team as well! Jessi Walters is our newest Human Resources Administrator, and she replaces our Human Resources Intern, Lindsay, as she heads back to school for her last year at OSU. 

Jessi was born and raised in Marietta, Ohio where she attended high school and discovered her love for event planning and organization as the head of the school’s Activities Committee. She moved to Columbus about 5 years ago and decided to pursue an education with the Aveda Institute of Columbus. From there she went on to work for several salons cutting and styling hair. She loved working with the clients on a daily basis, but she wanted a position that would challenge her more, so she set out on the job search where she found that we were looking to fill several different positions.

Originally she came in to interview with our Director Rob for a customer service rep position, but after talking with her extensively Rob felt that her skills would be better suited to fill our vacant HR position. She was able to start right away and has been doing a great job so far. We are definitely excited to have her as a part of the SMG team and can’t wait to see what she accomplishes during her time with us!

Welcome to the team, Jessi!

Scarlet Management Group Learns Leadership Skills in Miami

Our Top Performer Retreat that took place in South Beach, Miami over the past weekend was a fantastic experience all around. It was a chance for our top reps as well as administrators and Directors to put their toes in the sand and enjoy the great food and atmosphere that Miami has to offer and relax on an all-expenses paid vacation. However this retreat also acted as a refresher for our top performers, giving them the chance to fine-tune their leadership skills. They had the chance to listen to keynote speaker Carlos Linares at the Awards Ceremony dinner on Friday night where he spoke about transformational leadership and personal development.

Carlos Linares is the CEO of M.I.T. consulting group and a founding member of The President’s Advisory council in the John Maxwell Company. He received his MBA in business management at the University of Miami and started his Direct Sales career in 1998. By 2000 he was already opening his very own corporation and throughout the following years he gained a reputation for developing leaders. He has also been extremely successful while running his own company, never earning less than $250k a year and peaking at 4.6 million a year. Linares has also been personally mentored by John C. Maxwell, who is a world renowned leadership expert and coach. As a direct result of his partnership with Maxwell, Linares became a founding member of the President’s Advisory council in the John Maxwell Company and is now a certified coach teacher and speaker.

At our awards ceremony in Miami Linares’ speech focused on transformational leadership, and he discussed the steps to becoming the best leader you can be. Some of the best advice that he relayed to us was that to become a leader you first need to lead yourself, and that any leader needs to constantly be specializing their knowledge so that they can better pass their knowledge on to others. It was an incredibly informational and inspirational speech and we are so thankful that we had the chance to meet Carlos Linares and soak up some of his knowledge while we were in Miami!

Scarlet Management Group Attends Top Performer Retreat

This past weekend a select few of our sales representatives, along with our Director Rob and Assistant Director Travis, flew out to South Beach Miami in Florida to attend our highly coveted Top Performer Retreat. It was an incredibly exciting weekend filled with relaxing poolside, beach parties and dinner at some of the top destinations in Miami. To qualify for this trip reps had to hit a standard number of sales for 8 out of the 12 weeks that the contest ran.

Last year’s Top Rep Retreat took place in Chicago, Illinois and while it was definitely a weekend to remember we were determined to make this year’s retreat even bigger and better! The retreat started for Rob on Thursday when he flew to Miami and attended a Director’s refresher followed by dinner at BLT Steak and relaxing poolside at the Shore Club Hotel. On Friday Travis, Colleen and Brittany arrived in Miami where they attended a Meet and Greet Mixer in the Shore Club’s Penthouse with reps and Directors from our other locations across Ohio and Michigan. After the mixer they were treated to dinner and a recognition ceremony, where keynote speaker Carlos Linares spoke about leadership and personal development. This was followed by an after party in the penthouse suite.

Saturday at the Top Rep Retreat was a day for fun in the sun and relaxing on the sandy Miami beach behind the Shore Club Hotel. There were umbrellas available to lounge underneath as well as jet skis, banana boats and volleyball nets available for our use. This was followed by dinner at Baoli in Miami, which is one of the hottest restaurants that transforms into a night club when the sun goes down.

