Tag Archives: Defining Success

DSP Chosen by Inc. as a Podcast That Will Make You Smarter, Better, and Wiser

Several very cool things have happened to me recently:

  • Held a successful golf tournament, the Southern California Charity Golf Classic where we raised $7,591.81 for charity.
  • Named Chairman of the Board for the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce.
  • And became a dad to my amazing son, Sebastian.

I’m a lucky guy.

Southern California Charity Golf ClassicChairman of the Board CVCCMy Son, Sebastian

 

In addition, Lolly Daska from Inc. Magazine included The Defining Success Podcast as the #9 podcast in her list: 100 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter, Better, and Wiser.  Lolly says, “Listen to these 100 podcasts and you will become wiser, smarter, and better at business and life.”

In the number 9 spot is The Defining Success Podcast:

9. Defining Success
Zeb Welborn talks with successful people about what makes them successful and why some succeed when others fail.

We’re honored to be included in an article with some people whom I appreciate, admire and respect greatly, podcasters like:  John Lee Dumas, John Corcoran, Seth Godin, Michael Hyatt, John Jantsch, Derek Halpern, Amy Porterfield, Lewis Howes, Pat Flynn, Erik Fisher, Tim Ferriss, Michael Stelzner, Chris Ducker, Jaime Masters, Michael O’Neal and Gary Vaynerchuk were all included on the list.

So many podcasts on this list inspired me to start the Defining Success Podcast. And the people leading these podcasts inspire me to work hard helping others, to do what I love and to find success while doing it each and every day.

Defining Success Podcast featured in INC MagazineCheck out the entire post: 100 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter, Better, and Wiser

Recommended Episodes for New Listeners

If you’ve been drawn to our website from Inc. Magazine we recommend listening to these episodes to get a good sense of what The Defining Success Podcast is about.

Our Top Ten Episodes are:

Episode 115: Hit the Ball as Hard as You Can | Larry Welborn

Larry Welborn had a 43-year career as the legal affairs reporter for the Orange County Register, in which he covered many high-profile cases and showed a high level of enthusiasm and dedication in every story he covered. Since 1981, he has also been the chairman and president of CSPA, which is preparing for its 64th-annual high school journalism workshop on the campus of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Episode 33: Be of Service to Others | Chris Brogan from Human Business Works

Chris Brogan has been in the online world for sometime now and he’s learned that in order to be successful online you must be of service to others. If you’re willing to go the extra miles to help others, you will be successful in the online world. Chris Brogan is CEO and President of Human Business Works, an education publishing and media company dedicated to helping professionals work better, do the work they want and to be brave. He is the NY Times best-selling co-author of the Impact Equation.

Episode 54: The Little Voice Within | Shelly Ehler from ShowNo

Shelly Ehler is the passionate and inspiring owner of the ShowNo Towel. In her interview Shelly shares the lessons she has learned through her journey as an entrepreneur and how they have impacted her and continue to foster success in other professional and personal aspects of her life. Shelly’s product the ShowNo Towel has been featured on the Today show and on the hit T.V. show Shark Tank.

Episode 46: Real-Time Marketing | Author David Meerman Scott

David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, advisor to emerging companies, best-selling author of eight books including three national best-sellers, and a professional speaker on topics including marketing, leadership, and social media. In Episode 46 of the Defining Success Podcast, David shares his ideas on real-time marketing and how you can use it to help your business grow.

Episode 87: The Importance of Body Language | Dr. Nick Morgan, Owner of Public Words

Dr. Nick Morgan is one of the top experts on body language and how to make sure it conveys the message you are trying to convey. Dr. Nick Morgan owns Public Words, a company that is helping to create strategies for people who want to become professional speakers.

Episode 117: How to Use Help a Reporter Out (HARO) | Michael Kawula

Michael Kawula talks about Help a Reporter Out, also known as HARO. He has bought and sold several different businesses. The last two companies Michael has started have both grown to Million Dollar plus businesses in under three years.

Episode 110: Feed a Starving Crowd | Author Robert Coorey, MBA

Robert Coorey is the author of Feed a Starving Crowd, More than 200 Hot and Fresh Marketing Strategies to Help you Find Hungry Customers.  The book covers more than 200 ways businesses have become successful marketing their products or services in today’s economy.  Learn how to feed a starving crowd in Episode 110 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Episode 99: Going After Your Goals | Jake Bramante from Hike734.com and National Park Guide Creator

In this interview Jake and I talk about going after your goals. Jake Bramante traveled all 734 miles of hiking trails at Glacier National Park in one year, 2011. He shared the experience of going after his goals on his blog Hike734. We discuss what it means when you cross the finish line. When you set out on a goal and you do something, what that means for you as a person and what happens when you don’t.

Episode 73: Connect with Influential People | John Corcoran, Host of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast

John Corcoran knows how to connect with influential people.  He has worked in the White House, has met presidents, has his own law firm, there are so many different things this guy has done. He’s great at networking with very important people. He has lots of tips and information on how we can network better.

