It’s time….to move, to transition from a place of basic personal and professional development, to a position of true personal strength. It’s time to put YOU on the map!
I have a lot of fabulous info and tools to share with you— to get you in motion, to get you strong, to give you peace of mind, and to help you create a FULFILLING life, a THRIVING business, and SOLID relationships. This is fitness for the soul.
It’s time for ALL of us to finally just be ourselves and contribute meaningfully AND powerfully to the world through who we were meant to be and what we were meant to do. You don’t need a hook or a gimmick. You just need to be YOU, and be it full throttle! There is no other you, and THAT is where YOUR power lies!
It’s time to get EMPOWERED——to STOP the ridiculous game of trying to please everyone else, be something you are not, or do it someone else’s way.
You CAN have a great life, a great business, and great relationships, but it starts with getting real and getting to where you are comfortable flowing in YOUR personal power and YOUR area of influence—not someone else’s.
I am living my DREAM. My dream is to be a true encouragement and inspiration to others, to have control over the way I use my time and my resources, to fully enjoy the experience of life, to love my work and my contributions, to be blessed economically, and in doing so to know I am a success.
I will help you find YOUR voice, YOUR passion, and YOUR creativity! YES, you have all of that within you RIGHT NOW. I write with YOU in mind. My entire goal is to empower you to embrace your life and live it fully and exceptionally, while touching the lives of others, being and feeling like a TRUE success, and having loads of fun.
I’ll help you grow your business, connect with others, be a giver, be a better person, grow personally and professionally, increase profits, understand the New Media and New Marketing Mindset, and enjoy your life with more authenticity, more time for what matters most, and more energy. I want you to live YOUR dream.
Please stop by often for words of empowerment and substantial tools you can use to continuously keep you on the track of being YOU, living your life and running your business the only way it will succeed—by YOU embracing YOU, and giving the real YOU to others!
“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
You hear it all the time, “Life is short, so you should live it fully”. For some people that means keeping the keg going, or grabbing as much money and fame as they can squeeze into every one of life’s transactions. Regardless of whether or not life is really “short”, the fact that we are here, that we are alive, and that we are cognitively aware, is a huge signal that at the very least, we should be living lives of purpose and meaning, not just running after the green stuff, the skirts, youth, and all of the other misleading bells, whistles, and detours this earthly existence can offer.
Since you have the opportunity—and somewhere deep down, the desire—why not spend your life doing the things you are really passionate about, the things you dreamed about doing, and doing them in the way you dreamed about being? It’s a good idea, but first you have to get still for a bit, and allow your personal desires to resurface. You may even have to conjure up a few from scratch, and that’s o.k. No matter what you are doing now, you can and should re-ignite with the passionate desires that once motivated you to see life as an exciting and rich experience. No matter where you are currently, you CAN live your life based on your deepest desires, and you CAN find, develop, and then live, your dreams.
That’s what I want to talk to you about—your dreams. There are two kinds of dreams: those you encounter while you are fast asleep, and those you bring into play while you are wide awake. For the rest of this message, I’d like to visit with you about the second kind, those you activate when you are awake—the ones you have total control over authoring and bringing to some type of fruition.
Dreams can be fantastic, fabulous, or even a little freaky! Dreams are more thanhopes, because you play a crucial role in fulfilling them. They are not left to chance. Dreams have the element of creation and animation built right into them. Dreaming is something you do, something you engage in, and something you are involved with. When you dream, you are first daring to believe that you can have more, then you are suggesting to yourself ways to create that. On top of that, the very act of dreaming fuels you to take the actions necessary to actualize what you know you want.
Dreaming is exciting because it stirs up your passions, and convinces you that what you desire is worth going after.
Dreams are dynamic, not static. They are moving, developing, unwinding, unfolding, and even changing as you go towards them with the determination to see them take shape. Dreams become realities through a structured process of applying yourself and your resources towards them in a “take action” manner.
That’s what it is all about, taking action. Here is a DREAM RECIPE that you can follow to create a delicious dish of your very own dreams, those that will feed you with more excitement, more meaning, and more personal passion going forward. Living your dreams actually forces all of the energy fields surrounding them to make more room for more dreams. It is a contagious and exhilarating process. It touches the lives of others, too. To live your deepest desires—your dreams—is to live divine.
As you create, plan, and actualize your dreams, remember this:
It is not so much the exact and perfectly literal expression of a dream that is important— although with proper planning you will see many of your dreams almost perfectly come to pass. It is the act of being present with your dreams that is the powerful part, because going towards your dreams leads you to your true destiny. Your true destiny is where the magic begins.
DREAM RECIPE
1. Pretend for a moment that you have no constraints, that YOU (not a false you) can have anything that you want, and that you can be anyone that you desire.
2. Think about what you would do in life (with your minutes, days, weeks, months, and years) if no matter what you did, you received the exact same financial reward and the exact same praise from others for doing it (so the motive is not money, recognition, or fame).
3. Get clear about your personal dreams. Jot down eight dreams you would like to see come to pass in your life over the next one to five years (or even a few years longer if need be). Include ONLY things you are passionate about—that excite you, thrill you, or invigorate you in some meaningful way (leave the other, less exciting ideas for another day).
4. Prioritize your dreams. Go back and circle from the above list, the four dreams that are the absolute most important to you AT THIS TIME IN YOUR LIFE (they may all be equally important, but which one are MOST important now. For example, you could want to have a child and also want to get a masters degree so you can teach, but the degree may be most important AT THIS TIME IN YOUR LIFE, leaving the plans for building a family for a later time).
5. Plan for fueling your way to your dreams. Dreams take resources, which may include money, time, collaboration with specific people, trading favors, or a combination. Get out four pieces of paper, and on each piece write out one of the four dreams you circled above. Then in the space below each dream, give a rough estimate of how much time you need to accomplish the dream, what some of the needed resources will be, and what some of the potential challenges you might face will be. Also include—and this is very important—what personal value each dream will help you to live out. Do this for all four. Next, get a little more specific about the action steps you will have to take to realize each dream. The more specific you are, the more likely your dreams will actually take form in “real life”.
