One degree of separation from an icon

If you know me, you are now one degree of separation from Seth Godin.

Let me explain.

I don't really know Seth. He has written a number of books. Every one of them iconic in its own right. I was having a conversation with a friend about a business idea. Part of the strategy is to partner with an iconic brand, like a Seth Godin.

I googled him and found his website. Low and behold, his website had his email address. It says that he answers his own mail, but he doesn't answer all of them.

So now my challenge was to write something interestingly enough that Seth finds the time to respond.

And he does.

I got a message from Seth Freakin' Godin. That's how I actually addressed him in my correspondence.

His response was straight and to the point. But who cares. I feel like one of those teenage girls who was shaking when the John, Paul, George and Ringo show stepped off the plane in 1964 from a trip to New York.

Godin-mania is now in my bloodstream.

Please forgive me. But I just got a response from one of my heroes. I'm feeling a bit giddy...

Do you have someone you look up to?
Do you have someone you would like to talk to, but don't know where to start?
What if you could give a world leader a piece of your mind?

The internet will eventually make everyone accessible. It will take some time for the old doggies to die off - you know, those who hide behind assistants, private emails, and social media managers. More and more, they are becoming available to us.

Change is being embraced.

And I love it. The world is getting smaller and smarter. And we all can benefit from it if we decide to.

What are you telling yourself

Do you ever hear your inner voice? The one that doubts your skills, your abilities and your dreams.

I catch mine telling me I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not young enough. And I hate him for saying those things.

In a point of vulnerability, I tend to agree with him. And that drags me down. It stops my momentum. It slows my growth. And it hurts my feelings.

When I'm strong, I tell him to shut the F up. It's not always easy because the voice is "me". He's always sitting on my shoulder feeding me with lies.

If you ever have the same problem I have, here's how to shut him up.

Stay strong. Start doing things. Pick up the phone. Talk to people. Sell your idea.
When no one wants what you're selling, go back and find out if the idea is bad or if the potential client is just not the right fit.

Keep digging holes like a gold prospector. There's gotta be gold in them there hills. You just haven't found it yet.

The key is to put your head down and work. Learn to ask the right questions to your prospects. Listen. And then make sure your product or service fills that need. If it doesn't, it may be time to shelf and start a new. The IT startup world calls this a pivot.

It exists with every idea.

Confidence comes from doing the work.
Lack of confidence comes from sitting at home and contemplating about doing work.
Self doubt always shows up when confidence dwindles.

If you don't want to listen to the bastard telling you you're not good enough, keep your confidence up by going to work.

You're not just good enough. You're awesome. Keep going. You'll find success if you impose the Test, Measure, Refine loop into your daily work.

As a 13 year old boy, I planted a seed of doubt into my mom's head. She wanted to be an entrepreneur, but her oldest baby knew enough to be dangerous.

Self doubt is the biggest killer of dreams. Don't let it kill yours.

Stay confident. Keep working.

The night I almost died

Tasting alcohol for the very first time, I was about 16 years old. My mom was gone to bingo and my dad was having a beer, watching TV, when he asked if I wanted a beer. My virgin taste buds weren't ready for the explosion of bitterness that bombarded them.

I emptied the beer down the bathroom drain trying not to disappoint my dad and trying to still uphold my youthful masculinity.

In overcoming the taste challenge, I quickly developed a desire for alcohol.

The age to legally consume alcohol in my province is 19. I was drinking for a few years prior to the nineteenth birthday as most young people do. But at 19, I could legally buy my own booze. I could legally get into the clubs. No more faking, no more sneaking. On January 27, 1992, I was now legit.

As with most, the coming of age requires a party. My eventful day fell on a Monday. Monday is not normally a busy night for the clubs, but this Monday was different. One club in town was selling draught beer for 25 cents a piece. A perfect price for a young university student on a tight budget looking to celebrate his adulthood.

My friends promised to get me smashed. We started with a couple of rounds of shooters at the university bar, which I happily pounded back, without any regard to pace, taste, or price. Not wanting to pay a cover charge for my winter jacket, I had run to the bar from my dorm room, which was only a few hundred yards away.

While at the university pub, the bartender told us about the beer special at the other club. All seven of us, piled into a cab and continued our adventure to the more lively, cheap watering hole on this cold, January Monday.

I was already drunk when I left the first bar. My friends promised to keep me going and told me that everything was on them. Not having any money, I just went along for the ride.

It sounded like a good idea at the time. Famous last words.

The pitchers of draught were flying around the table like flies to a dead carcass on a warm July afternoon. I don't know how much I drank. After the first round of pitchers, the night blurred together.

I remember a few friends telling me they were leaving. They tied a helium filled balloon filled to my baseball cap so my chaperone could see me across the crowded bar.

In my drunken state, a few minutes after they left, I decided it was time to go home. The laughs were over, the boys were gone, the beer had stopped flowing. I stumbled outside to catch a cab. I didn't have any money. With no credit cards, no debit card, no cash and no buddies to help me out, I made the drunken decision to walk back to the dorm room about 5 kilometres away.

