Zane Safrit

Highlights from My Conversation with Barry Moltz, Author of B-A-M! Bust A Myth

Customer Service is the new marketing. For me this seems so...well, obvious. But, then I came up through the ranks of frontline customer service. What was your business other than serving customers? I love the esoterics of business models and partner deals and joint ventures. While the freemium business model today and the eye-ball business model of the 90’s are useless by themselves, they always made me chuckle. So I guess that’s some value-add. But all of their success came back to serving customers in a way that no one else could serve them. Otherwise, especially these days, as customers we can take our wants and needs, our attention, our word-of-mouth, our loyalty, oh and our purchases...somewhere else. And do it in a snap.

Barry Moltz shares this view. In fact, I believe it’s embedded in his DNA. Barry’s founded and run small business with success and failure for 15 years. He’s the author of three books:

• Bounce: The path to true business confidence

• You need to be a little CRAZY: The truth about starting and growing your business

•  Bust a Myth: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World.

We discussed his latest book BAM: Bust a Myth: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World and Barry’s thoughts in his book, how and why a serial entrepreneur found the religion of customer service and what it can mean for your company’s success.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

First off, I gotta say I’ve always been a fan of yours. That didn’t mean I agreed with what you wrote, how you wrote it. But you wrote it, shared it, shared your successes and failures. And got up and did it again, amen. And I always benefited. And clearly there are many of us. Thank you.

Now, let’s talk about this new book: BAM: Bust a Myth. I love it. I love that a serial entrepreneur puts Customer Service first by busting myths about it.

Why, as an entrepreneur did you feel the need to bust these myths about customer service?

I think when people start a business they keep thinking that a competitive advantage is a patent they have. I believe that unless you are a monopoly, the only advantage you have is the customer service you offer.

You list 19 customer service myths in your book. What are your favorite three myths?

1. The customer is always right. This was started in the 1900s by a French hotelier. Guess what, they are not always right and it is not good for business if we treat the customer like they are always right.

2. Customer service is just plain common sense. That is just plain ludicrous. Just like any other skill, it needs to be trained and developed. I think this is why Zappos does so well. They train their people.

3. Under promise and over deliver.

How did you come about to this realization? With most businesses, customer service is always last on their mind. What transformed you to the fact that it is the only sustainable advantage for business today?

I think that over the last ten years, being a speaker, consultant and coach, it is the only competitive advantage that I have. It is more than lip service. We need to be serious about it.

I was coming in from Chicago yesterday and I caught a cab and half way through the trip the taxi driver had forgotten to turn on the meter. I knew how much it would cost from my house to the airport! When he had picked me up, he took luggage, put it in the trunk and opened the door for me. When we arrived at my house, the fare was posted at $15.00. I gave him $30.00 for his great customer service.

We need to train everyone from the top down –making CS training effective.

Just the common act of courtesy and connecting is sometimes lost with what we are teaching today.

The biggest thing is that most people who call with a concern just want to be listened to. They want to know that someone cares. Customers just want to know they have been heard – their concern has validity at the moment.

Myths usually contain 2 elements. A lack of good data and an excess of convenience for their believers. What data was missing that created these myths? Whose convenience was supplied with the spread of these myths?

I think people are just plain lazy.

People want to deliver at a cost effective price.

People don’t have training or action to make it happen.

People think it is common sense- every customer is the same. It is not true. In BAM, we talk about that what a satisfied customer is changes from customer to customer, from situation to situation. THAT is why Customer Service is so difficult to do well in a company.

A good sign that a myth-buster is on to something is when those with vested interests in maintaining their myths push-back. They disagree, they call you names, they fight you, then they accept. What kind of push-back have you had?

People say this is nonsense – asking why we need yet another book on Customer Service?

Society is not getting it yet. The essence of Customer Service has changed over the past couple of years.

One is that businesses are location independent and you have to have a sustainable customer advantage like Customer Service.

The second thing is web personalization that companies do has changed the whole playing field. Customer Service is changing because of social media and the web. You can tell 10s of thousands of people and it goes viral.

I’m going to push back on one. Myth Number 10. Unhappy customers tell their stories to more people than happy customers.

I don’t have the reports and studies that support this. But, I remember seeing 3-4 studies that support this. Anecdotally, though I try not to, I tend to tell more people about a disappointing company than a satisfying company.

Where’s the gap? What am I missing?

I think a lot of people like to complain. There are a lot of people out there who just want to talk about what happens to them.

What about the people in the middle? The companies have to find these people who don’t say anything.

Chapter 3 in your book is titled Determining the Value of Customer Service. What is the Value of good customer service or BAM-Good customer service for a company?

I think this is the crux of the book. The only reason why we should offer BAM good customer service is because it makes good economic service for business. The bottom line is giving great customer service will make your business more money.

How does it answer these three questions from a company’s perspective?

1. What’s in it for a company?

2. Why should they care?

3. Why should I believe?

Long term they are going to:

• get more customers,

• retain more customers, and...
  

• make more money.
  

IF they can just realize they have the information and skills, but they are just not using them.

I’ve worked at companies where they calculate the value of a customer by subtracting the costs of a customer service call from the total expected revenue of that customer. You take a more comprehensive approach in assigning customer value.

We have a detailed formula called "Customer Value Calculation" and we look at 8 different items because we need to understand if a customer is valuable and profitable.

How much revenue do they bring in?

Do these people pay on time?

We also look at referrals. They can be positive and valuable.

How long have they been with us?

Are they a major brand?

The 8 items are:

1). Revenue ( add points based on customer's rank in revenues paid)

2). Timing ( add 2 points)

3). Referrals ( add 4 points )

4). Additional Products They Buy ( add 3 points)

5). Feedback They Give You ( add 1 point )

6). Stickiness ( add 2 points )

7). Brand Power (add 4 points)

8). Unhappy Customer (subtract 2 points)

Note: See Page 65 - 66 for more details.

Brand power is very important. If I as a speaker can drop names of who I have done business with, it helps my brand. It translates into additional business. The customer’s brand brings value to your brand.

In chapter 6 you talk about How to deliver BAM-Good Customer Service in a self-service world. What’s the first step? Why?

This is a good point.

1. One thing you have to do to BAM your own company is to bust your own myth. What things are holding you back from offering really great customer service?

2. Then you have to define customer service for your company as you want it to be.

3. After that you must determine the economic value of your customer. It doesn’t have to use the same formula that I use, but a comprehensive way to value your customers.

4. We have BAM Blockers. What gets in the way of you offering great Customer Service? What processes or systems prevent this?

5. You have to write your own manifesto.

6. Decide how you will measure and deliver Customer Service?

7. How do you handle the atypical customer that color outside the lines from the best to the worst.

28:31

What are the most important metrics that report a company’s BAM Good Customer Service?

The Net Promoter Score or repeat business and referrals.

In your current business, what would be 3 metrics you would use to confirm you are delivering the Customer Service you want your customers to have?

1. How much biz do people do with me?

2. Do they pay their bills on time?

3. Do they refer me to other people?

I love the 3 question survey that delivers the The Net Promoter Score. The survey is called The Ultimate Question survey. The Ultimate Question starts with the ultimate question How likely would you be to recommend us to your friends...etc. On a scale of 0 -10 with 0 being definitely would not and 10 being definitely would...how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?

You reference Fred Reichheld and the Net Promoter Score ... methodology. What do you think of it?

I like it. One of our questions is “How can I make your more satisfied?” That is what I believe is one of the ultimate Customer Service questions.

Another thing I really like about this chapter is you customized this for 3 stakeholders: The CEO, the manager, the front-line Customer Service person. And rather, than be the expert, you offered a series of questions they should ask themselves. You’ve already burst myths, shouldn’t you bring order to their world by offering a plan?

I think we do offer a plan in the book. I believe the most help we can offer is to ask the right questions and they can bring that back to their business, it will go a much longer way to help that company. One size does not fit all. Ask the questions that fit for you and this will make a long term difference.

One stakeholder not included is the sales person. What are your thoughts on that?

They are front line and very important! That would be a whole new book.

If asking your customers what they want, what they think about your service is so important...and it is...why do so many companies avoid it?

First of all, I think people are lazy. Customer Service is what any one customer thinks at one particular time that will make them satisfied. As I said, it is not one size fits all. It is difficult and they don’t want to tackle that problem.

Secondly, I think most people can’t handle the truth.

Now what happens when their answers are just unreasonable? You talk about firing customers? In a recession? When does a company fire a customer?

We go through many things in the book to identify this. If you go through the process, you can realize if the customer is going to actually cost you more than the revenue you are bringing in or it deflects you from bringing in new customers. It is not in line with your business. It is not an overnight process though.

What are the first steps in that action plan to fire a customer?

1. You have to identify who those customers are.

2. If you are no longer helping them.

3. If your skills are no longer needed.

4. They are disregarding your advice.

5. They are not part of the business.

6. They aren’t willing or able to pay the price.

7. They are not profitable, legal, or ethical.

Then you go on and revisit the Customer Service evaluation. See what they are really giving to you and see then how you can replace that revenue. Start dropping hints to them.

Erika Andersen, in her book Being Strategic, uses the term reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal. What was yours in writing this book?

I think again was to make Customer Service new again. To show in self-service and social media world that Customer Service is the new marketing.

You don’t always have a chance today to interact directly. You have an opportunity to be more personal if you just do it right.

I want people to understand that things have changed and if you don’t do things right, you won’t have business for too long, unless you are a monopoly.

How will you know when you reach it?

I think depending on the measures and metrics you use, those things will change. You will know that when you have happy customers, they will stay.

Let’s leave with a story. What’s been your best customer service experience recently? And what myths were burst to deliver that experience?

I am getting ready to go to Asia and I went in to MooseJaw looking for various types of items in the store. I found a pair that I liked, but I hate to buy shoes unless I know the costs from Amazon and Zappos. After the salesperson showed me the shoes, she saw that I was looking up prices on my iPhone. She said you don’t have to look it up – let’s go to our computer right here.

THIS was great customer service for me. The price was about the same and I bought them right there.

43:12

People buy when they are ready to solve their pain.

What myths did MooseJaw bust to deliver that experience?

1. They really said how am I going to make this person more satisfied?

I am more satisfied knowing that I got the best price. They busted the myth that you shouldn't encourage customers to comparison shop.

I believe the woman was really trained to do this.

What has been the worst customer experience lately?

Yesterday with AA. I was on a standby flight out of CT. I had called and knew there were seats available. When I got to the gate I asked about a seat and the attendant said she couldn’t give me a seat because it was a small plane and had to make sure "there was enough fuel to take you.

BUT if you confirm your reservation by paying me an additional $50.00 I can definitely take you. "

I am an Executive Platinum flyer with AA and travel thousands of miles every year.

I always stress the life time value of the customer. This was not BAM good customer service in any manner.

I saw that you wrote a great blog post, Small Business Needs More than Just Presidential Talk. It was in response to President Obama’s ideas on spurring small business and entrepreneurs.

What is disconcerting is that enough is not happening. Money is not flowing downwards.

Where can people find you, follow you, connect with you, on the web?

• Main Website

• B-A-M Good Customer Service

• Twitter: Barry Moltz

• LinkedIn

Thanks, Barry.

Highlights from My Conversation with Paul Herr, Author of Primal Management

Paul Herr, author of Primal Management and the very effective Horsepower Survey joined the show December 4 to talk about the science of engaged employees and specific steps to measure and improve it your organization. Paul offers a remarkably simple solution to engaging employees--align the workplace with human nature and thereby hit the high-productivity sweet-spot inherent within our psychological makeup. We talked about the five biologic appetites for things like food, oxygen and rest, and five social appetites that reward human beings with pleasure when we innovate, master skills, achieve group goals, work as part of a tightly bonded team, and protect ourselves from physical and psychological harm.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Paul, thanks for being on our show. Where and what is your focus with your book, your horsepower survey and the field of employee motivation?

I have worked for thirty years coming up with the idea for my book. I have gotten off to a nice start with many accolades from a variety of groups and individuals. Over the summer I worked on the software tool called the Horsepower Survey to take the ideas in my book and make them available as a cool leadership tool to both improve leadership and monitor employee motivation. Now I am moving from research and development to sales and marketing mode.

