THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
AUTHORS UNITE Copyright © 2017 by Tyler Wagner
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.
Published by AuthorsUnite.com Contents
Introduction xv
Part One: What Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know Section One: In The Beginning Ten Things You Can Learn From My 10 Years in Business 2 Yetunde Shorters It’s Worth the Effort but it Takes Heart 7 Marilyn H. Tinnin Making a Living 10 Anthony Archis Find Your Passion 13 Caitlin Bucci How to Win an Emmy Doing Something Everyone Says You Can’t (And Didn’t Know You Wanted to in the First Place) 15 Josh C. Kline Get More Things Done in the Next 90 Days Using Parkinson’s Law and WOOP Technique 18 Lana Kristine Jelenjev Building Assets and a Lifestyle Through Your Business 22 Troy West
Three Lessons You Can Learn From Optimizing Adult Content 25 Peter W. Szabo Your Followers Are Your Tribe 28 Lidia Vijga
iii CONTENTS
What Matters Most is What Matters Now 30 Sheree Schuler Section Two: Getting Off The Ground Success Formula for the 99% of Ventures not in Silicon Valley 33 Jesse Randall It’s Not About The Numbers, It’s About The Stories They Tell 37 Amanda Fisher Being Unapologetic, Unstoppable, and Unforgettable 40 Davide Di Giorgio Do I Really Need a Mailing List? 44 K.L. Shandwick Be Your Own Master Plan 47 Doris Gross Five Things You Don’t Learn in Dental School 50 Ryan Tigrett Marketing is Essential to Business Success 54 Thredda Sanders Company Growth is a Mirror Image of the Founder’s Vision…. 57 Robert Christenson Section Three: Uncommon Knowledge Where to Find Twenty-Five Million Dollars 59 Jaret Henhoeffer Using Private Money in Real Estate 62 Alex Cwiakala BRFM – Business Result Formula Map 65 Amir Drori Facing Failure 71 Kath Thorburn
iv CONTENTS
Systems Versus Empowerment 74 Marcus Nicholls When You Disrupt, Go All the Way 78 Lawrence Niculescu Section Four: Powerful People Position Yourself as an Expert 81 Andrew Gallagher Becoming a Certified Learner 85 Marla J. Albertie, M.Ed. How Perseverance, Positive Focus, and “Giving First” Brought a Vision to Life 88 Kim D. H. Butler Stand Out: Certifications Put Your Knowledge to the Test 92 Dr. Amy Jauman, SMS Become an Everyday Hero in Your Business 96 Kahren Oxner No Business Without Activism 99 Nelson Guerrero
Part Two: Skills, Lessons, And Tactics Section One: All About Sales Build, Develop, Nourish and Grow – Building Relationships That Last 104 Wendy A. Barba People Don’t Buy WHAT You Do, They Buy WHY You Do It 109 Master Paul Mitchell Do Business With People You Like, Trust and Respect 111 Christian Gray
v CONTENTS
Authentic Brands = Longevity 116 Erica Collins
Dominate Your Market 120 Regina Bergman
Negotiating Crazy 101 123 Michael McCourt
The Do’s and Don’ts of Instagram in 2017 125 Courtney Kraft
Become a Better Seller, By Focusing on Your Buyers 128 Mike Kunkle Section Two: Management, Leadership, and Culture
“The People System” – 3 Keys to Better Performance & Profits 134 Jennifer Leake CMC®
It’s Not Bosnia 138 David Perry
CEO = Chief Elimination Officer 142 Patricia Suflita Wilson
Lead With Them 146 Tyler Wagner
Narrow Margin Buzz Kill 149 Andrew Prater
Even Great Leaders Make Mistakes 152 Jyssica Schwartz
Exclusion is not Dead 155 Linda Carter
Co-Creating Thinking Environments® 158 Candice Smith
vi CONTENTS
Mentor, Not Manage 161 Wil Kadri
Revolutionary Leader: Profit through Intimacy 163 Kristie Knights Section Three: Well-Rounded Skill Sets
Be First 166 Talia Moyal
Adaptability 169 Adriana Albritton
Don’t Take No Sh*t 172 April Herndon
Conquering Communication 175 Phoenix Marcón
Honesty to Success 178 John A. Clark
The Power of Rapport 181 Luke Raehn
Grounding 183 Brad Climer
Choosing to Lead 186 Diana Berry
The Price of Greatness is Responsibility 189 Daniel Pinter
Productivity by Projectizing 192 Matt Palm
vii CONTENTS
Part Three: The Journey Of Business Section One: Point A to Point Business The House That Rubber Chickens Built 196 Jeff Ferguson Bigger Isn’t Always Better 199 Ariel Endean The End is the Beginning is the End 202 Brett Clemenson & Bethany O’Neil Are You Connecting With “Middle-Aged” Mothers? 205 Katrina McCarter Stop IT Projects From Driving off a Cliff: a Guide for Business Sponsors 207 Francis Liu Know Your Clientele 210 Garrett Collins LinkedIn Baby Boomer Executives and Gen Z College Graduates as Job Seekers 212 Donald J Wittman Customer Experience is the Art of Observation 216 Meena Berry Section Two: The Journey Within Adjusting the Sails and Leaning Into the Magic 219 Andrea Eygenraam Will You Have A Story To Tell? 222 Celene Di Stasio Inspirational Leadership 225 Kathy Sittnick
viii CONTENTS
The Power of Persistence 228 Paul Brodie Your Cheque’s in the Mail, and so is Your Confidence 230 Drew Browne You Can’t Control Fate 234 Matthew Claiborne Think About What You Are Thinking About 237 Hannah Cruz Transition: Professional Athlete to Small Business Owner 240 Rich Aurilia Using Your Intuition to Transform Your Business 243 Sarah Renee Section Three: The Pace of Life Saying “I Do” 246 Connie Pak The New Golden Rule 250 Harrison Bonner Never Work a Day in Your Life 253 Constant Lu, BS, DDS Iron Entrepreneur 256 Kris Kaplan Just a Number 259 Nicholas Ardis Producers vs. Naysayers and the Directors 262 Madison V. Meadows
ix CONTENTS
Part Four: Mind, Body, And Spirit Section One: Sound Minds, Sound Body You Get What You Focus On 266 Carole Taylor The Workplace and ADHD 270 Angela Ehle The Construction of a Woman 273 Teresa Marie Wallace The Fundamental Things Apply 276 Lauren Wilcockson The Gap, a Potential Junkie and a Mission for Someone… 280 Marc Angelo Coppola Section Two: Make Each Day Great Ego vs. Discipline: How a Yoga Mom Faced the Battle 283 Jenny Arrington Leave Your Shoes and Your Business at the Door 287 Justin Garton
Worry or Don’t 290 Andrew James Kraft Fear Is Your Treasure Map 292 Guryan Tighe Section Three: Being True To Yourself Trust Your Heart 295 Amy Leu F*ck You Money 298 Dave Kvesic
x CONTENTS
What Kind of Writer Do You Want to Be? 302 Joshua Rutherford The day Robert De Niro helped me in my career 305 Aninda Baruah Passion Pivots 309 Nadav Wilf Section Four: Connect To Your Spirit Role of Spirituality in the World of Business 313 Aseem Srivastav The Surprising Power of Transcendence 317 Mark Monchek Dream and Achieve 320 Patricia Hope Choose a Spiritual Path to Accelerate Entrepreneurial Success 323 Jolie Dawn Time To Say Goodbye? 327 Ioho de Beer
xi Want A Chapter in the next Better Business Book?
FOLLOW THIS LINK to get on the waiting list: http://authorsunite.com/waitinglist Dedication
To all the contributors in this book. You changed my life. I will always be here for you.
Introduction
Welcome to Volume 3 of the Better Business Book.
This series started as a way to take 100 business books, reduce them down to the 100 most important nuggets of wisdom, and put them all in one place. What we didn’t realize was that it would turn into far more than that. Yes, it is a library of lessons, but it is also a community. Over 100 very different people came together in this shared desire to pass on their value to you, the reader, and to each other.
And then something amazing happened: we did it again. And again. Several of us joined close to 100 new authors to share even more value in this third book. And others are already getting ready for a fourth book. What started as a compilation and became a community is growing into a movement. Maybe one day soon you’ll be a part of it.
We hope you enjoy reading this book half as much as we enjoyed creating it for you.
Love,
Us
xv
Part One WHAT EVERY ENTREPRENEUR NEEDS TO KNOW Section One: In The Beginning
Ten Things You Can Learn From My 10 Years in Business YETUNDE SHORTERS
Entrepreneurship is for the committed, inspired and daring. The rollercoaster ride of running a business takes failure, an open mind to learn and an emotional spin that will have you always asking “why da heck am I even doing this?” The rewards, joy, little and big success as you grow makes it all worth it. I launched my business ICY Public Relations on July 7, 2007 and there are so many things I wish I knew then that I know now. After ten years in business, there is so much I have learned that I want to share. I believe if any small business owner can learn this now, it will position you for success as you build your business.
1. Document your milestones (every year) This is one of those things that I wish somebody had told me at the start. The importance of documenting your milestones can help you put together information for your portfolio, keep track of your successes and, when it’s time to celebrate, you’ll be able to reference in detail all that you have done and worked on. You will get caught up in the day-to- day activities of building your business so this can be easily forgotten. My recommendation is that, at the end of each month (put it on your calendar as a MUST DO), document as much as possible the successes and biggest challenges of each month. Save images, take behind-the- scenes pictures, notes from clients and such, and save it to a folder. These will be invaluable in the long run.
2. Identify your customer fast and connect to them personally Identifying your ideal customer should be your priority. Small business
2 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
owners, in that first year, typically are more concerned with staying in business and earning revenue to grow. So you may end up taking on clients that do not fit your model. It is important that you quickly identify who you’re meant to help. Creating a persona for that ideal client is important because when you communicate with them visually or with words, each person should feel like you’re talking to just them. Remember: when they open their phones or computers, it’s usually A PERSON in front of that screen. So all your communications should sound like you’re talking to one person even if they’re one million of that kind of person.
3. Be intentional about finding the right teammates My mother gave me one piece of advice when I expressed to her in my third year in business how difficult it was to find the right contractor or assistant. Her advice is this; when it comes to finding your rights teammates look for MINI YOUs who just happen to have different skills than you do. You should surround yourself with people who are just as smart or smarter than you.
4. Ask the right questions Asking the right questions can be the difference between going out of business and thriving. As you grow your business and meet different mentors and entrepreneurs that you can learn from, do your research and ask concise, simple questions to get you exactly what you need. I found that when I began I asked questions that mostly focused on my short-term goals, instead of asking questions for long-term goals. Be intentional about the questions you ask of the people who inspire you and people you want to learn from because it can make all the difference in the world.
5. Trust your gut This is one gift many entrepreneurs have talked themselves out of in the name of being “professional.” When I first began, there were some decisions I wish I had listened to my gut on, either based on the kind of client I wanted to work with, or the decision to attend meetings that I knew would waste my time, but went anyway. Your time is your most VALUABLE ASSET. Be cognizant of who and what you spend it on. Your gut is the God-made compass that you have for your business and personal life. The more you practice using it, the more trust you can have
3 AUTHORS UNITE
in it. So learn to practice trusting your gut. It will save you time, money and crazy clients.
6. Plan for success and failure “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” ~ Benjamin Franklin
As a small business owner, you can get caught up in so many aspects of your business. You wear so many hats that it can be overwhelming to make plans for every single thing. But as a business owner, nothing is more important than planning for your success and also preparing for challenges. It puts you in a position to be way ahead of the curve. So whether it’s a to-do list or an itemization of your process/system in whatever you do, even if it’s having the weekly meeting with your team to make sure you’re on track, be dedicated to doing it.
7. Work for free when the opportunity arises Work for free what? Yes, as you grow your business you’re going to have opportunities with incredible people that can position your brand almost instantly. It’s important to weigh those options and take advantage of them when they show up. I was lucky enough to take advantage of this lesson when I first began my business. I saw an artist (on Myspace at the time) that I believed I could represent, and I emailed her manager asking if I could work for her for free for three months, and I promised to deliver certain features including cover stories, radio and blog interviews. My condition was that, if I were able to do that, she would need to back pay me for those three months and sign up to be my client for the next year. I delivered on my promise. Because of this client, I was able to lock-in three more new clients and I made over $30,000 more in that year. (I was running my business part-time then 2007-2008.)
8. Partner with an NGO and make great noise about it In partnering with a nonprofit organization, you should consider two things. One, which organizations are your ideal clients likely to support, and two, which organization holds the same principles as you do for you and your business. The truth is, people are so busy these days that they’d rather spend money than actively participate in supporting a nonprofit. So if you can make them feel better about supporting a nonprofit that connects to them through you, it’s a win-win. The benefit of this when you’re just starting out is that you have an opportunity to expose
4 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
yourself to the many people that are already familiar with the nonprofit. Plus, it portrays you as a company that cares about people. Create that press release and blast out to as many places as you can.
9. Do it in spite of your fears and embrace the success or failure In case nobody warned you, fear is a part of the job description of being an entrepreneur. Fear is constantly going to show up to test you and it is important that you understand that it is a part of your journey to success. If you can accept this, it will help you to be more prepared for those fears when they show up.
I’ll give you an example: A while ago, one of my PR colleagues contacted me to help with the press junket for the Serena sisters in Miami. Even with this opportunity I was extremely anxious, because this had to go perfectly well. I was so nervous; I almost wanted to send in my team to handle it instead of being there myself. Then I remembered that this fear is a part of me getting to the end of that day’s success. I decided to be there myself. I was so glad that I was there to support my team. We had some media glitches, but it ended up being a fantastic event. My colleague was happy, my team had fun, I learned a lot, and we added a great profile event to our milestone.
10. Tap into your network as often as possible. As an entrepreneur, please understand that your network is an extension of you in the world. When I first started, I had this habit of always wanting to do stuff by myself because I had something to prove. The truth is that was stupid and irresponsible. As I have grown and learned about the power of my network, I make no hesitation any longer to tap into my network.
Here’s the thing: if you make and help people in your network feel special, they will spread the word about your work. Because of the power of my network, for ten years my business has been built strictly on referral. And now, I actually teach this process to my students in my online program at www.icyacademy.com. So I invite you to tap into your network. Even if you know the answers, ask the people in your network. You’ll be surprised to get different answers that give you a different perspective that you would never have considered otherwise. So tap into your network via phone, email, grab lunch, whatever is most effective
5 AUTHORS UNITE
for you. Understand that your network is a part of your net worth and my friend, you are rich. Start amplifying your richness to make more.
Many of the lessons listed here work for your business growth in the long run. If you can get in the habit of practicing some, or all of it, you’ll have a rich portfolio to show for all your hard work. I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK!
Yetunde Shorters helps the inspired woman entrepreneur create an authentic, purposeful and fun personal brand that helps you do what you love, while helping others, in a way that creates financial freedom for you and your family. She is a serial entrepreneur, three-time Amazon best-selling author, creator of ICY PR, Afropolitan Chef and Founder of ICY ACADEMY, With over fifteen years of branding, PR/marketing experience and a bag full of resources, Yetunde uses her skills to help emerging entrepreneurs create value, save time and increase productivity. She has been featured on Elle magazine, CBS, Zen Magazine, New African Woman, Genevieve and more. www.yetundeshorters.com
6 It’s Worth the Effort but it Takes Heart MARILYN H. TINNIN
In these politically correct times and in a very secular pop culture, I have found my calling to be something like swimming upstream against the current.
I am not sure what I was thinking or not thinking when I launched my publishing career – especially considering how absolutely “uncredentialed” I was.
In 2002, I was a middle-aged ex-soccer mom who had far more in common with Lucille Ball than Mother Teresa. By that time, I had muddled my way through marriage, motherhood, and most every important milestone in life. But when I came to the grim reality of the “empty nest,” I was slightly lost. I was fifty years old and obsolete – a real mid-life crisis experience.
You know the stereotypical mid-life crisis: men buy motorcycles or sports cars; women have a nip and tuck or two and go on an endless shopping spree. Well, I started a magazine, something I can’t say I spent years dreaming about. In fact, I had really not thought of such a thing at all until a few months before I got started.
I believe with all my heart that nothing is ever random. Looking back, I see how all the previous years of my seemingly disconnected life were rich in preparation in the ways that matter most.
I always tell people that everything I know about journalism I learned in kindergarten. When I was a little girl growing up in the Mississippi delta, my mother was a string reporter for several newspapers. For lack of a babysitter, she frequently took me along as she covered the little towns that ran through cotton country along the rural flatlands of our state.
Her forte was the human interest story; I would sit quiet as a mouse while she interviewed any number of individuals who had unique stories to tell. I watched my mother and listened to the stories a second time as she shared
7 AUTHORS UNITE them with my father. It was clear to me that she loved what she did. Even then, I grasped that a successful career was not just about money.
It was more than forty years later that I found myself with a burning desire to write human interest stories exactly as my mother had done. You could say I was unencumbered by a college journalism degree. I did not even own the Associated Press Handbook that spelled out in bold print every do and don’t for aspiring newspaper reporters. Neither had I taken even one business course. Honestly, I barely knew a debit from a credit.
I don’t recommend skipping the business basics; although; to be perfectly honest, had I known the statistics of the likelihood of a business failure, I would have been far too fearful to try. My desire to start a Christian magazine totally eclipsed my fear of failure.
Who can deny that passion for something is a big component for success? Don’t take a half-hearted approach to building a business. There is a verse in the fourteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel that asks what man would start to build a tower without first counting the cost.
Counting the cost in starting your own business goes way beyond dollar signs. It requires a huge investment of time: hours and hours of late nights, weekends, early mornings. It takes more than a few steps outside your comfort zone to be willing to learn what you don’t know, even when it’s tedious and boring. I absolutely love to tell stories, and I absolutely hate to sell the advertising required for revenue that makes it possible to publish a magazine.
I am the girl who was afraid to ask anyone to buy Girl Scout cookies. My late father bought every box of those things I was ever required to sell over a ten- year period. I knew I had the appropriate level of chutzpah to do this when I found myself willing to knock on doors and sell others on the value of my dream.
Passion gave me a certain amount of authenticity and I think that went further than any slick sales pitch I could have memorized from a book. At least it worked for me.
By mid-life, I had hit a few bumps in the road, faced a number of gut-wrenching
8 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 disappointments and had made the startling discovery that falling on my face is not the end of the world unless I refuse to get up and begin again. Humility and resilience go hand in hand, and both go a long way in business.
Since the beginning of this mid-life career, the most rewarding aspect of my work has been to sit down with individuals from every walk of life and be trusted to tell their stories. I have learned the skill of being a good listener, and I have learned to deeply appreciate the uniqueness of every person I have written about. There is an element of human connection that happens in a face-to-face interview. There is an “aha” moment when I understand another’s heart.
How-to books line the bookshelves in every bookstore in America. It is possible to learn the mechanics, the rules, even the technological requirements for an assignment. But the passion, the heart, and the drive are not things one can acquire by reading. They are gifts.
The most famous line from the movie Chariots of Fire, on the life of Olympic runner Eric Liddell, is his explanation of his great love of running: “When I run I feel His pleasure.”
When I tell the inspiring true faith stories of other Believers, I experience that same thing. There is a sense of the transcendent in doing so – a reminder that God’s imprint is on each one of us. Somewhere during midlife, many of us come to that place of desiring deeply to make a difference in this world. I hope I have managed to do that. I think I have.
I am the publisher of Mississippi Christian Living, a monthly publication that reaches more than 60,000 readers. I am a wife, mother, and grandmother and a lifelong Mississippian. www.mschristianliving.com
9 Making a Living ANTHONY ARCHIS
One phrase I have heard far too often in my life is, “Yeah, but you still have to make a living.” The notion of pursuing one’s own ambitions, be they creative or entrepreneurial, is one that tends to be scoffed at. After all, the necessary talent to take on both quality and quantity of competition, along with the determination towards making those dreams come true seems like a dubious proposition to most people. That being said, it is not impossible to achieve your dreams. You can write that book! You can market and sell your invention! You can do anything if you put your mind to it–well, not quite. Things tend to be more complicated than that in reality.
For starters, yes, you do need to “make a living.” No one in the adult world will take it easy on your financial obligations because you have a dream. Rent and bills need to be paid, not to mention the all-important issue of eating. Every person in the workforce not working towards their passion and dreams knows this. Some are able to discipline themselves with little effort and are able to provide an honest effort to both their employer and themselves. Others struggle with this and one side or the other inevitably suffers.
As I write this today, I have a pair of unpublished manuscripts that I am preparing to shop to go along with a full-time job that requires a lot of time, attention and even working over the weekends. It can feel frustrating to spend my days working at my job instead of researching agents or another wave of edits. However, it is a necessary part of the process. Responsibilities are an important part of life, not just to yourself, but to your family, friends, and yes, your employer!
When you apply for a job, it is critical to recognize the amount of work that will be expected of you. If you want to have any real success in what your passion is, from entrepreneurship possibilities, to writing, or even making custom doorknobs, it is important to have that same enthusiasm for the responsibilities around you. If you cannot succeed at your job because you’re caught up in dreams, how do you expect to handle getting to market
10 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 or reaching deadlines? Setting aside personal ambition and being able to compartmentalize is important, however good habits are far reaching.
You cannot expect to achieve anything without doing the work, right? Part of that is keeping a roof over your head and your family fed. It is important that if you have some goal in mind, to be able to set it without endangering anything else in your life. However, there is one key that I had alluded to earlier: discipline. Discipline is something we are all exposed to as children by our parents and our schools and should ideally promote things like a healthy lifestyle, functional relationships and the like. At work, you must have the discipline to do what is expected of you and by all means, go beyond that to continue to achieve at your job. At home, you have your responsibilities there to attend to as well. Whether it’s buying groceries or spending time with your family, these obligations cannot be shirked off. It’s selfish to think these things will go away because you want to work on X project.
So when are you supposed to focus on your own goals? When can you leave everything aside and get to what you want to do? The answer unfortunately, is different for everyone. Some people are single, some are married, some have children–everyone has their own paradigm that they are living in and they need to focus thusly. It is on you and only you to carve out the time you need to work on your goals. When I was writing the manuscripts, I would get up a few hours before commuting to work and in the quiet of the morning continue to write my books. By setting a specific time, it makes things much easier to integrate the rest of your daily obligations without taking away from your work. It is not an easy thing to do by any means; we all become set in our habits. If your goal is really worth it to you, you should be able to figure out some compromise between ambition and reality.
Once you find yourself a comfortable routine then you can get to work! That means no excuses either! We often fall into traps where we feel like because work was busy or the kids needed help building something that we can shrug off personal goals. I am no different; I have spent quiet evenings in front of the television just because it was a “long” day. It is so easy to. Rather than working on due diligence or brainstorming or whatever activity pushes your ambition further along, why not check out what was on your Netflix list? After a day of work, it is only natural to want to relax. When you are trying to make something of your own, you still owe it to yourself to have some down time; otherwise, you will drive yourself nuts with stress and overwork.
11 AUTHORS UNITE
That is why setting aside personal time for your goals is critical to have any chance of success. It has been said that it takes three weeks to integrate something into habit: going to the gym, researching client leads, whatever it may be. For some people it may take two months; for others, only two days. It takes as long as it takes. However, once working on your project becomes habit, discipline becomes easier; before you know it, your projects have become routine. Armed with the right approach and a positive attitude, you can accomplish your goals. Earlier, I wrote that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and, indeed, nothing is ever that simple. There are practical concerns, yes, but there are any number of factors at work depending on who you are and what is happening around you.
The real answer is that anything is possible if you do not give up! As long as you are willing to work towards your goals, there is always hope that they will be achieved. So yes, you still do need to make a living in the interim, and yes, you should go into your day job every day with a positive attitude and the willingness to accomplish whatever is needed for your company. However, if you are able to carve out some time, have some patience and persistence while being the best person you can be, you will be amazed at what the end result is.
Anthony Archis was born in Brooklyn, New York and resides across the harbor in Staten Island. He has been working in engineering for several years and has managed to retain a passion for reading and writing. His enthusiasm for literature now finds him preparing to release his first novel, Ascension.
12 Find Your Passion CAITLIN BUCCI
“Trust not what inspires other members of society to choose a career. Trust what inspires you.” ~ The Lazy Person’s Guide to Success
For many people, excelling in their chosen field means carving out a unique area of expertise. Highly-specialized doctors and researchers make medical advances possible; software engineers strive for the latest and greatest ways that technology can help enhance our lives; local craftspeople find original ways to set themselves apart from mass-market competition, and the list goes on. The thing that these people have in common is a passion for their work. No one stays up late at night to get ahead when they don’t care about something.
Finding your niche doesn’t necessarily mean doing something brand-new, or inventing something that the world has never seen before. When the sky’s the limit, the largest obstacle is often knowing where to start. So, start with yourself: what makes you tick? Some people love a seemingly impossible challenge and the thrill of finding a solution, while others are passionate about helping people to live better lives. Knowing yourself well enough to know what inspires you to jump in with both feet is the first step in finding your niche and becoming an expert in it.
Our society is full of achievement-oriented messaging, from discussions about compensation to lauding new titles; we equate money and prestige with success. The thing is: if you don’t love what you do, your success will be limited to the material trappings of your job. If you don’t love what you do, how do you find the motivation to make yourself excel, or to become the expert in your field? The answer is: you probably can’t. Now, to be fair, plenty of people are motivated by financial stability and climbing the corporate ladder and that’s okay, as long as you know yourself well enough to know that that’s what you want.
If you’re someone that gets a hefty direct deposit statement, and still don’t
13 AUTHORS UNITE feel fulfilled, try thinking about your passions. It’s never too late to change your direction and make a new niche for yourself. By blocking out the norms and expectations, you really can leave your high-powered corporate job for a start-up, or trade in your tenure to pursue your education, or anything else you can think of. In taking the first step to pursue your passions, you’re taking the first step to becoming an expert.
When you love what you do, the journey from newbie to expert doesn’t feel like work. Think about those things that you can “lose yourself” in – the time flies, the distractions don’t bother you, and you can just keep doing what you’re doing because you’re happy. That’s how real experts are made. When you are motivated by your internal drive, instead of by the external trappings of success, the setbacks seem less critical and the joy is in the never-ending journey.
Forget every time your mother has told you that so-and-so’s nephew just landed that big hedge fund gig – if that gig is your dream, you’ll get there, too. The thing that no one tells you is that striving to “keep up with the Joneses” doesn’t mean the Joneses are happy people who do what they love. So, keep up with yourself: find what you love, jump in with both feet, and grow into being an expert. The Joneses will eventually wish they’d kept up with you.
Caitie Bucci is an I/O psychologist who is passionate about using science to aid workplaces in making better strategic decisions. She has worked for major organizations in the professional services, telecom/tech, entertainment, and consumer goods industries. When she’s not crunching data, she loves spending time with her husband and dog in their log cabin in the northeast. http://linkedin.com/in/caitlin-bucci-sphr-41657527
14 How to Win an Emmy Doing Something Everyone Says You Can’t (And Didn’t Know You Wanted to in the First Place) JOSH C. KLINE
First things first: it’s an Engineering Emmy, not one that gets handed out on TV. Identical trophy, though. It’s beautiful, and the wings on her back are potentially lethal. I was flying with it once and as it went through the x-ray, in its case, the TSA rep stopped the conveyor and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get through security due to those wings. However, she actually asked if it was an Emmy based on the shape in the x-ray image. I confirmed it was and when she asked what I won if for, I told her it was an Engineering Emmy. She had a sympathetic look on her face and said, “Oh, honey, that’s OK.” With that out of the way…
It was 2000, I was thirty, had been working as a writer/producer after years in physical production, but experienced some setbacks so had returned to physical production to pay the bills. I met a guy on a commercial production who had launched a startup focused on the online distribution of reels. He went by the nickname “Mouse.” For background, a “reel” is basically a visual résumé for a director, actor, editor or anyone who makes their living in the film/TV/video industry. At the time, reels were distributed via videotape or DVD. Online video was just emerging and Mouse believed there must be a way to leverage the new streaming media and web technologies to build a better mousetrap (pun intended). He had no business or technology background, but he was smart and had the money to start the company. I filled in the business and tech gaps, and decided to dive into a startup. Almost simultaneously, the tech bubble burst, our “sure thing” seed funding evaporated, and Mouse was going to have to shut the company down.
I really didn’t want to go back to physical production, so I thought long and hard about how to solve this problem. We had become quite proficient at digitizing video, so I did everything I could to meet with the head of business development
15 AUTHORS UNITE for Microsoft’s Digital Media division. Turns out Microsoft desperately needed a service provider to digitize all of the Hollywood movies for the coming wave of online video, and none of the big post-production companies had the skills yet. We soon had a seven-figure run rate for providing a service that was an offshoot of what we originally intended to do. Mouse and I agreed that, given the new direction of the company, I was a better fit to lead; so I transitioned to CEO and we changed the company name from SampleReels.com to Sample Digital. That, my friends, is what we call a pivot (#1).
On the one hand, the company was saved. On the other, we were now basically running a digital duplication shop – which bore no resemblance to why we started the company. We wanted to build a scalable online business that leveraged our expertise, and digitizing films to be distributed via other companies’ services wasn’t going to satisfy us for long. What to do? We had production backgrounds and understood those processes quite well, had some experience designing web-based applications and were experts at digitizing video. We decided to apply those skills to the production process itself, and began developing a service around the secure online distribution of dailies and cuts (i.e. work in progress for film and TV production), which, like reels, were distributed via videotape and DVD. Here’s where we enacted pivot #2 and decided to create Digital Dailies™. That little “™”came in handy, as did acquiring the domain name. Another thing that came in handy was all the time I spent with our IP attorney. Everyone told us that getting a patent for Digital Dailies™ was going to be an uphill battle, but I’ve always believed in protecting one’s ass(ets) whenever possible.
This was a market of entrenched legacy players who had little patience for a scrappy startup attempting to disrupt their market. It also serviced industry creatives who were generally not tech savvy; the studios and networks didn’t know much about online video distribution yet and were rightfully paranoid about entrusting their prized assets to us. In short, the deck was stacked against us. Our pitch about efficiency, cost and time savings, environmental benefits, etc. was falling on deaf ears. But we knew this was going to be a game changer–and were stubborn enough to not give a sh*t what anyone else thought–so we were willing to reinvest all of the encoding business profits into the development of Digital Dailies and risk our careers because it didn’t seem possible to us that we could be wrong.
From our launch at the NAB conference in Las Vegas in 2002 (wherein the
16 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 internet connection to the convention center died right as I began our first press demo), we kept grinding away and notched wins here and there. Back then, a win was signing up a single movie or TV show. Over the course of several years, our tenacity and technical capabilities got us to where the wins became enterprise deals with studios and networks.
And all that time that I spent with our IP attorney years before? Well, when the TV Academy determined in 2013 to award an Emmy for the creation of Digital Dailies™ as a service that had meaningfully impacted the television industry, it was my name on the patent, which ultimately lead to it being my name on the Emmy.
The lesson I pull from this experience is to stay focused on the general goal one is trying to achieve, not necessarily the specifics. SampleReels.com was a web-based service supporting the production industry, but, for numerous reasons, it wasn’t a sustainable business. Digital Dailies™ fell in the same general category, but it was a more critical component that people were willing to pay for, so that’s how we achieved our goals.
Josh C. Kline lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son. He is a 3X startup founder, Emmy-winning technologist and producer of the upcoming live-action Star Blazers movie. His new startup have|need is the first multi-party barter platform for goods and services. He’d usually rather be mountain biking in Ojai. www.linkedin.com/in/joshkline
17 Get More Things Done in the Next 90 Days Using Parkinson’s Law and WOOP Technique LANA KRISTINE JELENJEV
Ever had problems finishing projects? Or does your list of tasks seem to be getting bigger and yet your end goal seems to be far from sight?
As entrepreneurs, setting goals AND achieving them are both crucial to our success. This is why harnessing the power of Parkinson’s Law in goal setting can be our best advantage. Parkinson’s Law in short means “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
Parkinson’s Law was named after Cyril Parkinson, a British historian who first observed this trend during his time with the British Civil Service. He criticized how the British Admiralty grew bigger while the number of sailors and ships under its care went down. He then applied this observation to a variety of other circumstances, realizing that as the size of something increased, its efficiency dropped.
Like what Cyril Parkinson noticed, Parkinson’s Law applies to various circumstances. From the way we fill in our storage space: ever noticed why a bigger house gets filled in quickly with a lot of clutter? Or how we consume our money: more income can also mean more expenses. Parkinson’s Law can also be seen on how we fill in our plates: ever filled yourself to the brim with those eat-all-you-can buffets?
So how can we leverage Parkinson’s Law to our advantage?
Having goals and a clear vision in your business are essential, but it is not the only crucial aspect in getting things done or being able to scale your business. Aligning our actions, making our ideas visible and holding ourselves accountable for our desired outcomes are other ways for us to reach our big audacious goals.
18 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
In our work in CO.LAB we created the 90 DAY ACTION PLANNER to help us keep track of the direction we are going from our big vision to our daily actions. We realized that by planning our projects in 90-day periods we are able to easily accomplish the goals we set out for ourselves. Using Parkinson’s Law in our daily planning helps us identify how long specific tasks can take, emphasizing on the notion that to be more productive, we can simply assign less time to get tasks done.
Here are specific ways you can use Parkinson’s Law in creating your MOST PRODUCTIVE 90 DAYS:
a. Connect with your bigger vision. Do a brain dump of all the projects you want to take and what activities you want to accomplish within the next 90 days. Identify what your needs are behind such goals or activities. Connecting with your needs is crucial in identifying which projects connect you to your bigger vision and your deepest intentions.
b. Remember: not all ideas are made equal With all the projects laid out for you, try to gauge which activities will quickly help you reach your end in mind. Questions to ask yourself in ranking the projects are: –– How exciting is this project for me? –– How fast can I accomplish this? –– Is this aligned to my vision?
Assess the projects on the merit of these questions and take your top two or three projects that you deem as achievable within a 90 day period.
c. Break projects down into chunks From a big idea, break it down into chunks. Try to create a set of tasks, each set with three tasks and a given deadline. This is how you leverage Parkinson’s Law. Write imminent deadlines for each set of tasks that you have identified. Think about how much time it will take to accomplish each of those tasks. Cut the time you’ve set for each set of tasks in half and you have the deadline for this chunk of tasks.
Use the Eisenhower matrix in identifying which tasks can help you keep on track:
19 AUTHORS UNITE
But don’t stop here!
One of the most crucial processes often overlooked is the importance of identifying challenges and planning for them. Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, author of Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside The New Science Of Motivation specified that it’s not only through the power of fantasizing or wishing that we accomplish our goals. We need to combine Wishes, Outcomes, Obstacles, and Plans (WOOP) to make things happen.
Here is how to go through the WOOP PROCESS: –– Wish: What would you like to accomplish? What would you like to achieve? (i.e. to finish this set of tasks within the next 60 minutes.) –– Outcome: What’s the best possible outcome that would result from accomplishing your goal? Visualize this outcome in your mind. (i.e. I get to move through my project quicker and can then attend to other things.) –– Obstacles: What do I need to do, know, learn or change to achieve this wish? What keeps me from accomplishing this goal? (i.e. spending too much time on Facebook.) –– Plan: What actions can help me overcome these obstacles and achieve my wish? This takes in the form of “If…then…” (i.e. If I find myself spending too much time on Facebook, then I will use Mel Robbin’s 5-Second rule and count down from 5 to get me back on track.)
This plan will help me anchor myself back to my intentions. Anchors are routines, reminders, and people who can support you and keep you in line with your intentions.
20 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
As you go through this simple process of brain dumping projects, assessing feasibility, chunking tasks and addressing your challenges, you will find yourself not only ticking one action after another but also getting more things done in a shorter span of time.
LANA JELENJEV is a Community Alchemist, clarity coach and inspirational speaker whose passion is to help individuals create impact and build a lasting legacy with their movements. She is one of the authors of The 90 Day Action Planner that helps creative entrepreneurs scale their business to the next level. http://co-lab.community/
21 Building Assets and a Lifestyle Through Your Business
Troy West
Working as a financial consultant for businesses, there are unfortunate patterns I see where too many opportunities are lost in terms of time and money. If you are in business, you naturally are motivated, committed, and potentially open-minded. The reality very often though is most of the extra effort you put into your business in terms of time and money does not end up building your business. Nor does it help create multiple assets, thereby creating the lifestyle you simultaneously desire. Most of us are following the traditional business path that keeps our time in the business chasing a dollar and eventually our time and passion gets lost in the process. We spend a dollar but it becomes a dollar we lose and never get back. We are constantly losing money to bills, taxes, and interest. Wouldn’t it be nice to save thousands of dollars and improve security, control, and options to build your lifestyle simultaneously? Of course, it would!
The problem we all face is what I call The Retirement Myth, the branding of “retirement” by the government and large institutions to influence us to defer time, money, and passion for their benefit. Think about it: Everything from the banking system, regulations, tax codes, the legal system, and financial products are all limited to where power and control lies, with the government and large institutions. As a small business, while you get the opportunities of an uncapped income potential and the possibility of freedom to do more, have more, and be more, you still face the reality of being in a game that seeks to control your time and money, a game the government and large institutions create. What this does is create patterns of challenges business owners face: money you make going right back to bills and taxes, limited purchasing power due to little credit or cash on hand, time and money constantly conflicting with each other, and getting stuck in your business.
You know you deserve more for the effort you put in; however, you have some major dynamics working against you because of The Retirement Myth and those large institutions and the government limiting you. There was a
22 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 study done recently by the Internal Revenue Service that showed statistics of adjusted gross income in 2012. What was interesting in that study is that the top .001% of wealth earners paid a tax rate lower than the next 10% of Americans. To be in this category, you had to make a minimum of $62,000,000 in income, however you were only taxed an average of 17.6%. To be in the top 10%, you had to make a minimum of $125,000 and your average tax rate was 19.21%. The point here is that, the more you know about how large institutions and the government create the game and play the game, the better you can be to flip the script in your favor. The top .001% know how to do this and this is just one illustration of how they position themselves to create wealth and keep their wealth.
The same holds true with how to finance your business. Generally, when you use traditional creditors like banks to finance your business, you lose money to paying interest that you may have not needed to. If you use cash, you can lose money you otherwise could have kept for other opportunities. What top wealth earners and business owners that are living their dreams and running a business simultaneously (with security, control, and options) know is how to leverage other people’s money and systems in a non-traditional sense that few business owners know about.
If you want to win the game, it is important to know what game you are in. Most business owners could be in a much better position should they have this knowledge and understand the rules of the game. Having a business plan, an expansion plan, a financial plan, and an exit strategy is critical. Building assets you can use today, getting great tax advice, legal advice, banking advice, and financial advice separates the winners from those who merely participate or lose. Getting these important tools in your hands and working together with these advisors differentiates you as a real winner.
Success leaves clues. You can be the business owner who has a platform of dilemmas and traditional challenges the large institutions and government directly and indirectly create, or you can be a game changer. You can do things like pay yourself first and recoup the money going to places like bills, taxes, interest. You can use other people’s money in ways you may not be aware of. You can act like a bank instead of reacting to a bank. You can run a business that operates off systems, constant improvement, and a clear purpose. You can learn how to create multiple assets using the same dollar. You can learn tax-free strategies; you can gain compound interest and expand your business
23 AUTHORS UNITE simultaneously; you can shelter assets. You can create a legacy that continues well beyond your death.
As Mark Twain said, “It’s not what you do not know that hurts you. It is what you know, that just is not so.” If you are a firm believer that constant learning and action leads to constant improvement, it is important to understand The Retirement Myth and how it confines, controls, and limits your ability to win. I encourage you to take the time and build your awareness, incorporate tools and resources that flip the script in your favor. Win for the purpose of your business, your family, and win big!
Troy West is the founder and president of The Retirement Myth. Troy’s company is making ground to evolve the traditional financial industry that provides individuals and business owners solutions to live a better lifestyle today, instead of deferring it to tomorrow. TheRetirementMyth.com
24 Three Lessons You Can Learn From Optimizing Adult Content PETER W. SZABO
I was young, and I needed the money… Before this turns into a full- blown cliché, let me start by explaining my first encounter with the adult entertainment industry. My life began as a fairy tale. The wrong kind: I was an only child and my parents died early. Fortunately, the web was my passion. This enabled me to work as a web designer and front-end developer to support myself during university. In the meantime, I devoured everything about psychology, human-computer interaction and most importantly, the then emerging field of user experience (UX). I knew I would work in UX. After finishing my masters, I took a leap of faith and became the very first UX consultant in Transylvania, Romania.
The problem was completely unrelated to vampires: in the Romania of 2008, most companies had absolutely no idea what UX is and getting clients from abroad was nigh impossible.
Then Google saved me. I didn’t google “get successful in UX fast.” What I mean is that Google started to introduce more and more user experience- based ranking criteria to their ranking algorithm. Some people claimed that SEO was dying. The old keyword-spamming, link-farming ways certainly were, but a more user-centric SEO was thriving. I managed to optimize a few low-profile websites, but I couldn’t reach the big league. Spoiler alert: in less than a decade I would work with well-known global brands such as Amazon, Virgin Atlantic, Tesco, Samsung and PokerStars (Amaya).
The earth-shattering breakthrough came from working on a site in a very narrow niche. I did UX and SEO for a designer, who specialized in creating clothes for exotic dancers, strippers and yes, porn movies. The site’s redesign project was a quick win. It started to get free visitors from Google, and they converted well. The client was obviously happy. In a blink, I got famous in the adult entertainment sector. Without getting naked in front of a camera, that is.
25 AUTHORS UNITE
In business, even one victory in the minor league can advance you to the major league. To have a chance for that one crucial victory, you need to go out and test your business and yourself. This was the first lesson I learned from optimizing porn, but certainly not the most important.
The next three years seemed to be my happy end. Not the kind of happy ending you get after a massage in Thailand. The fairy tale kind of happy ending. Long story short, I made a decent living, bought a house, drove a nice car, and I could donate to charities. The problem with happy endings is with the ending part. I mistook stagnation for success. The lack of growth resulted in over- optimization of the process and inflexibility. It would have been the end of my business. Thankfully, before I got into the downward spiral, I asked myself: What’s your passion? For me the answer was always there: Researching users, designing experiences and communicating results. At that time UX meant running templatized small scale research, wireframing, then rapid prototyping based on the findings. Oddly enough, great communication was not essential. After all, Google was providing the validation in the form of data.
Making a real difference, on the other hand, needs excellent communication throughout the process. When I consciously included communication as a vital aspect of all stages of my process Kaizen-UX was born. It became much more than a methodology to optimize porn. From such a shady beginning, it became the most well-known UX project management methodology, used by companies such as Amazon or Microsoft to get closer to their users and create outstanding experiences for millions.
This leads to the most important lesson of this story:Communication should be a critical component of every business decision. When you create a strategy, vision or process, you should think about how to share it. How will you enable a multi-way communication during each phase of your project? How will your clients get feedback, and how will their wishes become a reality? Ultimately: How will you make yourself understood, and how will you understand others?
Obviously, communication doesn’t imply spamming your clients with every minute detail of a large-scale user research, or sheepishly following some sort of communication protocol. My biggest challenge as a user experience professional was not to understand the users, but to make sure my clients
26 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 understood them. Actionable insights from real users defined my business from the beginning, but it took many misunderstanding to put the mutual understanding in focus. Now my mantra is: The goal of all business communication should be shared understanding. For example, it’s not enough if I have seen the users struggle with a conversion killer. I need to transfer this knowledge to the stakeholders, then get together to create a solution. For most of my projects, such solutions can be found in balancing business goals with user needs. For you it might be something completely different, but it will certainly be related to communication.
After I started to focus on shared understanding, my business began to grow. This growth led to a disaster. I failed. A large adult site with massive investment went haywire. But you can learn from this. There are many books and articles about scaling businesses, even specialists to help you scale. They mean scaling up. Increasing output, and staff. How to grow your business from five employees to five thousand? I worked with seventeen copy writers when things started to go south.
I failed a big project, but then I saved my business. Scaling down was a hard decision. Those who remained were truly passionate about UX and UI. Yes, this meant doing less, but we did things miles better. When quality drops, scale down! It’s better to have five high-performing employees who are overjoyed to work for you, than seventeen who don’t believe in your mission and only work for the paycheck you give them.
To summarize: You need to play the game you love to have a chance at a victory. One of your victories might open doors. When those doors open, you need to achieve a shared understanding. When this happens, you will succeed, but only until you start overextending. At that point, it’s better to scale down and focus on quality. If you follow those three rules, you can make the world a better place, even if you started with optimizing porn in Transylvania.
Peter ([email protected]) is one of the world’s leading user experience consultants and the author of User Experience Mapping (Packt, 2017). He is a frequent conference speaker, workshop host, and user centricity evangelist. If you are interested in UX, please check out his blog: kaizen-ux.com
27 Your Followers Are Your Tribe LIDIA VIJGA
Today, finding your true calling has become easier to do than ever before.
A few decades ago, in order to pursue a passion or a dream career, the majority of us had to go through college or university to get a degree, then find an internship or become an assistant first. After that, we had to get experience in the field, work in that field for many years, and then finally get to a position to be able to create and make decisions.
Today’s world is limitless. There are so many tools available that help us find shortcuts to explore our individuality and creativity. Most importantly, today we have the ability to instantly share our creations with others, engage with our audience and measure the feedback to redefine ourselves.
If you love writing, you can become a publisher today by creating your own blog or online magazine. If you would like to design clothes or jewelry, you can produce and sell your creations across online marketplaces and become a fashion brand. If you want to be a journalist, you can run your own online broadcasts. Anything is possible.
Regardless of the industry you are in, you need audience to guide you. You need audience to support you and criticize you so you can craft and perfect that product you are working on.
With that being said, you need to form and grow your audience first, above everything else.
I learned this throughout my own journey. Two years ago, I went to pursue a cause that I believed in. I traveled all the way to the south of India to find organic and fairtrade cotton, with the intent to influence the North American consumers’ buying pattern.
That enterprise didn’t work out as planned. But I didn’t give up. I set out
28 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 on a quest to identify the flaws of my little venture. I started gathering information from successful entrepreneurs all around the world, so I could learn from them and improve upon my own work.
To get these entrepreneurs interested in sharing their stories with me, I offered to exchange my photography skills for their knowledge. I started to create visual content for their local and online shops, and in return they would share their experiences with me. Their stories have been so encouraging and full of unique insights that I’ve started to share them on my social media to inspire others. Those who were going through the same struggles were also seeking knowledge and advice from successful entrepreneurs. They wanted to learn from the stories of others rather than from impersonal textbooks. Through them, I grew my audience and formed my own social community. I found my tribe.
By taking action towards what I believed in–by trying and failing, by opening up my mind to new ideas, to new people, by learning, by traveling, by inspiring and getting inspired by others–and by sharing it with others, I found my true calling.
With today’s unlimited reach and instant exposure, you can try new directions and pursue your interests at greater speed. Just start your journey and let your followers guide you, because we are all wired tribally and you can’t thrive without others.
Find your tribe and thrive.
Lidia Vijga is a photographer and a visual content creator. She shares stories and valuable advice from remarkable entrepreneurs and inspiring artists. Join her on a journey to learn life-changing insights from the most creative and fearless minds from around the world. http://byvi.co/
29 What Matters Most is What Matters Now SHEREE SCHULER
For my direct sales business, I have a map in my office that has dots in each state to represent the growth of my sales team. We cover each coast and many states in between. This map is a good illustration of where I am right now. It shows all the people whose businesses I help to develop. However, many of these individuals are too focused on their future wants and needs. Others are too focused on past successes or failures. I’ve learned that the present, right now, is what matters most for business success.
You may be rewarded someday for being such a visionary, strategist, or future thinker, but that can also be your downfall today. You may be lauded for your ability to recount past events and previous relationships. It’s good for the person rewarding you, but it’s probably not always great for you. Too often we dwell on previous year’s’ success; sometimes it pushes us to make the best better, but what happens when we come up short and do not achieve greater success than the previous year? We beat ourselves up and it hinders our ability to push onward. We then need to spend time evaluating what happened, refocusing on where we are at right now, and adjusting our goals for what will come next. Setting realistic goals, checking in periodically, and evaluating our progress will give us the ability to self-check throughout and not be disappointed at years’ end.
Your experiences do not dictate your future. Neither do the expectations of you. Preparing for a high school reunion shouldn’t be a nerve-wracking experience. During senior year of high school, you may have been voted “Most Likely to Succeed,” but who determines what that “success” looks like? Neither your previous experiences nor your education, nor others’ expectations of you are a promise or a threat to your future. You decide what success means for you.
So what happens when you spend four years going to undergrad, preparing for a career in a field you dreamt of being in – and then realize at the end of those four years, just prior to graduation, that perhaps it wasn’t the best fit? You’ll always have the degree; it cannot be taken away from you. What you do
30 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 with the skills you learned in the process is up to you. Perhaps you decide to grow a family and be at-home with your children, but still yearn to use your skills. Many stay-at-home moms find respite from their daily grind in the direct sales industry. Knowing how to manage a household and raise children into adults is parallel to managing a sales business and developing a team of fellow sales consultants. This is, in fact, my story. But like I tell my team, your story should not be confused with your path.
The dots on the map in my office represent my sales team, comprised of very different individuals. Not all of them dreamt of being an entrepreneur or growing a business all on their own. Everyone brings a unique set of skills and ideas to the team. Yet, I bet none of them, as a child, dreamt of being on my team. Many of them had childhood dreams of being in another profession: law enforcement, medicine, education, etc. Yet somehow their path shifted along the way. They are where they are right now, a dot on my map. Consider for a moment a young boy who wants to be a lawyer when he grows up. He spends endless hours in class and studying, only to realize that he’ll never work inside the courtroom defending a client in front of a judge. Rather he finds joy and excels in his performance supporting the courtroom attorneys behind the scenes preparing documents for trial. It’s hard to imagine every possibility that will bring you joy.
Revisiting past performance is a meaningful exercise, but it should be limited to an exercise. Similarly, forecasting or future planning is a great exercise – but it shouldn’t be where you live. Often, we allow our minds to wander too far into the future. While often we find ourselves in a daydream, consider only seeing three steps forward and three steps back. Focusing on more than this can cloud your ability to act on the here and now, leading you toward circumstances out of your control. What can you currently do to respond to the past and change the future?
Exercise:
1. Look back to five years ago…what happened during that year? New job? Promotion? Job loss? Birth of a child? Death of a loved one? Graduation? Certification earned? Vacation? Profit in your business? Loss in your business? Write it down.
2. Look forward to five years from now…what will happen? Where are you
31 AUTHORS UNITE
living? What’s your job? Who are you spending your time with? Write it down.
3. Give yourself a moment to reflect on the things that happened or the things that you hope will happen. What are the feelings that come with these things? Anxiety? Joy? Hurt?
4. Take those lists and tear them into pieces. Toss them in the recycling, or use them in the next bonfire.
How do these experiences affect your next, most important, actions? They don’t. They are too far away from right now. However, getting from there to here takes practice, experience and accountability while you’re chasing your other goals and experiences. It isn’t a goal unto itself. Start at zero. Start at now. What will you do to grow in the new month? How will your practice from the past month affect your new experiences? What do you need to do to make it happen? Don’t let your current title, education, or experience hold you back from new experiences now.
Look at your own map; see where you are right now. Right now, you are who you are. Right now, you are doing what you can. Right now, you have what you need. Your current actions predict your future outcomes. What matters most is what happens now.
Sheree Schuler is an award-winning direct sales professional, conference facilitator and trainer. She rarely gets her name spelled right at the coffee shop. Her two dogs are rescued minions. Her son has super powers and her husband believes in ghosts. What a mess. www.shereeschuler.com.
32 Section Two: Getting Off The Ground
Success Formula for the 99% of Ventures not in Silicon Valley JESSE RANDALL
I quit my six-figure job, with four kids at home, to pursue my startup dream.
And it failed.
It’s hard to express how incredibly frustrating, angering, and humiliating it is to fail at something that you publicly put your all on the line for. And I’m not some ignorant sap. I had worked at a venture capital and accelerator group for several years first, working with entrepreneurs and ventures every day.
After being in the trenches with over 100 young companies in the digital space, I had drawn up go-to-market strategies, built financial models, and completed in-depth product validation work for nearly every business model and industry you can think of.
The problem was that I got caught up chasing the wrong thing: Funding.
I drank the poisonous, premature funding Kool-Aid.
The Premature Funding Trap
There is a big problem in today’s startup culture. Like most things that the internet has brought to us, we tend to only see the glamorous, sexy, big-win side of being an entrepreneur. Rarely, if ever, does the media talk about the other 99% of ventures and what is actually required to make those successful.
33 AUTHORS UNITE
Combine those external voices with every entrepreneur’s over-inflated opinion of how amazing their innovation is, and you have a perfect recipe for falling into the “Premature Funding Trap.” That is, believing that you are ready for raising capital when you really aren’t.
Focusing on funding too early has several catastrophic effects on a startup:
Full-time job: Funding is a full-time job, so most of your time goes into building your funding assets, researching investors, and taking calls, appointments, and referrals. This means that you’re diverting a huge percentage of your available time to managing the funding process.
1. Pivot syndrome: Because they’re not ready for funding, they mistake early disinterest and/or harsh feedback to poor pitch materials, a poor storyline, or a poor product focus. This is misguided, however, because these potential investors are RARELY also potential buyers. This leads to often unnecessary pivots in messaging, industry focus, product application, or even the product itself.
2. Lost time: The two effects above cause for a tremendous amount of lost time. It takes three to six months for an entrepreneur to finally figure out that the venture just isn’t ready for funding. By that time, there may be no resources left to do what it takes to properly earn funding.
For The 99%, It’s about Survival
To feed my kids, I had to take a day job. This is where I’m reminded of advice that I had been taught years earlier by a Thunderbird alumnus (where I got my MBA) who was easily worth $100 million from building and selling companies. Go sell something–anything. Get revenue as fast as possible.
Revenue = Survival
Sounds obvious. I know.
Unfortunately, this premature pursuit of funding also leads to premature startup death. The shorter your runway, the higher your chances of failure. This seems counterintuitive since funding should lengthen your runway; however, premature funding pursuits will not yield any cash, and will only
34 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
burn the precious resources you do have. Revenue, on the other hand, increases your runway. That means you can stay alive longer.
As an example, a company with a $10,000 monthly burn rate, $75,000 in the bank from founder contributions, and $0 revenue, has a runway of 7.5 months. That doesn’t sound bad, until you realize what effects even small amounts of revenue have.
If that same company were to acquire just $2,500 of monthly business, of any kind, it would find its runway extended from 7.5 months to 10 months, an increased runway of 33%.
$5,000/month = 15 months of runway, an increase of 100% $7,500/month = 30 months of runway, an increase of 300% $10,000/month = zero burn rate, or an infinite runway *Ceteris paribus (all else held equal), of course.
Success Formula for the 99% of Ventures not in Silicon Valley
There is a formula that can be applied to make the concept of driving early, fast revenue even easier to wrap your head around. Too many entrepreneurs are overly-obsessed with “pure revenue,” or revenue derived specifically from your new product or offering. This needn’t be the case.
Remember, in your early days any revenue is good revenue. Try to make it “relevant revenue,” but it need not be “pure revenue.” You can always spin off tangential services or offerings that don’t align with the future vision.
The following is one of many approaches you can take:
1. Know your buyer. 2. Build a service offering. 3. Charge a lot for it. 4. Get intimate with their needs and pains. 5. Develop a product to solve those pains. 6. Leverage your relationship to sell it back to them.