6. Pick one of the four dreams to focus on NOW. You probably won’t be able to focus well on more than one dream at a time, so pick one of the four—the one that seems the most feasible at this time based on the resources needed, the obstacles you may face, and the value the dream will help you to live out. You can still make steps towards the other dreams as you focus mainly on one (for example, if one of the dreams is to write a book and another is to go back to college, you can begin writing the rough outline for your book during the same time you save money for your coming education).
7. Take at least one action step toward your focus dream within the next 36 hours. Anyone can write down a dream, but only those who take action bit-by-bit to accomplish them will get to live them out, and share the fruits of those dreams with others (the best part). Let’s say that your dream is to own a retail shop in Aspen, Colorado and you currently live in another state. An easy and first step could be to get online and start checking rental property rates and real estate prices for commercial properties in Aspen or you could find out what types of licenses or permits are need to do business in the state of Colorado.
8. Each week, purpose to take another step toward actualizing your current focus dream. Make the commitment to yourself to make realizing your dreams, one at a time, a lifestyle. Always be working on a dream you are passionate about and one you know is good and healthy for you and others. In the same way you decide to be a healthy eater by making many smart choices each day, allow every day to move you closer to living out your destiny. Make experiencing your dreams a lifestyle.
Dreams are not hard to attain, but doing so does take consistent effort over acertain period of time. Most people do not believe they are worth the investment and the steady, regular, continual effort. Believe me, you absolutely, positively ARE!
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an interesting guy—-a no-bull sort (like me). He was good at reflection and putting things in perspective. Granted, he did not have all the bells and whistle of life and technology to deal with, like we have today. If he did, he may have done things a bit differently. Still, we can capture a lot from his insights, which can help us keep it all in perspective.
Here’s a look at the original “Self-Reliance” essay, and for those who do not have time or the desire to try to make sense of this crazy formal way of writing/speaking, I have also included a “Modern Day Translation” of it. Have fun and enjoy, and try to gain something powerful and super useful for your life.
1. “If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.”
2. “Staple pages in the middle of the page.”
~Author unknown to me, could be Joe Crawford!
Today, business is ALL about relationships, and here’s a secret—it always has been. Everyday, we are either connecting meaningfully with others and building solid communities, or we are burning our bridges behind us.
In the past, savvy business people valued and romanced their customers, while business folks who wanted to blow off relationship-building and still create sales could get away with it simply by doing radio, tv, and print advertising. Make the ad or commercial good enough, and you will likely make a sale. Not so anymore.
Some say business is really tough now, because of constant change and social media, and mostly because of the economy, but what propels the economy is our behavior. Economics is NOT just the study of commerce and society, it is the study of human interaction around commerce. It’s not the economy that’s going up in flames, it’s our relationships (business—and family, too). Good relationships drive business. If the relationships go to H-E-double-hockey-sticks in a red-hot handbag, so do our profits.
Our lives are supposed to be easier these days with the explosion of technology, but instead, we hustle about in the blazing heat of many moments, trying to get too much done in too little time, exhausted from stress, and even exploding on occasion with Tweet-rage while we Twitter and text at our desks, on the toilet, at the supper table, and half-way off the road in our cars. We think we are relating to others because we are Tweeting or typing or posting. In reality though, we are not even relating to ourselves and to our passion, or to our true personal mission that makes sense to us at our core.
Utterly consumed by what “the experts” say we should be doing, and by what other business owners say are acceptable practices, we let the REAL, quality relationships fizzle, not sizzle. We dish out another hot plate of self-serving information, unprofessional communication, or cheesy, sleezy devises to get a sale, as we unknowingly allow prospects, clients, colleagues, and even family members to run like H E _ _ or fall by the wayside (preachy, I know—I just LOVE this stuff).
The constant heat and pressure to perform-before-thinking, and the frantic non-stop pace, has us force-feeding clients with unsolicited emails and low quality content as we bite the heads off of our employees and spew flames at our sales reps. Somewhere along the way we just stopped breathing. When was the last time you took a normal, deep breath? How long has it been since you took a day off to just take stock of where you are, where you want to go, and how you want to get there? Getting there is 90% of the fun (and it is the essence of life—the journey, never the destination). Many of us have stopped relating. Instead, we are filling up with the toxic smoke of business (and personal) HELLationships.
We need to stop, identify what is important instead of just doing “stuff” (online or off), and we need to take a good, hard look at what we really want to build. Then, we can take back the torch instead of setting everyone’s universe ablaze with our mess and confusion.
I often stress WHAT we should do (like I just did a second ago). This time though, I think I’ll have us all take a look at what we often do with our communication that puts our relationships in the fiery pit, leaving us frazzled, almost penniless, and with dwindling customers and friends.
The Newsletters from HELL (instead of Heavenly Heralding)
These are newsletters that are sent but not with permission of the recipient, which is so hard to believe in this permission-based new media society. They are often industry specific. A vendor joins a trade association and for a few measly bucks, the trade association gives the vendor the right to blast the members. Problem is it’s unethical and often illegal. Neither the trade associations nor the vendors have permission to send the mail, yet it happens a mazillion times every day.
Oh, and don’t think that because someone didn’t remove themselves from your mailing list, they APPRECIATE the mail you send them. I personally get a lot of unsolicited emails and campaigns that are humorously annoying 80 percent of the time, but I stay on the lists just to know what is happening in that portion of the industry, because I am a trainer and industry leader. I also stay because I get material for my writing (what NOT to do), and I stay because I know that I can simply delete the particular emails I don’t want, and as soon as that tool (and I mean that in the most unflattering way) becomes utterly useless, I can unsubscribe myself. I am a little different from a lot of folks though, and most reasonable people (I am not necessarily reasonable) would just hit the REMOVE ME FOREVER and DON’T DARE SEND ME ANOTHER UNSOLICITED EMAIL link.
Other hellish-type newsletters are those that come weekly with no relationship-building content. Nothing is FREE. Every bit of “news” is news of a “special”, a “coupon”, or a “one time only” offer (until next time). If you want to be amazingly loved while staying clear of looking sort of like the Devil, NEVER place a blatant add or a “BUY NOW” button in your regular email (a subtle, no pressure link to a product that opens in a separate page may be acceptable). If you want to email coupons and specials, reserve these for a secondary campaign that goes out monthly or twice a month so that the recipient knows what they are, and leave your main newsletter as a pure gift, FREE of charge and FULL of useful, inspiring, and helpful information.
