November 8, 2006
What a Week!
 
At the end of the day on Wednesday Martin said to me “Nothing happened today!” He was upset and concerned. I understood what was going on, and I calmed Martin down. He had become an adrenalin junky just like myself. It was sad but not incurable…we just needed another quick rush or two…
 
Thank you for Thursday!
 
By 10:00 I called iParenting and got the news that we had won. < iParenting Award> The twitch of Martin’s lower lip was starting to dissipate. I was still feeling confident I could pull him around on Thursday but it may require ‘Good News Friday’ yet.
 
By 2:00 Martin had already drafted a new email offer to our reps and was now raising an eyebrow on a regular basis with enthusiasm as more contacts and sales were made. Signs of steady recovery were evident.
 
I gave up on Thursday afternoon though as it was not enough to win the second best award in the industry when you had already won the most prestigious award. I told him to stay in the office and keep working until he could get through this mild anxiety attack from Wednesday. He was grateful for the extra hours as there were still calls to be made and incoming regularly that needed answering.
 
You see Martin suffered terrifically high levels of up anxiety on Monday and Tuesday as we had investment come in from Sanford M. Sorkin  http://ww2.cis.temple.edu/sorkin/ and Sandi Goss (see the attached profile above) and it was overwhelming when coupled with the B&N order increase and the Fax (money machine) ringing constantly with new store orders. Martin was already adding the new stores to the website AFAP! (as fast as possible.)
 
The poor guy has only just begun his fourth week full time – Give him a break!

As I counted on it, ‘Good News Friday’ was the killer cure, and Martin is for the most part, OK now. What ever OK really means when you work for a company like McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds, that grows so quickly.
 
We received another investment in Friday morning’s mail from Dr. Athole G. Jacobi M.D. (Please Google Athole, maiden name McNeill, I knew I liked her from the start) She is an amazing lady. The amount of websites listed with Athole’s name really helped to soothe Martin’s condition. Not only did she invest in us but she was almost as popular as we are.
 
Susan and I checked in to see how Martin was doing just after our incredible two hour meeting with Karen Ammond www.kbcmedia.com around 2:00 pm. He yelled into the phone and told us he was swamped and didn’t have time to talk with us. Like they say, Thank God It’s Friday! We knew Martin was fine.
 
Martin did call us back 20 minutes later when we were crossing the Delaware back to the office to let us know that Ruly Carpenter stopped by to drop off some potentially rare books as a donation to Success Won’t Wait! Please Google Ruly as well.
 
Martin felt good the rest of the day and so did Susan and I.
 
To our latest partners and investors, Athole, Sandi and Sandy I say Welcome Aboard and Thank you. You are amongst good company and we will never let each other down!

October 23, 2006

Travel to see our reps and more games in production

Hello Team,
 
Please welcome Margaret and Palmer Dalesandro. Our two newest investors have enabled us to place another order and continue to pay off more debt from our US runs. Thank you both so much for coming aboard.
 
As you may recall I am headed out tomorrow to meet and invigorate a few of the newest additions to our sales force. Monday is Columbus and the folks from Singer & Associates. Tuesday I fly to Houston and get to see my Mom and Dad. Wednesday I borrow their car (Dad can you have it filled and waiting please – Just kidding) and head to Dallas to meet the folks at Larry Wann Associates. Thursday is Salt Lake City where I will be staying with my niece Megan, Her husband Dave and their daughter Isabel while meeting with the folks from Fullmer & Associates. Friday I fly back home but Saturday it’s back to NYC at FAO.

It’s a packed trip and it is really nice to know that while I am on the road Martin will be back at the office handling the orders and new ideas.

I am going to keep this short because I have to pack but we are continuing to open more stores and sales are going very well. I will fill you in more from the road.