Know your buyer: If you’re going to take the time to sell something, sell something to whoever will be the likely buyer of the real product you’re
35 AUTHORS UNITE working on. Get in the door with the right people. Build relationships of trust.
Craft a service offering: Service is the easiest thing to sell. It requires no up- front capital and you can generate profitable revenue from day one. Services don’t scale in the long-run, but this isn’t for the long-run; this is for short-term survival. Find a service you can offer and go to town selling it to your buyer.
Charge a lot for it: If you’re going to take the time to do it, charge A LOT. Make it way more than you think you’re worth. You’ll be surprised. And set up projects, not hourly rates. Set a minimum rate of $1,500 per project, or $5,000, or more if you can justify it. Tie it to the value and ROI of whatever you’re selling.
Get intimate with their needs and pains: Now you’re in the door in a position of trust. Just by being there, you are going to be exposed to all of the other problems your buyer is dealing with, especially if you’re smart enough to ask the right questions. Take advantage and get smart.
Develop a product to solve those pains: Take that pain point and either adapt or create a product to solve it. Hit the nail right on the head. Don’t be afraid to adjust your vision based on what you find.
Leverage your relationship to sell it back to them: You’re already in the door. Build the new product or offering and sell it right back to the customers you have. If you’re really good, you’ll even be able to get them to pay for development of the product itself (usually software). Again, don’t be afraid to sell.
Go Fund Yourself
End story: don’t ever put your fate in the hands of someone else. Take your destiny into your own hands by generating revenue as fast as possible. Extend your runway and make survival your number one priority, because no one is looking out for you, except you.
Jesse Randall has started five of his own businesses and has worked with over 150 different startups doing everything from financial modeling to investor prep and customer acquisition. He has a beautiful wife and four kids, and has become obsessed with training for Ironman races in his spare time. [email protected]
36 It’s Not About The Numbers, It’s About The Stories They Tell AMANDA FISHER
To run a better business, you need to understand that the numbers matter; that it actually isn’t rocket science and that numbers tell stories.
How do I know this? I’ve worked with hundreds of businesses as their accountant and virtual CFO and the one thing that is common to every business is the better the owner understands their numbers, the more profit they make; the less they stress about the money, the more surplus cash flow they have; the more they plan for the future, the easier the decision-making becomes.
Business numbers are mostly additions and subtractions with the occasional multiplication and division. You don’t need to be a math whiz to understand the numbers.
Every part of business has numbers running through it. Whether the numbers are how many leads you’ve got, how many products you sell, or whether it’s the dollar value of how much income you’ve earned or the profit you’ve made, numbers are everywhere. And these numbers tell a story of what is happening in the business.
The Cash Flow Story
Cash flow is the lifeblood of every business; without cash flow, the business will fail.
Think of a tree. When a tree gets all the nutrients and water it needs, it flourishes. The leaves are green; it flowers profusely; bees are attracted to the flowers; birds build their nests and raise their young hidden from view by the leafy canopy. People admire the tree as they walk by and children love climbing up the limbs of the tree. This is a very happy tree.
37 AUTHORS UNITE
Now consider a second tree. Life looked good for the tree in early spring; it was full of buds and new leaf shoots, but then there was no water, no nutrients in the soil, and only a few flowers came into bloom, and most of the leaves didn’t unfurl. The bees passed on by, seeking better trees to get their nectar from; the birds flew past as there wasn’t enough leaf cover to hide their nest. People walked by either ignoring the tree or commenting about what poor shape it was in and the children were told not to climb the tree as their parents thought the limbs might break. This tree is sad, stressed and worried about whether it will survive another year.
One look at the second tree and it’s obvious that it’s not in good shape; so too, one look at the cash flow of a business can indicate the health of the business. Delving further into the numbers will identify where the issues lie. It may be in the marketing; it may be customer service standards; it may be issues with the team; it may be the cost of the product or service or productivity; it may be a reduction in demand and the list of possibilities goes on.
But one thing is certain, when cash flow is tight, the owner of the business will be stressed and worried about how they’ll pay the bills. They’ll be sleeping badly; they’ll be grumpy and moody and this will be impacting their family as well as the team in the business and their customers or clients will feel it too.
The Profit Story
If you’re not looking at your cash flow, the other number that gets the most focus is profit. And certainly, if you’re not making a profit, the business will only continue for as long as you have money from other resources to fund the losses.
Focusing on this one number won’t give you the full story of your business unless you sell only one product or service. A business with three major divisions looked only at their profit, which had been steady for the previous few years, and yet the revenue had doubled over that period. The owners weren’t happy; they were working harder than before and not making any more profit. There were three partners in the business and they regularly argued about how to improve the business and how each division was working. But they didn’t have any data to base their judgments on and were guessing what was going on.
38 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
By allocating revenue and expenses to the three major divisions, the story of their business became clear to them. The original core business was making a reasonable profit. One of the new divisions was generating massive losses month after month after month. The costs far outweighed the prices the business was charging. The other new division was making super profits; the costs were low and the pricing high.
Now that they had the information, they were able to create a new story for the future of their business, and whilst they did not close down the loss- generating division, they did increase the prices so that the losses were not as great. But more than that, they focused on getting more business into the other new division that was making super profits. The overall profit of the business the next year was dramatically improved.
What Stories Are Your Business Numbers Telling You?
Whilst it’s not about the numbers, the numbers are the basis that provides the story of your business.
It’s only when you delve into the detail of the numbers that you can truly see the story. The more detailed your reporting can be, the easier it is to find the story and the easier it is to make decisions for the future.
Have a look at your numbers; look through them to find the story they are telling. Then consider how you want to change the story for the future and identify what you could do differently that would give a different result in the numbers and create the dream story you want your business to tell.
Amanda Fisher is an Author, CFO and Business Mentor who specializes in helping business owners improve their cash flow and understand their numbers. She’s a self-confessed efficiency geek who loves technology. With online courses and bespoke CFO services, she is often referred to as “The Cash Flow Queen”. http://amandafisher.com.au
39 Being Unapologetic, Unstoppable, and Unforgettable DAVIDE DI GIORGIO
I was sixteen years old and I was FREE! My hardworking, overprotective immigrant parents had somehow agreed to let me go on the high school band trip to San Diego. There, I made a declaration that would forever change my life–only I didn’t know it at the time.
“One day, I’m going to live here!” I said out loud with gusto and clear intention. And almost as quickly as it came to me, I filed it away.
That wasn’t the first time I had been so bold. I remember being in junior kindergarten standing up on a chair and declaring which girl would be my girlfriend for each day of the week: “Andrea, you’re Monday...Sonia you’re Tuesday and Wednesday....”
In my senior year, I declared that I would find a way to go on a summer trip to Jamaica and, with blind clarity and an unapologetic spirit, I masterminded a bake sale-o’-bake sales! My research of all the other standard bake sales showed they were too much work for not enough money. Ten cents a slice wasn’t going to get me to Jamaica. So, I decided to create a bake sale sampling day for people who had real money–TEACHERS–so I told them, every single one!
At every step of the way, I assure you, besides the actual baking (and even then I was making some things I had never made before) I had no idea what I was doing, but my vision was clear and in the end, my bake sale generated over $1,500 in profits and I was off to Jamaica to change the world!
“Davy’s Bake Sale” was my first real experiment with a full analysis of the power of declaration and being unapologetically me. I knew there were naysayers, and I celebrated them as I would joyfully describe the vision I had for my audacious venture. The power of unapologetic declaration combined with blind clarity (some like to call it blind faith), had allowed me to manifest exactly what I wanted.
40 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
What a powerful tool! To be able to create anything you wanted seemingly out of nothing with unapologetic intention and an unstoppable spirit.
Years later, I got to experience just how powerful these kinds of declarations could be.
On January 1, 2011, I declared (most unapologetically, as a New Year’s wish) “what would it look like if I lost it all…? I just want life to be simple again.” If it weren’t enough to declare it on New Year’s Day, I proceeded to declare it EVERY day for the next six months.
I was about six months into a yoga studio business that was going terribly wrong. We were behind in rent ($10K/month) and we weren’t able to bring in members fast enough.
On June 4 at 10:38:49 (yes, and 49 seconds) my house was struck by lightning. A direct hit (as verified by satellite weather records after the fact) that resulted in a total loss. Twenty-seven firefighters and four fire trucks couldn’t stop the chain reaction I had started six months earlier. I was lucky to get out with my life and my dog.
As I was watching my home and everything in it burn, I realized three things:
1. Be specific with what I ask for 2. I am powerful–way more powerful than I ever imagined. 3. If the above is true, what could I CREATE and ATTRACT next?
As a creator and visionary at heart, once I recovered from my latest declaration disaster (the “lightning lottery”) I declared one more big, AUDACIOUS and absolutely UNAPOLOGETIC intention:
“I want to live somewhere warm and marry the man of my dreams!”
Simple, right? Hey, I had to test the theory, so I had to go big!
And I was UNSTOPPABLE!
I had learned that being UNAPOLOGETIC (with intentions, declarations,
41 AUTHORS UNITE thoughts, and emotions) was critically linked to also being UNSTOPPABLE (with being, actions, thoughts, and words).
This time, I was both hyper-present and hyperactive. I chose to actively participate in the mysterious miracle of manifestation.
In January of 2015 I visited San Diego for the first time since 1993. Without making the connection or thinking much of it, I adjusted my OKCupid dating profile to indicate San Diego as my home.
In July of that year, I received a message:
“Hi there. I just wanted to send you a message and let you know I thoroughly enjoyed reading your profile….”
I replied, “Thanks for your message. I’m Davide… Canadian actually making his way through the USA, looking for that one guy to co-create a life with.... I’m from Toronto. Now, I’m tired of the cold and want to create something new. I am looking for a husband… to be totally up front….”
UNAPOLOGETIC. UNSTOPPABLE. UNFORGETTABLE.
The Triad of Being was completed with UNFORGETTABLE. It’s what I was missing in many of my previous experiences. You see, I’ve played small my entire life. I never wanted to stick out too much, never wanted to make waves. A quintessential “man behind the curtain,” even in the major career path as Theater Producer/Creator. But, as I looked back on the bake sale experience, I realized in that instance I had expressed the element of unforgettable by simply TELLING EVERYONE. Through that, not only was I remembered, top-of-mind, and noticed–people also rallied to support me!
Being, speaking, and thinking in a way that was real, unapologetic, and audacious allowed me to become unstoppable and unforgettable!
We were married in San Diego on May 19, 2016–where we live today–and he is right by my side supporting me in building a successful business based on these three foundational pillars:
42 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
BE UNAPOLOGETIC. Deliver vision and do it with blind clarity. Value is a perception, vision is potential and possibility–and it MOVES people!
BE UNSTOPPABLE. Participate audaciously in bringing the vision to life. It’s not enough to “wish.” It takes ongoing, perfectly imperfect action.
BE UNFORGETTABLE. Tell everyone. EVERYONE. We are all connected and together we are immeasurably powerful.
Davide Di Giorgio is the Co-Founder of the Global Thought Leaders Network, Creator of the Speaker Experience at Sea, and TEDx Coach. His UNapologetic approach has made him the go-to creative expert for on-purpose leaders with big ideas who want to become UNforgettable and UNstoppable Speakers and Global Thought Leaders. www.DeliverVision.com
43 Do I Really Need a Mailing List? K.L. SHANDWICK
In a word: Absolutely. Back in 2013, when I self-published, I’d have said “not really.” I did fine without one back then, but it was a time when social media was a place where the book community was strong, support between authors and readers was at an all-time high, and Amazon Kindle was still relatively new to the book world.
Grabbing a book which readers had access to immediately served those with a ferocious thirst for new material, for those keen readers.
Social media consisted largely of Facebook and Twitter but the rush was already on to build numbers of followers. Back then followers to pages and groups equaled visibility. Some thought that was about popularity, but for those who were ahead of the game, it was about building a strong readership which they could tap into whenever they had a new release.
Since then, the social media world has changed. Facebook and Twitter moved to paid ads in a big way. Facebook floated on the open market and the pressure was on to make dividends for their investors.
This meant the visibility of Facebook posts dwindled and only fractions of people who follow you or even “friends” get to see what you post. It is no use having six thousand followers if less than five percent have access to whatever you post. Even at that percentage, sometimes it is the same people who see those posts.
These days, most platforms worth their salt use cost per click (cpc) to dictate how visible we now are. I’m mentioning a few of the biggest: Facebook Ads, Amazon Marketing Services (ams), Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google Adwords, and Bing Ads. All of these have marketing tools open to you to find your market, but at a cost.
Growing your mailing lists and contacts connected to your pages is vitally important for growth.
44 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
If I could go back to the beginning of my publishing career, the one thing I’d have done differently would have been to concentrate on my mailing lists first. Let me explain a little about organic versus paid/promotional reach— either through participating in Rafflecopter promotional giveaways or other giveaways where promoters gather a list of email addresses through their promotion (which you have contributed to) and, when the promotion ends, the promoter then shares the list* with you.
*These lists can have readers who unsubscribe afterwards. If you use any of these to gather a list, take the time to send a welcome newsletter offering them the opportunity to stay. Most importantly, let them know there is an actual human being behind the letter or they could mark it as spam, or worse, unsubscribe citing they never signed up in the first place. Too many unsubscribed email addresses can have you temporarily blacklisted until you prove how you came by their email address in the first place.
What do I mean by organic reach and mailing lists? If you have a webpage, it should already be setup to capture your interested audience to target about your future work. A pop-up box asking them to subscribe should be the first thing they are offered. This will create your organic reach— those readers who are already curious or may even have read one of your books. If you use paid advertisements to promote your work, get help to install the Facebook icon and link to your website. This captures information for growing targeted audiences to pitch to and enables you to build better ads.
Do you have an author page on Amazon Central and Facebook?
Assuming you do, you can encourage readers to follow you and make sure your Amazon author page and newsletter are linked to your Facebook page. Other social media sites like Twitter and Instagram can be linked to your Facebook page as well. Share your newsletter information regularly with readers, but don’t send them a pile of “Buy My Books” posts*. Ask questions and create content that will keep them engaged. The more you interact, the more your readers will learn about you as a person and this can increase their willingness to share posts about your books.
*Did you know Amazon sends new book releases to those who follow you? So, you can see the importance of having an author page.
45 AUTHORS UNITE
Nurture your readers, start a dedicated group, and cross promote other authors. It’s a great way of bringing new readers to your group as well. Be sure to run group-led giveaways only available there and ask regularly if they are signed up to receive excerpts and exclusive information via their email.
If used correctly, your newsletter may be your most important tool, the key to a successful book launch and your visibility. Unless you have very deep pockets, are a whiz at graphic ad optimization, and already have a good level of marketing knowledge, you need to create an interactive experience for your readers by reaching out to gain a higher profile.
There are many newsletter platforms out there to help you connect with readers and most are free until you have substantial numbers. Meanwhile, be sure to seek opportunities to share your newsletter and social media links via event takeovers and post in some book-related public groups. Social media is key to visibility, but author newsletters are an important tool and your opportunity to give your readers the personal touch which can enable you to grow your business and raise your readership.
Newsletters are just one of the tools you will need to market your work. When combined with other marketing tools, they can be a very effective resource.
K.L. Shandwick is a full-time independent author from the UK who writes Rockstar Romance, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Mystery and Suspense, and New Adult novels. Check her out here: klshandwick.com
46 Be Your Own Master Plan DORIS GROSS
When I look back two years ago, I thought having everything perfectly set up for success would be the magic key to abundance and freedom. I seriously thought people who had built tremendous careers knew exactly what they were doing. I thought they were some kind of geniuses, born with the ability to lead, to create and to work harder than anyone else. I thought being successful would be a talent, given from God or some spiritual kind of energy. Some just got it; some simply don´t.
But the deeper I got myself into the scheme of an entrepreneur, the more I realized that leading, serving and succeeding has absolutely nothing to do with being perfect or doing something better than someone else. Instead, I found out that diversity and courage would lead anyone to success–some sooner, some later–regardless of gender, degree or nationality.
I started my own business when I was twenty-nine. Beforehand, I used to work as a marketing manager back in Germany and Switzerland. I also was a journalist, an editor and I did some nice and sometimes very boring jobs as a waitress and as a cashier in a grocery store to support myself and pay my bills.
It´s hard to say, but it’s simply the truth: Most of the times, our life first has to get to a certain point, somewhere between giving up, jumping off the bridge and seeing ourselves as the biggest failure in the universe, to finally recognize what we’re able to do. To see what kind of values we carry and that we also can be one of the geniuses who succeed.
At least, that is what had been happening to me: I first needed to find myself in a big down phase in my life to finally see what was even possible. I never saw myself so deep down before. My life sucked; my relationship sucked; my financial status sucked, and my job, which I always thought would be my dream job, started to suck at some point, too. I lived in a golden cage; I had everything but I had nothing. My man tried to hold me in a position where I couldn´t grow; instead, he tried to spoil me with all that material stuff which
47 AUTHORS UNITE meant nothing, except to show some status to those who didn’t even know me. My boss at that time told me to do my job with no value, which killed not just my motivation, but I also risked losing the only passion I ever had, writing.
It was an inner wake-up call, which finally got me off the ground and running. Not knowing what I was doing, I intentionally started running my own magazine, which turned a couple months later into my main job. I didn’t plan this; I just followed my passion and all of a sudden it seemed like the universe was leading me.
It is terrifying to run for something completely new. For me writing was not new, but building a business out of nothing was new and scary, especially with no entrepreneurial experience. But I also loved to explore, to see the world from a different perspective. Now it was just about me and my desires which dominated to attract my inner self and those who were thinking the same way. I didn’t even have to attract them; they just showed up and they either loved my work or they didn´t.
I was terrified, but curious. I was excited for a new adventure, but I just couldn’t hold back the question, “What if I fail?“ Failing just wasn’t an option since I had nothing to go back to.
I researched the hell out of building a business on my own terms and I found... nothing. I found thousands of websites telling people how to create the right product, build the right marketing strategy and create a killer website. But I couldn’t find those stories convincing me to not be scared, to not be perfect and to not be scared of failure. I found articles and people who told me “Just keep going,” “Don’t be scared,” or “You need to find your inner purpose,” but how in the world would I do that?
I bet most of you have seen yourself at least once in the situation where people tell you all these things which are meant to motivate you and keep you on track. But how often have you also seen yourself asking, “Yeah...right, but how?” Shifting energies are crucial on the journey of success, but if you don´t know how to do it, then you’re most likely not doing it at all.
So back in the day, I thought I really needed a masterplan and, best case, I would find it on the internet or I would find someone who could create one
48 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 and just give it to me, so I can adapt it to my plan of being an entrepreneur. Of course, this never happened.
I just couldn’t wait forever; something needed to happen. I still had bills to pay and I needed food in my fridge. So I started to run my business without any rules and regulations. I stopped listening to people who thought they would know what would be best for me and my vision. I started my big time of learning, of personal development and trying things I had never tried before. I began to build my business from the ground up, without any business experience or expertise.
In the meantime, I failed a couple times. I had months filled with praying out loud for clients. I had moments of tears and feeling like an absolute failure, hating myself for putting me in situations which seem to be the end of the road. But you know what? I allowed myself to feel it, to let me sink and to live through it and grow with it. I built my little empire, a publishing company back in Germany; started focusing on magazines and book publishing. I served as a mentor, moved to Los Angeles and started a new life from scratch; needless to say, I built all of it in nine months. Most likely, totally different from how other people build theirs. I intentionally started my business without any business plan; I wrote it six months into my entrepreneurial existence.
Making the decision to take this huge leap–to not just leave my job, but also my previous life–was a decision I would never have thought could be so relieving. And I’m still here. I´m still in Los Angeles; I’m still feeling abundance and inner freedom and I’m still living my purpose of being me. I´m still not rich, but I’m a big part of being my own master plan. Every day, with every step I take.
Business lessons learned: The world belongs to the brave. Nobody has to wait to get things perfectly in order, to shine with expertise on all ends. The journey of success is within you and your intentions will tell you what to do when the moment is right. Know what you want; be ready to be creative, get a mentor and get ready for a bumpy ride. What I can promise you? It will be worth it in the end.
Doris Gross is the founder of Fempress Media and Mrs. Globalicious, an online magazine for female entrepreneurs. As a publisher in Germany, “Giving Women a Voice” is her mission and she helps new authors write, publish, and market their books. She loves to live the adventurous life, expand her network, and talk to inspiring people. www.fempressmedia.com
49 Five Things You Don’t Learn in Dental School RYAN M. TIGRETT D.D.S.
Six months into practice ownership, every day brings a new lesson. 2017 has been full of exciting first steps for me. As dentists, we have to excel in two theaters: patient care and business ownership. We are one of a few remaining medical fields that still hold the independence and responsibility of business ownership. Unfortunately, no one teaches us to run a business.
Why did you want to be a dentist? I hear that question on a daily basis. My love for health, medicine and science drove me in the direction of dentistry. My desire to be a small business owner and have a family-friendly work-life balance sealed the deal for dentistry. I always admired a close family friend who was a dentist in my hometown. He and his family had the financial freedom to take vacations; he had time to coach youth soccer teams; he was respected in the community; his office was close to home and he always had a smile on his face when he talked about his work. This is what drove my passion in dentistry. I would say to identify what drives you and follow your passion. If you can find something you enjoy, you will succeed.
Reality check. Set your own expectations
As a dental school student, we were all absorbing a barrage of information. Tucked into the scientific “stuff” is this story about how successful the dental career path will be. We heard so often about the perks of having a top 1% income-earning potential and the freedom to practice wherever we desired. Even if this was not the reason for choosing this career, it sure sounded pretty good on the ears. These stories built unrealistic expectations. Those aspirations are not unattainable but the money and freedom doesn’t get handed to you at graduation. If you are reading this now and considering a dental career, I am here to tell you that it’s definitely possible to fulfill your expectations, but the path might be a little tougher on new dentists than those before us. The current debt of graduating dental and medical students can be a debilitating force. It is pushing more recent graduates into working for a corporation. However, if
50 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 you plan your steps carefully, there are plenty of opportunities for success as an entrepreneur dentist.
Build organic relationships
When I was getting close to graduation, the economy was in a spiral. It was 2008 and potential dental positions for new graduates were few and far between. The strategic move for me was to use this time to specialize and develop my skills in a residency program. I consider myself to be a very detail- oriented person and the idea of specializing, becoming an expert in one field of dentistry, was perfect for me. And here is where my love for endodontics began. The economic climate and employment opportunities made this a great time to continue in residency. It was around this time that I realized that building relationships with mentors would shape my career. Some came into residency with a family of dentists and a plan to take over the family practice; but for me as a first generation college grad, I was on my own to build my path. The most important step I have realized is building a network of mentors to guide you through the next phase of your career.
The best resource in a university is the faculty. These guys and gals have been through it all and are now giving back through teaching. Seek out advice from these mentors. You will always value the honest opinion of a mentor and they have no motive to steer you in the wrong direction. I knew I could always go back to them for an honest opinion. Leverage these organic relationships in all of your business decisions. They know you personally and their advice is priceless.
Practice where you want to live
One benefit of a dental career is that everyone everywhere needs a dentist. That means that every town is an option for you to practice. So where do you go? I learned quickly at graduation that there is competition everywhere. You need to find the place you are most happy and go there. It’s true that in some places success will come easier than in others. Once you find the location, the next step is to decide in what kind of business you see yourself practicing. An increasing number of new dentists are choosing to work in dental corporations. There are pros and cons to any practice model you choose. If your goal is to shape your own brand and care for patients according to your values, then private practice may be for you. Have confidence that, if you provide your patients with high quality care, there will always be a market for you.
51 AUTHORS UNITE
Ownership is not for everyone
If you can be flexible on your practice needs, there are many other options for dentists. Large group practices, partnerships (aka professional marriage), associateships, and contractor. Before owning my practice, I tried working in a large dental corporation. I thought I was a flexible guy and thought it might be nice to leave management to someone else. Unfortunately, if you go this route, it is hard to maintain your personal and professional values and still satisfy investors and upper-level management in the company. After a very brief time in the corporate dental model of practice, I started working as an independent contractor specialist. Working at a different office every day as a traveling specialist was exhausting, and I quickly realized this was not right for me. Every day that I compromised my professional objectives made it clear to me that I needed to own my practice, one way or another.
If the thought of starting a business from scratch excites you then I’d say go for it and start your own practice from the ground up. This way you can set up the systems you want, the look and feel that you want, and you can shape the staff to fit your business culture. If you are looking for a more immediate cash flow and are more adaptable to an older practice design then I would recommend buying an existing office. This is by far the less-risky option. I knew that I had a lot to learn about managing a practice. Even after working in my future office for three years as an associate endodontist, I still had much to learn about practice ownership. For me, purchasing an existing office made the most sense.
Build your A-Team
Like I said, you will learn all about dentistry in school but business practice is another animal. When you’re thinking of buying or starting an office, this is the time that it is most crucial to surround yourself with professionals that you can rely on. Before it’s time to open your practice or purchase an existing practice, you should start building your team. This means finding a CPA with dental experience, an attorney comfortable with practice agreements and don’t forget your insurance broker to help get necessary policies in place when it’s time. After all, unexpected things do happen and at this point in your career, there could be lasting effects if you’re not adequately covered. Let’s not forget a trusted IT professional; they will help you set up your practice software and systems, one of the most important parts of a modern practice.
52 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
As for practice loans, my most valuable advice is to cast a wide net. Research many bank loans. Most likely, you will get the best interest rate from one of the “big guys,” but don’t stop at the interest rate with your comparisons. I would recommend accepting more than one loan offer and keep them both active until the deal is done. I made the mistake of choosing one bank based on the best rate. I became grateful instead of negotiating for my own best interests. At that time, my concern was to “just get a loan” when I should have been thinking about how I can get the best possible deal.
Create your own success
To all the potential dentist entrepreneurs out there, I will summarize my advice to you. Balance your career and life goals and build your path to what is best suited for your strengths. If this means owning your own practice, go for it. But if you prefer leaving the management to someone else, there are plenty of opportunities as an associate dentist. Either way you choose, know that at times the grass may look greener on the other side. That is OK. Before I had the opportunity to purchase my practice, a lot of sacrifices were made and lessons learned. Don’t be discouraged and don’t let it distract you from your values and the path you’ve chosen.
Ryan M. Tigrett D.D.S. is a Board-Certified Endodontist, root canal specialist, and owner at Modern Endo of Napa. He is a provider of patient-centered endodontic care and a lecturer on modern endodontic techniques. You can connect with Dr. Tigrett at [email protected]
53 Marketing is Essential to Business Success THREDDA SANDERS
You have heard the saying, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, that might have worked for the movie Field of Dreams because it was in the script. But not in reality. Hello everyone, my name is Thredda C. Sanders and I built my business thinking that “they” would come, and really come running based upon my own “self-realization” that my products were wholesome, void of chemicals and have holistic properties. This felt like a winning concept because every other year or so, “Big Business” has a lawsuit pending due to “harmful chemicals” that have caused side effects from their products!
Okay, I am getting ahead of myself. The idea of going into business did not happen overnight. I have made several attempts to grow a “successful” business where I could call myself an “Independent.” My first attempt started in 1988! I bought and launched so many “other people” programs and products since that time, all to no avail. I invested money and wasted money.
Fast forward to 2015. My favorite cologne, which I had been wearing since 1995, was no longer being sold by the manufacturer. All of the surplus product still available from other outlets doubled the price of the product left on the market! What!? I wasn’t going to pay twice the price! No, I just wasn’t! Being “creative,” I decided to look up the ingredients online. I was thinking, “Maybe I could make my own scent.” I found the posted ingredients. There were “flavorful” essential oils included, but there were way too many chemicals included whose names I couldn’t pronounce. Therefore, I started doing my research about essential oils.
Testing, research and development, using premium grade fragrance oils, I created products to replace the ones I used on a normal basis. The positive results I experienced from the products created was the catalyst to my new venture and Tea Sea Scents was born! Tea Sea Scents are a blend of the most exotic, high-end essential oils that make up its unique complex finish. Pure oils of carnation, mango, gardenia, and orange, just to name a few, create a scent considered “exotic, intoxicating and irresistible.”
54 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
It took me six months to launch my company as a solo entrepreneur and I made a lot of assumptions. In my planning phase, I researched the market and found the global essential oil market is expected to reach USD 11.67 billion by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. This was in part due to growing consumer awareness regarding health benefits associated with natural and organic personal care products. It is expected to remain a key driving factor for the global essential oil market over the forecast period. I recognized that trend. People were gravitating toward essential oil in the preparation of natural flavors and fragrances on account of their increasing demand across key end-use industries. I thought, “Excellent!”
I created a “loose business plan,” allocated a start-up budget, and paid all of my fees and licenses to be in business. I tried to shop wisely when buying the raw materials from the oils to the packaging. Once I received the materials, I created my products, testing them on me. My fragrance essential oils met my scrutiny of what I felt a great product should provide to the consumer. The next step was to promote, advertise and sample market my products. I made a list of all of my friends and family and sent samples, requesting feedback. This was part of my effort to get the word out about my business. The feedback was positive, but the sales were few.
To further promote my business, because the heart of the business is in marketing, I joined other like-minded groups. I advertised on Facebook and other free websites online, handed out business cards and visited businesses in the local areas. I partnered with SBA. I paid for many vending attractions and was somewhat more successful with sales. It was my assumption that sales would quadruple and I could use that funding to put back into the business and pay myself, also. Again, in my mind, “If you build it, they will come.” Most customers asked about my business having a website. Therefore, three months into doing business, I launched my website. That drove 1% of sales.
There were many business-minded groups in the area, especially life coaches. I went through eight different groups before I settled on one. It wasn’t one of my better calls. Attending her meeting and speaking with her offline, she gave me a false sense of security. I joined her group which proved to be a very big mistake with funding! The leader flaunted that she had the tools, practices and techniques to turn my business into a six-figure “machine” within six months! Her whole premise was based on helping solo entrepreneurs. Her
55 AUTHORS UNITE three-minute elevator speech was “GO LIVE! We are going to get you in front of a large crowd of people!” I had stars in my eyes shaped like dollar signs! I dumped thousands of dollars from my budget into these “false truths.” I expected her to have business connections. I got zero return for my money!
Although this was disheartening, I continued to attend vendor events and service my repeat customers who were, predominantly, friends and family. Just recently, I received an invite from a Temple organization to be a part of their annual ball as a vendor! My business came highly recommended. So, going forward, I re-grouped with more realistic goals for growth…
In conclusion, here are the lessons that I learned: • You must have a business plan which can provide a clear guidance “roadmap” with realistic expectations, especially for a small business startup, sole proprietor. • Your business depends on successful marketing. This is a continuous process. • You must recognize that marketing covers promotions, sales, advertising, etc. • Don’t be so quick to buy into someone else’s solution to your business growth, especially when money is involved. • Getting the word out is not cheap! You might have to spend as much as half of your sales on marketing programs in the first year. So be prepared with a budget!
Hello everyone! My name is Thredda C. Sanders. I have worked in the defense industry on small, medium and large enterprise IT projects as a program or project manager for over thirty years. I live in Maryland and have raised four children. Writing is one of my passions.
56 Company Growth is a Mirror Image of the Founder’s Vision ROBERT CHRISTENSON
As a small business owner, I know that when sales are down, so am I; and when sales are up, so am I!
The customers that choose to buy from us will end up being a direct reflection of ourselves. However, if you’re not a very self-aware person, you probably won’t recognize it. If your customers are salesy, needy, and loving, then it’s probably telling you something. My belief is that people buy from the culture of the business founder because that is where all the scripts and training comes from.
As the co-founder of our company, I know that within our business, our customer base changed after every personal growth level I personally achieved. This theory also fit with our distributors, manufacturers, marketing sources, and others within our business circle. This is coming from an original idea of starting and operating a business and expecting that it would have very little turnover in staff. Well guess what? It turns out that I’ve had a full staff turnover twice in less than four years in business. I know what my initial thought was once I realized this fact; perhaps you have the same thought: WOW, what was our staff trying to tell us?
I don’t believe they were telling us anything. The simple fact was that they were casualties of the company’s growth that affected the day-to-day operations of the business. They ended up leaving because they didn’t want to be that (salesy, loving, etc.) person any longer. Our company had simply grown beyond the level they wanted to go and that’s a great thing. Having people around as a warm body or filling a pay check is a killer on morale, income, growth–all of it.
So here’s the blunt side of this: I had to realize at the end of the day that I and all human beings are so amazing and, at the same time, we’re all so messed
57 AUTHORS UNITE
UP in different ways. Even those of you who think you’re not. I’m telling you now: you are messed UP too! Just face it: we’re all messed up in our own way somehow. At the same time, you are the most BRILLIANT creature on the planet; so embrace that fact! Don’t worry; all your f*cked-upness is awesome, so embrace it. Don’t just embrace it; learn from it and find that commitment to yourself to grow personally and everything else will begin to fall into place.
Before you get all mad at me and turn the page, here’s the moral of my story: Just relax; It’s all good. You can’t blame yourself for the past knowledge you didn’t have and you certainly don’t be that person that says, “If I only knew then what I know now!” Don’t do it; it’s a regretful statement which stunts forward progress! Acknowledge that you’re f*cked up and move forward.
Perhaps a better way to say the same thing is: “If I’m in that situation again, this would be a better decision.” Always remember: it is what it is, and it will be what it will be and everything works out perfectly as it was intended to. Remember your customer’s behavior and your own frustrations and step outside yourself to view them as an outsider would, and you will also see yourself. For example, if your customers are frustrated with communication, take the 80/20 approach. If 80% are saying they are lacking communication from the company, ask yourself the question: “Am I the one not communicating with my staff? Am I micromanaging to the point they are confused? Is my training overwhelming? Is my training off? Our staff typically does what we do or a similar version of such. Fixing ourselves is the start of improving the business.
When we start a business, we’re starting a marathon run to our life’s goals. Commit to the life goal and grow. Don’t quit; always seek out a way through the hard times and learn from it. Get your big butt up and keep going. Your commitment to personal growth and your business will be the deciding factor for your staff and, when they give up on you, it’s over!
Committing to loving the process, yourself, and the path you’re on and I believe it will be the secret to living the future of your business and living a life of freedom!
58 Section Three: Uncommon Knowledge
Where to Find Twenty-Five Million Dollars JARET HENHOEFFER
When the solar market exploded in Canada, Jaret and his partner Jeff started Penguin Power Solar to sell farmers $100,000 solar systems. For farmers who didn’t have $100,000, Penguin Power invented the solar lease, which pays the farmer land rent for the right to locate a system on their farm.
Six months from launch, Penguin Power had 500 solar system contracts totaling sales of $50,000,000: $25M in purchases and $25M in leases.
Penguin Power had to find $25 million dollars to fund the solar leases and the clock was ticking. Systems had to be installed within twelve months or the contracts were void.
Jaret and Jeff had made a promise to their farmers and would do anything to deliver on their word.
That night, the founders pondered three questions:
1. Who around the globe has millions ready to invest in solar? 2. How do I find them in the next twenty-four hours? 3. How do I package up the deal to get their attention?
The European and Asian solar investment funds were far more experienced than North American firms, so they became priority one.
LinkedIn, industry directories and financial news sites produced contact lists
59 AUTHORS UNITE and teaser messages were sent out. The next morning when the Europeans arrived at the office for coffee, the day’s calling agenda was set.
3:00 AM (Eastern Standard Time): Cold-called 20+ qualified European solar pension funds and solar yield companies.
8:00 AM: Cold-called 20+ gatekeepers in the fledgling Canadian Solar industry.
11:00 AM: Cold-called the 10+ largest installers of solar in the US.
11:15 AM: Paydirt. One of the largest solar installation companies in the US advised they had a mandate to expand into new geographies. After hopping on a plane and three solid days of diligence, an agreement was reached for an investment well beyond the first $25,000,000.
TIME TO CELEBRATE and start installing solar systems!
HOLD the PHONE – The deal is off? When the government contracts were temporarily frozen, and hydro grid constraints dramatically reduced the number of systems able to proceed to construction, the deal unraveled.
A NEW DEAL LANDED. Jaret’s Canadian calls landed a renewable energy co- operative with local members willing to invest, a desire to see renewable energy spread throughout the countryside, and they loved the idea of meeting the farmers who would benefit from the solar lease program. A deal was completed for the first seventeen systems that served as a template for additional financing as solar approvals came through and solar crews started installation.
Lessons from the Deal:
1. In an increasingly global world, some deals are still local. I’ve done deals with folks from places like Germany, China and California. In today’s global world, it seems easier and sexier to traverse the globe in search of capital. It’s refreshing and satisfying to get a deal done with your neighbors.
2. Your word is your bond. Jaret and Jeff personally made promises to their neighbors who trusted them to deliver. There is no more powerful
60 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
motivator than living up to your promises – no matter how impossible it might seem at the time.
3. It is possible to create a win-win-win-win. a. Solar reduces our C02 emissions. b. Farmers have a new crop to grow and source of income. c. Green jobs in installation and service generate income and taxes. d. Local, everyday people own their local energy supply.
The future will either be green or not at all. ~ Bob Brown
Epilogue: SolarShare Co-operative (https://www.solarbonds.ca/) has become one of North America’s largest renewable energy co-operatives. Solar kilowatts that reduce CO2 are produced every day the sun comes up. Farmers who bought or leased solar are delighted. Penguin Power rapidly hired and trained solar installation teams and continues to service hundreds of solar units every year. Jaret Henhoeffer and Jeff Curran continue to develop and deploy new green technologies.
61 Using Private Money in Real Estate ALEX CWIAKALA
My name is Alex Cwiakala and I’m the co-founder and Investor Relations Specialist of CC Solutions, a Massachusetts Real Estate Investment Company. Essentially, we purchase property that’s in really bad shape, renovate it and then sell it at the top of the market. At the age of twenty-four, I decided to quit my job and start a real estate company with my business partner Christian Chasmer. In our two years as a company, we’ve been able to fund the development of $7,900,000 in real estate around Boston with none of our own money. We raise all of the money for our real estate projects through outside investors. I am a poster child when it comes to owning real estate developments and not using my own money. Debt can be scary to take on as an entrepreneur, but it can also be leverage. Debt can open opportunities you might not have. There is no way I could have scaled my company’s execution to the level I have without debt.
Honestly I find raising capital to be the most exhilarating part of our business. It’s what I like to spend the majority of my time doing when I can. I’ll share some personal tips when it comes to raising money for your business. I realize investment capital for real estate may be structured differently compared to your business, but these concepts are applicable across the board when raising money. It comes down to trust and credibility in the end.
First, I’ll start with where I find our money. I’ve found that most capital raisers find lenders through their existing networks. I’ve had more luck leveraging current relationships, opposed to trying to find new ones. Friends and family are great potential first investors and they can be amazing credibility builders for your business. Pitching for money in the beginning isn’t always easy, so leveraging close relationships can make the process easier to start.
One of my current business partners and dear friend lent $45,000 on our first renovation project to get us started. That initial investment let us get our feet wet, learn the industry and become more knowledgeable when discussing real estate projects. With that new confidence, I was able to get my uncle to
62 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 lend $75,000 for two new renovation projects. With three homes purchased and under renovation, potential lenders started to smell our confidence. They knew that, at least on a surface level, we were credible. Christian and I would go to as many local real estate networking events as possible and tell everyone we could about our deals. We would tell them how we structured our deals with private lenders and, after a while, new leads started to emerge. A sizeable portion of our lender portfolio came from events like this.
We’ve created a lender information packet for our prospects that describes our company. I recommend if you don’t have one, you make one. I email this to every potential lender prior to our first meeting. It’s simple but it’s a huge credibility builder. The information pack includes our bios, core values, company goals, past projects, lender testimonials, sample legal loan contracts, communication schedules and our extended real estate team members. It’s awesome! The more data and detail you can provide, the stronger your credibility will be.
Now that you have a potential lender in front of you, it’s very important to communicate ethically. Up front honesty and clarity when communicating with someone on behalf of their money is crucial. We have a fiduciary responsibility to these lenders to protect their money. When you go into a lender meeting, you’re going to battle. You should be aware of every risk and you should be prepared to handle objections. With lenders, I’ve noticed if I provide three negatives about each deal with proposed solutions, I get better results. I build more credibility. And if you don’t know the answer to a question, never lie. I’ve turned investors away numerous times because I didn’t know the answers immediately. Tabling a money conversation temporarily can help you build credibility. Trust has to be established when borrowing money.
For me, because raising money is so enjoyable, I hired a local sales coach named Greg who runs a franchise of Sandler Training. I love learning methodologies to communicate more effectively. One of the most influential tools I’ve ever learned is called the up-front contract. In essence, it sets up a verbal contract between you and the prospect to come to a clear decision at the end of the conversation as to whether you’re going to work together. It’s quite simple.
At the beginning of a meeting, ask the prospect if you can share some of your goals for the meeting. Let them know you want to have an open and honest conversation, and at the end of it, you want to decide whether it
63 AUTHORS UNITE makes sense to work together. You can get a yes, a no, or a clear future. Let the prospect know that a no is OK. This completely knocks the prospect off their swivel and helps disarm them from future objections they may give you. Most salespeople never remove the pressure from the sales call in the very beginning and prospects don’t know how to act when you do. If you are not a natural salesperson, this little technique will take almost all the fear out of selling because you won’t have to sell. You’ll just be communicating openly. Try it with anything just for practice.
I’ve enjoyed taking the opportunity to skim the surface of private money with you. Correctly structured, debt can provide a world of opportunity to you as an entrepreneur. Be yourself and always be honest. Continue to build credibility every day and learn how to showcase it. Every one of you is capable of raising all the money you could ever need.
Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions.
64 BRFM – Business Result Formula Map: Double the Profit of Your Business Within One to Three Years AMIR DRORI
The business world has become more and more complex and competition is becoming tougher, while business owners are looking for the ultimate solutions that will simplify the difficult processes that are the result of the constant development of digital marketing.
From my experience as a business strategy consultant working with hundreds of companies, I understood that what is missing in order to succeed in work with clients (B2B and B2C) is the emotional and social benefit and not only the functional benefit of the product or the service. A business that creates the product by listening to the client–thereby creating personal and social satisfaction–is a business that is profitable and sustainable for the long term.
The following model is very easy to implement in a big, small, or medium business and the results are groundbreaking. I saw this time and again in dozens of successful businesses regardless of the particular business sector. The model is comprised of two sections, the first being the building of the base for the strategic plan. The second is tactical, including tactics and operational guidelines.
Part One:
The Business Result Formula Map is built of four pillars which are shown as triangles in the below diagram.
1. The orec characteristics of the business 2. The orec characteristics of the client 3. Satisfaction Value: what the client wants to gain for himself with the product 4. Benefit Value: satisfying the needs of the clients
65 AUTHORS UNITE
When the four pillars come together accurately at the center, an effortless sale is achieved.
Part Two:
The Business Result Formula Map is built of five relationship rings connecting the four pillars shown as circles in the below diagram.
1. The essage,m content, and information that the business wants to communicate to the clients. 2. The selection of the best-suited channels of communication. 3. The call to action of the clients, the offer to get the customer to take action, to react, to move, to respond positively to the offer 4. Sales – How to bring about the transaction and close the deal with agreement on logistics as well as payment 5. After Sales relationship – community, up-sales, retaining the customers and turning them into fans
Please note: every product has its own Business Results Formula Map and the circles create the connection between the pillars. It is not sufficient to build the strategy (triangles) without the tactics, as we will not reach the desired sales. And the opposite is also true; tactics without strategy will not produce results.
How to implement the formula in your business:
Part One:
The core characteristics of the business. Everything begins with your business. The first stage is to define five elements of your business.
a. Define your core characteristics which are not your capabilities (some of your competitors may have higher quality capabilities). Why do you do what you do? b. What are your special capabilities that are based on your core characteristics? c. Choose as your business model one that serves the client in the best way. d. Define your target and milestones.
66 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
e. What is the big idea that motivates us as part of a community/group/ country?
The core characteristics of the client. Acquire all possible knowledge about your client: who your client is, his profile, his personality, his culture, his habits, his group associations, his state of mind, demographics and psychographics. The aim is to understand and assimilate the internal dialogue that exists in the customer’s’ thoughts. At this stage you will be able to give the client the most valuable benefits.
Satisfaction Value: what the client wants to gain for himself via the product. The creation of satisfaction and meaning to improve the client’s life and to understand the client on three levels:
a. The Emotional Level answers the question: “What does the client think, tell, or feel about himself when he uses your product or services?” b. The Social Level − What others think of the client when he uses your product or services. Others includes all social circles: family, friends, colleagues, sports teams, and any other hobbies. This answers the client’s question: “What do they think of me when I am using the product and am I gaining points in society?” c. The Functional Level – How does the use of the product or service creates physical, functional relief for the client in his daily life?
Benefit Value: what benefits the business provides. The product or the service of the business should include three components that meet the satisfaction needs of the clients. This can be expressed as a formula with the benefit value equal to the satisfaction value that the client is asking to receive.
The benefit value must include the following components:
a. The Emotional Level – that includes satisfaction, meaning and happiness that the client chose to use the business’s’ product. b. The Social Level – the client enjoys social benefits following the purchase of the product. That is why we share our purchase and use experiences. We expect compliments from our surroundings. We want to feel advanced, innovative and appreciated. c. The Functional Level – that the product has a solution to our physical needs, that it will upgrade our life.
67 AUTHORS UNITE
Part Two:
The five relationship circles connect the four pillars shown as circles in the below diagram.
Content Circle (No. 1)
The aim of the first circle is to create relevant content that enriches the potential clients’ world of content. This content is such that will enhance the consumer’s connection to the products and services. The contents can have many forms, such as articles, posts, videos, blogs, webinars, podcasts, and free materials in the form of courses, guides, books, etc.
Communication Channels Circle (No. 2)
This refers to the way in which the client prefers for us to communicate with him: marketing channels, communication channels, physical channels such as meetings, lectures, conventions, exhibitions, user communities and more, and the digital world (text, email, whatsapp and other social media platforms).
Call to Action Circle (No. 3)
The purpose of the third circle is to motivate the customer to purchase the product, thus improving his life. This includes, among other things, the process of “ripening” the customer, call to action, attractive commercial offers, etc.
Selling Circle (No. 4)
The aim of this circle is to lead to the closing of the deal.
Following the previous circle, the customer is already ripe for a deal, and in this circle we must help the customer change from a passive element expressing interest in a product to an active element carrying out the purchase and the payment.
This stage includes direct and indirect selling, partnerships, cross-sale and up-sale.
68 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
After-sales Relationships Circle (No. 5)
Th e aim of this circle is to keep a close positive bond with the customer after the purchase and to turn her into a satisfi ed, returning, and recommending customer.
69 AUTHORS UNITE
Summary
The business world has changed in the last ten years. Today the consumer doesn’t buy only the physical product, but rather the value of the product as he perceives it. And this value differs from customer to customer in accordance with culture, personal background, and social circumstances.
Focusing on the subjects I mentioned and embedding them in the company’s daily activity will turn the company into a center of attraction for customers and a leader in its field.
Amir Drori is a business strategic consultant who works with CEOs and Business Owners to achieve a competitive advantage by using the Dynamic Strategy Method and makes those businesses the best in their field. He recently wrote the bookThe Business Strategic Code. Drori lives with his family in Israel, volunteers at Tel Aviv Universality in the MBA Mentoring Program, and has practiced Tai Chi for many years. https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirdrori/
70 Facing Failure KATH THORBURN
“We’ve all made mistakes.” “We’re all human.” “Nobody is perfect.” While undeniably true, the reality is that these clichéd responses to failure just didn’t cut it when I faced my own downfall, and I suspect I’m not alone in this feeling.
Early in the startup of a small business, I made a huge mistake. Actually, I couldn’t really call it one mistake. It was a series of unwise decisions and actions which stemmed from the very same passion that motivates me to do good in the world. Passion is a great starting point. It can inspire and activate, provide focus and direction. But when passion is in the driver’s seat, it can be blind to other perspectives and pathways. Passion doesn’t usually stop to check directions. In fact, unchecked, unexamined passion can prevent us from putting the brakes on long enough to work out what is driving us.
On realizing the magnitude of my failure and the implications, I found myself exposed and groundless, totally stripped of my beliefs about myself.
During the period that followed, I experienced depression, anxiety, and corrosive self-doubt. Most difficult was facing the irreversibility of my actions and the impact on others. Eventually, I realized that no amount of forgiveness from other people was going to change how I felt. I had to find a way to forgive myself.
The support of those around me was a lifeline for which I will always be grateful, but when you don’t live up to your own values, the hardest person you have to face is you. Was I too tough on myself or was that the inevitable consequence of choosing accountability over denial? I don’t know. Neutrality is almost impossible when you feel flawed, stupid, humiliated and ashamed. Being gentle with yourself is harder still. Making mistakes is often much more about our best human qualities and a desire to do well, which makes it all the worse when things go wrong. Feeling dreadful is natural, but it’s not a place you can live long-term.
71 AUTHORS UNITE
So, I focused on learning from my experience in the hope I could make some good out of a bad situation and find a pathway through. I searched for everything I could find about handling failure and, among many lessons, these have been the most instructive, providing valuable guidance and reassurance when things go wrong, in work and in life generally.
Dealing with your own mistakes and failures: • Don’t deny error. Denial might save some pain in the short term, but owning your mistakes will earn you the respect of the people around you. Importantly, you are more likely to respect yourself. • Apologize and make amends sincerely and practically in a way that reflects your core values. There may be limits to what you can do, but do what you can. Responding with dignity and integrity will help restore your sense of who you are and remind you that your worst moments need not define you. • Work out the thought processes behind the actions taken. This is an opportunity to become more aware of your own influences and motivations, to bring the unconscious to consciousness. Invite trusted others to assist with this. • Find some solace in the universal experience of messing up. Making mistakes, failing, is human. We are always in transition, “works in progress.” This antidote to shame is a key to cultivating self-acceptance. • Remember that beating yourself up is natural when you feel responsible for the negative impact of your decisions on yourself or others, but it can’t persist or you will be too bruised and broken to get up off the floor. Others need you. You need yourself. Ask “What now?” Put one foot in front of the other. • Be an ally to yourself. Think of what you would say to a close friend if they were in such a situation, then direct that attitude of understanding and kindness within. Be gentle. • A mantra or two can help. I never liked the schmaltzy ones. Find ones that work for you and keep them on hand for those times you are
72 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
overwhelmed by whatever negative emotion. I used to tell myself: “This is the path. The only way out is through.” • Make it OK to fail. We can’t be creative, take risks or try something new if we are scared of failure. Talk to trusted friends and colleagues. It’s surprising how many people will share their own failure stories, which helps to gain perspective and not feel so alone.
Supporting others when they make mistakes: • Appreciate our complex human reactions to failure. Defensiveness and apparent lack of insight may be more about what the person is able to face than their self-awareness. Empathy and kindness are more likely to enable someone to get to a place where they can admit a mistake and address it. • Help the person do the work they need to do, but don’t do it for them. Don’t minimize the impact or outcome of their actions or tell them how they should feel. Appreciate how it is for them, and support their efforts to get through it. • Show the person you believe in them. The best things people said to me: “If this could happen to you, it could happen to anyone.” “Your business will survive this; maybe even thrive–not in spite of but because of what you have learned from this situation and how you respond to it.” • Share your own story of failure. There is a skill to doing this in a way that communicates understanding and keeps the focus on the other person and their experience. You may not even need to give details. Showing you know how failure feels is often enough. • Listen. And as much as possible, avoid clichés. Kath Thorburn, director of inside out & associates australia, is an educator, consultant and facilitator of conversations, workshops, and events, who aims to change the way we think about those experiences labeled “mental illness” in order to develop more hopeful, helpful and inclusive responses. www.insideoutconversations.com.au
73 Systems Vs. Empowerment MARCUS NICHOLLS
Often business owners, books and business advisors will focus on one of these two areas:
1. Systemize your business to make it run better and protect your intellectual property, or 2. Empower your staff, allowing them to make more decisions.
Is one better than the other? Should there be a balance of the two?
Systems
From a business owner’s point of view, a well-systematized business is what you want–a business that can run itself, allowing for staff member to be sick, take holidays or leave and be replaced without causing problems to the day- to-day functions.
The last thing you need is for your business to stand still, go backwards or lose money when a key staff member leaves and takes a chunk of your IP out the door with them, because they never recorded or shared what they did and no one else can do their job to a suitable level.
For years, I ran a highly-systemized business. We had systems for every aspect of the business and believed the better systematized it was, the happier the staff would be; everyone knew what their role was and would appreciate never having to put out fires or deal with unhappy customers. For this to work, it means that everybody must share ideas and there can be no individual brain trusts within the staff.
What I learnt from this was that although the business ran very well and customers loved what we did, staff struggled working in a highly-systemized business and would continually push back against the systems for several reasons.
74 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
1. They found their job unfulfilling, causing them to lose interest and lack motivation. 2. They lacked the power and control of being the only person who could do their job. 3. They feared there was no job security as they could be easily replaced. 4. They believed their way of doing the job was better but would not suggest or share their way with anyone else. 5. They wanted to be the only superhero, the only person who could put out the fires. 6. They consciously or unconsciously enjoyed disharmony and drama at work. This justified their complaining about co-workers, customers or bosses.
While most of the above is no surprise to anyone that runs a business, number six was unexpected to me. Why would staff enjoy disharmony and drama?
It’s called human nature. We like to complain and gossip, as it makes us feel important. It just follows that the workplace is the best place to do this.
Empowerment
In today’s world, we hear all about empowering our staff to be responsible, to make decisions about how their department or job should run.
Although this has been the case for a long time, it has become more prolific with the Gen Y and millennials as they want more purpose from their jobs.
From a business point of view, empowerment makes sense as your staff will be happier in their jobs; they will stay longer, equaling less staff turnover; they will feel more fulfilled in themselves and the business will run better with staff building stronger relationship with customers by delivering a more personalized service.
The outcome we all desire.
A business with empowered staff is as much a joy to watch as a fully systemized one. The problems come when key staff leave without other staff understanding what they did. Although staff say they want empowerment in a job, I found they struggled with this just as much as a systemized business and the reasons why are very similar.
75 AUTHORS UNITE
1. They wanted their job to be easy, not having to think too hard about what they did. 2. They didn’t trust their own decisions or were too scared to make any. 3. They were concerned they would lose their job if the decision they made was the wrong one. 4. They didn’t like it when someone else’s idea was better than theirs. 5. They must learn to work in teams accepting that everyone has an equal voice. 6. They consciously or unconsciously enjoy disharmony and drama at work. This justifies their complaining about co-workers, customers or bosses.
Why do staff have similar problems with both options? Is it just human nature or some other deeper reason?
For this I don’t have the answers; I can only say what I think is important:
A business is made up of two cogs; one is the systems and the other is the staff. For it to operate at the top of its ability, both cogs must be equal; allowing them to fit together perfectly.
This does not mean they have to be the same size.
In some businesses, the systems cog will be bigger while, in others, it will be the staff cog; they will often swap depending on what is going on.
Systems must be reviewed every twelve months. Pull it apart to see if it is still the right and best way to do that job. Involve the team that is responsible for its delivery, even if it is one person. Give them one week to come up with ideas. If the team agrees, give it a go, but it must be reviewed after two weeks.
This means you are empowering your staff to systemize your business.
When empowering staff, watch out for the control freaks or firefighters who will not share their ideas. These people are not team players. You must remove them quickly from your team.
When you add a new member to your team, assign a senior staff member to be responsible for their workplace “culture training.” Like a buddy system.
76 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
As the owner of the business, you must learn to accept what people put forward and be willing to let them make mistakes. Not easy!
Learning how to systemize your business and empower your staff to the right level is the difference between a good business and a great business.
