Between 24/7 news, Social Media, phones beeping, buzzing, etc there’s a lot of noise in our lives. It might be easy to think that these are conversations, but most of the noise isn’t conversation. Conversation is talking with, not talking at. I don’t think it’s talking to, either. It’s talking with. And most people and businesses are talking at, both online and offline. They’re not talking with. And with is where the magic is.
June 23, 2015 Newsletter
So much of my speaking, training, coaching, and consulting revolves around the art and science of creating sincere, authentic, heart-centered relationships with your prospects, clients, networking partners, and strategic alliances. And relationships always start with a conversation. Whether I’m speaking with a Fortune 500 CEO or the guy ringing up my coffee at 7-11, I speak the same way.
June 16, 2015 Newsletter
There’s a word which I use a lot in my speaking, training, coaching, and consulting and the word is “engagement”. Depending on the context this word can mean different things.
June 9, 2015 Newsletter
One of the themes that comes through time and again in the work I do with individuals and organizations is the theme of fun. A return to fun. I don’t mean fun in a goofy, silly way. I mean the kind of fun you had when you were a kid playing. Just having a good time. You didn’t have much on your mind. You were in the moment and enjoying yourself.
Six Years Ago Today I Stopped Working
Six years ago today I stopped working. I should explain how I define “work”. In my world, work is getting up at a time you don’t want to get up, to go someplace you don’t want to go, to see people you don’t want to see, to do something you don’t want to do, for too little money. I was definitely working.
Don’t get me wrong, I did well. I was in corporate sales and I was blessed to have a sales career which included highlights such as being the top salesperson in the world for an international consulting company and the top salesperson in the USA for three other companies. By all outward appearances I was living the dream. But I was working.
Over time I started doing some speaking on the side. And it grew as things do when you nourish them. And eventually I left my job. My last day at my corporate sales job was 6/5/09, six years ago today. And what a fun six years it’s been. I wake up every morning like a kid on Christmas. I still have crap in my life and it’s not always a piece of cake, but I’m definitely not working any more.
I hope you love what you do. I intentionally didn’t say “I hope you love what you do for work.” Because if you love what you do it’s not work. It’s play. And being paid to play is fun. You have gifts, talents, and natural abilities which you were given in order to help and bring value to others. And money is just an echo of value.
You are amazing. You are special. And you have ways of adding value which no one else has. Nurture and deepen your gifts, talents, and natural abilities and you’ll never work again. I wish you all the success you’re willing to work for. And I wish you a life of fun. Because that’s what you were created for. ?
June 3, 2015 Newsletter
Every relationship you currently have or ever did have started with “hi”. I’m a big fan of “hi”. Not a forced “hi” or a “hi” with an agenda. Just a sincere “hi”.
May 26, 2015 Newsletter
I turned 50 in December. It’s hard for me to believe that because I feel like I’m 21, but they tell me that chronologically I’m 50. Good thing I kinda stopped living in the traditional chronological world a long time ago. More about that in a minute.
May 19, 2015 Newsletter
I’m getting ready to jump on stage this morning in Houston, TX and present to a few hundred Financial Professionals on behalf of one of my favorite Fortune 500 clients. I’m very fortunate to have many wonderful clients with whom I’ve been blessed to create long-term relationships.
May 13, 2015 Newsletter
I’m in Minneapolis, MN this morning getting ready to jump on stage and present at a Financial Services conference.
I had dinner last evening at a wonderful restaurant in Minneapolis called Brasserie Zentral (http://www.zentral-mn.com) with a woman named Maggie whose daughter I used to teach piano lessons to back in the 80’s when I was a professional pianist in New Jersey. Back when the Earth was cooling.
May 5, 2015 Newsletter
Happy Birthday LinkedIn! LinkedIn launched 12 years ago today on 5/5/03. Twelve years?! Can you believe that? I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve been on LinkedIn since 7/03 and boy has it been interesting to see the evolution over time. More on that in future newsletters.
April 28, 2015 Newsletter
Now that it’s Spring, I hope it’s warming up wherever you are here in the USA. And for you folks in Australia and New Zealand it’s starting to cool down.
I spoke at a conference in San Diego last week and after my keynote presentation, I attended a cocktail reception next to an elegant pool on the roof of the hotel. Swanky.
April 21, 2015 Newsletter
“Take A Sincere Interest In Others” is one of the foundational principles which a lot of my work is built upon. When we sincerely take an interest in others a deeper connection is made.
April 14, 2015 Newsletter
There are many people who think that success in leveraging Social Media comes down to understanding analytics, marketing conversion ratios, data mining, aligning planets, smelling colors and all other forms of modern alchemy.
April 8, 2015 Newsletter
Karin, the kids and I recently returned from our Spring Break trip. We decided to go to Southern California this year and rented homes in Cardiff-by-the-Sea and in Laguna Hills. We visited Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, went surfing with my brother, Matt, and his family who live in Orange County among lots of other fun activities.
March 31, 2015 Newsletter
I meet a lot of people who dip their toe or their organization’s toe into Social Media and hope that Social Media is a silver bullet. It’s not.
March 24, 2015 Newsletter
I’ve been fortunate to have been speaking, training and coaching on how best to use LinkedIn and other Social Media platforms since 2003. Yes, 2003. That makes me Jurassic in the Social Media world.
March 17, 2015 Newsletter
When I first got on LinkedIn in July of 2003 (60 days after it launched) I just about fell out of my chair because I realized that LinkedIn is the world’s largest, real-time, current and accurate Rolodex. Great salespeople have always understood that after mastering your product knowledge, learning good questioning, listening, and closing skills, your long term success will always come down to your ability to create, nurture, and deepen business relationships which leads to endless referrals.
March 10, 2015 Newsletter
Most people are super busy and don’t have the time to try and read minds. As you’re conveying information and value to your prospects, clients, referral partners and strategic alliances, remember that people want content in an easily digestible format.
March 3, 2015 Newsletter
If you had the kind of upbringing I did, you were taught from a young age, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That was wise advice and still is. Back in the old days, pretty much the only people who heard us say things were people within earshot. Now everyone’s within earshot. And I mean EVERYONE.
February 24, 2015 Newsletter
Many people come to me saying they need more clients, prospects, revenue, referrals, meetings, appointments, etc. And what they really need is just more conversations with more people. Ideally, with the right people, but at the least, more conversations with more people.