Sunday afternoon before departing we attended the “Shore Thing” Sunday Pool Party at the hotel, which is one of the hottest South Beach pool parties and is rated number 1 on the Thrillist rankings best pool parties in Miami. After such an exciting weekend it was hard to leave Miami’s sunshine and sand behind, but everyone who attended came back refreshed and excited to see what the next year brings!

Be sure to check out our social media accounts for more pictures from the retreat!

https://www.facebook.com/ScarletManagementGroup
https://twitter.com/ScarletMgmt
http://instagram.com/scarletmgmt
https://www.linkedin.com/company/scarlet-management-group/

Scarlet Management Group Announces Winners of "Vegas Aces"

The summer months have undoubtedly been some of the most exciting months this year here at SMG. Not only are we counting the days until our Top Performer’s Retreat in Miami, Florida but we are also incredibly excited to announce the winners of our “Vegas Aces” competition as well!

“Vegas Aces” is a contest that was put on by our current client, Direct Energy for all of our sales and customer service representatives. In order to receive an invitation from Direct Energy they had to meet a variety of criteria including a certain number of sales and customer satisfaction. Those who are invited will have the chance to fly to Las Vegas, Nevada in September with other top reps from across the country on an all expenses paid trip. They will be staying for 3 days and 2 nights in one of Vegas’ top hotels and will also have the chance to attend a dinner and awards ceremony.

Now we are very excited to announce that our very own Brittany Luther, Erica Artress and Eliza Norton have earned the chance to go on this once in a lifetime trip! Direct Energy also had a surprise in store for our Assistant Director Travis Wilson. While he didn't meet the criteria due to his responsibilities in the office, Direct Energy wanted to make sure that he was recognized as well so they extended a VIP invitation to him too!

These next few weeks will definitely be very exciting as everyone heads out on their hard-earned trips! Help us congratulate the winners and thank them for their hard work and stay tuned for pictures of these  upcoming events!

*Not Pictured: Eliza Norton

Scarlet Management Group Announces The Winners For The Top Performer's Retreat!

Finally, the day that we have all been waiting for has arrived! In April we announced a Top Performer’s contest that we were running through July 20^th, and now that the contest has wrapped up, the results are in! We are very excited to announce that the winners of our 2^nd Annual Top Performer’s Retreat are Brittany Luther and Colleen Kofron!

The Top Performer’s contest started back in April, and ran for three months. During the three months of the contest, our sales representatives had to comply with several criteria to be considered, including a certain number of sales and customer satisfaction. Colleen and Brittany have both demonstrated their ability to complete any task given to them and they took the challenge in stride. As a reward for all of their hard work, both ladies will be going on an all-expenses paid trip to Miami for a few days of sun and relaxation!

We are still tying up all the loose ends and the details of the trip, but it will be taking place in August, and will include dinner at some of the top-rated restaurants in the Miami area, a VIP beach party and an awards ceremony. They will be staying at the Shore Club Hotel in South Beach, a hotel with stunning views of the ocean.

Everyone here at Scarlet Management Group is thrilled to be able to reward both Brittany and Colleen for all of their hard work that they put in on a day-to-day basis, and we know they are counting down the days until the trip begins.

Congratulations ladies, and enjoy Miami! 

How Scarlet Management Group Has Fun at Work

One thing that many people look for when searching for a new employment opportunity is a work environment that they find enjoyable. While not everyone has necessarily the same definition of “enjoyable” that is absolutely something that we try to create here at Scarlet Management Group. After all, who wants to show up to a job everyday where they are bored senseless?

There are many ways in which we try to create an enjoyable work environment, including incentives and an effective work-life balance, but perhaps most important is a little bit of excitement to brighten up everyone’s days. For example, our Assistant Director Travis recently created a scavenger hunt for our sales representatives! While they were out and about meeting with customers they had to find and take a picture of 14 random items, including a bike with training wheels, a Number 2 pencil and a Michael Jackson CD. To wrap it all up, each person had to take a picture with a customer that they had met with that day. It brought out the competitive spirit in everyone and it led to some absolutely hilarious stories.