With over twenty year’s experience, Marcus has a deep understanding of small business. Having recently sold his last business, he is currently traveling Australia in a Tesla, interviewing businesses that embrace sustainability within their daily practice. He also offers business and personal coaching. www.marcusandariel.com
77 When You Disrupt, Go All the Way LAWRENCE NICULESCU
That morning found me deeply immersed in a new and fascinating project. I was reviewing the short list of current awareness platforms for a firm-wide adoption. I was running various scenarios to anticipate how each platform would work and how well it would serve the needs of our about-5000 users. At that point, my Jabber flashed on my screen with an urgent message. A colleague from the IT department in Europe was asking if the library still needed such-and-such server.
I thought that project ended long ago. My team and I had centralized the content of over thirty libraries in a single system. The conversion was a tedious job. We had to convert various formats, from lists written in Word or Excel to full-blown databases, some in poor, some in excellent condition. After the deployment of the new global system and the training of all operators, I thought the project was successful. Immediately after conversion, the global system showed a healthy activity all over the world. It’s true; we did not drink champagne at the end, not even virtually, due to our time zones.
So, I had to get into the library server and pull the log for the European office my colleague had mentioned. The old stand-alone libraries had become new locations in the global system, so I wrote a quick script to peek into the activity from that location. To my surprise, the log was almost empty. A flurry of activity at the beginning, and then nothing – no deletions, no additions, no circulation – as if the system froze in that location immediately after the deployment. I reviewed my journal and my correspondence. Every point in the project was checked, the training of the local librarian was successful. Then, I remembered a tradition unique to that office, which I admired at the time: aspiring attorneys would work in the library until they got their license to practice. Once they start practicing, the new attorney would train a fresh law student to manage the office library, on two- to three-year cycles.
I dreaded the thought that unbeknownst to me, the departing librarian had trained her replacement in the old system–which was very robust and well-
78 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 kept–and left aside the global system. No local user complained, so everything appeared to be good. I called the librarian in charge. She confirmed my worst fears: they were still using the old, local system. Now I had to pay for that. And I did. Some quick scripts helped me realize that a semi-automatic retrofit would be way too expensive: not only were there records that had disappeared and others added, but some of the fields of existing records revealed alterations that we had to change manually, record by record. Luckily, we had kept the original conversion schema so we had to freeze the legacy database and re- convert it. I will spare you of all technical details – in about two weeks we were ready to start anew. We discussed the new implementation and policy with the librarian, we socialized the idea among the end-users and finally re- deployed the interface.
In retrospect, I realized that the task of decommissioning the old system was missing from the project. We did not explicitly do away with the old ways. The legacy was more powerful and restored the disruption created by the global system. It was time again to learn from our mistakes.
There were two areas where the errors occurred, one involving the human element, the other the electronic environment.
On the human side, it looks like somehow I failed to convince the original librarian (now a capable second-year associate) of the advantages of using the global system: centralized cataloging and access to a worldwide collection for all users. Or perhaps she found the workflow of the old system more familiar and reverted to it when no one was looking. In short, I failed to have her unlearn the old ways.
The process of unlearning is a complex mental activity, and it certainly merits a longer and more detailed discussion than we can afford here. Suffice to say that our intuition simplifies unlearning into a passive process, associated with memory decay. In fact, unlearning is an active process that needs motivation and stamina.
Usually, we solve the problem in a simpler and more effective manner, by suppressing the stimulus. This method is valuable to achieve an immediate goal, but it may backfire by deteriorating human interaction at a time when the manager needs collaboration from the team the most. A good manager will always have to assess the risk of losing trust when implementing a
79 AUTHORS UNITE disruptive method. That is why we should address disruption and unlearning separately from the main goal of the project.
There are times when the project manager focuses exclusively and simplistically on the main goal: deliver the product on time at a minimal cost. Decommissioning that server in Europe was not part of the project. I had hoped that it would disappear into obsolescence by itself. But it did not happen. The project became costlier as I had to go back and clean the mess.
Figuratively speaking, we did not allow for a proper burial to the legacy system. Decommissioning old systems and making sure that we cut old ties with an outdated past is always necessary. After all, if we look at a data conversion project, we should think about two types legacies we deal with: the legacy system that holds the data, and the legacy data. What we need is to focus on both and save the legacy data and retire the legacy system.
After all, knowledge management is also about giving a new life to old data, not allowing the specter of the past to haunt us.
Lawrence Niculescu started in the academic world in the Law School Library somewhat by accident. He got a Master’s of Arts in Linguistics from NYU, then a Master’s of Science in Library and Information Science from NYU/LIU. Lawrence worked for two American Law 100 firms, first as a Cataloger, then as a System Administrator, and then as a Knowledge Manager. He is interested in AI and news gathering and processing them in an intelligent way and working with a startup in data analysis based on linguistic algorithms. For more, see https://www.linkedin. com/in/lawrencenic/
80 Section Four: Powerful People
Position Yourself as an Expert ANDREW GALLAGHER
“The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything at all.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
I graduated in 2008 with a BSc Chemistry when the recession broke. After a year of unemployment, I went back in and snapped up my MSc Environmental Sustainability in 2010. I went back out into the real world to go into industry. Sadly, I found nothing but two years unemployment. With nothing to lose, I bit the bullet in 2012 and became an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurship is one of the hardest sports you’ll ever play. I learned that this is a very enjoyable discipline, and that if I failed, which I did, I had to fail fast and learn quick. Just like I did in boxing, judo, and rowing over the years. There are strong similarities between sport and entrepreneurship and I believe that this is why people from a sports background tend to stay around a little longer.
The toughest lesson I learned is that you want to position yourself as an expert in your field. I wish someone had told me this before I started because this took me a couple years to figure out. I can save you that time now.
Why:
By positioning yourself as an expert in your field, you stand out in a crowded market and become the prize. You can charge more for your services and make more money. Bill and Bob both own electronics stores. Bill’s store fixes all electronics from mobile phones to laptops to HD TVs. Bob’s store fixes
81 AUTHORS UNITE only laptops. Who do you think charges more for fixing laptops? Position strong, make more money, and become harder to remove.
Benefit:
Create benefit for others, and they will pay you for it. People always buy something that benefits them. No one buys for the sole purpose of acquiring harm or mediocrity. Identify your consumer’s pain point and provide the solution. Create this benefit and charge money for it. This is how you make money. Monetize your benefit with a sales funnel and make sales.
Online presence:
People spend more time online than they do looking into the eyes of the people around them. To position yourself as an expert in your field, you must utilize the online platform: blog, podcast, website, YouTube, an email list. Don’t forget social media, as broken down into the “Five P’s” outlined by Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki: Google+ (passion), Twitter (perception), Facebook (people), LinkedIn (profession), Pinterest (photos). Be seen on these and you are on the road to success online.
Research:
As the expert in your field,you must self-educate. You won’t know everything there is to know. But you must try to stay abreast of everything in your field and see how the landscape changes for you, your services, and your customers. As Robert Kiyosaki advised, if you want to be financially free, but know nothing, spend ten minutes a day reading the financial times and in one year, you are in a better position. Find other experts in your field, and the publications that exist. Read a little and often and stay on top of the game you play.
Passion:
This is the “500 Hours” rule of thumb. You are an expert in a subject. You will monetize this benefit and make more money. Ask yourself if you can talk about this subject for 500 hours. If you can’t, then don’t become an expert in this field, because the reality is that you will end up having to discuss the subject for 5,000+ hours. If you don’t have the passion for it, then become
82 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 an expert in another field. Don’t waste your time on arts and crafts if thirty minutes of papier-mâché bores you. You will break.
Find your niche:
Remember the “500 Hours” rule? Just because you can talk about Pokémon Blue or Pokémon Go for a thousand hours doesn’t mean you have a niche within which you can become an expert. Your niche must be profitable, otherwise how can you make money? There must be a market for what you do. There should also be competitors in the same field. You don’t fish in a lake with no other fishermen. You fish where other fishermen go because you know there are fish in that lake. Narrow down your niche and become something to somebody.
Keys to the castle:
Publish a nonfiction ebook, online media, publish online courses, host webinars and hold public speaking engagements. By doing these things, people automatically believe you to be an expert in your field, and they’ll do it within minutes. You increase your credibility and they become more primed to invest money in you. Build partnerships with experts in your field and with experts outside of your field. This creates more opportunities in the future.
Don’t forget you:
You will give your profession everything. This is a discipline and you will succeed. You also need time away to rebuild your body and mind. Make sure you exercise, if only fifteen minutes five mornings a week. Be sure to get rest. Allocate time for family and friends. Finally, make sure you have one day a week where you only do small things that don’t matter. Burn-out rate is high because of how much time you spend on your business. You can’t make money when you are stressed, ill or dead.
Action points
In conclusion, you now need to go and do the following three things: find your niche, laser focus on your profitable passion, and create your benefit that others will buy into. Finally, set up your ebook, online presence, and online courses.
83 AUTHORS UNITE
Andrew Gallagher makes experts out of others. Ever watched Breaking Bad? Andrew has a BSc(Hons) in Chemistry, an MSc Environmental Sustainability and an MBA. He became an entrepreneur in 2012 when the recession still hadn’t lifted in his hometown in Northern Ireland. Contact him now at www.agpublishings.org
84 Become a Certified Learner MARLA J. ALBERTIE, M.ED.
It is a typical Saturday and I have a few hours on my hand so I do what I believe the best thing is to do, head to the bookstore and peruse around. As I wander in and out the aisles, I am strategically collecting books that strike my attention. As I gather my collection of 6-7 books, mainly, self-help, business, or career oriented, I take a stroll to my favorite window spot in hopes that it is not taken. I peeped my head around the corner and I let out a sigh of relief as I notice that both chairs are empty. I swiftly walk over and took my seat and started to review my collection. As I finish reviewing each book, I make the decisions on which books I will purchase now and which ones I will purchase online. Let’s just say I NEVER walk out of a book store empty handed.
So why did I just share this story with you? I call myself a certified learner and you can become one as well. As I type this I am currently working on my doctoral degree and a couple of certifications. I have always had a passion for learning. Okay, I admit it, I am kind of obsessed with it. I love to read books, articles, magazines, journals, biographies, well just about anything. I watch informational television shows and I am a conference junkie. I believe the only way to improve in any area is to learn the area. If we pay attention closely we will discover we are learning every day. The problem most of the time is we are not aware when learning opportunities presents themselves. In our everyday surroundings we could learn a thing or two. Events are always happening, we just have to stop and pay attention. Ideas for businesses and innovations are everywhere.
Two reasons I love to learn are (1) I love to discover how others succeeded in their endeavors and how their ideas came to fruition and (2) I love to share that information with others. Learning is one of the few things people can share and both parties can benefit. However, there is always a caveat. I don’t learn just to collect information and store it (even though one of my strengths is Intellectual on the StrengthFinders® test says I do), I apply what I learn. I can’t say I digest all the information each time, there are times when
85 AUTHORS UNITE
I miss the mark and don’t apply anything but, for the most part I try to take action on things I read. For example, If I am reading a book on goal setting, I will attempt the goal setting technique the author suggests, if it doesn’t work for me, I move on. The beauty behind this is if it does work for me then that is one thing I can share with my clients, friends, and family. We all have something to share with the world. I have the mindset that I can learn from anyone. I never want to get to the point to where I stop learning.
Here are 10 traits of a certified learner in business that you can implement immediately:
1. Certified learners read the Table of Contents first when they pick up a book. This is a lesson I had to learn. If the table of contents is not intriguing, then they know to move on to the next book. Caveat: unless the book was highly recommended.
2. Certified learners pay attention to their surroundings. They understand and acknowledge problems are EVERYWHERE, literally. The reason people start a business is because they recognize a problem that needs a solution, if they cannot find the solution, they create a business that remedies the solution.
3. Certified learners study their industry. When learning about a particular field, it helps to read as many books and articles as you can. They understand the more diverse they are in the industry the more leverage they will have in their business.
4. Certified learners take feedback and criticism lightly and not do not take these too personal. When someone provides them feedback and criticism, they may or may not agree, either way they look for what they can learn and move on.
5. Certified learners study a field they have no interest in. Why? Because they know they will learn something. I am not suggesting write a thesis on the topic however, I am suggesting to step outside of your comfort zone and learn something new.
6. Certified learners try everything. As a business owner/entrepreneur they know they should stand out and discover what makes them
86 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
unique. They understand that if they do not try a new venture, they will never know if they will succeed or even like the new venture. I realize trying everything can sound overwhelming. I recommend not trying everything all at once. I recommend the quarterly model. Try something new in your business every quarter. If you have a storefront, move your furniture around, if you have an online business, try changing your response time to customers or a new campaign.
7. Certified learners know they should leave the house to learn more. They will attend meetups, networking events, and conferences. They know they should meet new people in order to learn something about different businesses. This statement is for introverted and extroverted people. No one can learn inside of their own box.
8. Certified learners are obsessed with learning. They understand that learning is the only way to become a better business owner and person.
9. Certified learners know that there is no such thing as failure, they learned a method that did not work for them and they moved on and tried something else.
10. Certified learners never stop learning. They are students for life.
Now it is your turn. You can apply these simple steps to your life and I can almost guarantee (I can’t tell the future, this is why I said almost), that your life will change. Become a certified learner and email and tell me about it.
U.S. Navy Veteran and founder of Truth Speaks Group, LLC (TSG), a training and coaching company, which helps working mothers to build their confidence and create a clear career path to leadership. Marla founded I.M.A.G.IN.E. Women’s Empowerment Conference ™ and YouTube Talk Show Creating Your Career. Marla spends her free time reading and traveling and with family and friends. www.truthspeaksgroup.com
87 How Perseverance, Positive Focus, and “Giving First” Brought a Vision to Life KIM D. H. BUTLER
For many years, my passion has been to help more people with their finances—without subjecting their dollars to the risks of the stock market or the inefficiencies of the big banks.
While this is already my work, my husband (who develops financial software) and I shared a vision to start a non-profit and create an annual event for other advisors. This would allow us to share our investment philosophy, connections, and best practices to a much larger audience of people who need the help!
As I write this in August of 2017, we are basking in the glow of our fourth advisor event—a resounding success that is truly influencing the industry! At last, the movement “has wings.” But getting this Summit for Advisors off the ground was like trying to fly a lead balloon.
Fortunately, my mother had instilled in me a “give first” attitude. Growing up, whenever my sister and I left for a fun event or to school or anywhere off our family farm, our mother would say, “Give a good time.” We rolled our eyes every time she said it, and we also knew she purposely said GIVE instead of HAVE because it was her philosophy that “Giving First” was the best way to have a good time.
Fast forward to 2008 and 2009 when my business was slow and many of our clients were struggling financially. Additionally, my husband and I had gotten involved in a mess of a real estate deal that was killing our cash flow. Not knowing what else to do, I adopted more fully than ever before a GIVE FIRST attitude. (I say attitude because that is where everything starts…in your thinking.)
With this attitude, I took action. I emailed, I called, I listened, I spoke and
88 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
I GAVE and GAVE and GAVE. The only thing I had to give was a positive approach to life and a willingness to solve problems and help others focus on the good things in their lives.
I’ve been involved in Dan Sullivan’s Strategic Coach program for many years, in which we practice the “positive focus” mental exercise, often verbally, sometimes written. I took these two ideas and helped every client that I could, often without pay, even though we needed the income desperately. I gave the thought process of picking out the good in the situation and focusing on that, knowing that was the only way we were going to get more good.
Fast forward now to 2014. My husband, Todd Langford, and I created the non-profit movement—the Prosperity Economics Movement—that would sponsor the event for advisors. We faced several challenges in promoting the event, such as finding our target audience, who were not “any” advisor, but those who utilize whole life insurance and “Prosperity Economics” strategies. But we were just coining the term “Prosperity Economics,” it was not yet recognized among many advisors. Additionally. there was no official organization for such advisors, and no easy way to find them through Facebook ads. And since we wanted a first-class event, we held it at a five-star resort with first class accommodations and food that was not cheap!
So we had to define the word, define the audience, invite the audience, and then hope they would decide to come and willingly pay a premium to invest in an “unknown” event! Not exactly a recipe for a successful event.
Yet we launched…with a web site and lots of emails, thanks to our marketing writer. We hired an event team and paid for the hotel out of our own pocket. We had only thirty attendees at our first event. It was lot of work, but it felt like we had started a movement that had just enough momentum that we had to do a second year.
And we lost $82,558. Yuck!
However, that momentum and the desire to learn and improve drove us onward to the second year. It was barely bigger than the first, and we still lost $24,486, which came from our own personal money.
At dinner the night before the last day, I told my husband and my sister, “I
89 AUTHORS UNITE
AM NOT DOING THIS AGAIN, DO NOT LET ME GET TALKED INTO IT TOMORROW!” My husband’s eyes got big and my sister smiled. And the last hour of the last day of the event, we asked everyone to tell us the one best thing they got out of the event (a verbal positive focus). I cried. YUP, right there in front of forty people… and agreed to do a third event. (I can’t resist helping others!)
Now we understood it takes a few years to get a new idea off the ground and become self-supporting. It had taken a lot out of us, financially and otherwise, but now the movement was picking up even more momentum. We were helping advisors and doing good and necessary work.
We re-grouped, switching hotels and locations to deliver excellence at a friendlier price point. In spite of some challenges, we retained the event company because they understood the larger vision. We also started building a bit of a team on a shoestring budget to support my efforts in creating and marketing the event.
At our third event in 2016…we had fifty people, and this event was $20k in the black, which means now I could pay for a dedicated “event assistant” so the team didn’t have to pull such long hours (me included) to make the event happen. However at one point, I became totally frustrated with putting together the binder. I asked myself, “WHY am I doing this?” Then, very clearly, I remember the goal I’ve shared with many: to help as many people as possible. And I can help one agent/advisor person who then helps 500 clients versus just helping clients one on one. BING! I keep going.
Our first night, we are at a beautiful mountainside hotel, outdoors on the patio, asking folks to share what they want out of the event. My husband and I are standing in the front listening. Jack (the big quiet guy) stands and says “Hey everybody, Kim and Todd do not have to do this. Kim has a nice practice by herself. Todd produces awesome software and provides training. We really owe them gratitude for pulling us all together and providing this experience.” I almost cried again!
As I write this we are basking in the glow of our fourth event in 2017. Notes and messages of gratitude from advisors are still pouring in. This time, we hosted seventy people and we’re still profitable. Our vision for the Prosperity Economics Movement is being realized and we are grateful!
90 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Here is what I’ve learned: Give First, focus on the good and you’ll get more of it, and never give up!
Kim D. H. Butler is an investment advisor, best-selling financial author, and founder of Partners for Prosperity. She helps investors avoid the roller coaster ride of the stock market and “build wealth without Wall Street.” In 2017, Kim was named to the Investopedia 100 list of influential advisors. www.Partners4Prosperity.com
91 Stand Out: Certifications Put Your Knowledge to the Test DR. AMY JAUMAN, SMS
Hungry for a new career, I made a bold decision. I was going to leave the security of my full-time job as soon as a long-term contract which would advance my skill set was available. When the perfect opportunity arrived, I gave my two-week notice. A week before I was scheduled to start my new gig, the project I was supposed to join was cancelled–and I quickly realized I’d be without a paycheck in five business days.
I had resigned respectfully and I hadn’t yet been replaced. It occurred to me that the smartest choice would be to stay in my current job. Fortunately, due largely to my own inability to admit I had made a mistake, I didn’t play it smart. Instead, I desperately tried to figure out how I could quickly get a new job by standing out in a sea of similarly qualified applicants.
Closing the Gap
I wrote my dissertation based on remote work teams and spent nearly a decade with geographically dispersed employees. I confidently billed myself as a remote work expert, educator, and consultant. I felt sure the people looking for my particular expertise would trust I was a knowledgeable resource. There was just one gap in my skill set: social media.
Social media is at the heart of nearly every business. Whether you’re a marketer reaching new audiences, a human resources professional attracting top talent by maintaining a healthy digital presence, or a customer service team engaging with current and future customers online, you have to know how to use the platforms available, both strategically and tactically. I also knew that social media was known for connecting people in meaningful ways, especially when they were separated by geography.
I began looking for ways that I could gain social media-related credentials. I
92 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 didn’t have the time, money, or desire to complete another degree, though I recognized I’d undoubtedly have to complete an educational program. With a little searching, I uncovered a social media strategy certification offered by the National Institute for Social Media. I completed the prep course and exam–both of which were challenging–and within a few months I had a recognized credential to add to my resume. The funny thing was, I had no idea just how many doors it would open.
When I completed my certification in 2013, it was a largely unknown designation. Despite that, consulting firms, hiring managers, and even educational institutions were impressed when they saw it and typically asked what the credential meant. I quickly learned that my certification opened doors, describing my credentials demonstrated my knowledge, and the fact that I pursued this extra designation in my industry left potential clients and employers with an understanding that I was committed to my work.
A few years later, I accepted a job working full-time for the National Institute for Social Media and was given the opportunity to explore certifications in general. I was amazed at how many credentials are available. So many industries are embracing the idea of certifications as the best way to ensure job competency that when the opportunity came to write a piece for this book, I knew I had to share what I had learned about their value.
The Benefits and Considerations of Certification in Any Field
Whatever industry you’re in, there’s probably a certification, board, or other exam that provides you with the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge. Why should you bother pursuing it? • Degrees, courses, and even certificates are different from certifications. While all forms of education are valuable in some way, it’s important to understand that a certification is what requires continuous education and/or experience to remain valid. This can be a tremendous selling point if you have a current certification and you’re competing against people with work experience and degrees, but only if you know how to explain the value to others. • In 2016, Pew Research found that, on average, Americans spend six years at a job. (This is an average across all age demographics and
93 AUTHORS UNITE
industries, by the way; just in case you were thinking about blaming millennials for the frequent job changes.) The benefits of frequent job changes include employees being exposed to a more diverse range of materials and environments as well as a decreased chance of becoming complacent or reliant on previous work in an organization to allow them to advance in an organization. The challenge is how to transition efficiently. A certification exam can provide you with the knowledge and credibility to move more seamlessly between opportunities. • “Presenteeism” is typically described as the act of showing up to receive credit simply for being at work, whether you contribute anything of value or not. Employers are becoming savvier at measuring contribution and identifying those relying on this technique for continued employment or even advancement within an organization. Completing and maintaining a certification means you’re part of a learning community. For most certifications, you’re required to complete continuing education and experience in your industry. This alone can keep you at the top of your game and ensure you don’t become complacent. • I often hear consultants or traditional employees complain about being overlooked by an employer. I also hear employers complain about the cumbersome hiring process or – worse yet – hiring someone who turned out to only be good on paper. Are you working in a field where completing a certification can help you stand out? Are you hiring in a field where a certification is available? Either way, a certification could be one way you can approach each situation with greater confidence.
Your Responsibility
If there is a certification in your industry – or related to your industry – it’s up to you either as a certification holder or hiring manager to educate others about the value of maintaining your skill set and demonstrating your knowledge. Don’t expect others to just believe you because you say you’ll be an amazing employee. And don’t blindly hire people who are all talk. Demonstrate your skills and surround yourself with others who do the same.
94 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Dr. Amy Jauman, SMS, is the Chief Learning Officer for the National Institute for Social Media and an international speaker. In 2017, she successfully completed her Credentialing Specialist Certificate through the Institute of Credentialing Excellence. She is the author of the Comprehensive Field Guide for Social Media Strategists and is scheduled to publish her second book about certification prep through Kendall Hunt in 2018.
95 Become an Everyday Hero in Your Business KAHREN OXNER
Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” In my opinion, a truer statement has never been made and I am living proof that living by these guidelines can deepen and solidify the relationships in your life. I believe that each one of us have the unique opportunity to become an unforgettable Hero in life and in business.
Today, I’d like to help you become a Hero, too.
My writing comes to you from Lake Oswego, a thriving community south of Portland, Oregon. I live and work in this community and I am surrounded by friends, family and colleagues who challenge and inspire me daily.
Everyone defines “Hero” differently. Some think of firefighters or police officers who offer lifesaving support to their communities; some think of the heroic men and women of our armed forces who protect our freedoms; many think of the heroic teacher who made a life-changing impact during their childhood. They are most definitely heroes but for our purposes today let’s expand the definition to include a broader base.
A Hero is a person who steps in to help another in a time of need, sacrificing his time and maybe even his well-being to impact the life of another. A Hero can take many forms but we all recognize them immediately because of how they make us feel.
This is important because we all have an opportunity to be someone’s hero. One of my Heroes is my best friend, Dawnie. Her smile could light up the darkest room or give hope to a lost soul or soothe a broken heart. Regardless of what was going on in her life, she had the unique ability to put her fears and pain aside and make you feel like the most important person in the world. She passed away five years ago and it is hard to imagine that she only spent forty-two short years with us. Why, you ask? Because Dawnie impacted
96 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 every person she came into contact with. You might not be able to explain it, but you didn’t have to. You could feel it.
Let’s be that light for those that need us. Let’s be their Hero.
Step 1: Use Praise; Do It Now!
Life is short, and opening up a thank-you card, email, or text can mean the world to the person that gets it. Dawnie made it a habit to send a minimum of ten handwritten cards every day. I could always count on “Dawnie mail.” Whether we met for lunch, ran into each other at Starbucks or I just popped into her head, Dawnie would sit down and craft a thoughtful, personal note to me (glitter and purple pen included) and pop it into the mail. She made me feel strong, confident and loved with each swipe of her pen.
There’s something rewarding and peaceful about sending and receiving a handwritten note. You never know WHEN YOUR SURPRISE WILL HIT THE DOORSTEP OF THE RECIPIENT – it might be the highlight of their day. It might just change their entire life.
Take action and reach out. Whether they reply or not, know that sometimes the simplest gesture can have the deepest impact. The last plan created is no match for the first step taken, no matter how small. Just do it!
Step 2: Become An Everyday Hero
Find A Way To Get Involved − Identify an organization, such as your local Rotary club, to help you identify ways to get involved in your community and start having an impact.
Know When You’re Needed And How To Act – All you have to do is open your heart to opportunity and say yes more and often. Put yourself out there and be ready, especially for those in need.
Be There For The Heroes In Your Community − ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN AND SUPPORT LOCAL EVENTS. MAKE AN EFFORT TO BE AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF YOUR COMMUNITY.
We all have ways that we can extend to others the opportunities we create
97 AUTHORS UNITE in our lives. The advice above is for everyone and is as simple as adopting a service over self mentality. Below is prescription for the business leaders out there as your reach can be wide and life changing.
Step 3: Becoming An Everyday Hero in Your Business
Pay It Forward Through Acts of Kindness − As a mortgage lender in my community, I work with people during an incredibly complex, very personal and often stressful time in their lives. I have a unique opportunity to offer support, encouragement and remembering to be kind in both words and actions. I always take that opportunity as people will always remember how you made them feel.
Be Available at All Hours − You can’t plan for someone else’s emergency question or concern. We’ve all had experiences when our most important calls go unanswered. Demonstrate how much you care by answering those calls and supporting the person on the other end of the call.
Do More Than What’s Expected – In my line of work, closing a loan is the bare minimum and most lenders stop there. My goal is to make the closing the beginning of our relationship, not the end. Be a lifetime resource in business, be the one they turn to in times of need or confusion.
No More Complaining About Lack of Resources − When you find a career that really gives you meaning, your responsibility will be to create the opportunities for others. Make it happen. Show Up. Finish.
Start Online, Create Depth with Warmth and Deepen the Connection − With technology taking over in-person interactions, we can’t forget that relationships that start online must be treated differently. Foster those starts, working to make an online relationship feel more connected.
Observe the Needs Around You − As a female leader and top producer, I can tell you my success has not come from assuming others will take action. I encourage you to re-read each chapter and take action on what you find important. What speaks to you?
Shout Out to my Hero Everyday: Derek Hill ª To learn about how Derek and I are supporting heroes, visit: Become An Everyday Hero.org
98 No Business Without Activism NELSON GUERRERO
In 2015, my grandfather’s prostate cancer came back. The chemotherapy treatment he was taking was causing terrible side effects, and by the spring of 2015, he had nearly faded away. After long talks with him, he agreed to try cannabis tinctures to subdue the side effects of his chemo. Within a few days we saw an increase of appetite and energy. I had my grandfather back, and just a few months ago, we were able to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with my grandmother. The results he showed galvanized my passion for the plant and pushed me to fight for its legality, while being a part of a growing industry.
At first, I did not know how to get involved legally and I wanted to make a difference. I started off by cold emailing the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) president, Aaron Smith, to see if I could volunteer at an upcoming conference since the cost of entrance was out of my reach at the time. To my luck, he immediately replied and introduced me to a volunteer coordinator, who gave me the opportunity to help out at the two-day conference and begin networking with a growing industry. I would continue to volunteer for the NCIA and now my organization supports their efforts in different ways. Coincidentally, I met my future co-founders at an NCIA quarterly event I volunteered at a few months later, with whom I later started the Cannabis Cultural Association, a nonprofit that stemmed from a passion for the plant and the need for activism to have more diversity and inclusion in the space.
After meeting my cofounders and attending various industry events, it became clear people of color, the people most affected by the war on drugs, were being left out of the industry. As much as I saw the cannabis industry as a money-making opportunity, I couldn’t be in the industry without working towards creating change and doing my part to make sure all those who wanted to be a part of the industry have an opportunity.
Thus began my journey in helping create the Cannabis Cultural Association Inc. or CCA, a 501c3 nonprofit based in New York, which helps marginalized
99 AUTHORS UNITE and underrepresented communities engage in the legal cannabis industry, emphasizing criminal justice reform, access to medical cannabis, and adult use legalization. To become a non-profit organization was no easy task, but because this community is so great in so many ways we went from a crazy idea to a reality, even with “cannabis” in our name.
After pitching our idea for our organization, we quickly gained support and we began to meet people who also had a similar passion that we had and wanted to help. One pitch after another and before long we were able to host our first educational event in the city. The outpour of support was unreal. Almost six months after our inception and networking from coast to coast, we were blessed with the aid of legal support from Hiller P.C., a NYC law firm that agreed to incorporate our organization and took on the challenge of getting us 501c3 approved on a pro bono basis. Even with this certificate, we still weren’t official until receiving approval from a bank. After being denied from twelve banks, People’s United Bank gave us a chance and let us become official.
With every challenge I faced in starting the CCA and all the highs and lows, I always stayed positive because of the people I put around me. We lost some members as the CCA grew, but the core we have now has never been stronger and has never been more on mission.
Just in sharing our mission online, people from all walks have life to come out in support. Due to the efforts of our media director Leland Radovanovic, who my co-founder Jake recruited, we have been featured in countless publications. Our board president Amanda Reyes, aka Cannamom, always keeps us grounded (and always has snacks), Our VP and my mentor is legal legend Joseph Bondy. Sarah Stenuff, our board secretary, is our veteran badass and long-time advocate for the cause, Zach Tyson is our ride-and-die board member who has battled for us from day one and convinced his firm, Hiller P.C., to back us right from day one. Last but not least, my co-founder Jake Plowden has been in the thick of it with me from day one, from protests to speaking all over the East Coast; he held it down while I was on crutches when we first started it all. The organization has accomplished so much in such a short time and the team deserves all the credit.
I am proud to have met such amazing and great people that share my vision to create opportunities for people of color and to create an inclusive and
100 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 diverse cannabis industry. We have each other’s backs and I couldn’t be more confident with my team as we take on the attorney general in our latest form of activism, a landmark case trying to prove once and for all the prohibition of cannabis is unconstitutional and we must free the plant so we may free the people who have been hurt by these racist laws. As we continue to march forward, I have no doubt we will win and create change that will impact our great country and many other nations.
Stay true to your mission and stay true to your cause.
Nelson Guerrero is a bilingual Ecuadorian-American, who studied Business Administration and History at the City University of New York, Lehman College. He is an experienced entrepreneur who has worked in several industries and is now focused on cannabis. The Cannabis Cultural Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting underrepresented communities to engage in the legal cannabis industry. www.CannaCultural.org
101
Part Two SKILLS, LESSONS, AND TACTICS Section One: All About Sales
Build, Develop, Nourish and Grow – Building Relationships that Last WENDY A. BARBA
In business, just like in life, it’s all about building relationships that last. The first time I heard that phrase was during sales training while working at Carnival Cruise Lines. My sales coach said to meet your quota, you will need to make 800 calls a day or five hours on the phone and the one thing that will differentiate you is to build relationships with your clients. Since then, I decided “Building Relationships that Last” would be my personal mission in business and in life. I believe in Building Relationships that Last so much that I decided to use it in my email signature as a reminder… seventeen years later I am still “Building Relationships that Last.”
Why is building relationships so important to me?
I’ve learned that in business and in life it is important to build relationships with three different types of people: mentors, sponsors and working spouses. If you learn how to manage these relationships, build them and nourish them, you can pretty much handle difficult situations and have your support system in place to inspire you to keep on going. In this chapter, I will share with you why, when and how these relationships have been instrumental in my personal life and in my career.
Be friends with your Mentor
I was one of 200k employees in General Electric. The day I started working for GE I asked myself, how I am supposed to be noticed and grow? I am one
104 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 of two hundred thousand employees!!! From my first day forward, I decided to connect with everyone I met, to understand how I can help them, and to be friends with them because I knew I would need their help one day. At that time, I was reporting to seven different managers. One day, one of my managers became very upset at me for something I did not do. I did not know how to handle this or who to go to for help. I felt very uncomfortable not being able to express my frustration.
That’s when I realized I needed a mentor to point me to the right direction. I needed to let my manager know the issues I was having on the way things were being handled. You see, I worked in a male-dominant business for over a decade; selling to builders and contractors was not easy to have a delicate conversation. Nonetheless, I decided to find a way to be respected even if things did not turn out how it was planned. I spoke to one of my mentors, and he said, “Wendy, you need to talk to your direct manager about this situation and find yourself a mentor that’s in your department ASAP.” Needing to solve this issue, I found my mentors. I wish I could have started with a happy-go- lucky story, but I needed help and I wanted to solve this situation before things got worse. These two mentors, D.R. and Hotshot, have coached me when difficult times arose; they prepped me for nailing an interview, stayed late at night preparing me for more interviewing, and helped me with my performance review. The list goes on and on.
They’ve always inspired me to accomplish better things, have constantly reminded me how amazing I am and encourage me to keep on succeeding. Oh! And they remind me to never forget them when I successful. How could I forget them? I honestly could not have made it this far in my career without their guidance. My advice to you is to build a friendship with your mentor first. You need to have chemistry and build a strong connection. Your mentor will be like your BFF; they are there to celebrate your triumphs and to offer a shoulder when you are down. Till this day I still call them.
Someone is always watching!
During my first year at GE, I was selected to attend the GE Hispanic Summit. This is a summit where only top Latino performers are invited to attend. I was shocked and extremely honored when I found out I had been invited. Years later, I found out someone secretly had helped me: my sponsor, who back then was a counterpart of my GM. It’s true when they say someone is
105 AUTHORS UNITE always watching, so watch your manners, be nice and perform at your best with integrity. I’ve had several sponsors in my career; as time went on, I realized they were also my guardian angels.
I met one of my sponsors while I was attending the GE Hispanic Summit. I remember his first questions were: “What’s your name? What’s your goal at GE?” These questions were being asked as everyone was cheering, each holding a full tequila shot, to celebrate the amazing sales we had for that year in GE Appliances.
I had a second to think: “Do I drink this tequila? Do I toss it and answer the question?” If I drink this tequila, I may not be able to answer this question and have an interesting conversation. You see, tequila and I don’t mix well, if you know what I mean. I decided to empty my tequila shot and not drink. Best instant decision I’ve made. That night, I had the opportunity to have interesting conversations about my career with top executives. I also answered the question: “I want to work in Latin America and lead the sales and marketing team.” Two years later, that goal came true. Had I taken the tequila and not built on that relationship, I may not have had the opportunity to express my career goals to Jim Campbell (GE Appliance CEO back then) and the rest of the executives I met during the GE Hispanic Summit.
I also remember this same sponsor telling me: “You are very coachable. Continue to be coachable. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Listen even if you know the answer. Connect with others. No one ever makes it by themselves.” He was so right.
Another of my most dear advocates has been an extraordinary example for me to follow. I met him while I was in college. He is one of the reasons I have been inspired to grow, join GE, and continue to improve myself. He has shown the importance of growth, nurturing key relationships, and to understand the role each relationship plays in our lives. Any type of relationship: with friends, colleagues, parents, spouse, etc. This has been a huge benefit for my own personal life and career, which I am still working on. Relationship building is like a non-stop work in process. Like Sir Richard Branson would say: “All relationships need to be nurtured, whether they’re with your business colleagues or your family and friends.” Just like him, I’ve needed this at different times in my life. I’ve been fortunate to have numerous mentors who have been with me for decades. Soon after, I learned I had sponsors who
106 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 have secretly helped me and advocated for me when I needed them most. I know this sounds like a cult. But it’s not!
My Working Spouses and how They’ve Helped me in my Career
While I’ve had numerous mentors and sponsors, I’ve also had my working spouses. Yep! Even as a single gal, I had my working spouse. This was the person that would hear my daily complaints, my aha moments, my downs, my promotions, my “I hate my…,” “can you believe I didn’t get a raise!” or “I am so tired of this,” “I love my job,” all of my emotional rollercoaster. Because no matter which business or company or team you are in, you will have your emotional rollercoaster.
My working spouse was my lifelong personal trainer, David Sandoval. I mention his full name because he passed away a few years ago in a car accident. I was blessed to have my working spouse for sixteen years, someone I could vent to on a regular basis. Someone who knew my secrets, aspirations and frustrations in business and in life. The BEST personal trainer ever. I met him when I was eighteen years old. He first saw me as a student, then later as an executive. While we would work out, he would ask me how my day went. If it was a good day, I was happy jogging; if it was a bad day, the workout was my scapegoat and I was lifting more weights that day. He would make fun of me for taking things so personally. He could make something that looked so huge and complicated so simple and easy to solve. Once we were done with our workout, I felt like I had lost 100 pounds and I had a clearer vision. I strongly encourage you to seek your working spouse or spouses. Currently, my working spouse is my husband, my real hubby, Ryan Tigrett...poor him! But I know David is looking after us from heaven and passed the baton to the right spouse.
My advice to you is to seek your mentor(s), your sponsor(s) and your working spouse(s). You will need the support; someone to coach you when you are in doubt or someone to toast with you at your accomplishments! These people will be your forever cheerleaders because they believe in your potential and want to see you grow.
Sincerely from your secret mentee,
Wendy Barba-Tigrett “Building Relationships that Last”
107 AUTHORS UNITE
Wendy is a dynamic, goal-oriented and results-driven sales, marketing, and training leader. Wendy is passionate about helping businesses and entrepreneurs grow and strongly believes in building relationships that last. She is the Founder of Napa Vale, a media company, and currently managing her husband’s Endodontic practice at Modern Endo of Napa. You can connect with Wendy at wendy@ napavale.com
108 People Don’t Buy WHAT You Do, They Buy WHY You Do It MASTER PAUL MITCHELL
When you strike up a conversation with a random person, at some point they may ask, “What do you do?” I used to reply, “I am a Master Instructor in Taekwondo, in charge of 40 centres and over 1,300 people.” Impressed, they normally ask “How did you do that?” I would then go into the finer details of how I expanded my organisation, how many awards I have received and how I am going to be the largest martial arts organisation in Australia. They proceed to ask me “Do you have a business card?” Proudly, I get one out of my wallet and look forward to them looking up my website, sending me an email, or calling me for further information, but normally that would be the last I hear from them.
I reflected on my past conversations and was disappointed at how many more people I could have inspired to join United Taekwondo, if I had only realised earlier that “people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
If you look around the world, you will see most businesses will think, act and communicate what they do and how they do it, which does not leave us feeling inspired to purchase from them. Just look at how I used to communicate with potential customers. It’s great to have the feeling of accomplishment and share that with the world, but if you keep focusing on your business the same as everyone else, you will never stand out in the crowd. When we look deeper, our greatest leaders and businesses communicate another way and focus on letting you know what they believe in and how they do it, leaves us with a great feeling. Some examples are Apple, Virgin, and Nike to name a few.
Maybe you own a manufacturing plant and you make products, so the staff you hire are there to just do a job, get paid and go home. That’s fantastic, but the challenge is in selling the product. I remember when I was in sales, my manager asked me, “Do you want to be a great salesperson?” I answered “Definitely.” All he said to me was, “Be different.”
109 AUTHORS UNITE
I took his advice and opened United Taekwondo and decided to “Build People, Not Fighters.” Initially, I was competing against full-time martial arts centres offering many classes with multiple disciplines – so why would people choose to learn martial arts from me? By following my manager’s advice, I quadrupled my business and have some extremely dedicated instructors working with me who have the same passion for helping people as I do. I literally flipped the whole concept of martial arts as it is typically run on its head. Parents want their children to learn how to defend themselves, but the majority don’t want them to learn how to fight. I decided to focus on building people’s confidence. They will still know how to kick and punch, but more importantly, they will have the skills and resilience to deal with the daily conflicts at work, home and school.
On a final note, your goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. Your goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe. You are looking for people that will want to say, “I am a proud member of...” or “I own...” or “I just purchased...” If they can encourage another person to follow their advice, then they feel more satisfied that whatever they purchased, whether it is starting up martial arts, buying a new car, or going on a holiday, was a well-informed choice and the right decision. What we did to sell the product was not to focus on what the product is and how great it is, but inspired te person to choose us over the competition.
A lot of organisations don’t know why they do what they do - making a profit is not your why, it is just the result. You need to know what your purpose, your cause, and your beliefs are. People want to feel a part of something special, as this gives their life meaning. If you can design your business so all your signs and symbols reflect your beliefs, you will attract the right customers – who will be loyal.
Now you have a product that stands out in the crowd - so any additional products you choose to sell or offer (that align themselves with your beliefs), will become easier to sell and expanding your business gains momentum.
Why did you start your business?
Master Paul Mitchell is the author of “Self Confidence – The Martial Arts Way”. www.MasterPaul.com.au
110 Do Business with People You Like, Trust and Respect CHRISTIAN GRAY
Warren Buffett once said, “I learned to go into business only with people whom I like, trust and admire.”
When I heard this quote for the first time about three years ago, the person had paraphrased it inaccurately as, “Do business only with people whom you like, trust and respect.” I had been suggesting this version until I discovered its original version in my research for this chapter. Nevertheless, the term “respect” more closely aligns with my personal views.
The old adage, “people only do business with people they like” exists for a reason. Also, there is a hidden message in plain sight: a business relationship stands to benefit when both parties mirror the qualities of an individual who is likeable, trustworthy and respectable.
As you exercise the idea of working with people you like, trust and respect, you may begin to change your perception of others (and self) for the better. At the same time, your organization will reap the benefit through stronger connections, better communication and higher productivity.
111 AUTHORS UNITE
Like
You may use the following questions as a guide to rate your likeability of others: • Would you invest time with this individual if there were no expected business outcomes? • Could you carry on a conversation that is not business-related without any sort of awkwardness? • Are you genuinely interested and curious about others? A major part of being likeable is having a capacity and willingness to share personal details, such as your life experiences, interests, thoughts or opinions. At the same time, you might also have a genuine curiosity in others and the patience to hear varying perspectives.
It also means you have the courage to show your weaknesses. Contrary to popular belief, vulnerability is a sign of strength and accountability. Showing your vulnerable side can influence the way others perceive you; they may be more comfortable around you and share their experiences with you. But it is one of the most difficult tasks for business-minded individuals– especially those who come from earlier generations–as they’re conditioned to think authenticity makes them appear weak. Being able to acknowledge shortcomings and share honestly is an indicator of one’s grit and likeability.
Once you embody these qualities and see results in the workplace, you may wish to quote Sally Fields and excitedly announce to the world, “You like me; right now, you really like me.” Though, I would not recommend doing so in public. Moving on...
Trust
Trust is atop the list of these three qualities in order of importance. You can build trust in all kinds of ways. Here are questions I contemplate for measuring trustworthiness: • Would I trust you with my wallet and know you’re not going to do something nefarious? • Do you do what you say you’re going to do? • Do you show up on time?
112 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Of course, everyone makes mistakes, slips up and/or over-schedules. I’d ask, is it the exception or a consistent behavior? I can trust and respect you as long as you keep your word. By the same token, your punctuality is an indicator of whether you honor your word. If you do not respect your own word, I would assume you have little respect for yourself and likely not have trust in you.
Next, it takes courage to be the person who shares what is not easy to express. But in the end, people will trust you to speak honestly at all times. Once you epitomize the qualities of a trustworthy individual, also be prepared for more people to share secrets with you. Either hold yourself to the promise of confidentiality or ask for permission before you share it with others.
Last but not least, talking poorly about other people when they’re not present is one way to jeopardize trustworthiness. If you become that person, your colleagues might end up talking about you behind your back, too.
Respect
You have to EARN respect in business. It never just shows up.
Often, I use the following questions to gauge my respect for others: • Do I recognize your capabilities? • Are you capable of all the things you say you can do? • Do you execute until the finish line? • Am I aware of your past performance through other trusted relationships? • Do your business chops impress me? Each business relationship requires you to look through a separate lens. In other words, you’ll hold your business partners, investors, confidants, accountants, bankers and attorneys to different standards than your friends, family and co-workers. I find it appropriate to hold colleagues to the highest standard in this area, but definitely require all three qualities in business.
More Tips to Be Liked, Trusted and Respected
You can boost your etiquette, reputation, and performance in business by:
113 AUTHORS UNITE
• Encouraging mutual trust and camaraderie. • Accepting your own faults and mistakes. • Owning your words and actions. • Recognizing the accomplishments of others. • Treating every person with respect. • Celebrating big and small victories. • Showing others how much you truly care. • Being grateful for what you have. • Listening carefully. • Doing what you say you’re going to do. • Knowing when to say “no.” • Thinking before you speak. • Sharing difficult truths. • Always adding value. Building your character undoubtedly raises your credibility. It also sweetens the fruits of your labor because you’ll end up sharing your successes with everyone.
Conclusion
Mr. Buffett hints at the wisdom in calling for these qualities in others (and oneself) as a surefire way to spark productive collaboration among peers. That being said, I consider my openness to his assertion and the views of others as a respectable quality. Plus, I doubt he became the wealthiest person in the world by coincidence.
Working with people you do NOT like, trust, respect or admire can produce highly challenging situations, and throw off both your productivity and work- life balance. To avoid this kind of conflict, distress or heartache, do your best to separate the nefarious people from the good ones.
Whether you’re seventeen years old or seventy-five years old, the fundamentals remain true: Working with people you like, trust and respect can make your life and work both simpler and even more enjoyable. While you do not have to check all three boxes for everyone, view your chosen associates with a discerning eye, as there are people in the world who will do you harm and take advantage. So, choose your associates wisely, and also show up as a trustworthy, likeable and respectable person.
114 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Christian Gray is a senior executive and published author with a keen interest in business development & non-profit organizations like Room to Read. You can reach him at [email protected], on Twitter @christianlgray, or via LinkedIn.
115 Authentic Brands = Longevity: From Personal Brand to Business to Legacy ERICA COLLINS
This year marks my twenty-fifth anniversary in the Plus-Size Modeling and Fashion industry. Twenty-five years may seem obtainable in a sustainable business model, but in fashion and modeling for what was a start-up concept, it feels amazing to have contributed to an industry that is still growing and mainstreaming.
Little did I know that helping with a university fundraiser fashion show at my alma mater, George Washington University, and becoming their first plus- size model would turn into first a hobby, next a career, then a crown leading to building a business which is now part of my legacy.
Today, it is important to review what creates longevity as small and large businesses and individuals all focus on their brands and brand identity. The brand in business refers to the way people feel about the company; whereas, the brand identity is the “look” and how it integrates into the business world.
In traveling and speaking to young women, I hear them chuckle when I say, “I was not Instagrammed, famed, or self-proclaimed. I was discovered.” Someone or something being discovered means it’s unique. It has not been done or seen before. You are witnessing history in the making.
The person who has the talent to discover uniqueness then has the task of developing the brand identity. Uniqueness is key is establishing what separates the personal brand or business from all the rest.
At a time in a market that was branded for white women over fifty-five years old, I was a young eighteen-year-old woman of color who could pull off adult conservative–sometimes viewed as “grandma’s clothes”–with a youthful and artistic energy. This made me one of the top plus models in the Washington,
116 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
DC area. Looking back, I was redefining the look and energy of plus-size models and their fashions.
After being discovered, I sought training and it became a hobby. You don’t find too many students at George Washington University majoring in plus- size modeling. Yes, 1993; I was the only plus model in the class at the time. My desire to become the next Oprah took a right turn and stopped off in fashion. In defining your brand, one should be open to explore and train or become educated in its structured settings.
Eventually, your personal brand will rotate into a circle of achievements. This is when you know it’s time to move on and elevate your brand identity. After becoming a model for major department stores such as Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s and receiving the confirming cheers as a notable local celebrity at the Washington convention fashion shows, elevating the brand meant seeking more print and acting opportunities.
The real test of a brand is testing it with a different market and analyzing the results. Moving into print work and acting required marketing myself to the New Jersey and New York City fashion and entertainment world. The brand became more of an edgy business woman and sexier. The adult conservative Washingtonian with youthful energy needed to change.
Re-branding required new photos, more training and education in fashion. I mapped a plan to present to new agents and agencies in New York City that didn’t quite know what to do with a young plus model and actress. Ironically, my personal brand became more attractive to acting agencies that sent me to both modeling and acting opportunities.
After a decade of being in the plus size modeling and fashion industry in 2003, milestones make you reflect and project the next decade. It was time to turn the personal brand into a business with a brand identity. One strategy to expand the brand identity was entering a pageant and becoming Miss Plus America. This gave me a platform for empowering women. In order to become an expert, I wrote a book called the Plus Size Model’s Little Instruction Book, Vol. 1, and developed a course called “Embrace Your Curves” at an adult school. In pooling all of my resources, we developed a website with plus news, modeling/acting opportunities and educational opportunities.
117 AUTHORS UNITE
My personal model and acting brand was now part of a business with a brand identity becoming recognizable in major markets. I established the business, which was simply called Plus Size Modeling and Fashion by EC and Associates, which began to increase in profits and recognition. We became one of the go-to companies for educating and promoting plus size models and actresses. One of my proud moments was when one of our models ended up on the popular show Law and Order.
The time period right after 9/11 was a sobering period in the fashion industry. There was an article in the New York Times that outlined how high- end fashion boutiques were losing money. Also, they noticed women were buying accessories instead of clothes because the clothes did not fit. Plus- sized fashion saw a surge between 2001-2005 and my business was right on the height of the trend. My personal brand was hot with movie role offers, off-Broadway shows, and TV segment modeling, until an injury and illness brought everything to a halt.
To create longevity of a brand and business, one must have a backup plan, insurance, and a successor. In that moment, these had not yet been established. After a year of healing, I had to accept limitations to the physical part of my personal brand and woke up to a technology that had destroyed my business model, social media.
In the process of getting back up on my feet and creating a new business model, it was hard to see at that moment how to adapt to the new technology and make it profitable again. Yes, there was a time I didn’t want to see or hear anything about the plus size industry. Depression overwhelmed the excitement of the brand and the business. So, I began to use skills and tools of the business for other industries.
Ironically, focusing on other industries made the brand stronger and established a new business model. The disruption of social media began to develop new technology tools for profitability. Suddenly, a new light flickered at the end of the tunnel. It took time to navigate the idea that a personal brand, business and brand identity could now be global.
In 2015, the strength of my personal brand evolved into an international platform speaking on the business of fashion at the Embassy of Nigeria; to women entrepreneurs in Toronto, Canada; and empowering young women
118 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 and women from Alabama to Washington to Philadelphia and New York. For the business, a partnership with a Canadian business expanded the business model and brand identity.
In essence, the authenticity of a personal brand can create longevity with your business and brand identity. AUTHENTIC BRANDS = LONGEVITY. Seeing my life-size photos at the Embassy of Nigeria while speaking on the business of fashion confirmed that my personal brand on this journey had become my legacy.
I-Am-Erica.com @EnterpriseECAA @EricaCollins. Erica Collins is an Executive Producer and Host of America’s Enterprise, author, international professional speaker, conscious thought leader, educator, plus model, actress, former beauty queen, International Brand Ambassador, SheKnows Expert for SheKnows Media; Blogger for BlogHer Media.
119 Dominate Your Market REGINA BERGMAN
At any given moment, only one to four percent of your ideal clients are ready to purchase your product or service. Up until then, they are in the Buyer’s Journey.
There are several steps along the journey, all of them leading to that moment when they are ready to purchase. The trick is making sure that you are the one they purchase from. But how do you do that? What can you do to make certain that when they do purchase, you are the logical choice to buy from?
Many businesses compete on price all the time. Who can offer the lowest price? That is not a challenge you want to win. The winner of that game eventually goes out of business. But if people are shopping on price, how do you not fall into the trap of continuing to discount your prices to get the sale?
It is said that price is only an issue when value is in question. In other words, if your prospects see no difference in the value you are offering versus the value your competitors are offering, why shouldn’t they go with the lowest price? This puts you in a continual bidding war to the bottom.
How do you create the value that makes a difference? It starts well before the sale. It starts with understanding who your ideal client is and what their pain points are. Why do they need what you have to sell them? What is the problem they have for which your product or service is the solution? Until you know the answers to those questions, it is virtually impossible for you to stand out from your competition.
So, time for some research. You need to understand both the demographics and psychographics of your ideal client.
Think of the demographics as the physical things such as when they were born, are they married or single, what kind of home they live in, what vehicle they drive, how many and what ages are their children. The psychographics are more of the variables like attitude, beliefs, values, and behaviors.
120 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Once you know the answers to these two variables, demographics and psychographics, you can begin to discover where your ideal market “hangs out.” Are they on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or not on social media at all? Where will they most likely encounter your advertising and marketing?
Now you are ready to create your targeted marketing campaign which is designed to catch their attention. Your campaign must let them know that you understand their pain and that you have a solution to it.
Realizing that while they are in the buyer’s journey they are researching to find answers to their problem, your advertising, which shows that you understand their problem, will catch their attention. They are going to look to see if you have a solution.
Your solution needs to be information that is of value to them in bringing them closer to making a decision. Given a valuable information offer with no risk on their part, they will more often than not provide you with their email address and first name so that you can release the report or other valuable information to them.
Once they provide this information, you provide the report. But the real value to you is that you now have their contact information. They have effectively raised their hand and said it is OK for you to send them information. Their contact information goes into your autoresponder and you continue to send them more valuable information to help them with their decision.
As your competitors are not doing this, you will begin to stand out from the crowd. At first they may not read the emails that you are sending. But over time, as the issue becomes more important to them, they will be reminded that you have been sending them helpful information. Again, you stand out from the crowd.
When they finally have sufficient information to make their decision, who do you think they will contact to make their purchase? The competitor down the street who has a lower price, or the company that has been helping them all along the way and asking nothing in return?
It literally becomes a no-brainer decision for them to choose you!!
121 AUTHORS UNITE
So, what is necessary for you to put all of this in place? • Research. Understand who your ideal client is. You can’t be all things to all people. The narrower you define your market, the greater chance you have of reaching them. Spend time truly identifying them. There are many books on this subject. • Information that you can provide to them that educates them about the product or service they are interested in (your product or service), so that they are brought further along the buyer’s journey. • An Auto-responder. There are many different autoresponders, some as low as $10.00 a month for their service. Take some time to research and find the right one for you. In the beginning, you don’t need an expensive one. Once your list is built up, you may want to switch to one that provides a CRM (Customer Relations Manager) that allows you to track more information about your clients and prospects. But for now, simple is fine. • Email account. As a business owner, I recommend you have a professional email address. Others take you more seriously and attach more authority to you when you have a “business” email. If your company is ABC Products and your name is John, your email could be [email protected]. • Landing or Squeeze Page –People will go here to sign up for your free information. It directs a buyer to take one action; put in their first name and email address in order to receive the free information. There are also many services that provide the tools to create landing pages, or you may outsource it to someone.
