The tree removal crew showed up on time. Nice. What caught our attention in particular? When Marvin and Bud, each made eye contact, and said with absolute sincerity, “I sure appreciate the work. Thank you Sir!”

Huh?

When’s the last time your mechanic, barista, cable guy, nurse said that? They might be friendly and nice, you could even get a thank you note from head office, they may even be the type who appreciates having the job... but these tree trimming and removal employees acknowledging the work to the customer stood out for one important reason. Dallas Tree Wizards were clearly not coming from a place of entitlement. They didn’t think they deserved a paycheck. They appreciated the client enough to say so. This couldn’t happen by chance…

“Who owns the tree removal services Tree Wizards?”

“Dallas Arbor, Jim Chase, Sir.”

Dear reader, we have a growing epidemic in our society today. It’s called entitlement. What does this humble Dallas Arbor do to create a culture of gratitude over entitlement? Talking to this Jim was worth every second.

“Tell me about yourself.”

“I grew up in an orchard and tree nursery. With nine kids in my family, living on a 20-acre lot, my entrepreneurial nature sparked when I climbed my first tree. Combine that with my artistic nature and I found the magical combination of risk and reward of tree removal.’

Jim’s tree trimming and removal crew loved their work and seemed fearless as they danced from limb to limb. These tree specialist guys mirrored Jim’s passion for Dallas trees and craftsmanship. According to this professional tree service owner, “Climbing is goal oriented. A thinker’s paradise! It rewards you with daily thrills, finding solutions, and then achieving them. The thrill of overcoming fear and repeatedly accomplishing your goals.”

“Okay, I get you like goals. But what do you do to get such appreciative and grateful employees?”

“We only surround ourselves with tree removal people who absolutely love this work. Their passion is my passion. The stakes are high; it’s dangerous. It’s risky and the solutions are always customized. No two trees are alike. When you swallow your fears and trust your abilities the magic happens. Creativity, consistent communication and teamwork combine to make our clients (and us) thrilled with the end result. That – is a cool feeling!”

“That’s great,” I said “so you tell your employees to thank their customers for the tree removal work?”

Jim stared for a second. “I don’t ‘tell them’ to say anything. They interact with the customer in any way they want. Vince, they just love their work and the money is icing on the cake. Every time they get sent out on a job, they appreciate getting to do what they love to do."

Ding! It finally made sense. These tree trimming and removal Wizards defined work as more than just money.

It looks like a simple formula for a grateful, appreciative culture. Engage with people who:

1. Match values with the job.
2. Have a passion for the work.
3. Sync their goals with the customer’s goals.
4. Repeat daily.

Countless business owners admit when hiring, “You never know who will work out.” Looks like the Tree Wizard is the hiring wizard too.

His secret… have professional tree service employees out on a limb of gratitude.

Late night eateries are a petri dish of sociological entropy. Or so you’d think. Disintegration can be overcome with the art of “Turn-Around Service.” Velvet Taco proved it.

Three minutes before the kitchen closed, yet hungry after a chain of fulfilled responsibilities, you marched up to the counter. A friendly college student took George’s and your order. Ninety seconds later and three feet behind her, she was informed by the kitchen staff, “The Kitchen’s closed.” Because they’d already started cleaning up, the taco hombre behind a bank of stainless steal said, “Sorry man.”

It’s embarrassing to admit (especially by a guy who is supposed to be a motivational keynote speaker 24/7), but when that certain hunger threshold is surpassed, I turn into the Seventh Dwarf. The one with the attitude problem. Lacking any filter, I said – “No. You’re more ‘I want to go home’ than ‘sorry.’” Thirty seconds later, before Velvet Taco girl could reverse our credit card transaction, the cook said something completely undeserving of my harsh comment.

“Why don’t we get you something we haven’t put away yet? It is pulled pork and avocado. We also have a southwest chicken taco we could put together.

Huh?

After being lashed with a grumpy stinger – after being treated roughly – all this following a long day on his feet – he had the presence of mind to manifest a 180 on the situation. It was now after 11 pm. This guy didn’t own the place. He was a prep cook at a late night diner, just a block from a collection of bars. He likely made minimum wage. It probably wasn’t his only job. The list of drunks and jerks he’s had to tolerate is probably longer than the menu. Yet he had the self-awareness to rise above his own, well within his rights, knee-jerk reaction to send me on my way.