Lastly, just thought you all would like to see what 10,000 of each game actually looks like. Here are shots from the trip to the warehouse at Alcom this morning:

October 9, 2006

Widespread Success and Good Thoughts for our friend Michael

Much has been accomplished. On Tuesday we had our Core Group meeting and after the discussion of all items we determined that we had an impasse for our Board on one item. Thursday night we resolved any future impasse by adding Paul Cooper to the Board so we now stand at 7 members. We also voted to extend the board to 9 members at some point to be determined in the future. We also cleared the impasse with much further discussion and I am pleased to announce… Martin Uniacke will be coming on to McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds full time after turning in a two week notice tomorrow 10/9 to his current employer. AS you all know Martin is the other face of this company and his job description is very well defined…Help make the Craze Happen! I need him because I am missing opportunities at this point by being spread to thin…What time is right now?
 
We have landed Fullmer and Associates and now have the Mountain states covered with Toy and Game reps. Technically we are still missing toy and game reps for ND, SD and Wisconsin but have already picked up interest in a store in Wisconsin via our website and our ad in Edplay magazine. We are also still missing NC, SC and TN for toy and game reps but I am proud to announce we have picked up our first Educational rep group, Clifton Company, which covers the Southeast from Pittsburgh to Florida including SC, NC and TN. Since the Oppenheim in June we have now covered all but three states. Not bad.
 
Michael Bellgren is doing well, Paul Cooper and I went and saw him in the hospital on Sunday and the operation went well and he is recovering nicely. He is supposed to be out for a few weeks recovering but even today expressed interest in coming back this next week. (I do not know about you all but I think that people who have major surgery should be out of work for at least 2 – 3 hours before resuming activities as normal) You can still contact Michael via email although response may be slow.
 
Let me mention Paul Cooper again. Obviously Matt Goldfarb and I are decent demo people but there is truly only one KING -  FAO was a sell out on Saturday and Paul moved 26 You've been Sentenced! in just over 5 hours. Now, Matt and I kept the booth packed all day and at two points I even opened up another booth that was vacated by another vendor but I think I only sold two games – I bow to the master. We got to take Cesar, assistant manager of the demo crew out to lunch and had a very good day at FAO.
 
St. Johns Virgin Island – Can anyone make a delivery? Yes we have had a request from a store called Big Fish in St. Johns and will be following up with them this week. I spoke with the owner’s mother who made the original contact with us and she said that her daughter would contact us this week about the order. She was just surfing the net for anything fishy and came across Twisted Fish.

Sabina Ptacin – Is the owner of Red Branch PR in NYC and came highly recommended by Jennifer Groover. Sabina phoned in to the Tuesday meeting and is really on fire. She is preparing a package for us to handle more national PR. Susan has been swamped with her business and just does not have the contacts that Sabina can provide for greater national attention. Susan will be working with Sabina on a national effort and we will have a proposal late this week.
 
We will not have a Tuesday night meeting this week. We are going to move the schedule to be just every other Tuesday evening. Our attendance has been down and I think most of you have been reading these updates and gathering all of the information you need unless you have been contacted by someone on the team during the week otherwise. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know.
 
Borders first shipment went out on Thursday and the balance will go out this week. We are now in over 1,500 stores nation wide and adding more every week. Now 68 reps that work for 9 different Rep Groups are carrying our product.
 
I got my first shot at stardom this week as well. Besides autographing 25/26 games at FAO I actually did my first public speaking gig! I am not kidding…I wowed and audience of 3 teachers and 13 - 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at the Wilmington Christian Academy. HEY…It’s a start! It was really exciting and I taught a group of junior inventors all about the invention process and developing a product versus developing a business.
 
The best moment this week came with my introduction by Sandy Sorkin of Temple University to Dr. Athole Jacobi, Chairman of the Board, and Lieutenant Susan Slawson, Director, of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Police Athletic League. We had lunch at the Vesper Private Dining Club compliments of Dr. Jacobi and it could not have gone any better. They are not only interested in possibly holding a tournament next fall throughout the centers but would also like books from SWW as soon as possible. I took 54 games with me and was able to give them to Susan Slawson to be distributed to the centers as soon as they are able. It was a fantastic time and I know our games are in great places helping many young children. It is so rewarding to be able to make this donation and thank all of you on this team for doing so.
 