These are the basic elements you must have. Good luck on your journey to find your perfect clients and serve them well.
Regina Partain Bergman, Bridgeportismarketing.com, Strategic Marketing Specialist, Business Coach, CEO Bridgeport Strategy, International Best-Selling Author, Bulletproof Your Marriage, Creator of Bulletproof Your Marriage Couples’ Retreat
122 Negotiating Crazy 101 MICHAEL MCCOURT
Most people you get to negotiate with are reasonable, sensible people. They are mainly interested in a win-win outcome. Occasionally, you will run into people who are not reasonable and are only interested in having you lose. I had that experience quite a few years ago and it is one I will never forget.
It was clear from the start of the project that we were going to have our hands full and that this was not going to be a normal negotiation. We were having meeting after meeting so I decided to meet crazy with crazy. Every time we met, they would load their side of the table even though many of the people had nothing to contribute. I think it was an attempt at intimidation. The room and table held twelve so one meeting I came early and brought eight people. It was funny when they entered the room with their usual six but only had four chairs.
At the next meeting, I brought six people to fill my half of the room but I arrived a bit early and had one of my people sit on their side of the table. When they came in, one of their people sat on our side of the table. It was funny at the time, but he got fired for that so I never did that one again. I felt bad for him since he wasn’t really part of the negotiation. He was just filling a seat.
At the next meeting, I told my team that they could only speak after they had looked down the table at me and I had nodded that it was OK to answer. This tactic drove the other side crazy because my team wouldn’t answer anything unless I agreed it was OK to answer. Even “would you like a coffee?” had to be cleared by me before it was answered. This was funny, too, and my team played it perfectly. It drove the other side crazy so I kept it up for a while. Remember that I was only doing this because the other side was being totally unreasonable. They would make wild accusations not at all based on reality and then try to make us defend their accusations.
The final straw in these twelve-person meetings is my favorite and I still laugh about it from time to time. We had a P. Eng MBA student working for us at
123 AUTHORS UNITE that time and he was asking what these meetings were about and what we were accomplishing. I didn’t have a good answer because it didn’t seem they were accomplishing much. I told him he was to come to the next meeting but, before he did, he was to go to Staples or Business Depot. I told him to find and buy the biggest calculator he could find. One of those novelty ones that are almost a foot tall. He found a beauty and he brought it with him. Just before we entered the meeting, I told him that he was to sit beside me. Anytime anyone spoke, he was to type random numbers into the calculator and show the calculator to me. I told him not to show anyone else and that he should do it every time anyone spoke. This little thing drove the other side crazy. I spent the whole meeting trying not to laugh. That was the last of the twelve-person meetings. After that one, it was just me and their main guy which was what I thought we should have been doing from the start.
The rest of the meetings were just me, the main guy representing the customer (let’s call him Joe), and a contract purchaser (let’s call him Steve) who was acting as an intermediary. Joe must have read a negotiating book that advised that whoever spoke the most lost. We would start the meeting with Joe making an outrageous accusation. I would respond and explain why his claim simply couldn’t be true and then I would ask him a question about how we were going to conclude in some satisfactory way that would let the project move forward. This is where it would get interesting. Joe would not speak or respond in any way. Many times, we would just sit there looking at each other for twenty, thirty and sometimes forty minutes. After a long wait, Steve would say “Joe, you asked a question, Mike answered. Mike has now asked a question so it is your turn to speak.” Only after this would Joe make another outrageous accusation. I would respond and ask my question again and then we would sit there for another half hour without speaking. This same odd routine went on, day after day. Even now, I look back on this odd exchange and can hardly believe the way it happened.
In the end, we got what we wanted and brought the project to a successful conclusion. I still wonder why it needed to be such a painful path to get there. I recommend to everyone that they take every step possible to make sure that they are only doing business with reasonable people. The few times in my career that I have been met with “crazy,” I have always met it with “even crazier.” I can bring the crazy; I just prefer not to.
124 The Do’s and Don’ts of Instagram in 2017 COURTNEY KRAFT
Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about stories you tell. ~ Seth Godin
Why use social media?
Billions of people use social media every day for a handful of things, and the reasons just continue to grow. Social media is a wonderful tool that has only just touched the surface in our technologic history. People use social media to connect with others, to access news, to connect to businesses, to share opinions, to fill up free time, and many other things. People can meet people from across the world and can continue to stay in touch with them due to social media and the growing internet.
I am twenty-two years old, and have grown up studying photography and digital media; so naturally, I adore social media and its endless amount of capabilities. However, I am not the only person who thinks this though. People turn to their phones as soon as they wake up and begin their day scrolling through the various social media platforms and apps on their phones. My favorite social media platform is Instagram.
Instagram is quite the platform these days. It has over 500 million active monthly users. Instagram users also share on average, 95 million photos/ videos per day.
Now that’s a lot of scrolling!
However, Instagram can be a battle for some people. With these simple do’s and don’ts, you’re one step closer to being an Insta-pro!
125 AUTHORS UNITE
THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF INSTAGRAM
Do
Always tag. Tagging others is a great way to communicate with your taggee’s followers. Meanwhile, it gives your own followers insight into your interests. Tagging certain companies and users also can create a dialogue.
Be fearless. Be simple. However, simple does not correlate to boring and flat posts. Have some personality in your posts. Don’t be afraid to be bold with your content. Make sure your followers remember your posts. Be the post they tell their friends about, or be one of the 90 million posts that are reposted every day. Make sure your posts are eye catching and remember to post on a consistent basis. To ensure posting on a consistent basis, try creating a content calendar.
Repost. It’s wise to use the repost feature when it comes to Instagram. The repost feature is a great way to expand your audience but also communicate with the creator’s followers. Also, when you repost an Instagram photo, it makes the user feel special and they love it when businesses re-post them; that’s what they want.
Be consistent. Take the time to look over your Instagram page. Does anything stand out to you? One can think of their Instagram page as the big puzzle and each post as the small pieces. Now all the small pieces should fit together to create the bigger picture. One must make sure that their Instagram is cohesive with the brand’s message.
Use the bio section wisely The bio section of your Instagram page can be used in quite a few ways. First, it’s to your benefit to have some basic information here, name, website link, location, etc. Next, you can even include a link that was included in your most recent post, therefore making it easier for your followers to link to that article. Just make sure to add a little “flavor” to your bio.
126 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Animal posts never hurt anybody. Animal posts are wonderful; who could deny not liking a photo of a puppy, right? Just don’t overdo it.
Don’t
Don’t repeat. With an endless amount of moments to capture, if you wish to talk about something twice, just make sure it doesn’t seem like the same post twice. No one likes a repeater. Even if you have this one quote that you simply cannot live without posting it more than once, then one post can have it featured in the photograph of the post, and the next post can have it featured in the copy.
Don’t go hashtag or emoji crazy. Hashtags are a great way to be found by Instagram users who are just searching for certain hashtags. One or two a post is a perfect number of hashtags. You can even get away with three or four, but I wouldn’t suggest any more. Now, how about emojis? Same story goes for them. You can use about three or four without making it over the top. Just be careful to use everything in moderation. If you use too many then it’s easy to appear as if you’re trying too hard to sell your product or the brand.
Do. not. be. fake. All Instagram users know when you’re trying too hard to sell something or trying too hard to get something across. That means don’t use too many hashtags or use too much excitement in your copy or content. People, Instagram is like food: moderation with everything!
Quitekrafty.wordpress.com
127 Become a Better Seller by Focusing on Your Buyers MIKE KUNKLE
If you work in the world of enterprise B2B selling, especially at senior levels, your world has changed dramatically in recent years. For those in a high-tech field, this will continue and accelerate as other disruption occurs. Many of these changes are now cascading across the sales profession.
Consider the cumulative impact of these factors: • Buyers have an increasing amount of information at their fingertips. • The number of decision makers in major purchases continues to rise. • VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) business environments foster risk aversion and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) for many buyers. This leads to longer buying cycles, many of which end in a “No Decision” status. • Buyers grow weary of product pitches and expect thought leadership with a consultative, problem-solving approach. • Artificial intelligence and machine learning are putting transactional sales roles at risk.
To survive and thrive in this evolving business climate, you’ll need to evolve to focus less on you, your company, and your products and more on your buyers and their desired future state, and work consultatively to solve problems, enable opportunities, and achieve their desired outcomes. This is the future of professional selling.
Develop a Consultative Mindset
To become a buyer-oriented seller, you need a consultative mindset.
Consultative selling is helping buyers solve problems, enable opportunities,
128 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
and/or reduce risks to achieve their desired outcomes, in a way that delivers value, as they perceive it:
Value = Outcomes > Solution Costs
(Solution Costs include Time, Effort, Resources, Money and the Pain of Change)
This means you’ve delivered value when the outcomes you can help buyers achieve are greater than the cost of the solution, measured in time, effort, resources, money, and the pain of change (implementing the solution and changing how they do things in their organization), from your buyers’ perspective.
Two quotes that capture the essence of a consultative mindset for me, are:
“You get what you want when you help enough other people get what they want.” ~ Zig Ziglar
“Seek first to understand, then be understood.” ~ Stephen Covey
To become more consultative: • Adopt the above mindsets and focus on delivering value as defined by your buyers. • Take a problem-focused approach to prospecting, not a product-based approach. • Ask strategic, thoughtful and authentic questions (and learn the skills to do it) to truly understand your buyers. • Learn how to present data and insights, float ideas, and disagree with ideas without challenging people. • Present solutions to help buyers achieve their desired outcomes, not unrelated product and company “pitches.” Better yet, have a business dialogue and co-create solutions with your buyers. • Stop thinking “overcoming objections” and start thinking “resolving concerns.”
There are others, but this is a great start.
129 AUTHORS UNITE
Build Your Discovery Muscles
Sales discovery is the method by which you learn about your customers and what they need. I’ve found that improving the discovery skills of sales professionals is one of the best ways to improve sales performance.
The better you understand your buyers–their situation, challenges, opportunities, concerns, perspectives, business needs, personal motivators, how they’re measured, what they value, desired outcomes, their timeframe, budget, obstacles, political allies and detractors, and more–the better you can help them solve problems, enable opportunities, reduce risks, and develop a solution that is relevant, compelling, and creates value.
Make it your goal in the coming months, to research, learn, practice, and master sales discovery. It will be the best investment you make this year.
Focus on Buying Process Exit Criteria
Buying process exit criteria are the things each decision maker needs to see, hear, feel, understand, and believe in each stage of their buying process, to feel comfortable moving forward to the next stage with you.
Think about the simple power in that statement. If you focus your time, energy, and skills on uncovering, understanding, and meeting the exit criteria
130 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 for each of your decision makers, you will stop selling by superstition and focus on what really matters most to your buyers. This will help you better qualify deals that you can win (so you spend your time more wisely), improve your pipeline velocity (time to close deals), reduce “No Decision” statuses, and win more deals.
Explore an Adaptive Selling Approach
This is the ultimate buyer-oriented approach.
The concept of adaptive selling is simple. You determine your customer’s “state,” meaning whether they have needs, problems, objectives, or opportunities, and you respond accordingly.
The 4 Customer States
• Needs: They know they need to change something, and may or may not know what to do. • Problems: Something isn’t right, but they’re not sure about the root cause or what to do, if anything. • Objectives: They have clear ideas in mind about initiatives that they need to support. • Opportunities: We see opportunity for improvement that they may not yet see.
131 AUTHORS UNITE
The 4 Sales Approaches
Needs-Based Selling: • Uncover their needs – understand the What, Why, When, and Where, and the priority of their needs • Select the right solution to meet the needs • Present the solution in context of the needs • Resolve any concerns • Negotiate • Close the sale Solution-Oriented Selling: • Understand the problem • Validate it’s worth solving • Diagnose root causes • Problem-solve with the client • Select or co-create an appropriate solution Objective-Based Selling: • Understand their goals and objectives • Understand their capabilities and plans relative to achieving those objectives • Position yourself as an expert resource who can help them achieve those objectives
Insight Selling: • Present data and insights • Interpret situations • Share thought leadership and expertise in order to: –– Seed new ideas –– Foster an Aha Moment –– Shift current thinking to view things in a new way
These approaches could fill a book, so this is just a kick-start on your journey toward becoming a more buyer-oriented, adaptive seller.
Next Steps:
Start by fully adopting the principles of consultative selling. Cultivate the most buyer-oriented consultative mindset that you can.
132 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Read books and blog posts on conducting discovery and spend time documenting effective discovery questions that make sense for your business and customers. Review the Situation Assessment Framework graphic above and determine how you will lead discovery sessions to gather this information.
Make the discovery of Buying Process Exit Criteria a regular part of your approach. Listen for clues during conversations but don’t be afraid to ask each buyer directly about what really matters to them, and what they need to feel comfortable moving forward with you.
When you’re comfortable and see results from your efforts, revisit adaptive selling, and layer that on top of what you’re already doing.
I hope these thoughts are as helpful for you as they have been for me, my employers, and my clients. I would enjoy hearing about your successes and challenges and encourage you to reach out to me.
http://www.mikekunkle.com/connect
133 Section Two: Management, Leadership, and Culture
“The People System” – 3 Keys to Better Performance & Profits JENNIFER LEAKE CMC®
When I think about the mistakes I’ve made with people I’ve hired and managed, or review the twenty-plus years of working as an advisor to CEOs and business owners, I’ve concluded optimum company performance occurs because of the presence of a finely tuned “People System.” What I’ve found to be true is a well-managed “People System” gets and keeps people engaged emotionally in both their role and the company’s mission.
The most successful people system has 3 key components:
134 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
People System Component #1: Hiring the Right People
You never set out to hire the wrong person – so how do they get hired?
Bad hires can create massive profit bleeds. A large organization can better weather a bad hire, but for a smaller organization, it can eat up your money and even put you out of business.
In many ways, interviewing and hiring new employees is a bit like dating. You liked what you saw initially and you enter into the business relationship expecting a good “marriage”. But like dating and marriage, sometimes it goes horribly wrong. If you have too much trust or optimism, an urgent need to hire someone, and not enough tools to overcome a good first impression and gut feel, you can often be fooled when hiring. A pleasant candidate that you like doesn’t mean he/she has the attitude, skills or personality you need to be successful in your job.
When interviewing, it is almost impossible to get additional information from references because you don’t know the questions to ask, people are hesitant to tell you things that would be valuable to know or people are hand- picked to give you glowing reports.
Your hiring component needs to include assessments that help you:
33Supplement the standard interview and reference check to gather extra information on candidates that may be impossible to get anywhere else. 33Ask references the “right” questions. 33Hire employees who fit your job, your team, your management style, and your company culture. 33Be fooled in the interview less often and ensure the candidate you met in the interview is the same person as the employee you get for your job.
People System Component #2: Engaging and Motivating Employees to do the Best Job Possible
You have a great opportunity to stand out as a company and have a clear competitive advantage when your employees are engaged. Every key metric of an organization improves when employees are motivated to do their best job possible.
135 AUTHORS UNITE
So how do you develop engaged employees? Like a newspaper reporter, you need to know important information about each employee.
We often make wrong assumptions about employees. Most employees want to know their purpose, clear goals to aim for, a belief that you trust them to have some responsibility, freedom to do the job without being micromanaged, guidance, feedback and recognition for a job well-done.
Your employee engagement component needs to include tools that help you:
3 Engage employees from day one to quickly transition from trainee to productive employee. 3 Off er ongoing, personal feedback so employees contribute more and perform better. 3 Create employees who take their work satisfaction home and into your community.
People System Component #3: Leading with SMART Leaders™
Th ink of great coaches in almost any sport. Some have taken lesser talent and won championships over teams with far more talent. You have the potential to accomplish great things with your people, limp along with less than desired results or lose talent altogether. Th e critical factor in the equation is YOU.
Having the title of “boss” doesn’t make you a leader. In John C. Maxwell’s
136 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 leadership book, Th e Five Levels of Leadership, title is only level 1 of 5. Th at is when people follow you because they have to – and will usually only do what is required of them. SMART Leaders™ get more discretionary eff ort from people, which leads to better results and greater profi tability.
What is a SMART Leader™?
Your leadership component needs to have a process that helps:
3 Transition you from title of boss to become a SMART Leader™ who gets better results. 3 Equip you to manage employees as individuals rather than use a one- size-fi ts all management approach. 3 Develop you from personal producer to one who gets more done through other people.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Without a people system, you have more stress, unnecessary labor costs that cut into your profi ts, and you have to work much harder than you need to be successful.
137 AUTHORS UNITE
The wiser and more profitable alternative is to have a system to hire, develop and retain key talent who are as committed to your business as you are because they:
33love what they do – because they are in the right job, know what’s expected of them and have the needed resources and training; 33enjoy who they work with – because they feel part of a strong team; and 33respect who they work for – because they believe in the company, what it stands for, who they work for and who runs it.
You choose – system or no system?
Jennifer Leake CMC®. An authority on business assessments for hiring, engagement and leadership development, Jennifer is also a Certified practitioner in Emotional Intelligence, identified as a top new skill needed for business success. www.AssessmentPros.com/BBB3
138 It’s Not Bosnia DAVID PERRY
“It’s not Bosnia…”
That was the refrain of the stoically philosophical purser aboard the cruise ship Crystal Symphony: my place of employment for eighteen months. As my job entailed editing the daily newspaper for the passengers on a luxury around-the-world cruise in 1998, I dubbed it “my year before the masthead.” Taking a break from a then-seemingly-stressful job in public relations, this early mid-life crisis of a geographic job shift seemed just the ticket.
“It’s not Bosnia,” the purser intoned as the head chef rushed into my office aboard ship with the dire news that the lobster had not arrived in time for our dockside departure. The menus would have to be redone! The “newspaper” would have to be re-printed! Quelle disastre! After he left, epaulets a-twirl and culinary pride aflutter, was when the purser gave his sage advice:
“It’s not Bosnia.”
It bears repeating and stayed with me in the almost-twenty years since my return from the sea: a return to the world of public relations that saw the rise of social media and the descent of journalistic standards. The zenith of eyeballs reading text (on screens, tablets and smartphones) and the nadir of reader intelligence. News releases gave way to news tips, trolling for news gave way to internet trolls. When I walked down the gangway to my old life on land, photo captions were longer than tweets and Donald Trump was between Marla and Melania. What a difference a Facebook can make!
Since those now-who-would-have-believed-it-was-quaint pre-millennials days when September 11 was merely a date in late summer and Afghanistan was the death knell for the Soviet Union, when TV news seem ascendant and Americans were reading more books than ever, a lot has changed: there have been any number of “Bosnias”: international events for which those of us who flatter ourselves with the moniker of “PR Professional” have been
139 AUTHORS UNITE charged with pitching, plugging and plugging away at in hopes of coverage that is ever more fleeting; ever more amorphous, yet ever more permanent. Before I took to the seas, an article successfully placed might last a news cycle or two, or at least until the recycling truck came ‘round. Now, a post lasts forever: Instagram is eternal.
So, with three and a half decades toiling in the publicity trenches, I have to ask myself: what’s it all about, Alfie? Is there a future for PR? When everyone is a news source, and Kim Kardashian is invited by NPR to host panels on women in the arts, does anyone need a publicist?
Yes.
There was a time when public relations was viewed as the sleazy sister, the drug-dealing brother of journalism: people who got paid in cash for the narcotic of information and access to “sources” needed by legit media. Oh, the pains and promises exacted and exchanged between the Fourth Estate and those of us publicists who fed upon and were fed upon in that most parasitic of relationships: flack and hack. Our currency was information, but the interest was verification. Now, with a President of the United States who has successfully branded our hitherto most trusted news outlets as “fake news,” those of us in the PR business are more important than ever. We now no longer “pitch” the media: we have pitched our social tents and we are the media.
Before I lose you entirely, let me be clear: I don’t think (all) publicists are engaged in a sacred profession. However, I do think the days are past when our profession can be too easily dismissed as would-be journalists with clever minds and fast typing skills (does anyone still remember taking typing?). Gone are the days when a missed shipment of lobster could be considered as important as a bombing in Bosnia. Nowadays, through the omnipresence of social media, there is a Bosnia-a-minute, a Serbia every second. The newsworthy notions come flying onto our pads, our screens and our consciousness with implacable speed and in relentless attack.
During my year on the waves, the media had started its irreversible metamorphosis into the devouring Kraken we now find: wandering the coasts, ever insatiable for news or what passes for it at the moment, special CNN disaster theme music at the ready. Twenty years later, I have learned
140 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 that most of what I pitched “was not Bosnia” and that the media monster, ever hungry for those advertising dollars, usually cannot tell the difference and doesn’t care about the difference, as long as it is fed.
Today, in a time when the media gatekeepers are not editors but rather carnival barkers, those of us who consider the creation, dissemination of and accuracy of content something as important as “Bosnia” are more important than ever.
It’s all Bosnia.
David Perry has been creating dialogue fearlessly for over 35 years. His clients and projects include the City & County of San Francisco, George Luca/Skywalker Properties, dozens of nonprofits, cultural institutions and artists, When he is not communicating for others, he enjoys travel with his husband and lecturing aboard ships about maritime history. He has authored over 100 articles and is the creator of 10 Percents, the longest-running LGBT TV show in California history. He is the co-founder of the nonprofit “Gay Walk of Fame,” the Rainbow Honor Walk. www. davidperry.com
141 CEO = Chief Elimination Officer PATRICIA SUFLITA WILSON
I think one of the most important (if not the most important) responsibilities of any leader is to identify and nurture talent. Rather than having the majority of your focus on underperforming projects or individuals, the vast majority of your energy, time and resources should be spent on your top performers and those who show the most potential. It is my belief that it is your obligation as a leader to recognize potential talent and nurture it.
But there is something else needed to achieve an atmosphere of excellence. This one small thing can make a big difference and improve the culture and productivity of a team. You need to be the chief elimination officer as well.
The elimination hit list:
1. Negativity. OK, you can’t remove all negativity in the workplace and don’t confuse healthy conflict with negativity, but it is a creativity killer and it can demoralize the team. Here’s how you can minimize negativity and turn it into something more productive: a. Kudos. End each meeting or week with a kudo agenda item which recognizes accomplishments of individuals AND the team. Ending on a high note is a morale booster and keeps the focus on positive outcomes. b. Solutions-based problem solving, not bitch sessions. Mind you, it is imperative to address what isn’t working, but challenge the team to present their ideas for solutions. Make it your culture to present every problem with a solution or two. c. Problem or opportunity? Recognize that some of the biggest problems also create an unintended opportunity. How can you pivot towards success?
2. Productivity killers. Often, your physical environment is not the most conducive to productivity. Open floor plans and the density of workstations are all interruption magnets.
142 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 a. Hardware: Make sure that the equipment isn’t slowing you down. The cost of upgrading hardware can be earned back very quickly. b. Email: Must we use email for most of our written communications? Reply-to-all driving you mad? There’s software that can help. Try an internal social network that has been credited with a reduction in email of up to 40%! This also assures that emails are more likely to be read. An internal social network eliminates the dreaded “reply to all” and non-essential communications. You can request a daily summary of all topics; follow only those that are important to you, etc. When sending emails, unless you want to encourage “reply to all,” use BCC or create a group name that prevents reply to all. If you use BCC, also include in opening statement who the email is going to. Summarize; make your email readable by mobile device - no one wants to scroll and scroll. The more important the item, the more succinct. Think of the email body as a summary of highlights. Use bullet points if communicating many points, then include link to a document that has all details for those interested. Also, give thought to the subject line–in other words, have one! If a reply is needed, include “Reply by xx” in headline. Communication comes at us fast and furious, so the more important the communication, the more time you should give to editing it. Highlight the facts and actions and set the right tone. c. Support: As teams evolve and start really performing, this might be a time to look at support. Adding support staff for some functions can increase productivity. Someone to set up meetings, take notes, update schedules, follow up and inquire on status, etc. The cost of good support staff can be quickly offset by increased productivity. d. Interruptions: this is actually a biggie. Some efficiency experts indicate that interruptions can cost you six hours a day of lost productivity. For each employee! Some ideas: Time Locks, a quiet time that goes on the office calendar to allow time for concentration. Some studies suggest this can increase personal productivity 40-60%! Try it in your office as a pilot as it takes a while to adopt and get everyone on the same page. Obviously, as the leader, you need to respect the Time Lock as well, but all bets are off if it is a true emergency. Make it office culture to turn off notifications (at least in meetings and during Time Locks). And please, PLEASE mute your cell phone
143 AUTHORS UNITE
and computer while in the office. Your friend’s funny texts annoy the rest of us. I don’t know whether anyone has studied this, but my own personal research has shown that people are 37.9% louder on their cell phones (I made up that number; don’t quote me!) so please step out of the room. Or don’t answer the call and “reject with message” you will call them as soon as you are out of a meeting. Make it office culture that only urgent personal calls are accepted during work. Even if work- related, finish up your meeting first. Instant message: Before calling or popping unannounced by someone’s workstation, send an instant message first. Make it customary to IM someone to ask if this is a good time to chat about XYZ, or offer one or two other times that work. e. Tension cannot be prevented, especially if deadlines are looming. But too much tension kills productivity and increases mistakes. Here’s how to minimize: Humor: Even if it isn’t your nature to be tell jokes, it will be now! Humor can relieve a lot of tension, self-deprecating is best. Food celebrations: If you are approaching an important deadline, arrange for delivery of food. Send a note that you know everyone is working hard and wanted to thank them for their focus. Even a fifteen-minute break with a quick toast can relieve loads of tension and focus on what is going well. Focus: Focus on the big deadlines and goals. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Listen: Ask how you can help. And then listen. Sometimes just repeating what team member said can help and shows you hear them. Focus on solutions - show you care!
3. Lack of compassion and care. So maybe you’ve taken a morale hit: termination, lay off, or loss of an important client. Before cynicism and “not my job” fully sets in, you can counter: a. Taxi: Some of the team has to stay very late to meet a deadline? Offer to contribute a certain amount to their taxi/uber/parking fund. It will mean a lot. b. Greeting: Be aware of your body language when starting meetings. Make eye contact with everyone, smile. Make it a point to be neighborly and genuine. Then dive in! c. Lunch bunch: Eat in the breakroom on occasion. Have a “lunch bunch”
144 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
who coordinate ordering food in. Encourage group discussions, but not work topics. d. Inspiring communications: Send and encourage others to share inspirational communication. First-hand feedback from social media channels? Customer testimonial? Make it a point to share progress, creative problem solving and otherwise give encouragement to the team.
4. Firing. We’ve got to talk about it and believe it or not, there is a right way. Sometimes there is a performance issue or workplace culture misfit and the only solution is to terminate (or as I like to call it: Helping them onto their next success!) Ignoring a problem becomes a HUGE problem in the workplace, hurting morale and your credibility. You will earn respect if you handle difficult matters like firing in a respectful way. If RIF/layoffs are necessary, I’ve never been a fan of hiring freezes, or across-the-board cuts. Quite frankly, I think this demonstrates a lack of leadership. You need to make smart decisions when expanding or decreasing your workforce. a. Firing should not come as a surprise to the team member; a disappointment perhaps, but doing so in a compassionate way is also important. The reasons should be well documented and after giving the staff member opportunity to succeed. b. Get to the point quickly! Ten to fifteen minutes is generally plenty of time. This isn’t a debate. If they begin to state their case or argue, firmly but politely respond “I know this is difficult, but my decision is final.” c. Make sure you have answers to: final day, final pay, benefits coverage, what others will be told, etc. d. Expect they might be emotional and if so, offer to come in one evening or over the weekend if they prefer to clean out when no one else is present. e. Close by thanking them for their contributions to the company and genuinely wish them success.
PSThinkBIG.com
145 Lead With Them TYLER WAGNER
There are tons of books, articles, and podcasts on leadership. So much so that it can be a little overwhelming. In this piece, I’d like to offer you what I believe to be an extremely basic understanding of how to be a great leader. And I don’t only mean with your business or baseball team, I mean with everything.
You see, there are all these tactics and hacks on how to strategically lead a team, but I don’t think there is really that much strategy that needs to happen.
It’s simple.
You lead with them.
The key to being a great leader is to lead with them. Let me breakdown two scenarios for you on how this can benefit your business.
Scenario 1: Leading Your Employees
The best way to lead your employees is to do exactly what you tell them to do. Show them your dedication. Show them your enthusiasm. Show them that you still get in the dirt, which you should be doing anyway.
If you want your employee to dig a hole, grab a shovel and start digging. Dig right in front of them for a while and then have them continue and finish the hole.
If you want your employee to go door-to-door marketing your business, then you better be right next to them those first few times showing them how it’s done. You’re not just doing this to show them HOW it’s done, you’re doing this to show them that you do it, too. That your skills are there.
Don’t tell your employees what to do. Do what you want them to do, teach them, and then have them to continue.
146 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Now, you may be thinking, “This won’t work with a large company, there’s no time.”
But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Each week you should be getting dirty and documenting everything you’d like your employees to do. Video is the solution and it really allows you to scale. If you have 50 cold callers working for you, then film yourself doing 20 cold calls each week and send that video to all of them.
They’ll love seeing your calls every week and they’ll learn from it. This will inspire them to pick up the phone and keep calling because they see that you are doing it, too.
Don’t lead them. Lead with them.
Scenario 2: Marketing A Book
The biggest challenge authors have is marketing their book. I hear stories every day about how people spent months or years writing their book only to have no more than five people read it and these people are family members.
That’s just sad to me and one of the main reasons I created my company.
Now, there are numerous ways to market a book, but for the sake of this chapter, I’m only going to dive into one.
The Art Of Marketing With People
One of the biggest lessons I ever learned about marketing was from Gary Vaynerchuk. He said, “Document. Don’t create.” This stuck with me and I ran with it.
One of the biggest problems businesses is have is marketing. And it is because they are marketing at people, not with them.
For example, instead of asking people to buy your book, you should be documenting the entire process of writing and publishing your book with pictures, video, and text. As you move along the process, start asking people
147 AUTHORS UNITE on social media for their feedback on things like your book cover, your title, your subtitle, and small parts of your book.
People will engage with this and provide their feedback. As a result, when the book comes out these people feel as though they were a part of the process with you. This makes sense, because they actually were.
It’s a lot easier to ask someone to buy your book and share it with all their friends during your launch when that person helped you pick the title.
And here’s the kicker, you can use these pictures, videos, and text from documenting the process, forever. You can drive paid advertisements to targeted readers and show them behind the scenes of the entire process. Afterward, retarget them with some awesome value. After that, go in for the ask and see if they’d be interested in snagging your book. You’ll be amazed by the difference in results.
Don’t market at them. Market with them.
To wrap it up, people don’t want to feel like they were told what to do or sold on an idea. People want to feel like they made the decision and it was the right one for them. You don’t create that feeling by telling them, you create that feeling by doing it with them.
Tyler Wagner. Authorsunite.com
148 Narrow Margin Buzz Kill ANDREW PRATER
One of the toughest areas I have struggled with as I have grown and expanded my résumé in business is when my blind spot has been the lack of margin for people, situation or circumstances. God blessed me with passion and drive for a lot of things in life and when leveraged as a strength, I am invaluable. When I approach situations with narrow margin while bringing too much emotion, predisposition and on edge, more often than not, defensiveness dominates and I end up saying things I wished I hadn’t, cutting people off and leaving others wondering “what’s with this guy”?
Small margin robs me of the ability to apply one of the most valuable tools and strategies when in a role of leadership or management: the ability to pause and process. My excuse is that I am passionate; how could anyone else understand all the sweat equity and time I have invested in the trenches? As a visionary, I don’t have time for people who might question my process or ideas even if they are just trying to provide fresh eyes or an opinion. The sobering reality in these moments is that my gap has narrowed to the point where I will continually fall victim to narrow margin behavior unless I adjust and work on my perspective and approach.
One of the most impressionable examples of projecting wide margin came at a time when the pursuit of my dream to play baseball in the major leagues as a catcher had choked me down to paper-thin margin for most people and circumstances around me. The honeymoon stages had given way to the grind and I was struggling with the collision of expectations and reality. Similar to various circumstances we all face in life, I was good enough to participate, but not good enough to compete for a starting job and I was beginning to lose patience with the process. On a ballfield late in my minor league career, an umpire made a strong and lasting impression on me. He too shared the dream to make it to the major leagues, but he had adjusted his perspective to meet expectation and had not allowed the grind of the process to narrow his margin. After a called third strike late in the game, a batter turned and said a few choice words directed at the umpire before he
149 AUTHORS UNITE headed to the dugout. In my mind, this was a clear sign of disrespect and often not tolerated.
I turned to the umpire and asked, “Are you going to take that from him?” I never will forget his response.
He said “Prater, I just took food off his table . He’s not supposed to like striking out. He’s out here trying to grind out a living playing baseball. When a batter steps to the plate, I anticipate and understand there will be some emotion and I don’t let it bother me”.
His margin gap was wide because his perspective was spot on. He had latitude to process the emotions and criticisms around him and volleyed his way which allowed him to thrive in his job. Proper perspective allows you to lengthen your patience without lowering your standard.
I have not been able escape seasons of narrow margin, but I have learned how to navigate and cope by adjusting my approach. Leaders need filters and one of the best I have employed is pause. This is counterintuitive to my natural instinct and it has not come without struggle. Pause was first introduced to me during my early days as a baseball coach. I made the natural transition from playing baseball to coaching baseball. I quickly learned that I was a great teacher of the game, but not a great manager of people. I began to feel pressures form sources I had never been exposed to (primarily parents), leaving me feeling threatened and insecure. Defensiveness narrowed my margin to the point where I no longer enjoyed my role as a coach and I needed to adjust my approach.
I was introduced to the 24-hour rule, which forced me to wait before I responded to topics tied to my emotion or narrow margin issues. This provided necessary pause and opportunity to process the situation well in advance which helped me separate the immediate emotion I felt and focus on the issue. The fruits were many more instances where my passion and strengths were not turned against me in a moment of emotional outburst or relational train wreck. Similar to the countless times I had helped a hitter out of a slump by keeping the same swing, but adjusting his approach to each at- bat, I too had learned an important adjustment to my approach that helped me take the combat out of communication. The pause that the 24-hour rule provided buffered my emotion and widened my margin.
150 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Andrew Prater has a professional baseball background, including as a player, coach, and scout, and is a catcher by trade. He loves a great story, hates surprises, and suggests you don’t say the words “never” or “always.” He strives to be the best husband and dad. He clearly understands all that he has is a blessing from God; he is simply a humble steward. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-prater-675a6b6/
151 Even Great Leaders Make Mistakes JYSSICA SCHWARTZ
Great leaders are the ones who lead by example. From teachers to professors, from managers to CEOs, I have been taught by some amazing–and some not- so-amazing–leaders.
The lesson that was the most difficult to learn included a hostile work environment, being berated by the newly-promoted manager, and at least one person per day crying in their office. We had several people quit, one of whom had been there for over five years.
This lesson I learned was:just because you are a high-performing sales team member does not mean you are the best fit for management.
It was a failure not only on the part of the manager herself, but a failing on the part of the company. Her direct manager was not on-site, and she was given zero training for management. She was an exceptional salesperson with high numbers and the clients loved her. But when it came to leading a team, she had never been a manager and she did not know how to support us. She also was not given the opportunity to learn how, and that is not her fault.
The lesson that was the easiest to learn was seeing what a great manager looked like.
I was consistently a high-performing, quota-toppling sales team member, but I was able to be so because my manager made sure I had support at every level. That included checking in on me now and again, making sure all tools worked properly, providing regular training on new tools and refresher training on older ones, giving me plenty of autonomy after he realized I work best that way, and making sure I had resources available, including him, to answer questions or make clarifications.
This manager trusted me and once he saw my capabilities, he basically left me to do my job with the authority and autonomy I always preferred.
152 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Most of the time, he was also the top salesperson. But not all of the time.
The lesson there was:get to know your team members individually and provide them with the best possibility of success. Each person requires different management.
Some of the people on our team required a lot more handholding than I did, and I watched that manager gracefully do so, without letting them feel patronized or like they were being managed.
I also watched him admit to being wrong, apologize, ask questions, and continue to learn. This was one of the best lessons I have ever learned, and I continue to carry it with me.
This taught me thatbeing an expert doesn’t mean you know all the answers; it means being able to find the answers.
Learning through doing, I was later able to manage people myself. As a project manager, I enjoyed being a leader; I loved the idea that I could help people and bring a team together. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it wasn’t.
One of the things I found most important to my managing style was to build trust. If I say I am going to do something, I always follow through. If someone tells me they are going to do something, I trust that they will until proven otherwise. By being led by smart leaders, I have learned that it is imperative to follow through on everything. If I institute a rule, there must be consequences if the rule is broken. If I put a contest together, I must follow through with the prize. Anything promised must be kept.
I have also learned to give people the benefit of a doubt. Most people are genuinely good people. They deserve trust, faith, and promises.
As a manager, the best lesson I learned was: when you trust people, they almost always deserve it.
I found that the best people I ever managed were ones who asked the most questions. I love sharing knowledge with people, and if I didn’t know an answer, it was fun to go find it. Whether the employee was empowered to
153 AUTHORS UNITE go off and find it and report back, or I researched it or sent it up the chain of command to get an answer, we figured it out.
By acknowledging that I was not all-knowing, my employees didn’t feel like they had to be. I never require perfection from people. We’re human, we make mistakes, and sometimes the ball gets dropped. But when you have a team that respects and supports each other, those hurdles are easier to get over.
Effective management is a tricky thing, since each person on a team will often have different requirements for what makes an effective leader for them. This is why I have found that for me, the most effective leadership style is tolead by example.
I am continuing to stay at the top of my game and bring in big numbers, because I am not only a part of the team, but I am proving myself as the leader every day. Even when I make a mistake or my team member does, by leading by example and showing that I am just as human and fallible as they are, they are more likely to trust me and my training. Where there are rules, I must also follow them.
Many people forget that the manager is still a member of the team and is accountable to following the same rules as everyone else. Management doesn’t get a separate special set of rules, nor should they.
That lesson is a gold-standard one:If you cannot hold yourself to the same standards you expect of others, why should they trust or listen to you?
Treat others as you wish to be treated, hold yourself to the same standards you expect of others around you, and always strive to do your best. The lessons include trusting your team and fostering that trust as well as living up to it, and not to be afraid to be human.
We all make mistakes, it is about how you pick yourself back up and respond that shows who you are.
Jyssica Schwartz is a thirty-something with a husband, a cat, an apartment in Brooklyn, big dreams, and so very many words. She is a full-time writer and editor, holds a BA from UF, and you can check her out at www.jyssicaschwartz.com
154 Exclusion is not Dead LINDA CARTER
Who remembers the Virginia Slims commercial tagline, “You’ve come a long way, baby?”
Picture this: 1960s, a beautiful young woman is sitting at her vanity carefully applying makeup. In the background, you hear an old recording of men lamenting, “Give a woman the right to vote . . . .” The young woman stops and stares more closely in the mirror. She does have the right to vote. She has ideas and could easily hold a conversation in the most educated circles. She isn’t her mother who went from her father’s house to serve a husband. She is a “New Woman” who is independent, self-sufficient, and eager to demonstrate her confidence.
In 1968, during the early phases of the second wave of feminism, the Phillip Morris Company recognized that women had come a long way. Their ad for a woman’s cigarette, Virginia Slims, evoked “sassy confidence with U.S. women’s history in contrasting the freedom and glamour of today’s woman with the drudgery and repression that women in the past had endured.”
Reflecting on that time, the second wave feminist movement is often characterized as a radical threat to eliminate men. It wasn’t. There were different factions of the movement, but the goal was equality, not eradication. Women wanted to change their future choices in family life and the workplace.
For instance, when a man divorced a woman, she might find herself and her children left without financial resources. She was not welcome in professional jobs, such as a doctor, lawyer, or as a corporate officer. Instead, she was viewed as only capable of nurturing-type jobs such as a nurse or secretary. Jobs for women were created to support the more important male roles, like in the household.
Fast forward to the twenty-first century. What has changed in corporate America?
155 AUTHORS UNITE
Almost sixty years later, the issues remain the same for women. Let the statistics paint the picture: • As of 2017, only 5% of U.S. Fortune 500 corporations are led by women. • 12% have board member seats. • Women earn 77% of what men earn. • Women’s share of the total labor force is 46.8%. • Over 60% of the world’s employed women work in the services sector. Exclusion is Not Dead.
I know, because I have endured the last forty of those years in corporate America, living and managing the biases.
In my first professional job in the early ’80s, while interviewing for a supervisor position, I was told, “Don’t have any further aspirations, because you are female.” I was working for a huge technology corporation. The managers were all male, including in the service division, all the way from the local business manager up to the president of the company. I was in my twenties, divorced, and needed the financial rewards of the job. So, who was I going to tell?
I understood immediately that to advance in future opportunities, I would have to succumb and develop a “thick-skin.” Learn how to fit into the “boy’s club” without appearing threatening. Sometimes these faces of the boy’s club were also women.
It took me another thirty years to reach a vice president level. I had sacrificed personally and many times over to achieve it, all the time being driven by the jackass in the ’80s telling me I would never promote beyond a supervisor. I was ecstatic to finally have a seat at the table, an elation short-lived as I experienced the highest betrayal of all in corporate America: the use of talent until they no longer serve your purpose or until they threaten your own position.
I have been and will be ridiculed for even broaching this topic. Labeled a “feminist,” invoking the imagery of the radical feminist movement. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The journey has had many hard, heart-breaking lessons. I could say I’m just
156 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 done and walk away. Instead, it fuels my passion to teach any person that is biased in the professional workplace how to sidestep the same bullsh*t that still exists.
Linda is a transformational strategist, speaker, and author passionate about the customer and employee experience. For thirty-five years, she has used her influence and thought-leadership to elevate the customer experience conversation across multiple industries. Obsessed with people, she has elevated the culture of several organizations so they now deliver experiences that create loyal tribes and fans. Linda serves as a mentor and coach to up-and-coming stars within the world of customer experience. She is also the author of the book, Exclusion is Not Dead. Her current focus is on the “battlefield promotion” leader in contact centers. www.breakinalltherules.net
157 Co-Creating Thinking Environments® CANDICE SMITH
Right now we are facing an unprecedented series of global shifts and challenges which seem to defy solution. We are all feeling the seismic reverberations at a personal, collective, ecological, economic and political level. At the same time, an opening is emerging: this level of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) is causing many to question the old assumptions and thinking which have precipitated this perfect storm, and to seek new ways of thinking and being to navigate this time. As Einstein so famously said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” A question which then arises is “What does it take for us to access a new level of thinking which will enable us to navigate this unprecedented time?”
One reliable way to ensure breakthrough thinking, being and doing which I’ve witnessed over the last twelve years in a variety of settings is to treat one another in ways which enable everyone to access and express their own thinking. When groups of people are clear on these particular ways of treating one another, and agree to consistently behave in these ways with one another, a new quality of thinking emerges. This is deeply liberating, because we may not have control over the complexity we’re confronted with on a daily basis, but we do have control over how we treat one another, and ourselves, in each moment, amidst this complexity. How we choose to treat one another will in turn directly impact our ability to respond to this increasing complexity, in an instantly accessible and enduring way.
Nancy Kline, founder of the Thinking Environment® body of work and president of Time To Think, Inc., has been observing the particular conditions which need to be in place for everyone to think well, for themselves, for nearly forty years. Together with her associates, she discovered that human beings think best when they are treated in ten particular ways, and these became known as the Ten Components of a Thinking Environment®. As a Time To Think facilitator and coach, I have witnessed the power which is unleashed when meetings, 1:1s, peer learning, coaching, mentoring and conversations that matter invite people to treat one another in these particular ways.
158 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
ATTENTION is a key component which invites us to presence a quality of listening which we don’t often get to experience in our daily lives. Rather than listening to reply to what the other person is saying, could we instead listen to ignite their thinking? Rather than listening requiring us to be “patient,” and simply waiting for our turn, could we connect with the fact that how we listen directly impacts the quality of the thinking of the person we’re listening to? If we’re listening to them in a way which says back to them “I’m curious to know where you’re heading with this, keep going; I think you can think this through,” we elicit a radically different quality of thinking than if we’re treating them in a way which says “I’m no longer able to listen to you because I fear/disagree/am confused by what I’m hearing and doubt your ability to think this through.”
Setting out with the intention to be non-attached to a particular outcome, being able to hold lightly any preconceived idea of a solution and remaining wide open to discovering something new have all proven to be powerful thinking enhancers. Another reliable way to ensure this quality of deep listening is to get interested in where the person will go next in their thinking, even if we radically disagree.
If we’re truly interested in where the other person is going next in their thinking, we wouldn’t dream of interrupting them. We can only guarantee this level of attention if we can guarantee non-interruption. A good practice is to interrogate the assumptions driving our compulsion to interrupt one another and to experiment instead with getting interested in the new insights and ideas that can emerge for others when they are invited to fully explore their own thinking. One pervasive assumption which drives interruption is that we don’t have enough time, but, in our experience, listening in this way ultimately saves time because we access the collective intelligence more quickly and are able to navigate complexity more deftly.
I’ve been partnering with a client in Sydney for four years, transforming her organization into a Thinking Environment. When we first met, she was feeling that the organization had run its course in its existing incarnation. We spent an initial two days with the team using the deep listening technology of the Thinking Environment to think about the new vision.
The organization’s founder reflects: “Key to successfully introducing The Thinking Environment to my team in 2014 was Candice working with me
159 AUTHORS UNITE as my thinking partner in advance and carefully developing an agenda and the incisive questions we would ask. Candice’s potent attention prior to the retreat extended to 1:1 conversations with each of our members. By departure, we were fully at ease that we had the right mix of containment and space. My strongest memory of the retreat was when, after dinner and our full day, every person spontaneously chose to linger and hang out sipping hot drinks, gobbling slabs of chocolate and laughing hysterically. I remember thinking what a special release that was and a sign of a group who could remain in a healthy relationship no matter what difficult decisions were going to be made up ahead.
“In just two days, we presented an explicit new ‘operating system.’ We each accessed liberating levels of creativity and deep appreciation of each other individually and as a dynamic. I felt confident that we had established a way of treating each other that could ‘hold us’ through the uncertainty ahead.
“Since then my organization has completely reshaped. We have reinvented our products and services, changed our employment model to bespoke equality- based engagements and rebranded. The strength of our values, especially trust, supports us to each work fully flexibly and with continuous agility. My role as leader feels much less stressful. I frequently experience enormous joy within the uncertainty and have unwavering faith in our capability to be generative and creative no matter what the situation.”
Candice is a thinking partner, facilitator and coach who has held space for individuals and groups across Africa, Asia and Australia to experience profound deep listening, connection and curiosity. She is a global faculty member of Time To Think, and is further informed by neuroscience, adult development theory, integral leadership and her meditation practice. http://www.thethinkingfield.com/
160 Mentor, Not Manage WIL KADRI
I did two things my first day as a manager. I showed up to work. Then I soaked up that sweet feeling of being in charge. It dawned on me the next day that my workload had tripled and my three subordinates weren’t nearly as enthusiastic about their career as myself. What is it that makes work so satisfying to me, but such a chore to them?
I. Have. A. Mentor. This realization led to a continuing goal in my career to help my staff grow, and it could be the most crucial investment we make as leaders of any group of people.
Realistically, mentorship isn’t something you’ll be able to provide for everyone. To a certain degree, your student or mentee needs to uncover some level of devotion to your organization or their own professional growth. Though if you aim to provide a mentor’s level of guidance and understanding with everyone you are managing, you can determine who you are honestly able to help. This team-building focus is a continuous priority. Every team member is a pillar to your business’s success and most importantly, your credibility. Their development increases the probability of your effectiveness as a leader.
Becoming such an influential player to a team involves assessing communication styles. Everyone exchanges information differently and you’ll find bringing your group together is much easier when you know how each person enjoys being spoken to. Personally, I know I love to have fun at work. Believe it or not, I’ve found a lot of people don’t enjoy my singing on Monday morning, or the fact that I’ll do a victory dance for even the smallest success. My often social, optimistic way of communicating can backfire when the person I am facing is more analytical or independent. Often those types like to be given the data, a deadline, and then be left alone. Being conscientious of how you deliver your guidance will ensure you can start off a mentor/mentee relationship efficiently. Mastering this also encourages your team to engage each other differently with productivity in mind.
161 AUTHORS UNITE
Establishing how a group interacts is only the beginning. As a true advisor to anyone you want to see excel, you’ll have to keep them motivated consistently. Friendly competition is a great way to influence a group to execute their initiatives, but sometimes you have to get more personal. Buy them a bottle of scotch when they get that promotion! Let them take some time off from working with the group when they’ve earned it and, during times when they feel the lowest, make it your job to raise their spirits. Figuring out what makes someone happy is your duty because, let’s face it: people produce more when they feel good.
Perhaps even more important than dissecting the dynamics of those you seek to mentor is accountability. Feedback is valuable and those who wish to exceed need someone to call them on their sh*t. You cannot be afraid to hold someone accountable for their performance. Although they may not understand you at first, they will most likely thank you in the long run. Part of their growth is making mistakes and the mentor/mentee relationship supports those mistakes honestly. Giving someone that hard truth and directing their efforts into a positive plan to solve the issue is always better than letting bad performance go unnoticed.
What I learned quickly in that first management position is that your staff is your family. The higher up you go, the bigger the family gets, and more responsibility you have in their success. If you are passionate about your own adventure in climbing up the ranks, you’ll want to make sure you source that same energy in those who are working for you. The hardest part of this process is letting your mentee move on to even greater opportunities, but you’ll find when you mentor you build relationships that can last forever.
Working in finance, I’ve found that the opportunities for growth are endless. At twenty-six years old, I am now supervising four different offices, client relationships worth millions, and a very diverse group of employees. As much as I know I am responsible for getting myself this far, I could not have done it without my mentors along the way. It really is a two-way street.
162 Revolutionary Leader: Profit through Intimacy KRISTIE KNIGHTS
“revolutionary A revolutionary person fearlessly advocates radical change. Revolutionary people and ideas challenge the status quo and might be violent or willing to upset the natural order to achieve their goals (Webster’s Dictionary).”
“leader A leader is the one in the charge, the person who convinces other people to follow. A great leader inspires confidence in other people and moves them to action (Webster’s Dictionary).”
Unveiling of the true self requires courage, honesty, and integrity. How do you know the truth? The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Truth is only what can be proven.
In the truth lies integrity. In the truth lies credibility. In the truth lies your legacy. Truth is reality. Truth is success and profitability through authenticity.
A revolutionary leader as defined is one who lives a life of integrity through the living and telling of the truth. It is a person who embraces the darkest places of self and others, using them to reflect value and greatness instead of shame and judgment. A revolutionary leader devotes their life to the service of others in all actions and words. They uphold a level of transparency and vulnerability in the darkest of moments, to the most joyous in service to others so there is constant reciprocated growth. A revolutionary leader is not born, but cultivated across the years of time. It is a person who desires radical change at any cost.
To be a revolutionary leader is a choice. Yes, it’s a choice that you can make. You have made the choice to share in this movement with me. You have taken the first step to change the world and make a positive impact through your life and your business. You’re all-in!
163 AUTHORS UNITE
I suspect you have a desire for a change. I suspect you are tired of the drone of leadership that exists in our world. Perhaps you have witnessed selfish and ambivalent leadership? Or are disgusted by the lack of truth within our leaders? Witnessed failed leadership and desire to seek a resolution? In these pages lies the calling of radical change in leadership. It is leadership stripped bare; yes, naked.
To participate in such a movement requires unloaded fear and bridled transparency. It requires the desire to make a difference globally. There is a level of participation that lends to subversion. This is not for the faint at heart, but for the passionate purposeful person who desires to shake the globe with love, service, respect, and revolutionary change.
Have you spent many long days listening to leaders who truly do not care, only to be devalued for your gifts that you bring to the table? You want to be more. You want to contribute and change the world through love, passion, and purpose.
Welcome, you are a revolutionary leader in the making! I am humbled to share this space with you as you continue to grow to greatness.
I will warn you: this is not an easy journey. There are no hidden get-rich-quick schemes, or follow-this-formula to achieve wealth. No, but the wealth you will amass in the pages of this book is priceless. Your journey to greatness, life-changing leadership, soulful leadership begins NOW. Leadership stripped bare indicates full disclosure at all cost. No, I have no desire to hear your dirty little secrets, but of soulful life lessons that have contributed and led to your greatness. One must be able to live the truth to gain the truth. As we unconditionally accept the truth of others, teaching them value, productivity increases and lives are forever changed, including yours, my friend.
You were not chosen. You have made the choice. One more time, slowly: you were not chosen; you made the choice. Inhale. Exhale. You have the power to rise to greatness; no one can take that from you, only you. Make sense? What makes you “special” is not a process of selection, but your innate desire to serve others through your leadership. Revolutionary leaders are defined through their ability to share their story in truth and transparency.
Like many others, my journey began in the vortex of tragedy and despair. I
164 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 can’t say it is an unusual one. But it is mine. That is important to know. It is important for you to know that it is my story, my journey.
Many times in tragedy others will want to claim your story or desire to live in the pain with you. Or, they will tell you how to live your story. They pass judgment, slap on the coat of shame, and have little belief in you. Instead, they believe they have the answers to what is best for you. Your story defined and articulated is essential in living as a revolutionary leader. What is your story?
Through my pain I repeated to myself, and admittedly to others, many times, “This is my story, my journey, not yours.” See, when tragedy strikes often, we want to blame others, run from the pain, or hide. I wanted to own it; be accountable for the choice I made. My choice, a radical choice, led to a great deal of pain to myself and every loved one in my life. By the sheer action of owning the choice, there was now the opportunity for reciprocated growth between myself and others.
When we permit someone else to claim our story we are robbed of the rise. We are robbed of the empowerment and strength to follow the pain. This is my truth. I own the despair that I caused, and I own the rise I have experienced.
As a revolutionary leader, your strength is drawn from the transparency and vulnerability of both the tragedy and the rise.
Allow your story to be the passionate force to guide others to success. In those moments of the rise, both you and others gain immense profit through the legacy you have created.
Kristie Knights is the Founder and CEO of iRise Leadership Institute, a Licensed Psychotherapist in private practice, Collaborative Practitioner in Divorce Law, Mediator, Professional Speaker and Author. Kristie is the Founder and CEO of iRise Leadership Institute, a Non-Profit 501(c)(3). It provides leadership training, educational resources, and awareness in suicide prevention. She is a Best-Selling author of her anthology titled: UnSung Heroes: Deconstructing Suicide through Personal Stories of Triumph. For more information, please contact Kristie at www.kristieknights.com
165 Section Three: Well‑Rounded Skill Sets
Be First TALIA MOYAL
Silence. Five people on the call; no one is answering her question. I’ll wait a few more seconds, maybe someone will speak up...OK, maybe just a few more seconds...I don’t have to be the first one to respond. Finally! An answer. Relief.
This was me, just six months ago. I was anxiously awaiting someone to speak before me, hoping their words would obscure mine. This way of thinking became habit. I was consumed by the idea that by being the youngest, my value was not to bring new ideas to the group–it was to listen and be reactive. I felt that those senior to me had more to offer not just in intelligence, but also in value. It was their role to innovate and mine to support. Now approaching the end of my second year in the workforce, I’ve learned this is simply not the case.