We are humbled when faced with humility. We are educated by higher levels of consciousness. We sometimes need a reminder that any situation can be turned around by quickly finding a solution. Imaginary wounds to a fragile ego don’t need to be licked – they need to be ignored. The taco champ did just that.

My thank you’s for the turn around service never seemed to compensate for my not-so-motivational-speaker-like embarrassment of being rough on the guy. Maybe this will help.

If you ever need a place to eat out in Dallas, check out the Velvet Taco. They specialize in unforgettable, tasty, velvety tacos AND turn-around service.

It was a massive yacht for such a piccolo Italiano harbor. You fixated on a man standing on the stern of his boat. He looked like any other guy. As if the curtain of awareness had been cast aside - your realm of possibility expanded in that instant.

This happened 30 years ago in Italy’s Porto Fino. You were 21 years old, on the edge of hunger. You set your backpack down and wondered if you could afford a plate of pasta at the harbor’s expensive restaurant. The a blast of a horn from this yacht signaled, “Look at me.” Not like the annoying “look at me” by those certain Harley riders gunning their under-muffled bikes while passing an unimpressed patio of café patrons. This was a horn that signaled the realm of possibility. The blast of two discorded notes translated into a clear message. “You don’t have to live with the scarcity mindset.”

To this day, that moment, that horn, that unknown billionaire left an imprint on yours truly. It was not only a decision to live in abundance. It also became a priority to help others realize the same thing.

A couple of weekends ago, the SCM Realty family included us on their Homes of Hope build in Tijuana, Mexico. The Homes of Hope Mission has facilitated the building of over 4,000 homes for impoverished families. Their undertaking? Help break the cycle of poverty that imprisons people in need. A few families from Texas combined forces to build a home in two days. Between the original shack and the new home a woman gathered her thoughts. This mother of three admitted through tears of overwhelm and gratitude she had no food or water for her children that morning. “Now I hold the keys to a new life.” The obvious physical gift of a new home was dwarfed by the psychological gift only a few of us witnessed earlier that day.

The trip up the highway to the supermarket was the stage for a greater realization. Part of the Homes of Hope gift is a trip to buy food, kitchenware, clothes and some toys for the family. Dumbstruck, they picked out what they needed and we paid for it. The mother and children learned something liberating.

If you want something, go get it.

As you read this eBrief, the Ramirez family is sheltered in a new home where the floor is clean. They have electricity to light the way to higher education. With discomfort at bay they can now flourish more freely with an expanded realm of possibility.

Scarcity is a disease of the mind. Scarcity is both infectious and contagious. Holding on to what you have limits what you could have. Share ideas. Share time. Share what you can. The realm of possibility can be attained through an abundance mindset for a glass of water, a plate of spaghetti, a new home – even – a new life.

If you want something, go get it.

"Forward to a friend OR if YOU are that friend - Sign Up Here"

NY Times bestselling author, Vince Poscente, is the founder of Libretto Publishing and has written five bookstranslated into more than twenty languages. He writes about harnessing the speed of change, the way to reach BIG GOALS in less time, accelerating potential of human capital, how to get out of your own way and best of all, instant impact with lasting influence.

We tend to miss things that don’t register as familiar. Old catch phrases for example. There’s a spice-of-life in these cultural expressions. Let’s toss a pinch into the mix and see what you notice.

Meet Douglas Young. He’s 82 and golfs every day. His wife passed away a long time ago. Today he’s back together with his high school sweetheart (my dear Mother-in-law). When you get to know Doug, he tosses out colloquialisms with delightful regularity. Yet, if you stop and ponder them, they tend to make you think, “Huh?”

Whenever Doug see’s you off, you’ll hear him quip,

“Write if you get work and hang by your thumbs.”

“Huh?”

This came from a 1930’s radio show hosted by Bob and Ray Goulding. Their trademark sign-off was "This is Ray Goulding reminding you to write if you get work"; "Bob Elliott reminding you to hang by your thumbs." The Gouldings said this to pick up the spirits of their listeners affected by the depression. Today our "Great Recession" has people hanging by their thumbs in different ways: 

• looking for work
• how to start a business to make more money
• looking for motivation in the workplace
• self-development to be a better employee
  
• looking for a new job because you've said under your breath, "I hate my boss"

You’ll also hear Doug say, “That’s enough to hair-lip the Governor.”

“Huh?”

(The origins of this idiom are as fuzzy as the metaphor. Enough to say it has to do with an amazing turn of events.)

Doug also likes to say in the middle of a competitive game of horseshoes, “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings. And she’s not even warming up!” complete with his signature laugh.