Another day the sales reps decided to break off into teams- girls versus guys- to see who could get the most sales by the end of the day. The losers had to cook breakfast for the winners the following Saturday morning, and with free food on the line the competition definitely got intense. In the end the guys did come out victorious, and the idea of pancakes and bacon on Saturday morning definitely helped get them out of bed for the remainder of the week!

We believe that it’s the little things like the occasional friendly competition that make the days go by a little faster.  After all, if you enjoy your work, is it really work at all?

Scarlet Management Group Helps Package Over 900 Care Packages

Last week, we posted a blog announcing that we would be volunteering at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank as a part of our continued efforts to give back to our community. It was a great time and a very rewarding experience, so we would like to thank the Mid-Ohio Foodbank for allowing us to lend a hand at their facility!

Last Thursday morning we traveled to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s facility in Grove City along with a few representatives from Direct Energy, one of our largest clients. There we were able to sort through food that had been donated to pack over 900 boxes that would be shipped to senior citizens in need. It was a great team effort to pack all of those boxes! We had several people sorting cans of vegetables, people packing the boxes with assorted items, as well as those who were tallying up the final count! We ended the morning with a grand total of 958 care packages to be donated to senior citizens.

We definitely worked up a sweat making all of those care packages, but at the end of the day it was a great experience. Brittany Luther, one of our Executive Team Leaders said “It was an awesome feeling, I can't wait to volunteer there again!”

                                                     

Scarlet Management Group Volunteers at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank

On Thursday, July 3 2014 several members of the Scarlet Management Group team will be volunteering their time at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank here in the Columbus area. We love volunteering our time to help those that are less-fortunate, so we are very excited about this upcoming opportunity!

The Mid-Ohio Foodbank is an organization that collects and distributes food and grocery products to more than 500 partner agencies, including food pantries, after school programs, emergency shelters and soup kitchens. Hunger is a very real problem that can affect immune system, mood, and development and learning especially in children. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank helps ease the pain of hunger by collecting food from restaurants, distributors, retailers and food industry partners. This food then helps feed the 250,000 hungry people in the state of Ohio who do not have the benefit of regular meals. On their website, they state that their mission is “To end hunger one nourishing meal at a time, and co-create a sustainable community where everyone thrives.”

When our team members volunteer at the foodbank, they will be doing an assortment of tasks, including inspecting and sorting discarded grocery store items, building care packages for seniors, and repacking and labeling the donated goods. We believe that as a business, volunteering to give back to the community that we do business in is absolutely essential, and we are very excited to be able to lend a hand to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank in any way possible.

Keep an eye here on our blog and on our other social media accounts to learn more about any more upcoming volunteer and philanthropy projects that we do!

An Update On Our Top Performer's Retreat

A few months ago we announced our Top Performer’s Retreat to Miami that will be taking place this summer in August! Back in April we announced the contest as well as the requirements to be qualified to attend this trip, and we have started to work out some of the details and are excited to share them with you!

Our Top Performers will be traveling to Florida and staying at the Shore Club Hotel in South Beach, a beautiful ocean-side hotel with stunning views.  There they will be attending dinners overlooking the city, a VIP beach party and even an awards ceremony. The itinerary is still not complete though, and the possibilities are endless with a destination like Miami! It’s still too far away to determine for sure who will be attending, but those team members who are on track so far are gearing up to step up their game and make this dream a reality!  Our HR Administrator Sam is staying motivated by hanging stunning pictures of the beach and hotel at her desk as a reminder of her goal to attend this once in a lifetime trip.

The deadline to qualify for this contest is July 20th, so stay tuned to our blog and social media for more updates and the final results!

Scarlet Management Group Donates to Cancer Research

Yesterday evening was a beautiful summer evening, with temperatures hovering at about 75 degrees and the sun shining through scattered clouds. Several members of the SMG staff enjoyed that weather on the patio of EndZone for a fundraiser for cancer research called Pelotonia on the Patio. Rob, Lindsay, Sam and Ashley all attended this event and had a blast listening to their live music and meeting a ton of new people who all had the same goal- finding a cure for cancer.