This tool is immediately useful and very obvious and intuitive in its design and with Paul including tips on how to change the motivational horsepower in your organization, you can make immediate use from it right from the get-go.

In your brochure from the Horsepower Survey, you mention another Gallup poll that says 29% of employees care about the work and the rest are just going through the motion. What is the cost to our economy from a 29% motivation rate?

That figure comes from the Gallup Organization. They did a study of the 17% of employees that are actively disengaged from their companies. If you could change this to engaged employees, you would save the economy $1.3 trillion dollars in lost productivity. We are talking about motivation, productivity and business success. That 29% figure – if that was a college exam, what would that equate to? That is a solid “F.”

Now how did that happen? The world’s richest, most productive economy, at one time, become so inefficient at maximizing the return on our number one asset: each other?

There is no simple answer. We are a tribal species that has propelled ourselves into a modern world that has taken control of us. We just don’t quite fit into this world.

Part of it is just unavoidable that modernity and complexity has put us in a tight bind.

Another problem is that motivation is inherently difficult to think about. Nature didn’t want us to think about it.

Another part is that as corporations become larger they become less tribal and it is more difficult to create a human friendly environment.

Wall Street is another part of the problem. They look at human beings as numbers, not people. Wall Street has no clue and this is mentioned in the last chapter of my book.

You also share that 55% of managers in Fortune 500 Companies rate themselves as even some what in confident in motivating employees. Would you say that their self-assessment is accurate?

Motivation and leadership are tough. The fact that most managers don’t feel confident as leaders or motivators is simply expected. Most male managers would just stick their head in the sand. When you start talking about feelings, needs and emotions, most male managers would just roll their eyes and disconnect.

Maybe the problem is that a high percentage of managers are best described as narcissistic and maybe our country is obsessed with stars and the system of compensation. What do you think?

I think there is something to that. Our culture is competitive based. Win at all costs. We are always taught to compete. Employee engagement is different. It has to be the “WE” mentality.

What are the three most popular ways companies inspire only 29% of their employees to care about their work?

You mean how do companies screw up about motivating their employees? We can’t blame companies for this – it is just the complexities of modern civilization and emotions of motivation.

There are some specific things that companies do that stop or harm the motivational engine.

1. One would be having a hyper-rational stand offish attitude towards employees and looking at them as objects – not having true and authentic relationships with your workforce. That is the key problem.

2. Another one is lack of praise. There is an extreme lack of attaboys out there.

3. This whole hierarchical command structure doesn’t work well with human nature. All the glory goes to the people at the top and everyone else is left out.

16:19

Everybody needs to be involved.

The irony here is that manufacturers would never allow their machinery to operate at 29% efficiency. If I understand your dashboard, it can change all that. Tell us a little about it.

That is a great way to understand what I am up too.

We make sure our machines operate at full optimal capacity, but what do we do with our human capital? Absolutely nothing. We have sensors built into our brain – the output of those sensors are feelings of pleasure and pain.

The survey captures those signals and charts them –this is equivalent to the control charts that manufacturers use to assess the operating performance of the machine.

We can determine if humans are functioning at optimal capacity. This is the single most important parameter any company can measure and no one measures it. If you can get motivational horsepower to go up, then every single operational HR and financial metric will go up with it for the following reason.

Rewarding feelings drives behavior and behavior determines performance. Our employees need to feel rewarded at work. If they don’t, it reduces productivity.

One of the things I like about your Horsepower Survey is that the dashboard reports and tips are the intuitive obvious nature of the design...this is affordable and delivers immediate results. This is so important.

How did you take this knowledge in your book, neuroeconomic principles and social appetite and drill it down into a dashboard that is obvious, even at a glance?

I worked for 30 yrs to make motivation simple. It is bringing simplicity and clarity to a murky situation. I use a car metaphor because I look at motivations and feelings as the forces that move us. An engine analogy is appropriate. Basically there are five cylinders in the motivational engine. They are hot buttons that managers can press for high motivation from their employees. The survey is meant to be used as a stand alone tool without consulting and small businesses can afford it, although it is best to work with a consultant.

You write that the Horsepower survey is the first survey based upon neuroeconomic principle. What is a Neuroeconomic Principle and why should our listeners care?

Neuroeconomics is a burgeoning new field. The director of MIT said within 5 yrs, Neuroeconomic Principles will be what drives economy. It basically says that all forms of reward are based upon rewarding feelings. There is a common feeling based metric in the brain. Money is only motivating because of the feelings it creates in the brain. All reward is basically feeling based.

What are the three most important neuroeconomic principles for increasing an organization’s horsepower?

There are 5 motivational systems built into our brain. If you turn on these systems you get pleasure.

1. Innovation

2. Curiosity

3. Competent

4. Achieve goals

5. Recognition

What are the five social appetites?

Once nature chose to traverse the slippery slope of using feelings of pleasure and pain to regulate biologic needs like reproduction, energy conservation, and nutrition, there was no turning back.

Once one's behavior was rewarded in this way, then, logically, every other survival behavior needed to be similarly rewarded or human beings would have overindulged in the rewarding behaviors at the expense of the ones without rewards.

1. Innovation: enforced with curiosity and the eureka pleasure when we get an idea.

2. Skill mastery or competency: enforced with feelings of high and low self-esteem.

3. Skill deployment and goal attainment: enforced with the euphoria of a win, and the dysphoria (pain) of a loss

4. Cooperation: enforced by the warm feelings we experience when we are with the persons, places, and things that are important to us and painful feelings of alienation when we are excluded from the tribe

5. Self-protection: enforced with pleasant feelings when we achieve security and fearful and anxious feelings when our survival is at risk

35:31

Pleasure is a natural opiate of the brain. We have a system – we have an appetite. These cylinders are all related to our survival.

There are some recent reports out that scientists have found we are born with a DNA propensity to be altruistic. How do companies make use of this tendency?

There is a fun analogy to illustrate the two end points of how you can either work with the system or against it. Imagine a cup full of marbles representing employees. We flip it over quickly and we can trap the marbles against the cup. That is the situation of most companies. They hold people together with an artificial system of rules, regulations, fear of being fired and money. It is an artificial system because the people are not connected.

The second way is to again fill the cup with marbles, flip it over and create authentic relationships with the marbles with effective relationships into one super unit. They are all connected. Basically, I have suggested that companies use the technology that is in our brains...don’t build artificial controls.

Our friend, Erika Andersen, coined the term reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal, in her book, Being Strategic. What is your reasonable aspiration or hoped for goal in writing the book and the survey?

I have known for a long time that our society is hyper-rational and doesn’t understand motivation at all. The business community disrespects what makes our engines go. I wanted to bring simplicity and clarity to the situation.

You use the term revolution to describe your book. How is the revolution going?

There are certain pockets where these ideas are accepted –consulting groups for one. There are some natural allies out there. Anyone working in employee engagement. The revolution is going quite well.

What are some of the obstacles you encounter with managers who have read your book and aren’t quite ready to embrace these principles in your book?

Oddly enough, I haven’t had any negative reviews. I wrote this book in a very logical way, like a mathematical proof, trying to appeal to logic and truth.

In our last show you shared with us a consulting “win” with your business. Can you share another one?

I had a great guy call me a couple of months ago. His name is Carlos and he runs a manufacturing company that makes packaging material in CA. He wished he had read my book 20 years ago. He had been a pilot and at that time had always thought it was about him. He realized now that this is not the way to go. He is a huge supporter.

In terms of financial success, I have a friend who is a CEO of a hospital. I gave him some suggestions. He is a great people person but wasn’t using his skills. He needed to get the hearts and minds of people working within the company. In 4 years he grew that company 10 fold once he modified his leadership and motivational engine.

Let’s imagine a manager with too many hats to wear and many challenges, but only has the time to focus on one NEP and one social appetite. Which one and why?

It is a simple solution. The cooperation appetite! Most companies are not a true social group – they are a pseudo group. You must create a true social group or you will have a disengaged workforce. You need authentic bonds and the best way to do that is to encourage a mentoring culture where people invest in one another. Managers can merge with their employees, from a psychological standpoint.

51:33

Same manager scenario, but which is the least important of these five?

They are all vital survival needs of our species. I guess there is no answer to that.

What are you plans for 2010?

In January I am giving a talk in Japan. I am basically looking for partners to help get the idea out there to assist every other leader and manager to use this dashboard. I am in expansion mode, sales and marketing and trying to get the word out.

Where can people follow you on the web?

* Primal Management

* Paul Herr Consulting

* Twitter: Paul Herr

Thanks, Paul.

Employee Engagement: 200 Experts Share Their Thoughts

• Are you creating engaged employees?

• Do you want to create engaged employees?

• Are you not sure how to create engaged employees?

David Zinger, founder of the Employee Engagement community on Ning, engaged that community to create a free ebook with advice on how, why, to create engaged employees. The only rule was the one sentence rule. Members had one sentence to share their thoughts.

The result: Over 200 of the 1700+ members responded. (Wow! That's over a 12% response rate...!) The book is titled Employee Engagement: Over 200 sentences of powerful advice (pdf)

My favorite so far is:

Get me involved so that it matters to me.
James Reece

If you are interested in finding out more about creating engaged employees, consider these steps:

1. Download. Download the book. It's free.

2. Join. Join the Engaged Employee network. It's free. And, 1700 members stand ready to help, support, debate, clarify your plans to create engaged employees.

3. Follow. Follow David Zinger:

• Website

• Twitter

That's free.

4. Listen. Listen to our latest conversation here. Free.

5. Read. Read highlights from our conversation here. Free, also.

All of these resources, and their possible solutions to your employee engagement challenge, are free.

Creating engaged employees can be your secret strategy to increase profits by 40%.

Match that cost, free, with the potential to increase your profits by up to 40% with an engaged employee group and you are well on your way to a very positive ROI.

Radio Guest: Paul Herr, author of Primal Management

Paul Herr is my guest Friday, December 2, 2009 at 9:30 AM, Central.

Paul will talk about the science of engaged employees and specific steps to measure and improve it your organization. Paul offers a remarkably simple solution to engaging employees--align the workplace with human nature and thereby hit the high-productivity sweet-spot inherent within our psychological makeup.

In his book, Primal Management, Paul explains the core of our human nature consists of five biologic appetites for things like food, oxygen and rest, and five social appetites that reward human beings with pleasure when we innovate, master skills, achieve group goals, work as part of a tightly bonded team, and protect ourselves from physical and psychological harm. Together, these ten systems, taken as a group, constitute the motivational engine that lies at the core of human nature. When this system becomes unplugged due to injury or disease, human beings either become entirely inert or malfunction in various ways. Herr points to the specific brain areas involved in regulating motivation and the specific neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and hormones involved in the process.

That sounds a little dry.

Here's his purpose: My book gives employee-focused managers the intellectual firepower they will need to defend themselves from the forces of bureaucratic, impersonal, hyperrational management.

Herr proves, using the latest groundbreaking research in neuroeconomics and neurobiology, that pleasure (intrinsic reward) lies at the core of economic decision making, the core of employee engagement, the core of customer satisfaction, and the core of organizational excellence.

Intrinsic means...affordable. It means being recognized for your accomplishments and talents by your peers and management, having the tools to achieve your goals, recognizing that a path for personal and professional growth is clearly outlined, having goals and rewards aligned personally for the employee as well as professionally for the employee and their company, and the it means having the ability to control their destiny.

His book and practice, Primal Management, strikes a balance between theory and practice. On the practice side, it provides a survey for measuring motivational horsepower and tips for getting the horsepower to go up.

Join us with one of these two listening options:

LIVE:

1). streaming on-demand listening at this link

2). Call-in during the live show at 646-915-9212

LATER:

1). streaming on-demand listening at this link

Paul was a guest on my show previously. You can listen here.

Paul's manifesto is here.

A 4th Tip for Giving Praise to Motivate

4. Praise early, often and late.

Harvard Business Management offers a Tip of the Day. And a recent one listed 3 Tips for Giving Praise that Motivates. The three tips were excellent:

1. Be Specific.

2. Praise with Actions, Not Just Words. Basically, talk's cheap. Praise in a way, with rewards, that are meaningful to the recipient. This doesn't mean you have to throw money around. In fact, money may be near the last tangible, extrinsic, reward you offer. Recognition, recognition, recognition from you, from their peers, always generates the highest ROI.