Twenty-two and fresh out of college, I entered Oracle without any predispositions on how I would interact with my coworkers. With time, I developed a persona of being the youngest, which, though it wasn’t normally spoken about negatively, weighed down my confidence and affected my daily interactions. Do they respect my opinions? Did I answer that question correctly? Can I form meaningful relationships with them even though I recently graduated? These questions plagued my conversations about work projects and personal life, but they were all misguided.
As a child, I had always been told I was an “old soul.” Coming from a household with two older sisters, I could easily relate to adults or those in the grades
166 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 above mine. I was always the “organizer” of my group of friends. I was the most confident with strangers, and never afraid to approach someone to ask for something or unabashedly speak my mind. I was, and still am, my friends’ “get-out-of-jail” call–because they know I’d figure out how to make it happen.
I began thinking about why it may be that perceptions around age had affected me so much in the workforce, given that my personality outside the office was so different. Was it a fear of judgment? Fear of being wrong? General anxiety around speaking in front of a group of people? Why was it that I became more of a silent listener rather than the dominant personality type I knew myself to be? That’s not to say that a subset of coworkers who knew me well didn’t know my confident nature, rather it was more curious that my general state of being had changed.
As a society, we equate age with wisdom, but we also equate youth with innovation–having a fresh set of eyes. The latter insight was the key to my personal development. It helped me realize that I should be using my age to my advantage.
I went from believing that experience meant more value, meant being able to take more risks. When, in reality, being young gives me the opportunity to present what might be perceived as a crazy idea without being perceived as actually crazy. My fresh set of eyes are my strength, not my weakness– they are what makes me valuable in helping develop original ideas. I shifted my role of only listening to also reflecting on how I might approach the solution differently. Therein lies true value: an informed and at the same time innovative perspective.
While this approach helped me change the way I valued myself, it was still intimidating to oppose senior leadership. I needed a mechanism to help make me feel comfortable in sharing my original ideas early on, not to shield me from being seen. I needed to be the first one to speak, not the last one.
Being first requires preparation. It requires extra effort to research the topics at hand, to understand how they affect my role and my colleagues’ roles. This approach gave me the opportunity to simultaneously learn from those senior to me, listening to their ideas and experience, while still developing my own thoughts. And because I was genuinely interested in creating my own point of view, I also developed my creativity.
167 AUTHORS UNITE
I found myself forcibly speaking first. I would arrive to meetings with problems and solutions, I became proactive instead of reactive, and I was no longer piggybacking off of coworkers’ ideas or purely offering myself as support. I became a mind at the table, one with original ideas and a sense of voice. As a result, I began to collaborate with more coworkers. In parallel, my value as a friend was growing. I became more confident in being able to offer insightful opinions, regardless of my age.
Being first to the table helped shape my perspective that I could contribute to the productivity of those around me not only in time, but also in value. It helped me develop my voice, my creativity, and let go of any hesitations I had that were associated with confidence. It was also a far cry from the tentative tip-toeing into relationships with coworkers that I initially felt–it helped me form stronger and more genuine relationships inside and outside the office. Being perceived as youthful in the work environment is not something to shy away from; the fresh perspective outweighs relative inexperience. However, to transition from being seen as inexperienced to being seen as innovative, you must be willing to speak first.
Talia Moyal does tech by day and nonprofits by night. She is pursuing a career in Product Management while continuing to hold leadership positions within her favorite nonprofit organizations including The Make-A-Wish Foundation and The Kiva Foundation. Talia hopes to one day combine her passions for social impact and technology in an impactful way. https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliamoyal
168 Adaptability ADRIANA ALBRITTON
Being in the business of business is primordial to be able to identify factors related to success. Most of us have experienced or will experience negative or difficult circumstances in our lives. That is a universal fact, for the most part. However, many successful people approach challenging situations in a different way. The difference is based on being highly adaptive.
Adaptability is defined as the ability to change or be transformed in order to fit to changed circumstances. This characteristic has helped humans and other species to pass on their genes throughout ages. Remember Darwin and his theory of evolution? Adaptation was a pivotal aspect to Darwin’s theory relating that it is not the smartest or strongest of the species that survives but the most capable to adapt to its environment. This can even be seen in nature at short-term basis. For instance, trees capable of surviving a tornado are the ones that bend and adapt to the wind and rain. In contrast, trees that remain stiff break and perish since they cannot withstand drastic and destructive environmental variations.
Fortunately, adaptability is not necessarily an innate trait. You can become more adaptable by becoming more conscious about life’s impermanence and being more persevering, flexible and resourceful. Ask yourself the following questions to gain an insight into your own adaptability: How do you react when unexpected and unwelcome situations arise? How open are you to change? How about when plans are changed by others? Are you able to bend? How inventive are you? Are you self-sufficient? Do you collaborate with others to deal with unforeseen circumstances? Do you use all that you have at your disposal to achieve your goals? Do you follow through with most of your objectives? Do you remain consistent despite unforeseen events?
One characteristic that many successful people have in common is their acknowledgement of the impermanence of life. They take to heart what Heraclitus said centuries ago, that the only thing that is constant is change. They know deep down inside that whatever problem or difficulty they
169 AUTHORS UNITE encounter is temporary, that it will pass and things are bound to get better. You can embrace this attitude by reminding yourself that everything in life is transitory and to focus on aspects of your life where you can exercise some control. Concentrating on negative situations creates feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and self-pity and puts you on a debt quadrant, depleting your energy and, over time, your bank account.
Perseverance is also essential for adaptability. Successful entrepreneurs and business professionals stand on course despite obstacles and discouraging events. Many people fail because they give up when difficulties arise. When faced with stormy times, it helps to write down all the reasons that triggered the start of your journey; this anchors you to your ultimate goal. Recognize that hurdles are most likely to take place and, as strange as it sounds, they help you grow. Persist and continue to be determined on your path no matter what transpires.
Another trait that helps you be more adaptable is flexibility. Flexibility in relation to your personality can be equated to physical flexibility. Your body becomes more limber by stretching. It can feel unpleasant in the beginning, but your body habituates over time. You can become more flexible in the same way. You must extend yourself and get a little uncomfortable. You can start by making changes to your routine, by altering some of your habits. For example, modify self-imposed norms or make small changes in some areas of your life. Change your diet or the order of activities performed throughout the day. If you have the tendency to voice your opinion when others’ behaviors and opinions are different than yours, then try not to be so quick to react. Direct your attention to their perspective. Implementing these small shifts stretches you.
You can become more adaptable by being more resourceful as well. You can deal better with diverse situations when you employ your imagination and creativity before acting. Use everything that you have at your disposal, even unconventional tools to solve your problems. Grow your resourcefulness by brainstorming, listening and observing more, and being open to alternatives. Imagine different possibilities of a situation; think about variations of the same question or answers for a single question. Even talking to people in different fields can provide new angles and an edge in your approach, allowing you to use more resources.
Having elevated levels of adaptability is essential for success. When negative
170 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 circumstances arise, believe that they are temporary and don’t allow them to block your vision. Remain flexible and use all your resources to achieve your goals. Flow with the ups and downs and adapt to achieve higher levels, not only in business, but in life in general.
Adriana Albritton is the Founder of A Fit Wellness and the blog FitNAll.com. She’s a Fitness Wellness Mentor and holds a Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology with certifications in Personal Training & Fitness Nutrition. Adriana disseminates the purpose of helping achieve a healthy mind along with a fit body, while cultivating a healthy internal environment. http://www.fitnall.com/
171 Don’t Take No Sh*t APRIL HERNDON
“Don’t Take No Sh*t,” blunt, I know (and a little redneck to be honest...I promise I have a good vocabulary). Seriously though, it is my motto for everything I do in business. So, what do I mean by that? Well, I mean that you do not have to sacrifice YOU to be successful.
When I started my business, I was so desperate for clients that I literally would put up with anything to keep them. That meant text messages and phone calls at all hours of the night and no respect for my personal life. I would be at my son’s baseball game and had one client constantly text and call. And it didn’t stop there! She would constantly text me while I was driving, picking up my kids, sick, on a date with my husband or on vacation. It did not matter. One client would text, email and call incessantly and then question her invoice.
Crazy, right?
I am a firm believer that every negative experience should come with some sort of lesson, a silver lining if you will. Sort of like making lemonade when life hands you lemons (or put some vodka in that sh*t if you’ve had a particularly hard day – let’s get real here).
So, what did I learn? BOUNDARIES!
I did not set up any boundaries with my clients; therefore, they had unrealistic expectations of our work relationship. I thought that I had to bend over backwards to keep them happy, but what I realized is that THEY were not the type of clients that I truly wanted.
I was constantly sick from the stress and one day it was not worth it anymore. I had lost sight of the fact that this was MY business and I could do things MY way. These people did not freaking own me!
Listen, life is too short to not love what you do. If you stay true to yourself
172 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 and your core values, you will automatically attract the clients/customers that resonate with you.
You DO NOT have to sacrifice your sanity for income. You can have both!
I ended up letting those particular clients go (one of which had paid me about $30k a year) and I have never regretted it. I still turn new people away all the time that I feel are not a good fit for me.
Okay, so how do you set boundaries and set yourself up for success?
1. Be Clear. You have got to communicate clearly about what you want and your expectations for YOUR business from the beginning. Examples of this are: How do you want to communicate? Is texting acceptable for you? Do people need to set up an appointment? It may sound strange, but I literally have had clients call me with no warning and I was not ready to talk with them. It’s like knocking on someone’s door and not telling them you are coming.
2. Have a life. It’s so easy for entrepreneurship to take over your life. Take breaks, set regular hours, make time for friends and family and have fun. I am constantly covered in work and could stay at my computer all night and weekend if I really wanted to. The work, the clients and the customers will be there. You cannot be the best YOU when you are burnt out.
3. Get organized. Being put together and organized will seriously make your life so much easier. You will be more efficient and thus make more money. Keep records of everything in case you need it later.
4. Make a plan. Plan out your days and weeks ahead of time. Let everyone know when you plan to be in your office and when you are off limits.
5. Stick to your guns. Do not deviate from your boundaries for anyone. In their eyes, you can be replaced. No one will care more about your well being than you.
6. Have fun! Being a business owner is about working on your own terms. It comes with a few headaches at times, but wow – it can be so rewarding
173 AUTHORS UNITE
too! For many of you, your business is about bringing your passion to life. Never lose sight of that! You deserve to have a great time while you grow your business!
I always say to go against the grain. What works for someone else will not necessarily work for you. Don’t be afraid to be unique and color outside of the lines.
You’ve got this!
April Herndon is a graphic designer, virtual assistant and Wordpress developer based in Prosperity, South Carolina. She has worked exclusively with clients all over the globe to bring their visions to life and assisted in growing numerous businesses to multiple six figures and beyond. April is founder and creator of myVAschool. com where she teaches others how to start their own successful virtual assisting business from home. She is married to the love of her life and has two beautiful boys.
174 Conquering Communication PHOENIX MARCÓN
George Eliot once said, “What are we here for, if it is not to make life less difficult for others?” For over a decade, this has inspired me. In 2014, I felt a calling, a calling to potentially build a billion-dollar tech company that would benefit millions. I was way in over my head. Or was I?
An “idea” was brewing, which at the time was beyond my ability. I had a pretty good sense of how to reach past my own capabilities, to connect with others that could share the vision and the journey. My limitation, however, was that I suffered from glossophobia; which is the fear of public speaking. I was unable to communicate my dream publicly, and what made this dream even more complicated was that my idea was “communication” at its core. The most basic ability to speak, one person to another. I had realized that a vast community of millions of deaf Americans were locked out of this fundamental skill, unable to share ideas of their own, unable to bridge social and cultural gaps, to have life experiences and grow beyond their boundaries. Something so utterly American at its core. And if this was true here in the United States, what then about the rest of the world.
Communication is a vital component to life. Those who have no voice, having learned to exceed their handicap by learning to “Hand-Speak,” operate at a capable level within their immediate communities. In a small way, I could identify with this struggle, and I knew I had to follow these examples if I was ever going to presume to speak for them. I HAD TO LEARN TO SPEAK MYSELF.
How I overcame this condition was by submerging myself in a group–a support group of sorts. I joined a local Toastmaster International club. An organization focused exclusively on bringing the speaker out of the individual, and refining their ability to present a dialog, a narrative, to a room of listeners. I slowly struggled my way through the ropes of my fear, sweating and white knuckled, shaky-voiced and weighed down by the judgment of my peers, criticized for each stutter, every misplaced word, never measuring up
175 AUTHORS UNITE to even the least capable of them. That’s how I felt, but that’s not how it was. No. It was amazing. Through the support and guidance of my Toastmasters group I learned to come out of the shell of my handicap. I discovered how to share my stories, my points of view, and my ideas. I developed a small comfort zone, an identity through which I could reach out and communicate my own dream.
Don’t mistake my growth for a cure. It is not. I still feel the exact same fear, the cold gut-knotting “I can’t do this!” I still feel my throat go dry and fear my voice will crack in unintelligible enunciations. That’s when the speaker inside, that part I’ve cultivated and educated, awakens. The fuel inside me, this idea that I have made my goal, is so powerful, so important, that I am empowered by it.
I’ve learned something else along my journey. COMMUNICATION IS ABOUT MORE THAN EXCHANGING WORDS. It is about laughing and singing and living. So, through my experience, my “idea” grew, opening my eyes to the lives whose disability I tasted some small part of. My struggle taught me to grasp the reality of the plight of 70 million deaf people, whose hurdles were so much larger than mine. I realized how much life surrounding me; while it surrounded them too, it did not include them. My vision matured.
Friends and colleagues continued to encourage me constantly. It was empowering. Their confidence in me became MY confidence. As it is for everyone, to discover that others can relate to your ambitions, and in some way, contribute to it, only motivates us upward. The ability to make that connection with them transformed into the contacting of a complete stranger worlds apart and with only one thing in common: an “idea.” One that would change the face of communication on a global humanitarian scale.
When Hadeel Ayoub, arguably one of the most famous female coders in the world, responded to me, it was too soon. I was frozen, unable to even open it, utterly convinced that I’d opened myself up for potential failure, and this nearly instantaneous reply was an immediate rejection of all I’d worked so hard for. See, that’s fear, and it’s that kind of fear that I’d struggled with my whole life, and it washes through me every time I am ready to communicate with others outside of my comfort zone.
Hadeel’s response was life changing. Our connection was instantaneous, fanning a spark into a blaze and building it to a bonfire that would become a
176 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 beacon across the globe. After three years on the drawing table and several patent applications, two-way communication for the deaf in the form of wearable technology was becoming a reality. Our newly founded partnership into RE-VOICE would prove to test me beyond anything I’d experienced to that point in my life. And I welcomed the challenge.
Over the next few months I would go before committees to present our vision, and to receive criticism meant to improve on the structure and develop our model. Again and again, I would confront my near-crippling fear while gradually kicking its ass. Comparing the times when Hadeel smoothly and capably demonstrates our technology to my presentation is like the difference between day and night. Yet from it, I am continually carried forward and inspired by her talents. Hadeel is a kindred soul on our shared journey. Where I am weak, she is strong, and vice versa. Between us we share a complete whole, capable of accomplishing what some deem as impossible.
While my experience is but a shadow of the obstacles others have lived with, and have learned to compensate for, I still feel this identity shared, which enables me a glimpse into the greater communication struggles. And through this insight as a company, we have been able to develop a better solution. One that goes beyond simple literal communication. Considering nuances, gestures, and inflections which speak just as loudly. What is the value of being able to laugh and sing to you compared to the value to those who cannot?
Communication is vital. Poor communication limits opportunity. No communication destroys opportunity. A good communicator excels beyond boundaries, constantly redefining potential and possibilities.
PHOENIX MARCÓN is one of the most passionate humanitarians of his time, is the author of over a dozen books ranging from fiction and cooking to poetry and inspirational. His experience and education is broad and deep ranging from corporate executive positions to working on his PhD. As an adrenaline seeker and fitness fanatic, Phoenix enjoys everything from biking to skiing. He currently resides in Dallas, Texas where he strives to squeeze twenty-eight hours out of each day. This fourth-generation author is sure to be one to watch in the future. PhoenixMarcon.com | Facebook: Phoenix Marcon | LinkedIn: PhoenixMarcon
177 Honesty to Success JOHN A. CLARK
When you were a child, you may have been asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Some would say a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a policeman, or a fireman. But we grow up and we’re not any of those. We realize what we really want to be is successful.
First, there will always be those who are successful based on pure luck. They’re not extremely intelligent, they have poor work habits, but they do have a knack for being at the right place at the right time. I don’t want to talk about them, I want to talk about the others who aren’t just lucky but have the will to succeed.
I want to discuss the business people that get up every morning and work hard to be successful. These are the people that get there by hard work, without short cuts, relying on good old-fashioned hard work. The thing that separates them from the others is they are extremely honest. Yes, I said honest. These business people are in it for the long haul, not just to turn a buck no matter who they step on. These people hire and surround themselves with people who are also extremely honest and the dishonest are asked to leave because they don’t want any misrepresentation in their business.
This honesty is the first step in building relationships that last a lifetime. In business, it means a lot to be able to take someone at their word. I don’t mean a written contract; I mean being able to verbally commit to something and standing by it no matter what. Yes, you have to take a few lumps along the way and it isn’t always easy living up to an agreement. What you gain by working through those commitments is the respect and reputation that can’t be replaced by money. So, with that honesty, the relationships that are built are strong. Those are the clients or customers that return time and time again to do business with you. Those strong relationships don’t have to be business-only either. There have been great friendships started from a business relationship. Think about it this way: which person do you want to do business with? The person you know and
178 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 trust, or someone who lacks that reputation? It’s pretty simple: be the person you would choose.
Treat your employees and fellow workers with respect. While you’re climbing the business ladder, those people climbing the ladder with you may be the same ones that open the door to success for you down the road. Here comes the word “honest” again. With honest respect comes honest conversation. You must hold fellow workers, employees, and yourself accountable. Accountability must go hand in hand with respect. Not holding someone accountable builds distrust. Trust is one of the most important parts in keeping the business machine running smoothly. Also, when you are climbing the ladder of success, don’t forget to give those others a hand along the way. Once again, those you have helped along the way may be the same ones that open the door to success for you. This is another part of building strong relationships.
One of the first things I mentioned was hard work. Believe it or not, it takes hard work to be successful. In business, you should be constantly pushing yourself to achieve a goal. Yes, set goals for yourself. When you reach that goal, set another. I don’t believe anyone ever gets too old to set goals. If you ask the most successful business people, I believe they will tell you to set goals for yourself. The goals need to be ambitious. Set monthly goals that will help you reach a yearly goal and yearly goals that will be the platform for your next goal. Don’t forget to assess your goal while you’re working toward that next goal. Goals can change, just as long as you have one in sight and it’s taking you to the ultimate goal of success. Don’t get down along the way; just keep working hard and you will be successful. Oh, and don’t get in such a hurry; it doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve heard my boss say time and time again, “I worked twenty years to become an overnight success.” It was probably said by someone else first, but he likes the quote.
Once you meet your goals and have achieved success, be humble. In other words, don’t pound your chest and say, “Look at me, look at me.” Rather, be thankful you have been blessed with success.
Let me tell you about two men I will never forget: We took a few clients on a ski trip as a way of thanking them for their continued business. We all stayed in a large house so we could get to know each other better, and hopefully even build stronger relationships. I was up early making breakfast for all the
179 AUTHORS UNITE clients. After breakfast, two of the most successful men in the room went over to the stack of dishes in the sink and started washing the dishes. I informed them that I would take care of the dishes and they should get ready to go skiing. They informed me very quickly that if I could get up an hour before everyone else to make them breakfast, the least they could do was clean up afterwards. I’ve thought about those two through the years and how they didn’t let success go to their heads; they were humble. With that came my respect.
Another thought about business: keep your cool. When you’re in a meeting and it gets heated, keep your cool. When things get heated, respect has a way of getting thrown out the window. Don’t let that happen. Be the calmest person in the room. You can take a heated meeting back down to a respectful meeting by being calm. Calm also shows everyone in the room that you’re in control and can handle yourself in the heat of battle.
To summarize my thoughts of the successful business person: they are hard- working, goal-oriented, extremely honest, and respectful. They have built strong lifelong relationships and they are calm in battle. I guess when you think about it, being successful boils down to being a person others look up to, respect, and want to emulate.
John A. Clark, fifty-five years old, Civil Engineer, Sr. Vice President, Central Texas Manager (Austin and San Antonio) for LJA Engineering (650 employees). Thirty- five years’ experience in engineering business. Currently has written one western novel, Blood of a Ranger, and working to complete the sequel, Blood of a Ranger 2.
180 The Power of Rapport LUKE RAEHN
In sales, building a lasting book of business is not just about how well you know your product, or about how well you’re able to string along a few of the right words to make a deal sound sweeter. Building a lasting book of business, one that can actually grow and strive from itself, revolves around the rapport you are able to build with your customers. Establishing rapport is an opportunity to begin business relationships and expand those that already exist into longer lasting and mutually beneficial ones.
As a third-party freight broker in the shipping and logistics industry, my business is primarily based off cold calls and the relationships I am able to create over the phone with people who have never met me. As any phone salesperson may know, one of the hardest aspects is simply getting the correct person on the phone to give you the time of day to listen to your twist on the same pitch they’ve probably already heard dozens of times from similar companies. Once that process is finally achieved, how do you take advantage of it and rise to the occasion?
Of course, having the leverage of saying I work for the second-largest 3PL in North America is beneficial, but in no way does the name of the company I work for automatically make me a trustworthy, reputable agent as an individual. It is the rapport you are able to become known for based on your actions, responses and genuine care you are successfully able to provide that is going to make you the only option, not just the viable one.
Among the multiple ways to build your rapport with your customers, one of the most important would have to be creating the correct expectations from the very beginning of the relationship. In logistics, this becomes a common problem for customers as many brokers will claim they can provide the same services at lower rates when, in reality, level of service may be forfeited, accurate expectations will most commonly not be met and the number of claims generally rise. It does no good to either you or, more importantly, your customer to sell yourself short in any situation.
181 AUTHORS UNITE
With freight logistics being a literal 24/7/365 industry with wide varieties of issues that could arise at any time, it is important to be able to ensure your customers that their needs are being met and can be taken care of at all times. By allowing my customers access to my direct number and always saying, “Please do not hesitate to call me at any time,” I can provide them with just a glimpse of the level of service I am able to provide.
Although providing customers with that sort of personal information that allows them the access to reach you at all times most definitely shows your dedication and contributes to the building of your rapport, it also opens the door to creating an actual relationship with your customers. Being able to relate to your customer in more than just a business aspect, but also on a personal level is just another way to enable yourself to set apart from the competition. Whether it be sports, family, music, etc.; give them a reason to want to speak with you.
In any sales role, the obstacle of not only growing your business, but retaining it as well, will present itself. Setting up that lasting rapport and building a sincere relationship with those you are helping is one of the key ways to ensure that progress and retention. How far above and beyond are you willing to go?
[email protected] www.tql.com
182 Grounding BRAD CLIMER
You know the feeling; you have been there before. Motivational books have been read, seminars, workshops, masterminds, focus group, lock in weekends have all been attended. You get your hopes up. The experts told you how to “build and execute” what they were teaching. They can make you successful. YOU can make you successful. The next big entrepreneur, blogger, or “epically hip sensation” is about to be produced...YOU. The family is informed of your intentions so the fake grins and pats on the back offering encouragement are given. You are determined that it will not be the same! This time you will succeed. Goals are set WITH dates on them. You are ready to scale.
A few days into it you notice, yet again, that no immediate action was taken. You have put the tasks off. You have not made phone calls. You have not emailed a person. The project is where it was a few days ago. Maybe some work has been done but not enough. You gave yourself an option. Why did you do that? Do you not know that success does not care? It gives you no options. Either you do it or you do not. Success is neutral. It only responds to right thinking and action. It comes to those who attract it. Fear and hesitancy do not attract success.
What is the issue? Your limiting beliefs. They are exactly that. Limiting. Those beliefs that seem to take charge. They tell you that it is not possible for you. You do not have what is required. You were born at the wrong time. You grew up in the wrong town. You are with the wrong tribe. Should I go on? How do I know this? Because things do not change in your life. Fear and hesitation continually plague you the minute you are ready to take action.
Life is full of people who do overcome the influence of fear. Any attempt at overcoming fear and hesitancy is worth the effort. It is such a crippling disease. It wants to control your life. It wants to own you.
Is there an answer?
I was attending an event with my good friend Jay Fiset. Jay is known for
183 AUTHORS UNITE masterminds and joint ventures. This particular class was intense. It was a facilitator development, five-day, kick-your-butt event. We were struggling to answer and respond to scenarios presented to us as facilitators. Jay made a statement, “If you cannot answer and have a written answer in at least fifteen minutes, you are not grounded.” Not grounded?
What did he mean? The dictionary defines grounding as “basic training or instruction in a subject.” Basic training or instruction? A better interpretation would be: any area in your life that you do not have control of, but it has control of you . . . you are not grounded. An example would be public speaking, one of the top fears for all people. In business, we are going to present, share, and discuss. How can we let such a limiting belief have control over our life and expect to be successful?
How could I ground then? I’m open to being better.
Jay offered us a series of questions. Questions to reflect on and ponder. Questions that for the first time in our lives gave us what we needed to do to confront these life issues. These very crippling, life issues.
Let me offer them to you.
1. What does this concept mean in the biggest sense? (How is it looked upon by the rest of the world? How do you see it in its biggest sense?)
2. What is the strongest life experience of this concept working in my life? (Tell a time this concept has been positive for you. Site your biggest experience.)
3. What is the strongest life experience of this concept NOT working in my life? (Tell me a time this concept has not been positive for you. Again, your biggest experience.)
4. Where am I now in my life? What am I doing about it? (How are you viewing it right now? Is it overcoming you? Is it a strength for you? What are you doing to strengthen or eliminate it from your life?)
5. Where could other people be? (How do they view it? How do they view it in you? How do you react to them?)
184 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
6. How does it affect other concepts I teach? (How does it affect other areas of your life? How does it affect other people you teach, coach, interact with, etc.?)
A few more observations: Write in a notebook or journal. Do not type it out on a computer. You can put them in your computer at a later time. Something different happens when you write. Let that occur. Give yourself time to write. Reflect, dig in, consider, act. Do not rush the process.
I have currently grounded 300 subjects in my life. My goal is 1000. I desire to be world-class at what I do and who I am. I know you feel the same. I am pleased how my life has changed. For the first time, I can methodically and with resolve address something that is crippling my life.
I have discovered a few things through the process. Most issues in life are really neither positive nor negative. They are neutral. We are the ones who put the emphasis on it.
An example is fear. Fear is paralyzing when you cannot pick up the phone and call a prospect. But fear is healthy when you come upon a poisonous snake on your hike. You do not want to be bit by the snake. But on the other side, you do not want hesitating to pick up the phone and calling a potential client to stop your success either.
Do yourself a favor. Take your life back.
Brad Climer is a Strategic Sales and Marketing expert who is passionate about helping small businesses owners dominate their market through competition crushing marketing. Teaching about revenue, profit, strategy instead of tactics are just a few of the tools he brings. Coaching these proven methods helps companies not only survive…but thrive. [email protected]
185 Choosing To Lead DIANA BERRY
“Leadership is a choice, not a position.” ~ Stephen Covey
Are leaders born or made? It is a question we ask ourselves, especially when at some point in our lives we are placed in positions of leadership or when we perform business roles that require leadership skills. When I look back on my life, reflecting on when my leadership experiences started, I remember the early years when the teacher organized the group in committees with defined leaders and I always ended up being chosen as the group leader. Continuing with later leadership experiences, I was called to act as a leader in conflict resolution or to organize a professional conference with the highest standards of quality. What did I have that the other ones didn’t? Did I have a special quality hidden inside of me or a special gift from God? No, it was a desire to contribute that was cultivated by my mother at a very early age.
Growing up, the messages I constantly received were: You need to be 100% responsible for what you are doing. You need to have everything on time. You need to be disciplined. Look out for the person on your right and the person on your left. My mother’s teachings, as well as the many different extracurricular activities that I was involved in, allowed me to explore different areas where I could develop and contribute as a leader and allowed me to achieve more than what I imagined for myself. I made the choice to be a leader, I raised my hand when called upon, and I took the decision at a very early age to take full responsibility for my actions and the actions of any group I was involved with. It is our choices that define who we become.
As a leader, when raising up your hand, a lot of times you don’t know what is coming next or what you will end up doing, but you do it anyway, trusting your instincts and your own capabilities. Twelve years ago, I joined Toastmasters International with the purpose of improving my communication skills. Later, I discovered that the organization not only helped individuals to improve communication, but also helps make them better leaders. One of the first things I took away from my Toastmasters experience was that leadership is
186 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 only learned by doing. It is like a muscle: the more you use it or train it, the better and stronger it gets.
Leaders are developed performing different leadership roles, having mentors or more experienced leaders observing their performance, and receiving immediate feedback from their observers or the group they are leading. For this reason, leaders need to be willing to listen and act upon feedback. Throughout the years, I have observed many leaders performing and found that they all have a sense of intellectual curiosity - a strong desire for learning. Successful leaders are learners and their learning process is ongoing. It is their capacity to develop themselves and improve their skills that distinguish leaders from their followers. Humility is also an essential attribute of a leader. A leader needs to be able to admit that he or she is a work in progress and be open to recognizing his or her faults to grow as a leader.
Leaders have excellent performance in their jobs because they are passionate about what they do and, at the same time, they don’t let this go to their heads; they remain humble and grounded. Great leaders are driven towards success by an internal ambition. They combine humility and a drive to be better. Great leaders are great learners and great finishers. Their desire to complete what they start inspires those around them to improve.
The question becomes, “How do we exercise our leadership skills?” We all belong to some type of organization, whether it is school, church, or professional organizations. Organizations have the need to involve leaders in their governing committees; this is a great chance to offer your abilities and skills. Throughout the years that I have been a member of professional organizations, I have always volunteered to perform an officer role, which has provided me opportunities to grow in different business areas, such as influence, delegation, time management, and mentoring. You can use these opportunities to develop yourself and contribute to the organization without the pressure of getting paid and with the benefits of receiving feedback from all members of the group before you apply your leadership skills in a high- pressure situation.
As a leader, don’t wait to be told what to do. Don’t let YOU stop YOU from taking the initiative, raising your hand. You don’t need a position or a title to exercise your leadership and start taking ownership. The moment you start taking ownership and acting on what you see is needed, is the moment people
187 AUTHORS UNITE and resources will start showing up for you and help you move forward in your leadership path and you will make a positive difference in the organization and the people you choose to lead.
Diana Berry is an Industrial Engineer with an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has performed leadership roles at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, Toastmasters International and the Society of Women Engineers. She is a certified John Maxwell trainer and author for the IISE technical magazine. https://www.linkedin.com/in/berrydiana/
188 The Price of Greatness is Responsibility DANIEL PINTER
“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” ~ Jim Rohn
As a business owner, you have to take responsibility for everything that happens in your business, including the vision, people and processes, income and liabilities, and products and services. The minute you as a leader place this “ultimate responsibility” for all aspects of your business in someone else’s hands, you enter a slippery slope of blame and excuses and lose the power to create the results you want. The good news is that the opposite is also true. By taking ultimate responsibility, you take the driver’s seat on the road to achieving the goals you set for yourself. It’s not the easy road, but it’s the only road worth traveling.
Ultimate responsibility takes courage
Ultimate responsibility scares people. It can seem like taking on a huge burden, a huge weight on your shoulders. It’s true, it takes courage and belief in yourself: belief that all that you will need to succeed is within you NOW. You may not know everything, but you have the skills to recognize when something needs attention. You have the mental and physical energy to figure out what to do, who to speak to, what to learn. Improve yourself and your business with small improvements every day; a 1% improvement every day will result in HUGE improvement over time. I will explain this further in a minute.
Make focused, consistent, steps towards the results you want and you will achieve them, often faster than you expect. You will have to trust yourself, and commit that if you make a mistake, you will learn from it, correct it and keep moving forward.
You’re going to have to give some things up. By taking ultimate responsibility, you will give up blame and excuses and with it, resentment. Leaders so often fall into the blame game: “It’s my accountant’s job to have warned me of that,”
189 AUTHORS UNITE
“my competitors have made the same mistakes.” This only comes from people who play small.
If in some area of your business you feel powerless or not in control, try this: when you hear yourself make an excuse, or blaming someone or something, write down what you just said or thought and decide how you can take responsibility for that . . . and what you will do about it to fix it.
There are huge rewards for those that do
By taking ultimate responsibility, you become powerful, a force to reckon with. A “can-do” person. You become a problem solver, a solution creator. It builds your courage and confidence. If something is wrong, you don’t look for blame or excuses, you fix it.
Responsibility leads to self-reflection and continuous improvement in yourself and your business.
Remember, I said that just 1% improvement daily will result in huge results? Picture this: by taking steps to create 1% improvement in your financial knowledge, or leadership, or customer service, 1% improvement day after day after day, results in a 3680% improvement by the end of the year. WHAT? That’s right, a whopping 3680%. That’s the incredible power of compounding, which Albert Einstein called, “the most powerful force in the universe.” Now, think about what that means to you and your business. It can be a game changer if you let it.
When you take ultimate responsibility, it’s uncommon, it’s rare and people will notice. Colleagues, business partners, suppliers, clients will notice it, respect it and will be drawn to it.
Wouldn’t you build trust with someone more if they displayed courage, integrity and honesty by taking ultimate responsibility over someone who makes excuses and plays the blame game? If you were a staff member, which characteristic would you instinctively follow and be inspired by?
Doesn’t mean you now do everything
You are now taking responsibility for everything in your business; you have eliminated excuses, blame and finding scapegoats. This may not be as easy as
190 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 it sounds. There are some traps that people commonly fall into that will have negative effects on your business’ productivity, efficiency and progress.
Being ultimately responsible doesn’t mean that you have to be in every meeting, be the center of all communication and micro-manage all processes. You still need to implement and utilize effective management principles such as trust and accountability.
It does mean that if a staff member is underperforming, you have to step up and address the issue. Organize training, implement performance management, or even recruit a replacement. If a process is not working, allocate the appropriate priority to it, set a timeframe and a process for fixing it, allocate resources and monitor that it’s done as planned.
No person, process, or change in your environment is going to stand in your way of success. You will make the hard decisions and lead your team with a clear vision and positive energy. You do not need to know and do everything, but take ultimate responsibility for making sure it gets done.
The price of greatness is responsibility
It was Winston Churchill who said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”
I absolutely believe that if you want your business to be great–a great place to work, a great company to do business with, a great place to invest your energy into–you will need to lead from the front and take ultimate responsibility. I know this was not obvious to me in my past endeavors until I attended a Tony Robbins seminar in 2008 and he taught me to take responsibility no matter what happens. From that moment on, this has become one of my key guiding principles for leadership in my businesses. I am not perfect, I can still catch myself making an excuse or blaming, but I always remember that I am ultimately responsible, so I make sure the problem is reviewed, an agreed solution is developed and implemented.
I invite you to take ultimate responsibility and reap the many benefits.
Daniel Pinter lives in Australia. An entrepreneur from an early age, Daniel applies his business tactics and vision in varied industries, having owned business in three different markets. He is passionate about assisting small business owners achieve their goals. https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielpinter
191 Productivity by Projectizing MATT PALM
I was in a conversation with a very close friend the other day and the subject of productivity came up. He was trying to talk me into following a regimen that he heard on some new, trendy podcast put out by a Silicon Valley warrior whose name I cannot (or, more realistically, choose not to) remember. My friend was hanging on to every word he heard from this guy, and he honestly thought I would be as well, until I reminded him of the four other identical conversations we have had about very similar productivity tips over the past twelve months.
I have reflected on these types of podcasts and blogs a lot recently, and think they are all extremely misguided, and do not lead to sustainable practices by anyone who attempts to follow them.
Let me clear when I say that I totally understand the appeal: people in this information age are bogged down by more things on a daily basis than most can handle and are looking for solutions to help them manage. But I am going to be honest: if I am subjected to one more LinkedIn post outlining the “Ten Daily Routine Lifehacks All Professionals Must Follow Now” (or something along those lines), I am going to lose my mind.
No one needs these so-called “life hacks.” They are not even really hacks. They are just organized ways of doing tasks differently you would like to accomplish in a time period. And, even worse, more times than not they include a section about meditating or doing yoga. Some of us may consider hitting the snooze button on our iPhone alarms once or twice in a morning as meditating, but to the general public meditation is only practiced by Jedis and Russell Simmons.
Between professional goals, personal relationships, health ambitions, and other hobbies, it is just simply not realistic to expect any formula or daily routine to fit your specific lifestyle. Trying to do so will not lead to a change in behavior, but will almost certainly lead to abandonment and disenchantment of the entire premise of focused productivity.
192 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
By now, I can only imagine how negative I have come across, and would be surprised if anyone has even made it this far into the writing; but if you are still reading, you can find solace in knowing that I have found a solution that works, for me at least!
About a year ago, it became clear to me that I possessed far too many professional/personal/health aspirations at one time to ever truly be able to accomplish any of them to the best of my abilities. My performance at my place of work was beginning to suffer; I was becoming less satisfied with the amount of exercise I was getting, and I was letting most of my (many) hobbies fall by the wayside. The bottom line was that I was attempting to do too many things at once.
As I imagine most will, I eventually became fed up with this and realized I needed a change. Upon some deep reflection, I came to realize that if I were to treat each of these aspirations as a series of projects within a larger portfolio, I would be able to plan out larger portions of time to dedicate specifically to a task, hobby or goal. I came to the realization that this would not only allow me to assure I am allotting enough time to things that are important to me, but it would also make sure I am laser focused on something specific and measurable in the given time frame.
Before I knew it, I was finding that I had more than enough time to dedicate specifically to hobbies and health goals that I ever could have imagined.
I was even surprised to find that one of the first hobbies that I “projectized” actually ended up benefiting both my personal and professional goals! I had been discussing the possibility of roasting my own coffee beans for months without taking any action and so I found it to be a perfect starting point for this new strategy. I gave myself one month and then allocated a few hours each week to roast the coffee, store the beans, and package the finished product. Every week, I tracked my progress and focused on measurable improvements that could be made to each batch. This home-roasted coffee ended up becoming such a hit with friends and family that I soon realized that it would be a great leave-behind for all of my clients after sales calls! So I had adhesive business cards made up with my company’s logo, stuck them on each package and brought them with me wherever I went. I made sure to include just enough coffee in each package so that each client would have a reason to meet with me again in a month when I was calling. I figured if my
193 AUTHORS UNITE dashing good looks and charming personality did not get them, my coffee surely would. Either way is fine with me.
At the end of the month, I had not only gotten the hang of home coffee roasting, but I had also shown measurable signs of improvement and was comfortable moving on to the next project.
The beauty of “projectizing” things is that it allows you to truly understand the time commitment needed for different tasks, lets you dedicate specific focus to something you truly care about pursuing, and in time creates opportunity for you to prioritize which tasks are most important to you in your day-to-day (or week-to-week) life.
My point in all of this is not to try to convince anyone to try to follow the same strategy that I have to accomplish more with his/her days, but rather to make people aware that we are all entirely capable of figuring out what works best for us as individuals. Take some time to understand what is important to you, decide what type of time commitment you are able to dedicate to each task, and then allow yourself to try. It is really that simple.
So, if it motivates you to constantly read about how these mushroom-tea drinking, meditating, Silicon Valley bloggers go to sleep at 1:14am and wake up at 4:04am every day and are more productive than anyone else; please, by all means, keep reading and re-posting on LinkedIn.
I would rather figure it out for myself.
194 Part Three THE JOURNEY OF BUSINESS Section One: Point A to Point Business
The House That Rubber Chickens Built JEFF FERGUSON
“Looks like we’ll need a dozen cases of rubber chickens this time,” I said to the telephone sales rep. “And that gets us a higher discount? Awesome. Let’s order a few more cases then, and take advantage of the better margin for a while.”
In the early 2000s, what feels like a lifetime ago, I launched an online novelty store called The Gag. The conversation above had become routine, and nobody was more aware of how absurd it all sounded than me. Little did I know I was honing valuable business skills that would become meaningful later in my career.
It all started a few years earlier, when I decided to go back to school to get my MBA. Although I had already earned two undergraduate degrees in computer science and communications, those programs had offered little about how business actually worked.
Halfway through grad school, I was laid off from my day job in marketing at Hilton Hotels in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. About this time I was searching for an idea for a business plan, the final project I needed to graduate. While most of my classmates’ plans were targeted to their current employers, I was now free to explore a different direction.
The Gag started off as an online space where I could post jokes and funny pictures, what would later become known as a “blog.” Then, one day while on a trip to Disneyland, I wandered into the magic shop that had graced a corner of Main Street since 1957. The store featured magic tricks designed
196 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 for kids (and kidlike adults), along with novelty items like rubber chickens, fake vomit, whoopee cushions, and the classic “Groucho glasses” that almost everyone has tried on. Stores like the Main Street shop were becoming a thing of the past, but Disneyland’s location was always full of customers, eager to take home a little bit of magic from their trip.
Then it dawned on me: What if I could recreate this shop on the Internet? Along with the magic trick items, I could feature the other novelties I saw in the shop and more. And I already owned the perfect domain name: TheGag.com.
For the next six months, I researched suppliers, shipping methods, e-commerce costs, and more, all based on the crazy idea of selling rubber chickens via the brand-new world wide web (www). During this time, I landed a job as head of digital media and moved away from my native California for the frozen tundra of Wisconsin. I completed the final two courses for my MBA online while I settled into the small town of Neenah, a community made up mostly of the people who worked at my company and cows—lots and lots of cows.
I was bored out of my mind.
I had two options: I could either slowly lose touch with reality, or find a hobby. So a hobby it was—but what? Then the final grade for my grad school project arrived: a solid “A” for the fully formed business plan. The Gag became the side project that would save my sanity in this frigid wasteland.
Over the next few months, I learned a lot about the difference between writing a business plan and making a real business work. And oh, the customers! Imagine having to explain to people why the snakes in their “Fake Snakes in a Nut Can” gag weren’t a full six inches long, or why their eagerly anticipated fake vomit didn’t look “real” enough.
But I pushed on and developed skills that also applied to my day job. Concepts that were only theories during grad school now had real context. Because my fledgling company had to be hypersensitive to things like profit margins and ROI, I became more vigilant at the corporation where I was managing millions of dollars’ worth of media expenses each month. I could feel myself getting better at my profession.
Over time, The Gag attracted more customers, added more product lines, and
197 AUTHORS UNITE encountered more challenges that, on a micro level, provided great lessons in marketing and business. When new competitors came on the scene, I analyzed their methods and adapted quickly. Then Amazon opened its doors to allow outside vendors sell items through their system, and I jumped at the chance.
Eventually, I moved back to California and landed a position as director of Internet marketing. Between the demands of the job and the heavier commute, the strain of my side hustle was starting to show. Plus, with the influx of more competition online, it was getting harder to maintain the margins I had enjoyed in the beginning.
About that time two things happened: My then-girlfriend and I started entertaining the notion of buying a house together, and one of my suppliers asked if I would consider selling The Gag. So I cashed out of my rubber- chicken empire, paid off my debt, and used the rest for a down payment on a charming little house in Burbank.
After a few years spent working for “The Man” to pay my mortgage, I saw another opportunity to strike out on my own. Working out of the house that rubber chickens built, I launched Fang Digital Marketing, a consulting business that works with companies to streamline their advertising plans and help maximize profitability and growth. Almost immediately, I could see how the lessons I learned while running The Gag were helping to build my agency. Cash flow, margins, promotion, and adapting to changes were all still important, not just for running my business, but for helping my clients’ businesses grow.
Not every entrepreneur will have the chance to walk before they run with such a ridiculous idea that can be bootstrapped out of their spare bedroom, and it’s pure luck that I was able to learn so much with such a silly set of products. In the end, I learned the fundamentals of business still matter, whether you’re selling whoopee cushions or marketing services. Most importantly, The Gag gig taught me to take business seriously enough to grow, but not so seriously that you stop having fun.
Jeff Ferguson is the CEO/Founder of Fang Digital Marketing, a boutique digital advertising media agency. Jeff has headed the online marketing efforts for Hilton Hotels, Kimberly-Clark, InterActiveCorp, Experian, and Napster. Jeff’s clients include Belkin, CBS, eHarmony, JustFab, Manchester United, Paychex, PetSmart, Popcornopolis, Prestige Brands, The Smithsonian, Sony, and Unilever. Fangdigital.com
198 Bigger Isn’t Always Better ARIEL ENDEAN
In life, we are taught that bigger is better: big car, big engagement ring, big house, big circle of friends. The list is endless.
So, it’s not surprising we carry this belief into the running of our business, desiring a big shop, big range, big office. We start small because that’s all we can afford, but there is always the underlying drive to grow bigger.
Why is this? Why are we under the impression that we must keep growing to be deemed successful?
Partly it’s our internal desire to push ourselves, to see what we can achieve when we give our best, but it’s also a result of a society that celebrates “super” success as opposed to “simple” success.
You only need to pick up a newspaper or business magazine to confirm this: they all feature the 1% quadrupling their turnover, franchising, taking their product global, winning awards. This sets a ridiculously high and largely unattainable bar for what a successful business should look like. Consequently, the rest of us regularly feel like failures.
Your confidence and belief in yourself and your business will be chipped away as you wonder why you are not having the success you see advertised around you.
You might engage a business coach or look towards business books for guidance. Unfortunately, they too will tout success stories on how someone took their little business and made it big and how with their help you can do the same. It’s not surprising, really, as it’s in their best interest to do so. Plus, it’s likely that they too have been caught up in the blinkered and often unhelpful view that bigger is better.
The question is: do YOU want to run a bigger business? Is that who you are and where you want to go?
199 AUTHORS UNITE
Interestingly promoters of “Big is Better” often leave off the less favorable aspects of increasing the size of your business:
More debt, More paperwork, More people problems. More risk, More stress.
These issues can be positively worked through if it’s your genuine desire to scale your business, but before implementing a growth strategy, I strongly suggest you consider all the pros and cons.
Reflect on why you got into running your own business in the first place.
It’s likely you wanted to do “what you love” as a job. Becoming a bigger business changes this dynamic as it takes you away from the coal face, diverting you instead into full-time office and staff management. Consequently, you’ll find yourself in the odd position of paying staff to do what you’d rather be doing! Maybe you’ll consider employing someone to run the office and manage staff so you can work in the role you’d prefer but my advice is this: It doesn’t work. The captain of the ship (that’s you) must be at the helm.
Becoming a big business can bring many benefits but for the sake of balance consider a sample of the potential negatives:
1. Communication becomes harder the more staff you have. Put simply, it’s a business version of Chinese whispers where the message gets distorted and diluted the more layers of staff it passes through.
2. Getting everyone in the one place at a specific time for group workplace meetings or a Christmas party becomes extremely challenging and eventually impossible as your staff level grows.
3. Changing workplace culture gets harder as there are so many people to educate, encourage and keep on track.
4. Large staff numbers allow bad eggs and poor performers to stay hidden, but with a small team there’s nowhere to hide.
200 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
5. Being big slows down your ability to quickly change direction and respond to the market. This is because any decision needs to make its way through multiple layers of management. Even when a decision has been made, it takes a long time to put in place. Comparatively, when it’s just you in your own small business, a decision can be made and implemented within the day. It’s like comparing a cruise ship with a speedboat. The smaller you are, the quicker you can turn.
Of greatest concern is that growing bigger brings risk.
Consider the story of Jamie, who started a small cafe. It had good food, great coffee and customers were well taken care of. As such, his cafe was often busy. Profits were good as Jamie happily worked long hours serving customers during the day and doing office work at night. By all accounts a fabulous success.
A year later, he decided to rent the shop next door so he could expand and become more successful. Then he’d no longer have to turn away customers. Jamie joined the shops together, fitted them out and employed more kitchen and wait staff. What he didn’t foresee was bigger cash flow problems, increased overheads and more staff issues.
Jamie’s cafe expansion was a great success in the sense that he had lots more customers and it all looked fabulous from the outside but, in truth, Jamie was stressed, distracted with staff issues, drowning in office work, making less profit than he initially had and running a high risk of burning out and going broke.
From here, Jamie had two options: go bigger and reach a better functionality plateau or go smaller and return to the happy profitable position he’d initially been in. Neither approach is right or wrong but, disappointingly, the “go smaller” strategy is rarely viewed as a success story.
The truth is that success can be measured in many ways, so before believing that bigger is better, stop and consider what’s right for YOU and your business.
I have run my own business for twenty-plus years. It’s been quite a ride and I have learnt many life lessons along the way. My passion is to share this knowledge by teaching business owners how to find happiness and fulfilment within their workplace, wherever that may be. [email protected]
201 The End is the Beginning is the End BRETT CLEMENSON AND BETHANY O’NEIL
At the age of thirteen, I learnt an amazing lesson. Sitting in a youth hostel, I was playing a game of chess in the common room with an older gentleman I had just met. Midway through our third game, he said “chess is an amazing way to prepare for life.” Confusion obviously all over my face, he gave me an explanation that changed my life:
“You’re always five moves ahead in chess. It’s a constant state of planning, strategizing and adjusting. It’s all about positioning yourself for the kill (checkmate).”
Mind blown. Thirteen-year-old me just had his first business coaching session and my obsession with goal setting began.
Fast-forward a decade, and I was just finishing a business degree at university. I knew as much about business finishing that degree as the day I started my first lecture. But what I did know was that I wanted to create a business for myself. I could see the office layout with its double height ceilings, heritage attributes and 100-year-old polished wooden floor boards. I knew I’d be surrounded by intelligent and motivated individuals and we’d be sharp in our look yet relaxed in our approach. I could feel it. I could picture it.
The problem? I had no idea what the business would be!
I tried several business ideas and failed. My first was called “Hi Flyers.” We designed flyers for local businesses. We sucked. I got a few jobs but within three months we had shut up shop. After that I hustled mates in IT and tried convincing them we could design websites to sell to corporates. That never took off. I even tried opening a mail order business with my mum. What happened? We failed.
Leaning on the old man’s adage, “life is a game of chess,” and knowing that I had no idea what I was doing and zero actual corporate experience, I needed to change my strategy if I was to create a business of my own.
202 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
On that realization, I started looking for a job. What job? Any job. On reflection, my two “must have” job criterion were kind of comical: max money and I didn’t want to cross the bridge (Sydney Harbour Bridge) into the CBD. I only found one job advert that satisfied and applied for it. Next day I had an interview and the next week I was on a plane flying halfway across the country for training. I got the job.
What I found was an industry that I’d never previously thought about: recruitment. This was only ever going to be a twelve-month stop gap to sharpen my business skills. I quit after three months. I hated it. They convinced me to stay and over six years later I was still at the same company, working my way into a management position. I had actually fallen in love with the industry and picked up some amazing experience along the way.
And then everything changed.
I was twenty-nine when my wife finished her job as a dental nurse and I too decided to quit my job. We were in love, full of excitement and both unemployed. Oh, and she was thirty-six weeks pregnant.
I was back at the beginning. I wanted to build a business. I was still unsure if I was going to make this work but this time failure was no longer an option. I was all-in. I had sold my apartment to raise some capital and my back was hard up against the wall (well a tiny log cabin wall in my parent’s front yard).
And so ALRA was born.
End in mind, I named my company “Australia’s Leading Recruitment Agency (ALRA).” The first six months was proper grass roots. I had zero clients and zero leads. I hustled and hustled to get work through the doors.
I remember having four very clear goals to achieve in the three years ahead of me: • $1M+ Annual Revenue • Office in Manly (Sydney) • Build a Team of 10 • Be #1 in the Market I Recruit
203 AUTHORS UNITE
I printed these four goals onto an A4 page and stuck them on the wall in front of my desk. I knew where I was headed. I had clarity. I had vision. I had goals. I had my checkmate front and center.
Fast-forward four years (present day). That thirteen-year-old chess-playing kid is now the founder and CEO of ALRA, Australia’s Leading Recruitment Agency. We have offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Canada and we have placed over $50M in wages with twelve staff. All four of those goals have been achieved.
Not only have we achieved those targets, but that original vision of what my company would look like has also come into fruition, right down to the polished wooden floors and double height ceilings, of which I’m sitting in now as I write this chapter!
So is this my checkmate moment?
No. The endgame in chess is to defeat the king but the irony for me is that what I had always envisioned as the “end” was actually just the beginning. There are now new goals, a new vision; none of which would have existed if I hadn’t had that clear picture in my head to begin with and adjusted my strategy along the way.
“The end is the beginning is the end” – whether you like the Smashing Pumpkins or not, they had one hell of a point.
Brett Clemenson, CEO and Founder of ALRA | Australia’s Leading Recruitment Agency. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-clemenson?ppe=1
Bethany O’Neil, Associate Director, ALRA
204 Are You Connecting With “Middle-Aged” Mothers? KATRINA MCCARTER
I turned forty-six this year. I don’t feel “middle-aged.” I feel as though I’m just coming into my prime. Since turning forty, I’ve become an international speaker, launched two businesses, written a best-selling book and am planning a move to the other side of the world in the next decade. I feel as though I’m living a very different “middle-aged” life compared to the generations before me and it seems many women my age agree. A recent study of more than 500 women by UK-based marketing agency SuperHuman found that 96% of women over forty didn’t associate with being middle-aged either, yet marketing to women my age is aimed at an old concept of what being middle- aged means. So why are brands failing us so badly?
Why can’t you see me?
My marketing and research consultancy, Marketing to Mums, recently undertook a study of more than 1800 Australian mums and found that 63% of Australian mums believe advertisers don’t understand them. It is no surprise that the mothers over forty felt the most misunderstood. Despite controlling more than 80% of consumer spending, mums feel outdated stereotypes are being used by brands which completely turn them off. Brands are doing more harm than good, repelling the very women they are trying to attract.
I refer to women in their forties, fifties and sixties as “The Invisible Women.” They are at their peak of economic power, often managing the finances of aging parents as well as teenagers or kids not yet willing to leave home. Despite this, they feel completely overlooked by marketers.
Last year, I spent time in New York with my sixty-something aunty who has lived there most of her life. She is a vibrant woman with a decorated career in administration for a well-known broadcaster. She remains very active and hosts a regular Saturday night dinner party for up to twenty people. Each day, we trawled the shops all over the city and each day came home empty-handed. Why? Fashion generally caters to women of a much younger demographic.
205 AUTHORS UNITE
She rarely visited retail stores of any kind as there was never anything to buy. Instead, she focused her spending now on experiences, particularly travel. What a missed opportunity for marketers.
What do brands need to do?
Get real. Explore the opportunity by investing resources into getting to know who older women are as consumers, what motivates us and how we like to communicate. Our use of social media and preferred communications might surprise you. Primary research will be critical to your success.
A shining light
There are some wonderful rays of sunshine out there though, for those brands that can see the opportunity women of our age represent. I was at a Lingerie Fashion Show in Sydney, Australia for a client recently and was impressed to see a great diversity in their choice of models. I was beyond delighted to see a woman in her late forties strutting her stuff in the latest Intimo Spring- Summer lingerie collection with a few wobbles. I applaud this brand for their courage and conviction and I am confident they will be rewarded with increased revenue for taking a more realistic, relatable approach.
In a marketing environment which is increasingly competitive, it seems like women over forty years are a missed opportunity. I encourage marketers and business owners to be courageous and make changes to your marketing strategies and communications and to launch new products based on your newfound insights. There are thousands of women out there who have got your back and are willing to reward your actions.