Pelotonia is a grassroots organization that raises money to support cancer research through their annual bicycle ride. 100% of all funds raised for this event are donated to The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Pelotonia on the Patio was a fundraising event to help registered riders, virtual riders and volunteers reach their fundraising goals. Riders are required to raise a certain amount money that is determined by how many miles they choose to ride.

We were definitely impressed with the amount of people who turned up to support this awesome cause, and we were very excited to be there to support it as well. We had the chance to meet with several of the riders and they shared their stories from previous races and who had inspired them to ride in the Pelotonia race. This year’s race will take place on the weekend of August 8th, 2014.

For more information on this year’s Pelotonia race or to find out what other fundraising events are being held before the big day, you can visit their website at http://pelotonia.org .

Scarlet Management Group to Attend Pelotonia on the Patio

This upcoming Thursday, June 12, 2014 several members of the SMG staff will be attending a fundraiser called Pelotonia on the Patio in downtown Columbus.

Pelotonia is a grassroots organization that raises money to support cancer research through their annual bicycle ride. Thanks to their sponsors they are able to donate 100% of all funds raised through this event to The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Participants in the annual ride are required to raise a certain amount of money in order to participate. The amount of money to be raised is determined by how many miles they wish to ride; 25, 50, 75, 100, 155 or 180 miles. This year’s ride will take place on the weekend of August 8th.

Pelotonia on the Patio is a fundraising event to help registered riders, virtual riders (people who wish to fundraise without the commitment of the bicycle ride) and volunteers reach their fundraising goals. The event will be held at EndZone on Vine Street in Downtown Columbus on Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets to Pelotonia on the Patio are $15 a piece and $10 of that entry fee will go directly towards the fundraising goals of the person that you choose. That $15 entry fee includes unlimited beer and wine as well as live music.

As always, we are very excited to help support the great cause of cancer research and are looking forward to Thursday! We are sure it will be a great time, and we encourage those who are able to meet us there.

For more information on Pelotonia 2014 or Pelotonia on the Patio you can visit their website at: http://pelotonia.org/

Tickets to Peletonia on the Patio can be purchased at: https://pelotonia.ticketbud.com/pelotonia-on-the-patio

Inspiration of the Day: Jim Carrey

When we came across this photo on the internet this afternoon we felt it had a great, inspiring message that we had to share. Simply put, follow your dreams.

Why is this so important, you ask? Because following your dreams can be one of the most rewarding, fulfilling experiences out there. So many people are scared of following their dreams because often times it means taking the road less travelled, taking chances and taking risks, but the end result is so worth it. We get in our heads and tell ourselves “It’s impossible!” but how can we know until we truly give it our best efforts?

As much as our family and our loved ones can be our best supporters, sometimes they can also be guilty of holding us back. It is not something they do intentionally, as they only want what is best for us, but they can encourage those of us with big dreams to give them up in order to do what is “safe”.  Parents, grandparents, siblings, significant others, they all understandably have opinions on our life choices, but at the end of the day you are the only person who knows what the best path for you will be.

Jim Carrey illustrates this so well here. Follow your dreams. Do what will make you happy and what you will enjoy doing for the rest of your life. We only live once, and so we should live life to the fullest, doing what makes us happy. And on the other side of that coin, if you are going to fail at something, wouldn’t you rather go down knowing you took risks and tried your best rather than wishing you hadn’t let that opportunity slip through your hands?

So a big thank you to Jim Carrey for not only providing us with plenty of laughs (Bruce Almighty is a favorite movie here in the SMG office!) but also for giving us our daily dose of inspiration!

Scarlet Management Group Promotes Brittany Luther to Executive Team Leader

There are big things happening this week here in our office! We are excited to announce that as of Tuesday, May 27th 2014, we have officially promoted a member of our sales team, Brittany Luther, to an Executive Team Leader position. Brittany will be in this role for several months as she continues to build her team of sales representatives and work on her leadership skills before she transitions into a role as Assistant Director.