Fiery Fingers (in Lieu of the Slow and Steady Hand)
Slow down those hot little hands! I received a business email recently where the sender used shortcut lingo to communicate with me. It looked sloppy and unprofessional, and frankly, it seemed amateurish and immature. It may be acceptable for your teenager to email, IM (instant message), or text a friend using poor grammar and letters instead of words (I dnt kno y u r not getting this) but it is shameful for a serious business owner to do so, no matter how many peeps are doing it. Quit the TEXT SPEAK.
Then there’s the quick and easy text to customers. I don’t think it is a good idea to text a customer, but you may have a good reason for doing it (but again, PLEASE, refrain from the ridiculous TEXT SPEAK). Why not pick up the phone for a few seconds and let them hear your beautiful voice? You can also email them (and DON’T assume the email went through if you don’t hear back).
Oh, and business owners, you can save the earth from hellfire by NOT hiring college graduates who cannot clearly and legitimately communicate to coworkers, leaders, and customers. The future of our economy depends on it. For an example of a real-life business complaint sent to Dell computers by a ridiculously ignorant customer (perhaps a college grad), click here, but wait until you read this entire message!
Igniting Rudeness (While Avoiding Good Manners)
Are you texting or Tweeting at inappropriate times, maybe while visiting with a client or sales person? Sort of rude, don’t you think? Delivery drivers and cab drivers are texting while driving. Trust me, I am NOT getting in THAT cab. Business associates tweet or text on the way home from the airport with their colleagues right beside them. We seek to strengthen a cyber-relationship when a REAL one is right in front of us.
Perhaps you do it while in a meeting or while listening to a keynote. There was a day when we would never have talked during a presentation because it was considered rude, yet somehow we have made it o.k. since no one can hear us “talking” under the table. Relationships are being built up or torn down by everything that we do or fail to do, and other people DO notice. We have allowed good manners and our high standards to fall like a drunk woman on crutches. Technology is fabulous, and can help us build wonderful relationships and strong businesses, yet we often use technology to intrude in our lives, rather than to enhance them.
Flame Throwers (in Place of Pool-Side Spritzers)
These folks burn you with their flaming one-liners and thoughtless, piercing quick words. Bosses, co-workers, and even customers can be flame throwers (by the way, those of use who are business owners should be especially nice when we are customers, knowing the challenges business professionals face). Flame throwers say such things as, “What the h e _ _’s wrong with you?”, or “If you had half-a brain you would…”, or “I will never shop here again”.
The Hot Head (Rather than the Warm and Fuzzy)
Hot heads speak before they think. They are like flame throwers, but their fury can go on and on. All anyone wants to do is get away from them. Hot heads often take things out on their families and assistants. Hot heads can brew for days, coming to work with a groan or a grimace instead of a warm hello. Hot heads cause business to plummet because no one in the office remains motivated, and even the nicest associates are distracted by bad feelings they often hold in. The customers as well as the profits suffer.
Blowing Smoke (Replaces a Breath of Fresh Air)
Folks who blow smoke come awfully close to deceiving others to gain a profit. They play tricks while acting slick.
If every bit of business communication should be geared toward building trust, it makes no sense then, to lead someone to a baited hook, only to have to communicate a brand new message—about how they “misunderstood” your offer—once they bite.
A popular acne solution company has a commercial on XM Radio that seems to me to be vague and almost misleading. The say that “against the better judgment of their management team” (yeah, right), a million people can try the product for no risk, plus they’ll get free medicine. The wording they chose for the commercial makes you think you are trying everything with no money outlay. Once you call in for the FREE offer, you get the real story.
Public service workers are not exempt from blowing smoke. Cops do it too (maybe that’s why we call them “Smokey”). There are plenty of didn’t mean to speed speeders who complain that a cop “padded” the ticket a bit, putting them in another price category. There are questionable business execs just like there are questionable cops. The sad part is, people quit trusting.
Have you ever seen the seemingly never-ending landing pages or sales pages of some of the online information products out there? They don’t reveal the price for two and a half hours. Why? Because you are stupid, and if you know the price right off, you won’t buy the product. I say, just tell me the price and don’t waste my time. I don’t need your psycho-babble customer psychology tactics that you learned from your friend who sells info products (who learned it from his friend, who learned it from a guy that ended up never selling anything). Don’t play tricks. Don’t make an offer that YOU wouldn’t believe or buy. Don’t blow smoke.
Burning (Instead of Earning)
Some business owners place articles (or audios, videos, etc) out in the online universe to drive people back to their sites. Unfortunately, many of these articles require the user to give information such as a name and email address before the article can be read (or before the audio can be heard or the video seen). I say (and droves of “experts” will disagree with me), either be a help to me or don’t, but quit trying to force me to give you my email address, and don’t use the ridiculous excuse, “If they want the info bad enough, they will exchange their info for it”, or my favorite, “I am qualifying my leads”. No, you are pissing people off.
Give and let give. Be a giver and the universe (I think that’s really God) will help you in the future. Plus, your prospects will likely respect you in the morning.
So There
So there it is (not all of it of course), but enough of a fire extinguisher to keep you from the flames of business HELLationships. Think about where you are and where you want to go, and how you will get there. Use your time, technology, and your business model to build exceptional relationships that will support your business, your staff, and your customers for many years to come.
Last week, I was watching Project Runway (a show for upcoming fashion designers), and one of the judges, harshly criticizing one of the “bottom three” outfits, said she had a real problem with the color palette. Specifically she said, “I’m not sure blue and orange are that complimentary.”
Now this is where I have to LAUGH at the EXPERTS, who are JUDGES on NATIONAL TV. Where do these clowns come from?
So many people are thrown into positions that are far above their skill level, like the TV “designers” that still call draperies “curtains” (a real no-no in the industry, at least in America), or who refer to banding (a type of trim) as cording or welting, or who cannot properly name or identify basic fabrics and materials.