Episode 62: Don’t Get Attached to Outcomes | Creativity Coach & Author Dr. Eric Maisel

Dr. Maisel shares his thoughts on creativity and how developing a process and sticking to it regardless of outcomes can help you become creative. The struggle with many creative people is they expect something to happen when they create and when the outcome doesn’t match their expectation they get discouraged. Don’t get attached to outcomes. Learn how to explore your creativity in Episode 62 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Upcoming Episodes

We have several interesting guests coming up on the Defining Success Podcast including:

Dr. Rob & Janelle Alex
Ryan Levesque
Dorie Clark
Rory Vaden
David Frood
Thai Nguyen
Jon Lee
Beau Hodson

If you use iTunes, subscribe to the podcast: The Defining Success Podcast on iTunes
Listen on Stitcher: The Defining Success Podcast on Stitcher



Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

Episode 87: The Importance of Body Language | Dr. Nick Morgan, Owner of Public Words

Nick Morgan, body language expertIn this interview I want to focus on how important body language is when you’re speaking, and not just in front of a lot of people, but just speaking in general. What your body language tells people. Dr. Nick Morgan is one of the top experts on body language and how to make sure it conveys the message you are trying to convey. Dr. Nick Morgan owns Public Words, a company that is helping to create strategies for people who want to become professional speakers.

Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication theorists and coaches
A passionate teacher, Nick is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas—and then delivering them with panache.

Zeb’s Take – Importance of Body Language for Public Speaking

It was a real pleasure talking to Dr. Nick Morgan. A body language expert, he just has such a solid background; he’s done so many good things for so many people out there, so many well respected people in the speaking industry, companies, businesses, the advice he was willing to share with us today was phenomenal. I hope all of you out there listening took notes, because he knows what he’s talking about and he gave some excellent tips and advice today.

In this wrap-up I want to focus on the importance of body language. This is one of the things I struggle with. Recently I’ve been giving speaking engagements, and they’re smaller venues maybe 40-50 people. I’m talking about social media and my whole focus is on the content, the stuff that I’m saying. What Dr. Morgan correctly pointed out is that most people aren’t going to remember what you say. They are going to remember your energy, the way you interact, respond and your body language and what that tells them about the experience and what they’re learning.

If you notice professional speakers, they have that charisma. I’ve seen enough people speaking and you can tell, some of these people are charismatic. But, they are charismatic because they’ve acquired that skill. They are very deliberate with what they choose to do with their body language and the way they convey and represent themselves to others.

I was talking with Adam Whitmer, someone in my mastermind group, he gives speaking engagements all the time. He speaks mostly in the banking industry about regulations, bankers have to go to these events. He wants to become a better speaker, so he’s been going to some training and learning about speaking. He was very clear that a lot of it is your body language and the way you present yourself just like Dr. Nick said. He has seen the difference. Adam said it made a profound difference in the way the audience responded to him once he started applying the rules of body language and using them effectively.

I’ve never applied these things before, because I’m literally just learning. I always knew body language was important, but I never focused on the body language because I always focused on the content. In the future, moving forward, I’m definitely going to be more conscientious about my body language and what that is conveying to the audience that is listening to the message I’m trying to share.

I really appreciate Dr. Nick sharing all his advice today, and not just the body language stuff, but everything he shared. It was extremely eye opening and enlightening.

Connect with us on Facebook, I’d love to hear from all of you. Hear some feedback on the interview and let me know if you have any questions for me or Dr. Nick.

Go out there and find your success!

Find out more about Nick Morgan and Public Words

Visit www.PublicWords.com to get tons of free information about speaking, body language and the business of professional speaking. It’s a real treasure trove of information.

Screen Shot 2014-06-18 at 8.23.47 PMQuotes

    • “We teach them a lot about body language. We make them very cool body language experts and then they can begin to take charge of their own body language and then read it better in others. That makes them smarter interpersonally.”
    • “One of the classic mistakes that business people make when they’re going into a meeting, pitching a client or are giving a speech is they say, well let me start by telling you a little bit about myself or my company. Frankly, nobody cares about you or your company.”
    • “Don’t leave the body language to chance, think about it beforehand. Decide how you are going to show up with your body as well as with your content.”
    • “Most people think charisma is something that is reserved for a few lucky people. […] In fact, we are all charismatic at a few unplanned times in our lives.”
    • “If you are not fully present, if you are not completely focused, then you are not going to be as effective.”
    • “Being able to fully utilize your Voice with a capital V in the world so that you know who you are and people know who you are, that way you can share something unique and that’s powerfully you with the world.”

dr-nick2

dr-nick

More From the Interview

Nick Morgan, Author of Power CuesDr. Nick Morgan was an academic. He taught Shakespeare and public speaking. He trained as an actor, did that for a while. Had some children he had to take care of, so he had to get a paying job. He worked briefly as a speechwriter for a governor. Then he entered the business world via consulting and then started his own business.

Public Words started in 1997. He says, “We help people tell their stories.” They work with essentially three kinds of clients: pofessional speakers who need to be on the top of their game and need to develop successful brands for themselves, executives who need or want to improve their communication skills, and companies who need to tell their stories to the world or to their own employees for motivation.

Zeb was introduced to Dr. Nick Morgan through David Meerman Scott author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Who has worked with Dr. Nick.

Nick gives an example of one of his clients. Someone who is cool under pressure and get’s promoted because that’s exactly what you need in some industries. Once he was promoted to a certain level he was told that his employees think he’s too cold, now he needs to show more emotion. Even though not showing so much emotion may have helped him get to that position in the first place.

“Sometimes it’s for a specific speech, but it’s also often for just in general relating to your employees or your colleagues.”

