Wow, something I had forgotten or honestly not felt in a while…

I like to consider myself as someone who inspires and motivates. In reality this also means that I end up spending a lot of my time around those who NEED inspiration.

Well, I never thought about this - but what about ME being inspired? I still need something to help ME get out of bed in the morning!

Lucky for me, I ended up spending the last few days with people that really light a fire under my butt!

This weekend we had amazing team meetings planning for 2009 and I can barely wait to get it started - our company is really working on freaking amazing things!

Then…take that and combine it with my dinner last night…

I Saw Myself 4 Years Ago…

Here’s what a growing business can do to you - it can take out the FUN of doing business. Many times a growing business can take the ENTREPRENEUR out of you … you know that guy who runs around dreaming, fantasizing and hustling to fight for his dream?

Well, when you’re doing well, you find that you have others to help you fight, you have to fight less hard many times and YOUR job becomes more about MANAGEMENT (booooooring).

Although this all signifies growth and is EXCELLENT - what about that little dude inside me that wants to be running around, dreaming and taking risks that make no sense to the rest of the world?!

My Dinner with a Long Time Friend…

I had dinner with a College Friend last night, he’s started a new business recently and wanted some advice from me. I went to his office and gave him a complete run down on what he can do online and he says I was incredibly helpful - I HOPE I was…

But here’s what I noticed…

The first 30 minutes of our meeting, this guy just pitched me the business - he was doing backflips about it. His eyes were gouging out, he was just freaking EXCITED.

At first I was a bit annoyed honestly. I’m not the kind to hype stuff and go around blabbering about how great our company is (but maybe I should be doing more of that). Either way, initially I was getting annoyed…

Then as time went, I was getting REALLY impressed. Why? Because I just saw ME in him only four years ago!

This guy was ready to hustle, he had a vision, he BELIEVED in what he was doing and he was ready to FIGHT for it.

Wow, “I” Was Getting Inspired!

I don’t know what it was, but his excitement was like a virus that spread to me really fast. All of a sudden, I’m talking about all my non-profit goals for 2009 and how excited I am.

<<< I haven’t talked about my non-profit goals with even my closest friends, it’s just how I am…I like to get results and not gloat about them…but I think I’ve been looking at it wrongly all this time >>

Anyways, today I woke up feeling more motivated, inspired and ready to get started!

Your Takeaway From This?

HANG AROUND THOSE WHO INSPIRE YOU!

I don’t care what it takes, but be around those that can challenge your frame of thinking and your beliefs. This means be around those that are more successful or at least share the same ideologies as you.

This friend of mine is just like me. No one can tell him what he can or cannot do. Honestly, many of my personal friends in my life are NOT like that at all.

It was refreshing hanging with him, I’ll definitely be doing more of it soon.

Thanks for inspiring me all over again my friend.

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Deal with it - you’re not perfect and you never will be.

But, if you want to grow, you better be willing to dedicate your life to trying to be perfect.

I’ve found that many people can’t take criticism at all. They take it personally and react defensively and can even get down right nasty.

Here’s the thing…

If you don’t allow those around you to tell where you can improve, how do you expect to grow?

You’re in your head and by human nature, you’re going to feel you’re right. There is no doubt you will always be partial to your own ideas. Only those that know you well and are around you a lot can actually tell you about your positives and negatives.

Guess what? Sometimes the things they have to say are down right SHOCKING, APPALLING and even Disheartening.

It’s your choice - you can either use it to grow or you can find easy excuses to allow you to ignore the advice.

The most used “excuse” to get away from listening to constructive criticism is “it’s him, not me, his feelings are wrong and unfounded…”

Here’s the deal though - you can’t tell someone how to feel. If someone feels a certain way, right or wrong, there is a reason. It’s your job to investigate why…

If it truly is a misunderstanding - resolve it right then and there (but nicely). However, I bet, many times you’ll find some credibility behind their claims.

I ASK For Criticism ALL The Time…

It took a lot of personal growth and maturity to get to the point where I was willing to hear “what’s wrong with me.”

The first time I was forced to do this was when I was forced to pull someone in and tell them what’s wrong with THEM. When I started pointing things out, I opened a pandoras box.

Whether it was through self-defense or true concern (I think a little of both), the minute I offered constructive criticism, I found myself receiving the same in return.

The moment of truth…

Since I was the one running the conversation, I could either take this person’s comments as just baseless attacks OR I could take a step back and open my ears.

Luckily, starting that day I chose the route of opening my ears - it has helped change me in many ways and now when I look back I can clearly see the validity of the criticisms.

Remember…

YOU don’t have any right to control how someone feels. If someone feels a certain “bad” way about something you’re doing - it’s either a misunderstanding OR a valid concern.

Either way, it’s up to YOU to take positive action on it.

Choose to ignore it and you’re only cheating yourself.

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Today’s message is more for those of you who are busy trying to build a business. I recently had an experience that yet again affirmed my belief that:

“I know nothing and it’s all about my team…”

Here’s what happened:

We just had a LIVE event for my company, PPC Classroom LIVE and it was a massive hit. We grew our attendees by over 35% from last year and the event just got MUCH better.

We had over 320 attendees, sponsors, parties - the works. However, every single thing went off without a single hitch!

Ok, so it was a great event - what’s so great about that?

Well, everyone was coming up to ME and congratulating me on a great event and asking me all sorts of questions about how I did this … did that…etc…

You know what? I had NO idea! Every time they came and thanked me, I almost felt GUILTY for accepting it. I found myself consistently asking that they go thank my team because I had absolutely nothing to do with it!

That’s the truth.

The month before the event I was busy scoping Asia for our company’s growth into Asia next year. I landed home 4 days before the event.

I did not even know when my FLIGHT was or if I had a hotel reservation.

-> I had no idea what the speaker schedule was…
-> I had no idea how many registrations we had…
-> I had no idea if food and beverage was handled?
-> Are the sponsors ready?

Now, I know I may be sounding like an idiot. I mean, 4 days before an event and I don’t know these answers?

But, really what it shows it my ridiculous trust on my amazing team. I *knew* that the person in charge of it would never let anything bad happen and I was dead on!

My team makes my life easy. My team makes it possible for me to sleep at night. My team makes it so I can receive countless compliments.

====

You can’t do anything alone.

Remember, you’re not all that smart (hate to tell you that).

The smartest thing you can do in life is ACCEPT that you’re not “all that” and that you need to surround yourself with smarter people.

That’s what Henry Ford did, I’m just glad I learned at a young age!

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