Brittany was drawn to Scarlet Management Group by the advancement opportunities as well as the tight-knit atmosphere. She started working for us in September of 2013 and her drive and determination to succeed was evident from the start. Brittany attributes her success at Scarlet Management Group to her drive and competitive spirit; she says she likes to win and failure isn’t an option. She is also strongly motivated by her family, including her two sons, Damian and Brody.

She currently has her sights set on continuing to advance within the SMG organization, but some of her future goals include opening up her own company as well as buying a house and a new car.

We are thrilled to see Brittany continue to grow and achieve her goals and we can’t wait to see what she will do in her new role as Executive Team Leader.

Congratulations Brittany!

Introducing Our HR Intern, Lindsay

We have been very busy here at Scarlet Management Group over the past few weeks expanding our team as we gain new clients and plan for an office expansion. In the midst of all of our organized chaos, we would like to welcome the newest member of our Human Resources team, Lindsay! Lindsay will be joining us for the summer as an intern so that she can learn the ins and outs of the marketing industry and get some hands on experience.

Lindsay is attending Ohio State University right here in Columbus and she is double majoring in both Communications and Marketing, and she is expected to graduate in May of 2015. She was looking for the perfect place to take what she has learned in the classroom and apply it to real life when she found one of our ads on Monster.com. After taking a look at our website and our Facebook page she became enamored with our fun and upbeat atmosphere and quickly realized that Scarlet Management Group was exactly what she was looking for.

Everyone in the office has done an excellent job of making Lindsay feel at home during her first week with us. She is doing a fantastic job so far, and we are very excited to see what she can accomplish in the time that she is here!

Welcome to the team Lindsay!

Getting Ready for Some Fun in the Sun

After a long, bitterly cold winter it seems as though the warm weather may finally be here to stay in Columbus, and we couldn’t be more excited about it! We may have been getting a little bit of cabin fever stuck having our weekly Office Nights inside, so we have been searching relentlessly for something to do that will bring us outside in the fresh air.

Our Director, Rob, just recently came across a great way to celebrate the warmer weather- a fun and laid back race called the Hit and Run 5K. The race will take place on Saturday, May 24, at 9 a.m., and the race consists of a battlefield of inflatable obstacles that promise to make this 5K the most entertaining that we have ever participated in.

Check out their website below to see pictures from all of their events as well as more details on the race. Anyone interested in participating with us should contact Rob for more details so he can get an idea of how big of a group we will have. They also have different wave times, so this will help us get everyone registered for the same time.

Even if you won’t be running, we would still love to see everyone out there! Stay tuned as well because some hilarious pictures are sure to follow this event.

Announcing Another Exciting Contest- Miami 2014!

Last week we announced here on our blog that our client Direct Energy was running a contest for our sales reps for the chance to win a trip to Las Vegas in September. Well now we are announcing yet another exciting tip, our 2^nd Annual Top Performers Retreat!

While the Las Vegas contest is for Sales Reps only, this is a chance for our HR staff and Administrators to get into the competitive spirit as well and earn an awesome prize- an all-inclusive trip to Miami in August!

The contest is running April 20^th through July 20^th and sales reps and HR staff alike have standards that must be met in order to be invited on this trip. The reward however, promises to be worth all of the hard work! Last year’s Top Performers Retreat took place in Chicago and included tickets to a Chicago Cubs game as well as a beautiful sunset dinner cruise. The dates of the trip as well as the itinerary have not been announced yet, but it is definitely going to be even bigger and better than last year!  

Our Director, Rob Hill, was very excited when he announced the contest, saying “Once you get to go on a vacation like this- where you are pampered and everything is paid for- you never want to go on vacation any other way again.”

With the contest deadlines for both trips coming up quickly, the entire office is incredibly excited, and everyone is hoping to be invited on this Miami trip. We will be announcing updates as well as the results when the contest concludes on our blog as well as our Facebook account, so stay tuned!