They do is a combination of coaching: talking over strategies, how to behave in meetings, a certain amount of role play, video tape to show people how they look and what they’re doing. “We teach them a lot about body language. We make them very cool body language experts and then they can begin to take charge of their own body language and then read it better in others. That makes them smarter interpersonally. They know when they are doing well and when they need to adjust.”

Part of their job is figureing out people’s or businesses’s story. They’re about figuring out, what’s the streamlined story.

“You need to figure out how to tell that story economically and in a way that’s powerful and grabs people right from the start.”

The movie Casablanca starts with 7 minutes of opening credits. Nowadays, movies begin with action, once they’ve got you hooked they run the credits along with the action. The world has sped up for us that way. Speakers and business people in general need to do the same.

One of the classic mistakes that business people make when they’re going into a meeting, pitching a client or are giving a speech is they say, well let start by telling you a little bit about myself or my company. Frankly, nobody cares about you or your company. They want to know why. Why am I there, what’s in it for me, why should I care, why is this important. You have to answer that why question first then you can tell them about yourself.

He says he asks people when they are creating a speech how much time they spend thinking about the content of the speech and how much time they think about the body language. An honest answer is usually 100% on the content and 0% on the speech.

“When you are standing up in front of an audience that communication with the audience is actually two conversations. On the one hand it’s the is the content, on the other hand it’s the body language. And when those two are aligned then the audience will get your message. When they are not aligned, what happens is people will believe the body language every time. The body language always trumps the content. [… ]If you don’t think about your body language, or what you’re going to do with that beforehand, you are leaving it up to chance.”

If you do what most business speakers do, you clutch your hands nervously in front of your stomach then your body language sends out the message that you are nervous and your stress levels are high. Studies show that when you do that you actually raise the stress levels of the audience as well. When stress levels are high people don’t learn well, remember well or listen well. You are actually making the communication worse.

“Don’t leave the body language to chance, think about it beforehand. Decide how you are going to show up with your body as well as with your content.”

He says videotaping that is a great tool for the average person wanting to give better speeches. Videotape yourself either in rehearsal or giving a speech, just watch and see those ticks that we all have that do get in the way of communication. They are good to clean up and to get smart about and eliminate.

Dr. Nick can’t help but notice the mistakes people make when he sees someone speaking.

Often times people over prepare and overload their audience with too much information. So people really need to cut down, figure out the one thing you want to get across to your audience and make sure everything you say is in support of that one idea.

“Most people think charisma is something that is reserved for a few lucky people. […] In fact, we are all charismatic at a few unplanned times in our lives.”

Emotional focus is very charismatic, that really is what charisma is.

“If you are not fully present, if you are not completely focused, then you are not going to be as effective.”

We work with people who want a sustained professional speaking career. There are three things you need in general: a great speech (or a few great speeches), a great book (as proof that you’re the expert), and a community – these days that’s the online community.

One of the pieces Public Words often helps with is the book. Help them with the story, the proposal, pitching to agents, selling to publisher, and bring it to market and persuade people to buy it and read it.

“You’re not writing a book to put it away on a shelf and have nobody see it. That’s not the point. You write a book to share your ideas with people because you are passionate about them and you think they will help them. So you gotta have a plan these days, in this world, for distributing and marketing the book”

To develop a community Public Words uses the idea that you are passionate about, that you want to share with the world, that you want to write books about, give speeches about, and debate with the community.

Fifteen years ago there were certain gatekeepers who got to decide what information reached most people. Newspaper editors, tv and radio show producers. Now we have the internet and things have changed. You can create a community online and those gatekeepers are much less important than they used to be. But, now you have to do the work.

We tend to build our relationships based on face to face relationships. In those kind of relationships trust is pretty durable. “Online, trust is very fragile. If people get the sense that you are not honest or that you are not being authentic in some way then they will drop you like a hot potato and they won’t come back.”

“You have to make sure you know exactly who you are, and what you are doing, and that it’s authentic and you are in it for keeps. The internet is very quick to sniff out people who are just trying to sell something.”

Nick shared a failure he had with a client who had a great story, he was an immigrant who built up a huge successful company. He worked with Public Words to put together a big public speech to a really large crowd to talk about his legacy and how he got to where he was. After the speech was written he refused to rehearse. Instead of doing everything he could to get the client to rehearse, he let the client convince him that rehearsal wasn’t necessary.

When it came time to give the speech the client starting doing martial arts moves in front of everyone. He would say a few lines from the speech and then do some more martial arts. Everyone one was staring wondering what was going on. Nick wishes he would have worked harder to convince the client to rehearse.

Nick Morgan says the amount of rehearsing you need to do varies depends on how experienced you are, how comfortable you are, how big the stakes are, how different the speech is compared to what you’re used to. There are a lot of factors involved. What you want to do is stand up there and have it not look like you’re doing this for the first time.

“If the body language is saying oh I’m a little scared I’m doing this for the first time, that undercuts the authority that the speaker is trying to get across.”

How long should you rehearse? Enough to get it into your muscle memory so that you don’t look like you’re giving the speech for the first time because that body language message woefully undercuts the message you’re trying to get across.

When you get into the room, it’s important to have a rehearsal, at least walk and around and check everything out, but ideally a full rehearsal in the actual space you’re going to give a speech in.

“Being able to fully utilize your Voice with a capital V in the world so that you know who you are and people know who you are, that way you can share something unique and that’s powerfully you with the world.”