It is amazing that skill and knowledge are no longer job requirements. I guess there are a lot of producers and directors who have wanna-be designers in the family (their bedroom looked “cool” and they are under 29 years old, so give them a show). What happens when these “designers” try to tackle a “real” job off camera? I feel sorry for the workrooms that have to try and understand their work orders. Who will end up paying for the “re-make” when the job is fabricated incorrectly because of wrong specifying, confusing details, and incorrect terminology on the work order? (Oh, you didn’t know about work orders, you thought you just call someone and tell them what you want?) I’m just sayin’.
We can ensure that the integrity of an industry remains intact by not settling for such antics. Sure, everyone makes mistakes sometimes, even tried and true industry pro’s, but an expert (someone who calls themselves an expert) should definitely know basic industry terms, principles, and concepts.
Oh, if you missed the unspoken punch line, just get out your color wheel. Blue and orange are COMPLEMENTARY COLORS—straight across from one another on the color wheel (no, they haven’t changed position), and it matters not how much white, black, or brown have been added to the blue or orange, they are still complements.
Social marketing is very important in building a tribe or community. Getting out there on your favorite social media channels (and not necessarily on every channel) is key to your online world connections. Select a couple or three social media outlets you really like, and stick with them—no need to be on every one to build a solid online community.
Still, in your own local community (where you actually reside), there is work to be done, and you should be out there making local connections that will carry over into the online world. When the people in your town or city hear you speak at a local event, they will tweet about it (even if you don’t tweet), and when they go to one of your trunk shows, they will tell their Facebook friends (even if you use MySpace and not Facebook).
The point is, social media is great, but it’s not enough to post to your Facebook once a day or blog once a week. You must build a tribe and be involved with that tribe, using social media as well as ON SITE activities. The ON SITE, local community activities can really put you on the map. Read on.
Here is a little booklet for you to quickly breeze over. This little booklet has some basic marketing without money info I have always shared with new business owners and those trying to get more leads and sales. The principles STILL apply today, even with the explosion of the New Media and social marketing. As you read this little booklet, think about how everything you do face-to-face in your local community will be shared online, as your tribe members tell their friends how totally amazing you are. That will lead to additional online sales, but those REAL LIFE testimonials from your local community become online GOLD (if you do not have a local biz, but an online biz, the principles still apply—get out there through webinars, as a guest speaker, or with your videos).
I think people want to hear the voices and/or see the faces of the people they might just do business with. Don’t hide behind Facebook, Tumblr, Wordpress, and Twitter. Get out there in real life, and let others speak to the world about how great you really are!
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” ~Abraham Lincoln
This week I want to share with you a powerful one hour audio session (or class) on Creative Life Mastery.
If you have been ready to look at your self, your life, where you are, and where you want to go, then this session will help you to do it.
You are only responsible for YOU. That is an incredibly liberating thing to know. You are responsible for your own self, your own thinking, and your own happiness.
Aside from the tweets, the posts, the tumbles, the blogs, the uploads, the pressures to be there for others, and the pull your business or community have on you, there is a YOU that needs cultivating. Take this time to begin, or to continue in, that amazing process.
Enjoy this session. Put on the headset, close your eyes and lean back in your chair (NOT in your car), and enjoy gaining an understanding that will propel your into a new way of thinking, one that will help you master self and create a great life, and PLEASE, let me know what this session meant to you.
I see people everyday who are tired, stressed, and trying to keep up with how “SIMPLE” the Internet has made life in the current millennium!
I think people need a break, and they need to know what to focus on so they can do it well.
I asked my virtual friend and mentor Seth Godin a few questions I thought many people today were struggling with. I told him I wanted to share the answers with my tribe. He gave me the simple, shoot straight from the hip answers (true to Seth style, which is why I love him so much) that will best help you in your life and business going forward.
Margo:Is it a good idea or bad idea to have more than one blog, since some people do 2 different things (2 blogs are time consuming and hard to promote, but they allow specific communication)?
Seth: Have one blog per big idea. Have as many big ideas as you can hit home runs on.
Margo: How does a business person deal with all of the online marketing and social networking options? How do we chose what to spend our time on (how do we edit out of our lives some of these online services)?
Seth: Pick a social media tool you love, and do it better than anyone else and ignore the rest.
Margo: In the simplest way, what does it take to be successful and get your name out in the universe today (by simple I do not mean lazy. I just mean focused on a few key marketing opportunities where you can spend your time well and with quality content without going bonkers)? Seth: Be passionate and persist and be consistent.
“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” ~James Allen
I Love Going Undercover, Even When I’m Obviously a Customer!
I am an undercover customer. I have been for about 20 years. Every time I go into a store or business establishment, or deal with companies for my own personal or business services, I am not only trying to meet a need or fill a want, I am also looking deeper. As a business coach, I find it fascinating and intriguing to watch and learn from other people’s wisdom as well as from their foolishness. It helps me to be a better business owner, and I get enormous amounts of material for my writing, my blogs, my coaching, and for my business classes just from watching and reporting on what others are doing out there in the business universe. Plus it’s loads of fun.
My husband and kids have learned to live with it. Sometimes, when I have an unacceptable experience, I stay totally undercover and say nothing at all. Other times I behave like ALL customers SHOULD, and I very kindly and politely tell the business representative what I expect and what seems right and fair. I also ask them to pass my information on to a manager if a he or she is not available to speak with me on the spot. (I have always told my kids, “If you go to someone’s house for dinner and the food stinks, be gracious, try to eat it, and say thank you, but if you are buying a meal from a restaurant and the food stinks, ask to see a manager, because then it’s about business”.) I think we have an obligation to do this if we are to see our country’s businesses do better and our economy improve. If we expect more and voice it, business owners will have to change the way they function in order to keep our business, and the best man or woman will get the customers. Sub-par businesses will step up to the plate with a new game, or strike out and go home. This is the glorious Invisible Hand at work. Businesses that chose to ignore their customers and the voices of their employees chose to lose.
Anyway, I love the research. I could totally start a business where my peeps check on your peeps for important information that could help everyone become better. I think looking at the way businesses run (especially when no one knows that’s what you’re doing) is incredibly entertaining as well as educational. On a regular basis, I see mediocre businesses that could easily be great, if they would just take an objective look at what they do and why they do it, and how it affects customers, workers, their families, and ultimately company profits. Most changes that would cause enormous improvements would take no money at all to execute!