Did I mention it was a cold January night?
I was wearing an Esprit De Corps T-shirt.

I took off running for the first hundred yards, until my breath couldn't keep with to my awkward feet. It was 1 am in the morning and I had another choice to make: Walk the normal roads or cut across fields and backyards, trying to go in a straight line back to the dormitory.

The drunken decision again failed me. I remember walking up to a fence with barbed wire at the top. Clearly, they didn't want people on the other side. But I didn't want to turn back. I wasn't even 100% sure where I was. I chose to climb the fence. Once at the top, I negotiated the barbed wire so as not to rip a pound of flesh from my breast.

I lost my balance, and flew to the other side. Not sure if I passed out, blacked out, or knocked unconscious. But the next thing I remember is waking up on my back in a snowbank wondering where the hell I was. Quickly gathering my stupid thoughts, I jumped up and started running through the enclosed fence to the other side, Luckily the other side had an opening that I was able to squeeze through.

I was cold. I am not sure how much time had passed. Trying to stay warm, I pulled my arms inside my T-shirt and I tried to run through unknown territory, looking for a familiar sign of my university campus.

I started to cry. It was a drunken cry, coupled with a taste of frostbite. I wanted to lay down and rest. But something told me to keep going. Even though I was outside of my good senses, somehow I knew that stopping would be the end of my life. I cried to God. I cried because I was imagining my parents despair when they found out their stupid, drunken kid was found dead in a snowbank. I could feel their pain and I started talking out loud. I asked God to get me back home safely.  I thought about knocking on one of the dark houses, surely angrily awaking its inhabitants. But I was brought up to not bother people. I didn't want to wake anyone up.

So I continued my trek, all the while talking to God, getting colder, more numb and feeling extremely dumb until I saw through the trees of someone's backyard the brick entrance to what looked like the university.

I fell down, got back up and started running toward the gate. I had arrived. I had regained my bearings and a few metres and I was back in the comfort of warmth.

The last thing I remember that night was arriving at the dormitory front door and opening the doors. I was home.

The next morning, with all this still a blur between the headaches and the sore back, a guy who lived in our dorm, was laughing at me. He told me me what happened after I got back to the dorm.

I wandered into the common TV room. I untied the helium balloon from my hat and it floated to the ceiling. I jumped on a sofa to grab it. Without any balance or sense of strength, I fell off the sofa while angrily grabbing for the balloon. In my haste, I squeezed too tight and busted it just like Lenny in Of Mice and Men. Pissed off, I went off to bed.

The warmth of the dorm must have recirculated the alcohol into my bloodstream. I remember very clearly most of the events of the walk home, but nothing upon my return to safety.

I could've easily died that night, my nineteenth birthday. I think about that night often. Yet this is the first time I have openly shared this experience.

The fastest way to grow sales is to double your prices

Wanna double your sales?
Double your prices.

That will work for a couple of weeks.
Guess what happens next?

The value proposition will change.
Customers will feel that they are getting ripped off, unless you give them double the value they used to receive.

Customers will make choices that won't include you.
Long term sales will go down.
Business will suffer.
Ultimately, you will close your doors.

Business people know they can't raise prices that dramatically unless they dramatically change the value offering. Yet one national business is trying to get away with it.

The price of stamps have gone up by more than 50% in one year.

Canada Post is a service that is heavily subsidized by the Federal government. For years, it was a necessity. If we needed to send out invoices, cheques, letters, or Christmas cards, we had to use snail mail. It took a long time to get from our house to its destination, but we accepted it because there weren't any affordable options.

In 2008, one of the Canada Post unions went on strike. The mail stopped. But for the first time in the history of postage, business did not.

Businesses that were still sending invoices by snail mail, learned that email was quicker and less expensive. Businesses that only accepted cheques at payments, started sharing bank account information for e-transfers.

We got through it because we found another way to get our stuff to its destination.

And the postal union realizing this fact negotiated back to work terms before the rest of world realized that the post office is a dinosaur, just like flip phones, and cathode ray TV's.

To make an e-transfer costs about $1.00, less if you have a bank bundle.
To buy stamp to send a cheque by mail costs $1.13. There's still the cost of the cheque, the bank fee, and the enveloppe, that could easily be another dollar.

Why would anyone ever want to pay twice as much for a service that takes 2000 times longer to deliver, with a small probability of it getting lost on its voyage?

Since the strike of 2008, I've been wondering when the country stops using Canada Post altogether.

When I order on Amazon, UPS takes care of me.
When I need to pay a bill, Paypal or e-transfers have my back.
When I need to invoice a client, Freshbooks or simple e-mail is a more effective option.
When I need to send a Christmas card... What am I thinking? I don't send Christmas cards, and neither do most people my age and younger.

Postal service is dinosaur waiting for the asteroid to end it all.

Is it worth a $1.13 to send a letter? I guess it depends on the contents of the package.

Remarkably, Canada Post has realized profits for 16 years leading up to 2011. But has had two disappointing years since then with substantial losses.

Costs go up. Gas costs, employee costs, insurance, property taxes. They all contribute to the ever increasing cost of doing business for Canada Post.