3. Don't Praise as Preface to a Critique. It is hard to imagine a more effective way to undermine your credibility and effectiveness as a person, much less leader, than to praise as a preface to a critique.

To these I'd add that 4th:

4. Praise early, often and late. A good leader creates an environment where there is a steady supply of successes and accomplishments, things to celebrate with praise and recognition. One way to sustain that success is to offer the most powerful human elixir: praise and recognition. A scarcity of reasons to praise reflects on either our ability to conceive and execute a strategy or our ability to appreciate those whose skills make that possible.

John Wooden's 7 Point Creed

1. Be true to yourself.
2. Make each day your masterpiece.
3. Help others.
4. Drink deeply from good books.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance, and give thanks for your blessings every day.

Skip Reardon at the Be Excellent blog shared Coach Wooden's 7 Point Creed. Coach Wooden received this from his dad when he graduated from elementary school.

A simple gift. One that lasted and guided him throughout his life. I don't remember seeing this gift on sale at any of these Black Friday specials.

Looking at this list, I realize I have some work to do.

Thanks, Skip for taking the time to share this.

The gift of enthusiasm

How does this apply to business?

Change son or daughter to partners.

If you can give your partners only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.

That gift could be two-fold.

• That’s your enthusiasm. The enthusiasm, the passion, you bring to your work.

• That’s your permission for their enthusiasm. Permission means the tools, resources you provide that allows them unimpeded access to their success. It includes the culture you've created. That's a culture of openness and inclusion, a culture where failure is at least accepted if not embraced for its role in learning.

I like the term partners. It’s inclusive. Words like employees or associates are exclusive.Maybe they are legally accurate. But, when your relationships depend accuracy of legal terms...your relationship is over.

Tip of the hat to NadiaParker for tweeting this.

4 Things Small Business Can Do in This Economy

What can small businesses do in this economy?

1. We have to get into an accept reality mode at all times. We cannot be in a “la la land.” We have to see what is really happening. Also, don’t lose confidence in who you are and what value you bring to the table. Everything around you may have changed, but the person has not. Believe in yourself.

2. Secondly and most importantly, upgrade your skills. I have seen too many educated professionals become obsolete. Businesses are also taking a look at these things. They are finding out what they need to offer better customer service and be more competitive.

Make a plan to upgrade your skills: personal, professional, technical. Take these classes in professional development – adding value and a greater skillset.

3. Niche Thyself: branding and focus on what your niche market is. Who is your core market? Your core customer? Perfect this!

4. Network, network, network. Never forget the power of the personal connection. All of the virtual and online activity is strictly a bridge to get close and upfront with people.

Deborah Shane, founder of Train with Shane and The Metropolis Radio show, discussed these points and more, recently on my radio show. You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

You can read the highlights of our conversation here.

You should follow her on Twitter at DeborahShane.

Highlights from My Conversation with Ben Ridler, CRO, and Stephen Lynch, COO of Results.com

Results.com is the business execution expert. For over 15 years this firm has transformed businesses and their potential into extraordinary results. Ben Ridler, CRO or Chief Results Officer and Stephen Lynch, COO, are two of the key leaders at Results.com. They shared their principles of business transformation and how they apply them with their clients around the world to bring extraordinary results as guests on my radio show.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Give our listeners a little history of Results.com

We took a franchise model and turned it into a professional services company. It was a fun process. There were 26 franchises when we took over the company and we negotiated and converted the company in 2006. We now have ten offices and local partners who are share holders.

Normally, I ask guests on this show to describe their reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal. You guys don’t do reasonable. You do Big. Hairy. Audacious. What is your big hairy audacious goal for results.com?

It is to be the world’s leading brand for delivering extraordinary business results. Any BHAG needs to be measurable. We want 10 million people engaged in executing their strategic plans by the year 2020.

Why 10 million people? Why is the meaningful to you?

Once we start working with a company and they learn the values, vision and their role in delivering it, they become engaged in the vision. Originally I had thought 1 million people, but this isn’t really big enough. We know how to get to one million in ten years and we can do this and reach all of those people.

Why did you choose the BHAG methodology?

You gotta have a BHAG that engages everyone in the company. We need to live what we teach. It inspires excitement.

What happens when the leaders see the wave of inspiration from their employees? What happens with the dynamics?

We talk about transformation into extraordinary results. Sometimes it’s the staff that think bigger than the business leaders. It’s inspiring to see the team lift the business leader’s sights.

14:10

This is where transformation begins to take place. It’s a pretty rewarding thing to do. To grow the business, you have to grow the leaders.

What are the three most common themes for business transformation that you see in your client?

1. Most people don’t know what strategy is. You do need a plan and know how to be strategic.

2. Most companies are also not very good at execution.

3. Tunnel vision

Of these three, what is the most prominent?

The leaders have to transform first. Ideally, everyone in the company needs to go through a change. Start with the leadership and work from there – this creates the most impact. It starts with the CEO.

The past year has been a little turbulent, how has your business been effected by these changes?

We had a really interesting roller coaster year. We found a lot of our smaller clients dropping off or not moving ahead, while we began working with much larger clients who recognized the need to change. The other thing is that we have had 66% growth, by getting back to core, looking at our market position. We do things a lot differently than we did one year ago.

What have you learned that helps you with your client and their challenges in transforming their business and their leader?

It has made a lot of people realize they have to get the basics right. They need to become a little more clever. They need to be strategic. Think about the opportunities and impact.

It is really focusing on your core business. It is rock solid and you are doing it really well. It must be relevant to the market.

Stephen you wrote an article for The Economist Magazine, Execution, the Biggest Challenge of Business. (Link is to full article at Results.com's blog) Why is that? Why does execution remain the biggest challenge?

People just get busy doing what they do. It is easy to get distracted. They may have good intentions and good ideas, but they do not have a good or viable execution, whether they have a strategy or not. It does not come naturally and we help people learn those things.

How do you help your clients make execution their greatest opportunity? What do you advise or suggest to turn the situation around?

You have to be working on the right thing. You need to get very clear on where the company is going and what are the key moves the company needs to make to navigate an increasingly uncertain future. We do our best to create certainty for success in the future, from 3-5 years, to this year, to this quarter and really limiting the number of things they make priorities. We want to know what are the top three things the company needs to achieve this particular quarter. We actually work with them to implement them.

28:30

When do clients approach you and why?

Certainly up until the middle of last year, some were growing too fast or out of control, but traditionally our clients are successful businesses looking for another edge. They are ambitious open-minded learners. They just want to get there quicker. They see unfulfilled potential and are looking for the catalyst.

Do you have a standard client profile or demographics?

Typically, it’s the mid-market, privately-owned, companies who are looking for better results. They see unfulfilled potential.

Has any of this changed since the economy changed in the past year and one half?

We seem to be attracting larger clients. It is the first time these companies have looked outside themselves.

You mentioned one of the driving reasons that your clients contact you is unfulfilled potential. Are there other common challenges that you see your clients facing now? Is it the unfulfilled potential or the threat of the economy, increasing competitive pressures...etc?

We don’t like to position ourselves as the ambulance at the bottom of the hill, but sometimes that does happen. Other times the companies just need a little “how.” Generally most people have a sense of where they want to be in the future and they see the recession as potential. We want to work with ambitious people, who are learners and want to make a meaningful difference.

Can you share with us a client’s journey who overcame some of these challenges? Who had unfulfilled potential, were ambitious, and wanted to create a place where people loved going to work?

It is probably it is easier to talk about the process. These people come along with a burning desire to change, but are dealing with a lot of overwhelm. We help them create a vision and a culture first – with core values and ideology. With one company we helped them to build a community and a team toward a common goal, involving the company and its suppliers. They are a phenomenal success and have experienced tremendous exponential growth.

It is great learning experience for us as well. As we continue to grow and assist more businesses, we are fortunate to learn more about different industries and organizations and are able to take this new found knowledge and transfer it to other business models.

Let’s talk about social media. You use it in your business. What role has it taken in terms of ROI for your business?

I think social media has been fantastic – developing deep relationships and allowing strong connections. On LinkedIn we posted question from one of our clients.  The response was incredible. It showed me the power of social media.

41:59

We like to share what we have learned. I can see that there is not going to be room in the world for bad products. Social media will see to that. It is important to give value and share things. We are building trust and when it comes time that they need to speak with someone, they have already learned about us and are comfortable. We are out there, visible, creating a presence. Our business is moving and social media is certainly creating higher traffic.

What other tools and SM resources do you use besides your blog, LinkedIn and Twitter?

[Ben] Facebook! I just love it and think it is a great tool.

[Stephen] I use different things for different reasons but I think they will all become one along the way. You have to be considerate and build trust, and also adding value to people’s lives. When you do this they are open to some promotion as well. You need to be consistent, acknowledge and connect with people in a meaningful way.

What are your three tips to best use with social media?

1. Know your target audience

2. Be remarkable

3. Build trust

What would you say is your best social media platform and why?

[Steven] Twitter has been a revelation for me. The information that I learn from my followers has astounded me. I have found an incredible learning platform for connecting with thought leaders on a variety of different topics.

[Ben] Facebook so I can connect with my buddies.

Steven, going back to your thoughts on Twitter, as you were talking I was thinking back to a year ago, when people were doing more idle conversations. In the past year, there has been more meaningful content. Would you agree or disagree?

I guess you have to filter through the noise. I use TweetDeck, but I am continually astounded with what I learn and the directions I am pointed in. I may have not picked up this information if I was just browsing in a bookstore. People just open up my mind. It has been a very powerful tool.

Do you use an RSS tool for your blog?

I use Google Reader. I have limited myself to the number of blogs I follow, keeping it to a manageable number. When I find a new one, I drop an old one. It forces me to look at the value of the blogger and what they add to my life.

Are there signs of life in the global economy?

Definitely. There are many things happening and there is certainly movement.

52:19

A strong economy does create demand and tolerance but on the hand as judged from the growth of results.com, it seems it is irrelevant what the economy is doing. What are your thoughts?

I would agree. There are opportunities and many companies are thriving or learning how to adapt and transform. Many companies have definitely needed to reposition and restructure to take advantage of the situation.

Share with us an inspirational quote to bring our show to an end.

"Life gets better when you get better."

Your website has a nice section on business books. What books are you reading right now that you would recommend?

“The Hero and the Outlaw,” by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson. It has helped me think about brands in a completely new way. It is a transformational book for me.

I like reading science fiction and history. There is a series called The Otherland Series.

Thanks, guys!

You can connect with them on these social media tools:

• Website

• Blog

Twitter:

• Ben Ridler

• Stephen Lynch

• Results.com
  

Radio Show Guests: Ben Ridler, CRO, and Stephen Lynch, COO, from Results.com

Ben Ridler, CRO (Chief Results Officer) and Stephen Lynch, COO, from Results.com join the show tomorrow. The show starts at 9:30 AM, Central.

Results.com is a global consulting firm with offices in New Zealand and Canada that promises to transform your business potential into extraordinary results.

They have worked for 15 years with thousands of clients delivering these transformative results. And they'll share their story: how they got started, what areas of any business have the greatest potential to generate extraordinary results, how they work to generate those clients and what things businesses can do now to begin their own transformational journey.

I have known Stephen Lynch for 2-3 years, now. We met at a Growth Conference hosted by Verne Harnish of Gazelle's. We stayed in touch over the years and finally, finally, with the power of Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and now BlogTalk Radio we get to talk again.

I'm looking forward to talking with and getting to know Ben Ridler. Judging from his testimonials at LinkedIn, this will be a delight.

You have two listening options:

LIVE:

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

2. Call-in live during the show: 646-915-9212

ARCHIVE

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Leadership, Love and Caring

Steve Farber tweeted a link to this video last night. It’s a powerful, compact, discussion of leadership, love, execution and caring.

Here’s a few excerpts that wowed me:

Execution in its purest form is about people, relationships and love.

Love’s 3 distinctions for leaders:

• Love at the professional level for ourselves. That’s faith in who we are and confidence as we approach our life.

• Love for each other: That’s trust and mutual respect for each other.

• Love for our work: That’s passion for what we do.