Every night I wonder what the next day will bring. We are making it happen!

October 2, 2006

Thoughts on Games and Child development from Paul Cooper

Games teach children:

• Social Skills
• Conflict Resolution
• Critical Thought
• Planning/Strategic Analysis
• Budgeting/ Resource management
• Emotional control and stability

Children who regularly play games with their family/friends are:

• More emotionally stable
• Better able to deal with and resolve conflict
• Clear thinking and better able to formulate effective plans and strategies
• More socially well adjusted and adaptable
• More empathic ("Able to put themselves in the shoes of another")

: than a child who focuses exclusively on physical activities, such as sports.
  
Sports exercise the body. Games exercise the mind.
    
For a well rounded child, both body and mind must be honed to the same degree. Games sharpen the mind.

September 25, 2006

Big news in sales and investors

Well I am happy to announce that my name is still Donald W. McNeill and that we have an order from Borders and Walden Books that came in at $56,000.00+ to open doors across the country. Not bad for a little company like us. I am now proud to say that we are within 20 miles of 95% of the US population. Great going team! Now let’s move those games out of those stores. That is where we EXCEL! PR., marketing and advertising. We got them in there now let’s get them out on the street.
 
I am now excited to introduce my family.
 
My Mother and Father are Gordon Lee and Doris Marjorie Snyder McNeill and are the most successful parents I know. None of their children, grandchildren or great grandchildren has ever gone to prison. We may have made a few errors or taken shortcuts in life growing up as kids, but in the end, usually adhered to what we were taught by mom and dad. My Father is a former Chemical Engineer with DuPont for 40 years and my mother was a Wilmington Junior Board volunteer and a stay at home mom.
 
I am proud to announce that my parents are now investors in McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds. They have invested $25,000.00 in our debenture program.
 
My Sister, Marty Henderson is another chapter in the McNeill line of success stories. Marty owns her own pre-school in Southborough, Massachusetts. http://southboroughvillagepreschool.com/aboutUs.html She helped bring me up as a child, as she was 14 when I was born. I was the ring bearer at her wedding but we won’t go there, as I thought my brother-in-law John was taking her away for good. My brother-in-law John http://smgnet.bu.edu/mgmt_new/profiles/HendersonJohn.html is a tenured professor at Boston University. Together they have raised three children Peter, Douglas and Katie.
 
My Oldest brother Kevin McNeill is an interesting story too. http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/mro_construction_011005-1.html His wife Lenna is another story – She is one of the greatest mountain climbers in the world. They are the parents of Megan and Bryan who have both married. Megan and her husband Dave provided my Parents with their first great grandchild Isabel named after my Grandmother on my father’s side.

Allen McNeill is my seven year older twin. I have been fortunate to learn from his mistakes 7 years in advance. He is also just another bad mark on the McNeill family name. He only has two patents to his name. To my investors from the Cingular Group please check out http://thanksadozen.com/index.html for one great sales tool! His wife Sally is a stay at home mom and mother of their three children Marcia, Michele and Michael. I have to throw this in -  GO CORN HUSKERS. http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=2008575 

I am now thrilled to say that my two brothers and their wives and my sister along with her husband, are also investing combined, another $25,000.00 debenture note. In combination with my parents it is a fantastic investment of $50,000.00 that we really need. I also look at it as we just added another 8 sales people who already loved us but now have a stake in us.
 
Thank you so much Mom, Dad, Marty, John, Kevin, Lenna, Allen and Sally. I have the greatest support in the world. It is called family. I am happy to introduce you to my other family - our Team. Welcome aboard even though you all have been there for me, all along.
 