Although I have run across businesses that were quite inspiring and totally amazing, I often see things you wouldn’t believe. Some of the things I see stem from outdated, ill-thought-out, self-serving, or flat out ridiculous policies that are more about convenience or greed than about building a tribe or community. Sometimes the problems in policy stem from good intent but are born of ignorance and a lack of understanding of how they will play out down the pike.
One thing I am always looking at as I visit a business, restaurant, retail establishment, or service provider is how their policies and procedures affect me as a customer. Do they make my life easier or harder? Is their staff difficult to communicate with or a pleasure to interact with? Do they seek to see things from MY perspective? Do they listen to my suggestions or make excuses, or worse, blow me off altogether? Do their representatives change their behavior once they get my money? I also think about how the workers of the companies facilitate or implement the policies and procedures, and also how they are affected by them. Are the workers free to be THEIR personal best, or are they strapped and frozen from bureaucracy? Is there room for a workers ideas to shine through and interact with mine, making the companies offering more appealing to me? Are the workers uninformed, confused, or rude? Do they care, or is the business environment one that encourages sloppiness, laziness, or worse, apathy? I look at all kinds of things (my family has learned to see it as a game, otherwise they’d go crazy).
Oftentimes, problems in business come not from policies but from personalities. Egos take over and customers or employees are not seen or served, or power-hungry individuals fail to see the big picture, or self-centeredness rules and customers and employees are frustrated and unhappy. Of course, problems can also arise from a combination of both policy AND personality. That’s when things can get really out of control. Either way, regardless of the type of problem, the root as well as the remedy always goes back to management and leadership.
A Great New Television Show
Last night, after the Saints came through with incredible skill and force to stomp the Colts in the Super Bowl (sorry Manning, I was hoping you’d take it), my honey and I tuned in to a show I’d never seen, called Undercover Boss on CBS. Now THIS is MY KINDA SHOW, and T.V. at its best! The show, by Executive Producer Stephen Lambert, airs on Sunday nights, and this episode was the premier. Even my honey, who doesn’t watch much T.V. at all said, “We are watching this one every week”!
The new show takes you along with CEO’s, COO’s, and business leaders as they try their hand—incognito—at the entry level jobs within their companies. The workers do not know the true identity of the leaders, who are there to see things from the vantage point of the people their decisions directly affect each day. The workers help train the “new guy”. They are told the camera crew is there for a documentary about entry-level jobs, and even though the workers are probably on their better behavior because of the cameras, the show reveals the serious frustrations and challenges of their day-to-day routines and tasks. The premiere show features Larry O’Donnell, president and COO of a company called Waste Management. Larry takes a day on each of several jobs positions, ranging from residential trash pickup to cleaning portable toilets. What he learns from the struggles his workers deal with in their jobs, and from their amazing spirits, changes the way he runs his company.
If you have time to go online and catch a re-run of, do it. What a great show.
Life from another person’s perspective will always help leaders and managers to lead better, which will in turn create satisfied, happy, and productive employees, which will help to build a loyal client base of satisfied and repeat customers. Take a moment this week, or even a few, to look at your business from the perspective of your employees, and especially from the vantage point of your customers. See what you can do to make their experience a better one—to make it great! Millions of viewers may not be watching your business, but you have an important audience nonetheless, and that crowd can continue to tune in, keeping your show on the air, or they can send your ratings spiraling into the ground. It’s your production, it’s your show. What will you do?
“It’s a small world but still heavy. Stop trying to carry it all on your back.” ~Margo DeGange (Yes, me, that’s right. I can quote things too, ya know!)
Here is a life and business lesson that has nothing to do with products, little to do with numbers, and a lot to do with building real wealth and long-term security.
The word “simple” has been showing up in my life a lot lately. I want to share a few of those instances, so bear with me, because I have an important point in mind that may help you quite a lot.
A very long time ago, my sister had a dream that I often think about. In the dream, she was in a long hallway standing outside of a big courtroom. There were many people standing and sitting in the hall, waiting to go in to see the judge for the final judgment. One by one they would go in, and come out sobbing—both women AND men! After watching this scene play out over and over again, my sister finally asked one of the people who came out of the courtroom, “Why is everyone sobbing?” The answered surprised her as the person replied, “because it was so simple we almost missed it”!
I have recalled that dream many times over the last few days, and then this morning while in my car listening to a talk show, I heard the story of a mother who’s son was dying of cancer. He was at the end of his journey, when his mom got into the bed next to him. She was right beside him as he took his last breath. His final words were powerful, liberating, and sweetly authoritative. “Mom, it’s so simple”. His message changed her life forever.
Then, on that same ride in my car this morning, on another show, someone said, “Life is so short. Why should we live it in turmoil?” Together these words and stories provide a clear (and simple) message that I felt so compelled to share. Live simply!
In our businesses and in our lives, the joy is in the journey (just ask Steven King), and becoming simple-minded is part of a constructive and pleasant ride. Sometimes we get so focused on problems, on scenarios, on results, we miss the in-between, where life and business really happen. We can become too concerned and too intense wrestling with things that really don’t matter much in the long run. What will matter though, in terms of popularity, profits, and plain old peace of mind, is how you use your personal energy, and therefore, how you treat others and yourself.
Simplicity is NOT for wimps. Simplicity has enormous power built right into it. Keeping everything on an even keel, not thinking too hard, and offering a great attitude to everyone you see throughout the day takes unusual strength and deep character, and it is effortless if you let it become your new mindset.
The “thinking too hard” thing gets us in trouble many times, and it makes others uncomfortable, particularly when we expect our colleagues and coworkers, our family and friends, and even worse, our customers, to “get” what we are all freaked out about.
Keeping it simple also opens you up to the creative energy that is vibrating out in the universe (deep, I know). After exercising at boot camp and taking a long ride this morning, I went home for a few minutes and sat on the sofa, and closed my eyes. I wanted to just “be”, and I was keeping it simple (and not trying to). I drifted off into a cat-nap, and awoke a short time later with a brilliant business offering to provide to my Decorators Alliance members. I did not have to think hard, brainstorm till I was blue, get stressed out, or be in turmoil. The simple life just brought the idea directly to me, with no effort at all, and that idea will no doubt help many others.