The 2nd one is not an unconditional love, without responsibilities. It’s conditional love with consequences attached to it.

Unconditional love is love for our children and the foundation for our marriage.

But unconditional love is the same thing that gets in the way when we need to provide honest feedback to others to let them live their God-given abilities.

Transformative leaders are demanding and caring.

I had heard something similar. Steve MacGill and Jim Norris generously shared their time as guests on my radio show. (Listen here.)  They have a successful partnership. We talked about that successful partnership. I asked them what were their 3 tips for building and maintaining a successful partnership.

Their response was:

1. Time: face to face or on the phone. Frequent contact is very important.


2. Extreme openness
.

3. Care enough to confront.

I see love and caring throughout their answers.

Frequent contact is only possible if you love, trust and respect, each other equally.

Extreme openness. You’re not going to be open, transparent, if you first lack confidence in ourselves and what we do. That lack of faith in ourselves means we cannot have trust in others. Impossible.

Care enough to confront. This rung home. Caring about someone means it matters what they do. Caring about someone means you see their potential, their God-given potential. Caring about someone means you are willing to...confront them on their behaviors that fail to respect their God-given abilities. Caring about someone means you are obligated to provide honest feedback.

Peter Luongo, the speaker in this video said, to the effect, that sometimes leaders are forced to provide honest feedback by saying “I love you. But you can’t work here.”

The great leaders are able to communicate this in a way that shows they trust the recipient to receive this feedback on the basis of mutual respect. The message is heard. The recipient is able to leave as a whole person, free now to pursue another opportunity where their God-given talent can thrive. And, btw, no longer interfere with others who do live their potential.

I’m writing out loud here. Do you see a bell-curve of possible recipients for this message? At one extreme end will be those able to understand that a demanding leader, is a caring leader. They receive any and all feedback with that understanding. At the other end are those who lack the self-respect to first trust themselves and then trust others with open communication. No amount of communication skills and opportunities to bring out their God-given talents matter. In fact, it threatens them. And in the middle, is the vast group where caring, demanding, leader can lead them to reaching their own personal stars, or at least their own personal moons. That’s where caring leaders have their impact.

Steve Farber once asked his followers this question: what’s your favorite leadership quote? I thought it about it, never answered. Sorry, Steve. I will answer now. Speak the truth, speak the truth sweetly, speak the sweet truth. And when you can no longer speak the truth sweetly, caring leaders are forced to provide honest feedback by saying “I love you. But you can’t work here.” That is the sweet truth. I love you. But you can't work here.

What's the definition of a 'saved job'?

And why should anyone care?

In another sign of the growing disconnect from our reality, the White House and GOP leadership now squabble over the definition of a 'saved job'. USAToday.

The Obama White House claims it has saved 650,000 jobs. No word on how they define a saved job.

The GOP leadership offers its boilerplate response: Obama hasn't accomplished it whatever that it is and besides  that 2+ million jobs have been lost so...nanner, nanner. (Frankly, I think the GOP could add 5 -10 jobs right now with designers and coders to fix your website. )

Back to the topic at hand...what's the definition of a saved job?

Here's a definition that should work for you both:

If you have a job, you're job has been saved. If you don't have a job, your job has not been saved.

That matters to us.

Now can we get back to:

• us saving our jobs;

• WH, you've still got healthcare reform, banking reform, Iran, Afghanistan...;

• GOP, hire the designers get your website to work. Then you'll know the definition of a created job.
  
  

4 Themes from 3 Startup Successess

BusinessWeek profiles 3 startups and their keys to success. Their businesses are a dog and horse boarding ranch and kennel, an architecture design firm and a staffing provider. The companies and links to their sites are listed below.

I was struck by the themes they shared in their success.

Do what you know, what you love, and that utilize your strengths.

Ultimately, owning your own business is a labor of love. You better love your labors because you’ll be laboring a lot.

Hire the best people. Hire people better than yourself.

It’s the players that win the game...Hire people better than me and make sure those hires get in the habit of hiring people that are better than them.

Part of my growth strategy was to pick people who have expertise in areas that we didn't.

You expand your number one asset. That's your human asset. That's the asset the creates, delivers, sustains and grows your brand. Finding better people means finding better assets to grow your business.

Manage your cash

• Fire your clients when they can’t pay their bills.

• Recycle. Cash. Recycle, reinvest, cash into your business.

• Pay off your debt fast.

• Lengthen your revenues. Add to your current revenue sources.

Network, network, network.

Word-of-mouth remains the best, most effective form of advertising.

Get out in your community. I get out there in the community and I have a good working relationship with the area veterinarians. Most of my business comes from word of mouth. I do almost no print advertising.

Companies Profiled:

* Resource Options provides staffing solutions to the construction, environmental, engineering and information technology industries.

* Space Architectural Design, making the world a better place, one space at a time.

* BYD Ranch and Kennel, where no job is too big or too small, our main desire is to make you feel like part of the family

Upcoming Radio Show Guest: David Zinger, founder of Employee Engagement community

David Zinger joins us Friday, November 6 at 9:30 AM, Central to talk about creating engaged employees. David is a leading expert on employee engagement and strength based leadership. David founded the Employee Engagement community on Ning and it has grown to over 1400 1600+ members whose common passion and expertise for creating engaged employees make it a lively and useful community. He is a management consultant with over 25 years of experience.

David was a previous guest on the show in 2008. You can listen in streaming on-demand mode at this link.

David was also such a delight, generated such positive reviews, that I asked if he'd come back to the show. Fortunately, he agreed.

We'll revisit the previous year to discuss the changes in field of employee engagement, what impact this economy has had on companies looking to create an engaged employee, what are the new tools and resources available, the Employee Engagement community and how David uses social media to further his purpose and how companies are using it to create engaged employees.

Here are the listening options:

LIVE:

1) Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

2) Call in during the show at 646-915-9212. This also allows you to raise your hand using the touchpad on your phone to ask a question.

LATER:

1) Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

In the meantime, get to know David, at these resources:

* Twitter

* His blog

* Employee Engagement community

Highlights from My Conversation with Pam Slim, author of Escape Cubicle Nation

Pamela Slim is a seasoned coach and writer who helps frustrated employees in corporate jobs break out and start their own business. Her blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation, is one of the top career and marketing blogs on the web. A former corporate manager and entrepreneur herself for more than a decade, she deeply understands the questions and concerns faced by first-time entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship at its heart is aligning your purpose for being on earth with a business idea so compelling that you simply must do it, despite the fears that hold you back, says Pam.

We spoke about those fears, how her book and resources help her fans escape from their cubicle and her journey this year with her book, her workshops and her now global audience of fans.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Good morning, Pam. Where are you and what exciting projects are your working on now?

I am wrapping up a summer long tour of my book and working on some exciting joint venture projects for next year.

You have been traveling a lot overseas. What did you do there?

When I was in London I was doing the regular book workshop that I have done across the US. We did a workshop around the book regarding business plans and hopes and dreams. In Estonia, I was invited to be a key note speaker at a management conference that was focused on innovation and growth for the country as a whole. It was very interesting because there are only 1.3 million people in Estonia and of that they said 600,000 are of working age. Given the size of the event, we had a little over 300 people from all different industries across the country. I was very honored to be a part of this.

It sounds like the Baltic States are escaping from their own cubicle nation when they claimed their independence in 1991. And yet, they are the source of many innovations including Joost and Skype.

It is very interesting. There was some of that feeling. There was a whole country that used to be under unwanted direction and now there is a great feeling of pride. They are not the most demonstrative, but they have extremely strong feelings and a quiet passion of how they want to grow their country. In terms of entrepreneurship it is not as robust of an environment, but there were pockets of people especially interested in growing their capacity and doing more things to start up and create things.

On your blog you mention that this trip was incited by a blog post 3-4 years ago. Tell us about that.

This is one of my favorite stories about the power of blogging as a means of marketing your business, especially to a global audience.

In 2006, I had written an open post, Open Letter to CEO’s Across the Corporate World. It was a very impassioned swan song to my corporate world which I had thought about for about 10 years.

I had this vision of what I would say to a group of assembled leaders. They had translated that blog post in Estonian.

It speaks to me to share with others what is on your mind. That content lives on and you never know where it will lead you.

Three to four years is the time since you have written this blog. That is a long time. What didn’t change that kept your message current, desirable and necessary for that audience?

What is interesting is that to this day, people trip across it on Google. It is not an elegant detailed, complex leadership manifesto about 12 different ways we have to reframe leadership. It is really stating simple, basic things.

They are common sense things that I would think most leaders would know: like respect. Simple and basic. I find over time certain things never change and they don’t change the world over. There are just many things that are common practice that carry over to everyone, to every country and industry.

Many corporations still have the same struggle and I am glad they find this information of help to them. The blog and concept still has legs.

When did you write your original manifesto about escaping from cubicle nation. You wrote it while you were a citizen of cubicle nation.

Actually I wasn’t. I have been self-employed for 13 years, but I was a consultant during that time. What shifted in 2005, I shifted my focus to help people in the corporations to get out and start their business.

What caused you to break free of the shackles?

It was 10 years of having a lot of conversations with people. When consulting, we would get to another level. There was an unspoken dialog of what was going on in people’s lives. There are both good and bad in the lives, but given the sheer size of expectations, always being on and so forth, it makes systemically, corporate life difficult for people. I became more interested in that unspoken dialog and what people really wanted in their lives. It was more compelling to focus on these issues. It was a personal interest and I was seeing these patterns of difficulty for even really good employees.

16:16

I remember reading that a friend of yours said: “Enough with the blog posts write the book.” When did you decide to write the book?

It was actually a client of mine. He was a diligent blog writer. He said it was becoming difficult to remember and index all of the information I shared because as you know, you get an idea and you write at the moment.

I had the thought for quite awhile and knew I wanted to write the book. I had put together some basic information but neither the publishers nor I were feeling it. I put it back on the shelf for awhile and waited for more inspiration.

As fate would have it, I got contacted by my publisher who had read my blog and she asked if I would be interested in doing a book with them. That was probably a year and one half later. I finished the book in October of 2008 and it came out in April.

It was a relatively short time for the publishing cycle. I used some of the content from my blog for my book, but creating something that really hangs together in a clear concise process was a lot of work requiring a great deal of new content.

Our friend, Erika Andersen, used the term reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal in her book, Being Strategic. What are your reasonable aspirations or hoped for goals with the book?

It was to create something which would be useful and feel like a dear friend and colleague for somebody who really needed it.

One of my friends suggested finding a book that would act as your model book- one that you would want yours to be like. The one for me was: “Finding Your Own North Star,” by Martha Beck, who is my coaching mentor. I found her book nine years ago. It is an amazing book.

I wanted people to find comfort and clarity, have lots of information as a resource. I wanted to relate to the person sitting out there in cube somewhere and provide theme with something useful. I wanted to be very proud of the information and create something really useful.

I have received some wonderful emails from people after having read my book. It is a great way to wake up to these emails.

How has your life changed over this year, since you published your book?

My life has gotten more fun and interesting. It is interesting how people react when you have published a book. People just change. The perception changes and I think some of it is just a little silly.

This is fun and it is a new way to connect people. I feel like it has expanded the work I have done. I have received a lot of play in mainstream media as well. I want to get the word out that you are not crazy for wanting to do something different than just work in a corporate job.

You mentioned earlier this is one of the toughest things you have ever done, even though you already had a lot of the content. What has been the biggest challenge you have overcome this past year?

The biggest challenge has been balance and prioritizing the projects I am working on. It is very important for me to be connected with my young children and family. I also want to do good with my publisher. It is about finding the right balance with everything.

I have had to learn new ways to balance and give to my family, my clients, and people I am teaching in my programs. I am learning I can’t do it alone. I have to plan it. Sometimes it may mean saying no as I don’t have the capacity to do that.

Who is the audience for your book? Was it a surprise for you? Who is most receptive to your message?

The audience is a core of them who are working at corporate jobs that are working at starting a business which is definitely the audience I primarily wrote for. This was not people who have been entrepreneurs for a long time.

I wanted to write the book for people who were not familiar about starting a business. This has been a core of the readership.

I have also gotten feedback from people who have been in business for a very long time and that was a little surprising. What I found was that many of them did that by leaping and starting their own companies.

One of the things I talk about in the book is life first, then business. You really want to find the life you want to have and then create your business to match that.

There are many specific things to make the journey wonderful and inspiring. Many people did not go through this process-they just jumped in and did it. This is the entrepreneurial spirit.

What people find is that they are living a life that is not necessarily working for them. They are struggling to make things happen. The book helps them to shore up where they may need a little assistance.

29:51

You have added workshops to your presentation, to your marketing. Tell us about those. They’re two-day events, right?

I’ve done one-day events with the initial launch of the book. That was to support the book coming out and to have a chance of connecting people within local geographic areas with each other.

That’s one of the most powerful things that happens. When people get together, that’s a really powerful connection they have that lives on after the workshop.

I have a program called Quick Start to Self-Employment which is a group coaching program. I have some students in there with expertise in structural design and video. They came to my New York workshop and video taped it.

We’re going to create a stand-alone product that will be a self-study. That will be a base for doing more in depth workshops moving forward. For next year, my plan is to do fewer but making them more intensive.

When people already have the foundation of understanding the building blocks of their business, that’s where we can go in and actually work on the business plans and development of what people are working on. It’s most useful when people can get input from others on how to grow their business.

Why are your workshops so fabulous? Why do your attendees rave about them?

The people who come is what makes them great. I have no idea what magic fairy dust attracts the right people to the live events. The quality of interaction and amount of support and different kinds of creative business ideas is really special. I’ve had professional belly dancers, software developers and someone working on a spicy pecan brittle.

When people come together, I try to create a safe environment where people can talk about what’s on their mind. That is at the core of what I do and really like to do.

There’s a saying that, “the means gather around the deserving.” If the great people gather around you, then you must be a very deserving person.

I consider myself a very lucky person. The message I talk about in my book that I try to do in my own life is something we say in Martha Beck-coaching land, “Live it to give it.”

I have definitely been conscious about the kind of work I want to do and who I want to do it with and how I want my life structured. I do feel like I am doing the kind of work that is extremely energizing that I care a lot about.

When I’m able to do that, it creates a really wonderful magnetic attraction for the right kind of people who are ready to talk about those things. It’s always an evolution.

The one thing I feel clear about is being exceptionally happy in my own work life and excited and blessed every day to do the work I do. This part of my life is something that’s really in alignment. I’ve worked really hard and made specific choices to make it happen that way.

Can you share with us one or more successes from those attending your workshops?

I see it every day in big and small ways. When you attend a one-day workshop, it’s the beginning of connections. I’ve had some people in workshops from different cities who begin to connect and work on projects together. That’s a great success.

Seeing people begin to promote and share each other’s work on Twitter and blogs is another way I measure success.

Depending on where you are in the cycle of making a change, it definitely is something that takes a lot of thought, planning and work. I’d love to think after a one-day workshop somebody can have what they need to leave their job. That’s not the way it happens. I’ve had some clients who have gone through the entire process.

One of my clients from Dallas is amazing. When I first talked to him, he was itching to get out. He worked so hard to clarify what he wanted to do. He’s gone through the entire process of giving notice. Even before getting started, he’s already lined up with another work as a consultant to more than cover what his job was providing.

It’s very exciting to see someone at that stage in their process, connecting with others, and encouraging them. That’s what it’s all about. We all need each other.

The solution for what we’re looking for is to create active, vibrant connections between each other and not just be looking toward one person to be the guru to tell you everything you need to do.

Not anybody has all of that within their power. There are wonderful, smart people who have an approach to starting a business. It’s never going to be totally complete. Yet we can support and encourage the best in everybody. That’s the spirit of what’s powerful about this work.

Motherhood, caring and nurturing are themes throughout your blogs, tweets and book. What’s the importance of these qualities in finding a life of purpose and escaping from our cubicles?

For me, it’s part of what my life is. As I am walking through my life and talking about entrepreneurship, I know it’s part of my day-to-day reality as the parent of small children. That’s something I see as integrated.

The reason I share that with my readers is it’s also the reality for many of my readers. I do have people in their early 20s or who are empty nesters. A lot of the core group of people I work with are people who still have kids at home or loved ones that are part of their life.

If you don’t take into consideration the kinds of things you need to have a good life, it makes it very difficult to know how to walk through it. It’s something I like to talk about and integrate. I’m sensitive because not everybody has kids and can relate to that message.

It’s an important part of my life, the love, the root of what I care about and what I’m interested in. I write about it. Everybody can make a different choice. That’s who I am. Somebody else can have kids and never write about them. That is perfectly a great choice. It depends on who you are.

In your journey here, how do people keep those qualities alive while they survive in cubicle nation? At what point do these qualities begin to rise up and ask for recognition?

In order to survive in some corporate environments, you really do have to keep your emotions in check for survival. It really is not encouraged, supported or safe in order to be expressing what you truly feel.

We are human beings with emotions. You need to find some kind of an outlet in a way to get that connection with what you really are feeling.

It’s one of the things that is a first step for a lot of people from the corporate environment, to reconnect with what they’re really feeling.

Everybody is wired differently emotionally. Not every female is highly emotional. Not every male has a difficult time talking about their emotions.

It’s about getting to know yourself, knowing who I am, and what’s really important to me. What do I feel? What am I interested in?

I was amazed at how often I would talk to people in corporate environments who would not be able to tell me what they cared about. In my world, a lot of what I do in my coaching environments is to openly talk about fears.

When people are able to express their fears, that’s when they can begin to have a place that’s safe to talk about it and work on their real plans for their life. Then they can create a business, if they’re working on their own, that is more in harmony with allowing them to express who they are and not have to walk through life pretending. When they’re in a situation in their business where they’re doing work they hate with people they don’t enjoy working with, then they can change it. If they don’t, they’ll fall right back into that same pattern as they were in the corporate environment.

46:59

Can you identify three tell-tale signs that a cubicle dweller is about to bust out, break free and have these qualities begin to rise up to be acknowledged?

There is some kind of moment, event or feeling. For some people it’s actually physical destruction where their body just totally falls apart. For some people, having a significant physical issue or health challenge is what moves them into that direction. Your body will tell you what’s right or wrong with your life.

For other people like Steve Darden who worked in the Navajo Nation, he had a big job with three boys at home. His wife was home with the boys and getting a master’s degree. One night his three-year-old son woke up while having a nightmare calling for his dad. When Steve’s wife told him that in the morning, he had this amazing epiphany that his father had been killed in the Korean War when Steve was three months old. He spent his whole life longing for his dad really wanting to have a father figure in his life. He realized he was not there for his sons. At that moment, he quit and went home. He’s been working for himself ever since.

Some other people get laid off. They say that it must be time.

Were these some of the experiences you had at your moment of truth?

In my case, I had been working at Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco. For 10 years during my 20s, I had been the volunteer executive director of a non-profit martial arts organization. I was a passionate martial artist in the art of Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art.

I did all kinds of community work. I had been working day and night my entire 20s.

I turned 30. I got pneumonia. We had been through a merger within my company. The key leaders I adored left. That was a culmination of different events. It was the milestone of turning 30 and the physical breakdown of getting pneumonia.

Contrary to the advice I give my clients, I quit with zero plans and had no idea that I was going to start a business. I had every intention of going back and getting a regular job. I didn’t think I was cut out to be an entrepreneur. As soon as I started working on a contract basis for my first client, that’s when I realized I enjoyed being self-employed.

When did we become a nation of cubicle dwellers?

We’re at a very fascinating part of our collective consciousness and part of our history in the relationship we have as US citizens and global citizens in relation to work.

I was shaped by the stories my grandpa used to tell me about growing up in The Depression. He worked for the Methodist church. He had one job.

My dad worked for most of his career at one company. He saw tremendous transition and layoffs starting in the 80s and increasing in the 90s even up to about 15 years ago.

Even though we were seeing cracks in the system and all kinds of people losing they’re jobs without a plan, we still had that same mentality we got from our grandparents. A prudent thing to do was to graduate from college, choose a good company and career, and work on that path. That would lead to safety and security. There was a collective unconsciousness that wanted to hold onto that old way.

With this last reverberation in our economy, that cracked that collective consciousness and got everybody into a different way of thinking and feeling about it.

I feel an openness now to exploring alternative ways of employment that I’ve never felt before.

A lot of people will still want to work in corporate careers. There’s nothing wrong with that. We need big, medium and small companies in our ecosystem of business.

What should change is that each of us should take ownership of realizing we’re always all self-employed no matter what the situation is. You have to be proactive and take responsibility for your career. You have to be connected with what’s going on in the market of the company you’re working for. If it’s not working for you, you need to actively move yourself into a better position or different company.

Some of them will choose to work for themselves or in smaller companies. It’s a positive thing and a more realistic perspective.

It’s not fair to always be blaming everything on corporate culture because all a corporation is, is just a glop of people.

You need to take responsibility and make a change either within as you tried for 10 years or longer or realize things have changed, and it’s time to move onto something different.

It’s very tiring to be in a situation where you willingly give up your power. You choose to not take responsibility for your career. You sit back, complain and wait for somebody else to change for me to be happy. That’s a recipe for disaster. It doesn’t help you or feel good. It’s really ineffective as a strategy to get you to a place where you feel better about your work life. There is a lot of joy in working. It’s very possible to be doing work you feel engaged in, passionate about, and is interesting. It may take a bunch of steps to get there, but it feels better than sitting back and feeling powerless.

What about those in the middle? I heard this saying, “Life is bliss. Ignorance is bliss. Woe to those in the middle.” Those are the ones who know there is something more but maybe have no plan to get there.

The first step is to get to know yourself again. A lot of people I work with all of a sudden realize that they used to love music or art. When you can tune more into yourself, that is the beginning of tapping into your child-like curiosity and noticing things that are interesting to you. The nature of life itself and our physical bodies is that they’re never static. You don’t find the one thing that is the perfect answer. Everything is always in motion inside you and in the world. As you begin to know yourself, you to position yourself to do things that are highly interesting and leveraging natural strengths you have and ways you like to work that really match who you are. Then you put yourself in environments and surround yourself with people who allow you to do your best work. That’s how you get much more connected with something that’s more meaningful. Happiness starts in the beginning even when you’re in a negative situation, but where you realize that life is enjoyable. The process of learning is enjoyable. You begin to enjoy the process as you go along. That is the secret to happiness rather than external situations or jobs.

What’s your favorite social media tool? Which one would you choose if you could only choose one?

1:00:28

Twitter. I was reticent when I first started. It’s a little bit of a hard choice because I love blogs. My blog has been the engine to so much of my growth. I see Twitter and blogs working together to share more detailed content on a blog. In terms of connecting with people, sharing messages, and spreading the good word, Twitter is amazing. I really enjoy it. I am on it every day. It’s a great thing for business and a great way to connect with like-minded people even if you do want to have a more traditional career.

When’s your next book?

Good question. I’m thinking about it. When I was in New York, I met with my publisher.

It’s logical that a next book would be something like this. You finally decided you want to quit your job and start a business. How do you actually get it up and running for the first year? That would be a natural add on book to Escape from Cubicle Nation.

I could create that and release it in a different way. What I’m paying attention to now are broader issues or areas of interest that a lot of people are interested in that I want to write about.

I don’t have a deadline for myself. Next year after processing what I’m seeing now, thinking about what is interesting to write about, and what is interesting for people to read, that’s when I might start to pursue it.

When’s your next series of workshops?

I don’t have anything scheduled past November 4 in Los Angeles. I’m taking a leave of absence from the road for a while. I’m doing a lot of local speaking here in AZ. I don’t have any dates scheduled right now. I will be adding them in a different configuration. I know I’m going to Canada and Detroit in the spring. I don’t have dates in mind.

Where can people connect and stay connected with you?

Stay connected to to my blog which is at Escape From Cubicle Nation and follow me on Twitter at PamSlim.

You share many great inspiring quotes in your tweets. What’s an inspirational quote to leave us with today?

One of my favorites is from Marianne Williamson. Summed up... it’s our light not our darkness that frightens us. I think people are afraid to make a shift in the world not because of fear of failure but a fear of success.

When you begin to move into who you’re meant to be, play bigger, and live a more authentic life, it can be really scary. It can upset long-standing relationships as you change.

I want to encourage people to not be afraid when they are growing and moving into something that feels more right. It’s scary but very much worth it.

What she says in that full quote is when we let our own light shine we give others permission to do the same. You really will inspire your own family, your kids and people around you when you begin to make some significant positive changes.

Do you still miss the smell of sharpened pencils and packs of multi-colored post-it notes?

I am an office supply nut. That is something I do miss sometimes. I get my fix by walking into our local Office Max. That’s when I know I could never fully leave the world of work behind. I get way too excited by office supplies.

Thanks, Pam.

Where can people find you?

The best place is Escape from Cubicle Nation and on Twitter at PamSlim.

Highlights from My Conversation with Tori Tuncan, Founder of Lend4Health

Tori Tuncan, founder of Lend4Health, joined the show recently. Lend4Health is a non-profit organization that facilitates community-funded, interest-free micro-loans as a creative funding option for individuals and groups seeking optimal health. Currently, Lend4Health is facilitating loans for the "biomedical" treatment of children and adults with autism spectrum and related disorders. Tori shared the story of her journey to date with Lend4Health, helping children and their families who experience autism spectrum and related disorders.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Good morning, Tori. Tell us what you’re doing now with Lend4Health?

Lend4Health is modeled after a website called Kiva. Kiva plays into the micro-finance for the developing world picture. You can make small micro loans on the site. They usually do $25 micro loans. Kiva aggregates them and sends them to micro-finance institutions in the developing world. The loan goes out to the entrepreneurs who repay them over time. Once it’s repaid, you, as the lender, get your money back. At that point, you can lend it again.

I was a Kiva lender. It was the greatest thing ever. It’s so smart and simple. I use that model for healthcare in particular for autism. Lend4Health is really a platform or tool for people to lend each other a few bucks so they can get their kids the treatment they need.

When did you start Lend4Health?

It was the end of June 2008.

Why? Why did you found Lend4Health?

It stems from a personal experience. In my case, I have 2 children. My son is 4 now. A couple years ago, I was starting to see some things that might be autism. I started pursuing this whole area. I took him to a couple of places. He did not fit that diagnosis. They said, “He doesn’t have autism, but he does have Sensory Processing Disorder or SPD.”

I went online to Google it. I learned that lots of kids with autism also have these sensory issues.

I found an online autism community of parents, researchers and doctors who are attempting to treat autism and these sensory issues. It’s a Yahoo Group called GFCF Kids.

I tried to learn as much as I could and started using some of the treatment protocols. He started getting better.

I kept hearing a lot of stories about the cost. A lot of this is not covered by insurance. There was a financial need. Parents were choosing between which tests or supplements they could afford first.

One night I was thinking I could use PayPal to send gifts to these people through their email address. Very quickly I realized I couldn’t afford to help them all.

Then I remembered Kiva. I thought our community and others could lend some money. The child gets what they need and the family pays it back over time interest free. You get your money back and lend it again. It came out of my own personal experience and seeing this need.

What happened next?

I didn’t do anything for two weeks. One night I sat down and started it. The only thing I knew how to do was create a blog. That’s what I did. I put a post on the Yahoo Group telling them I had a way for us to pay for it. I did get some inquiries. A woman named Karen made a $25 loan before we had any kids on the site. The reaction was positive. They said, “I’ll try anything. This is my kids we’re talking about.”

Erika Andersen, in her book Being Strategic, talks about defining your reasonable aspiration or hopeful goal when you started Lend4Health? What was yours?

It was very impulsive. I just thought we could help some kids. I did think it was possible it could grow even beyond the world of autism. That’s why I named it Lend4Health. I thought if it could work for this, why couldn’t it work for cancer or any health issue out there? My goal was to put it out there, have a tool people could use, help some families and possibly help many, many families all over the world.

Have you accomplished this goal?

I definitely know we have helped some kids. We’ve had 62 loans funded and dispersed. Those are 62 families that have been impacted by this. I know it’s working and kids are getting the help they need.

I’m seeing that this model works in terms of repayment. We have no defaults. We have a few delinquent monthly installments. Most loans are paid off on time and many are even paid early. A loan from Jeffrey in the UK was paid back six months early. It’s working.

When I started Lend4Health, I was going off the Kiva model. I realized this is very different. Typical micro financing for poverty alleviation, developing worlds and entrepreneurs, you’re making a loan to the entrepreneur to build or expand their business. From that, they hope for increased profit to pay back their loan. That’s a beautiful system.

The problem with Lend4Health is we don’t have that profit as obvious as in Kiva’s model. This is essentially a consumer loan. A family gets a loan for tests. What money are they paying it back with? That’s a very big difference. It’s not that the family doesn’t have money ever. They don’t have it right then. If they can pay it back over 12 months, they have it monthly in smaller chunks especially when it’s interest free.

I see there is a profit happening here. Many of the families would say they’re seeing a profit. It’s a two-sided profit. One is their child’s health. There is also a financial component to this that I can’t quantify. One of the long-term goals is to quantify it.

A child with autism has difficulty sleeping. They wake in the night with pain. They have headaches. This child needs a special classroom and one-on-one aid, occupational therapy and speech therapy in school paid for by the school.

In the high school and college years, will this child be a functioning member of society? There is a high cost associated with illness.

If the child gets the tests and the doctor sees the data, he sees there are a lot of things going on within the bodily systems. Now we can treat that. That child might sleep through the night and attend therapy better. They start to get better. There are children recovering from autism with these treatments. They can go on to college and become entrepreneurs. We can see there is a financial profit to this in the long term.

We are helping kids and getting loans funded. I think we’re also helping the family unit as well. I think we might be able to point to some cases in 15 or 20 years and see it had a powerful impact.

22:25

When was the first sign that you were moving down the right path and how soon after you launched the site did you get this first indicator?

It happened almost immediately. After a loan is funded, the family gets the loan and has the test or sees the doctor. Because their loans are interest free, I tell them there is an interest they are paying. There is an interest the lenders are receiving but it’s not financial. The families are encouraged to send updates to me. I send them onto their lenders. When we had enough loans out there and were receiving the updates, it’s very clear that these loans are having an impact.

How do families with needs find you? Is it word of mouth?

It’s mostly word of mouth. I don’t have a huge marketing budget. We’re getting a lot of things through Facebook now. Generation Rescue is a large autism organization founded by Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey. They have tons of members. They sent out information for Lend4Health in their newsletter. It’s also people searching on Google.

Describe, if you can, the standard profile of those who come to you for assistance.

Most of our families are from the US so far. We’ve had a couple who were in the UK. We have two from Canada seeking loans. We seem to have a lot from CA and FL.

Eighty-five percent of the loans are for boys. That’s not surprising since autism is more prevalent in boys.

The incidence of autism in the US is 1 in 91 children. That’s new. The old statistics were 1 in 150. For boys, it’s 1 in 53 or 58. We have 15 kids on there now. Only one is a girl.

Most of the kids are 5 to 7 years old.

The typical loan amount is around $500.

In the beginning, they’d say they need a test for $250. Now, they’re using Lend4Health for different things to try this year. They want a loan for all of it. The loan amounts are getting larger. They’re $1,000 to $1,500 now.

Any time you go over $500, the loans take longer to get funded. So far I haven’t put a restriction on loan amounts. As long as they’re micro, I’ll go with it.

Many of these families are single-mother families. The divorce rate within the autism community is around 80%.

Question for caller Kitty. What was your experience with using Lend4Health.

Kitty: I was pretty shocked. My son was diagnosed about 1 ½ years ago. My first past was asking how to pay for it. When I got Tori’s response, I was so shocked that people were willing to give it a shot, lending money to a complete stranger. I think it’s a great idea and a wonderful way to help people in the community help themselves. Everybody talks about grants. In these economic times, it’s hard to get a decent grant that will really help.

Tori: Kitty actually received two loans from us. Once you pay back one in good standing, you can get a second loan.

Kitty: Our first loan was for an IgG test. The second loan was for traveling to Miami to have our yearly consult with the DAN doctor. At that one we found out he had lead poisoning.

What is a DAN! Doctor?

Kitty: A DAN! Doctor is one who specializes in biomedical treatments for autism. The acronym is Defeat Autism Now.

Tori: There are DAN doctors all over the country and internationally. Most people try to see a DAN doctor in their area, but there are people who have DAN doctors in different states. They do consults by phone and then visit once a year.

Kitty, do you want to share your success story?

Our first test was the IgG test which tells what food sensitivities your child has. Jonathon always had GI issues. This test said he’s allergic to rice and corn. It helped us to figure out his diet.

With the second loan we saw the DAN! doctor. We learned he had lead poisoning.

Then we did a Challenge Test and found out he had major lead poisoning. We started chelation. Now we’re hearing words, sentences and phrases. We tried everything. Those two things really made the difference.

People are researching their own solutions, is that correct?

Yes. We have the ability to research on Google. The doctors will say the symptoms are a part of autism and there’s nothing you can do.

After a while, the parents think that can’t be true. They go online and find out there are things that can be done. There are doctors who will look at it differently and work on it. When you deal with those biomedical issues, the autistic symptoms lessen or often go away. That’s why this is considered the biomedical approach.

There are things happening within the community to get people to know more about this. Jenny McCarthy played a large role in this with her son. He had autism, went through biomedical treatment and recovered. She’s out there with her organization, Generation Rescue, getting work out to parents. Information is out there. As time goes on, it’s getting more and more out there.

How do people get profiled on your site and what’s the process for receiving funds?

On one hand, I’m trying to make the process as easy as possible. They’re going through enough stress. On the other side, because these are strangers, I do also have to play bad cop.

I check references and try to make sure people aren’t scamming the system.

On the site there’s a link for new loan requests. You go to an online Google form and fill it out.

I look through it and try to respond quickly. In the first conversation with the family, a lot gets accomplished. Everything is explained to them. During that conversation, we’ll often tweak the loan request. They clarify the details for the lenders who want to know what their money is going for.

If they’re still interested, they can send a picture of their child.

Once I get all the information I need to build the profile, I begin the reference check. I do due diligence in making sure these people are real.

Once I get that done, I put them on the website. I use a Chip-in widget that’s free. It connects to PayPal. Then it’s a matter of letting the world know they’re there, and it’s time to chip in.

Once a family is fully funded, I talk to them. They decide when they want to make their payments. We decide together when the first payment is do.

I do a promissory note to make it official. They sign it and send it back to me. When I get that, they get the loan. I send a check from the Lend4Health checking account now.

What is an HBOT?

HBOT stands for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. It’s being used and paid for by insurance for other things that people need. They’re starting to use it with autistic children very successfully. Kids who never spoke go into the HBOT chamber and speak after. It’s not recognized as a treatment for autism. Insurance doesn’t cover it for that. It’s expensive. We are getting a lot of people requesting loans for HBOT.

Is the progress sustained or is it for a short window of time after the treatment?

I asked a DAN doctor about that. Progress made on HBOT is sustained. They’re called HBOT dives. The recommended number of dives at one time is 40. The gains from those dives stay with you. There are even vacation spots now for doing HBOT dives.

50:30 (dead spot 15 seconds)

What’s been the biggest surprise in this journey?

There’s been a lot. The biggest surprise might be that Lend4Health is not just about me. When you think of entrepreneurs, you picture people working in their basement late at night. It’s not just me. I didn’t create Lend4Health and have to push it out there and pitch it. People are taking ownership of it. There’s a woman in TN who is an avid lender but also received two loans. She created Cinco de Linco. The fifth day of every month, we try to get everyone to make a $5 loan. She made a logo for it and gets the word out there through Facebook and her log. I didn’t come up with that or ask her to do it. She didn’t come to me, pitch it, and ask for approval. That’s been surprising.

What’s been the biggest learning experience for you so far?

I feel like every step in this journey has been important even if it wasn’t fruitful or took longer. The website is my own personal failure. I don’t have a snazzy, cool website. The blog is working. We get done what we need to get done. I feel we are letting the community down by not having an awesome user experience website. That will happen.

You're an entrepreneur. So, what are your three keys for success?

I don’t know if people need to be so focused on the speed of success. Success happens at the rate it needs to happen. I don’t know that I want it to happen faster. They might spiral out of control. I don’t have the infrastructure for that yet.

Keys for success in a startup are remembering who you’re doing this for. I’m doing this for the families in their children. I need to listen to them. I also need listen to those lenders who come back and continue to make loans. That is the Lend4Health community.

I need to be very attuned to what they’re doing and thinking and what their needs are. I need to grow Lend4Health along with them at their pace in the direction they need it to go.

That’s really key. It would be different if I went away and created this Lend4Health website and determine how it’s going to work and force it upon these people.

How has social media helped you reach your reasonable aspiration with Lend4Health?

When I started Lend4Health, I had never heard of social media. I knew about Facebook. I was on it but didn’t use it. I didn’t know what Twitter was. I have learned all of these things through Lend4Health. I’ve gone through different stages in social media. I started with Twitter and learned a ton of stuff. Twitter became a tool to get Lend4Health out there and to get loans funded. It’s very fickle. You have to treat them like your lover or they turn on you. I had that in the beginning. Once I didn’t have the time to the relationship with Twitter, it dropped off. You have to establish a relationship with the Twitterverse. You can’t just treat them like an ATM. I have experienced that.

I’ve realized that the core community of people is not on Twitter. They’re on Facebook. I have a fanpage. I would post something on Twitter and get one retweet but I’d get five likes and 10 comments on Facebook. For now, Twitter is a fast-moving river of future lenders. Facebook is the community, the people who are supporting and using Lend4Health. You need to play both, but I need to focus on Facebook. I do have plans to get back on Twitter and get people over to Facebook.

Where can parents with children showing symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder find content to educate them about the possible treatments?

There a few really good ones. One is the Autism Research Institute. They are the purveyors of DAN. They have the list of certified DAN doctors. Their site is www.autism.com. Another good one is TACA which is Talk About Curing Autism. Their site is www.tacanow.org. They have tons of great resources including how to do this on a budget and how to get insurance to pay for things using different codes. Another good website is Generation Rescue. That’s www.generationrescue.org. That’s Jenny McCarthy’s organization. Another one is Age of Autism. That’s www.ageofautism.com. It’s an online newspaper for the biomedical community. It’s where people get a lot of their information.

What are some projects coming up on your timeline?

This Thursday I’ll be in New York City. I’ve been invited as one of 40 non-profits to a seminar for good causes that Seth Godin is doing. I hope that’s a kick in the pants to get moving.

One thing I need to get done is our 501c3 certification. I need to get that application going to open ourselves up to large donations.

Right now, we have no profit. The site is run on a shoestring. Our major costs are the PayPal fees. If we can open ourselves to larger donations to cover some of those things, that would be a huge relief.

I need to get a better platform going for the site. I have a lot of ideas on how to have that snazzy website. I know what features I want. Once we can get that done, then I would look to get the word out more with strategic marketing. I’d have the infrastructure to handle a larger influx.

How can we help? Do you need an attorney for the 501c3 application or just the time to process it?

I’d love to talk to an attorney. I definitely have some questions for an attorney. Because we’re using PayPal, I got under the eye of someone at PayPal. They asked questions about their anti-money laundering policies. We’ve gotten through that, but I would love to talk to a lawyer. We’re dealing with money and online transactions. I’d love to know that what I’m doing is fair and square. I’m also concerned about the SEC because we’re doing interest-free loans. I don’t think we fall under SEC, but I’d like to know for sure.

If came across a designer, would you be ready to talk to them now?

Yes!

Could you talk about this Ruby on Rails site one more time?

1:05:34 (dead spot until 1:05:45)

It’s a website called: Spot.us. They’re in San Francisco doing community-funded journalism. They have a website that is open source. I talked to them about building off of their platform. It’s very much the same thing. That would be cool to use their open source platform and go from there. I’m not sure what they’re using. From everything I’m following on Twitter, there’s this large discussion of non-profit organizations coordinating and collaborating instead of everyone spending thousands of dollars to build their website. Maybe I can use this open source website and save a lot of money. There would be collaboration.

It would be interesting to build a Lend4Health platform off of the open source SpotUs platform.

Why that as opposed to just going with a Boilerplate Ning site?

Because Lend4Health was born in this era and I don’t have ideas on how it should work, I think we can take some risks and do interesting things other organizations might not be open to. I’m interested in this open-source platform for a few reasons. It would be more efficient. Why reinvent the wheel when they already have a platform we could tweak. There’s a lot of talk in the non-profit world about collaborating. How can one non-profit’s infrastructure help another one? That would be neat if SpotUS and Lend4Health could share a platform. Instead of making Lend4Health a destination website, I would be interested in having Lend4Health be more like a platform that’s accessible all over the web. I’m on one of the social action platforms. Peter Dietz and Christine Egger are at Social Actions.

Because Lend4Health is a social platform, Lend4Health micro loan lend for Lila could show up completely different on the web right now through the SocialActions API. All of our things go through the SocialActions API and are dispersed across the web in different ways. It would be great if people could make a loan directly from the Facebook fanpage. I want to work on that. I’ve been talking to the people at TwitPay to make loans over Twitter. I don’t want people to have to go to the Lend4Health website to make this work.

Where can people find and follow you?

• FaceBook Fan Page

• Twitter

• Email: Lend4health at gmail.com

• Website: Lend4Health.

When are you going to write a book?

I do like to write but I’ve never thought of writing a book. When I first started this, I talked to Kiva. I asked if it was alright to say Kiva was my inspiration. They said, “This is amazing. It will be huge. Be sure to write down everything you’re doing. You’ll have to tell your story some day.” Maybe I should be documenting a little better.

You should. It is a great story that's only beginning to develop now. Thank you.

Duck and Re-Cover: Read It

Duck and Re-Cover: The Embattled Business Owner’s Guide to Survival and Growth.

It’s good. It’s valuable. You should read it.

That’s the bottomline isn’t it?

For me, the bottomline was I read it to the end. As I’ve said here before I rarely read a business book to the end. 5 or 6 books at all times remain unread. I locate them strategically through the house:

• nightstand (2-3)
• my laptop bag (1)
• In the living room (1-2)
• sometimes in the car...

But this book, I read, pretty much, straight through.

Steve Little, the author, does not offer literature. Instead, he offers a conversational writing style that makes it easy to glean the important ideas. These important ideas are ideas, tips and resources, and anecdotes to illustrate them that will help your business duck and re-cover from this recession.

He knows. He knows from experience. He knows a business leader is looking for solutions first, literature later. He delivers that with Duck and Re-Cover.

He divides his book into the same 2 categories you do with your business:

• Pressing Immediacies

• Growth Opportunities

The first chapter in Pressing Immediacies is...What is Your Reality? That’s so simple, so smart. How do you map a path to your goal if you don’t know your starting point? So...what IS your reality.

The first chapter in Growth Opportunities is titled: Get Out of Your Bunker. And he offers specific ways to do that:

• Get face to face with vendors and customers
• Get involved in your community
• Make the most of trade shows
• Gain wisdom through information.

And each of them includes anecdotes, case studies, profiles or data to support his advice.

I’m not going to copy and paste his whole book for you. It’s good. It’s valuable. You should read it. (Get out of your bunker).

Pick one. Do it. Then pick another. Do it. Pretty soon you're past the re-cover mode and back into the growth mode where you wanna be.

He is the former President of 3 fast growth companies. He’s written two previous books, The 7 Irrefutable Laws of Small Business Growth and The Milkshake Moment: Overcoming Stupid Systems, Pointless Policies and Muddled Management to Realize Real Growth. And he’s a highly sought speaker and consultant for small business.

Disclaimer: My copy is a complimentary copy from Cave-Henricks. There’s no obligation to do...anything with it. Not even read it. I read it, kept reading it, because out of all the books left unread in my house, this was most compelling, easiest to read on the fly and kept a stream of ideas and solutions flowing through its pages. And that's what I think my readers here want.

Upcoming Radio Guest: Pam Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation

Yes! Pam Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, joins the show Wednesday, October 21, at 9:30 AM, Central.

There are any number of reasons for delight: mine and yours.

* Pam's a great speaker.

* Pam's a great writer.

* Pam's on a mission to help more people connect their passion, their strengths, their talents with a purpose that brings meaning to everyones lives they touch.

I met Pam last year at the Author's PowWow conference sponsored by 800CEORead. Todd Sattersten, the CEO for 800CEORead was the host, the great host I might add. And Pam and I were attendees. Pam and I spoke a little bit at an evening reception and then again at dinner the next night. I'd never read her blog, never heard of her. ( Full disclosure: she'd never heard of me, either.) I came away thinking...who is this person who is collected, focused, alert, with an incredible life journey, someone who can survive in corporate environs, but then be a rebel at heart and keep that heart alive so when it's time to break free...she can and has and now shares what's she learned on her journey.

Now, her book is hugely successful, as it should be. Her audience has gone global. Her workshops with the book generate rave reviews and evangelists for her message and resources.We'll talk about all that, her journey this past year and what you can do to plan your Escape from Cubicle Nation.

She joins us Wednesday, October 21, at 9:30 AM, Central.

You have two options to listen:

LIVE

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

2. Call in live. Call 646-915-9212 during the show 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM, Central.

ARCHIVED

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Highlights from My Conversation with Deborah Shane, founder of Train with Shane

Deborah Shane, founder of Train with Shane and The Metropolis Radio Show, is a master motivator and educator, whose passion it is to create and offer engaging and fun seminars and workshops, dynamic motivational speaking, customized corporate training programs and consulting programs. She takes the sales, marketing and motivational process and fundamentals and make them relevant with regard to your changing consumer, your new market environment and your business dynamics. We spoke about her work with entrepreneurs, the growing number of start-up businesses with women as their founders, her tips for social media use and how small businesses can best deal with the current economy.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

What are you doing and what are you most excited about?

I started my business in 2007 and I completely did not think about what was happening and what has challenging. I am excited about how my business is evolving and changing. The model I started out with was mostly sales and training and customer service. It has really evolved dramatically to a balance of in person training and now I am getting into more virtual products and services. I am expanding to other markets next year as well.

You said when you began your business you said you didn’t know things would become so much more challenging. I think that is a common theme when people start their business. Would you have started your business if you knew those challenges were waiting for you around the corner?

My particular business, I would answer yes. When I thought about what was happening, I knew professional development and education, skill upgrade and being able to function and navigate in a new mentality, temperament, market, and new business was going to be essential. I knew what I put together and what I could offer in this kind of scenario would be useful if I found where I could deliver it to people – where they had the most pain and need. I have been right on for the most part. As you know, I have developed some niches in this education process which is Women in Business and Career Transition. Two and one half years ago when I started my business, I saw this looming trend of laid off downsized white collar educated professionals who had become obsolete because there was no reason for them to keep their skills upgraded or for them to stay really relevant. They always thought they would be at these jobs for a really long time, but they woke up one morning to find they had been laid off.

What was the biggest most surprising challenge along your journey?

I think what always tends to surprise me is that I think I have a great idea and I think I know what people need, but it may not be what THEY need. It may be more of what I think they need. The first part of my developing content, I put out things I thought they absolutely needed, but they weren’t ready to say, “this is really something I need to jump on right now. “ I think people were really stunned. They wanted to see what was going to happen. I think sometimes we think we know what the answers are on behalf of others as opposed to what they actually need. I did a few things that didn’t actually work. At that time, I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t working, but it is what I thought they needed at that time.

11:10

Erika Andersen uses the term reasonable aspiration or hoped-for goal in her book, Being Strategic. What was your reasonable aspiration or hoped for goal in 2007 when you founded your business?

That’s a great question. And it’s an important question, I ask this question of people I council in career transition as well, the thing for me is I came from a career in a 30 year career in radio broadcast media, education, sales and marketing and promotion background and the thing when I moved to the west coast of Florida it was kind of a self imposed career and lifestyle change it wasn’t that I was forced to do it. It was time to do it. I saw the winds of change blowing in my industry, in my career and I thought, “oh it is time to go to the next part of the journey, not sure what it is but it will be revealed.”

I got an opportunity, it seemed good, but did not workout, it was not a good mutual fit.

So, there I was on a 2 month non-compete hiatus and didn’t know anybody and I didn’t know what to do next, but thought I would figure it out. One Thursday afternoon I remember this pretty clearly, I was sitting on my lanai and looking out at this forest view I have here. I kept asking myself this one question “what do you really want to do”. The reasonable aspiration was to take all of my skills, gifts and passions and put all that together into something I could do to continue my love of education training and mentoring.

Have you reached your hoped-for goal?

You know I think in life I don’t know that you ever reach your goals 100% I mean I think you keep working toward your goals and for me my goals continue to evolve and change as I do and as life and market conditions change. I will share this aha moment with you from last August and this was before the market, the banking industry completely fell off the face of the earth. I had been on a really good run with this business and I got to the end of the summer last year right around August and I had this series I did and it was a struggle to get people to come and support it. And I thought, okay I need to take a step back here and really reevaluate this whole thing, and again my instincts said not only is this a challenging year, I think some really challenging stuff is about to happen. I just felt it because when you are inside the business world, my brother is in the financial business and we talk a lot and he is pretty instinctual and so I sort of took a stance and said, here are my perfect scenario goals moving forward that I would like to see happen for myself personally and professionally. And there were 4-5 things I put in this master perfect plan last August and then looking at that plan in the last few months things have unfolded quite amazingly.

I have to say that, and not always in the time I wanted to, not always in the exact way that I wanted to. But all of these things I wanted to develop business outside of Southwest Florida, I wanted to get the publishing things done, and I wanted to get more virtual, all these things are now unfolding because I made plans, goals and I surrounded myself with awesome professionals who know more than I do in areas that I don’t know as much as they do.

That point you bring up, surrounding yourself with awesome people, is a key point. Why sometimes does that seem to be the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs, that they don’t always surround themselves with awesome people who know more than we do.

Great question – truthfully I think it’s fear and a little bit of ego that says, I don’t want them to know I don’t know this. One of my biggest caveats is that while I file, I don’t always file like I am supposed to – so I found someone who could use some part time hours and I hired this person to get my files and data management in order because I don’t always have the time to do that. I admit I don’t do a good job at that, but it is important to do keep yourself organized like that. I really think it is fear and ego and people are funny like that with all the phenomenal talent that is out there in all the areas now you and I have talked about this. Look at this virtual assistant thing, which is totally a function of this online marketing and virtual business and education out there. It is fantastic; these assistants are sitting in their jammies, working in their jammies doing all that work for you. So you don’t have to pay for gas and human capital you don’t have to pay for if you hired somebody, it’s phenomenal.

Now, let’s see. You list women in business first on your list of specialties and I regularly read articles of the growing numbers of women in the entrepreneur ranks, woman are starting twice as many businesses as men. Would you agree with that?

Those are the statistics: women are starting businesses 2-1 more than any other ethnic group. This has been a statistic that has been out there for almost the last two years. Going back a couple of steps, I have been in the corporate world and entrepreneur. I have been out there in business since 13 years old and I have watched this path for women and in the last 10 years the shift in terms of women in the workplaces, shift in the types of life situations women are in right now. Married with children, single working moms, single women that have no children or not married, retired women who are not done yet – there are so many scenarios for women out there.

Just to share a few statistics:

Women make up 51.5 % of the FT workforce right now. Just by sheer numbers, women are adding an enormous amount of energy into the globe and the work place.

Women comprise 66% of the consumer global spending. Boston Consulting Group came out a couple of months ago with these numbers: 66%. That will increase exponentially.

Women control $12 Trillion of an $18 Trillion of the global consumer spending . That’s expected to grow exponentially by $5 trillion a year.

That is extraordinary. There are demographers out there, one of them is Ken Gronbach he`s written a book called The Age Curve and anyone who really wants to get an awakening here should really get that book.

He talks about women and Hispanics as the new power demographics. There is a new article from the Boston Consulting group I was talking about called “Cater to Women if you want Success” and the whole article talks about the study and that marketers are failing to meet the needs of women in 5 key areas. He talks about failure to tailor products to women`s unique needs instead they are doing this `One Size Fits All` he talks about clumsy sales and marketing targeting women with dated stereotypes – it is really compelling stuff. It is our time (women) to be autonomous and independent and to really do and be what we want to be. One more point that I would like to make about this is that women have always done whatever they need to do to survive and take care of their families.

What is driving this trend, for women to start 2 times as many businesses as men?

It is part of what I said, necessity, but the other things that are really important are that they have a natural ability to communicate and gather people together with emotional intelligence. They are very social and very good at making connections. They want to control their lives and time management they need to be in business, make a living and have a family. More independence and be autonomous now not to rely only on men to support them. It is a very Jurassic idea these days. In history - the 50s and 60s and some of the 70s they were left for the younger woman and it seemed they’d filled their usefulness. I think women are just sort of over that, they are realizing the opportunity they have today is unparalleled and it is a time for great progress.

Speaking of wanting autonomy, self sufficiency and control of one’s destiny, another article I found said that 1.7% of women started businesses are VC funded. It is fascinating to me that twice as many business are started by women as those started by men and 50 times tas many businesses started by men turn to VC funding as those started by women. When you talk about wanting autonomy, self sufficiency and control of one’s destiny, not needing outside financial assistance is key.

I totally agree with you. It is startling. In a couple of other articles, women use their own money and self fund themselves in business if they can before going to a bank or venture capitalist. I don’t know that I can give you a great psychological answer, except that again, independence and autonomy and that they can do it with their own resources. One article talks about what do women want:

1. Love and connection

2. Fulfillment

3. Time and work-life balance, money as its own marker, money is a means to an end but not the focus of why they work.

29:26

Women are mothers, breeders, purpose in life is to take care of kids and (I’m not saying every woman is a mother) but there are certain unique and instinctual things women are genetically. Women are care takers, multi-taskers, social beings, connectors, emotional intelligence, business has shifted from sales focus to serve focus, you cannot be pushing products and services on people unless they make an emotional connection with you and women have a great ability to do that.

Not to bash men, we honor ourselves but also the men who support us, our independence makes our relationships better and take pressure off of men too. The evolution of both of us might leave men lagging on a couple of things but that is the nature of the beast, and men are evolving too. My friend Ken and I talk about women and I asked, what is up with the power in women in business today. He correlated something, except for Hispanic, breeding is not on the high end these days and he talked about a correlation to people with high percentages of internet connections with a low amount of breeding. People on line are spending less time in person making babies.

The fact that there are more divorces today and independent women who are not breeding as much. Interesting trend and psycho graphics.

What are the three big differences between men and women entrepreneurs? We talked about the self-reliant aspect, the data that shows men are more comfortable, dependent or seeking outside funding. What are two other differences?

What woman want, out of what out of what they do and what men want are just different. Women work for different fulfillment goals. They are always struggling with work life balance. Whether they are working or not, the familial care-taking all falls on women. I think there is just a lot of those dynamics that come into play.

Money is another. Men have a different perception of money than women. Women have a problem asking for more money. When I work with women, I always help them to feel more confident and asking for what they are worth.

I think companies are now identifying and working with women on their key strengths. Sometimes a woman may take more risk and don’t hold back like men do. Women need to use their instincts to put together their businesses and programs. They have what it takes.

You have a BTR Show. The Metropolis Show. How long have you had this show?

We will have our one year anniversary in December. I have been in the radio industry for years and it is a comfortable place to share ideas and continue to communicate. I wanted to bring people together in any format to help support one another in these uncharted waters. Most people are going through this for the first time in their lives. The radio show is about bringing people together: being the solution, living in the business world, having an impact.

What were your goals? Why did you decide to do a radio show, other than your background in radio?

I thought it would be another avenue of communication and I have created my metropolis and in that category are my radio show, newsletter and blog. These are additional avenues to share information and serve others with ideas, resources and tips – all for free. We live in a content marketing world where you need to give a lot away for free.

Women are going to have such a global presence in the next 5-10-15 years. Women are outpacing men in receiving college degrees: women constitute 60% of the people in college. Those stats are compelling. Women are outpacing men.

Which is your favorite social media platform?

Twitter has just delighted me. You have to see what intrigues you most. What do you enjoy using most? You don’t want it to be a struggle. I love to write and post great articles. For me, everything I do works together.

My biggest disappointment with social media? I haven’t been really disappointed with anything I have been committed too.

50:17

Give us three tips for us about to enter the social media pool. You mentioned two already:

1. Find a resource you enjoy use.

2. Pick one or two and master them.

What would be a third tip?

I will say two more.

1. Make sure you create and define YOUR brand in the social media that you choose. Clearly communicate your spirit. Makes sure you are very clear.

2. Serve! Always be serving and giving. Be consistent and post regularly.

Small business remains the leading source of layoffs. Our economy won't recover until small business becomes the leading source of job creation. When will that change?

That is a great question. I think it is the Achilles’ heal right now. I think there are many good indicators on several levels-there are a lot of buying going on now. The employment market is the Achilles’ heal right now. There is hiring go on right now in medical and education right now. People who have been laid off must take a serious look at their skills and possibly re-evaluate themselves and their direction. They may need to go back to school or repurpose their strengths. Everything will shift even more as the employment environment continues to improve.

What can small businesses do in this economy?

We have to get into an accept reality mode at all times. We cannot be in a “la la land.” We have to see what is really happening. Also, don’t lose confidence in who you are and what value you bring to the table. Everything around you may have changed, but the person has not. Believe in yourself.

Secondly and most importantly, upgrade your skills. I have seen too many educated professionals become obsolete. Businesses are also taking a look at these things. They are finding out what they need to offer better customer service and be more competitive.

Make a plan to upgrade your skills: personal, professional, technical. Take these classes in professional development – adding value and a greater skillset.

Thirdly: branding and focus on what your niche market is. Who is your core market? Your core customer? Perfect this!

Lastly: Never forget the power of the personal connection. All of the virtual and online activity is strictly a bridge to get close and upfront with people.

You share a lot of great quotes on your website, Train with Shane. What is your favorite quote among all these?

Ruth Vincent Peale: “Find the need and fill it.” When you serve, give, and share, this is one of the most powerful relationship building tools.

Thanks, Shane.

Be sure to follow Shane on Twitter at DeborahShane

Retaining Employees without Pay Raises

How do you keep your employees engaged AND employed when at the moment you're unable to match pay scales at other companies?

Workforce Week shared this question from a subscriber and some great suggestions, too, in this post: We don't have the budget to boost salaries...

Money is a convenient and overused excuse for turnover. It is rare that money alone causes the typical employee to leave. Most employees would willingly take a little less money than they could make somewhere else if they find other things they value more in their work environment—challenge, developmental opportunities, friendships with peers and supervisors, flexibility, appreciation and other real benefits.

The post goes on to share 3 suggestions:

Exit interviews (Too late)

Focus groups and surveys (Sounds good. But...they're  even less effective with employees than with customers and voters. Kinda like parents using a surrogate...breeds cynicism. )

Retention interviews


Identify the employees you really, really need to keep. Sit down with them and discuss the company, their personal satisfaction, ideas to make their job even better than it is, and related topics.

Bingo!

And one question:

Which employees do you really, really, NOT need to keep?

• Why do they remain employees?
• Do you think your employees don’t know who are the keepers, the A-Players and who are not, ie, the C-Players? Of course.
• And, of course they discuss this and why these people stay on.
• Could you answer them if they asked you?

Here's a few suggestions:

1. Listen. Listen to their ideas. Your employees are experts on what works and what doesn’t with their company. They’re also experts on what works and what doesn’t for them. Listen.

Here’s a photo. Kinda silly. But that should be you. Two ears, two really big ears. And one mouth. Try it. It’s tough. But it works.

2. Education. Start with this reading list:

The first two books of Marcus Buckingham. They are:

• First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

• Now Discover Your Strengths

Marcus, and in particular with these two books, is a champion of the strengths movement. That’s finding, matching and recognizing the strengths of your employees with the purposes of their, your, company. And matching with their purpose. A key point in his presentations are that money is not near the top of the list for motivations. Recognition, respect, the opportunity to use their strengths, to grow...those are at the top.

Bob Corlett from the Staffing Advisors spoke with me recently on my radio show. You can listen here. He shared the insight that employees today want meaning and purpose and the chance to make a meaningful contribution.

And all this comes back to...that last point and that funny photo. Listen. And every company can afford listen. Because, no company can afford to NOT listen.