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Jack of All Trades, Master of None
When I was 27 I received some excellent advice which I’ve been following throughout my career. One evening a fellow Toastmaster announced he had just been promoted to be the plant manager of a major manufacturing plant in the city I worked in. After the meeting I went up to congratulate him on his success and found the courage to ask him “What do you attribute your success to?” His response has stuck with me to this day. He said, “You know Larry, I’m not a very smart guy. In fact I didn’t finish high school. Oh, eventually I got my GED when I was in the service,…
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Facing Fear and Overwhelm – One Rapid At a Time
A couple of ways to manage fear is what this story is about. They came to me while I was on a white water rafting trip in Costa Rica with my son, Michael, and have been applicable on a number of occasions when I’ve been “stuck” because of fear. Here’s what happened. Michael had just graduated from college and it was an opportunity for a father and son bonding experience. One challenging thing about the experience for me was that when I was Michael’s age I had been tossed out of a canoe trying to shoot white-water rapids in Minnesota and had a life-threatening experience. Once I was…
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Live Every Day as if It’s Your Last. Learn as if You’re Going to Live Forever
Two weeks ago I watched a YouTube video that I’m sharing with you today. This video is of Steve Jobs, Chairman of Apple, giving a commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University. On October 5th, Steve Jobs passed on at 56 years of age. His death reminds me “Life’s not a dress rehearsal”. This is it. We’re all walking on our own path through our life journey. Steve Jobs, at 56 years, contributed a lot during his brief walk. As I’m writing this article on my Mac Book Pro computer, and about to make a phone call on my iPhone 4, I realize how much he’s touched…
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Selling 101: People Do Things for Their Reasons, Not Yours
Whether you recognize it or not, you are in sales. In our day-to-day lives, we are all selling in some way. If this notion conjures up negative feelings or discomfort for you, you might be confusing selling with manipulating. Selling does not mean getting someone to buy or do something that isn’t a good fit. Selling means being aware of what is important to the customer. Selling is helping people make the best choice based on what our service or offering will do for them and expressing these benefits in a way that resonates with the person we are helping. As a business consultant and coach, I have found that people new…
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My Life Is Like a Garden Hose
One day when putting on a Life Planning / Business Development workshop with horses I had an epiphany. That is… My life is like a garden hose… One season, when I was learning to be an Equine Guided Coach, I volunteered to water and feed horses on weekends to get over my fear of horses. I would have to take the garden hose to the stall and fill up the water bucket inside the stall. There were two places to turn on the water. One at the hydrant where the hose was attached. The second was at the end of the hose that you put into the bucket…