Katrina McCarter is the Founder & CEO of Marketing to Mums, a marketing and research consultancy based in Melbourne, Australia. She is a marketing strategist who specializes in helping businesses sell more effectively to the world’s most powerful consumer, mothers. www.marketingtomums.com.au
206 Stop IT Projects From Driving off a Cliff: A Guide for Business Sponsors FRANCIS LIU
“Seven out of ten large IT projects fail.” ~ Harvard Business Review
When projects are failing, it’s not uncommon to find project managers running around like headless chickens trying to fix the IT project. Some signs include people staying back after hours to re-enter data, “temporary workarounds” because the new system doesn’t do things the same way as the old system, or even increased helpdesk calls because the project forgot to train a whole group of users.
I’m not talking about upgrading a few printers. I’m talking about those big projects that must be done because of new government legislation, or your bank says so, or you’ve put them off for so long that if you don’t do them now, your business will fail. These projects might not be part of your core business and they may not generate new revenue, but you don’t have a choice; they must be done.
Chances are that if you are reading this, your project is progressing slower than you are expecting. You might even be thinking it’s on its way over the cliff. You might be asking yourself: “Why is it so difficult? Why can’t I have one of those successful projects?” But what can you do? You’re the business sponsor. You’re not technical and that’s why you’ve hired experts. Why is there a gap?
It’s hard to know where to start. You can read a great deal about why IT projects fail but it’s difficult to decide what to do to make your project work.
In my experience of working with large telecommunication companies and software development organizations, there are four practices that I have found that will increase your chance of success.
207 AUTHORS UNITE
1: Involve users
Are the users of the current system and the new system involved? Or are they too busy doing their regular day jobs? If the users are unable to explain to the project team what they do or how they do it, how can the project get it right? The project will have to guess, and they’ll be guessing wrong.
Tip: Everyone needs to be on the journey. If the bus is empty, the project is intentionally leaving people behind.
2: Be an engaged business sponsor
Are you involved? You need to be available for escalation and decision- making; you need to help the project team keep the stakeholders on board for the project. If you find Procurement is actively blocking progress because they don’t see the ROI, or the Helpdesk teams are disengaged because they’ve got more immediate operational issues, it’s better to know now and work through these car crash-sized concerns before you’ve spent more money and time.
Tip: You’re the boss. Help the driver (the project manager) by reading and navigating the organizational map, and putting out the small fires before the bus catches fire and crashes.
3: Deliver big projects as a set of smaller projects
Big projects are complicated. There are too many moving parts. Everything is related and you can’t change anything because of the side effects. As the Harvard Business Review says, seven out of ten times you end up with a mess.
Can you carve off a smaller slice and deliver benefits for a smaller group of stakeholders? If that succeeds, can you then carve off the next bit and deliver the next set of benefits? At every stage, you can assess whether the benefits are worthwhile and whether to keep going.
Tip: When you don’t know the terrain, navigate to the nearest landmark, then the next landmark, then the next. As you reach each goal, re-assess if you’re still heading in the right direction.
208 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
4. Carve out the right-sized “smaller projects” to win
Here’s my advice: select a quick win, something easily achievable yet moderately valuable. But here’s a twist: make it a “vertical slice” of business functionality. Think about how the project will affect the organization. Think about the different ways the different stakeholders will react and find the most-willing stakeholders, the ones that are rooting for you and focus on them.
Build or change something that affects at least two groups in some small but important way. Define each slice so it addresses one or two hot issues relevant to those participating groups. Focus on building strong working relationships between the project team and those groups.
If it goes well, congratulations. You’ve delivered some real value for your best stakeholders. Now you have fans in the organization who will support you going forward.
If it doesn’t go well, you haven’t burnt all your bridges. You haven’t upset everyone, but you will have learnt some lessons for the next one. Your reputation will have taken a hit, but since you haven’t driven off the cliff, you get more chances.
Getting the slices right takes practice. It’s different for each organization. It depends on the complexity of your industry, your business, and your appetite for risk. If the slice is too small, you won’t make enough progress towards the end destination. If the slice is too big, well that’s where we started.
I challenge you to try this on your next project.
Once you’ve got your slices of business functionality, you can then use other techniques like Agile to further improve your chances of success. That’s a whole other story.
Francis Liu is a program manager who works at the intersection of Agile/Scrum, DevOps and project management with twenty-five years of experience in telecommunications and large systems. He is passionate about working with businesses that are going places. Francis lives in Sydney, Australia. [email protected]
209 Know Your Clientele GARRETT COLLINS
It sounds so simple, but it is easier to pick a target demographic than to know what they want and to hold their attention once you have acquired them as customers. Getting a customer to decide to use your product or service is the easy part (although it is by no means easy), so it is important to know your clientele in order to keep them once they have become a patron.
I manage a casual restaurant with a high-class clientele. The reason they come is to relax. Many of them are judges, lawyers, law makers, or business owners, a few with national and international businesses. They come to rub a few shoulders, but primarily to not deal with everything they deal with on a day-to-day. I say this to make a point. We can produce better food and charge more money and no one will bat an eye, but if we were to push the boundaries too close to a typical white-tablecloth restaurant, we would lose a chunk of our core clientele. Our demographic is Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers with money to spend and a desire to relax (and, moving forward, newly stable millennials with similar desires). It gives an ease on certain requirements, like uniform for our staff, but it also means we have certain tenets of service that must be adhered to in order to maintain the people who are our valued guests.
Having identified our demographic, we must now keep them. 56% of consumers said they would rather spend money on an experience than an item from a store, according to the National Restaurant Association. So that begs the question: what does a stable adult looking to relax want from a dining experience? In my realm, it means they want a staff knowledgeable about their food and drink, but they don’t want to a have a wine described like a sommelier would, or the food described like a chef would. They want to tell their server what they like and they want to be told what they will enjoy. They want to relax, not think, when they come. That is specific to my restaurant though; others operate differently.
Broadly, the point can be made across all industries. What does your clientele
210 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 want to experience when they use your product or service? If you are a groomer to wealthy pet owners, they might want you to come to them, because they value their time more than money. If you sell cars, your patrons probably want to feel like they made the decision rather than being “sold” a car. If you’re Jeff Bezos and you own Amazon, your clientele probably want to be able to purchase literally anything they desire from one website with inexpensive shipping and price/quality comparisons. Every industry is sales, and every sale is made by knowing your client, finding what they need, and providing that in whatever form happens to suit the situation. You might not be a restaurateur, or a dog groomer, or a car salesman, or the owner of arguably the most pervasive online retail market in the western hemisphere, but your need to have a solid understanding of your target demographic, what they want and need, and how they would like to experience your business is the same. Do your research; try some new things and keep track of the results, and move in on the target that is acquired: knowledge of your clients, their needs, and what keeps them coming back.
211 LinkedIn, Baby Boomer Executives, and Gen Z College Graduates as Job Seekers DONALD J WITTMAN
Most companies are looking for an exact fit prospect in the current job market versus a reasonable fit many moons ago. So what does this really mean? It means that job seekers need to make sure we meet all the job requirements for any given position, as well as the culture requirements the individual companies have for their positions.
There are three major challenges that job seekers have in common:
1. Visibility 2. Functional Fit 3. Company Fit
Let’s talk about recent graduate visibility. Many companies recruit on college campuses for upcoming graduates. The problem Gen Z graduates have is once they leave the college environment, they are not easily found by recruiters. This is because the recent graduate has very few LinkedIn connections and belongs to few or no LinkedIn Groups. Less than 50% of the recruiters have the LinkedIn subscription which allows them to see all LinkedIn members. So, the recent graduate needs to change their tactics on job search once they leave college and utilize many of the same tactics that Baby Boomer executives need to employ.
Baby Boomer executives tend to have less than a one thousand 1st level LinkedIn connections, which is just like Gen Z. The most common statement from executives is that they know every 1st level connection they have and can refer them to others. Those LinkedIn connections are many times peers and not with those that can help them land a new position.
What does this mean? If more than 50% of recruiters can’t see you because you do not have a sufficient level of connections on LinkedIn, you become
212 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 the tree that fell in the forest that no one noticed. So what is a job seeker to do? In order to be seen by the 50% of recruiters who do not have the high- end Recruiter LinkedIn subscription, you need to make better connections who have many connections (sometimes referred to as Super Connectors), and join LinkedIn Groups associated with your college, university, industry, position, skills, geographic area, and interests.
A common problem of recruiters is that the fallout of our Great Recession has left many of the recruiting budgets underfunded and management unwilling to add a $10,000 per recruiter subscription to LinkedIn. Many companies and recruiting firms have outsourced first- and second-level recruiting to third parties in India, Philippines and the like. The cost of the LinkedIn HR subscription is many times the cost of the outsourced person to do this work. This leaves recruiters with only the most basic LinkedIn subscriptions and without the ability to see all LinkedIn members.
Functional Fit is generally searched for by the use of keywords. Keywords are the words and/or word strings that recruiters use to search LinkedIn profiles for job requirements for the position they are trying to fill.
Gen Z college graduates should have their learning highlights, major and minor fields and specialties they are trying to be hired for included on their page. Listing technical skills are good keywords and/or keyword strings to consider. If you can get job descriptions for positions you are looking for, those can help with the job requirement keywords.
Many Baby Boomer executives don’t realize that the job search process is based on job requirements. It is commonplace to cut and paste your résumé into your LinkedIn profile. Most résumés do not use sufficient keywords to make a profile rank in a LinkedIn search. A recruiter expects a much more complete and comprehensive view of the executive. A LinkedIn executive profile needs to be found when recruiters search for job requirements. Many executives have never spent time on their own looking at job descriptions for keywords/requirements for the position of their choice. Recruiters generally use title and five to fifteen keywords/keyword strings to find executive candidate profiles.
Let’s talk about company fit for both Baby Boomer and Gen Z graduates. Many companies today put a large emphasis on company cultural fit. Companies like
213 AUTHORS UNITE
Amazon, for instance, want you to talk about yourself and not how you beat out others for different positions. It’s not about the competition; it’s about being the best at what you do, working with others and being successful. You can take a company like Bridgewater Associates which has a hundred-page-plus culture manifesto that talks about how the company believes in openness and working together on common problems. You can take a super tech company that thrives on the best of the best in Internet technology. A typical tech salesperson is also a whole different personality from the ones we just mentioned. So you need to address more about you to land at one of these companies. In your summary, you need to discuss how these experiences accentuate your ability to fill your position of choice in these types of companies.
Many Gen Z college graduates spend much of their LinkedIn profile talking about their college experience. Much of the college experience is about their education and not about what makes them different from everyone else graduating college with the same degree. Most recruiters and hiring managers who look at new college graduate candidates really want to know what else the college graduate has learned or experienced in their growth process. College graduates have had life experiences with either part-time jobs, volunteer experience or intern jobs before they graduate. Some students have also had leadership experience in high school or college clubs and class leadership positions during their education process. These non-standard educational experiences are what separates the thousands of college graduates from those who may be a better fit. You should make sure you highlight how this experience has helped you grow.
Many Baby Boomer executives tend to talk about their low-level talents rather than the high-level talents and accomplishments that got them to where they are today or what makes you, you. Recruiters want to understand what makes you tick. What life, career, volunteer, and hobby challenges made you the person you are today? After all, LinkedIn is a social platform, not a résumé posting site. Recruiters compare 90+% of resumes against a candidate’s LinkedIn profile to gain a better understanding of the potential candidate.
There are many statistical accomplishments that help recruiters and hiring managers feel more comfortable with potential candidates. Statistical items such as dollars saved, percent better, productivity increase, staffing optimization, and sales increase. The truly important ones should have a problem, solution and result statement wrapped around them.
214 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Getting these three right should increase your LinkedIn page views. Increasing your page views is a component in your LinkedIn ranking. In the end, showing up on the first few pages of a LinkedIn search dramatically increases your odds of being seen by a recruiter.
Happy Hunting!
Don Wittman ranked in the top 1% in LinkedIn search for five years and he built a uniquely structured, Job Pull Strategy System. As a former CTO, Don’s expertise in technology allowed him to customize a learning system for LinkedIn end-users to leverage their profile to attract employers, HR professionals, and recruiters. www.wittmantechnology.com
215 Customer Experience is the Art of Observation MEENA BERRY
Being hearing impaired for most of my life, I’ve always acutely been aware of my surroundings to help me perceive a situation without relying on sound. Noticing body language, feeling the energy or ambience of a person or place has enabled me to tune in and observe how businesses fail or succeed at delivering the ultimate client experience. The art of observation is critical to improving your client experience; to walk through your business as a customer for the first time will open new insights and unlock new opportunities to engage your clients and win more business.
In my work as a consultant to accounting firms, I’ve been aware of the challenges professional service firms face in delivering the ultimate client experience for advisory services, which can be one of the most complex of things a client requires to run their business effectively. To begin with, it doesn’t help that the advice offering of the financial services can be confusing, riddled with jargon; as clients, we’re often not quite clear about the actual work process involved.
Clients at a bare minimum are buying trust, reliability and reward from an advice offering. Trust and reliability are essential ingredients of a professional advisor relationship. But how is reward measured from a client’s point of view? In the case of accounting services, is it all just about the monetary tax refund?
What would clients value as a rewarding trusted advisor relationship? For me, as a business owner when I ran a busy cafe in inner-city Sydney, I would be willing to pay a premium for new ideas, insights and pathways for growth that I had never before considered. To have an advisor be my best business coach and help me achieve my goals, watch my back when I face roadblocks and boost me to reach new heights. This would be an inspiring and invigorating relationship.
The focus on understanding what makes your clients tick is vital for all
216 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 customer-facing businesses. It all starts with an intimate understanding of your customer experience journey. Here are five simple ways to improve this in your business.
Observe the small stuff
Sometimes it’s the ambience, the energy of the staff who greet you at the counter, or the coffee you get served while you are waiting. Most definitely the new clients who are having their first virgin experience of your business will be absorbing everything you do. Walk through your foyer as if it was the first time; if it’s a virtual business, view your website as if you are completely unaware of the offering. The extra care factor, to make sure they are more than satisfied, is what makes you stand out from the pack. Just think like it’s their first time; it has to be unforgettable in the most delightful way!
Humanizing communication in a digital world
In an increasingly digital world, it is now more important than ever to humanize the client experience. To evoke emotions that best match your service offering. Are people buying trust from their accountant or peace of mind from their insurance provider or reinvigorating memories of a family roast dinner from yesteryears from their local restaurant? You have to take your clients to that special place in their hearts and mind that reflects these qualities. Communication plays a big part in this process, especially in professional services. It’s important to demonstrate the softer skills of humanizing your service offering, making sure it’s easy to understand and that your staff take the time to not assume that a client knows your specialty.
Feedback Matters
But what is that sweet spot that makes you special in the eyes of your customer? Get your staff to write down your client’s feedback each time and keep an inventory of the words they use, the statements they say. Ask them to best describe why they like your service/product. Client feedback is an important indicator when tweaking your brand strategy to help you do a SWOT analysis from a customer’s perspective; feedback is crucial. Also, make sure to get internal feedback from your staff on how they feel about the business. How staff feel about your business is extremely important and can be a neglected reason why businesses fail to satisfy their customers.
217 AUTHORS UNITE
Education empowers clients
Education is a way you can empower your clients and build customer loyalty. Some old school firms feel it may be giving away their trade secrets, whereas in the modern day business world, it is actually one of servicing your customers as today’s customer is informed and has choices, both locally and globally.
Chart your customer journey
Once you have pieced together the important elements of your customer journey, this needs to be communicated internally amongst the team so it gets infused into your work culture. It may be a good idea to create a Customer Engagement Charter which outlines all the customer experience touchpoints your clients have with your firm and how each contact should be handled to deliver an awesome client experience. From an internal lens, this process may seem prescriptive in order for it to be consistent, but your clients should feel like it’s the most natural, holistic way of engagement.
With fifteen years’ experience in the IT industry, Meena has worked in sales consulting roles for leading global technology vendors. Over the last eight years, she has been assisting hundreds of advisory firms to leverage best of breed fin-tech apps to deliver a more relevant advice offering for business and individual clients. Meena is passionate about growing businesses, connecting people and resourcing solutions that utilize cloud technology to accelerate growth.
218 Section Two: The Journey Within
Adjusting the Sails and Leaning into the Magic ANDREA EYGENRAAM
“A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are built for.” ~ John A. Shedd.
Life is certainly an interesting journey when you dare to put yourself out there. It is full of leaps and lessons and it is how you choose to look at them that make all the difference. A while back, I became a Certified Life & Business coach, and shortly after, a Reiki Energy practitioner. Not knowing how I could do both had been a dichotomy that paralyzed my practice for quite some time. As I put myself out there and got out of my own way, small ideas to merge the metaphysical into my standard coaching practice were revealed. My journey has also included realizing a thirty-plus-year dream of being a published author multiple times over, as well as speaking on stages where I never would have thought I’d have the confidence. Dreams really can come true, and here’s a few of the lessons my leaps have taught me.
Know what your passion is and authentically share that with everyone you come in contact with.
It all starts with what you love. When you put your passion into all you are involved in, others will “catch” it and feel passionate about it as well. When this happens, everything you need to move your vision and dream forward will be easier. Often, I’ll be deep into explaining something I’m doing to someone, and I’ll realize I’ve been carrying on a while; but due to my enthusiasm, they’ve been listening with such intensity and haven’t even noticed the time pass. That’s when you know you have something good.
219 AUTHORS UNITE
Know why you are doing the things you are doing, and let it lead you when the speed bumps are often and the path is unclear.
My mission is to help people feel important and live an inspired life. I have helped hundreds of people through my communications work, and since I’ve been open to it, I have learned many lessons along the way. When I keep in mind “why” I want to do this, speed bumps become easier to manage, and fewer and farther between. I’m also able to adjust my path and stay focused on the end result. Often, the path to get there isn’t the path I’ve thought. It’s not the specific path that’s important, it’s why I’m wanting to do this in the first place that is the key ingredient to success.
Know you can put yourself out there before you’re ready and adjust things as you go; you do not have to get this life thing figured out all at once.
“You can’t edit a blank page” applies for everything. No matter what I’m doing, I put myself out there as best I can, knowing I will assess and adjust as I go. You truly can’t perfect something without putting it out for feedback. When you trust that it will be a leap or a lesson, magic is free to find its way through your dream. Since hanging up my perfectionist control freak cap, life has flowed much easier.
Know when to get out of your own way, and let things happen as they will.
Following my goals has been a source of many doubts and fears along the way. When money was tight and the options seemed to be exhausted, I took comfort, knowing I’ve done all I can. When I focus on my “why” of helping people, I see miracles happening every day and know why I keep going.
Know when to stop chasing a direction that’s not working.
The times I’ve struggled most were when I was insisting that things go one way, when everything was blocking, fouling up and pushing me another way. When I stopped obsessing on the how and listened to the quiet nudges, the direction became clear. There are still speedbumps along the way, but not full detours. I may not always know two steps ahead but if I listen and trust, the next step will be revealed.
220 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Know you don’t know everything; sometimes you must ask for help, and figure out who to look to for guidance or inspiration.
You will not get it perfect from the start. Sometimes you need to let the reins go. I’ve realized there are some skills I simply do not have for running a business, so I’ve reached out to people who can teach me, or for the more complex ones, I’ve hired them to take care of those tasks for me. Realizing I can’t do it all has been incredibly freeing, and helped my creativity flourish in all the other areas.
Know when to trust yourself and your inner guide.
Maintaining a balance of gratitude, routines, self-care and creative work has really been the key to listening to my intuition and thriving. Honoring myself has helped me to trust my inner guide and realize paths that aren’t in sync with my vision and values much sooner. It has also helped me to assess the help I’ve received from others, and know what to implement and what to leave.
Know the world needs what you have to offer.
Often, I’ve felt paralyzed, feeling “the same as all the rest,” but when I trust in my unique voice and creativity, I realize there are many in the world that need what I have to offer. No one has the same experiences or perspective on life as me, and when I’m able to share that with others, they can take what they need from it to help shape their lives. As a community, we can get much farther in life. Every voice is important. Know you would not be given the dream if you weren’t capable of doing something with it.
Know that life is magical when you let it be
Since I was three years old, I have known I would be a published author. The many things that side-tracked me along the journey have now become an abundant source of how I can connect with others through writing, speaking and coaching. When you can lean into the magic of life and adjust the sails as you go, dreams really can come true, even if they don’t always look how you thought they would or how you planned.
Andrea Eygenraam. MyInspiredCommunications.com
221 Will You Have A Story To Tell? CELENE DI STASIO
“We don’t only tell stories when we set out to tell stories; our memory tells us stories. That is, what we get to keep from our experiences is a story.” ~ Daniel Kahneman
If you own a business, have managed one, or are a budding entrepreneur, you know how tough it can be to get others to see your vision, passion, and impact you want to have on your organization. There are the days when you feel alone; you were the unpopular opinion in the meeting or the person who stepped “out of line.” I’m here to tell you, that’s OK; you are not alone! In fact I have a perseverance checklist I personally use to help push through the hard times, stay focused, and get to the end goal.
The interesting part about the list is that it is based around storytelling. My thought process is to make all tough decisions, tough life events, story- worthy; if they’re not worth talking about later, they weren’t that big in the first place! It helps you quantify what deserves your attention and helps you move past the small stuff.
When I decided to move to the US from Italy, I had a dream. I was young, optimistic, and ready for whatever this new country could throw at me. I had lived and visited many places across the world, learned to speak three languages, and worked in industries from fashion to sailing. This was going to be easy.
Once I arrived, I never felt so crushed in my life. I sent out many résumés only to hear nothing or the dreaded “we appreciate your application and will get back to you.” Yeah right. I remember going home; I felt so small. I felt alone. My confidence had been eroded. I had people close to me suggesting I return to Italy, others telling me to give up.
During this time, I was still networking as much as I could, mostly out of necessity. I ended up at a private National Geographic event. There, I spoke
222 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 with creatives from all around the world, with much harder struggles than I: a man from Africa who survived being raided in his home village, a girl from Colombia whose family had escaped the cartel, a boy who had created an organization to help refugees. They were all so happy, so kind. I couldn’t help but be inspired. I tried to weave a common thread on how they endured and then prospered from such hardships. It seemed like they were all great storytellers, turning each challenging moment into a memorable and motivating story.
I wanted to try it. I decided to outline my current life issues and bring them into my newly created “Story Maker.” To my surprise, as I wrote my issues down and talked them out loud, I was able to view them from a different perspective; I could see everything in a positive light with a clearer path to what I wanted to make happen.
For an example to follow, I want to use one of the most exciting, and at the time, most scary moments of my career: quitting my job to be an entrepreneur!
My issue at the time was that I was at an organization I felt stuck at; my boss was treating me poorly as I missed deadlines in a role I didn’t want to be in. I had moved up the ladder of success but the next rungs were far from reach. I had been thinking of starting my own company with someone I met. I took this issue to my checklist.
Have I talked about it and was it compelling?
I started to ask my friends and strangers at events: would they be interested in working together if I was on my own? I started to pitch our media company’s offerings and, to my surprise, they said they would be interested.
What will I lose vs win?
Here I made a list of what would happen if I stayed versus left to be on my own.
Will I feel better by trying this?
I asked what would make me happier: facing the unknown or going back to what I already am comfortable with even if it meant settling for less.
223 AUTHORS UNITE
What will I learn by doing this?
I made a list of what I was currently learning and what I would learn by going the new path.
Who will benefit by my actions?
Here I broke down who I was currently helping every day, with whom I would soon be helping, with whom I wanted to help.
Will this make a great story to tell after?
After listing everything out, I would read an ideal scenario to myself. Would that story inspire others or put them to sleep? Once you read solutions out loud it makes the process pretty simple. If you don’t inspire yourself to act, then you know you need to rework a solution until you can confidently own your desired narrative.
Using the above facts, I confidently decided to quit my job, giving up benefits and a generous predictable salary. On the same day, I collected my last bits of paperwork, said goodbye, and turned in my ID, I was boarding a plane to start a film project in the Dominican Republic, smiling and ready for my next life adventure . . . with a great story to tell of how I got there!
Celene Di Stasio. DC Visionaries
224 Inspirational Leadership KATHY SITTNICK
“A Leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way” ~ John C. Maxwell
There is a big difference between leading and managing. Most of us learn the “old school” way of managing from those who came before us.
I made the mistake. As a new manager, I thought that my role was to tell people what to do. I was in charge and they were my employees. Much like parenting, we learn our manager styles from those we have encountered throughout our work experience. However, I quickly realized that it wasn’t going as well as I thought it should. It seemed like I was constantly having to call people into my office and handle conflicts. The workplace environment was very heavy and none of us wanted to be there. It was painful.
I knew there had to be a better way. I started to study leadership styles and it didn’t take long to realize that leading and managing are two different things. My turning point was a conference where I heard Christopher Peterson, PhD., who is one of the founders of Positive Psychology. He spoke about a positive workplace and how happy people were much more productive than unhappy people. I was hooked. During the next couple of years, I took classes on leadership and conflict management and practiced them in my own career. I took a look at people I admired and how they treated those who worked with them. I made a list of things my previous bosses had done that upset me and those that had inspired me. My style started to change and I found ways that I could be an inspiration to those who were on my team and give them ownership in the processes and projects that we were doing. A big piece of this was letting go of the need for the credit. We all as people like to feel that we are important in life. Have you ever worked for someone who took all the credit for a project the whole team worked on? In fact, sometimes they really didn’t do anything at all. It feels horrible. I realized the language I used was very important to building my team and leading as opposed to managing and bossing people around.
225 AUTHORS UNITE
Building a team environment requires you to check your ego at the door. Giving your team ownership in the process means that they will feel involved in the success or failure of a project. Suddenly you aren’t spending your time looking to make sure people are doing their job and can spend more time on big picture items.
My journey took me to me a job I had only dreamed about before. Due to the success I had in other areas, I became the administrative director of a large department at the University of Michigan. I had a management team and fifty staff members to oversee and a department that was in need of direction. There were conflicts and a lack of trust between the administrative areas. I had to bring all my lessons together to get the ship on track.
1. I met with each and every staff member to hear what they liked and didn’t like about their position and how the department operated. This was vital to providing a bird’s-eye view of where the issues in the department were.
2. I developed a leadership council of all the management to discuss our goals in a big picture way. This allowed them to be part of developing the direction our department was taking and feeling ownership of their part of the process.
3. Our leadership council developed ways to honor and recognize achievements and behaviors that we knew would aid us in our success.
4. We held team meetings and always had some sort of activity that required staff from different areas to interact with each other.
5. We changed the culture of management being “closed door” to “open door” to build trust between staff and management.
My leadership council was able to change the culture of our department and ultimately lead to a positive work experience for all.
Sick days went down.
Projects were completed quickly and successfully.
226 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
People would rush to bid on open jobs in our department because they had heard about how “great” it was to work there.
And probably the best part of this was that the person who had first inspired my change, Christopher Peterson, PhD., was a faculty member of this department and he became my friend. He ultimately passed away shortly after I joined the department, but right before his passing, he told me that he thought I had performed miracles in building the morale in the workplace. It was the ultimate compliment.
Kathy Sittnick worked at The University of Michigan in many roles ending as the Department Administrator for the Department of Psychology. She now lives in California with her new husband and works as a life coach and volunteers at various organizations. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-sittnick-0366a511/
227 The Power of Persistence PAUL BRODIE
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” ~ Calvin Coolidge
The greatest strength we have is the power of persistence. Persistence is how I graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management in ten years. My mantra was “Yes you can, ten-year plan.” There was no way I could have graduated without persistence and never giving up.
It took drive, hard work, and persistence to get my first degree and it was a long process. During my senior of college, I probably slept three hours a night as I went to school full-time that year and worked full-time, but I persisted. I ended up graduating college debt-free and it was great to not have any college debt as I went to school part-time until senior year and worked full-time.
Four years later, when I left the corporate world to become a teacher, I was presented with an opportunity to go back to school and get a Master’s Degree in teaching. This was during my first year as a teacher and teaching full-time at two campuses. I persisted and two years later received my Master’s Degree and graduated with a 3.90 grade point average.
In 2015, I decided to finally write my first book. It was about my struggle with weight and how I lost over sixty pounds and kept most of the weight off. How did I lose the weight? Through persistence and never giving up.
I wrote the book, called Eat Less and Move More within three days and one month later, it became my first of eight bestselling books. My average work week between teaching my students, coaching my clients, and writing and publishing books was around eighty to ninety hours a week from 2015-2017. I got through that hectic schedule through hard work and persistence. During
228 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 that time, I utilized both my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and Master’s Degree in Teaching to build both of my companies. Having both degrees was a great way to combine what I wanted to focus on in the future.
In June 2017, I left my teaching position to focus primarily on both my companies. My first company is called BrodieEDU, which is my IP – Intellectual Property and content from my professional speaking and online courses. Brodie Consulting Group is my second company and focuses on helping aspiring and current authors publish and market their books to bestselling status in the next ninety days through a group coaching program. My group coaching program is called the Book Publishing for Authors Implementation Program. The program is ten weeks long and has ten video modules and includes five live group coaching video calls with me.
For more information about the book publishing course, I invite you to sign up for my free book publishing webinar at http://www.onlinemeetingnow. com/register/?id=lrcmzxh7qg
There is nothing better than being your own boss, setting your own hours, and having the freedom to work anywhere in the world if you have a laptop and internet connection. Being your own boss and running your own successful business takes a lot of hard work, planning, and especially persistence.
I accomplished this by writing and publishing my books as it helped skyrocket my business where I could leave teaching and focus on taking my businesses to the next level. If you are a business owner and want to become an authority in your niche and have opportunities to do public speaking and coaching, then having your own book is potentially life changing.
What are you willing to invest to potentially change your life?
The greatest advice I can give you in both your personal and business career is to never give up and utilize the power of persistence. I look forward to hearing about your success.
Cheers,
Paul Brodie, CEO and Book Publishing Coach, Brodie Consulting Group. Brodie@ BrodieConsultingGroup.com
229 Your Cheque’s in the Mail, and so is Your Confidence: Courage and confidence never arrive at the same time in business DREW BROWNE
Courage has always been an interesting character trait to me and over time I’ve decided that it’s not a trait; it’s a learnable skill. This scarce and most necessary of all human abilities is essential for anyone in business seeking to be anything but average.
For over fifteen years, I’ve worked in business financial advice helping simplify complexities so my clients can lead bigger lives and ultimately become better versions of themselves. The older I get, the more I realize there isn’t much left worthy to be afraid of and the standard of what’s perfect continues to develop with knowledge and experience.
Regardless of this progression, what doesn’t evolve is courage. This elusive learnable skill seems to require recapture each day, through each major decision and each moment in business. So how do you become courageous? Where do you find your courage? And how does it relate to business life?
There’s a deep price to shallow thinking.
Any trip to the airport seems to bring with it a spare hour or two where I inevitably fall prey to the wiles of the airport bookshop. No business trip would feel right without a compulsory browse through the business section to advance my continuing quest to find what may be the missing link for my business and my team.
Each year there’s a plethora of new books vying for my attention and all touting the latest messages shouted at time-poor business owners like myself. The new best business method, the latest leadership framework and
230 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 the biting social commentary about whatever is wrong with whoever is the current generation of young people.
You can find Navy SEAL teams telling you all you need to succeed is battle strategy. There’s a host of former sporting stars all put out to pasture and suggesting you can win your game with their team approach. There’s a clutch of consultants with frameworks dodging standard deviations and for the people of faith, a monk or two and a promise my problems only exist if I think they do.
We’re all looking for the perfect book, the perfect panacea and the shortcut to happiness and a healthy profit-and-loss statement. If you can make it pain free, that’s a bonus.
Notable by its absence and conspicuous by its presence, the unmistakable missing piece for every business owner is courage. In business, courage isn’t a one-time event, but sadly we often tell our stories like it is.
We confuse courage with confidence.
In the same way we shy away from clarity because we equate it with brutality, the skill of applying courage is often misportrayed as a feeling of absolute certainty about the rightness of doing a particular task.
But that’s not courage; that’s confidence. Courage is not about confidence.
Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is a decision. It’s resistance to the paralyzing effect of fear and a decision to do the task anyway. You could say the main difference between courage and confidence is confidence always feels good where courage always feels uncomfortable; so get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Courage is an ageless choice to make.
One of the most courageous people I’ve met was a seven-year-old boy; I’ll call him David (not his real name). A long time ago in a legal career far, far away, I was acting for the Crown in a criminal case of child abuse and David was my witness.
Before he took the witness stand to tell his version of events, we had the
231 AUTHORS UNITE chance to chat privately together along with his foster parents. After reading through his written statement, I explained to him I already knew what had happened, but I needed him to help me tell how it happened.
Then I did something I still look back in disbelief about. I tucked my access- all-areas court security pass into the outside of his belt, to wear under his jumper, so when he was in the witness box, if he felt scared, he could simply place his hands on his waist and hold onto it. And he would know that I would know how he was feeling.
That afternoon, David stood up with courage and simply told the court what had happened, and how it happened, all the while with his hands confidently resting on his hips, and his left hand over my official security pass. He felt the fear; he decided not to let it stop him and he bravely spoke about something terrible to a courtroom full of strangers and me. David was undoubtedly courageous in the way that most inspires me.
So where do you find the confidence to be courageous in business?
Quite simply, you don’t.
The most interesting thing about confidence in business is it usually arrives late. Over time, I’ve found I can’t wait until I feel an overwhelming sense of confidence about my business decisions. The market will change; the opportunity will move and the windows may close all while I’m patiently waiting for my confidence to arrive.
When it comes to courage and confidence in business (and perhaps in dating too), courage arrives like the overnight express mail while confidence about your choices arrives surface mail. It’s late and usually gets mis-delivered, and then you actually have to go to the post office to pick it up on a weekend because there’s postage still owing on it and you have to pay the difference before the parcel is released to you.
The 3 step sequence when you need to decide to be courageous:
1. First you have to commit to the action you want to take. 2. Then ouy need to be willing to feel the fear regardless of that commitment. 3. Then ouy have to decide to be courageous so you can take action.
232 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Afterwards, you will have to wait for the emotional mail to arrive with your confidence. (And be prepared for it to arrive late every single time, if at all.) There will always be pain in business; whether it’s the pain of regret or the pain of discipline. So ask yourself this question:
“What would I be doing in my business now, if I decided to acknowledge the fear but chose to be courageous anyway?”
Drew Browne is an award-winning author, speaker and financial adviser who’s specialises in helping small and medium business owners and their families protect themselves from their business. He is known as the financial adviser who believes financial advice isn’t just about money but managing complexity. His company can be found at sapience.com.au
233 You Can’t Control Fate MATTHEW CLAIBORNE
People have high expectations for themselves and their future plans. People are constantly planning for the future, whether in a corporate setting or in their personal lives. Yet this control of the future is an illusion. People can make an educated guess regarding the future; there is an entire profession based off of predicting the future impact of business versus the market (actuary). However, you cannot control the future. My company cannot control the variance in raw material prices based on market demand, the actions of foreign governments, or current global events that may drive up or reduce pricing.
The key is not trying to control events, but rather to respond effectively to these changes. I experienced this lesson first hand. I set myself on the path to go into the legal profession during my senior year of high school. I worked my way through college and took the LSAT. I wasn’t accepted to the number-one school I wanted to attend (which was the same school where I obtained my undergraduate degree), but I was accepted into a good law school.
Skip forward to my graduation in 2009; I had no job opportunities and I still had the bar exam looming. I made a couple of mistakes, which delayed the process and hurt my chances in the market. I did not fill out all of the required parts of the paperwork which prevented me from taking the summer exam. I proceeded to take the fall exam and failed to pass all of the required essays. During these waiting periods, I wasn’t idle. I worked a wide range of jobs to support myself, including temporary legal document projects, substitute teaching at public schools, and a short stint providing customer service support for the issuance of state permits to truck drivers.
At the time, I felt that my efforts were wasted and I was constantly depressed. I had no control over the events laid out before me. The situation did not improve after I passed the bar exam. I was able to obtain a temporary position working for a corporate legal department. I initially thought that the prestige of working at a large company for their legal department would open new
234 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 doors to me, but I still could not obtain the cherished full-time attorney position I desired. I considered striking out on my own. However, I felt I did not have the experience or capital necessary to be successful in this endeavor.
My career path changed with one call. I had a college friend who worked as a contract administrator for a large company. On this call, he used his economic background to illustrate a point regarding the basic economic model of “supply and demand.” Similar to everyone else, I was subject to the economic law of supply and demand. I do not need to write about the state of the legal profession after 2008; there have been plenty of articles in the news. My friend pointedly encouraged me to follow the demand and explore opportunities with the growing field of procurement.
Although there were no lawyers in my family, I had a family member who was in the procurement profession. My mother was very successful in procurement at her company and was also a great resource for introducing me to the profession. Before I applied for a job, I read articles on procurement and even borrowed and read an entire book about negotiations authored by Professor Karass. It was less than two weeks of searching before I received multiple job interviews and less than two months before I accepted a position in procurement.
Procurement has provided me with an enriching career. I have experienced a growth in my knowledge and maturity that I may not have experienced on my previous path. It opened my eyes to see the world, notably business, in a different light. I still use my law license, at times, to help close friends or family with items. I have an advantage over most attorneys in the fact that I can pick and choose my clientele. I did not initially envision procurement as my profession but I am happy and I am growing in my current occupation.
Life steered me in an interesting direction. It was not a path I expected, but it has worked out. Of course, you can always find stories of people who are more successful and who appear more blessed by fate. Yet, you can also see examples of people who faced greater hardships. There is truth behind the typical business axioms which are spread throughout this book and many other writings. If you are persistent, hard-working, confident and positive, you will succeed. The key is to not give up and to not feel sorry for yourself.
If you ever feel depressed about what fate has handed you, look at others
235 AUTHORS UNITE around you. As easy as it can be to find someone more blessed than you, it is even easier to find someone who is worse off than you. I had a grandfather who was abandoned by his father at the age of 15 and faced starvation. At one point, it was so rough that my grandfather had to hunt for his own food. He always bought my mom shoes for Christmas because he lacked shoes as a child. Our ancestors faced unimaginable hardships and yet they persevered. Many Americans today face hardships as well. No matter what fate has thrown at you, you can always find someone who is facing worse circumstances. You must maintain hope in the future and press forward. The world is full of successful opportunists who rose from nothing. You can’t control fate, but you can control how you respond to it.
Matthew Claiborne is currently employed in the Corporate Procurement Department at Bridgestone Americas. Matthew is married and lives with his family in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Outside of work, Matthew is active in Free Masonry, church, and local charitable organizations based in Nashville. Matthew also enjoys writing and has published the book Zargon: The Coming Darkness on Amazon Kindle. You can download the first of the three books on Amazon Kindle from the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Zargon-Coming-Darkness- Matthew-Claiborne-ebook/dp/B01F9K52EO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=15031 51973&sr=8-1&keywords=zargon
236 Think About What You Are Thinking About HANNAH CRUZ
“Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, actions lead to results.” ~ T. Harv Ecker
Think about what you are thinking about. I know; that sounds kind of oxymoronic, but it’s a thing. How do I think about what I am thinking about? Great question! First, get quiet enough with yourself to realize that you are thinking constantly and it is possible to be an observer of your thoughts. This will take practice, but it is one of the most valuable self-discipline tools I have adopted in my personal and professional life.
Thinking about what you are thinking about is one of the first steps of becoming self-aware, which will in turn give you a whole new lease on life! When you become a master of your thought life, you realize that these fleeting little imaginations are more powerful than you first thought. Your thoughts have the ability to conjure up emotions within you that cause actions to occur. Your mind is the greatest magic genie bottle ever created! Your thoughts create the emotions that you experience, which cause you to act.
Let’s test this theory: Think about the happiest time you can remember. It may be the birth of a child, your wedding day, the day you graduated college. What emotions are you experiencing now? Euphoria? Are you giggling? Is there a smile on your face? Did you intentionally think about and cause these reactions or are they natural and unconscious reactions to your thoughts? The thoughts you allow to take up space in your imagination are actually creating fuel for your next action.
What do you spend your day thinking about? Are you always stressed, thinking about all the problems you have to manage? Are you generally carefree, spending time daydreaming and fantasizing about the things you wish to accomplish? Why is this so important? Well, if you realize that your thoughts cause emotions, and your emotions stimulate actions, and your actions create your habits, and your habits build your character,
237 AUTHORS UNITE and your character sets the course for your destiny, then you may be more inclined to think about what you are thinking about!
Let’s reverse engineer this for a minute. What do you want out of life, your career, family life, future? That is the big question that you are asked at many points in your timeline. Why do you wake up every day, go to work, and support a lifestyle? Do you work just to pay bills and take two vacations a year? Are you investing twenty-five-plus years in a career with high hopes of someday retiring? Are you happy and satisfied with your everyday life? Are what you desire and your outside life aligned together? Are you living in the dream of what you want right now? Think about it! What do you want, really want out of life? The American Dream dictates that you must graduate high school, go to college and get a degree, enter corporate America, work for someone else for twenty-five-plus years, then retire with a few worn-out years of old age left to enjoy. But that whole time you are striving, are you happy?
If you could pick up the next pen you see and write the exact story of the life you always imagined, with everything you always wanted–the house, car, vacations, etc.–what would it look like? Hot spouse, fast car, big house, vacations? Take a few minutes, put this book down, and actually get real with yourself on an honest level and daydream for a minute. What does your ideal life look like? Now, notice what you are experiencing on an emotional level as you are imagining these things. Are you invigorated? Do you feel happy? Are you inspired? Now realize this: you cannot always control your first thought, but you can control your second thought. Part of becoming self-aware and exercising the habit of thinking about what you are thinking about requires that you realize that you still have an impulsive nature and sometimes you cannot control what crosses your mind. Knowing this, once you realize this is true, you are able to slow down the reaction between thinking and speaking and become more intentional with your words and other ways you outwardly express your thought life.
When I realized the power of this practice, I had an intense desire to step it up a few notches and hack the thought pattern system, and I did! Since we know that thoughts become things, I asked myself how to “install” some super powerful thoughts and watch the manifestation of “what goes in, must come out!” Thoughts start out as whatever we desire to create in our imagination. The imaginations we hold cause emotions inside us, turning a non-tangible thought into a physical experience. That physical experience has enough
238 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 power in it to cause a manifestation of an action that could actually move you a step closer to the dream you desire. Taking one small step every day for twenty days will cause you to be twenty steps closer to what you imagined.
Here’s the kicker: you have the ability to program your thoughts with positive and empowering thoughts that will manifest into anything your heart desires! The day I realized I could hack the thoughts-become- things system, I searched for positive “installs” for my brain, and I found a very powerful program that changed my life! Actually, it found me. The day I made a mental commitment to myself that I would only allow positive thoughts, words, and energy to radiate from me, I realized that it was going to be hard without help. That same day, NeuroGym manifested into my life. I was so drawn to it that I had to explore the programs for myself! I invested in myself and my business by taking a leap of faith and bought the Winning the Game of Money program. That day, everything changed.
Hannah Cruz is a Life Coach, Author, and entrepreneur living in Tampa, FL. Her professional experience takes her into the world of Real Estate but her true passion lies in coaching and mentoring through Freedom On The Inside, International. With an education and psychology background, her desire is to bring enlightenment and self-awareness along with the human connection in everyday life. www.facebook. com/HannahCruzTampaBay
239 Transition: Professional Athlete to Small Business Owner RICH AURILIA
After playing Major League Baseball for almost fifteen years, the question I am asked the most is, “Do you miss playing?” The quick answer to that question is, “Of course I do.” The more in-depth answer is, “Yes, I do miss playing the game; but, the reality of it is that I miss parts of it.” I realize that as an athlete there comes a time when your physical ability just starts to deteriorate and your performance is not what it once was. Until the end, I always thought I could still play to a certain level. If you ask most athletes, I’m sure most would say the same. But, once retired, I can admit that I couldn’t do it at the same intensity anymore.
So, what happens next? Do I go into coaching? Do I take some time off and then decide? Do I golf myself into the ground for the rest of my life? I am not the type of person that just likes to sit around and do nothing. I need something to physically keep me going, something to mentally keep me going.
In 2007, when signing back with the San Francisco Giants, I met my new teammate, Dave Roberts. We had played against each other for years in the heated Giants-Dodger rivalry. What we came to learn the first day we actually met is that we were both crazy wine lovers. Playing eleven of my fifteen years in San Francisco, how couldn’t I be with it only being an hour’s drive north to Napa and Sonoma?
Fast forward over a year and Dave unfortunately had to step away from the game due to injury. A few weeks later, Dave called me and said that he wanted to do something in the wine industry. I didn’t even know if he was asking me but I said, “I’m In!!!!” After a few different ideas, we came up with a grand idea. Let’s start our own label, make our own wine. So, with another one of our friends, John Micek, and our families, we started Red Stitch Wine. Our first vintage, 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 150 cases; that’s it.
240 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
The questions I posed to myself were endless. What do we know about the industry? How can we run a business? How am I involved if I am still stepping in the batter’s box on an everyday basis? We were just wine drinkers and lovers, now what?
Reaching out to friends we had in the industry, we were able to get going slowly, but on the correct path. We learned quickly that the best way for us to proceed was slowly. So that’s what we did. The easiest way to lose a bunch of money in the wine industry is to start on a huge scale and hope to catch up down the road. Most start-up wineries are gone within a few years.
I started trying to compare how baseball and owning a winery were similar. Every year would start a new season that would always be unpredictable. Well, that kind of holds true with winemaking because every vintage is different based off of Mother Nature. Each year I would play, I would try to do something better than the year before. With wine, we try to outdo our vintage from the year before. The most important thing that I came up with is this: remember to always be coachable and learn. I didn’t get to where I was playing baseball because of natural or raw talent. It was a day in, day out experience that I had to learn something new all the time. This was done with the help of coaches, managers and friends. I could most definitely carry that thought process over into my new career. I would be crazy not to. With all the friends we had made in the wine industry, we had a whole coaching staff in front of us to help get us to the next level.
When I talk to my sons, Chaz (16) and Gavin (14), I try to reiterate this thought to them: Just when you think you have it all learned or figured out, there is something new that comes along that you will need to know. In reality, we are all kids through our whole life. Yeah, we may be a bit older and a bit wiser, but there is always more to learn and people to learn from.
I was very fortunate to have a fifteen-year playing career in Major League Baseball. It had been a dream since I was a child playing in the streets in Brooklyn, New York. A better descriptor is that it was a passion. We all know if we have a passion for something, it makes us work harder, longer and greater than if we didn’t love it. I have found that my post-baseball career in the wine industry also gives me a great passion. It may not be the same type of physical and competitive passion as baseball, but man, do I LOVE IT!!!
241 AUTHORS UNITE
Rich Aurilia is a former All-Star Major League Shortstop for the San Francisco Giants. He also played for the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres. Rich is currently an analyst for the Giants on NBC Sports Bay Area. He lives in Phoenix with his wife Amy and sons, Chaz and Gavin. Wine can be found at WWW.Redstitchwine.com
242 Using Your Intuition To Transform Your Business SARAH RENEE
The biggest game changer in my business has been learning to rely on my intuition, even when it’s not always logical or easy. You would think being a professional psychic medium, healer, teacher, and ordained minister that wouldn’t be an issue; but as an entrepreneur starting out, it was extremely hard for me to trust my inner voice.
When I first began doing healing work and readings as an actual business and not just a hobby, I was studying marketing, learning from all of the successful entrepreneurs around me, going to workshops, networking events, and implementing it all. I found myself in this constant struggle to maintain consistency in my income, and couldn’t seem to get to the point of taking the leap and leaving my part-time job. I was working non-stop, trying everything imaginable; I had great clients, great feedback from clients, referrals, but I still struggled to stay in the flow of abundance.
Finally, I started getting strong guidance to implement my spiritual tools in ALL areas of my business, instead of just during client sessions. It was a huge “aha” moment for me, and that was the turning point of everything. I was able to leave my day job and make this my full time gig. I’m doing what I love, and even though I have a lot going on, I don’t feel overwhelmed or fearful because I’m finally able to stay in the flow. Everyone has an inner voice, or gut feeling, also known as your intuition; and in my experience, trusting that feeling over logic is extremely beneficial every single time. So I decided to put together the top four ways I incorporate using my intuition into the daily operation of my business.
I always listen to my gut on what to implement.
Even if someone is absolutely brilliant and giving me advice, if it feels off or not aligned with my brand, I don’t put it into practice. I love learning new things, so I can easily overwhelm myself with ideas and projects. Now, my practice is writing down a list of ideas I’ve heard, taking that list into
243 AUTHORS UNITE meditation, and then after about five minutes of breathing, I open my eyes and ask my Angels and Guides to direct me to what would be most aligned with the highest good of my business, my clients, and myself. Usually, I’ll feel called to circle a few things, and then that’s where I focus my energy.
Having a connection works better than a sales pitch.
When it comes to sharing what I do with people at events, or even out and about at cafes and other places, I have found that having a sales pitch or specific line doesn’t work for the type of clients I attract. I do deep, emotional work with people, so they have to feel a genuine connection with me if they’re ever going to book a session. I started asking my Angels and Guides to help direct my words and speak through me in all of my interactions, and to allow me to share in a way that helps people right in that moment. I was shocked to find that this little prayer is actually quite profound, and the things I find myself saying to people throughout the day are so clearly a higher consciousness speaking through me sometimes that I’m amazed. I also find that sharing with people from this place actually weeds out the ones that maybe wouldn’t fully benefit from my services, and attracts the people that this work will have the most powerful impact on. So it’s a win for everyone.
Learn to say no.
When I started out, I was constantly going out to events, meeting people, networking, joining things. It was exhausting! I learned to start taking everything to meditation before committing to showing up. From that clear space, I’m able to discern what’s truly aligned with me and my purpose, and say yes to those opportunities. Saying no also allows me to conserve my energy and practice a lot of self-care, which allows me to serve a much larger clientele. So I would also add onto this one by saying no to things that aren’t aligned with your truth, AND begin some self-care routines that help you restore your energy each day so that you can show up as your best self.
Never be afraid to ask for assistance.
Last but not least, and probably the most powerful tool out of all of these, I ask my Angels and Guides for help with specific tasks. Our spiritual team can’t intervene unless we give them permission, due to free will, so it’s important that we ask them for help regularly. In business, I like to make a
244 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 list of things to do; on one half of the list, I’ll write my things to do, and then I give my “team” their things to do on the other half. I started telling them the exact number of clients I needed each week, and then I wouldn’t worry about me trying to book those clients. I’d just work on serving the best I could, putting content out and being open, and they started delivering the exact number I would ask for, every time. And when I asked for more than I could handle, I’d literally get a feeling of, “You’re not ready for that. But we can start here.” So I trusted that and asked them to help me become ready for the number I had asked for originally. Now I’ve passed that number and have other projects going on. I also said I wanted to teach and. during meditation, I started getting ideas for classes, just flowing in effortlessly. Communicate with your Angels and Guides, and then listen. They will always answer you and they will always provide.
I hope these tools help you as much as they’ve helped me! I encourage you to modify these in any way needed so that they resonate for you. Trust that if you have an idea in your heart, it was put there for a reason.
Sarah Renee is a professional psychic medium, healer, teacher, and ordained minister. She helps people by connecting with their loved ones who have passed away, and/or the Guides and Angels, in order to deliver messages that bring closure, clarity, peace of mind, and purpose. She does readings in person, over the phone, or via Skype. Her website is http://healwithsarahrenee.com
245 Section Three: The Pace of Life
Saying “I Do” CONNIE PAK
If you’re getting started as an entrepreneur you’ll learn this, and if you’re an entrepreneur now, you know this. When it comes to being an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to risk it all! We’re talking sweat equity, working ten- to-fourteen hour days, investing all of your savings and retirement for your big idea, and having your mind constantly consumed with thoughts of how you’re going to build and grow your dream.
But I will say this:
Being an entrepreneur can also be a very lonely journey unless you have a partner to share the ups and downs with along the way. I want to tell a little more about my perfect partner and the crazy journey we’ve taken to create the career and lifestyle of our dreams. I didn’t have to look very far, really. It’s someone that has pissed me off like no one I’ve ever known, but who at the same time understands me better than I (sometimes) understand myself.
Any guesses?
Yes, it’s my husband, Jerry. We’re a husband-and-wife entrepreneur team, and, yes, we’ve heard everything from, “How can you work together? I would kill my husband (or wife) if we did,” to “You guys are a power couple!” We have been an entrepreneurial couple since 2010 and I will say we’ve grown more as entrepreneurs, as people, and as a couple more in these last seven years out of all the fifteen years we’ve been together.
Together, we’ve accomplished more than I ever thought possible. Today, I’m
246 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 my own boss; I make my own hours. I have diversified income streams so if I go on vacation, my business doesn’t grind to a complete halt. We’ve created something that is bigger than us, and that’s the coolest part!
However, just because it’s cool, doesn’t mean it’s always been easy. Building businesses from nothing, having moments where we were both so down and frustrated we could barely get out of bed, and struggling to pay the bills when neither of us had a stable income? This was not an easy journey!
I remember a specific time when I felt like giving up. We had an incident where some people broke into our newly renovated $1.2 million home we were renovating and flipping and turned on all the water faucets, flooding it the weekend we received an offer. These were the moments when my husband would go out of his way to lift me up. He came up with this stupid dance where he would make me point my finger up in the air, dance and say, “We’re moving and shaking!” He would say, “We can’t see it now but every day we are making progress and one day that progress will pay off.” Just imagine it: two grown people in the middle of their small home office dancing in a circle saying, “We’re moving and shaking!” It was so ridiculous and fun, it would always make me laugh afterwards, and I still laugh about it today. But those late night dance sessions were a huge part of our success together.
Now, you might think that this working partnership relationship just naturally falls into place, but it doesn’t. If you’re going to be an entrepreneurial power couple, you have to put some practical steps in place for success. That’s what we did from the beginning and it really helped us improve our marriage and working partnership.
Divide the roles and stay in those roles.
For some of our businesses, our roles overlapped. For example, when we were flipping houses (and that is when we fought the most) there was a lot of, “But I thought you were going to take care of that.” And let’s just say that conversation generally never ends well.
However, for other businesses like my Funnel Marketing Agency and his Prep and Ship Service Company, we are the CEO of our own respective companies. It was up to us to plan, strategize and execute, and if something didn’t happen, it was our own fault; there was no one else to blame. After we separated our
247 AUTHORS UNITE roles and even businesses, we discovered there was much less tension and life was much happier. It was great to be doing what we enjoy, but also to be able to see the other person grow in their role and support them as well.
Have respect for each other.
As entrepreneurs, we are both very strong-willed, opinionated, and “take charge” kind of people. So, it’s natural that we butt heads. When you have a mutual respect for what the other does and what they contribute, no matter what disagreement or mistake or issue that comes up, we know it can be resolved.
I can be pretty opinionated, especially on topics I’m very familiar with. Well, I was this way with accounting. I thought I was superior to Jerry in all things financial and accounting related, so any time he asked questions regarding accounting, I would respond with a very condescending attitude because in my mind I felt like this was my area of expertise and not his. I had a “Don’t worry about it; I have it handled” attitude, but what I’ve come to realize is that no, he doesn’t have a formal accounting background, but he actually has a pretty good perspective of how to approach accounting in a simplistic and unconventional way that will help forecast income and expenses. Ironically, now he oversees and has full control over all our household finances, and I love it!
Find your perfect place.
Some entrepreneurs have had one big idea or a dream for years, and that’s what they want to pursue. Not me. I would consider myself more of a serial entrepreneur. I have a lot of interests, including real estate, consulting, and e-commerce. I LOVE the idea of building something new! What I didn’t realize was that after the excitement wore off, I found myself feeling like I was stuck in a job for some of the businesses I wasn’t very passionate about. It wasn’t until I found the role that I love that I started to see myself really go to the next level as an entrepreneur.
As a controller at my corporate job, I was doing a lot of accounting and operations, so naturally, I fell into that role in our earlier businesses as real estate investors. Jerry was the sales and marketing person as the licensed Real Estate Agent/Broker, so he naturally fell into that role. Seven years later, it’s
248 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 turned out quite differently, and we embrace that! I love sales and marketing and Jerry loves growing our business by working behind the scenes.
It took us having a few businesses and going through some painful learning curves to get to where we are now, but my own personal realization is that as an entrepreneur at heart, I can easily be in a few different entrepreneurial roles and be content. But you’ll really start seeing exponential success when you find the perfect place. I’ve been able to do that, and now I absolutely LOVE what I do.
Entrepreneurship is more than just a job; it’s a passion. I love being able to share this passion with Jerry. When we said “I do” we knew we were starting a new journey as a married couple, but in 2010 when we went “all in,” we started another journey as an entrepreneur couple. So whether you chose to work with your spouse or someone else, I highly recommend finding that perfect partner. It will challenge you in every possible way, but together, you’ll be able to overcome everything!
Connie Pak is a Serial Entrepreneur who works closely with husband, Jerry, and together they’ve built five thriving companies ranging from Real Estate, Ecommerce, Marketing and Service Businesses. Connie and Jerry love the balanced lifestyle they were able to create for their family with their five-year-old son, Aidan and a second son on his way in 2017 by living the entrepreneurial dream. www.conniepak.com
249 The New Golden Rule HARRISON BONNER
Many of us have been taught to live by the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. In theory, this sounds great/ Most of us want to be treated nicely, with respect, fairly, and whichever other manners of treatment you deem desirable for yourself. However, the problem with this rule is exactly my last sentence: these are ways that YOU desire to be treated. And just because YOU desire to be treated a certain way, doesn’t mean that others want to be treated exactly the same. When interacting and communicating with someone, you must put their needs and desires before yours to become an effective communicator. The new Golden Rule of today is: treat others the way THEY want to be treated. In this chapter, I am going to share with you an experience in my own business that helped me understand this concept and explain how you can use the same philosophy to propel your business and overall life.
No matter what business you are in, treating others the way they want to be treated is an essential for attracting customers, building relationships within your industry, and creating healthier relationships in your personal life. For myself, I am a part owner in a real estate development company called CC Solutions, where we buy, renovate or build new, and sell property in and around Boston, Massachusetts. This means we interact with all sorts of parties involved in the process including sellers, contractors, attorneys, agents, buyers, and lenders. My role in the company is to manage our development projects directly, so this particular situation involves a relationship I had developed with a contractor that worked on several of our projects.
Like the majority of relationships within our business, especially with contractors, our goal is to develop long-term relationships with others so that we may be mutually beneficial to each other not just once, but for the foreseeable future. This was obviously the case with the subject contractor. At the time, the number of rehab projects we were working on was growing quickly and we were relatively new to the real estate rehabbing business (less than a year). As our projects were growing, so was the complexity of the
250 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 projects, so it made sense for us to look to hire a general contractor who could handle and manage our projects so that we could learn from their process and experience. After searching, interviewing, and hiring and firing a few along the way, we finally found and hired a contractor that seemed to be exactly what we were looking for. He was younger like us (we are all under thirty), seemed knowledgeable, and wanted big things for his business just like us. We knew the luxuries of a good general contractor from all the horror stories we had heard from other investors, so thinking that I had a good one locked up, I wanted this guy to enjoy working with us so that we could continue to bang out awesome projects!
Now, since I wanted this contractor to want to keep working with us, it made sense to abide by the Golden Rule and treat him the way I would want to be treated. Knowing myself and having done some self-analysis in the past by way of DISC assessment, I knew I was a dove. Dove is a metaphor for my personality type, essentially telling me that I was very much a team player, and I responded to being part of something bigger than myself, working together for the betterment of others and building something for the future. So naturally, I treated this contractor in ways that I would have responded well to. I kept preaching positive reinforcement and how we enjoyed working with him; enforcing that we wanted to continue working together in the future, and going out of my way to help him any way that I could. This all made sense to me because it was the way I wanted to be treated. Things seemed to be going well at first, but they eventually started to decline. The contractor was never hitting deadlines, started acting unprofessionally, and showed a lack of care for our projects and our relationship. Yet still, I kept treating him the way I wanted to be treated in order to be effective.
After a few months of things going downhill and the contractor STILL not responding to my positive reinforcement and “team” attitude, I knew there was something I could change. I just couldn’t figure out what. Then one night at a dinner with the sales trainer who actually introduced me to the DISC assessment, we were discussing treating people in the manner in which THEY respond, not how you respond. This obviously got me thinking about how I could more effectively communicate with our contractor to complete all of our end goals and finishing all the projects we were working on together. I thought about what type of personality the contractor had.
Very quickly I realized he was not a dove, like me. He never showed a
251 AUTHORS UNITE
“teamwork” attitude, or willingness to help anyone else. Rather, he always showed a more dominant and authoritative attitude, especially towards the subcontractors who worked for him. So I thought, “What if I treated him in the same way he treats his subordinates?” It was something that I was uncomfortable with, mainly because I knew that personally I would never respond well to that method of communication, but at this point I was willing to try anything to get the job done. So I did, whether it made him mad or not (it did). I started treating him like he worked for me. No more teamwork. No more going out of my way for him. No more positive reinforcement. And what do you know? It worked! Things started getting done when I said, and we were moving towards project completion.
Treating others the way they want to be treated as the new golden rule was something that I had heard before this point in my professional career. It just never fully clicked until I reflected on a situation where that was clearly present in my experience. Since I made a change in how I treated and communicated with this contractor, things have progressed well and I feel that he has begun to respect me more than he did before. This isn’t exactly a story with a happy ending. We decided well before I made this change that we were never going to work with this particular contractor again and nothing he’s done since then has changed that. Also, having to treat someone in this particular way to be effective is not sustainable long term for us, but it has taught me many lessons along the way about how to look for the right people to work with in our business, and how to communicate with others who respond and wish to be treated differently than I do. However, in terms of accomplishing what we needed to keep our business going, finishing our current rehab projects so that we can sell them and move on, we certainly turned a corner to finish them out. The right people are essential for your business, but you have to understand that everyone is different and is going to wish to be treated in their own way. Each has a certain method of communication to which they respond the most. The trick is to figure out what exactly it is they want and how to put their needs before yours.
Harrison Bonner, originally from North Carolina, now lives and owns a real estate development company in Boston, Massachusetts. Professionally, he loves working with communities and local leaders to continually improve neighborhoods and communities through real estate development. Personally, he enjoys traveling, skiing, hiking, great music, and spending time with those he loves most. He can be reached at [email protected] for questions, advice, or a quality conversation.
252 Never Work a Day in Your Life (How I Learned the Secret to Business Success Through Volunteering) CONSTANT LU, BS, DDS
Here’s a brief thought experiment: If you had zero financial concerns, what would you choose to do during your waking hours? After I had been a dentist with a solo practice for eight years, I’m not sure that I would have put dentistry as my answer.
Don’t get me wrong. I felt I was doing reasonably well. I had started my office from scratch, and it had grown each year. My practice and school loans were paid off and future indicators showed blue skies ahead. I was in good health, and married with a six-year-old son. Still, in the recesses of my spirit, I sensed that somewhere, somehow, I was missing something. That is, until I started working for free. In other words, volunteering!
Our local non-profit was using a school gym and classrooms to treat homeless and underserved people, dispensing free medical and dental care. The gym was used to hold a social services fair; free lunches were given outside, and other rooms were used to give free haircuts and hold activities for children. Around a thousand showed up that day to receive the various services offered. Meanwhile, I was kept busy coordinating the dental volunteers and departments in what I could only describe as organized chaos.
People needed dentistry! The volunteers needed my organizational skills! Seeing this, in the context of hundreds of others also freely giving their time, talents and resources, struck an unexpected chord inside of me. That produced a smile on my face that lasted so long it began to hurt! There’s an expression that says, “There are two important days in your life: The day you were born, and the day you know why you were born.” This was that day!
Since that time ten years ago, the volunteer clinics have expanded to five
253 AUTHORS UNITE states and three countries. I continue to volunteer as their dental director and coordinate the dental volunteers. Simultaneously, our office has tripled its production since then, where I actually work fewer days and live a more balanced life, able to spend more time with family and engaging in other activities.
Combining these experiences has taught me some important principles which are not always easy to implement, but if done, will result in great returns over the long term:
Cause is greater than cost.
Research on various business models show there is one that is most effective. In the long term, that is a model where commitment between team members is paramount and where trust is built. Teamwork and extensive training is utilized and benefit packages are significant. Many of their initiatives are not as cost-effective, but they result in long-term employees who may even turn down a higher paying job elsewhere. This is displayed in its most stark example with a volunteer project, where the cause is everything, while the financial cost to the recipient is nothing. In business, the cause of developing a culture of growth and trust holds priority over the cost of developing that growth and trust
Your business income is not an ends in itself; it is only a means to an end.
Use income as a metric to indicate progress in your business. But it is not the goal. Instead, use these three as your goals, with your income distributed between them:
Financial security: Capital for future business growth, controlled expenses, and also income to save for your future
Your team: They deserve fair wages, and as their productivity increases, their wages/benefits increase accordingly
Your customers: They deserve fair prices and investment on your part to enhance their experience with your business
All three of these need to win here or your business will be out of balance!
254 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Don’t get caught up in the comparison game.
Trying to compete against another business that grosses or nets more than yours leads to migraines, myopia, and despair! Surveys have shown happiness levels increase up to a personal annual income of about $70,000, or enough to pay for your basic living expenses and then have some left to save (this may be too low or too high depending on your geographic location, but you can use slightly higher than that area’s median wage). But after that level, happiness levels begin to plateau with little to no increase. Someone making twenty percent more than that is not twenty percent happier. I have been both far left and right of that income, and can attest that though I have a greater income now than before, my fulfillment comes instead from improving my business systems and having the freedom to do so on my terms. Your main measure of comparison should be with yourself! Ask yourself: how do I improve financially, physically, spiritually by the next month? By next year? Set specific goals and purposefully move towards them. Now that’s personal success!
Finally, over the course of my business, I began to see fulfillment in the journey itself, in perfecting my craft by making continual, small, deliberate improvements over the months and years. I no longer felt it was “work” anymore, where anxiety, depression, and hopelessness typically hold their sway. Instead it became a calling, with fiery purpose. Volunteerism was the spark that set it aflame. If you’ve joined in this experience, keep it up! And if not, give it a try. I guarantee your life will be forever changed!
www.lighthousedental.net
255 Iron Entrepreneur KRIS KAPLAN
During my entrepreneurial journey, I, like so many others, took a huge hit after the 2008 economic crash. It started a journey of health and wellness as a distraction, and along the way I learned these lessons and grew back to where we were and beyond.
Ironman is Hard. It’s a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile run and must be completed in seventeen hours. Growing a business is Hard, but it doesn’t have to be.
See the Finish line. I needed to visualize the finish line and what it would look like, sound like, feel like, taste like and play it in my mind over and over until it felt real. This was the leverage I needed to believe that I could finish an Ironman. Clarity is key. Where are you going to be in your business in three years? Describe it in vivid detail.
Have a purpose bigger than yourself. I had two kids at the time who were three and five who were running circles around me and I wasn’t sure if I had what it took to keep up with them and be the best dad I could be. Today, I run circles around them and will for a long time. When your employees are aligned with the purpose of the company, it’s like an alarm clock that gets them out of bed in the morning and they can’t wait to get come and make it happen.
Hire a coach. I hired Simon Lessing of Boulder Coaching, world champ with the most wins at the time and he held the record at the Lake Placid IM. Someone has been there before; there is no need to reinvent the wheel. This can be a coach, mentor, consultant, advisor or board.
Failure to plan is Planning to Fail. This was a key reason for hiring a coach, I had no idea what was involved. Getting your team to help design the plan allows them to take ownership. Many spend more time planning a vacation than we do in our lives and business. Crazy.
256 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
It takes a village. It’s a long day to stand around for an Ironman; it’s like the worst parade ever. It is not the race day that is the challenge for those around you; it’s all the time put in for the months leading into the big day. Having everyone aligned and a part of the journey is critical, or it can get off the rails in a heartbeat. I learned to thank everyone on the course during the day, family, friends, the crowd, racers, volunteers, staff and local officials. Who are the people that are supporting you along the way? Offer thanks and appreciation to all who help make your dream and vision of building a great company come true; its means more than you think to them.
Have the right equipment. The right bike fit, the right shoes, a comfortable wetsuit and many more things are critical to happy training and races. Not only do we need the right people in the right seats at work, but do they have everything they need to be the best they can be? Tools, resources, and education are investments in growing your peeps; invest in them or someone else will.
Take care of yourself. With all the training and activity going on, many athletes get injured as a result of poor nutrition and lack of stretching and regular massage. Getting the sleep I needed, eating right and listening to my body is vital to good performance The same is true at work. While many want to wear busy as a badge of honor, results are where it’s at. Sixty-plus-hour weeks can do their toll on your team. Without taking the time needed to relax, refresh and recharge, we become less productive and effective. Unplug at night; take the weekends off; don’t check email outside of business hours; look up and enjoy the world. Best experience ever.
Know your numbers. Bike power number in watts, my speed in the pool per 100 yards, my mile/5k and 10k pace and so many more numbers were part of this journey. Data, metrics and cash flow are the important numbers we must know to make the right decisions. How they all affect each other is equally important. If, on the bike, I produce too much power during the ride, it will negatively affect my run. How do long hours at work affect your team’s results and spirit?
Accountability. I worked closely with a coach online and at the end of every workout, I uploaded my Garmin file and notes for the coach.
257 AUTHORS UNITE
Future workouts and goals were based on this feedback. The same became true at work. We started to track all of the important data and have conversations about the numbers that mattered and the actions that were driving them. This regular communication with my coach was critical. Daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly meetings at work slowly became the norm.
Celebrate the Journey. If we are not having fun at what we are doing, maybe we are doing it wrong. Enjoying the journey and sharing it with others has proven to be such a blessing. It has inspired others; it has fueled my soul; it has changed me forever and I have learned that “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.” How are you celebrating your journey and wins?
Prior to this journey, I was working sixty- to eighty-hour weeks in my business. After implementing many of these ideas, tools and principles, I found myself only needing ten to twenty hours to be as productive or better. I have completed six full Ironman races, had a successful exit from this company and now run a Business Coaching practice.
Kris Kaplan is a lifetime entrepreneur, Business Coach, speaker and author who plays full out, believes that Anything is Possible and loves to help others get clarity on where they are going and how to get there. Check out www.kriskaplan.com for more info.
258 Just a Number NICHOLAS ARDIS
What is one thing that everyone on Earth has in common? Sure, you could say a body; the fact that we’re all on Earth, or point out the basic needs for survival. Now, take that a step further: what is something that is consistent for EVERY person on Earth? Something that doesn’t change with your gender, race, education level or social class? The one thing that is 100% consistent for every person on the planet Earth is the rate at which time passes. Obviously, time seems to move faster at some points and slower in others, but each person ages at the same rate throughout their lives. As humans, we have developed methodologies over the course of history to keep track of time. From sundials to digital clocks, our lives now, more than ever, revolve around time. This concept of age has consumed our sense of time and has created an enormous industry as well. The concept of age is something that we now see subconsciously throughout our day-to-day lives. The subconscious aspects of our lives transfer to our conscious thoughts and actions; however, it begs the real question: is age really just a number?
Throughout the course of history, age has had a huge role in dynasties, economies and everyday life. For many years, the firstborn male held an advantage over any other siblings from Day 1. Sometimes in more traditional, old age families, this still applies. An easy place to see the impact of age in today’s society is within the workplace. While different members of a team may have “seniority” of sorts, in industries that deal with independent contractors, this aura around many older participants is sometimes quite disturbing. Millennials are bashed quite often for anything and everything that many older generations simply deem as wrong, but what is the premise for this judgment? Could it actually just be fear of being replaced or fear of not being able to adapt with the changing world in which we live?
The easiest way to gain experience is to work with someone who knows more than you about what you’re doing. Apprenticeship has been around for centuries and is one aspect of training experience that will continue on
259 AUTHORS UNITE into the future. Experiencing an issue firsthand with someone helping you who has already had that issue is the best way to learn how to react and solve the issue. My team at National Land Realty has been nothing short of phenomenal in helping through any questions or issues I have had. The knowledge that has been shared with me has no doubt directly contributed to my success. These pleasant experiences, however, decline when I step into deals with many other agents from other companies.
My niche is land—timber, farms and recreational tracts are my specialty for investment and enjoyment alike. This shouldn’t change the professional courtesy I deserve. Yet it has. Many agents do not reciprocate the same professional courtesy they demand. As an agent less than half the age of the average realtor, I have been quite successful and allow my listing and sales numbers to speak on my behalf through this point in my career. However, I know I have only scratched the surface and have much more to learn. With this success and the desire to continue to learn and progress, why do many older agents sometimes approach younger agents with such condescension and disdain?
I believe the approach I sometimes receive is a combination of two main reasons: fear and ambition.
Fear
As generations have progressed, many of the agents I compete with are now representing the selling side of the transaction. Why? Age! Relationships are formed over time and often over many years. The years that I was still in school, my competition was able to be creating relationships with clients. The concept of time furthers this reasoning—someone that is seventy years old is not looking at thirty-year returns on a timber tract’s life cycle. For many of these sellers, age has brought the accumulation of wealth and property. A younger agent coming into the market represents a changing of the tides and that is a scary thought for many agents.
In addition, I am a specialist—not a generic, catchall agent. In some situations, it seems as if agents are on edge—like when an adult sees a five- year-old venturing to the deep-end of a pool. Different issues arise in dealing with rural land than what you see when dealing with residential areas and this unknown venture could be a reason for such pointed behavior.
260 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Ambition
The age-old (no pun intended) terms of a “young gun” or “firecracker” have meaning. We often hear stories of the Company Executives that started with nothing and worked relentlessly to obtain their current positions. This is very much true in today’s world, especially in combination with a cutthroat industry where only the best survive. Why would you want to have a salesman who’s content with what they have already, or who biologically just doesn’t have the energy of a younger person? In the horseracing world, old horses get retired and new, younger studs are brought in—this is the arena we work in today. Given the chance to choose between an older, satisfied individual starting to think about retirement and a young, hungry go-getter, the choice to me is pretty simple.
Today’s industry is more competitive than ever, however, that does not change the courtesy that anyone deserves. In regards to age, you can decide for yourself. Is age just a number?
Nick began his career in real estate with National Land Realty in late 2015. He graduated from the University of South Carolina, majoring in Finance and GSCOM. Reach out today if you, or anyone you know, would like to buy or sell any land in SC. https://nationalland.com/nicholas-ardis
261 Producers vs. Naysayers and the Directors MADISON V. MEADOWS
When I was seventeen years old, I ran out of gas in front of a berry field and met a farmer named Doug. He worked very hard eleven months of the year. Not just with his farming, but also with other businesses. Some seasonal, some unseen; like one who works with a night crew cleaning offices. For the most part, he was an unseen person delivering produce to wholesale suppliers, but when you shop the produce department in the big-name regional grocery stores, you know his name from the boxes filled with corn, berries, rhubarb, peas, beans, cucumbers and pumpkins. He is such a vital person in the community. I think if I had not seen his vision first-hand, I would not have had my eyes open to the possibility and reality of creating my world.
As we drive around, we see so many names on businesses, company vehicles and uniforms. These places all started with an idea. Working for someone else is fine for many people but it is not for me. While working in an office, I went to school at night to get my real estate license. Once it was activated, my boss said he didn’t want anyone there to be licensed except him. I took some more small steps daily to acquire more licensing and figured out what I needed, what I had and where I would go to open my own brokerage.
During the process of this transition, I told very few people what I was doing. Most people said that I would not be able to reach my desired goal. I knew at the beginning of this that I would need to write my dream down and, no matter what anyone said, to keep moving forward. Some days it was just an internet search for statistics or to locate desired equipment such as a computer, camera or other needed items. On other days, it was out looking for affordable office space. My list included the big and the small, even items that I already had. On paydays from the office job I had at the time, I would purchase things for my new office. Maybe a pen, envelopes or a picture. This office job allowed me to reside in a very nice location and came with over two hundred keys. My boss would come every two weeks to deliver my paycheck and tell me what I was doing wrong. I kept the picture in my head of handing
262 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 him the rings of keys. It eventually happened. It seemed like forever but it only took about a year and a half.
Rest is also an important part of the process of your dream. Taking time out to relax and have fun allows room for more creativity in the growing process. The more balance that you have in your life, the clearer your dream becomes. There are so many people who are stuck in a rut. Up at six a.m., to bed at ten p.m. and what happened in between? They went to work on someone else’s dream. This goes on day after day, week after week, year after year. I suppose this works for some people and businesses need people to work there, BUT there are the dreamers, the producers and the action-filled people.
Sometimes our plans change or are changed for us, but we still need to have hope and a vision. In 2000, right after I opened my business, I was involved in an industrial accident that caused damage to my lungs. Over the course of seventeen years, I have come to a point where I need supplemental oxygen. In the past couple of years, two friends and I have opened Oxyfloats, Inc. and designed and patented a floatation device for a portable oxygen tank to be taken into the swimming pool for recreation and light exercise.
There are so many people out there who say you should do it this way or that way. I have found that listening to them creates distraction, self-doubt and chaos. These are decisions that only you will have to live with, so be at peace with them.
I have focused mostly on the producers because I didn’t and still don’t listen to the naysayers. They can say can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t and so on. I have found that the farther I go with my dreams, there are still people who have followed and completed bigger dreams than me, so that means that there is still more to do. Even if you don’t know exactly what your dream is, you can still document and prepare until the vision narrows. Every business needs pens, envelopes, and stamps. Remember who you are created to be. Your heart will tell you. Hold on to that dream.
I live in the fantastic Pacific Northwest and have owned a small business for seventeen years. I am the mother of two beautiful daughters, one handsome son and two lovely granddaughters. I am the author of a children’s book titled Introducing Beebo which is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/ Introducing-Beebo-Madison-Meadows-ebook/dp/B01LZEQLUA
263
Part Four MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT Section One: Sound Minds, Sound Body
You Get What You Focus On CAROLE TAYLOR
“The successful warrior is the average man with laser like focus” ~ Bruce Lee
Imagine that you are driving on the freeway during a heavy rainstorm, and you unexpectedly hit a pothole. The sound of the impact is loud enough to justify immediate concern. You are likely to focus on the possibility of a flat tire, more road hazards ahead, or that the rain might get worse before it gets better. You could be frustrated and angry that this is happening to you after a long and very difficult day at work.
Such is a situation we all relate to. Each day we set out on a new path, and when the unexpected happens, it changes our focus, our emotions, our state of mind, our experience.
So, why are emotions worthy of discussion in a book about business? When your emotional state is “off course,” trust me, your personal life and professional life will be off course, too. You must manage your emotions and what you focus on in order to have the success you desire and enjoy it along the way.
“You are the creator of your reality” ~ Abraham Hicks
During my years as a professional project manager, I was a “bottom line”
266 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 thinker. It had always come easy for me to sift through large amounts of information and provide custom solutions for projects. For me, my bottom line approach was the ultimate way to manage more in less time.
After a period of successful project delivery, I began to receive acknowledgements and awards of recognition from the C suite.
Although I did not realize it at the time, the recognition was the FINAL manifestation of my professional goals! Not only was this the tangible end of my vision for my career, it was also conditional. My satisfaction from this accomplishment was completely dependent on validation from others in order to feel worthy.
Evidence of this quickly proved out when a new project cycle started again, and recognition was replaced with higher expectation. With no promotions in sight, I soon found myself operating in a neutral and uninspired state.
Then one day the unexpected happened. Despite my track record, good performance reviews and personal dedication, I was laid off.
In the unemployed years that followed, I struggled not only financially, but physically and emotionally. I was completely unprepared to deal with those periods of time because, as I later came to learn, I was unprepared from the very beginning.
When I let go of what I am I become what I might be - Sun Tzu
While waiting on responses from potential employers, the urge to start my own business surfaced. Logically, I believed that starting a new business at age fifty could make long-term sense, but my emotional state of mind was now fear based, fixated on the reality that I was supporting myself with a teen living at home. How could I risk taking the time to hope and dream when I needed to be practical? I honestly believed there was no time to focus on anything other than immediate work to pay the bills.
The disappointment with my situation was unyielding. I became increasingly more anxious, nervous, and impatient. I was putting so much pressure on myself to make adjustments and change, I could not relax. In order to survive, I had to find a way to stop the momentum.
267 AUTHORS UNITE
On the advice of a friend, I investigated healing and calming programs and music. Many authors and stories later, I found something that resonated with me, the idea of Manifestation. I liked the simplicity and the fact that it merged my intellectual quest with my inspirational quest. Until that time, I considered both as distinctly separate voyages, and I had not been willing to make a clean break with either one.
The principles of Manifestation are simple but very specific. I encourage you to research this in detail for yourself, so that the connection to your life experience can be powerful. There is no doubt that had I had this awareness before now, my story would have been completely different. Here are a few lessons that changed my life.
Shattering Reality - My Lessons of Manifestation
I. The Art of FOCUS
Be Specific. Clear and intentional focus on those things wanted has powerful energy, so steer your attention ONLY to those things that make you feel good. Completely disregard and ignore things UNWANTED. Remember you always get what you focus on.
Get Out In Front. Changes are made in the expansion of now, of the future. In order to affect this, YOU MUST GET AHEAD OF WHERE YOU ARE, FOCUS FORWARD, FOCUS OUT IN FRONT OF YOUR CURRENT MOMENTUM.
Be Aware of How You Feel. HOW YOU FEEL IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO, AND IS AN INDICATOR OF, WHAT YOU FOCUS ON, so be aware of what you are giving focus to. Things that make you upset, angry, sad or even apathetic will slow down or prevent you from getting what you want. The energy of positive thoughts and negative thoughts have different results.
II. Manage Your Emotions (This is a big one.)
Allow Only What You Desire. Manage your emotions by focusing ONLY ON WHERE YOU ARE GOING, AND WHAT YOU WANT, NOT ON WHERE YOU CURRENTLY ARE. Do not allow your current conditions or experience to dictate your state of mind, or change your optimism.
268 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Self Adjust. BE WILLING TO ADJUST YOUR THOUGHTS, because thoughts and manifestations always match.
Choose to Feel Good Along The Way. No matter what upheaval, change or chaos you encounter, you always have a choice. You have the option of taking it hard or taking it easy. Of making the worst of it or making the best of it. Of giving something your undivided attention or very little of your attention. You have the control.
Allow Your Good Feelings to Drive. When your life gets bigger, there is not enough of you to keep things in control, so allow how good you feel emotionally to auto-pilot your focus when needed. Yes, it is possible to be uncomfortable yet hopeful, so, no matter where you stand, you can find better-feeling thoughts and shift your experience.
In Conclusion
I always believed that in order to be successful in business, I had to succumb to lessons in long, expensive or complicated processes. I believed that traditional methodology was the only path in a logical world. Once I found the principals of Manifestation, I was free to let logic AND emotions drive my destiny. When I found the principals of Manifestation, my mind was quieted, my sense of peace was restored, and my brightest, tangible goals began to surface in my existence.
269 The Workplace and ADHD ANGELA EHLE
ADHD. Also known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. It’s simply a mental disorder that some people may have.
This doesn’t sound that bad, does it? The problem is that there is a stigma surrounding those with ADHD. It is a common belief that those with ADHD are scatterbrained, cannot concentrate, and make poor students. Children are often diagnosed at a young age, the condition being exacerbated by improper treatment and the wrong dosage from medications. But the disorder itself is not an impediment to someone’s success. Celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and Will Smith are open about growing up with ADHD. They learned how to use ADHD to their advantage and excel.
YouTube star Ryan Higa made the world aware of what really goes on in a person’s mind who has ADHD. On April 19th, 2014, he posted a video entitled How to Know if You Have ADHD, listing how he thinks and views the world. He famously states, “I may not be a doctor, but if you can relate to this video, you’re probably as messed up as I am.”
He later goes on to describe the difficulties of growing up with the stigma in his 2017 book, How to Write Good. For him, making videos and improv jokes served as an outlet to showcase his quirky personality and the way his mind works. Videos like this can help individuals with ADHD feel as if they can relate and that there is nothing “wrong” with them.
Just because someone is quirky doesn’t mean that they are bad. Just different. Disorders, different body types, and other mindsets are what make us all unique.
In confidential interviews, professionals with ADHD shared their experiences. An Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) in central Indiana shared that she was not diagnosed with ADHD until age twenty-seven. Up until being diagnosed, she always thought she was different from other students and
270 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 co-workers due to not being able to focus properly, no matter how hard she tried. Studying was difficult, as well as working in an office setting. It wasn’t until she was eventually diagnosed with ADHD that she felt relief.
Knowing that there was a name to her condition made it seem more bearable.
What worked for her was finding a fast-paced career. Arriving to work and being faced with something new every day helps her stay on the task at hand. She felt that performing the same job everyday would become monotonous and she would not be able to give her best effort. Her ADHD has allowed her to understand her patients and to stay on track with the medical attention they need.
A high pressure job keeps her from being distracted or losing focus.
Another common misconception of ADHD is that one cannot function under pressure. A common side effect is that one may stutter. Far from reality, they know exactly what they want to say, but may have trouble articulating it. Even in his video, Ryan Higa refuses to edit out scenes where he stutters when he loses his train of thought. He explains that it helps with showing the truth of his disorder. In reality, their thoughts connect together fluidly instead of in the disjointed manner we hear when someone stutters.
A man in his mid-twenties had been written off as slow, unintelligent, and boring due to his disorder. He was diagnosed at a young age of ten, and was not sure what ADHD was; he just knew it was something that made him different. Later, in his teenage years, he learned to embrace it and adapt it as part of his quirky personality.
He has learned to multitask. If someone is having a conversation with him, he may appear to not be paying attention. However, he is able to hear and retain all the information one is telling him, and will remember. This has helped him throughout the jobs he has held since he can remember detail, even if it seems he cannot. When in a high stress situation on the job, he is able to remember details from a previous experience more thoroughly.
How can people with ADHD serve the workplace? People with ADHD tend to excel in subjects such as mathematics and science. Despite the disorder, they have the ability to be very detail oriented and to solve difficult problems.
271 AUTHORS UNITE
ADHD should not prevent employers from hiring individuals; instead, employers should use their mindset to their advantage.
Those with ADHD have a more objective mindset, which would aid in helping a coworker who sees situations with a subjective mind. They are more receptive to noticing errors in word or financial documents. These tasks are the ones that give these individuals a purpose and a need in the workplace.
Should employers consider hiring those with ADHD? Certainly. It is a mental disorder that can be used as an advantage for success in a company, and should not be used against someone. These individuals learn to channel their unique mindset to adapt to a fast-paced job and can even help create new ideas and company visions.
Angela Ehle is a graduate of Franciscan University, holding a Bachelor of Arts in English Writing. Her passion is to help those who have struggled with a mental illness share their story through stories in the genre of Creative Nonfiction. You can contact Angela by email: [email protected]
272 The Construction of a Woman TERESA MARIE WALLACE
There are plenty of women who start up and run their own businesses these days, but not many of us venture too far into a predominantly male industry. When I started working for the family construction business almost eighteen years ago, it was nothing more than a slow-paced clerical position meant to serve as a layover between the difficult task of choosing what I wanted to be when I grew up and finishing a college degree with a major in something I wasn’t truly interested in.
At the early age of fourteen, my mother attempted to instill in me the drive to find a career that was on the rise and promised to be lucrative. Anything relating to computers was sure to be a successful endeavor, and she pushed the idea with trips to the library to research careers and constant encouragement in that direction. She’d worked hard to achieve a Master’s Degree in Social Work but there’s little money in it, and she wanted more for me financially than she’d been able to achieve. She also knew that, if I could make it in life through my own merits and not by depending on someone else, I would be the strong woman she hoped I would. I suppose, looking back, I could admit she was right, but who listens to their mother at fourteen?
I think many of us fall into a career, regardless of what we envisioned when we started our first year of college or even with what we thought were endless possibilities as we walked the stage at the end of our senior year in high school. Sometimes, life pushes us in some unforeseen direction and we land somewhere else. And I most definitely fell into construction. Now, after the better part of two decades and subsequently trying to claw my way back out, I look back and realize how much strengthening one goes through when starting from scratch and building on the lessons for years to come. Being female in a man’s industry has amplified the lessons and the frustrations, but most importantly, the strengthening.
The reason for that was simple for me. I was young when I started working in an all-male office and I was the only one of us that really knew how to
273 AUTHORS UNITE organize and manage all of the things that, let’s be honest, they didn’t want to bother with. Being in the role of organizer of every bit of information that went in or out meant that I knew all, or at least a large portion of, well . . . everything. And it was because of this all-encompassing view of the ins and outs of the business that I could see the whole of it more clearly. I watched. I listened. I learned. And I developed an understanding of how the game was played. And all the while not realizing that the perception the others had of me was that I was only good at the things they weren’t, and didn’t want to do. Picture an image of the typical 1960s working woman with a typewriter in front of her while her boss dictates.
As the years passed, I found more and more that I disagreed with how many things were done. Anytime I spoke up, I was quickly hushed or simply ignored, and even when my warnings about some impending debacle came to fruition, there was no acknowledgement given. My intuition proved to be right occasion after occasion but, when difficulties arose, my advice seemed to fall on deaf ears. This became increasingly frustrating as the years went on, especially since my personal and financial success was, by default, tied to that of the business. If it failed, I would crumble with it. And there was nothing more frustrating than watching bad decisions being made, being able to do nothing about it, and then suffer the consequences.
I think, as women, our sense of things “not feeling right” is amplified because we are emotional beings. And all too often, I heard from the men that emotion should be left out of it. Yes and no. Yes: don’t take things personally and leave home at home and work at work. No: trust your gut. Trust your intuition. Learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat them because you think the next time might be different. This was the one thing I couldn’t get through to my business partners. The very moment I became aware of something that made my stomach drop, I would speak up and remind them of the last time we were in the same spot. The words “I told you so” became a default to my vocabulary. And while no one wants to hear that phrase thrown their way, it was far more frustrating to be the one to have to keep saying it.
Things have been changing dramatically in our society over the last decade or so, and there’s no doubt that we will continue to see women advance their careers well past the glass ceiling of years gone by. As a woman who has immersed herself in a career surrounded by men, I have seen the evolution of this industry from the traditionally-viewed male-dominated industry to
274 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 women-owned businesses that are successful and profitable. And it gives me hope that many of the barriers that separate us will, in time, actually give us the tools we need to be even more successful together.
Teresa Marie Wallace is the author of THE HYBRID: ANTECEDENT, a new adult paranormal romance novel. Between running a construction company and writing, she spends time raising her two boys on sports, all things Star Wars, and how to be better at everything than their parents were. https://www.amazon.com/The- Hybrid-Teresa-Marie-Wallace-ebook/dp/B00GSVKYT2
275 The Fundamental Things Apply LAUREN WILCOCKSON
The curtains are drawn; the blanket is heavy. The time of day was of no consequence. A subtle sensation persisted. Could be hunger...uncertain. Rolling over to plant my feet to the ground, standing was unfamiliar. The nine steps to the kitchen ached, like moving against a frigid headwind.
In the harsh light and coldness, scarcity faced me. The fridge contents had descended to a soup pack and what remained in a carton of eggs. The longer I stared, the more I thought and thought again. A decision became increasingly harder. What requires less effort to make? What did I “feel” like eating? Should I go out and get some groceries? Can’t go outside; it’s scary out there. Don’t be silly; it’s not scary.
Closing the door, walking the nine steps, I return to the warmth, darkness and silence. Dejected and overwhelmed.
This was my life for about six months...and many days since. Each day was a maze of choices and decisions which inevitably ended up at a dead end, me in PJs on a couch watching reruns of Gilmore Girls.
Hindsight always delivers gems of obvious wisdom. Objectively describing this time, I’d say that all my buckets were empty, especially my decision bucket. My quota of choices for that time period had been met.
I suspect the reason I was engrossed in Gilmore Girls was the qualities I resonated with in the character of Lorelai, but couldn’t find within myself at the time.
In previous years, I had weighed up an extensive array of choices and had taken gigantic volumes of action. With a strong drive for what I wanted to achieve, I’d navigated a successful career, traveled and lived abroad, and learned ways to manage chronic pain after an accident.
I had been fierce and independent. Now I was just exhausted. Burnout took my tenacity and consumed me with self-doubt.
276 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Support and encouragement like “Suck it up, get on with it!” or “You’re being too sensitive; you’re tougher than this,” failed to motivate in a way it once might have. In fact, it was a painful reminder that the person I knew as me was absent.
A critical turning point came in realizing neither my lack of strength, motivation or resilience led to my burnout. My boundaries and choices had.
When I was stressed but high functioning, I was unwilling to show that I wasn’t coping to those close to me. I lacked the commitment to participate in activities that had previously brought me joy, all because I was “too busy.” I could not recognize unrealistic or unreasonable expectations. In the unrelenting pursuit of recognition and perfection, I just kept going until I couldn’t.
Sadly, my story is an increasingly common one amongst the ambitious. Hustling hard over a few years in the hope of more freedom the rest of your life or committing wholeheartedly to a movement or cause; each path lined with casualties at various stages of burnout.
People who have experienced burnout are, by nature, unfailingly generous. In fact, lack of boundaries around generosity can be a contributor to fatigue- related illnesses. What makes this group powerful is their desire to share their stories so other can benefit from the learnings.
The similarities of their reflections and mine are numerous.
Self-Care Is Not Negotiable
Clearly, I had to learn this lesson in the same way I learn everything, by experience. Moving your body, eating nourishing meals, resting and spending time in nature are fundamental human needs.
If you’re in the stage of burnout that I described, the first simple thing you can do is stop. Rest. Hide if you want to. Give yourself love in a way that’s meaningful to you. Let people take care of you. There is no shame in pressing the pause button on your life.
Managing your thoughts and energy through self soothing, mindfulness or relaxation techniques is an important practice that will support you through lifes challenges.
277 AUTHORS UNITE
As you increase the demand on your mind and body, your self-care efforts must also increase.
Celebrate Simplicity Not Perfection
I spoke to a human today! I showered today! I remembered to eat! I rested without guilt! Honour your achievements, large or small. Celebrating milestones creates momentum and allows you to reflect and build confidence as change is occurring.
Looking for meaning or purpose in too many things is futile. Focusing on one thing, on doing it well, delivers a reward. Set your own timeframes, be realistic, trust that the right things, and people, will appear. Multi-tasking and aiming for perfection is not a sustainable life strategy, believe me.
Consult Experts & Mentors
If you’re having health concerns, prioritize a visit to your General Practitioner. They will assess not only your physical, but emotional and psychological well being. They will work with you to develop strategies for healing.
My burnout was characterised as Adrenal Fatigue, something the medical profession is still learning about. In addition to a knowledgeable GP, I found a Nutritionist, Psychologist, Behavioural Therapist, Naturopath and various healing modalities critical for managing my recovery.
It takes a team of people to help you rebuild after burnout, don’t be stoic in believing you can do it all on your own. Listen as best you can to your body and seek second opinions if you feel unsupported or unheard.
Nurture Meaningful Relationships
Hanging out with my two-year-old nephew in the land where puddles equal epic water park and diggers rule Nana’s lounge room inspired some of my most creative and hyper-productive times. Constantly curious and always changing, he and his baby brother remind me how wondrous things and people can be. Sharing in their play, mischief and fun is pure magic.
If we are honest with ourselves, aren’t we all just looking to feel connection?
278 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
That random call from a close friend that brings laughter to a dreary day, the happy puppy waiting to lick your face the minute your butt hits the couch, the embrace from a partner that erases any torment from the day.
In our busy lives, it’s easy to forget that relationships are reciprocal. Even on days where you don’t quite feel up to it, call your friends, visit your folks, play with your dog, send that email to a distant friend, engage with a few posts on Facebook. Never underestimate the impact you can make to someone’s day.
The Fundamental Things Apply
Dreaming and planning a life requires you to ask some big questions of yourself, questions that demand both thought and action. When you have lost connection with how you think, how you function, how you feel, answering these questions is impossible.
We must prioritise our fundamental human needs in order to maintain a connection with ourselves. It’s this connection that unlocks connection to everything, including our dreams.
Lauren Wilcockson is The Implementor of ideas, projects and dreams. With a passion to help small businesses thrive, she actions critical strategic projects and finds efficient, creative and cost effective solutions to their most common problems. www.theimplementor.com.au
279 The Gap, a Potential Junkie and a Mission for Someone MARC ANGELO COPPOLA
No cash - no safety net - no idea what is next; exactly where I both love and hate to be.
Have you been here before? I know I have...
As a self-diagnosed serial philanthropreneur, aka someone who says yes to everything and everyone who is doing great work in and for the world, what I have learned throughout every one of my adventures is that there is this wicked pattern that plays out.
A pattern that starts with a single word: yes.
Have you fallen victim to the “yes” spiral before? This feeling that no matter how much you achieve, it seems to always lead you right back home, not unlike the yellow brick road?
No matter how much we do, no matter how much we hustle, how many long hours we work, network, hire, delegate, team up, or earn it never seems to be enough. The gap is always there and it always seems to lead us right back to the start like some kind of human-sized game of Snakes and Ladders.
Yet for whatever reason, relaxing, quitting, stepping back, or stepping down seems to just feel absolutely unfathomable?
The gap. The space between fantasy and reality–between potential and actualization.
The gap that seems to only get filled by saying “yes,” as if by some miracle the void will be fulfilled by this next adventure or risk.
In truth it does if only for a fleeting moment we sometimes call happiness.
280 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Meh; perhaps it’s just me but somehow, in all my journeys I have been beyond grateful to have experienced, I end up broke, scared and confused and yet definitely wiser.
That’s because the pursuit of wisdom is like a drug. We can chase and chase and chase and find ourselves striving to be better than the person we were yesterday and we recognize that these adages taunt us with their mysteriously vague truths.
The more you know, the more you don’t know. Damnit, Aristotle; how were you so wise?!
You see the only metric that should ever matter is not measured in dollars and cents but more so in lives changed–and, well, this is why I personally say yes.
The chance at changing a life let alone the world is too great to ignore because, indeed, as James Bond might understand, the world is not enough!
Being a serial “yes man” is no different than being a compulsive gambler. It means you will keep betting on the next horse in the race and never really go home with the winnings because, well, what’s at home waiting for me anyways, right?
So you become a potential junkie.
The potential of winning or being right is ever bigger than the consequences of being back at GO on the Monopoly board. The rush of saying “I’M ALL IN!” seems to always outweigh the consequences and the slide of the chips to the middle of the proverbial table is electric.
In the end, every bet placed and dollar earned and lost washes away with the sands of time but it is the stories that remain near and dear.
Stories are the lifeblood of a potential junkie. They inspire an ever-growing wave of legacy.
Isn’t all of history only but a memory or just recorded as a story? In fact, to be remembered in history is to remember “his-story.”
The legacy is building an empire; it calls to all but is a journey only carried out
281 AUTHORS UNITE by the bold and the bold are those whom we remember. Those who dared be outstanding by recognizing they needed to stand out to achieve such.
As Rome is built, we all marvel at its magnificence and magnitude; but as Rome is burning, we are reminded of our impermanence. It is the impermanence of this now, of the beauty of anything that makes it worth experiencing.
Such is the life path of an entrepreneurial mind, the type of person who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down.
The type of person who plays superhero only to be a martyr for the cause.
The type of person who would have said yes to a worthy mission no matter what the consequences.
The type of person who loves and hates to be right back at square one.
That’s the person I am, or at least that’s the person I strive to be. That’s the person our world needs more of.
Someone to take on the world’s biggest challenges. Someone who dares dream the impossible to be possible. Someone who, when asked “Why?” replies simply, “Because we can . . . .”
Someone who says YES.
Are you someone?
“Philanthropreneur: An entrepreneur-inspired approach to solving complex large- scale problems by addressing their root causes, all the while replacing Band-Aid- based philanthropic models with self-sustaining solution-based systems that align the R.O.I. of Return on Investment with the other R.O.I.: Ripple of Impact.” ~ Marc Angelo Coppola. www.SuperheroAcademy.net
282 Section Two: Make Each Day Great
Ego vs. Discipline: How A Yoga Mom Faced The Battle JENNY ARRINGTON
“It’s a sh*t with two holes!” shouted my classmate at MIT across the lecture theatre with a twinkle in her eye. 100 people surrounded her, including the hugely successful entrepreneurs invited to judge my startup pitch. It was Demo Day and her proclamation was in reference to the design I invented. Her “sh*t with two holes” statement landed in my chest more like a slap than a dagger for a couple reasons. First, I knew she was sweet and from Brazil. Her accent made the word “sheet” sound like “sh*t.” I couldn’t remember the last time a sheet was held in high regard, but it was better than “sh*t.” Second, my team of five men had been roasting me all week. Despite the simplicity of my design, they couldn’t deny its attributes. It was cheap to produce, easy to ship, and it had many options for its niche market. It could go hotel, maternity, yoga, or the beach/travel market. Put simply, it was easy to scale. Ultimately, after my Cyprian teammate tied my design on his head like a turban while brainstorming at 2:00 a.m., while my Nepalese teammate giggled, the group decided that my design and business idea was the best to pitch on Demo Day. This was an opportunity that could lead to a host of contacts, investors, and guidance from the brightest minds in our country.
Back in the lecture theater, my Brazilian friend’s next proclamation boomed just moments after her first poke. This one had a more hopeful bent. “I want one!” she smiled. Everyone laughed and we had a collective moment of begrudgingly acknowledging that sometimes the simplest ideas surprise us with their desirability. This design I was pitching came to me by accident. My yoga-teacher brain had this idea to create a faster, easier way to handle a yoga
283 AUTHORS UNITE mat. It involved clips, ball bearings, and a mechanical engineer acquaintance who couldn’t figure out a way to make it all work in a form desirable enough for a yogi. I pushed forward and tried a fabric solution instead. A trip to the local fabric store and time with sharp scissors led me to a mat-tying solution that I could also wear and which would later be called a “sh*t with two holes.” It’s wearable functionality was the happy accident. A few iterations later, an application to the bootcamp and a Skype interview had me on a plane to the historic and storied Cambridge campus, ready to “drink from the fire hose.” This yoga-mom circus performer was amazed at her luck. Our pitch didn’t win on Demo Day, but I came back to Chicago with an instant- response global network of friends I could text, had a fabulous education, and fire in my belly to move forward. “Hungry dogs hunt best,” a quote from our esteemed teacher and author of Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Bill Aulet, rattled around my brain as I worked on starting my business at a fevered pace while simultaneously working through a divorce, house sale, and move.
Yet pure drive, ambition, fearlessness, education, and positive thinking aren’t enough. Deep in my subconscious was my story. We all have our stories. These are the series of imprints that are pressed into us as we developed. They stubbornly color all of our present-day experiences. The part of my story that colored my startup was that my Grandfather and Father were successful entrepreneurs, and I had heard “You will start a business. You’re an entrepreneur at heart!” since I was a young adolescent. Not only had I taken that to heart and not questioned that there was a possibility I may be something other than an entrepreneur, but I had given the title a value judgment. Successful entrepreneur? Good. Anything else? Bad. Very bad. Not good enough. The other part of the story is that I lived for many years not knowing I was smart. Academics were not my parents’ priority as they were too busy with their divorce. I was told I was pretty, and then later, “You’ll be an entrepreneur.” That’s it. When I got the acceptance email from the MIT Bootcamp, that little girl in me who didn’t know she was smart was astounded. “Is there a mistake?” she thought. The more confident thirty- nine-year-old me realized my charisma and energy, along with my articulate delivery probably won over the interviewer. I could see how I was accepted, but still had an underlying doubt in my basic worth.
Now we add the ego. The ego is often misunderstood to be a boisterous, snobby, selfish figure. We say things like, “Oh, he has an ego the size of Manhattan! What a blowhard.” In reality, the ego is more nuanced. The ego
284 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 tries to keep us safe. Plain and simple. As we enter into a new venture, the ego asks, “Are you sure you want to do this? Do you think you’re really smart enough to make this successful? What if you fail?” The ego could also tell us, “Dammit, you’re a winner! You go take ‘em by the balls and kill it! Screw everyone else! You’re going to succeed! You’re meant to be an international phenomenon!” Both extremes exemplify a voice coming from a place of fear. Raw emotions are driving the ego’s loud voice.
The curriculum at MIT was disciplined. We were taught to take the ego out of it and just test the product. We had to get the minimum viable product out into the hands of a particular niche user, gather data on their responses, and iterate the product accordingly. Even though I knew this intellectually, I couldn’t do it. I just wanted to go big or go home immediately. This drive got me to the second round of Shark Tank auditions. I wanted that quick success. I tested my product with users but not at the scale I should’ve. I spoke to some local stores, but not enough. The sheer volume of the work overwhelmed me and it was easy to get distracted by marketing. Several people believed in me and offered to invest, but deep down I didn’t believe in myself or the product. I couldn’t take their money. It was hard to test the product locally because I had this doubt and embarrassment of the product. When my attorney called and asked if we should take my provisional patent forward, I knew I was done. He told me I was wise and spoke of his other clients who were attached to their “baby” and, despite zero sales, continued forward getting full patents, spending thousands of dollars. I took heart, thinking that at least I learned enough from the course in “Disciplined Entrepreneurship” to know when a product is not viable. He told me of other clients in the garment space who, despite Good Morning America spots, were still struggling. That did it. I didn’t want to be chasing an attachment for years.
As it ended, I could admit that my ego had beat back my discipline. Had I stuck to the book, I would’ve either found success or cut ties much earlier. A year’s work and thousands of dollars could’ve been a few months and a few dollars. No matter how fabulous our education or experience, we can’t overlook how our ego and our past impacts our actions. It’s a humbling practice to face that ego and story with honest eyes, but it may save your business.
Jenny Arrington is a different kind of yoga teacher. She takes her love of academia and science, and blends it with many styles of yoga to maximize her students’ experience. She teaches at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of
285 AUTHORS UNITE
Management, and in studios around the Chicagoland area. She is also an author, with an upcoming book on overcoming disordered eating using ancient and little- known yogic practices, and chairs the board of a circus and performing arts school, performing as an aerialist there as well. www.jennyarrington.com
286 Leave Your Shoes and Your Business at the Door JUSTIN GARTON
Growing up in Hawaii, it was customary to leave your shoes at the front door. It originated with Japanese culture and has manifested itself in the Hawaiian lifestyle. On the East Coast, your shoes come right through the front door along with all the mud, dirt and other crap we lug around on our soles. As business owners, we specialize in carrying crap. Not just the physical kind, but all of the issues and problems we are trying to solve. You’ve heard the phrase “fish and guests stink after three days.” I can assure you that to your family and friends, your business crap stinks the second you walk through the door.
Owning a business with friends and family can be especially trying. There are people who can completely shut off work when they walk through the door. I admire these folks, however I know very few. For the vast majority, we bring our business and its problems home with us. When you work with your friends and family, they are also the same people who greet you at the front door. If there is tension or extensive problems with the business, it will both affect and infect your relationships. This is a lesson I was fortunate to learn early on in my career, yet still struggle with every day.
Parasailing
In college, I was a partner of a parasail business. My best friend was the owner as well as my roommate. During our first season, things quickly started to spiral out of control as I became consumed with the business and its success. If we had slow days or weeks, it impacted my psyche. It was all I talked about. How to fix it; how to drive new business; how to sell; where to sell. Petty business disagreements turned into personal fights. At one point, we were sitting at a dining room table in a full-blown argument over, of all things, the pronunciation of someone’s name. Being a couple years older than me and the controlling owner of the business, he had finally had enough. After sending me home from work, he pulled me aside for a long talk on what had been transpiring. He described to me the effect our (my) quarreling was having
287 AUTHORS UNITE on both our relationship and on the friends and family around us. No one wanted to be around us (me). I lacked the emotional intelligence to separate work and home life, our business from our friendship; and also lacked the emotional capacity to tell the difference between work ending and family/ friend time starting. My best friend almost fired me and probably should have drowned me in the lake.
Donuts
This lesson provided me with a solid foundation for another business. Because I learned from my mistakes early on, I felt confident in starting a small donut shop with one of my best friends. It hasn’t been without its hardships, but we’ve made a consistent effort to keep business separate from friendship. The biggest effort is continuing to remember to not take disagreements or tough conversations personally. I still struggle daily with letting business conversations bleed into our time outside the office. Even in our casual conversations, I’d start talking about business. Sitting at a pool, on a golf course, watching a game, out to dinner–I’d catch myself talking about payroll costs for the week. Sometimes I’d forget to leave my shoes at the door.
Family Business
My guiding motivation in the “leave your shoes and your business at the door” policy is my mother’s family business. My mother bought her successful printing and promotions business from her parents; it has been in the family for over twenty-five years. Maybe it’s the baby boomer genes, but I can’t recall a holiday, birthday, family trip, or social gathering where they discussed business, clients, issues, money, new deals, payroll, etc. If they needed to have a business conversation, they held it in private. I know how consuming owning a business can be, and the fact that I can’t recall a single day where my mother and her parents had a disagreement spilling into the house, or a client venting session to air out grievances, is remarkable.
This may be one of the hardest lessons you can learn. I’m still learning it myself. Your family or friends may fire you. You may fire your family or friends. But don’t ever forget: You can restructure a business; overhaul an operating model; refinance and recapitalize; fire and rehire; but personal relationships are much tougher to rebuild.
288 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
If you are an owner or boss, I encourage you to sit down and talk with your family and friends, like someone once did for me. If you’re the employee, take some time to become self-aware of your behavior and conversations. Make adjustments where needed. Leave your shoes at the door. I promise your relationships will improve and your business will prosper.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingarton/
289 Worry or Don’t ANDREW JAMES KRAFT
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie ten Boom
Have you ever been worried about meeting a deadline for something and the simplest of things causes you to lose concentration? Worry is a driving force in a lot of our lives and if you learn to control this sensation and stop it from entering your mind, then you will live a significantly more efficient life.
Solving worry and the side effects that worry causes in people’s lives is not a simple task but one that requires practice and continuous repetition in order rid it from your life forever. Some let worry creep into their daily life and it consumes them from the second they get out of bed till the time they hit that same pillow again. This seemingly never-ending curse ends right now with just a couple of simple, easy to remember steps that I’ve found work best to break the spell.
The first step in ridding this terrible condition from your life is for you to analyze the situation confidently and truthfully and decide for yourself what is the worst thing that could happen as a result of you not accomplishing the responsibility or task that is worrying you so much. This will help you put into perspective how impactful this situation could be on your life. The second step to this process is to wholeheartedly accept this failure. Shortly after the accepting the worst-case scenario, I have found that most people actually begin to relax slightly and this relaxation allows for a more creative thought process to creep back into your mind. I have found that my general energy levels will increase once the apparent conclusion that you will still be able to breathe and your world as you know it will not be turned upside down because of your failure.
After accepting the worst, now it is time to break down the larger overarching task into smaller sub-tasks helping bring greater focus to the large task at hand. By concentrating with all your aptitude and all your passion on each
290 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 individual subtask, you will begin to chip away at the larger task at hand. This allows one to believe that maybe the task at hand wasn’t as intimidating as originally perceived. Eliminating the distractions from your mind and concentrating on each smaller task provides better, more efficient work and that is how you can provide greater value to your company. Your job and your life will be much more fulfilling as a result.
291 Fear Is Your Treasure Map GURYAN TIGHE
I’m driven by my fascination in human “beingness.” Ever wonder why there are seven billion people in the world with seven billion unique sets of fingerprints? I do. Constantly. I believe we are each here to make our own impression. The time is now to empower people to embrace their uniqueness, be seen, and see others for theirs. To help create a world of AND, not OR.
“What’s at the top of the ladder you’re climbing, Guryan?” I was working insane hours, often in tears, or fighting them back as crying wasn’t easily accessible for me, before going into or returning from the office. I wasn’t saving lives; I was working for a PR agency. What my ex-husband was really asking me was, to whom am I proving myself, and for what?
What was more painful than defending my plight, my unhappiness, because I felt judged, was the fact that I didn’t have an answer to his question. Once the question was posed, I couldn’t stop . . . wondering, searching, seeking. Then it landed in the pit of my stomach, perhaps even in my ankles: a weight creating paralysis. I didn’t want what the top of the ladder was holding for me.
Decision made. I quit. For nothing. For reprieve and space.
Little did I know that would be the beginning of my work. We’re told space is the home of reflection, presence and creativity. When you first open the door to it, at least for me, space is just that. Space. For a doer, a challenging–I might even go so far as to say mind distorting–place to find oneself in. Talk about an identity crisis. Who am I if not what I do?
That perceived judgment I felt from my ex-husband was actually a clue. Thank you, hindsight, for that gem. When we feel judged, generally what we also judge others for, is what we, in fact, fear. Our egos do such an amazing job of protecting us. Really, they deserve more credit. They’re pretty amazing at shielding us from all potential unknowns and simultaneously acting as the catalyst that pushes us to face them. What ironic senses of humor they have.
292 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
So, it began. My journey of connecting to me, my fingerprint–and it gets continually more fascinatingly complex and beautiful by the day.
As an adult, this was perhaps the first peeling back of a layer of obstruction between the social constructs I’d taken on consciously and subconsciously and my truth. A journey I’m still on today and grateful for; for all the iterations of myself I’ve experienced along the way, the insights gleaned and the forms which I continue to evolve.
What do we all fear? Fear. What an amazing commonality that we, every human being no matter our origin, sexual identity, and status share. Yet fear isolates and disconnects us, as somewhere along the way fear was associated with weakness: a negative. To the contrary, I’ve learned to view fear as a treasure map. Talk about a guide to your unlocking.
What kept me in that company for the time I was there? I wrote a story around an impactful first boss impressing upon me that I was a great number two, but not an idea person. Fast forward a decade and I realized I was scared of my own creativity. I put me in that box, not him. But he was the perfect accomplice for my ego to be able to be victim to it, rather than realizing it was my opportunity to unlock more of me. Making up that story enabled me to protect myself from having to face my fear. For years, not only did I believe I was the best number two, I took pride in it and wore it as a badge of honor. I even remember saying, “Don’t invite me to the brainstorm. Let me know when you’re finished and I’ll ensure it happens.”
I believe the only person that can put you in a box, is . . . well, you. Which means if we take the leap of courage, we are the ones who can break free from it.
This was the first of many layers to peel back, which have often looked like the same storyline only richer in subtlety over time. Breaking the pattern of such a deep-rooted fear means beginning again. Again and again and again. A wise person once told me, “the butterflies remind you you’re alive,” and they became a cue that I was on to the next peeling back.
Some may view reinvention, at least in a professional setting, as being a jumper. However, my experience showed me it was my journey to connect further to my soul’s creativity and uniqueness. I have gone onto create roles that didn’t exist before I pitched them. Sometimes I feel a little like Chandler
293 AUTHORS UNITE from Friends, as it’s often hard to describe to my friends what I do. In so doing, I started to increase my appreciation for doing something different, or perhaps, just connecting to my impression. And, we all have our own to make.
The power for my transitions has been fueled by my questions, not the answers. The opening of doors to perspective shifts and aligning to what’s possible, which for me, was aligning to what I’m in service of. Not figuring out what hasn’t been done or what I could do differently and definitely not who I am proving it to. It’s centered on what I want to contribute. In so doing– an unexpected gift–it’s enabled me to see what others have to contribute, creating space for both to not only coexist but to elevate each other.
Because of fear, we avoid embracing who we are. I believe fear is the treasure map; the ego, our flashlight to our wholeness; the expression of our truest selves and the key to unlocking happiness. When we come from a place of happiness, we see the world through a different lens.
By connecting to me, I not only am in service of me, I’m in service of we.
I am an introverted extrovert, a masculine feminine, a believer of magic and student of science and . . . and still in the process of discovering.
What if we could exist in a world of AND, not or? What’s your impression to make?
Guryan Tighe is an experienced Communications Strategist with a demonstrated history working in a multitude of environments. She is driven by his fascination in human ‘beingness.’ The time is now to empower people to embrace their uniqueness, be seen, and see others for theirs. To help create a world of AND, not OR. https://www.linkedin.com/in/guryan-tighe-416a57/
294 Section Three: Being True To Yourself
Trust Your Heart AMY LEU
Here’s a good story about entrepreneurship, the lessons that it teaches, and how our own perspectives can change our life path.
In the fall of 2015, fate would have it that my full-time employer would close down, and on exactly 9/11, the owner of that company in tears addressed the closure and the consequential jobs that everyone present had just lost. Now, rewind to a decade before: Amy, the born entrepreneur, was cooking up yet another new business idea to start building on, but she still fell prey to the corporate 9-6 jobs. She worked in the fashion industry all of her fifteen-year career, until that fateful 2015 day. And now she’s free to be an unconventional entrepreneur again.
This is a story of what life lessons can unfold for you if you are aware of yourself, your surroundings, and the hints that the universe gives you. The stars aligned for me and an old ex-coworker to start a technology-based fashion company after we both lost our full-time paying gigs. The idea was sparked from a staircase conversation one hot summer day in 2015. As fellow entrepreneurs, we just hit it off and decided to incorporate. What else have we got to lose? You never know if you don’t try.
It was long hours, including weekends and nights of brainstorming about how to build our fashion consulting business. I was CEO and co-founder, thus my job was to hit the pavement, cold call, cold email, cold LinkedIn message to all prospective customers to buy our fashion development and sampling service. Through sheer personal network, I was able to bring in four paying customers in the first three months! I have to say, I really am grateful for
295 AUTHORS UNITE these amazing people in my life, I thank you for giving us a chance to make your fashion lines!
Now, you must be saying, what are the lessons learned? What’s the punchline? Well, as startup founders, we all start with a dream, right? We all have the dream of building a successful business, going through first, or second, or even third rounds of product or service launches, study our customer’s’ feedback, and morph to the right direction. Once we hit that “right product” or “right service” for our target customer segments, then it’s time to raise more rounds of seed funding, scale, and the jackpot, IPO.
Well, our startup shareholding did not get to see the morphing stage. See, at the same time of our incorporation, I’d started to dive into Buddhist philosophies such as The Diamond Cutter, karmic cycles, and meditation from a loving perspective. After bringing in initial customers through my personal networks, I started to see my ex-partner’s true personality traits that were not aligned with my perspective in terms of building the company.
Trust, The Number One lesson I learned in order to build a successful partnership. If one partner does not trust himself or herself, then they will never trust others, the work, the customers, the process, and the journey.
Hone in on your talents and passions. It was only after being a startup CEO for a year and a half that I learned what my real life calling was. Before opening that company, I was an unsatisfied, unhappy, and quickly-losing-my- inspiration-in-life kind of corporate zombie. But having had the opportunity to design and create my own company’s website, marketing message, selling, writing, and brainstorming on how best to acquire customers, I learned that I am born with these great skills, and I’m actually really superb at it. Marketing ideas, PR, and promoting other people are my innate talents! I would have never known this about me if we weren’t a cash-strapped little startup working out of a small NY apartment with no heat.
It was a cold December day in 2016 when the answer became as clear as day. I realized there’s no point in trying to change my ex-partner’s mind in lowering our service prices, turn out more patterns in a shorter time so our work flow is more efficient, or try to approach investors to raise more capital so we can scale. None of those suggestions really matters if you realize that the other
296 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 person has doubts, and does not trust themselves or you. That was the day the light bulb lit.
What is it that makes you wake up in the morning? What are the things that you would feel most inspired to do each day? What makes you go to sleep at night and say to yourself, I’m happy with what I’ve done, because I’ve tried my best at everything?
After asking myself all these important meaning-of-life questions, my gut, my Buddha, my Holy Spirit (me, myself and I) answered my call, and said, “You have a heart of gold, and you would give to others all your positive support, messages, and encouragement to see them flourish, succeed, and grow. Doesn’t matter if it’s one single person that is trying to just pick him or herself up from depression, or it’s a new tech startup that needs marketing help on a shoestring budget. You are the person to help these people to rise up, hone in on their talents and ideas, and spread the word about their special gifts.”
Fast forward to today, spring time in NYC, 2017. I’ve started my own holistic marketing firm called BMC, and am proud to say I’m helping new startups in beauty, fashion, technology, and the arts to promote themselves in the most natural way possible. My own holistic approach to branding is simple. Be yourself. You hold all the power to see your project through in whichever direction you dream. As long as you always hold true to hearing your most honest inner voice, and don’t let naysayers misguide you, then no matter what it is you want to accomplish, you will make it happen.
Amy Leu is a “forever dreamer of infinite ideas.” Her closest friends and family can 100% agree to that! If you are inspired by her story and spiritually awakened experiences, she would be honored to open new and inspiring conversations with you. May the “infinite love” be with everyone. www.linkedin.com/in/amyleu314
297 F*ck You Money DAVE KVESIC
Okay, I probably have your attention.
First, a few words on what it means to think in a “F*ck You Money” kind of way. It may seem that the motivation for having lots of money is to flash haters a double gun salute. While that’s nice, FU$ is more about viewing financial success as an enabler to leading an epic life. Wealth is fuel that allows you to do what you want, when you want, without compromising on being your authentic, fantastic self. Creating wealth is fine but the life freedom it brings is the real trophy.
FU$ is about having an enlightened mind when it comes to living your dreams.
It’s about allowing where you see yourself in the world to evolve as you acquire knowledge.
It’s about taking massive action and seizing the moment to achieve the financial success, personal freedom and the happiness that you deserve.
FU$ is being able to live your life, your way, with an on-purpose plan to achieve your dreams.
The “Club”
The financial rewards of leading a FU$ life are great, but that’s not what it’s about. You see, once you allow yourself to evolve while living and breathing this enlightened mindset, you enter an exclusive club.
A small minority of us know about this club–and the first rule of the club is that you don’t talk about the club. But, of course, I’m going to tell you all about it.
I’m going to let you in on a secret: the people in this club are called the “FREE THINKERS (FTs).”
298 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
FTs always seem to walk in the sunshine; they smile large, love their lives and infect the world with their confidence and optimism. These people believe that prosperity is infinite and that there is enough to go around for everyone- they are NOT out to steal your bread.
Now before you lodge complaints that this is an elitist, closed organization, you should know that the club is open and you can join anytime. However, you first need to understand the 28 Laws of what FU$ is all about. I’ll tell you how to learn more about these twenty-eight nuggets of enlightenment a little later.
Crashing the Club
Hopefully you’ve got a sense of what FU$ is all about. How confident are you that you can join the club? Are you ready to kick in the door? Maybe you need a little more coaxing?
That’s OK, I’m here to help kick start your journey to personal and financial freedom, with all the perks that go along with it. Believe me when I tell you that if I can do it, you can. You see, I was born backwards; I literally tried to enter this world ass first. Now those close to me would smile and say, “That makes a lot of sense.” At the time, it was a pretty traumatic thing. The doctor used forceps to turn my head around and unwind the umbilical that was choking me. In doing this, he squeezed too tight and in that moment, I was forever a “forceps baby”. Now, fortunately, the damage didn’t impact my good looks, it did, however, cause me to become dyslexic later in life. While not a huge issue, this did set me up for some challenges down the road. Dyslexia created learning problems which led to a serious lack of self-confidence.
Long story short: I figured things out. Along the way, I picked up some valuable life lessons that have become the cornerstone (aka, the laws) of what FU$ is all about.
Unfortunately, the odds are high that you’re not part of the club.
I know that because an overwhelming majority of people in the Western world live reactively.
Only a small minority achieve their full potential and fulfill their dreams. That bothers me and I want to change it.
299 AUTHORS UNITE
You see, the idea that external factors and limitations are the reason we fail to become wealthy and happy is a falsehood. Th e truth is that we are the biggest barriers to our own success.
People will tell you why they aren’t happy and successful: “My boss sucks,” “My spouse sucks,” “I’m fat because my thyroid is out of whack.” “I don’t make enough money to save” or “Other people are holding me back.”
Th e self-delusions are endless and they become real barriers only when WE believe them.
All of this adds up to the bullsh*t stories we tell ourselves to ease the sting of our own failure. People are missing out on fi nancial freedom, happiness and success without compromise, only because they haven’t yet internalized a FU$ mindset.
Let’s look at one of the key things that Free Th inkers intuitively understand. Manufacturing time, outsourcing the dumb stuff we do every day and making money passively are what Free Th inkers do.
To illustrate the power of harnessing time tactics, check out this fantastically complex model that I drew on a napkin:
Th e model illustrates that as you invest less time in survival mode, you manufacture “found time” that you can then use to create wealth and happiness. Do this sooner and the payoff is big: entry into the FU$ Club. Th e
300 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 key is HOW to do this. Fortunately, this knowledge is all around; you just need to choose to grab it.
Stare at the circle to the right and imagine how much you’d enjoy your life if you were here now. What does living an authentic and on-purpose life look like for you? What amount of money do you need to be financially free? Start by defining what a FU$ life looks like for you. Then, simply, get busy making it happen. I wish that for all of you.
If you’re interested in reading more about the twenty-eight laws of “FU Money” and what you can do to accelerate your journey, check out www.dirtymoneyman.com. Enter your name and I’ll send you a couple chapters of my upcoming book of the same name. Thanks for reading.
301 What Kind of Writer Do You Want to Be? JOSHUA RUTHERFORD
It was a simple question. Nonetheless, it gave me pause.
Not long ago, I organized a writing group. Every one of us had goals to complete a project, be it writing a speech, a business presentation or website copy. My own objective was to work towards the halfway point of my fantasy novel.
Our first session started out casually enough. We met at a coffee shop, ordered drinks and snaked a spot in the corner. Then, to pull our group into focus, one member prompted the collective to share.
“What kind of writer do you want to be?”
What the speaker meant to ask was “What are you working on?” or “What are you writing?” In kind, we answered that we were working on this blog or that chapter. I, like my peers, gave a direct answer. However, the question lingered in my mind, staying with me for weeks as I contemplated its deeper meaning.
What kind of writer do I want to be?
Since high school, I knew that I wanted to be a writer. What kind? A great writer. I yearned to be revered as one of the classics, like Hemingway, Salinger and Steinbeck. I sought to write the most thought-provoking pieces, the type that would propel me to fame and afford me the luxury to write full-time from exotic locales such as Paris, Havana and Cairo. I dreamed of being known not only as a success but as a game-changer, a scribe apart from the rest whose writing would provoke debate and discussion.
My journey began with the screen in mind. So my narrative changed slightly. I wanted to be a great screenwriter. I started my career by writing scripts, first for feature-length films, then for television. My first two were disasters, but my third showed the hint of a voice. So I submitted it to producers and agents. Crickets followed, as many of those queries I sent out were ignored.
302 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Then, finally, after much waiting, I heard the responses. They varied in prose and syntax, yet all went something like “Nope,” “Not for us,” “Not interested,” and my favorite, “We do not accept unsolicited submissions.”
I accepted this rejection as my own badge of courage. I soldiered on, churning out script after script, submitting them, enduring rejection and repeating the process. I did this while chasing after my dream and repeating the mantras of my goals. I want to be a great writer. A great screenwriter. I want my work to inspire. To intrigue. To move the audience. I want to make a living from this. Someday.
Ten-plus scripts and almost as many years later, I found myself looking in the mirror, realizing that someday never came.
I had just received another piece of rejection. This one was more devastating than most, for it came from a producer who had taken the time to lay out, point-by-point, why my submitted script was awful. His notes were eight pages long. Although he insisted his comments were intended to help and he ended his correspondence by telling me not to give up, I could not help to wonder if I had been deluding myself all along.
I was not a great writer. Nor a good one. I wasn’t even a mediocre one.
But I still wanted to be.
After days of mourning my blown opportunity, I presented myself with two options: A) I could quit, or B) I could keep trying.
As you guessed, I chose option B. With a twist.
I realized I wanted to continue writing. However, I could not face again the prospect of presenting my hard work to another curmudgeon agent or producer who would systemically reject me. I knew I needed to bypass the middleman and put my work before an audience, which meant taking a hiatus from scripts and trying my hand at writing a novel.
I had the idea, inspired from a screenplay I had drafted earlier. Over two years, I transformed my story for the screen into a living, breathing narrative, giving it the flesh and bones of a book. Not wanting to wait for it to see the light of day, I self-published it.
303 AUTHORS UNITE
Fast forward to today. Two years after self-publishing my first work, I now have two titles on Amazon, with another two on the way. Am I writing full-time? Hell, no. Do I write from an exotic locale? Nope, I’m still in my hometown. Am I among the classics? Not even close. Am I a great writer?
That question gives me pause.
Ambition has a funny way of setting us up for both success and failure. It propels us forward yet reminds us of what we haven’t accomplished. For you see, none of us who aspire to write will probably ever reach our lofty goals of fame and success. After dedicating years to our craft, we will still face self- doubt, rejection, poor sales numbers and a myriad of other disappointments. We will become discouraged, even depressed. We will present ourselves with two options.
And you know what? Those who select option B, who continue . . .
They will be the great writers.
You may never know their names. They may never achieve a huge book contract or movie deal. Yet they will reach the heights of which all writers dream. They will grow, fine-tuning their voice as artists and scrutinizing every phrase and word they put on the page. Their greatness will lie not with any material success or broad-based recognition. It will come from perseverance. From a dedication to our craft, our art, a focus on quality. That, apart from any sales number or glowing review, will lead to greatness.
How writers such as myself, or you, get there will vary.
Looking back on my lofty ambitions, they have changed slightly. For I no longer want to become a great writer.
I just want to write. Not someday. Now.
Joshua Rutherford has wanted to be a writer all his life. Through college and all the jobs that he has had, his passion for the written word has never ceased. After a long attempt at screenwriting, Joshua tried his hand at writing a novel. He’s been writing novels ever since. www.amazon.com/Joshua-Rutherford/e/B00S3I9EZI/
304 The day Robert De Niro helped me in my career ANINDA BARUAH
A difficult supplier!
A few years back I was managing a project where I had to work closely with an offshore IT supplier. When we progressed into the development side of things, the supplier started making a lot of mistakes in terms of delivering our IT requirements. Basically, we were asking for oranges and what we were getting from them were lemons!
The problem was not that they were making mistakes. The problem was that they were not ready to own up to their mistakes and were tremendously defensive in their attitude. Plus, they seldom committed to a deliverable and whenever we gave them a requirement that was complicated they used to display extreme reservations about it. In a meeting with them, we tried to solve these issues but it ended with heated arguments with no conclusions reached, leaving me and my manager peeved beyond words.
My manager told me, “Aninda, I do not have any trust in these guys; this way we will not even achieve half of what we want.”
I replied by saying, “I do not have any trust in them either.”
He then asked me to think about the issue and find out a way to solve it. I did find a way out but never imagined that the antidote would come from one of the most iconic actors of the world!
Changing the supplier was not within our power, would have been too complicated and thus was not possible.
Completely exhausted by that entire week’s events at my workplace, on Friday night, I thought of chilling out by watching comedy movies.
Enter Mr. Robert De Niro and his movie Meet the Parents (and the sequels).
305 AUTHORS UNITE
Robert De Niro and his Circle of Trust
For those who have not watched the movie Meet the Parents, it’s a movie where Ben Stiller’s character Greg wants to marry Robert De Niro’s character’s daughter. Now, in the movie Robert De Niro has this circle of trust and he repeatedly keeps on telling Greg that if he cannot be inside the circle–which basically means if he cannot win De Niro’s trust–then Greg will not be allowed to marry his daughter. Greg, throughout the movie, keeps on nervously making mistakes, keeps on lying to cover up his mistakes and finally finds himself out of the circle of trust. That’s the piece of paper that Robert De Niro gives to Greg to let him know that he is out of the former’s circle of trust. Right at this point, I rewound the video, paused it at this picture, looked at it for a while with my eyes squinted and then I found myself smiling.
This picture was also telling me something else.
Even Robert De Niro was not in Greg’s circle of trust!
That small black spot in the picture is Greg’s own circle of trust which in no way intersects with De Niro’s.
306 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
And it’s not just this picture. In the entire movie, Greg tries to cover his mistakes all the time which finally leads to his ouster; but he does that in the very first place because he never trusted De Niro’s character to have understood him and forgiven his mistakes.
And then it dawned on me. Maybe, it was not just us who did not have trust in our supplier. For some reason, maybe even they did not have much trust in us.
A relationship based on mutual trust between us and our supplier was definitely missing.
Armed with this understanding, I shared my insight with my boss, created communication plans with the supplier and took actions to build a better relationship. The key thing that we did was to make them feel not as a supplier but as a part of our team (a one team approach) and that making mistakes was fine as long as we were transparent about them, learned from them, communicated effectively and created processes not to repeat them. We started calling the supplier “our development team” instead of “our suppliers.”
It did wonders. The trust gained made the supplier open its doors which brought me face-to-face with their issues. This tremendously helped us to work around the problems and bring the project back on track.
The Circle’s eternal implication on our profession and our life
We can tremendously leverage the benefits of winning each other’s trust in every sphere of our lives. Who takes the first step towards it really depends on the circumstances and/or the relationship life cycle stage. If you are selling a product, you need to take the first step to win the customer’s trust and for the relationship to continue, the customer also has to win your trust as someone who will pay on time.
So, next time if you are left wondering as to why you are not able to make stakeholders in your company accept a change, or why an investor did not invest in your business, or why a customer is not buying your great product, or why your team, spouse or children are hiding things from you, then maybe it’s time to take a pause and see if there is some kind of chink in the armor
307 AUTHORS UNITE of trust (it could be our product or service or our personality itself). Maybe in certain areas, our circles are not intersecting. Understanding this will pave the way towards finding a solution.
This reminds me of something that my sister told me a long time back.
“Keeping all other things constant, if someone is lying to you, then maybe it is your discredit and not his or hers.”
Looking back, I guess she was right!
Aninda Baruah has vast leadership experience in digital transformation projects and has deep cultural sensitivity after having lived in India, Thailand, France and the UK. He is particularly interested in having positive social impacts through delivering innovative solutions and by working with teams based on tremendous collaboration and trust. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anindabaruah/
308 Passion Pivots NADAV WILF
Have you ever gotten something or somewhere you really, really, reallllyyyy wanted, and then realized that it wasn’t right for you? I sure have.
This is what I call aPassion Pivot. It’s the moment at which you realize that you aren’t doing what you love. You feel that there’s something more aligned that’s calling you, and you take a courageous action to shift directions towards the fulfillment of your delicious destiny.
I’ve had multiple Passion Pivots. Sometimes they come like a gentle breeze, and sometimes they have at me like a school bully’s kick in the nuts. Surprisingly I’ve learned to love them. They help us discover who we really are. So sit back, relax, and allow me to take you on the journey of my first Passion Pivot.
It is November 2012, and I wake up in my California King-sized bed made with 800 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets. I bat my eyes open and look over to my left. There’s a beautiful woman still sleeping next to me, and she looks like an angel.
I run my hands through my hair and notice pieces of glitter in it, from throwing it around at our bottle service table last night. I laugh, and again feel accomplished with the results of my favorite signature party trick.
So yeah, I was like: #SquadGoals #Ballin #BallIsLife #ThatJetSetLife #Rich #Blessed #Models #BottlesAndModels #Grateful #Success.
Two years prior when I was twenty-seven, my business partner/best friend Jeff and I sold our Internet marketing company for seven figures.
I went from living paycheck to paycheck, to moving into a 2,200 square foot penthouse with Jeff, leasing a sexy new Audi A5 coupe (I loved that car), owning the premier city guide, DiscoverSD.com. I was partying like it was my birthday every night.
309 AUTHORS UNITE
We had really made it, right? I had gotten everything I wanted, but I had a massive void that was calling to me: destiny.
What was missing suddenly entered my consciousness: I wasn’t fulfilled.
I wanted to wake up with my soul on fire, ready to express itself and light up the world, instead of waiting for Happy Hour at the end of each day.
Does this sound cheesy? I don’t care. It’s my truth.
Passion is Not Something We Have. It’s Who We Are.
I knew that I wanted to make a positive impact on billions of people. I was ready to make a big change, even if it went against all practical logical reasoning.
This was one of my first-everPassion Pivots. I was ready to meet my f*cking destiny.
So, I choose to leave my cushy six-figure corporate job as Chief Lifestyle Officer at UT San Diego. I was the youngest executive of this 700-person company that had acquired DiscoverSD.com.
I took the vision of wanting to make an impact in the world and created Enlightened, which focuses on integrating philanthropy into everyday life. Boom! I have a passion, purpose and fulfillment, all packaged into one fully life-consuming startup.
I downsized into a spare bedroom in Beachwood Canyon Hollywood, and invested all the money into this baby nugget startup. I was afraid and excited.
I like to use the scientific terminology for this: I had a #FearBoner.
I realized that I needed $1 million in investment in order to make this happen. I start with investing my own money, followed by a fundraising adventure to fill out a seed round from strategic investors. We feel like we are going in the right direction, but unfortunately we aren’t, because the tech platform was not the right one.
310 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Our heart was in the right place; however, our strategy wasn’t, because we didn’t find the product market fit early enough.
In order to avoid this same fate and to find a product market fit early, before you burn through your cash, I highly recommend reading a book called The Startup Owner’s Manual.
After one year, we were out of money and out of food, and now I’m $80,000 in debt.
I went from having “made it” and all those sweet-ass hashtags to being a #Failure #Loser and #Poor, right? It was the end . . . however, I chose to look at it as the beginning.
I could have easily slid down the shame spiral back, but I didn’t. Even though I lost $1 million, I created the belief that my life will get better and that I will continue to elevate.
Just a couple days later, I ask the Universe, “How can I contribute to something I’m passionate about?”
Three days later, I am with my dear friend Jordan Brown, who is the Director of Visioneering at XPRIZE Foundation. I tell him how I am focused on contributing to something I am passionate about. He looks at me, smiles, and says, “Peter is looking for someone.”
My jaw drops. Peter Diamandis is one of my heroes. He is the founder of XPrize Foundation, and father of privatized space travel with his $10 million space prize. As the founder of Singularity University, he’s lassoing asteroids for minerals with Planetary Resources, and the list goes on.
His teaching immensely influenced my current life mission of “Everyone living in alignment with themselves.”
A week later, Peter hires me as the Director of Possibilities on his four-person skunkworks team. My first day on the job, Peter asks me to meet him at the Santa Monica airport and we get on a private plane to meet Elon Musk. And these experiences go on and on, more than I have room for in this chapter. It’s all so surreal, and yet it’s my life.
311 AUTHORS UNITE
My first Passion Pivots have me on a ride of my wildest dreams. The falls have always been an opportunity to learn and to get back up and maintain my positive attitude. I had been able to give back to others on a massive scale, and live my passion.
I encourage you to welcome when Passion Pivots come your way, whether they caress you like a gentle breeze or are a firm kick in the nuts.
Nadav Wilf is a spiritual entrepreneur. After building and selling 2 startups, he wasn’t fulfilled so he embarked on a journey to find his passion, in what he calls a Passion Pivot. After studying with masters across the globe, Nadav founded Lifestyle Perfected, lifestyling programs for living the life you love. www. Lifestyleperfected.co
312 Section Four: Connect To Your Spirit
Role of Spirituality in the World of Business ASEEM SRIVASTAV
We all know about IQ, EQ and in the recent past about SQ. We give so much importance to IQ and EQ. The most misunderstood is the Spiritual Quotient (SQ). Even less understood in Oneness Quotient (OQ). This is because it is abstract and difficult to understand. We do not have tangible measures. The corporate world is all about numbers. The irony of the current time is that we all believe that spirituality is something distant and mysterious and linked to religion and old age. In the corporate world, it has very little meaning and many times it resonates with skepticism and cynicism.
What role can spirituality play in a big bad world of business? In a world where we are all on our own and willing to cull others for personal growth and profit? It is a mean world where the dog-eat-dog, crab mindset, vultures have it all mindset is encouraged. This is rooted in the “survival of the fittest” mindset that we all believe in. Young executives are exposed to similar beliefs. Our children from an early age are exposed to the same beliefs through parents, teachers and their peers. They are stressed out and are not given the tools to handle the stress. Many give up early. They come to a job with enthusiasm, passion, and hope, but soon become like dogs and crabs.
I had the same mindset until 2003. I was aggressive and ruthless in my job, always angry, paranoid, jealous and self-centered. It was not helping me in my career or performance. But, my belief was that it worked. All around, people were living with similar beliefs; for some, it seemed to work. I needed to be more aggressive, more ruthless, I thought. This was also harming my health.
313 AUTHORS UNITE
The earlier signs of corporate success–higher weight, high blood pressure, diabetes, and insomnia–were visible. These are considered rewards of success in corporate world.
Can there be some other way? I wondered? Can we run an organization in a different way? Is it possible to have passion for work and at the same time a life of dispassion? Can we have the best of the both worlds? A joyful inside, and a successful outside? Can we enjoy material success, along with strength of spirituality?
As I introspected internally and explored outside, I started getting the answers from the universe. The change was gradual, as I started my journey of wisdom with meditation, yoga and knowledge. Soon I realized that spirituality is the core of our being and is helping me handle self, people and situations better.
My perception, intuition and creativity enhanced. I started wondering whether it is possible to separate spirituality from our day-to-day life, including the corporate life. The realization that spirituality is the core of our existence and everything originates and ends there came to me. All problems have a spiritual solution which is long-lasting and sustainable. I changed my belief about spirituality and business and came to a realization that spirituality will be my biggest differentiator to succeed in the corporate world.
I started experimenting with the new belief of life. Many successful leaders had spoken about trust as a core of all meaningful relationships. Without trust, there can be no risk-taking, no giving and no bonding.
Can we improve performance by improving trust? I soon realized that distrust causes fear, then control and leads to politics. It is a vicious cycle that stifles decision making, creativity, teamwork and productivity. The irony is that stress is considered necessary and, for some leaders, normal. These leaders believe in creating fear to steer performance. I decided to change that. Trust became the core of my leadership style, with the new belief of collaboration.
I was heading the international business of a large Indian company. I thought of implementing some ideas of spirituality, like building trust and developing positive attitudes and mindset. Many of my colleagues were encouraged to attend yoga, meditation, and other similar experiential programs. Leading
314 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 the way, I consciously increased my trust in people and encouraged them to do the same with their colleagues.
A new definition of attitude was given. Your inner state to anything that is happening outside is your attitude. How you respond or behave or even think in any situation is your attitude. Emotions like fear, jealousy, hate, anger were understood and techniques to change them were initiated. Learning the ability to handle failures was focused on regularly. The power of positive thinking and how our thoughts are linked to creation was discussed and debated in various forums. Some old beliefs were discarded and replaced with new beliefs. For example, “survival of the fittest” was replaced with “the fittest just survive and collaborators excel” and “seeing is believing” was replaced with “believing is seeing.” The employee engagement score started going up and performance improved. The good thing was the performance was achieved with less stress and more joy. This was the phase in our company where exports also grew. I could feel that the company became energized with a sense of ease, positivity and simplicity. It seems that spirituality has lifted the loads from the hearts and minds of the people. This was enhancing performance.
The next assignment given to me was running plants, although I had no previous experience of running manufacturing. As is normal, some people told me not to trust the workers. I decided not to follow their advice. The results were similar: the employee engagement scores and performance in terms of growth and ROCE went up very fast. We could create new plants very fast and at less cost. It is not to say that challenges were absent. We faced many challenges and hurdles. But, our state of mind helped us sail through faster and better. We had clarity of thought and fearlessness to take the right decisions. Many times, we felt the universe was conspiring to help us.
My third challenge was the greatest with a company having a very low employee engagement and problems with cash. Here also, we worked on people by exposing them to wisdom and conducting various courses on spirituality. Basic knowledge of spirituality was discussed freely and people were encouraged to include spirituality in their lives. I found profound changes in culture. Their approach towards life and work changed dramatically. Many came to me and expressed that their life had changed for good and they want to come to the office every day. Passion, enthusiasm, and energy levels went up.
Some suppliers and customers spoke to me and said that they found profound
315 AUTHORS UNITE changes in the way they were given service. In departments where this was followed, I found teamwork improved and performance improved. In some areas where an individual leader failed to understand or implement, he faced problems. These leaders had returned to the “normal” way of working, by blaming others and finger pointing. We went further and deeper here by putting an “outside the box” performance sheet in our appraisal system along with the balance score card.
The leaders were encouraged to introspect and improve on five negative thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. It was self-assessment but with mentorship. Many such out of the box thinking brought the company from the lowest levels of employee engagement to the highest in the group. Basics of spirituality like thoughts, emotions, feelings, self, oneness, compassion, gratefulness, fearlessness, and abundance were understood and actions taken. The pillars of knowledge were discussed freely. I led seminars in groups of thirty to forty people regularly. We conducted many one-to-one and one-to-five meetings to give the right message linked to spirituality. It was implemented across the value chain from vision formation to day-to-day working.
Life follows the same philosophies at home and work. Spirituality is the base of life, and so also for work. We should be brave enough to openly discuss this and implement in business. This will not dilute profit, but enhance it with responsibility to planet, people and presence. It is possible to achieve success in the corporate world with inner peace and joy. Spirituality gave me that strength to be centered in difficult situations; it gave me clarity of thought and helped me master time, enhance relations, be coherent; improve perception, intuition, and innovation; be simple and be kind, to serve, love and be joyous. What more could I have asked? Spreading this to the world is my mission of life now.
http://aseemsrivastav.com/
316 The Surprising Power of Transcendence MARK MONCHEK
I grew up in a family where understanding and doing were prized. The world was meant to be understood and then conquered through personal achievement. Education, ambition, and service were sacred values. Growing up in this world did not involve much inner silence as there was always so much to be done.
My mother and her family were Holocaust survivors who fled to America in 1938. My father and his family were Jewish immigrants from Russia who struggled to make it in Brownsville, Brooklyn during the early twentieth century. Their inner worlds were filled with the awareness of being one step away from not being here. My parents had advanced, going several steps beyond survival; yet, the consequences of failure always loomed large. I was brought up with this awareness. By the time I was in elementary school, I believed that success in school and sports was a requirement for survival, and for success in life.
I was taught that survival meant perpetually planning, studying, practicing and worrying. All of which required a whole lot of thinking. When I learned about meditation, the idea of not thinking seemed preposterous. The more I learned about the life-changing benefits of meditation, which slows and reduces thinking, what was once alien became a habit. While meditation is not the only way to achieve transcendence, it is the way I have achieved it and there is much to be learned from the experience, no matter the route you take to arrive there.
Transcendence involves going beyond the normal state of the thinking mind into a state of greater wholeness and connectedness with the world. Going beyond time and space, even for a few moments, profoundly shifted my perspective. In this peaceful state I have come to a deeper, less “me-centered” perspective.
How Transcendence Develops
I began to notice the many positive effects of transcendence. Life became less noisy. I became calmer and better able to handle the things that
317 AUTHORS UNITE didn’t go my way; I was more patient. I was still thinking during much of my twice-daily meditation practice, but my thoughts had slowed and there were extended gaps between thoughts. It was in those gaps that the experience of transcendence began to emerge. Giving myself the gift of “doing nothing” for twenty minutes, twice a day shattered my belief that if I didn’t produce something, I had wasted my time. For the child of a Holocaust survivor, wasting time stopped just short of a criminal act. The freedom tobe and not do sparked a wondrous sense of safety. I had the sense that, while doing “nothing,” nothing bad was happening to me, therefore I was safe. Because I felt safe, I was able to see more deeply into complex situations that previously seemed unsolvable. By lessening my need to feel competent, I became more capable of seeing opportunities formerly blocked by my fear.
An Opportunity Mindset Emerges
By giving myself the permission to be without doing, l opened a window to a new and startling world of possibility. During or after meditation, an insight would come that was radically outside the lens I had been seeing out of. Here is a recent example: one of our clients recently completed their first strategic planning process, a critical step in the path to sustainable growth. As a result of this process, they needed to form a new leadership team. The CEO was struggling with a critical decision of who to include on the team. A potential member, let’s call him Brian, had been a brilliant and successful leader of one of the company’s businesses in past years, but was struggling with poor performance. He was blaming the CEO and other factors he felt were outside of his control. Brian’s increasingly abrasive tone and seemingly closed mind proved to be severe limitations to his effectiveness.
After months of discussion and attempts to help Brian take greater accountability and be more successful in his primary role, the CEO felt defeated, as did I. My attempts to help Brian re-engage had failed. I went back and forth between blaming myself and blaming Brian. But following a meditation, I had a flash of insight, created by no longer seeing the condition as “my problem.” I was able to see that the role Brian had played over the years no longer fit his newly evolving interests or his skills. While he is a brilliant thinker and knows the company’s challenges better than anyone, he did not have the right forum to contribute his talents. We needed to find a new role for Brian.
318 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Lessons Learned
Brian’s new role was one we sorely needed: a Vice President of Product Development and Innovation. As part of the newly-developed strategic plan, the company needed to develop products and services that separated them from larger competitors. Brian’s previous role left him no time to pursue his true passion, creating innovative ways to surprise and delight customers. Because Brian, the CEO and I were all focused on what he had been doing, we were not asking what he could be doing. Brian began to thrive in the new role. The company benefited enormously. The stress caused by the misalignment of Brian’s role turned into inspiration and collaboration. In his new situation, not having to fight against a role that no longer fit, Brian was able to look inside of himself and grow as a person and a leader.
Through meditation I was able to transcend the recycling of the same, old thoughts into a new realm of “what if?” What if we could find a way to harness Brian’s passion and talent without forcing him to stay in a role that he clearly no longer wanted? As I deepen my meditation practice, my opportunity mindset and my effectiveness also deepens. Now, I often solve critical problems in hours or minutes, instead of days or weeks. My effectiveness and value in Brian’s organization continues to increase significantly. More and more, I am sought out to solve problems no one else can.
Hearing this, you might ask, “Do I need to meditate to build an opportunity mindset?” It helped me tremendously and may help you as well. On the other hand, there are other ways to reach transcendence: being in nature, quiet reflective time, writing, being in creative, caring communities. Certain forms of activity can also stimulate transcendence: yoga, dancing, swimming, and kayaking can help you move beyond the cycle of repetitive. Archimedes, the renowned Greek mathematician famously said, “Give me a lever, a fulcrum and a place to stand and I can lift the earth.” Transcendence gives us that place to stand outside of our self-referential world. It gives us the opportunity mindset needed to move what we need to move in our world.
Mark’s mission is to empower conscious leaders to build great companies that make a difference in the world. As founder of The Opportunity Lab, Mark has worked with leaders from Google, Apple, General Electric, The New York Times and Time Warner, among others. Mark’s book Culture of Opportunity was an Amazon #1 Bestseller and is available now. Learn more at www.markmoncheck.com
319 Dream and Achieve PATRICIA HOPE
As a former business owner, my testimony is more as an encouragement for all who have a “dream or vision.” One is never too young or too old; the only thing that can hold one back is the fear of taking a risk.
I am a living testimony of how God can work the impossible through someone who is willing to step out of their comfort zone and risk all that they have to give birth to their “dream or vision.” For many years I had thoughts that one day my husband and I would put a funeral home in the small town I had formerly lived in for many years. There was only one funeral home in town as others had opened and closed for various reasons.
As the years went by, my marriage failed but my “dream” of a funeral home did not die; it just lay dormant within my heart. When God’s timing was right and everything looked totally impossible, I heard within my heart and spirit that if I was willing to trust Him completely He would bring forth the impossible through me.
I had been given a choice; I could remain status quo OR I could step out in faith – trusting God to lead and guide me. I chose the latter. At the age of fifty-eight and being a single woman, I knew the way would not be easy, but there was an excitement within me that words cannot describe. I never doubted that my “dream/vision” would not become a reality.
At that time, I was living in Memphis, TN and would need to make a major move back to Hobbs, NM where the timing was ripe for someone to put in another funeral home and that someone was going to be me. God was going to get all praise, honor and glory. The oil industry was at a low and banks were not considering new loans; naturally the timing to build was not good. But it was the perfect time for God to show His power. I am thankful that He gave me the “dream/vision” and then chose me to work through.
Speaking about how God can use the “impossible” to work through, I am
320 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3 a prime example. The folks who had known me for years knew I had never owned, built or even managed a business in the past. That is not to say I did not have some knowledge and experience in the business world, including the funeral profession.
Being a woman, I relate to how my “dream/vision” first started as tiny little seed within my heart and spirit where it was carried and nurtured for a few years. The “labor” began during the almost two years of hard work of the planning stages and then nine months of construction.
July, 1991: Chapel of Hope Funeral Home was birthed as a new business start-up in beautiful new facilities. “Fear,” which had not been an issue, now surfaced as a big ugly monster. I was now responsible for a very big debt and all the other uncertainties that come about when one is the owner-manager of a business.
One of the most important decisions I made was deciding the principles that I would build the business upon. These are the ones I listed and tried to live by:
1. I would engage in the business first of all for the purpose of glorifying God and not for the primary purpose of making money.
2. All money that might be made I would never regard as my own, but as trust funds to be used for the good of humanity.
3. My relations with all persons in my employ would be the most loving and helpful. This thought would always be greater than the thought of making money.
4. I would try to never do a single dishonest or questionable thing or take advantage of anyone in the same business.
5. The rinciplesp of unselfishness and helpfulness in the business would direct all it details.
6. Upon these principles, I would shape the entire plan of my relations to my employees, to the people that I would serve and to the general business world with which I was connected.
321 AUTHORS UNITE
Was the way always easy – NO. Was the risk worth it all – YES. Did I always make wise choices – NO-NO-NO. Sometimes I got way ahead of God’s timing – big mistake, but through it all I learned and grew mentally and spiritually.
If I had listened to all the negative voices that came against me, my dream would have died, but by trusting in God, Chapel of Hope Funeral Home became a reality.
The years have passed; I sold the business many years ago and even though I am no longer the owner, I will always be the founder – the “mother who gave birth to it.”
As I write this I am eighty-four years young, healthy, energetic and still have “dreams and visions.” I am the author of a book, another fulfilled dream. I have written a manuscript Steps of Faith, the history of Chapel of Hope, not available to the public yet.
Always remember; if you can dream it – you can achieve it. It is better to try and fail than to never try at all!
Patricia Hope is 85 years young and calls Hobbs, NM home, where at age 58 she was the Founder of Chapel of Hope Funeral Home. At 70, she wrote and published “The Journey of Hope-From Tragedy to Triumph.” Age is only a number; her belief is if you can dream, you can achieve. [email protected]
322 Choose a Spiritual Path to Accelerate Entrepreneurial Success JOLIE DAWN
It’s no secret that some of the top CEOs and visionaries of our time have attributed some of their success and even part of their sanity to being on a spiritual path, including Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Oprah Winfrey. Each of these well-known leaders have been open about their spiritual beliefs, direct divine experiences and practices.
Meditation and mindfulness practices are hitting the mainstream like never before as humanity collectively acknowledges the downside of technology, the infinite choices and endless distractions.
On some level, maybe you already know that you need to create spaciousness in your life, to connect to yourself and your spirit, and to just be able to hear yourself. But how? And more importantly for an entrepreneur, why and how does spirituality help my business?
I have put together five reasons why you should cultivate and own your spiritual path and how it will help you create bigger success in your business and in your life!
But first, let me answer the classic question: “What is spirituality?” The dictionary defines it as “the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” I believe that spirituality isn’t about opposition to material things, so much as an integration of the spirit with the physical being.
Simply put, to me, spirituality is the acknowledgement that there is some greater force at play that is bigger than ourselves, while simultaneously acknowledging our humanness, and physical reality. This can be expressed in many ways, from prayer and meditation to just holding the awareness that we are on an organic rock floating in infinite space. It’s about
323 AUTHORS UNITE acknowledging that there is more to you than the meat suit that you are temporarily embodying.
My business is one of the greatest loves of my life. It’s a constant reminder that I can practice spiritual laws and not just study them like a textbook concept. It is a great pleasure for me to be able to help people every day to conceptualize their business, believe in themselves, and make it a reality. In the first year of launching one of my courses, Prosperity Possy, it soared past six figures in sales and opened up massive doors of opportunity. This simply would not have been possible for me if I stayed stuck in fear, believing I was separate, or spent my time competing with others. I devoted myself to the spiritual path long before I started my first business. I truly believe that this created the foundation I needed to step into my greatness and prosper.
You can absolutely do this, too. We’ve all heard the famous quote, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” I promise you, when you declare your desires and ask the Universe for support, exactly what you need will show up for you.
Here are the five ways that spirituality can improve your entrepreneur lifestyle:
1. Entrepreneurship forces you to face your greatest fears and limiting beliefs, requiring you to go inward and face yourself. Anyone who has ever started something new has heard the voice in their head saying, “YOU CAN’T.” The spiritual path offers many tools and practices to know ourselves, look deep within, and be able to face the fears that scare us most.
2. The Law of Attraction tells us that nothing can come into our life experience unless we are an energetic match. Like attracts like, so if you desire money in your business or that high-level introduction, you must work on your energy and your ability to receive what you say you want. There are many examples of this law in action in an entrepreneur’s life, especially my own.
3. There is a spiritual theory that says we all came to Earth for a particular purpose. When you’re aligned with purpose, your path is accelerated. Things will happen faster; more doors will open; you will get “yeses.”
324 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
Aligning with this path of purpose will feel like water flowing downstream instead of pushing a boulder uphill. Alignment with your unique Dharma = the fastest track to success.
4. Being attached to a specific outcome is one of the most painful things you can do. When growing or starting a business, things constantly happen that are out of our control. Money stops flowing, employees need to be paid, funding falls through, or crucial team members quit without warning. Understanding and living the spiritual concept of detachment and trusting the process will help you pivot faster and be a creative problem solver. Basically, when you fall, you will land on your feet.
5. Gratitude creates a winning state. Expressing gratitude for your life, your resources, your business opportunities, and more can literally change your brain chemistry. This interaction with the divine communicates that you want more of the good that’s happening, and also allows you to recognize and be grateful for the great things in your life and allows deeper appreciation.
Being an entrepreneur is stressful, exciting, terrifying, and amazing.
Throughout my entrepreneurship journey over the last several years, my spirituality has allowed me to be more open to different ways of accomplishing things, has made me more grateful and appreciative for the things I do well and receive in life, and has helped me learn to detach and compartmentalize, keeping me from getting too disappointed when things turn out differently than I first imagined. I am able to be far more flexible and creative and my spiritual path is a driving force in my success as an entrepreneur.
Aligning with Dharma, practicing daily gratitude, and facing my fears has not only made me a better businesswoman, but has made me a better woman. One who lives life fully and sees it as a grand adventure.
By taking steps to create abundance in my life, create a better and more prosperous mindset, creating grounding morning rituals and routines, and learning to let myself have the space I need to create, I have been able to create a successful business that allows other entrepreneurs to learn these tactics and create their own lives filled with wonder, spirituality, and success.
325 AUTHORS UNITE
Jolie Dawn is a two-time best-selling author and a results-driven, intuitive business coach. Her passion includes inspiring people to reach their highest potential and guiding people to create and grow their soul-aligned businesses. She has been featured in Huffington Post and Thrive Global, and writes for Entrepreneur.com. Jolie lives in Austin, Texas, and loves all things little-black-dress and champagne. www.joliedawn.com
326 Time To Say Goodbye? IOHO DE BEER
Author’s note: The story behind this story.
Saturday 7:45 AM Lorne, Australia.
Yesterday when Tyler sent me his fourth nudging email to hasten and upload my chapter quickly, I panicked and turned dictatorial to my family guests, demanding imperiously that this would be my “writingabestseller” day. No exceptions. They will feed, cuddle, clean up, take care of all pets, housekeeping, cleaning, cooking, and eating while I let my lethargic genius pour forth on the page. And so it was decreed. So it was done. Maybe some of the other authors did the same?
Except yesterday we had a death in the family.
So today, my “writingabestseller” day with no exception, we had to dig a small grave on our property and hold a sacred ceremony.
And so early today in the misty morning, I absentmindedly strolled into the orchard on this Hobbiton-esque 90-acre property and casually scanned for a place to rest in peace our dead and favourite housepet chicken, Rosie. All the while my mind churned and turned in circles of possibilities of what to write, upload and finish on time.
And then the magic happened.
Come fly with me1. Here lies Rosie. She was well loved. Juli, Max, Ioho, Titania. 25 August 2017.
1 Frank Sinatra song
327 AUTHORS UNITE
It was silly.
Totally unnecessary. Big waste of precious time. Just let it go. Doesn’t matter. Just throw her in the weekly garbage collection bin. That’s what they all do. It’s just a farm chicken. A burial and ceremony for a farm chicken!
Yeah but…
What if…
What if it’s not time to say goodbye?
What if there is a grander meaning here?
What if there was a meaningful coincidence hidden in this seemingly random event?
What if Rosie was another manifestation of love, just like you and me?
And maybe her short life is just another example placed before our eyes to see or not see a picture vaster than the sky?
Just maybe this vast sky picture is also our own story. A story which tells of meaningful coincidence from a seemingly random world? Not a mere happening. A story which opens magnificent doors of perception we never knew were there?
Today, in a few misty morning seconds, I saw so very clearly Rosie’s story is also our own story...
Then I mentally YouTubed my business failures. What were my most successful failures? How could I possibly share those today so you, too, can also meet all your experiences and stories in the Persian poet Rumi’s field beyond right or wrong?
In that field, my perceived failures are not that I failed – sometimes gallantly, sometimes shamefully, sometimes disastrously, sometimes desperately and sometimes beautifully.
On looking back, I realized my biggest business success/failure was that I did
328 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
not know nescience2, the Seven Laws that create universes and also created you and me, and our business stories.
In a lightning flash, I knew the story to tell you, that there is an eternal order to dignify our lives and businesses with greater meaning.
Jerome Bruner explains, “Not until we tell each other a story can we make sense of our experiences.” There is a way to tell our stories of roads less traveled and just detour those distorted beliefs that can only mirror, reflect, predict and doom our potentials and our pitfalls.
So, come fly with me on a free world trip.
Let’s fly to that higher ground, fly, fly to that field and meet my friend, mentor and life savior, Hermes.
Hermes, also known as Thoth, is the ancient Egyptian scribe, god of hidden knowledge, inventor of writing, god of knowledge and wisdom, inventor of speech, literature, arts, and learning and kept a great library of scrolls. This brief introduction to the vast Hermetic knowledge that I share is said to be knowledge from the gods, brought to Earth and written down by Thoth thousands of years ago3.
Einstein spoke about it a little differently:
“I want to know how God created this world…the rest are details.” ~ Albert Einstein
Hermes’ writings like The Emerald Tablets were the basis of many magnificent cultures with almost superhuman powers, such as Egypt and many star scholars such as Plato, Newton4 and Michelangelo. It was the greatest START button for both the Renaissance and the Reformation. Yet it was and still
2 Nescience: from the Latin verb nesciere: “to not know because knowledge was absent or unobtainable”. Nescience is the knowledge that is unobtainable, may also be hidden. 3 You will find more in the books The Emerald Tablets by Hermes and The Kybalion by The Three Initiates. 4 Newton, the father of science knew how these laws worked because he was an alchemist for thirty years before he wrote his best seller book Principia Mathematica in 1687.
329 AUTHORS UNITE mostly is forbidden secret knowledge. It was so powerful that for thousands of years it was only shared orally in Mystery Schools to empower and enlighten those who ruled, aka the Matrix Makers.
What are these basic, universal, creative principles, natural laws, or Hermetic Laws that change and empower everything?
Th e Principle of MENTALISM – everything is simply a mental creation. Your mind, and you and I, are simply an extension of this Divine Mind. It takes a lot of practice to understand this one.
Th e Principle of CORRESPONDENCE – the structure of this reality. As above, so below; as below, so above. Every up must have a down in all your creations. Scan your life and see your ups and downs simply refl ecting this truth. Relax.
Th e Principle of VIBRATION – everything moves: Matter, Energy, Mind, and even Spirit. Find the right vibe to vibrate with, to change, attract or dis-create whatever you choose. It’s the Law.
Th e Principle of POLARITY – everything comes as a pair of opposites. Absolute right and wrong doesn’t exist as there are two sides to everything. It reconciles
330 THE BETTER BUSINESS BOOK VOL. 3
things that seem irreconcilable. Change your vibrations or transmute your thoughts to change your circumstances and make peace. Take action. This takes a lot of practice.
The Principle of RHYTHM – the universe operates on predictable rhythms. When the rhythm controls you, you experience ups and downs. When you control the rhythm, you become immune. Surrender the need and belief of control. Do things differently. Let go because that will block the natural pendulum- swing between opposites. It will return naturally. It is the LAW. Like the law of attraction, like karma. Take action. This also takes lots of practice.
This neverending thousands-of-years-old story continues with two other Laws: The Principle of Cause and Effect - that nothing ever “merely happens” - and the Principle of Gender - nothing to do with sex but everything to do with the macrocosmic (Hermetic, god) concept and our current microcosmic (grammatical, man made) reality.
So, in closing, my little story of Rosie, Hermes, the Universe, and I, may I suggest that we all conspire to be vaster than the sky and are not merely see this as a random happening?
And to help you conspire faster, you could Quantum Read5 (my gift to you) 12 books in a day and wake up the next day, done. This knowing will be in the palm of your hand, heart and soul.
Is it time to say goodbye to our failures and hello to our success?
Well, that’s not possible in this Universe. The instant you create a goodbye, you also create a hello in our vast and mythic Neverending story. This is the Law.
And so, my Rosie story was just the physical level, a minuscule event which could have landed in the garbage bin and in a few days’ time dumped unceremoniously into landfill and simply forgotten.
Yeah, but...
5 Quantum Reading is where you use Mentalism and the other Laws to read twelve books in a day and move to a high ground of thinking in twenty hours. Takes practice
331 AUTHORS UNITE
It was also a brilliant, loving (8th hidden Principle) nudge from the universe for me to unexpectedly and synchronistically segue into sharing what I love on both levels of existence – the temporal order of a Quantum Reading business and a sacred order of a vaster sky, sharing the hermetically sealed incredible awareness of something that has been hidden from all humanity for thousands of years.
Thank you for flying with Hermes today.
It is now truly time to say goodbye, for now and say hello in a little while. I wish you well, for we are all much loved and we can all learn how to live the life we desire in peace with Everything, even the scientists and mathematicians!
Maybe true. Maybe not true. Better you believe. ~ OLD SHERPA SAYING
Ioho de Beer. Founder, Quantum Reading .Founder, Quantum Spoon Bending. International Library Consultant. Minister of Peace. Best-selling author
332 Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed reading this book half as much as we enjoyed creating it for you. The value in this book is immense. A repeat read is highly recommended. Each time you read it, you will learn and discover many new things. We also recommend being a good friend. If there is someone in your life who could benefit from this material, please share it with them. Leave A Review & Join AU
If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review. It really helps! Also, if you want to get in contact with all of the authors, join our community here: https://facebook.com/groups/AuthorsUniteInnerCircle/