If your insurance doubled, without you having an accident, wouldn't you look for another supplier?
If your mortgage doubled, wouldn't you check out other banks?
If your cell phone and cable bill doubled, I'm sure you'd look around.

Canada Post is somewhat of a monopoly. Clients have no other choices to send out a small letter, so they can charge more and people will have accept it.

And that's where the thinking is flawed.

The choices are wide and vast for Canada Post clients.

The easiest way to increase revenues is to raise prices.
The easiest way to decrease long term profits is to raise prices.
Here's why: An substantial increase in price is a shock. It will decrease usage. A decrease in customers will erode the revenue stream in the long run.

Any business who loses customers year over year is doomed.

The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.
It's not to make money. Money is the result. Money comes from a job well done.

If you're losing customers and you're not finding new ones to replace them, your business is finished. You just don't know it yet.

Sorry Canada Post friends, to quote Jim Morrison, "This is the end".

Are you SURE you KNOW the answer

Do you sometimes get wrapped up in arguments? You know you're right. Yet the other person seems to think they are right too. Before Google, the only way to resolve a dispute was to find a book, a magazine or someone else to settle the disagreement.

Today, Google and smart phone technology places most of the answers directly in our pockets.

But sometimes the Internet can't give us the answer. It's an opinion, a statement or a personal event not captured on the feeds of Facebook.

At my last corporate job, before smart phones, there was a colleague who used a simple tactic to resolve disputes immediately. He would bet a toonie ($2) every time there was a disagreement. He would raise the stakes from a simple discussion to putting an insignificant two dollars on the table. The two bucks meant nothing monetarily. But it got us back to work, ending the dispute, focusing on our other tasks at hand.

Put your money where your mouth is! The two dollars proved that disagreements have everything to do with the need to be right and nothing to do with money. 

Disagreements are about pride. We don't like to admit to being wrong, even when we are.

The ego wants to hold onto the perceived facts. The ego wants to be built up, to be strong to protect us.

As I get older, the desire to be right is fading like the colour of a 1986 Honda Civic. 

The way a person perceives the world and its facts is a filter. It's an illusion. It's an interpretation of a reality.

What is reality? It's a consensus of enough people to see something the same way.

The next time, you're certain of something, is it more important to be right or to wonder how the other person has come to their conclusion.

What we think we know is much greater than we actually know.

Let's use an example.

How does a dog drink water?

We know a dog laps water with the tongue, pulling the water from the tip and throwing it into the mouth.

But does the tongue curve forward or backward?

I have observed dogs drinking water my whole life and didn't know the tongue curves backward. At least Pier isn't around, he would have made an easy $2 off me.

Entrepreneurial spirit

I speak to people everyday who have a dream of someday owning a business. In asking them why, they usually have a variation one of three answers.

1. I want a better life, more money, more freedom, more control over my life.
2. I want to make a difference in the world, help people, do some good.
3. I want to create a legacy for my children.

Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. The days I get scared, I wonder if I am a real entrepreneur.  But if you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, there's only one thing you need to ask yourself.

Do you want to own a business for the commission or for the mission?

Money is a result of a job done well.

Not all businesses make money. 85% of businesses fail within the first five years.

The risk associated with owning a business is high. It's so high that you should make above average returns if you find success. But most don't. 85% of businesses fail in the first five years. Translated, 85% of business owners go broke.

So if you want a commission, go get a good sales job. It will pay you above average as you get better in your skills. And the potential of going broke is much lower than working for yourself.

The most money I ever earned on an hourly basis was 10 years ago, when I still had a corporate job. Working for myself produced less results on an hourly basis. I worked harder. Took on more risk. Was more stressed out. And didn't take care of myself.

But I loved it. I was alive fighting in the trenches with the team everyday.

That's the only reason I know I am an entrepreneur.

There are days, I think to myself, that a nice steady paycheque would be nice.
There are days, I worry about that next big thing.

But I keep going. Making less money than I have ever done before. But knowing that I'm doing the right things for the right reasons.

Eventually this hard work will pay off.

Someone asked me yesterday if I was just sitting home doing nothing. I can see how it looks that way to her.

I replied with, "Every morning I get up and dig a few holes, looking for oil. One day, I'll find some. I don't know when and I don't know where. But if I keep digging consistently, I know I'll get what I'm looking for."

Entrepreneurship is scary, even for those who have done it before. It's risky. It's challenging.

If you like getting on roller coasters, then maybe entrepreneurship is for you. If you like steady as it goes, don't get on the ride.

But you have to have a mission. You have to stand for something and it can't be about how much money you want to make.

If you want to be an entrepreneur for money, keep your job.

Research and development

My first day at university, I remember the professor explaining to the class that R&D stood for research and development.

Here's the problem with research and development. The research is superficial. It doesn't generate new ideas because the resource spent to do research is small.

Although R&D does stand for research and development. Many small and medium sized businesses will limit their R&D to the following:

Internet
Talking to others (usually friends, or family)
Statistics from government
Observations
Past experiences
Analysis of competition

The R&D budgets are not significant enough to conduct surveys, extensive sampling, testing and scientific research.