Simplicity is actually something that elicits good business practices and the creation of incredible products and services that tend to be very profitable. Simplicity keeps us in a place of clarity, and allows us to move quickly at a moments notice, and change directions in an instant. It also helps keep our blood pressure down, and allows others to easily communicate with us, and willingly be around us.
A lot of stress is self-created and totally unnecessary (although sometimes no one could convince us of that). Simplicity is an attitude of choosing NOT to be in turmoil about anything. Things may not be ideal, but worrying, or worse, taking it out on customers, associates, and the people you love, cannot change anything in a positive way, yet your good attitude can change your world, and definitely your business, in ways you never even dreamed of. It’s that simple!
Our stress-free life of simplicity (and real power) proves itself in how we treat our co-workers, family and friends—how we honor our bosses and how bosses appreciate the people who work so diligently to build a company that is not even theirs.
Complaining, not seeing the bright side of things (no matter how dismal the circumstances), and being in turmoil make even great moments a drag, and challenging times pretty much unbearable, for everyone, including you.
Stop stressing. Be kind and laid back and SIMPLE, to others as well as to yourself, and watch your life and business burst into true wealth and profitability. People will want to be near you and work for you, and customers will knock themselves out to buy from you. They may even want to have you over for a simple drink!
“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” ~Abraham Lincoln
Today is my son’s 21st birthday. Ryan is a U.S. Marine serving as an Air Traffic Controller. He’s been in Japan for the last two years. He’ll be returning to Texas on February 23rd for a month. I can’t wait.
My son has a great sense of humor, and a keen understanding (usually) of how people with half a brain should behave out in the business world. So in honor of his birthday, here is a 21 “FUN” Salute, with business lessons from the light side of life and kids and stuff like that, and making fun of whatever I can.
So Here Goes:
1. When I was a kid, I used to think there were little plastic army guys inside the radio playing the music. Lesson: PERCEPTION is EVERYTHING, and it often helps to communicate a product, service, or idea as if the audience knew NOTHING about it.
2. When I went to wash my hands in the kitchen today, I noticed that my honey had watered down the dish soap (again). I told him, “stop watering down the soap or I’m gonna blog about you”. He said, “go ahead, and also tell them I’ve been doing it since I was knee-high to a grasshopper”. Lesson: If you do something ridiculous, people will blog about you.
3. I had three kids in four years. When I potty trained my youngest, Sarah, I would reward ALL three kids with a few M&M’s whenever she used the potty. Understandably, the other two encouraged her BIG TIME. My son even snuck in and pee’d in the potty for her a few times. Sarah was effortlessly trained in short order, with plenty of praise and approval from her brother and sister. Lesson: You’ll reach your goals faster by rallying the team. Everyone will feel important, and team members will connect better with one another.
4. After a year in Japan, my hormonal son was missing the familiar comfort of American girls. I put together a “HOT CHICK KIT” for him by going to the mall near the holidays, and recruited single young ladies who were willing to, 1) have their picture taken, 2) sign a little note card to my son on the spot—which I tied to a mini-chocolate bar and their photo, and 3) Give up their Facebook or Myspace address. The girls were flattered and more than willing to contribute. They wrote wonderful messages thanking my son for his service and asking him to stay in touch. My son was pleasantly annoyed when I sent him the kit. Lesson: Create a product or service where there is a need and desire, no matter how crazy it seems. It will likely be a huge hit.
5. Recently, my honey and I signed up for a taste-test for Schlotzsky’s Deli. They were testing a new whole-grain bread. We got a free lunch for doing so, a date together, plus a $25.00 gift certificate each. Lesson: Save gobs of research money by going right to the horse’s mouth. You’ll solidify loyalty by rewarding your customers for giving you important product and service information.
6. My sister-in-law and I got kicked out of Harrods in London for taking photos of their beautiful displays, AFTER they told us to stop taking photos of their beautiful displays. Lesson: Don’t get pissy about FREE publicity (and, don’t push your luck).
7. I have asked my husband (not my HONEY this time) for weeks to buy ROASTED SALSA from the grocery store (he does the shopping). Twice already, even after my numerous requests, he bought the regular kind instead. Lesson: Don’t assume your customers will stay if you continue to ignore them (even though I’m staying).
8. One time I delivered a custom home fashions order to a client. I installed all the items and politely requested final payment. The client asked if she could pay me later, as she was expecting company and in a hurry! Lesson: Collect the balance on the day of install or delivery, BEFORE the install (P.S. I did get full payment that day).
9. Another time (before I finally changed my payment policy) I delivered a custom order to a client. I installed the treatments and I asked for final payment. The client, who knew the installation date in advance, said she did not own a checkbook or credit card and she did not have cash (I think that’s amazingly funny)! Lesson: Drop the bottom 20 percent of your clientele.
10. Once when I was five, my aunt cut my sandwich into four triangles because I asked for “corner to corner”. I went ballistic, flailing and crying with intense protest, demanding “I said corner to corner, NOT corner to corner to corner to corner.” Lesson: Don’t ASSUME you know what the customer wants just because you “sort of” know.
11. A friend and I visited a run-of-the-mill, not at all inspiring (why even be in business?) variety store. I saw signs posted and repeated on every wall, informing me that “if you break it, you buy it” (no, if I break it, YOU have to clean it up), that my “kids must stay with an adult at all times” (you had to tell me that through a stupid sign? How about if I make the kid stay with you while I shop, you’re an adult, aren’t you?), and that “a $2.00 charge will be added to all credit card purchases” (isn’t that illegal? If not, it should be). I’ve seen many stores play the sign game. My favorite was on the entrance of a popular hobby store. It read “upon entering this store you agree that we have the right to check your purse”. I am not kidding! I went into the store just HOPING someone tried to look in my purse! (By the way, just because you post a sign that reads, “upon entering this store, you agree to give us your car” doesn’t make it so.) Lesson: Don’t talk to your customers through negative signage. It makes you look really foolish and it turns people off. Totally ditch the “you’re a bad girl and we don’t trust you, and we really don’t even like you all that much” types of signs and attitudes.
