The Dash Of Life

I co-authored an ebook!  Check it out here!  Opening A Beauty Salon

I recently had a conversation with a friend who is a media sales rep. She was very frustrated that she was not getting trained and that she could not really afford to pay for training herself! That conversation compelled me to create an affordable media sales training program! Media Sales Training How to Close 5x more new business in 90 days!

My friend Carol Coots wrote a book called “Stop Wasting Money”. Carol is an expert in this field and has help companies and individuals save millions of dollars! I am very proud of her because she did what me and others have been talking about for years. She actually wrote A book. Not talk about one day when she writes her book, she actually did it.
Congrats Carol. Check out this video about one of the topics in her new book!Cost Savings Ideas on How To Stop Wasting Money

Here is a presentation that I did on sales training to a group of entrepreneurs in Indianapolis!Sales Training Presentation in Indianapolis on Closing when you open.

Indianapolis Dog Daycare

I have two friends that got their jobs at about the same time. Lets call them Kim (not their real name) and Jennifer (is their real name). They work in similar companies and had very similar responsibilities to start. They both work very hard and are very good at what they do, however Jennifer has been rapidly promoted while Kim is still doing the same job with little recognition. The reason for Jennifer’s climb is that her company considers her a problem solver, while Kim’s company considers her a problem finder. A problem finder is someone who spends countless hours creating what if scenarios for everything that comes across their desk, “what if the client says this, what if the boss does that”. This type of thinking increases both the stress level and the work load of the problem finder, and anyone else who is a stake holder in the project including the problem finders boss. The problem solver on the other hand spends little to no time trying to map out the many different scenarios that could happen once an action is taken and spends more time focusing on ways to accomplish the task at hand. Both the problem solver and the problem finder are capable of achieving the desired result however, supervisors will often make a mental link to the process that went into getting the task done. If a project was successful but the process was a pain, that supervisor will not be overly excited about giving the problem finder more responsibility.

So if you are not climbing at the rate that you think you should, or if others are being promoted ahead of you, ask yourself, am I a problem finder or a problem solver. And to Jennifer congrats on the new promotion!

As a manager or business owner one of the most time consuming and energy draining activities is to try and turn around an underperforming employee. Its time consuming because there are so many things that you have to make sure that you do in order to cover yourself legally. Its emotionally draining because deep down you realize that the employee is not the only one at fault. As their manager a significant level of blame has to fall back on you. You either hired them, or you trained them, or when you took over you chose to keep them.

Currently I am about 30000 feet in the air on flight to Dallas. The flight has been delayed by about two hours because we were re-routed due to a bad storm. Several of the people around me became very upset when the pilot came on an said that because of the reroute the plane will need around 4000 pounds of additional fuel. WOW! It is hard to fathom some times how people can be so focused about their own circumstances that they completely miss the big picture. This is a true lesson in leadership. In order to be a good leader you must first learn how to follow and trust the wisdom of those who have a higher degree of expertise then you do in a given area. If someone has years of training and experience in a given area you might want to listen to them. If the pilot says that he needs more fuel in order to get you to your destination safely, don’t complain about your dinner reservations or even you connecting flights. It is much better to be late then deceased!