But there is a way to conduct R&D. But it's not the conventional way like the major corporations would conduct their R&D.

Because budgets are tight, R&D has to be bootstrapped. R&D cannot stand for Research and Development.

R&D for small business, in my opinion, should stand for Rob and Duplicate.

I'm not suggesting stealing the competition's ideas. That's a bit douchey, and may not apply to your business.

I suggest looking at a completely different industry to see if there is anything that can be implemented into your industry. Some would call that an invention. I call it a re-purposeing of an idea. It's a duplication.

Here's a perfect example: My dad bought a LawnBoy push mower when I was 13 years old. It was our first mower with a safety latch on it. As a new invention, the lawnmower industry had figured out that if an operator slipped and let go of the mower, they would keep all their toes because the latch would release and the engine would immediately stop.

My dad didn't care about my toes. He tied the latch with a piece of rope.

Fast forward twenty years, we bought our first stroller when our oldest child was born. To my amazement strollers didn't have a similar safety latch at that time. If I was walking down a hill and slipped on a piece of ice, my reaction might be to let go of the stroller. Without a latch to immediately put on the brakes, my precious child is now dangerously cruising into the busy city streets.

Isn't a baby a bit more important than a couple of piggies?

Rob and Duplicate. Find ideas that work in other industries and figure out how they could work in yours. You will be seen as innovative, inventive, a genius. But are you really?

You're paying attention. You're looking around. You're finding answers to your problems that have already been answered.

Henry Ford did it. His invention of the assembly line was nothing more than an inspiration he had when he visited a slaughterhouse and saw a disassembly line. Do the opposite of disassembly and you get assembly. Put the disassembly in reverse and you have an assembly line.

And Henry Ford was considered a genius. We take his early theories for granted today. All he did was rob and duplicate someone else's work.

You would be best served to do the same. Just keep your eyes peeled. And be open to new ideas.

What is the color of love

Describing love can be easy from a feeling if you've ever been in it.

But how would you describe it from a the other senses: Sight, smell, taste, hearing?

Does it have a colour? The easy answer is red. Valentine's day, hearts, cupids, passion. All is denoted by the colour of red.

Put that pop song cliche shit in the garbage.
I challenge you to describe it using colour, smell and taste.

It sounds weird. But here's my answer to my own challenge:

Love is bright yellow with a shade of grey. So bright and beautiful, but in the wrong conditions can be dark and cloudy. My eyes don't think right. My ears don't see clearly. Love is irrational. It smells like a ripe tomato. So sweet and juicy, but it has to be consumed before it turns rotten, which it always has the danger of doing. Love tastes like a lemon, so juicy and bitter on its own, but always goes well with tequila. Ole! Ariba, ariba!!!

Again, I challenge you to describe love with the usage of colour, smell and taste. You're not allowed to use cliches. Make up your own metaphors. Come up with something original.

It will be hard to do. It will be uncomfortable. It could be fun. If you're scared, just inbox me. I won't judge nor share with anyone. I promise!

You'll thank me in the morning.

Please don't stand me up. My ego is too fragile.

Who has seen the wind.

What does the wind look like?
Does it have a smell?

We know how it feels, tastes and sounds. But what of the other two senses?

It exists. We know that because of its effects. A leaf bouncing around, chaotically swirling in the direction of the air current. We see the dust balls, the papers moving. We hear it as it howls through the branches. It tastes like a slight touch of lavender mixed with a sliver of mint dashed with a pinch of salt.

We don't see it, but it exists. No one questions it.

What does love look like?
Does it have a smell?

We know how it feels, tastes and sounds. But what of the other two?

It exists. We know that because of its effects. A fluttering heart that skips a beat when we experience it. The touch of a two lovers holding hands as they slowly stroll through the park. We hear and say the words, "I love you", so we know the sound of love. The compliments, the playful laugh, the fluttering eyes, the pierced lips.

The effects of love are easy to see, but to see love itself is impossible. But we easily make the association.
Just like the wind.

What does God look like?
Does He have a smell?
How does He feel?
What does He taste like?
What is His voice sound like?

We see effects of God. But we can't see, touch, hear, smell or taste him directly, so it's harder for some of us to understand that He actually exists.

Yet we know there is wind and we believe in the construct of love.

Who has directly seen the wind?
Who has directly seen God?

The signs are all there. It's just a choice we make. Close our eyes and pretend not to see them, or open up and allow it to enter your belief system.

But if you deny that there is a Supreme Being, it's as absurd as denying the existence of the wind.

Motion is the key to momentum

When I was 16, my dad used to lend me his Hyundai Pony. It was a crappy car, as I look back on it, but it was in that car I learned some of early lessons.

As a kid, I would put five dollars worth of gas in the tank and bring the car back home on fumes.

I ran out of gas once in my life and it taught me an important lesson about momentum.

I was on my way home from work, driving my dad's Pony. Without a dime in my pocket, I inched home hoping that the car would happily drive me home one more time. But this day was like no other.

