Find your passion and pursue it, speaker urges

Find your passion and merge it with or develop it into a business, and you will find success.

That was the basic message delivered in a luncheon presentation Thursday by Margaret Merrill, the keynote speaker for the first Power Women in Business luncheon of 2009. In its fourth year, the series, presented by the Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce, at Skye Restaurant in Peoria, brings West Valley business women - and men - together for lunch and a lecture relating in some way to business success. How to recognize it, how to develop it and how to achieve it.

Elizabeth Hartigan, from Sterling Expectations, Inc., is the chairwoman for this year's series. She said 70 people signed up for Thursday's luncheon, and 13 businesses purchased table space for the pre-luncheon meet and greet event.

Merrill, who is a life coach, author and business owner, taught on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico for 23 years. In that time, she said, she realized she had a passion for experiencing culture. She put that passion to work in the development and launching of Oso Vista Ranch, where a sacred hogan was built and is used to continue the traditions and culture of the Navajo people in Ramah, N.M. Merrill showed a video of the hogan's construction and use.

She had copies of her second book, "Creating Purposeful Living," available for sale, and used handouts with illustrations and exercises to demonstrate discovering one's purpose in life and living it with intention. "Know who you are and live it out loud," she said.

Magnetism was an illustration Merrill used, comparing a block of unmagnetized items to the disordered confusion some people experience in trying to find their purpose. Far from being a disaster, she said, such confusion must precede clarity as values, passions, strengths, talents and service align to help define purpose.

Once your purpose is clear, goal setting becomes easier. Goals, Merrill said, ought to stretch you, to be just far enough out of reach that you must take your first step on faith. And once a goal becomes clear, she said, "Don't question it! Pray, and move your feet!"

Following the presentation, David Lewis, president and CEO of Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce, presented a check to Heard Museum West, received by Kate Cox. Cox announced her retirement from the Heard effective April 15, having spent nearly 16 years with the organization. She and her husband plan to move east to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

The next luncheon in the series will be June 25, and the speaker will be Carla Reeves, CEO of Sanity Journals, speaking on "Journaling for Your Business. Registration for chamber members is $35, non-members, $40. To register, or to become an exhibitor or sponsor, call 623- 583-0692 or visit www.surpriseregionalchamber.com.