We also have many other investments pending. I hope to add more good news to next week’s email.
 
We dropped from opening 43 independent stores the week before to only 32 stores this week but had a few reorder stores too. (Exception is Borders and Walden Books with 483 stores and 800 mall kiosks.) I will stay diligent on the rep groups to open more stores on our sales conference call at noon and again at 8:30PM EST on 9/27! I still do not have a confirmation from the Mountain states but we did land Larry Wann Associates in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. We have about 80% of the country covered with rep groups and I will have ND, SD, WI, GA, MI, NC, SC and GA covered soon I promise.
 
Martin and I will be meeting with members of the Philadelphia chapter of the PAL organization board on Tuesday October 3rd at noon in Philadelphia so the morning meeting will be completed by Susan and company. We are very excited about an opportunity to hold a future tournament with them.
 
As always, thank you all so much for your efforts in McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds.

July 13 , 2006

YEAH! Now we're Getting somewhere!

GOOD NEWS!

• You've Been Sentenced! won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award! http://www.toyportfolio.com (it is not posted yet but will be there in about three weeks according to the package we received today with the award.) This is a really BIG deal. Gold seals will be ordered and a press release will be sent out. Use of the seal is a big advantage in the market place. Seals must be ordered through them and there costs are not out of proportion to what we would pay if we had it produced ourselves. Website usage is another story and it is a yearly contract of $1,000.00 but we will need to do it.

• Educational Dealer Magazine  http://www.fwpi.com will be doing a piece on YBS in the September Buyers Guide (just in time for Christmas) This is another BIG deal!

SALES

• Contacted Shelco Sales rep group in Florida and the Southeast - sending samples. They have the Ritz Carlton hotel gift stores as a client as well as many others from Florida to North Carolina.

• Calls in to groups in Missouri, in Texas, and in Minnesota

• Sent samples to Toyology in CA and spoke with Carl Buchbinder who after 10 minutes had said “screw the information send me samples I am interested.” When we spoke today I asked him how important an Oppenheim award was and he said “Is the Ritz Carlton the most prestigious hotel chain in the world…then you have just won that same prestige in the toy and game world.” It was amazing that the Ritz came up twice in one day.

• Learning Express (franchises). 115 stores. They said yes for both games. We will be a preferred vendor. Sent information via email today with all of the sales material.

• The Paper Store has 22 stores. Met with Karen McCloud who was Interested in both games and will place order in the next couple of weeks when she returns from the Atlanta Gift Show/vacation.

• Thanks again to Peter Bourne for both of these great sales

• Landed Alan Blumberg, head of Roberts Blumberg Highlights in Boston. 11 reps. 5 are toy and 6 are gift (Hallmark, museum, aquariums, zoos etc. as well as toy and game stores from Maine to Conn.) Played games for 2 hours with 4 reps on Tuesday and we had a blast. They are very excited to have the line and Paul Jones even drove me to the airport.

• FAO Demo June 10-11. Went really well with Martin and Matt. Sold 16 games of YBS and 4 of TF. Once again these games went to all parts of the country.

Marketing and Public Relations

• Matt Cohen. Sent him TV Treatment #1 (Don’s version).

• Martin is finessing his TV treatment. Has a friend who is really good both editorially and graphically who is expected to give him something this weekend.

• Look for unusual POP ideas, other independents. Cheap, easy to do. Possibly on line for retailer download. The Oppenheim may be something to present.
   

June 26, 2006

Another Success Trip to FAO

FAO was even better this weekend! Matt Goldfarb and I sold 16 YBS and somewhere between 6 – 10 TF. Unfortunately the TF games were not properly ticketed when they brought them up and they were not being recognized in the computer system so we do not know the exact figure. Nonetheless, They only had 20 YBS and 10 TF left on the shelf. I spoke with both the President and CEO and they will be putting through their third order ASAP. I also got to see Jody Fedele who was in town on the Spiderman III production and gave him a shirt that Martin had embroidered with the Sea God from the Divine Intervention card of TF. It was great to see Jody.
 
