Blog Archives
A Wicked Brand – By A Dude With A NameTag
I love Scott Ginsberg. He is truly one of a kind. That’s what it means to have an awesome personal brand right?
He has been wearing a name tag for many many years – every day for that matter.
Check out his Ted Talk video, to learn a little more about the man that puts a smile on my face every time I read his content!
Drop by my new facebook page and say hi:
http://www.facebook.com/Tim.Mushey
Have a great weekend!
I’m So Proud Of My Wife – Check This out!
My wife has been doing some very cool stuff for the past few weeks!
Check out this great post.
Inspiring, and incredibly motivating!
Have A Laugh Fridays – ABC (Always Be Sellling)!
This is one of the top three most popular Have A Laugh Friday segments, so I thought it was time to show it again. This guy is hilarious, and it is only a 30 second commercial. Count how many references he makes to the movie “Top Gun” during this clip!
Remember “ABC” (Always Be Selling)!
Have a great weekend….
Unexpectedly Providing Value At Age 19
When you are a teenager, working for the first time, it is truly all about the money. Finally, you have some independence from your parents, and can start to buy things for yourself! As you make a little more money and get different jobs through high school, earning money gets even more exciting. The thought of providing any value to others as a teenager does not even register for most. I was part of that group. Then there was a real shift for me when I was 19 years old, thanks to my dad.
I was making $5.25 per hour working at a buffet restaurant in the summer of 1992. I was working a lot because I was off from university for a few months, and the “money was rolling in” (or so I thought). My dad was teaching an adult education class in the evenings, and connected with a man who needed some math upgrading. He was involved in an accident, and had to pursue a new career due to his injuries. The kicker was he needed his high school diploma to qualify for most jobs.
My dad could not commit to doing all the tutoring himself, so he asked if I would help at a rate of $30 per hour.
“$30 PER HOUR?” I said.
“You bet”, said my dad back.
“WHEN DO I START?” I hastily replied.
I was excited because I was going to make more money working with him in two hours a day, then I would make in eight hours per day at the restaurant!
As I started to work with the man, it soon became very clear that it would not be as easy as I thought. Just because I understood math very well, did not mean that my knowledge was going to “rub off on him” as quickly. There were some difficult days at the beginning of the process, but by the end, we were working well together. We gained a mutual respect for each other as time passed. I often caught myself thinking that this guy must have thought that I was a “know-it-all young punk”, but realistically that was not the case. He was in a jam, and I was there to help.
This was a life changing experience for a 19-year-old kid, to realize the value that I provided was much more important than the money I was receiving. It did take a while to get to that place, because all I could think about was the $60 that I made each time I saw him!
In retrospect I would have done it for free, because I changed a life. As I look back now, that is what I remember the most. The memory of the money is only for story telling purposes. I helped him get back on his feet when something terrible had happened. As a 19 years old kid, $30 per hour to me then was like $200 per hour today!
In the end, my “compensation” was that he got to start over again, and I played a small part in that.
You are not going to get paid for everything that you do in your life, that is a fact. When you realize that helping others, providing value and not always expecting something in return is a great way to live your life, it will be a real game changer. It was for me!
- When have you provided value for someone, and not even realized it at the time?
- Do you have the mindset of “what is in it for me?” before deciding if you should help somebody?
- Is it time to start giving unconditionally?
Have A Laugh Fridays – Death By PowerPoint!
Fantastic!!
Thanks to Eric Blumthal for sending this to me.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Are You Just A Perimeter Player?
In sports like hockey, football and basketball, certain athletes get tagged with the name “perimeter player”. They mainly shoot from the outside, or in the case of football, only catch the ball near the sidelines. They play it safe, and stay away from the “dirty” dangerous areas. They can still score from the outside, but are missing other opportunities to score.
In sales, most well-adjusted reps have the ability to:
- Sell more products to their most satisfied customers
- Sell to a prospect who has all but pulled out a purchase order number and said “I’m buying!”
- Take over and succeed in a territory that is already on “auto-pilot”
That would be described as perimeter play.
What about getting in to the “dirty”, dangerous areas?
These reps have the ability to:
- Put together action plans and succeed in getting struggling accounts back on track
- Get in front of dissatisfied customers, and fix problems face-to-face
- Make difficult decisions to drop underperforming accounts that will never thrive
- Succeed in spite of lack of leadership and never make excuses
My favourite analogy for this type of work is always related to hockey,
“Who is willing to go in to the corner, get hit by a bigger player, and still come out with the puck?”
The perimeter players, will let up, and watch somebody else complete the difficult tasks.
The perimeter players may still have a long career, but be just average. If you are looking for average, then you must be ok playing it safe. The repeated overachiever, who is always looking to improve never hesitates and welcomes the difficult tasks on route to massive success!
The questions are:
How badly do you want it?
And….
How “dangerous” are you willing to be?
Only you will know the answer. It’s your choice!
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 