The car quit about a kilometre from my parents' home. I had a choice walk home or push the car home. I didn't think Dad had any gas at the house, so walking home without the car seemed futile. Plus, I was gonna get some bullshit lecture about always running the car on empty.

In my adolescent thinking, I thought the old man would be proud of me that I took the responsibility of tethering his Pony and walking it home. Plus I'm a bit stubborn, so I opened the driver's door, put the transmission in neutral and pushed with one hand on the door while steering with the other hand.

My first attempted step, my sneaker slipped overtop of the asphalt road, not budging the car. "C'mon, it's only a Pony. Surely, I can push this shitbox home", I thought to myself. After a few nudges the car started to move. At first it was only a few inches, but it was moving. We were on a straight away. It wasn't regular walking. It was more like taking baby steps while making sure the equine beast didn't wander into the bushes on either side of the road.

We were moving. As time went by, the pushing got easier to the rate that I was almost walking normally. I could've given up. It made more sense to just walk home. But I wasn't going to leave my dad's car on the side of the road. My big concern as I tiptoed home was a small hill I had to climb just before dad's house. It wasn't really a hill. It was more of a slight incline. If the momentum that I was building up didn't continue and maybe increase, I might not make it over the hill.

I was about to start the ascent when my dad's smart ass alcoholic friend stopped and told me that cars don't work very well without fuel. I thought he was going to help me get over the hill, so I stopped. Instead, he sped off after he got a laugh at my expense.

Having lost all of my momentum, I had worked so hard for, the car stopped moving. I couldn't get it going again. Motion is what I needed. Motion would've easily carried me over the incline and coasted me and the vehicle safely to dad's stable.

But I lost it, and I had to go home in shame, without my dad's mechanical steed.

Life lesson:
Anything you want in life requires motion. With enough movement, you will inch little by little toward your goal. But you can't stop. It'll be extremely hard in the beginning. But it gets easier. Consistency is the key. Keep the motion going and if you do it long enough and in the right direction, there will be enough momentum to carry you over that improbable hill so you can coast a bit down the other side. Don't coast too long once over the apex because momentum disappears as motion declines.

Stop bribing me

I was pumping gas this morning wondering why I chose this particular gas station.

Some offer points to convince their followers to buy gas there. Some offer free coffee. Some give a discount on certain days of the week. 

Gas is a commodity. There is no difference between the gas at one retailer to the gas at another. 

Why did I buy gas here this morning? This retailer reduces the price of gas if you pay cash or debit. The cost to a retailer when a customer uses a credit card represents 2-3%. So when a customer doesn't use the credit card, most retailers pocket that difference into profit. This retailer passes the savings onto the customers, everyday.

In looking across the busy intersection, another gas retailer with a points program was trying to bribe customers into their station. If I purchase a minimum of 25 litres with the retailer sponsored MasterCard, on Tuesdays from 7-9, I get an extra 2 cents off per litre.

I wonder who's the genius that comes up with these promotions. Consumers don't like conditions. And the more conditions that is placed on a purchase, the less we respond to the offer.

The worst part was the net benefit of the gas across the street was still higher than my pumped gas.

The retailer across the street didn't have any cars gassing up this morning. There were 7 cars at my chosen gas station, and more were constantly pulling in and out.

We see bribes all the time but usually in the form of discounts. Buy this before Friday and get this amount off the ticket price. What's the discount telling consumers? It tells us that the real value is the discounted price.

Discounts work. And they work well. But over time, people become aware that the product is only worth the discounted price and they stop seeing value in a discount. 

Over time discounts become less and less effective, until they almost stop working completely. 

In watching Adam Sandler's movie, "Don't Mess with the Zohan", there is a seen where one of the characters works in a discount electronics store called "Going out of Business". He tells Adam Sandler's character that business is good despite the sign. 

Bribes work, but on one condition.

Read that line again.

Bribes work on one condition. Not on multiple ones.

Discounting a product makes it a commodity. Be very careful on the type of bribes you use. Unless you live in the land of movies, it could kill your business.

Are you programmed to give the same answer

I messed up a young girl this morning at a restaurant.

Having worked in restaurants for over 8 years of my life, I am preconditioned to ask people how they are as soon as I see them. When someone comes into a restaurant, that is the greeter's job.

This morning, the young greeter came to me and I asked her how she was doing before she had a chance to say anything. She stumbled on her words. She stuttered. It took three obvious seconds before she could rethink her words.

It was three seconds of awkward silence. It felt like a minute.

I don't fault her. She's trying to do her job. She would rather be somewhere else.

This simple exchange made me think about some of the programmed answers and things I say.

How do you answer the phone?

How do you answer the door?

What about your emails? Do you always close with the same signoff?

I catch myself all the time going into the set of words that may not have any meaning with the current conversation. I've programmed my brain to say them.

I once told a stranger that I loved them. The conversation ended exactly like one I would have with my wife and the words just exploded off the tongue. Talk about awkward...

My mouth tries to work faster than my brain. It's like my mouth hasn't received the orders from the brain on what to say, so it says what it thinks it should say. Some call this not having a filter.