1904262_10152426866698120_1782783527655435063_nNick has a new book, Power Cues, in which he shares some personal stories some reasons why he cares so much about body language and speaking. “That’s about being authentic and getting my voice out there.” The book also discusses the relationship between neuroscience and how communication actually works. “It’s a big step for me.”

 

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

Episode 86: Take Action & Create Your Dots | David Ralph, Host of Join Up Dots Daily Podcast

Take Action Find Your Path with David Ralph from the Join Up Dots PodcastIn this interview I talk with David Ralph about how important it is to take action. David had me on his podcast not to long ago. I really liked what he was doing. I liked the message and the tone of his podcast. So I decided to have him on the Defining Success Podcast. It’s his first time being interviewed himself on a podcast. It’s a great interview.

David Ralph is the host of the Join Up Dots Podcast, The Daily Podcast Talking To The Motivational, Inspirational and Conversational Movers And Shakers Across The Globe Today.

Zeb’s Take – Take Action

It was really great to talk today with David Ralph again. He’s always a pleasure to talk to. He has a great message and mission to share, which is joining up dots. He shared that quote with us from Steve Jobs about joining up dots and what that looks like. You’ll never know, you can’t join up the dots to your future, you can’t say I want to achieve this and this is the path I’m going to take to get there. But, when you start to take action the path sort of opens up before you.

My goal when I started my entrepreneurial career was to start a successful tutoring business and the tutoring business was going to fund my lifestyle. A tutoring business, I realized it wasn’t going to be extremely successful unless I took it nationally or did something like that. I knew it would be a difficult long road. But I took action to get there and as I started down that path I began to learn about internet marketing. I started learning about how to market myself. People started to approach me and said, “You’re really good at this. why don’t you try doing more of this. Go out and try to attract businesses.”

I took action again, I started down the internet marketing route. And as I’m doing my internet marketing work I started to develop niches. I did really great work for golf courses. In that golf course industry I started getting a lot of attention, people saying that I was doing a good job. I decided to take action and write this book on The Social Golf Course. It went from running a tutoring business, to running an internet marketing business, to running social media specifically for golf courses. Which is what I’m focusing on now. I know for sure it is going to change as my path unfolds, but that’s how I’ve joined up the dots.

Looking back it’s easy to see and point out the turning points that made those events happen. But let’s say when I started my tutoring business and I was looking into the future, I was never going to know where life was going to take me. I think it’s remarkable that David Ralph is trying to share that message. It’s taking action and taking steps that are going to improve your lifestyle, to do something that you are happy with excited about and want to do, you take action to start doing that and eventually doors are going to open. They are going to guide you down that path that makes sense for you to your purpose, or to what you can genuinely offer to other people to be of service which will make you happier, lead a better life and all that good stuff.

I was great talking with David, he’s a really funny guy. I hope you enjoyed the interview and enjoyed hearing about his journey in creating his daily podcast, Join the Dots. The amount of work and dedication that he’s putting into it is really remarkable and I think he has a lot of advice already even though he is very new into this business adventure. I want to encourage all of you to go out there and find your success.

Find out more about David Ralph and the Join Up Dots Podcast

Find Join Up Dots on iTunes!
Visit www.JoinUpDots.com or email ContactJoinUpDots@gmail.com. David loves getting emails.

Quotes

  • “Some of your darkest moments in your life, when you look back with new eyes, you can actually go, ‘Yeah. Thank god for that. If it wasn’t for that I’d still be in that situation.’”
  • “I believe in what I’m doing. I believe in the content that I’m producing, I believe in the feedback that my guests were giving me. So, I’m just going to keep going with it.”
  • “You don’t have to know something about anything. You just need to have to have a passion and then research it. So that’s what I did.”
  • “I enjoy this more than anything I’ve done before.”
  • “Once you get an email in from a ‘complete stranger’ to say I like your work – thank you very much for putting it out – and you get that validation that is like woah!”
  • “It’s very much about overcoming fears and creating a life that is what you deserve.”
  • “I realized that I couldn’t plan going forward, I could only do things that kind of felt right and hopefully if I meander this way or go that way or whatever they are going to pull together.”
  • “You’ve got to have trust. You’ve got to have faith. You’ve got to be able to push forward and find your path. And it may not be the right path straight away. But if you do enough things and have enough failures, ultimately, fingers crossed, if you believe hard enough, you are going to find your successes.”

david-1

More From the Interview

Zeb was recently on David’s Join Up Dots Podcast. The podcast hadn’t aired a single episode yet, but Zeb was his number 60 or something interview. He had scheduled plenty of these interviews before he launched his daily podcast. Today he started at 9 AM interviewing people all day. It is now 11 PM in London and he is still going strong chatting with us today. It is an impressive schedule that he sets for himself.

Before the Join Up Dots Podcast David was going through emotions. He was in corporate land and for many moons he was a financial trainer. He would stand in front of people doing the same presentations that he had done hundreds of times before. He did 20 years in banking in London and he did a few years in insurance as well. He was a gray suit man.

“It is hard to believe. Now I’m doing this, I kind of wonder whether I had actually done that, although it was such a big part of my life, it’s kind of like waking up from a bad dream. I’ve been in a coma or something.”

He was in a job he knew inside out. He could do it better than anyone because he had so much experience. Everything was going swimmingly until his manager left and someone new came in. He said that lady was the start of the end. He realized that one person in an office could dictate his happiness. She came in and started telling him how to do a job that he could do better than anyone. After several bad days, he felt that his life wasn’t his own anymore and something had to give.