12. Not long ago, at an otherwise upscale establishment, I saw another sign that read, “$30 fee on all returned checks”. Lesson: Drop the ridiculous HOT CHECK FEE (because then you have to have a stupid sign). If you must have it, make it just a few bucks, not 30. Someone who writes a hot check on purpose won’t be stopped because of a fee threat, and they probably won’t be coming back anyway, and a valued customer who writes one accidentally should be shown mercy so they WILL come back. NEVER shame your customers, and NEVER post their check on a wall for all to see (I can’t believe people do this).
13. I recently saw a T.V. commercial for Proactive where Avril Lavigne said, “I literally tried EVERYTHING”. The poor girl must be completely exhausted. Lesson: Don’t publicize that you are an idiot (yes, grammatical mistakes happen all the time, but this choice of wording was scripted, planned, reviewed by a slew of people, and continues to air). HINT: look up the word literally.
14. I tried to return a ham (by the way, that’s the title of my next book). We’d just bought it, and when I opened it I saw the expiration date had long expired. My honey had thrown away the receipt. “So what” I said, “I’m taking it back, they should never have sold this”. At the store, I politely explained that I didn’t have a receipt, that we shop there every week, and that the ham was long expired the day we bought it. The clerk made a phone call sharing all the details (including that I had no receipt). The person on the other end O.K.’d the return with no problem. The clerk then snobbishly handed me a gift card for the amount of the ham, and proceeded to tell me, “The next time you return something like this, don’t throw away your receipt”. Well, no sh_ _ Sherlock (I kept that to myself), that’s why I told you from the beginning that I didn’t have a receipt. But, she just HAD to have power over SOMEBODY! Lesson: Don’t SCOLD or LECTURE your customers (especially not me. Don’t worry, I was nice)!
15. I love Triscuit crackers, but rarely buy them and wasn’t sure why. Then Nabisco came out with Triscuit Thin Crisps, a thinner triangle version of the original, with the same taste. Now we buy them to eat with everything from eggs to chicken salad. They’re like my new bread. I now realize the original crackers were tasty, but just too thick and filling. Lesson: Don’t throw the cracker out with the kitchen-sink water—don’t totally replace an idea. Simply TWEAK a product or service just a bit, and you could have tremendous success. See, I am now eating more Triscuits AND sharing the product with you, and THAT’s how it works!
16. When I was about 7, I bet my older brother $5.00 that he couldn’t ride down the stairs on his bicycle. He took the bait. He landed at the bottom with a bang, a bent up bike, and his handlebars shot into the wall. My parents came running only to scream and holler at him (that’s what they did in the old days). He later asked me for the money. I said, “No, ‘cause you didn’t do it right”. Lesson: Get it in writing.
17. I served on a national Board of Directors for several years (I’ve served on several boards so don’t try to figure it out), volunteering a lot of time and traveling long distances to many meetings and think sessions. The leadership did not value or capitalize on the diversity of exceptional thinkers they had at their disposal. They embraced only ideas that were in line with their repertoire’ of knowledge and their current way of doing things. They quickly denounced ideas that involved knowledge that was new to them (I think because it made them uncomfortable, and allowed someone else to have authority or influence in the meetings). They also quickly stopped any type of back-and-forth passionate discussions among the 12 board members (but they would throw a hissy-fit if you disagreed with THEM). They didn’t facilitate the negotiations and friendly hashing out of a group of innovative thinkers who were willing to synthesize concepts and ideas, and bring innovation to an entire industry. That organization is still in just about the same place they were two, five, and even ten years ago. Lesson: Diversity of thinking, controlled tension from different ideas, and strategic conflict are where growth, change, innovation, and incredible ideas and products come from.
18. Today my honey, who is quite generous and always kind (but who LOVES to save money), turned away two adorable girl scouts selling cookies from a wagon. When he told me, I gave him a four second mini-lecture on the importance of their efforts, and then I ran down the road after them. They returned, and Joe and I, standing side-by-side, proudly bought a box of Caramel DeLites (he paid, and later he actually thanked me). As they left, one little girl said to me “isn’t your husband the man who rides his bike around”? Lesson: Don’t be too quick to blow an opportunity to invest into the lives of others, besides, someone might recognize you and always remember your kindness.
19. I once worked on a joint venture with a particular feisty, NO-BULL East Coast woman (no, not me). When someone harshly voiced a problem or issue through email, she was swift to shoot off a reply blasting them right back. I quickly took over the emails so as not to tick people off. I was able to turn every one of the critics full-heartedly towards our efforts through first respectfully acknowledging their concerns, and then offering greater understanding or solutions that worked for them. Lesson: Take a deep breath, then take the high road when responding to email messages containing sharp or tactless complaints. Don’t put it out there if you don’t want it to come back at ya’. Kind replies to ill-communicated concerns can win the virtual hearts (and real cash) of customers for years to come.
20. Type into Google (O.K., O.K., Bing, too) any term that relates to “bad customer service”, “rude store”, or “great places to shop”, and see what the universe brings. Lesson: Today, the little guy has power, and the supposedly insignificant people of the world are talking and blogging, and maybe about YOU! Behind the screen, everyone’s voice has just about equal authority and volume. If the nerdy nobody from OklaNowhere shares her experience online, she can direct droves of customers towards or away from you. Lesson: Be amazing and always give your very best. Help make the conversation one you can be proud of.
21. Today is my son’s 21st birthday. It has gone by so very fast. I remember him when he was just one day old (pictured), and I called him “mommy’s salami” because he was all wrapped up in a meaty little bundle. I have enjoyed every moment and every year that he was my son, and I look forward to many more. Lesson: Put your time, your efforts, your priorities, and your business concerns into perspective. Celebrate your life, your kids, your loved ones, and enjoy every minute of it.
“When the customer comes first, the customer will last” ~ Robert Half
Over the weekend, my honey, my Dad, my daughter, and I went to an early dinner at a local BBQ house since we told ourselves that we were all craving steak. I think I started the rumor. I really wanted a steak.
Shortly after we entered the not-yet crowded restaurant, we stood in line (with no other customers in sight), and bent our necks way back, Texas BBQ style, positioning our heads so we could look up towards the big menu on the wall near the ceiling, and there we all stood!
There we all stood—looking, thinking, figuring, trying not only to decide what to order, but to make sense of a menu that was totally lacking in information and completely confusing if you were not a “regular”. It was obvious that the four of us were lost in BBQ space.