(The origin appears to be a Sounthern proverb, "The carnival isn't over until the fat lady sings.")

The other day he said, “That’s like closing the barn door after the horses are out!” referring to a guy who stopped smoking after a lung cancer diagnosis.

Stick around long enough and Doug will lob a few others.

“She was madder than a wet hen in a tote sack.”

“How am I doing? 'Finer than frog hair!'”

“I'll see you then, Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.”

Catch phrases today continue to come from popular media, noted figures and spoofs of an odd corporate event...

“That’s what she said,” from The Office.

“Here’s Johnny” by Ed McMahon from The Tonight Show and revised into a creepy twist by Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

Last year? “Winning – duh!” from Charlie 'Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest' Sheen.

Today? "Linsanity" referring to basketball phenom who's changing the status quo - Jeremy Lin.

Catch phrases have a certain ‘shelf-life’ then they lose their catchiness. But, given our shaky economy, here’s one that might hit close to home and put a smile on your face:

Write if you get work and hang by your thumbs.

PS If you are looking for ways to think big, make more money or have ever caught yourself saying, "I hate my boss" your attitude is everything that needs an adjustment. Stop hanging by your thumbs. It's important and urgent you switch into Sales Training mode and click here:

How to increase sales isn't only from employee motivation. Practical tools of growing sales and leadership. Business consultant and motivational speaker, Vince Poscente teachs how to skip a lack of motivation and getting out of a rut with his short inspirational thoughts:

We were in France. Our trip-tradition? Buy a piece of art. We have works from St. Petersburg, Ireland, New Zealand, India and, closer to home, New Orleans. It wasn’t until an art shop in Paris did the realization occur – a sticky story is critical to the sale.

If you’ve been to Paris in the winter, you know what cold is. Bone bending, denture dislodging, don’t stick your tongue on that bronze mermaid – cold. With Europe experiencing particularly frosty weather, tourists are forced indoors.

You happen across an art shop and stumble through the door. The bell at the transom makes a feeble ding then disintegrates off its hinge. You turn to your spouse and say, “It’s so cold, the doors are freezing their bells off.” Your spouse grins and rolls her eyes. She then scans the room for what’s for sale.

The works are intriguing and have potential. You start to envision what piece would be best on your walls at home. Which work will represent a cherished memory from this trip?

“Could you tell us about this one?” you ask.

The clerk peeks over her glasses and says, “It is one sowsand Euros.”

Hmmm. Okay…

“Could you tell us about zat one?” you accidentally ask in a French accent.

“Zees is seecks ‘undered Euros,” the ‘sales person’ says with more interest.

“But what can you tell us about it?” your spouse asks, giving her a real chance at putting the ‘sales’ in to the term ‘sales person.’

“It is oil. It is possible to ship. It is elegant – oui?”

You try to like what you see. Its tradition after all. But, thirty minutes later you leave the store empty handed. Unable to contain her annoyance, your spouse says under her breath, “Why buy something without a story?”

Which was followed by the sincere desire to avoid any more negative Kelvin and find a taxi – tout de suite.

What do you sell?

Is it a product? Is it a service? Is it a direction at work? Is it an idea for your neighbor?

Velcro a story to what you’re selling. Make the story compelling and you not only ensure the story travels. You make the narrative echo.

When a product, service, direction or idea captivates someone’s imagination it gets told repeatedly at the “purchaser’s” home. Like an objet d’art, the story about what you sold ripples across time and distance.

When others come through your door looking for the same thing, this means more sales.

Sales soar with sticky stories.

Quelle est votre histoire?

Motivational speakers, the good ones, know there is no 'one way' to deliver employee motivation or sales training. But they also know there are some tried and true ways to engage audiences.

If you are a guest speaker at a conference, an after dinner speaker or a leader looking for a way to conquer a general lack of motivation with your group then use the following sequence. This sequence is what I've learned over 17 years of personal development presentations and increasing sales around the world.

1. POINT Make your point and ensure it is innovative or counterintuitive. Saying clichés like "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" or "You must believe to achieve" only accomplishes the opposite of personal development. Clichés unconsciously trigger a part of the audience's brain that says, "I've heard this before." String a few comments from the podium that are commonplace and you will eventually lose your audience all together. So make it innovative or counter intuitive.

Let's say you're trying to make a point about stretching your creative muscle. You would turn them off if you said, "We must creative on a daily basis." But, if your POINT was, "Get out of the wrong side of the bed." Then you expand on the concept of doing things differently. For example: Taking a new route to work. Use your non-dominant hand for three hours. Then you'll have your audience starting to think, "Gee, I hadn't thought of it that way."

2. STORY After a clear, succinct, innovative/counter intuitive point tell a story from your life, a case study or a third person account. Remember, when telling this story that person sitting in the chair, listening to you, really doesn't care how wonderful, smart, intriguing you are. He cares about himself. She only has her own interests in mind. Keynote speakers are under the illusion they are there because of how special they are. False. If you are keynoting a conference, tell story's that demonstrates how special THEY are by being authentic, vulnerable, honest, altruistic in your delivery.

When audiences experience my story about being unable to find a wind tunnel for aerodynamic training, they learn about the idea to ride on top of a car. They hear "You're wearing a pink rubber suit. Your biggest fear is not crashing the car. It's getting arrested. Folks, you're wearing a pink rubber suit." Compare that to: "I wore a pink rubber suit. I wasn't as concerned about he car crashing as I was concerned about the car crashing. I'm wearing a pink rubber suit. That's why I felt that way." Can you see and especially FEEL the difference?

3. CONNECT This is the part where you relate your point and even your story you just told, if appropriate, to their everyday lives. Imagine you just told the story about the pink rubber suit. Then you connect this example with how the audience goes to work and hits road block after road block with government regulations. Saying things like, "You can creatively meet the government standards that make your customers know how much you care."

4. POINT Now circle back to the original point to hit it home. "So when you get out of the wrong side of the bed you start thinking creatively, you create momentum for innovative ideas and solutions for you and your customers."

To see an example of this:

Use Point, Story, Connect, Point as a general template for how you get your message across. You are selling ideas and people buy more readily when they feel connected to a story, experience you as a person and relate it to their lives as something they need to do or have.

Do this and the secrets of motivational speakers isn't a secret any more ;-)

If you are an experienced speaker and want to elevate you expertise we have two options available:

1. Keynote Coaching - a month to month coaching program.

2. The Keynote Bootcamp - an intensive 2.5 day program presented by the Chairwoman and founder of International Speakers Bureau and my self.

Other resources include:

1. The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson

2. Paid to Speak by The National Speakers Association

Want your company to reach BIG GOALS in short order. Start thinking smaller.

Intuit, close to 8,000 strong and revenues in the billions, consistently finds ways to think big by thinking small. An example is their product SnapTax.

Intuit's leaders could have sought innovation through focus groups, testing, R & D teams, outside hired guns. Yet they brought together a team of five to come up with a what is one of Intuit's many profitable products. It did it by allowing this initial group of five to be on an "Island of Freedom." They had the license to create and build like the culture of a start-up company.

According to Eric Ries, the Author of The Lean Startup, "Innovation is a bottoms up, decentralized and unpredictable thing, but that doesn't mean it cannot be managed. It can, but to do so requires a new managment discipline." Basically, Reis encourages senior mangement to "cultivate entrepreneurship" within the company's culture.

Encouraging entrepreneurship is critical, at all levels. Just ask the AlliedSignal executives who were approached by internal employees Gary Burrell and Min Kao (hence the name GarMin) with a new concept around global positioning systems. As these employees were ignored, they went on to be entrepreneurs and start their own company called Garmin. In the words of Rick Perry, "Oops."

Senior executives who insist on meddling in the efforts of innovators have not learned the ways of true entrepreneurial thinking. Learn from the example of Intuit and leaders like Scott Cook. Create an "Island of Freedom" in your company and see what they come up with. Your thinking small may turn into a BIG GOAL occuring in short order.

For more ideas about innovation and creating an island of freedom, start with this workshop in a box.

You may know Jill Kudryk’s story. An idle Tuesday morning you laughed with her about the new movie, Animal House. That afternoon she died from heart failure. By Friday, you and a stunned group of teenagers listened to eulogies for this life cut short by a weak heart. Yours truly made a decision that solemn day. Do everything at least once! Thirty-four years later, this motto can define your What Shows Up List too.

A celebrated concept, The Bucket List, is easy to comprehend. Write all the things you wish to do in your life, and check them off. Yet, this assumes you know what’s best to do in your life.

What if it were the other way around?

What if life knows what’s best for you?

There’s a different way to approach the uncomfortably forced and egocentric Bucket List. Have your BIG GOALS in short order emerge. Let go of what you want to achieve in life and let in what shows up. Think BIG this way: Your What Shows Up List reveals itself when something NEW, DIFFERENT or REPEATELY IGNORED appears.

NEW: Something you’ve never tried but at least heard of. Maybe it’s racquetball, riding a cutting horse, skiing in a pink rubber suit. Life is far too short to say, “No, I don’t look good in pink rubber.” Clearly, if safety is in question, then a qualified yes is in order. It always makes sense to minimize risk but never, ever make a decision based on fear. If it’s new and you’ve been approached to try it, it’s waiting to be added to your What Shows Up List.

DIFFERENT: When something different shows up say, “Sure, I’d love to do it.” Let’s say someone asks you to play Wiffle Ball Polo. If it’s legal, moral and ethical, then why not? Say yes! What have you got to lose? Mark Twain had an answer to that. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Ummm, buuuuut, if someone figures a game of strip poker in the shopping mall is a good idea, you might just keep those bowlines tied up. Just sayin’…

REPEATEDLY IGNORED : You know the answer to this one. You know it! Don't let a lack of motivation get in the way. Stop procrastinating give it a go. Friend and author of The War of Art , Steven Pressfield says you must overcome Resistance. “We are not born with unlimited choices... Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal that we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” Your What Shows Up List is ready and waiting to be made longer, even if that thing scares you, is uncomfortable or appears to be that loathed word, ‘unrealistic.’

Pay attention! Your What Shows Up List is waiting!

Until next time we connect, it’s full speed ahead,

Vince

PS Want you or your team to know what's on the What Shows Up List? This Ant and Elephant Workshop in a Box is the fastest way to discover it.

The fact is your prospects don't take the time to understand what a great job you do and how well you do it.

Take for example an organization who decided not to hire me to speak to them for the following reasons:
 
- I don’t like that standing on the chair thing
- His speech seems too canned; he’ll just drop our company name in
- I don’t like a man who colors his hair

To come up with these conclusions they could only have watched the first minute or so of my demo video. Agreed, for the first section of my talk I stand on furniture and describe what it's like to ski at 135 mph - which is probably the reason my hair turned white.

But I'm lead to make my own wild assumption they made their mind up in the first 70 seconds of my promotional video. Now it's too late. They'll never know I take a great deal of pride in presentation customization. This prospect didn't take the time to know about the most recent talk I gave where the President of AMX, Rashid Skaf, said:

"Vince went above and beyond and really researched our company, understood what we were trying to achieve and got personally engaged with our story."

I feel as helpless as a teenager with acne standing at a closed door of a cheerleader who changed her mind about that first date.

To find the right company at the right time you've got 70 seconds to not only make a good first impression but leap past your prospect's mystifying assumptions. Know how to increase sales by understanding this occupational hazard of helping your prospects know what a great job you do and how well you do it.

Changing attitudes takes time when your prospects don't have time.

So, what's the solution? Your promotional materials may not be customizable for every situation. But tack on a way to educate managers and eliminate distractions associated with wild assumptions. You'll grab their attention for a bit longer than 70 seconds.

Here's what we do for our prospects. We send a 70-second video message that addresses prospect attitudes one perspective at a time.

It is designed to speak directly to our prospect in a way that makes them feel special (without having to wear a brunette wig and use that old fashioned floor thing to stand on). Here's an example sent to a recent prospect:

Moving forward, think of ways you can make a first impression that skips past wild assumptions and changes attitudes in one efficient stroke of personalized marketing.

Oh, and don't have hair that looks like it's colored, or stand on a chair, or talk in a can.

On the other hand, if you don't mind a white-haired, chair-standing professional presenter then let's talk...

She wanted to play The Witch in Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods."

Of course the casting call had a line up of would-be-witches.

Her audition (her very first) was nothing short of stellar. She got the part and was clearly a star in the play.

What formula did Alex use to make this happen?

1. Set a BIG GOAL - Be fearless in your BIG GOAL selection

2. Don't Hold Back - Be fearless in your audition, interview, proposal.

3. Completely Embody Your Role - Amateurs try to get it right. Pros learn it so they never get it wrong. Combine this with an authentic you and you will be invincible.

By the way, this was Alex's first real play in her middle school musical theater class.

May sound like less of a big deal but the rules stay the same. Set a BIG GOAL, Don't Hold Back and Be Authentic as you Completely Embody Your Roll.

Whether it's personal development, professional development, big sales goals, leadership or employee motivation, seek out BIG GOALS in Short Order.

Want more ways to reach your BIG GOALS for sales growth, motivate your employees, improve productivity?