He thought, “This is it. This is the end. And it was. It was the closest thing to an epiphany I’ve ever had. It hit me with such force that this was the end that I actually had to go home. I said to them ‘look, im going to take the rest of the day off.’ I couldn’t physically work. It was like, I was just exhausted from this built up energy that had been taking over me. And that was it.”

He says, looking back on it now, as he tries to emphasize on his show, “Some of your darkest moments in your life, when you look back with new eyes, you can actually go, ‘Yeah. Thank god for that. If it wasn’t for that I’d still be in that situation.’”

David says if you are considering running a podcast, the amount of work that it takes is surprising. The day David launched his podcast he had 45 people listening, then 54, then 20 on the third day. He was concerned. He wondered, why aren’t they listening? But he kept with it. Now he realizes that people were probably just busy.

“I believe in what I’m doing. I believe in the content that I’m producing, I believe in the feedback that my guests were giving me. So, I’m just gonna keep going with it.”

“I lost the fear at that stage.”

Originally, David wasn’t going to do a podcast, he was going to be a web developer. But after a few days of working at home alone without talking to anyone, he felt he made the wrong decision. He started listening to podcasts. He says, “It seemed intoxicating and vibrant and fun.” He thought, I could do this, this is an idea. He sort of batted the idea away because he didn’t know anything about it, but what he realized was: “You don’t have to know something about anything. You just need to have to have a passion and then research it. So that’s what I did.”

It was time to take action. On a budget, he got a little mixer, had his computer, bought a mic, and that was his setup. Then the hard work started, he had to approach people and ask them to be on his podcast. Ask people to come on a show that they haven’t heard of, that they can’t check out because there are no episodes yet, with someone who hasn’t done this before, and has no experience. To get over the fear of asking people, he sent his first email to Elton John, knowing he probably wouldn’t get a response. The next person he sent it to said, “Yup, fine. I’ll be on.”

Then David thought “Oh my god, I’ve got to do this now. I’ve got someone waiting for me.”

“If you are sitting out there and you’ve got that idea that you want to do something and you think you’ve got to be good, well you don’t. Because you listen back to episodes 1, 2, 3 of Join Up Dots and compare to where I am now you can see that you have time to progress.”

You just have to take action, bite size chunks, and good things are going to happen.

“I enjoy this more than anything I’ve done before.”

“Once you get an email in from a ‘complete stranger’ to say I like your work thank you very much for putting it out and you get that validation that is like woah!”

“It makes you feel like, yes there are people out there waiting for you to speak.”

“It’s actually realizing that I have something to say, that is worthwhile and that people want to listen to.”

So far David has done 92 interviews. Some of the coolest interviews were with Clay Herbert (crowdfunding guy) and a man who is traveling around the world without flying, Niall Doherty, he was fascinating. Scott Barlow and Mark Sieverkropp with a website and a podcast called Happen to Your Career. David is proud of that episodes he said it felt like they knew each other for years and years. And, of course, his interview with Zeb Welborn. David just tries to find inspiring people who he wants to talk to.

David tries to keep to a theme, the show title comes from a speech Steve Jobs gave where he said you can’t really see your path in life, it’s only when you look back and connect the dots. He wants to get the kind of conversations that the guests haven’t had before, so David has to ask some bizarre questions. He really tries to keep a balance where they can be light-hearted and have some fun, but the overall show still keeps with the theme and provides value.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
-Steve Jobs

People do want to help, but we don’t like to ask. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

“It’s very much about overcoming fears and creating a life that is what you deserve. I realized that I couldn’t plan going forward, I could only do things that kind of felt right and hopefully if I meander this way or go that way or whatever they are going to pull together.”

“You’ve got to have trust. You’ve got to have faith. You’ve got to be able to push forward and find your path. And it may not be the right path straight away. But if you do enough things and have enough failures, ultimately, fingers crossed, if you believe hard enough, you are going to find your successes.”

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

Episode 77: Thriving Out of the Recession | Richard McKinnon, President of System 1 Interiors

Richard McKinnon of System 1 InteriorsRichard McKinnon is the owner and President of System 1 Incorporated. Because of Richard’s business sense, he realizes the importance on people to people interactions. That and advice from his father have helped him and his business get through the recession and thrive.

System 1 Interiors specializes in interior home remodeling including acoustic ceiling removal, plaster ceiling resurfacing, recessed lighting and interior & exterior painting. System 1 has been the leader in Acoustic Ceiling removal in southern California for over 30 years.

System 1 Interiors, Acoustic ceiling removal in southern California.

Zeb’s Take

He is a good friend of mine. Richie and I have known each other forever. He’s a really good guy. I’ve always been impressed with him. Basically, he was responsible for his entire family after his dad passed away and the business itself. He was able to overcome all of that and build a better stronger business. I’ve been working for Richie since the beginning of 2012.

The thing I want to touch on is the recession and how it contributes to business. In Richard’s mind he thinks that was a blessing. It was a good experience because he was able to take his business and lean it up, learn to make it more efficient, and that made his business ultimately better. He learned a lot of life lessons too; business lessons; what not to do, what to do. He really carved out a niche and now that his business is doing extremely well he has a much better understanding of his business. He runs a tight ship.