Straight across from us and to the left, stood at least five brawny apron-clad male meat-slicers, with fidgeting knives in hand and no one yet to wait on. Not one member of the he-man group even attempted to acknowledge or engage us, even though they could clearly see by the looks on our faces, by our quiet and embarrassed whisperings back and forth to one another, and by our lack of movement towards the ordering station that we were stuck, puzzled, and frustrated about how and what to order.
The store manager, also oblivious to good customer service (and the behavioral leader of the man-clan), stood among them preparing for the soon to come evening rush. To the right of them all, and straight across from us, were two cashiers. The one closest to us was standing dope-faced and under-enthused at her register, watching us like we were lunatics, foreigners, or possibly even vegetarians. Another cashier— likely the owner because of her over-exaggerated expression of self-importance— had just come up to the second register while on the phone, pretending to be super busy, getting something from the cash drawer, and purposely ignoring us (because if she acknowledged that she saw us, she’d have to wait on us).
Now, the four of us steak-cravers stood there for at least eight minutes, huddling and sighing, and trying not to look too much like idiots who couldn’t order a simple BBQ plate or steak. The real idiots, however, were the staff members, and particularly the main cashier (I always blame the management), who allowed us to remain confused and unattended for such a long period of time (an eternity in the land of customers) without ever offering us assistance, asking if we had any questions, or helping us understand their “void-of-pertinent information” menu.
We stepped up to the register. We began asking questions to the numb, bland, expressionless and barely voiceless cashier who had been motionlessly watching us since we walked into the place. I think her name was Bambi, or Clueless, or something.
Her answers to our “what’s on the seniors BBQ plate”, “what’s the difference between a side and a side-order”, “what comes with the FREE buffet and what does not”, and “what comes with the 8 oz. steak dinner” confused us even more, and when we (mainly me) tried to clarify, she made things a lot worse, and a lot more confusing, and if that weren’t bad enough, she could utterly care less.
I finally ordered myself a simple burger instead of a steak because I was exhausted from being confused. She did manage to ask me if I wanted mayo or mustard, but she added a wide-eyed sarcastic expression as she asked (I guess she was getting annoyed at us being annoyed). “MAYO, not mustard” I said clearly, slinging my own version of her “Pissy Face” right back at her. She blatantly and confidently pressed a spot on her cash register and from there I walked off in utter frustration, leaving my husband, daughter, and dad to finish the rest of the ordering. At that point, it was every man for himself.
I’m a nice lady, but as I’ve said before, I am incapable of B_ _ _ S _ _ _! Just after I left the register, I politely but firmly spoke over the meat-slicing counter to the manager, “you’d probably have a nice restaurant here if your customer service was good”. Then I walked to my table without waiting for his response. I find when you confront people nicely but clearly, with a definitive statement, they respond, and they usually respond well. (A fantasy of mine is to some day be one of those secret shoppers who spies on businesses and then goes around informing management of all the wonderful things they can do in regard to customer care to turn their businesses around (you should watch Tabatha Coffey on the Bravo channel sometime)).
Not to be outdone by a measly former-New Yorker, the manager came to my table within two short minutes. He asked me my beef (I just had to say that) and I told him. He assured me this NEVER happens. He apologized and went on his way.
We got our meal and the food looked delicious. No complaints there at all, until I bit into my burger to discover that the passive-aggressive cashier had laid a double dose of mustard on me. I walked straight up to the manager for a fix (I was nice about it, I wasn’t going to give that woman the satisfaction of showing I was ticked). I even offered to let them just replace the bun so I could eat dinner with my family. I got my “new” burger, with mayo, in about 6 minutes. From that point on the meal was great and my husband gave me a big bite of his steak (it costs me half a cheeseburger).
Before we were half-way through with the meal, the manager visited us again with an offer for a FREE after-dinner fruit cobbler and ice-cream for each of us. I felt a bit on the spot—I was not looking for free anything, just decent service and help with the confusing menu. I started to say “no, that is not necessary”, but I knew the manager was trying to recover, and I KNEW my honey wanted that cobbler, so I obliged him. My skinny, type II diabetic father was also thrilled.
On our way out we kindly thanked the manager and said our warm good-byes. Maybe this was an “off” night for them all. Maybe the workers were treated by the management and by the owner the same way WE were treated by the workers and by the owner (the lady on the phone). Perhaps that’s why the workers had no enthusiasm or sense of customer connection.
This was an experience for sure, and easy material for today’s message, but really it’s a sad commentary relating to many of America’s small businesses. The country lacks customer service, business common sense, and sometimes basic brains.
The disturbing part about this scenario was that the food was really good, the restaurant was clean, the décor was fitting (if you like the county-rustic theme common to a BBQ place), and the prices were fair, but that was NOT enough. People want you and your establishment to be EXCEPTIONAL, to be AMAZING, particularly in the department of customer service. No one wants to pay for a bad experience. They may purchase it the first time through ignorance, but you can bet your 10-gallon hat they won’t come back.
The cheapest steak that night at our local BBQ place ran around 15 bucks, the most expensive around 30. The cheeseburgers were around 8. I went out to dinner looking for a steak, but in frustration and desperation, I ordered a cheeseburger instead. That restaurant lost at least 20 dollars on my sale alone, and my daughter opted for a salad, resulting in another loss in sales for BBQ HEAVEN (the name has been changed to protect the possibility of an innocent party). How many times a day, a weekend, a month does this happen at this establishment? Could their sales increase by 20, 30, 40 percent or more if they simply cared about each and every customer that walked through their doors?
Your Lesson and Mine
What about you. I know you may not sell BBQ, but how are you doing in the furniture department, the color consultation field, or in the wellness industry? It doesn’t matter if you are selling food, fabrics, furniture, or fitness. Your customers must be KING.
Don’t be an example of poor customer care that shows up on somebody’s blog. Be that sensational business that everyone wants to talk to everyone else about, in a good way. When they want cheeseburgers, let them eat steak!
March 9, 2010 1881 Ernest Bevin 1918 Mickey Spillane 1934 Yuri Gagarin 1923 M. Andree Courreges 1932 Keely Smith 1933 Lloyd Price 1940 Air Marshal Sir Roger Austin 1943 Bobby Fischer 1952 Bill Beaumont
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