The real highlight for me was when two families at different times asked me to pose for pictures with autographed copies of YBS. That is a real wild experience. As my brother Allen always told me, “the only thing that makes a salesman happy with his job is the next sale.” To which I will respectfully add that for the salesman to be selling his own patented product multiplies the feelings X 10. It was another great weekend and thanks again to Matthew Goldfarb who continues to produce crowds at the booth and sales of both games. He doesn’t necessarily want to be a salesman but he is quite good at it!!!
 
Talk to you all soon,
Don
 
Think Perfection!

June 20, 2006

New York, New York

Hello Team,
 
I just wanted to let you know that I am headed back up to New York again twice this week. On Thursday to meet with Ravensburger and hopefully Matt Cohen and Ellen Heaney Mizer of B&N. Then returning again on Saturday to demo at FAO.
 
Oh yeah, the whole point of this message was to tell you that B&N ordered another 500 YBS today just 5 days into the official reset of the game section. 500 in 5 days and according to my brother they are not even in his local St. Louis store yet that does carry games. Alright knock it off – I heard someone just popped a Champaign cork!!! We still have a lot of work to do but this looks like a pretty good start.
 
Once again, and it won’t be the last…Thanks to all of you  - You believed and now we will complete the dream together.
 
Think Perfection!

April 30, 2006

Not a one hit wonder!

Hello Team,
 
We have our first website customer – See below for the links to their site. Once again we have prominent placement (out of 6500+ products!).
  
We have a meeting tomorrow to finalize what changes will be made and are getting ready to place a larger order for the next round of games. We will be using Gary Conlon and PointEast for this next purchase. I have always wanted to produce this game in the US but when we had to reduce the price to move sales we have had to seek overseas production. Gary has been on board from the beginning and was responsible for the sale to Barnes & Noble which is getting ready to ship at the end of the week. He is currently calling on some other big hitters and has made some progress.
 
Martin and I have a meeting scheduled for Wednesday this week to meet with Craig Roberts of Roberts Sales. Our current rep group of Consalvi sales is actually part of Roberts but only two reps. Roberts will add 6 more reps to the roster from NY to VA and Craig has already said that he will help us with obtaining more rep groups throughout the country due to the sales he has seen Peter Consalvi and Mike Schmidt make already. He is very excited to pick up our line – We are NOT A ONE HIT WONDER anymore.
 
On Saturday the Online Group meeting was held at the office! (It’s nice to say we have an office now, much less one temporarily free of charge.) I am very excited to now have Rich and Jay on the team to help complete this project. I am glad to see that this unit is finally complete in order to make YBS the greatest online experience ever played – (No, I don’t ask for much.) All of the group was in attendance and thank you all very much for the time spent, not to mention, the effort in getting there as some traveled quite far to attend.
 
We recorded episodes 5 and 6 on Tuesday of the TV game show. Both went very well and the judges, Veronica Eid and Judith Armstrong were great. They were the two cute seasoned citizen judges who really focused on grammar and helped to give the show validity in it’s pursuit of language excellence. I am anxious to see these two shows air. We are also talking with Tim and Daps on when to air to a larger audience and selling the game show concept to a network or larger entity for wider distribution.
 
The new website is coming along very well but still needs some finishing touches to be supplied by certain members so please see the email from Michele that she sent out last week and get the information to her as soon as possible. I am really looking forward to seeing the whole operation under one umbrella. The graphics and choices of photos are superb and really compliment each page. The back end is functioning as expected and will help everything from sales to shipping to registration to communication function much better. Thank you online team.
 
On Wednesday I will be announcing a new organization of the company. Not much will change but this will help allow me to focus more on sales and customer service so that I can grow the company more quickly.
 
As always I look forward to your comments and questions.
 
Donald W. McNeill