On more of a grand scale, I think, a recession really provides an opportunity. When you’re in a bull market and people are doing well in the economy, people look at the system in the wrong way. I’ve been involved with a few businesses where their question is, what’s the return on investment? They look at everything as numbers, and people like Richard and myself understand it’s not just a numbers game. It’s taking that extra step. Richard was on his way home when he got a call to do a job in Malibu, and even though he didn’t want to do it, he did, and it ended up saving his business. Those are the opportunities that you can’t value on a piece of paper. What ends up happening is people end up cutting those expenditures. They think, it’s going to cost this much in gas it takes this much time, it’s not an appropriate expenditure, let’s not do that. They miss out on this huge job, three months of business. They’re looking at numbers and not people and doing right by people. People look at numbers to tell the story of a business, but they can never take the place of the people to people interactions.

I’m going to work as hard as I can to make introductions, meet as many people, expose people to my business and add as much value and to genuinely help and be of service to people. If I looked at everything from a financial perspective, a balance sheet, whether or not going to the Chamber of Commerce was worth my time, whether or not having this podcast is worth my time, I would miss out on so many opportunities that have opened up as a result of me doing these things that I feel are necessary from a business sense.

The recession trims out those people that are looking at the bottom line. Those are the businesses that tend not to do so well in recessionary times. And the businesses that do do well, especially the ones that thrive out of a recession, are the ones that make those people to people encounters and really foster and develop those relationships.

 

Find out more about System 1 Interiors and Richard McKinnon

Go to www.system1interiors.com to contact Richie and find out more.

Quotes

  • “When I took over the business, for me, there was a lot of fear of the unknown. When I don’t have someone to go to, what is it going to be like when the training wheels come off?”
  • “We take pride in being the best. We’ll always strive for that.”
  • “Dealing with customers and dealing with employees and the different personalities and making that work and making it a positive thing. That’s the biggest struggle.”
  • “You’ve got to go, and you’ve got to do some things whether you like them or not sometimes because they could be very big opportunities.”
  • “I’ve always lived by the motto of just being real.”
  • “Don’t worry. Because it doesn’t improve anything in your life.”
  • “Just being a hard worker is successful in itself.”
  • “You’re going to be successful if you’re the best at what you do, or striving to be the best at what you do.”

richie

More from the Interview

How did System 1 Interiors get started?
In 1978 Richie’s father worked for a company that did acoustic ceiling spraying. He realized that if he had the right machinery and tools, he could start his own business and be able to raise and support a family. He knew he wasn’t the type to be answering to anyone, he wanted to be in charge of his own destiny. He got a loan from his father-in-law and began his business.

Richie grew up around his father’s business. He says, once he actually started working for his father he understood what it took. “It was very different: knowing what somebody does and then knowing what somebody does first-hand.” At the age of 20 he began working full-time with his dad. A few years later his dad was diagnosed with skin cancer. Richie decided he needed to get to know the business end of things as much as possible. He went with his dad to as many estimates and appointments, management things, as he could to see how things were done. When his father passed away Richie had already been mostly running the company for about a year and was able to get a lot of his questions answered.

He says, his father was the kind of person that no matter what, he would make something happen. “When I took over the business, for me, there was a lot of fear of the unknown. When I don’t have someone to go to. What is it going to be like when the training wheels come off?”

The Recession

“It was a complete blessing. It was business 101. It was a crash course. I really didn’t look at it then that way. I honestly get chills thinking about some of the things I had to go through, making decisions at such a young age. I was only 25 years old when I took over this company. We had, at the time, 7 employees. I had a lot of determination knowing that it really was sink or swim.”
Richie’s whole family was dependent on this business.

Richie says his business felt the impact of the economy on the decline before he heard about it in the news.
“I was grieving, at the time I had to put on that armor and lead this company through the troubled waters.” Having to explain to his long-time employees why there was no work while not really understanding why and trying to figure out how to fix it was difficult. In hindsight he realized that it’s nothing that they were doing wrong. It was difficult because a lot of the news wasn’t out he didn’t know how bad it was. “But the blessing about the economy dropping off for us, we’re a very very good business, we have a great reputation. I remember my father telling me before he passed, the one strength that you’re going to have and you’ll understand it one day, is that I’ve worked hard for 30 years of building this business to where it’s solid. No matter what you do, whether it’s advertising or things like that. We’ve built up a reputation… one day you’re going to see, when it gets busy again, just how much work was put into it.” He says, “Now I can understand that really what you put into your business, what you’re willing to put in, you will get it. So when you plant your seeds and you’re doing that hard work. A lot of times you don’t see the benefit, it comes later. A lot of times you can look back and say you know what, everything we did up to this point brought us through these lean times.”

The recession taught Richard to bear down and be a lean mean machine. They got a smaller shop, ordered less materials at a time, took away a lot of the things they didn’t actually need. If it wasn’t for the economy going down he says he would not have made those changes. Today System 1 would probably be wasting a lot of money, energy and resources, and not working as smart. “When you have an economic downturn, it’s really a reality check, and a time to go through everything and figure out what you need and don’t need. And then when the economy picks up all of a sudden you’re like a marathon runner, ready to go. … We’re better for it.”

I think a lot of our success has to do with the customer feeling comfortable and knowing exactly what they’re going to get and then where the success comes in is with executing that exactly as planned and exactly as you stated and if there is a hitch fixing it ASAP and making it right. That is the essence of what we try to do.

