Good morning, good morning, good morning, it's all right. Remember Stuart? I'm Jesus. I see my kids in the road running out here. You've got a couple candles here. Are those for the old people? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have blind joys and sorrows today. People get to come up and use the light here and see what it's for. It's all right. It's all right. We just see some players here. Yeah, it was a club. Yeah. This is the work of David Pultz. He's been a lot of members of her team. He's been a part of our program. He's been a part of our program. He's been a part of our program. He's been a part of our program. He's been a part of our program. There shouldn't be a 있지 number going down, that we watch every count of chances here. Well, that would be nice. No, thank you. Kent comes every year now the day. Can't switch on. I can't switch it. What happened to Craig? But it was, at the same time, Dan was doing all the music from the piano all the time, so it was a much smaller one. So this just had an immorality in here, the regular time. No, some of you don't. I don't want you to get scared. Come on. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come? Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. Darling. Each one. Even theisexuale, I don't know who the one- contaminated piece of him me we're mine, I love everyter on all the time, once relax, make some noise, zzzz please awesome, All right. Yeah. Well, good. So, did you have one for me? I think everything I've got off of your neck. I don't know. I think it's good. It's good. It's good. It's not good. Did it make sense to you? Yeah. The question I have for you is, what's the slimes? Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? No, no, it's just slimes. Okay. We didn't get actors for Sunday. We just didn't know what to do Saturday. So today is just a Sunday. And then I got that one. And like putting it here. Like, who's one of them? Yeah. It's on the table. It's on the table. How was this movie made? What? So, after... No, no, no. No, no, no. It's on the table. How is this gonna... What? So after this... Oh. So yeah? It's on the table you make sure of. Okay. So what should I put it? If you want to say it, you can put it in the stand or you can not bring a stand. Oh. I think I'll put it right there. Is anybody putting doors this way? It doesn't look like there. It's like there. So it looks like that might give you something. Right there. Right here. Right here. Right there. I think you even want to know there. I'm not sure. I'm sure it changes the feeling. I'm sure. I'm sure. I think you even want to know that. Four? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what to say. I don't know. There's a small window. That's okay. Yeah, that's okay. I think we're going to do one of the boxes. I can't find my nose. I don't know. I'll just put it down. Yeah, put it in there. Okay. We should be off. We will also have a list. We did it. We have three of them. Okay. Thank you. Here you go. Yeah. We'll see you in the next one. We'll see you in the next one. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I'll do that too. Okay. Okay. Okay, okay. Okay, okay. We'll see you in the next one. We'll see you in the next one. Okay. Okay. Okay. Please join in a moment of centering silence so we can be fully present with each other this morning. And now let's get musically present with each other by turning to the words for our in-gathering hymn, which you'll find inside your order of service. Well, and giving and receiving are the order of the weekend here on Thanksgiving weekend at First Unitarian Society. Welcome. This is a place where independent thinkers gather in a safe, nurturing, and thankful environment to explore issues of social, spiritual, and ethical significance as we try to make a difference in this world. I'm Steve Goldberg, a proud, thankful member of this congregation, and it's a special privilege to extend an extra warm welcome to any guests, visitors, or newcomers. If this is your first time at First Unitarian Society, I think you'll find that it's a special place. And if you'd like to learn more about our special buildings, we offer a guided tour after today's service. Just meet over here by the windows after the service, and we'll take good care of you. And speaking of taking good care of each other, this would be the perfect time to silence those pesky electronic devices that you just won't need during the service. And yes, I still have a blackberry. While you're doing that, let me remind you that if you're accompanied today by a youngster and you think that youngster might prefer to experience the service from a more private space, we offer a couple options for you. One is our child haven in the back corner of the auditorium, and there's also some comfortable seating just outside the doorway in the commons from which you and your young companion can see and hear the service. And one of the reasons we are able to see and hear the service this morning is we have a wonderful team of volunteers to whom we express our thanks and appreciation. I'm talking about David Bryles, who's operating the sound system. Tom Boykoff, who is our lay minister. Joe Kramer and his son, who are greeters this morning upstairs. Make sure you thank Joe's son, because someday he'll be handling the greeting duties all by himself. Our ushers today, Anne Ostrom, Dick Goldberg, and Liza Monroe. The hospitality and coffee are hosted by Rick DeVita and Jamie Anir Farer in the kitchen. The wonderful foliage that you see up front here has been tended by Hannah Pinkerton and the flowers were lovingly donated by Sally and Richard Builder and co and Paul Williams, and our all important tour guide after the service today is John Powell. Just one timely announcement before we continue with the service today. A lot of us have seen these boxes for the guest at your table collection, an opportunity to share a little bit of our holiday bounty with others who might not be quite as comfortable as we are. Talking about a variety of people, including refugees who are fleeing crises and people right here in the United States who need a little extra help during the holidays. This is going to support the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's effort in its work in this regard. So, so nation envelopes and boxes are available in the Commons. A nice thing, especially to feature at the family dinner table during the holiday season to collect those extra coins that you might have. So with that, I invite you to sit back or lean forward to enjoy today's service. I know you'll find that it will touch your heart, stir your spirit, and trigger one or two new thoughts. We're glad you're here and happy Thanksgiving recovery. Well, new thoughts, inspiration, stir the heart, and maybe stir the voices a little bit too. Pleasure to be here and I haven't sung this song in a long time, but I thought it was a great one to begin with here, this part anyway. And by Malvena Reynolds, like so. Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away. You end up having more. All right, well that's your part, okay? Did you get the words okay? Yeah, try it again. Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away. You end up having more. That sounds really great. It's a beautiful room to sing in. So maybe we could go just a little more volume. I know it's early yet, but a little more volume would be great. And then if it's loud enough, then I'll do the verse for you. Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away. You end up having more. It's just like the magic penny. Hold it tight and you won't have any. Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many. They roll all over the floor. Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away. You end up having more. So let's go dance until the break of day. If there's a piper we can pay. Cause love is something if you give it away. You end up having more. Here we go. Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away. You end up having more. Great. Now you did a lot of work to learn that. Don't want to go to waste. So let's sing it one more time. This time get a good breath, right? And let's go. Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away. You end up having more. Great singing. Thank you, Stuart. We're going to expect that on all the hymns now. Amid the commotion of our lives, we take this moment to be together. To give thanks for another day. To give thanks for all those in our lives who have brought us warmth and love. To give thanks for the gift of life. Let us open ourselves here now to the process of becoming more whole, of living more fully, of giving and forgiving more freely, of understanding more completely the meaning of our lives here on this earth. And if you will rise now in body or spirit to join together in the words of affirmation For our chalice lighting which are printed in your order of service. May this flame we light remind us that every one of us can bring the light of love to the world. May this clear flame be a symbol that every heart can burn bright with joy, peace and harmony. May the wisdom of ages speak to us through this flame and stay in us. Every one of us can be a blessing to the world. And before we join together once again in song, if you'll take a moment to greet those around you, please be seated. Our story today, the quilt maker's gift. There was once a quilt maker who kept a house in the blue misty mountains up high. Even the oldest great great grandfather could not recall a time when she was not up there sewing day after day. Here and there and wherever the sun warmed the earth it was said she made the prettiest quilts anyone had ever seen. The blues seemed to come from the deepest part of the ocean. The whites from the northernmost snows. The greens and purples from the abundant wildflowers. The red oranges and pinks from the most wonderful sunsets. Some said there was magic in her fingers. Some whispered that her needles and cloth were gifts of the bewitched. And still others said the quilts really fell to earth from the shoulders of passing angels. Few had ever seen her. A lost shepherd, a wandering woodcutter or two, but many knew who she was by her deeds. They said she was the most gifted and giving woman ever known that she could have grown immensely rich by selling her wondrous quilts. Many people climbed her mountain pockets bursting with gold hoping to buy one of the wonderful quilts but the woman would not sell them. I give my quilt to those who are poor or homeless. She said to all who knocked on her door they are not for the rich. On the darkest and coldest of nights the woman would make her way down the mountain to the town below. There she would wander the cobblestone streets until she came upon someone sleeping outside in the chill. She would then take a newly finished quilt from her bag, wrap it around their shivering shoulders, tuck them in tight and tiptoe away. Then the very next morning with a steaming cup of blackberry tea she would begin a new quilt. If by luck you should happen upon her and ask if she had always been such a giving person the quilt maker would tell you that she was once quite different indeed. As a young woman she gave no thought to people in need. It wasn't that she was selfish but because she and all the children of the town had lived their lives in a world where poverty and need was unknown. A great stone wall thick and high had been built around the town. The children had never seen what was outside but the town's elders warned that there was something terrible out there, something too awful to speak of. They told them to never ever never even think about looking for a way to the other side. Because all of the people of her town were rich the girl thought the same must be true of everyone everywhere. Her life was much like a princess. Everything she needed she had, everything she wanted she was given. She was never cold or hungry yet she was as unhappy as she was rich. Often she would visit with the seamstress who made her gowns and had taught her to sew. One day as they sat together in the sewing room the older woman could see that the girl was sad.  Oh I don't know I have everything anyone could ever want yet even with so much my heart feels empty. It seems as if there should be something more. I feel that I meant to do something important with my life but I just don't know what that is. Don't worry said the seamstress you'll find your way. Now ever since she was quite young the girl had always been known for her bravery and so for some time she had thought about stealing outside the wall to see just what the awful things were that lurked there. She knew the elders would be furious but her friends would love the stories she brought back. It had always been said by some that far below the town hall there was a secret passageway and that if you were bold enough to venture inside that passageway would lead you to the world beyond the wall. So one night the girl decided to see for herself. She crept through the town hall and down the stairs lower and lower beneath the sleeping city until she came to the bottom most cellar. There was only one door. The girl turned the knob and with all her strength pushed open the great groaning door and went through. She entered into a gloomy passageway lit only by candles. She followed the candles and when she finally arrived at the other end it was already morning and what she saw was terrible indeed. There were people in ragged clothes, some were hungry, many were tired. For days she walked passing through more and more villages just like the first. There was unhappiness everywhere. The world she realized was not as she had thought. But she did find something unexpected on her journey. All along the way she found that people she had been afraid of were kind. She learned that it wasn't them but living in need that was frightful. They were happy to help her in any way. If they had little in their pantries they gave what they could. If they had nothing they gave from their hearts. When her fine shoes fell away in scraps a passing girl took off her own shoes, the only pair she owned and gave them to the barefoot girl. When she had gone longer than ever with nothing to eat, she found an apple tree with just a few pieces of fruit left on its branches. She gathered the apples in her skirts and hungry though she was, decided to walk on and save them until night. But she had not gone far when she had passed an old woman sleeping beside the road. The young girl left the woman an apple for her to find when she woke. Then down the road there was someone else, another and another in need. To eat she gave an apple until she found that there was nothing left for herself. But the young girl now realized she no longer felt hungry.  Now she saw the world as it truly was and so she knew where her happiness lay. The young woman began making quilts to share with those in need bringing them warmth and hope. She'd often give these quilts in secret because she didn't think it was important for people to know who had made the gift. All they needed to know was that someone, somewhere in the world, cared for them. And so having found her way and her gift, the quilt maker settled on the great mountain she liked so well. She worked steadily through the seasons of the passing years on her wonderful quilts. When finished with each she left her gifts of warmth and hope in the hands of someone in need. Now like the quilt maker we all have gifts that we can give. At times the greatest gift that we can give to another is the willingness to listen and to be together in times of sadness and in times of joy. Now is the time for us to share with one another the concerns of our lives. If you feel so moved I invite you to come to the front of the auditorium, light a candle using the microphone, please briefly share with us your message. And if you're unable to come forward for any reason raise your hand and we'll bring the microphone to you. And I now invite you into the sharing of our sorrows and our joys. There's a colleague who is himself presently dying of congestive heart failure. I will an if you will light one last candle in the spirit of gratitude and love for the blessings in our lives not the least of these being the gift of community and the blessing of each other. If you'll rise now and body your spirit for our next hymn which is number 95. Please be seated. Now many years later the quilt maker was still living high up in the mountains making her beautiful quilts for those in need. And at this time there also lived a very powerful and greedy king who liked nothing better than to receive presents. The hundreds of thousands of beautiful gifts he got for Christmas and his birthday were never enough. So a law was passed that the king would celebrate his birthday twice a year. When that still wasn't enough he ordered his soldiers to search the kingdom for those few people who had not yet given him a gift. Over the years the king had come to own almost all of the prettiest things in the world. Throughout the castle from top to bottom in drawers and on shelves in boxes trunks closets and sacks all of the king's countless things were stashed. Things that shimmered and glittered and glowed. Things whimsical and practical. Things mysterious and magical. So many many things that the king kept a list of all the lists of all the things he owned. And yet with all these marvelous treasures to enjoy the king never smiled. He wasn't happy at all. Somewhere there must be one beautiful thing that will finally make me happy and I will have it. One day a soldier rushed into the palace with news about a magical quilt maker who lived on a mountain. The king stamped his foot. And how is it that this person has never given me one of her quilts as a gift? He demanded. She only makes them for the poor your majesty and she will not sell them for any amount of money. Well we shall see about that the king roared. Bring me a horse and a thousand soldiers. And they set off in search of the quilt maker. But when they arrived at her house the quilt maker merely laughed. My quilts are for the poor and needy and I can easily see that you are neither. I want one of those quilts the king demanded. It might be the one thing that will finally make me happy. The woman fought for a moment. Make presence of everything you own she said. And then I will make a quilt for you. With each gift that you give I will sew in another piece. When at last all your things are gone your quilt will be finished. Give away all my wonderful treasures? cried the king. I don't give things away. I take them. And with that he ordered his soldiers to seize the beautiful quilt from the quilt maker. But when they rushed upon her she tossed the quilt out the window and a great gust of wind carried it up, up and away. The king was now very angry. He marched the woman down through town and up another mountain where he had his royal iron maker shape a thick bracelet of iron. Then they chained her to a rock in the cave of a sleeping bear. Once more the king asked her for a quilt. And once more she refused. Very well then, the king replied, I will leave you here. And when the bear awakens I am sure he will make a very fine breakfast of you. Later when the bear's eyes opened and he saw the woman in his cave he stood on his mighty hind legs and gave a roar that rattled her bones. She looked up at him and sadly shook her head. It's no wonder you're so crouchy.  Bring me an armful of pine needles and with my shawl I'll make you a great big pillow. And that is what she did. No one had ever been so kind to the bear before. So he broke the iron bracelet and asked her to spend the night. Now although the king was very good at being greedy he was very bad at being mean. All that night he couldn't sleep for thinking about the poor woman in the cave. Oh my, what have I done? He moaned. So he woke up his soldiers and they all marched in their pajamas up to the cave to save her. But when they arrived the king found the quilt maker and the bear having a breakfast of berries and honey. Now the king completely forgot about feeling sorry and became angry all over again. He ordered the royal island makers to build an island barely big enough for the woman to stand on on her tiptoes. Once again the king asked for a quilt and once again she said no. Very well the king replied, tonight when you are too tired to stand and lie down to sleep you will drown. And the king left her alone on the tiny island. Shortly after he left the quilt maker saw a sparrow flying across the Great Lake. A cold fierce wind was blowing and it didn't look like the poor bird would make it to shore. The quilt maker called to him and he stopped to rest on her shoulder. The poor tired sparrow was shivering. So the woman quickly made him a coat from scraps of her purple vest. When he was warmed in the wind had stopped the bird flew away. But he was very grateful to the quilt maker for what she had done. Soon the sky darkened and the air filled with a huge cloud of sparrows. Thousands of wings beating together they swooped down lifted the woman in their little beaks and carried her safely to shore. Again that night the king could not sleep for thinking of what he had done. Oh my, oh my, he wailed. So he woke his sleepy soldiers again and they marched in their pajamas down to the lake to set the woman free. But when they arrived she was sitting on a tree limb sewing tiny purple coats for all the sparrows. I give up, the king shouted. What must I do for you to give me a quilt? As I said, the woman answered, give away all of the things you own and I will sew a quilt for you. And with each gift that you give I'll add another piece. I can't do that, cried the king. I love all my beautiful things. But if they don't make you happy, she asked, what good are they? That is true, the king sighed. And he thought about what she had said for a long, long time. So long that weeks went by. Oh, all right, he finally muttered, if I must give away my treasures, then I must. The king went to his castle and searched from top to bottom for one thing that he could bear to give away. Frowning, he finally came out with a single marble. But the boy who received it smiled so brightly in return, the king went back for more. Eventually he brought out a pile of velvet coats and went about the town giving them to people dressed only in rags. All were so pleased that they marched up and down the street in a grand parade. Still, the king did not smile. Next, the king fetched 100 waltzing blue Siamese cats and a dozen fish that were as clear as glass. Then the king ordered his merry-go-round with the real horses to be brought out. Children cried with delight and cartwheeled around him. And just the smallest of smiles began to show on the king's face. The king looked about him and saw the dancing and merry-making all the happiness his gifts had brought. A child took hold of his hand and pulled him into the dance. Now the king really smiled and even laughed out loud. How can this be? He cried. How can I feel so happy about giving my things away? Bring everything out. Bring it all out at once. Meanwhile, the quilt maker kept her word and started making a special quilt for the king. With each gift that he gave, she added another piece to his quilt. We made apple pie, cinnamon rolls, chicken soup in great big bowls, and grandma and me were ready for Christmas Eve. Taking food door to door, she said, the season needs a little more than just to tell the world that you believe. You got to share your bread. You got to shine a light. You got to help your neighbor rise and stand. When the hard times come, hold somebody tight. That's why love has hands. Back in 1934, grandma's family was so poor. Christmas Eve, they were on the street. Tell a stranger in the name of love, like an angel from above. Give them a place to stay, food to eat. You got to share your bread. Shine a light. Help your neighbor rise and stand. When the hard times come, hold somebody tight. That's why love has hands. Well, some say love starts down in the heart. Some say love has wings. I find love in the open hand and the joy it brings. Well, there are times I have been on the receiving end of hospitality and joy and grace. Other times I think I see grandma looking out at me through the eyes of a desperate stranger's face. You got to share your bread. Shine a light. Help your neighbor rise and stand. When the hard times come, hold somebody tight. That's why love has hands. You got to share your bread. Shine a light. Help your neighbor rise and stand. When the hard times come, hold somebody tight. That's why love has hands. Thank you, Stuart. So our once greedy king kept on giving and giving. When at last there was no one left in town who had not received something, the king decided to go out into the world and find others who might be in need of his gifts. But before he left, the quilt maker, the king promised the quilt maker he would send a sparrow back to her each and every time he gave something away. So morning, noon, and night, the wagons rolled out of town. Each piled high with the king's wonderful things.  On and on, the quilt maker worked. And piece by piece, the king's quilts grew more and more beautiful. Finally one day, a weary sparrow flew into her window and perched on her needle. She knew then and there that it was the last messenger. So she put a final stitch in the quilt and started down the mountain in search of the king. And after a long search, she found him. The king's royal clothes were now in tatters and his toes poked out of his boots. Yet his eyes glittered with joy and his laugh was wonderful and thunderous. The quilt maker unfolded the king's quilt from her bag. It was so beautiful that hummingbirds and butterflies fluttered about. Standing on tiptoe, she tenderly wrapped it around him. What is this? cried the king. As I promised you long ago, the woman said, when the day came that you yourself were poor, only then would I give you a quilt. The king's great, sunny laugh made green apples fall and flowers turn his way. But I'm not poor, he said. I may look poor, but in truth my heart is full to bursting, filled with memories of all the happiness I've given and received. I'm the richest man I know. Nevertheless, the quilt maker said, I made this just for you. Thank you, replied the king, I will take it, but only if you will accept something from me. There's one last treasure I have to give away. All these years, I've saved it just for you. And from his rickety rundown wagon, the king brought out his throne. It's really quite comfortable, he said, and just the thing for long days of sewing. From that day on, the king often came to the quilt maker's house in the clouds. By day the quilt maker sewed the beautiful quilt she would not sell, and at night the king took them down to the town. There he searched out the poor and downhearted, never happier than when he was giving something away. Now, like the king, we all know how good it feels when we are able to give and share with others. In that spirit, I now invite you into the giving and receiving of the morning's offering. Our offering this week is shared with the River Food Pantry. You can find out more about them and their good work in your order of service. And we thank you for your generosity. Well, while you're reaching into your pockets, I'll teach you how this little chorus goes. And I wrote this song with my friend Tom Pease and kids wrote the verses, some of them anyway. And it's got kind of a lounge music feeling. I think it's not common here in this sanctuary to have this kind of feeling. And the chorus goes like this. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. So that's pretty much all there is to it. I'll do it again. I'm sure you can get it. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Great, you got that. Now, here's the motions. You just take out your hands like this and it helps if you bounce a little bit. You're like, everybody, you're doing good, everybody. Everybody got, and I love, this is the sign language for love. You just kind of like this. Love yourself and imagine loving somebody else. Let's see how that goes. There's one more part, but we'll see if we get that. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. That's good. Now, I want a little more volume next time, just like the last time. Didn't quite, you know. But here's the last part. For those of you who are just slightly a little bit more musically advanced, only tiny bit, there's a little part you can do like this. It's gonna just listen. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Boo-dum, boo-dum. Right? It would be, if it was the basis that did that in particular, that would be great. Dan, maybe you can like, you know, cue him on this one. So let's see if we can get that whole thing together. With more volume too, please. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. That was nice. We'll do it again one more time and I'll sing you a couple verses. We'll work on the rhythm just a little bit on that doo-dum, doo-dum part, but it's okay. So, here we go. Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Boo-dum, boo-dum. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. So these are some verses that kids wrote. You can love your mama, love your sister, love your dad. You can love your brother, even when he's being bad. So, everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. You can love your parent, love your rabbit, or your hedgehog. You can love your cat, love your snake, or love your dog a little louder. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. You can love anybody with a love that's strong and true. You can love anybody and you hope that they love you, because everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. That was beautiful. Do it one more time just to enjoy it. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. Everybody, everybody, everybody got someone to love. All right, if you will rise in body or spirit and keep those singing voices going, our closing hymn is number 128. Be inspired with gratitude for the wondrous gifts that are ours and be filled with the resolve to share them with all who are in need. May we hold precious one another and the world which provides us with sustenance and beauty. And may a song of thanksgiving be on our lips today and always. Blessed be, go in peace and please be seated for the postlude. Well, Mary Babula was an amazing advocate for children and we lost her in this last year. And this song is a song I wrote for her, the first song. And the second song is by a vocal activist and great singer named Melanie de Moor. We're going to kind of squish them together here and hope that you will sing. They're pretty easy as well. Well, if you stand with me and I stand with you our spirits will be stronger in all we do. If you stand with me and I stand with you we'll stand as love shines through. So that's the song and I'll sing it again and then I'll show you what we'll do with it but that's the first part, like so. If you stand with me and I stand with you our spirits will be stronger in all we do. If you stand with me and I stand with you we'll stand as love shines through. Now we're just going to change one word and change stand. I'm going to put in sing but you might think about what other word might go in its place because I'm going to ask you next time. If you sing with me and I sing with you our spirits will be stronger in all we do. If you sing with me and I sing with you we'll sing as love shines through. So we did stand with, we did sing with but it got an idea for another word to put in there? Share. Share. There we go. Share. If you share with me and I share with you our spirits will be stronger in all we do. If you share with me and share with you we'll share while love shines through. Great. Now here's what you do. If you've got an idea for a word don't tell me, tell the person next to you and hear what they have to say. Go ahead. That's good. Now not to make this postlude too long. So we'll take one more word maybe from this side because we got one from over here but you got one? What was that? Snuggle. Snuggle. Oh man. I could not have come up with that word in a hundred years. And you are doing the very thing. So while we're singing this if you'd like you can also snuggle with the person next to you but that's kind of up to you and how appropriate it is in a situation like this. So let's do snuggle and sing it out with me. If you snuggle with me and I snuggle with you our spirits will be stronger in all we do. If you snuggle with me and I snuggle with you we'll snuggle as love shines through. And then my friend Barbara said you know there is something about standing with people that's good but in these particular times it also may be appropriate for us to stand up for someone. Not just side by side but for those who perhaps can't stand up as well. And so this last time will be stand for rather than with.  If you stand for me and I stand for you we'll stand as love shines through. We gotta hold everybody we gotta hold everybody up we gotta hold everybody we gotta hold everybody up that's the first part and it goes just like that again. We gotta hold everybody we gotta hold everybody up we gotta hold everybody we gotta hold everybody up And we'll sing it again just a little bit louder like this. We gotta hold everybody. We gotta hold everybody up. We gotta hold everybody. We gotta hold everybody up.    Hold everybody up and do it again like this. like this. We gotta hold everybody. We gotta hold everybody up. Gotta hold everybody. Gotta hold everybody up. Hold everybody up. Up, up, up. Hold everybody up. Up, up, up. Hold everybody up. Up, up, up. Hold everybody up. And we'll sing it one last time and I want to say that don't hold back because I don't know how much more you're gonna be singing today later on. So don't be thinking I'll just wait and maybe I'll sing louder later on. No, now is the time. We gotta hold everybody. We gotta hold everybody up. Gotta hold everybody. Gotta hold everybody up. Hold everybody up. Up, up, up.   Hold everybody up.


All right, welcome to video number three in the Get Email Marketing Clients video series. We're going to talk about how to reach out to clients without feeling like a sleazeball, something that a lot of people have they struggle with. So I'm going to make sure that after you watch this, you're going to be a pro at reaching out to clients. So here's what we're going to cover on this video. We already talked about two different videos, the freelance copywriting model explained and your dream client, how to get them. If you haven't watched those videos, make sure you go back and watch that first before you watch this one or it's not going to make any sense. Here's where we are today and we have two more coming after this. So what we're covering on this video, the PQC sales process explained, we're going to give you a bird's eye view of what you're doing throughout the sales process, how to identify your prospect or your dream client's hangout spots so that you can reach out and get a response, how to reach out in a non-douchy, non-spammy way, the seven hour rule of getting a client, five tips to rise above the spam and they're interested. What now? What do you do next? So we're going to talk about all that today in this video. It's going to be a bit of a longer one but you're going to get a ton of value out of this. So first, the PQC sales process explained. What does the sales process look like? What are we actually doing through this process here? The P stands for prospect, the Q stands for qualify and the C stands for close. So in the prospect step here, step number one, we are reaching out to our dream clients. We're identifying them and reaching out on these different platforms, wherever they're hanging out. So we're going to figure out where they're hanging out first and then we're going to reach out to our prospects on those platforms. So it could be LinkedIn, it could be Facebook, Facebook groups, it could be Instagram, it could be cold emails. It could also be when you're connecting with people, there's also inbound. That's why this is orange or yellow, whatever this color is here. Once you are connecting with people on whatever platform you're on, you're going to be posting content to get potential clients to come to you to reach out and say, hey, Sean, I'm interested in learning more about what you do. I start your post on X, Y and Z. So after you're prospecting and reaching out, the goal is to get every prospect that you're reaching out to who is a good fit on a phone call, a 15 minute discovery call. So this is where we're qualifying them and we're making sure that they are a good fit and we can get them results. Very important that you, in the last video, we talked about the five criteria, making sure that you find prospects and only work with clients that you can get results for that are a good fit for your service. And then if they're a good fit on this 15 minute discovery call, you are going to do a demo or a strategy session where you're closing them and actually turning them from an interested lead into a paying client. So this is the sales process, the PQC sales process. Very simple, prospect, qualify, close. Let's break it down a little more in detail what we're doing in each step. First you're going to optimize your social profiles, wherever they're hanging out, to reflect who you are, who you help and how you help them.  What's your service offering there?  So this is a form of direct outreach that generates leads and appointments of people who are interested and who are a good fit for what you have to offer, in this case, it's email copyrighting. You can also post social selling content on your profiles that's relevant to your niche, tied back to your service, and the goal of this is to attract prospects, get them to come to you. So as you're connecting with people on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn and you're posting this content, you're sprinkling it on there on your profiles. You're going to have prospects reading that, people you connected with and getting more and more accustomed to who you are and what you offer. We'll talk about the seven hour rule in a few slides from now. And eventually some people are going to reach out and say, hey, I'd like to learn more about what you do. How can we get on a phone call to chat more, right? That's the goal of this. Once you get someone to say, yes, I'm interested from prospecting, you're going to jump on that 15 minute discovery call with that prospecting. And the goal again is to qualify them and ensure you're fit to work together. Super important, don't take on clients that you can't get results for or it's going to bite you in the arse. If they're a fit, you can schedule time for a demo or a strategy session to walk through your service, explain to them how it's going to help them go from wherever their current situation is that they don't like to the desired situation or desired result that they do want in their business. If the prospect is ready to go, which is going to be a little more rare where you're closing them on that first call for thousands of dollars, a cold ice cold prospect does happen, but it doesn't always happen. It's rare to see that you can actually sign them up on the spot if they are ready to go. So that's the sales process explained. Let's talk about how to identify your dream clients hangout spots. How do you figure out where they hang out online so that you can reach out and get the best possible response rate. So different niches hang out in different places. For example, software companies, LinkedIn and Facebook groups are great places if you're targeting software founders. So LinkedIn, you can target based on job title and industry and software is one of those. Facebook groups are a ton of Facebook groups with software founders in there. So these are the two different places that I might look to see where these software companies are hanging out. Influencers, what do they hang out? Instagram and YouTube, maybe even email, right? Ecom store owners, Facebook groups and email, right? There's tons of Facebook groups for e-commerce store owners and you can also reach them through just directly emailing them. So I like to identify the top places that whatever niche that I pick where they hang out so that I know the best places to reach them. So I like to identify the best places, the top places that whatever niche that I pick hangs out so that I know the best places that I can reach them and get a response. And what we're going to be doing is these three steps. Number one, we're going to identify their hangout spots. You're going to list out the different social media platforms or the forums or the groups and the mediums that they spend the most time on. You are going to make a lead list. So you need their name, their company, their email, their social media links where you can reach them. And this can be done manually for free where you're just manually researching and filling out a spreadsheet or a Google sheet with this information. Or you can use a virtual assistant and or use the software for a small investment, right? There's software out there that helps you to build these lists based on your criteria. Number three, you're going to create an outreach plan, right? Very important that you create this and stick to it. So you might say I'll reach out to X number of prospects every day on one to three different mediums. And for example, it might say I will reach out to 15 prospects every day on Instagram DMs and email. And again, it's important that you just not that you not only create this plan, but you actually stick to it for at least 30 to 60 days or so. Volume does matter, right? The more people that you reach out to, the more at bats and the more chances that you're going to have to get a client. So create this outreach plan, create the statement for yourself and actually be consistent with it and do it. Now let's talk about what to say in these messages, right? So once you've done these three steps, let's talk about what to say in the messages that you're using to reach out to people. So how to reach out in a non-dushi, non-spammy, non-annoying way. And most people just don't know how to do this.   It's just crazy to me how bad these outreach messages are. So here's a few, I'm going to show you examples of a few really bad ones. So this is the first one, this one really pissed me off. This dude tried to pull a fast one on me. So look at his subject line, Trump wants to make things easier. And this is not about politics, I'm not going to tell you what I align with or what I believe in, that's not what this video is for. But he leads with the subject line, Trump wants to make things easier. His first subject or first sentence was how was my pop culture subject line? And then he goes into this long pitch that has nothing to do with Trump, right? So if he said something about Trump in the subject line and he tied it back somehow to his service offering, I don't know how he would do that. There are ways to do it, but he could have tied it back and I would have bit. I might have bit on it because it is a solution. What he was pitching was something that I needed. But he tried to pull a fast one, he didn't say anything else about Trump. He just wanted me to get, he wanted to get me to open the email. And it just pissed me off, right? It started the relationship on the wrong foot. I didn't even want to talk to him after that. I basically told him, go pal and sand dude, you need to fix your messaging. Because if you're trying to trick people, you're starting the relationship off on tricking people, you're not going to get very far. So this isn't the worst cold email that I've seen in terms of copy. In terms of like trying to make me feel dumb, this guy succeeded, right?  Which is what you don't want to do to a prospect that you want to do business with. So that's example number one. Number two, yes, this is a cold email. Looks like it was sent by a robot to a robot. Like doesn't say my name anywhere. There's all this weird formatting and images in here. I don't even know how I got in this. This is a cold email. I didn't sign up for any list or newsletter from this company. And they're sending me emails like this. These are a few emails. One of a few emails from this company that was in my spam box. Yes, this is a cold email, by the way. It's not a newsletter, even though it looks like it. And this is one of the worst cold emails that I've, worst cold email barrages. She sent about 46 different emails and they were all equally bad. So just read this. Hi, just following up really quick in hopes of actually getting a response soon. I hope my email is not sent to spam. Surprise, it was. Please respond as soon as you can. Subject line, re, is this email still active? I didn't reply, so again, she's trying to trick me. And she's pairing that with really bad copy. Is this email not in use anymore? This email was the only one I could find or maybe you're just busy. I don't know, but I hope you received my emails. Like, Rebecca, why would I respond to you? You're not even telling me why you're reaching out, right? So she hasn't told me what's in it for me, why she's reaching out. Why does she want me to respond? Like, what am I gonna say?  I'm just gonna try one more time. Please, if you see my message, can you respond to me? I honestly hope everything has been going well. Be safe out there. And this was not the last email. So this one where she said I wanna try one more time, she probably sent about a dozen more emails after this. So this is what you're dealing with. This is what you're up against, right? Do you think you can beat these emails? I think you can, right? With this simple training, this simple video here that I'm showing you, I think you're gonna be able to write better cold emails and outreach emails than those people, for sure. It ain't hard to do. It ain't hard to write good cold emails if you follow a proven framework and just act like a real human, right? Don't act like robots or like irritating people where you're trying to trick them on the first point of contact or you're sending to a robot or you're just sending spam like this where you're not even telling the person why you want them to respond. If you can do better than that, you're gonna be just fine. So how to reach out in a non-dushi way. Here is a framework that you can follow. A personalized subject line. Sean loved your YouTube video on email list building. The body copy, it would be a personalized snippet. You wanna share something about the person that you're reaching out to. You wanna call up the problem, tell them how you can help them solve it. You wanna provide some kind of social proof or credibility or sample of your work. If you have it, you can add a personalized loom or a vidyard video as a bonus and then you're gonna have to call it to action. Tell them to reply to your message if they're interested in learning more, all right? Here is an example. Hey Sean, loved your video on email list building. Your tip about using Facebook groups to grow your audience and list at the same time was killer and something I'll be applying right away. Personalized snippet with a compliment. Anyway, the reason I'm reaching out is I joined your email list a few weeks back and notice you didn't have a welcome sequence in place to sell your e-book. You could be converting a lot more of your leads into customers using a seven to 10 and automated seven to 10 email welcome sequence. Introducing the problem, right? The problem is I didn't have an automated sequence setup in this example at least. The solution, I'd love to help you put this sequence in place so you can add another 10 to 20% to your revenue on autopilot. And I wrote a couple sample emails that you can take a look at. That's how you're telling them you can help them solve it and you're gonna provide some samples to that as well. Just reply back to let me know if you'd like to see them. CTA, reply to learn more, right? Now with the samples here, the cool thing that you can do is you can tell them you wrote a couple samples. You don't have to write two samples for every single prospect you reach out to. If someone replies back, like let's say for example, someone sent this to me and I replied back, I would then very quickly write up a couple samples and send it over for them to look at, right? So you're only spending time on people who respond it. Cheers, not do she value first outreach. So what we're doing here is, oops, we provided value. We told them how we can help them solve a problem and we dangled the carrot, right? We gave the person a reason to respond. We told them that we have these sample emails that can help them add 10 to 20% to their revenue on autopilot using this automated email welcome sequence. We dangled the carrot, gave them a reason to reach out and respond, right? So let's talk about the seven hour rule of getting a client. Now if you look at this, okay this is from a startup website. They talk about this in the startup world a lot. Big decisions take seven hours. Something magical happens after seven hours, right? So over here they use an example, whether you're buying a new car, making a new career move, engaging a consultant or choosing an annual holiday destination. If you add up all the time you spend thinking about it, you can be fairly sure it totals more than seven hours, right? Something magical happens after seven hours. If you've invested seven hours in getting to know a person or a topic, it's because you've established a high degree of relevance, emotional connection, trust, rapport, understanding and even bonding to the person or idea. So how does it work? How does this apply to getting a client? Simple, your goal is to clock up seven hours with as many people as possible. And you don't wanna do this in a creepy annoying or pestering way.  Now, how to smash the seven hour rule? And I'm gonna abbreviate it seven HR for brevity here. Number one, follow up like a bad date, right? Your first touch point will rarely ever get responded to. You should be following up multiple times across the different platforms that they hang out on. You should have a list of this from the previous step. You're gonna come at it from a different angle so that you're not annoying, right? You're not just gonna keep saying, hey, just following up, hey, just following up, like Rebecca in the previous bad example, right? You wanna change up the angle whenever you reach out. Share a customer success story, a new insight or a new tactic or strategy that can help them get a quick win, right? Customer testimonial. That's what I mean by customer success story here. So that's number one, follow up like a bad date, create and share content. Creating valuable content can go a long way in getting the prospect closer to becoming a client. So a very brilliant marketer named Travis Sego, he always uses the analogy of putting in golf. He says that when all your marketing and all the content, it gets the ball, the golf ball, closer and closer and closer to the hole so that by the time the sales call actually comes, it's just a little tap into the hole. It's very close to the hole already and the prospect is already very close to becoming a client. So I post content obviously on YouTube, my Facebook group on LinkedIn that does a lot of the heavy lifting for my sales process. So again, think the putting example, right? Where every piece of content you put out there, it bumps the ball closer and closer and closer to the hole so that by the time that you're getting on the phone to close, it's just a little tap into the hole at that point. It's not like a long putt. All right. Number three, start an email list and have a daily email, right? If you have a list of people who have chosen to hear from you and you're in their ear every day, you can smash that seven HR pretty quick. And this works for any industry, local business, the Joe product creators, e-com stores, coaches, consultants, service providers, as long as you're selling to someone who can read and you're sending a daily email, you're gonna smash that seven HR really quickly, right? I have people reaching out to me from my daily emails that I send out, of course, every day that inquire about the different offerings that I have because they've been seeing me sending an email out for months, right? So always be thinking, has the prospect crossed the seven hour rule? And if not, what can I do to move the prospect closer to it, to that seven hours with you, right? Following up, creating, sharing content, starting an email list with a daily email, these are my favorite ways to do it. And probably the simplest ways that you can do it. Simple, not easy. Now if you can hit the seven HR, the prospect will be 80 to 90% closed by the time they talk to you, which is what you want. You don't want it to be a slog by the time you get on the call. You gotta, it feels like you're pulling teeth and you're trying to convince them from scratch why they should sign up with you. If you can hit the seven HR, it makes your sales process and the actual closing process a whole lot easier. They just need a little nudge at that point to push them over the edge, right? If you've actually done the seven HR and they get on the phone with you or they're reaching out after seeing your content, they just need a little nudge that pushes them over the edge into becoming a paying client. So five tips to rise above the spam. There's so much spam out there today and it's harder than ever to stick out because everyone's online, everyone's moving into doing outreach and reaching out to prospects and potential clients and people are getting hammered by messages. So here are five tips to rise above the spam and stand out. Number one, use humor, right? You don't need to be a stand-up comedian. You wanna keep it light, add a bit of humor in your message. For example, I use the subject line and Sean, I'm coming in ice cold but I'm hoping to help, right? That's just some very light humor. It's acknowledging the fact that we're coming in cold to the prospect they've never met us before but we wanna help them and they're gonna, you know, this is one of my best performing subject lines right here. Number two, keep it short and to the point. No one wants to hear your life story in a cold message.  No one wants to hear that stuff in a cold message.  So be concise with your message and get to why they should pay attention really fast, really quickly. Once they are in your world, maybe they opted into your list or they're in your group if you have a Facebook group or they're watching you on YouTube, then you can share your life story if you want. But in a cold message, a cold outreach message, do not go into a long drawn out message. They don't care about that. Number three, keep it human. Please, please ditch the dear sirs and madams. This actually does still happen quite a bit to whom it may concern. I'd like to see if there's synergy between us. Oh my God, that's robotic, shite. No one talks like that. Like who actually talks like that in person? Make it conversational and as you would talk to a friend. I'm not saying to be unprofessional. I'm just saying keep it conversational.  If you wouldn't say it in real life, don't say it in an email, right? Just read it out loud and make sure that it flows naturally and that it's actually something that you would say to a friend, right? In real life. Number four, provide value and results in advance. So my cold message and example, I offered to write a couple sample emails that they could use and you don't have to write them beforehand either. Dangle the value character that they have a reason to reply and then once they reply, then you can write those emails. Then you can put your time and focus into someone who's responded to that. Number five, shoot a 30 second video. Most people are afraid of getting on camera. There are free tools like Lume and Vidyard to do this. Simply shoot a video on their, have the actual screen on their site or their social profile, restate what it says in your email and then remember the seven HR, the seven hour rule, right? Also people connect better with you when they can see you on video. So when you have an email there, you send an email and you have a link to a video where they can actually see you. This all builds up that seven HR. They see you on video. They connect, people connect with other people when they can see them.   So they're interested. What now? What do you do next? Congrats. You did the hardest part. You captured their attention and you got them to agree to that first meeting. This, I truly believe this is the hardest part, especially nowadays when you're reaching out to a cold prospect and they're getting hammered by all these other messages. I think the hardest part is getting them to agree to that first meeting. This is the start of your sales process, right? Remember PQC. This is just the P and we're now getting them to the Q, the qualify where you're getting on the discovery call. You will now be taking the conversation to a phone call and to learn more about their business and see if you can actually help them. We'll talk more about this next week, right? So actually getting on the phone. What do you say? What's the flow of the sales call? What are you doing throughout? Like what should you be thinking throughout the sales call? Some mindset and sales tips. We'll talk more about all this stuff next week. So recap of what we covered a long video but I hope you got a ton of value out of this. The PQC sales process, explain prospect, qualify, close. How to identify your dream client's hangout spots. How to reach out in a non douche way, non douchey, non spamming, non annoying way. The seven hour rule of getting a client. Five tips to rise above the spam and they're interested, what do you do next? Which is, you're gonna hop on a phone call with them. That 15 minute discovery call to qualify them, see if they're a fit. So next week, how to close deals on the phone like a boss, even if you have zero sales experience. If you haven't yet, make sure you join my free Facebook group. Go to email rainmaker.com. It's gonna take you directly to the group. You're gonna answer three questions and I approve it usually within a couple days or so and I share a lot more email marketing, email copywriting content in there as well. If you like this video, you got value out of it, make sure you like it, comment below with any questions you have and I will see you next week for video number four in the series. Take care, see you soon.