It's not a filter. It's more like my mouth has a mind of its own. Maybe that's where "speaking one's mind" comes from. The brain is like the leader of the nation, and the mouth is the general of the army. The general wants to secretly run the nation so he goes behind the leader's back and does what he thinks is in the best interest of himself.  It's a coup d'etat.

The mouth might just be the gateway to the ego.

I think of all the times my mouth has gotten me in trouble. If I could've just bit my tongue...

And then I think of all the times my mouth says stuff without accepting the appropriate orders from the brain. My mouth goes off, in the wilderness, rambling away, trying to find a coherent thought while the brain processes all of the information, until a message is sent through the synapses and the mouth says something of value.

Am I the only one who has this problem?

Are we good?

Perfect, excellent, awesome, amazing, exceptional...
Good, ok, fine, alright...
Terrible, bad, pathetic, horrible...

The last set of words means there is dramatic room for improvement. Finding out we're a bad father, a horrible son, or a terrible employee upsets us. No one strives for badness, so we look for ways to get better.

The second set of words has become an acceptable achievement. There is still room for lots of improvement, yet there is a sense that once we get good at something, we don't have to get better. Let's break out what good really means.

The opposite of good is not bad.
Good is the enemy of great.

Most people use unrisky words when describing a person or a service. Good is an easy answer. Good is non commital. Good is safe. Striving for good is like saying all we want is for people to say we're "Not Bad".

Good tells us nothing. Good doesn't drive results. Good doesn't create memories. Good is just ok. In a world where ok is mediocre, we're setting the bar pretty low if we're striving for ok-ness.

Do you want to be remembered for being an ok person or a great person?
Do you want to be thought of as an ok mom or a great mom?
Do you want to be an ok employee or a great employee?

OK isn't memorable. Good isn't remarkable. Fine isn't shareable.

If you want to make considerable more money, you have to give considerably more effort. You need to do much more than fine.

If you want a promotion, your work needs to be remarkable. You'll have to do the opposite of good.

If you want everyone talking about you, your business, or your life, you'll have to do the opposite of ok.

Strive for perfection, excellence, awesomeness, amazement, exceptionalism and greatness.

It's the only way you will get noticed. It's the only way, you will get what you want. It's the only way you win at your life.

What's the definition of greatness? You decide. But you owe it to yourself, your family, your community and your coworkers to aim for it.

Greatness is in all of us. We just have to tap into it. We have to stop settling for good.  Good isn't good enough. Once you've achieved goodness in any task, ask yourself what you can do to make your effort even better.

Strive for greatness. The world craves it and will reward you accordingly.

Relationships are like dishes

If I asked you to list in order the most important people in your life, who would you put first? Second? or so on?

It wouldn't be easy. You would have to choose between your spouse and your children, or your son and your daughter. How could you choose that? It wouldn't be fair.

If you were asked to categorize your list, it would be much easier.

There are three basic categories of relationships.

1. People we know but aren't part of our everyday lives.
2. People we care about who affect our daily lives.
3. People we love and would do anything to keep them happy.

The first kind might be old school friends, past co-workers or a person we met at a social gathering. These people are acquaintances. There may be a mutual past between the two of you. But there's no present. Despite Facebook, you don't really know what's going on in their lives and they don't know what's going on in yours.  These relationships are like disposable plates. The kind you like to use at the family barbecue. You want them to be clean, but you're going to throw them away when the barbecue is done and you won't think about them again until the next time you use them.

The second kind are friends, extended family and co-workers. We care about these people more than the first group. We see them more often. We feel sad when they are sad. We are happy for them when they succeed at something. We might miss these people if they were no longer in our lives. These relationships are more like the regular dishes that we use from day to day. We don't want them to break. We don't want to throw them away. We like them the way they are. But if one disappears, we get over it quickly because we have others just like it.

The third kind of relationships are the people we love: parents, children, spouse, grandchildren, grandparents, a really good friend, a sister, brother, aunt or uncle.

These people are cherished. Life wouldn't be the same without them. These people could never be replaced. These relationships are like fine china. If one breaks, it would devastate us. We treat them extra special.

In examining your own relationships, are you treating the most important people in your lives like fine china or like paper plates?

Can you help you?

How many times has a shopper gone into a clothing store to be bombarded with commission based wolves who don't know how to interact with a complete stranger?

The three greetings shoppers get slapped with are "Hi, how are you today?" and "Can I help you with anything" or "Are you looking for anything in particular?".

Even when I'm looking for something, I don't want to engage these sales people. I just want to be left alone so I say something just as stupid like "No, I'm just looking around", which really means "Leave me the fuck alone".

Today, I went into a specialty store that sells running equipment. I've never been in that store even though it's been there for 10 plus years and a number of friends have recommended it in the past. I had some time to kill between meetings and I really needed a new pair of sneakers. I'm cheap when it comes to clothes for myself but someone recently told me not to skimp on footwear.

What really stood out for me at this store was the way this single employee handled all of the walk in traffic. No one seemed to mind that she was alone. No one was in a hurry. No one left upset. Every single person who came in bought something. No "just looking around" in this store. What was different in this store compared to the others?

First, the salesperson was extremely knowledgeable. She wasn't some high school kid who would rather be texting than helping a customer.

Secondly, even though she was extremely busy, she never hurried me. Nor did she panic. At one point I told her that I didn't mind if she wanted to go help another customer. Her answer was awesome. She said, "He's gonna need me a lot longer than you do, so let's make sure you have the right sneakers before I go see him.

Thirdly, she greeted every single customer that came in with an awesome line and explained that she was by herself and would come to see them when she was finished with me. The awesome thing she said in the upfront greeting was "What brings you in to see us today?" She never once got the bullshit answers I've used a thousand times in other similar stores. She made a sale to every single person because she knew exactly what everyone was looking for.

I found my sneakers. It was the first time I bought footwear without weighing the cost of the purchase. I paid three times more than I've ever paid for a pair of shoes in my life and I love them.

Price is not as important as value. There were no discounts in this store. Why would there be? The product isn't just about the shoe. Everything this salesperson did increased the value proposition of the product. Did I mention I have two pair of sneakers that I've worn less than 4 times each because my feet couldn't get used to them? What's it worth to get a good pair of footwear? What's the value of not having sore feet after a good run?

This store knows that. Good for them.

Thank you Running Room and good job Kim. You impressed me today.

Your dream is impossible until it isn't

Man isn't supposed to fly...then the brothers with the last name Wright figured it out after countless tries.

Man can't go to the moon...until John F. Kennedy motivated a nation and a program to make advances in science so remarkable that they achieved the goal, even after their inspirational leader had died.

An African American will never be President of the United States...until Barack Obama decided to run.

Everything is impossible until it isn't.

You have a choice to make. Choose to accept what others say is impossible or fly in the face of ridicule to prove those who choose to sit on the sidelines, in their comfy chairs, wrong.

It doesn't matter that others will think you're nuts. It doesn't matter if there are days you think you're crazy. Don't give up. Your task will be impossible until it isn't.

Refrigerators, cell phones, the internet, cable TV, electric cars, satellites, and electricity are just a few examples of things that people 200 years ago would have said were impossible. Yet they exist.

If you're working on something that seems impossible, maybe you're just ahead of your time.

Let me repeat. Nothing is impossible. It may be inconceivable. It may seem unrealistic.
You want to achieve something. It doesn't matter what it is. In the words of Rob Schneider in The Waterboy, "You can do it".

You don't have to be Thomas Edison to prove that something is not impossible.

Maybe it's as simple as buying a new home or getting a job that pays twice as much as you currently make. Maybe you have an idea to buy a business.

Nothing will hold you back but you.
It doesn't matter if you're broke.
Who cares if you don't have an education?

Stop worrying about what you don't have.
Start thinking about what could be possible.
Start dreaming about what you can do today to turn the impossible into the possible.

Your dream is impossible until it isn't.

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."
   -Henry Ford

Young entrepreneur

I met a young man recently who wants to be an entrepreneur. He's only 16.

I envy him because I didn't have a clue what I wanted at that age. I wonder if his inexperience is clouding his adolescent vision. Either way, his confidence is a breath of fresh air.

Not knowing what he doesn't know, he was smart enough to ask someone who may know. That's the foundation of mentorship and this kid's got it figured out at a young age.

He's going to be successful. I can feel it. He doesn't talk like I did at that age. I might be cheering for him prematurely.

He wanted to know what courses he should take in high school to get ready for a life of entrepreneurship.

He's in grade ten.

I suggested three courses:
Creative Writing
Accounting
Typing

Creative Writing will give him a skill that he can use in all of his marketing materials. The ability to move people to open their wallets starts with a compelling message. In today's nomenclature, the keyboard is mightier than the sword.

Accounting is a no-brainer, right? I know far too many business people who depend on bookkeepers and accountants to manage their books. Accounting isn't hard. It's another language. To be able to read a financial statement, understanding the basics can go a long way in business.

Typing was the single most important class I took in high school. I took it in grade twelve because I wanted an easy class to boost my grades that didn't have homework. And it didn't hurt that there were a bunch of pretty girls taking it too. Learning how to type got me through university papers, the constant surfing on line and even right now as I formulate my thinking into this blog.

Unfortunately, his school doesn't have an entrepreneurship class. He thinks there's a entrepreneurship club. That would be another good place to start.

His dad thought it would be a good idea to test the waters of entrepreneurship before making such a huge commitment. I can't argue with the thinking. Unfortunately it's tough to test something like this out without potentially losing money.

This kid is very bright. He's gonna go places. He told me a story of how he's making a product, retailing it at his school, turning a profit of $80 a week. He's developing different flavours to keep his existing client base buying more. If that wasn't enough, he opened a wholesale channel where he still makes excellent margin.

Here are the simple business rules I shared with this young man:
1. Don't tell your friends your trade secrets.
2. Keep the wholesale channels open.
3. Find more wholesale accounts. Work less, sell more.
4. Continue to develop your retail channel in your market (school).
5. Make your wholesalers pay for your product upon delivery.
6. Confirm none of this is illegal.

I was doing nothing compared to this kid at 16. I'm impressed TA. Keep up the confidence, the thinking, the searching for answers. You'll go places. Just keep your head on straight.

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, your right.   - Henry Ford

Does a little thing like the thickness of toast really matter?

It's the little things that usually make the biggest difference.

Don't kid yourself. Whether you're in business or you work for someone else, the little things that you do everyday will bring you more success, more joy, more money and more love.

I used to own a breakfast restaurant. Do you know what I loved the most about this restaurant before I bought it? It was the thickness of the toast.

The toast was thick like homemade toast. It wasn't the bread we could buy in the grocery store. The only place you could get that toast was in our restaurant.

No one thought the thickness of the toast was important until it was taken away.

A few months into owning the restaurant, an employee asked if we could bring in caramel ganache. No other restaurants, to my knowledge, were carrying ganache so it looked like a small change that differentiated us just a little more. People were eating it so it looked like a good choice. It cost more than strawberry jam, but the decision to bring it on the menu was to give us a slight advantage over the other restaurant choices our customer had.

The protocol of the franchise system, I was in, made us give away free fudge at the door instead of the typical mints other restaurants would do. The fudge was made every couple of days and cut up by hand and placed at the cash as a final thank you to guests.

Each and every time, I would introduce myself to people outside the restaurant, I would hear one of three comments:

1. Oh I love the fudge.
2. You're the only place I ever saw caramel ganache offered instead of jam.
3. The toast is just like gramma's bread. Where do you get it?

The franchisor asked us to remove the ganache off the tables. They changed the bread for a cheaper product to keep the costs and customer prices down. Only the fudge remains.

Of course, we had to be good at the big things like serving a good breakfast. I believe it was the little things like fudge, ganache and thick toast that made us remarkable.

If you want to be remarkable in your business or in your job, think of all the little things you could do consistently every day. Maybe it's a happy attitude, the ability to laugh, or the way you compliment others around you.

I worked with a guy once that was terrible at his job. Yet, everyone loved him. He was incompetent in his job and twice got let go. Yet, every time a new job came up that seemed to fit his skill set, he would get it. Management wanted him around. They tried to find the right role for him. He knew how to make others feel great about themselves and that's where he eventually saw huge success.

So the next time someone says "Don't sweat the small stuff", tell them "God is in the details".

Greatness lies in the small stuff. What small stuff are you doing to bring out the greatness in you?

Starbucks shows me how to be a better person

I love Starbucks. Not that the coffee is that great or the people are any better. Starbucks makes me feel different, even though I'm a faceless customer.

They make me want to be a better person. It's not about coffee. Think about it for a minute a simple exchange of money for coffee is nothing more than a chilly transaction.

Let me explain the story that made me love Starbucks so much.

Since selling my businesses, I have two choices in the morning: go to my home office and deal with people via phone or go to a coffeeshop and meet people the old fashion way.

On one particular coffeeshop workday, I had four consecutive meetings with just enough time between to prepare and liquidate for the next encounter.

It was a blistery, minus 30 degrees celsius outside. It was the type of day, where one rushes from the parked car to the office with the collars turned up to keep the ears from catching cold.

Not paying attention to the internal surroundings nor the others who've escaped the outside to the warm tables of Starbucks, I worked away.

From my peripheral vision, there was a guy sitting on a sofa directly across from me. I couldn't help but notice him. He was about 10 feet away and every time I looked up in thought, there was this mangled beard. He had a big coat on, that was almost as puffy as his beard, which he chose not to take off. He was a street person. Homeless, I assumed. I looked up, pretending to look deeply into the wall behind him, catching a peak through my peripheral vision wondering why a homeless dude would go to Starbucks for his coffee fix. There were clearly cheaper options.

He wasn't hurting anyone so no one complained. He just sat there and kept warm while others like me worked away on our shiny, expensive tools. Happy that he was able to stay warm on this terribly cold Canadian day, I kept on working.

Eventually I had to go to the bathroom. While I was gone, a thought blew between my ears: What if the dude rips off my computer while I'm indisposed. Then, another thought: Anyone can steal my computer, why am I only worried about that guy. Quickly shaking the thought off, I wash my hands and get back to my seat to verify that all my possessions were still in tact.

The guy was sitting there for about an hour when a Starbucks employee came over. There was a quick exchange that I couldn't decipher.. The employee left and then returned with a coffee for the bearded guy.

Shit! That hurt. What didn't I think of that? I could've easily bought this dude a coffee. I was too busy in my own thoughts to even be bothered to extend a helpful hand to someone less fortunate.

Starbucks is awesome. They could've easily kicked this guy out. He wasn't buying anything. But instead they did what I should have done. And for that, they taught me a very valuable lesson.

Helping humanity is as simple as buying a coffee for a dude who's trying to stay warm on a cold Canadian morning.

Thank you Starbucks! You showed me how to be a better person. That's rare in corporate America.