“My number one thing that I’ve learned is that clarity is key. Clarity is before you start anything with a customer you’re being crystal clear up front. In our business there are things that are unpreventable because of the nature of the business, explaining that to the customer ahead of time, so there’s not shock. Delivering exactly what you say you’re going to deliver. Knowing that it’s okay if somebody wants the impossible, to explain it, “That’s impossible.”

Biggest struggle
There are a lot of customers that are not capable of being pleased. Richie knows for certain they are the best company in southern California at what they do. “We’ve always known that we’re a very good company. We take pride in being the best. We’ll always strive for that.”

Dealing with customers and dealing with employees and the different personalities and making that work and making it a positive thing. That’s the biggest struggle.

Thriving out of the Recession

The last 3 years, his business has rebounded really well. The biggest asset to the company has been the internet. He says, the internet has separated the good companies from the bad companies. For the good companies, it makes them better. You don’t know who is going to put up reviews. We don’t have an on off switch where we do good work we do bad work. We only know how to do it well. If you can get a hundred reviews and 95 of them are straight A’s you’re going to get more business. At this point I’m not sure if the economy is as good as I believe it is, or if it’s a matter of since we’ve established ourselves as being a good company through our reviews that we’re just getting more work than others.

Advice

What’s the biggest piece of advice you learned from your dad?
Probably, never to give up on anything and to be there. It’s 4:30, it’s raining, there’s traffic and I get a call from a general contractor. He wants me to come to Malibu right now because a painting contractor didn’t show up. I really didn’t’ want to go; it’s going to take me an extra 3 hours to get home. But, I just had that advice, that you’ve got to go, and you’ve got to do some things whether you like them or not sometimes because they could be very big opportunities. It ended up being a job that probably saved our business back in 2008. I had no idea what it was, it ended up being a huge house for a Hollywood movie producer. It kept us busy for 2 or 3 months.

Be yourself. You don’t have to go and sell the jobs. You don’t have to put on a salesman pitch or face. Just go in there, be yourself and you’ll do fine. I’ve had to understand that I’m perfectly capable of doing this without having to try so hard on the sales pitch thing. Go in, be yourself and people will see though the fakes and phonies. I’ve always lived by the motto of just being real.

His advice to me was always just to be myself and to know that I’m perfectly capable of doing it.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who found themselves running a business, like you did?
Don’t worry. Because it doesn’t improve anything in your life.
Don’t let the doubt and the worry […] freeze you from having a clear brain and execute what you need to do. You start looking at the bills you have coming in and the amount of work you have and it will freeze you up. One great thing about business is that you can bounce back and it doesn’t take very long to bounce back. Knowing that not only can you bounce back, but you will, and it doesn’t take long.
If you keep going, and you work hard, and you’re never gonna give up, and you keep going at it. Not only is it a probability that you’ll bounce back but you can even turn it into something more amazing than what you had before.

I’m constantly trying to figure out how to perfect the business. Constantly trying to think of creating new businesses.
I don’t like the thinking that everybody just needs a slice of the pie. Create your own pie. I’m constantly thinking about what else can I do. I feel I’m successful because I have a business mind and I have a mind to create.

 

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

Episode 74: How A Job Can Allow You to Pursue Your Passion | Danielle Tucker Host of The Golf Club Radio Show

Danielle Tucker from RadioGolfClub.comDanielle Tucker’s Golf Club Radio Show has been broadcasting from Hawaii since 1999.   Danielle interviews PGA, LPGA and International Golf Professionals, Young Rising Stars, Teaching Pros, Sports Shrinks, Authors, Mental Coaches, Golf Equipment Companies, Club Designers and Golf Broadcasters. Danielle Tucker is the host of Radio Golf Club. It’s a live radio golf show that takes place in Hawaii. One of the things that came up in the interview that I thought was interesting, because it’s a different point of view from other guests of our podcast. She’s doing this as a side job. This radio show, she does it on a saturday. She has her normal work week and then she goes in and does this podcast on a Saturday because it’s something she really loves and she has the opportunity to do it.

Zeb’s Take

She has a lot of energy and excitement. She’s professional and the way she carried herself, and that extra energy she put into the interview, not to mention the insights that she gave. One thing that I thought was unique was that she encouraged people not to leave their job to pursue something like what she is doing. She is doing her golf club radio show because she loves it and for no other reason. She works her regular job, which I’m sure she enjoys, but maybe not to the full extent that she’s living her passion in that sense. But, it creates the opportunity that she can do something that she loves. What I’m doing right now in my business I know is my passion. I know that I’m working hard and making things happen, I think it’s going to be good in that sense. For Danielle, I think she is doing exactly what it is that she wants to. You can tell that she loves and enjoys what she does, just like I love and enjoy what I do. I think there are opportunities out there for people. You have to choose the path that’s right for you. Some people think they have to leave their regular job and become an entrepreneur to find success not really thinking about their passion is. Think about what it is you enjoy and that experience and how can you make that happen. Sometimes that will mean extra sacrifices. Working a 9 to 5 job to do that stuff that she loves on the weekends. It’s really up to you to determine what that sacrifice is.

Listen to Danielle Tucker’s Golf Club

Visit RadioGolfClub.com hear all Danielle Tucker’s episodes from 2005 and live streaming episodes every Saturday.

Danielle Tucker's Golf Club Radio Show and Podcast

Quotes

  • “The best thing I can tell you about growth is never being satisfied with the work you’re doing.”
  • “The key to a successful interview is making someone comfortable.”
  • “To me every piece of work that I do, I’m working and I’m playing at the same time.”
  • “It’s up to me to keep it moving, keep it bright, tight and outta site!”
  • “We all learn differently, we all hear differently.”
  • “It’s always asking yourself, how could I have done that better.”
  • “The hardest thing to do in the business of radio is to listen to yourself.”

More from the Interview

Danielle has been in the broadcast business for a long time. Her past as a News Director, Co-Host, all built her experience working in a live radio environment. Her dad encouraged her to do a golf radio show, even though her station didn’t have any sports programming. Years later, someone approached her about doing a golf talk show. It was weird and perfect. At first, she was worried about running an hour long talk show, her experience had not prepared her for that. She was very nervous, but went ahead anyways. The person at the radio station loved it. She was able to expand it, find other radio stations that wanted to have the show. She started streaming it, and here she is today. Her dad came from England. He saw America as a land of opportunity. His proficient golf abilities allowed him to create great business contacts. He ended up in LA where he heard a radio show about golf. He knew golf was growing in the United States and that’s when he began encouraging his daughter to pursue a radio show talking about golf. Danielle used to work at an indoor golf facility. Over the years she has played lots of golf. She does traffic reports in the mornings and afternoons for five radio stations and on television. On Saturdays, she does her radio golf show. On Sundays she tries to get on the course, but all her work keeps her busy. She stays up to date on the game. she is engrossed in the game; but she needs work to carve out time for, if not 18 holes, at least nine. When she’s on the course, she just wants to stay out there forever. Danielle began her radio show about 1999 when Hawaii had a lot of impressive golf events going on. Pacific Golf Academy, Danielle’s workplace, was approached by a radio station to see if they wanted some advertising time on their station. Instead, The Pacific Golf Academy asked about doing a radio show for the station about golf and they were able to find sponsors to help pay for the air-time. I am paid to do what I do for a living. I work for a corporation that owns radio stations. I’ve worked in the business for a long time and my credibility is very good. People respect and listen to me and trust that what I tell them is accurate and fact. I have my credibility. The Golf Club Radio Show: The radio show is live 10am on Saturday mornings streaming online at RadioGolfClub.com. After each episode the programs are uploaded as podcasts to listen to any time. She has callers from around the world, all involved in the golf industry. Some of her impressive guests include Peter Alice, Arnold Palmer, Alice Cooper, Bubba Watson, Ben Rice, plus people who either do broadcast or architectural work and a lot more. If you’re going to listen to one episode, Arnold Palmer and Bubba Watson were great interviews. The most irreverant and the most honest interviews were Peter Alice and Ben Rice. They talk about golf as they see it. They weren’t afraid of saying things that might make waves, or rock the institutional world of golf. Usually her older guests are not as worried about saying things that might be disruptive. For me to look back at myself and what I’ve done in the past. I’d probably be very uncomfortable listening to myself. Because as I’ve gotten more comfortable I became better at making other people be comfortable being on air. The show allows her to get outside of the ever-confining radio tactics. She remembers the business of radio used to be free flowing; for the people on the radio they were deciding and doing things instataneously. It was art. Then corporations took over and now things are much more controlled. There is no spontaneity left in the business. Doing my golf show is a constant spontaneous moment. Advice: Her advice for someone who wants to start a radio show or a podcast would be: be willing to work for no money, hope that you learn a whole lot in a very short period of time, keep your ears open and your mouth closed, and practice. Talk, read out loud, express yourself, do the show for your family, friends, or dog. You can’t be afraid to say what you think. It’s a passion that you may not be rewarded for financially. She says, “I don’t recommend that anyone give up their job and look for a gig in radio or do a podcast and expect to actually feed themselves. You have to want it so bad that you’re willing to keep the job that you don’t necessarily like. Find a place where you can become successful inside yourself by expressing through a podcast the thing that you like to talk about. So when you go to work, at least you have a place where on the other side, that part of you that needs desperately to be fulfilled is being fulfilled through this additional outlet.” It’s a hobby. From her experiences she’s learned confidence, to be comfortable with herself, and to laugh in the face of almost anything. Different people gravitate to different personalities. “We all learn differently, we all hear differently.” Insight: Most successful people don’t think they’re successful, because to be successful you have to be pushing yourself to be successful. There comes a point where you might have an off day, and your audience will allow you that, but they won’t all multiple off days in a row. You have to be striving and making yourself – reinvent yourself, it’s the biggest cliche ever. To me that means, I want to learn something new today, I want to challenge my brain today, I want to bring something new to the table today, I don’t even know what that is, but I’m going to open myself up to find it. That to me, I think I’m successful. I’m never satisfied with what I’ve created. I might be happy with it, it might be rewarding, but I know I could have done it better. The hardest thing to do in the business of radio is to listen to yourself. I don’t know anyone in this business of radio who likes the sound of their own voice. When you’re listening to yourself you’re not hearing yourself, you’re hearing the tape in your brain. You’re hearing the moment in your head and that’s what makes you uncomfortable. I’m am a sum of being a mother a grandmonther, having supported myself through college without any help from my parents, paying off my college loans by myself, finding a job, working three jobs while going to school, working for free for two jobs, then having to find a job to keep another job. To me right now success would be to be able to retire and say “yo, let’s play a round of golf, the sun’s out.” My son says I was the best mom. My grandson misses me. Hearing my son and grandson say that, it doesn’t get any better. Now go out there and find your success!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail